Getting back from the morgue, Grissom met Greg outside of the AV lab. Sara had her head down as she stalked through the hallways but heard Grissom's voice coming quickly around the corner, and ducked behind a computer monitor. She held still and listened to the conversation as best she could.
"…Archie and I got the copies made of what we had, but I have a question about the protocol here, Boss." Greg sounded rhetorical.
"Go on…" Grissom encouraged.
"Since the Feds are handling the investigation, is it even okay that we still have this information? I mean even if it is just copies? And who's paying for all this? DNA tests run up some pretty handsome figures."
"Greg, cut to it, you and I both know that technically we shouldn't be having this conversation."
"Sara called in a favour with some friendly Federal Agents of hers. Apparently she knows a guy, who knows a guy who told us that if we could make due with the information we've already gathered then we would be well within our rights as a lab to continue processing it. They will not hinder our investigation. We just can't gather any further evidence, nor do we have the authority to arrest or detain suspects without first contacting the Federal Agents handling the case. Basically, we're investigating this to satisfy our own personal curiosity."
Grissom was silent. He had intended on requesting a court order, which would have taken a while, and may not have even come through. He frowned though.
"Sara?" He confirmed.
"Yeah she called me on her way back." Greg said secretively. Sara inched further into the shadows, hating the position she was putting Greg into and feeling very much like an eavesdropper. Does it count when its Greg? No. She reasoned. But it does when its Grissom…Sara silently made her way to the door and reached out for the handle.
"Technically Greg; we don't need to. Between you and me, I'm doing this as a favour." Grissom commented. Sara froze and she could see the back of Grissom through the crack in the door and Greg's curious expression over his shoulder. She took a step back and remained silent. Neither had actually seen her yet; Sara saw no reason to expose herself now.
Greg moved quickly back onto the subject of the case.
"I was looking over the transcripts of the interrogation. Carpenter said that he walked in, took off his shoes and went to hang his jacket up when he noticed the broken glass."
"Go on."
"Well, I found glass in the bottom of the shoes, which by the way were untied, not just kicked off."
"He may have stepped in the glass and not realized it." Grissom reasoned. He could already see where Greg was taking this and smiled approvingly.
"What's he doing taking his shoes off, after stepping in glass?" Greg posited. "I'm not routinely careless with my crystal, but accidents do happen, on an occasion. I break a glass and the first thing I do is put my shoes on."
"Did we loose the shoes?"
"Tragically, yes, however thanks to Sara's lightening quick reflexes, I was able to make a cast of the shoe soles prior to the arrival of the men in black. We also have a sample of the glass from the front hall mirror and photocopies of the footprints from the hallway that Sara pulled. What you get?"
"Autopsy notes, photographs, and a whole lot of unanswered questions." Grissom muttered.
Greg lowered his voice.
"She's uh, still here you know."
Grissom was silent.
"The body?"
"No…Sara."
"I sent her home." Grissom announced.
"Yeah, I know."
Sara couldn't stand it any longer and stepped into the light of the doorway before anything got said that she didn't want to hear.
"I got some information from Agent Beckman at the Secret Service office. He knows a guy in Internal Investigations and agreed to ask around. Turns out, Helen was working surveillance on a case that Chris had been working for a few months, following leads, talking to players. Maybe she saw something she wasn't supposed to."
Grissom looked sternly at her.
"We could have gotten that. I asked you to go home."
"Technically you told me to leave, and no, I don't think you could have because I had to pull some strings." She challenged.
"Greg?" Grissom hinted.
"I'm gonna go get me some java." He declared.
"Sara, you shift ends in five minutes, I want you out of here in exactly 300 seconds."
"Fine, I can deal with that."
Grissom walked off in the direction of his office and Greg reappeared behind Sara.
"You know Sara," Greg's attempt at a seductive voice drawled out.
"I would never order you around like that."
Sara turned and looked Greg in the eyes.
"I'd never let you." She patted him indulgently on the cheek and left him standing in the hall. Out of the corner of her eye, Sara saw Grissom staring at her through the glass window. Resisting the urge to turn around Sara quickened her pace towards the exit.