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DiVinci Jewelry's was a little home in the wall in one of the older parts of Vegas. Warrick parked the car right out front and he and Nick got out. The building's front window had bars on the front, and on the glass door leading inside also. As they entered the store, a small chime went off and a girl from one of the back rooms came out front.
"Hi, can I help you?" she said putting on a fake smile. Warrick noticed that she looked no older than sixteen and she didn't sound too enthusiastic.
"Yah, Hi, I'm Warrick Brown and this is Nick Stokes. We're with the crime lab and we would like to ask you a few questions." Warrick said walking over to the counter where the girl stood. The girl looked startled for a minuet, and then nodded her head.
"Uh, you should probably talk to my dad." She said and disappeared in back again.
Nick walked around the store looking in all of the cases at all of the fine jewelry. He didn't really like jewelry stores, they intimidated him and he always felt like he had to buy something, weather or not he had the money. He walked over to one of the cases – the engagement ring case – and peered inside.
"Ever shop for one of these?" Nick asked half jokingly to Warrick. Warrick came over to look in the case with Nick.
"Yup." He replied and walked away
"What? You shopped for a ring before?" Nick asked startled, "Was this the same girl with the three hundred dollar purse?" he quipped.
"Actually, yes. We were pretty serious if you must know." Warrick replied not really paying attention to Nick.
"So what happened?" Nick now had to know how this whole ordeal unfolded.
"People can fall out of love just as quickly as they fall into it." Warrick replied sullenly. "Good thing I didn't buy the ring."
"Yah, because it wouldn't look to good on you." Nick peered back into the case, and Warrick came over to look with him.
"This glass was just recently replaced." He noted, "See? The top part of the glass doesn't have any scratched, while the case next to it is covered in them. And I think I can still see some glue."
Nick bent down for a closer look, "You're right…" he began to say when a nicely dressed older man came out to the front of the store.
"Can I help you gentlemen?" he asked walking over to them.
"Yes, We're with the crime lab and we would like to ask you a few questions." Warrick posed, and then turned his attention to the case in front of him. "Was this glass recently replaced?"
The man tensed up for a moment, and then relaxed, "Yes, we had a robbery about three days ago. The glass was smashed when I went in back to check on a price for a couple."
"A couple? A man and a woman?" Nick asked excitedly
"Obviously." Warrick muttered under his breath for him.
"Yes, they were looking at rings together, and asked me to double check a price for them on a ring. I ran in back for a moment, and when I came back out the glass on this case had been smashed, three rings were gone and the safe was open. Five diamonds had been stolen." The man said looking down at the ground. "My daughter was supposed to be watching the front of the store, instead of checking her e-mails."
At this the daughter came running out front, all in a blaze, "Well, maybe I would be a little more attentive if I actually liked my summer job!" she screeched, "then you could have hired someone who is actually qualified for the job to work here, and they would pay attention to the customers!"
"Emily, calm down. We'll discuss this later," the man said shortly.
"Sir, do you have the glass from this case?" Nick asked
"Yes, Emily vacuumed it up." The man replied, shooting a look at his daughter who was no longer paying attention to her dad, but smiling at Nick.
"Do you think we could have that bag?"
"And could we possibly fingerprint your safe?" Warrick then added.
"Oh, certainly. Please, do whatever you must to find who stole my diamonds." The man said, and walked to the back of the store again.
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"I don't know how this is going to help you," Emily said walking out from the back room holding the vacuum cleaner bag in her hands. "But here it is." She handed the bag over to Nick, who promptly bagged it.
"Thanks." He said to her, and turned to walk away.
"What's a CSI?" she asked before he could reach the door.
"A crime scene investigator." Nick answered without turning around.
"That's cool. Do you have a gun?" Emily asked leaning against the front counter.
"Yup." Nick replied curtly.
"Ever had one pulled on you?" Emily really seemed to want to know a lot of information.
Nick sighed, "Yes I have."
"Ah. The guy that was in here had a gun."
This caught Nick's attention, and he turned around to face her. "What?" he asked, now interested in what she was saying.
"The guy that robbed the store. I saw he had a gun." Emily replied.
"How did you see him?" Nick questioned moving over to the counter where Emily was.
"On the camera." She said pointing to the ceiling, and sure enough a camera was stationed there.
"Do you have a tape of robbery?"
"Tape? Oh no, my dad's too cheap to tape what happens in the store. If he was taping it, then we might actually report all of the robberies we've had, this isn't the first one." Emily said shaking her head. "No, the camera is just hooked up to a monitor in the back and I can see the people coming and going."
"While you're checking your mail." Nick added.
"Exactly!" Emily now seemed to be enthusiastic.
"Did you happen to see the woman this man was with?"
"Yup." Emily replied taking a tootsie roll from a basket on the counter and popped it in her mouth. "She had blonde hair, and it looked so fake. You can always tell if someone dyes their hair by their eyebrows, and hers were dark brown."
"Do you remember anything else?" Nick questioned, now realizing that Emily could describe who might have been in the car that night.
"She was tall, about five seven, kind of lanky, and had deep green eyes. And she also had this mole or something on her right check. Ever seen Goldmember? It was a mole like that and I really just wanted to poke it off…" Emily shuddered.
"Could you come down to the lab and give that description to a sketch artist? That would really help us out." Nick could only hope that she would agree to this.
"Hey, if it gets me out of this store, I'm there." Emily smiled and took another tootsie roll.
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