Part Four

The Bella Mafia

Jenna was fighting the urge to go back upstairs and slap Greg for being an ass. It was a shitty day that was getting shittier by the second. All that needed to happen was for someone to pour sugar in her gas tank while pissing on her shoes.

"Fucking jerk…he ended it with me. He wouldn't return my calls; he blocked my e-mails and sent back my letters. What the hell did he think I was going to do sit around and mourn? I had a life here…it was a dumb decision to get back with Andy, I chalk it up to be emotional over my mom's cancer and Greg dumping me like a bad habit all at once. But, I ended it…I was at least smart enough to get out before I was really stuck there too bad I learned the hard way," thought Jenna. She tried to clear her head before going into the kitchen, but the effort was a lost cause. Grissom knew people and he knew that Jenna was upset about something, and he had a feeling that it wasn't the DB.

"Hi we met earlier; I'm Gil Grissom with the Crime Lab. Would it be possible to get a tour of the bakery so we can get a better understand of how the victim might have gotten in."

"Sure. Well the shop was three floors, the basement is where we make our cake molds, and it's mostly a workshop. Would you like to start their and work your way up?" asked Jenna. Grissom nodded and called to a woman with brown hair.

"Sara could you come with me, just in case we need any photos? Hodges please wait here for us" asked Grissom.

"Sure," she finished collecting something near the doorway. Jenna showed them to the back of the kitchen and opened a door that lead to a flight of stairs.

"So you guys make your own molds?" asked Sara.

"Yeah it makes it easier than trying to order them out of town or even out of state. We have some really good metal workers here," said Jenna. She flipped on a light switch for them to see the dirty basement. Saws, foam and other tools were all over the place, sheets of metal to be pounded into cake pans sat on one side of the room. Pans that were finished on another side, waiting to be polished and treated than sent upstairs.

"So the only way to get down here is through the kitchen?" asked Grissom poking through some of the finished pans.

"Yeah, it's also soundproof; from down here you can't hear anything from the kitchen. The kitchen is also soundproof from the front of the house," said Jenna.

"How come?" asked Sara.

"Well it gets very loud down here and who wants to hear sawing metal all day. The kitchen gets loud and foul language is used and who wants the customers to hear you bitch that a cake is going to drive you crazy, plus we have different musical taste in the back of the house. You don't want the people to hear you listening to Manson while trying to decide between chocolate or white chocolate frosting."

I guess it's safe to say that if something happened down here while someone was upstairs nothing would be heard?" asked Grissom. Jenna nodded.

"The only way that would happen is through the intercom system. We have an intercom system that links everything in the bakery, but someone would have to press it," said Jenna showing them the buzzer and speaker. Grissom looked at the system. A person would have to press speak than press what room they wanted to connect with.

"Do you mind me asking where you spend most of your time?" asked Grissom trying to get a better feel for the young woman.

"I bounce between the shop down here, the kitchen and my office, but I would say that most of my time is spent in the kitchen," said Jenna.

"I have to say I'm really impressed with these pans," said Sara picking up on shaped like a piano. Jenna smiled.

"I made that one for my brother and his wife a few years ago; I brought it down here for some touch ups."

"Can we get a better tour of the kitchen?" asked Grissom. Jenna led the way back up the stairs. She felt a little weird being in the kitchen, she loved being in this room and now she felt like something had been taken from her.

"Now the backdoor was kicked in, why didn't an alarm go off?' asked Grissom.

"We're still getting this set up here the final alarm system was supposed to be set up by next week. The front of the house has an alarm and so do the offices upstairs. I honestly thought if someone was going to break in they hit the offices upstairs for cash and trip the alarm, not stay in the kitchen with raw eggs and large mixers."

"Nick tells me you had a disagreement with the victim yesterday afternoon. Would you like to go into more detail?" asked Sara.

"She set up a tasting a few weeks ago and she came in with an older woman, not sure if it was her mother or MIL…"

"MIL?" asked Grissom.

"Sorry…wedding lingo. MIL means Mother in Law. We have a policy in place that a wedding cake order should happen six to eight weeks before the date. Just in case they change their minds, and we have them set on the calendar, everything we put out is fresh, nothing gets frozen. So it helps knowing six week in advance what cake you're making. She got really upset when I told her two days wasn't enough time, she called me a lot of nasty names in front of Ofilia my manager and Lissa the intern. I told her I was not to be insulted in my business and to leave. I turned around, she grabbed a fist full of my hair and hit me with her ring hand," said Jenna showing them a band shaped marking near her eye. "Ofilia pulled me away and the older woman pulled her the other way. I didn't hit her back, I wanted to, but I didn't want the lawsuit that went with it. The older woman felt really bad and offered to pay for any mess. I turned the offer down and told them both to never come back."

"Did the victim say anything else after that?" asked Grissom.

"That I would be very sorry about this."

Nick looked at Greg with his mouth opened.

"Okay when this shift is over, we are going to have a serious talk about you, the cake lady and your kid that you never told anyone about," said Nick.

"It's not what you think…" Greg was flustered and he sat on the desk.

"Look Grissom wants us to check out Jenna's office, Hodges is following Grissom around like a puppy and Jenna's showing him the bakery, so let's go in Jenna's office and talk." Greg nodded and followed Nick into the other room. The office was very much Jenna. It was clean had a hard wood floor and a few bookshelves filled with either cookbooks or bridal magazines. The desk was facing a window that had purple shades that overlooked the alley; it had a small laptop and printer. Most of the desk was for pictures, like her old desk back in Stanford. The pictures were newer though, Jenna at her brother's wedding, and another one showed her holding an infant while sitting in a rock chair next to her brother. A picture that had been drawn by a child was propped up, the drawing was of a little girl and someone that was suppose to be Jenna at a table having tea.

