October 6, 2000
Dear diary…
Tonight is my first night to work in Forensics. I, being the newbie, got put on the Graveyard shift. I made sure to arrive early and had my kit with me. I had heard about the Royce Harmon case and wondered if I would be assigned to that one. Once I arrived, the receptionist pointed me in the direction of the supervisor's office. When I opened the door, I was greeted by shelves full of jars that contained all kinds of specimens. My first words were, 'oh my God…' He surprised me and then started off the conversation by asking me to take off my jacket and roll up my sleeve. What kind of supervisor does that?! I was beginning to think this had been a bad decision on my part. I did what was asked of me though. I wanted to not cause waves. I started feeling woozy and he went to his refrigerator and pulled out a jar. I tried to decline after seeing what had been in the other jars. I took one but didn't eat it.
The next thing I had to do was to attend a staff meeting. After that, a man named Jim Brass called me to his office and gave me the third degree. I am not sure what his problem is. I am trained to do this work, you know. I just got out of the academy!
He referred to me as a 'juiced in lieutenant's daughter' and said he had been forced to hire me. Yet again, I am having second thoughts about taking this job. I was told that I would have to view an autopsy. The coroner was so old! My first thought was Should he even still be working?! The next thing I noticed was the smell. When he started slicing into the man's chest, I was overcome with the smell. I had to run out of the room or I would have been sick in front of them. That would only serve as proof that I didn't belong there.
I made the mistake of going into one of the storage rooms for the bodies instead of the bathroom. I was trapped in there with dead bodies. I will admit that I panicked until Mr. Grissom came and let me out.
Only then was I allowed to go out on my first case. They let me go alone. It was for a routine robbery at a liquor store. All I had to do was check for prints and the video surveillance if they had it and take some photos. Mr. Grissom said he would be back in an hour. I started by dusting for fingerprints. The lady in the store kept giving me a hard time about how long it was taking. It went downhill from there, so much so that I had to call for backup. Those nagging thoughts of perhaps this was a wrong choice for me invaded my mind again.
Catherine Willows came to back me up. I had yet to meet her. She had missed the staff meeting earlier in the evening. Perhaps, her car wouldn't start or she had been stuck in traffic. Anyway, she carried me to eat and I confessed my doubts to her. She convinced me to stay until I had solved my first case.
My next case is another robbery. Warrick is supposed to go with me. It seems he went over Jim Brass's head and went to a judge to get a warrant. I wonder if what Catherine said will be true. Will I feel like King Kong on cocaine? Or will the doubts resurface?
Signed,
Holly Gribbs
