Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of CSI Las Vegas or CSI:Miami, so no sue – all you would get is my crappy car. I just own Tori Van Milligen
Don't Cry for Me
Nick Stokes was humming along to a 'Brand New Man' a Brooks & Dunn song as he drove towards the Las Vegas CSI lab for the nightshift. Stopping for a stop sign, checking for oncoming traffic, he noticed red lights down in the ditch. Sighing Nick pulled over to the side of the road, grabbing a flashlight from his kit; getting out of his truck. Shining the flashlight, Nick carefully scrambled down into the ditch where he found an older model Toyota sedan which had crashed into a tree. Nick shone the light in thru the driver's broken window, finding an older woman pinned by the car's dashboard and steering wheel.
"Ma'am, can you hear me?" Nick gently touched the woman's shoulder.
The woman's eyes fluttered open as she groaned weakly. "Help me, please."
"Hold on ma'am, I'm gonna call for help," Nick flipped open his cell phone and dialled 911.
"911, what's your emergency?"
"This is CSI Stokes; I have a lady trapped in her car on North Canyon Road, northbound from Henderson."
"Fire and Rescue are being dispatched to your location," the female voice replied. "Their ETA is approximately 20 to 30 minutes. Is the victim conscious?"
"Yeah, but has minor lacerations to her face and arms."
"Stay on the line sir."
"I need to contact my boss. Can I call you back?"
"I really need you to stay on the line."
"And I need to explain to my boss why I will be late reporting for my shift or my ass will be canned."
"Fine, ask for Tessa."
"Thank you," and Nick disconnected the call.
"Mr. Stokes," the woman whispered.
"Are you in pain ma'am?" Nick leaned in thru the window.
"I can't feel my legs."
"Help is on the way. What's your name?"
"Victoria Van Milligen."
"Victoria…"
"Tori, I prefer Tori, Mr. Stokes."
"Tori, call me Nick," Nick replied smiling at the woman, who he estimated was in her sixties. "Listen, I really need to call my boss and explain why I'm not at work."
"Sure," Tori whispered.
"I'll be right back; I want to get the first aid kit from my truck, Okay? I'll be back as quick as I can."
"Okay."
Nick scrambled back up to the road where his truck was sitting and dialled his boss Dr. Gil Grissom.
"Nicky, why are you not at work yet?"
"That's why I'm calling. I'm at the scene of a vehicle accident where there is a sixty year old woman trapped in the car."
"The accident on North Canyon Road?"
"Yeah, and it looks bad. Tori says that she can't feel her legs. I've got to get back to the car and also call the 911 operator back."
"One thing before you go. Watch yourself and call us if you need help."
"Will do. I'll keep you posted," Nick disconnected the call and grabbing the first kit; he scrambled back down to the car. He saw that Tori's eyes were closed.
"Hey Tori, I need you to stay awake for me."
"Mmm, so sleepy," she mumbled.
"Come on, I need you open those pretty green eyes of yours," Nick begged, flipping his cell open and calling Tessa; the 911 operator back.
"Tessa, hi. It's CSI Stokes again. Can you advise Rescue that they may need a med-evac helicopter on standby?"
"What is the status of the victim?"
"She's approx. 60 years old, complains of no feeling in her lower limbs and may also have a concussion. I'm having a hard time keeping her awake." Nick reached in thru the broken window and gently tapped Tori's cheek, who blinked.
"Oh, you're back."
"Yeah, please try to stay awake. I need you to talk to me."
"Okay Nick."
"Where do you live Tori? Here in Las Vegas?"
"I just moved here for the climate."
"Where did you live before?"
"Miami."
"What made you go off the road? Did an animal run out in front of you?"
"My brakes failed when I tried to stop at the stop sign."
"That happens."
"I just got the car back from the brake shop this afternoon."
"Okay."
"Nick?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm cold."
Nick pulled his warm jacket off and wrapped it around Tori's shoulders.
"Thank you.'
"You're welcome."
"You said CSI Stokes earlier. What's that?"
"I'm a crime scene investigator."
"Sorry to be keeping you from your job."
"No worries. So what do you do?"
"I'm a retired secretary."
"Yeah? Where did you use to work?"
"Dade University in Miami, in the admissions office," Tori's voice trailed off.
