AN: We had a short story project in English back in October and I just got it back and got a 100 on it and my teacher wrote that it was his favorite in his class so I decided that I would try posting it up here and see what reviews I got :) Hopefully I'll get at least one good one! :)

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The Body in the Bleachers

"Lizzy, over here!" David shouted from where he was standing by the flag poles in front of the stadium.

It was homecoming for Pine Grove High and everyone was there. The football players were out on the field warming up while the cheerleaders were stretching before the game. Every where you looked you saw green and white, Pine Grove's school colors. Best friends David

White and Elizabeth Scott had come to the game together as they had for every game since they were in sixth grade. This however was the special game. This was the first year that they were at Pine Grove high for the games. They had been friends since they were ten and now five years later they were still best friends.

It was the perfect night for football; it wasn't too cold, but not too hot either. The sky was clear and the stars could be seen if you looked past the bright lights illuminating the field. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was seven o'clock. Kick off was supposed to be right now, but everyone knows that the times are never right.

"Hey Dave," Lizzy called, running over to hug her best friend before kissing him lightly on the cheek.

"Can you believe that this is our fifth homecoming game?" David asked, kissing her back on her cheek.

"I know! I can't believe that we've finally made it to tenth grade, I thought we would never make it!" Lizzy said.

"May I direct your attention to the center of the field. Crystal Ryan our cheerleading captain and lead actress in our musical will now lead you in the national anthem," The PA screeched.
David and Lizzy looked over and placed their right hands over their hearts and sang along with Crystal. As the song came to and end the crowd erupted. A sea of green was standing in the bleachers and clapping and shouting. As Nicolas Dipietra one of the star football players did the kick off David and Lizzy began talking among themselves.

"I love how we come to these games every Friday and never watch them," David laughed.

"Now where would be the fun in that?" Lizzy asked, wrapping an arm around his waist and looking up at him.

Over the past year David had shot up to five foot eight, making him a good six or seven inches taller then her.

"Good point," David said, draping his arm around my shoulders. People often thought we were dating, and now that I thought about it, I could see it…we were always physically connected and often finished each others sentences, we would walk each other to each others classes if they were near each other and always greeted each other with hugs and kisses on the cheeks.

"Is anyone else coming tonight?" Lizzy asked.

"I don't think so, I think it's just me and you tonight," David said, poking me in the side.

"Stop," I whined, jumping and laughing.

"How can I when you make so many amusing sounds. You're like a toy, press a different area and get a different sound," David laughed, squeezing my neck making me squirm and shriek.

Lizzie ran from him and started running towards the opponents bleachers. She looked behind herself and saw him gaining. She looked at the small opening in the bleachers and decided that she could fit. At the last moment she ran through it and slipped in something, falling and scraping her elbow she yelped.

"Are you okay Lizzy?" David asked, squeezing through the opening.

"Yeah, fine. I just slipped in something and fell. I think I scraped my elbow, do you have your phone with you?" Lizzy asked.

"Yeah," David said pulling it out and shining it towards her before letting out a scream.

Lizzy screamed at the sight around her, she was sitting in the middle of a stain of dried blood. To the sides and around her there was torn flesh around her and she screamed, looking over to where there was a minimal around of light she saw bones and more flesh.

"Oh god, get me out of here," Lizzy screamed.

They both looked at each other before screaming, they squeezed themselves through before running as fast as they could to the security desk. They stopped there out of breath before quickly trying to explain what had happened.

"He was tickling me and he wouldn't stop so I took off running," Lizzy began.

"And then I saw her run in between the bleachers. I followed her and I heard her scream," David said.

"I had fallen and scraped my elbow and asked David to pull out his phone so we could see what was around us," She stated.

"There was blood and flesh and bones everywhere. They were all around Lizzy and near the edge of the bleachers. We both screamed and ran over here," David finished, gripping Lizzy's hand.

Both of them were shaking and trying to comfort one another. Lizzy was bleeding from her elbow and had blood and pieces of unknown materials on her jeans so David tried to avoid putting his arm around her.

"Is this your idea of a joke?" One of the security guards, Tom, asked.

"No, go look. I swear to God. Lizzy won't stop shaking because of it and she's got blood on her jeans and shirt. It's under neath the visitors bleachers. Please you have to believe us," David said.

