C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation
"I Love You, Not"
Written By Natasia Hanratty
Fanfiction Username: milolvr05
If you walk down the strip in Las Vegas, you'll see large neon lights; "C A S I N O" here, "H O T E L" there. Walk a bit further, passed all the casinos, hotels, motels, and other tourist attractions, and you'll find a nice public high school. A high school like all the others; classrooms, cafeterias, faculty, and most importantly, cliques. Mrs. Tilland was the science teacher at the school -- biology teacher, to be more exact. Looking at her watch, she noticed it was 7:30. She walked a bit more briskly down the hall, stopping at her classroom door. Mrs. Tilland placed her hand gently on the doorknob and turned it counter clockwise, opening the door. What she saw once she entered the room made her eyes widen, her hands let whatever in them drop, and her mouth open to let out a loud, horror movie scream.
Not too long after, Gil Grissom – CSI Level 3, had entered the high school building. He checked his watch, recording the time in his mind. "8:53," he thought. 8:53. He was graveyard shift. Why was Gil Grissom so important, though? Bugs. Yes, bugs. Gil Grissom was a crime scene investigator and the youngest coroner at age 22 in L.A. County history. What made him so great, though, was the fact he's an entomologist. Gil Grissom made his way down the hall and to the crime scene, the classroom. He ducked under the "CRIME SCENE – DO NOT CROSS" tape and entered the room.
He stopped and stared. He was staring at a teen age boy, no more than 15 years of age, lying on the floor, dead. "It's always barbaric when it comes to teen murders," Captain Jim Brass stated once he saw the look on Grissom's face. Grissom looked at Brass. "All murder is barbaric, Jim." Grissom walked closer to the body. He knelt down beside it, setting his kit down next to him. "Time of death?" Grissom asked. David, the coroner, stepped forward immediately. "Approximately three hours, sir," responded David. Grissom knelt down by the body, examining it. Brass felt he should inform Grissom on the kid, so he did. "The boy's name is Peter..." he check his small notepad and continued," Zigfield. 15 years old. Sophomore at this high school." Grissom looked up at Brass. "Why was he here so late at night," he asked the detective. Brass smirked. He knew the answer, Grissom didn't; and he liked that fact. "He was here for tutoring." Grissom put his thinking face on. "Who was his tutor?" Brass replied, "Linda Ryan. Student here. 15 years old."
Grissom just then noticed a shaking woman at the door, behind the tape, staring at the corpse. "Uh...excuse me ma'am..." "I'm his teacher," the woman said quickly. "I...I came in around...7:30. He was there...dead...bleeding." She whimpered a bit, tears rolling down her cheeks. Grissom felt sorry for the lady. He really did, even though all he did was squint his eyes some more, thinking. "I'm sorry. Uh...Ms..." "Tilland. Mrs. Tilland," she said, her eyes glossy from the tears. Grissom continued, "Mrs. Tilland...does this school have security cameras?" "Yes, but only at the front doors," she replied. Grissom looked at Brass. Brass nodded, knowing what Grissom was going to say. "I'll send the tape to the lab," Brass said. The captain turned to the lady. "Let's go get you some coffee." He ducked under the tape and led her down the hall.
Once Brass had left, less than 10 seconds later, Catherine Willows arrived. Catherine is a CSI, level three. She has been working side by side with Grissom for well over 10 years. Catherine ducked under the tape and walked into the classroom. "Sorry I'm late. Fill me in." Grissom glanced up at Catherine, then back at the body. "Peter Zigfield," he said, "sophomore. Two stab wounds; one in the chest, the other in the stomach. Whoever is the murderer didn't want to hide anything from us. No signs of clean up." Catherine knelt down by the body, across from Grissom. "Well," she said, "maybe our killer is sending a message out to someone?" Grissom's scrunched face showed he was examining from that point of view. He shook his head slightly. "No. One murder is usually pay back. More than one is a message."
