When they got back to the lab, Grissom and Sara both went in to interview the Danielle Taylor, who had been seen by Mrs. Pritchard in the upper hallway of the school. While they stood waiting for the police to bring her in, Grissom looked at Sara. Sara looked distant, like something was on her mind. She had been like that since the beginning of the shift, and he thought that maybe something had happened with Greg. Grissom had heard that Greg and Sara had gone out on Friday, and he was hopeful that maybe it hadn't worked out so well...
"Miss Taylor is ready, you guys can go in now," the office told them. Grissom and Sara stepped into the room.
"Danielle, my name is Sara Sidle and this is Gil Grissom. We're from the crime lab, and we just want to ask you a few questions about this afternoon."
Sara sat down at the table, resting her arms delicately on the table. She looked straight at Danielle. Danielle was fifteen years old, a sophomore at the school. She had long brown hair, long curled eyelashes, and looked about five years older than she was. She was wearing a green, low cut top that accentuated her curves, and a black mini-skirt that showed off her long, tanned legs. Grissom couldn't believe that this girl was in high school, or that any mother would let her daughter dress in such a way.
"I already told the police that I was upstairs on the second floor because I was getting extra help in English and we took a break for a few minutes. That's when I saw Mrs. Pritchard. She can tell you I was upstairs when it happened!"
"Yes, she told us that she saw you. So who exactly were you seeing for extra help?"
"Mrs. Smith."
"And you didn't go anywhere else in the building while you were there? Did you ever go down near Mr. Mason's room for anything? Anything at all?"
"No, I had my tutoring, went the bathroom, and went down the back staircase to meet my mom."
"All right Danielle, that's all we need to know for now, thank you." Grissom dismissed the young girl and the police went to go bring in Mrs. Taylor.
"Grissom?" Sara asked, looking directly into his eyes. She had such beautiful, deep brown eyes. He had rarely ever really looked into them. She was always so busy avoiding him, so he just stared. Stared into those portals to whatever lay so deep inside of Sara. All of her thoughts and feelings and dreams were in those eyes. He wanted to know everything, everything in those eyes. Maybe there was even something in there for him…
"Grissom? What's wrong with you today? I mean, I thought I was out of it, but you are just … Grissom!"
He snapped out of his daze. "Yes, Sara? Sorry, I had a long weekend."
"Don't worry, I did, too. I guess both of us are a little hazy today. But I'm not hazy enough to miss the fact that Danielle Taylor is obviously lying to us. She says she was seeing Mrs. Smith for help in English, but we already know that there were only three teachers in the building at the time. Mrs. Pritchard gave us the list from the conference, and all of the other teachers signed in."
At that moment, the police came in with Mrs. Taylor. She sat across from Grissom and Sara at the table, glaring at them. Mrs. Taylor did not look that different from Danielle. She was slightly more subtle in a pencil skirt and a half unbuttoned white shirt, and she wore black stilettos and thick-rimmed black glasses. She looked angry.
"Why have you guys been holding me and my daughter up like this? We didn't do anything! I don't even own a gun, I never have. Neither has my daughter! We want to go home, why can't you guys leave us alone?"
"We are very sorry, Mrs. Taylor," Grissom apologized, "This is just procedure. We need to rule you and your daughter out as suspects. Why were you at the school this afternoon?"
"I was picking up my daughter. She was supposed to be in tutoring with Mr. Mason. She's been having a lot of trouble in algebra lately, and he agreed to stay after to help her pull her grade up."
Grissom and Sara looked at each other. This was not following the statements that Danielle had given.
"Mrs. Taylor, your daughter told us that she was staying for English help with Mrs. Smith," Sara explained.
"Oh. Well maybe she was getting help with Mrs. Smith. I don't know. She just told me that she had taken a break from the tutoring and had gone to the restroom to reapply her makeup, and there was a lot of commotion about Mr. Mason's death when she emerged."
"She couldn't have been staying after with Mrs. Smith because we have proof that Mrs. Smith was at a conference across town this afternoon."
