Revelations
Nick pulled up to a small, run-down apartment complex in his black Tahoe. Exiting the truck he surveyed the surroundings. The neighborhood was old, but not usually high in crime. Nick had never been here before. He grabbed his kit and walked towards the scene. Brass was already there waiting for him. He was standing by an older, gray car with the back door still open. Neighbors and passer-bys were milling about, talking to each other. A few of the older women wept and hugged each other.
"Stokes! How's it going?" Brass greeted Nick. Brass liked working with Nick, the kid was a straight arrow, very levelheaded. Also, Nick was a cop in Dallas before he became a CSI. He got along with the guys on the force better then most of the "geek squad" as they were known.
"Couldn't be better!" Nick grinned at Brass. "What do you have for me?"
"Surprise, surprise, it's a homicide." Brass paused and looked at a pool of blood. "The victim died on the way to the hospital, they couldn't bring her back. Only 28 years old."
"Oh, that's a shame." Nick said sympathetically.
He sized up the scene. There was a pool of blood near the car door, with spattering on the car and ground. The victim's purse and belongings were scattered on the ground. There was a bag of groceries in the front seat. Nick took out his camera and started taking pictures of the blood pool and spatter. This scene would be a little harder. The paramedics had disturbed the scene during their life-saving efforts. There were a few bloody shoeprints, but they were next to tracks from what appeared to be gurney- wheels. The prints were most likely from the paramedics.
"Did anyone see anything?" Nick asked Brass. "From the purse on the ground it doesn't look like a robbery." He paused and looked up at the apartment building. "Domestic, maybe?"
"We have officers questioning potential witnesses right now." He points towards an elderly woman. "The upstairs neighbor, Mrs. Esteban, called it in. She said she heard yelling, a woman scream, then some tires screeching. By the time she looked out the window she only saw the victim lying on the ground. She was still breathing when Mrs. Esteban called 911."
"Did you get an ID on the victim?" Nick asked as he marked and photographed the purse and belongings. In his head he was counting out how long it would take to process this scene. Still, he reminded himself to do a top-notch job. Grissom had just started giving him solo assignments. He didn't want to screw it up.
"Yeah," Brass answered as he looked at his pad. "The victim's name is Katrina Anne Miller."
Nick stopped taking pictures of the scene and shook his head. He stood up and looked Brass in the eye.
"What did you say the name was?" Nick asked bewildered. He wasn't sure if he had heard Brass correctly. But his stomach started to hurt again as he realized he had.
"Katrina Miller, she went by Katie. She lives in the apartment with her boyfriend, Roger Hammond. Not too many glowing reports about him...." Brass trailed off.
Nick wasn't listening to Brass's description of the boyfriend. All the blood drained from his face. He started looking around frantically.
"Brass, where's the baby? Where is Brianna?"
Nick's mind was racing. He could barely grasp that Katie was dead. He just wanted to know where his daughter was. He looked around and saw no sign of a baby or a car seat. "Did someone kidnap her? Is that why Katie was dead? Why wasn't anyone looking for her?" These were the thoughts running through Nick's mind.
Brass noticed that Nick stopped processing. The detective was completely confused. He had never seen Nick like this before.
"Nick, slow down, what are you talking about? There is no baby."
Nick's face was white and he was trembling. He grabbed Brass's arm and looked him square in the eye.
"No, no you don't understand. Katie has a little baby girl, Brianna, her name is Brianna, we have to find her."
Maybe it's Nick's years of training or just good instinct, but he was careful not to disturb the blood as he went around to the other side and opened the car door. There was no sign of a baby inside the car either.
Brass grew concerned, "Nick, do you know this woman? Katie...do you know her?"
Nick's voice cracked as he answered, "Yeah...I know her..." He looked Brass in the eye. "Brianna's my daughter."
Brass was too stunned to say anything for a moment. Then he just dialed his phone.
"Grissom, it's Brass...you need to get down here now...the assault just turned into a homicide and possible kidnapping. (Pause) Yeah, bring everyone you can. (Pause) No, Nick can't work this one. I'll explain when you get down here."
Brass hung up the phone and waved a few uniforms over.
"We have a missing baby girl." Brass turned to Nick. "How old is she?" Nick wasn't listening. "Stokes! How old is your daughter?"
"Uh...she's um, two months old, brown hair, and uh...she's about ten to twelve pounds. I saw her today, a few hours ago, she was wearing a pink sleeper with bunnies on it."
