Disclaimer: I do not own anything relating to CSI or it's affiliates. I am merely a fan whose would like to take already established characters into a story of my own rendering.
Burn
There are some days when one is glad to be home. When all you want to do is kick off your shoes, turn on the TV and drink a glass of wine while enjoying leftover chicken. Yes, even those in Sin City itself wanted nothing more than to relax and enjoy life for what's it worth.
After living in Las Vegas for most of her life, Jenna Rhimes was no exception. During the day, she worked at the MGM Grand as an accountant. She smiled as she pulled up to her home just on the outskirts of the Strip. Turning off the engine to her silver Honda Civic, Jenna gracefully moved her athletic body out of the car. Wearing the required corpriate attire consisting of a gray shirt suit and a silver undershirt that were accented by simple silver heels, the brunette's hair pulled up into a loose bun as if the hairs themselves awaited their release, Jenna was smart, beautiful, and just under thirty, meaning she was old enough to find a good man, but young enough to not want to settle down just yet.
Finding her keys from the small silver purse, Jenna walked to the front door and as she went to unlock the door, she suddenly felt like something was wrong. But the door was locked and no one else has a key. It must have been a really long day.
Still not one to throw herself into danger, she slowly walked into the house, not sure of what was wrong. But there was something in the air that bothered her. Jenna moved quietly, taking an inventory in her mind of all her possessions around the room. Everything was in its place. Being a very organized person, she knew where every candle, every spoon, every soap dish should be. They were in their places, just as she had left them. Calming herself, she knew what would relax her. A bubble bath.
Jenna put her purse and keys on the coffee table and walked into the kitchen. She opened the small refrigerator inside a cabinet and pulled out her favorite bottle of wine. Although a cheap German wine, Jakob Demmer's Auslese was one of the best dessert wines to be had in the country. Not too sweet, but sweet enough to sip on, it was a perfect choice to adorne the side of her bathtub next to the candles and oils.
What is that smell? Jenna began to walk towards her bedroom, wine in one hand and an empty glass in another. Just as she had entered the hallway that led to her bedroom, a nagging smell began to grow in her nostrils. She could feel here heart beating faster; sweat was beginning to form on her forehead. She stood in front of the bedroom door and stopped. Moving the empty glass to the other hand along with the wine, she gently slapped herself on the cheek, and laughed. I'm getting worked up over nothing. I live alone. If something was going to happen, it would have happened by now. This is real life for crying out loud. Not some horror movie.
Feeling her heart go back to its normal rhythm, Jenna took hold of the doorknob and walked in without hesitation. As if the plagues of Egypt had swept over her, such was the smell of smoke and burned rubber. Rubber?
Flesh.
Skin. Like the time she had burned herself when she was a kid on the barbeque pit on the fourth of July. It had smelled like burned rubber in the ambulance. That smell always made her sick.
Jenna fought back the nausea that had overwhelmed her as she scanned the room for the source before finding it laying on her neatly dressed bed, was a woman, naked with small burn marks all over her body. Lifeless eyes showed the pure fear that must have consumed her last moments. Overwhelmed by the smell and sight of death, Jenna, unable to scream, threw the wine bottle and glass to the floor and ran out of the room into the hallway where she bent over and vomited on her clean white carpet.
"Well, look who decided to show up today?" chimed an overly sarcastic Captain
James Brass to Dr. Gilbert Grissom as the latter gentleman ducked under the crime scene tape and entered the house he had been called to investigate.
Gil, who was always one for humor if it fit the situation just smiled, "There was an unusually large wedding going on at Elvis Wedding Chapel. Something about a world record."
Brass smiled, "I suppose that's why Mini-Grissom hasn't showed up yet either."
The reference to Sara Sidle, who was by all accounts a bright young woman who's energy and ability to solve even the most complicated problem was matched only to Grissom himself. Brass was the only one who would say it out loud, but around the Las Vegas crime lab, she was often referred to as his protégé. At least where Gil or Sara couldn't hear it. Only a handful of people mentioned the favoritism, including Brass and Catherine Willows, a fellow CSI, but both never anything more than jest. Gil smiled again, "Mini-me" he said with a tone of happy sarcasm, is at another crime scene at the moment and probably won't join me here."
"Actually, I will be joining you." Came a voice distinct only to Sara Sidle. Wearing a lab jumper, hair behind her back, and a smile, she quickly walked up to the two men and after looking over each face, she replied, "Am I really called Mini-Grissom?"
"Only by me." Brass replied, looking warmly towards her. He revered her as another daughter and Grissom as an old friend. The obvious chemistry between them was difficult for him to deal with, but was easily understandable. Never had he met two people so alike yet different enough to be a perfect match in every way. But he was getting off task. "Now then, if you would follow me, there's someone I though you'd like to meet." He said and led them inside the house where both noticed how clean and organized everything was. But Jim continued on his way and the two CSIs followed suit as the three moved down the hall in single file and into the bedroom Brass first, followed by Grissom and Sara bringing up the rear was the last to enter. It didn't take her long to find where the body was.
"Jane Doe. Found in Jenna Rhimes' bed. She said that she's never met this woman before and she lives alone. Claims she came home about ten pm and found the body in her bed. Nothing else in the house has been taken or disturbed." Brass said, filling the two CSIs in on the current situation at hand. "Apparently she's an accountant and is certain that with the exception of the bed, nothing has been moved. Something about a photographic memory."
Grissom looked at Sara, "Well she had to get here somehow so the whole house will have to be checked." Brass sighed. Apparently Jenna wasn't going to be happy about having her things fingerprinted and moved, "I'll go give Miss Rhimes the good news. Enjoy." Both smiled at Brass as he left, then without another word, immediately went to work, surveying the room and the body all at once. Before touching anything, they needed to do a priliminary walk through of the crime scene.
"She has several small burn marks all over her body. Slightly circular." Sara commented as she squatted next to the body for a closer look. Grissom knelt next to her and found a used cigarette butt next to the victim's left hand. Picking up the evidence with a gloved hand, he cautiously hovered the burned end over one of the burns on the left arm.
"Looks like the victim was burned to death." Grissom commented looking at Sara. "What are your first thoughts?"
Sara examined the scenario, "Well, at first glance, I'd say the victim broke into a house of a person she's never met and burned herself to death? So far, there aren't any other signs of bondage or that anyone else was in the room with her. But looking at the body, she died here. How could someone do this to theirselves?"
"Well you know what the say" said Grissom with a smirk on his face, "Smoking kills."