Disclaimer: I don't own CSI,or any of it's characters. Everything else is mine.
Chapter 1
Sara stepped through the door, and looked around the busy restaurant, searching for that familiar head of curls. She spotted him in the back of the dining room, sitting at a table set for two. This was his night off, and she was meeting him for a late dinner. One of the great things about living in Vegas was that restaurants were open around the clock, and you could have a date anytime of day, and have your choice of cuisine. Tonight it was a small Italian place that they had been to on numerous occasions. As she walked to the table she noticed that he was reading an entomology magazine, and she again marveled at his ability to entertain himself whereever he might find himself. As she reached the table he looked up. She watched as his mind shifted from the world of science, and warmed at the sight of her.
"Hi, I'm glad you were able to get here. Anything interesting happen tonight?" he asked as she settled herself in her chair.
"No, in fact it's been a very slow night. Nick and Warrick said to take as long at dinner as I wanted, that they'll call my cell if something comes up." Sara picked up her menu, and was deliberating on whether to get the Eggplant Parmesan, or the Fettuccine Alfredo, when she felt her phone began to vibrate. Looking at the display, she saw that it was Warrick. She looked over at Gil and smiled, "Don't worry; maybe he just forgot to tell me something before I left." Looking around she saw that there were a few couples seated around them, not wanting to disturb them she excused herself to take the call in the alcove in the back of the restaurant that led to the restrooms and had an old fashioned payphone booth. She stepped into the both for privacy, and returned the call.
Watching her go, Grissom could hardly believe how happy she made him, and he kicked himself everyday that it had taken him so long to allow her a more personal place in his life. The waitress walked up and asked if they were ready to order. He told her that they may need a little more time on the food, but ordered Sara's usual "on the job" drink of iced tea. He was just thinking of going back to his magazine, when he became aware of someone standing next to him. At the clearing of a throat he looked up to find Catherine smiling down at him. His first instinct was to glance towards the alcove, but managed to resist, not wanting to give her any reason to glance that way.
"Gil, what are you doing here?" she asked. He could tell she was barely containing a smirk, and sought for something to say that would satisfy her curiosity. "Don't tell me that the introverted Grissom actually has a date?" she continued.
"Actually, I do. Though she seems to have stood me up. I've been waiting for over thirty minutes, so I'll probably leave soon. What are you doing here, hot date?"
"No, I'm meeting mom for a late dinner; she's still having trouble with what happened with Sam."
"Oh, do you want to join me until she gets here?" enquired Grissom.
"Are you sure? What if your date shows up and sees me here and gets the wrong idea"
"Well it was a blind date, and I wasn't really looking that forward to it anyway, if she shows up this late, and sees you, I don't think it will ruin my life."
While Catherine was looking towards the front of the restaurant to see if her mother had shown up, Grissom chanced a quick glance towards the alcove. For a split second he saw Sara stick her head out to check out if Cath was still there, before ducking back into the shadows.
Sara had just finished her call from Warrick, which had turned out to be a call to a DB found in a dumpster behind a club called Chanteuse. She was about to walk back to the table, when she saw Catherine talking to Grissom. Talk about bad luck. From what she could see, Cath seemed to be settling in for awhile, and it looked as though Gil had invited her to stay. She could understand his reasoning behind that decision, it would allay her suspicions about who he was meeting, and keep her from looking around too much, making it less likely that she would see Sara, but there was no way she could get past the table without being seen, and she had to get to the crime scene.
As she was contemplating what to do, she saw Cath get up and head in her direction. With only a moment to think of what to do, she dove into the phone booth, and lifted the receiver, keeping her back turned to the entryway. If she was in luck, Cath was going to the ladies, and she could slip out after she'd gone in. Sara let out a huge breath a few seconds later when her luck held, and Cath did indeed go into the door marked Dolls, opposite the door marked Guys.
As quickly as possible, Sara slipped through the restaurant, gave Grissom a wave and a shrug, and headed out the door.
Grissom smiled at Sara's departure, and turned to the waitress who was setting down Sara's tea; he quickly gave her his empty glass, told her there had been a change of plans, and asked for the check. By the time Catherine got back, her Mom was walking through the door. He made his excuses, and headed home. If he remembered correctly, Animal Planet was airing a program on the ten most deadly insects, and he liked to watch and pick out the inaccuracies.
Sara pulled up behind the club, grabbed her kit and made her way past the crime scene tape. "Hey, what do we have?" she asked Warrick as she reached him and Nick.
"Busboy came out about midnight to dump some trash, and have a smoke, when he noticed a hand sticking out from behind the dumpster. At first he thought it was a vagrant, but when he got a closer look… well I'd watch your step if I were you."
