Disclaimer: I don't own them.
A/N: This is a response to the challenge posted at Unbound by VR Trakowski. I got this idea while I was chatting up a storm in PWF. Thanks for the inspiration guys! Hey, don't look at me like that…First and last lines given, 1000 words, as usual. Don't hesitate to review! I know my mind is messed up…:D
"Shut up Greg, you're dead."
Catherine glared at the grinning lab tech and stormed out of the break room.
I t had all started with a hot case Grissom, Sara and Greg were working.
They all arrived after the call came in about forty-five minutes later. Standing at the doorway, Greg fought to keep his lunch down. Glancing at Grissom and Sara, he was surprised to see the sight before them affected neither.
There, lying in the middle of the gigantic living room was a male DB. One side of his body was severely burnt, while the other looked to be in normal condition. Handing Greg the camera, Sara followed Grissom out of the room to talk to Brass.
Nervously, Greg looked around at the police officer positioned at the door. Shaking his head, he started to snap pictures of the body.
The pair walked over to the detective who was admiring the large entertainment center.
"Man, if only I could afford one of these babies….Anyways, house belongs to one Edmond Jansen. Wife came home, found him like this."
Grissom and Sara exchanged looks. "Sara, go and interview the wife, and get a DNA sample if you can."
They spent over three hours processing the large space and decided to head back to the lab.
A few hours later, things had improved steadily, but weren't adding up quite yet for the three. "Ok, so what do we have so far?" Grissom asked.
"Well, I collected a few hairs from our Vic's jacket, unknown. But get this…skin tag markers indicate someone female was definitely there. Oh, and there were 2 sets of footprints on the driveway, both identical, one leading in to the house and one leading out."
"Greg? How about you?"
"Well, I collected a small piece of yellowish fabric off of the Vic's leg. I also noticed some traces of blood on the shoes. Get this…XX."
"So, it seems that we had a female visitor. Greg, lets run that…"
Sara spoke up quickly. "I also found a blowtorch in the back pond that doesn't seem to have been in the water too long." She looked over at the entomologist, and recognized a small tinkle in his eyes.
Grissom was in one of those moods.
An experiment was in order.
"Alright…Greg, go run these samples against the wife, and when you're done, we'll need a dummy and a blowtorch that matches the model of the one Sara found. We'll meet back here in an hour."
Sometime later…
Greg met the two sometime later in a small room.
"DNA from the wife matches the blood we found on the shoes."
"Ok, so our Vic was in this position, with third degree burns on his side. Sara, you found a blowtorch in the bottom of the fishpond, so we're assuming that was the weapon. Now, all we have to do is somehow prove that."
Grissom glanced at Sara, who seemed to be finding the situation humorous.
"Now Greg, how do we go about doing this?"
"Ummm…..well, we'll have to see if the burn pattern matched the blowtorch," Greg replied nervously. "So, I'm guessing that the hubby and wife start arguing over something and get in a fight, somehow resulting in injury of the wife. She must have managed to knock him unconscious and then run out to their shed and grab whatever she saw."
Sara sighed. "Something made this woman mad, and I'm guessing it had to do with loyalty."
"Ok, so somehow a struggle ensues, and Mrs. Jansen brings out the blowtorch. Sara, could you hand me the dummy, and Greg, start up the torch."
Sara was still smirking as she handed the dummy to Grissom. Raising one eyebrow in a silent question, she just shrugged and stepped back. Grissom just shook his head.
"Alright, Greg…would you do the honors please?"
Greg stepped up and flicked the torch on and held it over to his side.
At that moment, Catherine came streaming into the room, and went to pass Greg.
"Grissom I need you to-"
"Catherine! NOOOOOOOO!"
But it was too late. The ends of Catherine's hair caught fire immediately, and in the blink of an eye, her hair was rapidly disintegrating.
Luckily, Sara was near by with a fire extinguisher and managed to give the flustered blonde a shot of white foam.
Everyone stood stock still. Greg was in the corner holding the now turned-off blowtorch, a look of horror on his face. It was finally Sara who broke the silence.
"Oh my god, Cath…are you ok?"
More silence…and then…"Greg! I am going to kill you!" The blonde lunged at the lab tech, who was now on his feet and running out of the room.
Grissom stood, shell-shocked at what had just happened. Slowly he turned to Sara, who was smirking.
"Did…did you know this was going to happen?"
"No…well I knew that Catherine was looking for you, and I didn't think she'd come in right then! I swear to god…" Sara was shaking slightly. "I didn't think she'd just come bursting in here."
Grissom came over and wrapped Sara in his arms. "Hey it's okay. It's not your fault."
Slowly, Sara stepped out of Grissom's embrace. "I guess we better go fill out an accident report."
"Yeah, and pry Catherine's hands from Greg's throat."
Chuckling they both walked out of the room.
Meanwhile, Brass was sitting in his office about to do some paperwork, when he heard a string of curses. Looking up, he sighed as he saw a snowy-head Catherine running after Greg.
Brass knew it was going to be one of those days.