Ralphie Pearce III

Present-day.

Sam stood inside the FBI's morgue, putting on her protective goggles. She stood next to Pearce's corpse on the examination table looking down at the ashen face of the man. Sam took a mental note on the slight discoloration on Mr. Pearce's face and fingertips, recalling such things weren't noted by the first pathologist.

She then proceeded to examine the gunshot wound on his left parietal lobe.

She cocked a brow the moment she recognized the inflammation on the entry wound.

This was too easy, she mentally thought whilst measuring its size with an autopsy ruler.

She turned the head to see the exit wound on his posterior occipital lobe.

She then reopened Pearce's corpse and proceeded to perform a routine autopsy.

Levi on the other hand was with Agent Tillman, examining the vehicle, a silver Chevy Tahoe where Pearce's body was originally found. From the forensic photos taken on the scene, Pearce was found on the driver's seat.

Levi noted the hole in the driver's seat window, where he surmised the bullet entered.

He turned to Tillman who was holding the case file behind him and snatched the file without a single word surprising Tillman. Levi started turning pages and looking at photos, and the blond psychologist broke into a shit-eating grin. Levi showed Agent Tillman the page where the photo of Pearce's lifeless body was seated on the driver's seat as if expecting him to get it. Tillman frowned in response, not getting what he was pointing at.

"Cop on, Agent!" Levi exclaimed snapping the folder close, walking back to where their vehicle was parked outside. Tillman followed the tall gentleman confused at his antics.

MORGUE-FBI SATELLITE OFFICE

Levi returned to the morgue where he knew Sam was, he entered the door followed by Agent Tillman. Upon entering he immediately spotted Sam sitting in a chair a foot away from a covered body, she was eating a turkey sandwich from Levi's observation.

"I take it you're done?" Levi said, walking towards her. He snatched the half-eaten sandwich in her hand and took a bite. The redhead shot daggers at him when he continued to eat her food, no plans of returning it. Sam groaned and shifted to Tillman. "Why didn't you feed him?" she asked. "Ah, he didn't say he was hungry," Tillman answered, and Sam groaned, stretching her sore neck.

"I told you, he needs snacks and a nap didn't I?" Sam said, earning a smile from the agent.

After giving the morgue a swift scan Tillman turned to the doctor, "My partner?"

"I sent him to a couple of private labs for confirmatory tests," Sam answers, taking a swig from her bottle of water.

"Give me," Levi said, reaching out to grab her drink.

"Damn it, Levi!" Sam cussed when he grabbed the water from her hand harshly, some droplets splashing at her face with the force.

After finishing the sandwich and flushing his throat with water, Levi smiled widely at the redhead.

"I found something interesting." He said clearly pleased with himself, leaning on one of the empty examination tables.

"Me too." Sam says, shifting to Tillman she says, "Mr. Pierce didn't die from a gunshot wound."

"That's my line," Levi says, unbuttoning his suit jacket then sitting on the table.

"But the wound in his head," Tillman states, confused eyes bouncing from Sam to Levi. A bullet to the head would kill anyone, Tillman thought.

"That was after he was dead," Levi informs, Sam nodding in confirmation.

The bullet wound on his head based on her examination was post mortem.

There may be some signs of bleeding on the site that can be mistaken as an antemortem wound and the cause of death.

However, the entry wound had some slight inflammation, something that postmortem injuries do not have.

"Real cause of death is suffocation; a confirmatory test result would prove that soon," Sam informs. Levi gets off the table and approaches the body, pulling the sheet off the corpse he looks at the ashen face.

"How?" he asks curiously, looking at Sam. "Signs of discoloration on his face and fingertips. Such discoloration is often very subtle and disappears quickly after death, can't blame the first pathologist if he didn't notice it.

Also, upon my further examinations, he had bloodshot eyes. All these are an indication of suffocation." Sam explains while Levi grabs a latex glove, puts it on, and pokes open one of the eyes.

"I would assume a plastic bag was placed over his head." she theorized.

"My findings will be proven correct when the lab tests of the tissue from the wound contain the chemical leukotriene B4, something not present in postmortem injuries. And suffocation will be confirmed if the blood has high levels of carbon dioxide." Sam explains, handing Tillman her findings. Written in the chart included her own test result on the blood.

"This already confirms your findings," Tillman says, hinting on the blood test result she did.

"Yes, and 2 more tests from private labs will make my findings irrefutable," Sam says, looking up at the agent looking exhausted.

"Anything that could help us identify the suspect?" Tillman asked. Sam turned to Levi, this was his field of expertise, after all, they needed a profile based on the scenario the suspect presented.

"Man, Caucasian in his mid-30's to early '40s, with a military background. 5'11- 6'1 tall. Left-handed." Levi started profiling, and Tillman started writing it down hurriedly on his notepad.

"Are you sure?" Tillman asked, uncertain to trust the Irish-pretty-boy.

Levi sends him a dejected look as he combs his hair with his fingers, then turns to Sam with a smug grin fixing his tie.

"Dinner?" he says, then exits not waiting for a reply.

Tillman scowls down at his notepad, mentally debating whether to take his profile seriously.

Sam vacates her chair and moves towards agent Tillman. She pats him on the back, smiling, tired he noted, something not unusual. The two brits had not received a decent rest since they arrived 2 days ago.

"Trust him. Mr. Jackson is one of the best profilers I've worked with. He knows what he's talking about." Sam tells Tillman.

"He's a bit..." Tillman started, lost for word on how to define the blond man without sounding like a douche. The two walk forward following behind the psychologist a good distance ahead.

"Yeah, he's an oddball. But I tell ya, Agent Tillman, one of these days, he's going to have an international reputation as I do." Sam states confidently, she could see it happening soon.

One day he was going to be a name people call over the hardest cases.

"You're confident with his skills." Tillman states, "With my life, Agent." Sam confirms, watching Levi's broad back take a right turn towards the parking lot.

It was an hour later when Tillman drove them back to their hotel at 1 in the morning, after having late dinner in a Chinese restaurant.

In her room, Sam stepped out of her shower wrapped in a white towel, drying her red hair with another. She jumped, startled, and "Fuck!" passed her lips.

Levi turned to look at the woman, he grinned at her appreciatively at her attire. Whilst seated at the foot of her bed watching the news on the TV. The TV she left switched on before she took a bath.

"What--damn it. Why, no, how did you get in my room?" Sam asked, grabbing the clothes she prepared on the bed and walking back to the bathroom.

"I snatched a key from one of the housekeepers when we walked in," Levi states proudly.

"Why am I not surprised?" Sam thought out loud, walking out of the bathroom now in her pajamas.

"And why are you here?" Sam asked, getting on the bed still drying her hair.

Levi turned to her grinning, "Detective Wright, he's afraid of you. Why is that?" Levi asked he had been wondering this since their awkward exchange in the man's office 2 days ago.

"Do you not find me terrifying Levi? I'm insulted. I mean with my immense knowledge and expertise with forensics, one would think I can make your murder look like an accident." Sam says, in mock hurt.

"Pfft! I don't doubt your skills, it's your Morality" Levi states, cringing at the word 'Morality' as if it was something gross.

"Is that how you see me? You think too highly of me." Sam retorts.

"Highly? I beg to differ." Levi shots back earning a pillow to his head seconds later.

"You say it like it's a weakness." Sam retorts, changing the subject. "It's not, until it is," Levi says vaguely.

He turns to look at her on the bed behind him, "Just answer my question."

"Josh Wright is the reason why I quit my job 4 years ago," Sam says, looking back at the time she used to work for as a forensic pathologist at the FBI headquarters. Years before she started working in Guy's Hospital.