Disclaimer-I do not own any part of CSI. I also don't own the songs "Let it snow", or "White Christmas" they're…I dunno whose they are, the versions I have are Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. Whoever owns them, I DON'T! Lol
Chapter 2 – The Holly and the Ivy
"Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful. And since we've no place to go, let it snow let it snow let it snow." She sang softly as she folded the bits of paper in half.
"Hey Sara, what you up to?" Warrick asked as he entered the empty staff room.
"I'm putting the names together for our secret Santa." Warrick opened the fridge, took a sniff and closed it again, laughing.
"There are 6 of us; it won't be much of a secret."
"What about Brass, Sofia, Ecklie, Doc Robbins, David, Hodges and Archie?"
"Oh right. Yeah."
"Anyway, what's up?" She asked.
"Nick needs an extra pair of hands to help him process a crime scene." He paused. "I would go, but I've got some stuff to sort out with Tina. I was kinda hoping that you would be able to…" Sara nodded.
"No problem. That's cool."
"Really? Great, thanks a lot Sara, I owe you big." She held out the plastic dish.
"Well you can start by picking a name."
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She stepped out of the car and sauntered slowly to the house. She stopped a few feet behind him.
"May your days be merry and bright. And may all your Christmases be white." He muttered to himself.
"You know what the possibility of a white Christmas in Vegas actually is?" He turned, smiled and shook his head.
"Neither do I, but it's gotta be rare. I heard you needed some help." Sara walked forwards and Nick held the yellow crime tape up for her to duck underneath.
"Only just got here myself." He commented, picking up his field kit and heading up into the hallway of the house. Sofia was standing in the large living room by David who was kneeling by a female body. Sara put her kit down and took off her woolly hat and gloves. She slipped her latex gloves on, grabbed her camera and joined Sofia, who was joined by Nick shortly after.
"Holly Jenkins. 20 years old. Found by the housekeeper Maria Rodriguez. Holly's twin sister Ivy has been taken to hospital; she's being treated for shock." Sara removed the camera from her eye.
"Holly and Ivy?" She asked in disbelief, glancing at Nick.
"Uh-huh. We're trying to get in touch with friends, tutors from college, anyone who knew Holly."
"What about the girl's parents?"
"Mom died a while back. We're trying to locate the dad." She gave a small smile before entering the hallway to join an officer who was questioning the housekeeper.
"Hiya David."
"Hi Sara, Nick. Busy night for you guys huh?"
"What do you mean?" Sara asked.
"Grissom's got a strangle or blunt force trauma victim over the other side of town. I've been up and down the strip all night." He smiled shyly at Sara, who smiled back.
"So what can you tell us about the body David?" Nick asked, amused.
"Oh right. No defensive wounds and no sign of blunt force trauma. No signs to indicate strangulation either. I'm afraid till we get her back and do the autopsy, the COD is unknown. Time of death I'd say 4-6 hours ago."
"Thanks David. We'll let you know when we've finished with the body." Nick replied.
"Two girls; were born together, lived together. But Holly dies alone. Why?" Sara asked rhetorically shaking her head before bending to look at the victim. Nick began to examine the room while Sara remained with the body.
"Holly has a red substance on her lips. Could be blood?" She took some photos, retrieved her kit and took a swab.
"It's not blood."
Nick looked around at the swab, freshly applied with luminal that hadn't turned pink as expected. She shuffled around the victim to get a better look.
"Well she's wearing pyjamas. She was on her way to bed."
"Something, someone, obviously stopped her." Nick commented.
"A burglar?" She suggested.
Nick looked around the room.
"Widescreen TV, expensive stereo, decorative silver. All still here. If it was a burglar, it wasn't a very clever one. Besides, the rest of the household would have woken up." He turned his attention to the coffee table.
"I've got a glass with milk inside. There's something else, looks like a trace of something else in her drink. Maybe she was poisoned?" He took a plastic jar from his kit and drained the liquid into it. He dusted the glass and several fingerprints illuminated on the surface. He lifted them carefully and added them to his increasing evidence.
"Well if it was poison, or even a sedative it would explain why she has no defensive wounds. Although she does have scratches around her mouth." Sara observed, the blinding light from her flash lighting the room for a brief moment. "I wouldn't say self inflicted. Maybe she was suffocated?"
Nick studied the photos on the wall and called over his shoulder
"This just doesn't make any sense. There's a mysterious powder in a drink on the table which she may or may not have drunk suggesting poison. But at the same time she's got scratches on her face suggesting suffocation. I know Grissom says follow the evidence, but what happens when it contradicts itself?"
Sara gave a small smile to herself before shrugging her shoulders. He sighed and walked across the room into the hallway where the housekeeper was now sitting alone.
"Maria, my name is Nick stokes, I'm from the Las Vegas crime lab. We wanna find out who did this to Holly but we need your help. Is it cool to ask you a few questions?"
She nodded. "Si."
"Cool. Can you tell me what you did before we arrived?"
"Well, I always get here at about six thirty every morning to do cleaning, tidying and get breakfast made. I came in this morning and headed towards the kitchen to start breakfast. I saw the light on in the living room. I walked in and saw senorita Holly." She put her hand to her mouth and began to cry.
"What happened then?"
She took a few breaths to regain her composure.
"I ran upstairs and woke senorita Ivy. She came down and I phoned the police. She just stood there looking at her sister."
"Is there anyone you know of that would want to harm or kill Holly?"
She sniffed and fiddled with her hands.
"No. We all loved her; she was like my own daughter. She had a lot of friends too."
Nick looked over his shoulder and pointed before looking back.
"There are quite a few photos in there of the girls. I'm guessing the man in those is their father?"
She nodded again.
"Does he live here?"
"Si."
"Where is he?"
"I don't know Mr Stokes. He tells me he won't be back for dinner and sometimes he says not to bother making him breakfast. He may have gone to work early; sometimes he goes to the gym. He hadn't come back when I went home last night."
"Were you the last person up last night?"
"No senor; Holly and Ivy were watching a horror film. I hate those films and I think Ivy did too but Holly loved them so…" She drifted off as tears came to her eyes again.
"Ok, well if you can give Mr Jenkins' work details to that officer over there that would be a great help." He gave a kind smile, and then rejoined Sara.
"Any more luck?"
"What are you expecting? A note saying 'I killed Holly.' Signed Mr Killer?" She laughed. She bent down and picked up a stack of files. "I found the stash of the families financial files." She handed them to Nick one by one. "Deeds to the house, the probate documents for Rachel-the mom- AND the family collection of wills. Even the twins had them. A nice bit of light reading."
Nick looked around.
"So all valuables are still here, no blood pools to suggest the Vic was beaten to death, no suicide note, nothing to suggest a disturbance in the room."
"Except for the fact that a young girl is lying dead in the middle of it." She commented sadly. "I'm gonna take a look upstairs." She disappeared up into the master bedroom.
"I'll put these in the car shall I?" Nick muttered sarcastically. He raised his eyebrows in greeting as he passed David who was re-entering the room with a body bag.
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Whew, what a long chapter! My fingers cramped up from typing so much!