Catherine pulled on a pair of latex gloves. Grissom opened his kit and pulled on a pair of latex gloves as well. He and Catherine went straight to work. Catherine took pictures while Grissom searched for evidence. About 10 minutes into the investigation, she decides its time to speak up. "Look... all this blood, and not a void anywhere. No footprints, either." Grissom looked up at Catherine. "None visible with the naked eye, at least," he said. Catherine gave him a look. "This guy was a professional, Gil." Grissom didn't seem to be bothered at all by her look. "Or he was just careful." She gave up and replied, "let's just hope he slipped up somewhere." She noticed Grissom now staring at a spot on the floor. Just then, Captain Brass appeared behind the yellow tape at the door. "I sent the security tape over to the lab." Grissom didn't take his eyes off the spot. "Hey... Jim? Do you know what time the school was last cleaned?" asked Grissom. "5:30. Why?" Grissom didn't respond. He crawled to his kit and took out a rubber-gelatin lifter. He crawled over to the spot and laid the lifter down. Brass and Catherine watched as Grissom worked on lifting a shoeprint. He lifted the sheet, revealing a front portion of a shoe. He turned to the body and looked at the kid's shoe. He compared it to the print he lifted. "Not our vic's," he turned to Catherine. She rolled her eyes a bit, "Yeah, yeah. Naked eye, blah, blah, blah." Grissom grinned a bit.
Once done with collecting the evidence and examining the scene, Catherine and Grissom returned to the lab. Once they placed all their evidence in the correct places, they walked into the break room where the rest of the crew was there; Nick Stokes, Warrick Brown, and Sara Sidle. Nick looked at the two. "It's about time you two got here." Warrick grinned and sided with Nick, "Yeah, we've been waiting here for almost an hour." "Shove it," replied Catherine with a friendly grin. Grissom looked around at all of them. "Tonight is an 'all hands on' night. D.B. found in a high school classroom." He filled them in on everything. Once done, he gave out his orders. "Warrick, I want you to check out the security tape. Archie is looking it over as we speak." "I'm all over it like a cheap suit," Warrick replied, grinning. "Good. Nick, find a match to the shoe print I lifted at the scene. Catherine..." She cut him off before he could go on. "I'll examine the rest of the evidence," she said. Grissom nodded, "good. Sara, you're with me. We're going back to the school and to try get some interviews." Sara grinned her ever famous grin, "fun." Nick laughed a very little bit saying, "More like fun-ny. The two people doing interviews are the two social hermits." Sara shot a playful glare at him. Grissom let the comment by as though nothing was said at all. "Let's get to work, people. Sara," Grissom said. Sara immediately stood up, saluting him. She grinned and walked out. Grissom followed.
"So, Grissom... You do know what time it is don't you?" Sara asked. Grissom nodded a bit. She continued on, "Who are we going to interview this late at night? Are we going to every student's house?" He looked at her. "No," he said. "We're going to interview the faculty now." Her face lit up with excitement. "So that means we pull a double?" He looked at her. "Yes. Sara...You get too excited when we have to pull doubles." "And you get excited when you see a 12 legged insect. We're scientists. We're weird. Get used to it, serg." "...Serg?" "Sergeant. You were all Mr. Boss-man in the break room. Never thought you were the rough-order-giving kind of guy." She grinned and walked out of the building, a little ahead of him. Was she flirting? 'Yes. Yes I was flirting,' she thought.
Once they arrived at the school, the individual interviews started. Back at the lab, Nick was sitting at a computer in Prints. He scanned the shoeprint. The computer immediately started searching for shoe matches. Nick grinned, knowing that even with less than half the shoe print, the computer could match the brand. A few minutes later, the computer beeps. Nick grinned again. He unhooked his cell phone from his belt and called Grissom. He answered, "Grissom." "Shoe match came up as Converse. No size determined though. We don't have enough of the shoe to tell," Nick informed his boss. "Thanks, Nick. Good work," responded Grissom before he hung up. 'Good work? ' Nick thought. 'Note to self; Grissom is in a good mood today. Hint on vacation.' Nick grinned to himself.
