All righty! Second Chapter for Hidden Cry right here...I want to thank csi-sam-sanders for reviewing the first chapter. Anyway, I don't own anything asosciatted with CSI with the execption of my OC...for the time being anyway...
Chapter 2
Cooling Off
"All right," Ecklie said. "You win," he finished saying as he put his hands up. "False alarm gentlemen," Ecklie said to the gaurds. He left without saying anything and Adriana just turned around, took her hand out of Greg's and walked into the break room with a huff. She sat down on the carpet and crossed her legs, a yoga position. She closed her eyes and Greg walked in.
"Sorry..." Adriana whispered.
"Ah...it's all right...it was bound to happen. Sooner better than later," Greg said as he sat down on a chair.
"Right," Adriana responded. "Thanks for trying to calm me down...when I lose my temper, I lose my temper..."
"Noted...remind me to never make you angry..." Greg said, slitghtly uneasy as to how she'd take the comment. To his surprise, she laughed and opened one eye.
"No worries..." she said as she closed her eye and took another deep breath.
"Stressed already?" asked Warrick as he came in.
"Ecklie..." Adriana said in response. Warrick's eyes widened a little as he understood.
"Oh...I heard about that...Hodges was just telling me that a teenager was being scolded by Ecklie and that Greg came to her rescue," Warrick said as he looked at Adriana.
"Partially true," Greg interjected. "All I did was stop her from shoving her fist down Ecklie's throat."
"You wouldn't be the only one around here who'd want to do that..." Warrick commented, earing a laugh from the female.
"Or so Brass told my father last they talked," Adriana said with a grin. Warrick eyed the girl carefully, wondering about her connections with Brass.
"Hey Greggo," Warrick said earning a glance from said person. "Feel better man. There's someone out there for you...just be patient," Greg just nodded and Warrick's cell phone beeped. "Mia has got something, come on Greg," Warrick said as he began to leave the room. "Adriana if you want to come, you can."
"Thanks but I think I'll stay here. Greg we leave in about thirty minutes, we're stopping by my place first," Adriana said. Greg nodded and followed Warrick to his old DNA Lab. Mia had gathered every single member of the night shift in her lab.
"Okay, Warrick and Greg are here, what's the big news?" said Nick as both gentlemen walked in.
"Where's the girl?" asked Mia.
"Who?" asked Sara. "Wait, you mean Adriana? The girl who looks like she's in her mid teens?"
"Yeah, her..." Mia responded.
"Why?" Sara asked in response.
"Thanks to her, we have a suspect..." Mia said as she handed the print out to Grissom. "The hairball had tagless hairs but in the whole mess, there was a black hair with a skin tag. I compared it to the boyfriend's DNA, no match there so there's a probability that this hair could be the killer's..."
"How did it get in the hairball in the first place?" asked Nick.
"Adriana, the girl, suggested that maybe while he brushed the hairs and cleaned the brush, the stress of this ninth murder got to him and he lost hair during the whole process of setting up the hairs," Mia said in response.
"There could be truth to that statement since David placed the time of death of the victim at about an an hour and a half before we found her," Grissom said as he handed the paper over to Catherine for her to read.
"But when did Adriana stop by? I mean she's been in the break room the entire time..." Sara said.
"Not really, she walked around for a while to get used to the Lab so she must've stopped by when she was exploring..." Greg said as a matter-of-factly. They all seemed surprised at the thought of the translator finding something that they all missed.
"We'll need to return the favor..." Catherine said.
"Apparently so," Grissom said as he made his way out. "Thank you Mia," he continued saying, now turning to the team. "We need to contact anyone she has had contact with in the last few days," the team nodded and they left the DNA Lab to work on everything else they needed to process aside from Grissom's request. Greg, on the other hand, made his way to the break room to check in with Adriana although it felt odd to check in with someone who was newer than him. He saw Adriana on the floor, cross legged and Hodges was givng her a wierd look as he made his way out.
"Saw that," Adriana said, making Hodges turn back.
"How?" he asked in response.
"I'm not blind you know..." Adriana said as she opened one eye again, like she did earlier.
"You're the teenager Ecklie was screaming at...right?"
"Not really screaming," Adriana responded as she closed her eye. "He just questioned my right to be here."
"And is it true that Sanders came to your rescue?" he asked.
"No...he just came to see what the problem was..." Adriana responded calmly. "But since you're the main gossiper around here...you love to blow things out of proportion..." Hodges was taken aback by her statement quieted down.
"Uh...right," Hodges said as he began to make his way out. "See you around." Greg just watched Hodges leave in complete amusement.