"John, get a couple of people to go look. Try to keep this quiet, we don't need everyone gathering around us," Tom said.

"Okay," John replied, grabbing a flashlight and two more men. They walked over to where Lizzy and David had described the scene and shone a flashlight in. Less then two minutes later they were running back over and yelling to evacuate the stadium and to call 911 and a coroner.

30 minutes later David and Lizzy were hudled together on one of the ambulances. They were wrapped in blankets and Lizzy had new clothes. They had been asked to give police reports and to describe exactly what they had seen. They both wanted to just get home and shower. Unfortunately they weren't able to be let go until the Dr. Riley Jackson and Dylan Preston got there. Dr. Riley Jackson was the only forensic anthropologist in a 150 mile radius and Dylan Preston was a special agent for the FBI and former sniper. They would have more questions for them and then they would be able to go.

"Did you call mom?" Lizzy asked.

"Yeah, she said that she can give you a ride home if you want," David replied.

"That would be great, thanks," Lizzy said, still shaking.

"Come here," David said, opening his blanket and motioning for her to come closer to him. She moved over and he wrapped his arms and blanket around her. She burried her head in the crook of his neck in hope to get her shaking to stop.

"I want to go home," Lizzy whispered to David.

"I know, we just have to wait for the FBI agent and forensic anthropologist to get here," David whispered, rocking me back and forth while soothingly rubbing my back.

"When will they be here?" Lizzy asked.

"I don't know," David replied, looking over to see a black SUV approaching them.

"Will you just stop the car already!" Dr. Riley Jackson cried.

"Yeah, let me park," Dylan Preston said.

"Jeez, next time, I'm driving," She said, getting out of the car and grabbing a bag from the back seat.

"No you're not, I'm the one that drives Riles," Dylan said.

"Then learn how to park," She spat back before asking one of the crime scene workers, "What do we have?"

"You have to go ask them some questions about what they found," They replied, pointing over to where David and Lizzy sat.

"Alright, are those the kids that found the body?" Riley asked Dylan.

"Yeah, apparently the girl ran and the boy chased her. They ran under the bleachers and she ended up in flesh and blood. They found bones as well, which is why you're here, and went to tell the security guards," Dylan recapped quickly for her.

"Alright," Riley said before walking over to the ambulance.

"Are you the forensic person?" David asked, looking up to see two figures approaching them.

"Yes, my name is Dr. Riley Jackson I'm the only forensic anthropologist that lives in a radius of 150 miles from here. And this is my parter Dylan Preston, he works with the FBI. Now I'm to understand that you are the kids who found the body under the bleachers?" She asked.

"Yes," Lizzy said, sitting up a little so that she could see them.

"May you explain to me what happened?" Riley asked, watching as Dylan pulled out a small steno notebook.

"Yes, Dylan and I were fooling around and he wouldn't stop tickling me so I ran into the bleachers. I tripped over something about five feet in and fell. When David shined his phone at me we saw blood and flesh and bones all around me and near the back of the bleachers. We both screamed and ran towards security. That's when they called you I guess," Lizzy explained.

"Okay, thank you, do you have any idea how the body got there?" Dylan asked.

"No, my best guess is someone put it there," David replied as Lizzy shook her head in agreement.

"Okay, thanks guys. Why don't you call someone for a ride, you're free to go. We'll be getting back to you if we have any more questions," Dylan said, smiling at them before walking away with his partner.

"No problem," Lizzy whispered, "Can you call mom?"

"Yeah," David said pulling out his phone.

30 minutes later Lizzy was home, showered and getting ready for bed when her phone rang. She leaned over my bed and picked it up, surprised to hear David on the other end.

"Hey, what's up?" She asked.

"Nothing, just wanted to make sure that you were aright," David said.

"Yeah, after a hot shower I'm a lot better," Lizzy replied.

"That's good. I kind of want to know whose body it was. You know?" David asked.

"Yeah…" Lizzy said.

"Well I'll talk to you later," He said, smiling on the other end.

"You too, good night," Lizzy whispered before hanging up.

"Good night," David whispered back.

