Brass knocked on the door of a plain white Las Vegas suburb house, The CSI's stood behind him. At last a young woman in her late twenties opened the door.
"Yes?" She said, "Can I help you?"
"Anna Morrison?" Brass asked.
"Yes?" The lady replied.
"Jim Brass LVPD, may we come in?"
"Um, of course," Anna Morrison said, Brass and the forensic crew followed her into the living room, "Please sit down," Mrs. Morrison said as she motioned to the leather couches, "Can I get you anything?"
"No thank you ma'am," Brass said, "I'm afraid we have some bad news. Your husband was found earlier this morning, I'm afraid he's dead."
Anna Morrison just sat there with a look of shock and pain etched on to her face.
"What... what happened?" She stammered as she tried to choke back tears, "I saw him yesterday, he was fine!"
"We believe he was murdered," Catherine said quietly. The new widow began shaking uncontrollably, tears streamed down her ghost white face.
"Oh my god." was all she could manage, over and over, "Oh my god."
"Mrs. Morrison, did... did you know if your husband had anyone that may want to hurt him?" Grissom asked.
Anna Morrison shook her head and wiped away the tears from her face, "My husband was a good man, very dedicated to work and to his family... to me." She managed to give a small smile.
"Where did your husband work?" Grissom asked quietly.
"At Morrison and Walker Securities, he was a stock broker." She explained slowly, "He and his friend David Walker started the business years ago."
"Where does David Walker live?" Catherine Asked.
"Down the road, 3156 Sunrise Avenue, but..." Mrs Morrison looked worried and trailed off, "The chance of him being home is slim to none."
"What do you mean?" Brass asked.
"Well it's not my place to gossip but David Walker is a bit insecure with everything in his life. He's rarely home, always at work but he'll leave home for weeks on end."
"Well it's not unusual for grown men to go on business trips." Brass said.
"Maybe," Mrs. Morrison replied, "But with a 14 year old daughter at home you'd think he would at least send her to a friends house when he goes off."
"He doesn't?" Grissom asked, Catherine's jaw dropped by this.
"He leaves her alone for weeks on end, in Las Vegas?' The mother said.
"Yes," Mrs. Morrison replied sadly, "He's been doing it since she was nine, Philip and I use to let her stay here when he was gone, it wasn't right for David to do it but he did all the same."
"Thank you very much, Mrs. Morrison." Brass said, "We'll let you know if we have any more questions."
A black Tahoe pulled into the driveway of a simple Las Vegas house. Lights glowed from the window but that was the only proof that anyone was home. Grissom and Brass stepped out of the front, Catherine and Sara came from the back and Warrick and Nick stepped out of the second Tahoe which pulled up behind the first.
Brass knocked on the door of the white washed house and waited. After a moment the door opened revealing a young girl with curly brown hair and ice blue eyes.
"Amy Walker?" Brass asked.
"Yes," The girl replied.
"I'm Jim Brass from the LVPD, is your dad home?"
"Noo," she replied, "You have a badge?"
Jim smiled as opened his jacket to reveal the shiny gold badge which showed his rank.
"Oh, sorry, just you never know who's lurking around at this time of night." The girl said, "And no he isn't home."
"May we come in? We need to discuss a few things with you."
"Um, sure." She said, "Come on in." The young girl led Brass and the CSI's into a medium sized living room, "Please sit down." She said, "Sorry about the mess, me and my friend Alex were busy working on a poetry project for school. Can i get you anything?"
"No thanks," Brass said, Amy shrugged and push the poster covered in different poems aside. Then She walked up to a small boom box and turned off the soft music that was playing.
"So what can I do for you guys?" the young girl asked as she sat down on a leather chair.
"When was the last time you saw your dad?" Brass asked.
"I don't know, maybe about a week and a half ago."
"Is he away a lot?" Grissom asked.
Amy nodded sadly, 'All the time, business trips I imagine."
"He doesn't tell you?"
"No," Amy replied, "Why would he? That would be a smart thing to do. And frankly I could care less where he goes." The CSI's all exchanged glances, Amy saw them. "Don't get me wrong," She said, "What your hearing isn't some normal teenage angst I have, he really isn't up for the father of the year award."
"How long is he usually gone for?" Catherine asked.
"I don't know, maybe three or four weeks at a time."
