Victims

Chapter One

"We're the second busiest lab in the U.S." Conrad Ecklie paused his speech and his steps, turning toward his companion, wanting to make sure his point was made. "Second only to the FBI." He grinned his practiced grin; the one that he thought radiated just the right mixture of pride and satisfaction, but in reality, was shark-like, all teeth and no pleasure. Eve Jordan, next to him in the hall, her head barely coming up to his shoulders, even in her heels, suppressed a shudder at the smile displayed for her. Then she suppressed a laugh.

She could tell he was waiting for her to say something, so she ran a smoothing hand over her blonde hair, tightly pulled back into a low ponytail and said, "That's quite impressive," then added, "Mr. Ecklie."

He liked that; she'd known he would. He began walking again, leading her down the hall to meet her new supervisor, Eve hoped that her co-workers weren't all as transparent as the Assistant Lab Director walking next to her. Ecklie warbled on, reciting facts and percentages, numbers she already knew, had learned during her training stint at the less active lab in Carson City. Ecklie was one step ahead of her, talking mostly to the air in front of him, once in a while tossing a word or two back over his shoulder. Probably to make sure she was still there, Eve thought.

They turned yet another corner, and she wondered if she'd ever be able to find her way around this place. Her eyes roamed. She peered into the labs they passed; a few of her new co-workers stopped what they were doing and watched she and Ecklie go by. Eve began to feel like a tourist at a zoo, and an exhibit at the same time.

Ecklie had stopped speaking, she suddenly realized, and she hoped that he wasn't waiting for her to answer. He'd stopped just a few inches from an open door, and Eve understood that he was only waiting for her to catch up before he interrupted the goings on inside the office.

"…to which the priest replies 'That's French for pickle'," she heard a smooth baritone voice finish what she hoped was a joke, and not some kind of rehash of testimony. The following laughter confirmed her first guess, and eased her anxiety somewhat.

Ecklie smiled at her, that same humorless grin and stepped into the open doorway, the laughter creasing almost immediately. Eve joined Ecklie in the opening, and quickly took in the sight before her. A woman with strawberry blonde hair sat behind the desk, her beautiful features a little strained. In the chair on the opposite side of the desk sat a lanky black man, long legs stretched out in front of him, and, Eve saw with a start, he had the prettiest green eyes she'd ever seen. Leaning up against the wall, just to her left, was another man, about six inches taller than Eve herself, with deep brown eyes. She felt herself relax.

"Catherine, your new hire, Eve Jordan, CSI One." Ecklie put a hand on her elbow before he continued. "Eve..." he gestured to the blonde behind the desk, "this is Supervisor Catherine Willows." Ecklie's hand moved just a bit, indicating the man in the chair, "Warrick Brown and Nick Stokes." As he made the last introduction, his hand crossed in front of her, toward the man against the wall, who lifted the coffee cup in his hand as a greeting. Eve smiled at them all in turn, lifting up a hand in hello. "Well," Ecklie said in the tone of a man who didn't know what to say next. "I'll leave you to it then," he turned and headed off down the hall.

Catherine's face immediately eased and she offered Eve a welcoming smile. Pointing to the empty chair next to Warrick, she said, "Have a seat. You've got us at a momentary lull, still waiting for the first call."

"Doesn't happen often," Warrick added as Eve sat down.

"Where'd you go to school?" Nick asked with a southern twang, coming up from behind her, joining the group by sitting on the edge of Catherine's desk just in front of Eve.

"Carson City Community College." She paused a moment before adding a little sheepishly, "Night classes."

Catherine caught the tone of her voice "Hey, nothin' wrong with night school, it's the only way I could have ever gotten here."

"You train with Carson City PD?"

"Yeah. I..." she stopped speaking; the shrill beeping of a pager filled the room, bouncing off the walls.

Catherine offered her an apologetic shrug before she pulled the offending noisemaker off her belt and read the display screen.

"Well, break's over. Eve, you get thrown into the lions den." She lifted the pager a little, "Missing person." Her gaze traveled up to Nick, who'd already slipped off the edge of the desk and was taking a last slug from his coffee cup.

He nodded as he swallowed. "Yeah, I've got this one." Touching Eve's shoulder he said, "Come on, I'll show you where you can put your stuff, then we'll head out."

"Come talk to me before you clock out tonight Eve," Catherine called as Eve followed Nick out the office door.