Brass listened to the description. He still couldn't believe this was happening. Damn, for such a good kid, Nick sure had rotten luck. This was not the first paramour of his to end up dead. But to have his baby taken, that was a whole different thing.
"You guys got that? Talk to the neighbors, maybe the kid's with a babysitter or something. Get an APB out that we have a possible child abduction. See if anyone has a photo of her. This case is now the top department priority!"
Brass turned to Nick, who looked like a little kid who just lost his dog. Brass thought about the time his own daughter was in trouble and how much Nick helped him. Now he had to help Nick.
"Hey, Nicky," he said quietly, "don't worry we'll find her. But you have to go back to your truck, you can't work this case."
Nick looked at Brass, not fully understanding. How could Brass tell him to do nothing, he's a father, he should know what this is like. Nick was not about to just idly sit by while his baby girl was out there, alone.
"No, no, I can't just do nothing. I just found her. I mean really, today, just met her, just held her for the first time." He gave Brass a pleading look. "I can't lose her. I have to do something."
"I don't make the rules...." Brass tried to explain.
Just then two more black Tahoes pulled up. Nick and Brass watched as Grissom and Catherine got out of one, Sara and Warrick out of the other. The group was still confused over what was going on. As soon as they saw Nick's face, they knew it was something terrible.
Sara was the first to speak. "We heard the APB on the way over. Infant abduction, huh?"
Grissom looked at Nick. "Nick, hey, what's going on here? Do you know the victim or something?"
Nick just nodded. He tried to clear his throat and push down his emotions.
"Nick, whatever it is, you can tell us...." Catherine said to Nick, almost in a maternal way.
Just then an officer came over and looked at Nick.
"Sir, does your daughter have any birthmarks or any medical conditions?" the officer asked.
"Daughter?" Catherine and Sara blurted out stunned unison.
"Whoa, you have a kid?" came from Warrick. Warrick didn't believe it. He and Nick were pretty tight, surely Nick would have said something to him about it.
Grissom was already surveying the crime scene. He stopped dead in his tracks. He turned around and walked back to the others.
Nick addressed the officer's question. "Um, god I don't know....I don't think so....can we go into the apartment and look?"
Nick was disgusted with himself that he couldn't answer a simple question. Horrible thoughts swirled in his mind. "My god, what if she's sick and Katie didn't tell me. Can babies have diabetes? My sisters' kids have had jaundice, is that serious? Even a cold could turn into pneumonia." The other CSI's could read the worry on Nick's face. Catherine grabbed Nick's hand and rubbed his back. She her mind retreated to the night she almost lost Lindsay in the canal. Catherine couldn't imagine going through that ordeal again.
"Boyfriend's not home, I'll have to call for a warrant," Brass replied and walked away to make the call.
Grissom was still trying to understand the complexity of this case. Once again Nick was embroiled in a murder investigation.
Grissom looked at Nick and said, "Okay, let me get this straight....the baby that was abducted was your daughter. The victim is..."
"An ex-girlfriend," Nick explained. "Her name was Katie, we went out for about three months, last year. She called after we ended things, told me she was pregnant." Nick looked at the ground sheepishly. "She...um...well, we had a disagreement, and I didn't hear from her until yesterday. She called to tell me that she had a baby girl two months ago. She brought her by today...and I..I held her. Her name is Brianna Nicole and she's beautiful."
Nick was still trying to hold back his tears. He kept rubbing his eyes and face. Both Sara and Catherine were saddened to see their friend so upset. Even Grissom softened a little. He put his hand on Nick's arm.
"Okay, Nick, now listen to me," said Grissom. "I want you to go wait by the cars. Try to think of anything that might help us with this case. The sooner we process the scene, the sooner we can track down your daughter. When we get a warrant for the apartment, we'll bring you up to speed."
Nick nodded his head and walked over to the Tahoes. His meeting with Katie kept running through is head, almost like a movie. He could remember everything, the way Katie looked, the dress she was wearing, the way she smelled. He thought about holding Brianna. He ached for the warm feeling he got in his arms and chest when he looked at Brianna and she looked back at him. Nick leaned against his truck and watched the other CSI's work the scene. Thank god he had so much confidence in his colleagues.
