Chapter Six: Maybe
Nick groaned angrily to the sound of his buzzing alarm clock. He reached over the side of the bed; sleepily slamming his hand down on the top until it stopped then forced himself to roll off the side, just managing to straighten his legs out in time before he fell face first to the ground.
Nick stumbled down the hall to the bathroom, rubbing his eyes as he stripped his pyjama bottoms off, climbing into the shower for a refreshing hose down. While he was showering he encountered an rising problem between his hips as he kept thinking about Greg.
As Nick closed his eyes he could see Greg's gorgeous smile, his deliciously bright chocolate eyes with a swirl of caramel in them. The cute little bleached spikes throughout his hair made him look young and adorable.
Nick wanted to kiss his soft lips, he wanted to run his fingers through Greg's silky smooth hair while their tongues entwined. He wanted to wrap his arms around Greg's body and hold him close, never wanting to let go for fear of losing him.
Nick soon found that changing the temperature of the water wasn't going to help him out in any way. The image of Greg was still firmly planted in his mind and the problem between his hips was only increasing.
He saw only one solution left.
Nick took hold of his hardened member, slowly starting to pump his hand up and down his shaft, moaning softly as he started to feel the familiar tingles in the pit of his stomach as he thought about Greg.
It wasn't long before he started to shudder, shooting a load of warm seed into his hand with Greg's name on his lips; completely surprising Nick as he had no intention of moaning the young man's name, but he couldn't keep the name escaping from his lips.
The more he thought about him, the more he wanted Greg's naked body pressed up against his own which was very strange to him as he had never before thought of another man in that way.
Nick quickly finished getting ready for work, grabbed himself a coffee then head off to work trying to focus on his case to keep these new feelings he was experiencing deep down inside of him.
"Ah Nicky, good you're here." Grissom smiled, handing him a white slip. "I need you and Sara to work this 419."
"I never finished my case yesterday."
"Well something tells me that this case is related to both of yours, so it might help you out on finding your suspect." Grissom explained, heading off towards the breakroom to give Catherine and Warrick their case's for the day.
Nick looked down at the slip in his hands, reading the address. He looked at it curiously before he head back down to the garage where Sara was already waiting by his truck with two coffee's in her hands. "Hey Nick, you walk in this morning?" She smiled widely at him.
"No, I took a taxi. Before you go thinkin' anythin' in that over active brain of yours I spent the night alone at my place."
"Okay." She slyly smiled, climbing into the passenger seat.
"Don't spill those." He warned her, climbing into the driver's seat. "So what makes Grissom think this case is tied in with ours?" He asked starting up his truck.
"Oh he didn't tell you? The victims name is James Wight."
"My victim's father?"
Sara nodded round at him. "Exactly . . . you said they were missing, well they turned up."
"They?" Nick questioned. "Griss didn't say this was a double."
"It is. It's James Wight and his wife Marion Wight. Both dead in their car. C'mon." She pointed to the road in front of her, indicating for him to hurry up.
"Why does he never tell me this stuff?"
"Well did you ask Nicky?" She smirked as he shook his head. "See, I know this stuff coz I asked."
"Hey Captain Brass, what brings you here?" Mandy asked, looking up from her work.
"This letter was dropped on my desk last night sometime. Can you check it for prints?" He asked, holding the letter with a white cloth.
"Sure." She nodded. Brass watched as she pulled some gloves, taking the letter from his hands. She dusted it then took a look under the magnifying glass. "I've got some useable prints here." She informed him.
"Thank you Mandy . . . page me if you get anything." She nodded again, watching him head off down the hall to Grissom's office. "Hi Gil . . . you got a minute?"
"Sure." Grissom nodded, sorting through the heaps of paper work on his desk.
Brass closed the office door, taking a few steps closer towards Grissom's desk. "I think my daughters missing."
Grissom looked up over his glasses curiously. "You think or you know?"
"Well I can't find her at any of her usual haunts. She's not answering her phone and..." Brass trailed off as he looked up into Grissom's eyes. "There was a note left on my desk, saying if I wanted to see my daughter alive again I would have to reopen a case . . . not only that but a picture of my daughter was stolen off my desk."
"What case did they want you to reopen?"
"1995 Red Rock Bank Robbery." Grissom frowned as he dropped down into his chair. "Something wrong?" Brass asked curiously.
"No . . . just Nick said something about that case file missing yesterday and Sara was reading through a Detective Burrow's notes on..."
"Detective Anthony Burrow?" Brass questioned, interrupting him.
"I believe so." Grissom nodded, wishing he had paid more attention to his CSI's when they asked him for help. "You think whoever is murdering these people is the same person who sent you the note?"
"I don't know. I gave it to Mandy to check for prints." Brass dropped into the chair in front of Grissom's desk, carefully straightening his tie. "Why that case though? It was just a bank robbery, a failed bank robbery of that."
