Originally Nick had been trying to find Tim McCree due to the fact that Tim was an old friend, and very talented with ballistics and blood splatter, but to Nick’s dismay he saw no one except Rachel in the lab.

As Nick thought through the advantages and consequences of all of his different options in his mind, Rachel watched inquisitively, leaning around a doorway to see the peculiar spectacle. Eventually Nick couldn’t stop himself from voicing his thoughts to no one in particular.

“If I wait any longer then the evidence might be washed away, and if I don’t wait then I’ll have to rely on someone else, that is assuming of course that anyone else would be willing. Besides I’m sure that knowing Tim, he’s off working on something different, and if I asked him to do something he would just do it, even if he had worked the whole day on something else, and I don’t want to take advantage of a friend like that. I could also look at the evidence myself, and look for other evidence based on what I would see, in hopes that there’s other evidence good enough to put the murderer in jail, not like that's likely though.”

Rachel put aside her salad that she had been eating for lunch, and seized the opportunity that seemed to be throwing itself in front of her. “I could help.”

Nick turned suddenly, acknowledging Rachel’s presence for the first time. “You would? but I thought you were busy.”

“Does it look like I’m busy?” To emphasize her point Rachel picked up her salad once again.

Nick quickly responded, as he noticed that Rachel wasn’t making a move to gather up her camera, or evidence markers. “Wait, what do I have to do to get you to do this for me.”

Rachel unexpectedly blushed. “Well actually I was hoping that you would give me Jake Hawk’s phone number…I want to get to know him better.”



A smile broke across Nick’s face, as he realized exactly what Rachel wanted. “If I also gave you his email address then would you help me interrogate the two suspects?”

“Would you?”

“Actually I was joking, but sure we can make that deal too.”

It wasn’t until many years later that Rachel learned that talking aloud to himself was never one of Nick’s habits.
***

“So why exactly are we here?” Rachel asked, taking quick steps to keep up with Nick’s long decisive strides that carried him across the crime scene to the cracked and worn sidewalk. However it was not the sidewalk that the victim had stepped off of, and been nearest to during his demise, it was the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street that Nick was walking towards.

Nick crouched down as he reached the sidewalk. “Well I’m looking for evidence on the basis of a theory based on a theory, sort of like how theory of evolution came about, except in this case I think that there will actually be a chance that I'll find some hard evidence. I agree with Captain Steel, that somehow Benny was murdered, but unlike Captain Steel I actually have an idea of how. Remember how Benny was wearing that stunt vest when we found his body. Well if he had started practicing Jesus Christ Superstar, that would explain why the vest looked used, but it wouldn’t be used except during practices, and it couldn’t have been used before that, because the year’s play schedule doesn’t have any other plays involving a stunt vest before Jesus Christ Superstar. Therefore I concluded that the vest was vital to his demise. I think that the mystery man that the trucker saw wasn’t giving CPR. He was detaching s thin line that would be just strong enough to pull the unsuspecting Mr. Kahn off of the sidewalk, but thin enough for both Benny Kahn and the truck driver to not notice it in the dark. However we might still find some evidence because Mr. Kahn died under a truck, and if a string had been run from one sidewalk to the other then it would pull both men down when the truck wheel rolled over it, so all I need to see to convince myself is some blood or skin on the sidewalk.”

By the time that Nick had finished his speech he had decided that Rachel should see anything if it was there since she was more experienced in those matters. “Your young eyes would be far better than mine at seeing small things like this.”

Rachel crouched down low, and craned her neck, being careful to scan the area with as much accuracy as possible. “I see something...yes this is definitely blood. There’s some medium velocity blood spatter right here, and some low velocity blood spatter near it. It’s consistent with someone suddenly falling down on a sidewalk, and getting up with a bloody nose.”
***

The good news for the case was that both of the suspects had a motive to murder Benny, but the bad news was that neither of the suspects exhibited any obvious signs of a broken nose.

“So let me get this straight,” Nick pronounced slowly, drawing out his sentences slowly, so as not to give Christian Shay (son of Daniel Shay, the director) any opportunity to plead confusion. “You agreed to suggest Mr. Kahn to your father in exchange for a good sum of money, but he never paid you.”

Christian Shay looked completely different than his father in every way possible, but he was just as demanding, if not more demanding than his father. “Well he couldn’t exactly have paid me back seeing as he was dead!”

Nick retorted quickly. “However you said earlier that he was supposed to give the money to you a week ago.”

