"Sara". Grissom's voice cut through her thoughts and caused the brunette woman to jump slightly before looking up from the forensic journal she had been absorbed in.

"What ya got Gil?" She asked her boss who was standing half in the break room, half in the corridor and leaning slightly against the door frame with a sheet of paper in his hand.

Gesturing with the paper Grissom replied. "It's a b and e at the Ambassador Strip Travelodge 5075 Koval Lane. PD are on the scene already, seems someone tore the room apart along with the belongings of a tourist." He stopped and gave one of his trademark looks that always accompanied a statement he thought carried more meaning then was first apparent.

Sara rose from the couch, and walking over to Gil took the sheet from him and quickly read the job docket with a frown. "That's a low end hotel, why take the place apart?" She looked up at Grissom who just gave a smile.

Moving away from the door frame and starting to turn back to his office he spoke over his shoulder to her. "Everyone else is busy, if you could just take this one solo it would help."

Sara just gave a slight nod "Sure I'll get my stuff" and walked back to the couch to pick up her kit which she had stashed at its side when the shift had started a few hours earlier.

* * ** **

Located just three blocks from the Strip, the Travelodge was within walking distance of Las Vegas and Tropicana boulevards, so Sara knew it would be popular with tourists looking to be near the action but unwilling to pay top dollar for a room.

Her view of the scene as she got out of her car confirmed this, a single story structure, not much to look at from the outside and probably not much to see inside either she thought to herself as she pulled her kit from the car and closed the door.

The only evidence of a crime scene so far was a single squad car with a uniformed officer waiting beside it and two people who looked like hotel staff.

She flashed her ID and was waved through an entry way a little to her left. The hotel rooms were accessed by way of a central pool area and Sara made her way around the empty sun lounges and over to the one door that was open, with a yellow Police tape barring entry.

Away to one side were Officer Metcalf and a woman whom Sara assumed to be the tourist.

"I'm Sara Sidle I'm with the crime lab, I'm here to take evidence for the break in, are you the victim?" She asked.

The woman turned away from Metcalf and looked at Sara almost as if appraising her before giving a nod of confirmation.

Without being obvious about it, Sara gave the woman a once over. She was taller by about a two or three inches, though the black patent pumps she was wearing would help with that, black close fitting jeans and a light brown coloured tight fitting v necked blouse with quarter length sleeves showed her to have a slim almost boyish figure. Her hair which was long with a little wave in it and centre parted, was a dark copper verging on purple which shimmered with highlights from the lamps that were illuminating the pool. Not stunning thought Sara, certainly no Catherine Willows but nice enough. That thought called up some unwelcome images of her blonde co-worker and Sara gave herself a mental slap and told herself to get on with the job.

"Melissa Clark" said the woman by way of an introduction.

"British?" asked Sara. There was something about the woman's voice other then her accent that tugged at her mind as being almost familiar.

"I'm English yes" replied Melissa with a slight smile that Sara strangely found quite cute.

"Well I'm going to need to take your prints so we can eliminate you from any enquiry" said Sara putting her kit down and opening the case she prepared to take the other woman's prints.

Metcalf spoke while Sara began to get to work "The place has been really turned over, the beds and couch have been torn open, drawers and closets wrecked, even the Television had its back taken off and all the suit cases have been opened and the lining torn."

Taking Melissa's right hand Sara began to transfer her prints to the evidence card. Her nails, Sara noticed were well looked after and the fingers slim. Looking up at her Sara caught what she thought was a ghost of a smile. She raised an eyebrow slightly and asked "Ms Clark, was anything taken?"

Shaking her head once Melissa said "No as I said to the officer here, I came back from a little sightseeing and found the place a mess, my passport and most of my cash are in the hotel safe, and I don't have anything that you might call valuable."

Again something tugged at Sara's memory, but pushing the nagging sensation to the back of her mind Sara took the woman's left hand and began the procedure again.

"Does your husband know what's happened" Sara asked having noticed the two rings on the fourth finger, an engagement ring and wedding band, both in what looked like silver and gold.

"My…" Melissa hesitated slightly "husband died some time ago. I'm here alone."

Inwardly Sara cringed and cursed herself. She was forensics not investigation and should leave those questions to PD.

