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Chapter 2: An Unlikely Partnership
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The group slowly walked towards the stage while Terri went to notify both the authorities and the school's principal. Kati stood by and watched, unsure of whether to feel excited at seeing the forensic processes up close or to be upset at who might be lying behind the yellow tape. Finally she decided to be useful. She walked up the closest CSI and tapped him on the shoulder.
"Excuse me." Nick Stokes turned around to face her.
"Yes," he stated, the question mark in his voice evident. He was intrigued that the girl was actually approaching the scene.
"I just wanted to know if you guys would like me to help… There's a chance that either Terri or myself knew whoever is up there," Kati stated in almost a whisper, as if to keep from disturbing the very air around the crime scene.
"All right," Nick replied, "but either you follow in my exact footsteps or I am going to have to carry you."
At that moment, Terri walked in with Mr. Bula and heard that statement. While Terri was making a few pointed gestures that caused Kati to blush and Dr. Grissom to chuckle, Nick waited for his answer. After Kati responded that she could walk, she followed Nick closely to the body. Unfortunately neither of them could identify the girl.
"Are you sure you don't know her?" Sara asked, looking from face to face.
"No disrespect, but there are 2100 students at this school… We can't be expected to know everyone," Terri said.
"Does anybody have any clue what 'E maye nimiki cardrano prime di me' means?" asked Catherine in her southern drawl, looking at a note that was placed near the body.
Both girls got very quite and still, only their fingers moved. Finally, after a seemingly heated argument, Kati faced the team and recited under lowered lashes,
"'I miei nemici cadranno prima de me.' It means, 'My enemy shall fall before me.' With the use of 'prima,' your bad guy is probably a bad girl."
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The rest of the morning was spent analyzing the scene. While Warrick and Catherine checked the perimeter of the auditorium and all the possible egresses, Nick and Grissom were working on the stage with the victim. Kati and Terri stood with Mr. Bula and Brass near the stage stairs, explaining everything that had happened that morning, and Sara could be seen wandering through the auditorium itself, looking for anything the killer could've left behind.
The camera clicked for what seemed like the millionth time as Nick photographed the body and the stage. He leaned down to get a closer look at the girl.
"Looks like blunt force trauma to the head," he said. "Scratch marks on the face and arms. Defense wounds on the hands… She fought back." Setting his camera down, he held out his hand to Grissom while he dug a scraping tool out of his vest pocket. "Will you hand me a bindle? We might be able to get some epithelials from under her nails."
But Grissom didn't answer. He was too busy looking at the note.
"Grissom?" Nick said, a little louder this time, keeping his eyes on the body.
A bindle appeared next to him, but when he reached to take it, it wasn't Grissom that was handing it to him. It was Terri.
"What are you doing?" he asked, a little shocked to see her standing in front of the orchestra pit wearing thin wiry-framed glasses and a pair of gloves.
"I'm handing you a bindle," she said frankly. "You said we could help."
"I thought you meant identifying the body… I mean, you're, what? Sixteen… seventeen?"
"Eighteen, actually. We're also the only ones that know the layout and resources of the school, have connections to certain places around town, and know enough to help you run this investigation. Like it or not, you're going to need our help."
"She's right, Nick."
Nick looked over to see Grissom staring at the two of them. He turned to Terri.
"What do you think you can bring to this investigation?" he asked.
Her face turned serious. "I've lived here for four years, so I know my way around…"
"How well?" Nick challenged.
"Well enough to know that the nearest official crime lab is in Titusville, and that's a good hour away," she retorted.
"You weren't wearing glasses before," Grissom noticed. "Why do you have them on now?"
"I don't normally wear them, but I need them for distance. They also come in handy for seeing that Kati has been helping Sara in the back of the auditorium for the past fifteen minutes."
They looked behind her to see that she was right. Nick was boggled; she'd never even looked behind her…
"I also think I know how the killer might have gotten in and out of here without us noticing."
Impressed, Grissom stood and moved to the stairs on stage right, lifting the tape for her to cross underneath. "Lead the way," he said.
Climbing under the tape and up the stairs, she surprised them by walking away from the body toward the curtain that hung across the entire back of the stage. Pulling back the curtain on the side, she revealed a door.
"How'd you know that was there?" Nick asked.
"I know this part of the school better than most. I'm a choir member, so we use this door all the time to enter and exit the stage for concerts. Not to mention, I help out in the drama department for community service hours."
"What makes you think the killer used that door?" asked Grissom. "There are plenty of other ways to get in and out of the building."
"Yes, but we came in the side entrance, stage left. That's rarely ever used, and I was given the only key and was with you all morning, so it couldn't have been used. The front of the auditorium is locked, as are the side doors at stage right. The upstairs is only accessible from inside the building, not to mention visible from the stage, so we would've seen if they were still here. This door leads to the drama classrooms on the left, the dressing rooms directly behind the stage, and the choir and orchestra hallway on the right. There's a door on the other side of that hallway that leads out onto campus, and even though you can't open it from the outside, there's always band and orchestra members on that hall putting their instruments in the lockers. It would've been easy to get someone to open the door and then go right back out again."
Just then, Catherine and Warrick came back in and made their way toward the stage.
"We didn't find anything in the lobby or around the front and sides of the auditorium," Catherine sighed. "It's like the killer just disappeared. I don't know where else to look."
Grissom grinned. "Lucky for us, we know someone who does."
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