Catherine was explaining what she and Grissom had found so far to Warrick when Greg sauntered in.
"Hey guys, how's it going?"
Catherine shrugged.
"Slow. We've got some stuff in Trace and DNA are checking the blood stains on Michelle's shirt."
"Well, considering how busy you've all been, I decided to check out what Michelle was doing before she died, where she stayed, all that boring stuff you couldn't be bothered to track down…"
Catherine rolled her eyes.
"My heart bleeds, Greg. What did you get?"
He waved a file in front of her tantalisingly.
"Do I get a 'Thank you, Greg, you're so kind and thoughtful and damn cute' first?"
Warrick snatched the file from his hand and quickly glanced through it.
"No. She was staying at The Sphere, checked out two weeks ago."
Greg glared at Warrick.
"Yeah, and she had a roommate. A girl called Beth Greene, her best friend since High School. O'Riley's bringing her in now."
Warrick snapped the file shut and grinned at Catherine.
"We better get going then, huh?"
She followed him out of the room, pausing in front of Greg.
"Thank you, Greg. You're so kind, thoughtful and… well, damn cute."
She left the layout room and Greg grinned, flicking up the collar on his lab coat.
"Can I help it if I'm so irresistible to the ladies?"
Nick reappeared in the bathroom doorway and laughed as he looked down at Sara's ass pointing up in the air.
"Well, I should have known an expensive house like this would have beautiful views too."
Sara turned to look up at him, her expression half smile, half annoyance.
"You having fun down there?"
"Oh yeah, great fun. Did you find anything in the bedroom."
Nick shrugged, leaning on the doorframe, watching as Sara kept examining the floor around the bath.
"The whole place is such a huge mess, I'm thinking there must have been a pretty big struggle. Maybe the guy killed the husband and then decided to try it on with the wife but she put up a fight."
Sara leaned over the side of the bath, her voice becoming strangely echoed.
"That could explain why the wife died so far away from her husband but…"
Her words trailed off and Nick stepped forward.
"What've you got?"
Sara turned, something small held in her tweezers.
"Shards of glass. Not many though, suggesting someone tried to clean up the mess."
Nick leant in for a closer look.
"But they forgot the glass in Mrs Davenport's wounds, not to mention all the mess out there. So if he attacked the wife in here, why isn't there more blood?"
Sara arched an eyebrow, pointing at the metal frame on the side of the bath.
"I'm guessing there was a glass screen here. As for blood, I didn't ALS the tub. Pass me the luminol please and hit the lights."
Nick did as he was asked and after a few sprays, the whole bathroom took on an eerie glow.
"So, Joanna went through the screen, leaving glass in her wounds and blood in the tub."
Sara nodded, swabbing the blood stain.
"Guess we'd better get all this back to the lab then."
Catherine and Warrick sat with Beth Greene in the waiting area of the police department. Catherine handed her one of the photos of Michelle the coroner had taken in the morgue and she broke down. Both Warrick and Catherine averted their eyes and waited until she was ready to talk.
"We're very sorry for your loss, Miss Greene."
Beth raised her bloodshot eyes to Catherine, sniffing as her lower lip trembled. When she spoke, it sounded like she was choking back the tears.
"But I don't understand. I mean, I know she was missing but I thought something happened to her back in LA. We had such a good time here."
Catherine gave Beth a sympathetic but reassuring smile.
"When was the last time you saw Michelle?"
"Just over two weeks ago. She dropped me off at the airport before going straight to the bus station. She was getting the coach back to LA because now she was a student, she had to save money."
Warrick nodded.
"Are you a student too?"
Beth nodded, dabbing at her eyes with the tissue and avoiding looking at the photo in her hands.
"Yes, but I went to Harvard to do law. She decided to stay near to home. She loves her parents, they're a really close knit family. Were close-knit…"
Catherine nodded slowly.
