First Encounters

Chapter One

It was another late night on the Las Vegas strip. Cars whizzed along the busy road, honking at the women on the corners. Tourists strolled from casino to casino without looking both ways before crossing the street. It was all shaping up to be a normal night in Sin City. That was, until the police cars pulled up into the gas station. Spectators attempted to catch glimpses of what was going on inside the station, but the cops were doing a good job of not letting anyone in. The only thing that could be seen, were the EMTs that carried out a gurny with an old, Italian man into the ambulance. He held a bloody rag to the side of his head.

Not long after the ambulance dispatched to Desert Palm, two thirty-something year old men entered the empty gas station. There glass scattered all over the floor. Goods from the aisles and counters were ripped and laying all around the floor.

"What do ya think?" the dark-skinned man asked. "Robbery?"

"That's what it looks like to me," the other man answered with a southern drawl to his voice. "You take the right, and I'll take the left."

"Sounds good to me."

"Have a good night, Hunter. I'll see you tomorrow," the young blonde professor said, closing her briefcase that rested on the desk.

"Thanks, Professor Evans," the young man smiled brightly at the woman. "See you tomorrow. " Hunter grabbed his bag and exited the room quickly. Professor Evans looked at the open door. Something was going on with Hunter today.

With a sigh, Danika Evans started fixing up her classroom. It was nearing eleven o' clock at night, and she just wanted to go home and sleep. Tutoring Hunter went on much longer than she had suspected. Why Hunter needed tutoring sessions was beyond her. He was a brilliant young man. Once everything looked somewhat more organized, Danika took one more look over the room. She could hear her bed calling her name.

"Excuse me, Ma'am. May we ask you a few questions?" So much for going home and getting a good night's rest.

"Sure," she turned her heel and came face to face with two, very attractive men. "What do you need?"

"I'm CSI Brown and this is CSI Stokes and we are from the Las Vegas Crime Lab," the taller man spoke, holding up and picture to her face. "Do you recognize this woman?"

"Yes, she's one of my students," Danika answered. "Kayla Hutchinson. She's a senior here at UNLV."

"Do you know if she has a criminal record of any kind?" Danika almost lost it when the other man spoke. Texan accents were her weakness.

"Well, freshmen year I remember she got arrested for under-age drinking. But other than that I don't know. Why? Is she in trouble?" Danika asked.

"There was a robbery at the gas station down the road from here, and we found her ID," he answered. "You wouldn't know if she had ever robbed a building did you?"

"No, I'm sorry," she said. "Although, if I'm being honest with you. I'm not all that surprised. Miss Hutchinson is not the sweetest girl you could ever meet. Not the brightest star in the sky either."

"Care to elaborate on that?" Warrick asked.

"She's a partier," Danika answered. "Most of the time she comes into class drunk, falling over chairs and such. She makes crude remarks to her professors."

"You included?" the southern CSI asked.

"Sadly yes," Danika continued. "I don't see why Hunter would date her."

"Who's Hunter?" Brown wondered.

"Oh, sorry," Danika's cheeks reddened. "Hunter is another one of my students. I tutored him tonight. Those two are like oil and water. She treats him like crap."

"It sounds like you a bit jealous, Miss. Evans," he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Oh no, don't get me wrong, Mr. Brown. Hunter is an attractive young man. Many students are here, but I would never do such a thing. He's fourteen years younger than me. It's a little weird don't you think? I just hate it when people are being taken advantage of. It's not just for those two either. I see so many other students get treated like crap when they are in relationships."

"Is that the boy we passed in the hallway?" Stokes asked after a few moments of silence. "What was he doing here so late?"

"Tall with spiky, reddish hair? Yes, that was him, and I had to tutor him," Dankia answered him honestly. "Didn't we go over this already?"

"Right, sorry," he said. "But why would he be here at eleven pm? Seems a bit late for a study session."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stokes, but I thought you were here to ask for information about Kayla. I don't think I have to answer your questions about my teaching strategies. However, my other sessions were running really late. When I saw Hunter walk in at ten I asked him if he wanted to reschedule, but he wanted to go on as planned, so we did. Is that all right?"

"Yes, Ma'am," he said sincerely feeling like an idiot. "Warrick, do we have everything we need?"

"Yeah Nick, I think we're good," Warrick answered. "Thank you for your time, Miss. Evans. Have a good night."

"Thank you. You too," she watched them leave her classroom. Warrick first followed by Nick, who turned slightly to get one last look at her. She smiled slightly and shook her head. Switching off the lights, Danika headed down the hall, back to her car and back home.

Nick and Warrick arrived back at the crime lab soon after leaving WLVU. Unfortunately for them, the surveillance cameras didn't show Kayla Hutchinson robbing the mini mart, so they were back to square one.

"Warrick, why does Nick have that look on his face?" Greg asked as the three of them continued to Grissom's office. "What's going on?"

"We went to the university to question someone about the robbery there was a woman there," Greg nodded his head. He understood. "She was a Southern Belle too. They're perfect for each other?"

"Who's perfect for each other?" Sara asked, joining the three CSIs. "Uh oh, Nick has that look on his face. It's a woman isn't it?"

"She was pretty. Wasn't she, Warrick?" Nick spoke for the first time in twenty minutes. "I think that was an Oklahoma accent. It definitely wasn't the Texas drawl. What do you think?"

"I don't know, Nick. Why don't you just ask her yourself?" Warrick sighed, entering Grissom's office.

"Maybe I will."

It was almost midnight when Danika pushed her front door open. Maddie, her year-old Chocolate Lab, barked loudly, greeting her at the door. Dropping her keys on the side table, placing her briefcase on the couch, Danika headed up to the bedroom. At least tomorrow was Saturday. Then she could sleep in as long as she wanted.

Grabbing a clean pair of undergarments and her pajamas, Danika entered her bathroom and stepped into the shower. The warm water felt like heaven on her tense muscles. If only the water would wash all of her memories away for that night. Well, maybe not all of them.