Nick looked and saw that Tori's eyes were closed. "Hey Tori, wake up. Let me look at those pretty green eyes."
"Umm, so tired," Tori moaned. "Hard to breathe."
"I know, but you need to stay awake," Nick noticed some blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, which he gently wiped away with his handkerchief. "Do you have family here?"
"Umm, I have a niece in Miami."
"What's her name?"
"Paula Muro."
"Your brother's?"
"Oh lord no. Brother-in-law and we fought because I tried to get my sister to leave him."
"Why?"
"Because he abused Karen and Paula emotionally and physically. She was murdered by her husband when tried to stop him from hitting Paula. He was found guilty and sentenced 25 to life and I brought Paula up."
"I'm sorry."
"Paula and I are very close. I hated leaving her in Miami, but I couldn't handle the humidity with my asthma, so I moved here because of the dry heat."
Nick looked up where he heard sirens. "Fire and rescue will be here soon."
"Good."
"Hey Nick, what do you have?"
Nick looked around and saw Jim Brass scrambled towards him thru the brush. "Hey Brass, you finally made it," Nick greeted Jim. "Now where is Fire and Rescue?"
"They should be here shortly."
"Jeepers, what's the hold up?"
"It's a busy night and everyone is stretched thin. What's the situation here?"
"Tori ran off the road when her brakes failed and crashed into the tree."
Jim leaned in thru the driver's window. "Hi Tori, my name is Jim Brass. Don't worry Fire and Rescue are on their way, and we'll get you out of here."
"Hi," Tori blinked at Jim. "Are you a CSI like Nick?"
"No, I'm a detective with the Las Vegas police department. But I work with Nicky here a lot."
Both men looked up as several big fire trucks rumbled to a stop, with flashing lights.
"About damn time," Nick muttered. "Just sit tight, Jim and I need to go brief these guys on your situation so that they know what equipment to use. I'll back as soon as I can."
"Promise?" Tori coughed slightly, blood spraying from her mouth.
"I promise," Nick wiped the blood from her mouth, before both he and Jim scrambled back up to the road.
"What's the situation?" asked the crew chief.
"Sixty year old female driver, pinned by the steering wheel and dashboard.
Tori says that she can't feel her legs and also there is blood coming from her mouth now," Nick reported.
"Is she alert? Responsive?"
"Pretty much, I just have to keep reminding her to stay awake every now and then. She also complained of being cold, so I wrapped my jacket around her to keep her warm," replied Nick. "Oh yeah, Tori also mentioned that she has asthma."
"Okay, we'll look the situation over and decide how we are going to handle this."
"Nick, I'm going to call Grissom. You go back and keep Tori calm."
Back at the car Nick talked quietly to Tori while the fire crew scrambled around the wrecked vehicle. And the EMTs evaluated Tori's condition.
"Hi ma'am, my name is Sam and that's my partner Carlos. We're just going to check you over and see what injuries you have, okay?"
"Call me Tori," Tori whispered.
"Okay Tori, we are going to put this neck brace on you, in case of possible neck injuries," they carefully fastened a plastic neck brace around Tori's neck. "Do you have any pains in your legs or back?"
"No, I can't feel my legs at all," Tori coughed and more blood sprayed from her mouth. The two EMTs frowned at each other.
"Tori, are you short of breath?"
"Yeah, but that may be due to my asthma."
"Okay," Sam looked up and saw that the rest of the crew was ready to cut the car roof off. "Tori, we're going to put this emergency blanket over you to protect you while the roof is being cut off."
"Can Nick stay with me?"
"I'm not going anywhere," Nick knelt next to the car, holding Tori's hand.
Sam covered both Nick and Tori with the emergency blanket, and the crew began cutting thru the roof supports.
Finally the roof was peeled back and the windshield removed. And the crew began hooking up the chains to pull the dashboard away from Tori.
"How are you doing Tori?" Nick asked.
"Okay, I guess," Tori coughed, spraying more blood from her mouth. "Nick, promise me something."
"Depends on what it is."
"My niece Paula Muro works for the Miami-Dade police department. If I don't make it, promise me that you will call her and tell her that I will always love her."
"Hey, you'll be okay and you will be able to tell her yourself," Nick chided gently.
"I know that I'm seriously injured. Also tell her that my lawyer has my instructions for my funeral arrangements."
