CHAPTER 4
A/N: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. I am having so much fun with this fic!
Feedback: Yes please! Black_storm_ci@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: Same as Chappie one. Don't own any characters except for Toby .
Enjoy!
~*~*~*~*~
Archie's part in the plan was simple. And since the AV lab was dark, like an unlit room, and had locks on the doors, that was an added bonus. Also, the windows had blinds on them-yet another bonus.
The lab tech was instructed to record a short video clip of the spider, without any sound. Archie was fond of spiders and was no stranger to weird creatures on Star Trek, so Sara happily left him to find Toby.
~*~*~*~*~*
Toby's lab was next door to Archie's. He was the sound guy. Sara once remembered Grissom telling the husband of a victim (who was later found to be the accomplice rather than victim), that if you listened, you could hear a lot. That was somewhat similar to this too. The answer was right under their noses.
Getting Toby into the plan was much easier than getting Archie, who was even easier than Greg. And that was fairly easy. Well sort of.
She was going to record her voice, then have Toby muffle and distort it enough so it couldn't be traced back to her. Sara recorded her voice, making sure that the soundproof doors were locked first. Then she watched Toby run a series of distortions and male-based vocal amplifications.
Next, Toby recorded his voice, applied a distortion, gave it a female pitch, and then added it to the mix. The end result sounded a bit like Catherine's voice mixed with Warrick's deep o tone, adding high-pitched, Greg-like squeals, combined with Grissom and Nick yelling at each other.
You could never be too careful. You could never have too many suspects. That'll throw Griss off, Sara thought. She was feeling a bit nervous now. Sara knew what insects meant to Grissom (spiders in particular), and ever since they had agreed to a silent truce, they had been getting along well. He was actually being 'nice'.
After making Toby promise not to tell anyone, "Including the other lab techs and CSIs," Sara thanked him, and took the tape (which would automatically be erased) to Archie to attach. The tape was foolproof: virtually untraceable, it filtered out background noise and would automatically (and irreversibly) delete its contents if the digitized voice waves were tampered with.
She ran the tape to Archie. Greg was in there. She made them both promise not to tell, then played the tape once, then got Archie to attach it. Greg was in awe. He had always thought that Sara was capable, but this was. awesome. He would hate to be processing evidence if she was the main suspect.
The dark haired CSI knew she had carelessly forgotten something. She was trying to think. She momentarily lost her balance in the dark, but Greg caught her before she fell. She held her hands out to steady herself.
"Shit! You guys aren't wearing gloves. I'll call a meeting in here with the other lab rats in a while. Just got a few more things to do. Wear gloves." Sara was secretly wondering how many mistakes she had made.
Next stop Bobby Goren.
$*$*$*$*$*$
She found the ballistics expert among his guns, tanks of specially treated water for testing bullets, and GSR posters.
All Bobby had to do was fire a bullet into the water, then sand off the rifling and grooving. Telling him they were going to meet in 15 minutes in the AV lab, Sara thanked him and left to find Jacqui.
~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Hey Sara what's up?" The older woman asked.
"Nothing. Listen, I need to ask you for a favor," Sara said. She explained the circumstances, how she needed to be told if any fingerprints, latent or not, could be found on the tape . "Superglue it, dust it, dip it, parrafin it. Just make tell me whos they are."
"Actually, no. I'm going to predict Grissom is going to want all this stuff checked." Sara rethought. "Meet us in the AV lab ok? In ten minutes."
Jacqui agreed to help, saying that Griss needed a kick in the butt, as he was getting boring.
Meanwhile, Sara went off to find Nick.
She couldn't find him, so she went to the AV lab.
~*~*~*~*
"Hey everyone. Okay, I guess you probably can't see well in here so I'll just tell you everyone that's in this plan. Bobby, Jacqui, Greg, Toby and Archie. By the way Arch, is this room soundproof?"
"Yep. All audio and AV labs are. Standard procedure."
"Ok," Sara started. "Basically what I did, was, because its April Fools day, I decided to play a prank on Grissom, because everyone plays tricks on everyone except for Grissom."
"What did you do Sara?" asked Bobby. He and Jacqui (who knew a bit) didn't know the full story yet.
"I'll tell you what she did. She took a spider from Grissom. I repeat, Grissom and not Catherine, and got me to tarantula-spider-sit it while she was out in the field." Greg said proudly. " She even told me not to clone it."
"Go Sidle," Bobby said simultaneously with Jacqui.
"Thanks. Anyway. So far I've had a photo taken of it. It's been developed, the negatives destroyed."
