Chapter Seven
Early that evening, Nick walked with Iris into his favorite Tex-Mex restaurant, where he had a little surprise in store for her. As the hostess led them to a table be seated, Iris gulped in amazement to see someone she recognized quickly she was a huge secret fan of – Grissom. Also seated with Grissom were Warrick and Brass along with a stunningly attractive and statuesque red-haired woman, a younger 20-something man with spiky hair, and another equally attractive and lithe-appearing younger woman with long blonde hair.
Nick wasted no time in introducing Iris to the rest of the party. "Grissom, this is Iris King from the Dallas crime lab where she works as a CSI for Jerri Church, my ol' supervisor. On Grissom's right is our second-in-command, Catherine Willows. You've met Warrick and Brass already, especially Brass, right Jim? This is Greg Sanders, our newest graveyard CSI, and last but not least, Detective Sofia Curtis, who works cases with us and Brass frequently. Iris is here in town to visit me for a few days."
Iris gave them a small wave and a soft "hello" that was drowned out by a chorus of "glad to meet you, how ya doing, what's up and what's shaking." Nick moved to the next open seat and had Iris sit by him.
Their waitress came to take their drink and food orders.
"So, Iris, you're part of Jerri's crew? I've known her for several years, and that's how I heard about Nick. Frank Taylor is still the lab director I believe? How long have you been a CSI?" Grissom initiated the table conversation.
"Yes, Jerri's my supervisor and Frank is entombed as the director until the building collapses I think and I've been a CSI for two years now," Iris responded.
The waitress with a helper, returned promptly to distribute everyone's drinks and chips and hot sauce as an appetizer.
"I've gotta know how Nick got the nickname of Nickers?" Warrick suddenly asked as Nick rolled his eyes and looked heavenward.
"Well, he can fill you in on the gory details but it has to do with his coming back to Dallas to visit a year and a half ago. Amongst his itinerary to-do's was to squire a certain sheriff's deputy he'd had his eye on and he asked to borrow my Jeep since his rental car had a dead battery. I said sure and they were gone for my whole shift. When Nick returned the keys, I later found some, um, Victoria's Secret items left behind, so I dubbed him Nickers," Iris finished as laughter erupted around the table.
"I'll get you back, Iris," Nick grumbled at her but good-naturedly.
"What did you do before that?" Catherine then asked in a friendly way.
"I worked for the forensics lab doing autopsy reports for the medical examiner and continued doing that while I went back to college to be a CSI. Before that, I was a nurse for about 10 years," Iris replied. She could sense a strong intelligence and authority about Catherine that was wrapped up in a package that exuded sensuality as she discretely appraised her.
"You got family back in Dallas, like a husband and kids?" Greg queried as he munched on the tortilla chips and hot sauce.
"No, I've been widowed for several years and, sadly, no munchkins. I do have a tribe of nieces and nephews though back in Indiana where I'm from originally," Iris answered as Catherine found herself looking sympathetically at Iris now with this knowledge.
"Gee, Iris, sorry to hear about that," Warrick remarked.
"Yeah, that's a shock to hear," Greg agreed.
"Its ancient history now but it's what got me headed in the direction of becoming a CSI," Iris said lightly as she took a sip of ice tea and grimaced with such a sour expression she cracked everyone at the table up.
"Anything wrong?" Sofia queried as she looked at the tea she had to drink also.
"Nick, they call this sweet tea? I should go back there and show them how it's really made!" Iris exclaimed as she reached for ice water instead.
"Iris makes killer sweet tea which goes nuclear by day two and has its own octane rating. It's known far and wide in the Dallas crime lab as the equivalent of meth," Nick joked as Iris gave him a playful punch in the shoulder.
"Mr. Grissom, I think it's great your team gets together like this before shift or doing something outside of work. My team doesn't and I've tried repeatedly without success. As soon as it's the end of the shift, everyone's out the door ASAP," Iris commented with a hint of disappointment.
"Iris, don't call me mister, please. Everyone here calls me Grissom or Griss usually. Yeah, we have a tight team and did more before…," Grissom found he couldn't finish his thought as he glanced away for a moment.
Iris knew straight away this had to do with Sara and her heart went out to Grissom.
"Nick had mentioned that "America's Most Wanted" might do a second segment. I watched the first and had so hoped it would've brought you the break needed!" Iris said to Grissom.
"Natalie's case has been both a challenge and a drain for our team, Brass and Sofia, let alone that she's responsible for Sara's disappearance and the MCSK deaths," Grissom remarked as heads nodded in agreement all around the table.
"So Natalie's never mentioned anything more about Sara since you tried to talk to her the night she took her?" Iris queried with a curious look.
"No. She's under the care of a team of psyche doctors who for weeks now haven't been able to make any headway," Grissom replied with a sigh of exasperation.
"He's right, Iris! We've had to go back to our regular routine of cases but all the while it lingers about Sara. You made an observation that we're tight-knit and you're right. We've been together for several years as a team and it was hard enough going through Nick being kidnapped a couple of years ago," Warrick asserted firmly.
"Lord, I remember and it was so hard on his folks too. After they got back to Dallas, his father spoke with such pride about how the CSI team and detectives worked virtually non-stop to get Nick found. I can only imagine how difficult this was to deal with emotionally as well as professionally. I know if it happened to me I'd want a team like this trying to find me as well," Iris said in amazement as she grasped Nick's hand.
"I still say if I could just have Natalie alone for five, no, ten minutes she'd be singing like a canary," Brass growled.
"Jim, it seems they've run out of ideas as it is," Grissom said somewhat distantly.
"There has to be some way to draw her out of her shell," Sofia mused next to Iris.
"Grissom, have the doctors kept you updated about their treatment approaches?" Iris asked suddenly.
"Yeah, it's primarily medication or therapy sessions, but nothing has shown even remote efficacy," Grissom replied.
"What about play therapy?" Iris added.
"Play therapy? No, I haven't been told that it'd been tried. I'm somewhat familiar with what it is so what're your thoughts?" Grissom considered as he gave Iris an intense look.
"Nick's shared the highlights of the MCSK case with me via email and that Natalie's believed to have a delusional disorder and she's in a fantasy world where she sounds and acts like a young child," Iris said animatedly.
"That's correct, go on," Grissom said as his interest was piqued.
"Well, play therapy is classically employed with children under age 10 and gets them in a controlled setting to make known their experiences and feelings since play is frequently the way they communicate," Iris clarified. "So I wondered if they'd tried play therapy to reach Natalie since that's how she sees herself currently."
"Griss, it's worth a try," Catherine said excitedly.
"Yeah, Bugman, even if it's a long shot!" Warrick agreed.
"I think the same," Nick joined in.
"Grissom, come on, anything that could make a break," Greg encouraged with a thumbs up sign.
"Gil, I don't have much faith in this psychobabble crap, but if there's a snowball's chance in hell…" Brass added his two cents.
"I'm with Brass," Sofia voiced her support.
"First thing in the morning, I'll check into it with the lead psychiatrist!" Grissom promised.
"I'd love to hear more about Sara! Could you each tell me something, humorous or otherwise?" Iris asked.
"Let me start off, Sara and I had this case where we both were possibly exposed to toxic mold and got dragged out of the crime scene by a HAZMAT team and then thrown together into a shower…" Greg replied as he began the round as each person at the table had a special story of Sara to share.
