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Chapter 3: Peaches and Prints

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Meanwhile, Kati and Sara were on their way back towards the rest of the group.

"What was Terri signing to you before that made you blush?" Sara asked, intrigued.

"She was scolding me. She said that she couldn't leave me alone for five minutes without me attacking something with a Y-chromosome," Kati replied. The girls continued walking toward the group. When they were about halfway there, Kati continued. " So, what's up with you and Dr. G.?" she stated slyly and with a smile. She laughed as Sara sputtered an answer.

"Nothing… What makes you think something is going on?" Sara replied in a hurried tone. She looked at everything she could except the perceptive girl next to her and the man in question. As Kati was about to answer Brass walked back into the auditorium.

"Guys, I got a positive identification on the victim: one Michelle Willis." As he finished the girls' expressions became wide-eyed.

"I guess we lied," Terri started. "We do know her. What was it you called her, Kati?"

"An ego pill. She would follow anybody everywhere and try to boost their egos in hopes of becoming their best friend," Kati said. "She used to compliment me on everything."

"Including her ex-boyfriend… The one that she was almost in love with, right?" Terri stated questioningly.

"Well, talk about a Tijuana boob job," Kati stated sardonically at the figure. She looked up suddenly. "Wait… Does this make us suspects? Because we really want to help you guys as much as possible."

Everyone could see the apprehension in both the girls' eyes and the fear in Kati's voice. Grissom looked at Brass before answering in a jovial tone.

"I don't think so, Kati. According to Terri, your victim profile is more towards men, and I tend to agree." He chuckled at the looks Terri was throwing towards her friend and at Kati's obvious blush.

The sassy teenager threw that look right back, and then glanced back to Grissom. "But what about the note? That suggested female…"

Grissom nodded. "Yes, but blunt force trauma suggests anger and a lot of force. Combine that with the fact that the top of the girl's head is crushed instead of cracked, and that indicates a male attacker."

"The scratches on her arms and face suggest a catfight… There was another girl involved… But, don't worry your pretty head, Dr. G. You're safe from me, although there is something about a man that can shoot a gun and quote Shakespeare that makes a girl get the warm fuzzies."

Every one laughed at this and it was Grissom's turn to blush.

"Anything else you can tell us?" Brass asked, hoping to take a bit of the attention away from his friend and focus it back on the case.

Kati and Terri glanced at one another quickly before turning back to the team.

"She's a senior… well, she was," Kati stated.

"She was also in choir up until last year," Terri added.

"Why did she drop out?" asked Warrick.

Kati smirked at her friend. "Do you want to tell that story, or should I?"

Terri blushed and looked at her feet. "I will." After a moment of collecting herself, she looked up at the team, obviously still embarrassed. "She used to hang out with my group of friends in choir. None of us really cared for her, but we felt bad for her, so we let her tag along-"

"Until prom," Kati cut in.

Terri flashed a warning look at her friend. "I can handle this, Kati." Turning back to the others, she began to speak again, a slight Irish accent invading her words. "She had gotten into a fight with our friend Erin just before prom, and Michelle put me in the middle of it. She had a habit of doing that… Anyways, she asked what I thought, so I told her, and she didn't like it. That weekend, at the prom, she found me with my boyfriend on the dance floor and pulled him aside… in the middle of a dance! She told him that he'd better keep an eye on me, 'cause if she found me alone she'd kill me."

"Wait," Brass interrupted. "She threatened you?"

"Well, it would've been a threat if she'd done it to her face," Kati sneered.

"The only thing she said to my face was that she felt bad for me because I was going out with a gay guy," Terri explained, the accent becoming worse. "At that point, I was pissed. We traded words and a few gestures, but that was it. Anyways, some of my friends were nearby and overheard, and you can only guess how fast word spreads at a high school… By Monday, no one was speaking to her, and when we confronted her about it, she acted like nothing had happened. When that didn't work, she pitched a fit and begged us to take her back… but no one would. She finally figured out how much everyone hated her."

Suddenly, she grew quiet and her eyes dropped.

Kati looked to her friend and was sorry that she'd been so harsh with her. She took Terri's hand, and looked her in the eye. "Finish the story," she whispered.

Terri nodded and heaved a sigh. "We didn't talk anymore after that… but I should've listened to her."

"What do you mean?" Sara asked gently.

"Two months later, I broke up with Dan because I found out he really was gay. I was just the last ditch effort to prove that he wasn't. I had to dump him over the phone…"

Catherine just shook her head. "Man," she said. "I thought I had some bad relationships."

"I didn't get much of a chance to talk to her after that. School was out for the summer, and we ran in completely different circles this year. She changed her attitude, her look, and everything else about herself… That's why we didn't recognize her at first."

Grissom cocked his head and looked at the girl with curious eyes. "Did anyone else notice her accent change?"