Grissom looked at Sara. "Nick found out the shoe brand; Converse." Sara looked at him. "Approximate shoe size?" He shrugged slightly, "The computer couldn't tell us. There wasn't enough of the shoe to tell." She sighed a bit. "Great. Grissom, we interviewed all these teachers and none of them seem to be the...Converses wearing type." He squinted his eyes, as though reading her mind. "You think it was a kid?" "Not just a kid, a student," she replied. Grissom nodded. "We'll have to schedule an interview with those who were close to the kid, and those who hated him."
Warrick was sitting next to Archie in the audio and visuals room back at C.S.I. when Catherine walked in. The two men were watching the video for the 10th time, trying to find anything to help them find a suspect. She walked over and stared at the video screen. "Got anything?" Warrick kept his eyes on the screen and replied, "We've been looking these two tapes over. That school has two cameras. Each is located above the only entrances to the building." She nodded. "Good, so we know who went in around that time." "That's right. So, we checked who entered the building one hour before the murder," screen showing two teenagers being let into the building by a teacher, "That would be the vic and his tutor. Now if we fast forward 20 minutes... [the screen fast forwarding and stopping at 20 minutes later, showing a teenage girl being let into the building]" Catherine looked at Warrick. "Who's that?" He shrugged, "Don't know, but she might be a suspect. Archie and I froze the screen and zoomed in to see who let her in. [Archie rewound to the girl being let in and froze the screen. He zoomed in to reveal another male teen] That's definitely not our vic. This kid has blonde hair." Catherine seemed to be thinking. "An accomplice?" Warrick looked at her, "maybe." "We have to find out who these kids are. I'll call Grissom and see what he's got." "Good idea. Oh, Archie and I also notice that our vic's tutor left 10 minutes after the girl walked in. She seemed to be in a hurry, too. Hey, did Nicky find anything out about the shoe print," he asked. "Converses," Catherine said, grinning. Warrick laughed. "Oh yeah, definitely a teenager."
5 minutes later, Grissom's phone started ringing. He answered, "Yeah, Grissom." "Hello to you too, Gil," the female voice on the phone said. "Oh, hi Catherine. Do you have any good news?" "I found a few hairs on the vic's clothing. Warrick and Archie have been looking over the security tape. He may have found something, but we have to get somebody to identify the two kids on the tape," she answered. "Alright, try to get some shots of the teens and I'll ask the guidance counselor to identify them. Thanks." They said their quick goodbyes and hung up on each other.
By the time Grissom and Sara returned to the lab and finished with the autopsy, it was day time. The two were back at the high school, getting ready to interview some students. Sara sat on top of the desk next to where Grissom seated himself. "So who's first?" "Linda Ryan, our victim's tutor," Grissom answered, looking at the door as the 15 year old girl walked in. Sara didn't look though. She was concentrating on Grissom. As much as she tried, she couldn't get the memory out of her head; he confessed his feelings about her. All this time she thought he was ignoring her because she asked him out and he didn't feel the same about her. What hurt her the most, though, was that he told a complete stranger how he feels about her, but he hasn't even told her yet.
Linda Ryan sat down in front of the two CSIs. She was nervous, very nervous. Her eyes were swollen and red from mourning. "Hello Linda. My name is Gil Grissom and this is my partner, Sara Sidle. We'd like to ask you a few questions," said Grissom. Linda nodded quietly. He looks at Sara and then back at Linda. "You were Peter's tutor, correct?" The girl looked at Grissom. "Yes...he...needed help in...math. The teacher...she agreed to let us use her classroom for the tutoring." "But you left shortly after you entered the building, didn't you?" The girl shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "He was being gross. We would always joke around...but this time he was...different." "So, you left early?" Sara asked. Linda nodded. "I walked out into the hall. I was so angry at him. He followed me out and down the hall. Our argument was stopped short though. These two nerds...they were fighting. Well, I should say Zoey was yelling at Christian." Sara looked confused, "Zoey? Christian? Who are they?" The girl shook her head, somewhat disgustedly. "Two nerds. Christian is in love with Zoey and Zoey is always yelling at him for something. It's like a disgusting marriage. Zoey has a temper, too...a major one." Grissom squinted his eyes a bit, contemplating all of this. "What happened after you and Peter saw Zoey and Christian fighting?" Linda looked at Grissom. "Peter started making fun of Christian, as usual. Zoey got ticked off. Peter got angry right back at her...
