A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! You´re really great, folks.
Deceptive Intentions
by Nicol Leoraine
Chapter 2
xxxxx
Sara Sidle stepped out of the elevator on the 17th floor and headed towards the group standing in the hall. Jim Brass was talking with a maid. She was trying to clean the room and Brass had a hard time to explain her it is not possible, because it´s a crime scene. Sara had to smile when the cleaner angrilly turned and with fluent spanish spat out several curses. Brass only shook his head and looked at Sara.
"You met with Gris?"
"Yeah. So - what´d we got?"
"I take it you´ll want to see the scene first."
Sara nodded and Brass raised the yellow tape indicating it´s a crime scene.
"Paul Maton, thirty one year old male, caucasian. Three stab wounds to the upper chest. He was lying there, face down," Brass pointed at the white outline representing the position of the body. There was a red pool of drying blood. Several splashes decorated the wall behind the body as well as the carpet. The furniture looked to be in place, no signs of a fight. It would mean that the victim knew the killer and he - or she - probably surprised him.
"Were there signs of self defense on his body?"
"No, not a scratch other than the knife wounds. I think the coroner will tell you more though. All the wounds looked deadly to me."
"Who found him?"
"Pizza boy from delivery service. Our victim ordered a big Hawaian pizza at 2:35 a.m. The pizza boy delivered it fifteen minutes later - 2:50."
"Can I talk with him?"
"He´s already home, but I can give you his statement if it will do."
"Go on," Sara replied to Brass, who pulled out his notes.
"O-kay, here it is. Jasper Barnes. 18 y ol, working for the Guiseppino Pizza Delivery service for the last three months. He´s saving money for school. He knocked on the door at 2:50. There was no reply, but he heard voices.
Pizza in one hand, the other on the door. The hall was silent but he could hear voices - coming from the room. Curious now and not wanting to return with the pizza, Jasper touched the knob. It was futile, because the door had an electronic lock and could be opened only with a card, but when he touched it, the door slightly opened. Peeking in, Jasper called out, still in the hallway.
"Mister? Your pizza is here!"
When no one replied, he pushed the door wide open and took a step inside. The hallway was small and there was just one door leading to the bathroom. He got further into the room and stopped. The TV was tuned at CNN and there was a bottle of Champagne, half empty on the stool. The body lie face down in a pool of blood in the middle of the room. Jasper gasped, the box of pizza fell from his hands. He turned and ran out to the hall, where he started screaming for help.
"Was anyone else in the room between the cops and Grissom?"
"The screaming woke up several guests. They automatically called it down to the reception, complaining. The receptionist came up, tried to calm Jasper enough for him to talk. When the boy said there was a body in the room, the receptionist peeked in and called the police along with his chief. The hotel doctor just checked the body for pulse then left the room."
"Great, so there are at least three other people contaminating the scene," Sara sighed. "Do you have any news about the guy that attacked Nick?"
"I interviewed several people from the parking staff, but no one saw anything unusual. This is Vegas! They would notice a man in black only if he had an axe in his head, or no head at all," Brass said in frustration. "But I´m going to talk with the guys from the security and the receptionist. I´ll need the full list of guests. Oh, by the way. There´s a girl waiting for you. She´s a uhm, girlfriend of our victim. We assume she was there tonight, but we don´t know when had she left."
"So how did you found her?" Sara asked, perplexed.
"She came herself," Brass said with a grin.
xxxxx
The girl was sitting on the couch and sipping hot coffee. The sergeant which was assigned to her was currently sitting opposite her on a chair, smiling like an idiot when she winked at him. Brass coughed to announce his presence and the young man jumped from the chair, looking rather startled.
Sara supressed a grin and looked at the girl. She automatically stiffened, even though she cast them a polite smile.
"I´m Sara Sidle, with the Las Vegas crime lab." The girl´s smile instantly vanished, leaving a nervous face.
"Can I go now?" she asked, her eyes pendling between Sara, Brass and the other cop.
"I´m sorry, you´ll have to stay a little longer. Can you tell me what happened?"
Sara crouched next to the girl and looked at her blouse. There were several oily fingerprints on the left shoulder, as if someone grabbed her. The girl probably didn´t even realize it.
"What´s your name?"
"Brenda... Lacke," she said, hesitantly.
"Uhm, Brenda, where did you soil your blouse like that?"
"What?" Brenda looked down in surprise and only now spotted the smudges. "I-I don´t know. Really. What´s the matter? Why can´t I go home?"
"Because your friend was murdered. Was he your friend?"
"N-no... I... am I in trouble?"
"Brenda, can I take a sample from your blouse?"
"What?"
"Do you have some things here with you?"
"Here? No, at home. I don´t understand anything."
"Brenda - how old are you?"
"Twenty-two. What-"
"You live in Las Vegas?"
"Yes, of course I live there. I was born there. Why are you asking-"
"How long do you know Paul Maton?" Brass asked, not letting her finish the question and pulled out his notes.
"A week, maybe longer."
