CSI:NY How Does Your Garden Grow

Dirty Work

Chapter 28: Nightclubbing

A heavy blanket of snow buried everything in its path; coupled with the hurricane force winds, the city was all but paralyzed. Streets that had not been plowed made it impossible to get around, except for those brave and willing enough to mountain-climb the snow drifts.

This caused a backlog of work for everyone in the precinct, not to mention more than a few angry citizens. Billy did not take kindly to the blizzard, booking it back to "the blessed warmth" of New Orleans the first chance he got. He curtly informed Gus he hoped she was planning a summer wedding. Gus, however, was not planning any wedding as she hadn't even laid eyes on her fiancée except for a brief exchange of clean clothes in the pit three days after Christmas.

It wasn't until the early morning hours of New Year's before she was able to say more than a few words to him and that was only because they got called out to the same scene.

Don greeted her at the chaotic scene, looking almost disbelieving as she stood before him shivering and damp from the rain that had melted the snow and swollen the river. "What are you doing here?" he asked, incredulous.

"I don't know, detective, reports of a padlocked 18-wheeler going down in the Hudson with human cargo onboard does garner a call up to Special Vics," Gus drolled, trying to make heads or tails of the scene.

The scattered posse of the young and pretty being fawned over by plenty of EMTs, though given their mixed genders and races, didn't appear to have been on the trailer against their will. "But I'm starting to get the feeling that none of this was involuntary, except for the inadvertent club wear polar dip?"

Don nodded, "welcome to the newest trend in night clubbing, party on a truck." He made a face, mocking one of the witnesses who did seem to grasp how close she had come to drowning, "it's like super exclusive and super fun, I totes can't believe I got invited to this on New Year's."

Gus snorted, trying to not burst out laughing, "good to see your sarcasm is coming back."

"Tends to happen when I barely get to see my fiancée after finally proposing to her," he replied with a half-shrug.

"I had nothing to do with the blizzard, babe," Gus protested.

"You don't really have the best track record with Mother Nature, sunshine," Don replied, fighting the urge to pull her to his chest. They hadn't talked except for a quick hello when she dropped off a duffel full of clean clothes for him from her place, since Gramercy Park was high rent enough to actually get snowplows to come through.

"I'm guessing an outdoor wedding is off the table then?"

"Hate to break this up, you two, but we just found another body," Jo said, coming up behind them, wondering how Gus had ended up at the scene but grateful for her presence.

Gus grimaced, "what's the count at?"

"This makes three. Don't suppose you can stick around and help question the rest of the attendees, even though it isn't SVD?"

"I'll check in with Doyle, but this is looking pretty all hands on deck," she replied, calling her Lieutenant and not the least bit surprised when he gave her the go ahead.

Gus spent the next few hours questioning witnesses in the middle of the cacophony that was the homicide pit. She had almost forgotten how chaotic it could get down there, she was struck with a wave of nostalgia. She really didn't think she was that much help, the most she got from the bruised and shivering under-dressed girls was that nobody had seen the driver, they all had been "so excited" to go to something "so exclusive" and that this was not the way any of them had planned on ringing in the new year.