Sara looked over to Brass talking to a slight man, wearing a basic busboy uniform and sporting a mo-hawk, and multiple facial piercings. He looked as though he may still lose whatever was left in his stomach. His face was almost as pale as his white shirt, and he was shivering. "Have we ID'd the vic yet?"
"Yeah, his name was B.J. Johnson. Owner says he was a regular, and the last time she saw him was around 10pm, so that narrows down TOD. Ahh, here's David, he can give us a better estimate."
"Hey Guys, thought it was going to be a slow night, guess you should never count your chickens, huh. Had to call and cancel lunch with my fiancé." David said as he made is way to the body.
Smiling, Warrick turned to the others and asked "Ok, who wants what?"
Simultaneous calls of "I'll take the body" came from both Nick, and Sara.
"Oh no, I had the last dumpster". Sara exclaimed.
"How 'bout we rock, paper, scissors for it." Nick begged.
"Ah…No, I don't think so. If you'll remember, that's why I had the last one. I still believe that you changed your scissors to paper at the last minute when you saw I was going for rock." She gestured to the dumpster. "Go, and have yourself a grand ole' time." She turned to Warrick and saw the grin he couldn't quite hide in time.
"Lead the way." She said gesturing with her kit towards the dumpster. They made their way to the body. Sara knelt down and opened her kit. Taking out a pair of gloves, and putting them on.
"Doesn't look like he fought back, no defensive wounds." said David, turning the hands to show them the palms.
"Maybe it was someone who didn't make him feel threatened." Warrick said as he photographed the wounds. "It looks as if someone was in a rage; this looks like way more than a robbery. There was anger behind these punctures." He indicated the wounds to his throat, chest, and genitals.
"Plus... a thief will take your wallet, car keys, and cell phone, but I've never heard of one taking the victims clothes." Sara wryly pointed out.
"David can you get us a liver temp so we can estimate TOD." Warrick watched as David inserted the digital thermometer. "Liver temp is 95.3 degrees." David looked at his watch, "It's 1:10 now, so I'd put TOD at between 10pm and 11pm"
"Ok… well, that jives with the owners account." Warrick turned to Sara, who had been examining the vic's hands. "Sara, did you find something?"
"I've got some kind of black transfer on the tip of the thumbs. Could be ink, I'll get a sample to Hodges for analysis."
Nick poked his head over the edge of the dumpster. "Hey guys, I think I've got the vic's clothes, and his wallet. You know if this was a robbery, why not take the wallet with you. The thief could use the ID… sell the name to some under age kid looking for a fake ID."
"Maybe the thief was inexperienced, grabbed the cash and ran." Sara turned from her position kneeling beside the vic to look at Nick.
"Except that doesn't account for the amount of damage done to him, it also doesn't account for the removal of his clothes." Warrick said looking around, hoping to find some kind of answer in the alley detritus.
"Okay David, go ahead and load him up. Sara and I will finish going over the area, and talking to the witnesses. Nick, you know what needs to be done, we'll meet up back at the lab later"
"Sure thing, Boss." Nick said before ducking back down into the mounds of trash. Sara, suppressing a grin turned to look down the alley. She looked down the south end, and let her gaze travel the length up to the north end. "Did the vic have a car?"
"According to Ms. Bird, the owner of Chanteuse, it's still in the front parking lot." Brass replied, and Sara turned to see that he had joined them.
"Do we know any more about Mr. Johnson there?" Warrick asked, nodding towards the gurney bearing the body, being rolled towards the coroners van.
"Not much so far." Brass said, taking out his notepad. "His name is B.J. Johnson, he was a regular here, came in just about every night. I'm going to go talk to the employees that were working tonight; see if anyone saw him with anyone"
"While you're doing that, I'm going to check out his car." Sara said as she started to walk off. Looking back she called, "Hey Warrick, are you going back to the lab now, or joining Brass in the questioning. I know you think you're Superman, but even he can't be in two places at once."
Warrick sighed. "I don't know, someone needs to accompany the body back to the lab, but I also need to hear what the potential witnesses have to say."
"Well", Sara said, "Greg is already at the lab. He can process the body, while you help question the witnesses."
"I thought Greg was off tonight."
"He called and said he was coming in, said his mind was too busy and he needed something to keep him occupied, even if it was only paperwork. I'm sure he'd give you his entire stock of Blue Hawaiian if you were to give him something interesting to do." Sara said.
"You know what; I think I'll do that. If I were in his place, I don't know if I would have come back so soon." Warrick said thoughtfully.
"You know what they say; keeping busy will keep you sane." Sara called as everyone headed off to complete there respective tasks.
TBC...