Hey guys! Sorry it took me so long to update, but I'm frankly having a bit troubles with this story at the moment. Not sure in what direction I want it to go next. More angst or something else... Any thoughts? ;)
But don't worry, I won't abandon it! Hope you like the following chapter!
While Greg went home to rest, Nick decided to go to the place he was asked to. Since he couldn't be sure it was safe to go there, he brought an officer with him.
"You think Greg really asked you to go here?" officer Spencer asked, looking around. All he could see was homeless people, used needles, empty bottles and stuff like that. The stench of urine and all other kind of nasty things was in the air. This was not a safe neighborhood and there was no reason Nick could think of that Greg would want him to come here.
"Well, I considered it a possibility when I wasn't sure where it was. But now that I see it, there's no way in hell Greg would want to be here... or want me to be here."
"That poor guy. He must be scared and all that. Maybe I should pay him a visit after my shift."
Nick rolled his eyes. He still didn't like Spencer and he still thought his obsession over Greg was weird. "We should probably go." When the two turned around, they heard something coming from some bushes. They pulled out their guns. As they approached that bush, they saw a rat running out of it. Both startled a bit and then sighed relieved. "Let's get the hell out of here..."
"Did you get a chance to talk to Mrs. Douglas yet?" Nick asked Russell as they met in the lab's lobby.
"I have. And she claims she's been with a friend the whole day."
"And you believe her?"
"Well, I also talked to her friend and he's the nephew of a judge here in Vegas so... Yeah, I guess I'll have to believe them." Russell grabbed an envelope addressed to him from Judy, the girl sitting at the lab's reception.
"Did she sound like she was telling the truth?"
He opened the envelope. "She sounded upset. But I've never heard her talk in a calm way." Russell sighed. They were back to nothing. It would stay that way for another few days, but what was inside this envelope changed the way they approached this case. "...Now that's a surprise." He handed it to Nick. It showed pictures of him and officer Spencer at the crappy neighborhood they were at the day before. It also had a note that said 'Greetings from Neil Nowak.'
Since Greg was feeling quite good after being attacked and drugged once again, he came back to work three days later. He didn't know about the pictures and the note Russell received. It would've been okay with Russell if he would've taken some more days off, but he refused to. He decided to drop the Douglas case, though. Sara was taking over and had been working on it since he left. She had some questions, though, he had to help her with. At least that's what she told him. She was just coming out of the interrogation room where Mrs. Douglas and Randall Worthington, the man who attacked Greg, were sitting in. Randall was holding her hand as Greg was briefly looking through the window. He glared at the man while Sara talked to him. "...Greg?"
"Hm? Uh, yeah?"
"I asked you if..." Again, he stared at him, not listening. "Greg! What's wrong with you? I don't feel like repeating myself a dozen times."
"I'm sorry, it's just... Who is this guy?"
"Who? Randall Worthington? He's a friend of Mrs. Douglas'. Why are you asking?"
He shrugged, not knowing what kind of feeling it was he just felt or why he felt it.
"I'm telling you, it had to be her!" Nick argued with Russell about whether or not Mrs. Douglas was still a suspect in Greg's case.
"We have absolutely nothing to back that up. Except..."
"Except that she's nuts!"
"But why would she go after Greg? Why would she drug him and leave him there?"
"I... have no idea. Maybe it's her way at getting back at me! Maybe she has something against Greg, who knows?! She said she was scared of him, after all."
Russell put down his glasses as he rubbed his eyes. "Did you find any traces that could lead us to a suspect?"
"Greg's car was full of fingerprints and other evidence. But there were several donors. No wonder, in that part of town. We can be glad we found Greg and the car. It'll take days to go through them all."
"Any matches to Mrs. Douglas?"
Nick shook his head.
"...What about her friend, Worthington?"
"I didn't test yet. I don't have his fingerprints or DNA."
Russell sighed. "Are we finally gonna talk about these pictures and the note?"
"What's there to talk about? It's not from Novak's guys!"
"I know his name is spelled wrong..." The note had Novak spelled with W instead of V. "...But that doesn't necessarily mean it's not legit."
"We all know how Novak operated. His guys were all people who needed to help him because he had some kind of leverage. He's still in a coma, I doubt he can threaten anyone from there."
Russell shook his head. "Paul Sorkin was helping Novak for the fun of it. Maybe there's more like him."
"I won't waste my time on a phantom we don't even know exists when we have the perfect suspect right in front of us."
Russell asked Sara to join him and Nick in his office. "Why are we not telling him what we're suspecting?" she asked confused. Russell and Nick had agreed on a strategy that involved them first trying to find out whether or not Mrs. Douglas had anything to do with it or not, and if it turned out she didn't, they'd try to find their phantom.