"Me and Tia Jenna having tea," said Nick reading the caption on the picture.

"Tia means aunt right?" asked Greg moving papers around looking for a planner.

"Yes, Tia means aunt…now start spilling while your looking," said Nick going through a file cabinet.

"I met Jenna when we were at Stanford, she was majoring in business and we were both working this crappy job, me for spending cash, her for rent and food. There was just something about her…you know. She could walk into a room and just light it up. I honestly think that if she hadn't been there, I would have killed myself from the boredom. However, I was dating a frat house girl I met named Dana, she was hot and the sex was good, but that's all it was, sex. I didn't feel anything for her now that I look back, but I stayed hoping I would feel something more for her. But, it just never happened than one day we got into this huge fight about what I wanted to do after graduation, and that meant moving out of California. She just blew up at me man, called me every name in the book and a few I had never heard. She told me what a joke I was and what a waste of time being with me was."

"Ouch."

"Yeah ouch was right, I mean even though I didn't feel anything for her it still hurt, ok she was my first so their was a little feeling their, enough for it to hurt. I was sitting in the office stairwell feeling sorry for myself, when Jenna sat down next to me and asked me what was wrong. I just spilled everything and she just sat there and listened to me. When I was done, she just looked at me and told me that Dana was an evil bitch and that if she couldn't see what a wonderful person I was, she should be kicked in the ass…and when she said that it was like a light clicked on. I knew in that second what she meant to me and that I would be better for her and she would be better for me too. She stood up and I pinned her to the wall and kissed her. Nick, before her I never kissed anyone like that, and to be honest I haven't kissed any girl after her like that." Greg turned to the lap top and clicked it on.

"So why are you not with her now and what kid is she talking about?" asked Nick pulling out a file and flipping through it.

"We started seeing each other and than Dana, my ex, shows up on my door with a positive pregnancy test in her hand. She told me it was mine and wanted to know what we should do about it," said Greg pulling up a day planner on the lap top.

"Let me guess, you decide to do the good guy thing and be with your baby's mama," said Nick.

"I ended it with Jen, we agreed to be friends. She came back here to Vegas, only to find out her mom had cancer and she dropped out of school. We talked a few times, we hated our lives and they only thing that made us happy was each other, I even told her that after the baby was born I wanted her back, I would be their for my child, but I wanted to be with her. Than for no reason she stopped calling, or writing or e-mailing me. I couldn't get a hold of her for months. Than Dana had a baby that was a little too dark to be mine," said Greg printing out the day planner for yesterday afternoon.

"She conned you good," said Nick pulling out a copy of Linda Stesiak credit card and driver's license.

"Yep, I told her that I was moving out and that she could do whatever the hell she wanted. She laughed and told me if I was planning on going back to 'my little wetback' that she would need to break off her engagement. I got pissed and asked her what she meant and she told me that an engagement announcement had to come to the apartment a few days before and it was from Jenna, she was going to marry her dickhead of a boyfriend who she had dumped two years ago.. I knew she wasn't waiting or coming back to me. A few months later, I got the job out here in Vegas, but thought 'large city, night shift job' our paths would never cross again."

"Until you walk right into a crime scene that takes place in her bakery. Little odd don't you think," said Nick. Greg raised an eyebrow.

"She didn't even know I moved to Vegas, so if you're saying she killed someone to get me here, you are a crazy little man," said Greg.

"I just believe that it two people are supposed to be together, it will happen, could take months, years, a lifetime, but it will happen sooner or later. Personal I prefer sooner," said Nick heading for the door. Greg picked up the print out and looked at the picture of Jenna with her brother. She looked happy, but was it the same covered he used with people. He dated, he flirted with Sara, but every now and than Jenna would creep back into his thoughts and hurt him a little more each time. He sighed and head back downstairs.

Jenna was getting ready to lead Grissom, Sara and Hodges upstairs when Greg and Nick came down from the office.

"We were able to find the records on Miss. Stesiak. She's found out of state, but I'm sure with the credit number noted here, we could find a paper trial," said Nick.

"I think we have everything we need here, Miss Bianchi, if we need anything else we'll call you, but other than that we'll send someone by to clean up in the kitchen. I advise you to take the day off," said Grissom.

"Thank you," said Jenna. Hodges turned to Jenna.

"You'll have to forgive me for asking this, but considering your heritage, do you think this could be a mob hit?" Grissom looked shocked, Sara and Nick exchanged a glance and Greg was trying not to laugh at how retarded Hodges could be.

"I'm normally against assaulting an officer, but we all be willing to turn around if you would like to hit him once," said Nick. Jenna let out that smirk and Greg knew that Hodges was in for it.

"It is possible; my grandmother was part of the Bella Mafia and she was a force to be reckoned with."

"Really?" said Hodges.

"Actually they were very upset when my mother went to Italy and refused to join Bella Mafia, I suppose this could be their way of getting to her through me." She took a pen out of her pocket and wrote a number on Hodges hand.

"That's my home line, call me anytime you want. I may need you to help me," said Jenna with a straight face. Hodges nodded gravely. Nick, Sara, and Grissom shared a grin. Jenna turned to look at Greg and only got a blank stare.

"God I miss the cute guy who was impressed by a two hole punch frozen in ice," thought Jenna.