The team sat hunched around what little information they had, which was spread across the break room table. All sitting in contemplative silence, they jumped when the door burst open and a triumphant looking Grissom strode in.
'Someone knows our victim.' He said simply, smiling smugly. The team stared at him, gaping, as he waved the photo at them.
'Someone saw him on the news and recognized him. She's flying in from Miami to identify the body.'
'Who is she?' Sara asked eagerly, the half eaten apple she'd been chewing on thoughtfully for the last half hour, now forgotten.
Grissom's smile broadened, 'His mother. She hadn't been expecting him for another week. He was going to visit his family, who all live in Miami...Oh, and the university called-he's a student at LVU, and they started their break a couple of days ago.'
'So the murder was timed well. He had nowhere to be, no-one to wonder where he was. Which again would suggest his killer knew him well....'
They continued like this, brain-storming and debating for what seemed like days, all eagerly awaiting the arrival of the victim's mother, due early the next day. Nick and Sara were to visit one of the victim's teachers, and Warrick would search his dorm-room for evidence. Things were now starting to unfold rapidly, and Nick felt ashamed once again that he had given up so easily. In his frustration he had failed to use his head the way he had been trained so well to do, and he had made complications out of nothing. So this wasn't going to be strictly textbook, but it didn't mean that they wouldn't be able to follow the clues, just like they always did.
He knew he needed to apologise properly to Grissom, but didn't get the chance as the older man suddenly leapt up, and strode over to the door. Turning back to a once-again-confused team, he told them,
'Oh, yeah, the new lab-tech's here, I'll bring him up to meet you.'
A/N: See, him, HIM!!! This isn't going to end in some romance between the two techs!!! I don't want to be THAT predictable!