Blind Revenge
By: Manda and Allison
Chapter 9: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
+++++
"Any luck with that other employee?" Nick asked, running into Warrick and Sara in the DNA lab.
"None. The kid was 20, and terrified out of his mind about us questioning him. Turns out he's a pharmacy major at UNLV, he's there doing an internship. He just happened to start the day Mr. Petty quit," Sara told him flopping down into the seat next to Nick.
"And that leaves us without a suspect, and right back to where we started," interjected Warrick.
"With Thomas Gribbs fingerprint, on an empty pill bottle."
"PD clear his alibi with his boss, Mr. Conrad?"
"Says he's a model employee...been clean for a year, never late to work, and get this, Conrad watched him log those bottles in," Sara threw her arms across her chest in annoyance. "We've got nothing."
"Maybe not...aren't you two forgetting something?" Warrick and Sara turned to Nick, their eyes peaked with curiosity. "We found more than one bottle at Catherine's house, the one half empty on her table..."
"I see...you think our suspect might have touched the bottle?"
"Exactly." Nick grinned, the excitement at a possible break in the case palpable. "Where's that bottle now?"
"In my capable hands, compadre." The trio looked up at the entrance of Greg, pulling on his ivory lab coat with a Cheshire Cat grin spreading across his face.
"Where've you been, Greg? We could have had that hour ago." Sara leaned against the microscope table, eyes locked on the eager young scientist, but Greg Sanders was not to be thrown by the eagle eyes.
"Bathroom, Sara. Nature calls, even for us dedicated science geeks."
"It's called a bedpan, Greg, and I'm sure Doc Robbins would have been happy to lend you one. So where's our bottle? And how the hell did you get it, anyway?"
"Cool your jets. Jacqui had to leave- her kid broke his femur or something like that...and she handed it off to me, so I could hand it off to you." From within one of the many pockets attached to his coat, Greg withdrew a clear evidence bag containing a dull orange bottle. "Three prints, four partials."
"Great. Got a printout of those?" Within seconds, a paper was whisked out to accompany the bag, and Sara held it tightly within her fingers.
"Jacqui didn't have time to run them, thought you CSI's could handle it." Greg turned to leave, but got halfway to the door and then stopped. "Oh, and if any of you see Cath, tell her Jacqui says get well, and to remind her that she still owes her a beer...whatever that means."
"I'm sure Catherine knows."
Greg shrugged. "Sure, whatever...just makes sure she gets the message...and while you're at it, tell her she better get her butt back here fast...Grissom's...well let's just say his people skills are better when she's around."
"Will do, Greg." Nick's voice was the only one that chased the science geek through the doorway, and with the silence that followed he turned abruptly. "Guys...what gives? Neither of you are with it."
"Sorry, Nick." The two exchanged glances, and Sara waved the paper in the air dutifully.
"I'm off to run these prints through AFIS. Warrick- you gonna chase down another suspect?"
"Yeah- guess I'll run your cross with the pharmacy list- get some faces to go with the rest of these names. Maybe something new will come up. Nick, gonna come with?"
"Yeah...guess I will."
"Then let's go, man...no use sitting around here."
"I'm coming..." Nick rose dutifully and followed Warrick out the lab door towards the main lobby. As they walked out Nick eyed the secretary from the desk, peeking into Grissom's office. Apparently not finding him she turned around and started back towards her desk.
"Judy, you looking for Grissom?" Nick asked, the elder woman jumping at the sound of his voice.
"Geez Nick, you scared me."
"Sorry," he replied, sending an apologetic smile in her direction.
"No problem, just don't sneak up on me again...you'll give me a heart attack. Yes, I am looking for Grissom, he had an urgent phone message, have you seen him?"
"He's on his way back here, I think..."
"Well, when he gets here...send him to the front desk, okay?"
"Sure thing."
Filing the mental note, Nick hurried to catch up with Warrick, punching the CSI on the arm with a jesting grin. "Hey, man, wait up."
"What's that about?"
"Nothing- Judy's got a message for Gris. Haven't seen him today, though, man."
"Yeah, me neither. Off with Cath, I think." Any other situation with Grissom and Catherine paired off would have filled the air with jokes and innuendo- but not today. Today, Warrick only shook his head with concern, Nick mirroring the act as the two headed off toward the parking lot.
It wasn't yet shaping up to be a good day.
