Introduction
Wheels squeaked down the hall as the maid worked her way towards the 63rd room on the 2nd floor. She had just came from the downstairs lobby where she met a large group of foreign exchange students who were eager to learn a lot about Las Vegas. Apparently they had arrived a week before and recently lodged into this hotel.
She smiled at the idea of the bunch. They were quite cheerful, she had to admit. And certainly a lot more polite than any of her other guests here.
Determined to do a good job on her cleaning, Maria unlocked the suite and entered into the room.
At first, nothing she noticed was different. After all, it was dark. It was only after did she turn on the light did she truly realize the horror and significance of the threshold she had just entered.
The bed was ravaged into mere sheets. Desks toppled over. The atmosphere was filled with the thick scent of wine, semen, and worse of all…blood.
With growing dread, Maria slowly walked into the room. Small chunks of glass crushed and tinkled beneath her black heels. A deep sense of fear began to grow in her gut. A pair of long, lean legs came into vision around the corner of the bed.
Maria turned around the bed. Although she covered her mouth, she could stifle her scream.
She was a pretty little girl. Young, cheerful. Her copper brown hair was scattered amongst the rug and drenched with the thick smell of wine and blood. Scratches raced along her cheek and bruises littered her swelling head. Beneath her, however, laid a victim who looked in worse shape.
At first glance, she wouldn't thought he was a girl. His long white hair could've easily been mistaken for a girl's locks. But that's when she noticed…his bleeding, flat chest. The bruises around his pale, white neck. The swelling sores around his eyes and the discolored wounds in his stomach. Blood trickled down his thighs and Maria choked back a cry; icky white liquid slid along with the blood that was dampening the rug.
The wall behind him was splattered with blood. His lips were dripping crimson. For a moment, Maria was sure he was dead. But then…
His eye opened. A hazed, brown orb stared at her straight in the eye.
Maria didn't bother to cover her mouth this time. This time, she screamed.
"So what do we have here?" asked Grissom as he walked side by side with Brass. He stopped momentarily to gaze up high at the flashy hotel before them. Red and yellow dotted bulbs flashed "The Gold Crown" on the sign that hung over the main doors.
"Apparently a girl killed in room 263," informed Brass shortly. "Another in the same vicinity in brutal condition, teenage male. He's on his way to the hospital right about now."
"Witness?" asked Grissom, as he watched the two doors unfold, followed by a stretcher being rolled towards him by two ambulance aids. A young boy was strapped down in the stretcher's many layers of sheets, his bruised and bloodied pale face covered in an oxygen mask. Grissom tilted his head curiously as the stretcher rolled past him.
The boy briefly opened his eyes. For the mere instant that Grissom had seen them, they were a dark, clouded chocolate brown color. Almost a second later, the boy's eyes closed, and with a soft moan, he fainted against the stretcher.
Grissom watched curiously as the stretcher was hoisted into the ambulance. He looked back to Brass.
"Is our victim an albino?" Grissom asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
Brass gave a facial similarity of a shrug with his lips. "You'll have to ask the hospital that, but I'm going to say no. Why?"
Grissom pointed his pen in the direction of the ambulance. "That kid had white hair. But his eyes are brown."
Brass arched his eyebrow. "Albinos have red eyes, I hear. Perhaps he's half and half."
Grissom shook his head. "That's not possible." He looked back up at the hotel. "Anyway, we may as well get a move on. After you?"
Brass gave a half-smirk and started towards the door. "After you."
The hotel room was nicely furnished. Four-poster bed against the wall, draped in thick, warm crimson covers. The floors were covered in an earthy rug, and in corners stood nightstands of deep oak. However, the beauty of the room was taken harshly away by the messiness of the scene.
The crimson covers were shoved and tangled in an array of obvious struggle. The floor was littered with broken pieces of glass. The desks and stands were toppled over, some broken.
Lights flashed as Grissom entered the scene. Sara had already found her way in and was taking pictures of the crime scene, as various men and women roped the area off. Meanwhile, from behind the bed, Grissom managed to catch the fling of blond hair; Catherine was taking pictures of apparently, the victim.
Brass stopped shortly behind Grissom, surveying the area with a great sigh. Grissom turned and looked around a bit, watching as men and women passed by and did their work.
"Victim?"
