Disclaimer: I do not own CSI: New York or any of the characters from the show. This is purely for entertainment.


Chapter 3

Don Flack looked at the young girl sitting in front of him. She was rocking gently back and forth on the cream couch, tears dripping from her eyes which were stuck to the floor. He couldn't help but feel sympathy for this poor young girl and disbelief that she was the only family of the latest victim. She was twelve years old. His heart sank as he heard her force back sobs, the urge to wrap his arms around her small frame and reassure her everything was going to be okay was undeniable but that wasn't him and if Danny walked in whilst he was holding this little girl, he'd never hear the last of it. As if on cue a swift knock at the door informed him of Danny's arrival, with company he guessed, a small smirk crossing his face as he opened the door to see Danny not alone, of course he'd be with Lindsay, they were inseparable. He was sure by now they'd have to be at least seeing each other, I mean he didn't get a degree in it or anything, but he was positive there was chemistry between those two.

Stepping outside for a moment, Don looked at the two CSI's, his smug smile soon wiped off by a look of sadness as he retold the story he had to pry out of the little girl. "Her name's Jasmine Turner. She's Alice's younger sister, twelve years old to be exact. It's just those two. The girl's mother abandoned them seven years ago, she's MIA at the moment, some of my guys are trying to get hold of her. Their father is here though, in the garden. He died around fourteen months ago, lung cancer, according to Jasmine he suffered for over two years before it finally took he, she's convinced he was fighting to stay alive for his two girls, this case just keeps getting more devastating. Well, he passed just after Alice turned eighteen, she took the position of legal guardian to her sister, poor kid, she's devastated. You're a woman Monroe, go comfort her please, it's breakin' my heart." Flack strode off to his vehicle, "I'm going back to the precinct, see if anyone's got any look finding her mother, can't leave her alone like this, it's not right. Then I'm off to see Stella, see if any of our vic's friends can give us a reason why someone would want her dead." He smiled softly at them before climbing into his car.

Danny turned to look at Lindsay and he could see tears in her eyes already, before taking the lead and walking into the house, following the sound of quiet sobs, "Hey there sweetie," Danny smiled warmly at the little girl, Flack was lucky to have gotten out of here quick, the sight he saw before him began chipping away at the strong heart he had. Jasmine Turner had puffy red eyes, her lips swollen and bleeding and her hair in tatters, the long brunette locks scruffy and un-brushed, "I'm Detective Danny Messer and this is Detective Lindsay Monroe, we're with the crime lab." He offered a warm smile to the small girl who refused to meet his eye, he walked forwards to try and get her to look up before a hand was placed on his shoulder, he turned to look at Lindsay who simply overtook him, sitting next to the young girl on the sofa, her hand resting on her shoulder. "I'll go take a look upstairs, see if I can find anything that gives us any clue to why this happened."

"Hi Jasmine, I'm Lindsay, you feel like talking yet?" The young girl shook her head roughly before collapsing onto Lindsay's lap, sobs ripping through her body, a cry and a scream morphed together and made their way out of her mouth, only to be smothered by the fabric of Lindsay's pants. She stroked the younger girls head sympathetically, untangling the knots as she cried, "It's going to be okay sweetheart, you let it all out." She cooed at the girl, her voice a gentle whisper before she looked up, tears brimming in her eyes, "This is heart-breaking," Lindsay whispered quietly to no-one in particular, "She has no one." Lindsay looked around as she held the little girl, photo frames were plastered around the living room, pictures of Alice and Jasmine, some of both girls on their own and quite a few of the girls and an older man with slick brunette hair she presumed to be their father considering the shocking resemblance he had to the sobbing girl in her arms.