"What happened?"
Brass scratched his chin as he tried to recall the details. "A few hostages were shot . . . I think all the robbers were killed too. It was on the news for weeks. Detective Anthony Burrow lost his job over it. I think his wife was involved somehow . . . I don't remember all the details that well. I think another officer lost their job too."
"Why?" Grissom asked curiously.
"I don't know . . . I think he shot a hostage or something. Maybe we should reopen the case and find out." Brass suggested.
"Sounds good. Keep me posted and share your findings with Nick and Sara. Their suspect may be the same person who has your daughter. We'll get her back Jim." Grissom assured him.
"Thanks Gil." Brass smiled, climbing to his feet as he slowly head out the office, back down to his office to find the case file.
"So you just talked?" Sara asked curiously as she looked through the driver's side window at the brutally smashed skull of James Wight.
"Sara, do we have to talk about this now?" Nick asked frustrated. "Yeah we talked . . . we talked about work and the colleges we went to and where our lives our now. That's all."
"But that's a good thing." She smiled over at him. "You arrange for a second date?"
"No . . . because that wasn't a date. It was a walk and talk between potential friends." He lied to her.
"Sure." She chuckled in a sarcastic tone. "So did you give him your number or he give you yours?" Nick blushed, turning his head away so he didn't have to answer that question.
"I got skid marks here." He shouted from the road.
"That's not something you wonna shout around newbie's." Sara smirked to him as the young officers by the tape started laughing.
"Skid marks?" He asked confused.
"Exactly." Sara couldn't help but laugh. She soon stopped as Nick gave her a frown informing her to grow up. "You think they lost control of their vehicle or they were forced off the road?" She asked, directing her torch light across the road.
"Well..." Nick knelt down to pick up a piece of headlight glass. "When you lose control of your vehicle . . . your back head lights aren't usually smashed first . . . this looks like road rage." Nick noted.
"Hey wasn't there red paint on the back of our vic's car?" Sara asked, heading back towards the car to inspect it further before Nick could answer. "Nick there's red paint!" She shouted back.
"Yeah? And?" He asked confused as he watched her scrapping a sample into an evidence bag.
"And John Walder's killer drove a red Ford Sedan Nick. If this is our same guy..."
"Then he used the same car." Nick nodded as he caught on to what she was saying. He looked around at the lights overhead, looking for a traffic camera or anything, but there was nothing, making their jobs that little bit harder. "Where is David?" He suddenly snapped, looking at his watch. "We've been here just over an hour now."
"Maybe it's a busy day again?" Sara suggested. "Wonna follow the tracks?" She asked, pointing her flashlight in the direction of the tire tracks. "We can find out where the road rage started from?"
"Sure I'm in. You gonna be warm enough though?" He indicated to the short sleeved t-shirt she was wearing beneath her CSI vest.
Nick immediately pulled his own jacket off, handing it over to her. "Thanks." She smiled at the gentlemanly gesture.
"No problem." Nick grabbed his camera and some markers, starting to follow the tire tracks up the road by the light of Sara's flashlight.
"Archie . . . what have yah got for me?" Grissom asked, walking into the lab.
"I checked the precinct security cameras like you asked." Archie pulled the images up onto the larger screen for Grissom to see. "The letter was delivered by this young woman." He enlarged an image of the young woman with long flowing locks of brown hair. "I've run her face through every tracking system we have, but I came up with nothing. She walked to the front desk first . . . but then look." Archie ran the tape forwards, switching to another camera as the young woman entered the hallway to hand deliver the note to Brass's desk. "Then watch her hands as she comes out." Archie pointed. Grissom watched the young ladies hands as she stepped out of the office.
"Can you enlarge that?" Grissom pointed.
"Yep." Archie zoomed in on her hands, focusing on what she dropped into her bag.
"Is that a picture?"
"Looks like." Archie zoomed in a little more, sharpening the image.
"So she delivered the note then stole his picture?"
"I don't think it was on purpose either." Grissom looked at him confused. "Look at this angle from across the hall." Archie switched the camera angle, showing the young woman walking behind the desk and dropping the note. Grissom watched as she went to walk away, turning back suddenly as the picture caught her eye.
"Can you enlarge that and back it up slightly?" Grissom requested. Archie nodded, backing the video up then zooming in on the young woman's actions. Grissom watched again as she went to step away from the desk until she noticed the picture. "You may be right. It's like she recognised it or something."
"You think she's involved in the kidnapping?"
"If she was she would have known the girl and not looked at the picture like that. I believe she was a messenger. Do you have angles of her leaving?"
"Yep." Archie loaded up another tape.
"Can you find out what she got here in?" Archie nodded, following the young woman on the cameras towards her car.
