DISCLAIMER: I own nothing here. Please don't sue me.
Chapter 10:
"So!" Catherine grinned at Sara, anticipating a good story.
She was sorely disappointed, but not surprised when Sara took their new case file, and walked nonchalantly out of the conference room. Sara chose to smile, and walk straight ahead. She knew Catherine was fishing, and Sara planned on making her ask outright. Catherine gave an exasperated sigh, and hurried towards the SUV. Once safely buckled in, and accompanied by her cohort, she couldn't stand it anymore.
"Spill it, Sidle!"
Sara laughed at Catherine's inability to maintain patience where good gossip was involved. She actually enjoyed their 'girl-talk' though.
"Geez! I bet you were a holy terror before your Christmas."
"Still am. Now, did he take you someplace nice or what?"
"I thought it was nice. Casual. Good service. Never had an empty coffee cup."
"Denny's?!? He really took you to Denny's?" Catherine gasped. "Can I PLEASE give him a few tips? It would do nothing but benefit you, and in turn him as well." She winked at Sara.
"Cat, it was nice. Honestly. He could take me to the damn city dump, and I would just be happy to be with him."
"Whoa." She smiled, shook her head, and drove towards their crime scene. "You ready for this one?" Catherine pulled into the dusty construction site of a new casino on the edge of the desert.
"What a waste of land." Sara hated seeing these huge casinos gobbling up the dessert landscape. Sara looked quickly over at Catherine, remembering now who it was that owned this particular piece of real estate.
"I agree." Catherine felt no guilt for Sam Braun's sake. What he did was his own deal, and she was trying her best to distance herself and Lindsey from that part of her life. "Let's find O'Riley and the foreman."
They walked across the gravel lot towards the men, and a half-collapsed tower of steel and concrete. Girders poked up precariously from the deep hole in the desert floor. A crane was in the process of removing beams from the wreckage.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What are you doing?" Catherine ran up to the foreman, and pointed towards their crime scene.
"Lady, this is MY site, and until you got a warrant that says otherwise, Braun's still the boss!" The overweight man in the bright yellow safety helmet scowled at Catherine and Sara.
Sara looked at Detective O'Riley who was just as frustrated.
"Sir, you can tell your man there to stand down, or I can arrest you for obstruction of justice." O'Riley was able to maintain a calm demeanor, but just barely.
"Yer gonna have to arrest me then, because my orders came from the top. You don't say no to Sam Braun. It ain't healthy."
Catherine winced slightly at the words. Sara edged forward.
"That your walkie-talkie?" Sara pointed to the small, handheld radio sitting on his clipboard on the ground.
"Yeah?"
Before he could move, Sara grabbed the radio up, and called to the man on the crane to cease and desist per the boss's orders. O'Riley held the foreman back forcibly, and Catherine grinned.
"Lady. . ."
"Don't say it, Sir." O'Riley shook his head warningly at the man, who – to his credit – shut up, and followed him to the patrol car at the end of the lot.
"Nice." Catherine looked down at Sara who was still kneeling beside the clipboard.
"We should probably see what's left of our crime scene." She gave a cocky grin, and walked towards the wreckage.
The site was quite large. An enormous, square subterranean region had been trenched out by the heavy equipment to form the future basement levels of the casino/hotel. The concrete base had been poured weeks ago, and the process of constructing the steel framework of the building had begun. O'Riley came up behind them with a huff.
"Hmmph! He was actually relieved to be arrested. Now Braun can't blame him if you two find anything."
"Yeah, well, what is it we're supposed to be finding?" Catherine was getting irritated. "The call was pretty vague. 445? Where's the bomb squad?"
"I don't know anything about a bomb. Half the structure collapsed, and a few guys were hurt. We need to know if it was the fault of the builders, or if it was something else."
"Aw. Love those. Right up there with Mysterious dude. 'Something else.' Did you question the workers who were present already?" Catherine smiled as O'Riley rolled his eyes.
"Yep. Said they didn't see anything out of place. And, of course, they say there's not a damn thing wrong with the way they did the work."
"Except for the fact that it fell on them." Sara smiled, and walked down the dirt ramp that led down into the structure.
"Where's the building inspector?" Catherine looked around. She was somewhat dreading seeing him again, but she was an adult.
