Part 1

"Sofia?" Sara was speechless. This was her witness? Sofia?

Review. Being back in Las Vegas had the good thing Sara knew most of her colleagues, knew how they worked and knew where to go to get her paper work done. On the other side it meant, finding a new place and it wasn't that easy to find a place she liked. Her old apartment had been perfect and all the others, she had seen now, weren't. At least she had a new contract, Ecklie had changed her five weeks to two years, which was a huge surprise. He of all people, who wanted to fire her more than ones, he had called her to get her advice and he had given her a new and longer contract. She wasn't sure if there wasn't something he hadn't told her of yet, that would be a bad surprise for her.

But she had to forget these little private problems when she and Greg came to their new crime scene. A woman had been shot on the street. When Sara and Greg arrived the police had secured the scene and the two investigators could start their work. It was a few hours later, in the early morning, when Sara left the lab to go to a private house, where a witness was waiting for her.

An address she had never been to, a name that sounded familiar, but some names did because it wasn't anything special to meet somebody with the same surname like somebody you had worked with before. At least not if it wasn't a very special surname. She saw the name Curtis, hadn't really wasted a thought of the former detective and was very surprised when the door was open and she saw a familiar face.

"Sara?" It seemed like the detective was as surprised as Sara was.

"You are my witness?"

"If you're here because of the shooting of the woman, yes."

"Why aren't you at the scene?" Or at the department, like a witness should be.

"I asked…. well, come in." Sofia stepped aside to let Sara in the apartment, obviously not feeling comfortable by doing so. She led Sara in a room that was living room and kitchen in one.

"Have a seat. Want a coffee or so?"

"If you have, yes. Thanks." Sara observed Sofia walking to the kitchenette. When was the last time she had been the detective? Must be over two years ago. She knew Sofia had been there when they had found Sara under the car in the desert, the detective had been once in hospital to see how she was and after that Sofia had vanished. No more shared cases, no more meetings in the department or the lab.

She hadn't change much. Still slender, still a hint of smug, still intelligent ice blue eyes.

"Milk and sugar?"

"No thanks." Sara had to concentrate on the case, the reason she was here.

Sofia came with two mugs. Sara saw the size of the mug as a positive sign. If Sofia really wanted her to out as soon as possible, she would not have asked Sara for a coffee and she hadn't given her a mug but a small cup.

"How are you? I haven't seen you – well I can't say in a while because I wasn't here – but I haven't seen you after…my accident."

"I left Vegas PD because I got a new job in Boulder."

"You weren't happy here?"

"I needed a quiet place, a place I could go to work without stepping over a dozen bodies a week. I was sick of all these violence. I heard you left not so long after me."

"Yeah, same reason. I needed to go away, needed some air. I went to South America."

"Grissom?"

"Came there too. Later."

"And now you're back."

"I am back, yes."

"Did you and Grissom marry?"

"Yes, we really got married."

"Where is he? Back in the lab? Or could you make a houseman out of him?"

"No." Sara had laugh for that thought. Grissom at home, doing the dishes, cleaning, ironing. Quite a picture. "He's in Paris, teaching."

"Paris? That's a distance."

"There are flights to Paris, almost daily." Sara didn't like to talk about her and Grissom too much. Being married and living on different continents wasn't exactly what she wanted. But he had this job and loved it while in Paris she had been bored to death. She had no idea where they were standing, she with her new contract, him still teaching in France.

"Anyway, the case…"

"Mommy? I'm thirsty."

Sara turned and stared at a little boy. She wasn't good in guessing ages, but she put him somewhere between one and two.

"Excuse me." Sofia rose, walked to the boy, took him on her arms and walked to the kitchenette with him.

"Do you want some water or milk?"

"Water."

"Okay." She filled a plastic glass and gave it to him. With little sips the boy drank half of the water.

"Thank you, mom."

"You're welcome, Honey. I bring you back to bed, all right?"

"Mommy's bed?"

"Only if you sleep until eight. You have to sleep very long if you want to sleep in mommy's bed."

"Okay." He smiled and hugged her. Sofia kissed his cheek and carried him out of the room.

Sara was speechless again. Mommy? Sofia had a son? She didn't know that. Did that mean Sofia was married? To whom? If the child was one year old, it was likely that she had been together with his father at the time she was in Las Vegas. As far as Sara knew there hadn't been anybody in Sofia's life.

A minute later Sofia was back.

"I'm sorry for that."

"No need to be sorry. I didn't know you've got a son." It wasn't Sara's business but something in her wanted to know more.

"Ricky is one and a half. Another reason why I left Las Vegas. I needed a job that gave me the chance to be here at night. Since a few months he's in daycare, so I can go working."

"Isn't it a big effort to drive to Boulder every day?"

"It is, but there wasn't a spot for me in Vegas. I talked to Jim, he's trying to get me into dayshift even if he'd prefer to have me back on nights."

"What's about his father? Can't he take care of him?"

"No." Sofia's answer made it clear there was no need to discuss and no point in going further. Fair enough, that was her private business. "Let's get started with your questions, you want to go home and I'm tired."

"You saw the shooting?"

"A saw the woman falling, I saw a car speeding away, I didn't see anybody shoot her."

"A black BMW?"

"Yes. I checked on the Internet, it was a 2006 BMW, the 3series, black. I didn't see anything of the license plate. As I told the officers, I'm not really a help in this case."

"Did anybody say anything? Was somebody around?"

"No. There was this woman, the car and me."

"What were you doing there?"

"Am I a suspect?"

"Sofia, please." Sara shook her head. The blonde should know better.

"I'm sorry, the lack of sleep. I had a long day, came back around midnight. Ricky was with me, sometimes I can smuggle him in, when I'm on paper work. We ran out of milk, I left him in the car, walked to the supermarket and on the way back there was this shooting. Or this one shot. I called 911, tried to help her, but she was dead, waited until the officer were on scene and went to Ricky. The first officer on scene saw how tired my little boy was, how tired I was and allowed us, after a short interview, to go home. I knew CSI or a detective would come along, I didn't think it would be you."

"I didn't think it's you when I saw the name Curtis, so we're even with surprises."

"Yeah." Sofia paused for a little while. "Do you have anything to get her killer?"

A question Sara wasn't supposed to answer. Sofia was a witness, not a detective involved in the cast. Well, she was a detective, but not with the LVPD anymore.

"No."

"Do you know who she is? Was?"

"She was a single mother from the south part of the city."

"How old is the child?"

"I don't know. I wasn't there."

"Poor thing." Sofia's eyes went sad.

"Mom?" Ricky was back in the room.

"Hey, I told you to sleep."

"Mommy too."

"I'm with you in a few minutes, Honey. Go and sleep. You have to be fit." Ricky walked to his mother, crawled on her lap and snuggled into her arms.

"I can leave you alone now." Sara said. "There's no reason to keep you awake any longer. I've your statement, you know the drill, I don't need to tell you to contact us if you remember anything else." Sara rose.

"Thanks. This night confused him." Sofia kissed Ricky's hair.

"Go with him, he needs his mother." Sara walked to the door. Before she left she turned. "It was nice meeting you again, Sofia."

"Likewise, Sara."

"If you want, come along for coffee, I'm sure there are a few more people who would love to see you again."

"I'll think about it. Thanks."

"You're welcome. Good night. Good night Ricky, and take good care of your mother." Sara smiled at the little boy who was half asleep in his mother's arms.