Please show me some love!! Via Reviews!! I still don't own CSI, dang it!! BTW, in the 1st chapter, where it says that the second crime involved 4 Vics; its only one. I messed up typing and didn't catch it.
Chapter 4: Paint it Red
Gil Grissom sat at his desk, examining the pronged weapon for what seemed to be the billionth time. He turned it over in his hands, carefully scrutinizing every square inch; making sure that there were absolutely no prints that had been missed. Finding none, he sat back and continued to watch the PGA tour on his small TV screen…at least until Conrad Ecklie barged into his office.
"Can I help you, Conrad?" He asked, looking up with an annoyance in his eyes that wasn't conveyed by his voice.
"You can tell me why the hell you haven't brought the one suspect you do have in the Sanders case in for questioning!" Ecklie retorted, not missing a beat.
Looking over the top of his glasses, Grissom replied simply, "See for your self."
As he motioned to the television, which was still on golf; Ecklie grew furious and stormed out of the office, nearly trampling an aloof Sara in the process.
"Jackass." Sara muttered once she was sure that he was out of earshot.
Before Sara could continue her gloomy, almost zombie like procession down the crime lab corridors; head buried in the Sander's case file, Grissom beckoned her.
"Sara." He called, waving her in. The concern that plucked through the soft chords of his mellow voice told Sara that she was about to receive a lecture.
"Grissom, don't you have a case to work on?" Sara asked, stalling the inevitable and hoping she wouldn't get a lecture.
"Yes, I'm working the Sanders case, everyone is. I passed off the "jumper" to day shift so every one would be free to work this case." Sara raised a weary eyebrow at him.
"Then why were you watching the suspect on the golf channel?"
"Sara, I didn't call you in here for social hour. I called you in here to talk you into taking a break. Go home…for at least a day." Grissom said almost pleading with her even though his expression remained stern.
Sara's expression hardened. "Grissom, this case is personal for all of us. I'm not going home until we find out who killed Greg's family!" She snapped
Grissom merely looked at her calmly…as though he were examining one of his bugs.
"Sara, you of all people should know that I am not blind. I can see that you love him; we all see it, but you're hurting yourself trying to help him." Grissom paused to wipe his glasses. "you haven't slept in almost three days, you're running on coffee, and for the past day you've had bags under your eyes with enough luggage in them to go to Europe. You need sleep Sara." Grissom lectured, being careful not to push any buttons.
"I'm not leaving." Sara said firmly, bloodshot brown eyes locking on tired green eyes. Grissom sighed in exasperation at his stubborn pupil.
"Then at least go take a nap in the break room. I'll have Catherine alert you if anything new turns up." Grissom said, putting an end to the argument.
"And Sara…" he said as she step through the threshold "I like to watch golf."
"You paged?" a certain redhead celled walking into the DNA lab. Standing behind a lab table, Wendy Simms replied. "Yes, I did."
"So…what's the news?" Catherine asked anxiously. She, like the rest of night shift, had become accustomed to dead ends and serious lack of evidence in this case.
"You know that carpet you ripped up from the scene?" Wendy asked conversationally
Catherine nodded. "Yeah, there was a lot of blood on that thing."
"Not as much as you think." Wendy replied with an 'I know something you don't.' look on her face.
"What do you mean!? I was there, I saw the carpet." Catherine stammered incredulously.
"What carries oxygen throughout the body, contains leukocytes, and turns brown when dry?" Wendy riddled
"Blood." Catherine answered, unsure of where this was going.
"Now, what's red, comes in acrylic and tempera, and costs about ten bucks a can at most hard ware stores?"
"Red…paint?" Catherine stammered walking over to the carpet.
"You got it. I checked with Robbins and the vics all wore size thirteen men's. Every one of these paint prints is a size eleven men's shoe." Wendy explained.
"Yeah, and they're all the same tread, which means one killer." Catherine said lifting one of the prints from the carpet.
"Thanks Wendy." Catherine said, as she strode out the doors to go find Sara.
Greg lay in his hospital bed, struggling to find a comfortable position so he could sleep. Suddenly, he was jolted out of his drowsy state by a wave of electricity surging through his body. He looked up and saw a black hooded figure and screamed the first name that came to mind.
"SARA!! HELP ME!! SARA!!" He continued to scream and cry in agony as he clawed at the cloaked figure.
"SARA!! Sara…wake up." Greg's screams gave way to Catherine's as Sara was pulled from her worst nightmare. Subconsciously, she clung to Catherine like she was a raft in the middle of a river.
"Bad dream?" Catherine asked, wiggling out of the tight grip and straightening her green blouse.
"Yeah, how'd you guess?" Sara asked, raising an eyebrow
"You were clawing in your sleep and screaming bloody murder for Greg." Catherine replied, smiling knowingly at the younger woman.
"Anyway, we've got a break through. Wendy found prints on that carpet we ripped up, and get this…they were paint prints. The killer painted over all of his foot prints."
"Sweet! Let's go see if we can get a shoe brand!" Sara perked up and practically bolted out the door, leaving a chuckling Catherine in her dust.
I'm sorry if the ending seems a little abrupt. I just didn't know how to end this chapter. Anyway, please R & R!!
