CSI Las Vegas

CSI Las Vegas

Nick, who was taking notes, asked, Where do you live, Ms. Denard?

East end of Charleston Boulevard. There are some houses at the foot of the mountains…

“Yes,” Catherine said, thinking, Nice digs for a secretary. “I know those houses. Very nice.”

Two prowl cars blotched the road on either side of the crime scene. The CSIs had already passed another patrol car at Craig road, the first major intersection south of here, where an officer was diverting all northbound traffic west onto Craig. Grissom knew another officer would be stationed to the north at the mile-market 58 interchange on Interstate 15, an officer whose job would be to divert the few cars heading toward Las Vegas Boulevard back onto the freeway and to the Craig Road exit to the south.

Her car, a three-year-old Lexus, had been found in the driveway of her townhouse within a gated community near the intersection of Green Valley and Wigwam Parkways…. Given the arid nature of Vegas, Grisson hadn’t been that surprised that no other prints had been found. Fingerprints exposed to the weather didn’t las long here; and even those protected by being inside the the car and under a carport didn’t have a terribly long lifespan.

Witness of a crime. Photo by Elena

In the corridor, they informed Austin and Randle of their intention, loaded up their gear and a small caravan took off for Crown Vista Drive: CSI Tahoe in front, then Randle and Austin in the lawyer’s Jaguar, finally O’Riley’s Taurus. Nick caught the Beltway and followed it around to Flamingo, taking that to Fort Apache Drive. From there the twisty streets of the Lakes development swooped around, until the Tahoe drew up in formt of 9407 Crown Vista Drive.

Nick parked, Austin’s Jag pulling up into the driveway of a three-car garage, itself bigger than the average house in Vegas.

Within half an hour, Catherine and Nick – with O’Riley chaperoning – were on the front porch of a one-storey house in a quiet neighbourhood on Gunderson Boulevard.

The older home, with its white and gray siding, tall trees sprouting from a lush, trim lawn, could hardly compare with Randle’s Lakes area residence, but it had a quiet, homey appeal. In the driveway outside a one-car garage, a black Lincoln Continental seemed slightly incongruous next to the modest but well-kept home.

The address was way up north, Cotton Gum Court, above Craig and off Lone Mountain Road and Spruce Oak Drive. From the Strip, even in relatively light midmorning traffic, the trip took the better part of an hour and, when they finally pulled up to the house, the distinct signs of nobody-home awaited them,

The two-story stucco with two-car garge had one of those new xeriscape yards.

Situated on Lake Las Vegas, a gated community for the truly wealthy, the plus digs of Mayopr and Mrs. Harrison were just down the road from the multimillion-dollar estate of pop singer Celine Dion. … The rambling castle-like brick structure would have look out of place in any other part of the city; here it was just one more grandiose homemaker statement. Hell, for this area, Warrick thought, the place was downright downscale, – there wasn’t even a helipad! Five white pillars held up a widow’s walk between the thow main sections of the many-windowed house, which was seventy-five hundred square feet, easy. Four or five bedrooms, Warrick would bet, and more bathrooms than a small hotel.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Body of Evidence. Max Allan Collins Pocket Star books, 2003.