Grissom watched Nick return to the vehicles, then turned back to the others. He was anxious to get started on this scene. Outdoor areas made him nervous. Although most people thought of Vegas as just being a desert city, he knew that the weather could turn bad in a New York minute. Add a missing child on top of it and Grissom was as near to frantic as he could get. But his cool demeanor would never give it away. He was nothing, if not professional.
"Okay guys, we don't have much time. The evidence in this scene could tell us where the baby is."
"I'll take pictures." Sara grabbed the camera.
Catherine pulled out her cell phone. "I'll call a tow to get the car back to the garage for processing."
Grissom nodded. "Good, Warrick, can you process the tire tracks?"
"Sure, no sweat." Warrick replied as he studied the ground.
"Okay, I'm going to go see what the status is on that warrant." Grissom turned and walked toward Brass.
The rest of the CSI's went about their tasks, but couldn't stop looking at Nick as he watched them process the scene. He looked so lost. Sara was taking pictures when she noticed something laying near the tire. It was photograph. After she took a picture of it, she picked it up and turned it over. There was a picture of a baby in a car seat. She had big, beautiful eyes and dark brown hair. Sara wanted to run the picture over to Nick, so he would have something to hold. She looked at the picture, then at Nick, it was just so tempting. But she knew that she couldn't. She bagged the photograph as evidence. Sara couldn't imagine what he was going through.
Brass had just hung up his cell phone when Grissom reached him.
"Hey Gil, the warrant is on it's way, should just be a few minutes."
"That's great, I should head over to the coroner's soon. Catherine and Warrick can process the apartment. I'm gonna have Sara process the car." Grissom looked back towards Nick. "I don't want Nick in there...we have to get him away from this scene."
Brass nodded and said, "I'll bring him back to the station and see what his knows about Katie and this boyfriend of her's." Brass offered.
"Well, what do we know so far?"
"That one of Nick's ex-girlfriends had his child, she was living with a real asshole, she was beat to death, and now his little girl is gone."
Grissom sighed. "We need to find the boyfriend."
Grissom was more thinking out loud then making a statement. Brass knew that the boyfriend could be the key here. Domestics turned into murder were commonplace in their job. It was appalling what people could do to each other in the name of love. Brass was already working on that angle.
"The neighbors told us about some of the bars he frequents, uniforms are checking them out as we speak."
Grissom and Brass headed back towards the scene.
Nick pulled up to a small, run-down apartment complex in his black Tahoe. Exiting the truck he surveyed the surroundings. The neighborhood was old, but not usually high in crime. Nick had never been here before. He grabbed his kit and walked towards the scene. Brass was already there waiting for him. He was standing by an older, gray car with the back door still open. Neighbors and passer-bys were milling about, talking to each other. A few of the older women wept and hugged each other.
"Stokes! How's it going?" Brass greeted Nick. Brass liked working with Nick, the kid was a straight arrow, very levelheaded. Also, Nick was a cop in Dallas before he became a CSI. He got along with the guys on the force better then most of the "geek squad" as they were known.
"Couldn't be better!" Nick grinned at Brass. "What do you have for me?"
"Surprise, surprise, it's a homicide." Brass paused and looked at a pool of blood. "The victim died on the way to the hospital, they couldn't bring her back. Only 28 years old."
"Oh, that's a shame." Nick said sympathetically.
He sized up the scene. There was a pool of blood near the car door, with spattering on the car and ground. The victim's purse and belongings were scattered on the ground. There was a bag of groceries in the front seat. Nick took out his camera and started taking pictures of the blood pool and spatter. This scene would be a little harder. The paramedics had disturbed the scene during their life-saving efforts. There were a few bloody shoeprints, but they were next to tracks from what appeared to be gurney- wheels. The prints were most likely from the paramedics.
"Did anyone see anything?" Nick asked Brass. "From the purse on the ground it doesn't look like a robbery." He paused and looked up at the apartment building. "Domestic, maybe?"
"We have officers questioning potential witnesses right now." He points towards an elderly woman. "The upstairs neighbor, Mrs. Esteban, called it in. She said she heard yelling, a woman scream, then some tires screeching. By the time she looked out the window she only saw the victim lying on the ground. She was still breathing when Mrs. Esteban called 911."
"Did you get an ID on the victim?" Nick asked as he marked and photographed the purse and belongings. In his head he was counting out how long it would take to process this scene. Still, he reminded himself to do a top-notch job. Grissom had just started giving him solo assignments. He didn't want to screw it up.
"Yeah," Brass answered as he looked at his pad. "The victim's name is Katrina Anne Miller."