Christian’s response was indignation. “So? I still wouldn’t have killed him, it’s not like he offered to pay me a fortune.”

“You still might have wanted to kill him, people have killed over less. However if you didn’t kill him then of course you would have an alibi.”

Christian took the cue, and replied with a tone that conveyed as much rage as he could muster. “Yeah, I do, I was working down at the car wash. You can ask my boss, Mr. Chung, he’ll give you the exact same story.”

Nick sensed that he would get nothing else out of Christian so he left, to compare notes with Rachel. They met in the hallway, exactly half way between the two doors that led to the interrogation rooms.

“So what did you get out of Daniel Shay?” Nick asked, Rachel, seeing that she had already finished her questioning before Nick had.

Rachel glanced at the notes that she had taken, in order to refresh her memory. “First I confirmed his motive. Mr. Shay admitted that his wife had had an affair with Mr. Kahn, but like all of the other suspects that I’ve ever seen questioned Mr. Shay said that he didn’t kill him. I’ve also got his alibi. Mr. Shay claims that during the time of Mr. Kahn’s murder he was here. He says that he was playing the piano. I’m afraid though that his alibi is solid, because five actors have attested to having heard him playing the piano during that time. However I haven’t ruled out the possibility of Mr. Shay having an accomplice. It could be almost anyone here, all it will take is some more investigation and I’m sure that we’ll find who his connections are.”

Nick’s unmistakable “I solved the case” look spread across his face in the form of a smug grin. “No need to investigate any further. I’ve already solved the case. We’ll just take a sample of that blood on the sidewalk, and compare it to Mr. Shay’s blood, as soon as we have our warrant of course.”

Rachel was confused, and wasn’t timid about admitting it. “Wait, which Mr. Shay, and how did you know.”

“It was Daniel Shay who did it, I saw right through his phony alibi. The piano there is a player piano, so of course the other actors might have heard it, but I bet Daniel went at great lengths to ensure that no one saw him.”

At that moment Jake burst through the doors carefully balancing three cups of coffee in his hands. “So, what did I miss?”

Rachel replied playfully. “A few minutes earlier and you would have been only really late.”

Nick interjected, feeling that there was still more to be considered despite the fact that he had solved the majority of the case. “Wait, before we part there’s one last question to be asked. How did Daniel Shay get a stunt vest and thin rope on a man without him noticing until it was too late?”
***

“You’ll never believe me, even if I did tell you.”

Daniel Shay had become a completely different person after Captain Steel had finally managed to break him. He had lost all of his aggressiveness. Instead he was disgruntled, and tired.

Captain Steel leaned in closely, supporting most of her weight on the metal table that Daniel was forced to sit behind. “Try me.”

Daniel knew that he was caught, so he thought to himself that he might as well let people know of his brilliant plan. “He never realized what he had put on, because Isewed the stunt vest in between two layers of his business suit, and then sewed the layers back together.”

Jake stared through the one way glass, in awe as he listened to the strange confession, when suddenly Nick’s voice broke into his thoughts. “I’ve heard weirder things.”
***

At the same time Ralph Copper, Nick’s brother in law sat on his bed staring into the depths of darkness that surrounded him like air would surround a normal man. Ralph’s insanity had never been more apparent than at that moment where he sat on his bed staring obsessively at the dense darkness.

Without a single sound and without a single motion Ralph sat there, thinking and planning. Always thinking and planning...hardly blinking.

As Ralph sat staring into nothingness there was a pair of eyes that were watching him. Teddy Johnson, an obese serial killer with a sick sense of humor was watching and as he watched, silently and unnoticed, he saw a frightening smile spread across Ralph’s face and even more terrifying was Ralph’s quite laughter.

***

The growl of Jake's motorcycle slowly died down to a faint murmur as he slowed the vehicle to a speed that allowed him to get a good look at what was going on in the nearby park.

Their was a mass of people all carrying banners or signs of some kind, and all of them standing around a huge oak tree with its branches spread wide, as though to encircle the entire group.

Jake came to a complete stop with little more than a slight squeak, and removed his helmet in an attempt to see Rachel.

Suddenly a wave of smooth black hair was caught in the wind, and thrown slightly above the crowd, and immediately Jake was able to see Rachel.

Had Jake not been concentrating so hard on Rachel he might have noticed Nick driving up behind him, but before he had a chance to respond Nick rolled down his passenger side window, and parked, so that he could speak to Jake.

“So how are you doing?” Nick asked innocently.

“Fine,” Jake lied.