Disclaimer: Not mine.
Authors Note: This case does involve the death of a baby. I've tried to keep the details to a minimum. Please let me know what you think. Thank you!
The team had gathered into the break room and they were just waiting on Grissom, as usual. Catherine bit into her apple then looked at her watch. "Where the hell is Grissom? Shift started 15 minutes ago."
Nick lifted his head out of the magazine he was reading. "I saw him talking to Ecklie earlier, so I imagine when he does get here he'll be in a great mood."
Sara took a sip of her coffee while staring at Nick. "Seriously though Nick, what's with the hair? It just doesn't suit you. It's like-"
Nick looked offended. "What's wrong with my hair? Don't dis it just because you don't like the style." Everyone let out a chuckle. "Besides, I never hear you ragging on Greg."
"That's cause his suits his personality. Your's…just…doesn't."
"Dude, she's right. If you want a little help, I'm free after shift. We can try out a few different styles."
Nick pointed at Greg and raised an eyebrow. "You are not touching my hair." Everyone was laughing uncontrollably at this point.
"You know Nick, it's not like he could do any worse."
"Can…we, please just talk about something else."
Grissom walked in at that point and saw Catherine drying her eyes and Warrick massaging his cheeks. "Sorry I'm late. Did I miss something?"
Nick was back to reading his magazine and answered Grissom without looking up. "Just the memo on 'picking on Nick day', apparently."
Grissom deadpanned. "Oh. The hair, huh?" Everyone lost it again. Nick just shook his head and started to smile. He thought 'well, if you can't beat 'm, join 'm.'
"Okay, so you got that memo huh?"
"Okay. Settle down." Grissom started to hand out the slips. "Catherine, you have a B&E. Warrick, Greg…you have a 419 at the Tropicana. Sara, Nick…you're with me." He sighed. "We have a dead baby. Brass is waiting for us. Let's go."
They rode to the house in silence. Grissom drove, Sara was riding shotgun and Nick was in the back. Sara kept stealing glances at Grissom. He was normally pretty quiet but she got a different feeling from him, one of sadness. She knew how he was with cases like these. She knew he was probably dreading the scene they were going to have to process. Ever since the whole ordeal with Nick, they had become closer friends, like they had been years ago. Neither had wanted to talk about their 'relationship'. They were just content right now with being able to joke and flirt with each other again. She was staring out the window lost in thought when she heard Grissom speak. His hand was on her arm.
"You coming?" She suddenly realized they were already at the scene. Nick was getting the kits out of the back.
She looked down at his hand and smiled softly. "Yeah, yeah. Sorry, I was just really deep in thought there." He gave her an understanding nod and they got out of the vehicle.
They met up with Brass at the front door. "Hey guys." He looked very somber.
"Jim. What have we got?"
Brass sighed deeply and started to walk back into the house with the CSI's close behind. "Mother's boyfriend, Andrew Parks, was watching her 20 month old son, James Starkly. He swears he didn't touch the kid. Says he went for a swim outside and left the kid in here watching cartoons."
Sara asked incredulously, "He left a 20 month old alone?"
"Yeah, says the front door was wide open when he returned. He swears someone must have come in through there and killed him. If you ask me, his story's full of holes. I'm going to take him in. He'll be there when you're ready."
As they all walked up to the body Grissom stopped and spoke softly. "Thanks Jim. We'll take it from here." He cleared his throat while staring at the body. "Uh…Nick, process the perimeter of the house, including the pool area. Also print the front door. Sara, start taking pictures. We need to get this little guy processed as quickly as possible so we can get him to Al."
As Nick and Sara took their positions and began working, Grissom still stood frozen staring at the baby. Sara paused from taking the pictures and peered over the camera at Grissom. He closed his eyes and shook his head. He got himself together and knelt down to the body to begin processing.
An hour later, Sara looked to the coroners. "Okay guys. I think we're done."
When they moved to pick him up Grissom stopped them. "Wait." He gently picked up the baby and placed him on the stretcher. He stared at him for a minute, and then spoke with barely a whisper. "Okay, you can take him now." He looked to Sara and she could see the moisture in his eyes. "Let's get the evidence back to the lab, and then let's go talk to the boyfriend."