"Because we need a genuine reaction from both of them. Worthington could pick up on Greg's reaction if it's not real and then we won't get what we need," Russell explained. They planned to let Greg talk to Mrs. Douglas and Randall Worthington without letting him know that the CSIs suspect they are behind what happened to him.
"I don't like it, either, but if it helps us convict them we need to do this," Nick chimed in.
"Does he know about the pictures and note yet?" she asked. When both men shook their heads, she went on, "Great. I can't wait to see his reaction when he finds out."
"Mrs. Douglas, nice to see you again..." Greg said rather insincere. She was, after all, suing Nick for sexual harassment and Greg knew it was a lie.
"Oh, Greg..." Her and Randall shared a look. "Hello..."
"Hello Mr. Worthington, I'm Greg Sanders." Him and Randall shook hands, then Greg sat down.
"I... uh, I'm a little confused. I thought your lovely colleague Sara took over because you were sick or something?" Mrs. Douglas asked curiously.
Greg nodded. The whole time, even when he talked to her, his eyes glanced over to Randall. "It's a little more complicated than that, but... She took over, I'm just helping her a little."
"Oh dear... What happened to your face? Not again this... man, right?" she asked, hinting on his black eye while suggesting Novak might be behind this again."
He shook his head. "Don't worry, I'm fine. So, there's a few questions my colleague needs answered to work the case..."
As Greg was starting to ask these questions, Randall was getting more and more nervous. "Mr. Sanders, is there any particular reason you're staring at me?" he finally asked.
Greg looked a bit surprised and confused. "I'm not." He really wasn't, but kept looking at him because he had a weird feeling about him. He didn't know why. He didn't know that, deep inside, he remembered seeing him before. He also picked up on the fear Randall was feeling. He feared Greg might remember and that this was a trap.
Mrs. Douglas put her hand on Randall's. "I'm sorry, Greg, it's just that we're all on edge right now. You still weren't able to find my husband's murderer, so..."
"We're doing everything we can, I assure you. Now, Mr. Worthington... What's your relationship with the Douglas family?"
"I'm a friend of the family," he replied. "...Is this gonna take any longer? Because I have an appointment in an hour."
Greg kept on asking a few more questions, then he was done. "Alright, I just need a DNA sample and your fingerprints."
"...What?" Randall got off his seat with a resentful look on his face.
"We just need it to rule you out as a suspect. It's common procedure."
"Well... I don't feel comfortable giving you anything."
"Mr. Worthington, it'll only take a minute and will help us find out what happened to Mrs. Douglas' husband."
"He said no," Mrs. Douglas said determined.
Greg didn't quite know what to say. Randall was, after all, not a suspect and Greg thought the only reason they wanted his fingerprints and DNA sample was to rule him out in Mr. Douglas' murder case. It was up to Randall whether or not he wanted to help them and there was nothing Greg could do about it, but he did find it rather odd. Most people who had nothing to hide cooperated. While Greg was about to pack his things and leave the room, Russell and Brass walked in. He looked at them rather confused and questioning while they sat down next to him.
"Mr. Worthington, there's a few more questions we'd like to ask you," Brass said with a smirk on his face.
"What's going on?" Greg whispered to Russell.
"You'll see," he whispered back. "So Mr. Worthington, you and Mrs. Douglas were at home three days ago, you said?"
Both nodded.
"You know, I was a little confused when you acted like you didn't know what had happened to Greg's face. I asked you about it, after all."
"...I was just trying to be polite," she claimed. Her face had gotten angry looking since Brass and Russell walked in. "I didn't want you to feel uncomfortable with me knowing what happened, Greg. I'm sorry."
Greg felt a little lost right now. He had no idea what was going on. Russell told him that Mrs. Douglas and Randall had nothing to do with him getting drugged. Why would he interrogate them again, with him present?
"Your uncle might be a judge here in town, but honestly, I don't care. I'll drag you to court when I get the chance to do so," Brass said.
"A nice ring you got there..." Russell said while pointing on Randall's right hand.
Beads of sweat were appearing on his face. "Thank you..."
"Say, Greg, did you see that ring before?"
"...What?" Greg asked confused.
"Looks a lot like the bruise on your face, don't you think?"
For a moment, everyone in the room was quiet. Greg realized what was going on, and Randall realized that they knew what happened.
"Give us a minute alone with them, will you, Greg?" Brass suggested while keeping his eyes on Randall.
"Did you know about this?" Greg asked his two colleagues as he walked out of the interrogation room. Sara and Nick were waiting in front of it.
"We did. But we all agreed it would work better if you didn't know about it," Sara tried to explain.
"Why would they do that to me?"
"Maybe their way of getting back at Nick?"