While watching past episodes of CSI on DVD and looking around at the CSI page at the CBS site, I've run across a conundrum. In one episode, Nick runs into an old buddy and his buddy comments that Nick "never passed up a party at A&M", yet on the CBS website, it says Nick attended Rice University. And in the episode "Caged", Greg tells Nick that he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and that he earned a full ride to Stanford, yet on the CBS website, they maintain that Greg attended UC Berkeley. So, did Nick attend Rice University or Texas A&M University, and did Greg attend Stanford or UC Berkeley? I'm inclined to go along with what they reveal on TV and say Greg attended Stanford and Nick attended Texas A&M University. Anybody care to comment?
Szhismine: Sure, I'll sign a petition to get Eric more screen time…I always love stirring up mischief, lol. "Damn the Man" :)
dakFinv: Thanx for wishing me luck; it went well, I think…still waiting for the grade. By the way, is Biology really hard? Lol
~*Charlie*~: Was this chapter up soon enough for you? :)
Jess: But cliffhangers are what make it fuuuuuun, heh :). And Grissom's not so bad…and can men really get yeast infections?...lol…maybe you can sign szhismine's petition to get Eric more screen time, lol…
BrokeDownRageMachine: Yeah, I'm not really good at organization and pacing, in stories or otherwise. I get so many ideas and stuff that I just put 'em down and organize them as best as I can. Hope you like this one though.
KAPITEL ACHT
"'Blake, I'm sorry about last night. It doesn't bother me at all that you like girls, but I just didn't want you to get the wrong idea about us. You're still my best friend; I hope I'm still yours. Since your dad still has a couple days left on his business trip, maybe I can talk Greg into letting me spend the night on a school night and we can have our own mini party (don't worry, I'll bring the food), or, if not, maybe he'll let you spend the night over at the apartment. Anyways, good luck on the test (like you need it). Drop me a line in my locker or meet me after school at the usual place. Faraday'," Grissom read the note to himself out loud.
"I've already stopped by the break room and asked Faraday about it; it's legit. She wrote it," Nick informed him.
"And you found this in David's bedroom? Doesn't really mean much, Nick; haven't you ever picked something up by mistake and thrown it away when you got home?
Nick gave his supervisor with an incredulous look. "Grissom, you can't say that doesn't mean anything. It means that David knew the father was out of town, and he knew about Blake's…preferences."
Grissom looked at Nick over his glasses. "We don't know if that played any part in this; we don't even know that David or Brad had anything to do with this. Yes, it does make him seem more suspicious; I'm just saying that this won't hold up as well in court as other clues we've found. Let's concentrate on finding more damning evidence, whether it leads to Brad and David or not."
Nick made a scoffing noise. "Oh, come on, Grissom, you didn't see his room, and are you trying to tell me that, in spite of all this evidence, you don't at least think the older one's in on this? We've already got enough evidence to get both of them for this."
"I don't know who did this yet, and neither do you," Grissom told him walking away.
Nick shook his head. He knew he'd broken open the case a whole lot wider, so why wouldn't Grissom admit that? Ok, maybe he'd only thought he'd broken the case open a lot wider; maybe he'd only cracked it a little. He sighed and went to the break room to pour himself a cup of coffee, wake himself up a little, and then get back to the grind.
Grissom had his nose buried in the casefile when he nearly collided with Sara. He looked up, blinking at her through his glasses. They stared at each other for a moment as if to see who'd apologize first. Neither one said anything.
"Hey, do you know where Catherine is?" Sara finally spoke up.
"Check A/V; I think she and Warrick are down there with Archie checking out the computer Nick brought back from the older Peterson boy's room."
Sara nodded her thanks and left Grissom to continue on his way.
Archie Johnson, lab tech and Audio/Visual extraordinaire, sat before the glowing screen of a desktop with Catherine Willows and Warrick Brown looking over, one on each shoulder. "Ok, I've checked both of the guys' e-mails; there's nothing in them incriminating, not even in the trash. However, I was able to pull up chat logs from the instant message folder. Got two screen names in here, OhioStatePimp and McKinleyPlaya," Archie snorted.
"Bet I know which is which," Catherine said.
Archie clicked around some more and opened the chat logs. "Ok, there's tons of stuff here, guys. It's going to take me practically forever."
"Start with ones about a week before the kidnapping and go from there. It wouldn't make much sense to look at chat logs from months before," Warrick pointed out.
Archie nodded in agreement and opened up one of the chat session logs. While he was busy reading, Catherine and Warrick started hypothesizing on how the whole kidnapping could've gone down.
"I think these guys are in on it together. Brad had the key to house, right? So, he let's his brother in and waits for his brother in the kitchen knowing that as big as his brother is, Blake wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight. Then, somehow, Blake gets out of her room through the window and runs up into that tree house. David chases her up there, somehow gets her out of her hiding spot that's fifteen feet up in a tree, and they take her somewhere, tie her up, I don't know."
