Once again, I don't own them., I only borrow them, and if you're going to sue me...well...maybe I'll get to meet George in court...(only kidding)..but thanks for letting me share my vivid imagination anyway.

Thank you all for the reviews, they mean a lot to me (especially right now with all the not so fun stuff going on with my Uncle...thanks for the well wishes from those of you sweet enough to contact me with support and hope...

Now Enjoy!

A banshee screech cut thru the evening air, a glass shattering, and ear piercing wail that even Gil Grissom would have heard back in the days when his hearing was failing him. "My necklace, my beautiful diamond necklace, it's missing!" came the shrill voice of the woman now standing center stage clutching her ample chest. "It was here, now it's missing, someone has stolen my necklace" she carried on hysterically, tears spilled down rose colored cheeks dragging tracks of obviously non-waterproof mascara with them. "My beautiful necklace, it's gone!" her cries were now magnified by the microphone on the podium. "How could this happen?" she looked over the crowd as if the thief would magically reappear, full of remorse and hand over the ill gotten booty.

"Aren't you going to do something?" Ecklie shot the question to a slightly bemused Jim Brass "You're a damned detective for cripes sake!" came the astounded utterance from Conrad's gaping mouth "get in there and help them look for the frigg'n necklace!" but Jim Brass stood his ground and shook his head "Ecklie, right now I think we have more important things to deal with then some dimwit losing her necklace." He looked at Grissom for back up. "We could use this to our advantage" Gil pondered for a moment, rubbing at his beard. "Mayor, you could go in, ask for the officers to come out here under the guise of conducting a search, getting only the armed ones will be a little more complicated without tipping our hand" he continued. "It just might work" the Mayor quickly agreed. "We certainly can't stand here doing nothing" Jim Brass added as the Mayor shook his head, straightened his tux before adding "Jim maybe you should join me up there, it might not look suspicious if you call for the officers to join us" but Brass was shaking his head "Sorry Mayor but after the shooting incident, I have a hard time believing most of them" he motioned to the crowd "will want to listen to anything I have to say" his face told everything that his voice did not.

"Could this night get any better?" The Mayor ran a hand thru hair that was threatening to either turn grey or fall out any minute. He glanced at Gil and Conrad with a total look of utter despair before heading up to the podium where a crowd had gathered around, looking at each other with reproachful gazes. "Everyone please, calm down, calm down" the Mayor moved steadily toward the podium "I'm sure there's a logical explanation for this." He continued hoping that he was right. "Has anyone seen this missing bauble?" he adjusted the microphone and leaned wearily over the oak stand. "Logical?" the woman turned to him, face fraught with anger "Logical you say?" she moved closer yet "Someone stole my necklace, a small fortune in diamonds and you want logic?" she continued casting caustic glances over the crowd "There's a thief among us and you Mr. Mayor had better do something about it now!" a new onslaught of tears and wailing could be heard throughout the vast room.

"We don't know if it's actually been stolen" the mayor proffered "Would everyone please calm down and listen to me" he stood erect and straightened his tuxedo jacket but loosened the tie that threatened to asphyxiate him. "I assure you Mildred, I'll do everything in my power to get to the bottom of this" he turned first to the woman then back to the crowd. "I would appreciate if all of Las Vegas' Finest would gather on the deck so that we can begin a search" he figured this might just be the opportunity they needed to gather reinforcements. "Ladies, gentlemen, if the rest of you would be so kind as to leave the ballroom and gather in the dining room, your continued cooperation would be greatly appreciated and perhaps expedite our search for Mildred's necklace. He saw confusion on the faces of everyone in the room "Please, could we do this as quickly and judiciously as possible, I as well as yourselves would like to get back to the party as quickly as possible but right now, we're asking for everyone that is not a law officer to leave the room…Thank you!" he moved off the stage leaving a confused and still bawling Mildred Steiner standing there holding onto her ever reddening neck.

"Brilliant" Grissom smiled slightly as he watched part of the crowd head off to the dining room while many of the police officers he worked with on a daily basis moved out to join the Mayor, Brass and himself on the outside deck. "What the hell is this all about?" one slightly overweight and nearing retirement aged officer shouted at the mayor. "When everyone's assembled, we'll discuss this" the Mayor quickly offered. "Come on! This is supposed to be a New Years Eve party, a celebration for God's sake!" another office bellowed but dared not show his face. Yet another one, probably someone that had already drank more than their fill added their two cents. "What the hell is going on?" The Mayor walked to the front of the crowd and once again joined his three friends "I'd like a show of hands" his voice grew fainter as to not be heard from anyone that might simply be a plant in the crowd "of any officers that came armed tonight" he saw the crowd sharing mystified looks at their neighbors. "What the hell is this Romper Room?" another bellow could be heard.

"Okay Brass, just what the hell is going on?" one detective stepped forward willing to stand toe to toe with Brass "Are you checking to see if we've had a few too many?" Jim laughed, already knowing the answer but shook his head "No" he tugged impatiently at his own bow tie that was suddenly too tight. "Listen" his voice moved down an octave to a mere whisper "We have a situation brewing right now that's going to require as many guns as we can get" he felt the crowd of men and woman moved closer and just for a moment he thought of backing up for air. "Nick Stoke and Sara Sidle from the Crime Lab noticed something off the bow of this boat earlier this evening" he paused waiting to get everyone's undivided attention "Something is obviously going down tonight" he continued "Upon closer inspection, we've learned that there are teams on wave runners sitting in a perimeter of 30 to 35 yards out, teams of two, twenty yards apart" he went on. "We don't have an exact count but Nick has already had a run in with two on board so we know we've already been breeched.

He could see officers looking at officers trying to reassure themselves that anyone standing beside them was on the up and up. Gil Grissom moved forward "Considering that this party was advertised on ever news media in the Greater Las Vegas area" he cleared his throat "Whomever is behind this knows that they're taking on a boat load of law officials and my guess is they've already taken into consideration that the casualty rate is going to be high. "That's suicide!" one Police woman stepped forward and offered her opinion on the matter "Who'd be stupid enough?" Ecklie shook his head and shrugged "We don't know, all we do know is most likely, there are more of them on board so keep your eyes and ears open" he felt a knot growing where his stomach used to be "Those of you without weapons, I think it would be better for you to return to the dining room with your dates or wives" he continued "We don't know when this is supposed to go down but I for one would like to level the odds a little and get as many of you who are armed positioned around the boat in teams" he noticed no one moving "I realize you're all highly trained officers" he proffered "but you know, if you're not armed there is no sense in trying to face this threat down and we certainly don't need those that have weapons kept busy trying to protect not only their own backs but a teammates as well so if those of you that have not come with your weapons would please, return to the dining room, we can get started"…..

TBC