For Disclaimer see Default Chapter
Chapter Six – Slip and SlideSara recognized that Solder was wearing biker boots and black leather gear, a helmet in his hand. I can imagine that Grissom was alarmed by his outfit. He's looking dangerous, but attractive, works for me. Solder was probably in his late thirties, a bit taller and slender than Grissom. He seemed not much to care about shaving and she had to admit that Solder looked pretty attractive with his dark brown messy hair and this quizzical look in his grey eyes.
"Glad to meet you, uh, Mr Grissom and very nice to meet you Miss or is it Mrs Sidle? Would you please put your weapons down. You're making me nervous. I am still shaken from the encounter with this Cowboy here."
"Please call me Sara, Professor", she avoided answering the specific question.
"OK, I go with Phil then." He put off his biker gloves and they shook hands. "Let's skip the rest of the introduction. I am pretty tired. Imaging driving down all the way from Reno without stopover. Not to forget the weather conditions and all this on a bike. Certain parts of me are pretty weary by now." He gave her a big smile. "So, where do I sleep?"
"Well, we only have one room to share", Grissom said.
"And it is already occupied", Philip nodded. He focussed on Sara and added in an ambiguous tone, "I understand." Sara could not help smiling. She liked that guy. Gris didn't say a thing to resolve that particular matter. His eyes were moving between Phil and Sara observing some kind of dynamics he did not feel very comfortable with.
"No problem, if you provide me some blankets, I'll get my sleeping bag and just settle down here. I've had worse." Said it and started removing his leather jacket. Sara returned with the requested items and a cup of tea.
"Here you are. Good night, then." She smiled.
"Have a good sleep too, honey!" Phil answered. Sara blushed when she saw Grissom watching her and quickly left the scene.
Grissom cocked his head, turned around and returned to the back office without saying another word.
Next morning Grissom woke up by the noise of conversation and laughter. Haven't heard that for a while from Sara, he wondered. He did not sleep well after last nights encounter. I'm getting too old for this. Gris suppressed upcoming thoughts about yesterday's events and tried to focus on what would be on hand today. Quickly he used the bathroom and changed into a blue shirt and slacks, before joining the obviously alert younger people.
"Morning", he mumbled, trying not to show too much of his bad temper. Sara lifted one eyebrow but replied friendly.
"How about breakfast, Gris? Phil and I prepared it. Let's share." Grissom felt a shot of jealousy coming up. That's no fair to her, he mused, I do not have any rights and Sara deserves to have this kind of deviation.
Grissom grabbed the offered mug and plate and murmured a thanks. After the first sips of strong black coffee he felt much more alert and joined the friendly small talk about getting to Jackpot and first impressions of this town.
Then Sheriff Brooks arrived.
"Hello, Dr Grissom!" Brooks tipped his hat. "This time you brought your wife with you?" And nodded to Sara. Grissom felt Sara's puzzled look on him.
"Not wife, uh, Sara Sidle, uh, also with the crime lab." Grissom hastily responded.
"Well, well, your wife's ok? With that, I mean? Revealing secrets, remember?" Brooks watched Grissom squirm. "Never mind."
"I didn't suppose this guy's married", Solder whispered in Sara's ear. Sara suppressed a smile and she whispered back "Neither did I."
"Well then, I am Lieutenant Alan Brooks", the Sheriff introduced himself to Sara seemingly not fond of having a woman doing a man's job. Then he shook hands with Solder and thanked him for the prompt follow up of his request.
"Sorry, we are not very well prepared to have so many important guests around and I thought that you guys just could share the back office. Didn't know we would have a lady around." He smirked.
"We are just fine", Grissom answered. "You might just want to find something more comfortable for the professor."
"Yeah, I'll do that. Let's roll now. The vet will be meeting us at the crime scene.
"It is not a crime scene yet", Grissom corrected the sheriff, "without context it may just be an unfortunate coincidence."
