Chapter XXXIII

Back to the Future

Catherine cocked a brow and waited until the woman had finished her story. She had, during the telling, read between Dupree's words and watched her facial expressions, looking for oversights and lies. It would be easy enough to check her story, even without Sara's input. Not that she was going to rely on Sara's input for anything with this case. Sidle was obviously far too close to the suspect. They had been lovers. Their relationship had ended close to a decade ago, but some ties ran long and deep and Sara, despite what may or may not have happened with Gil, didn't seem like the type to forget.

A quick wave of disgust made her sneer. She'd known a dozen men like Hugh Spalding. She didn't have to be there to know; what little Dupree shared about him was enough. He'd had a pimp complex, she'd seen it long before she'd worked murder cases. A manager would look at his girls, whether they be strippers, hookers or models, and think of them as personal property. He got off on controlling them. Apparently, Spalding had taken the game too far.

The fact that Sara had met Dupree on a crime scene, working a case, surprised her. Sara was the professional one. She could count on one hand the times she had seen Sara get close with someone on a case, either negative or positive way. Alex must have been one of the few and far in between exceptions to the rule. Then again Sara was a sucker for saving innocent people from bad situations. June Melton and little Brenda Collins came to her mind as she listened; they were another couple of Sara's exceptions.

She mentally added in Alexandra Dupree and ran cases through her head.

Sara reacted poorly. Catherine would happily go as far to say that she went a tiny bit bat-shit insane every time she pulled a case that dealt with battered women and children. The brunette CSI usually played her hand close to her chest, though. Something about Alexandra Dupree must have leapt out at her. Building a relationship with a rape survivor was tough, but to know every single detail of the rape and have it standing between you was a whole different kettle of fish. It all added into the incomplete, vague and fuzzy puzzle that was Sara Sidle.

Her perception of Alexandra Dupree, though, was much clearer and sharper. She was one hundred percent sure that the model had something to do with the murders. The 'why' and most importantly the 'how' were what she was after now. She could let Dupree continue to wax poetic on her past, or she could cut through the bullshit.

Catherine had about a million other places she'd rather be on a Saturday morning. While Sofia was noting down a couple of things, Catherine popped the latches on her kit and opened it up enough so she could slide her hand into the vertical case. Behind her, Sara reviewed the case from a professional perspective. It sounded open, shut, clean as a whistle and by the book, probably down to the punctuation on the reports.

Across from her, Alex was grinning and, to Catherine's amusement, the model leaned over to her assistant and half whispered, "I love it when she talks shop."

The assistant muffled a giggle and the manager rolled his eyes. Catherine waited until Sara finished, or had at least stopped for a breath. "Have we finished with our trip down memory lane yet? Because let me tell you, this was all a 'You had to be there' story. Now, Miss Dupree, if you can stop ogling Sara for a minute, I need you to take a look at this for me."

She slid a copy of the device, its deceiving outside shell, across the table. "Do you know what this is, Miss Dupree?"

She felt Sofia stiffen beside her, but Catherine knew the detective wouldn't say anything. Sofia was too damn professional to interrupt an interrogation because she didn't necessarily agree with the direction it was headed in.

Dupree shrugged and picked up the picture. Her golden brown eyes perused it for a moment, then looked at Catherine over the top of the glossy print. "Is this some kind of joke? Because it looks like a -"

Catherine chuckled, "I thought you might say that." She reached into her kit and pulled the second photo out and slid it across the table slowly. "This is the same item, the inside of it, at least."

It didn't take long, only seconds, for Alex's eyes to focus on the picture and her brain to process what it was seeing. Her hand flew off the table and the picture as though her fingers had been scorched.

"What kind of sick fucking shit is this?" The model glared at each of the three women. "What the hell is that?" She all but threw the picture back at Catherine.

Catherine only crossed her arms, "There's no need to play coy, Miss Dupree." She reached into her kit one more time and took out a sheaf of papers. "You can, after all, get the instructions to make one of these on your TAN website. I believe it was under the 'Mother Says' section. So, what, one day you were sitting around your mansion and decided that you hated men enough to slice them up like Freddy Kruger? One raped you and so they're all rapists? Is every man a Hugh Spalding, Dupree?"

Catherine sneered, "I could almost pity you, but you decided to teach your particular brand of bat-shit insanity to innocent girls." She reached into her kit again and this time the picture was of Erica Green. Catherine was sure Sara recognized it, she had taken it after all. It was not a pretty picture. It was a crime scene photo that showed the young girl laying on dirty cement, her body naked and her legs and genitals covered in blood. "She used on of your little devices and now she's dead. Just another name on a list as long as my arm, and we can trace every single one of these murders back to you and your little device."

Alex stared at the printed out instructions Catherine had all but shoved at her. "All right, I've been to the website more than once and I would sure as fucking hell remember this and--" She glanced at the corresponding picture of the device's inner workings, "and especially that." She shuddered, "And I can tell you without a doubt, not one fucking doubt in my damn head, that this is the first and hopefully the last time I've seen this fucking nightmare."

Catherine didn't seem particularly fazed, "Yeah, I didn't see it either until I logged in under Erica Greens's name."

Alex blew out a puff of breath that ruffled her hairline. "Erica Green, you mentioned her before. Why the hell does that sound so familiar?" She looked to her assistant, "Where do I know it from?"

