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Trial Disappearances
A day had passed and Justice Malcolm Danes was hearing the trial of James Ritchard regarding the murder of Lorraine Kelly.
"And does the defence have any questions for Doctor Robbins?"
"Yes Your Honour, Doctor Robbins, can you clarify the fatal wound of the victim?" said Ritchard's lawyer, a man by the name Frank Libkis.
"Yes, the wound that killed Lorraine Kelly was a gunshot wound, caused by a .22 calibre bullet fired from the gun that my associate will bring in, in a few moments." Al Robbins replied.
"And you can confirm that this gun was the gun used to fire the bullet used to kill Miss Kelly?"
"I can, the striations on the surface of the bullet matched those created by the gun on a test bullet. Striation marks are as unique as fingerprints, every gun leaves a different mark."
"Thank you Doctor Robbins, that's all the questions we have for now."
"Thank you Mr Libkis, I would now like to call in Mr Greg Sanders." Said the Judge motioning to a security guard posted by the courtroom door.
The guard stepped outside into the familiar corridor, he looked to the left and called: "Mr Greg Sanders!" No reply. He looked to the right and called again: "Mr Greg Sanders!" looking puzzled, as he had seen the young spiky haired CSI only a short while ago. The guard stepped back inside the courtroom and announced:
"No response after two calls, Your Honour." Nick and Sara who were watching the trial having done their bit, exchanged nervous glances, both of them had been with Greg before the trial, whilst they were awaiting their turns to be called to the stand, themselves and Doc Robbins had been there with him… The three of them had left one by one until Greg was left alone. The two CSIs dreaded the sentence that the Judge said next.
"If Mr Greg Sanders is unavailable to validate this evidence today, he has 72 hours in which to come forth and do so. If he does not validate this evidence within the time period then it shall be considered as void and Mr James Pritchard shall be a free man. We shall adjourn until 12pm Friday morning." 12pm Friday morning. That gave them slightly over 72 hours in which to find Greg and ask him why the hell he wasn't in the court. Nick, Sara and the Doc met up outside the courtroom, each with a similar expression, one of anxiety.
"Well he was definitely here when I went in, I remember he was sat over there on that couch!" Nick said pointing to a sofa in front of him.
"And he was here when I went in, we were having a little chat beforehand!" Sara continued.
"And I swear that the second before I went in I asked Greg if he was ok, he said yes and I went in. After that Sanders was on his own…" Robbins finished.
"Anything could have happened to him!" Sara said worriedly, her voice was getting louder.
"Come on I'm sure there's nothing to worry about, he erm, probably just went out to get some air…" Nick said trying to reassure Sara, but inside he knew that there would be no truth in what he had said. The three went outside into the early morning sunshine, looking in all directions, none could see Greg anywhere.
"OK I'm worried now, what if something bad's happened to him!" Sara said.
"Well we haven't even tried his cell phone yet, there's probably a rational explanation for all of this!" Nick said putting a hand on her shoulder.
"You're probably right," Sara said whilst dialling the number. It rang. And rang. After several rings straight to voicemail:
"Hey this is Greg Sanders, I'm not here right now so leave your name, number and a message and I'll get back to you." Greg's familiar voice frozen in time by the answerphone,
"Greg where the hell are you?! Get your ass back down to the lab now, we need to talk about a certain trial you've missed!" She cut the connection, with a wild look in her eyes turned to Nick and dragged him back to their Black Chevy Tahoe. And they made their way back to the lab in silence.
