‹ Prequel: I'll Follow You Into the Dark
This Vegas Sky Is Tainted
II
Steph’s POV
I reached Grissom’s office fairly quickly after leaving the AV lab to respond to the call. I stood there for a few seconds before calmly knocking the door a couple times before i heard Grissom’s voice welcome me in. I pushed the door open greeted by a smile as i stepped into the office closing the door behind me again and taking a seat in the same chair as earlier.
“I need you to read this e-mail i received please.”
I was confused but nodded in agreement as Grissom turned his laptop around allowing me to read the screen. I first looked at the sender’s address and noticed it was Anna’s address which confused me even more. I slowly scanned over the e-mail taking in each word.
Dear Gil,
I know you aren’t the one i should contact for this but it involves one or maybe two members of your team. I would require you and steph only to meet me at the Diner on East lake Mead Boulevard at 12 pm tomorrow. I would rather if neither mention this to Lottie just yet until things have been spoken about. I feel steph would be more suited to what is required after what happened a few months ago. I shall hopefully see you both tomorrow.
Anna
X
I allowed myself to read the e-mail over a couple of more times. Just as a reassurance i had taken in the message correctly. Once i was certain i had read it correctly i sat back in the chair just letting it sink in a little trying to think of what exactly it could involve but instead drawing up a blank.
“she left no other details relating to what she wants to talk about?”
Grissom shook his head before resting his chin on top of his clasped hands just looking at me for a few minutes before speaking again.
“ I have a feeling it’s vital we go but that we also keep it quiet.”
“How do we keep other’s from knowing.”
“I will pick you up from the liquor store on the corner of your street at 11:30. I’m sure you can think of something that will convince nick you will be back after a while.”
“ok. Oh and Gris, me and Archie have been going over some casino footage relating to that case. You might want to see if it helps the case.”
Grissom again nodded as i stood up and as i turned to leave the office i heard him close his laptop and his chair move back. I stood outside the door and once Grissom was beside me we headed down to AV as i informed him what i thought i had seen on the tapes and that i had left Archie to sharpen that still.
As the two of us passed Toxicology Nick and Warrick were leaving the lab the two bickering about case theories and whose theory was correct for the case they were working. Grissom stopped as the two passed him slightly before turning around to face them befor ethey walke dot far away.
“Nick, Warrick. I will have no betting on theories for a case between you two. If you two have already made another bet i will receive double of each of your stakes.”
I let a slight smile pass my lips as both of them were quick to apologise to Grissom before they continued to walk down the corridor. Me and Grissom had also continued our walk and were soon stood in AV, Archie still sat in his chair staring at the casino footage. I stood right behind Archie as he acknowledged us and started to bring up some new footage from the tapes. As me and Grissom stood there the three of us went over the magnified and sharpened image i had spotted as well as Archie showing us some more footage he had spotted before the three of worked through the rest of the tape.
After a couple more hours stood analysing footage both me and Grissom had some more theories to put through based on the evidence and so we were both headed back to the light table to look back over the images and case file. On way t o the light table though we bumped into Catherine who smelt like she had crawled through a dumpster or two before entering the labs.
“I’m going to shower. I can tell by your faces i smell worse than the dumpsters i was in.”
“Why didn’t one of the boys go in?”
“We decided to draw straws using a matchbook Warrick had on him. As you can tell i lost.”
I smiled slightly as Catherine then headed off to the locker’s and shower’s. Me and Grissom then reached the light room heading straight to the manila file that i had left on the table. We spent a good half an hour adding what we knew from the casino footage into a theory we talked out taking note of the images we had taken. Before long however we were both heading back out to the crime scene with nick and Greg sat in the back to act as suspects as they were the same build as the three suspects we had.
Arriving on the scene the four of us looked through all the images we had gathered from the original scene as we headed up to the corridor. The corridor was still empty the hotel requiring it to be re-decorated after crime scene clean-up took care of the blood and smell.
