Chapter 2.5 –
Much as Nick admired Grissom's skills as a CSI, he was not at all happy about his treatment of Sara, which he perceived to be getting worse by the day. She was a close friend and his supervisor's handling of the entire situation was poor. Nick could see how much his behaviour hurt her and had the irrepressible urge to go and 'sort him out'. Probably not the way to ensure job security.
He had watched the display in the break room along with everybody else and had already heard about their spat of the day before from one of the lab techs. Something was going on between them again that was making it worse. He could only hope that they both got over it. The timing could not be worse. They had all heard about Sara's near DUI, and although no one had been stupid enough to say anything to her, it was obvious that things had been going downhill for a while. This was not what she needed right now. What she needed was stability, support, the things that it seemed no one was capable of providing.
Everyone in the lab knew that Grissom and Sara had a past, although no one had ever dared to ask either of them what it was. Rumours had been abound when she had first been called in. Grissom's one time student brought in on a whim. Discussion over the grapevine had always been that they were at one point involved. Grissom sleeping with one of his students? Nick had always been sceptical about that suggestion. Their whole relationship struck him as very much unresolved, and he theorised, that was probably the problem. It was on days like today that he very much wished he could tell Grissom to get over himself. He always held the comments back, he didn't want to end up on Grissom's hit list along with Sara. If he thought going up to bat for her would help in the slightest he would. But the chances were it would just make it all worse. He knew Sara well enough to know she would not be impressed with his assessment of what she considered her business and no one else's.
He dragged himself out of his musings as he drew up to the victims house. In a way he was glad he was here alone, it gave him time to think without interruptions.
It was your average sub-urban bungalow, nicely looked after and of a reasonable size, probably three bedrooms he would estimate. He grabbed his kit from the back of the Tahoe, double checked the house number and knocked on the door. It was answered just a few moments later by Jean Wiseman balancing a young child on her hip. Nick was quite surprised at the speed of her response.
"I saw you from the lounge window" she said by way of a greeting. She waved him into the house offered him a cup of tea which he declined and told him to look at whatever was necessary.
He found three pairs of the vic's shoes in the closet which appeared to have manure in the treads, he obviously went to the stables more than once. Only one pair of the wife's shoes had any signs of the same, which lead him to believe that she had lied about at least one thing. She had been to the scene. That might actually get them another interview, and now they had some ammunition to hit her with. He smiled to himself and stood up rapidly thwacking his head on the shelf of the closet as he went. He glared at said projection, rubbing his head gingerly.
He then briefly ran his hand across the offending shelf, he hadn't noticed it there before. There were several boxes pushed to the back on the shelf. He then turned his attention back to the main part of the room. There was more likely to be incriminating evidence somewhere that actually looked like it had been touched in the past few months.
Warrick and Catherine were just drawing up to the victim's place of work. It was a large grey building, very generic. They were directed to the third floor and after a quiet elevator ride found themselves face to face with the grumpiest looking woman they had seen in a while. That was saying something in their job. She had evidently been forewarned by the secretary on the desk downstairs. Her greeting was not particularly warm and once formality was over she immediately went on the offensive.
"I can't allow you complete access, customer confidentiality. You can talk to whoever you like and have access to most of his personal effects but his clients files must be kept classified. I'm sorry."
"We understand that." Warrick acquiesced. His central thought at the time was, wait 'til we have the warrant, but he didn't voice it.
If they were honest it really wasn't a fruitful search, he didn't seem to have much of a personal nature at work. They got hold of his laptop and readied to take it back to Archie in the lab. He could see what he could find on it.
They spoke with various colleagues. His secretary was particularly helpful in pointing out his many indiscretions and pointing them towards his latest mistress a bible touting woman who ran this floor of the building.
"Damn, We have to go talk to that woman again. Why would he sleep with her anyway?" murmured Warrick, on realising exactly who it was she was referring to.
Her highly religious attitude had found her at the centre of many topical arguments and it seemed that she had few friends in the building other than the victim. It didn't take long to inform Brass and get her in for interrogation.
There was no physical evidence of her presence at the scene so nothing could be done.
They had come to a complete dead end. Before any headway could be made they needed to find the weapon which was easier said than done.
Sara had finished processing her B&E and so ended up following up on the interrogation of Mary Hughes, while everyone else was still out at their respective scenes.
The woman was decidedly subdued, nothing of the hostility that Catherine and Warrick had witnessed was forthcoming, and eventually Sara had to admit she wasn't gleaning any additional information. She didn't have a very good alibi but there was nothing to hold her on. So she had to admit defeat in the end. Sara had to wonder why such a religious woman was sleeping with a married man.