Nick's reply was drowned out by the motor operating the 'jaws of life' which were slowly tightening the chains, which were pulling the dashboard away from Tori's chest slowly.
Suddenly, the dashboard broke, releasing the crushing pressure against Tori's chest. Tori started choking as blood surged up into her throat and mouth. Her eyes rolled up into her head as she lost consciousness.
"Damn, we need a med-evac stat!" Sam hollered as he and Carlos scrambled to insert a breathing tube.
Nick stood back out of the way, as the rest of the crew stood by with a backboard.
"Hey, how's she doing?"
Nick looked up and saw Brass standing next to him. "It doesn't look good."
Tori was carefully removed from the wrecked car and strapped onto the backboard. A clattering sound filled the air and everyone looked up to see the med-evac helicopter coming in for a landing.
"Jim, the car needs to be checked over!"
"Why? Tori said that her brakes failed!"
"Tori just picked her car up from the repair shop this afternoon. We need to check her brake lines in case they were tampered with!"
"Okay, I'll arrange for the car to be taken to the lab!"
Both men followed Tori's stretcher as she was carried up towards the waiting helicopter.
"Which hospital are you taking her to?" Nick asked one of the trauma team.
"Desert Palms," the trauma nurse replied, as she helped to secure the stretcher in the helicopter.
"I'll meet you there later," replied Nick.
After the helicopter departed, Nick quietly asked. "Hey Sam, what do you think Tori's chances are?"
"Very slim chance of survival. Her chest was crushed and her left lung was punctured. And the pressure controlled the bleeding, once the pressure was released, the bleeding became uncontrollable."
"Thanks," Nick back towards Brass. "I'm going to start looking for any trace up on the road."
"I'll call Grissom so he knows to expect the car."
Nick nodded, and then started taking pictures, measurements and gathering any possible evidence. He was just about finished when a flatbed wrecker came for the wrecked car.
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Back at the lab Nick went to Grissom's office to let him know that he was finally at the lab.
"How are you doing Nick?"
"I'm okay," Nick shrugged off his bosses' concern. "Any word on Tori's condition?"
"I'm sorry, they did everything that they could, but she was DOA when they arrived at the hospital."
"Damn," Nick swore, hitting the wall with his fist in anger.
"Are you going to be okay? You can clock out early if you want."
"No, I'm going to check the car over. I don't think that this was an accident."
"Oh," Grissom arched an eyebrow in question.
"Tori had picked up her car from the brake shop yesterday afternoon."
"Okay, check it out," Grissom nodded in permission.
"And can you get Dr. Robbins to advise me when he has finished Tori's post?"
"Tori?"
"Victoria Van Milligen, but she preferred Tori."
"That's where I'm headed right now."
"Oh, Tori has a niece in Miami and I want to be the one to call her."
"That's not your job."
"I know, but I have some things to tell her."
"Okay, we'll call her together."
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In the morgue Dr. Robbins looked up when Grissom entered the room. "How is Nick doing?"
"He'll be okay," Grissom shrugged, his attention focused on the woman laying on the autopsy table. "What did you find out about Victoria Van Milligen?"
"Okay, Ms. Van Milligen was healthy for her age except for her asthma."
"What was the COD?"
"She bled out due to the crushing injury that she suffered to her chest. Most of her ribs were fractured and her lung was punctured, plus one of the bone splinters lacerated the heart sac causing a slow bleed."
"Was that the extent of her injuries?" Grissom frowned.
"If she has survived her chest injuries, Ms. Van Milligen would have been paralyzed from the waist down. Her spinal cord was severed from the force of the crash."
"Have you notified Victoria's niece yet?"
"No, not yet."
"Well, Nick and I will make the notification. Apparently Victoria wanted Nick to pass some information to her niece."
"I hear that he doesn't think that it was a simple accident."
"No, it seems that she had her car in for repairs at the brake shop."
"I see."
"Anything else?"
"No, I'll finish up the report and forward it to your office."
"Thanks Doc."
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In the garage, Nick enlisted Greg's help in checking Tori's car over and they found evidence that the brake line had been cut.
"But maybe it was cut by a sharp rock from the accident," said Greg as he looked at the brake line.
"See how the cut is smooth," explained Nick.
"Yeah."
"If it had been from a rock, the edges would be jagged."
"Oh, I see."