"He left a few minutes before you got here. Said he'd be back after a dinner break." He handed Catherine the preliminary report of the structural inspection. "Not much to see. He seemed pretty sure it was structural integrity problem. Put too much weight on without bracing it properly."
"We'll see for ourselves." Catherine looked down into the trench for Sara.
"Sara? Where'd you go to?" She walked down the ramp in search of her colleague.
"Uh, Catherine? You might want to get O'Riley down here." Sara's head popped up from under a girder, causing Catherine to jump.
"What'd you find?"
Sara held up a gloved hand covered in blood.
"Something you never want to bump into in a dark crawl space." As she pulled herself up out of the rubble, Catherine could see Sara had blood all over her knees as well. Catherine was relieved when she realized for certain that the blood wasn't Sara's.
"Found a dead body under there. And unless they work blind-folded, I'd say it was put there prior to the 'accident.'" Sara looked down at her clothing in disgust.
"So, you just thought you'd go crawl under a recently collapsed structure without a helmet or anything? I didn't even know where you were!" Catherine's eyes were wide with shock at the lapse of common sense Sara had displayed. Then she heard it.
"Rowr?" A soft, definitely feline sound came from beneath the wreckage. Sara looked up a bit sheepishly then turned back to the structure, bent down, cleared her throat, and returned to her rescue mission.
"Here, kitty! Kitty, kitty!" She patted the ground hopefully. The soft mewing continued, getting louder gradually as the kitten made its way towards the two women. Catherine kneeled down so as not to frighten the critter who was now peeking out from under an I-beam. It couldn't have been more than a few months old. The black ball of fuzz waddled slowly over to Sara's outstretched arms. She grabbed it up as soon as she was able, and made her way back up the ramp. Once at the top, O'Riley looked the two CSI's over curiously.
"Find anything?"
"More than she bargained for." Catherine laughed, and took the kitten out of Sara's hands as Sara headed to the Tahoe to process her clothing for trace.
"Who's your friend?" O'Riley pointed his pen at the kitten, and grinned.
"Not sure yet, but I think Sara's rent just went up." Catherine snuggled the fuzzy kitten, trying not to make ridiculous noises at it in front of the detective. "You might want to call the coroner. We've got at least one body down there, and it doesn't look like an accident." Sara returned wearing the spare jumpsuit from the back of the SUV, and carrying the camera.
"I'll go radio it in." He left them standing there, and headed for his car. "I'll send a couple of officers to watch the site."
"Hey." Sara retrieved the kitten, and looked at Catherine questioningly.
"Yeah?"
"You going to be ok on this case? I mean, this is Braun's worksite." There was no need tiptoeing around the elephant.
"Until we find anything to tie him into this, I don't see it being a problem." Catherine took in a deep breath.
"And if we do?"
"I'll tell Grissom I'm off the case myself." She hoped Sara would understand.
"Ok. What am I going to do with this little guy now?" She let the kitten settle into the large pocket on her top, and smiled as he played with a stray strand of her hair.
"How about we run him back to your place, grab something to eat, then get back here. David and the building inspector should be here by then, and we can continue our investigation. O'Riley has a few guys watching the site."
Sara hated the idea of leaving the scene, but it wasn't going anywhere, and they couldn't do anymore until they could reach the body anyhow.
"Sounds like a plan. We'll have to make a pit stop for a few things." Sara didn't even have to think about it. She was keeping this little guy.
"Got a name for him yet?" Catherine grabbed both their kits, as they headed back to the SUV.
"Not yet." She smiled as she got into the passenger seat, still cuddling the kitten to her chest.
"Well he needs a more masculine name than 'kitty.' Have you ever had a cat before?"
"Growing up, we had an orange cat at the Inn. His name was George."
"George? Please don't name that sweet kitten George." Catherine smirked, and tried to keep her eyes on the road, and off the fidgeting kitten.
"I'll have to think about it, and come up with something good. I think names are important. They should have a good meaning."
"Well, he's solid black, fuzzy, and we found him in a collapsed building. Is there a name that means all that?"
"I'll have to look in my baby names book."
Catherine nearly drove off the road.
"Hey! Kitty on board. Watch it!" Sara put a hand protectively over the cat's head.
"You have a Baby names book?" Catherine had to have this one explained.
"It was a gag gift from my brother when I graduated from Harvard."
"Trying to tell you something?"
