Grissom sighed as he walked up the sidewalk toward the already taped off crime scene. Jim Brass gave a tense smile. "You will love this one. Vic found dead in his bed, handcuffed to the headboard. Kinky stuff. Looks like some sex play gone wrong to me." Grissom sighed, "Maybe we should look at the evidence first", he replied curtly, as usual preferring to see the evidence before he developed any sort of theory. Brass smiled and nodded.
Properly chastised Brass quietly walked Grissom to the bedroom. Following carefully, making certain he was not contaminating the crime scene any further than the first officers on the scene had already managed he followed silently. The musky smell of sex still lingered in the room, penetrating Grissom's olfactory sensors. Visions of Sara flashed through his mind and brought an involuntary smile. He had not seen her for several months, not since she had returned to Vegas for Warrick's funeral, only to leave him again, this time however, not calling or making any sort of contact with him. They had both been confused. He had tried to convince her to stay. She had merely said it was not possible. He knew in his heart why. He had found himself choosing between the job he loved and the woman he needed. Although he had verbally left the decision to her, he had more or less chosen the job. He often questioned if he had made the right choice. All he had now was memories, and frankly recently his memories of Sara were the only things that gave him cause to smile.
The victim laid spread eagle on the bed, both hands cuffed to their respective sides of the headboard. The victim's feet were tied to the footboard with two red pieces of silk. Grissom snapped off several shots of the victim from every conceivable angle. Only then did Grissom kneel beside the bed, gently opening the victim's eyelids, noting the petechial hemorrhages indicative of aphyxiciation. "Looks like he was suffocated", he commented, as much to himself as to Brass. He followed down the victims face noticing some reddish marks around the victim's nostrils. "Bad cold", Brass asked referring to the redness. Grissom shrugged, snapping several pictures. He leaned his head to one side following multiple red raised welts, which extended across the victims chest. "Possible whip marks", he commented. "Yea Gil, that is why I said it looked like possible sex play gone bad", Brass said smiling. "Maybe, and maybe just a cover up", Grissom commented, looking up at Brass. He ran the UV light over the victim's chest looking for additional signs of bruising. He saw none. Grissom carefully searched the body for additional trace evidence, taking scrapings from beneath his fingernails. He also bagged a few stray hairs, several of which did not match the victim's hair color. He also found a loose fiber, which he also bagged and marked methodically. "Jim, help me untie him", he requested. The detective complied, and then helped turn the victim over. The two men found nothing significant under the victim. Grissom noted several additional whip marks on the victim's back. David the coroner entered. He sensed the CSI supervisor's quiet mood and got immediately to work. Using a thermometer to determine liver temperature and then assessing the presence of rigor, he said quietly, "looks like he has been dead about three hours." He did a brief external exam and looked up at Grissom who was waiting patiently. "From the petechial hemorrhages in his eyes I would guess he suffocated, but we will know more on autopsy. That is about all I can tell you now as far a COD goes. You ready for me to take him", he asked. Grissom nodded, bagging the silk ties that had bound the victim's hands. He bagged the cuffs that had bound the victim's hands. "These appear to be the real things", he said. Brass nodded his agreement.
Once the body was gone, Grissom worked the rest of the bedroom. Brass began to fill him in on the details of the scene so far. "Victim was found by the housekeeper this morning. She has a key and let her self in when he did not answer. Said she was on her way to the closet at the end of the hall to gather her cleaning supplies, when she passed his bedroom and found him this way. I have her waiting with an officer in the kitchen, figured you would want prints", he explained. "Yea, you figured right Jim", Grissom replied softly running the UV light over the bed, checking for signs of semen and blood. He found several areas, taking multiple samples.
Brass watched his friend and long time coworker work silently. He knew Gill was hurting ever since Sara had walked out of his life again. When he had left the first time, Grissom had been able to hold on to the hope that they would work things out. She would chase away whatever demons haunted her and be back again in his life. This time she had walked away, not even leaving a forwarding address or number to allow him to talk to her. He was not sure what had transpired between them, but knew her leaving had devastated Grissom. Gill would say little; only that he had not idea where she was. Gil had seemed listless, easily distracted, and despondent. He wished he could help but frankly did not know where to begin. Instead, he watched as his friend quietly threw himself into his work processing the crime scene. Although he was as efficient as usual, and obviously still outstanding in his job performance, it was obvious to Brass that Gil's heart just was not in the job at hand.
Grissom worked quietly focusing on the job at hand, pushing the thoughts he had had of Sara earlier. He had found it was best not to think about her. Frankly. it hurt too much. Besides, if he thought to long or too hard about their relationship, he found himself brooding silently, sinking deeper into depression. He found himself questioning his remarks he had made to her the last time he had seen her. She had questioned why the husband of a ventilator dependent victim of a rape had ended her life by shutting off her life support. She had questioned why he had just not spoken with the doctors or just left her. Grissom had replied, reflecting on their own situation, "Maybe he needed her to leave him". He had known he had not had the strength to end the relationship, but had believed ending it was best for them both. He had left the decision to her. She had taken the hint, been well aware of the meaning behind his words, packed her bags and walked out of his life. He had not known until after the fact that he had not really wanted that at all. Now he had nothing but work and it did not seem to hold the meaning it had for him before.
As he worked the scene further he found little else. He as about to call it quits when a small straw caught his eye. He immediately was reminded of another case involving sexual role-play, dominance verses submissiveness. He picked up the straw, and bagged it. He looked under the bed, suspecting he would find the other straw. It was nowhere to be found however. "Some sort of sex toy", Brass asked, watching Gill bag the straw. "Yea, I believe so", Grissom replied. "And you know this how", Brass asked. "Previous case", Grissom replied, thinking of his friend Lady Heather and his odd relationship with her. They had started as lovers, then ended up as only friends. It was an odd friendship at that, one laden with sexual tension. It was the kind of tension that could never develop into anything meaningful, but was present never the less. "I think I might have to pay a visit to an old friend", Grissom added as he packed up his gear and the collected evidence. "Lets talk to the housekeeper", he said ignoring Brass's raised eyebrows.