Sara watched as he walked out of the house nearly running into Nick. He was oblivious to it. Nick looked at Sara. "Is he okay?"
"I don't know Nick. He's acting really weird. I'll keep an eye on him. Are you ready to go?"
"No, I'll catch a ride in with a cruiser. I want to check something out real quick."
"Okay. See you back at the lab." Nick nodded.
Grissom didn't say a word during the ride back to the lab. Not that she was surprised but she was definitely concerned. As they approached the front door she reached out for his arm. "Hey. You okay?"
He tried to fake a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine."
She couldn't believe the role reversal going on. "Okay."
They checked in their evidence and got Hodges started on some of it. Then they headed over to the station so they could hear the boyfriend's story first-hand. As they walked up to the interrogation room Brass was just walking out. They all looked at the boyfriend through the glass.
"Did you guys get anything yet?" Sara looked to Grissom who remained silent. She decided to take the initiative to answer Brass.
"Nothing yet. We wanted to hear what he has to say, then we're going to head over to autopsy." Brass and Sara looked at each other, then to Grissom, then back to each other.
"Okay. Well, he's all yours."
He opened the door and moved to the side. Grissom and Sara walked in and sat down across from Andrew Parks. He was very nervously biting his fingernails.
Sara began. "Mr. Parks, I'm Sara Side and this is Gil Grissom. We're crime scene investigators with LVPD. Why don't you tell us what happened?"
He paused in his nail biting. "I already told the cops 3 times!"
"Yes, but we need to hear it. Please just once more." Trying to sound like she was on his side she added, "Look, I know this must be very difficult for you. Knowing your story will help us find James' killer. You do want that don't you?"
He threw his hands down on the table. "Yes! Of course I do. You're just…you're treating me like a criminal."
Sara was about to speak when she heard Grissom. His voice was so deep and intense. "Are you?"
"No! I loved Jimmy like he was my own son." Sara was staring at Grissom, who couldn't seem to take his eyes off of Parks.
"Mr. Parks, nobody's trying to treat you like a criminal. Please, just take us through what happened yesterday."
He closed his eyes. "Okay. Sandra had to do some shopping so she told me to watch Jimmy. I fed him some lunch. Then I set him up in the living room and turned on some cartoons." He paused a moment to wipe his nose. His eyes were building with tears. "I uh…I went upstairs to change into my shorts. When I came back down he was fine so I went out back, to the pool, to get in a few laps. I was just gone for 20-30 minutes."
"Excuse me Mr. Parker. That's what I don't understand. I mean, I don't have kids, but I don't think it's normal to leave a 20 month old alone."
Parks stood up. "I thought you understood!"
Grissom pointed to the chair. "Sit. Down." Parks saw Grissom's expression and sat down quickly.
Sara looked at Grissom then cleared her throat. "Mr. Parks, I'm sorry. Please continue."
"Look, I…I did it all the time. He was a good kid. Didn't need a whole lot of supervision." Sara shook her head. "So after my swim I came in and saw him on the floor not breathing. Then that's uh…that's when I saw the front door wide open."
Grissom startled Sara when he spoke. "Did you touch his body at all? Did you dry off before you entered the house?"
"Of course I dried off. I always do. Sandra would get all over me if I didn't. I didn't touch him though. As soon as I saw him I knew he was dead and someone had broken in. So, I called 911."
"Well, thank you Mr. Parks. That's all we need for right now." Sara looked confused. Grissom motioned for her to get up.
As soon as they got outside the room she asked, "Okay, that was a little abrupt. I still had some more questions."
"Later. We may not need them."
"So…are you going to fill me in?"
"I swabbed some water substances off of James' body. I think it's water from the pool. Hodges should be able to tell us later. Besides that, I don't think I know of anyone, parent or not, that would not go rush to the baby's side. To try to check for a pulse or revive it…at least something. No, this guy is definitely lying to us. Let's go see what Al can tell us."