Chapter 5: A Heads Up
Clark County Coroner's Office
5:30 AM
Catherine exited the Autopsy Suite and removed her lab coat, putting it back up on the coat tree just outside the door. She then looked over to find LVPD Sheriff Sofia Curtis standing across from her. Curtis was a very attractive blonde woman in her mid-40's dressed in a charcoal pant suit with open-toed black shoes, her Sheriff's badge clipped to the breast pocket.
The lab director chuckled. "Well, I'll be" Catherine sardonically said, "Even the Sheriff is in early today. Good morning, Sofia."
"Morning, Catherine" Sheriff Curtis cordially replied before handing Catherine a folded piece of paper, "I just wanted to give you a heads up. That's a memo from Judge Trent that I personally received in my office twenty minutes ago after I spoke with Detective Aikers on the phone."
Catherine unfolded the memo and quickly skimmed it before letting out a frustrated sigh. "She's asking that LVPD not pursue her daughter as a suspect in the murder of Hanson Lewick without due cause", she said.
"Do you guys even have any definitive evidence implicating Jessica Trent in the murder yet?" Curtis asked.
"Greg and I found sex stains on the motel room bedding", Catherine explained, "Our running theory is that Mister Lewick was engaged in a threesome after meeting up with Jessica and a second woman at the Eclipse earlier in the evening. DNA's still pending, and Greg's going to go print a set of highball glasses that he found in the room to try and confirm Jessica's presence and ID the second woman."
Greg Sanders then exited the Autopsy Suite and set his lab coat back on the coat tree before nodding a salutation to the Sheriff. "Sheriff", he said, "How are you?"
Curtis smiled at Greg. "Fine, Greg" she replied, "Good to see you. Listen, when you print those highball glasses, could you send the results to my office please? I'd like to be kept in the loop, given the obvious implications at play here."
"Yes ma'am", Greg said, "I'll send everything through as soon as I'm done."
"Thanks", Curtis said just before Greg headed toward the stairwell to head back up to CSI.
Catherine turned and gave Curtis a smile. "I'm impressed", she said, "You asked politely to be kept in the loop. Ecklie would've demanded it."
Sheriff Curtis' predecessor, longtime CSI and former Las Vegas Sheriff Conrad Ecklie, had left Las Vegas after resigning his position just 3 months before. He had relocated to Palm Beach Gardens, Florida where he now helmed their police department's Crime Scene Unit. In addition to both the new job and locale, Conrad had also been dating a lovely Palm Beach County Sheriff's Detective named Jane Palladino. The two had been in a long-distance relationship for about six months until Conrad accepted his new job and moved down there.
"Maybe", Curtis said, "Conrad may have been a hard ass for most of his career, but he was a good man." She then cleared her throat. "Oh", she continued, "Sorry. I almost forgot. I got some other calls this morning from both the Chief of San Diego PD and the San Diego County Sheriff. They both wanted some background on Bobbi Flannery and Morgan Brody."
"And?" Catherine eagerly inquired.
"I told them that they were solid CSIs and experienced investigators", Curtis replied, "They're on their way to San Diego, I take it?"
Catherine nodded. "Morgan texted me once they got on the road", she said, "They decided to drive instead of fly. It's about a six-and-a-half-hour drive from here."
San Diego Police Department Crime Lab
San Diego, California
11:45 AM
Bobbi Flannery and Morgan Brody stepped out of their black GMC Yukon in the parking lot of the San Diego Police Department's Crime Lab. This esteemed and high-tech facility was housed in a very modern-looking building with large two-tiered bay windows, inside which various investigators and technicians could be seen working in the assorted laboratories.
Both dressed in their Las Vegas CSI windbreakers, Bobbi and Morgan started making their way toward the lab's front entrance when a very familiar face came through the double doors.
Crime Lab Director Nick Stokes, who had formerly been a long-time Las Vegas CSI who had worked with both Catherine Willows and Morgan Brody for many years, smiled as he saw the two ladies. Stokes was a very tall, handsome, and well-built white man in his late 40's who sported a very short dark-haired buzzcut. He was dressed in a navy-blue San Diego Crime Lab windbreaker with "FORENSICS" written in bolded white uppercase letters on the back with a buttoned-up black dress shirt underneath, black jeans, and brown work boots.
"Lab Director Stokes!" Morgan called out as she smiled widely and reached her arms out for a hug from her old friend and colleague.
Nick chuckled and walked briskly over to her, embracing her warmly. "Well, well, well" he said, "Assistant Supervisor Brody! How've you been, darlin'?"
"Great", Morgan replied as they broke the embrace, "We've just all been missing you terribly on Night Shift."
"Heh", Nick said, "I miss you guys, too. How's Cath settling into the Director's position?"