Nick stopped taking pictures of the scene and shook his head. He stood up and looked Brass in the eye.
"What did you say the name was?" Nick asked bewildered. He wasn't sure if he had heard Brass correctly. But his stomach started to hurt again as he realized he had.
"Katrina Miller, she went by Katie. She lives in the apartment with her boyfriend, Roger Hammond. Not too many glowing reports about him...." Brass trailed off.
Nick wasn't listening to Brass's description of the boyfriend. All the blood drained from his face. He started looking around frantically.
"Brass, where's the baby? Where is Brianna?"
Nick's mind was racing. He could barely grasp that Katie was dead. He just wanted to know where his daughter was. He looked around and saw no sign of a baby or a car seat. "Did someone kidnap her? Is that why Katie was dead? Why wasn't anyone looking for her?" These were the thoughts running through Nick's mind.
Brass noticed that Nick stopped processing. The detective was completely confused. He had never seen Nick like this before.
"Nick, slow down, what are you talking about? There is no baby."
Nick's face was white and he was trembling. He grabbed Brass's arm and looked him square in the eye.
"No, no you don't understand. Katie has a little baby girl, Brianna, her name is Brianna, we have to find her."
Maybe it's Nick's years of training or just good instinct, but he was careful not to disturb the blood as he went around to the other side and opened the car door. There was no sign of a baby inside the car either.
Brass grew concerned, "Nick, do you know this woman? Katie...do you know her?"
Nick's voice cracked as he answered, "Yeah...I know her..." He looked Brass in the eye. "Brianna's my daughter."
Brass was too stunned to say anything for a moment. Then he just dialed his phone.
"Grissom, it's Brass...you need to get down here now...the assault just turned into a homicide and possible kidnapping. (Pause) Yeah, bring everyone you can. (Pause) No, Nick can't work this one. I'll explain when you get down here."
Brass hung up the phone and waved a few uniforms over.
"We have a missing baby girl." Brass turned to Nick. "How old is she?" Nick wasn't listening. "Stokes! How old is your daughter?"
"Uh...she's um, two months old, brown hair, and uh...she's about ten to twelve pounds. I saw her today, a few hours ago, she was wearing a pink sleeper with bunnies on it."
Brass listened to the description. He still couldn't believe this was happening. Damn, for such a good kid, Nick sure had rotten luck. This was not the first paramour of his to end up dead. But to have his baby taken, that was a whole different thing.
"You guys got that? Talk to the neighbors, maybe the kid's with a babysitter or something. Get an APB out that we have a possible child abduction. See if anyone has a photo of her. This case is now the top department priority!"
Brass turned to Nick, who looked like a little kid who just lost his dog. Brass thought about the time his own daughter was in trouble and how much Nick helped him. Now he had to help Nick.
"Hey, Nicky," he said quietly, "don't worry we'll find her. But you have to go back to your truck, you can't work this case."
Nick looked at Brass, not fully understanding. How could Brass tell him to do nothing, he's a father, he should know what this is like. Nick was not about to just idly sit by while his baby girl was out there, alone.
"No, no, I can't just do nothing. I just found her. I mean really, today, just met her, just held her for the first time." He gave Brass a pleading look. "I can't lose her. I have to do something."
"I don't make the rules...." Brass tried to explain.
Just then two more black Tahoes pulled up. Nick and Brass watched as Grissom and Catherine got out of one, Sara and Warrick out of the other. The group was still confused over what was going on. As soon as they saw Nick's face, they knew it was something terrible.
Sara was the first to speak. "We heard the APB on the way over. Infant abduction, huh?"
Grissom looked at Nick. "Nick, hey, what's going on here? Do you know the victim or something?"
Nick just nodded. He tried to clear his throat and push down his emotions.
"Nick, whatever it is, you can tell us...." Catherine said to Nick, almost in a maternal way.
Just then an officer came over and looked at Nick.
"Sir, does your daughter have any birthmarks or any medical conditions?" the officer asked.
"Daughter?" Catherine and Sara blurted out stunned unison.
"Whoa, you have a kid?" came from Warrick. Warrick didn't believe it. He and Nick were pretty tight, surely Nick would have said something to him about it.
Grissom was already surveying the crime scene. He stopped dead in his tracks. He turned around and walked back to the others.
Nick addressed the officer's question. "Um, god I don't know....I don't think so....can we go into the apartment and look?"
