Title: My favorite distraction
Author: gothikmaus
Fandom: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Pairing: Nick/Greg
Rating: PG (just for the mention of blood)
Category: ficlet
Summary: Nick can't crack a case. Greg volunteers to help.
A/N: Inspired by the following prompt by creativepromptsforwriting:
"Don't you have better things to do?"
"Not really. You're kind of my favorite distraction."
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and all related characters are property of CBS. I own nothing. No copyright infringement intended.
Nick groaned, frustrated. He had studied all the photos, read all the notes, double checked all the test results, but still something didn't add up. He rubbed his temples and sighed.
"You look like you need a break."
He looked up and saw Greg lean on the door frame, the bright pattern of his shirt standing out sharply against his immaculate lab coat.
"I can't. Not until I figure out what happened," Nick replied, sounding weary. He placed both hands on the table and leaned forward. "It looks like a pretty straightforward case, but something feels off."
"And that's exactly why you should take a break," Greg pointed out, entering the layout room. "Sometimes you're just so focused on something, you miss what's right in front on your eyes."
He walked around the table and stopped next to Nick.
"Why don't you talk me through this? Maybe a pair of fresh eyes can see something you missed."
Nick looked at him sideways.
"Don't you have better things to do?"
"Not really. You're kind of my favorite distraction," the DNA tech replied with a grin.
Nick wasn't in the mood for Greg's antics, but he was stuck and in desperate need of a breakthrough, so he decided to indulge him.
"All right. The killer got in through the back door," Nick started, pointing at one of the photographs spread out on the table. Greg saw a trail of dirt on the kitchen floor, but couldn't make out any clear footprints.
"No sign of forced entry, so either the door was unlocked, or the victim let the killer in."
"Or the killer had a key," Greg added.
Nick nodded.
"Murder weapon?"
"Kitchen knife," Nick said, pointing at another photo. "The victim owned a professional knife set and one of the knives was missing. We found it in a dumpster near her best friend's house."
"Is she a suspect?" Greg asked, looking at the picture of a smiling brunette.
"Yeah. But it would be really stupid to remove the murder weapon from the crime scene just to throw it in a dumpster next to your house."
"I've seen people do dumber stuff."
"True. But we didn't find her fingerprints on the knife, nor any trace of the victim's blood on her clothes. Which brings me to the next point: shoes."
Greg frowned.
"Shoes?"
"I never saw such clear shoe prints." Nick picked up a photo and showed it to Greg. "It's like the killer deliberately stepped in the victim's blood."
"That's a very distinctive sole pattern," Greg commented.
"Yeah, we identified the brand and model quite easily. And guess what: they belong to the victim's best friend."
"Things aren't looking good for miss pretty smile."
"She claimed the victim had borrowed the shoes from her a few days ago."
"How convenient."
"We found them in a plastic bag a few blocks away from her place."
"This girl really can't cover up her tracks, can she?"
"Yeah. It's like she left a trail that points straight to her. It's just too easy."
Greg looked at the suspect's picture again.
"I mean, look at her. Does she look like a ruthless killer to you? I bet she hadn't even planned to kill her friend. Maybe they got into a fight, things got ugly, she grabbed a knife and stabbed her. Then she realized what she did, panicked, and just tried to get rid of the evidence."
"Mmh." Nick didn't look convinced.
"Are there any other suspects?"
"The victim's boyfriend." Nick showed Greg the photo of a young man with short blond hair. "According to her best friend, he's a dick and the victim should've dumped him long ago."
"Any chance he might be the killer?"
Nick shrugged.
"Maybe. He doesn't have an alibi, but there's no way he could fit in those shoes."
Greg crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the photos lying on the table, eyes moving from one to the other. Nick smiled at the focused expression on his colleague's face.
"I need coffee," the DNA tech eventually announced, throwing up his hands. "And you're coming with me," he told Nick.
Nick was too exhausted to put up a fight and simply followed him to the break room. On their way back, they saw Sara working in one of the labs and stopped for a brief chat. As they were leaving, Greg noticed two pairs of shoes lined up on the table and, next to each one, a piece of paper with a shoe print on it.
A light bulb suddenly lit up above his head.
"Did you notice how there were very clear shoe prints on the living room floor, but none in the kitchen?" he asked.
"Yeah, the killer probably realized she stepped on the victim's blood and took off her shoes."
"She took off her shoes but didn't clean up the shoe prints?"
Nick grimaced.
"It's one of the many things that irk me about this case."
"What if the killer wasn't wearing the shoes?" Greg continued as they entered the layout room.
"Well, the victim sure as hell didn't step on her own blood."
"No, I mean what if the killer wasn't wearing the shoes on her feet? What if she took the shoes, pressed the soles into the blood, and planted fake shoe prints on the floor?"
Nick looked at him with a confused expression.
"Why would she do that?"
"Are you familiar with Occam's razor?" Greg asked him.
"Broadly," Nick replied. "Why?"
"Well, to simplify it to the extreme, if you have several theories, the simplest explanation is usually the correct one."
"The simplest explanation here is that the best friend killed the victim."
"But the evidence is saying something else. Think of the murder weapon. You said it yourself: it would be pretty stupid to remove it from the scene and then throw it away near your house."
"And you said it yourself that people are stupid."
"Yeah, but hear me out. What would you do if you wanted to frame someone for a crime they didn't commit?"
"I would manipulate the evidence so that the police would think that person did it."
"Exactly. And don't you think it's weird that all the evidence points toward the victim's best friend, and yet there's no physical trace of her on the murder weapon? Nor any trace of the victim's blood on any of her clothes aside from those shoes?"
Nick frowned, trying to follow Greg's logic.
"And look at these," Greg added, picking up the photo Nick had showed him earlier. "Six perfect shoe prints. No smears, no random blood droplets. You know where I see prints like this? Here in the lab, when you reproduce them on paper to compare them with the ones you found on the scene."
"What exactly are you trying to say?"
"I'm saying if the evidence looks planted, maybe it was planted. The knife, the shoes... Let me guess: did you find the shoes halfway between the victim's house and her best friend's place?"
"Yeah."
Greg looked at him expectantly.
"Okay, let's say for a moment the best friend didn't do it. Do you think the boyfriend did it? Why?"
"Maybe the victim finally realized he really was a dick and dumped him. And, in the heat of the moment, she let it slip that her best friend had been right all along about him. He got mad, stabbed her, and made it look like her best friend did it. It's the perfect revenge."
Nick rubbed his chin, eyes scanning the photos lying on the table, looking for details he might have previously missed.
"This sounds preposterous. But it kinda makes sense."
He turned around and framed Greg's face with both hands, staring at him with an ecstatic expression. Greg's eyes widened and his breath caught in his throat. For a split second, he thought Nick was going to kiss him.
"I need more evidence," Nick declared, before sweeping all the pictures and papers off the table and rushing toward the door.
"Hey! You owe me breakfast for this!" Greg called after him, heart beating fast in his chest.
"If you're right, I'll buy you the fanciest dinner you can think of!" Nick shouted back as he ran toward Grissom's office.
Greg walked back to the DNA lab with a spring in his step and a smile on his face. He didn't know why he was feeling so giddy, but he was looking forward to having dinner with Nick.
-----
July 2026