Disclaimer: I don't own CSI or its characters; only my character/s and plotline/s
Pulling up to the Fremont Hotel and Casino, Greg shut off the engine and pulled his keys out of the ignition. Looking at the sight and was more than positive that there was a crime that had taken place. There were several Las Vegas Police Department cars. There were multiple people being interviewed and asked questions by officers. Greg undid his seatbelt as he saw Brass come out of the hotel, notepad in hand.
Riley mimicked Greg's move as she too undid her seatbelt from the passenger's seat. She threw her hand behind her head and gathered her long locks into a low ponytail so that she wouldn't look like she just woke up out of bed, even though that was the case, no one else had to know just by looking at her.
"Come on, Mrs. Sanders." Greg winked at Riley jokingly as he opened the car door. Riley had given a small chuckle in return to the name she had just been called. Getting out of the car, Riley went to the back seat and opened the back door. She pulled out her CSI vest and slipped it over her blouse. Straightening and making herself look half decent, Riley grabbed her kit from the floor and had shut the door. She heard Greg lock the car, by hearing the small chirping noise the key he was holding made.
"Where's the vic?" Greg asked as he and Riley approached Brass, meeting him halfway to the entrance and the parking lot. Riley and Greg looked at the older man as he looked down at his notepad and scanned over a few things on it quickly, before flipping it shut and putting it in his inside jacket pocket.
"Third floor. Room 308. Vic's name is Brielle Campbell." He had told the two CSI's. As soon as the woman's name left Brass' mouth, Greg had raised his eyebrow. He knew that name. He knew it from somewhere. The girl was on the tip of his tongue and he couldn't put a face to a name, even though he hadn't even known where he'd heard of her.
Riley nodded at Brass and began to make her way into the large hotel. As she put her hand on the door to push it open, she had realized that Greg wasn't by her side. Turning her head back to where they had just been at, she saw Greg staring off into space, obviously thinking about something. She made a side note to ask him about it later. "Hey, Sanders. You comin' or not?" she asked, smiling as he came back down to Earth, shaking his head free of his thoughts.
"What? Oh, yeah. I'm coming." He said, walking up to be side by side with Riley as they entered the building. Finding the closest elevator, Riley reached out and pressed the up button. Riley tapped her fingers against the wall, patiently waiting for the elevator to reach their floor. Soon, the elevator gave a ding as the door opened and revealed the empty room. The two walked in and as soon as Riley was in, she pressed the number three.
Greg leaned his head against the back wall, letting out a sigh. Riley faced the doors as Greg stared at her back, smiling. He reached his hand forward and linked her pinky finger with his own. Riley looked back at her fiancée with a smile on her face while mouthing the words 'I love you.' Greg winked in a silent reply to her.
The doors open and the two broke apart as they walked out, immediately seeing that there was indeed a crime scene nearby. Crime scene tape went across the white wood door of room 308. A few uniforms were outside of the door, making sure no unauthorized people entered the room. As the two approached the door, they held up their passes and Greg held up the caution tape, allowing Riley to duck under first with him following right behind her.
"Well 'bout time you guys showed up, sleepyheads." Nick threw a glance in the newly arrived CSI's, while going through the room's dresser and pointed to the bed, where the victim lay. "Name's Brielle Campbell, don't know if Brass told you that or not. Apparently, according to the front desk clerk, she's staying here while her place is getting fumigated. Sh-"Nick's information drown out of Greg's mind as he stared at the deceased girl on the bed.
It was all coming back to him. He had finally put the face with the name. Granted, he hadn't even seen the girl in almost four years. Even then, it was only a night or two he had seen her. But he could never forget the face. It was something that he knew from the night it happened that her face would be forever etched in his mind. His throat began to close up, his breathing become heavier. He stared in awe at the girl.
"Greg!" the booming sound of Nick's voice brought Greg back down to crime scene where everyone else was at. He looked slowly from the bed to his friend, gulping deeply. Rubbing his brow, Greg bit his bottom lip harshly as he looked at Nick give him a confused look. "You okay, man?" Nick asked, brushing the counter for prints.
