"Hey Greg, you got a minute?" Catherine walked into the break room.
Greg was sitting at the desk, drinking a cup of coffee and reading a newspaper. "Sure."
"I just heard about what happened between you and Brass. What's this all about?"
He put the newspaper down. "It's nothing. We just disagree on how the case should be handled."
"You're sure that's all it is?"
"Catherine, it's fine. I don't know about Brass, but I'm fine. We had a discussion about it and didn't agree. No harm done." He smiled at her.
"The way I understand it, you're relying on a shady statement your main suspect made about not being responsible for the murder of his cheating wife." She sat down next to him.
Greg rolled his eyes. "That's what he told you? Come on, Cath, you know me better than that! I just don't want to prejudge a man who just lost his wife. I know his story is contradicting and the evidence we have at the moment is not making him look like an innocent man, but I want to consider this case from all sides, that's all."
"Alright..." Catherine stood up. "But please be careful. We all had a case like that, when we just needed to believe the suspect. And it never ended well..." After giving him a concerned smile, she left the room.
Sara's and Greg's case were basically one case, so they decided to handle it that way. Catherine signed herself off the case since a new one was already waiting for her and she thought Greg, Nick and Sara would be able to handle it alone.
"Hey Julian, did you process the shirt already?" Greg walked inside the DNA lab, hoping for good news.
"Yeah, it's over there. But come, take a look," Julian said.
Greg looked over to where his report was lying but decided to take a look at whatever it was Julian wanted to show him.
"A five pages interview with Christina Aguilera! I'll give it to you once I'm done reading and swooning over it, alright?" Julian laughed.
Greg rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure. So that's my report?" He took a look at the report.
"Yup. The sweat from the shirt doesn't match your suspect's DNA. Sorry, I don't think he did it." Before realizing Greg was already gone, he continued. "She talks about her new boyfriend. Meh. She wouldn't be as excited if she knew me, don't you think?" He kept talking, not knowing he was talking to himself.
"It's not Stewart's DNA on the shirt?" Sara asked surprised.
"No. And the blood on the sleeves? It's Miles Jones' blood!" Greg said while putting the reports on the light table.
"Don't get too excited, yet, Greg. There's a lot of possible scenarios. He might've hired someone to do the job for him." Nick didn't try to burst Greg's bubble, but he didn't believe in Stewart's innocence, either.
"Or he had nothing to do with it," Greg replied.
"Or it's none of the two. What's this about, boys?" Sara asked a little confused. She didn't hear about the altercation Brass and Greg had earlier.
"Nothing... Did Mandy get any prints off Stewart's gun?" Greg asked, not elaborating on Sara's question.
"Only a smudged partial. She tried her best but it wasn't enough to compare it to any print. But it was a loop, Stewart's prints only have arches."
Nick and Greg shared a look.
"Okay, okay, don't look at me like that! Maybe he really didn't kill that man, but that still doesn't rule him out as Ellen's killer!" Nick said with a smile on his face.
"Would someone PLEASE tell me what's going on here?" Sara asked confused. "Are you betting on our cases again?"
"No..." Greg chuckled. "Brass just said something... I thought Stewart was innocent and he didn't. I bet he'll hate hearing these news!"
"Now slow down a bit, Greggo. Let's try to find a new lead before you confront Brass about that, alright?" Nick patted him on the shoulder.
"...Whatever." Sara rolled her eyes, not completely understanding what it all was about. "We didn't get too much evidence off of Ellen. We have the bullet, but no fibers or stuff like that."
"But I did find some strands of hair on her..." Greg went through the files. "Have they been processed yet?"
Sara went through some files as well. "They're not listed here. Are you sure you lifted them off of her?"
"Yeah, of course! I lifted them and then I..." Greg now remembered. "Excuse me!"
"Julian! Remember the strands of hair I lifted from our victim in the desert?" Greg rushed into the DNA lab.
Julian got startled. "Geez, Greg! Where's the fire?"
"The hair, you remember?"
"Yeah, sure. But I'm not done processing it yet."
"...You already started?" Greg asked surprised.
"Uhm... Sure..." Julian said with a weird face.
Greg knew that face. "You have NO idea what I'm talking about, right?"
"No, sir."
"Oh boy..." Greg said annoyed. "I lifted the hairs and handed it to you, you were supposed to place it in the evidence kit, remember?"
"Oh, sure! Yeah, yeah I remember."
"...So? Did you put them in the kit? Because they're nowhere to be found."
"..." Julian thought about it for a second.
"...Yeah?"
"Uhm... Thinking about it, I don't think you gave them to me..."
"Julian! You LOST evidence?"
"...N...No! I don't think I did!" Julian tried to talk himself out of it, but sucked at that.
"It was before we rolled her, try to remember! I lifted them off of her left leg and handed it to you, then."
"...The leg or the evidence?" Julian laughed, trying to lighten up Greg's mood, but he didn't find it funny. "Alright, alright... Let me think about it. You kept talking and talking about the body, how you thought she was lying out there for some days, what might've happened to her, yadda yadda yadda."
"...And?" Greg was about to lose his patience.
"And you were about to hand me something else... I don't remember what, though." Julian said with a brooding face impression.
"...One of her shoes."
"Yeah, exactly! Rather cheap ones, the heel broke off and they smelled a bit like cheesy feet with a hint of decomposition, it was..." He was interrupted.
"Julian! PLEASE concentrate! I handed you the shoe, and then?"
"I was holding the hairs in one hand and the shoe in the other, and you handed me her handbag... So I needed a free hand and..." After thinking for what felt like an eternity to Greg, but probably only was about a minute, Julian grabbed inside his back pocket. "And I put them in my pocket with the intention to put it in the evidence kit when you gave me a chance to. Because you kept talking and handing me stuff so that I..." Again he was interrupted.
"You put... evidence... in your pocket... and didn't think about returning it, not even when we reached the lab? What if you went home, washed those pants and destroyed the evidence that way?"
"That's ridiculous!" Julian said outraged.
"...Oh yeah, how's that?"
"Because I always check my pockets before I put my pants in the washing machine. I once washed 27$, I lost it all! Ever since I..." One last time he got interrupted.
"That's very unfortunate, but could you please hurry with the hairs? I need to know who they belong to!" Greg left the lab irritated.