Chapter 2

Police officers were controlling the movement in and out of the studio. Grissom, Nick and Catherine flashed their identification to the officers and headed into the building. The familiar looking yellow tape drew the three of them directly to the scene of the crime.

There were numerous stagehands and other studio people milling around. Some of the contestants were in a separate room being interviewed. Grissom approached Brass and enquired, "So, anything new come up since we talked?"

Brass replied, "Not a whole lot. Canary and Danson have just finished giving their statements. I've asked them not to leave yet. The two of them do admit to having had an argument with Marxwall, but they insist that he was still alive when they left. Canary claims that Marxwall had indeed stolen the song that she was going to sing, and that she was very upset about it, thus the confrontation. She blames him for her loss," As he was saying this, he was looking towards the room that contained Angel Canary.

He then continued. "Danson claims that he came upon the heated argument and tried to step in and stop it. Both Marxwall and Canary told him to take a hike. Danson said that he left right after that. I'm just going to go over their statements some more and see if there are any inconsistencies with them, or if I have any more questions for them. I'll touch base with you once I'm done." Brass turned on his heel and left.

Grissom nodded and turned to Nick and Catherine. All right you two, let's see what we can find." Snapping on latex gloves, the three of them went over to where the vic's motionless body lay sprawled behind the set's backdrop. Dion Marxwall was lying on his back, his hands clutched up near his neck. His throat had been slashed open. Blood had gushed out of the wound and seeped into a dark puddle all around his upper body. Spatters of blood could be seen on the wall of the backdrop.

Catherine began to take pictures of the body and the surrounding area. She then put the camera down and began examining the victim more closely. Grissom was carefully examining the hands of the victim.

Meanwhile, Nick had moved over to the wall of the backdrop. He was quietly humming There's No Business Like Show Business as he looked more closely at the blood spatter pattern on the wall. Catherine heard the tune and smiled. She turned towards Nick and quipped, "Something tells me that he's not going to see his billing up in lights; headlines in the paper maybe…"

Realizing what he had been humming and Catherine's reference to some of its lyrics made Nick stop humming. "Oooh, very funny," he retorted. "Have you found anything interesting yet?"

"Actually, I think I have. I found a piece of paper, balled up, and next to the body. It looks like there are some lyrics written on it. There's lipstick on his cheek too. That's it so far. What about you?" Catherine looked questioningly at Nick. While she waited for his response, she picked up the camera and took pictures of the paper and the lipstick. She then grabbed a lab swab, swabbed the lipstick, and sealed the sample in the plastic container.

"Well, from the pattern of the blood spatter, Marxwall was obviously standing when the attack took place. It looks like he staggered from further behind the set up to this spot where he finally succumbed to the loss of blood." As he was speaking, Nick was pointing to the trail of blood on the floor and the spatter on the walls. Catherine followed and continued to snap pictures. Nick's eyes came to rest near Marxwall's lifeless body. Something shiny caught his eye. "Now what do we have here?" he muttered.

Reaching down, he moved some of the splintered wood from the smashed storage boxes and stared at the shiny, but blood covered object. He motioned for Catherine to come over. She did, and snapped another picture. He bent over and carefully picked it up with his gloved hands. "I think that I may have found the murder weapon. It looks like a letter opener. Pretty fancy handle. Upon examining it closer, Nick noticed a smudged print on the handle. "Bingo! A partial print." He carefully placed the letter opener in a paper bag, sealed it and then labeled it.

Grissom had been listening in on the conversation. "Good work Nick," he interjected. "You too, Cath. There's definitely something here under his finger nails. It could be skin. You two finish up here. I'm going to touch base with Brass and see what other songs our two main contestants have sung for him." And with that parting comment, Grissom headed for the room where he had seen Brass enter, only moments ago.