CHAPTER SEVEN

Iris's morning went uneventfully. She scanned over the security camera tapes that showed the hotel lobby where the desk clerk sat as well as externally for the hotel rooms facing the parking lot. Something was not adding up to her and she continued to review the tapes to clarify her thinking. She looked at her watch and saw it was nearly noon.

Brass had invited her to lunch so perhaps Annie was sightseeing Iris wondered. Good a time as any to stop she decided as she turned off the VCR and turned the tapes back over to the security room.

Iris bumped into Nick walking with Breanne as she came out the main hallway. "You two headed out to lunch?"

"Yes, want to join us?" asked Nick, proudly holding Breanne's arm.

"Can't…have my own lunch date…but enjoy!" Iris replied as they walked on out. Nice looking couple she thought to herself.

As she walked toward Brass's office, she noted that he was on the phone and that Annie was again sitting across from him. Iris froze. What to do? Silly twit, get on with it, she told herself, and you're above all this.

She knocked at the doorway. Brass put his hand over the phone. "Iris, just a minute please. Okay?" He motioned to his other chair as Iris sat down.

Grissom was walking by and saw both women in Brass's office. Oh, Lord, he thought, fireworks getting ready to go off or what. He waited out of sight but not earshot, ready to intervene if necessary. He was not an eavesdropper by any means but he was concerned that the situation might go from bad to worse.

Brass finished his call and sat down slowly. This situation was both unique and perplexing for him. Years before when Brass's ex-wife Nancy had found out about Annie, it had been a hellish experience during which he'd become aware of their mutual infidelities and which his ex-wife had used as leverage to end their marriage. While he had wanted to keep things together, Nancy had wanted out and in the end he gave her what she desired. Annie drifted out of his life to work out west in LA until he had reconnected with her for help with Ellie. Both Annie and Iris had readily helped him with his errant daughter and he cared for each of them.

"Ladies, I'm at a bit of a loss of what to do here. I've been called over to the court as an emergency witness. I was to have lunch and now I can't." Brass finished, barely able to conceal his mounting discomfort.

"As you wish, Captain Brass, but I think I can offer an agreeable solution," Iris said carefully, Brass picking up on how formal and detached she sounded. "Annie is welcome to join me for lunch as I am not otherwise engaged. She may remain with me until you're free to resume your day with her," Iris finished.

The detective was wondering why Iris kept saying 'as you wish'. What did that mean?

Was it some kind of new female code?

"I would love the chance to get to know Iris better, so I accept her kind offer," Annie said.

Jim Brass was speechless and could only nod his head in agreement.

"Wonderful, Annie, we can go now if you like," Iris replied.

The two women arose and walked out, a sharp contrast to one another. Annie being the taller, stunning figure that she carried with confidence and poise; Iris walking resolutely beside her, feeling more like the "Scooby Do Velma" she'd been compared to than ever.

Grissom thought he felt a migraine coming on as he discretely made his way toward his own office.