The
Entomologist And The Loose Cannon
Risty
Maskell
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. For non-profit, entertainment purposes only. The persons, living or dead, and events described herein are fictional. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental.
She'd written the letter hurriedly, wanting to get it done and be out of the office before he returned. Trying to control her tears, she slipped the letter into an envelope and sealed it, leaving it with Judy at the front desk. With a wobbly smile and a farewell to the receptionist, Sara Sidle left the building.
Gil Grissom was sitting at his desk, reading and re-reading the note that Sara had left behind. She was gone… he sighed, wondering where he'd gone wrong. He sat thinking for a moment as his mind turned over the recent events to shake up his life. Getting up and grabbing his coat, he made his way quickly out of the office, hurrying past Catherine without so much as a hello.
"Hey,
Gil! Where are you going?" Catherine asked, watching him flee.
"I've
got something important to do!" Gil answered, pausing at the door.
"Do me a favour and hand out the assignments tonight, will you,
Catherine?"
"Sure,
but --" But Gil was already gone. Catherine looked confused as she
continued to the break room, where Warrick Brown, Greg Sanders and
Nick Stokes were waiting.
"Man,
Grissom sure can motor when he wants to." Greg said with a grin.
"If he wasn't such a self-confessed dork, I would have thought he
was on his high-school track team."
"Very
funny." Catherine said, but all three men could see the small
smile, tugging at the corner of her mouth. "Right, let's get on
with it." She shuffled through the assignments and handed one to
each of them. "Nick, you've got a B&E at the Majestic –
someone thought it would be fun to hold up the cashier and lift the
vault."
"As long
as I don't end up buried in a box, I'm cool with that." Nick
said, taking the proffered assignment with a smile.
"Warrick,
you've got a hit-and-run on Industrial Road. The vic is being
transported to Desert Palms Hospital."
"You got
it." Warrick said with a grin.
"And
Greg, you're with me. 4-19 at the car yard in Summerlin."
"Yeh,
boss." Greg nodded.
"Okay,
let's go guys." Catherine said with a smile. "Have a good
shift."
The four
of them split and went their separate ways.
Gil
knocked on the door of the apartment in front of him. He couldn't
hear anything on the inside. Knocking again, he leaned against the
doorframe.
"You
ain't gonna find anyone there." A voice behind him said. Gil
turned to find a wizened old woman standing there, watching him
intently.
"I'm
not?" He asked. "Why not?"
"The
girl who lived there left a few hours ago. Said she needed a break.
Shame, really. Nice girl, she was. One of my better neighbours."
"Did she
say where she was going?" Gil asked.
"Sorry."
The woman shrugged, looking somewhat apologetic. "All I know is
what she told me. She needed some time out and put her apartment up
for rent."
"Well,
did she say when she was coming back?" He asked, trying to keep his
composure.
"Nope."
The woman shook her head.
Gil's heart seemed to slow to half-speed as he thanked the woman and made his way slowly out to the car. Driving back toward LVPD, he mused as to what had made Sara just up and leave so suddenly. His only conclusion was the previous case they'd worked on-- the one with the really smart kid, what was her name? Hannah. He'd seen her looking at this little girl and had been reminded of when they'd had to deal with her two years ago. He knew it had been hard for Sara.
Gil sighed
and parked the car and walked into the building. Walking back toward
his office, a thousand thoughts tumbling about in his mind, he sat
down in his chair and sat to mull things over for a while.
"Gil?"
Catherine peeked into Grissom's office to find him staring blankly
at the phone, as if willing it to ring and it to be Sara. "Grissom?
You okay?"
He looked
up at her and Cath was frightened by what she saw. His eyes were
unreadable and his left hand was clenching and unclenching around a
pen, as if he were angry about something.
She walked
into his office and sat across from her friend. "Wanna talk about
it?"
"About
what?" He asked, quietly.
"I don't
know." Cath shrugged. "Whatever it is that's making you so
pissed off?"
Gil opened
his mouth to say something but nothing came out. Wordlessly, he
handed Sara's note to Catherine and let her read it while he sat in
silence, contemplating. Cath read the note, her eyebrows raising so
that they were lost under her bangs.
"And you
don't know where she's gone?"
"No."
Gil sighed. "Do you think I did something wrong, Cath?"
"Oh,
Gil. I'm sure you didn't." Catherine offered him a reassuring
smile. "If I know Sara, she'll be back when she feels better. We
all need a break sometimes, and she's had a lot to deal with in a
short period of time. She probably felt like she short-circuited or
something."
"You
think?" He looked imploringly at the strawberry blonde woman
sitting across from him.
"Give
her time." Cath patted his hand reassuringly. "I've got to get
back to Hodges and see if he has my results." She got up and headed
toward the door. Turning back, she looked at her supervisor
seriously. "I know you don't believe in pouring your heart out to
people, Gil." She said softly. "But you know where I am if you
ever need to talk."
"Thank
you, Catherine." He said sincerely. Cath nodded, smiled again and
left him alone. Gil sat back, his elbows resting on the armrests of
his chair, his fingers steepled as he leaned back. A memory bubbled
up from the back of his mind and he closed his eyes to see it more
clearly.
It was the beginning of term semester at Berkeley University in San Francisco. Gil had been invited on a four week Sabbatical, teaching about new developments in the crime lab. Mainly for Criminology students, it had been a surprise to see how many other students had turned up at the lectures. A few of his friends and fellow professors had teased him, saying he was a shameless flirt and that's what drew people to him in hordes. Gil had ignored them up to a point.