~*~*~*~
Meanwhile, Sara had headed off to the print lab, and had set herself in front of a computer once again. Scanning the prints in the machine, she rested her elbows on the desk in front of her, and waited for AFIS to hopefully, kick something out for her.
She watched as the first set of prints came up, and matched to an in-house set...Catherine's. "This is going to be a long day," she muttered to herself, pushing the hair out of her eyes. Clicking on the second set, she watched as the program cycled through the thousands of various possible matches, and wondered how Jacqui could possibly do this all day.
The next set- Lindsey Willows. Catherine was the trusting kind- would probably send her daughter to the bathroom to get them for her. Cute kid- but Sara never wanted children...and found that Catherine's sometimes drove her crazy.
The third print came back unknown, which sent Sara's heart racing. One good print...not a partial...usable...and belonging to someone not within the Willow's household.
Hypothesis: She could have their killer in the bag- and Grissom would be pleased.
She always liked it when Grissom was pleased. Now she just had to match the print to someone inside that pharmacy.
Taking out her cell phone, she dialed the number to Garfield's pharmacy, and waited for someone to pick up.
"Hello, may speak to a Mr. Conrad? Thanks." She smiled to herself as she waited, hoping her print would break the case. "Yes, Mr. Conrad, do you fingerprint your employees? I need to see them if you have them on file somewhere...no, that'd be fine. Thanks."
The fax would come through in fifteen minutes, as soon as Mr. Conrad was able to make his way to the copy store. He'd explained that their fax was broken...that he was willing to drive into Vegas if Sara was willing to wait. But she'd declined, saying it would be fine just to wait, to hear the whirring of the fax churning out the crisp printed sheets. Like any good employer, Conrad kept the files together...and like any good CSI, Sara was certain she could make quick work of them.
"Sara Sidle?" Her eyes were averted from where they lingered on the fax, now churning out page one of twenty-six, landing on the thin, blue-smocked form of a young, pimply-faced scientist. "I--I'm...Hendricks, from days."
"Hey, there, Hendricks. You looking for someone?"
"Y-you, Miss Sidle. Mr. Ecklie sent me...I need those prints when you get them."
"You do?" Sara's brow furrowed, her face contorting into what Nick always cheeringly referred to as her 'angry gorilla' face. Since the bounty-hunted gorilla incident, she'd become used to the name, associating it with her anger far too often. "It's our case."
"Not anymore. Your supervisor should-"
"What the hell." She was on her feet and out the door, leaving pages spitting from the fax into the tray as she sprinted through the semi-populated corridors, grabbing Grissom's doorframe with strong fingers to bring her body to a halt. "Grissom- they're taking our case."
"I know, Sara...I know. I'm calling everyone in." Grissom seemed tired- too tired- the shadows under his eyes rivaling those of the battered dead. He sunk into his desk chair and tossed his jacket aside...and it only momentarily occurred to Sara that he just returned from Catherine's side. The thought didn't infuriate her as much as Ecklie's gall, and she pushed it aside for later times.
"They can't take this case, this is our case."
"This comes from Mobley, Sara, I tried, but there's nothing I can do."
"Bullshit."
"What did you just say?" he asked, arching his eyebrow.
"Bullshit...I said bullshit, Grissom. Catherine's not here to do it, so it might as well be me...you can't give up on this."
"I don't exactly have a choice...I've come close enough to losing my job over this, I don't intend to go any further."
"We're so close to breaking this wide open...hell, if that sniveling worm Hendricks hadn't shown up I could be matching prints right now!"
Grissom sighed and pushed away from his desk, "Sara, wait till everyone else gets here...then we'll figure things out."
"Figure what out?" Came a voice from outside the hall.
The two looked up into the hall, where Greg stood, a manila folder in his tight grasp, looking all the world like a conspirator in a secret society. "Sorry, boss...Sara...I found this in the computer room...thought you left it there."
"Wasn't Hendricks-"
"Don't know- saw him taking off down the hall. Think he ate something that didn't agree with him- like that bean burrito he took from Nick's lunch bag in the freezer."
"Ahh." Sara's hands were scarcely within range of the folder before Grissom's sharp retort brought it to her side once again, and Greg nearly dropped it in surprise.
"Greg- take that folder back to where you found it."
"But I thought Sara was-"
"Now, Greg!" The lab rat wasn't prone to staying around when Grissom spoke in that tone reserved only for Ecklie and difficult suspects...but today he stood his ground, as Sara shot him a look of warning and turned her head in Grissom's direction.
