Epilogue: More Than What We Once Were/All Hands on Deck
Clark County Detention Center
6:30 PM
After receiving Bobbi Flannery's call, Catherine had driven straight from St. Sebastian's Hospital to the Clark County Detention Center. This sprawling three-tiered facility seemed to stick out like a sore thumb in Downtown Las Vegas, simply because it was one of the most towering buildings adjacent to the Strip that wasn't a grand hotel or a casino. Known unofficially as the Clark County Jail, the detention center served as the city's main intake facility for any adult taken into custody by law enforcement.
The CSI Director displayed her official ID badge by pinning it to the lapel of her black blazer and secured her Walther PPK service pistol before being escorted to the main intake desk by a young blonde female uniformed officer. Bobbi Flannery, dressed in her CSI identification vest, turned to see her boss enter.
"Hey boss," Bobbi cordially greeted, "Thanks for coming."
"Not a problem, Bobbi" Catherine replied in just as affable a tone as the two women began walking down the small hallway beside the main intake waiting area, "Thank you again for the heads up."
"You got it," Bobbi said, "I hear our boy Detective Aikers is going to pull through, huh?"
Catherine chuckled and gave her colleague a brief smile, comforted by the kind sentiment. "Yeah," she said, "Thankfully, it looks like he will."
Bobbi nodded. "Awesome," she commented.
The two of them then reached a small cell at the far corner. Isaac Matthew Serain sat on the bench inside the cell, clad in a set of neon orange full-body coveralls, thin jail-issued gray cotton socks, and neon orange sandals.
"Here he is," Bobbi said, "You need me to stay, boss?"
Catherine shook her head in retort. "No," she confidently replied, "I'm good here. Thanks, Bobbi."
"Alright," Bobbi said, "I'll head back over to the lab and get started on that paperwork you asked for." The veteran criminalist then turned and walked out toward the exit.
Catherine went over to the small speaker in the center of the cell's large blue steel door and flipped on the two-way microphone. "Mister Serain," she said into the microphone, "I'm Catherine Willows. I'm the Director of the Las Vegas Crime Lab. I was told you wanted to speak with me. Could you approach the speaker, please?"
A rather diffident Serain made his way over to the cell door and knelt in front of the speaker. "Hello, Miss Willows" he said, "I just wanted to talk to you face to face."
"First of all," Catherine replied, "Please call me 'Catherine.' Also, why me and how do you even know of me at all?"
"My public defender provided me with all the relevant reports from Stephanie Watson's case," Serain began explaining, "Both from back in Eighty-Seven and all the way to nowadays when your two lady friends and your buddy Mister Stokes were hunting me with the San Diego sheriffs and those damn Marshals. In your CSI field report from Two-Thousand-Two, you personally noted that you had a friendship with Stephanie when you both worked as dancers at the French Palace."
"Your point being?" Catherine inquired.
Serain sighed very deeply in response, as if he had taken some extensive time to reflect on his situation. "Everything that you guys suspect that I did back then is true," he blurted out a few seconds later, "I killed Stephanie Watson."
Momentarily stunned by this sudden forthright admission, Catherine's mind flashed back to that night back in 2002, the night she sat at that bar with Jimmy Tadero and watched on TV as the original suspect, Mark Kelso, lay in a prison hospital bed and recanted his involvement in Stephanie's murder to a news camera.
She then cleared her throat and composed herself. "You were there that night?" Catherine asked.
Serain nodded. "Yeah," he said, "I know that there's no real excusable reason for what I did, but full disclosure, I had major coke and speed issues back in those days. Those demons got me booted out of jobs, I lost my apartment, and was living on the street when I started regularly going to the Palace. I even saw you work the pole a few times."
That last sentence made the normally professional and stoic Catherine shudder on the inside, but her strength of will remained intact on the outside as always. "Did you even know Stephanie?" she asked, "As a person, I mean?"
Serain shook his head. "No," he flatly replied, "Honestly, she was just another dancer."
Catherine grimaced with transitory disgust before reaching into the breast pocket of her blazer. She took out a very weathered and dog-eared 8X10 photograph of a younger her as a dancer at the French Palace. Stephanie Watson stood next to her with her arm around her, the two of them showing wide and happy smiles. Catherine pressed the photo up to the glass so that Serain could see it for himself.
"Let me give you a reality check, Mister Serain" she said, "Stephanie Watson was so much more then 'just another dancer.' She was a night student who studied Physical Therapy at Western Las Vegas University. She had a mother and father living in Denver. In case you were wondering, they're still living there and they're still together. I'd say that's goddamn amazing considering how you stabbed their only daughter to death in a dirty alleyway. Wouldn't you?"
A repentant Isaac Matthew Serain knew that his goose was pretty much cooked by now. "Absolutely," he managed to muster in reply.
Catherine then took the photo away and placed it back her pocket. "Now," she said, "If I may, let me tell you about me. I eventually left the French Palace behind, gave up my own cocaine habit, earned a college degree, and devoted my life to interpreting forensic evidence and bringing people like you to justice. Do me a favor, will you?"
"What?" Serain asked.
"When you get to prison," Catherine said, "Make sure that the other guys on your cellblock are aware of something. If they happen to get out and decide to reoffend, they should know that there are people like me and my CSIs who are always out to find the truth, even if justice comes decades later."
The now resolved CSI Director stood back up and very confidently walked away.