"I'm sorry I hope I didn't upset you" she said and finished up taking the prints "There, all done and thank you."

Shaking her head Melissa gave Sara a warm smile "No it's fine. If you're done, may I go and see the manager, I'll need another room for the night."

"Sure" Sara said "just be sure to let the office here know if you move to another hotel."

Melissa nodded and moved off leaving Metcalf and the CSI alone. The officer gestured to the room "All yours, let me know when you're done."

** ** **

Sara processed the room in her usual methodical manner, first she photographed the scene and then she began to dust for finger prints, starting with the bedside table drawer that had been flung against the wall in what she could only assume was a fit of rage, and then moving onto the table itself which was part of the bed and so was still in place. Next she checked the television and its stand and then onto the various doors and windows.

Finally she went through what was left of Melissa's luggage. There were two suitcases and a holdall, all of which had been not only opened, but split with some sharp object, probably a knife or some sort of work blade.

Inside one of the suitcases Sara found an expensive digital camera under a jumble of clothes. Taking the camera she turned it around at eye level and dusted it, finding some prints which she transferred to an evidence slip and it was while she did this that Sara notice that the data card was missing.

She called out to Metcalf who came carefully into the room and she asked him if Clark had said if she had checked her belongings before reporting the break in.

"She said she hadn't noticed anything missing, and it was the hotel who called us as they found the scene first, why?" he asked.

Holding up the camera Sara said "Well this is an expensive camera and the only thing that's odder then breaking in and leaving it is the fact it has no memory card." She squinted at the officer and continued "Can you check and see if she had it in the camera or kept it separate."

Metcalf nodded and left and Sara went back to work, carefully going through the remains of Melissa's personal effects. These consisted of toiletries and some guide books along with a number of receipts for a restaurant called 'The Lucky Stripe' and a show ticket for the comedy club on Las Vegas boulevard called 'Harrah's'.

Finishing up with a sigh, Sara packed her kit and evidence away and exited the room. Outside she found the Officer she had first seen by the car and the two Hotel staff waiting for her. Indicating the two behind him the Policeman told Sara that they had also entered the room over the last three days that the guest had been there and she might want their prints. With a nod of agreement Sara set to work and had both of their sets of prints by the time Metcalf had returned with the news that Ms Clark claimed to have forgotten to bring the memory card so hadn't been able to use the camera.

Thanking the Officer and telling him she was done, Sara picked up her kit and went back to her car to head back to the lab.

** ** **

The drive back to the lab through The Strip was uneventful but colourful. Despite the years she had been here Sara was still amazed by the lights of Vegas at night, many of the sites were iconic and known to people the world over who had never set a foot in the US let alone Las Vegas.

Tapping the steering wheel in time with the music from the car radio Sara let her thoughts drift a little and thought of Melissa Clark. She thought of her eyes. Light grey. Or were they blue? She found herself thinking of another set of eyes, sparkling blue ones.

"Enough Sidle" she said in a whisper and shook her head ruefully as she turned into the driveway for the lab and found the reserved parking space.

Back in the lab Sara found that Warrick and Catherine had returned from their job and were in the main lab with Grissom. Walking past the door Sara paused a moment and looked in, catching Gils eye she said "I'm done with the b and e, it was an odd scene the place looked like it had gone through a shredder but nothing seemed to be taken. I'm going to run the fingerprints and see if anything comes up."

Grissom nodded once and said "When you're done with that perhaps you can help Greg, he needs a hand processing the evidence from his case."

"Sure" Sara answered and hesitated for a few seconds before moving on as her attention shifted to the blonde who was standing across from Grissom.

Catherine Willows was staring at the photos on the lab table as she went through the events she and Warrick had found at the scene. Looking up she caught sight of the dark haired CSI as Sara started to walk off and just for a second their eyes locked.

It might have been her imagination but Catherine could have sworn she saw a slight flush spread across Sara's cheeks before she disappeared.

"You ok Cath'?" asked Warrick as he took it the odd look on Cats face. They had just come from what they suspected was a murder scene and though it wasn't anything they hadn't both seen a dozen or more times before he wondered if something about it had upset Catherine.

She flashed him a smile and nodded as Grissom called them both back to the matter at hand.