Both Sara and Brass looked up, surprised.
"But you shared a hotel room? Even if you had an apartment in the city?"
"Well, it wasn´t like we... you know," Brenda blushed. "I... we were in contact through the net for almost a year by now, so... I knew him. Never saw him before, but we mailed. Just a week ago he wrote me that he´ll be coming to Vegas - for some business trip. So we met and talked more..."
"So were you sleeping in his room, or just visiting like a friend?"
Brenda´s face now turned crimson and she had a downcast eyes.
"First just visiting. Then I stayed a little longer and well - I stayed for the night. It´s not like we did anything bad," she suddenly looked up, her eyes defiant. Sara tried to calm her with a gentle smile.
"No, of course not. When did you last see him?"
"Y-yesterday. I spent the night there. We had lunch together, then I left."
"Where did you go?"
"Home. I needed some sleep.I was due for a night shift and I needed some rest. I woke up by five, get something to eat. By eight I was in the store."
"Where do you work?"
"At a 24/7. I usually work day shift, but sometimes I get a job at night. They´re paying more."
"So you finished in the shop and what - came straight here? In five in the morning?"
"Y-yes. He said I can come whenever I want... that he´ll be up anyway..." her eyes treared up and she started sobbing. "Then I came there and I saw the blood... and his body, taken away, and all the cops..."
Sara got up and brought her water, she took it and after a while calmed down. When she looked up at them, her eyes were red and puffy, but her voice was calm.
"I never saw so much blood before. W-what happened to him?"
"We are trying to find out, Ms. Lacke." Brass looked at his watches, then at Sara.
"Brenda... we will need your blouse. Will you change if I bring you some shirt?"
"What? Why do you want it?"
"We just need to take some samples."
"But why? I didn´t kill him! What are you trying to do?"
"Calm down Brenda, please. It´s just a routine procedure to rule you out as a suspect."
"But I didn´t do it!" Brenda get off the chair and started pacing, conscious of the fact that Brass had his hand close to the holster with his gun. Also there was the other sergeant, who now stood in the hall.
"Where did you soil your blouse, Brenda?"
"I don´t know," she snapped.
"Where was you between 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning?"
"At the shop!"
"Really?"
"Yes, ask Brandon. He was there with me." Sara watched her closely, saw the glint in her eyes and looked at Brass. He saw it too and nodded.
"I´ll be back in a minute," Sara said. It took her a little longer, but when she returned she had a shirt with her.
"I have a spare clothing in the car," she explained to Brass. "Here, take this and I´ll take the blouse."
"Is this really necessary?"
"It is. Look, we just need to check it for evidence, then it will be returned to you."
Brenda sighed and pointedly looked at Brass. As the older cop realize why, he quickly excused himself and left the room.
Two minutes later, Sara walked out with the blouse in the evidence bag, and Brenda in her shirt.
xxxxx
"Hi, I´m Gil Grissom, from the Las Vegas crime lab. One of my people was brought in a moment ago. His name is Nick Stokes." Grissom smiled at the bulky receptionist sitting behind the pult. The women looked up at him, seemingly bored.
"Are you his relative?"
"No, I´m his colleague."
"I´m sorry, we can give out informations only to relatives-"
"His parents are in Texas, we are the nearest to relatives you would get today. Madam, I am trying to find out who attacked him. I need to know how he is." Grissom showed her his ID.
The woman looked him up and down, then with a sigh turned to the computer. After several moments, Grissom got the name of the doctor treating Nick along with the information that he needs to wait until they´re finished with all the tests.
Grissom thanked and walked into the waiting room. He found an empty chair and sit down. He unconsciously took down his glasses and started playing with them. This case turned out to be more complicated by every moment. Grissom thought about the parfume he felt in the bathroom. The same odour, only not so strong, accompanied Brenda Lacke, when he met with her in the hotel. Only then he was silently fuming at Nick because he was nowhere to be seen and Grissom wanted to take samples. He called Nick several times, but when the young CSI didn´t reply to his calls, Grissom got nervous. He left the girl with Brass, and frowning all his way down to the parking lot thought about Nick wandering off. Fuming, he already prepared the lecture, when he spotted Nick, lying on the ground. His face was dark from blood and in that moment, before Nick moved and proved he´s still alive, Grissom´s heart stopped. For the moment Grissom thought Nick was dead, and that he was the one responsible for it. That he screwed up a big time, because one of the rules in this job was never leave a criminalist alone on the scene, gathering evidence. He made a mistake that could cost Nick his life. There was no excuse for it.
"Mr. Grissom?" A voice brought him out of his thoughts and Grissom was thankful for that. This wasn´t the right place, nor the time to dwell in regret. He had a work to do.
"That´s me," Grissom stood and walked up to the doctor. His nametag read Dr.Frieman and for once he wasn´t looking younger than Greg. The man could´ve been in Grissom´s age, only his hair was a darker shade of brown.
"How´s Nick?"
"You´re his friend or investigating the case?"
