24 hours…
Grissom stood outside a small house in a respectful part of town. It had a white picket fence, the garden had no weeds, and the grass had been recently mowed. It was the perfect little house…too perfect; it made Grissom uncomfortable though nobody would ever be able to tell. Brass was behind him, waiting for him to knock on the door. Grissom shrugged and knocked on the door three times, then waited. The white door was pulled open by a tall pale woman with platinum blonde hair.
"Yes?" she asked, her voice was so quiet Grissom barely heard her.
"I'm Agent Gil Grissom with the Crime Lab, is your son home?" Grissom asked in his normal professional manner holding out his badge.
"I'll go get him," replied the woman her lips becoming a thin line, "please come in."
She wandered off to get her son while Grissom sat down on a couch in the living room. A few minutes the woman returned with a teenage boy a little taller than she was. He had black hair and pale skin.
"This is Beau," said the woman, "Beau, Mr. Grissom is with the Crime Lab."
"Mom, I swear I'm not doing drugs," exclaimed Beau in a frustrated tone, "Why don't you believe me?"
"I'm not here about drugs," said Grissom, "Beau where were you two nights ago?"
"I was with my Mom at work," replied Beau.
"Mrs. Black, where do you work?" Grissom asked.
"I work at a magic theatre," replied Mrs. Black.
"Did you know Cory Zhurkin?" Grissom asked holding out a picture of the now deceased magician. "He also went by "Cory the Majestic". He was a newer act in one of the theatres on the strip."
Mrs. Black took the picture. "Yes, he worked at the same theatre as me. Is this about his death?"
"Mrs. Black, Cory Zhurkin was murdered two nights ago," said Grissom, "did you or your son have any interaction with him?"
"No," replied Beau, "I never saw him."
"You're sure?" Brass asked suspiciously.
"Yeah," replied Beau.
"We talked a bit," replied Mrs. Black, "he wished me a Happy Birthday and talked with me and a few of the other workers at the theatre."
"Who would those be?" Grissom asked.
"Uh…", Mrs. Black thought for a few minutes. "Danielle, Mary-Ann, Lolita, and Hilary."
"And Beau, you claim you never saw Mr. Zhurkin?" Grissom asked.
"Never," replied Beau, "can I go now?"
"I'm afraid not. You'll have to come with me," replied Brass.
"What's going on?" Mrs. Black asked as her and her son were led to a police cruiser.
"You're under suspicion of murder," replied Brass.
Jack looked at Sam sympathetically as he drove her to her Aunt's place. Sam had explained earlier about her cousin. Jack was feeling terrible for not staying with her the night before and because she didn't come to him with her troubles.
"His room is closer," Jack argued with himself. "They're not going out. It's nothing personal. She just went to the closer room, and Jonas answered the door… simple as that". He'd never admit it, but he'd wished that he'd been the one she went to see, not Jonas.
"Turn right," said Sam, her voice was sad. Jack knew it would be like that for awhile, and he knew that sound would be hard for him to hear until she got over this.
Jack turned onto a paved driveway. He stopped the rental car and got out. He opened Sam's door and she stepped out slowly. Sam walked up the steps and knocked on the wooden door. Jack looked around. It seemed like a nice neighborhood …wait a second…
Grissom shook his head. He hated to have to bring in teenagers, and this seemed like such a nice neighborhood. The mother seemed nice enough. But he'd said it himself, you know what looks can do, they can kill. Grissom shrugged and went to get into the car, however he did a final scan of his surroundings…wait a minute…
"Isn't that the guy from the theatre?"
"Isn't that the CSI that's been bugging us?"
Jack and Grissom both froze and looked at each other. They were only a few meters away from each other when their eyes locked.
"Aw hell," thought Jack, "this is not good."
They looked at each other. Cold blue eyes fixed on the deep brown.
"Sir?" Sam asked, as the click of the lock being unlocked filled the silence. "What is it?"
Jack looked back at Sam just as her aunt swung the door open. "Nothing," replied Jack as her walked up the steps, "nothing."
Grissom watched as the man entered the house with Catherine's suspect…what was her name again? Major…Certer? No…no, it was a Major Carter…
"Hey Gil," called Brass, "you coming?"