After a gruelling lecture, addressing four hundred plus students in a large auditorium on the subject of determining time of death from studying blowfly larvae, he'd been hit up on questions from some of the more promising students. One student in particular had hung back until the crowd of students had gone.
"Excuse
me, Doctor Grissom?" She'd asked.
He'd
looked up to see a petite young woman, with short, chestnut brown
hair and expressive, coffee-coloured eyes standing on the opposite
side of the desk, waiting to be addressed.
"Yes?"
He asked with a smile.
"Sara
Sidle." She offered her hand to shake, which Gil accepted warmly.
"I
was wondering if you could give me any tips on how to get into
Criminology?"
"What's
your speciality, Ms Sidle?"
"Material
and element analysis."
They'd talked for most of the afternoon, causing Sara to miss a class ("It's okay, it was only listening to Professor Mason waffle on in a barely audible whisper." She'd said when he'd apologised.) They agreed to meet again in the following day's lunch hour and free period to discuss some more employment options. Even after their brief meeting, Gil had been looking forward to seeing the inquisitive young woman again. Once they had parted ways, however, Gil had been cornered by his old friend and mentor, Phillip Gerard.
"I
hear you were subjected to the Sidle Inquisition." Phillip stated.
"The
what?" Gil asked, a little taken aback.
"Sara
Sidle, Gil. Word has it that you were cornered for a good hour and a
half. I'm sorry."
"What
are you sorry for? I think she's a lovely girl."
"You
wait, Gil. You won't think she's so lovely after a while." Phillip
said with a grin. "She's a vulture. Always circling for more
scraps of information… she's driven the Coroner half mad with
questions on time of death and cause of death and whatever other
information she can get her hands on."
"That just goes to show she's willing to learn." Gil said, indifferently. "You don't see many of those, these days, Phillip."
"Yes,
I seem to remember you being the same." Phillip conceded, rolling
his eyes. "Except at least you were interested in other things --
baseball, poker… you had other interests… Sara just has one set
interest -- Criminology. No diversions."
"I'm
sure she has other diversions, Phillip. Besides, she was only asking
me on employment advice."
"To
each their own, I suppose." Phillip shrugged with a rueful smile.
"Don't say I didn't warn you."
Grissom
had had nothing to say to that, and even if he had, he wouldn't
have. He'd never been one to engage in petty arguments.
The
next day, he'd met up with Sara and they talked some more: about
Grissom's work in Las Vegas, about his team – including the
newest guy, Nick Stokes, who'd just transferred from Texas A&M,
about what Sara might do after college. Gil told her about what
Phillip had said and she'd rolled her eyes.
"Everyone
thinks I'm either a major brain, annoying or your garden variety
kiss-ass." She said with a shrug. "I can't help it if I want to
actually learn. Not like the reefers around here who just want a
buzz."
"I
find it refreshing to find someone who genuinely wants to learn."
Gil said with a smile. "It makes a nice change for me. Usually, I'm
left with a room of sleeping students. Much like Andy Kaufman in one
of his book readings."
Sara had laughed at that, before telling him that the only time he'd catch her sleeping in class would be if she was struck down with a case of narcolepsy—it hadn't happened yet and she wasn't planning on in happening either. Not now, not ever.
During the time he spent in San Francisco, he saw more and more of Sara-- inviting her as a Criminology student assistant to a crime scene, answering her questions after classes, sitting with her at lunch period to talk about their separate days. He'd even questioned himself about feelings he hadn't felt in years. He never mentioned his feelings to Sara though. He was a private person when it came to that sort of vulnerability, and tried to convince himself that he was just very fond of the young woman. She was fifteen years his junior, for Pete's sake! At the end of his Sabbatical, he big his colleagues and friends and mentors a fond farewell, leaving Sara until last. Promising to write, they'd exchanged business cards and had hugged, somewhat awkwardly, at the airport before he boarded the plane back to Vegas.
Grissom
opened his eyes at the end of the memory, looking up to see Ecklie
standing there.
"Hope I
didn't disturb your little power nap, Gil." Ecklie said with a
oily, sarcastic smile.
"No,
Conrad." Gil said, shuffling through some papers, discreetly
placing Sara's letter under the pile. "What can I do for you?"
"The
trial for Valerie Eckman is being held tomorrow morning at ten am."
Grissom
raised an eyebrow in response. "And?" He asked. "I was under
the impression that that was Day Shift's case."
"The Day
Shift Supervisor was supposed to testify, but she's had to pull out
because of some family crisis or something--"
"And you
want me to take over?"
"I have
the case file here for you to read over the evidence." Ecklie said,
handing Grissom the case file that he'd been holding under his arm.
"Normally, I wouldn't ask, Gil… but I really have no choice."
"Mmhmm…"
Gil said, flicking through the case file, with a sideways look at
Ecklie.
"Naturally,
I know it's extremely short notice, but you're the only person I
could think of."
Gil looked
up at him with a bemused look. "You're lucky I'm not knee deep
in my own investigation, Conrad." He said with a sigh. "I'll
need all the available evidence."
Ecklie
seemed to deflate with relief. "Thanks, Gil."
Gil waited until Ecklie had gone to get the evidence and looked at his phone. He would try Sara's cell later, but for now-- he had work to do.
If he knew his Sara, she'd want time to think, to be alone, to re-evaluate and regroup. And he knew that he had to let her go… for now.