"You're my hero..." Greg said as he sat down on a chair. "You scared Hodges..."
"All in a day's work..." Adriana said as she finally got up. "You ready?"
"Yeah..." Greg said as he got up. "Need any help with the bag?" he asked as he saw her pick it up. She shook her head and proceeded to leave the break room. He followed her to the outside and they stopped in front of her van. She slid the key into the whole and opened the trunk, placing her bag inside. Greg opened the door to the passenger's side and got in as she got into the driver's side and started the car. "Nice car," Greg commented as she switched the car into reverse.
"Present from my dad," Adriana commented as she removed the car from the parking spot and drove home. They stopped at an average one story house, Greg dissapointed since he expected something extravagant. They got out of the car and she lead him in telling him to stay in the living room and that she'd be right out. Greg looked around, finding her picture wall. He got up and examined each picture closely, each of them had underneath a small caption. He kept looking around until Adriana's voice sacred him out of his mind. "Greg!"
"What?" he cried in response.
"I've been calling for you for the past two minutes, we need to get going," Adriana said as she began to make her way out. Greg followed and she locked the door as he walked past her. He took the moment to examine her during the drive to the airport, she had managed to change from sweats to a knee length skirt, put on a jean jacket over her tank top and slivery hoops dangled from her ears with a few stray bangs covering them slightly.
"How long were we at your place?" Greg asked, to break the silence in the car.
"About ten minutes," Adriana responded. "Look, I hate the silence so I'm going to turn on the radio, hope you don't mind."
"No..." Greg said as he watched her turn on the radio and raised the volume a little.
"There's nothing good on the radio right now...I wish I hadn't left my CD's at home," Adriana said softly. She kept driving silently with soft music playing in the background. Greg didn't mind the silence in his part but he did mind it from hers. "You going to keep looking at me Greg?" she asked after a while, an embarrased grin coming over his lips as he turned away.
"Is there a problem with that?" he asked in response after putting himself together.
"Not really..although I do suggest taking a picture of my face if you like it so much...it'll last a hell of a lot longer," Adriana said as she pulled over and parked the care. She turned to Greg as she turned off the car. "Wouldn't you agree?" Greg just eyed her, speechless. "We're here so I suggest you get moving. I wouldn't like to keep anybody waiting," Adriana said as she got out of the car and waited for Greg. He snapped back into his senses and got out, letting Adriana lock the vehicle. They made their way inside the airport and Greg remembered something.
"Do we have any way of getting in that doesn't involve security or all those bag checks and what not?" he asked. Adriana shook her head in response.
"We'll need to go through certain gates and areas but we'll be checked fewer times than everybody else," Adriana said as she headed in one direction, Greg close behind.
Meanwhile...
"We're close Grissom!" cried out Mia as he came into the DNA Lab. "I ran the DNA through CODIS and got a match to a guy named Anthony Carter, this guy was caught for DUI once, other than that, no current charges. I faxed his foto to the airport and they remember him flying in but they don't recall where..."
"Thank you Mia," Grissom said as he took a good look at the paper. He read the current address and after seeing that it was local, decided to make a stop and visit him personally. On his way out, he passed by Trace and Hodges was trying to analyze the small fragment of plastic that Nick and Sara found at the back of the house, where they had determined as the point of entry. They searched the back yard through and through but they didn't find much. On the other hand, Nick was with Archie, hacking the victim's computer to see if they could find anything of value. Then answering a page from Catherine to meet in the evidence room, like the other CSI's that were at the Lab.
Back at the airport...
"That was interesting," Greg said, reffering to the moment Adriana had with a security gaurd.
"You haven't seen me yet," Adriana commented as she dissappeared through another doorway. She was getting harder and harder to keep up with. Greg finally managed to reach her as she sat down on a bench. "Damn I'm exahusted..."
"But you've barely begun to work with us!" Greg cried. She looked up to meet his eyes and smiled.
"I know...but remeber...I have a life...didn't it occur to you that I was doing something else when Brass called?" Adriana said.
"Come to think of it...you did mention it..." Greg responded with a grin. "Where were you that enabled you to see that I was stood up? What were you doing there?"
"I was at a building that had a few big tainted glass windows and what I was doing there is for me to know and for you to find out..." Adriana said as she stood up. Greg turned to the direction she was facing and found himself face to face with a female with short blonde hair and green eyes.
"You must be Adriana," the female said as she extended her free hand, the other one carrying a rather heavy briefcase which probably contained the case of the serial killer. Adriana nodded as she took the female's hand and shook it. "It's an honor to meet you, although it's disappointing that it has to be in a situation like this..." Greg was confused. Why was it an honor? She's just a translator...he thought.
