SailorStar9: After getting Chapter 35 out, this is Chapter 36 of this fic. (Sighs) Guys and girls, is it too hard for you to leave a review, instead of just putting this fic up on your favorited list and story alerts?

Disclaimers: I own nothing, except for the plot bunny which, unfortunately, is still alive and kicking.

Chapter 36: Fannysmackin'

"The vic had nothing on him but his casino ID." Brass informed Grissom and Catherine inside the Golden Sapphire Hotel carpark. "Name is Vasco Ruiz. He's a dishwasher here at the Golden Sapphire. My guess he got off his shift, went to his car, got whacked."

"By what?" Catherine asked, kneeling aside the bloody body as Grissom snapped photos.

"A blender?" Brass suggested as Grissom snapped more photos.

"Surveillance?" Grissom questioned.

"Not in the employee structure." Brass shook his head.

"Witnesses?" Grissom pressed.

"Well, we found a Wayne Newton impersonator, but all I could get him to do was sing a few bars of "Danke Schoen"." Brass shrugged. "But no wallet no cash, no cell phone, no car keys. Smells like a robbery."

"Maybe it was his payday." Catherine guessed.

"Even if this guy was walking out of here with a million dollars," Grissom pointed out. "This is way more than excessive."

"Personal." Catherine concluded.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go get personal with his boss." Brass added and handed the phone to Catherine. "See what he knows."

Nearby, Brass and Warrick arrived at the next crime scene, the gurney pushing the badly injured Jessica out.

"You got a name?" Warrick asked.

"She's not talking." Brass replied.

"What about ID?" Warrick inquired.

"He must've taken her wallet." Brass stated.

"Cell phone?" Warrick pressed.

"It's not here; they took it." Brass shook his head. "Somebody had to see something."

"Hey." Warrick greeted Nick who was already on site after Brass left.

"Hi." Nick returned and Warrick looked at the victim's things on the ground, most stained with blood.

"Well, we got a souvenir cup that screams 'tourist'." Warrick said.

"Yep." Nick nodded.

"I don't see a bar anywhere around here." Warrick stated. "She must've been either going to or coming from the strip. "

"But she shouldn't have been walking around here, Warrick." Nick pointed out, seeing the dark and isolated carpark. "Couldn't pick a shadier part of town, man."

"You know these tourists don't know what they're getting when they book a trip to Vegas online." Warrick reminded, kneeling down to look around. "They think 'I got a room on the strip for 75 bucks. Whoo, what a deal.'"

"Then they mosey through the naked city with their thousand dollar cameras." Nick added, Warrick nodding in agreement. "Next thing you know, we're taking their picture."

"You know what?" Warrick frowned. "Grissom's crime scene is just five blocks from here. Both victims had their wallets and their cell phones stolen. And they were both beaten down in the same way."

"Looks like someone's on a little crime spree." Nick remarked.

In the autopsy lab, Catherine was watching as Dr. Philips washed down the victim's head.

"Uh, David, hang on." Catherine voiced, stopping Dr. Philips when she spotted a piece of toenail in the victim's mouth. Removing it, she held it up.

"Looks like a woman's toenail." Dr. Philips noted.

"Well, it's not necessarily a woman's." Catherine stated.

"Vasco Ruiz was someone's punching bag." Dr. Robbins was reporting his findings to Grissom. "He suffered multiple abrasions, lacerations, contusions. I found no particular patterns, sharp edges or tool marks from any weapons."

"Do fists and feet count?" Grissom asked.

"He had too many bruises to count, one on top of another." Dr. Robbins replied. "And under the skin, things get even worse. Long bone fractures of the fingers, radius, ulna, humerus. Rib fractures, flail chest. Fractures of the vault and base of skull. Almost every bone in his face. Somewhere along the way, he took a shot to the head that resulted in a subdural hematoma. COD is multiple blunt force trauma.

"Could one person have done this?" Grissom inquired.

"Not even Mike Tyson." Dr. Robbins sighed and shook his head.

"And just when I thought I've seen it all…" Archie sighed, not believing what had happened on the lab's latest case. "I mean, swarm beating a tourist just for the fun of it? What's Vegas coming to? Can you believe that Cole Tritt was the only adult, the rest of them were like what, 18?"

"The youngest was 14." Adeline added. "I've read about something similar to this: happy slapping which first appeared in South London in a form called 'Slap Happy TV', where a happy-slapping video would be recorded, and then watched by dozens of people like a TV show, but in the form of a montage. The videos were commonly circulated via Bluetooth on mobile phones. It started off as a youth craze in United Kingdom in late 2004: at first they were seen as minor pranks, but as the craze spread… well, you get the picture."

"No kidding." Archie muttered.

SailorStar9: Now that's done, read and review.