--flashback—
Peter shoved Christian, a short blonde boy, into the wall. Zoey, a regular height teenage girl, shoved Peter away. "Don't touch him," she warned him. He laughed a bit. "Yeah, I'll leave the touching up to you." Zoey couldn't seem to control herself. She slammed Peter into the wall and punched him in the stomach hard. He keeled over. "Rot in hell, Peter," Zoey said as she walked down the hall.
--back to Linda talking—
...and that's when I decided I had enough of the jock and freaks so I left." Grissom looked confused. "This...Zoey...she punched Peter because of a small, rude comment?" Linda nodded then made an unsure face. "Well," she said, "he's been making fun of her since freshman year. It's the middle of sophomore year now. She's always getting picked on, I guess. She's just so...weird. A real science nerd, too. Everyone tries to copy off her and get answers from her. She finally flipped out. I guess I saw it coming." Grissom nodded a bit. "Thank you," he said. "If we want to speak with you again..." Linda nodded. "I'll answer any questions. I want to help you find the beast that killed Peter..." The girl stood and walked out of the room, sniffling from the tears returning to her eyes. Grissom looked at Sara. "We need to speak with this Zoey." Sara nodded, "I concur, doc."
Catherine stood in the evidence room, staring down at the blood soaked shirt of their victim. She shook her head slightly, thinking of how horrible it is that a teenager lost his life, probably over some stupid reason. She snapped on her gloves and got to work.
More to come...
If you walk down the strip in Las Vegas, you'll see large neon lights; "C A S I N O" here, "H O T E L" there. Walk a bit further, passed all the casinos, hotels, motels, and other tourist attractions, and you'll find a nice public high school. A high school like all the others; classrooms, cafeterias, faculty, and most importantly, cliques. Mrs. Tilland was the science teacher at the school -- biology teacher, to be more exact. Looking at her watch, she noticed it was 7:30. She walked a bit more briskly down the hall, stopping at her classroom door. Mrs. Tilland placed her hand gently on the doorknob and turned it counter clockwise, opening the door. What she saw once she entered the room made her eyes widen, her hands let whatever in them drop, and her mouth open to let out a loud, horror movie scream.
Not too long after, Gil Grissom – CSI Level 3, had entered the high school building. He checked his watch, recording the time in his mind. "8:53," he thought. 8:53. He was graveyard shift. Why was Gil Grissom so important, though? Bugs. Yes, bugs. Gil Grissom was a crime scene investigator and the youngest coroner at age 22 in L.A. County history. What made him so great, though, was the fact he's an entomologist. Gil Grissom made his way down the hall and to the crime scene, the classroom. He ducked under the "CRIME SCENE – DO NOT CROSS" tape and entered the room.
He stopped and stared. He was staring at a teen age boy, no more than 15 years of age, lying on the floor, dead. "It's always barbaric when it comes to teen murders," Captain Jim Brass stated once he saw the look on Grissom's face. Grissom looked at Brass. "All murder is barbaric, Jim." Grissom walked closer to the body. He knelt down beside it, setting his kit down next to him. "Time of death?" Grissom asked. David, the coroner, stepped forward immediately. "Approximately three hours, sir," responded David. Grissom knelt down by the body, examining it. Brass felt he should inform Grissom on the kid, so he did. "The boy's name is Peter..." he check his small notepad and continued," Zigfield. 15 years old. Sophomore at this high school." Grissom looked up at Brass. "Why was he here so late at night," he asked the detective. Brass smirked. He knew the answer, Grissom didn't; and he liked that fact. "He was here for tutoring." Grissom put his thinking face on. "Who was his tutor?" Brass replied, "Linda Ryan. Student here. 15 years old."
