A/N - O.K, here's offering number two. This story is going slowly but there is a reason for that. Hope you enjoy.

Rain

Chapter 2

(C) CSI Dork 2009

The witness' eyes were wide and his mouth turned up slightly at the corners as he shook slightly, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. As morbid as his excitement appeared, she could understand his reaction. The adrenaline rush from falling into a small crater in the ground containing human remains was bound to incite slightly mad behaviour in even the coolest of characters. Not to mention the fact he couldn't have been more than twenty one years of age, still studying in college and the number of poor uninterested women he was likely to try and impress with his tale the next time he hit the student bar.

She sighed and cleared her throat giving the man a signal that his rapid recall of the events leading up to his discovery were unnecessary in the immense detail he was providing and not helping her in getting back into the warmth of the police station any time soon. He stopped talking and exhaled a large sigh of relief as though he were trying to calm himself.

'So, you were trying to get in shape to impress this…Andrea?' she clarified impatiently.

'Angela' he corrected with a love sick sigh. 'She's so hot.' His eyes took on a glazed look as he undressed her with his imagination.

'Yeah, whatever. So you were out jogging at…' she checked her watch and did the math. '…one in the morning?'

He looked at her blankly as though it were the most normal thing to be doing at such an early hour. Slowly his facial expression changed in realisation. 'Oh, yeah, I work nights over at MacDonald's and decided to run home.'

'Ok, so then what?' she questioned, making no attempt to hide her disinterest in his lame life, despite being a student once herself. A long time ago she thought briefly before asking him to repeat what he had just said given that she had momentarily gotten lost in an unpleasant memory and had taken no notice at all.

'I was running…'

'We've established that. To impress Anita…'

'Angela.'

'Whatever.'

'Anyway one minute I was running, the next I'm down a hole face to face with that.' He jerked his head slightly towards the crime scene.

'And you didn't see anyone else?'

He shook his head.

'Ok, if we need you for anything else we'll be in touch.' She sighed as he nodded and walked away, whipping his cell phone from his jeans pocket.

'Dude, you will not believe what just happened to me….' His voice trailed off as he got further away.

How nice that people could be so predictable, she thought sardonically before the invisible scar of another old memory throbbed for the briefest of moments. If only she had possessed the same ability to read people back then. Life would be so different, she would be so different.

Shaking lingering raindrops from her brunette hair she shivered at the cold. Something about miserable weather and crime scenes always brought her mood down, left her procrastinating over that which could not be changed.

She flipped her notebook closed and shoved it roughly into the pocket of her coat with another sigh. Cases like this were not easy to solve especially in weather like this. She ran her hand through her hair and tried to squeeze out the rain as she wondered when she became such a cynic. She had assisted in achieving convictions on tougher cases than this before.

'Hey,' she was pulled from her thoughts by a slightly familiar voice. Looking up she realised it was the younger CSI.

'Hi,' she muttered in response, hoping this was not going to be as mundane as the conversation she had just had with the college student.

'I'm Greg Sanders, CSI, you're the new girl in town huh?'

She raised an eyebrow disapprovingly at his use of the term 'girl'. His bright, expectant expression dissolved and she saw him begin to mentally attempt to back track.

'Sorry, figure of speech, obviously you're not a girl. I mean, lady, woman, you know, you're new to the department and I just wanted to –'

Unable to bear watching him suffer any longer, as amusing as it was becoming, she stretched out her hand and introduced herself.

'Rachel Rockwell, detective,'

'Nice to meet you,' Greg seemed to have relaxed a little as he accepted her handshake.

'So, what do we have so far?' Rachel asked, turning and heading towards the cordoned off crater.

She could hear the squelch of his trainers in the mud as he quickened his pace to keep up with her stride. All she could think of was getting back in the warmth, typing up her reports and getting an ID on the body. Time seemed to be dragging today and everything was an irritation - including the over zealous CSI who was, once again, rambling on but was not succeeding in telling her very much. Bones buried in a shallow grave, she could have deduced that one herself!

'Is there anything unusual about the remains?' she finally asked, stopping so abruptly that he collided with her.

'Sorry,' he mumbled, awkwardly.

Before she could think of a sarcastic comeback, they were interrupted by the arrival of the oldest of the CSI's, a man she knew by reputation alone. His face wore a weary but focussed look as he carefully manoeuvred the treacherous wet ground towards them.

Rachel looked at him and smiled, reaching her hand out to shake his.

'Mr Grissom, it's an honour to meet you. I've heard a lot about your work, I'm interested to see if the rumours do you justice,' she said.

'Likewise Ms Rockwell, I understand you have quite a high record of successfully solved cases yourself,' Grissom countered. 'I hope your reputation isn't unfounded either.'

'It's not,' Rachel shot back confidently. She was not prone to boasting but she wasn't one to dither about being unrealistically modest either.

Beside them Greg let out a low whistle of incredulity. Grissom simply looked at him sternly. Greg cleared his throat and remained quiet. The sound of the hammering rain that had been driving down constantly all night began to lighten somewhat and added an air of hope to the atmosphere.

'In answer to your question, define unusual. This is Las Vegas,' Grissom began, leading the way towards the edge of the crater where two more CSI's carefully dug around the bones. 'A normal case is unusual.'

'So is this case any different?' Rachel asked confused by his ambiguous response. Was he simply enlightening her as to how things were different here in Sin City or was he suggesting something was off about these bones?

'Take a closer look, see for yourself,'

Grissom gestured towards the bones which were now much more visible. Upon her first glance, Rachel had seen only the skull, neck and shoulders. In just over an hour the CSI team had unearthed a much larger portion of the skeleton. She scanned the area with her eyes, looking for whatever Grissom had discovered.

'I'd say missing hands were unusual,' Grissom said. 'Wouldn't you?'

Rachel ignored the gasp she heard fall from her lips as she stared at the skeleton beneath them. The radius and ulna bones of each arm were twisted at unsightly angles where the hands had clearly been hacked off in a less than delicate manner.

A crack of lightning lit up the eerie sight for a split second as Rachel felt an ice cold swell run through her. The rain that had threatened to lighten up suddenly felt heavier and colder with each drop that struck her as she remained frozen to the spot.

'Ms Rockwell, are you alright?' Grissom asked his tone suspicious.

Unsure whether she was answering his question or just vocalising her own terrified realisation, she spoke aloud.

'He's back.'

Thunder rumbled overhead.