"Or dispose of her body," Catherine sighed grimly. "But what if David or Brad acted alone? I'll use David just because I think he did it." Warrick cocked an eyebrow at her. "Don't tell Grissom I'm 'making an ass out of u and me.'" Warrick grinned and nodded that he wouldn't tell. "Anyway, David takes his brother's key and, using the gloves, unlocks the door; that's why we only found Brad's fingerprints on the key, but we found David's DNA on the inside of the gloves. So, he heads upstairs, Blake hears him or sees him, whichever came first, heads for the backyard tree house. David tries to climb up after her, but one of the pieces of wood break. Realizing he can't get up there that way, he finds…some other way," she said finishing lamely.
Warrick thought for a moment. "Y'know, Blake's bedroom was on the second floor of the house. Did you see a ladder outside her window when you were checking the room?"
"No. I thought it was odd, but she could've just climbed out the window and jumped to the ground."
Warrick gave her a look saying he thought that didn't sound plausible.
"Hey, when somebody is after you, you'll do anything to get away. Even jump out a second story window."
"Suppose you're story is true. How do you explain Brad's shoeprints I lifted from the kitchen floor?"
Their musings were interrupted by Sara's arrival.
"Oh, Catherine, good, you're down here," she greeted, all thoughts of their previous altercation seemed to have vanished…or at least been pushed to the back of her mind. "I found a piece of that leather-like material that the sleeves of letter jackets are made out of snagged on a nail on the side of the tree house, and," she stressed, "there was a ladder propped up against the side of the house right underneath Blake's bedroom window."
Catherine and Warrick exchanged glances.
"We were just talking about—" Catherine started.
"Wait," Sara interrupted holding up a hand. "You haven't heard the best part; found a set of tire tracks straddling the yard and the driveway. Looks like somebody was in a hurry and pulled up or backed in too far. Treads don't match Mr. Abraham's car."
"Well done, girl!" Warrick said giving her a knuckle tap.
"Thought you only gave 'props' to Nick," Sara answered with a grin.
"He'll understand," he said returning the smile.
"I'm going to go run these treads through the database and see what comes up," Sara told them leaving Catherine and Warrick alone with Archie.
"Guys, I've got something here," Archie spoke up urgently. The two criminalists quickly moved to look over his shoulder.
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Greg was coming out of the break room when he saw Sara headed for Trace. Ever the curious one and always wanting to be able to play crime scene investigator, he trotted down the hall and followed her in.
"Find something interesting?" he asked shoving a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.
"Oh, hey, Greg; I thought you'd be in the break room with Faraday."
"Eh, she's passed out on the table, practically drooling all over her Chem book. Should've known she wouldn't really work on homework; I looked, and she only had three equilibrium problems done. When she wakes up, she'll probably tell me she was pacing herself or something."
Sara laughed and looked at him for a moment. "How's she holding up with all this?"
Greg shrugged. "I guess she's doing alright; I don't know. She doesn't talk about it or anything, but, lately, she's become kind of clingy, always wanting to hang around me. It's not a bad thing; I mean, if you had me for a big brother, you'd worship me too," he said proudly with a grin. His face quickly melted into seriousness again. "No, but, I just don't know if that means anything, y'know?"
"Well, you said Blake was the only friend she'd really made since she's moved to Vegas, right?" Greg nodded. "So, basically, she's only had you and Blake…maybe she's afraid she's going to lose you too."
Greg chewed on his plastic spoon thinking for a moment. "Maybe," he murmured.
Sara went back to watching the computer screen rapidly go through tire treads trying to find a match, and Greg leaned against one of the tables and studied her profile. He had had quite a crush on her in earlier years, but now it had kind of ebbed. Not because she'd became any less beautiful in his eyes; no, she still had the ability to make his heart thud wildly in his chest and his stomach to get kind of upset…the good kind of upset, like when you find out you've made the lead in the school play. His desire for her had kind of ebbed because he'd resigned himself to the fact that she'd probably never go out with him. Maybe she'd go out with me, he thought. Yeah, when Grissom gets a wife and hell freezes over. He cleared his throat.
"So, you never told me what you found."
She jerked her head from the monitor. "Oh, tire marks. Just by looking at them, I could tell they didn't match Mr. Abraham's Lexus, but they look like they could be from something like an SUV or a pick-up truck. Hoping to match them to a vehicle the Petersons own."
Greg nodded and looked at his watch. "I'd better get back to the lab; my break's almost up."
"See ya, Greg," she said flashing him a grin.
He waved and gave a little nod of his head and was off. Sara let the grin linger for a little bit on her face after he left. I'd be lying to myself if I said he wasn't cute, she thought.
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No, no, this isn't going to be a Greg/Sara; romance would make it too confusing. It's confusing enough already, isn't it, with all the evidence…it is for me anyway…I'd better start wrapping it up, eh? I just thought I'd touch a bit on his past crush for her and throw a little bone from her in his direction 'cause he deserves it :). And anybody but me watch that two hour thing Sunday and think, after Greg got down and dirty in that storm drain, that he was still looking all kinds of hot :). Lol, the man can pull off dirt and grime extremely well, can't he?