Nick was disgusted with himself that he couldn't answer a simple question. Horrible thoughts swirled in his mind. "My god, what if she's sick and Katie didn't tell me. Can babies have diabetes? My sisters' kids have had jaundice, is that serious? Even a cold could turn into pneumonia." The other CSI's could read the worry on Nick's face. Catherine grabbed Nick's hand and rubbed his back. She her mind retreated to the night she almost lost Lindsay in the canal. Catherine couldn't imagine going through that ordeal again.
"Boyfriend's not home, I'll have to call for a warrant," Brass replied and walked away to make the call.
Grissom was still trying to understand the complexity of this case. Once again Nick was embroiled in a murder investigation.
Grissom looked at Nick and said, "Okay, let me get this straight....the baby that was abducted was your daughter. The victim is..."
"An ex-girlfriend," Nick explained. "Her name was Katie, we went out for about three months, last year. She called after we ended things, told me she was pregnant." Nick looked at the ground sheepishly. "She...um...well, we had a disagreement, and I didn't hear from her until yesterday. She called to tell me that she had a baby girl two months ago. She brought her by today...and I..I held her. Her name is Brianna Nicole and she's beautiful."
Nick was still trying to hold back his tears. He kept rubbing his eyes and face. Both Sara and Catherine were saddened to see their friend so upset. Even Grissom softened a little. He put his hand on Nick's arm.
"Okay, Nick, now listen to me," said Grissom. "I want you to go wait by the cars. Try to think of anything that might help us with this case. The sooner we process the scene, the sooner we can track down your daughter. When we get a warrant for the apartment, we'll bring you up to speed."
Nick nodded his head and walked over to the Tahoes. His meeting with Katie kept running through is head, almost like a movie. He could remember everything, the way Katie looked, the dress she was wearing, the way she smelled. He thought about holding Brianna. He ached for the warm feeling he got in his arms and chest when he looked at Brianna and she looked back at him. Nick leaned against his truck and watched the other CSI's work the scene. Thank god he had so much confidence in his colleagues.
Grissom watched Nick return to the vehicles, then turned back to the others. He was anxious to get started on this scene. Outdoor areas made him nervous. Although most people thought of Vegas as just being a desert city, he knew that the weather could turn bad in a New York minute. Add a missing child on top of it and Grissom was as near to frantic as he could get. But his cool demeanor would never give it away. He was nothing, if not professional.
"Okay guys, we don't have much time. The evidence in this scene could tell us where the baby is."
"I'll take pictures." Sara grabbed the camera.
Catherine pulled out her cell phone. "I'll call a tow to get the car back to the garage for processing."
Grissom nodded. "Good, Warrick, can you process the tire tracks?"
"Sure, no sweat." Warrick replied as he studied the ground.
"Okay, I'm going to go see what the status is on that warrant." Grissom turned and walked toward Brass.
The rest of the CSI's went about their tasks, but couldn't stop looking at Nick as he watched them process the scene. He looked so lost. Sara was taking pictures when she noticed something laying near the tire. It was photograph. After she took a picture of it, she picked it up and turned it over. There was a picture of a baby in a car seat. She had big, beautiful eyes and dark brown hair. Sara wanted to run the picture over to Nick, so he would have something to hold. She looked at the picture, then at Nick, it was just so tempting. But she knew that she couldn't. She bagged the photograph as evidence. Sara couldn't imagine what he was going through.
Brass had just hung up his cell phone when Grissom reached him.
"Hey Gil, the warrant is on it's way, should just be a few minutes."
"That's great, I should head over to the coroner's soon. Catherine and Warrick can process the apartment. I'm gonna have Sara process the car." Grissom looked back towards Nick. "I don't want Nick in there...we have to get him away from this scene."
Brass nodded and said, "I'll bring him back to the station and see what his knows about Katie and this boyfriend of her's." Brass offered.
"Well, what do we know so far?"
"That one of Nick's ex-girlfriends had his child, she was living with a real asshole, she was beat to death, and now his little girl is gone."
Grissom sighed. "We need to find the boyfriend."
Grissom was more thinking out loud then making a statement. Brass knew that the boyfriend could be the key here. Domestics turned into murder were commonplace in their job. It was appalling what people could do to each other in the name of love. Brass was already working on that angle.
"The neighbors told us about some of the bars he frequents, uniforms are checking them out as we speak."
Grissom and Brass headed back towards the scene.
