Greetings new followers! And old ones, of course! Enjoy Chapter 3!
Greg arrived back at the lab, storming into Russell's office, who was talking on the phone. "Who's taking over the case?"
"...I'll have to call you back." The supervisor put the phone down. "You're talking about Nick's case?"
"And the diner case. Are you and Sara taking over?"
Russell shook his head. "I'm afraid we can't. Nick's involvement doesn't allow us anywhere near that case. That includes you, by the way."
"I know. I'd just like to look whoever takes on the case over their shoulder, you know?"
"I'd rather have you stay away from the case completely. Let swing shift take care of it."
Greg sighed as he had a thoughtful look on his face. "...Bodies are down at the morgue?"
Russell nodded. "I wish I could tell you to stay away from there, too, but I need you to take on this case." He handed him some files. "I need to take care of some things, so you're on your own for now."
Greg nodded. "Will Sara join me later?"
He shook his head smiling. "I'll need her help. You'll be fine on your own."
Greg would've done it, either way, but needing to go down to the morgue because of his new case was a great opportunity to find out more about the diner shooting. "David, hey. Where's Doc Robbins?"
"Oh hey Greg. He's got a meeting with Russell and Brass. You're here for the Dacascos murder case, right?"
Greg hadn't even looked into the files yet, he had no idea what the victim's name was. "Yeah right... But there's something else I wanted you to help me with first."
"Sure, what is it?" naïve David asked with a smile on his face.
"I don't know the victim's names but... they died at a shooting in a diner two days ago."
"Oh, I remember." David walked towards the room where the bodies were in before he remembered something else about the case. "...Wasn't this where Nick was shot at?"
"...Was it? Oh, yeah, sure. You're right."
David gave him a look. "How stupid do you think I am? I know that you were with him. And I also know that Russell asked for you to stay away from the case."
"I don't want to touch anything or sign my name under any file. I just want to know how they died."
"What do you think they died of when they were in a shooting?"
Greg sighed. "Nick said that one of them was still alive when he walked in."
"...I'm sorry I can't help you."
"Come on, David! I don't even have to look! Just read the cause of death out loud while... I'm in the room, too. Russell will never know."
After thinking about it for a moment, David made a decision. "Turn around with your eyes closed."
Greg rolled his eyes before doing what David asked.
"Alright... five bodies... Four deaths due to the gunshot wounds and... oh."
"What? What is it?" Greg asked impatiently.
"One's still unknown."
"What did it look like?"
"I don't know. Doc Robbins did them alone."
"What does the victim look like?"
"...What?"
"I need to know so I can ask Nick if he's the one who was still alive."
"Greg, the victim had a gunshot wound. We're just not sure yet whether or not that's what killed him."
"What else could've?"
"Heart attack from the stress, maybe. Or a blow to the head when he went down. We'll know soon."
"Just tell me how old he was and what color his hair is."
Again, it took David a moment to come to a decision. "I'm not telling you how old this 37 something blonde guy was, alright?"
Greg turned around to David with a big smile. "Thanks, man!"
"Don't obsess over this." Nick was trying to sit up in his hospital bed, but needed some help from Greg.
"I'm not. I'm just thinking it's not a coincidence that this guy is alive when you walk in, but is dead five minutes later when the paramedics arrive."
"Don't they have anyone else taking care of that case?"
"Swing shift."
Nick sensed some resentment from Greg. "What's wrong with swing shift? They're great CSIs."
"Yeah I know. But they won't tell me anything."
Nick chuckled. "That's kind of the point. Just let them do their jobs. They'll find out what happened in there."
"...And you still don't remember?" Greg sat down on a chair next to Nick's bed.
He shook his head. "I'm trying to, but shortly after seeing that guy still alive it goes dark. Makes me wonder if I remember that one correctly."
"...You doubt that he was alive?"
Nick shrugged. "Can't be sure, now, can I? He didn't talk to me, but I saw that he was still breathing. His eyes were opened and looked very frightened..." He shook his head. "It's a horrible image. I'd prefer it to be made up."
"You shouldn't doubt yourself. If you remember it, it happened."
Nick sighed thoughtful. "So... Wanna tell me why an officer's outside my room all the time?"
After spending almost two hours with Nick, Greg went home to get some rest before going to work again. Since Nick obviously couldn't go to work, Greg needed to work overtime. On his way inside his apartment complex, the two officers that arrived at the scene shortly after Astin walked up to him. "Hey. It's Sanders, right? How's your partner?"
Greg looked at them rather suspiciously. "He's gonna be alright."
"That's good to hear. Listen. Astin's a great guy. He saved my life more than once out there."
Greg raised an eyebrow. "So?"
"What we're trying to say is... whatever you think happened that day, you're wrong. Astin's a great cop. Your partner must've mistaken him for the shooter. Maybe he fired a shot in panic. Astin did nothing wrong, he needed to protect himself, is all."
Greg knew it wasn't a good idea to talk to these two cops, but he couldn't restrain himself. "No. You're wrong. Nick isn't the 'shoot first, ask questions later', type of guy."
"...Astin isn't, either."
"We'll see about that."
The officers both gave Greg an annoyed look. "Yeah. The investigation will clear our guy. You'll see."
"You should probably get going now. This part of town is a little far off your precinct."
"Sure. Have a nice day." They both gave him a quite threatening look before walking off.