Part 2: (AN: You don't hear about Lizzy and David here on out)

Back at the school Riley and Dylan were investigating the scene. They had opened the bleachers as wide as they would go so that the team and their equipment could get in.

"Male, 16-18 years of age, looks like he was killed by blunt force trauma to the cranium. There's some evidence of lacerations to the face, but I'm not sure, it could be from the bleachers being opened and closed various times. I'm going to need samples of the gravel and wood from the bleachers as well as the body and flesh shipped back to the Jeffersonian," Riley said, before standing up and looking at the forensics team.

"Alright, you heard her, send the whole thing to the Jeffersonian," Dylan said, before pulling Riley out of the bleachers.

"You almost done?" Riley asked.

"Yeah, just waiting for you," He replied.

"I'm finished for tonight, I got everything I need until the body is shipped to us tomorrow," Riley said, zipping up her bag.

"Alright, let's go. How about dinner?" Dylan asked.

"Order in Thai at my place?" Riley suggested.

"Always," Dylan smiled, wrapping an arm around her and leading her back to his SUV.

The next day Riley got called to work at 7:30 in the morning by her intern, Dr. Brian Leston.

"Dr. Jackson, the body that was sent here last night has some interesting marks on the bones, are you able to come in and look at them?" Brian asked.

"Yes Brian, I'll be there shortly," Riley said, before hanging up the phone and turning over in her boyfriend's arms.

"Hey," Dylan whispered.

"Hey," Riley replied, smiling at him.

"What did Brian need?" Dylan asked.

"He found some marks on the bones and wants me to come in and look at them. He said that they're pretty interesting," Riley replied, starting to pull away from him.

"Do you have to go right now?" Dylan asked, pulling her back to him.

"Yeah, sorry, I told him I'd be there soon," Riley said, climbing out of bed before heading into the bathroom.

After showering and eating they were soon on their way to the Jeffersonian. As they walked in Riley was immidiatly bombarded with questions by Brian.

"Dr. Jackson, here's the bone that I was talking about," He said, leading me up to the lab.

"Thanks," Riley replied, as she pulled on her dark blue lab coat and quickly threw up her hair into a high pony tail. She pulled on a pair of latex gloves before taking the bones from the metal tray that Brian held. Quickly examining it she saw that the bones had a criss cross pattern on them that was lightly indented in the compact bone tissue.

"I found the marks on the femur, humorous, and tibia all on the right side of the body. The metacarpals and metatarsels are shattered. Also L five, six, and seven and C three and four are broken. It looks like they were crushed by a heavy weight object," Brian said, gesturing with his hands on the skeleton that lay in pieces in front of him.

"Thanks Brian, I'll have to take a closer look to these in my lab, can you bring the bones while I set up the microscope?" Riley asked, tearing off the gloves and swiping her card in the slot so that the alarm wouldn't sound.

"Sure Dr. Jackson," Brian said, carefully placing the bones back onto the metal tray before following her.

They walked into the office and quickly set up the microscope, cleaned off the autopsy table, and placed the bones on the table. Riley took the head of the microscope and brought it over before placeing it directly over the marks in the bones of the tibia and femur.

"It almost looks like the markings were caused at different times, and not all at once. Almost as if…" Riley began.

"Bleachers. They can open and close, and that's where the body was," Dylan finished for her.

"We'll have to see how long the body's been there. I'll see if John has any information about how long the vic's been dead," Riley said, stripping off her gloves again and leaving her lab.

"Dr. Jackson," Dr. John Damos, the entomologist, called out.

"John, I was just coming to find you. I need to know when the victim died," Riley said, stopping in front of him.

"I'm finding two-five days, I found a couple of bugs on him. Mostly anobiidae, musca domestica, and delia platura. Although most of the musca domesticas were deceased," John said.

"English please John," Riley said, cutting him off.

"I found, beetles, dead house flies, and maggots," He said, sighing before walking away mumbling something about disrespect to bugs under his breath.

"John wait," Riley yelled, running to catch up with him.

"What?" John asked, putting his hands on his waist.

"I don't know what that means," Riley admitted.

"House flies usually inhabit the body in the first few hours. After that two-three days later the maggots come, three-five days later the beetles follow. Therefore since all three are there the body's been there for two-five days. My guess would be around 3 though, the beetles look fresh and there are not many of them," John said, "Is that all?"

