Grandmas & Crime Labs
Part One
Disclaimer: I own nothing. This is just my own tongue-in-cheek interpretation of the Christmas classic "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer."
Summary: A rare Christmas snowstorm leaves behind a most unusual crime scene for the Miami-Dade Crime Lab…eventual crossover with X-Files
In South Florida, there were several things you could almost always count on throughout the year; amongst them the seasonal influx of 'snow-birds', which were those people who normally lived up north in colder climates but would flood the area come wintertime and live here until the spring, traffic jams on I-95 and the Florida Turnpike, and the unpredictability of Florida weather. It was the latter that captured the attention of Lieutenant Horatio Caine as he drove through the streets of Miami early on a rather strange Christmas morning. Living and working in Miami-Dade for several years now, Horatio had encountered all sorts of weather phenomenon, ranging from heavy rainstorms to severe thunder & lightning displays; he even survived a tsunami by taking shelter with Delko inside a bank vault. However, he was not prepared for what he saw all around him this morning: snow…lots and lots of snow. Mother Nature had dumped about 10 inches of snow overnight on Christmas Eve during a freak snowstorm and had caught everyone by surprise. This was evident by the dozen or so accidents that he passed, even using his department Hummer to pull free a couple of unlucky motorists caught in snowdrifts. Thankfully, traffic was light due to the holiday or it might have been much worse. Horatio had seen much and had come to learn that there was not much out there that could surprise him. However, all that was about to change. It started with a phone call.
Detective Frank Tripp was not a happy man. It was bad enough that he was called out to a crime scene on Christmas Morning. It was adding insult to injury when he had to get to that crime scene while driving through a blizzard. To say he was not used to this kind of weather would be the ultimate understatement. He knew Florida tended to have funky weather, but this was ridiculous. There had not been snow in South Florida long since Tripp could remember, and he was currently forced to wear a heavy parka that made him feel (and look) like a giant penguin. He hoped to get through this scene quickly and get home to some eggnog and fruitcake, so he was happy to see Horatio Caine and the rest of his team finally roll up in their Hummers. As Tripp watched them get out and walk up to where he waited, he idly wondered how long it took them to get here. The crime scene was in the Doral section of Miami-Dade, just west of Miami International Airport, and for Tripp, driving to the scene had been like taking your life into your hands.
"Hey Frank, what do you have?" Lt. Caine asked as they all gathered around the scene. Tripp sighed…while waiting for the CSIs, he had time to review his notes and try and come up with some kind of rational explanation for what he thought had happened, and he hoped Horatio and Co. could sort everything out. He took a big breath….