"You see what?" asked Grissom walking into the garage.
Nick showed Grissom the cut brake line and Grissom nodded. "Do you know which repair shop did the work?"
"I found the receipt in the glove compartment," said Greg. "It was LeBlanc's Brake Shop in Henderson."
"I'll call Brass to go and check out the shop and question the mechanic," Grissom reached for his cell phone.
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To make a long story short, Brass ended up arresting the shop owner's wife. She had thought the car belonged to her husband's mistress and decided to kill the mistress. Outside the interrogation room, Nick shook his head at the stupidity of it all.
Miami-Dade Crime Lab:
The phone rang at the reception desk and the officer on duty; Paula Muro answered. "Miami-Dade Crime Lab. How may I help you?"
Lt. Horatio Caine standing by the desk, checking his messages, looked up.
"Hi, I'm looking from Paula Muro, who I was told works for the Miami-Dade Police Department," a male voice said.
"This is Paula Muro speaking," Paula frowned.
"Ms. Muro, I'm Dr. Gil Grissom from the Las Vegas Crime Lab."
"Then you probably want to speak to Lt. Horatio Caine."
"No, I want to speak to you. It concerns you Aunt, Victoria Van Milligen."
"Aunt Tori? Has she been hurt in some way?"
Horatio frowned, hearing Paula's words and looked at Paula's worried face.
"I'm sorry to have to inform you that you aunt died due to injuries sustained from a car crash."
"Oh dear god, no!" Paula cried, the phone starting to slip from her nerveless fingers. Horatio caught the phone and spoke. "This is Lt. Horatio Caine, whom am I speaking with?"
"This is Dr. Gil Grissom of the Las Vegas crime lab."
"Dr. Grissom, I'm going to put you on hold for a few minutes while I take Officer Muro to my office, where she can speak to you in private."
"Sure, I'll hold."
Horatio gestured for another officer to take over for Paula, before escorting Paula to his office and closed the door. "I'll leave you alone so you can finish your call in private."
"No, please stay sir, and put it on speaker phone," Paula looked up from where she was sitting at the tall red-headed man.
Horatio sat down and took the call off hold. "Thank you for holding; we have you on speaker phone."
"What happened to Aunt Tori?"
"Your aunt was found in a car wreck be one of my CSI's and she was eventually freed from the car but succumbed to her injuries on the way to the hospital."
"Oh god," Paula moaned.
"What caused the car accident?" Horatio questioned.
"Her brakes failed when she tried to stop for a stop sign."
"Mechanical failure?" Paula frowned.
"No, your aunt's brakes were tampered with and we do have someone in custody."
"Why would someone want to hurt Aunt Tori?"
"This person tampered with the wrong car. They were trying to hurt another person," Grissom explained.
"Mistaken identity?" Horatio frowned.
"Yes."
"What was the extent of Aunt Tori's injuries?"
"Umm, severed spinal cord at the waist and crushed chest which is what killed her."
"Was she killed instantly? Did she suffer?" Paula demanded.
"Hi Ms. Muro," a new male voice replied, this one with a Texas twang. "I'm Nick Stokes, a CSI here in Las Vegas."
"Hello Mr. Stokes. Are you the one that found Aunt Tori?"
"Yes I am. First I want say that I'm sorry for your loss. And no, your aunt Tori wasn't in pain until the very end. We talked while waiting for rescue, and she talked a lot about you."
"She did?"
"Un huh, you aunt was so proud of you, and she made me promise to tell you how much she loved you. And she also said to tell that her lawyer has her funeral arrangements."
Tears rolled down Paula's face as she cried while listening to Nick speak. "Thank you," Paula sobbed.
"You're welcome and you aunt was a really nice lady."
Grissom's voice came back on the phone. "Ms. Muro, you can contact Dr., Albert Robbins of the Las Vegas Medical Examiner's office with the name of the funeral home that will be handling your aunt's funeral. And I'm truly sorry for your loss."
"Thank you, Dr. Grissom," Horatio replied, as Paula was unable to reply due to being choked by her tears.
"Good day," and the phone line was disconnected.
"Paula, I'm going to send you home with an officer, and I'll explain the situation to Sgt. Tripp.
"Thank you, Lt. Caine."
"And Paula, I too am sorry for your loss. Tori will be greatly missed by myself and everyone else here."
The End…..