"What are you saying? That my daughter did this? My daughter is not a murderer! Even if she was working with Mr. Mason, that doesn't mean that she killed him! Mrs. Pritchard saw her outside of the restrooms!"
Grissom jumped in, "We aren't saying that your daughter killed anyone. Tell me, have you noticed any unusual behavior in your daughter lately? Is lying a pattern with her? What might she have been up to this afternoon besides studying?"
Mrs. Taylor thought for a minute, "Well, there was something. But I hope it's not relevant to this case. I shouldn't even mention it, but I found condoms under her bathroom sink a few weeks ago while I was cleaning it. I didn't know what to make of it, but suddenly she was going after school quite often for extra help in algebra. She's always had trouble in algebra. She was staying two or three times a week. But I never saw her do a bit of homework at home."
"What exactly do you think was going on?" Sara asked.
"I don't know. I don't know why I even let myself think it. I certainly didn't want it to be true. But I think that she was…you know…giving favors to Mr. Mason in order to raise her grade. I think she was having sex with him. He seems exactly like the kind of man who would do that, you know. And my daughter, well, she's always been a bit mature for her age…"
"Well, Mrs. Taylor, we don't want to jump to any conclusions yet. But I can assure you that we'll try to get to the bottom of this find out exactly what happened. Thank you for you time." Grissom and Sara stood as the officer led Mrs. Taylor out of the room.
Sarah walked ahead of Grissom to the office at the end of the hall. She was wearing long, black pants that fit close, but not too close. Grissom could see the curves of her tall, slender body as she moved, and her hair kind of bounced as she walked down the hall.
"An outfit like that is so much sexier than a short skirt or anything that Mrs. Taylor and her daughter were wearing," Grissom thought, "But maybe it's not the outfit, maybe it's the woman in the outfit…"
The arrived at the office and began filling out the paperwork that Greg had laid out for them while he had gone over to the morgue. Grissom began filling out the mindless reports, glancing at Sara on occasion to see if he could find her eyes again. He wanted to look into those beautiful eyes.
Suddenly it hit him. He had always been in love with Sara, since their days back in San Francisco when he was her teacher. He had always loved her, but it wasn't until now that he realized that he might lose her. She had dated before, but Grissom knew that none of those relationships would last. He knew they were nothing serious. But now Sara had gone out with Greg. Greg, who was genuinely a good guy. Grissom would recommend him for any woman because he was smart, funny, attractive… he would recommend Greg for any woman except Sara. He liked Greg, he loved Sara, and he didn't want to lose Sara to such a great guy…not yet. He had to find out how their date went. But he had to frame it in such a way that it seemed like ordinary office chat coming from her supervisor…
"Hey, Sara?"
"Yeah, Gris?" He liked it when she called him 'Gris.'
"I heard that you went out with Greg the other night. Is that true?"
"Wow, news sure does travel fast around here. Yes, Greg and I went out on Friday night. He took me to Perrono's for dinner."
"Ah, and I assume you had a good time? Greg is a nice guy." He could smack himself for adding that, but he had to find out how she felt.
"It was alright."
"So will you be seeing him again? Do we have to worry about an office romance here? Because that is something this lab has never faced before."
"To tell you the truth, Gris, there won't be a second date. Greg is a nice enough guy. In fact, he's a great guy. I like being friends with him. But he's a little big eager and immature for me. I need someone who's a bit more…down-to-earth." She looked at Grissom. Her eyes! He was looking directly into her eyes for the second time that day. Before he could read anything from them, she looked at the clock.
"We've got to get moving on this paperwork. Let's try to get it done before Greg comes back with the results from the fingerprints on the doorknobs," she stammered. She looked back down at the paper and began to write again. Grissom picked up his pen and held it, but he couldn't take his eyes off Sara. She was so attractive, concentrating on the paperwork with her hair falling over her face. He longed to reach out and touch her, something he had never felt so strongly before. Why was this coming over him so strong and so suddenly? He smiled, knowing that he still had a chance…if he could ever make a move…
