Notes and Disclaimers are at the beginning of Chapter One.
Part Five - It Doesn't Look Good
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"Greg, it's hard to work with you staring over my shoulder."
Sanders backed off. "Sorry Margie…it's just…I'm not used to having other people working in my lab."
"I know...but with the sheriff being so itchy on this case I don't want to take any chances of having the case compromised. I know you wouldn't, but the more people working on this case, the more chance a defense attorney can claim that we decided to 'crunch evidence to fit a theory'."
Greg smiled at Margie's choice of words. "Quoting Grissom while investigating him?"
Margie shrugged as the machine finished its analysis of the DNA in the condom and the sample from Grissom. Greg pulled the results from the printer and handed it to Margie. She let him read over her shoulder.
"Damn it."
Margie shrugged. "It's not like this was unexpected, Greg. The condom was found at his bedside."
"Yeah, but it's hard to imagine Grissom with a sex life."
Margie looked at Greg. "Why? He's human and male, just like you."
"Yeah, but he's…Grissom"
Margie chuckled as she walked out of the lab. Everyone was seeing a new side of Grissom.
*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*
"Margie!"
Catherine's voice burst into Margie's contemplation of the evidence gathered from Grissom's home. The brunette looked up at Catherine. "What?" she practically snarled.
Catherine's head snapped back as if she had been hit. "Well, good morning to you too."
Margie sighed. "I'm sorry, Catherine…ever since the news of this case hit I've got your entire shift looking over my shoulder plus Ecklie trying to convince me to just let Vega arrest Grissom. I'm about to pull the fire alarm and evacuate the building so I can work in peace."
Catherine smiled. "Guess we're all riding you hard on this one. And I'm about to add to that. I read Vega's write up on Grissom's statement…did you notice anything odd about what Grissom said?"
"Other than he didn't remember much after stopping at the bar on the way home until he woke up with a gun in his hand and a dead woman in his bed?"
"Exactly."
"I'm ahead of you, Catherine. I already got blood and urine samples and ran them. He was no where near the legal definition of drunk, and I didn't find anything that could cause the amnesia he's describing." She handed Catherine the reports.
Staring at the reports, Catherine sat down heavily. "God, Margie, this isn't Grissom. I've known him for ten years - he could never do something like this!"
"Catherine…he'd been working on the Swenson case for three months, trying to create a profile to catch him."
"Yeah. We finally made the arrest last week."
"What if this is the one case that he couldn't let go?" At Catherine's noise of protest, Margie held up her hand. "We've all seen it, Cath. The bodies, the senseless violence, the helplessness of living victims and the families…it gets to people and they burn out. I can't tell you how many cases like that I worked when I was in Dallas. How people handle it is as different as their personalities. Some quit, some suicide, and some…just snap."
Catherine nodded. She'd seen it before, as well.
"Grissom's been in the death-investigation field since he was, what, 22? That's almost a quarter of a century, Catherine. A long time…and you know how few outlets he has outside the job."
Catherine let out a sigh. "You've got a point, but I still don't think that's what happened here."
Margie smiled sympathetically. "You're his friend, Catherine. I'm just a colleague. All I can do is analyze the evidence. And the evidence just doesn't look good for Grissom. His prints were on the gun, the trace analysis and the NAA both show he held and fired the gun. It's his service weapon. Sam and I talked to people at the bar - they remember him coming in and ordering a beer. They remember the woman striking up a conversation with him, and the two of them leaving together. I found three sets of fingerprints in his house - his, the victim's, and yours. Only his and the victim's were in the bedroom. The condom with his DNA was on the floor. The autopsy showed the victim had sex less than an hour before she died. He can't tell us anything about that night - or he won't tell us anything about it. All of this is pointing to Grissom being the killer."
Catherine was silent as Margie laid out the evidence. The day shift CSI was right. The evidence was against Gil. She started as Margie leaned forward to touch her arm. Margie's eyes were troubled.
"Catherine…I have to file my report with the sheriff. You know he's going to say we've got probable cause to arrest Grissom."