"Yeah, thanks," Riley said, before walking off to find Dylan.

"Hey Riles, did you find anything out?" Dylan asked, coming over to Riley.

"Yeah, we're looking for a male of 16-18 years old, caucasion, and he's been dead for about three days now," Riley said, walking back into her office.

"Has Adriana drawn up a picture yet?" Dylan asked.

"She's working on it right now, I can go check," Riley offered, after seeing him nod his head she walked out of her office and across the Jeffersonian to go see what Adriana was working on.

"Hey sweetie," Adrianna said, without looking up from her machine that she had nick named the, "Adrianator".

"Hey, have you gotten the sketch yet?" Riley asked.

"I'm working on it, this is what I've got so far," She said, pressing a few buttons making a three d image appear in the middle of the air.

"Wait…is that?" Dylan started, walking into the room with Brian.

"Woah that's Thomas Murray," Brian said, "What's he doing up there?"

"Is that?" Dylan asked.

"Yeah, I'm confused, who's Thomas Murray?" Riley asked.

"He's number 36 on the football team. Star quarterback with a full ride to any college he wants," Brian said, walking ove rto Adrianna.

"Oh god, he's our vic?" Dylan asked, crossing his arms in front of him.

"Yeah, appears so, I'll need dental records to confirm, can we call his parents in?" Riley asked Dylan.

"Yeah I'll get right on it," Dylan said, leaving to go find an open computer.

"Brian can you get me a dental?" I need to go with Dylan to talk to the family once we find his profile and get the dental from you," Riley asked.

"Yeah, no problem Dr. Jackson," Brian said, before going to get a mold fro the dental.

"Dylan wait up," Riley called, running over to catch up with him.

"Do you want to call them now or after you get the dental?" Dylan asked, lightly placing his hand along the small of her back, leading her into her office.

"After, Brian is getting the dental for me right now," Riley said, sitting down behind her desk.

Dylan reached over her and typed in his username and password. Once the screen cam up he typed in the name, "Thomas Murray" and watched as the profile came up. They watched and read in silence learning that Thomas was 17 years old, a star football player, honor roll student, and had several scholarships lined up. They scanned over the picture and saw a teenager with shaggy blond hair and blue eyes staring back at them. He was dressed in a green and white Pine Grove football uniform and was smiling, his eyes lighting up as he talked to his coach.

"I can't believe it…" Dylan murmured.

"I don't even know who this is…" Riley said, looking up at him confused.

"He was on TV all the time and had a scholarship lined up to any college he wanted, he was an amazing football player. I took Parker, my son, to the games a couple of times," Dylan said.

"Oh," Riley said, looking up to her door as Brian appeared.

"What did you find?" Dylan asked.

"It's a match," Brian confirmed.

"Oh god," Dylan moaned, rubbing his hands over his face a couple times before copying down the number and breathing out a sigh.

"Do you want me to drive?" Riley asked.

"No, just give me a second," Dylan said, breathing deeply for a moment before standing up and grabbing his coat.

"You okay?" Riley asked, concern evident in her voice.

"Yeah, fine. I just hate these cases, let's go," Dylan said, before walking out the door with Riley close behind him.

They drove off to the Murray's residence in complete silence other then the radio playing an old country song. Riley looked out the window and thought about what had happened recently while Dylan drove, his hands clenching the steering wheel till his knuckles turned white. He pulled into the drive way and whipped off his sun glasses as he went up the front porch to ring the doorbell. Riley ran to catch up to him and had made it just as the door opened and a women who appeared to be in her mid 40's opened the door.

"How may I help you?" She asked.

"Mrs. Murray? Special agent Dylan Preston and this is my partner Dr. Riley Jackson. We're here to talk to you about your son," Dylan said, flashing his badge and then motioning to the side of him.

"Yes, please come in," She said, nodding her head to his previous question.

They all sat down in the family room before Dylan started to talk.

"Is your husband here?" Dylan asked.

"Yes, Dan there's people here to talk to us about Dylan," Mrs. Murray screamed up the stairs.

Once Dan came down the stairs and sat next to his wife on the couch Dylan began to speak,
"I understand that Dylan was the star football player on his team and he was very well liked."