Lindsay wasn't sure how long it was until Danny returned back down the stairs but she took note of the evidence bags in his hands, a clear indication that he had found something that would be useful to their case. Danny cleared his throat as he entered the living room, "Jasmine," Both of them watched as the little girl raised her head, her eye's red and puffy, her cheeks stained with fresh tears, "We really need to ask you a few questions before we send you off somewhere safe, that okay?" He spoke softly and gently, afraid to upset the girl further. Lindsay tightened her grip on Jasmine as she nodded her head, looking up at Danny, her sparkling brown eyes connecting with his.

"Okay, so these may be hard questions so I want you to answer them as best you can and if you feel like you can't, don't be afraid to say so okay?" Another small nod indicated he was free to continue, "What time did Alice leave last night?"

"About eight, she went out to deal with something she said, she wouldn't tell me what it was." The girl's voice was meek and Danny had to strain his ears to make out what she was saying.

"So she just left you alone here?" The concern in Lindsay's voice was unmistakable; this was a rough area, who would leave a young girl defenceless at night?

"Yes but she said she'd be back in at least an hour, she said she would be quick, we were supposed to be watching a film later but she never came back." The waiver in her voice told Danny and Lindsay they should be more careful with their questioning. After a few more tears dropped down her cheeks, Danny felt safe to continue.

"Do you know who she was going to meet?"

"Yes, her boyfriend." Danny hadn't found any indication of a boyfriend in any of the things he had took from Alice's room and her cell phone had backed up this theory so he was surprised by her answer.

"And his name is?" Lindsay asked Danny's question before he even opened his mouth, he smirked at her, clearly she was feeling left out of this little question game.

"Jack Porter. I don't know where he lives, I'm sorry, I only saw him a handful of times when Alice picked me up from school. That's all I know." Jasmine dropped her head down again, focusing on the ring around her index finger, "Alice gave this to me, after my dad died, she said it was a symbol that we'd always be together, protecting each other. Can I go now?"

Lindsay nodded her head, "Of course sweetie, is there anyone we can drop you off with until we need to see you again?" The little girl looked up and nodded, pointing to a picture frame on the far corner of the mantel piece, it was a small silver frame with delicate purple handwriting, Lindsay couldn't read it from where she was sat but inside it held a picture of two girls, one brunette and one redhead, she presumed the brunette was Jasmine.

"My friend Amber rang before, she said I can stay at hers until someone contacts… anyone. She lives round the corner from here." Lindsay stood up with Jasmine under her arm, cradling her small body to her own, making sure the little girl felt protected. Walking past Danny she felt him place a hand on her shoulder, stopping her momentarily.

"You did good Montana, I'm proud." He flashed her a small smile before walking off in front of her, leaving a slightly dazed Lindsay to follow him.

/

"What you got for me Sid?" Mac entered the eerie feeling office and walked over to his colleague who was finishing up his final observation of the body.

"Hi Mac. Well, Lindsay was right about the COD, exsanguination. The bullet penetrated her lower abdomen, pushing right through and exited through her back leaving her to slowly bleed to death. Quite a lengthy process really, the killer must have known they had time, such a tragic painful death for such a young girl." Sid Hammerback looked down at the young girl lying before him, feeling a shudder floating through his body, she reminded him of his youngest, she was blonde too. He felt a sudden paternal feeling overwhelm him as he looked down at the body. "I also found some sort of black fibres down her throat, I sent them off to Trace but they looked quite similar to the fibres Lindsay pulled off our vic at the scene."

"Okay so, killer shoots her and watches her bleed to death and maybe wraps her in their jumper to stop her screaming, make sure she doesn't attract any unwanted attention." Mac glances at Sid, picturing the scene in his mind before he spoke again, "What's the interesting find you had to tell me about?"

"Ah well yes," Sid walked over to the other side of the body and uncovered her upper torso slowly, revealing several bruises along her arms and body that wouldn't have been noticed before by the CSI's. "I noticed these as I was prepping her for washing, bruising on her lower arm and torso and also on her upper thighs," He uncovered the sheet around the victims thighs to show Mac what he was talking about, "By the colour of these I'm going to estimate these happened around one to two hours antemortem."

