:II:
Grissom's Decision
The phone rang again for Tuesday at about
five o'clock the next morning.
"Hello?"
"Tuesday? You sound like you just woke up.
I hope I didn't wake you up..." It was Grissom.
Tuesday sighed, shifting her weight onto
her elbow. "Oh no, I always wake up at five in the morning, even if I got home
at three the previous night."
"Tuesday Haskle, what are we going to do
with you?" A sigh. "I listened to the tape you left on my desk. I wanted to
talk to you about it rather than write a memo."
"And..."
"Well, she sounded very distraught."
"She was."
"I wanted to know what you though about it
all."
Tuesday sat up in bed, and her gray tabby
cat, Noko jumped into her lab. She proceeded to purr very loudly, hoping to get
Tuesday's attention. Tuesday pet the cat absent mindedly, thinking.
"Well, I thought she was going a little
overboard. Hm, well I guess she was being a little crazy, I mean everyone knows
that you have to wait at least twenty-four hours before calling the police, and
no one ever calls CSI. It's weird. She was also calling from Chicago. That
would mean it was after four in the morning there, and that's a really strange
time to be calling me. I shouldn't have even been in at two in the morning our
time." Tuesday's words were interrupted with a yawn.
Grissom took the opportunity to get in a
few words. "Tuesday, I know you haven't gotten a whole lot of sleep, but it
there any chance you can be in her by six?"
Tuesday shrugged. "Sure. I'll be right
over."
----
"Did you hear about my phone call last
night?" Tuesday asked Nick Stokes as she walked down the hall to her
office.
"Who hasn't? It's been circulating around
since I got here," Nick said.
Tuesday sighed. "Of course. I just hope
Gris doesn't want me to investigate it..."
"What's this 'me'? Its always 'us'
remember?"
Tuesday smiled softly. "I guess so. But
just wait, he's going to come in...in five, four, three, two, one..."
"Tuesday, can I impose on you again?"
Nick glanced at Tuesday, who flashed him a
satisfied smile as if to say I told you so.
Tuesday leaned back in her chair. "And what
might that be Gris?"
"Well, I was hoping that you and Nick would
investigate this."
Tuesday looked past Grissom to Nick, and
lifted an eyebrow, asking him what he thought mentally. Nick shrugged and
Tuesday looked back at Grissom.
"Fine."
"Great, I'll get you started right away.
You know this means that you need to Chicago sooner or later."
Tuesday nodded slowly. "Right."
Grissom left and Tuesday and Nick were left
in the office.
"So, what's the game plan, Tues?"
"Well we don't know anything about this
woman, so how about we look her up on the people database that we got with that
grant."
"Sounds like an idea. Do you have on this
computer?"
"Yeah. They got it up last month. I'm
thankful for that." She smiled and flipped the computer on.
"Okay," Nick said when the program was up,
"the name is Abby Lockheart."
Tuesday typed in "LOCKHEART, ABBY," and
5,000 results turned up.
"Damn," they both muttered.
"What's up?" Sara asked, wandering into
Tuesday's office.
"You heard about the 'crazy woman' who
called up last night," Tuesday said, looking up from the screen.
"Yeah..."
"Well, we're trying to find out something
about her. Want to join the search?"
"I have nothing better to do. Sure." She
perched on the radiator behind the desk. "Found anything yet?"
"Only about a million Abby Lockhearts,"
Tuesday said.
"5,000 to be exact," Nick added.
"Wow."
"Let's try searching just Chicago," Nick
suggested.
Everyone else in the room shrugged, and
soon the next set of results had come up:
LOCKHEART, ABIGAIL: AGE.3
LOCKHEART, ABBY: AGE.27 STUDENT AT LOYOLA UNIVERSITY
LOCKHERT, ABBY: AGE.31 OB/ER NURSE AT COUNTY GENERAL HOSPITAL
LOCKHEART, ABIGAIL: AGE.76 WATER AROBICS TEACHER
---END OF PAGE---
"You know, the scary thing is, we could
find anyone on here, and anyone could find us," Sara said. Nick and Tuesday
nodded in agreement.
