Jealousie, 2/?

Author: Evelyn Chung (aka Evie)  evelynee_c@yahoo.com

Archival: Go ahead.

Author's note, disclaimer: Big thank to Devanie and Kasey!!! CSI is not mine, blah, blah, blah. My creations are ….,, including one Ivan Katz. I know I promised S/G UST, and here it is…sorry for the slow update, but real life is not an easy deal either. The song Sara hummed is Joni Mitchell's "All I Want" from the album "Blue" --- not mine either. I made up that little tech talk Grissom did with Sara, but I think it was not too far away from latest development in forensic physics. I made up International Journal of Forensic Physics, too. They really should have one in real life. Physics rocks.

Grissom out of character? Maybe a bit, but he was very tired from the flight and he did not have coffee..

Please R&R --- deeply appreciated!

Chapter 2

Realizing that anything on the craft counter could be crucial evidence, Sara rushed over and started planning her next move.  Having taken photos before she bagged those sugar, vanilla and chocolate powder bottles, Sara now carefully laid out rectangular grids on the top of the counter, and tape-lifted every single grains of powder and finger prints, one grid by another. Her eyes fixed on her job, and her delicate hands worked gracefully.

Nick was dusting the entire washroom for figure prints after he discovered the white powders.  Knowing that his team was focusing on their jobs, Grissom walked around the coffee shop. The wood theme of the shop and the soft dim lights made him sleepy especially after a long flight from New York, but he knew that he had to be awake.  The tempting fragrance of coffee still immersed every cubic centimeter of the room, but it would be wrong if he asked for a cup of coffee from this coffee house --- the crime scene. It would be tempering with evidences, he thought with amusement.  Behind the counter, Brass was questioning a boy, who was wearing awkward uniform hat and apron. Glancing Grissom, Brass called out for him. "Griss, take a rest, go home; you look tired. Sara and Nick have the crime scene under their control."

Grissom sighed. Sara and Nick started without him, and they seemed to be able to handle the scene without him too. He trusted the capability of his crew. "Thank you, Jim," he nodded to Brass. "I will see you tomorrow."

 Grissom walked quietly back to Sara. Her serene face still concentrated on her task; her voice slowly collected a melody, flowing calmly, softly in the noisy coffee house.

" I am on a lonely road and I am traveling
Traveling, traveling, traveling
Looking for something, what can it be?"

He always loved to hear Sara singing. Singing was a sign of Sara's brain at work; she only hummed when she was one hundred percent into her work. Besides her perfect pitches and soft tone, there was something about her singing, perhaps the expression of her free spirit, which moved Grissom all the time. Quietly he stood next to a disposal bin close to the craft counter, without disturbing Sara, seeing how the lights bouncing on her hair, and observing her work.

Sensing Grissom stood next to her, Sara stopped humming. Still focusing on her tasks, Sara asked, without turning her head. "How was the conference in New York?"

Her question caught Grissom off guard when he was admiring Sara's graceful movement in the soft dimming light. Retrieving his gazing eyes even though Sara was not looking at his way, Grissom cleared his throat. "It was great," he answered, with a smile "They demonstrated new applications in Forensic Physics using different wavelengths of laser rays to find latent finger prints on cloths and papers, combining a CCD highly sensitive in those specific wavelengths…"

Sara stopped her work in her hands, turned around to Grissom, with a big smile on her face, "...and the CCD is commonly used only in astronomy until recently. International Journal of Forensic Physics, last December."

"I knew you would like that," said Grissom, pleased to see Sara's sparkling eyes shinning because of his words. He had expected the reaction since he thought of reporting the finding to Sara during the conference.  "I will bring you to the conference next year."

"Will I have to share a seat with your insects samples?"

"If you insist." He answered with a smile; Sara chuckled lightly. She always found his untimely sense of humor extremely amusing, sometimes even shocking. Usually Grissom would start with seemingly unrelated facts regarding the case --- a story from Sun Tzu, a quote from Buddha, or a line from any Shakespeare's plays. She could always find the relations between them like snapping fingers and giggled in her mind till she saw Nick or Warrick's blank faces. She remembered what he said at the hockey rink. Beauty… since he met her. What would that mean still bothered her every time he made her laugh, like a shadow of confusion. Sara gave him a toned-down smile, trying to suppress the chuckling. She turned back to her tape-lifting task. "so, Brass had sent you home?"

"Yeah, " said Grissom. Something in the disposal bin caught his attention; it was one of those paper coffee cup holders that could hold four cups at the same time. He bended down and reached in the bin.

"You need the rest, Griss. We can take it from here." Sara said, hearing the disturbance from the bin. She turned around. "Grissom?"

Grissom stood there, holding the coffee holder. Sara figured it out before Grissom could speak. "There may be residuals of poison and the suspect on it. Evidence. I am bagging it."

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Interrogation Room

"State your name and birthday." Brass asked the boy from the coffee house. The boy had acne that made everybody wonder if modern medicine was still not enough; his hair was intentionally gelled, but was pressed into a funny shape by the uniform hat from the coffee house. His long hands and legs always seemed to be in the wrong places. He nervously shrugged his shoulders and cleared his throat.

"Ivan Katz; July Fifteenth, Nineteen Eighty Two."

"What is your job at Desert Ground Coffee?"

"I make coffee and take orders at the counter." Ivan was scared. He had never been in a police station before, not to mention the interrogation room. He nervously looked at the huge mirror on one wall beside him. Those cop shows always had mirrors like that, he thought, and there were people seeing everything from the other side. Maybe this was all a conspiracy, some government experiments that accidentally killed Gracie….

"How do you know Grace Finley?"

"We were in the same classes, in Coupland College. She was a very nice girl…"

Nick looked into Ivan's eyes; somehow he felt sorry for this little nervous nerd. "Ever tried to ask her out?"

Ivan was embarrassed, "Yeah, but she said she already had a boyfriend in Stanford."

"Stanford," Nick said, "This boyfriend of hers is somethin', hum? Somebody you can never live up to?"

"I don't even know if that's a real boyfriend or not. She was always with Neil…" Ivan sensed the accusation in the stall air of the room. He was panicked. "No, no, if you were saying that I killed Gracie, I didn't!"

"You could not get the girl, and you served coffee; motivation plus chances, you know what we are saying," Brass said.

"No, I didn't do it," Ivan said with determination, "I didn't even know Gracie was in the coffee house till she passed out! It was her friend who ordered the coffee. I didn't even take her order."

"How did you know she was Gracie's friend?" Brass asked

"I saw her visiting Gracie once. Playing badminton."

"Did she recognize you when she was at the counter?"

"I don't know, maybe," Ivan said, with a scared tone. "I felt her staring at my back. That's why I saw her. That woman gives me creeps."

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