II - AUDRA
"Grissom should be around here somewhere, don't you think Warrick?" Catherine looked at the tall man walking beside her into the lobby of Icarus, the latest hotel to grace the Las Vegas strip.
Beside her, Warrick grunted, "He would be outside, Cath. Probable jumper, remember?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm glad he didn't page me to that - I hate watching suicides get peeled from the pavement. It's disgusting." She looked around the massive lobby, ignoring the hustle and bustle of well-heeled socialites and heavy hitters boiling around them, and smiled when she spotted the concierge. "I think that's the guy we're supposed to be talking with."
"What are we here for again?" Warrick sighed as he followed Catherine to the side counter, smiling gamely at the concierge when the man looked at them and their bulky field kits, not even trying to hide his dismay.
"Must you were wear those coats in our hotel?" were the first words out of his mouth, "we don't want to worry our patrons. It's bad enough having all the police officers milling around in front of our secondary entrance where that guy jumped - if they see you in here, it will be even worse!"
Catherine looked at the man tolerantly, "We're Crime Scene Investigators - this is part of the uniform. Sorry it bothers you, but the jackets stay. I'm Catherine Willows, by the way."
"Warrick Brown," Warrick inserted.
"I'm the concierge, Mr. Miles. I need to get you out of the lobby. Please follow me."
Warrick rolled his eyes at Catherine at they followed Mr. Miles quickly through the lobby, by-passing the main bank of elevators, and heading back through the bowels of the hotel. They finally stopped at a large service elevator, Mr. Miles quickly pulling out a key and inserting it in the slot, activating it. "While you're here, please use the service elevator," he stated, "as the main elevators are for our paying guests."
Catherine sighed, "Listen, Mr. Miles, we're going to use whatever elevator is closest. I would suggest you reconcile yourself to that. Now, can you tell us what you know about why we're here?"
The man looked at her pissily, and shrugged, "We've had a robbery - penthouse apartment. Mr. and Mrs. van der Brucke - stolen jewelry."
"van der Brucke? The diamond family?" Warrick asked.
"That's the one - Mr. van der Brucke is the CEO of van der Brucke Diamonds and Mining. He and his wife are here on business."
They had arrived at the penthouse, stepping in through the back kitchen area and into the massive living room. The penthouse was huge, beautifully appointed with large marble columns, stunning mosaic floors, and beautiful furniture. Sitting on the sofa, an older man was talking quietly to a police detective, hands gesticulating every once and a while as if making a point. They both looked when Catherine and Warrick stopped just in front of them.
"Are you the crime people?" the older man stood, elegantly smoothing his dress pants. He had a slight accent, and his handshake was firm. "I am Willem van der Brucke."
Catherine and Warrick quickly introduced themselves.
"Where's your wife, Mr. van der Brucke?" Catherine asked politely.
He waved a hand negligently, "Oh, she went shopping with Marta - a friend of hers. I haven't seen her since I left for a business dinner around 6:00. She was just getting ready to leave as well."
Warrick looked at his watch. "When are you expecting her to return? It's past midnight."
Van der Brucke shrugged, smiling indulgently, "When Audra is with Marta, I never know."
"When did you realize there had been a robbery?" Catherine questioned.
"When I returned from my dinner. The wall safe was open. The necklaces, the rings - everything has been taken, including some diamonds I had brought with me for a jeweler friend of mine."
"Would your wife have taken anything to show her friend?"
"I was the only one with the combination for the safe."
Warrick turned to the concierge, who was still standing to the side of the sofa, "Mr. Miles - what type of security measures does the hotel have in place?"
"We have the best security in Las Vegas!" the man looked offended. "The main elevator can only come to the penthouse if you have a key - which Mr. van der Brucke and his wife have, and the service elevator is the same - master key only. I have one, the day manager has one, and the Maid Services manager has one. Plus, we have security cameras in both elevators, and front lobby of the penthouse."
"Can you show us where the safe is?" Warrick followed Mr. Miles into the library of the penthouse, Catherine and Mr. van der Brucke trailing behind. The open safe was immediately obvious, the empty vault gleaming hollowly when he shone a light in. "Did you touch anything, Mr. van der Brucke? The safe - anything in this general area?"
"I reached into the safe, but that's it."
"Has your wife ever reached into the safe?"
"No. She has her own safe for her jewelry, in the bedroom."
"Have you checked her safe?"
"No. I only saw this one - and I called the police. They told me to wait in the living room and not to touch anything until the detective got here."
Warrick looked at Catherine. "Let's go check the bedroom safe. Which way, Mr. van der Brucke?"