"Don't push him around, Grissom. Greg- Ecklie's shift has the case, now."
"That's bullshit."
"Sorry to burst your bubble Greg, but Sara's already informed me of that, twice," Grissom spoke up, before Greg could get another word in. "Now, you two, sit...we'll discuss what to do about this when Nick and Warrick get back."
"Wait no longer, we're here" Warrick's tall lanky form appeared in Grissom's doorway, Nick close behind. "What's up? We were on our way to match up a few of the employees on our list, see who we could rule out etcetera...when you paged."
"Ecklie took our case, that's what's up," Sara huffed, flopping onto Grissom's couch and crossing her arms indignantly.
"Ecklie took our- Gris, how can he do that?" Warrick's exasperation mirrored that of Sara and Greg's, and Nick only stood there, mouth gaping open. "Who-"
"The sheriff handed over jurisdiction," Grissom explained, lifting a pen from the desk and slipping it repeatedly through his fingers. He'd tired of the story already, tired of explaining over and over again that he'd lost the most vital case on their plate to Conrad Ecklie. "We're supposed to hand over every piece of evidence we have pertaining to Catherine's case."
"We can't-no, we won't, will we?"
"We have too."
"Man, this is messed up," Warrick growled, kicking the edge of the door with his foot. Leave it to Ecklie to play lapdog to the Sheriff, and fuck up their case. Warrick had had about enough of the bald headed day shift supervisor, and looking around that the faces of his coworkers, he was almost positive that he wasn't alone.
"You've got that right." Nick flopped onto the leather couch, Greg following, and glared sullenly up at Billy Bass. "You just know he's gonna do something to fuck up Cath's chances."
"Actually..." Grissom reached up and massaged his temples, abandoning the pen on the desktop.
"Actually what?" The trio of young, frustrated investigators turned their heads in his direction, and it was Sara who blurted out the question first. "What happened, Grissom?"
"Nothing, it's nothing."
"Obviously it's something...the vein in your forehead is practically throbbing." Nick pointed out, "We have a right to know, Cath's our friend too. You can't just shut us out and not tell us what's going on."
Grissom was silent for a moment, his eyes gazing sullenly at his team. He didn't want to be the one who had to break more bad news to them, not here not now. All he could do was sit there, and stare...not sure what to tell them.
"He's firing her, isn't he? Mobley's firing Catherine." Warrick moved from his position in the doorway, fully entering the room and locked eyes with Grissom; waiting expectantly for an answer. It was now that he realized what Grissom and Brass had been talking about back at the pharmacy...what Gris had been so unwilling to tell me. Why he was so angry.
"Not firing, Warrick. Fired. I ran into him at the hospital earlier. We had a few words...and Catherine's no longer employed at CSI, yes." He didn't want to have to tell them at all, and by the looks on each of their faces, they hadn't wanted to hear it that way, either. "Look. We can't do anything about this now. I want all of you to gather every piece of evidence you can and bring it to Mobley's office. He can disperse it to dayshift as he sees fit."
He received only garbled mutters in reply as the CSI's stood up and filed out of his office begrudgingly. Only Nick lingered behind the group, stopping momentarily at the door.
"Gris?"
"Yea Nick?"
"I almost forgot-Judy, at the front desk, was looking for you earlier...some kind of important phone message."
"In regards to what, exactly?"
"I don't know," Nick shrugged rather sheepishly, "Just said that it was urgent, and that when I saw you, I should tell you to go talk to her."
"Thanks, Nick."
"No problem."
Grissom didn't reply. Rising out of his chair, he maneuvered past Nick and out into the hallway. The front desk was quiet, with Judy arranging paper clips among neatly ordered stacks of folders when he approached.
"Judy?"
"Ah, Mr. Grissom- this message came in for you about an hour ago...it's from the Desert Palms hospital? They said it was urgent..." Grissom's hand had already snatched the rustling pink slip from her fingertips and his eyes drank in the few hastily scrawled words, printing out a message he'd never wanted to hear. Spinning around, he sprinted back toward his office, brushing into a perplexed Nick, who trailed after him.
"Boss? What's going on?"
"Nick- get Sara and Warrick- now." His fingers closed around the handle of a field kit, while his other hand took up the smooth leather jacket he'd abandoned on the couch. Catherine loved that jacket- would always tell him that she couldn't associate that smell with anyone other than him. "As of two hours ago- we're back at the hospital!"
