Disclaimer: I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I don't profit from them, but as always, if given the opportunity, coffee would be on me if George and Jorja could find the time.
Author's Note: I've always thought that people who get up before dawn the day after Thanksgiving to save a few dollars on socks are just plain nuts, so this is dedicated to all of those folks, and I'm lifting my peppermint mocha frappucino in honor of homemade gifts…while I let it ice my hand that's sore from all that knitting I've been doing lately.
Nick and Sara were finishing up the paperwork on a case they'd worked earlier that evening. What had appeared at first to be a possible homicide had ended up being an unintentional suicide from an allergic reaction to tofurkey. Apparently, the victim wasn't aware that tofu contained soy, something that he was deathly allergic to.
"You know, for someone who has an allergy to soy, you'd think they'd know that tofu is soybean curd." Sara just shook her head incredulously.
"Well, his blood alcohol content was pretty high, maybe he didn't realize what he was eating. Maybe he thought he was eating turkey; don't they say that tofu takes on the flavor of whatever you cook it in?" Nick had been reading up on vegetarian recipes as he tried to work up his courage to ask Sara on a date.
"Well he should have gotten himself a designated eater then." Sara let out a chuckle in spite of the ridiculous nature of the situation. "You know, I may be a vegetarian, but even I won't eat a tofurkey for Thanksgiving."
"You had Chilean Sea Bass." Nick commented without looking up.
"How did you know that?" Sara looked at him a bit oddly.
He tried to hide his embarrassed smile by smirking. "Uh, you don't eat meat, but you do eat fish, and I know that you like Chilean Sea Bass."
"Ok, smarty pants, what did I have for dessert?" She smirked back at him, charmed that he even noticed what she'd had to eat on their short dinner break in between waiting for samples to be verified.
"You didn't." He glanced up and winked. "But I think that there are a couple of pieces of pumpkin pie in the fridge."
She was about to say something when Grissom breezed into the break room. "Nick, Sara, you've got a 419 at the Rodeo Discount Mall on East Charleston Boulevard."
Sara let out an audible groan as she glanced at the clock and noticed that it was a little after six in the morning.
Nick and Grissom both looked at her quizzically.
It wasn't that she didn't mind working a holiday, or even putting in overtime for that matter, it was just that the idea of having to go near a mall the morning of the day after Thanksgiving for any reason made her feel nauseous.
"Is there something that you'd like to share, Sara?" Grissom arched a brow and his tone bordered on impatience at her reluctance to head towards the door.
She stood up, glad to have the chance to step away from the paperwork and faced Nick and Grissom. "It's the day after Thanksgiving."
Grissom shrugged. "So."
Nick just let out a chuckle. "Sara, we don't have to worry about parking and we can pretty much go to the front of the line."
She let out a frustrated sigh. "Fine."
"Did I miss something?" Grissom looked at the pair quizzically as he watched them head for the doorway.
Nick glanced back and tried to restrain an amused smile. "Biggest shopping day of the year." With that he trailed after Sara down the hallway towards the front entrance and her Denali.
When they arrived on scene, it was utter chaos. Getting the Denali to the curb was no problem, getting to the door was something entirely different. It seemed that every resident of Las Vegas had converged on the discount mall in search of the best deals money could buy and they regarded everyone, badge or no badge, as competition for getting inside. It wasn't until several extra patrol cars were brought in that the crowd finally began to be somewhat subdued, but they weren't about to budge from their places in line.
Brass wore a sardonic grin as Nick and Sara approached. "I see Gil let you have this one." His comment and his tone implied that Grissom was fully aware of what day of the year it was and that he would rather do paperwork the rest of shift than go anywhere near a mall.
"It appears that way." Sara's tone was dry as she and Nick followed Brass towards the entrance to one of the anchor stores of the mall.
The crowd was loudly vocalizing their irritation with the delay getting into the store and regarded the CSIs with their metallic cases with suspicion.
"What do we have, Jim?" Nick asked curiously, trying to see if they'd be pulling a double or if he might have time to ask Sara to breakfast.
"At first blush, it looks like some of our crowd tried to jump the line and we got a little stampede. There's one fatality and six others injured, three of which are insisting on staying to shop." Brass just shook his head as they approached the body, which was just inside the doorway where David the assistant coroner was checking her liver temperature.
"What do we have, David?" Nick asked as the coroner stood up.
"I'd say she's been dead less than an hour, I'll know more once we get her back to the morgue. Cause of death most likely asphyxia from being pressed against the door by the crowd." He gestured towards the crowd on the other side of the doors. "I'd sure hate to get that mob angry."
Brass glanced back at a few irate shoppers near the front of the line. "I guess this time it doesn't pay to be the early bird."
Sara slipped on a pair of latex gloves and glanced down at the body of what appeared to be an otherwise healthy thirty-something woman. "Brings a whole new meaning to shop till you drop."
"I've never understood why people are willing to get up early just to save a few bucks." Nick commented as he snapped pictures of the scene.
Sara crouched down next to the body and furrowed her brow as she noticed something that seemed out of place as she rolled it over slightly and examined it more closely. "Hey, Nick."
He glanced at her expectantly. "Yeah?" Her expression compelled him to crouch down next to her as she pointed at something.
"What does that look like to you?" Sara glanced over at him with a look that said she already knew the answer.
He gave her a confirming glance as he noticed the puncture wound just under the woman's shoulder blade as well as the pool of blood that her body had covered. "I'd say it looks like murder."