Grissom was going to compare what was acted out in correspondence to the photo’s we had with me as the victim and Greg and nick representing various witnesses. The first run through was me and Greg showing how we thought the victim got bruises form the struggle, which resulted in me and Greg rolling about before Greg lifted me again before dropping me onto my back so i would land how the victim did when dead. That theory didn’t seem right to Grissom and so he allowed me and nick to play it out to two other theories fitting the other two suspects. The first theory was similar to mine and Greg’s re-enactment but nick was representing a guy that had a lot more strength to show how bruises could of been so defined. The second time through with Nick however showed more of a fight between victim and suspect and yet more of a struggle before i hit the floor for the third time with more force still. As i gathered my breath i was still lay on the floor as the victim would of been and looked up to Nick. Clearly he forgot how much strength he could gather the force of the drop taking out a lot of energy as i awaited Grissom’s verdict.
“third theory matches everything out the most, the extra strength was defiantly needed for these injuries. Steph you can get up now you know.”
I tried but found myself unable to move.
“I would if i wasn’t attached to something that was keeping me here.”
Nick knelt beside me his hand running under my back as he unhooked me from whatever i was attached to so that i could sit up. Once i had moved Grissom knelt to take note of the nail protruding from the wood before pulling out one the photo’s from the file.
“I think this explains why we couldn’t distinguish what made the extra wound in the victim’s back. The carpet cover’s this from the naked eye.”
I watched Grissom take a knife from his field kit as he cut out a square of the carpet where the nail should be before pulling up and breaking of the section of floorboard. Clearly that was coming back to the lab with us to check out the theory.
We were soon back in the lab’s and for the rest of the shift me and Grissom worked on solving this case. I was grateful as 5 am approached and i was finally leaving the lab as i stifled a yawn. Nick said he was going to run over an hour and i agreed i would meet him at home too tired to hang around to give hi a lift knowing one of the other guys would give him a lift.
Within thirty minutes i was home and sat in some comfortable pyjamas still yawning my head off. As i stepped from the bedroom having picked up a fresh set of spare clothes to place on the side incase of emergency alongside a now full field kit nick stepped through the door. Clearly he had finished earlier that he expected. Before long i was lay under a warm duvet enjoying the fact my body was able to relax for a few hours before i cuddled into nick’s chest as he to climbed into bed.
“Love you Nicky.”
“Love you to Miss Robinson.”
I smiled sharing a kiss with Nick and was pretty much asleep in an instant. My body was exhausted after today’s shift so i dreaded to see how it coped with having had five hour’s sleep.
I reached Grissom’s office fairly quickly after leaving the AV lab to respond to the call. I stood there for a few seconds before calmly knocking the door a couple times before i heard Grissom’s voice welcome me in. I pushed the door open greeted by a smile as i stepped into the office closing the door behind me again and taking a seat in the same chair as earlier.
“I need you to read this e-mail i received please.”
I was confused but nodded in agreement as Grissom turned his laptop around allowing me to read the screen. I first looked at the sender’s address and noticed it was Anna’s address which confused me even more. I slowly scanned over the e-mail taking in each word.
Dear Gil,
I know you aren’t the one i should contact for this but it involves one or maybe two members of your team. I would require you and steph only to meet me at the Diner on East lake Mead Boulevard at 12 pm tomorrow. I would rather if neither mention this to Lottie just yet until things have been spoken about. I feel steph would be more suited to what is required after what happened a few months ago. I shall hopefully see you both tomorrow.
Anna
X
I allowed myself to read the e-mail over a couple of more times. Just as a reassurance i had taken in the message correctly. Once i was certain i had read it correctly i sat back in the chair just letting it sink in a little trying to think of what exactly it could involve but instead drawing up a blank.
“she left no other details relating to what she wants to talk about?”
Grissom shook his head before resting his chin on top of his clasped hands just looking at me for a few minutes before speaking again.
“ I have a feeling it’s vital we go but that we also keep it quiet.”
“How do we keep other’s from knowing.”
“I will pick you up from the liquor store on the corner of your street at 11:30. I’m sure you can think of something that will convince nick you will be back after a while.”
“ok. Oh and Gris, me and Archie have been going over some casino footage relating to that case. You might want to see if it helps the case.”
Grissom again nodded as i stood up and as i turned to leave the office i heard him close his laptop and his chair move back. I stood outside the door and once Grissom was beside me we headed down to AV as i informed him what i thought i had seen on the tapes and that i had left Archie to sharpen that still.
As the two of us passed Toxicology Nick and Warrick were leaving the lab the two bickering about case theories and whose theory was correct for the case they were working. Grissom stopped as the two passed him slightly before turning around to face them befor ethey walke dot far away.