"Something like that." Sara frowned.
TBC
Chapter 10:
"So!" Catherine grinned at Sara, anticipating a good story.
She was sorely disappointed, but not surprised when Sara took their new case file, and walked nonchalantly out of the conference room. Sara chose to smile, and walk straight ahead. She knew Catherine was fishing, and Sara planned on making her ask outright. Catherine gave an exasperated sigh, and hurried towards the SUV. Once safely buckled in, and accompanied by her cohort, she couldn't stand it anymore.
"Spill it, Sidle!"
Sara laughed at Catherine's inability to maintain patience where good gossip was involved. She actually enjoyed their 'girl-talk' though.
"Geez! I bet you were a holy terror before your Christmas."
"Still am. Now, did he take you someplace nice or what?"
"I thought it was nice. Casual. Good service. Never had an empty coffee cup."
"Denny's?!? He really took you to Denny's?" Catherine gasped. "Can I PLEASE give him a few tips? It would do nothing but benefit you, and in turn him as well." She winked at Sara.
"Cat, it was nice. Honestly. He could take me to the damn city dump, and I would just be happy to be with him."
"Whoa." She smiled, shook her head, and drove towards their crime scene. "You ready for this one?" Catherine pulled into the dusty construction site of a new casino on the edge of the desert.
"What a waste of land." Sara hated seeing these huge casinos gobbling up the dessert landscape. Sara looked quickly over at Catherine, remembering now who it was that owned this particular piece of real estate.
"I agree." Catherine felt no guilt for Sam Braun's sake. What he did was his own deal, and she was trying her best to distance herself and Lindsey from that part of her life. "Let's find O'Riley and the foreman."
They walked across the gravel lot towards the men, and a half-collapsed tower of steel and concrete. Girders poked up precariously from the deep hole in the desert floor. A crane was in the process of removing beams from the wreckage.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What are you doing?" Catherine ran up to the foreman, and pointed towards their crime scene.
"Lady, this is MY site, and until you got a warrant that says otherwise, Braun's still the boss!" The overweight man in the bright yellow safety helmet scowled at Catherine and Sara.
Sara looked at Detective O'Riley who was just as frustrated.
"Sir, you can tell your man there to stand down, or I can arrest you for obstruction of justice." O'Riley was able to maintain a calm demeanor, but just barely.
"Yer gonna have to arrest me then, because my orders came from the top. You don't say no to Sam Braun. It ain't healthy."
Catherine winced slightly at the words. Sara edged forward.
"That your walkie-talkie?" Sara pointed to the small, handheld radio sitting on his clipboard on the ground.
"Yeah?"
Before he could move, Sara grabbed the radio up, and called to the man on the crane to cease and desist per the boss's orders. O'Riley held the foreman back forcibly, and Catherine grinned.
"Lady. . ."
"Don't say it, Sir." O'Riley shook his head warningly at the man, who – to his credit – shut up, and followed him to the patrol car at the end of the lot.
"Nice." Catherine looked down at Sara who was still kneeling beside the clipboard.
"We should probably see what's left of our crime scene." She gave a cocky grin, and walked towards the wreckage.
The site was quite large. An enormous, square subterranean region had been trenched out by the heavy equipment to form the future basement levels of the casino/hotel. The concrete base had been poured weeks ago, and the process of constructing the steel framework of the building had begun. O'Riley came up behind them with a huff.
"Hmmph! He was actually relieved to be arrested. Now Braun can't blame him if you two find anything."
"Yeah, well, what is it we're supposed to be finding?" Catherine was getting irritated. "The call was pretty vague. 445? Where's the bomb squad?"
"I don't know anything about a bomb. Half the structure collapsed, and a few guys were hurt. We need to know if it was the fault of the builders, or if it was something else."
"Aw. Love those. Right up there with Mysterious dude. 'Something else.' Did you question the workers who were present already?" Catherine smiled as O'Riley rolled his eyes.
"Yep. Said they didn't see anything out of place. And, of course, they say there's not a damn thing wrong with the way they did the work."
"Except for the fact that it fell on them." Sara smiled, and walked down the dirt ramp that led down into the structure.
"Where's the building inspector?" Catherine looked around. She was somewhat dreading seeing him again, but she was an adult.