TBC.
By: Manda and Allison
Chapter 9: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
+++++
"Any luck with that other employee?" Nick asked, running into Warrick and Sara in the DNA lab.
"None. The kid was 20, and terrified out of his mind about us questioning him. Turns out he's a pharmacy major at UNLV, he's there doing an internship. He just happened to start the day Mr. Petty quit," Sara told him flopping down into the seat next to Nick.
"And that leaves us without a suspect, and right back to where we started," interjected Warrick.
"With Thomas Gribbs fingerprint, on an empty pill bottle."
"PD clear his alibi with his boss, Mr. Conrad?"
"Says he's a model employee...been clean for a year, never late to work, and get this, Conrad watched him log those bottles in," Sara threw her arms across her chest in annoyance. "We've got nothing."
"Maybe not...aren't you two forgetting something?" Warrick and Sara turned to Nick, their eyes peaked with curiosity. "We found more than one bottle at Catherine's house, the one half empty on her table..."
"I see...you think our suspect might have touched the bottle?"
"Exactly." Nick grinned, the excitement at a possible break in the case palpable. "Where's that bottle now?"
"In my capable hands, compadre." The trio looked up at the entrance of Greg, pulling on his ivory lab coat with a Cheshire Cat grin spreading across his face.
"Where've you been, Greg? We could have had that hour ago." Sara leaned against the microscope table, eyes locked on the eager young scientist, but Greg Sanders was not to be thrown by the eagle eyes.
"Bathroom, Sara. Nature calls, even for us dedicated science geeks."
"It's called a bedpan, Greg, and I'm sure Doc Robbins would have been happy to lend you one. So where's our bottle? And how the hell did you get it, anyway?"
"Cool your jets. Jacqui had to leave- her kid broke his femur or something like that...and she handed it off to me, so I could hand it off to you." From within one of the many pockets attached to his coat, Greg withdrew a clear evidence bag containing a dull orange bottle. "Three prints, four partials."
"Great. Got a printout of those?" Within seconds, a paper was whisked out to accompany the bag, and Sara held it tightly within her fingers.
"Jacqui didn't have time to run them, thought you CSI's could handle it." Greg turned to leave, but got halfway to the door and then stopped. "Oh, and if any of you see Cath, tell her Jacqui says get well, and to remind her that she still owes her a beer...whatever that means."
"I'm sure Catherine knows."
Greg shrugged. "Sure, whatever...just makes sure she gets the message...and while you're at it, tell her she better get her butt back here fast...Grissom's...well let's just say his people skills are better when she's around."
"Will do, Greg." Nick's voice was the only one that chased the science geek through the doorway, and with the silence that followed he turned abruptly. "Guys...what gives? Neither of you are with it."
"Sorry, Nick." The two exchanged glances, and Sara waved the paper in the air dutifully.
"I'm off to run these prints through AFIS. Warrick- you gonna chase down another suspect?"
"Yeah- guess I'll run your cross with the pharmacy list- get some faces to go with the rest of these names. Maybe something new will come up. Nick, gonna come with?"
"Yeah...guess I will."
"Then let's go, man...no use sitting around here."
"I'm coming..." Nick rose dutifully and followed Warrick out the lab door towards the main lobby. As they walked out Nick eyed the secretary from the desk, peeking into Grissom's office. Apparently not finding him she turned around and started back towards her desk.
"Judy, you looking for Grissom?" Nick asked, the elder woman jumping at the sound of his voice.
"Geez Nick, you scared me."
"Sorry," he replied, sending an apologetic smile in her direction.
"No problem, just don't sneak up on me again...you'll give me a heart attack. Yes, I am looking for Grissom, he had an urgent phone message, have you seen him?"
"He's on his way back here, I think..."
"Well, when he gets here...send him to the front desk, okay?"
"Sure thing."
Filing the mental note, Nick hurried to catch up with Warrick, punching the CSI on the arm with a jesting grin. "Hey, man, wait up."
"What's that about?"
"Nothing- Judy's got a message for Gris. Haven't seen him today, though, man."
"Yeah, me neither. Off with Cath, I think." Any other situation with Grissom and Catherine paired off would have filled the air with jokes and innuendo- but not today. Today, Warrick only shook his head with concern, Nick mirroring the act as the two headed off toward the parking lot.
It wasn't yet shaping up to be a good day.
