Chapter 7

Sara's nose fought the smell and breathed through her mouth the best she could and for a little while it actually worked, but the stench was growing as they catalogued the items found in the soup. A watch, few coins, string, jacket, pants and boots. Grissom was sat at one side of the tub type table trying to clean the watch, his tongue poking out as he concentrated on his task. Sara looked up from the coins she was also trying to clean to see his concentration. She turned back to the coins and once cleaned bagged them and moved onto the boots. She lifted it and tipped its contents over a bowl and swallowed hard with her face scrunched up as the human liquid filled the bowl to the rim. Grissom lifted his head at the slopping sound and saw the look on her face as she moved the bowl away from her. He looked over the top of his glasses at the bowl and grimaced.

"This is disgusting." Sara stated shining her flashlight into the boot. "I hate decomps."

Grissom went back to his cleaning and scraped away the slimy goo on the back of the watch and grinned when he saw an inscription and below it a name. "Well, were in luck. Hoping this was his watch, We have a name."

Sara stopped what she was doing and walked around the table, pulling off her gloves and looked over his shoulder to look closer. Grissom leaned back slightly lifting the watch, but she took a small step back, which was not gone unnoticed by Grissom. Sara read the name. "Thomas Broth." Grissom nodded, placed it down. He picked up the camera and photographed the evidence.

"I'll put the name through the missing persons and check with Greg." Grissom turned in his seat to face her.

Sara started for the door as Grissom stood wanting to stop her, but Doc Robbins came through the door and Grissom quickly turned back to the table. Sara left, dropping her gloves into the trashcan by the door. Doc walked towards the table and grunted at the layout of bowls of goo and various pieces of body. "Having fun?" He asked as he walked to the desk and pulled out some files.

Grissom looked up. "Not really."

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Brass headed towards the two CSI's as they approached. They came to a stop in front of trooper's car. Brass filled them in and walked off with two of his trooper's to search the outer perimeter of the crime scene. The CSI's got straight to work. Two Dead Bodies, Female, clad in hiking gear and rucksacks lay side by side across a hiking path that leads up to the top of Charleston Peak. Catherine photographed the bodies while Warrick took distance shots and other area shots around the bodies. They took their time in the sweltering heat, which was a change from the previous night. Warrick shone his flashlight over the bodies and instructed the troopers to set a generator lamp up a few feet away so he could start processing. Catherine took notes of the bodies positions and other evidential notes she would need later.

"Right then, let's get back to the lab and give these to Greg." Warrick called out to Catherine as she walked towards the coroner.

Catherine asked the coroner to tell Doc Robbins she'd be in ASAP. She turned to Warrick. "I'll get the photos developed." Warrick walked to her and gave her the film canisters and headed towards his Tahoe, placing his evidence kit in the back and putting the collected evidence bags in a filing box.

"See back there." They pulled out from the crime scene leaving Brass to post two guards before he headed back to his office to fill out the awaiting forms on his desk.

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David picked up a hand and examined the tissue carefully, while Nick looked though the pieces of clothing still covering the body pieces. "This is kind of a jigsaw puzzle isn't it?" David asked as he put the hand down and picked up a forearm.

Nick grinned and nodded. "Yeah, strange. I even found a foot under the compressor."

David shook his head in disagreement. "No that's not what I meant. What I meant was that this hand doesn't mach the forearm."

Nick looked up and crossed the room to stand beside David. "How can you tell?" Nick watched as David tried to show the bones endings where they were broken or cut and Nick nodded in understanding. "So, it looks like to bodies. I wish Greg would hurry up with the results. I can't sit on this much long."

"How long have you been waiting?" David asked as he check the rest of the pieces and started to split them up into matching body parts.

"About 5 hours." Nick pulled another table over and started laying out the newly discovered body pieces.

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"Updates?" Grissom asked as he walked into the break room hours after he left. Everyone except Sara was sat drinking coffee and eating.

Warrick looked up from his sandwich. "Charleston victims were poisoned by something they ate a few hours before death." Grissom nodded and looked at the file Catherine handed him.

"Ok, you got any leads?" Catherine took the file back and looked at Warrick who shook his head.

Catherine turned back to Grissom. "No ID's yet, still waiting for Greg to get through them, he's jammed in DNA."

"Same here, I've been waiting just over 5 hours now, but did find another body amongst the pieces collected."

Catherine looked at Nick in surprise. "Really?"

Nick grinned. "Yeah, just need conformation from Greg."

"Well, some good news. We have an ID for our decomp and have a last known address." He said pulling out his cell phone. He opened it and pressed speed dial. "Hey Sara, where are you? " Grissom asked as he pulled a sandwich from a greasy diner bag. "Oh ok, meet you outside in ten. Bye." Grissom switched his phone off and put it in his pocket then turned back to his sandwich and took a bite out of it. "See later." He said with his mouth full as he walked out.

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