LAS VEGAS : PRESENT
Grissom rounded the corner and saw he had three visitors waiting in his office. A woman with long blond hair sat in one chair with a leather case sitting on the floor next to her chair. A man with distinctive Puerto Rican features sat in the other, and a lean man holding a pair of sunglasses was staring at his shelf with shrunken heads. Grissom entered his office and they all looked up at him.
"Good morning," Grissom said, watching the man and woman stand. "May I help you?"
"Horatio Cane," the man said, extending his hand.
"Oh! Yes. I thought you'd be here at eleven."
"We were able to get seats on an earlier flight. These are my CSI Calleigh Duquesne and Eric Delko."
Grissom shook their hands. He grabbed a chair from the back and sat it next to the other two.
Grissom said as he sat down in his desk chair.
"I assume you haven't found Ryan yet?" Horatio asked as he sat in the chair.
"I'm sorry to say we haven't. We're still processing the coffin and hearse." Grissom leaned on his desk. "We did lift several prints from under the coffin lid, one of the prints belonging to a Chrissie Mandais."
"Just on the inside?" Calleigh asked.
"The hearse and coffin were burned so there were no recoverable prints anywhere else."
"And the coffin?" Horatio asked.
"Your CSI had a slight stroke of luck. It started raining that night and the fire only charred the outside."
"Do you think he's alive, Mister Grissom?" Horatio asked.
"Call me Gil. We don't know. The rain washed away any tracks but search and rescue began their search at daylight. Since there weren't any other bodies, we're assuming that Chrissie is alive. It might help us find her if you could fill me in on your investigation. Did you bring the case file?"
Calleigh pulled the case file from her bag and sat it in front of Grissom. He hid his surprise at seeing how thick it was.
"We started it when we began receiving death threats regarding Ryan," Calleigh told him.
"She was threatening to kill him?"
"No. Us."
"Mister Wolfe was suspended for a short time. The letters were threatening us if he wasn't reinstated," Horatio explained.
"Apparently you reinstated him."
"Yes. After that, her tactics turned to sending him expensive gifts, letters and cards, and large sums of money."
"The money… Did you run the serial numbers?"
"We did. None of it was stolen."
Grissom laid his hand on the file, holding Horatio's eyes, "I could read this, but it would move this case forward faster if you just told me what's in here."
Horatio began recounting what had happened prior to Ryan's kidnapping.
Catherine had removed all the obvious trace she could find in the coffin. She slid on a pair of wraparound fluorescence glasses and picked up a florescent flashlight. She turned to the coffin as she flicked it on, and the fabric inside lit up.
"Oh my…" Catherine said, staring at it.
"What is it?" Greg said, appearing at her side.
"This doesn't look good."
Greg grabbed a pair of glasses and put them on. His brow furrowed.
"It's covering the bottom."
"Yes." Catherine turned and picked up a pair of scissors. "Hold this for me so I can cut some of this out."
Greg took the light, aiming it at the bottom so she could cut around the illuminated area. She pulled out the fabric and slid it in a baggie.
"I can run that."
She handed it to him. "Okay. But brace yourself."
"For what?"
She took the light, looking up at him. "My hunch says you're going to find two known contributors and it's going to tell a very bad story."
Greg looked at the cloth, then her. "Such as?"
"Just run it first. Story later."
He handed her the flashlight back and headed back to the lab. He prepared the fabric to pull the DNA off and then ran the liquid. He turned to work on another case while he waited for the results. Greg looked back when the printer turned on and spit out two sheets. Greg picked up both and the story Catherine had warned him about suddenly came to light. Greg looked up for a minute, then headed to Grissom's office.
The Miami CSI and Grissom sat around Grissom's desk. Everyone glanced up at Greg when he walked in, but the conversation didn't stop.
Eric continued talking. "…we knew of her. We knew she was producing at least a hundred pounds of meth a month, and twice that of heroin," Eric said, pointing to a photo on the desk. "We knew she was a big supplier in our area but we never knew her name, identity, and could never get close to her. She is very well connected and well funded."
"Do you think you were getting close to her then? That's why she ran?" Grissom asked them.
"I don't think so," Horatio said. "We just found her lab today and that was after our lab spent the last three weeks running evidence from her apartment. She left for some other reason."
"The chances are she's set up shop somewhere else, maybe even here," Grissom said, glancing at Greg.
Horatio leaned forward on his legs. "She may be getting ready to leave the country," he told him.
"But she tried to kill Ryan two days ago," Calleigh argued. "If he was supposed to help her escape, somehow, why kill she left? Unless she's already left."
"Perhaps she just needed him to get to Nevada. Regardless, she couldn't smuggle that much methamphetamine out on a commercial plane. We'll start looking at all charters that are scheduled to leave the country."
"That might be a lot of planes," Eric said.
"It may be. Greg, do you have something?"
The CSI looked back at him. Greg looked at Grissom.
"Can I talk to you for a minute? In private?" Greg asked.
"Is this about Ryan's case?"
Greg didn't answer.
"Greg?"
He nodded.
"What is it? What do you have?" Calleigh asked.
"It's okay, Greg, they're consulting on the case," Grissom told him.
Greg looked at the printouts. He really didn't want to present this evidence with them in the room. Horatio seemed to understand that. He stood.
"What did you find, Mister Sanders?"
Greg looked up at him. "In the coffin, Catherine found bodily fluids under florescent." Greg handed the sheets to Horatio. "It comprises of semen with Ryan's DNA, and vaginal secretions positive of Chrissie's DNA."
Horatio looked at both sheets.
"Ryan would never have… She kidnapped him!" Calleigh said, suddenly defensive.
Greg didn't argue with her, because he didn't want to tell her the story Catherine feared this would tell.
"Horatio, he never would have—"
"Mister Sanders never said that the contributions indicated consensual sex," Horatio told her, looking her in the eyes.
What Horatio was suggesting didn't set well with Calleigh. She shook her head.
"No. No! I mean… He's a man. How could she… That's impossible."
"No. It's not." Eric told her.
She turned to him. "He's a guy! How could she—"
Eric looked up at her. "Biology trumps will power. There are ways, Calleigh."
Calleigh sank back into her chair.