I surfed the internet for a little bit until I thought it would be a good time to call home. I called Horatio first and told him I had arrived safely, then I called Eric. He was my best friend and talking to him always calmed me down. "Hey, Eric, it's Sierra."

"Hey, chick. How's Vegas?"

"Relatively welcoming. I'm at a guy's house waiting for night shift right now. He's asleep."

"Night shift, huh? Have fun adjusting to the sleeping patterns."

"I know. I'm dreading it."

"You'll be fine. You cope really well with stress."

"Ha! You dated me for a year. You know that's not true!"

"I'm trying to make you feel a little more sure of yourself. Help me out."

"Sorry, Eric. You're right. I can do this."

"Yes, you can. Horatio didn't send you for no good reason. But anyway, whose house are you at?"

"A guy named Michael Keppler. He's new here too. It was either that or stay at the lab, and what was I supposed to do there? He's got WiFi."

"Ooh. Snazzy."

"Considering the apartment building he's holed up in, yeah, it kind of is. I'm making use of it."

"Did you take your webcam? We could skype."

"I didn't bring it. I regret it now though."

"It's no use regretting it now, silly."

"I know. I just wanted you to know. I need to get a shower before Michael…oh, wrong…Mike, gets up. I'll call you later in the week, ok?"

"Ok, Sierra. You take care of yourself. Don't let this Mike guy pull any charms on you."

"I...I'm not staying with him permanently. Just today."

"Mhm."

"Shut up, Eric!"

"Bye!"

"Hey! No you don't!" He hung up. I sighed and put my phone away, then got in the shower. I wasn't taking a full blown one considering I hadn't brought any new clothes in with me. I just wanted to freshen up a bit. I jumped in and rinsed down, letting the water run though my hair and detangle it a little bit. I got out and found a towel under the sink and dried off, then put my clothes back on. Once I had done that, I looked for a brush or something to run through my hair. I couldn't find one, so I opened the bathroom door to go get the little one out of my purse, and I nearly smacked right into Mike. He was rubbing his eyes and clumsily stumbled backwards. "Oh, sorry!"

"That's ok. Are you done in there?"

"Yeah. Sorry."

"Stop apologizing."

"Sor…um, ok." He smiled warmly at me and I couldn't stop my heart from speeding up a bit. I got out of his way and went back to the couch to brush through my hair. Mike was in the shower for about fifteen minutes and then he came out and went back to his room. By 5:45 he was already ready to go.

"You want to go get something to eat before we head in?"

"Sure. What is there around here?"

"Not a lot. Mostly fast food joints. There is a little diner I go to for dinner, but that's about it." I nodded and followed him back to his car.

"Hey, do you know if I get a vehicle while I'm here?"

"I'm sure you do. You can't be expected to run with someone else the whole time."

"Ok."

We stopped at McDonalds and got some food, then headed to the lab. I couldn't help but sigh when I was out of the car. Being so close to Mike intimidated me and made me feel far too self-conscious for my own good. I hurried up the steps and into the lab, but then I realized I had no idea where to go, so I ended up having to wait for Mike anyway. He showed me to our branch of the building. He saw a woman and called, "Catherine! I got the new girl!"

The woman he called Catherine came over and shook my hand. "Hi. I'm Catherine. You're Sierra, right?"

"Yup! That's me. Pleasure to meet you."

"Same. I hope you came prepared to work. We have a case."

"Oh, I'm ready."

A guy came over and asked, "You the new girl?"

I laughed and answered, "Yeah. Sierra McGregor."

"Hello. Nick Stokes." We shook hands. "You got a vehicle?"

"Not yet."

"Then you ride with me. We're going out to the scene."

"Yes, sir." I said with a playful salute.

"Don't call me sir. It makes me feel old."

"Sorry." I remembered Mike's warning to stop apologizing and I glanced at him. He was smiling quietly to himself.

On the drive out to the crime scene, Nick and I got to know each other a little bit. He seemed really cool and he reminded me of Eric. I knew we would get along.

We got out to the scene and found a man dead in his car, shot through the head and shot in the back. A cup was discarded where another car had been. There were drugs in the victim's car. He turned out to be a huge anti-drug activist named Danilo Zamesca…so the question actually came up…why where there drugs in his car?

I walked around the scene taking pictures, and I stopped when I found a small piece of foam on the ground. Nick came over and stated the obvious, "It looks like some kind of foam."

"I found it next to the tire track. I'm going to get a cast of this track too." He nodded and left me to it. While I was waiting for the stuff to set, someone else came over and introduced themselves.

"Hi. I'm Captain Jim Brass. Welcome to Las Vegas, Ms. McGregor."

"Thanks. I'm excited to be here. We hear a lot about you guys in Miami. Never thought I'd actually get the chance to work with you."

