Chapter 27

Detective Sam Grant stood with his hands dug into his pockets. His eyes were fixed on the night sky as the hustle and bustle of the crime scene started to build with more activity. He sighed with frustration and turned his head to the blue Tahoe as it pulled up.

"What have we got?" Grissom asked as he approached the crime scene tape.

Sam looked at the body on the ground. "A bit of a mystery. No wallet, id, clothes or any sign of a vehicle in close proximity."

As the young detective gave a run down of the findings so far, Grissom lifted the tape for Sara to walk under before following her. Sam pointed to the detectives that were first on the scene and explained that they were driving down the back road and came across a pack of wolves hoarding around something. It got their attention and scared them off when they saw a human hand.

Sara nodded in agreement to the findings and looked up at Grissom. "The bite marks and scratches coexist with wolves."

Grissom moved around the body from a distance as he looked down at the ground. He sighed and directed his next words to the detective. "I want everyone that was near this body to stay." He looked up. "I want shoe prints, finger prints and statements from each person."

"That's nearly 4 officers and 2 paramedics." Sam exclaimed in disbelief that he was going to be talking for hours to get everything Grissom wanted.

Sara stood from her crouched position and took the camera from Grissom as he held it out to her. "You better get started." Sam huffed in protest and turned to corral everyone together. Grissom crouched down a few feet away and waited for Sara to finish photographing the surrounding areas and processing what seemed like little evidence that was on the ground.

The coroner's van pulled up and two young men walked up to the tape. Grissom looked up and shook his head as he pointed at their feet. "We're not ready yet, so stay there and you can take him in ten minutes." He ordered.

"I got a second transfer and skin under his finger nails, Gil." Sara informed him as she continued to scrape under the victim's nails.

"Should give us a starting point. That could be the killer or the assailant." He said as he set out case identifiers and time cards. "You think Kate will want to be a CSI, Sara?" He asked suddenly.

Sara closed the flap over the small brown envelope she held and placed it into her pocket. "Maybe." She smiled at him as he looked up with a small grin. "She might be a teacher though." She added lightly as she pulled the digital camera from her case and took some location shots from the body.

"When she goes to college, you think she'll be obsessed with physics as you were and still are?" He asked with a teasing smile.

"I hope so." Sara laughed quietly. She stood up and looked over the body one last time. "You want to familiarise yourself before they take him?"

Grissom nodded and stood. He looked around him first before approaching the body and inspecting it closely. After the coroner's left, Sara continued to process the area beneath the body. She photographed and collected a few fibre's and hairs that were mingled with the soil. Grissom leaned over to his case and pulled out a small container. Sara was crouched beside him as he scooped up some soil and twisted the lid back on.

"Let's go. Nothing left." He announced as they both stood.

Sam walked over to them with a hand full of card and a hand full of statement sheets. "I got names, details, footprints and fingerprints. Statements are in there too." He pushed the card pile into the large brown envelope Sara held open while Grissom took the statements and placed them in an envelope of it's own. "I'll meet you at the station in two hours."

"Hopefully we'll have something for you Sam." Sara smiled kindly as the detective nodded and turned away.