A young woman with long black hair and wearing a black blouse, a long black skirt and black shoes walked into the lobby of the Las Vegas Crime Lab, stopping at the front desk. The secretary was on the phone so she waited quietly.
The secretary hung up the phone a few minutes later and looked up at the young woman standing in front of her.
"Can I help you?" she asked.
Right then, Ecklie came around the corner and spotted the young woman standing at the front desk talking to the secretary. He walked over to the desk.
"Thanks, I got it from here Judy." he told the secretary than he turned to the young woman, extending his hand for her to shake. "Hi, I'm Conrad Ecklie, Assistant Director."
"Erica Baker, nice to meet you Mr. Ecklie." she said politely, shaking his outstretched hand.
"Pleasure to meet you Miss Baker. And please, just call me Ecklie, or Conrad, which ever works for you. Shall I show you around and introduce you to some of the folks you'll be working with before you get started on your case?" said Ecklie.
"Sure." said Erica, following Ecklie down the hall and to the breakroom where a small group of people were sitting, somber expressions on their faces and she could understand why.
Ecklie cleared his throat and everyone slowly turned their attention to the new arrivals in the room. Erica looked around at everyone. She noticed one of the guys was about her age, short brown hair and beautiful brown eyes.
'Alright girl, get a hold of yourself.' she thought to herself.
"Gang, this is Erica Baker, she's going to be the CSI handling Warrick's case. Now, I know all of you want to be on this case but the Under-sheriff has forbidden it because all of you were close to Warrick. However, I am going to say this. If Miss Baker requests any of your guys' help, I won't deny any of you the opportunity to help. Just don't make me regret it." said Ecklie. He understood that they had lost not only a co-worker and good friend, they had lost a member of the family. "Oh Miss Baker, this is Gil Grissom, he'll be your supervisor, Catherine Willows, Nick Stokes and Greg Sanders, just so you know names. Each one of them are great CSI's and I trust each one of them. Don't hesitate to ask any of them for help."
Erica nodded in understanding.
"Sanders, why don't you give Miss Baker a quick tour of the lab before she heads out to the scene." said Ecklie.
The young man introduced as Greg Sanders, the one about Erica's age, slowly stood up and headed out of the break room and Erica followed. She felt bad for him, for all of them. She understood what it was like to lose a good co-worker and friend. She noticed that Greg was remaining silent, almost as though he didn't want to speak to anyone, let alone her, a stranger who was handling his friend's case. She didn't want them to start off on the wrong foot or appear as though she was a threat. She just came to do her job and catch the person responsible for Warrick Brown's death. She gently took hold of his arm and made him stop.
"Look, Mr. Sanders," she began.
"Please, call me Greg." he said.
"Right, look, you don't have to do this. And I don't want us to get off to a bad start. I wanna catch this guy as much you guys do. And I would really appreciate you help, if you feel up to it. If not, I'll understand." said Erica.
"What about what Ecklie said?" asked Greg.
"My problem, I'll deal with it." said Erica. "So, what do you say? Care to help me catch this bastard and put him where he belongs?"
"Yeah, sure, absolutely." said Greg.
"Great." said Erica and the two of them headed out to the parking lot. "Feeling up to driving?" she asked tossing Greg the keys to her car.
Greg caught the keys, a little surprised but he didn't argue. He could use the distraction. He followed Erica over to her car and the two of them climbed in and Greg drove them to the crime scene in the alley outside the diner where Warrick was found.
There was crime scene tape up blocking off the area, a few police cars with their lights flashing, several police officers guarding the scene and onlookers and passersby who were curious to what was going and what happened. As they got out of the car and Erica grabbed her kit, they could see the coroner's van on the other side of the alley and David Phillips next to Warrick's car, leaning into the window. Erica noticed Greg stop and almost terrified to go any further, afraid that if he crossed the crime scene tape and walked over to that car, everything he and the others had been told would become a harsh reality. She placed a hand on his shoulder and he turned to look at her. She could see the pain in his eyes.
"You sure you can handle this? You don't have to do this." she said.
"Yeah, yeah I'll be fine. Just didn't seem real 'til now." said Greg.
"Why don't you talk to some of the staff in the diner and see if they saw or heard anything, I'll take care of this." said Erica.
Greg just nodded than walked away, heading into the diner as quick as he could.
Erica showed her badge to one of the officers than ducked under the tape and headed toward the car where David stood on the passenger side, leaning in through the door.
"You the coroner?" she asked politely.
"Yes, David Phillips." he said, pausing what he was doing long enough to turn his attention to her.