"He leaves you alone for that long?" Sara asked, "Doesn't that bother you?"
"Of course it does," Amy replied, "But I can't stop him. Besides I like being alone, the house stays cleaner with him gone."
"What about your mother?" Brass asked.
"She died when I was five," The girl said quietly, "I don't remember much about her so don't bother asking any questions."
"I'm sorry," Brass said, "Losing a loved one is always hard/ So how long has this been going on? With you being left alone for weeks on end."
"Since I was nine," Amy replied, the expressions the CSI's had put on made her smile, "Yeah I know, long time. But I get 200$ a month for food and clothing, it's more than enough to survive off of."
"And you spend it all on food and clothing?" Brass asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.
"Well not all of it," Amy said, "It's not like I need new clothes every month and I don't eat a helluva lot." She looked at the detective, " And IF you're suggesting that I might dip into drugs or something like that I'm afraid I'll have to call you incredibly stereotypical. I may be a teenager but that doesn't mean I listen to punk rock and go out every night and party and get high. Quite the opposite actually, I have no life, social or otherwise."
Sara nudged Brass in the ribs with her elbow, "Well that showed you." She whispered and laughed.
"Is my dad in some kind of trouble?" Amy asked.
Grissom sighed, he didn't want to tell her but now he had no choice, "Philip Morrison, your fathers partner, was found murdered earlier this evening."
"Oh my god," Amy said, "Is- is my dad a suspect?"
"Well with him missing like this is would appear so," Brass said, "But we don't want to worry you."
"I'm not worried," Amy said, "Just shocked. Mr. Morrison was a really nice guy, oh wow his wife must be heart broken."
"Did they seem happy?" Brass asked, "Did they ever fight?"
Amy shook her head, "Never, they were very happy together. He loved her and she adored him."
"Do you mind if we look around for evidence?" Brass asked, "We can get a warrant if you want."
Amy laughed, "Don't bother, I've got nothing to hide. Look around all you want."
"Thanks," Catherine said, "Alright Gil, where do you want us?"
"Sara, you and Warrick do the kitchen, Cath you and Nick take upstairs. I'll do the living room."
"Do you mind if I keep working on my project?" Amy asked, "It's due tomorrow, first block and I still have to write two more poems and paste all of them on."
"Not at all," Grissom said as he began looking over everything in the living room. There were five water colour paintings hanging on the living room walls. Each framed and signed, Amy had painted them. There was a play station 2 sitting next to a large tv, a number of games were shelved beside it. Grissom pulled on his latex gloves and pulled a game off of the shelf.
"Final Fantasy Seven..." he muttered, "Does your dad like to play video games?"
"Nope," Amy replied as she pasted a poem on to the poster board, "I do though. My dad says they're a waste of time but he's never played them so he shouldn't talk."
Grissom nodded and looked back at the game, there were other ones like it filed on the shelf ranging from Final Fantasy origins all the way to Final Fantasy Ten.
"You like these games?" Grissom asked sd he put the one he held back on to the shelf.
"Yup," Amy replied, "Best games ever."
-She should talk to Greg- Grissom thought -They'd have a great conversation-
After a few minutes Amy rolled up her poster and sighed, "Done."
Grissom smiled and looked around, "Don't you ever get lonely?"
"All the time," Amy said, "But my friend's come around all the time so it's not so bad." The young girl began picking up scraps of paper from the ground, "Still, I think I'd rather have my dad here, he may not be the best but he's all I've got and If he died or disappeared I don't know what I'd do."
Grissom nodded and continued to collect hair ands and fibres from the living room. After about an hour and a half the entire house had been searched for evidence, the CSI's had come up with no more than a few hair fibres and other trace evidence that didn't mean much. Brass had questioned Amy again and she answered as best she could.
"Thanks for your help," Brass said as they were leaving, "We'll be in touch. If your dad comes back tell him to call us, it's very important that we speak to him as soon as possible."
"If you need anything," Catherine said, "Don't hesitate to call. We know it can't be easy living on your own like this."
"Your not going to tell anyone?" Amy asked suddenly, "I mean anyone that might send me to a foster home, Really I don't need to. I'm fine living on my own."
"We won't tell anyone." Brass promised, "But call if you need anything or remember something that might be useful."
"Okay." Amy replied, "I will."
The CSI's said goodbye and headed back to the Tahoes.