"Pleasure to meet you as well," Adriana said. "Why don't we sit down? The file looks quite heavy." She then remembered that she had company and properly introduced Greg. "This is CSI One Greg Sanders from the Crime Lab," Adriana said. Greg was surprised that she knew his rank but then remembered that her father was friends with Brass, meaning that she knew about everyone something.
"Ah, pleasure to meet you, I'm Christina from the Crime Lab in Jacksonville," she said as she extended her hand. They shook hands and Christina sat down on the bench closest to them. "Here we have some of the files from the other cases we used to compare to ours but the translations are somewhat sloppy..."
"Don't worry," Adri said with a small smile. "I'll work on them..."
"If anything, feel free to contact me, my supervisor gave me the week off so I'll be staying in Vegas. I've never been here before..." Christina commented as she handed Adri the briefcase.
"I hope you enjoy it here," Adriana said as Christina got up.
"Like I said before, if you need anything, my number is in there," Christina said. "I should be going, good luck on the case!" she cried as she slowly walked away.
"Do you think we're going to need people from other crime labs?" Greg asked as he sat down next to Adri.
"Possibly, but first we should see how far we can get before calling it either quits...or help," Adriana said as she got up.
"'We'?" asked Greg.
"Hey, I'm a part of the night shift now...well, for a while anyway," Adriana said as she began to make her way out of the airport. Greg ran up and began to walk next to her.
"Where are we going?" he asked.
"To the car...I don't want to walk around with this is my arms for the rest of the night..." Adriana said.
"I could carry it for you, I mean, I don't want you to use strength you don't have..." Greg said with a sly grin.
"It's all right, you don't have too..." Adriana said with a similar girn. They just laughed lightly at one another and made their way to the parking lot. Greg finally at ease, somehow, he knew that he could trust this girl with anything.
Back at the lab...
"This guy is good," Catherine commented as she looked at the pictures taken at the scene. "But some of the things he does are confusing...I mean, why scatter tagless hairs? What's with the plastic?"
"It couldn't be a part of the muder weapon since it can be fragile, depending on the what they use and what not," Sara suggested as Catherine examined a picture of the body.
"Autopsy states that COD was a gunshot wound execution style to the back of her head although it also says that her body contained a few pre-mortum bruises. Not only that she also had severe head trauma," Catherine countered.
"Victim put up a struggle," Nick said flatly.
"Yeah and most the bruises were on her back, meaning that he had her face up while he tried to shoot her," Warrick added as he pointed to another picture.
"The one thing that confuses me is...why would he have them fight back?" Sara said as the others caught on. They hadn't thought of that yet.
"Could be that it just makes him want to kill them more...you know, it kinda gets him off on the right foot?" Nick said after a long silence.
"We need more evidence until we can support that theory," Catherine said as she went outside to answer her cell phone.
"Do you think we need to call in backup?" asked Sara as she looked at the pictures again.
"I don't think so..." Warrick said. "So far, everything we've got isn't going to be hard to process, now, if things get out of hand, I'd tell Grissom to get more people in this case."
"We could ask Adriana for help, I mean, she did work at a crime lab," Nick added.
"Yeah, as an intern," countered Sara.
"But Nick has a point, she's worked at a lab before and we might need her eyes to see what we could've missed. Like that hairball Grissom brought in," Warrick responded to Sara's counter. "We all missed that hair and if it wasn't for her, we wouldn't even have a suspect." Sara just turned away, Warrick had a point.
"That was Grissom," Catherine said as she came back in. "He went to the suspect's house, nobody was home. He asked a few neighbors about any recent activity in the house and they said that he just came back from another trip."
"So he travels a lot," Nick began. "That would give him the oportunity to commit the other murders if he was out of Vegas at the time..."
"Could be...but first we need to convict him for this murder and then we have to find a way to link him to the other murders," Catherine replied.
"Well, let's get this started," Warrick began. "I'm going to check on the bullet that Al extracted from the vic's head." he finished saying as he went to Ballistics.
"I'll see if I can get the vic's phone records," Sara said as she exited the room.
"I'm checking the vic's computer with Archie again," Nick said as he also left the room. Catherine just shook her head.
"Guess I'll pick these up," she said as she began to gather the pictures from the scene.
With Grissom...
His cell phone rang on his way to the lab and he picked it up on the first ring.
"Grissom," he said to the person on the other line.
