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Chapter Two: Roaring Rampage
Sara sat there with mild shock and pure anger pulsing off of her that Greg could feel standing ten feet away. She just stared at him as if she were debating with herself of what she should say and do. It looked like the anger was winning her inner conflict.
Greg gulped and clapped his hands together to try to make the situation less awkward. "So…" Greg started.
"So what?" Sara snapped turning back to the computer screen and looking at the possible matches.
He stayed where he was, afraid if he would move Sara would veer her head and start berating him.
Without taking her eyes off of the screen, "You can come in you know."
"Ha, right!" Greg said inching into the room cautiously. He looked all over for another chair and when he found one, he pulled it over next to Sara.
She finally took her eyes from the screen and looked at him, dumbfounded. "What are you doing?" Sara asked with irritation seeping into her tone.
Greg pointed at the chair, "Ugh, I'm going to sit down."
"No you're not," Sara said looking back onto the screen. "You're going to run the blood traces to tox and screen it," she said handing him the file and evidence bag and he took them. "Then like a good little newbie, you're going to check in with David and see if he's figured out why Chris Johnson had an odd 'x' mark on his upper thigh." Sara told him in a silky, anti-social voice.
He was a little hurt with Sara's animosity towards him. It wasn't like he chose to work with her; he was just following orders. Then she had to go and rub his nose in his freshness in the field, like a senior taunting a freshman. Even though this pissed him off, Greg wasn't going to announce it. He grudgingly walked out of the lab and didn't look back no matter how much he wanted to make an irritated face at her through the glass window.
Greg marched off toward Mia's test lab not trying to hide his pent-up anger. People who passed him in the hall that usually joked around with him obviously saw that he wasn't in his typical happy-go-lucky mood. They merely smiled uncomfortably saying a small and flat, "hey" or "hi," and then commandeering themselves from any conversation that could take place when they scurried off determinedly. Greg didn't care though; it was actually an odd yet powerful feeling of knowing people were actually somewhat afraid of having confrontation with him because of his attitude of toughness rather than his general push-over type personality, per se.
He finally turned the last corner and walked down the final hallway leading to Mia's test room. Greg paused at the entrance of the lab when he saw her reading a rather large and thick referencing book. He finally knocked on the door causing Mia to jump slightly and subconsciously placing her hand over her heart.
"You startled me," Mia said looking up at Greg, wide-eyed.
Greg smiled slightly, "Sorry, I didn't mean to. I just—never mind, it's of no importance." He said entering her room and handing her the file and evidence bag, "Sara," he paused trying to compose himself from grimacing, "told me to drop this by for you to screen."
She took the file and evidence from Greg and trying to keep from laughing, "You're assigned to Sara, huh? Good luck on invading her turf."
Greg laughed sarcastically, "Thanks for the support."
"Anytime, Greggo," Mia said not even trying to smother her laughter this time.
He was becoming frustrated now, "Well, I'll be back in an hour so you better have it ready for me to take back to her."
She saluted him, obviously teasing him. "Aye-aye, Captain Greggo!"
"And stop calling me that!" Greg said turning on his heel and walking out of the testing lab. He wasn't in the mood for being teased, taunted, joked around with, or for once in his life, goofy. Why couldn't people give him a break once and a while… was that too much to ask for?
Greg was making his way down to the coroner's office in pursuit of finding Doc Robinson or David now. Who ever he found first, he would just ask them because he wasn't up for playing hide and go seek games right now.
He walked determinedly over to the opposite wing of the crime lab, trying to get his little messenger job over and done with so then he could crack down on the real job, finding out who murdered or killed the Chris Johnson.
A few minutes later, Greg bombarded into the morgue looking for one of the coroners. "Doc? David?" He called setting down his clipboard on a stainless steel counter next to the door. "Anyone here?"
"Back around the corner," David called.
Greg walked past some trays where victims were lying on, cold and stiff. Just thinking about it kind of gave him the jitters, even if he had witnessed an autopsy performed many times already. He rounded the corner and jaw David ripping off his blood-covered gloves and throwing them into the trashcan next to the table.
"Hey there, Greg," he said jovially. "What brings you to my cozy part of the lab?"
"Chris Johnson, to be exact," Greg said scratching his chin.
David raised his eyes brows, "Sara's case…"
"Yeah, Sara's case. Now it's also my case as well and will everyone please stop bringing up the possessive Sara thing up? It's getting rather old… older than my pick-up lines to come to think of it." Greg said looking up at the ceiling out of frustration.
"Okay!" David said walking past Greg and over to the freezers.
Greg followed him and stood just behind the young coroner, guilt starting to succumb him. "I'm sorry for yelling at you, man."
David waved him off, "It's alright Greg; it seems as though everyone is bringing the Sara thing up with you enough as is." He said opening drawer 349 and exposing a deceased person. "This is your victim, Chris Johnson."