"He left a few minutes before you got here. Said he'd be back after a dinner break." He handed Catherine the preliminary report of the structural inspection. "Not much to see. He seemed pretty sure it was structural integrity problem. Put too much weight on without bracing it properly."
"We'll see for ourselves." Catherine looked down into the trench for Sara.
"Sara? Where'd you go to?" She walked down the ramp in search of her colleague.
"Uh, Catherine? You might want to get O'Riley down here." Sara's head popped up from under a girder, causing Catherine to jump.
"What'd you find?"
Sara held up a gloved hand covered in blood.
"Something you never want to bump into in a dark crawl space." As she pulled herself up out of the rubble, Catherine could see Sara had blood all over her knees as well. Catherine was relieved when she realized for certain that the blood wasn't Sara's.
"Found a dead body under there. And unless they work blind-folded, I'd say it was put there prior to the 'accident.'" Sara looked down at her clothing in disgust.
"So, you just thought you'd go crawl under a recently collapsed structure without a helmet or anything? I didn't even know where you were!" Catherine's eyes were wide with shock at the lapse of common sense Sara had displayed. Then she heard it.
"Rowr?" A soft, definitely feline sound came from beneath the wreckage. Sara looked up a bit sheepishly then turned back to the structure, bent down, cleared her throat, and returned to her rescue mission.
"Here, kitty! Kitty, kitty!" She patted the ground hopefully. The soft mewing continued, getting louder gradually as the kitten made its way towards the two women. Catherine kneeled down so as not to frighten the critter who was now peeking out from under an I-beam. It couldn't have been more than a few months old. The black ball of fuzz waddled slowly over to Sara's outstretched arms. She grabbed it up as soon as she was able, and made her way back up the ramp. Once at the top, O'Riley looked the two CSI's over curiously.
"Find anything?"
"More than she bargained for." Catherine laughed, and took the kitten out of Sara's hands as Sara headed to the Tahoe to process her clothing for trace.
"Who's your friend?" O'Riley pointed his pen at the kitten, and grinned.
"Not sure yet, but I think Sara's rent just went up." Catherine snuggled the fuzzy kitten, trying not to make ridiculous noises at it in front of the detective. "You might want to call the coroner. We've got at least one body down there, and it doesn't look like an accident." Sara returned wearing the spare jumpsuit from the back of the SUV, and carrying the camera.
"I'll go radio it in." He left them standing there, and headed for his car. "I'll send a couple of officers to watch the site."
"Hey." Sara retrieved the kitten, and looked at Catherine questioningly.
"Yeah?"
"You going to be ok on this case? I mean, this is Braun's worksite." There was no need tiptoeing around the elephant.
"Until we find anything to tie him into this, I don't see it being a problem." Catherine took in a deep breath.
"And if we do?"
"I'll tell Grissom I'm off the case myself." She hoped Sara would understand.
"Ok. What am I going to do with this little guy now?" She let the kitten settle into the large pocket on her top, and smiled as he played with a stray strand of her hair.
"How about we run him back to your place, grab something to eat, then get back here. David and the building inspector should be here by then, and we can continue our investigation. O'Riley has a few guys watching the site."
Sara hated the idea of leaving the scene, but it wasn't going anywhere, and they couldn't do anymore until they could reach the body anyhow.
"Sounds like a plan. We'll have to make a pit stop for a few things." Sara didn't even have to think about it. She was keeping this little guy.
"Got a name for him yet?" Catherine grabbed both their kits, as they headed back to the SUV.
"Not yet." She smiled as she got into the passenger seat, still cuddling the kitten to her chest.
"Well he needs a more masculine name than 'kitty.' Have you ever had a cat before?"
"Growing up, we had an orange cat at the Inn. His name was George."
"George? Please don't name that sweet kitten George." Catherine smirked, and tried to keep her eyes on the road, and off the fidgeting kitten.
"I'll have to think about it, and come up with something good. I think names are important. They should have a good meaning."
"Well, he's solid black, fuzzy, and we found him in a collapsed building. Is there a name that means all that?"
"I'll have to look in my baby names book."
Catherine nearly drove off the road.
"Hey! Kitty on board. Watch it!" Sara put a hand protectively over the cat's head.
"You have a Baby names book?" Catherine had to have this one explained.
"It was a gag gift from my brother when I graduated from Harvard."
"Trying to tell you something?"
"Something like that." Sara frowned.
TBC