"Yes, did you find him?" Mrs. Murray asked.

"Yes, Dylan died, he was found by two students at the homecoming football game," Riley said.

"H-he died?" Mrs. Murray cried.

"Yes I'm very sorry, we'll leave you alone for a moment, please take as much time as you want, we'll be out front on the porch," Dylan said, standing up and walking out of the house with Riley.

"I hate the looks on their faces," Riley says, "Does it ever get easier?"

"Telling people that their loved one has died?" Dylan asked, "Never."

"That's what I thought you were going to say," Riley said, sighing.

Dylan reached over and grabbed her hands, linking them and then beginning to play with her fingers. They sat in silence on the porch, just enjoying each others company before the door opened and Mr. Murray appeared.

"You can come back in now," Mr. Murray said, his eyes red and swollen.

"I'm very sorry about your son, but we have a few questions for you," Dylan said sympathetically.

"Alright," Mrs. Murray said, gripping her husband's hands.

"Did Thomas have any enemies?" Dylan asked.

"No, everybody loved him, although there was this one boy, he was an excellent player as well, only he was second best. He never seemed to like Thomas," Mr. Murray said, after thinking for a moment.

"Do you have his name?" Dylan asked.

"Yes, his name is Nicolas Dipietra. I have the phone number if you'd like it," Mrs. Murray said.

"Yes, that would be great," Riley said, pulling out her notepad to write the information down.

"The number is 555-0293," Mrs. Murray said, after scrolling through her phone.

"Thank you, we'll be in contact with you," Riley said, closing her notepad and putting it away.

"When can we have his body?" Mrs. Murray asked, "For a burial?"

"We can't release his remains until we've closed the case, also there's not much of him left, we suspect that after he was killed he was burned," Riley apologized.

"Oh god," Mrs. Murray said, her eyes filling up with tears again.

"I'm very sorry, once we know more we'll contact you as once," Riley said.

"Thank you for your time," Dylan said, before following Riley back to the car. Once in the car Riley looked over at him.

"How did you do it?" Riley asked.

"Do what?" Dylan questioned, confused.

"Kill people you didn't even know," Riley clarified, hinting back to when he used to be a sniper for the US Army.

"I didn't think about it, but the pain was always there. You know, it takes a lot out of you, having to kill somebody especially when you don't know them and you see them interacting with their family. You don't know why you have to kill them, just that you do," Dylan breathed out.

"So your becoming an FBI agent, was that some sort of way to make up for all the deaths that you caused?" Riley asked.

"Yeah, in a way, I thought that since I had killed so many, maybe I could help a few families and find out what happened to their loved ones and who killed them," Dylan said.

"Oh, okay," Riley said, going quiet and thinking about what he had just said.

"Hey, I didn't meant to get you down," Dylan said, reaching over and squeezing her hand.

"I know, I'm just thinking," Riley replied.

"Do you want to go check out Nicolas Dipietro now or later?" Dylan asked.

"Now, I want to close this case as soon as possible," Riley replied, bringing her laptop into her lap from the back seat, "I'll see if I can find an address."

"Alright, thanks," Dylan said.

After a few moments and a couple key strokes later Riley announced that Nicolas Dipietro was emancipated and lived on his own. His appartment was at 3428 Russel Drive. Dylan made a u-turn before heading in the opposite direction. Once they got there they got out and walked up to his door, knocking on it a couple of times before realizing that no one was home. However when they turned to walk away someone opened the door.

"Hello?" Nicolas asked.

"Hi, Special Agent Dylan Preston this is my partner Dr. Riley Jackson we'd like to question you about the death of Thomas Murray," Dylan said.

"What? Thomas died?" Nicolas gasped.

"Yes, he was found by two students at the homecoming football game. We heard that you were second in line for the big scholarship he had," Dylan said.
"Wait, you think that I killed him?" Nicolas asked.

"Well, right now you're one of our suspects, where were you on September 14th, 2008? It was a Monday," Riley asked him.

"I was at football practice, and then I came here and made myself dinner. I played Xbox for the rest of the night," Nicolas said.

"Do you have anyone who can confirm your whereabouts?" Dylan asked him.

