Sarah had just finished processing the body when Catherine pulled up in the Tahoe. "Hey," called the younger CSI, "Where've you been and where'd Grissom go? He left here in a strut and a rush and was acting pretty strangely. I just finished processing the body and based on first glance, I'd say this might not be the primary crime scene."
Catherine answered her in a more 'telling' voice than an 'asking' voice, "Why don't check the perimeter one last time, I'm riding back with the body to the Coroner's office." Sara's face indicated that she was both surprised and miffed about the arrangement, namely because she had been assigned to the case with Grissom and had gotten there first. What was going on she had to wonder, but one thing was sure. She hated being out of the loop especially where Grissom was concerned and Catherine was involved.
Sara answered flatly, "Sure," and under her breath, "whatever." Sara was at least glad she had the department vehicle to take her back to the lab.
Back at the lab, the team had been able to find the identity of the child. She was 8 year old Katey Blanchard. She had been wearing a medic alert necklace that stated that she was allergic to penicillin and that she was hearing impaired. The child had also been wearing hearing aids in both ears.
Catherine decided to find the girl's parents and see them in person. The search revealed that they lived in the neighborhood just beyond the one where she and Lindsey lived. She would go right away but would stop in Grissom's office to see how he was doing on the way out the door. "Grissom?" she called as she knocked on the supervisor's door. He had apparently gone from the office while she was at the crime scene. "Better try his cell," she thought. She pulled her tiny cellular phone out of her purse and pushed the number 3 for speed dial. The phone rang 5 times until it was answered by his voicemail. "Damn!" she whispered as she closed the phone and headed for the car. As she was walking across the parking lot, Sara pulled up in the Tahoe and rolled her window down. "I was just going to tell the parents we found their daughter. Wanna come?" asked Catherine. "Hop in," replied Sara.
The pair of CSIs rang the bell and waited. They noticed that as they did that, there were lights flashing on and off in the house. Finally, a tall, thin man with dark brown hair came to the door. "Can I help you?" he asked. It appeared to the CSIs that he had some sort of speech problem. "Sir, I'm Catherine Willows and this is Sara Sidle. We're from the crime lab. May we come in?" He took a step back and opened the door a bit further allowing the two women to enter the house.
"Sir we are looking for Mr. or Mrs. Kendall Blanchard," stated Sara. "I'm Kendall Blanchard," he answered. Catherine began, "I understand you reported your daughter missing about 15 days ago. I am sorry to tell you that we may have found her early this morning. We…" As Catherine talked to him, she turned away or looked down so that he stopped her and said, "I'm hearing-impaired and I need you to look at me when you are talking." "Oh," said Catherine, more deliberately, "I'm sorry, will you be able to come to the Coroner's office to make a positive identification of the girl?" It was apparent that this news had really shaken the man who appeared to be in his early thirties. "I need to call my wife," he told the two women, "She is at work today."
Catherine and Sara looked at each other, puzzled as to how the hearing-impaired man would use the telephone. He dialed the number and then placed the phone onto some sort of typing machine that had a cradle to receive a phone. He typed and waited, typed and waited, then finished his call. He turned to Sara and said, "My wife will be meeting us at the Coroner's office."
When they got to the Coroner's office, Catherine went to look for Grissom--still no sign of him anywhere. "Where could he be?" she thought. Then she remembered that he often went to ride roller coasters to blow off steam. She let Sara handle Mr. and Mrs. Blanchard and she went looking for Grissom. Once again, Catherine tried his cell phone. After 3 rings, he answered. "Grissom."
"Where have you been, I've been trying to reach you for over an hour?" she asked in a tone that let him know he had better have a good explanation. "I'm sorry Catherine, I had to get away. This all came upon me very fast…it was very unexpected. What's happening with the case?" he added, hopefully to get her off his case about disappearing.
"You won't believe this," she began, "but the girl we found is hearing-impaired. Her parents are here at the lab to identify the body and apparently her father is also hearing-impaired. Do you think we need to call in an interpreter to help the communication along when we can ask the father a few more questions?" she asked.
"I would ask the father what he would like to do. Many deaf people prefer to be asked if they want communication help rather than having a hearing person decide for them what services they need."
"OK, will do," she responded and then asked, "Are you coming back here or what?" He told her that he didn't think he'd be back before next shift but asked if she would come over when she finished hers.
Thankfully, it was nearly over.