-II- TIMMY

The startling blue of the boys chest tattoo against the pale white skin of his small chest looked even more obscene in the halogen glow of lights above the autopsy table.

"Well, it's not a fresh tattoo." Dr. Robbins commented, more to himself than anyone else, as he gently removed the rest of the clothing from the little boy, putting the pajamas in a plastic evidence bag. "No dermal abrasion, scabbing, or bruising. Hmm." his fingers quickly and professionally felt along the narrow ribcage, down the arms, across the stomach and down the tiny legs. "No bumps. No obvious signs of scarring or abuse. He's very clean, obviously well-fed. Except for the fact that he's dead, he looks like a healthy little boy. Probably around 3 years old."

"Any idea - just from this first quick check, what could have caused his death?" Warrick had been standing near the doorway, beside Grissom, watching Dr. Robbins work. As he spoke, he walked forward and grabbed the evidence bag with the recently-removed pajamas. The blanket and stuffed elephant found with the boy was already down in the lab.

"Nope. He looks perfectly healthy. No trauma anywhere. No scratches, no scabs - nothing noticeable. Maybe, after we run a couple of tests, check his blood, toxology reports.uhm.x-rays? Who knows what we might find. If it wasn't for that tattoo and the fact he was found just off the highway heading into the desert, I'd say this child had just.fallen asleep."

"Weird." Grissom had stepped forward as the coroner was speaking. Both Warrick and Robbins looked at him with surprise at the seeming callousness of that word, but Grissom ignored them. He was staring intently at the little boys face. "Robbins." Grissom had leaned in closer, his gaze focusing narrowly on the closed eyes of the child. "What's that?"

Both Robbins and Warrick leaned in as Grissom had, staring at the boy's closed eyelids. Along the seam of both eyes, barely noticeable even under the bright lights of the overhead halogens, was a very thin line of clear hardened silicon. Robbins leaned in for a closer look, gently putting his hand up to the boys' eyes and trying to manipulate them open. They refused to budge.

"Holy shit." Warricks' disgusted words filled the room. "I gotta go. I'm taking this -" and here he raised the evidence bag - "to the lab. Maybe we can find some foreign fibers, or hairs or something." He shook his head, looking at the boy again, his green eyes angry. "There are some sick people out there, little guy. Sorry you had to know one." And with that, he left the room.

* * * *

Nick and Sara were staring intently at a computer screen when Warrick walked into the lab with the pajamas. Handing the bag to Greg, who took it without his usual smart remarks, he strolled over to stand behind them. The computer was flashing up pictures of missing children, from most recent backwards. Another computer was busy analyzing the finger prints of the boy - it was a remote possibility, but maybe he had been printed for some child-safety program, or who knew what else. Nobody spoke.

Finally, just to break the unbearable silence, Warrick asked, "Anything?" Sara just turned to look at him glumly and shake her head. Nick didn't respond at all. Over on the other side of the room, Greg piped up, "Nothing here - yet."

"Yeah, well, I just learned something down in autopsy. Someone glued that kids' eyes shut."

"Before or after he was dead?" Nick winced at Greg's question, and finally looked at the other three in the room.

"Any other tattoos? Bruising we couldn't see at the scene? A hypothesis as to what happened?"

Warrick shook his head. "No man. Nothing. Robbins is running the usual tests, but I don't know what he's going to find."

"How can someone just - just do that? Tattoo him, glue his eyes shut, and dump him like that?" Sara's voice was sad and shaky. She reached a slim hand up and massaged the back of her neck, rotating her shoulders as she did so. "He's just a little boy."

"A little dead boy." Nick's words exploded from his mouth, out of nowhere. He jerked the chair he was sitting in back, and stood. His whole body was tense, his movements jerky and angry. He looked at his watch, and turned and snarled at no one in particular. "Page me if you need me. I'm going for a walk."

Grissom was just coming down the hallway when Nick stalked by him. Entering the lab just a few seconds later, he asked "Where was Nick going?"

"He needed some air. This is really bothering him." Sara glanced sideways at Grissom, before returning her attention to the screen. Grissom raised his eyebrows at her.

"And how are you holding up, Sara?"

"Listen, Gris. Don't worry about me. Only one of us at a time is allowed to get emotionally attached to the victim, and this time it's Nick's turn. I've had my fair share lately." Her voice was grimly ironic.

"But it's not like Nick to get so upset. I'd expect Catherine to react like that if she were here - after all, she's a mother. Why is Nick so."

"Wait! Stop - I found him.I think." Sara had stopped tapping her keyboard, and the pictures that had been flying by had stopped on one. She quickly enlarged the photograph, and turned to Warrick and Grissom. "Well guys, what do you think?"

Grissom and Warrick looked at the picture.

"That's our boy." Warrick said.

Gris nodded in agreement. "Hi, Timmy."