~*~*~*~
Meanwhile, Sara had headed off to the print lab, and had set herself in front of a computer once again. Scanning the prints in the machine, she rested her elbows on the desk in front of her, and waited for AFIS to hopefully, kick something out for her.
She watched as the first set of prints came up, and matched to an in-house set...Catherine's. "This is going to be a long day," she muttered to herself, pushing the hair out of her eyes. Clicking on the second set, she watched as the program cycled through the thousands of various possible matches, and wondered how Jacqui could possibly do this all day.
The next set- Lindsey Willows. Catherine was the trusting kind- would probably send her daughter to the bathroom to get them for her. Cute kid- but Sara never wanted children...and found that Catherine's sometimes drove her crazy.
The third print came back unknown, which sent Sara's heart racing. One good print...not a partial...usable...and belonging to someone not within the Willow's household.
Hypothesis: She could have their killer in the bag- and Grissom would be pleased.
She always liked it when Grissom was pleased. Now she just had to match the print to someone inside that pharmacy.
Taking out her cell phone, she dialed the number to Garfield's pharmacy, and waited for someone to pick up.
"Hello, may speak to a Mr. Conrad? Thanks." She smiled to herself as she waited, hoping her print would break the case. "Yes, Mr. Conrad, do you fingerprint your employees? I need to see them if you have them on file somewhere...no, that'd be fine. Thanks."
The fax would come through in fifteen minutes, as soon as Mr. Conrad was able to make his way to the copy store. He'd explained that their fax was broken...that he was willing to drive into Vegas if Sara was willing to wait. But she'd declined, saying it would be fine just to wait, to hear the whirring of the fax churning out the crisp printed sheets. Like any good employer, Conrad kept the files together...and like any good CSI, Sara was certain she could make quick work of them.
"Sara Sidle?" Her eyes were averted from where they lingered on the fax, now churning out page one of twenty-six, landing on the thin, blue-smocked form of a young, pimply-faced scientist. "I--I'm...Hendricks, from days."
"Hey, there, Hendricks. You looking for someone?"
"Y-you, Miss Sidle. Mr. Ecklie sent me...I need those prints when you get them."
"You do?" Sara's brow furrowed, her face contorting into what Nick always cheeringly referred to as her 'angry gorilla' face. Since the bounty-hunted gorilla incident, she'd become used to the name, associating it with her anger far too often. "It's our case."
"Not anymore. Your supervisor should-"
"What the hell." She was on her feet and out the door, leaving pages spitting from the fax into the tray as she sprinted through the semi-populated corridors, grabbing Grissom's doorframe with strong fingers to bring her body to a halt. "Grissom- they're taking our case."
"I know, Sara...I know. I'm calling everyone in." Grissom seemed tired- too tired- the shadows under his eyes rivaling those of the battered dead. He sunk into his desk chair and tossed his jacket aside...and it only momentarily occurred to Sara that he just returned from Catherine's side. The thought didn't infuriate her as much as Ecklie's gall, and she pushed it aside for later times.
"They can't take this case, this is our case."
"This comes from Mobley, Sara, I tried, but there's nothing I can do."
"Bullshit."
"What did you just say?" he asked, arching his eyebrow.
"Bullshit...I said bullshit, Grissom. Catherine's not here to do it, so it might as well be me...you can't give up on this."
"I don't exactly have a choice...I've come close enough to losing my job over this, I don't intend to go any further."
"We're so close to breaking this wide open...hell, if that sniveling worm Hendricks hadn't shown up I could be matching prints right now!"
Grissom sighed and pushed away from his desk, "Sara, wait till everyone else gets here...then we'll figure things out."
"Figure what out?" Came a voice from outside the hall.
The two looked up into the hall, where Greg stood, a manila folder in his tight grasp, looking all the world like a conspirator in a secret society. "Sorry, boss...Sara...I found this in the computer room...thought you left it there."
"Wasn't Hendricks-"
"Don't know- saw him taking off down the hall. Think he ate something that didn't agree with him- like that bean burrito he took from Nick's lunch bag in the freezer."
"Ahh." Sara's hands were scarcely within range of the folder before Grissom's sharp retort brought it to her side once again, and Greg nearly dropped it in surprise.
"Greg- take that folder back to where you found it."
"But I thought Sara was-"
"Now, Greg!" The lab rat wasn't prone to staying around when Grissom spoke in that tone reserved only for Ecklie and difficult suspects...but today he stood his ground, as Sara shot him a look of warning and turned her head in Grissom's direction.