Morgan shrugged her shoulders. "She's running five hundred miles an hour every day", she said, "But she's holding her own."
"I'll bet", Nick replied, "If anybody could, it'd be her."
Morgan then gestured to her associate. "You've met Bobbi Flannery before, haven't you?" she inquired.
Getting the hint, Bobbi extended a hand to Nick. "We've met", she cut in, "A long time ago, though."
"It's great to see you again, Bobbi" Nick replied as he cordially reciprocated the handshake, "and I'm glad it's under better circumstances. I think the last time we saw each other was at your dad's funeral."
Bobbi nodded in response. "Yes", she said, "My sister and I really appreciated the gorgeous flower arrangement that your shift chipped in for."
Nick smiled at Bobbi. "Terry was a good guy", he sweetly added, "And quite the trailblazers for us CSIs in Las Vegas."
Bobbi chuckled in retort. "I should say so, Mister San Diego Crime Lab Director!" she cheekily replied.
Nick laughed as he held the lab's front door open for the ladies. "Well," he said, "I may technically be the boss here, but at the end of the day, I still see myself as just any other CSI trying to fight crime just like y'all are."
The Lab Director then escorted his Las Vegas colleagues down a long hallway and through a door at the very end. The trio then entered a very spacious-looking conference room that had a very long rectangular conference table in the very middle of it.
Already seated at the table were a very attractive-looking Hispanic woman in her looked to be her mid to late 40's. She wore a very professional-looking white blouse with matching dress pants and white flat heels.
Also at the table was a younger looking African-American gentleman who was clad in a San Diego Crime Lab windbreaker similar to Nick's with a black Metallica t-shirt underneath with black wind pants and white sneakers.
"Alrighty then", Nick began as he gestured to the alluring Hispanic woman, "This is Detective Rena Valdez. She's with San Diego PD's Domestic Violence section. Rena, I'd like to introduce you to Morgan Brody and Bobbi Flannery. They're Crime Scene Investigators with Las Vegas PD."
"Nice to meet you", Detective Valdez said as the two women sat down near her at the table. She shook hands with Morgan first before following suit with Bobbi.
Nick then gestured to the young African-American man. "This is CSI Kyle Ellis", he said, "He's my Assistant Supervisor here at the lab."
Kyle waved to both women from his seat at the table. "It's a pleasure to finally meet both you ladies", he kindly said with a charming smile, "Director Stokes has frequently spoken highly of you."
"Nice to meet you too, Kyle" Morgan just kindheartedly replied as she smiled back at him, "So basically what Nick is saying is that you're the San Diego version of me."
Kyle chuckled in retort. "I guess so", he said, "Admittedly though, I don't think I'm quite as attractive as you, Miss Brody."
Meanwhile, the "always-business" Bobbi was eager to be briefed on Isaac Serain. As such, she flipped open the case file to the San Diego police report. "So", she interjected, "Detective Valdez, I see here that you filed the domestic assault charges against our suspect, Isaac Matthew Serain?"
Valdez nodded as she took a sip of water. "Please call me 'Rena'", she clarified, "and yes, I did. July Tenth of Twenty-Fourteen, Isaac's girlfriend of roughly three and a half years, Samantha Hoppe, called us to their shared apartment after Isaac allegedly punched her in the face during a pretty rough argument."
"Were there any obvious injuries to substantiate her claim?" Morgan asked.
"The responding patrol officer noted a pretty big bruise developing under her right eye", Valdez explained, "I saw it for myself when I met her at the hospital to take her formal statement. It was even more developed by that point. I arrested Serain a few hours later at the Choozy's Chicken restaurant where he worked. The judge granted Samantha's petition for a Temporary Restraining Order and imposed Two-Thousand-Five-Hundred dollars in bail. His friend from work posted it for him a few days later, but he jumped bail not long after that. He's been on the lamb ever since."
"When Catherine called me and told me about Serain's CODIS match in the Watson murder", Nick chimed in, "I went right to work and got ahold of Judge Correll in Vegas. He agreed to sign a Suspicion of Murder warrant for Serain's arrest, so I called in the West Coast Fugitive Task Force."
"Have they made any headway since you talked to them?" Bobbi inquired.
"Actually", Nick replied, "Yes. I got a call from the US Marshals just before you guys arrived. They were able to track an old address for Serain in Borrego Springs. That's about eighty-nine miles and a nearly two-hour drive from here."
"I called the San Diego County Sheriff's Office to back us up as well", Kyle cut in, "They'll meet us at the Borrego Springs sheriff's station with the Marshals."
Morgan chuckled. "Borrego Springs", she said, "Look out, here we come."
[Author's Note: Two familiar faces in one chapter with a reference to a third! How's that for fan service?]