"Erica Baker, I've been brought in to handle this case." said Erica. She was almost hesitant to ask but knew she had to. "So, what do we got?"
"Two gunshot wounds, one to the neck which was a through and through. Another to the chest, I'll recover for ballistics at autopsy." said David. He was just as upset about this as everyone else. It was one thing to investigate the death of a stranger but this one hit close to home.
"Thanks." said Erica. She set her kit down and started examining the car and the ground around her until they removed his body so she could have the car towed back to the lab. She carefully walked around to the drivers side, photographing the glass on the ground. She spotted a bullet embedded in the wall. She photographed it than carefully collected it, not that it mattered. It was too mangled to hope for anything. She walked back to the passenger side and saw no glass from the passenger window. "Shooter must have approached from the passenger side, got him to roll down the window, maybe asking for directions, must have caught him off guard and fired through the open window. Explains the shards of glass on the driver side but there's none on the passenger side."
"Left the gun in the passenger seat too." said David, carefully picking it up with a gloved hand.
"Probably wiped it clean but it's worth a shot. Hopefully we'll get something." said Erica, grabbing an evidence bag and letting David slip the gun it. She watched as they loaded Warrick's body into a body bag on a gurney, loaded him into the van, closed the doors and drove away. She turned back to the car, catching someone coming toward her out of the corner of her eye. She turned to see Greg coming toward her.
"Several people in the diner heard the gunshots but no one saw anything. Hope you're having more luck." said Greg.
"Well, whoever it was came up on the passenger side, got Warrick to roll down his window, fired inside the open window and hit him twice, one of which was a through and through that shattered the driver side window. They also left behind the gun but I'm thinking they wiped it clean before they left it. Once we get the car towed back to the lab and hopefully we'll get more to go on." said Erica.
Greg just simply nodded his head in agreement, not trusting himself enough to speak. It was saddened by the loss of his friend but he was also angry at the person that did this and it didn't look like they would be able to find enough evidence to find this guy and make him, or her, pay for what they did.
Erica seemed to notice this but thought best not to say anything.
"We should probably head back to the lab, start processing the car and see what else we can find. Hopefully we get something to nail this guy." she said instead. She packed up her kit, grabbed it and headed back to her car with Greg. She placed her kit in the backseat and was getting ready to get in when a voice called out to her.
"Miss Baker?!"
Erica turned her attention to the source of the voice. An older man in a suit was heading their way.
"That's the Undersheriff, Jeff McKeen." said Greg.
The Undersheriff approached Erica and reached out to shake his hand.
"Jeff McKeen." he said, introducing himself.
"Undersheriff, I know. And obviously you know who I am so I don't need to introduce myself." said Erica.
"I see." said McKeen. That's when he suddenly noticed Greg as he walked around to join Erica. He didn't seem at all happy to see him. "What's he doing here?"
"I asked for his help. I need help from someone who knew Mr. Brown if I'm gonna find who killed him. I believe it helps to know a little about the victim." said Erica.
"No. I want him off the case, now." said McKeen.
"Well, with all due respect sir, I don't need your permission. I talked to the sheriff AND the mayor before I arrived and they said I can handle this case any way I see fit as long as I followed the evidence and catch whoever did this. Are you willing to take my word for it? Or should I call the sheriff? I have him on speed dial." said Erica, holding up her phone.
McKeen looked as though he wanted to say something but than decided better of it and instead walked away.
"Thanks." said Greg.
"No problem. I don't like being told how to handle a case, especially by those who've never actually done our job or understand it. Besides, he just seems like someone who's only interested in covering his own ass when something goes wrong." said Erica.
"You have no idea." said Greg, smiling for the first time since hearing about Warrick. He hadn't expected someone like her to be handling Warrick's case. He expected someone way more serious and older.
Erica couldn't help but smile too. Being around Greg and seeing him smile, made it feel contagious. He seemed like the kind of guy who had a good sense of humor, who could make you smile no matter what the situation but could also be serious when it came to his work.
The two of them climbed in the car and headed back to the lab. They paid Mandy a quick and, confirming Erica's hunch, no fingerprints were found on the gun so they headed into the ballistics lab.
"Hey Greg, who's your friend?" asked the lab tech.
"Hey Bobby, this Erica Baker." said Greg, politely introducing her to his once fellow lab rat.
"Bobby Dawson. You're here to investigate Warrick's..case aren't you?" he asked.
"Nice to meet and yes, I am." said Erica. She held up the evidence bag containing the gun. "This was left in the front passenger seat. We need you to tell us anything can." she said before handing it over to Bobby.
