Once we arrived at the lab I sent everyone their separate ways. "Nick I want you with Sara's gun. Fingerprint and go to ballistics to see what they got off the bullet dug out of McBride. Here use this for the fingerprinting." I gave him my famous red creeper.
"Cool."
"Warrick, I want you with the lab techs. Give them all of our collections and ask about the initial sweep of the crime scene. I want to know who was doing the collecting the first time around."
"Okay. I'm gone."
I turned to Epps. "Could you do me a favor?"
"Yes sir!"
"I said to call me Grissom."
"Yes Grissom. What do you want?"
"Find your supervisor and get the casefile for me. I really need to see it."
"Okay Grissom." He paused. "Where will you be?"
I sighed, Warrick was right this kid was becoming my second shadow. "With Catherine."
"Oh I haven't meet her yet. I'll swing by later."
I waited for him to leave but he just stood there. "Go."
He snapped to attention. "Right."
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"Hey Cath what did you find?" I found her hunched over a pile of clothes talking to a thirty-something aged woman with curly hair.
"Still processing the blood spatter. This is Katie Wittsfield. She confirmed that the blood is Sara's and McBride's only."
I shook the woman's hand. I was relieved that she wasn't just trained and certified in her area of expertise like Epps. "Thank you."
Her voice was soft but strong. "Well I want to help Sara as much as possible."
"You were close?"
"Yeah. She collected, I analyzed. She is a good person, I hated to find out she was mixed up in this. I haven't even seen her yet. How is she?"
"Could be better." I responded. "They won't let you see her?"
"No. We have to stay pretty far away from the human aspect of the case. I just process the evidence and even that is rechecked by my boss."
"Oh. Well Catherine what do we know?"
"The wounds on Sara are consistent with the marks of blood on the shirt. And the blood spatter also backs up her story. The button on her jeans was pulled off and look the shirt is torn, just like Jeremy said. He really went after her."
"Could you excuse me." Katie stepped out of the room.
"Must have been closer than she thought." I said to Catherine.
"Yeah. I have the pictures of Sara's injuries being developed as we speak. They said it won't take long."
"And how was she?"
"Physically? Not good. I thought her arms and face looked bad but Grissom...she is a mess. I was surprised but it got to me. It wasn't like I was looking at Sara but a warped image of her. Hell it was hard for me to take the photos without crying."
"And emotionally?" Somehow I already knew the answer.
"Same tune different song. Sara is very private about these things. Every time I touched her she jumped. Even after I told her I was going to approach her she would jump when I touched her. She tried to immediately back away when I told her to unbutton her shirt. I think this case runs deeper than just this one incident."
"I know. When I was talking to her earlier she said something about seeing the sympathy in our eyes because of what we would find out."
"Well maybe its for the best. Whatever it is, maybe its time to get it off her chest."
I let out a heavy sigh.
"What did you find at the crime scene?"
"A lot evidence that is being analyzed now. We have a lot of questions that need answering. I want to regroup in the lounge when your done."
"Okay I am almost finished."
"I'll round up the group."
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Warrick was the last to arrive at the meeting. Nick was busy on his second donut and Catherine's head rested on the back of the sofa. I know what was going through her head. Sara. I think we all had our minds on Sara.
"Sorry I am late." Warrick said. "But interviewing four CSI's on the scene is a daunting task."
"Okay. Let's start." I slid up to the table slid the pictures of Sara back in the folder. Catherine was right. Sara was a mess. I decided to see her after the meeting was over. "Nick what did ballistics say?"
He put down the donut. "The bullets definitely came from Sara's gun; they were a perfect match."
"Bullets?" Catherine inquired. "I thought she shot him only once."
"No. I found out it was three times in the chest. Her clip was missing three bullets."
"And what about prints?"
"That red creeper is awesome Gris, you should market it. Now I know why Sara loves it so much."
"Well?" I asked getting quite impatient.
"Well, her prints were all over the gun but I found a second set."
"Really?" I was very wide awake now. "Who's?"
"Not McBride's. I was thinking they were the woman's that owned the apartment. Her prints aren't in the database though."
"We need to speak to her and get a warrant. Where is she?"
Epps rushed into the meeting room. "Sorry I am late Grissom. Here is Sara's casefile and to answer your question, Ms. Clark is being brought in as soon as possible."
"What is taking so long?" Warrick asked.
"The warrant. Judge Parks has been swamped."
"Parks? Is that Ethan Parks father?" I asked.
"Yes sir. And my supervisor, Mr. Dobbs removed Ethan from his position on Sara's case because of what happened earlier." "What happened earlier?" Nick took sudden interest in the conversation.
Before I could let Nick down easy Epps jumped at the chance to relay such important information. "We believe he hit Sara during questioning. Mr. Grissom and Mrs. Willows walked in on it." Epps walked over to Catherine and took her hand. "I am Taylor Epps by the way and it is nice to meet you." Catherine smiled at the man then threw a mocking smile at me.
"Wait. Gris what the hell happened, did he hurt her?"
"Nick she was okay."
"Not the way he makes it sound." Nick threw his thumb in Epps' direction.
"The important thing is that he is out of our way and Sara doesn't have to tolerate him anymore. Now back to the warrant. This doesn't have to do with the fact that his son was removed from the case, does it?"
"It sure looks that way." Catherine snickered.
"So we have to wait to talk to her for God knows how long." Warrick said. "Great."
"Let's not get off track. What did you find Warrick?"
"Not much from the CSIs that were dispatched to the scene. Probably nothing that you won't find in that file. Now the evidence was interesting. The blood from the coffee table and blood localized in the living area where most of the destruction occurred was Sara's."
"So she was thrown into the coffee table and attacked there."
"Yeah. The blood in the kitchen was McBride's and an unknown."
"The woman's maybe?"
"I am guessing, but again we need a warrant."
"Well that is put off 'til later so I want you all to get rooms at the nearest hotel and get some rest."
"What about Catherine's findings?" Nick took a sip of his cold coffee.
"She just confirmed that the attack and the blood spatter is consistent with Sara's story." I answered quickly. The last thing I wanted was Warrick and Nick to find out about the pictures. First of all I didn't know how they would react. Secondly I didn't know how Sara would react to me having told them.
A wave of relief washed over me when Nick just nodded and dropped the subject. Those photos were heart-wrenching especially since I knew it was Sara's body I was looking at.
"Well get your rest and some real food. We all need the break." They all slowly got up. Their muscles seemed to protest every move. I felt the same way. The break would do them good.
"You coming Gil?" Catherine stopped in the doorway.
"I wanted to see Sara before I left."
"Do you want me to stay with you?"
"No. But leave a car with me so I can get to the hotel."
"Okay. Don't stay here too long. None of us are of help if we are too tired to work."
"I know. I won't be long."
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tbc...