A/N: Thanks for the reviews, hope you enjoy this next chapter...
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Chapter Two:
Grissom eased into the parking lot and pulled on the brake. Unbuckling his seatbelt, he reached over to the back seat and retrieved his briefcase. Setting it down on his knee, he carefully placed the mystery package inside, not wanting anyone else to question him about it before he had determined its contents.
Upon entering the building, he walked straight to his office and closed the door. He had come in early tonight to put a dent in the paperwork that was threatening to take control of his desk, so there was little chance he would be interrupted by one of his team. Opening his briefcase, he carefully retrieved the package and set it down on the spot that he had cleared on his desk.
Grabbing the small digital camera from his desk drawer, he snapped a few shots of the package from both sides and a close-up of the knot in the string. After pulling on a new set of gloves, he set to work untying the knotted string with a pair of tweezers. Once he had it undone, he carefully removed the string from the package and put it into an evidence bag from his kit. With nothing else holding the paper, he tentatively pulled it back, revealing an object nestled securely inside a bubble wrap envelope.
Taking another couple of shots with the camera he reached inside the bubble wrap and pulled out the object. 'Interesting' he thought, giving a wry grin when he thought about how careful he had been. "Better to be safe than sorry, I guess," he remarked out loud.
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Meanwhile Sara was undergoing a similar process of investigation, which was to be expected considering she and Grissom seemed to be tuned into the same frequency. Since the 'helpful' delivery boy had left, she had managed to transport the package inside her house, along with her box of lukewarm pizza. Her dinner had been completely disregarded as she set about transforming her kitchen into an impromptu lab.
The sluggish Sara Sidle of half an hour ago had completely disappeared and in her place was Sara Sidle, CSI extraordinaire. "If Mohammed won't page the mountain, then the mountain will work at home," she said, eyeing her makeshift lab and making sure that everything was in place. Given her recent boredom, it was fair to say that the mystery package was going to get a thorough going over.
She started with photos, ensuring she had shots from both sides and close-ups of the way the string was tied. Next came the removal of the string, instead of untying the knot as Grissom had on his package, she was able to slide it over the corners so that it came off with the knot intact. She carefully bagged it in case it needed to be examined more closely later.
Now that the paper was loose she pulled it back to reveal a bubble wrap pouch, identical to the one Grissom had received. She could see an object inside and had her presumptions about what it was but rather than rushing to pull it out, she snapped off another couple of photos. Content that she had collected all the evidence she could, she reached inside to retrieve the object. As she pulled it out, she saw that her deduction had been right on the money.
"Intriguing," she mused as she looked at the object. "I wonder what secrets you hold." As much as she wanted to satisfy her curiosity, she knew that she still had some processing to do. Carefully but thoroughly she started to examine the object for any further evidence.
After working diligently for what seemed like minutes but in actual fact was a full half hour, she was finally satisfied that she had missed nothing. She had folded the paper and bagged it for evidence, likewise the bubble wrap. Picking up the object she walked into her living room. "Time for you to tell me what this is all about," she said, speaking once again to an inanimate object.
TBC...
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