"So, when Michelle dropped you off at the airport, did she say anything to make you think she might want to stay in Vegas or not go back to school?"
Beth paused.
"She loved school and she loved being in LA, but then she met Mark. That was why she wanted us to come on vacation here, so she could see him again. I don't know why though, he didn't exactly treat her well."
Warrick was taking notes.
"Do you know Mark's surname or where she met him?"
"Erm… I think she said they met in one of the casino bars and that he was this high-roller type, always flashing his cash you know? And his surname was Boreman. I only remember that because he had one of those stupid vanity plates on his car, B Man I think. Michelle thought it was great though. She got him to drop me off at the airport, showing off his flash sports car. We couldn't even say our goodbyes without him there."
Catherine smiled at Beth.
"I take it you didn't really approve of him then?"
Beth shook her head vehemently.
"He was always pretty nice to us but it was just a little too nice, you know? Like he was just showing off all the time. Plus, I guess I got a little annoyed that Michelle ditched me for him a couple of times. She always apologised and I forgave her for it but there's only so many times you can be left alone in a city you don't know before it gets a bit much. Mark would just tell me I was being stupid though, that I was boring. He was just so, well, just so creepy. I shouldn't have left her with him."
Beth's voice had begun to break again.
"Can you tell me where the ladies room is please?"
Catherine directed her and watched her walk away.
"Poor girl. I can't tell who she blames more for this, herself or this Mark guy."
Warrick nodded.
"I'll get O'Riley to track him down. With a number plate like that, it shouldn't be too hard."
Catherine sighed as she slid the autopsy photo of Michelle back into the file.
"Well, according to the coach passenger manifest that Greg got, Michelle booked a ticket but never got on. That makes Mark Boreman our number one suspect."
Warrick stood, dialling O'Riley's number on his cell phone.
"We better find him quick then."
Doc Robbins opened the freezer door, rolling out the metal table on which Michelle was lying. He looked up at her parents, both of whom were crying. Her mother took a step forward, brushing blonde tendrils away from her daughter's face. Her lips trembled as she nodded.
"That's her, that's our baby."
Mr Winters put a protective arm around his wife's shoulders, shaking as she sobbed against his neck. Doctor Robbins pulled the sheet back over Michelle's head and slid her body back into the freezer. Shutting it gently, he turned back to the parents who were staring at the name taped to the metal door.
"I'm so very sorry for your loss."
He watched as they left, slowly making their way out of the morgue. As they emerged out in to the corridor, Grissom approached them.
"Mr and Mrs Winters? My name is Gil Grissom. I'm one of the Criminalists investigating your daughter's case. You have our deepest condolences."
Mrs Winter's looked at him blindly through her tears, clutching a childhood photo of Michelle and a postcard she had sent from Vegas, while her husband just nodded mutely.
Grissom took a step closer to them, unable to take his eyes off the baby girl with pigtails in the photograph.
"I just wanted to let you know that we are doing everything we can to find out what happened."
Mr Winter's cleared his throat, squeezing his wife's shoulders reassuringly.
"She's such a good girl, Mr Grissom. She rings us at least once a week, always telling us what she's been up to. She even sent us a postcard while she was here. Why would anyone want to hurt our little Michelle?"
Grissom looked the father straight in the eye.
"I don't know yet, Mr Winters, but I will. And once I do, I'll be able to explain it all to you."
Mr Winters nodded slowly as his wife raised her bloodshot eyes to Grissom.
"She was our baby. We were meant to protect her. She was so bright, so bubbly and clever, but so well-behaved. She never gave us any trouble but we still didn't save her."
Grissom's jaw clenched and he gave both parents his solemn word.
"I promise you that we will find who did this and bring them to justice. It's my job to speak for those who can no longer speak for themselves and I swear, I will speak for Michelle."
Mr and Mrs Winters nodded in thanks and walked away, the wife's sobs echoing back down the corridor and straight to Grissom's heart.