"No, I live on my own. I don't know if my neighbors saw me come home or not," Nicolas told them.

"Okay, thank you," Dylan said.

"Is that all you need?" Nicolas asked.

"Yes," Dylan replied before saying bye and walking away.

"Do you want to come back to the Jeffersonian?" Riley asked him as they got into the car.

"Sure," Dylan agreed, driving them back.

"Once they got back they found everyone in Adrianna's office talking about the case.

"Where were you guys? We tried calling both of you guys but no one answered," Adrianna said.

"We were talking to a family and we couldn't answer our phones, when we left we had forgotten about he calls," Irley explained.

"Okay, well Brian came to me and told me what he had found, I started playing around with the scene and finally worked it out. The murderer had to be at least four or five inches shorter then him. It hit him at a 30 degree angle and caused an epidural hematoma. So I came up with the following situations," Adrianna said, before pressing the green button on the Adrianator.

We all watched as a short girl about five foot four appeared on the screen. She held a narrow pole in her hands and brought it over her head before bringing it down on Thomas' head.

"Wait, how tall was Nicolas?" Riley asked.

"I don't remember, but he was taller then me but was standing about two inches off the ground as well. I'm five ten, so he was what five eleven or six foot?" Dylan asked.

"Did you subtract the two inches?" Riley asked, looking at him weirdly.

"No, so he would be about five eight?" Dylan asked.

"Yeah, it wouldn't work unless Thomas was standing on something. And it would have to put him about six inches off the ground," Riley said.

"Unless…" Dylan started.

"He was standing on the bleachers. It hit him in the back o the head, so anyone could have hit him…" Riley finished.

"So we're looking for either a person who is five four or five nine," Dylan stated.

"Did Dylan have a girlfriend?" Riley asked.

"I don't know, but lets go and get Nicolas and bring him in. Right now he's our prime suspect," Dylan said, standing up and leading Riley outside.

They drove over to Nicolas' house and approached his house. When theywere about to know, the door flew open and a girl about five foot four ran out. Nicolas ran out after her but stopped when he saw Riley and Dylan.

"I'm sorry, but I have to talk to Crys, I'll be right back," Nicolas said, before running up to her.

They watched the body langauge between them for a couple of minutes. The tension between them was so great that Nicolas began to get suspicious about them. Finally Crys walked away and Nicolas walked back up to them.

"Hey, do you have more information?" He asked them.

"No, but we have a warrant to bring you in for questioning. You are our prime suspect," Dylan said, pulling out a piece of paper.

"But, I didn't kill Tom, I swear," Nicolas said, looking at them in horror.

"I'm sorry, but you're going to have to come down with us," Dylan said.

He walked behind Nicolas and cuffed him before putting him in the backseat of the patrol car they had taken.

"Wait, if you're just bringing me in for questioning why do I have to wear these hand cuffs?" Nicolas asked.

"It's just protocal. You're not allowed to ride in the back of a squad car unless you are cuffed if you're being brought in to the precinct for questioning," Dylan said.

"Oh, why are you bringing me in? Is it because I was second in line for the full scholarship? Because I would never kill him over that, I wouldn't kill him at all. I have money to go where ever I want. I have a college account that has about 300,000 dollars in it. I have a huge family and they always deposited money on my birthday and for holidays. That stopped after I got emancipated though," Nicolas said.

"Why were you emancipated?" Riley asked.

"I was having some trouble at home, my dad was always pressuring me to do better and my mom was never around. She was always off on business trips, or so she said. Dad and I both knew she was having an affair. My dad was always on my back to be the best and to get the full ride," Nicolas said.

"So that made you get an emancipation?" Riley asked.

"I took amphetamines before one of the games. It was a big game and my dad had told me to score four touch downs, no less. I needed some extra help so I got them from a buddy's brother. I collapsed on the field that night and had to be taken to the hospital. Luckily nothing was wrong. My mom was concerned about me and yelled at me for taking the amphetamines because they could have killed me. Dad on the other hand, he yelled at me for missing the game. Scouts were there and that was my big chance. He didn't care that I could have died, just that I hadn't scored the four touchdowns," Nicolas said, settling into the back seat.

"Wow," Riley murmured.

