Since Erzsébet wasn't one of THEIR lab techs, Ecklie couldn't put up a fight when she refused to come in for the day shift. There had been a lot of arguing since Matt had shown up at the crime lab three nights ago, a lot of it between supervisors, and a lot of it between Sidles. Grissom lectured Sara about conduct because Erzsébet just told him to fuck off; Catherine lectured Erzsébet when she left the results in her office, and wouldn't communicate with anyone; and GREG was off because Nick and Warrick thought it was HIS fault they'd lost Erzsébet.
What a surprise to everyone when Erzsébet showed up just as shifts were changing, sporting a very fashionable black eye. "Hey everyone," she said, "I think I'm going back to Atlanta."
"Shit, what happened?"
That was from Nick, but it caused Sara and Greg to both get up and walk over towards Erzsébet; Sara however, backed off when Greg took Erzsébet's face in his hands and started looking at it. "Gentle, gentle," was Erzsébet's only words, and they were quiet, unlike most of the stuff everyone had heard come out of her mouth.
Everyone watched as Greg took Erzsébet over to the couch and sat her down; Grissom decided that Sohpia would work on Erzsébet's case after Greg got all the information from her. It was a big disadvantage to have both members of his night shift to know the victim personally. Sophia would do an excellent job, and Grissom would make sure that Erzsébet met and felt comfortable with it. She was on a task force, she would understand why Greg or Sara couldn't do it; he had learned that much about her.
Ten minutes after everyone had scattered and headed off to either home or their assignments, Grissom called Sophia and had her go into the break-room. "I'm Sophia Curtis," she told Erzsébet, sitting next to her in the break room, "Mister Grissom says he talked to you about why Greg Sanders and Sara Sidle can't take you case?"
Erzsébet only nodded, but didn't turn towards Sophia; she could tell that her attitude was completely different from what she would normally be like, everything from the way she was dressed to her hair showed it. "I understand," she said after a few moments, "I'm sure you'll do fine."
"Well, I've got the basics of the story, and Sanders says he'll give the details to me when he types it up." Sophia cleared her throat. "Can you tell me anything else?"
"It was either kill him or let him beat me up."
Although it didn't' sound quite reasonable or correct, Sophia let Erzsébet keep that reasoning; she would take notes, and would try to get Erzsébet to talk as much as she could. Anything would be useful. "I understand that your fiancé did this to you?" There was a nod from Erzsébet. "Has he ever done this before?"
Erzsébet shook her head. "I never thought he'd do this if I told him I knew he'd been cheating on me." She sniffled. "Things have to turn out alright for me; they did for Chris, and although it doesn't seem like it, it's turned out for Sara."
"So you're Sara Sidle's sister."
"Yes." Another pause, and then Erzsébet continued. "We were separated over twenty years now, and I came to Las Vegas to see if it was her." When Sophia didn't respond, Erzsébet turned towards her a bit. "My fiancé thought it was because of Greger- CSI Sanders."
Greger- why didn't Erzsébet finish the word, Sophia wondered. Could it have been a pet name she'd had for Greg years ago? She wrote the question down, perhaps to find out from Erzsébet's fiancé later. "Do you need a ride anywhere?" Sophia thought she should at least offer.
"No, I'm just going to wait for Sara." Erzsébet made a small smile then. "She carries a gun, and Matt won't dare come back if she does."