Grissom just then noticed a shaking woman at the door, behind the tape, staring at the corpse. "Uh...excuse me ma'am..." "I'm his teacher," the woman said quickly. "I...I came in around...7:30. He was there...dead...bleeding." She whimpered a bit, tears rolling down her cheeks. Grissom felt sorry for the lady. He really did, even though all he did was squint his eyes some more, thinking. "I'm sorry. Uh...Ms..." "Tilland. Mrs. Tilland," she said, her eyes glossy from the tears. Grissom continued, "Mrs. Tilland...does this school have security cameras?" "Yes, but only at the front doors," she replied. Grissom looked at Brass. Brass nodded, knowing what Grissom was going to say. "I'll send the tape to the lab," Brass said. The captain turned to the lady. "Let's go get you some coffee." He ducked under the tape and led her down the hall.
Once Brass had left, less than 10 seconds later, Catherine Willows arrived. Catherine is a CSI, level three. She has been working side by side with Grissom for well over 10 years. Catherine ducked under the tape and walked into the classroom. "Sorry I'm late. Fill me in." Grissom glanced up at Catherine, then back at the body. "Peter Zigfield," he said, "sophomore. Two stab wounds; one in the chest, the other in the stomach. Whoever is the murderer didn't want to hide anything from us. No signs of clean up." Catherine knelt down by the body, across from Grissom. "Well," she said, "maybe our killer is sending a message out to someone?" Grissom's scrunched face showed he was examining from that point of view. He shook his head slightly. "No. One murder is usually pay back. More than one is a message."
Catherine pulled on a pair of latex gloves. Grissom opened his kit and pulled on a pair of latex gloves as well. He and Catherine went straight to work. Catherine took pictures while Grissom searched for evidence. About 10 minutes into the investigation, she decides its time to speak up. "Look... all this blood, and not a void anywhere. No footprints, either." Grissom looked up at Catherine. "None visible with the naked eye, at least," he said. Catherine gave him a look. "This guy was a professional, Gil." Grissom didn't seem to be bothered at all by her look. "Or he was just careful." She gave up and replied, "let's just hope he slipped up somewhere." She noticed Grissom now staring at a spot on the floor. Just then, Captain Brass appeared behind the yellow tape at the door. "I sent the security tape over to the lab." Grissom didn't take his eyes off the spot. "Hey... Jim? Do you know what time the school was last cleaned?" asked Grissom. "5:30. Why?" Grissom didn't respond. He crawled to his kit and took out a rubber-gelatin lifter. He crawled over to the spot and laid the lifter down. Brass and Catherine watched as Grissom worked on lifting a shoeprint. He lifted the sheet, revealing a front portion of a shoe. He turned to the body and looked at the kid's shoe. He compared it to the print he lifted. "Not our vic's," he turned to Catherine. She rolled her eyes a bit, "Yeah, yeah. Naked eye, blah, blah, blah." Grissom grinned a bit.
Once done with collecting the evidence and examining the scene, Catherine and Grissom returned to the lab. Once they placed all their evidence in the correct places, they walked into the break room where the rest of the crew was there; Nick Stokes, Warrick Brown, and Sara Sidle. Nick looked at the two. "It's about time you two got here." Warrick grinned and sided with Nick, "Yeah, we've been waiting here for almost an hour." "Shove it," replied Catherine with a friendly grin. Grissom looked around at all of them. "Tonight is an 'all hands on' night. D.B. found in a high school classroom." He filled them in on everything. Once done, he gave out his orders. "Warrick, I want you to check out the security tape. Archie is looking it over as we speak." "I'm all over it like a cheap suit," Warrick replied, grinning. "Good. Nick, find a match to the shoe print I lifted at the scene. Catherine..." She cut him off before he could go on. "I'll examine the rest of the evidence," she said. Grissom nodded, "good. Sara, you're with me. We're going back to the school and to try get some interviews." Sara grinned her ever famous grin, "fun." Nick laughed a very little bit saying, "More like fun-ny. The two people doing interviews are the two social hermits." Sara shot a playful glare at him. Grissom let the comment by as though nothing was said at all. "Let's get to work, people. Sara," Grissom said. Sara immediately stood up, saluting him. She grinned and walked out. Grissom followed.