Sensing her discomfort Dylan took a hand off the wheel and moved it over to Riley's lap, interweaving their fingers. She looked over at him and smiled, slightly squeezing his hand. He smiled back before turning his eyes back to the road. They rode back to the precinct in a tense and uncomfortable silence. Once they got there they parked his van and got out. They brought Nicolas up to an interigation room and left him in there.

"Do you think it was him?" Riley asked Dylan, looking up at him.

"To be honest I'm not sure. He definitly has the motive and the means, and has no alibi. We would have to test it out though and figure out if Thomas fell off of something or if he just fell from the ground," Dylan responded.

"I can have Brian start working on that," Riley said, pulling out her cell phone.

"Hello," Brian answered.

"Brian, it's Dr. Jackson. I need you to find out what angle and the force of which Thomas hit the ground after he was struck in the head," Riley said.

"Okay, I'll get back to you in about half an hour?" Brian asked.

"Yeah, that's good. Thank you," Riley said, hanging up the phone.

"Do you want to wait for the results or start the questioning now?" Dylan asked.

"Let's start now, if Brian calls me I'll just step outside," Riley said.

"Alright," Dylan said. He rested his hand on the small of her back and led her down to the interigation room where Nicolas was.

"Hello Nicolas," Dylan said, as they walked into the room.

"Are you guys questioning me?" He asked.

"Yes, I'm the agent on the case, and Dr. Jackson is my partner," Dylan said, sitting down across from him.

"Oh okay," Nicolas said.

After reading him his rights he began to question him.

"Where were you on the night of September 14, 2008?" Dylan asked.

"Didn't you already ask me this?" Nicolas asked.

"Yes, but we need to doccument it," Dylan said, pointing to the tape recorder on the table, "May you please answer the question?"

"Yes, I was at football practice and then I went home and made myself dinner. I spent the rest of the night playing Xbox," Nicolas said.

"Do you have a witness for your alibi?" Dylan asked him.

"No, I live by myself," Nicolas said, shifting in his chair.

"Did you know Thomas Murray?" Dylan asked.

"Yes," Nicolas answered.

"How?" Riley piped in.

"He's the star football player on the team. Without him I'm the best player," Nicolas stated.

They continued with the questioning until Riley's phone rang. She looked at the phone before appologizing and stepping out of the room.

"Dr. Jackson," She answered.

"He didn't fall," Brian said, "He was standing on solid ground when he was struck, you need to find someone who is about five foot four or five foot five."

"Okay, thank you," Riley said before snapping her phone shut. She walked back into the room and went over and turned off the recorder.

"Riles what are you doing?" Dylan asked.

"It wasn't Nicolas, he's too tall. We're looking for someone who's about five four or five five," Riley said.

"Like his girlfriend maybe?" Dylan asked.

"Nicolas, do you know if Thomas had a girlfriend?" Riley asked.

"Yeah, that was Crystal Ryan. The one I was talking to when you guys came and got me," Nicolas said, before paling, "You think Crystal did it?"

"She just became our primary suspect," Dylan told him.

"They broke up," Nicolas said suddenly.

"What?" Dylan asked.

"A couple of weeks ago, Thomas broke up with Crystal. He fell for his tutor and started dating her after he broke up with Crystal. She didn't take it well," Nicolas said, afraid that if he with held the information he would be punished.

"Thank you for telling us," Riley said, before she and Dylan walked out of the room.

"Looks like we found our murdurer," Dylan said.

"We don't know that yet, we have to take prints as well as find the weapon. All we know is that it's a metal bar that is about seven inches long and two inches wide. We'll need a warrant to search her house," Riley said.

"I'll get one, we should be able to go over there in about 30 minutes," Dylan said, before taking off down the hall in search of his boss to get a warrant.

30 minutes later they were in Dylan's car, warrant in hand and pulling up to Crystal's house. They looked at the house and Dylan did a low whistle. The house was huge, if it was even considered a house. Mansion was more like it. They got out of the car and walked up to the door and rang the bell.

"Hello, Ryan residence," A short woman in her mid 50's said after she pulled open the door.

"Yes, my name is Special Agent Dylan Preston and this is my partner Dr. Riley Jackson. We have a warrant to question Crystal Ryan about her where abouts on September 14th," Dylan said, holding out the warrant in front of him.