* * * * *
"Body's on the way to Robbins," Sara commented as she joined Grissom. He was looking up, light flashing on the dark suction cups he and Nick had spotted earlier. "Where's Nick?"
"Look up." Grissom shoot his beam skyward, smiling when Sara craned her graceful neck backwards, following the light.
High above them, a window washers cage was being lowered. Squinting into the night, the baseball-capped head of Nick was barely visible peering over the edge.
"How did you manage to get that?"
Grissom shrugged, "Night maintenance. He's with Nick. Hotel doesn't contract out for window washing, so they had the cage here."
"I bet the maintenance guy's not too happy about doing this in the middle of the night."
"Time is evidence, Sara. We can't leave our victims' tools of the trade stuck there - who knows what we've already lost just from element degradation."
Sara grinned, "I'm surprised you're not retrieving them - something like this seems right up your line, sort of like riding a rollercoaster."
Grissom grunted, "Nick found them - he gets them." He shifted uncomfortably when Sara cocked an eyebrow at him, suddenly grinning.
"You're scared of heights." When Grissom didn't respond, Sara nudged him gently with her hip, tucking her hands into her pockets, her grin widening. "You are scared of heights! This is rich."
Grissom felt her heat beside him seeping through the sleeves of his shirt. Where she had gently nudged him, he burned - ever nerve ending tingling in awareness. He frowned at her, "Sara - don't you have anything better to do?"
Sara just laughed, and shot another glance upwards. Nick was shining his flashlight against the side of the building as the cage slowly lowered, sweeping it in three foot arcs back and forth. About 20 feet above his actual target height, the cage suddenly stopped. Nick's head popped over the side, light illuminating Grissom and Sara several stories below him, and he whistled sharply.
"Gris - Sara. We've got some blood up here!" he hollered at them. Over the noise on the street, Sara barely managed to hear him. Grissom was at a complete loss.
"What did he say?" he asked Sara in irritation.
"Something about blood. Doesn't he have his walkie?" Cupping her hands around her mouth, she hollered up at him, "Did you say blood?"
Nick flashed her the thumbs up sign, and she turned to Grissom, her expression considering, "He's got some blood."
* * * * *
The bedroom of the penthouse was just as luxurious as the rest of the place. Warrick tried not to whistle as he entered the room, noting the larger than king-size bed, overloaded with large pillows and a comforter as thick as a mattress. On the side of the bed, a black silk bra set lay beside a red silk sundress, standing out starkly against the pale comforter.
"Where's the safe?"
"It's built into the wall on the other side of the bed - the night stand is a front for it," van der Brucke answered him. Warrick quickly walked to the other side of the bed, pausing suddenly before he turned to Catherine.
"Cath. I need you over here," he was staring at the floor on the other side of the bed, noting absently that the safe was open and empty. That was not what had caught his attention, however. In front of the safe, slim arm reaching out towards nothing, a young woman lay stretched. Her white silk make-up robe was bunched up around her hips, as if she had been crawling and had shucked it up around her waist to avoid getting tangled in the material. A pool of blood stained the thick carpet underneath her.
Catherine looked at the woman quickly, before turning to face Mr. van der Brucke. "How old is your wife, Mr. van der Brucke?" she asked gently, her face neutral as she waited for his response.
"Why?" the older man asked, suddenly tense as he rushed across the room. He stopped dead when he saw the young woman lying there, his face collapsing in on itself in shock and grief. "Audra - oh my God, Audra."
* * * * *
"We have another DB," Brass announced as he approached Grissom and Sara. Nick was still in the cage, having carefully taken samples of the blood he had found along with photos, before carefully retrieving the suction cups he had originally been after.
Grissom looked at him in surprise. "Where? Here?"
"Hotel penthouse. Catherine and Warrick were called in for a robbery, found a body."
Sara looked at Grissom, "Think our DB's are related?"
"It would be too much of a coincidence for them not to be. How did she die?"
Brass shrugged, "Warrick says gunshot. If you guys are finished here, I'll take you up."
"The blood Nick found -" Sara began, then stopped. "Since when do cat- burglars carry guns?"
Grissom shrugged, "Since when do cat-burglars plummet to their deaths?"
"Right," Sara sighed suddenly, "Nick will be on the roof soon, shall we tell him to come straight to the penthouse?"
Grissom turned to look at her. "Wait for Nick here - then you two go back to the lab, and start processing the evidence. Talk to Robbins - see what he can tell us. I'll go and talk to Catherine and Warrick, and join you soon. C'mon Brass, let's go." __________
Author's note: Short, so bear with me. I'm trying to set-up for future chapters here. Everything in it's place, and all that crap.
