WHERE THE EVIDENCE LIES
Grissom and Sara's drive up to Eve Romero's mountain home was pleasant and formal. The CSI's discussed business as usual, including filling one another in on updates about the Romero case. Grissom explained how Bruce Romero had felt remorse for his actions, or so he'd said in interrogation, and had asked Eve to forgive him on the day of her death. When she didn't go with him to the conference, he decided to go alone, completely unaware of what was happening at home. Sara spoke of how Ava Laerton was at the hotel at the time of death. The concluded that everyone else in the area was gone, nobody else in the city knew Eve Romero, and there was no plausible cause of death.
After they'd recapped, Sara fell asleep in the passenger's seat as Grissom drove. He turned the radio on quietly so that he could still hear her soft breathing. To breathe is to be human, Grissom thought as he strained to listen, and to be with someone who is human reminds one's self that they too are human, and that to love is to be human. Sara shifted in her seat and he turned his head towards her, his eyes shifting back and forth between her and the road. When one focuses too much on the dead, he mused, one forgets how alive are the living what it means to live.
They arrived at the crime scene around eight o'clock. Sara woke, grabbed her kit, and began to walk towards the edge of the cliff upon with the house was situated. Grissom stumbled behind her, his own kit clutched firmly in his arm. The sun was low in the sky and they squinted at the glowing horizon.
Sara peered over the edge of the cliff and scanned the rocks and dirt for what she was looking for. After a few seconds, she called out to Grissom, "Hey! I think we should check down here." Grissom watched as she put on a harness attached a rope to it. He did the same.
They set up the proper equipment, and soon they were hanging over the edge of the cliff, swinging with a perverse sense of freedom. Sara smiled at Grissom, the orange sun reflecting off of her sunglasses. They got to work, picking through dirt and garbage, trying to find something to tie up the loose ends of the case.
After fifteen minutes, Sara came across a crumpled piece of paper with thick, black writing on it. "Hey, Gris," she yelled, "I've got something." She read the paper aloud.
Bruce,
Give this gift to Eve and say it's from you. I left a hidden message in the inscription that will help you find me. I hope to see you soon.
Love,
Ava
P.S. Sorry his is so vague, but I don't want Eve to know about us. She is sort of sensitive.
"One would be," Grissom said after Sara had finished reciting the note.
Sara considered it for a moment. "So, 'Shadow Velter' must have been a new term that Bruce used on his wife; ever since she received the bracelet."
"Which had to be no more than a week ago, after Ava was kicked out of her house," Grissom concluded.
"Exactly," Sara said.
Grissom looked behind him into the West where the sun was sitting right above the horizon, the sky around it turned several hues of orange and pink. "Say, Sara, do you like sunsets?"
Sara grinned. "Who doesn't?"