"Both, so you can give me a little more elaborate version."
The doctor nodded and pointed to the door.
"I believe you want to see him. Mr. Stokes sustained a hard blow to the head. He got a mild concussion. We were a little concerned by the length of his loss of consciousness, as the paramedics got the information it was probably more than five minutes. But there was no lasting amnesia, no fractures and the CT came back as normal. Though we´re still keeping him here for observation. He got several bruised ribs and there´s a possibility of internal bleeding from the bruised liver. But all in all, I think he got lucky. A little harder blow to the head..." The doctor stopped and pointed at the door.
"We´re here. Will you need something else, Mr. Grissom?"
"The clothes he was brought in. It´s evidence."
"Of course. I´ll tell the nurse. Stop by the reception to pick it up. Do you want to use this?" Dr. Frieman looked at the kit in Grissom´s hand and at the camera hanging on his chest. Grissom simply nodded.
"Try not to disturb the other patients. And don´t agitate him, okay? He needs rest."
Dr. Frieman left and Grissom hesitated only for a second, before entering the room.
Nick lie in the bed next to the window. He had a small bandage right above his left ear, a pretty shiner right below his eye. He looked tense, arms curled around his ribs. His eyes were closed but he turned when Grissom drawed the curtains so they won´t bother the other two patients on the adjacent beds.
"Hey," Nick said and tried to smile, but it came out blank as he grimaced in pain.
"You shouldn´t try to move around too much," Grissom adviced him, seeing Nick was trying to sit up. Nick blow out a breath and stopped trying to find a more comfortable position. His insides were in fire, the ribs didn´t hurt less just because they weren´t broken. But he was trying not to show his pain before Grissom. He don´t wanted to look like a cry baby, not before Grissom, anyway.
"You know what happened?" Nick asked, then noticed the camera and the kit. He shot Grissom a startled look, but it vanished quickly. Grissom saw it though and sighed.
"I just need to take few photos, Nick. Will it be okay?" he carefully asked.
Nick gulped and slowly nodded.
"Good. What about you tell me what you remember?"
When Nick again nodded, Grissom gently rolled down the blanket. He almost hissed at the big, angry looking bruise just under Nick´s ribcage and several other bruises marking his chest. While he worked with the camera, Nick looked out of the window. It was already light outside and it was time people started to get up, though in Vegas even the nights wasn´t calm.
"I didn´t see him good. Just a black blur. But it was a man, I´m sure."
"Do you know what did he hit you with?"
"I saw a gun in his hand. Think it was a Glock, but I´m not sure." Nick rubbed his nose, praying the pain behind his eyes could just vanish and let him sleep. Grissom already pulled the blanket back up to his chin, and packed the camera away.
"Can you remember some details? How did he smell?"
Nick looked confused.
"No... I don´t know, Gris. I just woke up and grabbed at him, when he kicked me again. I didn´t have time to smell something."
"You grabbed at him?" Grissom asked, curious. "How? I mean, did you scratch him?"
"No," Nick frowned. "No, I just grabbed his pants. I doubt it left some bruise on him."
"Can you show me your hands, Nicky?"
Nick blinked, then ever so slowly moved his hands. Grissom looked at his nails and turned towards his kit. When he turned back to Nick, he clutched a spattle and a small container.
"W-what are you looking for?"
"Fibers or dirt," Grissom slowly replied and scraped under Nick´s nails.
"I doubt you´ll get anything," Nick commented, feeling slightly nauseous. He didn´t know if it was due to the concussion or the fact that Grissom was treating him just like any other case. Nick hated feeling like a victim, but even more to be a piece of evidence. He wasn´t blaming Grissom, he knew it´s just a way any of the criminalists would approach the case, but somewhere deep inside it hurt. Old feelings resurfaced and Nick grit his teeth, turning to the window.
Grissom looked at him, confused by the sudden change.
"You all right, Nicky? Should I call the doctor?" Grissom asked, thinking Nick was in pain.
"N-no, I´m okay. Just tired. Can we... can we leave it for later, Gris?"
"I´m finished, Nick." Grissom put the kit away and stood. He opened his mouth, but shut it as he didn´t know what to say. After a moment of silence he patted Nick´s shoulder.
"Get some sleep, Nicky. We will take care of everything."
Nick nodded, his eyes already closed. Grissom was already by the door, when he heard Nick mutter:
"I would like to take care of myself, just once in my life."
But he was too far to be sure and Nick looked asleep. With a sigh, Grissom left the room and hoped the CSI will be able to gain control over his life - once again.
to be continue
A/N:
Crystalphoenix&Mma63 - Hope you like the flashback scene with the first crime. Of course there will be more in next chapters, this is after all a case file, or it should be:-)
Everybetty - Just want to tell you I absolutely love your stories and it´s a real honor to get a review from you.
All the others who reviewed - big thanks that you took the time and wrote me. It always pushes me to write more, and hopefully, to get better.
Check for the next chapter by Monday or so - and don´t forget to review. Every feedback counts.