The Sheriff waved aside and grunted. "Whatever gets you going!"
Brooks invited Solder into his police car and asked Grissom to follow in their SUV. Gris and Sara grabbed their kits, jackets and baseball caps and entered the car.
"A vet?" Sara wanted to know. "Aren't we talking human bodies here?"
"Sara", Grissom explained, "Dr Dale Sterling is probably the only doctor around in a hundred miles perimeter. Up here he is pretty much veterinary, physician and probably also dentist in one person. Just in case I would recommend that you rather might want to stay healthy."
After half an hour drive over logging roads they arrived at the scene. It had stopped raining for a while but the surface still was muddy and slippery so that Grissom had to shift his Denali into four wheel drive. Although sliding a few times he managed to keep pace with the Sheriff's car.
Solder was ready to climb over the debris when Grissom called him back. "Stop, Solder! You may well be contaminating evidence. Can we please work coordinated here? Let's concentrate on the bodies first. Humour me, will you?"
"Grissom", Phil replied angrily. "This site has probably already been compromised or however you call it. Or do you see any crime scene tape over here?"
"Sheriff, where have the D.B.s been found and who did find them?" Grissom ignored Solders comment.
Brooks told them that he found the bodies after following the trace of the landslide. "That would pretty much rule out your first witness first suspect approach, right?" He added.
"I never rule anything out", Grissom responded grimly.
Carefully, avoiding not to slip on the soil they approached the bodies. They found them half covered in debris, rain washed their faces but still they looked like upright clay models of human form. Hands clutched and still in position if reaching of something to grab for safety.
"Sara, footprints! Take pictures from the perimeter and make sure that you get Sheriff Brooke's shoeprint to match it and rule him out."
Grissom kneels near to one of the bodies. "Hm, body in full rigor, but not much decomp here", he stated. "So it seem that they probably died while the landslide occured. Some signs of vulture activity on the limbs state that they have been here long enough to become prey", Grissom looked in the air. "No plant material on the bodies, only geological remains." He took some evidence photos and bagged some dirt found on the bodies.
"They must have been standing very close together when this happened. They are just a couple of feet apart from each other", he gestured to the Sheriff.
The veterinary stood waiting in the background for Grissom. "Doctor Sterling, any idea of T.O.D?" Sterling looked at him startled. "Estimated time of death, sorry." Grissom repeated.
Sterling shrugged. "It's not that easy to determine. Preliminary I would estimate not more than 24 hours. But the mud may have pretty well conserved the bodies. So one of them might be dead longer. I need to have a better look before I can tell. I authorize release of bodies. Now you can go ahead and teach me."
"Solder, can you please investigate what had been causing this and probably help with establishing a time line?" Grissom turned to the geologist.
"That's why I'm here, Dr Grissom. Can I go and climb up now?"
"Go ahead", Grissom replied impatiently. "But take the Sheriff with you and watch your step." Phil refused to give an answer and scoffed. Arrogant bastard, who's making you boss here anyway? He mumbled.
"He always like this?" Phil asked Sara. "Well, occasionally!" She shrugged and concentrated on collecting evidence. The geologist grabbed his equipment and left.
"Hey, Dr Grissom." The Sheriff shouted back while leaving, "You might wanna hurry up. It's going to start raining again and what you call evidence will then be gone by then." As if to prove him right, the first drops started falling.
"Alright", Grissom said to Sara and the vet, "Let's recover the bodies quickly and bring them back to your place, Doc."
They started to dig up the victims with the help of the other deputies when it started pouring.
"Be sure to collect some of the debris and mud as well. It might be helpful geological evidence and hurry up." He prompted to Sara.
Together they managed to move the bodies into a van and wrapped them in plastic to preserve as much evidence as possible under these circumstances.
"Wait a sec, Grissom said, and took a swab from the bullet entry hole on the left temple. When he took a closer look he saw it. "Short distance shot of a small calibre. Now, I think we have our crime scene!" He stated.