This chapter includes parts of Lifehouse's You and Me. I don't own the song, or the lyrics, thank you.
The ride to the scene was quiet, all except for the sounds of Dvorak playing lightly on
the radio. Though Carmen thoroughly knew the notes to the New World Symphony,
another song was playing in her head as she found herself sneaking peeks at Grissom
in the rearview mirror.
'Cause it's you and me, and all of the people with nothing to do, nothing to prove...And it's you and me, and all of the people and I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you...
She shook her head and stared out the window. 'No, not again...' she thought. She had
begun to fall for a co-worker back in New York. It was horrible. They both liked each
other, but could do nothing about it without starting anything around the office.
Granted he was her partner, and not her supervisor. But it was still awkward. That's
why she had jumped at the opportunity to go to Vegas. She wanted to escape the
developing scandaland hoped to find a new job out west. Not necessarily at the Vegas
crime lab, but far, far away from New York. Now she found herself unable to stop
looking at her temporary supervisor. 'Great...just great.' She pressed her forehead
against the window and stared at the desert passing them by.
Carmen must have zoned out for quite a while because before she knew it, Gil had
pulled up to the scene and parked. It was in the woods, next to an apartment complex.
Residents stood around in their pajamas, whispering questions to each other.
The police were already there when they arrived. Everything was taped off with the
familiar yellow "Police Line Do Not Cross" tape. The police were all bustling about,
asking on-lookers if they had seen anything out of the ordinary.
Carmen grabbed her kit, and headed towards the ditch where the girl lay hog tied. She
pulled out her camera and began to look for anything out of place; foot prints,
pieces of clothing, tire tracks. Anything that could help. When she spotted some
footprints heading away from the body, she knelt down and started snapping photos.
"How long you think she's been here?" Grissom asked David.
"I'd say since about 8 pm last night. ...Looks like she was just thrown here." He pointed
to a man in a hunter green jump suit. "Landscaper found her. He was coming in to
make sure the new sprinkler system was working."
"Anyone say they recognized her?"
David wagged his head. "Nope. Brass was here earlier, asking around. No one said
anything."
Sara had stepped down into the ditch and was looking at the girl. "Hey uh..." She was
talking to Carmen. "There's another bullet wound here in the back of her neck. Did you
get that yet?"
"Yeah, I noticed it before...I was just going to get to it. But I found this." She held up a
tiny zip lock bag with a bullet in it.
"That's good. Did you find anything else?" Grissom asked.
Carmen shook her head. "Not really. Just a few shoe prints." She lowered her head,
talking slow, calculated steps around the hole in the ground.
Suddenly, Carmen stopped. She took a quick snap shot and jumped into the ditch. "Got
something!" She took another picture, and picked up a tiny wad of paper. She looked it
over, then began to unravel it.
"Whaddya got?" Grissom was now crouching down by the ditch, looking over her
shoulder.
"Looks like a ticket. To...The 'Drowning Rats CD Release Party.' " She lowered the
ticket from her face and looked the girl over. She was all in black; black corset, black
leather pants, black platform boots. Her hair was short and spiky with patches of blue
and pink. She also had a pierced nose and lip. "My guess would be she was at that
show."
"You know who the Drowning rats are?" Gil asked.
Carmen shook her head again. "No, but I used to be a metal head...Dressed just like
that when I was her age. The Drowning Rats sound like a metal band to me." She
shrugged. "I knew a lot of people in bands like that." She looked to Sara, who was
fishing through the girl's pockets. "You find an ID yet?"
"Maybe, I've got her wallet." She fingered through the compartments, naming off what
was in it. "Twenty dollars...Few ticket stubs from concerts, movies...A gift card to some
head shop...No ID though." She looked disappointed.
"Well, once we get her cleaned up and get a photo, we'll have to go down to that
venue... See if anyone remembers her. For now, let's just bag what we have and head
back."
"Sounds like a plan to me." Carmen said, bracing herself to climb out. To her surprise,
Gil grabbed her hand and helped her up. Though she was perfectly capable of getting
out by herself, she didn't refuse the help.
Once she was out, she stood there for a moment, holding Grissom's hand. She looked
down at them, gently cupped together. Then her finger twitched. She was getting
nervous. Before it could twitch again, she quickly let go. "Thanks, Gil." She smiled. His
face contorted slightly...He hated his first name. But he didn't say anything to her, like
he normally would have. Instead, he simply replied, "No problem." His lips curled into a
tiny grin. He caught a glimpse of a sparkle in Carmen's eyes as she turned to walk
away from him. Gilcaught himself following her with his eyes, when his gaze fell on
Sara. She was still in the ditch, glaring at him. "Oh shit," he thought.
As he began to walk back towards the ditch, Sara had already made it half way out. He
reached out his hand, offering to help. She swatted it away. "I don't need your help,"
she grumbled. Finally making her way out, Sara strode back to the Tahoe taking
large,heavy steps.
Grissom rubbed his eyes and rolled his head over his shoulders. He was going to hear
it when they got back to the lab.
The ride back was even more quiet then the ride there. There were no soft classical
notes floating through the air. The only sound was Sara's angry breathing.
Carmen sat in the back seat, holding tightly onto her camera. She kept telling herself
to look at the floor, but she couldn't help it. Her eyes shifted back and forth between
Sara and Grissom. Something was wrong, and she had the sinking feeling she had
caused it.
'Just look at the damn floor!' she told herself.
After a few minutes of studying the grains of sand in the rug, and fidgeting with the
nobs and buttons on her camera, Carmen's eyes began to wander. First to the back of
the chair in front of her. 'No, no...Don't look.' She kept telling herself. Her eyes didn't
listen.
They drifted up to the steering wheel, watching as Grissom drove. She sat there,
watching for what seemed like hours before her eyes traveled again. Then they shifted
to the windshield. 'Damnit, don't look!' Finally, her eyes came to rest on the rearview
mirror. Even through his sunglasses, Carmen could see Gil was annoyed. His eyebrows
were furrowed, his gaze held intensely on the road.
Something about you I can't quite figure out...
The only time Grissom looked elsewhere, was to change lanes. Then they did
something Carmen wasn't expecting at all. He glanced upward, into the rearview.
Her brain told her to look away, but her eyes stayed put. He looked back towards
the road before she had to do anything. 'Whew...That was close.' But she still sat
there, looking into the rearview.
His eyes flicked up again. This time, they didn't look away so quickly. It seemed he was
looking back at her. His dark sunglasses made her unsure.
I don't know where to go from here...
Wanting to ease the awkward feeling in the air, Carmen did something completely
childish. She crossed her eyes, and stuck out her tongue. When Gil didn't respond, she
made an even weirder face... Just to make sure he hadn't seen her. But his
eyebrowarched curiously, and a smile had cracked on his face. 'Uh-oh.'
It's you and me, and all of the people...And I don't know why...
"What's so funny, Gris?" Sara sneered.
"Nothing...I was just about to sneeze. ...it went away though."
'Smooth Gil, real smoooootttthhh...' he thought to himself.
Carmen stifled a giggle in the back seat. 'Slick move there, Gil.' She thought.
They caught each other's gaze in the rearview once more. They both were holding
back laughter, this time. Sara just grunted and ignored them both.
I can't keep my eyes off of you...
'And to think,' Carmen thought to herself as she laid her head on the window,
'Everyone in NYC said this would be boring...'