"Nick, where the hell is Sara?" Catherine half yelled and half asked as she burst into the layout room. Her face was shockingly red; her eyes narrowed.
"Is everything okay?" I stupidly asked as I sat up from my hunched over position.
"She processed my auto from my crime scene," Catherine replied in the same frantically angry voice.
"Didn't she tell you that your DB is associated with her DB? I heard Grissom telling her to go over that car with a fine tooth comb," I replied.
"They don't tell me a damn thing. Grissom just lets Sara walk all over me," Catherine hissed as she turned and walked out the door. She obviously heard about a quarter of what I said to her.
I'm sure that Catherine would find Sara and another yelling match would erupt in the middle of the crime lab. Catherine would accuse Sara of being a rouge CSI with an agenda all her own. Sara would tell her that Grissom calls the shots. Catherine would accuse Sara of having Grissom wrapped around her finger. Sara had gotten wise about walking away. She had also gotten a little devious; Sara would always walk towards Ecklie's office. More than once, Ecklie would come out of his office to tell Catherine to back off.
Like clockwork, the yelling began. All I could hear was Catherine going off on Sara about hijacking cases from her. Catherine talked to Sara as if Sara wasn't in the slightest bit qualified to work on evidence. She neglected to remember that Sara had just begun the doctorate program at UNLV. Catherine probably neglected that fact on purpose. I had a hard to ever imagining Catherine calling Sara 'Dr. Sidle.'
The yelling ended with the sound of skin on skin contact that echoed through the hallway. I stood up to see what the hell had happened this time. I wondered if Sara's contentious objections had earned her a slap from Catherine. I wondered if Sara finally got sick of Catherine belittling her and fought back.
I was surprised to see Grissom tenderly rubbing his hand over his cheek. Both Grissom and Sara stood looking at Catherine with a completely shocked expression on their faces. Sara pried Grissom's hand away from his cheek long enough to reveal an intense red against his normally tan skin. Grissom promptly pushed Sara away a little harder than he normally would.
Catherine stalked off in the direction of Ecklie's office. Sara wasn't all that far behind. Warrick and Archie poked their heads out of the AV lab. They had obviously gotten front row seats to whatever it was that transpired.
"What's going on?" I asked as I walked into the lab.
"Catherine threatened to fire Sara for tampering with evidence. When Grissom went out there to tell Catherine that he told Sara to process the car, she went ballistic and slapped him," Warrick explained.
"Tampering with evidence?" I asked. It didn't sound like something Catherine would accuse Sara of, but then again, nothing really surprised me anymore.
"Catherine is just pissed that Sara was accepted into the PhD program and she wasn't," Warrick clarified.
"I didn't think that Catherine was interested in getting her PhD," I replied.
"She isn't, but she also doesn't want Sara to be a contender for her position once sheriff and mayoral elections are over with. Word is that if Billings wins the race for sheriff, he's going to bring in his own people," Archie said.
"That means Ecklie is out?" I asked.
"Ecklie's out, and all the shift managers are up for review," Warrick clarified.
"And Catherine thinks that Sara would beat her out for a position?" I asked.
"Either Sara or Sophia. If Sara is actively pursuing her PhD, she's probably a shoe in for the position," Archie replied. I wondered when I got so out of the loop on office gossip.
"After the little debacle last month . . . when she pulled the gun on the innocent man," Archie started, "I don't think Billings would look too highly upon harassing defense attorneys, considering he used to be one."
"But Catherine didn't know that he wasn't a threat to her mother or Lindsey," I replied.
"That doesn't make it anymore right, does it?" Warrick replied, "We're taught to use force and the threat of force only when there is imminent danger. The guy wasn't even carrying a gun, Nick."
"Surprisingly, Sara's record is squeaky clean compared to Catherine," Archie replied.
"So where are we on the surveillance video?" Sara asked as she walked in. She looked surprisingly calm compared to what I had come to expect.
"You still tampering with evidence?" Warrick joked.
"Cute . . . very cute, Rick," Sara replied sarcastically, "The situation has been expertly diffused by Ecklie. I'm supposed to go do my work, while Ecklie, Catherine, and Grissom battle it out in the conference room."
"Is Ecklie going to provide helmets for himself and Grissom?" Warrick asked.
"I'm glad I wasn't on the receiving end of that one. I'm sure that Grissom will just pretend that nothing ever happened," Sara replied, "Rick, can you do me a huge favor? Can you try to call me in on cases involving light weight handguns?"
"Why?" Warrick asked.
"My thesis is on stipling patterns observed in close range GSWs. I'd like to try to get a study population of 30 close range and 30 distant range. I'm going to Reno next week to look at a few bodies and photos," Sara replied.
"Well, I guess I'll do it for the sake of your education," Warrick teased.
"Congratulations, Sara," I said awkwardly.
"Thanks. I always thought it would be you that would go back for your PhD . . . considering you have the penchant for all the new technology," Sara commented. I wondered why pursuing further education never crossed my mind.
"I guess I never even thought it was an option," I replied.
"You should think about it, Nick. You wouldn't believe some of the machines that MIT sends to UNLV. There's this state of the art crime scene animation computer program that we just got. It's pretty amazing. It's so much better than acting out a crime scene for a jury. I took Detective Vartan to the UNLV lab to check it out," Sara replied.
"Sounds cool," I lamely replied. I wondered when they all began to change so much. I wondered when Catherine seriously began to believe that she needed to compete against Sara. Warrick and I had always competed, but it was all in the spirit of good natured fun. Catherine appeared to be out for blood.
I went back to the layout room. It had to be the quietest room in the entire lab. I enjoyed the silence. It momentarily made me think that everything was at peace, but the reality was that this lab was as far away from peace as possible. I kept to myself as much as possible. I didn't want to be a part of the vindictive spirit of the lab. I wanted to do my job and get the hell out of there.
"Nick, how's the contents of the vic's gym bag coming along?" Grissom said as he walked into the layout room. The right side of his face was still an angry red. It looked as if it might bruise. He pretended that things weren't unraveling; he pretended that things were perfect. Grissom had always reminded me of my father.