Grave Matters

Brass's echoing voice stopped all of them.

'No, Mr. Dean!'

Though the gun never left its Black-bound trajectory, Dean's eyes darted from side to side searching for Brass, who was somewhere behind him. Nick saw the detective just inside the doorway, his gun pointed at the middle of Dean's back. Grissom stood next to the detective, no gun in his hand, but with a grave, determined expression.

'You know what he did to my little girl!' Dean said, voice echoing off cement walls. 'Why shouldn't I kill him?'

'I do know what he did,' Brass said. 'I've got a daughter, too. I know how you feel…I understand your rage, and your contempt.'

'Then don't try to stop me.'

'If you don't put that gun down, Mr. Dean, I'm going to have to shoot you…to stop you.' The regret in Brass's voice was as real as the threat. 'I can't take any chances-I'll have to take you down.'

'You'd kill me? Is that justice?'

'No it isn't, but it is my job-you're threatening the lives of a citizen and a CSI. And I will take you down.'

'It's worth it….'

'Is it, Mr. Dean?…You're hurting, and so is your wife. Crystal needs you, Mr. Dean. Don't give her another tragedy to have to deal with…alone.'

Nick was watching Dean's eyes-they were wild, careening, though the gun-in-hand remained steady and poised to shoot.

Suddenly Grissom spoke. 'Let him live,' the CSI said. 'That'll be your best revenge.'

'What?'

'He's ruined,' Grissom said matter of factly. 'You know what a high-profile business he has. His wife's left him, and the reason why'll all come out soon enough. Whole city will know. They call us Sin City, but you know at heart, this is a conservative town-he'll be a pariah.'

Dean finally seemed to be faltering. Nick could see the man sliding an inch toward sanity….

'Grissom's right,' Brass said. 'If you really want Dustin Black to suffer, Mr. Dean-let him live.'

Dean considered that for a long time……and then he fell to his knees and began to sob, the gun limp in his fingers when Nick stepped forward to lift it from the man's grasp.

Nick cuffed the distraught father, but when he went to take his own gun from the casket, Grissom said, 'Uh uh uh…it's evidence now, Nick.'

'Oh. Sorry, Gris.'

Grissom leaned close to Nick. 'Take Mr. Dean out, Nick,' the CSI supervisor whispered. 'So Jim doesn't have to.'

The detective approached the mortician. 'You all right?'

Black said, numbly, 'You and Doctor Grissom…you saved my life.'

'You know,' Brass said, 'if I wasn't a cop? I'm not convinced I wouldn't've just laid back and watched.'

Black began to smile, a slow, ghastly thing that had little to do with the usual reasons for smiling.

'Captain Brass,' the mortician said, 'I'm not sure I don't wish you hadn't done that very thing…. Just now? I'm not at all convinced you and Doctor Grissom did me a favor.'

* * *

The CSI crew was having breakfast at the diner on Boulder Highway (where Catherine had met cabby Gus Clein).

Catherine and Warrick sat on one side of the booth, Sara and Nick on the other, Grissom occupying a chair at the end of the table. They had just finished filling each other in on their respective cases and were now quietly digging into their food.

'Kathy Dean's finally at rest,' Sara said.

'More than can be said for Jimmy Doyle and Dustin Black,' Grissom said. 'Or her parents…. What could turn a decent normal kid like Kathy into such a manipulative little schemer?'

'Mom and Dad,' Sara said.

Grissom's smile was distant. 'Like so many parents, the Deans loved their child not wisely but too well.'

'So what about Rita Bennett?' Warrick asked.

Nick shook his head. 'No sign of poison. She wasn't murdered. Heart attack all along.'

'So investigating a murder that wasn't a murder led you to a real one?'

'Yeah. Yeah, that's about right.'

Catherine said, 'So, then…Peter Thompson gets to keep his wife's estate, and his stepdaughter, Rebecca, is left out in the cold?'

'Hey, Cath, it's Vegas in August,' Nick said. 'It's not that cold…. Besides, she's got a job-she's doing fine, at least financially.'

'What about Atwater?' Sara asked. 'Does our esteemed sheriff still have a hefty contributor, even though he never told Thompson that Rita's body was missing?'

Grissom said, 'I wouldn't say 'never.' '

Sara was shocked, in an amused way. 'Rory did get around to telling Thompson about the body switch?'

'In a manner of speaking. Atwater sent Brass-that's where Jim is now, trying to mend the sheriff's political fences.'

'Well,' Warrick said, raising a glass of orange juice, 'here's to us-in a matter of days, we cracked two of the most complicated cases any CSI anywhere ever saw.'

Clinks of juice glasses and coffee cups followed.

Grissom said, 'Let's not get too cocky-the first team did fine, but the second team made it happen.'

Catherine was nodding. 'Gil's right-our assistant coroner, David, had to push us into accepting Vivian Elliot as a murder case; then Jenny Northam's handwriting analysis, and Greg's findings from the remains of Derek Fairmont, gave us our case.'

Sara nodded, too. 'Greg's DNA findings handed us the father of Kathy Dean's baby, and Tomas linked the vic's iPod to Jimmy Doyle. Here's to our support team-without them, where would we be?'

And again the glasses clinked, and Nick said, 'Let's just not tell them,' and laughter ensued.

All their beepers squealed at once, causing the other diners to turn their way.

'A call now?' Warrick moaned.

Catherine said, 'Poor Warrick…'

'I knew him well,' Grissom finished.

Warrick half-smirked in response, albeit good-naturedly.

As they headed into the parking lot and another scorcher of a day, Nick shook his head. 'Y'know, Gris-we been working so much, I don't know whether this is the end of the shift…or the beginning?'

'Some mysteries, Nick,' Grissom said, 'are beyond science.'

A Tip of the Test Tube

My assistant Matthew Clemens helped me develop the plot of Grave Matters, and worked up a lengthy story treatment that included all of his considerable forensic research, from which I could work. Matthew-an accomplished true-crime writer who has collaborated with me on numerous published short stories-has taken frequent research trips to Las Vegas, essentially location scouting, and if any sense of the real city is achieved in these pages, he must take much of the credit.

We would once again like to acknowledge criminalist Lieutenant Chris Kauffman CLPE-the Gil Grissom of the Bettendorf, Iowa, Police Department-who provided comments, insights, and information; Chris, thank you for all you do! Thank you also to Lieutenant Paul Van Steenhuyse, Scott County Sheriff's Office, for help with computer forensics; Sergeant Jeff Swanson, Scott County Sheriff's Office for autopsy and crime scene assistance; Stephen M. Thompson, D.O., for help on the Vivian Elliot case; and Marcus Cunnick, Cunnick-Collins Mortuary, for his 'behind the scenes' look at the running of a funeral home.

Also, Matt and I spent two days with dozens of real investigators at the actual CSI headquarters and lab in Las Vegas; in a future book we will list many of these helpful individuals-for now, a big thanks to all of these