13. In vino veritas
"How about a bottle of red wine for tonight?" Sara lifted a bottle of red wine when Sofia sat down. "We can have some cheese with it. Cracker."
"From beer to a chateau, what a step. Yes, lets have a bottle of wine, some crackers and a good time. Why not go to an Italian restaurant? Have some pizza with the wine." Quite a big change, from a bar to a restaurant. A nice change.
"It's French wine, we need a French restaurant for it. Or safe a lot of money and stay here. The bottle is expensive enough."
"You could have sneaked one out of the lab, Hodges enjoyed one, why shouldn't we do the same?"
"Because it' wrong and when the Deputy Chief gets caught with a stolen wine bottle from the CSI lab, she won't become the Sheriff. And I really want to call you Sheriff Curtis. It sounds good, doesn't it? Sheriff Sofia Curtis. It has a ring."
"Stop it." The blonde laughed.
"Why? It's your goal. "
"Like I told you before, it's a goal for like in ten years or so. If I were the Sheriff now, I had to worry about your supervisor. He took off to New York with Mac Taylor, the head of the New York crime lab. They're looking for Taylor's girlfriend, who has been abducted. I'm not sure if this is a good idea, they have to rely on a criminal."
"Yeah, but this guy seems to be the only one, who has a clue where, what was her name? Christine? Is. And when we're honest, we'd do the same. Russell going with him is nice. And it's not the first time one of us is in New York. Langstom went there too."
"Yes and Catherine went to Miami. I don't say it's wrong, I only say it can get complicated." A lot of paperwork and some politics.
"Life is complicated."
"True. So how much is this bottle of wine?"
"Compared to the 1936 bottle a bargain. I don't pay a million dollar for six bottles of wine. Especially not when they're not what their labels says they are. This guy, Vogel, he made twenty million dollar within a few days by selling wine. People are starving all over the planet and here they pay a ridiculous amount of money for a bottle of liquid grapes." It was ridiculous and sad at the same time.
"Well, when people have too much money, they start to spend it on things, that are overprized. A bottle of wine, eighty years old, I don't know if I'd pay anything for it. Who says it's still fine? Imagine, you pay two hundred thousand dollar for a bottle and when you open it, you find out it's expensive vinegar." She'd rather spend a few bucks on a good bottle of beer, maybe an important one from Europe. Much better than wine.
"Or a cheap bottle of wine, you can buy at any supermarket. Or drink in the lab while you're at work."
"I pretend I have no idea about it." There was a no alcohol rule at work, Sofia didn't want to know if Sara - or anybody else - violated that rule.
"It's not your job to tell them off."
"Depends. I should tell Russell."
"No, you're not a rat"
"No, I'm not a rat and nobody's pet."
"Like you're not into fast money. You know there are a few bottles of the faked wine left. Keep them in a cellar for a few years until nobody remembers about this case and you can make a fortune by selling them. I might just do that."
"Yeah sure, Sara Sidle the big wine dealer. You're one of the last people, who will cheat on people. You love the truth too much and despite criminal actions." Sofia smiled. Sara was an honest soul, she'd never pull off such a fraud. It was against her own belief.