Body of Evidence

O'Riley, and put him on the spot: 'Detective, do you have any idea how long that will be?'

O'Riley shrugged; he was a good guy, but not Nick's pick for handling p.r. 'I'll talk to the experts and get a better idea. But I can't tell you now.'

Another negative roll of the emotional roller coaster, and Nick had had all he could take of it. He walked to the front door and stuck his head out to see a Ryder truck backing into the parking space next to the black Tahoe.

When the truck stopped, Nick watched the driver climb down and come around to the back of the vehicle where he opened the rear overhead door. Just as he did, a sky-blue Dodge van pulled into the lot and parked on the far side. Four men got out and strolled across the parking lot, making a total of five new people coming in, all of whom Nick assumed were answering Nunez's bat signal. One of the five, the driver of the Ryder, was a uniformed officer Nick recognized from swing shift-a tall blond guy named Giles. Another one, a passenger in the van, was an African-American FBI computer investigator, and now a connection finally made itself in Nick's mind: the guy's name was Carroll! They had worked one job together, first year Nick joined LVMPD CSI, albeit briefly, cop ships passing in the night.

Carroll wore jeans and a navy blue T-shirt with a large yellow FBI across the chest. Nick didn't know the other three, all of whom were dressed in T-shirts and jeans as well. But from recognizing the first two, he figured Nunez had already started calling in favors to get all the imaging done ASAP…whether that meant a week or just under a year, Nick had no idea.

'You the CSI on this?' Giles asked as he led the others inside.

'Nick Stokes,' he said, nodding to the others. They paused and shook hands, all around; Nick was not, at the moment, in latex gloves. 'There's two of us here-you'll meet Catherine Willows, soon. She's prettier than I am.'

'Wouldn't be tough,' Giles said good-naturedly. 'Where's our guy Nunez?'

'I'll take you to him. You're going to be passing through some very unhappy campers.'

None of them looked surprised.

The employees were still shuffling around in the lobby, most of them watching Nick and his squadron of computer investigators as they marched through. O'Riley waved Nick over and the tech group huddled just outside the corridor while the CSI and the detective had their own two-man huddle.

O'Riley said, 'I'm callin' in some backup to help me interview these employees. If I don't, it'll take all day and they're already starting to look like a mob.'

It occurred to Nick that O'Riley would make an excellent Frankenstein's monster for these angry villagers, but he nonetheless had to dampen the detective's notion, at least a little.

'That's a good idea,' Nick said, 'but we're gonna have to fingerprint them all before they go. And there's just me and Catherine.'

O'Riley nodded. 'How long you been on shift, anyway? Since last week?'

'It's going to be a full double shift.'

'With all that overtime,' O'Riley said, 'I'll know who to come to for a loan. Mobley's gonna love you.'

O'Riley meant Sheriff Mobley, whose hobby was cracking down on overtime; the police and of course the CSIs were under the sheriff's jurisdiction in Vegas.

Before long, Nick had escorted the makeshift computer squad to Janice Denard's office. When they gathered clumsily at the door, Nunez looked up and grinned. 'Hey-the compu-posse!'

They trooped in and Nick went to Catherine's side. Her eyes were wide; she hadn't expected so large a crew.

'You all know each other?' Nunez asked as he rose from Janice's desk and came around.

'I know Giles and Carroll,' Nick said.

'You'll know everybody before we're through. Better than you want.'

The computer expert made intros all around, starting with Webster, a tall, thin state trooper who seemed unable to stand still. The other two, Nunez explained, were freelancer buddies of his: Wolf, a short muscular guy whose name suited him; and Moes, a slightly over-weight bemused middle-aged man who among the group looked closest to a stereotypical computer geek.

Nick and Catherine watched and listened as Nunez explained the situation to his volunteer team; neither CSI had any additions or corrections, and were impressed with Nunez's summary, since the man had followed them onto the scene.

He closed by saying, 'It's Monday-best-case scenario, I want this company back open for business by Wednesday.'

'What's the worst-case scenario?' Wolf asked.

'Thursday…. We can't punish this business for the perversity of one employee. That means we've got plenty of work to do and not much time to do it in, so let's get started.'

Catherine stepped forward and offered a business-like smile. 'I'd like to thank you for helping out. And while you get on it, Nick and I'll start fingerprinting the employees.'

Somewhat forgotten in her chair off against the wall, Janice Denard piped up, in voice tinged with both outrage and resignation, 'You can do that?'

Nick turned to her and said, pleasantly, 'At this stage, it will be voluntary; but it's a good way to get yourself exonerated right away.'

'I'm afraid I don't follow you.'

Nick shrugged. 'Sooner or later we'll find out which keyboard sent that print order to your boss's machine. When we do isolate the work station, we'll dust the keyboard for fingerprints. We will match those prints to someone, most likely someone who works in this facility…and then we'll be a lot closer to finding out who's guilty and who's innocent.'

Denard said, 'Well, you might let me pave the way by volunteering to go first.'

Catherine said, 'That's a nice gesture. We appreciate it. Anything you can do to keep the feathers un-ruffled around here would be helpful.'

Denard managed a brave nod. 'I'll try.'

As Nick and Catherine set up fingerprinting shop, Tomas Nunez supervised the dismantling of Newcombe- Gold. This would be the most time-consuming part of the effort and, even with the extra help, would take hours. Nunez had already directed Leary to get a head start photographing each computer, all the peripherals and the wiring in the back, but even so, the uniformed officer still had plenty of pictures left to shoot when the team arrived.

Carroll and state patrolman Webster pitched in to help Leary. The plan was that when the photos were finally done, Nunez would personally disconnect each item, tag it, and hand it to one of his team, who would carry it out to the truck where Giles would catalogue and load each piece by hand. Catherine was just finishing fingerprinting Janice Denard, handing her a paper towel to wipe her hands, when O'Riley strolled into the room.

'I have three guys helping me now,' O'Riley said. 'We're maybe halfway through doing these preliminary interviews.'

Catherine asked, 'Have your questions alerted them to what's going on?'

'No. Of course they already know it had something to do with computers, and probably figured out we're not tryin' to figure out who's playin' computer solitaire on office time. And anyway, this thing isn't likely to stay hidden.'

Denard said, 'Well, I won't spread it around!'

Catherine smiled at the woman. 'I'm sure you won't. But Sergeant O'Riley is right-it's unlikely to remain our little secret.' She turned back to the detective. 'Can you start sending them our way, for fingerprinting?'

'I'm glad to hear you say that,' O'Riley said. The big man plopped into a chair, sighing, clearly exhausted. 'Sooner we get these pissed-off people outa here, the happier I'll be. But telling 'em they got to stand around a while longer, while you get 'em fingerprinted, isn't going to make them love us more. How about one of you guys delivers that cheery news?'

Letting out a mirthless laugh, Catherine said, 'I'm it.' Then, clapping the detective on the shoulder, she added, 'You can be my backup. Case somebody tries to kill me.'

O'Riley gave her a look.

'It's not just a job, Sarge-it's an adventure.'