Seven chapters already! We're getting closer to the last one!

After three hours in the holding cell, Greg picked Nick up from the lab and drove him home. Both men sat down on the couch. They were beat. "You know you didn't have to drive me home. You have to be back in the lab in an hour." Nick sighed.

"No, it's okay." In fact, Greg was growing more and more suspicious over officer Astin and wanted to make sure Nick got home safe. He knew he was becoming paranoid but thought that this would be better than to risk anything. "I don't want to hang around the lab longer than necessary, anyway. Russell's not too happy about the whole incident."

Nick smiled at Greg. "For what it's worth... I tried to convince him it wasn't your fault."

Greg returned the smile, but his was much more disencouraging than Nick's. "Thanks. But it's not important. It's not like it changes anything."

"Are you sure you're alright? You look different."

"That's what jail does to you," Greg joked, trying to hide the fact that he really wasn't okay. The humiliation of apologizing to the two officers weighed heavy on Greg's confidence.

The following days, Russell tried hard to make Greg forget about the whole incident. He noticed it kept Greg distracted so he tried several ways to help him. He even succeeded for a while. Greg was not pre-occupied with it for quite some time.

In the meantime, the swing shift was making lots of progress in their hunt for the shooter in the diner. Greg decided to take a look at the case, despite Russell demanding he stayed away. It payed off, he discovered that something was off. He stood in the evidence room, staring at some pictures of the crime scene for almost twenty minutes, shocked over his discovery.

"...Greg! I told you to stay away from that case!" Russell rushed in, ripping the pictures out of Greg's hands.

"...Hey!"

"I told you to stay away! Not only for yourself but also for Nick! If they even find the slightest clue to..."

Greg interrupted him. "Take a look at that picture."

"We're not supposed to..."

"This is not the same picture they took at the crime scene."

Russell raised his eyebrows. "What are you talking about?"

"That's not the picture that was first taken of the back of the diner."

"How do you know?"

Greg grabbed the pictures out of Russell's hand and started laying them down across the light table. "Take a look at the menu. It has a little blood drop on every picture except this one."

Russell took a close look. "...You're right. What the hell's going on?"

CSI Pyle was sitting in Brass' office, nervously tapping his foot. Russell was in there, too, but Greg had to wait outside. They showed Pyle the pictures he had taken at the crime scene and asked why the blood drop on the menu was missing in one shot. "...I-I don't know, I didn't even notice."

"Did Astin ask you to get rid of one picture?"

He hastily shook his head. "I've never even met Astin. I-I swear, I didn't do anything to that picture."

"Russell!" Greg hurried inside the supervisor's office.

Russell looked up from some files in surprise. "There you are. Why did you leave earlier? I wanted to tell you what Pyle had to say."

"Nothing useful, I guessed, so I did some research."

Russell sighed. "You were not supposed to... Alright, I'll bite. What did you find."

"Mary Gunn, you know her, right?"

Russell thought about it. "Oh yeah, sure. She works in swing shift aswell, right?"

Greg nodded. "Yeah well, her husband's a police officer. Guess who he works with."

"...Astin."

"I think she was the one who switched the pictures."

"...But why?"

"I don't really remember the picture but I think there's something missing on the new shot."

"Maybe something that would've told us that Astin messed up?"

Greg gave him a confident grin. "Gotta be something like that."

Instead of asking CSI Gunn about the picture, they decided to ask the rest of the swing shift about it and if they were able to remember what the original was showing. But instead of cooperation the CSIs showed stubbornness. The CSIs all felt offended and decided to stick together instead of accusing someone from their own team. But as IA was taking over the investigation, they found a lot more evidence missing and quickly found out about the connection between CSI Gunn and Astin. This resulted in Astin, CSI Gunn and her husband being interrogated by IA.

The three all kept their story straight but Gunn's husband was very nervous throughout the whole interrogation, causing to raise a lot of suspicion. The swing shift was still supporting Gunn, though.

Nick had been a few days out of the hospital and finally had to accept the fact that he needed some help around the house. He was still recovering from the gunshot wounds and was in a lot of pain. He asked Greg to stay with him for a few days and his friend accepted joyfully.

On this wednesday, Greg had been asleep for two hours after a long shift. His sleep had been a little bit lighter after Nick got shot, but after a few nights staying alert, he couldn't do it anymore. He slept like a rock and didn't notice when the door to the guestroom he was sleeping in opened. He noticed when someone was walking up closer to the bed, though. He slowly opened his eyes to find a silhouette bended over him. He naturally startled, but relaxed when the light got turned on. "...Nick, what the hell?! You scared me!"

"Sorry, but this couldn't wait..." he replied in a weird tone.

"...You could've at least knocked."

"I did."

Greg looked confused and sleepy. "So why did you wake me up?" He sat up in bed while Nick sat down on the bedside.

"I had a dream. And it felt so real I wonder if it's a memory."

"About the shooting? What was it?"

"A cop walked in with his gun drawn and while I wanted to explain what happened... He shot at me."

"...Did you see his face in your dream? Was it Astin?!" Greg asked rather excited.

"I'm not sure. I don't even know if this means anything. You kept telling me what you think happened, maybe that's why..."

Greg interrupted him. "But look at you. You're all shaken up! It has to mean something!"

"...But even if it does, a dream sure won't be taken serious in court."

"Doesn't matter, Nick. Don't you get what it means if your dream is a memory? Astin wanted to shoot you."