"Ye-yeah. Fine. So uhm, Super Dave." He turned to him, examining the body. "What's COD?" he asked as he took a full frontal photo of the body. Dave turned and looked up at Greg and cleared his throat. Moving the red haired woman's head to the side, pointed to a gunshot wound in the side of her neck.
"Gunshot wound inflicted in the neck. It wasn't close range. The bullet didn't have an exit, so if it's not too mangled when I cut her open, I'll give ballistics the bullet. Liver temp suggests that she's only been dead a few hours." He spoke, placing the body back into place.
Riley couldn't help but stare at Greg as he continued to take pictures of the body and the scene. She could see his shaking hands whenever he would raise his arms to take a photo. She could see the deep breaths he would take as he'd get closer and closer. She knew something was not right about this victim. It felt like this was no normal victim for Greg. It had to be a personal case one way or another.
"Hey Nick, did the desk clerk say if she had any kids with her?" Riley asked, bending down near the bed, after seeing something near Brielle's luggage, presumably. She heard Nick reply to her question with a no and then a question of why. Riley pulled the item out of the space between her luggage and the bed. She held up a small stuffed bunny. The body of the bunny was white as the rest of the bunny was a light baby pink color.
"I don't know much about the victim, but I don't think a grown woman would carry around a stuffed bunny." She said, twirling the stuffed animal around. She had seen Nick walk over with an evidence bag and very carefully she had placed the bunny into the bag before Nick sealed it.
Brass walked into the room and knocked on the doorframe. "We contacted the victim's roommate. She's on her way to the station now." He informed the CSI's processing the room.
****
"Ms. Talbert, when was the last time you've talked to your sister?" Catherine asked Maya Talbert, who had been gripping tightly onto a tissue as she sniffled loudly. Rubbing her nose with said tissue, Maya began to speak of the last time seeing her best friend alive.
"Yesterday. Her house is getting fumigated and she wanted to stay at the Fremont instead o-of coming to stay with me. Sh-she said it would be closer to her work than from my place." She said, pausing to take a deep breath and let out a quiet sob. "So she let Addie come stay with me, because she knew she'd be working." Maya wiped her eyes with her long sleeve, sniffling once more.
"Who's Addie?" Catherine asked, writing down some information in a note pad. She looked at the distressed young woman. Maya rubbed her forehead and answered Catherine.
"Brie's daughter. She's three and a half. She likes to stay at my house because I have a TV. Brie never let her watch much at her house, saying it was more fundamental for her to learn skills. God, I loved that girl like a sister, but she couldn't get it through her bottle red hair that Addie's still a baby and doesn't want to learn." Maya chuckled dryly, thinking of her deceased friend.
Catherine raised an eyebrow and cleared her throat, thinking of asking the next question, which was most typical with single mother victims. "Maya, did Brielle have problems with Addie's father? Someone that might want to hurt her?" she asked, handing another tissue to the whimpering girl.
Maya shook her head, taking the tissue and thanking Catherine. "N-no. Brie had Addie because of a one night stand a few years ago. She hooked up with some dude at a bar a few nights. It was after she had lost one of her jobs and said she just needed to get away for the weekend. Surprise for her a few weeks later, when she went to the doctor."
"Did she ever try to contact this hook up about the baby?"
"No, but why are we talking about Addie? Shouldn't you be finding out who killed Brielle?"
Catherine sighed deeply and tried to give a few words of encouragement to the grieving friend. "Maya, we are trying. Once we know more details, you'll be the first to know. Now, did Brielle have any family? We need someone to take Addie because of the investigation; she needs to be in temporary child services." Catherine told her, waiting on the girl to reply. When she got absolutely nothing back from Maya as a response, she placed the note pad in front of her. "Write down your address. I'm going to have a uniform pick up the girl." She said.
Maya wiped a few stray tears from her eyes before nodding and taking the pen and writing down her address quickly. "Ju-just take care of her and find who killed Brie, okay?"
Catherine nodded. "Yes. You can go now. I'll keep in touch if anything comes up." She said as Maya snatched her purse from the back of the chair and walked out of the room, her heels clicking against the tile and echoing in the metal room.
A/N: COUGH. No, nothing seems coincidental. COUGH. Ha, or does it? Well, you'll have to keep reading to find out. Reviews are love!