"Grissom should be around here somewhere, don't you think Warrick?" Catherine looked at the tall man walking beside her into the lobby of Icarus, the latest hotel to grace the Las Vegas strip.
Beside her, Warrick grunted, "He would be outside, Cath. Probable jumper, remember?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm glad he didn't page me to that - I hate watching suicides get peeled from the pavement. It's disgusting." She looked around the massive lobby, ignoring the hustle and bustle of well-heeled socialites and heavy hitters boiling around them, and smiled when she spotted the concierge. "I think that's the guy we're supposed to be talking with."
"What are we here for again?" Warrick sighed as he followed Catherine to the side counter, smiling gamely at the concierge when the man looked at them and their bulky field kits, not even trying to hide his dismay.
"Must you were wear those coats in our hotel?" were the first words out of his mouth, "we don't want to worry our patrons. It's bad enough having all the police officers milling around in front of our secondary entrance where that guy jumped - if they see you in here, it will be even worse!"
Catherine looked at the man tolerantly, "We're Crime Scene Investigators - this is part of the uniform. Sorry it bothers you, but the jackets stay. I'm Catherine Willows, by the way."
"Warrick Brown," Warrick inserted.
"I'm the concierge, Mr. Miles. I need to get you out of the lobby. Please follow me."
Warrick rolled his eyes at Catherine at they followed Mr. Miles quickly through the lobby, by-passing the main bank of elevators, and heading back through the bowels of the hotel. They finally stopped at a large service elevator, Mr. Miles quickly pulling out a key and inserting it in the slot, activating it. "While you're here, please use the service elevator," he stated, "as the main elevators are for our paying guests."
Catherine sighed, "Listen, Mr. Miles, we're going to use whatever elevator is closest. I would suggest you reconcile yourself to that. Now, can you tell us what you know about why we're here?"
The man looked at her pissily, and shrugged, "We've had a robbery - penthouse apartment. Mr. and Mrs. van der Brucke - stolen jewelry."
"van der Brucke? The diamond family?" Warrick asked.
"That's the one - Mr. van der Brucke is the CEO of van der Brucke Diamonds and Mining. He and his wife are here on business."
They had arrived at the penthouse, stepping in through the back kitchen area and into the massive living room. The penthouse was huge, beautifully appointed with large marble columns, stunning mosaic floors, and beautiful furniture. Sitting on the sofa, an older man was talking quietly to a police detective, hands gesticulating every once and a while as if making a point. They both looked when Catherine and Warrick stopped just in front of them.
"Are you the crime people?" the older man stood, elegantly smoothing his dress pants. He had a slight accent, and his handshake was firm. "I am Willem van der Brucke."
Catherine and Warrick quickly introduced themselves.
"Where's your wife, Mr. van der Brucke?" Catherine asked politely.
He waved a hand negligently, "Oh, she went shopping with Marta - a friend of hers. I haven't seen her since I left for a business dinner around 6:00. She was just getting ready to leave as well."
Warrick looked at his watch. "When are you expecting her to return? It's past midnight."
Van der Brucke shrugged, smiling indulgently, "When Audra is with Marta, I never know."
"When did you realize there had been a robbery?" Catherine questioned.
"When I returned from my dinner. The wall safe was open. The necklaces, the rings - everything has been taken, including some diamonds I had brought with me for a jeweler friend of mine."
"Would your wife have taken anything to show her friend?"
"I was the only one with the combination for the safe."
Warrick turned to the concierge, who was still standing to the side of the sofa, "Mr. Miles - what type of security measures does the hotel have in place?"
"We have the best security in Las Vegas!" the man looked offended. "The main elevator can only come to the penthouse if you have a key - which Mr. van der Brucke and his wife have, and the service elevator is the same - master key only. I have one, the day manager has one, and the Maid Services manager has one. Plus, we have security cameras in both elevators, and front lobby of the penthouse."
"Can you show us where the safe is?" Warrick followed Mr. Miles into the library of the penthouse, Catherine and Mr. van der Brucke trailing behind. The open safe was immediately obvious, the empty vault gleaming hollowly when he shone a light in. "Did you touch anything, Mr. van der Brucke? The safe - anything in this general area?"
"I reached into the safe, but that's it."
"Has your wife ever reached into the safe?"
"No. She has her own safe for her jewelry, in the bedroom."
"Have you checked her safe?"
"No. I only saw this one - and I called the police. They told me to wait in the living room and not to touch anything until the detective got here."
Warrick looked at Catherine. "Let's go check the bedroom safe. Which way, Mr. van der Brucke?"