"Don't push him around, Grissom. Greg- Ecklie's shift has the case, now."
"That's bullshit."
"Sorry to burst your bubble Greg, but Sara's already informed me of that, twice," Grissom spoke up, before Greg could get another word in. "Now, you two, sit...we'll discuss what to do about this when Nick and Warrick get back."
"Wait no longer, we're here" Warrick's tall lanky form appeared in Grissom's doorway, Nick close behind. "What's up? We were on our way to match up a few of the employees on our list, see who we could rule out etcetera...when you paged."
"Ecklie took our case, that's what's up," Sara huffed, flopping onto Grissom's couch and crossing her arms indignantly.
"Ecklie took our- Gris, how can he do that?" Warrick's exasperation mirrored that of Sara and Greg's, and Nick only stood there, mouth gaping open. "Who-"
"The sheriff handed over jurisdiction," Grissom explained, lifting a pen from the desk and slipping it repeatedly through his fingers. He'd tired of the story already, tired of explaining over and over again that he'd lost the most vital case on their plate to Conrad Ecklie. "We're supposed to hand over every piece of evidence we have pertaining to Catherine's case."
"We can't-no, we won't, will we?"
"We have too."
"Man, this is messed up," Warrick growled, kicking the edge of the door with his foot. Leave it to Ecklie to play lapdog to the Sheriff, and fuck up their case. Warrick had had about enough of the bald headed day shift supervisor, and looking around that the faces of his coworkers, he was almost positive that he wasn't alone.
"You've got that right." Nick flopped onto the leather couch, Greg following, and glared sullenly up at Billy Bass. "You just know he's gonna do something to fuck up Cath's chances."
"Actually..." Grissom reached up and massaged his temples, abandoning the pen on the desktop.
"Actually what?" The trio of young, frustrated investigators turned their heads in his direction, and it was Sara who blurted out the question first. "What happened, Grissom?"
"Nothing, it's nothing."
"Obviously it's something...the vein in your forehead is practically throbbing." Nick pointed out, "We have a right to know, Cath's our friend too. You can't just shut us out and not tell us what's going on."
Grissom was silent for a moment, his eyes gazing sullenly at his team. He didn't want to be the one who had to break more bad news to them, not here not now. All he could do was sit there, and stare...not sure what to tell them.
"He's firing her, isn't he? Mobley's firing Catherine." Warrick moved from his position in the doorway, fully entering the room and locked eyes with Grissom; waiting expectantly for an answer. It was now that he realized what Grissom and Brass had been talking about back at the pharmacy...what Gris had been so unwilling to tell me. Why he was so angry.
"Not firing, Warrick. Fired. I ran into him at the hospital earlier. We had a few words...and Catherine's no longer employed at CSI, yes." He didn't want to have to tell them at all, and by the looks on each of their faces, they hadn't wanted to hear it that way, either. "Look. We can't do anything about this now. I want all of you to gather every piece of evidence you can and bring it to Mobley's office. He can disperse it to dayshift as he sees fit."
He received only garbled mutters in reply as the CSI's stood up and filed out of his office begrudgingly. Only Nick lingered behind the group, stopping momentarily at the door.
"Gris?"
"Yea Nick?"
"I almost forgot-Judy, at the front desk, was looking for you earlier...some kind of important phone message."
"In regards to what, exactly?"
"I don't know," Nick shrugged rather sheepishly, "Just said that it was urgent, and that when I saw you, I should tell you to go talk to her."
"Thanks, Nick."
"No problem."
Grissom didn't reply. Rising out of his chair, he maneuvered past Nick and out into the hallway. The front desk was quiet, with Judy arranging paper clips among neatly ordered stacks of folders when he approached.
"Judy?"
"Ah, Mr. Grissom- this message came in for you about an hour ago...it's from the Desert Palms hospital? They said it was urgent..." Grissom's hand had already snatched the rustling pink slip from her fingertips and his eyes drank in the few hastily scrawled words, printing out a message he'd never wanted to hear. Spinning around, he sprinted back toward his office, brushing into a perplexed Nick, who trailed after him.
"Boss? What's going on?"
"Nick- get Sara and Warrick- now." His fingers closed around the handle of a field kit, while his other hand took up the smooth leather jacket he'd abandoned on the couch. Catherine loved that jacket- would always tell him that she couldn't associate that smell with anyone other than him. "As of two hours ago- we're back at the hospital!"
TBC.