... is the end
Disclaimer: CSI is not mine.
Cowardice asks the question, "Is it safe?" Expediency asks the question, "Is it politic?" Vanity asks the question, "Is it popular?" But conscience asks the question, "Is it right?" And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one's conscience tells one that it is right.
- Martin Luther King Jr.
Chapter 1
Politics. Politicians. Political. Politic. Politick. Politicos. Ever since the sheriff had announced his decision not to rerun, the city, the police department, the lab were all flooded with every form of the word. Grissom sat back in his chair and rubbed his hands over his eyes, wishing he didn't have to worry about the chaos around him. Things at the lab were tense. He felt the pressure. His whole team felt the pressure. Both Under Sheriff McKeen, who had announced his intention to run for sheriff, and Ecklie, who supported McKeen's candidacy, as Ecklie had political aspirations of his own, were placing the criminalists under intense pressure. As the eminent CSI at the lab, he felt most of that strain being placed on him.
He took a deep breath and stared down at the files in front of him. Both Ecklie and McKeen had demanded that the CSIs focus their importance on the open serial case, without dropping the ball on their other open cases. Ever since McKeen had announced his candidacy, the under sheriff had been trying to push his team into closing cases with expediency rather than taking the time to analyze the evidence properly. Grissom resisted, fought the under sheriff on the issue, and insisted that the under sheriff back off and let his criminalists do their jobs, accurately. He wasn't about to let anyone interfere with his team or potentially hurt any cases they were investigating, just because the under sheriff wanted quick, easy, speedy resolutions. That didn't stop the under sheriff from pushing. The pressure to close the serial case was just more evidence of the under sheriffs focus on expediency. McKeen wanted, rather, needed, to look good in front of the public. The man wanted to catch a serial killer while he was campaigning.
Grissom was so tired of it all. He was tired of the politics and of the career aspirations of his colleagues. The only thing keeping him going was the knowledge that in four days he would be away from it all. In four days, he would be in San Francisco with Sara. She'd wanted to return to Vegas for his birthday but he decided he'd rather go to her and get away from Vegas and its politics and the people who were undermining the integrity of his profession. In San Francisco, he could leave the politics behind. He could focus on Sara and only Sara. He could get lost in her again. Just thinking about it made him feel better.
He hadn't seen her in two months, not since she had flown back to the Bay City after Warrick's funeral. He had tried, several times, to take a few days off and see her, but Vegas was Vegas and work kept getting in the way. The under sheriff's campaign and insistence on Grissom's presence hadn't helped matters. Finally, he'd decided to tell Ecklie and the under sheriff he was taking a week off, non-negotiable. After all, the under sheriff wouldn't want the public to think that their favorite candidate for sheriff would deny him the chance to visit his fiancé on his birthday. Yes, Vegas was overrun with politics and as much as he hated to do it, he could play that game too.