Jennica only shrugged, "It doesn't ring a bell for me either."

Sofia cleared her throat, "She was killed on the twenty fourth of last month, a little over a week ago. She was a member of the UNLV chapter of T.A.N."

Alex frowned again and she ran her hands through her hair, then her face lit up. "The soccer player? I remember now; they took up a collection for her at the lecture. I think there was a picture too."

She closed her eyes for a minute, "One of the girls, black hair and fake last season Jimmy Chus, told me about her. She said that the girl's coach had raped her, but she didn't go to the hospital to get a rape kit done." The model tapped her manicured nails on her arm, "She was killed by some street punk or something, right? I wrote a check for them to give to her parents."

Jennica rose, without prompting, presumably to retrieve the record of said check.

Beside Catherine, Sofia uncrossed her arms, then shrugged and re-crossed them. "Can you remember this girl's name? The one you spoke to about Erica, I mean."

Alex shrugged and twisted around on the couch so she was leaning against the arm with her feet up, effectively eliminating the empty space where her assistant had been. "I talked to so many girls that day and then I ran into you." The latter part of the statement was directed at Sara. "And that sort of pushed everything else to the back burner."

Jennica re-entered the room, carrying a small soft shell briefcase. She smiled a little and casually batted Alex's feet down to sit in the middle of the couch. "I haven't had time to transfer everything over to the computer yet." She unzipped and shuffled through the case on her lap, and quickly revealed a red folder that was meticulously labeled 'Vegas'.

While she was flipping through it, Andros held out a hand and stopped her. "Listen I have been as quiet as I could, probably longer than I should have. Talking, and we can only barely consider this talking, is one thing, but handing over financial records is another. I'm calling your lawyer now, Alexandra." His tone left no room for argument.

Alex looked over at him, almost lazily, "You'll have to go get him, he doesn't have a key and the elevator to this suite and blah blah blah."

Andros spoke a few terse words into his phone and snapped it shut. "I will be right back, I trust this conversation is on pause until I return."

Any further comment was interrupted by another phone ringing. It was a lipstick red blackberry that was laying on the table, the ring tone was 'Party Like A Rockstar' She looked down at the ID, "It's New York calling,"

The younger woman looked over at Alex, "Probably about Fashion Week."

Alex rolled her neck and held out a hand for the phone, "I have to take this." She stood, "I think I'll go to the other room." She inclined her head, "Excuse me, Detective, Ms Willows, Sahara." She sauntered out of the room, followed by her assistant and for the first time since they'd entered the suite Catherine, Sara and Sofia were alone.

Sara waited until both Andros and Alex along with her assistant were out of earshot, then she slumped against the back of the couch. "Nice, Catherine, that was great." Sarcasm was positively dripping off of Sara's voice.

Catherine only shrugged, "You'd be the same with any other suspect." Sara didn't say anything, whether her silence stemmed from anger or knowing what Catherine said was true, Sofia couldn't tell.

After a moment of tense silence, Sofia shifted around and pulled a toothpick out of her pocket. She took off the wrapper as she spoke, "I don't remember there being a picture of Erica Green at the meeting."

Sara, slouched on the couch much closer to Sofia than Catherine's side, frowned, "And I definitely don't remember anyone talking about taking up a collection." Sofia mirrored her frown.

The investigators lapsed into silence again and Catherine blew out a sigh and checked her watch, "How long does it take to decide between a little black dress and a little red dress any way?" She looked in the direction that Alex and Jennica had gone. She would have kept glaring in that direction had she not heard Sara scoff. Catherine whirled around, "Something you'd like to share with the rest of the group?"

Sara straightened up and walked around the couch and sat one of the chairs that had been left vacant. "Alex is sort of squeamish, has been ever since her roommate. She gave her assistant a sign and probably had her make the phone call that was supposedly from New York. It's an old trick she uses when she needs to regroup herself."

Catherine barely had her protest out when the suite's main door reopened and Andros led a second man in. The pudgy, casually attired man smiled at the women as he came in.

He held out a hand for Sofia to shake, "Harvey Everett of Donovan Everett and Woody."

Sofia gave a brisk, firm handshake, "I'm Detective Curtis with the LVPD and this is Catherine Willows and Sara Sidle, both of the Las Vegas Crime Lab."

Everett nodded, and glanced over at Sara, "I know Sara; half of the criminal defense attorneys cried tears of joy when she left the SFPD." He turned his head to Catherine, "And Sam Braun's daughter too, you have an eclectic taste in partners, Detective."

Sofia liked him immediately.

Alex glided back in to the room and greeted her lawyer with a hug instead of the air kiss Sofia had expected. "Harv, Tristan is throwing a fit so he called you. All I was going to do was show them a damn check stub and Jennica's notes about it. It's not like I'm confessing to capital crimes."

The friendly face that Emmett had walked in with quickly disappeared under an impassive court face. "Alex cooperating is one thing, but these are your personal financial records."

The model crossed her arms over her chest. "They're talking about a dead girl, and three or four dead men, I don't think one check is pushing things too damn far."

After a minute of quick debate, the check's carbon copy and Jennica's notes were passed over for Sofia to look over. She raised a brow and angled the information so Sara could see.

Sara looked over at Alex, "Are you sure this was the girl you talked to and gave the check to that day?" At the blonde model's nod both Sara and Sofia scowled.

Author's Note: Happy Birthday to me!