Many thanks to those who reviewed. Those who read my stuff often know that writing cases isn't my strong suit. But a comment from Moonstarer made me think I need to try harder because she is right, it is a crime show. And then a clip Beaujolais sent me of an interview PG did several years ago made me decide to use a crime as the setting to tell a story I'd been planning for awhile. In it he said he liked the scenes that deal with the crimes the best and he makes the same point, it is after all a crime show. He prefers to leave the characters' stories as part of the backdrop. But I can't just relegate JB to the back, so I'm attempting to intertwine his backstory with the investigation. So here we are. Please let me know if you see holes or other problems in the investigation. I don't mind help at all, lol. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy.

Las Vegas: Present Day

Jim Brass stood in the hallway outside the apartment. He'd been preparing to leave his office after a long shift and head home for a quick dinner, stiff single malt, and an early night to bed. But the ringing phone on his desk changed all of that. So instead, he was moving into the eleventh hour of his shift and waiting for CSI to show up.

He watched as the elevator doors opened and Nick Stokes stepped out into the hall. "Jim," the Texan said in greeting. Jim nodded and pointed to the door. "In there," Jim said. "DB, Asian male, late fifties…maybe early sixties. Don't have a positive ID yet. Apartment is leased to Tim Trang." Jim frowned as he read the name, a cold feeling of dread encompassing him. "The DB is probably him but …"

Nick nodded at the police captain and then moved into the apartment. Jim followed him in. "Landlord said a neighbor called him complaining about the noise. Landlord opened the door and as soon as he spotted the body, he bolted. He never even looked at the vic's face." Nick nodded. "Good, less contamination."

Jim spent the next hour talking to neighbors and getting nowhere. Sighing, he entered the apartment again to see if Nick was having any better luck. "David took the body?" He asked as he glanced at the spot on the floor where the vic was before. Blood indicated where his head had been, since it appeared he'd died from one bullet through the brain.

Nick turned from his study of a nearby table. "Yeah, a few minutes ago. TOD about three hours ago. Looks like an execution. But there was a struggle…From the looks of things, I think someone else was in the apartment."

"Someone else? So two perps or another victim, a witness? So, where are they," Jim asked as his eyes scanned the room.

"Dunno," Nick said absently as he turned back to the table. "I've lifted a few prints so maybe that'll tell us something."

"Hope so. The neighbors didn't know much about Trang but they all said he lived alone."

"Closet says he does…" Nick answered.

Glancing around again, Jim decided he'd done all he could do for now. "Okay, well…I'm heading back to call next of kin. The landlord gave me a number for his nephew. Jenkins will stay here with you. Let me know what you find…"

Nick nodded. "Sure," he said as he lifted another print.

Once back at PD, Jim wearily sat down at his desk to make the call. He'd handled countless numbers of these over the years and they never got easier, he thought as he dialed. With a sigh, he acknowledged inwardly that in fact, they seemed to be getting tougher. After a conversation with the nephew, Jimmy Trang who agreed to meet him later to ID the vic, he went to the detectives' bullpen to talk with Detective Sam Vega. He wanted Sam to back him up on this one so he went over the details so far and then Jim had him start looking into the vic's life. Before heading back to his office he stopped for a cup of coffee. A call from Ecklie about his testimony in a case detoured him again before heading back to his office. Finally, Jim made his way down the hall and turned the corner. His pace slowed as he approached the door, seeing a couple seated in chairs across from his desk. Frowning, he wondered who they were and why they were in his office. Turning, he headed for the reception area. "Hey Williams," he called out to the officer behind the desk.

Williams looked up at his Captain and nodded. "Yes sir?"

"There's a couple in my office…"

"Yeah, um…their name is Trang. They asked for you."

"Trang?"

"Yeah, since he asked for you and all…I thought, you know…maybe you know them?"

Jim sighed heavily. "No, but I think they're part of my case….I just wasn't expecting…it doesn't matter," he said unenthusiastically as he turned to walk back. Entering his office, he approached the couple and introduced himself. "I'm Detective Jim Brass," he said as he faced them.

The man stood. "I'm Jimmy Trang. This is my wife, Alicia," he continued as he indicated the woman sitting next to him. "I know we spoke earlier but now…our daughter is missing." Jim detected an accent in the man's speech but not a heavy one. Glancing at the wife, Jim noted that she had light hair and blue eyes that were not as dark or as intense as her husband's.

"Yes, well…Mr. Trang, wait….you say your daughter is missing? I called about your uncle. Was your daughter at his apartment?"

"Yes, my daughter was with him and now he is dead and our daughter is missing. Her name is Mai. She is twelve years old." He became more and more agitated as he spoke.

Jim studied the man before him. He was Asian, or rather Ameri-Asian, his facial features showing traces of both heritages. He had dark hair and dark blue eyes. Those eyes were looking at him intensely. His wife was looking at him with equal deliberation. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize….why didn't you tell me about your daughter when we spoke?"

"I thought she had perhaps gone to my mother's home with our son." The man hesitated as he tried to calm down. "Our daughter was visiting my uncle, Tim Trang. She was staying overnight…Alicia and I were out late and…"

Jim nodded. "Okay, I get it. So, you think whoever killed him took your daughter?"

Nodding quickly, Jimmy Trang answered. "Yes, I do. There were some people who were angry with Uncle…over business matters."

Jim brushed the back of his head with his hand, sighing. "Business matters? What business was your uncle in?"

"Import- export. He and my other uncle, Guy, began the business over ten years ago, using contacts that Uncle Tim still had in Vietnam."

"What do they import? Brass had a sick feeling about where this was leading.

