The smoke of the room danced lazily performing one last silent recital before the floor lights banished them from the club.

Simon, the club owner, slowly threw the switches to illuminate the dance floor in order that the cleaners could start their task. As the fluorescent lights took a hold over the laser lights, the carnage was revealed. On the floor were three bodies, two males and a female.

"What the…..? Steve, John, get in here" He called towards the exit. The two club bouncers came running, they knew that Simon had the ability to ensure that they could find alternative work in Vegas difficult to come by.

They came to a shuddering stop as the sight on the dance floor greeted them.

"Err…sir, what do you want us to do?" Steve asked.

"We could take them out to the desert if you wanted. No-one would find them for months." John added.

"And when they do, they are going to come straight back here asking questions. We'll be closed down again, but this time it'll be permanent. No, we'll do this right, contact the police. But first, I need you to make sure this club is clean, understand?"

"Yes sir." They chorused.

Two hours later, Gil Grissom and Catherine Willows simultaneously lifted their sunglasses from their eyes, Gil removing his, securing them in his breast pocket, while Catherine moved hers to the top of her head.

"Jim." Gil greeted him.

"Ah, I was wondering when you two would get here. Three victims, found at the end of the night when the owner put the main lights on. No obvious cause of death, but we're still waiting for the coroner."

"That the owner?" Gil asked nodding to a now very nervous looking Simon.

"Yeah Simon Lowes. Club impresario, has places here, Tahoe, L.A.. Seems he prefers to spend much of his time here. This place has been closed a couple of times, serving alcohol to minors and minor drug infringements. Nothing we could pin on Simon, closed this place for a time, but he always seemed to get his lawyers to overturn that."

"The other two?" Gil nodded to where the two bouncers stood.

Jim consulted his notebook. "Steven Knowles and John Greerson. Bouncers, gofers, you name it they'd do it. No records as such, either very lucky, or very good."

Catherine smiled. "Shall I go and talk to Simon and his two friends?"

Gil wanted to disagree, tell her he wanted her as far from Simon as possible. He knew the man's type, so smooth; they'd have women agreeing to things before they'd even suggested them. But he had to trust her. He knew that she would be able to lull them into telling more than they desired and that was something he'd be grateful of right now. "Ok. If you do that while I examine the dance floor."

She raised an eyebrow opened her mouth to question the sense in his examining a dance floor that would take many hours and still possibly reveal no clues, then abruptly closed it again. She knew better than to question his motives at a crime scene. Fixing a smile on her face she sashayed across to Simon.

Jim Brass smiled, watching the silent interaction between the two of them, then turned to the officer behind him. "Officer Robbins, make sure you assist CSI Willows in her investigations."

That earned him a smile from Catherine, as he knew it would.

Simon Lowes had watched the events unfold before him for the past two hours. He'd refrained from calling his lawyer, knowing that in cases such as this the presence of a readily available legal team could be seen as a presumption of guilt. He had instead sat at one of the booths that occupied the wall to the left of the main bar. He'd not been impassive; he'd watched the proceedings, the comings and goings, weighing up each new entrant into this scene. His eyes now focused on the man and woman who had so recently entered the room. He's seen them walk in unison, their shoulders gently brushing each other, like the gentlest of lover's kisses. He watched as they had a conversation with the stout detective, then a brief conversation with each other. To his relief the woman seemed to have been designated the task of talking with him. He smiled inwardly.

Catherine extended her hand as she approached the seated man, flashing him a smile to put him at ease. "Mr Lowes, I'm Catherine Willows from the crime lab."

"Call me Simon, please."

"Ok, Simon." She smiled, tilting her head to the right slightly as she did so. "I understand you discovered the bodies."

"Yes that's right."

"Would you care to tell me about it?" She smiled again, her eyes making contact with his.

He smiled in return. "Well, there was nothing unusual about the night. Last of our customers must have left at what….let me think… around three. I was down in the cellar, checking for the delivery tomorrow. Came upstairs, switched on the main lights ready for our cleaning staff, and saw the bodies. So I called the police straight away."

"Ah-ha, so you and your staff noticed nothing unusual until you turned those lights on and immediately called the police. That right?"

Simon shuffled slightly in his seat. "Err, Miss Willows, I don't mean to be rude, but our club here, it's pretty dark, the finale to the evening involves a series of smoke bombs, that takes time to clear, we use laser lighting, only putting the main house lights on for cleaning."

"But still, three bodies on your dance floor?"

"I'm not sure what you're insinuating."

"I'm just trying to establish the evidence, Mr Lowes. So you went to the cellar, could anybody have gained access to the club while you were there?"

"I doubt it, my bouncers know not to let people back in. But you'll have to ask them."

"Hmmm, of course, yes well I'll certainly be speaking to them. When you discovered the bodies, did you touch them…or try to move them, or anything?"

Simon shook his head. "No of course not. I'm not about to go and touch some dead strangers."

Catherine looked puzzled. "How did you know they were dead?"

"Well, just look at them. They appear dead don't they? I mean they're not moving…."

"They could have been rendered unconscious, in need of urgent medical attention. And you didn't think to check?"

Simon tried to not let his anger show, he needed to maintain control, or risk losing everything. "Miss Willows, I've been in this business for a considerable length of time. I learnt long ago, at the end of the night when someone is lying on your floor not moving, you call the authorities first and ask questions later."

"So you did that right away. Call the authorities?"

"Yes, as I said, I came up from the cellar, turned the lights on, saw the bodies and called the authorities. Is that enough?"

"One more thing, before you go can I see your hands?"

"My hands?"