"Caller called an hour ago, a hotel maid found her," Brass informed. "Nothing's been moved, apparently, but---" Brass sighed. "A hotel room has a world's worth of fingerprints in it. Wouldn't make the investigation any simpler even if the maid had moved the victim."
"Where was she found?" Grissom asked.
"On the floor, lying on her back. We assume her death was caused by initial head trauma, but we won't know anything for certain until we carter her off to the morgue."
"And the surviving one?" prompted Girssom. He wove his way around the corner of the bed and glanced at the wall behind the dead girl. It was taped in the shape of a person.
"Our lovely half-albino was found lying behind her. She was on top of him. Suffered from head trauma by the initial looks of it, although he looked a lot more beat up than she did."
Grissom frowned. "…Unfinished job, maybe?"
"It's got to be," Brass said. "One girl dead, maybe the killer didn't have enough time to finish our albino boy."
"He must've had a lot of time," Grissom argued. "The maid came in and found her hours later."
"Could be a threat," Sara called from the other side of the room. "A warning."
Grissom frowned and sighed.
"Has the victim been identified?" he asked, turning the corner of the bed. As he neared the victim, Catherine raised her head and held up her camera. Next to her knelt Nick, who was trying to pat around for a wallet. Brass sighed.
"Not yet, I assume."
Catherine shook her head, looking down at the body with a somewhat regretful look in her eyes. Grissom arched his eyebrow and looked down at the body; the girl was sprawled on her back, her only clothing of simple lingerie bedwear. Her long, copper brown hair was scattered across the rug, dried and orangey crimson from a bleeding wound in her head.
Grissom frowned. "The blood's clotting. How long has she been here?"
"Can't be more than a few hours," Catherine replied. She raised her camera and snapped another picture. "It's a pity, isn't it? She's such a young and beautiful looking girl too…"
"Have to wonder what a young and pretty looking girl is doing in lingerie in a hotel room," Brass said dully. Grissom shrugged his eyebrows in agreement and knelt down next to Catherine.
"Found any ID yet?" asked Grissom.
Nick shook his head, still flipping through the wallet. "Nope…not yet…for a pretty looking teenage girl, she sure doesn't have much in her wallet."
"Maybe it's not hers," Grissom suggested. Nick shook his head.
"Found it in her pocket. There are pictures of her and some of other relatives. I'll give them to evidence once I find an ID card."
"Better make it quick then," Grissom said disapprovingly. "The fresher the evidence, the better." He returned his gaze to the girl. A glitter of green caught his eye.
There. Lying next to her hand. Little bits of green, glinting, shining…
Frowning, Grissom bent forward. He gently nudged Catherine in the side.
"Hey…Catherine…what does that look like to you?"
Surprised, Catherine lowered her camera and scooted away a bit, allowing Grissom to show her where he was looking. She looked at the patch of rug curiously and bent closer to look at it. Carefully, she picked at one shard with a gloved finger and raised it to the light.
She turned it around a bit, analyzing from all angles. "Glass, maybe?"
"From a wine bottle, perhaps?" Grissom suggested. He sniffed the air. "Alcohol?"
"I'll send these over as soon as I can," Catherine replied. "It would make sense though. There's no murder weapon…not that we could see. But…if a wine bottle had been the murder weapon, where's the rest of it?"
Grissom nodded his head. "That's what you have to find out."
"Hey," Nick interrupted. "I got an ID of the victim."
Grissom, Catherine, Brass and Sara looked up and glanced at Nick. "Yes?"
With a grim smile, Nick flipped the ID around and showed it to the crew.
"Age sixteen, original birthplace, Japan."
"Japan?" Brass repeated. "Intriguing. She sure doesn't look as though she's part of that descent."
"Name?" Grissom prompted.
"A Serenity Wheeler," Nick answered. "Goes to Domino High in Japan. This is her student ID number."
-Insert CSI theme song 'cause the author is too pressed for time to finish this chapter decently-
Really bad beginning chapter, but I intend to make this quick and short. I've been watching CSI one too many times and I came up with this. I know I should be working on NK2, but the latest chapter will take me a while, so I thought I'd entertain you guys with this crossover. I'll try to keep this relatively short.
I'll try my best to make this as suspenseful as possible. In the meantime, forgive me for this crappy 3 paged chapter. I'm trying my best to keep this a 'short story'. TT Please read and review. I don't expect much excitement because it was a pretty half-assed job, but I'm trying! I'm trying!
Please read and review?