The maid gasped before running further into the house and grabbing Crystal.

"What are you doing?" Crystal yelled, ripping her arm from the maid's grasp.

"You have an FBI agent and a Dr. here to see you," She said, before walking away.

"Crystal Ryan?" Dylan asked.

"Yes," She said, looking confused.

"My name is Special Agent Dylan Preston and this is my partner Dr. Riley Jackson. We have some questions for you concerning the murder of Thomas Murray," Dylan said.

"Okay, come in," Crystal said, her eyes red.

"You don't seem too phased by this, may I ask why?" Riley asked her.

"Yes, Nicolas told me. I saw you earlier, at his house," She said, sitting down on the couch and motioning for them to sit in the chairs across from her.

"Where were you on September 14th, 2008. It was a Monday, five days before the homecoming game," Dylan asked her, pulling out a recorder.

"I was at school, I stayed after for cheer practice and then came home. I ate quickly and then went up to my room for the rest of the night. I locked the door and finished up my homework and went to bed," Crystal said.

"Do you have anyone to verify your alibi?" Dylan asked her.

"Martha, the maid, was here and she saw me come in and made me dinner but she didn't see me after that. My parents were out of town that week," Crystal said.

"Alright, we have a warrant to search your house, Dylan can you call for back up? I'm going to call Brian and John and ask them to come as well," Riley said, pulling out her cell phone.

They called their other team members to come and half an hour later they were well into an investigation. They had searched the attic, bedrooms, kitchen, and garage and were about to start on the libaray and the basement.

"Dylan and John will you come with me into the basement and we'll start looking down there?" Riley said, holding up a flash light.

"Yeah, be right there," They shouted back to her.

"Alright," She said, before opening the door to the basement.

They started down the stairs and looked for light switches, they turned them on as they went and walked into a surprisingly clean and dry basement. It was colder then most, but very neat. To the left of them there was a gym, to the right there was a guest bedroom and a bathroom. As they continued they found a dance room with hardwood floors and ceiling to floor mirrors, a game room, sports room, and a theatre. However in the very back of the basement there was a suspicious looking brick. They walked over there and fiddled with it until it came out. When they removed the brick they found a key pad. Without waiting to figure out what it was Dylan busted it open. Inside was a wad of cash, a gun, and a pole with dried blood on it.

"We've got out murder weapon," Riley said, pulling on a pair of gloves and picking up the pole. The disposed of it into the evidence bag and zipped it up.

When they got upstairs they saw Crystal sitting on the couch, a terrified expression in her eyes, and crying.

"Crystal we found the murder weapon, I have to say, very clever way of hiding it," Dylan said, sitting down in front of her again.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to kill him. I just wanted to get back at him. I just went to talk to him, but when I got there he was making out with her I just got mad and hid under the bleachers. I waited for his new girlfriend to leave before coming out of the shadows. I found a metal pole on the ground and I started hitting him, just on his shoulders though. But I missed and I hit him on the head the last time. I swear I didn't mean to kill him," Crystal confessed sobbing.

"Crystal you are under arrest for the murder of Thomas Murray, you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be held against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford one, one will be provided for you. Do you understand your rights?" David asked, cuffing her hands behind her back.

She nodded, tears continuing to stream down her face. Her parents watched on in horror as their baby girl was taken away into a patrol car.

"I never like those cases," Riley said, laying down next to Dylan on the couch.

"Neither do I," He responded, wrapping his arms around her and lightly kissing her on the top of her head.

"Come on, we haven't eaten all day and we need food," Riley said, standing up again, pulling Dylan with her.

"Where are we going?" Dylan asked her.

"Thai?" They both said, laughing.

They both left her appartment, getting into the car and driving off to Wong Foo's, their favorite Thai restaurant. This looked like any normal date to the outsider's eye, two lovers going off to dinner, their arms wrapped around each other, laughing and whispering between stolen kisses. However, anyone who knew them would know differently. This was just another day for Riley and Dylan, solving murders, finding justice, and putting the law in place.

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Yes cheesy ending and I know it, but my teacher said he'd yell at me if I made it any longer so I wrapped it up quickly. There'll be a sequal coming out soon by the name of The Body in the Crate.