"Oh, we get more acclaim than we deserve, I think."

"Ah, that remains to be seen. You may underestimate yourself." My cast finished and Nick was headed back to the lab to run the prints on the cup, so I got up and left with him. He had the bullet casing with him too, so I went to analyze that while he ran prints. I took the results back to him.

"Huh. Interesting."

"What?"

"The prints are Thomas Simon's and this bullet matches some casings we got from a raid of his mansion a while back."

"Look like we have our first suspect."

"Makes sense. Thomas Simon is a major dealer around here. Our vic tried to put him out of business and it cost him his life. I'm gonna call Brass." He left the room to call.

As soon as he was gone, my phone rang. "McGregor."

"Sierra, it's Catherine. I got a vehicle lined up for you, and I need you to use it. The under-Sherriff wants you to meet us for supper. I'll text you the address."

"Supper as in now, or right after we go off shift?"

She chuckled and answered, "After shift. Sorry. I forget that you're still a creature of the day."

"Alright. I'll see you later then."

"Yeah. Hey, go down to car rentals and tell them I sent you. They'll know what to give you."

"Thanks."

"Bye!"

I did what she said and got set up with a sharp Ford Escape. I spent the rest of the evening running ballistics and fingerprints for Nick. By the time "supper" came around, I was exhausted and in need of sleep. I wasn't really sure about meeting the under-Sherriff in this state of being. I found the restaurant Catherine told me about and went in. I faltered a moment when I saw Mike there too. Catherine and Brass were sitting with him. There was a free seat between Catherine and Mike, so I was forced to take it. I sat down and smiled over at Catherine. "How'd your first day, well, your first night go?"

"Very well. I haven't met everybody, but those I have have been very welcoming."

"Good. Oh, here's the under-Sherriff." A man walked in and greeted everyone and offered his welcome to me.

"Welcome to Vegas. Always good to have another skilled CSI on duty around here."

"I'm happy to be here, sir." We ordered our food and sat down to talk about the case.

"So, the biggest drug supplier on the west coast kills a public official…and we can't find him. I'm just the under-Sherriff. I have one job: make the Sherriff look smart. You're not helping."

Catherine said, "Science can only do so much with a cold trail."

"You ever seen a man's face change into that kind of a demon?"

"My eggs are runny," Mike cut in. "I should've been more specific with the waitress." He looked around for the girl, while I simply stared at him. Finally, after no luck finding the waitress, he looked at Brass's full and barely touched plate and asked, "Are you going to eat those?"

"You want mine? Here, knock yourself out."

"Thank you." They traded plates.

The under-Sherriff glanced between the two of them, and then continued, "I don't hear a solution." Nobody answered him. I kept my eyes down, trying to stay out of it.

Finally, Mike said, "We could try something I did in Philly. It's, um, a little unorthodox."

"I only want to know if it works."

"Philly, yes. Baltimore, no."

"Is that why you're in Vegas?" I teased. He smiled.

The under-Sherriff said, "50/50. I can live with those odds."

"You waiting for a drum-roll?" Brass asked.

"It's called reverse forensics," Mike said.

"Oh, we fake a crime scene," Catherine interjected.

"Basically."

"How do we get around entrapment?" the under-Sherriff inquired.

"Well, it's not entrapment if you're not enticing anyone to commit a crime. The goal is to make Simon think he's off the hook."

"What's the catch?" Brass asked.

"The whole thing's a catch. The hardest part is stopping leaks. You have to be willing to deceive the people you work with."

Catherine added, "Assuming they can be deceived…which they can't."

"That's not your call," the under-Sherriff told her.

I shook my head. "I can think of 9...10 ways that this could screw up…at least."

"So, don't screw up."

Mike gave me a look that sort of said, burn!!!!, before going on. "The first thing we need is a victim. Somebody we own. We need a fall-guy to be the killer. Somebody who's willing to have his mug shot everywhere. In Baltimore we used a snitch, so you're going to have to bring the DA into this."

"DA? That bitch won't like it." He got up and pat Mike on the back. "Thanks for breakfast."

Mike smiled politely, then waited until the guy was gone to say, "Have you ever noticed how the guys with the most money are the ones that never pay?"

Brass grinned and answered, "Well, that's how they keep all the money. Here." He tried to hand Mike a twenty.

"No, I got it. Little guy."

"Thank you," Catherine said quietly.

I forced a ten into Mike's hand and whispered, "Little gal has to pay too."

"I got it," he argued quietly. I gave him a hard stare and he backed down, gently taking the ten out of my hand. He spoke a little louder to Catherine. "You know, Catherine, if we do our job right and catch the bad guy, nobody's going to remember the rest."

She looked at him and stated, "I'll remember."