This story is based on characters created by Anthony E. Zuiker for the television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Remuneration, Part 30
by Cheers

All three children went back home together. He watched them go as the last of the neighborhood porch lights came on.

The ache in his groin spoke to him of his disappointment at not being able to fulfill his own need. She would do very nicely. He would wait. He would be patient. He was prepared. Everything would work out perfectly this time.

All he needed was a chance, an opening. Sooner or later, she would help him walk his dog. And then she would provide him with the pleasure and release he longed for.


"You actually told Ecklie that?" Sara asked, laughing at Catherine's account of her conversation with the day shift supervisor. Warrick grinned as well. Grissom was trying hard to ignore her.

"You bet," Catherine confirmed, taking another bite.

Jim Brass smiled as he listened. He had no particular love for the day shift CSI head cheese either. He sat in the conference room at CSI and chewed on his latest slice of pizza. Several pizzas, all with multiple slices missing and still in their respective boxes, occupied the center of the table along with paper plates, cans, utensils, and coffee mugs. Seated around the table with him were the regular suspects save one.

"Where's Nick?" Brass asked. "He's not going to get any of this pizza if he doesn't get his butt in here."

Gil Grissom looked up from the notes he was pretending to read. "He's in the AV Lab," he informed the detective. "He and Archie have been working on the anonymous 911 call."

"That's the call that led to the girl's body, right?" Catherine inquired.

"Yeah," Jim said. He made it a point not to mention Detective Paulson's name. The young cop wasn't exactly on the A-list of detectives with this particular group of criminalists.

Sara, Warrick, and Catherine all looked at Gil after Brass's reply. If Grissom was aware of the conspicuous absence of the mention of Detective Paulson, he didn't show it. Instead, he steered the conversation into much more productive territory.

"So where are we on the storage unit case?"

"Doc Robbins is working on a dental ID now, and we're waiting for the ballistics report on the fragment he retrieved from the victim," Catherine said. "The name Sara and Warrick got from the tailor shop manager turned up on the dental database. If the vic is Joseph Durant, we should know pretty soon."

Brass finished chewing his latest bite of pizza and wiped his mouth with a napkin. "A records check turned up a few moving violations, but that's about it. Seems our guy was a model citizen. Now his father," Jim added, "that's a different story."

Gil raised an eyebrow. "His father?"

"Joe 'Deke' Durant," Brass said. "Hit man for the mob. Worked for Old Man Murphy at the Monaco before Carlo Benedetti bought the resort."

"That's where I've heard the name before," Warrick exclaimed, recognizing the reference. Sara looked at him. "Deke Durant. He's a legend."

"A legend?" Sara said questioningly.

"Yeah," Warrick continued. "He worked for the casino pit bosses as a shill, caught the gamblers who'd try to cheat the house. Instead of just blacklisting the player, though, he'd make sure they wouldn't come back - ever."

"That's what the word 'deke' means," Gil offered, "to deceive or fake out an opposing team."

"And eliminate the competition," Catherine added.

"What's interesting," Sara said, "is that our vic frequented the same casino where his father worked but, according to casino records, he didn't work there himself."

Brass shrugged. "I'm surprised junior would go there at all, considering how his father died."

"Oh?" Grissom said, obviously interested in this little Las Vegas history lesson.

Warrick surprised the group by speaking up. "Story is that he was killed by Russell DiMarco, pit boss for Old Man Murphy. Durant caught DiMarco trying to cheat the house by running a scam of his own. Deke had orders not to kill him. Murphy wanted everyone in Vegas to know about DiMarco, so he had him blacklisted from all the casinos in town. There's nothing more humiliating for a pit boss than to get caught with your hand in the pot."

Warrick stopped and took a sip of his soft drink.

"So," Sara said impatiently when Warrick paused. "How did Durant die?"

"DiMarco shot him," Warrick informed them. "I guess he was angry at Durant for catching him and telling Old Man Murphy."

"And," Brass added, "DiMarco got the death penalty for it."

"Wow," said Catherine.

"So," Grissom interjected, gathering everyone's attention. "What do we do next?"

Sara thought for a brief moment before saying, "If our guy was a regular at the Monaco, maybe some of the pit bosses will know him well enough to give us some hints about whether he was seeing anyone - what his personal habits might have been."

Gil nodded, "At least it's a place to start."


"Wasn't Grissom at the store at the same time?" Archie asked Nick. They had been listening to the sound that they both believed to be the automatic door opening just before the anonymous caller began to speak.

Nick nodded. "Yeah, he was there, but there are two sets of doors in and out," he informed Archie. "He used the east entrance and the payphones are on the wall just beyond the entrance on the west side. He doesn't remember seeing anyone at the phones and at that distance he couldn't have heard anything."

Archie turned his attention back to the isolated sound again. He was sure that the sound was an automatic door. "Well, it sure sounds like someone was a witness," he insisted.

"Well, no one who works there saw anything. Trying to find whoever might have seen our guy is like trying to find a needle in a haystack." Nick was seated next to Archie and looking at the graphical display of the audio signatures for each track the AV tech had isolated. "Can you play just the voice again?"

"Sure," Archie told the CSI. He cued up the track and they listened as a male voice, now much clearer thanks to Archie's efforts, told the dispatcher that a body could be found behind a store in the city. The voice sounded almost sad.

"You were right about the tone," Nick commented after the track finished playing. "He does sound sympathetic. Almost like he knew … he knew …."

Looking at the CSI, Archie could practically see the wheels turning.

Nick stood up and walked to the large display at the end of the room. "I need a copy of that voice track," he told the AV tech.

"No problem," Archie said. Before he could ask Nick what he was going to do with the recording, the CSI was already headed out of the room.