"So, Grissom... You do know what time it is don't you?" Sara asked. Grissom nodded a bit. She continued on, "Who are we going to interview this late at night? Are we going to every student's house?" He looked at her. "No," he said. "We're going to interview the faculty now." Her face lit up with excitement. "So that means we pull a double?" He looked at her. "Yes. Sara...You get too excited when we have to pull doubles." "And you get excited when you see a 12 legged insect. We're scientists. We're weird. Get used to it, serg." "...Serg?" "Sergeant. You were all Mr. Boss-man in the break room. Never thought you were the rough-order-giving kind of guy." She grinned and walked out of the building, a little ahead of him. Was she flirting? 'Yes. Yes I was flirting,' she thought.
Once they arrived at the school, the individual interviews started. Back at the lab, Nick was sitting at a computer in Prints. He scanned the shoeprint. The computer immediately started searching for shoe matches. Nick grinned, knowing that even with less than half the shoe print, the computer could match the brand. A few minutes later, the computer beeps. Nick grinned again. He unhooked his cell phone from his belt and called Grissom. He answered, "Grissom." "Shoe match came up as Converse. No size determined though. We don't have enough of the shoe to tell," Nick informed his boss. "Thanks, Nick. Good work," responded Grissom before he hung up. 'Good work? ' Nick thought. 'Note to self; Grissom is in a good mood today. Hint on vacation.' Nick grinned to himself.
Grissom looked at Sara. "Nick found out the shoe brand; Converse." Sara looked at him. "Approximate shoe size?" He shrugged slightly, "The computer couldn't tell us. There wasn't enough of the shoe to tell." She sighed a bit. "Great. Grissom, we interviewed all these teachers and none of them seem to be the...Converses wearing type." He squinted his eyes, as though reading her mind. "You think it was a kid?" "Not just a kid, a student," she replied. Grissom nodded. "We'll have to schedule an interview with those who were close to the kid, and those who hated him."
Warrick was sitting next to Archie in the audio and visuals room back at C.S.I. when Catherine walked in. The two men were watching the video for the 10th time, trying to find anything to help them find a suspect. She walked over and stared at the video screen. "Got anything?" Warrick kept his eyes on the screen and replied, "We've been looking these two tapes over. That school has two cameras. Each is located above the only entrances to the building." She nodded. "Good, so we know who went in around that time." "That's right. So, we checked who entered the building one hour before the murder," screen showing two teenagers being let into the building by a teacher, "That would be the vic and his tutor. Now if we fast forward 20 minutes... [the screen fast forwarding and stopping at 20 minutes later, showing a teenage girl being let into the building]" Catherine looked at Warrick. "Who's that?" He shrugged, "Don't know, but she might be a suspect. Archie and I froze the screen and zoomed in to see who let her in. [Archie rewound to the girl being let in and froze the screen. He zoomed in to reveal another male teen] That's definitely not our vic. This kid has blonde hair." Catherine seemed to be thinking. "An accomplice?" Warrick looked at her, "maybe." "We have to find out who these kids are. I'll call Grissom and see what he's got." "Good idea. Oh, Archie and I also notice that our vic's tutor left 10 minutes after the girl walked in. She seemed to be in a hurry, too. Hey, did Nicky find anything out about the shoe print," he asked. "Converses," Catherine said, grinning. Warrick laughed. "Oh yeah, definitely a teenager."