All Greg could do was stare at the guy; he was taken aback with how much he resembled him in a way. Okay, maybe he didn't resemble him that much, but he was slightly geeky, medium build, and edgy hair, too.
"Well, he was stabbed five times in the torso and then hung from a stairway on the eleventh floor of his dorm." David said this pointing out the stab wounds and purple line just below the Johnson's jaw line.
"Was he hung postmortem?" Greg asked getting a closer look.
David lifted the college students chin slightly, helping Greg get a better look. "It appears that way."
Greg nodded his head, "Um, oh yeah! Sara wanted to know if you've figured out what the mark on Chris' leg was about."
"Seeing as it's an 'x' shape," David said raising the sheet that covered the victim a little for Greg to see, "and it's a bruise, we already know it was bluntly hit him. But I haven't got a clue what did it."
"Okay, thanks David," Greg said patting David on the back and rushed back towards the door, picking up his clipboard off of the table.
"Oh, Greg!" David shouted just as Greg ran out of the door.
Greg skidded back in, "Good luck with, you know."
"Thanks," he said breathless again hurrying out of the morgue.
He started to make his way back towards Sara's, wait his and Sara's lab now, and would drop by Mia's on the way to see what the DNA analysis turned up. Greg was out of breath with all of the scurrying around he was doing, he didn't want Sara think he was slacking, which would definitely make her even more enraged with him being on the case as well.
Greg finally made it over to the opposite wing again and knocked on Mia's door impatiently.
She looked up at him with an irritated expression. "Is that your way for not making chit chat?"
He stared defiantly at her, but said nothing. In all honesty, he didn't want to make small talk, especially after she teased him. Instead he just huffed in exasperation.
"Alright, alright already," Mia said raising her hands, "here." She said handing her the file back.
"What did it read?" Greg asked curiously.
"The blood found on your victim's pants is not his," she said flipping through her own records.
Greg opened his own file to make it look like he too was looking for more. "Right, I see."
"Also, which should make your life a little easier, the blood found own your vic's pants was O negative."
"Yes, that will make my life a little easier," Greg said smiling. "Thanks for the help, by the way."
Mia waved while she looked into a microscope, "Just doing my job, Greggo."
Unlike last time, Greg actually laughed this time when she said 'Greggo.' He started to turn back towards the lab to give Sara the latest piece of evidence that surfaced, but stopped in mid-stride. "See you around, Mia," he said politely before actually making his way back.
Greg held tightly onto the DNA file and walked much happier back to the lab. He hoped with the new information would make Sara at least a little bit warmer towards him, but he didn't think that would actually happen. One thing Greg learned about Sara ever since he was in the lab, even when he was a DNA analysis technician, was never get involved in a case with her unless you are partnered with her from the beginning. If you joined up with her any later than that, you better bet that she was going to make it clear that she didn't want your help. His cheery mood was dissolving just thinking about it.
Now, he was only steps away from their lab and his nerves were starting to act haywire once more.
"Have mercy on me, please," Greg said looking up in a squeaky voice.
Inhaling a deep breath and then letting it out slowly, he cocked up enough courage to walk determinedly into the lab.
"I just swung by trace," Greg announced grabbing Sara's attention from the pictures of the crime scene.
"And?" She asked impatiently putting down the pictures gently on the table.
"Well the blood wasn't the vic's," Greg said handing her the file, "but it was O negative."
Sara looked disappointed, "That's it?"
"For now yes," Greg said flatly; his bad mood was starting to come back.
"What did David say then?"
Greg prepared himself for Sara's wrath, "He said that he didn't know what would make the mark, so we've got nothing so far."
Sara slumped down in the chair in front of the computer. "Great," she pinched the arch of her nose, "well, tomorrow we'll head up to the campus and check out the dorm. We'll go room to room asking for samples of the students DNA."
Greg nodded his head solemnly. He didn't know what to say other than, "Okay."
Sara just stared at him as if she were studying him like she was earlier with the crime scene photos. "Well…"
"Well what?" Greg asked meekly.
"Well, get on out of here!" Sara snapped at him.
Greg just stood there where he was standing in disbelief. His jaw was hanging open slightly and anger boiled all throughout his body. "Whatever," he whispered, frustration seeping thick in his tone.
He walked slowly out of there with his hands in this pockets already not looking forward for tomorrow when he was going to have be around her for the entire day and not just for a few intervals.
"Why does everything crappy have to happen to me?" He softly said to himself as he moped out of the lab.
Author Notes:
Thanks to all those who reviewed! I appreciate hearing what you all think and I'm happy to see that you all like it so far. I know things may seem a little slow at the moment, but I'm still building the story. I don't want this to be a short story and I don't think it will be. Hopefully you like this chapter as well! Thanks so much for reading! Until next time…