* * * * *
"Body's on the way to Robbins," Sara commented as she joined Grissom. He was looking up, light flashing on the dark suction cups he and Nick had spotted earlier. "Where's Nick?"
"Look up." Grissom shoot his beam skyward, smiling when Sara craned her graceful neck backwards, following the light.
High above them, a window washers cage was being lowered. Squinting into the night, the baseball-capped head of Nick was barely visible peering over the edge.
"How did you manage to get that?"
Grissom shrugged, "Night maintenance. He's with Nick. Hotel doesn't contract out for window washing, so they had the cage here."
"I bet the maintenance guy's not too happy about doing this in the middle of the night."
"Time is evidence, Sara. We can't leave our victims' tools of the trade stuck there - who knows what we've already lost just from element degradation."
Sara grinned, "I'm surprised you're not retrieving them - something like this seems right up your line, sort of like riding a rollercoaster."
Grissom grunted, "Nick found them - he gets them." He shifted uncomfortably when Sara cocked an eyebrow at him, suddenly grinning.
"You're scared of heights." When Grissom didn't respond, Sara nudged him gently with her hip, tucking her hands into her pockets, her grin widening. "You are scared of heights! This is rich."
Grissom felt her heat beside him seeping through the sleeves of his shirt. Where she had gently nudged him, he burned - ever nerve ending tingling in awareness. He frowned at her, "Sara - don't you have anything better to do?"
Sara just laughed, and shot another glance upwards. Nick was shining his flashlight against the side of the building as the cage slowly lowered, sweeping it in three foot arcs back and forth. About 20 feet above his actual target height, the cage suddenly stopped. Nick's head popped over the side, light illuminating Grissom and Sara several stories below him, and he whistled sharply.
"Gris - Sara. We've got some blood up here!" he hollered at them. Over the noise on the street, Sara barely managed to hear him. Grissom was at a complete loss.
"What did he say?" he asked Sara in irritation.
"Something about blood. Doesn't he have his walkie?" Cupping her hands around her mouth, she hollered up at him, "Did you say blood?"
Nick flashed her the thumbs up sign, and she turned to Grissom, her expression considering, "He's got some blood."
* * * * *
The bedroom of the penthouse was just as luxurious as the rest of the place. Warrick tried not to whistle as he entered the room, noting the larger than king-size bed, overloaded with large pillows and a comforter as thick as a mattress. On the side of the bed, a black silk bra set lay beside a red silk sundress, standing out starkly against the pale comforter.
"Where's the safe?"
"It's built into the wall on the other side of the bed - the night stand is a front for it," van der Brucke answered him. Warrick quickly walked to the other side of the bed, pausing suddenly before he turned to Catherine.
"Cath. I need you over here," he was staring at the floor on the other side of the bed, noting absently that the safe was open and empty. That was not what had caught his attention, however. In front of the safe, slim arm reaching out towards nothing, a young woman lay stretched. Her white silk make-up robe was bunched up around her hips, as if she had been crawling and had shucked it up around her waist to avoid getting tangled in the material. A pool of blood stained the thick carpet underneath her.
Catherine looked at the woman quickly, before turning to face Mr. van der Brucke. "How old is your wife, Mr. van der Brucke?" she asked gently, her face neutral as she waited for his response.
"Why?" the older man asked, suddenly tense as he rushed across the room. He stopped dead when he saw the young woman lying there, his face collapsing in on itself in shock and grief. "Audra - oh my God, Audra."
* * * * *
"We have another DB," Brass announced as he approached Grissom and Sara. Nick was still in the cage, having carefully taken samples of the blood he had found along with photos, before carefully retrieving the suction cups he had originally been after.
Grissom looked at him in surprise. "Where? Here?"
"Hotel penthouse. Catherine and Warrick were called in for a robbery, found a body."
Sara looked at Grissom, "Think our DB's are related?"
"It would be too much of a coincidence for them not to be. How did she die?"
Brass shrugged, "Warrick says gunshot. If you guys are finished here, I'll take you up."
"The blood Nick found -" Sara began, then stopped. "Since when do cat- burglars carry guns?"
Grissom shrugged, "Since when do cat-burglars plummet to their deaths?"
"Right," Sara sighed suddenly, "Nick will be on the roof soon, shall we tell him to come straight to the penthouse?"
Grissom turned to look at her. "Wait for Nick here - then you two go back to the lab, and start processing the evidence. Talk to Robbins - see what he can tell us. I'll go and talk to Catherine and Warrick, and join you soon. C'mon Brass, let's go." __________
Author's note: Short, so bear with me. I'm trying to set-up for future chapters here. Everything in it's place, and all that crap.