The other woman in the room started to speak. But Sara spoke first.
"And yes Jacqui I did use a disposable camera."
Jacqui just smiled. Sara continued.
" As I was saying. I have gotten Bobby to fire the bullet already. He has sanded the marks off. Archie has made a film clip. Toby has distorted and recorded a tape, which Archie has attached to the video. It appears to be untraceable." Sara paused for breath. " Now before I go on any further, I need to remind you guys of a few things. What I told you and what you have done for me stays in this room. That means no squawking to other hot female lab techs, Greg."
The others chuckled. The brunette continued, " Especially one called Dominique, whom Nick seems to like, and will probably be used by Grissom to get info. So that's mainly, don't talk to other lab techs, Grissom, Brass and your good friend Nicky boy."
"I got to write that down," Mumbled Archie.
" You go do that," Toby quipped.
"Not my fault I have a short term memory."
"Done yet boys?" With the lab techs, sometimes the younger they were, the wackier they were too.
"Yes ma'am," The two chorused.
Bobby spoke up. "Do I see a rolling of eyes Miss CSI and Miss Fingerprints."
"Affirmative." Came two voices.
"Ok back to business," Sara cut in. " I am assuming that Grissom will be wanting all this processed and typed. So this is how I want you guys to check this. Archie and Toby, you stay here and work on this tape. I know you both have experience in each other's areas of expertise. See if you can track anything ok?"
She turned to the other. "Bobby, I want you to process the bullet and sand off any marks. Greg and Jacqui, since you work in nearly the same department, I want you two to go over the trace and fingerprints of everything. If any trace is found, Greg, destroy it. Jacqui any prints, change the envelope or make them disappear okay? Now everyone wear gloves. And just a reminder people: I will take the blame for you, but I don't want to unnecessarily."
"Dismissed," She announced. Everyone, including Sara, burst into giggles and laughter.
Oddly, Greg was the first to speak. "Gees Sara, you sure you didn't work as a Navy commander before this?"
"Or a Fed under pressure?"
"No guys. It's just that I don't want to slip up. Come to think of it-It is rather funny."
"Damn right it is. Me and Tobs here should have taped it!"
" Ok, a few last things. Everyone, if Grissom does ask you to do this, although I really think he will process it himself, because he will probably think people will think that he is mad if he told anyone. Just lie to him reasonably, I don't want you telling him, for instance Bobby, that the bullet came not out of a gun, but an elephant's ass. Okay?"
"Damn!" Bobby muttered.
"Yes Ma'am." They all saluted, collapsing into laughter again. When they calmed down, Sara told them to meet again in 1 hour. She made them all leave through different doors, so as not to be suspicious, since Archie's lab connected to Toby's by one mutual passage, in addition to their other two doors.
Greg left through Archie's door since he was in and out all hours anyway. So did Bobby, but he used the other one. Jacqui and Sara used Toby's lab. Toby and the two women walked through the adjoining door to his lab, then exited through separate doors.
Once outside, Sara's beeper went off.
She unclipped it and looked at it. Gil. Office. Awake.
"He must really be worried if he used 'Gil,'" Sara murmured. She was starting to feel guilty.
Shaking her head, Sara steered herself to his office and knocked on his door.
"Come in, Sara."
"Hey Griss. How'd you know it was me?"
"Your knock is distinctive. It's very.sharp and precise."
"Oh. You got my note?" Sara asked.
"Yes. Sorry, I pulled a double and was tired." Grissom said sheepishly.
"Don't worry about it. You are so cute when you sleep, you know that?" Literally and figuratively." Did I just say that? Sara thought.
Luckily, Grissom didn't, seem to notice.
"Thanks."
" You ought to look in the mirror you dope." When she used that light tone, they were back to the playful days when there was sexual tension, but it was the good type.
" Your hair is all stuffed and sticking up. I mean it Griss, I've seen you with some pretty funny hair, but this time it's just..."
"Just what?" Grissom asked her playfully.
"Adorable." Sara beamed. " I mean it's poking up everywhere."
"Shit." It actually wasn't that bad. It was just slightly mussed up, rumpled, and adorable. The word 'sexy' came to mind.
Reaching over, Sara gently rearranged his hair to its normal state. Grissom's hair was how she had always imagined it. Soft and buoyant, with the stubborn curls at the nape of his neck always moving away from where Sara arranged them neatly.
"So what did you want to talk about?" Sara asked.
"Well, actually, I came in after I handed out the assignments and couldn't find my spider. I think that it was."
^*^*^*
A/N: Cliffhanger. Stay tuned for more!