She flushed again, looking at the floor. Instead, Kati spoke up.

"That only happens when she's embarrassed or nervous, and if it's really bad then she can't control it. She's Irish by heritage, but she doesn't know anyone who speaks like that. We don't know where it comes from."

An uneasy silence filled the room while the team took in all that they had heard. Finally, Catherine broke the silence.

"Okay, well what do you say we follow whatever leads we have… Let's go through the door off the stage and see if we can find out where our killer went to." When Grissom nodded his assent, she took Terri by the hand and said, "Why don't you come with me, and I'll show you how to dust for prints?"

A smile crossed the girl's face. "I'm not 5, and I won't be treated as such, but I accept your offer."

Catherine laughed. "What can I say? I'm a mother."

When they started towards the stage, Kati cleared her throat. "When are you going to start interviewing students? I hate to state the obvious, but you're going to have to start sooner or later, and there are 2100 students enrolled this year at Satellite."

"That's my next task," Brass said, obviously not excited about interviewing 2100 separate students. "Any advice?"

Kati smirked. "Actually it shouldn't be too bad… Today was a senior skip day. Plus, it's a nice day, and since we're right across the street from the beach, it's not unusual for a lot of people to skip classes to go surfing. It might not be a bad idea to check the beaches and ask if anyone's seen anything suspicious. Our killer may have fled in that direction."

He sighed. "Well, that makes things a little easier…"

"Yeah… especially when you consider that that only leaves about 1700 students to interview."

Warrick and Sara snickered at Kati's smartass response.

"Damn… I like her," Warrick laughed.

"Yeah," said Brass, a sarcastic smile lighting his face as he turned to leave the auditorium. "She's a peach."

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Half an hour later, Kati and Nick were outside the door at the end of the band and orchestra hallway, trying to determine which way their killer had gone. Terri and Catherine had confirmed the hallway as the point of egress, finding some blood drops with directionality leading toward the door. Kati was now standing outside with Nick, watching him dust for prints on the actual door, seeing as how it didn't have a handle. Directly behind him, she was watching his every move, taking in everything.

Suddenly he stopped and slowly turned toward her. After a moment, he smiled and shook his head, asking, "Would you like to try?"

Her face lit up like a candle in the darkness. Taking the duster from his hand, she leaned in toward the door and began twirling it nimbly in her fingers, soon revealing a large handprint. A wide grin spreading from her eyes to her lips, she held her hand out for a tape lift.

"Very nice," he said, clearly impressed. "Are you sure you haven't done this before?"

Her smile turned from one of delight to one of guilt. "My parents got me a fingerprinting kit for Christmas…" she admitted. "Forensics isn't just a hobby for me. I want to study to become a forensic anthropologist."

He handed her a tape lift from his kit. "Keep studying. You might just get there one day."

Putting his hands over hers, he helped her lift the print in a clean take, before looking in the long rectangular window at Catherine and Terri working patiently with a camera and print powder.

Kati notice his gaze and cleared her throat. "You know, I keep telling Terri that she should join me."

"Yeah, what's up with her? She's got a bit of an attitude, doesn't she?"

Kati straightened. "She's my best friend and she's Irish. It makes sense that she's got a lot of pride... Just don't bruise it, and you'll be fine. Anyways... she wants to study religion."

Nick turned, his brow furrowed. "Why?"

"Don't get me wrong… She loves forensics. It's like solving puzzles for her. But if there's one thing she'll ever protect herself from, it's herself."

His eyes begged for further explanation.

Kati sighed. "I'm not going to say that she's extremely religious, but Terri has a very deep faith. She was always afraid that in a world where you have to prove everything, she would begin to question the one thing that keeps her going, and she can't do that to herself….

"Me, on the other hand… I never believed much in God," she continued. "I mean, I know He's there, sometimes it's hard to believe that He's all 'omni-benevolent.'"

"Really?" Nick asked, intrigued. "How so?"

She set the lifted print aside and continued dusting. "It's hard to believe that He's really interested in everything that goes on down here when you watch a kid get knifed and gutted in the middle of a school function."

The lack of emotion in her voice momentarily reminded Nick of Grissom. He looked at her in silence for a moment, but as soon as he began to speak, she anticipated his question.

"That didn't happen here. That was in Arizona. I moved here two years ago… But you get used to seeing that kinda thing, right?"

"No," he told her. "You'll never get used to it, and you'll never justify it. But you'll learn to deal with it… to focus on the details, not the big picture. God will show up again… in the little things, the things that count."

After a moment of awkward silence, she held out her hand for another tape lift. When she lifted it expertly and handed it back to him, he set it with the other and picked up another duster out of his kit, joining her at the door and admiring the bond of fellowship that had formed among the prints and powders.

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