5 minutes later, Grissom's phone started ringing. He answered, "Yeah, Grissom." "Hello to you too, Gil," the female voice on the phone said. "Oh, hi Catherine. Do you have any good news?" "I found a few hairs on the vic's clothing. Warrick and Archie have been looking over the security tape. He may have found something, but we have to get somebody to identify the two kids on the tape," she answered. "Alright, try to get some shots of the teens and I'll ask the guidance counselor to identify them. Thanks." They said their quick goodbyes and hung up on each other.
By the time Grissom and Sara returned to the lab and finished with the autopsy, it was day time. The two were back at the high school, getting ready to interview some students. Sara sat on top of the desk next to where Grissom seated himself. "So who's first?" "Linda Ryan, our victim's tutor," Grissom answered, looking at the door as the 15 year old girl walked in. Sara didn't look though. She was concentrating on Grissom. As much as she tried, she couldn't get the memory out of her head; he confessed his feelings about her. All this time she thought he was ignoring her because she asked him out and he didn't feel the same about her. What hurt her the most, though, was that he told a complete stranger how he feels about her, but he hasn't even told her yet.
Linda Ryan sat down in front of the two CSIs. She was nervous, very nervous. Her eyes were swollen and red from mourning. "Hello Linda. My name is Gil Grissom and this is my partner, Sara Sidle. We'd like to ask you a few questions," said Grissom. Linda nodded quietly. He looks at Sara and then back at Linda. "You were Peter's tutor, correct?" The girl looked at Grissom. "Yes...he...needed help in...math. The teacher...she agreed to let us use her classroom for the tutoring." "But you left shortly after you entered the building, didn't you?" The girl shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "He was being gross. We would always joke around...but this time he was...different." "So, you left early?" Sara asked. Linda nodded. "I walked out into the hall. I was so angry at him. He followed me out and down the hall. Our argument was stopped short though. These two nerds...they were fighting. Well, I should say Zoey was yelling at Christian." Sara looked confused, "Zoey? Christian? Who are they?" The girl shook her head, somewhat disgustedly. "Two nerds. Christian is in love with Zoey and Zoey is always yelling at him for something. It's like a disgusting marriage. Zoey has a temper, too...a major one." Grissom squinted his eyes a bit, contemplating all of this. "What happened after you and Peter saw Zoey and Christian fighting?" Linda looked at Grissom. "Peter started making fun of Christian, as usual. Zoey got ticked off. Peter got angry right back at her...
--flashback—
Peter shoved Christian, a short blonde boy, into the wall. Zoey, a regular height teenage girl, shoved Peter away. "Don't touch him," she warned him. He laughed a bit. "Yeah, I'll leave the touching up to you." Zoey couldn't seem to control herself. She slammed Peter into the wall and punched him in the stomach hard. He keeled over. "Rot in hell, Peter," Zoey said as she walked down the hall.
--back to Linda talking—
...and that's when I decided I had enough of the jock and freaks so I left." Grissom looked confused. "This...Zoey...she punched Peter because of a small, rude comment?" Linda nodded then made an unsure face. "Well," she said, "he's been making fun of her since freshman year. It's the middle of sophomore year now. She's always getting picked on, I guess. She's just so...weird. A real science nerd, too. Everyone tries to copy off her and get answers from her. She finally flipped out. I guess I saw it coming." Grissom nodded a bit. "Thank you," he said. "If we want to speak with you again..." Linda nodded. "I'll answer any questions. I want to help you find the beast that killed Peter..." The girl stood and walked out of the room, sniffling from the tears returning to her eyes. Grissom looked at Sara. "We need to speak with this Zoey." Sara nodded, "I concur, doc."
Catherine stood in the evidence room, staring down at the blood soaked shirt of their victim. She shook her head slightly, thinking of how horrible it is that a teenager lost his life, probably over some stupid reason. She snapped on her gloves and got to work.
More to come...