"Yeah," said Grissom looking away only when the man had fully entered the house and the door had been closed. "I'm coming."
"Sam, I'm so glad you could be here," said Karen sighing, "it's so hard being alone at a time like this". Sam's aunt burst into tears.
"You're not alone, Aunt Karen," said Sam, hugging her aunt in an attempt to calm her down. "Whenever you feel alone, look to the stars, I'll be there."
Jack sat down on a nearby sofa.
"That CSI guy was definitely going to be suspicious now," thought Jack.
"Beau, you claim that you've never met Cory Zhurkin," said Grissom, "however, we have evidence that proves that you have. Your DNA is on Mr. Zhurkin's coat."
"So maybe I brushed past him," said Beau. "I visit my Mom's work a lot."
"Hey," said a tall woman, her glittery costume shimmers as she walks by.
"Whoa," whispers Beau as he turns to look at her and bumps into Zhurkin.
"Watch it," said Cory, as he pushes open the door to the back alley.
"How often?" Grissom asked.
"Two, maybe three times a month," replied Beau.
"Beau," said Grissom, "we've been unable to locate your father, do you know where he is?"
"He walked out about a month ago after finding out Mom had been having an affair with that Russian freak," said Beau bitterly.
"Are you referring to Mr. Zhurkin?" Grissom asked.
"Yeah, does his last name sound American to you?" Beau asked sarcastically.
"So you do know him," said Brass.
"I know of him," replied Beau.
Do either of your parents own a gun?" Grissom asked.
"Yeah, my dad collects them, he left most of the collection at our house," replied Beau.
"Alright, that's all the questions I have," said Grissom, he stood up and exited the room.
"Mrs. Black, did you have an affair with Cory Zhurkin?" Grissom asked.
"Yeah," replied Mrs. Black bitterly. The quiet woman who'd been at the house was gone. "It was just a fling, I told him so, but no, the bastard has to go and tell my husband! He left me! For one of my co-workers! But that doesn't mean I killed him!"
"Tell me about the night of the murder," said Grissom.
"Well…Beau came to work with me. He does from time to time…"
"Hey," said a tall woman, her glittery costume shimmers as she walks by.
"Whoa," whispers Beau as her turns to look at her and bumps into Zhurkin.
"Watch it," said Cory, as he pushes open the door to the back alley.
"We need to test the special effects," said Lolita.
"Here," said Danielle handing Lolita a small button.
Lolita pushed the button and the finale starts to play on stage with the sounds of thunder echoing in the background.
"Cory didn't come back in after the sound check," said Mrs. Black.
"Why did the sound check happen during intermission?" Grissom asked, "Normally that's done before the show starts."
"Many of Cory's tricks require careful planning; the effects for the finale can't be put in until after the specified tricks are preformed," said Mrs. Black. "No one is allowed in the theatre during intermission, except backstage crew and performers."
"Did you go to the back alley to look for Mr. Zhurkin?" Grissom asked.
"Yes I did," replied Mrs. Black, "I saw two guys standing over top of him, one had redish-brown hair, and the other one had brown hair and glasses."
"Mrs. Black may we have permission to look at your husband's collection of guns?" Grissom asked.
"You need me to do that?" Mrs. Black asked.
"We can easily get a warrant," said Brass who had been standing quietly in the far corner, "but if you give us permission it saves time and effort."
"My house is your house," said Mrs. Black.
"Do you think they were telling the truth?" Brass asked.
"Large possibility both ways," replied Grissom, "however, I think that combined with what Greg found, it's enough to get Mr. Jackson and Mr. Quinn in for an interrogation."
"Oh yeah," replied Brass, "I'll be back in an hour with both of them."
Sara knocked on the hotel door again, Brass waited impatiently behind her. A tall muscular black guy with a funny looking bucket hat answered the door.
"How may I be of assistance?" he asked.
"Is there a Jonas Quinn or a Daniel Jackson here?"
"Indeed," said Teal'c. Sara saw Jonas and Daniel sitting on one of the beds playing cards.
"Yeah well we'd like to talk with them," replied Brass, "in our interrogation room."
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