"That's her car." Archie pointed.
"Can you get in closer?"
"Nope . . . we have a blind spot." Archie groaned. He followed her car as it left, just able to get the make and model of the car but the licence plates were too low for the camera to see. "Looks like a 1946 Red Ford Sedan. The exact same make and model... and colour as the one from Sara's crime scene yesterday." Archie informed him.
"Who was the driver?"
"It was a young man in a hooded sweatshirt. We couldn't get an ID." Archie explained.
"Can you run that car make and model through every database we have then narrow down a list of owners in the Las Vegas area then we'll work outwards?"
"Sure, no problem." Archie nodded.
"Thanks Archie." Grissom headed out of the AV lab off towards Mandy in the print lab. "You get any hits yet off Brass's letter?"
"Sort of."
"Sort of?" He asked confused. "How only sort of?"
"Well ones a partial palm print . . . of an unknown. The other three are partials of overlapping fingerprints. We've got a combination of loops and arches, but I can't separate them as they're too degraded."
"Try harder." He instructed her firmly, heading back out the lab off towards the breakroom. "Catherine has Nick or Sara checked in yet?"
"Nope. Grissom, do I really have to babysit this new CSI while the rest of you are out working this big case. I don't wonna be left in charge of another rookie."
"Holly wasn't your fault Catherine." He told her firmly, grabbing a can of coke from the fridge instead of even trying the coffee today. "What happened to Holly Gribbs couldn't be stopped."
"No right, but it tore up Warrick too. I don't wonna be left in charge of a newbie. Especially if he talks as much as you say."
"He has an interest in old Las Vegas, you know a lot about that. I'm sure you'll get on fine. Just show him around and I'll try and find an easy going case for the two of you to solve."
"The two of us? Or am I in the supervisory role for him?" She asked, leaning against the counter beside him.
"No the two of you together. He's already past his field test. He's a CSI level One. I just need to know if he works well with my team." He smiled at her, heading for the door. "And he doesn't talk that much." He lied to her with an devious grin.
"I'm gonna get you back for this one someday Gil!" She shouted after him. Grissom just replied by turning slowly to show her his wider grin.
Nick took another snap shot, setting down another marker beside a piece of broken headlight. "Think our trail stops here!" He shouted back to Sara.
"Finally, it's freaking freezing out here." She shivered, rubbing her arms to keep herself warm. Nick looked round at her with a wide grin on his face. "You want your jacket back?"
"No, the cold doesn't bother me." Nick climbed to his feet, photographing the glass from another angle. He then looked around at the empty street surrounded in desert. "There's no houses or anythin' out here . . . so what were James and Marion Wight doin' out here in the middle of nowhere?"
"Where do they live?" Sara asked, carefully stepping over the glass.
"They live in town with their daughters. They all still live under the same roof. If they got our message about their daughter's death then why would they drive out here instead of headin' straight for the police station?"
"It's a puzzler." Sara shivered.
"That's helpful." He remarked.
"Sorry . . . I can't think when I'm cold." She hunched her shoulders together as she started to shiver again. "Maybe they were taking the scenic route?" Nick sarcastically raised his eyebrows at her. "Maybe they like the desert . . . or they have a hunting lodge of something up here. Or maybe..."
"You're comin' up with too many maybes!" He snapped at her.
"Sorry. Have we got enough evidence to head back now?"
"Well we got skid marks, tire tracks from two cars, headlight glass and paint scrapin's. Along with two DB's and no coroner."
"Unless he's up there now waiting for us?" Sara suggested. "We did walk a good two miles Nick." Nick grabbed the flashlight from her shaky hands to inspect the headlight glass on the ground. "What?"
"This glass is tainted."
"Tainted?" Sara queried.
"Yeah . . . none of the glass back there was." Nick noted, shoving a piece into an evidence bag.
"What colour?" Sara asked as Nick handed the bag over to her to look at. "Blue? What kinda headlights are blue?" She asked.
"Tainted ones." He remarked sarcastically, starting to head back towards their crime scene.
"It doesn't look on purpose though. It looks like it's only around the edge. Maybe a bad repaint job?" She suggested.
"A rookie repaint job?" Nick asked, following his markers back.
"Yeah . . . maybe the car used to be blue, or another colour before that? Maybe..."
"Sara!" Nick scolded her as she kept saying 'maybe' again.
"Sorry." She smiled innocently, following him back through the markers. "All I was gonna say is maybe the tainted glass is from a different car, completely not related to this case."
"You might be right. But let's get this stuff back to the lab to see if our road rage car was this mysterious Ford Sedan of yours."
"Okay." She nodded. "So when are you seeing Greg again?"
"Sara, would you please shut up?" He requested. "I'm not datin' him."