"To verify that you've not touched the bodies." She smiled reassuringly.

Simon sighed. Then held out his hands, watching as she closely examined both sides of each hand. As she looked up, he asked. "Satisfied?"

"Well there appears to be no evidence of you touching them. But we may need to contact you again. Has Captain Brass got your contact details?"

"Err…yes."

"Check with him, but I'm finished with you for now. Thank you."

She smiled, pleased with herself, she had the distinct feeling that Mr Lowes had admitted more than he was initially willing to do. Now to see whether his bodyguards verified his account or once again cast suspicion in his direction.

She approached the two bodyguards in much the same way as she had Simon Lowes, extending her hand shaking each of theirs with a brief. "Gentleman."

She had a soft spot for the bodyguard fraternity, many was the time they'd rescued her from the over amorous attention of an inebriated customer who forgot the no touching rule applied to them.

"So Steve, John, what can you tell me?"

The two men looked at each other, then stared back at Catherine, blinking a couple of times absently before John started to speak. "Not a lot ma'am I'm afraid. We were minding the door, then Mr Lowes called us in and we saw the three bodies."

"Ok. And at any time did either of you two gentlemen tamper with the bodies?"

"Tamper?" Steve questioned, looking suddenly nervous.

"Yes, tamper, touch, move…?"

"No ma'am." John almost shouted. "Mr Lowes told us …." He suddenly seemed to run out of steam as he realized just what he was about to admit.

"Mr Lowes told you what?" Catherine enquired.

Steve realizing how his partner was about to land them in trouble, decided to take control. "He told us that he would call the authorities."

"I see. And while he called the authorities you two did ….?"

"We made sure there was nobody else in here ma'am. We know we should have stayed where we were, but with not one body at the end of the night, but three, well we had to make sure we weren't going to be attacked."

"Hmm, I see. So did you find anything?"

"There was no one else here ma'am." John replied.

"Ok, so between the club closing for the night and Mr Lowes calling you in here, did anyone try and re-enter?"

"No ma'am." The two men chorused.

"To make sure I get my timings right, what time did you close tonight?"

"Same time as usual." Steve replied. "Two."

"You sure about that?" Her eyebrow raised at the contradiction to the account Simon had given her.

"Yeah." He nodded vehemently. "We've had a warning about our licensing hours. I know we've been careful about it for the past month. We don't want another closure. Also I rang my girlfriend, she's expecting our first baby anytime, I wanted to check she was okay let her know what time I was finishing, in case she needed me" He beamed, two dimples appearing in his ample cheeks. "I can't wait to be a dad."

Catherine smiled in return, a mental image forming of this gentle giant holding a newborn with matching dimples. "Ok gentlemen before I leave you I need to examine your hands and make sure there is no evidence there."

She examined first John's, then Steve's hands. Finding no evidence to suggest they'd touched any of the bodies she smiled at them once more, telling then to check with Detective Brass to ascertain whether they were free to leave.

She turned her attention back to Gil, finding him engaged in conversation with David. She'd not been aware of the young coroner's arrival. As she approached the two of them she greeted them. "David, Gil."

"Catherine." David replied.

"Do you have a cause of death?" She asked.

David bent over the body of the female. "No obvious entry wounds. So it's unlikely that she like the other victims was shot. So for all three I'm afraid you are going to have to wait until the autopsy."

She looked towards Gil. "Have you finished photographing the scene or do you need me to help…"

"No I'm done." He replied. "How did the interviews go?"

"Well the two stories don't concur."

"How?"

"The owner says the last customers left at three, the bodyguards insist it was two."

"So someone is lying." Gil stated.

"Yeah, you've got it. I don't think it's the two guards either."

"So Simon has something to hide."

"It would appear so." She smiled.

They spent the next four hours examining the club trying to find anything that could indicate how or who had killed the three people. It was gone ten in the morning by the time they left the confines of the club. They both found themselves blinking quickly behind their sunglasses as their eyes tried to adjust to the bright sunlight that hit them.

Stowing their kits in the back of the Denali, Catherine was relieved that Gil had offered to drive. She could rest her eyes on the way back to the lab, and hopefully stow the evidence before making a quick exit for home. She was tired, hungry and had the beginnings of a headache playing at the edges of her forehead. She knew she would do the case justice if she could return to it with fresh eyes.

Luckily as they pulled up to the lab, Gil seemed to have read her mind. "How about we stow this evidence, then return to it tomorrow. I doubt if David could get to the autopsies until tonight anyway and without the causes of death we are at a loss as to what we're looking at."

She smiled. "Thank you. I was hoping you'd say that. I want nothing more than to curl up in bed and get some sleep."

Gil smiled in reply, a genuine reaction to having pleased her. His head wasn't permanently fused to the microscope, well at least not where Catherine was concerned. He liked to make her smile at the end of a shift. Taking a leap of faith he turned to face her. "Cath, would you like to come over and have supper, before shift, nothing fancy, just a chance to catch up."

Her left eyebrow lifted at his offer, then as he finished speaking, returned briefly to it's original position, before being raised with its partner as a smile lit her face. "I'd love to. What time?"

"Ehmm …about four?"

"Perfect, Lindsey's at a friend's for a sleepover tonight. I'll look forward to it."

He smiled in reply. The smile remaining while they retrieved the evidence from the Denali logged it in then signed out, for the day. He watched her as she left the lab, getting into her car, mentally noting that she put her seatbelt on, before driving off. Satisfied her journey had started safely, he went to his Denali, getting in he turned on the light classical music, humming along as he made his way through the traffic to his townhouse.

TBC