*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*
Part Five - It Doesn't Look Good
*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*
"Greg, it's hard to work with you staring over my shoulder."
Sanders backed off. "Sorry Margie…it's just…I'm not used to having other people working in my lab."
"I know...but with the sheriff being so itchy on this case I don't want to take any chances of having the case compromised. I know you wouldn't, but the more people working on this case, the more chance a defense attorney can claim that we decided to 'crunch evidence to fit a theory'."
Greg smiled at Margie's choice of words. "Quoting Grissom while investigating him?"
Margie shrugged as the machine finished its analysis of the DNA in the condom and the sample from Grissom. Greg pulled the results from the printer and handed it to Margie. She let him read over her shoulder.
"Damn it."
Margie shrugged. "It's not like this was unexpected, Greg. The condom was found at his bedside."
"Yeah, but it's hard to imagine Grissom with a sex life."
Margie looked at Greg. "Why? He's human and male, just like you."
"Yeah, but he's…Grissom"
Margie chuckled as she walked out of the lab. Everyone was seeing a new side of Grissom.
*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*
"Margie!"
Catherine's voice burst into Margie's contemplation of the evidence gathered from Grissom's home. The brunette looked up at Catherine. "What?" she practically snarled.
Catherine's head snapped back as if she had been hit. "Well, good morning to you too."
Margie sighed. "I'm sorry, Catherine…ever since the news of this case hit I've got your entire shift looking over my shoulder plus Ecklie trying to convince me to just let Vega arrest Grissom. I'm about to pull the fire alarm and evacuate the building so I can work in peace."
Catherine smiled. "Guess we're all riding you hard on this one. And I'm about to add to that. I read Vega's write up on Grissom's statement…did you notice anything odd about what Grissom said?"
"Other than he didn't remember much after stopping at the bar on the way home until he woke up with a gun in his hand and a dead woman in his bed?"
"Exactly."
"I'm ahead of you, Catherine. I already got blood and urine samples and ran them. He was no where near the legal definition of drunk, and I didn't find anything that could cause the amnesia he's describing." She handed Catherine the reports.
Staring at the reports, Catherine sat down heavily. "God, Margie, this isn't Grissom. I've known him for ten years - he could never do something like this!"
"Catherine…he'd been working on the Swenson case for three months, trying to create a profile to catch him."
"Yeah. We finally made the arrest last week."
"What if this is the one case that he couldn't let go?" At Catherine's noise of protest, Margie held up her hand. "We've all seen it, Cath. The bodies, the senseless violence, the helplessness of living victims and the families…it gets to people and they burn out. I can't tell you how many cases like that I worked when I was in Dallas. How people handle it is as different as their personalities. Some quit, some suicide, and some…just snap."
Catherine nodded. She'd seen it before, as well.
"Grissom's been in the death-investigation field since he was, what, 22? That's almost a quarter of a century, Catherine. A long time…and you know how few outlets he has outside the job."
Catherine let out a sigh. "You've got a point, but I still don't think that's what happened here."
Margie smiled sympathetically. "You're his friend, Catherine. I'm just a colleague. All I can do is analyze the evidence. And the evidence just doesn't look good for Grissom. His prints were on the gun, the trace analysis and the NAA both show he held and fired the gun. It's his service weapon. Sam and I talked to people at the bar - they remember him coming in and ordering a beer. They remember the woman striking up a conversation with him, and the two of them leaving together. I found three sets of fingerprints in his house - his, the victim's, and yours. Only his and the victim's were in the bedroom. The condom with his DNA was on the floor. The autopsy showed the victim had sex less than an hour before she died. He can't tell us anything about that night - or he won't tell us anything about it. All of this is pointing to Grissom being the killer."
Catherine was silent as Margie laid out the evidence. The day shift CSI was right. The evidence was against Gil. She started as Margie leaned forward to touch her arm. Margie's eyes were troubled.
"Catherine…I have to file my report with the sheriff. You know he's going to say we've got probable cause to arrest Grissom."
*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*