There on the floor, laying spread eagle, was Michael Keppler. Four CSIs stood around his body, examining the singed stab wound to the chest that was the unmistakable C.O.D.
"Hey Cath," Warrick greeted her, "Are you going to be okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." She sighed; not taking her eyes off Keppler's body "What did you guys find?"
"Not much." Greg answered her.
"Knife work is messy, have you taken blood samples?"
"I'll get the samples straight to DNA, but don't hold out much hope." Sara stated then added, "There isn't even any defensive wounds."
"Any shoe treads?" Catherine asked while she bent down to get a closer look at Keppler's unscratched hands.
"Nothing suspicious." Said Warrick. "Probably all Keppler's."
"Prints?"
"Probably all Keppler's also." Nick said as Brass walked in.
"Guy probably wore gloves." Greg suggested.
"This is looking like a professional hit." Brass speculated, "CSI like him probably made more than a few enemies."
"That's a lot of suspects, just think of all the psychos we've pissed off." Nick pointed out.
"Did you find the murder weapon?" Catherine asked eager for some evidence.
"Nope," sighed Sara, "Killer probably took it with him, could be in Mexico by now."
"So we have nothing." Catherine was frustrated. "DNA?"
"Probably not." Said Nick as David arrived and began to assess the D.B.
"Fibers?" Catherine turned to Greg.
Greg shrugged, "Nothing suspicious."
"Eye witnesses?"
"No one saw anything." Brass informed them.
"Maybe the autopsy will tell us something." Catherine hoped.
"Not much to tell," David spoke up from Keppler's body, then stabbed the thermometer roughly into Keppler's body and a few characters flinched, after all they had known this guy. According to the Liver temp. he's been dead about 12 hours."
"Clean stab wound." Sara pointed out.
"No sighs of struggle." Warrick said as he eyed the room.
"This is looking more and more like a hit." Said Brass.
Catherine covered her face with her hands, and took a deep breath. "We will find out who did this," her hands fell to her sides, revealing her stony expression. "For Mike."
The team glared at each other, how close were these two? What about that Adam Novak guy?
"I want our best guys on this," Catherine said to Brass.
"Of course, the best for the job." He nodded.
"For Mike."
"Only the best." Nick muttered, glumly, as he continued to search for the evidence they knew wasn't there.