Second Chances #4

Unsaid Things

Nick shut off the ignition when they reached the parking lot. "So what's the game plan?" he asked his wife.

"I figure we'll keep it quiet as long as possible. That doesn't mean we need to lie, though. If someone starts asking questions, we'll answer them."

"I bet Greg finds out first."

She smiled. "It wouldn't surprise me."

Nick grabbed his sunglasses from the visor and slipped them into his jacket pocket. Warrick was coming out the doorway and that probably meant they were going back to the crime scene. The man greeted Sara before she went inside.

"Yo, man, you up for a drive?" Warrick asked.

"Everyday," Nick replied.

"Good. We'll use my car."

"I knew you were going to say that."

Sara headed to Grissom's office and was pleased to see he was actually there. Catherine sat in front of his desk. They both turned to look when she opened the door.

"Sara," Grissom said, "come in. Catherine is going to be joining us on our case. She says the boys have the other one handled."

"Sounds fine to me," Sara responded.

"So where are you on this whole thing?" Catherine asked.

"I've almost finished the bug timeline, but that isn't going to give us much. I need you two to return to the crime scene and make sure we haven't missed anything," Grissom said.

The two females left the room and exited the building. "Do you want to drive?" Catherine asked.

Sara wanted to say yes, but she knew that her sickness was unpredictable and she didn't want to cause an accident by vomiting. "No, you can."

They entered the Denali and Catherine's first instinct was to turn the heat on. "It's chilly tonight," she said.

"Yeah," Sara agreed.

"So where exactly is this place?"

Nick and Warrick arrived at the scene to find that Greg had beaten them there. The young man sat on the stoop drinking a cup of coffee, no doubt his famous Blue Hawaiian.

"Hey Nick," he said when he saw them move up the driveway, "how is Sara feeling?"

"Fine," the Texan answered. He was certain Greg would know by the end of the day. "Where should we start?"

"Let's take the inside first; that's where the main evidence is," Warrick said.

"Okay," said Catherine, "what are we looking for?"

"The body was found in between those trees with a .45 caliber gun about three feet away. Grissom thinks we missed something under all the leaves."

"He didn't say anything specific?"

"Nope. Just that we'd know when we find it," Sara said.

They walked up the hill slowly, carefully looking before they took each step. Catherine snapped on her gloves as they neared the sight and began to crouch down. She covered her nose with her arm.

"Wow, you can still smell it. How long ago were you guys out here?"

Sara scanned the line of trees. "About four days ago, I think. There's no reason for it to smell like this."

Catherine stood as if something had just caught her eye. "I think I found your reason." She pointed to a tree a few yards off. A body hung from one of its lower branches. "Tell me that wasn't here all this time."

"It couldn't have been," Sara said. She tried to plug her nose, but it was too late; her brain had fully recorded the scent. She scurried down the hill and made it to the car before heaving all over the road.

Catherine was at her side not long after and handed her friend a water bottle from the car. "Did you eat something funny? I've never known you to throw up from a smell."

Sara swished the water around her mouth and spit it on the ground. "That must be it. Nick cooked this morning and sometimes he makes it spicier than my stomach can handle."

Catherine put a hand to Sara's forehead. "Well, you don't have a fever. Do you think you can handle processing?"

"I'll be fine in a few minutes. You go along ahead. I'll call it in."

"See you up the hill." The earth was moist and Catherine wished she hadn't worn the stiletto heels. As she got higher she wished she hadn't bought them in the first place.

Sara flipped open her phone and dialed dispatch to inform them of the new body. Her next call was to Grissom. "Hey, Griss…No, we didn't find any new evidence, but we found another body…Catherine's up checking it out right now…Yeah, I already called it in…Okay, we'll wait for him." She clicked off, took another drink of the water, and began to climb the hill.

Catherine was circling the body, but not touching it because the coroner had not yet arrived. "You call it in?" she asked.

"Yeah. Dispatch is sending some uniforms and Grissom is sending Greg."

"Alright. Well, we might as well keep looking for things in the old scene. We don't need David's clearance for that."

With gloves on, the girls examined piles of leaves to insure there was nothing hiding underneath. They were only a quarter of the way through and had discovered nothing when Greg came up.

"How's it going, ladies?"

"Not so well," Sara said, "Grissom wants us to find something, but we don't know what."

"That's Grissom for you," said Catherine.

"Well, now that I've come to your rescue we will finish twice as fast," Greg said and grinned.

Catherine chuckled and went back to processing. Sara moved on to an area opposite her and Greg followed.

He got close and said in a low whisper, "Sara, are you feeling okay? It looked like someone lost their stomach contents in the road back there."

She groaned. "I can't believe I didn't wash that up."

"Don't worry," he said, "I did. What happened?"

"Nothing," she replied, "I've just been a little under the weather. I told you that yesterday."

"No, you said you were tired and had to clean. There's a difference."

"Well today," she added, "I have Nick's cooking as well. The man likes his spicy foods."

"I'll have to reprimand him for that," Greg said before heading off to examine the seemingly endless cover of leaves.

Next time on Second Chances: Someone finds out about Sara's secret and a person from the past makes a return.

Thanks for all the reviews. You guys are awesome and really know how to make my day. Nick fan and CSIFan4Life, you were right; Mike will make another appearance or so. Please let me know what you thought.