"Textiles mostly… for the garment industry. But also, they import some food items for the Asian markets here. Also, some inexpensive shoes and clothes. Why does this matter?"

"Hey, you're the one that said people were after him over the business…," Brass growled. Then feeling remorseful that he was so argumentative, he waved his hand as if wiping away his last comment. "Look, anything you can tell me…it would help, okay?"

Jimmy exchanged glances with his wife and then looked back at Brass. "My uncles started the business after the US opened diplomatic relations with Vietnam in the 90s. I am the CFO. We have twenty other employees, including Guy's wife and Alicia. Also, my mother worked there until recently. Other employees are mostly Vietnamese but two are not. Alex Ramirez is Sales Director and Anita Benedict is over the Distribution Center. Everyone is friendly and I cannot imagine that anyone at the company would hurt us like that.

Jim studied the man closely. There was something about him…something that seemed familiar, but he couldn't remember ever having met him before. "Have we…um…I mean, ... have you ever met me before?" Jim asked him finally.

Jimmy looked at him, perplexed. "No, but I have seen you on TV… doing press conferences and media alerts. Your face is familiar to me."

Alicia stepped closer. "Captain Brass, please…find our daughter," she pleaded.

Turning his attention to her, Brass nodded. "We'll do everything that we can. If you have a picture, a recent one, we can use it in an Amber Alert. CSI is at the scene now and maybe they'll come back with some clues. But for now, the quicker we can get the alert out, the better."

Jimmy pulled his wallet from his pocket and opened it. He pulled a photo from inside. "This is her most recent school picture…taken a few months ago. Will it help?"

Jim took it from him and told him it would. "If you'll just wait here. I'll go put this in the system. In just a few minutes the whole city will be on the lookout for her." The couple nodded and sat back down as Jim headed to the squad room to get the alert out.

As he was walking back to his office, his cell rang. Pulling it out of his pocket, Jim answered. "Brass. What do you have for me?"

"Jim, it's Nick. I'm back at the lab and we're running the prints…there's some child prints here…."

"Yeah. Mai Trang. Twelve years old and the Amber Alert is already out…"

"How'd you…never mind You're channeling Grissom, aren't you? Anyway, I besides hers, I have an unidentified set that is running through the system now. They were on the furniture and a lamp that was in the middle of the struggle. After that I have a few others that are smudges or didn't have as many samples. Give me a couple of more hours and I'll have more for you."

"Thanks Nicky," Brass said as he crossed the threshold to his office. Then turning his attention to the girl's parents, he filled them in. "CSI is running prints now and Investigator Stokes has also collected some other evidence. He hopes to have more information in a couple of hours. Meantime, the alert is out. Why don't you go home. I'll call you if anything happens and in the meantime, Mai might get an opportunity to call you. It'll be good if you are home to answer it."

"Yes, yes…of course," Jimmy said anxiously. "You will tell us the minute…"

"…as soon as I hear anything, I promise. Meantime, sit tight at home in case the kidnappers or Mai try to call. Also, I'm sending a couple of guys with you to set up equipment to trace the calls. Okay?"

Jimmy nodded. "Yes. Please, keep us informed…" he said as he and Alicia prepared to leave. Then in the doorway, Jimmy Trang stopped and turned to face Jim. "You will give this your full attention?"

Jim frowned, confused. "I just said…" and then he paused, reminding himself how tired and irritable he was and how frightened the parents were. "Mr. Trang, I have a daughter. I know how scared you are. But I promise we're on it."

Trang studied him intently. "It's just… I am Vietnamese. Some would not see this as important as…perhaps… a white child," he said acerbically.

Jim's eyes narrowed and he felt his jaw clinch slightly. "I think I know where that's coming from, Mr. Trang." He shifted his weight on legs that felt like lead, trying to assume a friendlier posture. "And father to father, I promise you…we're going to do everything we can to get your daughter back safely."

Jimmy Trang looked at him keenly. Then slowly, he nodded his head, accepting Jim's statement. "I will wait to hear from you." Jim watched them walk down the hall and sighed. This was going to be another heartbreaking case, he feared.

Jim tried to be patient but the idea of a twelve year old girl out there at the mercy of a killer ate at him, so after an hour of irritating just about everyone at PD, he headed over to CSI to see how Nick was doing. "Anything yet?" he asked Nick as he walked into the layout room, where Nick was working.

"So far, all the prints all have the last name of Trang. Mandy's working on some partials, trying to see if she can bring them out better and get an ID. Hodges is working on some clumps of dirt I found across the room; near the struggle with the little girl…at least, I think that's where they nabbed her. Greg is watching over the blood samples that we collected, looking for DNA. And I've got some bloody footprints that were left in the carpet."

Jim looked down at the footprints and frowned. "Sneakers?" he asked.

"Seems like it…size 9. The owner overpronates slightly, especially the right foot. See how the print is more defined on the big toe than the little ones?" Nick pointed at the print of the right foot.

Jim nodded. "Yeah, I know about pronation…But is this one of Trang's prints?"

"Didn't find any shoes to match in the apartment and it is too big to be the girl's, so maybe our perp's?"

"Okay. Well, you seem to be rolling with it. I'm in my third shift, so I'm going home to get a little sleep. Vega is backing me up on this but call me if anything pops anyway. Otherwise, I'll see you in a few…"

"Okay Jim," Nick said as he turned his attention back to his work.

Jim headed back to PD, checked in at the desk for messages and deciding that they could wait, cleared his desk and then headed out. His next shift began in less than eight hours, but Jim knew he'd be back before then.

"All wish to possess knowledge, but few, comparatively speaking, are willing to pay the price." Juvenal