"I heard the government scans everyone's
e-mails to find words like espionage and bomb. If they find it they read it,"
Tuesday said.
"Now that's scary," Nick said. "Which Abby
do you think it is?"
"Um, I'd say by the sound of the voice and
the time she called it was the third one down. The OB nurse," Tuesday said.
"What do you mean by the time of the call?"
Sara asked.
Tuesday shrugged. "Most college students
don't have time to call about someone because of the studying. At least not a
student at Loyola," she explained.
"Oh. Hey Nick, I want to see her bio."
"Got ya." He entered the biography.
LOCKHEART, ABBY WYSINSKI:
AGE.31 A NURSE AT CHICAGO'S COUNTY GENERAL HOSPITAL. MARRIED FOR A SHORT TIME
TO RICHARD LOCKHEART. NOW DIVORCED.
---END OF PAGE---
"Be interesting
to see what they have to say about us," Tuesday said. "I think I'm going to pay
a call to County General Hospital."
-----
"County General
ER, this is Randi, how can I help you?"
"Hello, my name
is Tuesday Haskle, and last night I received a call from Ms. Abby Lockheart. Is
she here by any chance?"
"I'll go see."
Tuesday put the
phone on speaker so Nick and Sara could hear.
"Miss Haskle?"
"Yes?"
"Abby is here,
I'll put her on the line."
"Thank-you."
Tuesday waited for another minute before the familiar voice from last night was
heard.
"Hello?"
"Abby
Lockheart? This is Tuesday Haskle."
"Have you found
Luka!?"
"No. But, we
are going to do a formal investigation. Could you possibly explain to us why
Luka was in Vegas?"
A sigh, then a
gulp. The woman was obviously fighting back tears. "Well...uh. He went there
for a convention. An emergency medicine convention. Doctor Weaver – the head of
emergency services here – was going to go, but she had a commitment to attend
at the last minute."
"What kind of
commitment?"
"Uh, a wedding
for two staff members. Anyway, he went to this convention and he never came
back."
"Where was he
staying?"
"Two days at
the Hyatt Regency. The rest of the time at the MGM Grand, where the convention
was held."
"How long was
'the rest of the time?'"
"Four days."
"Mmmm.
Thank-you for your help Ms. Lockheart. It will be valuable in our
investigation."
"I'd do
anything for Luka."
The
conversation ended and Tuesday turned to the other CSIs. "I think we're going
to need more than just Nick and I on this case."
-----
"Gris? Can I
see you for a second?" Tuesday asked, sticking her head into Grissom's office.
"Sure, what do
you need?"
"Well, I was
wondering if I could get some other people to help out on this case. I know you
and Cath are busy right now, but maybe Sara and Warric?"
"Why?"
"Well, I just
called Abby back, and Nick and I need to go to Chicago as you foresaw. But, we
need someone to investigate such things as the Medical convention Dr. Kovac was
at, as well as the hotels he occupied. Do you think I can get them to help?"
Grissom
surveyed the situation. He knew Sara and Warric could be doing better things,
but on the other hand, they might just be needed for the case. He smiled.
"Sure, but only if you and Nick go to Chicago tonight."
-----
"Flight 372 is
now arriving at Chicago O'Hare International Airport. Please remain seated
until the aircraft has come to a full and complete stop, then you may unfasten
your seat belts, and remove things from the overhead bins. Please remember that
items may shift during flight and be careful. Thank-you for flying Delta
airlines and we hope to see you very soon."
Nick and
Tuesday stepped out of the plane, and down the walkway to the airport.
Wordlessly, they gathered their baggage and walked outside to catch a taxi.
Tuesday glanced around. She had never been to the city before.
"So this is
Chicago."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I CREATED THE 'PEOPLE INDEX'. I KNOW SOMETHING LIKE THAT EXSISTS, BUT NOT EXACTLY LIKE THAT. SO PLEASE DON'T TELL ME THAT THINGY COULDN'T EXSIST!!!!