"Ok, so these stills were taken from the surveillance tapes at the outside of the restaurant, what do you see?" asked Gil'

Warrick was the first to answer and tapped one of the pictures, "well this shows the vic' as we found him on the sidewalk, now we know from seeing tapes from the entrance that he had a jacket on when he went in."

"But not when he left by the second floor window." Cat said, "and it wasn't anywhere at the scene."

"And Brass has said that the ID we found with our victim was fake, so we have no name or address as yet." Grissom said "So the lack of a jacket means we may have robbery as a possible motive."

"If Doc Robbins can give us a C.O.D" said Catherine "it might help us piece together what went on in that upstairs room."

Grissom nodded and asked Warrick about the trace evidence from the victim.

Warrick replied "I've sent the finger nail scrapings and a possible hair I lifted from the shirt, over to 'trace'. Hopefully it'll give us something to work with. We dusted the place and what prints we took are being run now." As he finished Grissom's phone gave a cheerful warble and he picked it up and listened for a moment before telling them that the Doc' had finished with the autopsy.

Warrick volunteered to go to the mortuary with Grissom while Catherine said she would check in with 'trace'.

"Ok, call if you find anything" Grissom called as he and Warrick disappeared

Stretching as she walked along the corridor Catherine Willows stifled a yawn. She was feeling more then a little tired as well as frustrated with her and Warrick's lack of evidence on their case. Passing one of the labs she saw Sara hunched over a console and slowed her stride until she came to a stop by the open door.

Recognising the sound of Catherine's boots coming closer, Sara focused furiously on the finger print search she was doing. Don't stop, don't stop, just walk on! Sara thought and lowered her head just a fraction more.

No such luck. "How's it going Sar'" Cat asked as she came closer to her dark haired colleague.

"Ah, nothing so far, there was a good print on the digital camera I found that doesn't match the victim but does match one I took off the window which seemed the point of access, so I'm, running that one now." Sara said as she risked a quick glance up at Catherine who had come around the desk and was now leaning her hip against it as she looked over at the screen on which the print was being compared to the data base in a blur of images too fast for the human eye to follow.

"A break in and they left a camera behind?" Cat asked curiously as she gently made herself more comfortable by sitting up onto the desk. Her leg brushed briefly against the brunettes as she moved and Sara felt a small shiver at the base of her spine.

She looked up with a slight smile and found Catherine staring at her and for a moment lost the thread of her thoughts as those sparkling blue eyes held her.

Taking a breath Sara replied. "Yeah I thought it was odd as well, maybe the perp' got disturbed. The victim didn't say anything was taken."

"Any eye witnesses to the break in?" Catherine asked but Sara shook her head saying

"The hotel reported the break in, the victims a British tourist, she was out and didn't see anything."

"She was on her own?" Catherine asked.

Sara nodded "Yeah and…" she stopped unsure how to voice what was on her mind.

"What?" asked Cat' as she unconsciously lent forward and Sara had to look away to the monitor or her blatant gaze at Catherine's cleavage would have been obvious.

The unique scent that Sara associated with Catherine, composed of her perfume, shampoo and whatever softener she used in her laundry and which she could sometimes even pick out when the other woman wasn't even present assailed Sara's senses, and caused a image of smooth warm flesh to flash through her mind, and how it would feel pressing against her own body.

"Sara?" The sound of Catherine saying her name brought the brunette back to earth. "You were saying." Cat tilted her head slightly as she gazed at her co-worker. There was something going on in Sara Sidles head tonight and Catherine just couldn't work it out.

Sara nodded and tried to get her thoughts back on track "yeah, there was something about her, that I'm trying to put my finger on." Any further comment was cut off however when the console she was using gave a beep as it displayed a match to the finger print she was searching for.

Both women looked at the screen as it displayed the match and a baffled Sara turned to the older blonde and said "the match is a John Doe from a possible homicide."

Catherine slipped from the desk and moved behind Sara while at the same time putting a hand on the sitting woman's shoulder as she leaned close.

"Sara, that's my case file" Catherine said with a frown. "That's the guy who came out of the second floor window earlier tonight."

Despite the warmth from the pressure of Cat's hand on her shoulder, Sara felt a cold sensation run down her neck. Somehow she knew she wasn't going to like what this could mean…