"So what? Our vic was possibly beaten or grabbed viciously hours before her death, probably by her killer. They probably tried to grab her but she managed to get away which would explain why she was found a few blocks away from her house, she probably ran from the murder. But it doesn't explain the bruising on her upper thighs." Mac looked at Sid quite concerned, this must be the 'interesting' part, he thought, Sid looked like he was ready to burst.

"That's exactly what I thought! So I looked at the bruises on the upper thighs more carefully, they're fingertip bruises. So I did the first thing that popped into my head, I checked her for any fluids around that area and I found semen. I haven't had time to do it yet but I'm going to get someone to run a SOEC check on her and see what we can find."

Mac looked at Sid with a look of shock and sadness mixed in on his face, "So you think she might have been raped?" Sid nodded slowly, as if he didn't want to believe that this young girl had been violated in ways he would never wish upon anyone, "So maybe that's the motive. She wouldn't comply so he raped her and then killed her to silence her?"

Sid snapped his glasses back from his eyes and settles them around his neck, looking down at the peaceful face of the young girl he pulled the sheet back over her, hoping to preserve what was remaining of her purity and youth, "Your guess is as good as mine Mac."

/

It was two thirty in the morning when Jasmine Turner was pulled from her sleep by a vicious nightmare which threated to take any sanity she had left in her tiny body. She looked over at her friends sleeping frame before slowly getting up out of her makeshift bed, slipping into her fluffy boots and walking out of her friend's bedroom. Trotting down the stairs ever so gently, afraid in case she woke anyone up she made her way to the kitchen, grabbing a glass off the side and filling it up with water from the tap. She let the cool liquid flow down her throat, cooling her off from her sweating rush she had moments earlier.

A light outside caught her attention, the garden light had been activated, illuminating the porch swing which rested gently against the cool breeze. She made her way outside, carefully shutting the door behind her and she sat on the chair, letting her head rest against the wooden back, her eyes slowly closing as she pictured her sister's beautiful face.

Alice was the best sister Jasmine could have wished for. She was six years older than her, so they never fought over conflicting interests, they barely even fought over what to watch on the television, Jasmine idolised her sister. Everything about her was perfect, she was beautiful, intelligent, kind, loving and it physically pained Jasmine to imagine another day without her sister, her beauty and her peace would no longer be around to comfort her. She would no longer be around to hold Jasmine when she awoke at night, screaming and restless from nightmares. Tears stung her eyes but she let them fall, she was allowed too, she had lost everyone.

That reminded her of something she heard that woman whisper earlier today. That it was 'heart-breaking' because she had 'no-one' but Jasmine felt no anger for the woman who had said those things, how could she when all she'd done for her today was be nice, warm and loving, she was everything Jasmine loved about her sister. Lindsay her name was, she thought, when she had first walked in she really didn't want to be questioned by some stupid detective who had no idea what she was going through, the first male detective she spoke to, Flock or Flynn or something was exactly that, his words his condolences were empty because he didn't understand. But something was different about Lindsay, something in the way she held Jasmine as she cried, something in the way she spoke to her, easing the answers out of her mouth told her that she understood. She knew what Jasmine was going through, she knew how it felt to lose someone you love and care about so much, to see them one day and know you'll never see them again.

Her attention was drawn to a rustling sound to her right; she turned her head slowly, to see a figure dress in black approaching her at a scarily quick place. She didn't notice the glittering blade that was being held by the figure, she only noticed the face.

"You." It clicked in Jasmines head, everything suddenly made sense, but before she had a change to run or to even scream for help, her throat was slit and all her youth and understanding flowed out of her with the blood that was drawn from her wound. Her eyes rolled, her head dropped forward and the glass fell out of her hand, crashing to the floor and smashing into a million pieces. The last image Jasmine saw was her murder walking away not her sister's face, which she had wished it had been.