A/N: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. I am having so much fun with this fic!
Feedback: Yes please! Black_storm_ci@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: Same as Chappie one. Don't own any characters except for Toby .
Enjoy!
~*~*~*~*~
Archie's part in the plan was simple. And since the AV lab was dark, like an unlit room, and had locks on the doors, that was an added bonus. Also, the windows had blinds on them-yet another bonus.
The lab tech was instructed to record a short video clip of the spider, without any sound. Archie was fond of spiders and was no stranger to weird creatures on Star Trek, so Sara happily left him to find Toby.
~*~*~*~*~*
Toby's lab was next door to Archie's. He was the sound guy. Sara once remembered Grissom telling the husband of a victim (who was later found to be the accomplice rather than victim), that if you listened, you could hear a lot. That was somewhat similar to this too. The answer was right under their noses.
Getting Toby into the plan was much easier than getting Archie, who was even easier than Greg. And that was fairly easy. Well sort of.
She was going to record her voice, then have Toby muffle and distort it enough so it couldn't be traced back to her. Sara recorded her voice, making sure that the soundproof doors were locked first. Then she watched Toby run a series of distortions and male-based vocal amplifications.
Next, Toby recorded his voice, applied a distortion, gave it a female pitch, and then added it to the mix. The end result sounded a bit like Catherine's voice mixed with Warrick's deep o tone, adding high-pitched, Greg-like squeals, combined with Grissom and Nick yelling at each other.
You could never be too careful. You could never have too many suspects. That'll throw Griss off, Sara thought. She was feeling a bit nervous now. Sara knew what insects meant to Grissom (spiders in particular), and ever since they had agreed to a silent truce, they had been getting along well. He was actually being 'nice'.
After making Toby promise not to tell anyone, "Including the other lab techs and CSIs," Sara thanked him, and took the tape (which would automatically be erased) to Archie to attach. The tape was foolproof: virtually untraceable, it filtered out background noise and would automatically (and irreversibly) delete its contents if the digitized voice waves were tampered with.
She ran the tape to Archie. Greg was in there. She made them both promise not to tell, then played the tape once, then got Archie to attach it. Greg was in awe. He had always thought that Sara was capable, but this was. awesome. He would hate to be processing evidence if she was the main suspect.
The dark haired CSI knew she had carelessly forgotten something. She was trying to think. She momentarily lost her balance in the dark, but Greg caught her before she fell. She held her hands out to steady herself.
"Shit! You guys aren't wearing gloves. I'll call a meeting in here with the other lab rats in a while. Just got a few more things to do. Wear gloves." Sara was secretly wondering how many mistakes she had made.
Next stop Bobby Goren.
$*$*$*$*$*$
She found the ballistics expert among his guns, tanks of specially treated water for testing bullets, and GSR posters.
All Bobby had to do was fire a bullet into the water, then sand off the rifling and grooving. Telling him they were going to meet in 15 minutes in the AV lab, Sara thanked him and left to find Jacqui.
~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Hey Sara what's up?" The older woman asked.
"Nothing. Listen, I need to ask you for a favor," Sara said. She explained the circumstances, how she needed to be told if any fingerprints, latent or not, could be found on the tape . "Superglue it, dust it, dip it, parrafin it. Just make tell me whos they are."
"Actually, no. I'm going to predict Grissom is going to want all this stuff checked." Sara rethought. "Meet us in the AV lab ok? In ten minutes."
Jacqui agreed to help, saying that Griss needed a kick in the butt, as he was getting boring.
Meanwhile, Sara went off to find Nick.
She couldn't find him, so she went to the AV lab.
~*~*~*~*
"Hey everyone. Okay, I guess you probably can't see well in here so I'll just tell you everyone that's in this plan. Bobby, Jacqui, Greg, Toby and Archie. By the way Arch, is this room soundproof?"
"Yep. All audio and AV labs are. Standard procedure."
"Ok," Sara started. "Basically what I did, was, because its April Fools day, I decided to play a prank on Grissom, because everyone plays tricks on everyone except for Grissom."
"What did you do Sara?" asked Bobby. He and Jacqui (who knew a bit) didn't know the full story yet.
"I'll tell you what she did. She took a spider from Grissom. I repeat, Grissom and not Catherine, and got me to tarantula-spider-sit it while she was out in the field." Greg said proudly. " She even told me not to clone it."
"Go Sidle," Bobby said simultaneously with Jacqui.
"Thanks. Anyway. So far I've had a photo taken of it. It's been developed, the negatives destroyed."
