Title: Truth of the Matter
Author: Lifeguard
Disclaimer: I own neither CSI or The X-files, or characters from either shows.
Archive: Sure, just e-mail me and tell me where
Spoilers: "Play with Fire", random episodes of XF
Rating: PG so far
Summary: When the FBI is called to Vegas, Grissom develops a connection with a special agent, which leads to them both re-evaluating and changing their own lives.
Author's Note: This is the long awaited CSI/XF crossover. I plan to write two versions of this story, one from a CSI perspective, the other from an XF perspective. Both will be posted in their respective show categories. Please read and review and tell me what you think. This is the CSI version. (Truth in the Matter is the XF version)
Thin beams of light penetrated the darkness of the woods as a helicopter swooped over head. Search dogs tried in vain to pick up any scents that might lead the rescuers to their victim. Gil Grissom stood in the middle of the controlled chaos surveying the scene.
His team was pulling a double shift again, searching for the third victim in a string of disappearances.
The disappearances had started with a middle aged woman, who went missing from a park two days ago. Then the next night, another woman of the same age disappeared from the park, as well. The teams had scoured the area for any evidence as to where the women went, but there was none. There seemed to be no evidence at all, no signs of a struggle or abductor. There was no connection except age that the women shared. On the third day, the first woman had turned up dead in the desert, bruised and with markings on her body that not even Grissom had seen before. It was now the next night, and the third woman had vanished from the same park, but a different area.
What frustrated Grissom and his team was not only the lack of evidence but the stated accounts of what people had seen that was now being slandered in the papers. A few people that had been in the park the same night were said to have seen a bright light in the sky, blinding according to them, at the supposed times of the disappearances. The tabloids were now having a field day, with the so called witnesses claiming alien abduction. Grissom couldn't leave the crime scene without reporters shoving microphones in his face, asking if it was true or not. As a scientist, he had denied any extraterrestrial involvement and was desperately trying to think up other explanations for the case. Grissom wanted nothing more than some real evidence to go on, and at the moment he wanted another look at the first woman's body they had found.
"We have picked this area clean, there is nothing here" a tired Catherine said, forcing Grissom back to reality.
"There has to be something we have overlooked, some small piece of evidence to speak to us. I am going to see if Al has anything new from the body. Go over the scene one more time, then come back to the lab."
Catherine was about to protest that they had been through the park numerous times, when she realized that Grissom was in no mood to be negotiated with. She sighed audibly and walked away, joining Warrick who was close by.
"He wants one more once over" she told Warrick.
"You've got to be kidding me! What more does he expect us to find here?"
"I don't know. I am beginning to think this alien conspiracy theory might have some truth to it though if we still don't find something" she replied, scanning the ground with her flashlight.
Grissom pushed open the doors of the autopsy bay, where Al was taking a second look at the first victim.
"Find anything new?" Grissom asked hopefully.
"No, I told you I would page you if I did."
Grissom scanned the body. The markings were tattooed on the woman's body, across her arms, legs and stomach. He had searched in all his books and on the internet for what they meant, but had come up with nothing. Trace was still trying to identify the ink. The cause of death had been determined as severe blunt force trauma to the head, which was marked by a nasty cut and swelling at her forehead.
"Have we identified her yet?" Al questioned.
"Missing person's gave us a match today. Her name is Joan Adams. She was divorced, no children. When she didn't show up for work, her boss called her house and no one was home. Her neighbours reported her missing when she didn't answer the door or phone. We found her car in the driveway, house intact, no break and enter. This case is making no sense. All we have is her, the markings, and a crime scene with no evidence."
"It's frustrating you Gil."
"Of course it is. We need to find out who is doing this before another woman goes missing."
"Don't believe in aliens then?"
Grissom gave Al a look and changed the topic.
"Did you find out what caused the head injury?"
"Well the wound would suggest that it was a rounded object, possibly a baseball bat, metal because there was no traces of wood. I'm sure you'll find something to break this case open soon."
Grissom was about to respond when his cell phone rang out.
"Hello? Ok, that's great. I'll be right there."
Grissom looked up at Al with a grin on his face.
"They found the second victim about a mile from where we found Ms. Adams. This could be our break."
Nick snapped pictures of the victim lying in the sand. She looked just like the first one had; blunt force trauma to the head, bruising, and the tattooed markings.
"Whoever did this is one sick psychopath" he commented to Sara who was collecting samples.
"A sick smart psychopath, which scares me even more, because we've hardly got anything to go on."
"Well we've got to let the evidence and body talk to us, so let's see what she has to say."
"You sound like Grissom."
"Is that a bad thing?" asked the real Grissom approaching his two co-workers.
Sara looked up sheepishly at her supervisor, and reported their findings to him.
"Ok, let's get her to Al and everything else to the lab" Grissom responded.
It turned out that whatever headway the team wanted to make on the case was not going to happen, as the coroner found nothing different on the new body from what he had found on the previous one. Everyone was busy analyzing every bit of the new crime scene, trying to discover anything to lead them in any direction.
Grissom sat in his office, frustrated, and developing a migraine when Brass popped his head in.
"You don't look so good Gil" he said.
"You try cracking a case with no evidence and no time to sleep."
"Then you're going to hate what I have to tell you."
"What is it?"
"The feds are getting involved with the investigation. They should be here soon."
Grissom swallowed to migraine pills in response. He hated sharing control of his case with the FBI. He knew they had their own agenda of what they wanted to do, and they didn't think about things the way him and his team did.
"How long do I have before they take over?"
"About half an hour. It's going to be two agents from Washington working the case with us."
"Only two? Well that's better than I thought. They're not sending a whole group to take over then?"
"I haven't heard all the details, but apparently these two specialize in some area that they think they can help us in."
"We'll see about that" Grissom answered.
Almost exactly half an hour later, Grissom's desk phone rang.
"Yes, send them in" he said, not anticipating meeting the feds.
He watched the hallway and noticed as a man and a woman came towards his office. The man knocked on the door and introduced himself.
"Hi, I'm Agent Mulder with the FBI, this is my partner Agent Scully. Are you Gil Grissom?"