"You got it." said Bobby.
Erica and Greg than headed to the break room to wait 'til Warrick car arrived. They each grabbed a cup and poured themselves some coffee, knowing it was going to be a long night.
Right then, Catherine and Nick came barging it and Catherine walked straight over to Erica and knocked the cup from her hand, sending coffee all over the floor. Greg started to walk forward to break it up before it got out of hand but Nick blocked his path.
"You little bitch. Who the hell do you think you are? You think you can just come in here and take over? Well, let me tell you something. This team has worked together for a long time, we trust each other, we would give our lives for each other. You are not gonna come in here and just ruin it. How dare you only ask Greg to help you with the case and not the rest of us." said Catherine.
"Well then let me tell you something Ms. Willows, I didn't come here to ruin anything or to break up your team. I know how long you all have worked together and I respect each and every one of you. Now, I am truly and deeply sorry about your friend, I really am. But I am here to do a job and that's what I am going to do. If you wanna help, just say so otherwise, back off." said Erica.
The room went dead silent. Not many people had ever spoken to Catherine like that before, especially those outside the team. Most people were too scared of her when she was angry to say much of anything to her. Even Catherine seemed taken aback.
"I am not a threat. I only want to help. Now, Warrick's car is being brought in. It's yours and Nick's if you guys want it." said Erica.
Catherine was a little surprised by this but she backed off and left the room and Nick followed.
Erica quickly recovered from the confrontation than grabbed some paper towels and started cleaning up the coffee off of the floor, trying to act as though what had just happened didn't bother her even though it did, she didn't want Greg to know that though.
Greg set down his own cup, grabbed some paper towels of his own and began helping Erica clean up the mess. He could tell, even though she was trying hard to hide it, that that little confrontation with Catherine bothered her.
"You alright?" he asked, hoping she would open up to him.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Erica lied, and badly.
"You're a bad liar. Come on, you can tell me. I may not seem like it, but I'm a good listener." said Greg.
Erica looked up at Greg to see him smiling warmly at her. She stood up and threw away the now completely soaked paper towels that she had been cleaning with than walked over to the couch and sat down, putting her head in her hands.
Greg threw away his own wet paper towels than walked over and sat down next to Erica on the couch.
"I shouldn't have come here. This isn't what I wanted. Everyone sees me as a threat." said Erica.
"I don't." said Greg.
Erica took her hands away and looked at Greg to see him smiling at her again and she couldn't help but smile too. Smiling was contagious around him but she didn't mind it.
"Thanks, I guess." she said. She suddenly felt herself blushing, not really sure why. 'What's wrong with me? Why am I suddenly blushing like this?' She quickly turned away, hoping that Greg hadn't seen or noticed it. She then felt a hand on top of hers and looked down to see Greg's. She felt her heart start racing. 'Come on girl, get ahold of yourself. You just met him, you shouldn't be falling for him already, it's too soon. Get it under control.' she silently scolded herself. She had been hurt by enough guys in the past, she didn't want it to happen again. She didn't think she could take it. She quickly got up and headed out of the break room before she did anything she might regret later. She stopped long enough to look back to see that Greg wasn't following. "You coming with?" she asked him. She watched as he got up and followed her, the two of them heading to the garage.
Catherine and Nick looked up from Warrick's car that they were currently processing.
"I come in peace." said Erica, holding up her hands.
Catherine heaved a sigh but said nothing.
Erica slowly approached the car, studying every spot so as to not miss anything.
"Listen, Erica, I wanna apologize for earlier. It was uncalled for. I'm just a little upset and stressed out right now, we all are." said Catherine.
"It's okay. This is hard on all of you and I can understand that. I know what's it like to lose someone close to you." said Erica.
"Thank you, for your forgiveness. And thanks for letting us help, you have no idea how much this means to us." said Catherine.
"Oh I think I do. And your welcome." said Erica, smiling as pleasantly as she could. "So, you guys found anything?"
"No, nothing other than some blood on the driver side, which is most likely Warrick's. Whoever it was was smart enough not to leave any evidence behind. They were in and out without anyone seeing them." said Catherine, clearly frustrated at the lack of evidence.
Erica couldn't blame her. She was starting to feel pretty frustrated herself. People always left evidence behind, they just had to find it and right now, that was proving to be very difficult and that's what made her mad. No one should get away with murder but it looks like this guy was going to. It made her feel like a failure. She came to help but she couldn't see where she was helping, just making things worse.