A lot had taken place over the following 3 weeks. After being released from the hospital, Melanie Wickens was arrested and formally charged with the murder of Hanson Lewick. Jessica Trent, meanwhile, recovered from having been poisoned by Melanie and went on to testify against her in court, after which time Jessica was formally exonerated of any wrongdoing in the case. After only 5 days of trial, which featured some very compelling testimony from the CSIs, Melanie was found guilty and is now awaiting a sentencing hearing. Jessica later moved in with her mother, found a new job as a housekeeper at the Luxor, and began seeing a new therapist.
After his upfront confession to and subsequent verbal dressing down by Catherine Willows, Isaac Matthew Serain plead "no contest" to the 1987 murder of Stephanie Watson. In exchange for this plea, the Clark County District Attorney agreed to recommend a sentence of 50 years. This recommendation was later accepted by Judge David Correll, and as such, Serain is now serving his sentence at the Nevada State Penitentiary in Ely.
Finally, Greg Sanders had been formally cleared of any wrongdoing by both the LVPD's Internal Affairs Bureau and its Use of Force Review Board. His shooting and wounding of Melanie Wickens was ruled to be justified, citing the very apparent and imminent threat she had been posing to Detective Aikers' life. Consequently, Sanders was allowed to return to work.
Las Vegas Crime Lab
Monday, 9:56 PM
CSI's Night Shift had just arrived for the evening and had congregated in the Break Room. Greg Sanders and Dawn Banks were seated at the table, splitting a pepperoni pizza, while Catherine Willows, Bobbi Flannery, and Morgan Brody stood around the coffee maker and sipped from their respective mugs.
"Well, ladies" Greg said with his mouth still somewhat muffled by the pizza, "It's Monday night. You know what that means."
Morgan scoffed. "Yeah," she said, "That like every other Monday, it's going to be the busiest night of the week."
"Oh man," Catherine said as she took a seat at the table opposite Greg and Dawn, "Let's hope we can break that pattern."
Sean Yeager, Lindsay Willows, and Rory Kilegh then entered the break room. Sean was dressed in his black leather jacket with a plain white cotton t-shirt underneath, blue jeans, and tan leather slip-ons with a green backpack slung over his right shoulder. Rory, meanwhile, was clad in a Boston Celtics t-shirt with white jeans and a pair of what looked like brand new Nike basketball shoes. Finally, Lindsay was dressed in a baggy gray WLVU hooded sweatshirt with white yoga pants and a pair of Adidas sandals.
"Hey guys," Catherine said before quickly checking her watch, "What are you all still doing here this late?"
"The Swing Shift team had a wicked busy shift," Sean explained, "So we volunteered to stay on and help them pick up the slack with callouts."
Catherine gave a thumb's up to the trio in response. "Cool," she said, "I appreciate the initiative."
"Things have seemed to slow down a bit, now, though" Lindsay said, "So we're headed out. Rory and I are going to go hit the gym for a little bit."
"And I plan on taking my dog for a walk," Sean added, "Then I'm going to have a late dinner delivered, put my feet up, and watch a movie."
Suddenly, the cell phones of both Catherine as well as every member of the Night Shift chimed simultaneously. Catherine sighed as she checked the message.
"Damn," she said, "I think I spoke too soon. There's been a joint Four-Oh-Two-Four-Nineteen at the old Las Vegas Globe warehouse on South Valley View Boulevard."
"A fire with fatalities," Greg clarified, "The Battalion Chief of the LVFD Arson Unit's calling us in personally."
"All hands on deck, I presume?" Morgan asked.
Catherine nodded. "Yep," she said as everyone else got up from their seats, "Grab your kits, guys. I'm pitching in on this one, too."
"You guys want our help, too, Catherine?" Sean inquired.
Catherine and Greg briefly traded looks before Greg shook his head. "Nah," he said, "You guys should head out and enjoy your night. We've got this."
Las Vegas Globe Warehouse
South Valley View Boulevard
10 Minutes Later
Catherine and the Night Shift arrived at the large, old brick warehouse in their SUVs, with each one of them getting out and taking stock of the chaotic fire scene. Two stations worth of firefighters were busy knocking down the intensely unrelenting flames. Sadly, the bodies of the three homeless people that the responding personnel were unable to revive laid out on the concrete in three zipped white body bags.
The firefighters had the fire contained and extinguished within roughly 15 minutes, at which point the fire department's designated Incident Commander approached the quintet of criminalists. "You guys are with CSI?" he asked.
"We are," Catherine replied, "What can you tell us?"
"We got the call about half an hour or so ago," the older fireman explained, "My crew were able to extract three people from inside." He then gestured to the three body bags. "Unfortunately," he continued as his tone changed to a more morose one, "They were already DOA. The coroner's on their way, but if I had to guess, the carbon monoxide put out by the smoke killed these poor souls before we even arrived."
"And you guys think it's arson?" Greg asked.
The Incident Commander nodded. "Looks that way," he said, "The city shut off the power to the building not long after the warehouse closed two summers ago. I don't see how it could've been an electrical fire with no electricity flowing through."
"Thank you for your insight," Catherine said, "We've got it from here."
The Incident Commander nodded and stepped away.
"Pop quiz, guys" Greg chimed in, "Grissom always used to reiterate one thing. What never lies?"
"The evidence," Catherine quickly replied.
The five CSIs then went inside the now burned out warehouse to investigate the scene.
[Final Author's Note: And another story comes to it's end! As always, thank you all for taking the time to read, review, and/or enjoy this story. I really appreciate everyone's support and respect! I'm going to take my usual breather for now, what with Thanksgiving on the horizon, so Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! I hope you all have a safe and happy holiday! I hope to have begun a new story by the first part of December, so please stay tuned for that! Thanks again, everybody! Peace and Love!]
