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Chapter 4: Plans For a Prolonged Stay
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Hours later, as the school bells rang again, the girls realized that their entire day had just passed them by. Noticing this, they reluctantly accepted that they would not be helping out their newfound friends tomorrow, unless they could get out of class. Kati mentioned this to Grissom and he thought about it.
"I will talk to your principal tomorrow and see about borrowing you two for our investigation," Grissom said as the girl's eyes lit up in excitement. All of a sudden, Kati jumped from her seat and ran towards the portables. Everyone looked slightly puzzled as she slowly walked back about five minutes later.
"What was that all about?" Terri asked her, slightly confused.
"Had to collect from Funk... Raiders won last night's football game against the Longhorns," Kati gloated. Suddenly, the team groaned, knowing Nick wasn't about to let his alma mater take that kind of lip.
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During their History class the next day, Kati and Terri were pleasantly surprised to see both Warrick and Nick walk into the class room and say that they we being " stolen" to be used in the service of the Las Vegas Crime Lab. As the girls were walking out to the rest of the group, Kati's head popped up.
"How are you guys coping without a lab? The nearest one is in Titusville," she asked intrigued.
"Actually, we were discussing what to do about that, as well as our extended stay," Grissom countered.
Kati got a huge smile on her face. "I have the perfect place for you guys," she stated, looking mischievously at Terri. "My house."
Terri's eyes grew round as saucers. She turned to Kati as her fingers began to fly.
/ What are you thinking! Need I remind you that your parents are out of town... /
/ That's what makes it so perfect. No one's home but me. /
/ Correction: You and me. Need I also remind you that your mother asked me to make sure you didn't burn the house down... /
/ Terri, I'm not going to burn the house down… I'm just inviting the entire Las Vegas Crime Crew into my home for some hospitality and home cooking. That's not a crime. /
A moment later, Grissom entered their conversation.
Sara looked to the others. "I hate it when they do that."
Warrick chuckled. "Actually, I think it's kinda cute…"
/ Kati, I think it's wonderful that you want to invite us into your home, but Terri's right. If your family's not there, then we don't belong. /
Terri smiled as her opinion was vindicated, but her friend persisted.
/ If my family was there, you wouldn't fit in the house/ Kati stated bluntly. / You don't understand. I have two sisters. With all of them gone, Terri and I can stay in the living room, you and Sara can take mine, Catherine and Warrick can go in my parent's room, Nick in Nichole's and Brass in Amanda's. It's perfect. /
"Hey, Grissom!" Nick interrupted. "Can you clue us in?"
Their boss turned and gave them the gist of the conversation.
"Whoa, wait a minute!" Sara cried, her hands flying up as if in surrender. "You want me to room with Grissom? Isn't there another option?"
"Well, what would you suggest?" Kati asked. "Terri's house is full, and your department is NOT going to pay for you to stay in the hotel."
"What about the department here?" asked Warrick, not sure how Tina would react if he had to share a room with Catherine.
"Are you joking?" Terri said incredulously. "Have you not noticed that we're on the edge of the Air Force base? This town gets all its money from the base. There's no way in hell the Satellite Beach police are going to do that! And don't even think about asking the base… The only thing they're going to tell you is that we're in the middle of a war, which means nobody gets on base property without clearance."
Catherine sighed, and looked at Grissom. "Well, O Wise and Fearless Leader, unless you can think of something else, I think we'll have to accept the offer."
In some last ditch effort to come up with an idea, he asked, "Well, how are we going to get there? We had to use taxis to get to the school from our hotel."
Kati grinned. "No problem. Terri and I both drive to school. We can take three of you in each car… You can even plug in your little police lights if you want."
Nick laughed. "Sounds like a plan to me. Grissom?"
He sighed. "Alright."
"YES!"
Terri looked at her friend's elated expression and smiled. "What have you gotten us into, Kati?"
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An hour later, Brass was interviewing students, having taken over the back half of the guidance building. Grissom sat beside him, watching the reactions of the students as they were asked where they were yesterday morning. Many didn't like being considered suspects in Michelle's murder, but they cooperated. As Terri and Kati had said, she wasn't well liked; a fact that was confirmed more than once as the interviews progressed.
Catherine, Nick and Kati were searching for anything that might lead them to the killer while Sara, Warrick, and Terri were calling the lab in Titusville in hopes of cooperation. Grissom worried about his team, but even more than that, he was worried about the girls. This was no ordinary crime scene, no ordinary case, and certainly no ordinary day in the life. What was going to happen when this was all over?
Suddenly, his phone rang. Excusing himself from their makeshift interrogation room, he flipped the phone open.
"Grissom," he answered.
"Griss, it's Terri. I think I found something you might want to take a look at."
"How'd you get this number?"
"Sara gave it to me. Look, come meet us over in the English building bathroom."
"Okay… which building is that again?"
She sighed. "Where are you?"
He was amused by the hint of a smile in her voice. "The guidance building."
"Step outside and look for me. I should be straight ahead of you." With that, she hung up.
Putting his phone back on his hip clip, he stepped outside into the sticky Florida heat. Sure enough, she was straight ahead leaning against the wall in the shade of the balcony overhang. She looked professional in her pin-stripped black pants and her hair pinned back with a clip, but her lacy turquoise tank top gave the outfit the perfect touch, bringing out her hazel-green eyes.
As he approached, she stood straight and directed him to follow her into the girl's restroom, which had now been taped off. Bending beneath the tape, Grissom stepped inside and around the corner to see Sara and Warrick printing every available surface in the room while Terri went to the corner and picked up a plastic evidence bag.
"I came in to go to the bathroom and found this in one of the toilets. It may be our murder weapon."
Taking the bag from her, he looked at the object inside: a small black revolver.
"Terri, our victim wasn't shot. What makes you think that this is our murder weapon?"
"First of all, I saw some red stain on the butt of the gun, so I called Sara in and asked to borrow her kit. I found a swab, the alcohol, phenolphthalein and the hydrogen peroxide for a Kastle-Meyer test, and it confirmed that it was blood. Second of all, I printed it and found palm and fingerprints on the business end. Third of all, it's not a real gun. It's a prop from the drama room… Satellite ownership sticker and all."
Impressed, Grissom looked over the "revolver" again. Seeing the stain she'd mentioned and traces of the bright green print powder, he smiled.
"You know, usually we'd just use superglue…"
She smirked. "I used what I knew."
His smile grew wider as the others in the room snickered at her response. He patted her on the shoulder. "Good work."
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A/N: OK, we finally got up our first few chapters. Thank you so much for the reviews... They've meant so much to us. It's been interesting putting this story together, with all the memories attached. Satellite was good to us. However, let us be clear that this story is based on real people and places from our past, not real events. THIS IS NOT A TRUE STORY! No one we know was ever murdered at Sattelite. (The bit about the flamingoes outside our history teacher's trailer was real, though:-D )
alwayswrite05: Thanks for the tips. This account is new, so we still had a few things to set up. Also, thank you for your kind words about our friends. It was so hard to graduate wihout Will and Allie, but we know that things are going to be good... They'll always live in our memories.
Lily of the Shadow: Thanks so much for your words of encouragement! Don't worry about your so-called "immature" comments... We'll apreciate them all the same. It just means so much to even get a comment on this story. And may we say that we thoroughly enjoyed reading your CSI: story... you have a talent. Keep it up!