The other woman in the room started to speak. But Sara spoke first.
"And yes Jacqui I did use a disposable camera."
Jacqui just smiled. Sara continued.
" As I was saying. I have gotten Bobby to fire the bullet already. He has sanded the marks off. Archie has made a film clip. Toby has distorted and recorded a tape, which Archie has attached to the video. It appears to be untraceable." Sara paused for breath. " Now before I go on any further, I need to remind you guys of a few things. What I told you and what you have done for me stays in this room. That means no squawking to other hot female lab techs, Greg."
The others chuckled. The brunette continued, " Especially one called Dominique, whom Nick seems to like, and will probably be used by Grissom to get info. So that's mainly, don't talk to other lab techs, Grissom, Brass and your good friend Nicky boy."
"I got to write that down," Mumbled Archie.
" You go do that," Toby quipped.
"Not my fault I have a short term memory."
"Done yet boys?" With the lab techs, sometimes the younger they were, the wackier they were too.
"Yes ma'am," The two chorused.
Bobby spoke up. "Do I see a rolling of eyes Miss CSI and Miss Fingerprints."
"Affirmative." Came two voices.
"Ok back to business," Sara cut in. " I am assuming that Grissom will be wanting all this processed and typed. So this is how I want you guys to check this. Archie and Toby, you stay here and work on this tape. I know you both have experience in each other's areas of expertise. See if you can track anything ok?"
She turned to the other. "Bobby, I want you to process the bullet and sand off any marks. Greg and Jacqui, since you work in nearly the same department, I want you two to go over the trace and fingerprints of everything. If any trace is found, Greg, destroy it. Jacqui any prints, change the envelope or make them disappear okay? Now everyone wear gloves. And just a reminder people: I will take the blame for you, but I don't want to unnecessarily."
"Dismissed," She announced. Everyone, including Sara, burst into giggles and laughter.
Oddly, Greg was the first to speak. "Gees Sara, you sure you didn't work as a Navy commander before this?"
"Or a Fed under pressure?"
"No guys. It's just that I don't want to slip up. Come to think of it-It is rather funny."
"Damn right it is. Me and Tobs here should have taped it!"
" Ok, a few last things. Everyone, if Grissom does ask you to do this, although I really think he will process it himself, because he will probably think people will think that he is mad if he told anyone. Just lie to him reasonably, I don't want you telling him, for instance Bobby, that the bullet came not out of a gun, but an elephant's ass. Okay?"
"Damn!" Bobby muttered.
"Yes Ma'am." They all saluted, collapsing into laughter again. When they calmed down, Sara told them to meet again in 1 hour. She made them all leave through different doors, so as not to be suspicious, since Archie's lab connected to Toby's by one mutual passage, in addition to their other two doors.
Greg left through Archie's door since he was in and out all hours anyway. So did Bobby, but he used the other one. Jacqui and Sara used Toby's lab. Toby and the two women walked through the adjoining door to his lab, then exited through separate doors.
Once outside, Sara's beeper went off.
She unclipped it and looked at it. Gil. Office. Awake.
"He must really be worried if he used 'Gil,'" Sara murmured. She was starting to feel guilty.
Shaking her head, Sara steered herself to his office and knocked on his door.
"Come in, Sara."
"Hey Griss. How'd you know it was me?"
"Your knock is distinctive. It's very.sharp and precise."
"Oh. You got my note?" Sara asked.
"Yes. Sorry, I pulled a double and was tired." Grissom said sheepishly.
"Don't worry about it. You are so cute when you sleep, you know that?" Literally and figuratively." Did I just say that? Sara thought.
Luckily, Grissom didn't, seem to notice.
"Thanks."
" You ought to look in the mirror you dope." When she used that light tone, they were back to the playful days when there was sexual tension, but it was the good type.
" Your hair is all stuffed and sticking up. I mean it Griss, I've seen you with some pretty funny hair, but this time it's just..."
"Just what?" Grissom asked her playfully.
"Adorable." Sara beamed. " I mean it's poking up everywhere."
"Shit." It actually wasn't that bad. It was just slightly mussed up, rumpled, and adorable. The word 'sexy' came to mind.
Reaching over, Sara gently rearranged his hair to its normal state. Grissom's hair was how she had always imagined it. Soft and buoyant, with the stubborn curls at the nape of his neck always moving away from where Sara arranged them neatly.
"So what did you want to talk about?" Sara asked.
"Well, actually, I came in after I handed out the assignments and couldn't find my spider. I think that it was."
^*^*^*
A/N: Cliffhanger. Stay tuned for more!