"It's Adriana, I just picked up the cases from Florida and Puerto Rico and looked them over. They sent over everything I asked for and a few extras. The guy is pretty clean from the looks of it. Anything from your end?" Adriana said all at once.
"We've got a probable suspect but I haven't been able to reach him. Apparently he wasn't home..." Grissom replied. "Neighbors said that he went out not that long ago."
"Wait, you got a hit from the hair!" Adriana cried.
"Yes, he was caught DUI once a few months back but other than that, he has a clean record."
"Hm..." Adriana said as she proceeded to think.
"Adri! Are we going to eat or you just going to stand there?" Greg asked loud enough for Grissom to hear on the phone.
"I'll have to hang up Grissom," Adriana began. "If anything stands out to me while I look at the files, I'll call you," Adriana said as she hung up. Grissom just shook his head and hoped that Adriana would be careful with Greg, he could be quite the handfull although, from second impression he got from her was quite reassuring. He parked his car at the lab and went in, almost imidiately bumping into Sara who was on her way to look for him.
"I was checking the victims phone records that I got from Brass and she's mostly got out of area phone calls and about two made yesterday made from the same phone, which is registered to," Sara began as she read the papers again.
"Anthony Carter," Grissom finished for her.
"Yeah," Sara replied.
"We need to send his picture over to every single police office and airport in Nevada. Not only that, we need to place officers in the state exits," Grissom said firmly. "I don't want to give him the oportunity of leaving this state."
"Let's just hope he hasn't already..." Sara said as she watched Grissom head into his office.
At the airport(again)...
"So...tell me about yourself..." Adriana began as she sat down at the table of the Chilli's restaurant at the airport.
"Well...there's not much to say..." Greg began. He looked at her curiously as she scanned his eyes. She noticed that he was still saddened about the whole being stood up earlier. She let out a deep sigh and looked at him, Greg turning away from her gaze. She shakily reached up and moved his face so they were eye to eye, her hands imidiately going back to their place at the table, hoping he didn't get mad for that.
"Look, I can still see it in your eyes that you're sad...let it go...but don't act like it never happened, that way you only shelter yourself and make things worse. Move on Greg...Sara seems to be so wrapped up in her cases she seems to recognize the oppotunity too late..." Adriana said firmly.
"How did you know it was Sara?" Greg asked her quickly. He was surprised that she knew.
"I saw the glare you gave her in the break room," Adriana said simply as their drinks arrived.
"Will I ever succeed in hiding something from you?"
"You'll never know until you try..."
"So that means that there's a possibility that I'll suceed?"
"Maybe...it never hurts to try Greg," Adriana commented as she took a sip of her milkshake.
"I'll keep that in mind then..." Greg responded with a smirk as he took a sip of his own drink. "But you should tell me about yourself I mean, we are going to be working together and from what you've told me...you know plenty about us..."
"What's there to say?" asked Adriana as she started to think. "Well, I'm fully Puerto Rican, that making me a Latina girl all around though I may not have the body they stereotype them with. My mom died not too long ago, making it just me and my dad since I'm an only child, though the way I treat kids, it seems otherwise," she added. "Uh...let me think...anything else you want me to say?"
"Well that isn't much for me to go on...that's just family...I meant that I want to know about you."
"Oh!" Adri said with a small blush. Greg smiled and caused the blush to go into a deeper shade of red. "Sorry...mostly people just ask about my family so...I don't talk about myself much. I mean, I have enough with my dad being known for his company and his artistic carreer, my mom was well known as well and me...well...I'm just their daughter..."
"There's got to be something about you that people should know..." Greg began.
"Well, not really...there isn't anything that much worth knowing..."
"You sure?"
"Yeah...if anything, you'll find out later on...my life has been kinda spilled out in the Puerto Rican media...well...not all of it..."
"So you've been treated like a celebirty then?"
"Just a little...but I really don't mind much...as long as the reporters don't get stalky which thank goodness, they don't. They understand my father's requests and know that if they do that, dad will sue."
"So you're a rich kid?"
"The way you put it, it sounds like a bad thing. I just consider myself the daughter of the famous man known around as my father. Rich just talks about the economic status my family's been and I think that's labeling me the easy way which, I believe that even though you do it...you try to prove your inital label wrong..."
"You keep reading me like that and I'll never be able to surprise you..."
"Then stop acting like the serious stiff you're pretending to be and show me what the real Greg Sanders is made off."
"But this is me..."
"Nope...I can see it in your eyes...this isn't you at all..."
Semi cliffy at hand...cool. Anyway, the next chapter should be up someday soon but that shouldn't stop any of you from reviewing...I'd really appreciate it!