"Do you wish you were?" Nick rolled his eyes at her, deciding to ignore her. "C'mon Nick. I just wonna know." Sara ran alongside him to keep up with the long strides he was taking.
"Have you taken on the role of my fairy god mother or somethin'?"
"You know the funniest thing is that you haven't told me you're not gay!" She chortled. "Usually that's the first thing in a guy in your position would say."
"Okay then. I'm not gay, I've dated women."
"That doesn't make you not gay!" She laughed.
"I'm bisexual or whatever then. Would you please shut up? This is work time!"
"Sure." She nodded, walking alongside him for a moment's silence before she asked, "so are you gonna ask him out?"
"Sara!" Nick shouted annoyed. "Stop playin' matchmaker. I can get my own dates. Maybe Greg's not gay, did you ever think of that?"
"Hey look, Davids just arrived." She pointed into the distance changing the subject.
"Bout time." Nick mumbled, glad Sara finally got off the subject, but now he was worried that Greg wasn't gay, even though he told him he's very open minded when it comes to relationships.
"Hey David." Sara shouted giving him a wave.
"Hi guys . . . I'm so sorry I'm late. I got lost." David smiled softly.
"Ever heard of a sat nav?" Nick asked sarcastically, starting to shiver in the cold.
"Yeah, that was the thing that got me lost." He chuckled, heading over to the DB's. "Looks like they didn't die from the crash."
"How can you tell?" Sara asked.
"By the big ol' bullet wounds in their heads." Nick remarked at her with a smug grin. "You didn't catch that?" He chuckled in a mocking tone. Sara gave him an evil frown, watching as the coroners helped David lift the wife's body from the car to a sheet outside it.
"Looks like a through and through." David told them as he checked over the body.
"I got it." Sara noticed a sparkly metallic object wedged in the back seat. She pulled open the back door, carefully removing it with her tweezers. "Hey Nick?"
"Yeah?"
"I got a bullet . . . what kinda bullets did you say were used to kill the twins?"
"357 Magnum bullets." Nick stepped around the car to look at the bullet in Sara's tweezers. "Same type." He nodded. "Looks like it is our same killer then."
"Our mystery killer? David can you determine the time of death?" Sara asked curiously.
"I'd say about forty eight hours." He told them, checking the body's liver temperature.
"What's your theory Sara?" Nick asked her, watching her shivering in his large jacket. Sara bit her lip as she looked around at the road then at the damage of the car. "Sara?"
"Well your twins were a body dump, right?" Nick nodded. "And you said you saw this hooded guy by the tape?" Nick nodded again, wondering what her point was. "Did he have blood on his clothes?"
"No . . . not that I remember."
"And he wasn't shot either?" She asked next, only making Nick more and more frustrated with her.
"No . . . he seemed fine. What's your point Sara?"
"I think . . . our killer dumped the twins bodies then headed off to John Walder's house. He killed John Walder with a knife. But with a stabbing like that he woulda got blood all over himself, including his own blood as he was shot. This road..." Sara pointed. "If you keep going in that direction you get to John Walder's house . . . if you go in this direction you end up towards the Freeway heading straight for..."
"LA." Nick finished for her. "But if your vic John Walder did shoot our mystery killer. Why would he go on a four hour drive off towards LA to kill Detective Burrow?" Nick asked her.
"I don't know . . . maybe he wasn't shot that badly. Did you get a TOD from this Detective Burrow?" Nick thought about it a moment then shook his head. "Nicky!" She sighed heavily.
"Sorry, I forgot. I can call and ask... no big deal." He pulled out his cell phone, dialling the Detectives number.
"You missed a vital piece of evidence though Nicky." Sara huffed at him. Nick frowned at her with annoyance as he walked back towards his truck with his cell phone in hand.
"Detective Sanders." The Detective answered after three rings.
"Hi, this is Nick Stokes from the Las Vegas Crime Lab. Did you manage to determine the time of death of your victim Detective Anthony Burrow?"
"Ah Nick... yes we did." Nick heard the shuffling of paper work as he waited for his answer. "Yep . . . here it is. The coroner put the Detectives time of death at three days ago."
"Three days ago? Thanks so much." Nick snapped his phone shut then walked over to Sara. "Sara! How does your theory workout when Detective Anthony Burrow was killed about three days ago?"
"Oh . . . three days ago?" She questioned looking around. "Well it doesn't." She sighed heavily. "Maybe he killed Burrow first before he came here to kill the twins their parents then my vic John Walder. No, no . . . maybe he didn't kill the Detective. Maybe it's a copy cat killer. Maybe we missed something back there . . . or maybe the guy you saw at your crime scene is our main suspect. But why would he be staking it out? Or maybe..."
"Sara!" Nick shouted in annoyance.
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First Uploaded May 9th = Re-edited 6th September 2010