Shift seemed to come round way to fast for all of the CSI's that night. Sara had got very little sleep and even Nick and Warrick weren't their usual cheery selves. Their case didn't appear to be getting anywhere very fast.
Sara sat in the break room catching up on the latest forensic journal which she had neglected to read the previous night. Her concentration was not really on it and she was in fact rather relieved of the distraction when Nick and Catherine entered discussing the merits of some new gadget that Warrick wanted for the lab and whether then might actually persuade the department to buy it. They poured a cup of coffee each and made their way to sit with Sara at the far end of the table.
Nick eyed his friend and took in her pale features and the bags beneath her eyes. "You look tired you really should get more sleep Sar." Catherine gave her a meaningful look reiterating his words with some choice ones of her own. "I'm fine" she snapped "I'm a little pre-occupied, maybe, but its nothing for any of you to worry about."
Grissom entered with Warrick close behind, Sara clammed up instantly her eyes locking with his. Catherine watched the subtle emotions on his face and Sara's stony look. Having know him as long as she had she knew there was more to their relationship but had never questioned it much, what she had asked had been rebuffed. Whatever went on between them was evidently way to complicated for anyone else to understand, but she suddenly felt there was at least one thing she thought she might finally be understanding, and her jaw dropped slightly. That was something else she might have to mention when she talked to him. She quickly regained her composure and started questioning him about the latest on their case.
"The results from the equine necroscopy came back a little while ago. Cause of Death was as expected, the same as the man, bullet wound. It just bled out. The unusual thing they found was the presence of semen." Grissom took in the confused looks before repeating himself a little more clearly. "Human, semen."
Catherine's creeped out look said it all. "Wh- …do I even want to ask for an explanation for that?"
"There is a few people who like to have sex with animals, they find it particularly arousing." Nick gave an apologetic look and a weak smile. "I watch too much discovery channel as y'all have mentioned before."
"It's not so much the amount you watch, as the nature of the stuff you do watch that's worrying me right now." Warrick gave his friend a teasing glance and walked back to the table putting his fresh cup of coffee down on the table.
Sara who had remained apparently quietly disgusted at the state of humanity immediately stood up muttered an apology and raced out of the room with her hand over her mouth. The remainder of the group watched her departure with more than a little confusion and concern. "Since when has Sara been squeamish, that's just not like her." Nick questioned his eyes still watching the doors she had just departed through.
"Does someone want to go check on her?" said Grissom looking pointedly towards Catherine who returned his glance with one meaningful one of her own and quietly got up from her seat.
"Fine, I'll go check on her. I'll be back in a minute." She muttered.
As Catherine entered the bathroom she was greeted by the sight of Sara splashing water on her face, the scene was giving her a distinct sense of deja-vu. "You're going to have to tell him eventually. He has every right to know."
"It wont let it interfere with my work so there's no need to say anything yet." Sara replied distractedly.
"There's more to it than that and I know it."
Sara breathed out shook her head and lowered it a little rubbing the back of her neck in a agitated gesture. "Its really none of your business. I'll sort it out myself when I feel ready."
"Just… at least get yourself a doctors appointment." said Catherine as a parting shot. Sara groaned slightly realising her secret was out and if she didn't do something Catherine might just take it out of her hands. She was not known for her secret-keeping skills.
Catherine re-entered the Break room with inquisitive looks from the men inside. "She's fine, She'll be back in a minute" Her abrupt manner prevented any questions and everyone turned to Grissom when he cleared his throat to draw the attention back.
"Well, as I was saying, I looked up a little about these 'zoophiles' There is a big ethical debate over whether it is wrong or not. Greg has started matching up the DNA to see if our vic was one" Greg nodded and put his sandwich back down on the table.
"Might give us motive. Involvement in something this ethically disputed is bound to cause friction." Nick looked towards Grissom for some kind of assent, but he didn't appear to be paying much attention anymore and had returned his head to the file before him.
Greg shrugged. "I know we're supposed to be impartial an' all, but this is just downright creepy." He dropped his meal back into the fridge. "I'll get to work on those samples. I should have preliminary results back by late tomorrow, definitive results might be several days. I'll try to push it through ASAP."
"Meanwhile the wife is coming in for further questioning tomorrow so you guys can go home if you need. We can't work on anything much until we're sure of some things, the DNA results and a chat with the wife should be illuminating." Grissom looked up to see Sara re-enter the room. She still looked pale but better than she had before. Not that it took much for an improvement on earlier, she was obviously still not entirely better.