“Nick, Warrick. I will have no betting on theories for a case between you two. If you two have already made another bet i will receive double of each of your stakes.”
I let a slight smile pass my lips as both of them were quick to apologise to Grissom before they continued to walk down the corridor. Me and Grissom had also continued our walk and were soon stood in AV, Archie still sat in his chair staring at the casino footage. I stood right behind Archie as he acknowledged us and started to bring up some new footage from the tapes. As me and Grissom stood there the three of us went over the magnified and sharpened image i had spotted as well as Archie showing us some more footage he had spotted before the three of worked through the rest of the tape.
After a couple more hours stood analysing footage both me and Grissom had some more theories to put through based on the evidence and so we were both headed back to the light table to look back over the images and case file. On way t o the light table though we bumped into Catherine who smelt like she had crawled through a dumpster or two before entering the labs.
“I’m going to shower. I can tell by your faces i smell worse than the dumpsters i was in.”
“Why didn’t one of the boys go in?”
“We decided to draw straws using a matchbook Warrick had on him. As you can tell i lost.”
I smiled slightly as Catherine then headed off to the locker’s and shower’s. Me and Grissom then reached the light room heading straight to the manila file that i had left on the table. We spent a good half an hour adding what we knew from the casino footage into a theory we talked out taking note of the images we had taken. Before long however we were both heading back out to the crime scene with nick and Greg sat in the back to act as suspects as they were the same build as the three suspects we had.
Arriving on the scene the four of us looked through all the images we had gathered from the original scene as we headed up to the corridor. The corridor was still empty the hotel requiring it to be re-decorated after crime scene clean-up took care of the blood and smell.
Grissom was going to compare what was acted out in correspondence to the photo’s we had with me as the victim and Greg and nick representing various witnesses. The first run through was me and Greg showing how we thought the victim got bruises form the struggle, which resulted in me and Greg rolling about before Greg lifted me again before dropping me onto my back so i would land how the victim did when dead. That theory didn’t seem right to Grissom and so he allowed me and nick to play it out to two other theories fitting the other two suspects. The first theory was similar to mine and Greg’s re-enactment but nick was representing a guy that had a lot more strength to show how bruises could of been so defined. The second time through with Nick however showed more of a fight between victim and suspect and yet more of a struggle before i hit the floor for the third time with more force still. As i gathered my breath i was still lay on the floor as the victim would of been and looked up to Nick. Clearly he forgot how much strength he could gather the force of the drop taking out a lot of energy as i awaited Grissom’s verdict.
“third theory matches everything out the most, the extra strength was defiantly needed for these injuries. Steph you can get up now you know.”
I tried but found myself unable to move.
“I would if i wasn’t attached to something that was keeping me here.”
Nick knelt beside me his hand running under my back as he unhooked me from whatever i was attached to so that i could sit up. Once i had moved Grissom knelt to take note of the nail protruding from the wood before pulling out one the photo’s from the file.
“I think this explains why we couldn’t distinguish what made the extra wound in the victim’s back. The carpet cover’s this from the naked eye.”
I watched Grissom take a knife from his field kit as he cut out a square of the carpet where the nail should be before pulling up and breaking of the section of floorboard. Clearly that was coming back to the lab with us to check out the theory.
We were soon back in the lab’s and for the rest of the shift me and Grissom worked on solving this case. I was grateful as 5 am approached and i was finally leaving the lab as i stifled a yawn. Nick said he was going to run over an hour and i agreed i would meet him at home too tired to hang around to give hi a lift knowing one of the other guys would give him a lift.
Within thirty minutes i was home and sat in some comfortable pyjamas still yawning my head off. As i stepped from the bedroom having picked up a fresh set of spare clothes to place on the side incase of emergency alongside a now full field kit nick stepped through the door. Clearly he had finished earlier that he expected. Before long i was lay under a warm duvet enjoying the fact my body was able to relax for a few hours before i cuddled into nick’s chest as he to climbed into bed.
“Love you Nicky.”
“Love you to Miss Robinson.”
I smiled sharing a kiss with Nick and was pretty much asleep in an instant. My body was exhausted after today’s shift so i dreaded to see how it coped with having had five hour’s sleep.