DISCLAIMER:Don't Own it. No Money Made... Just for fun and enjoyment.
A/N: Okay... I am on a serious writing high tonight... Just finished a BIG chapter... I'd smoke a cigarette, but I don't smoke, so I'll just post another chapter make you folks happy too. :D
REVIEWS: Thanks to all who have reviewed.
Chapter 33
The normal chatter coming from the break room told Grissom that the gang was all there. He flipped through the assignment sheets once more, before taking those last few steps into view. He was running it over in his head again, and he just wanted to make sure it sounded as logical to everyone else as he had justified it in his head. If this was ever going to work, then he had to make sure he always played his cards very close to the vest.
He took one solid, deep breath, letting it out slowly, and then pushed forward into the break room, "Okay, we've got a busy night, but only because we need to double up on a couple."
Nick looked around searching for someone, "Hey Gris… Where's Cath?"
Grissom looked up from his clipboard, "What? Oh, yeah, she's got court. So, she's pulling half a shift here at the lab. We're on our own tonight in the field." He returned his attention to the clipboard as everyone got ready to take on their assignments for the night. "Okay, Warrick… I want you to take Greg on this one, and let him take lead. You're doing his eval tonight. DUI, reckless driving, vehicular homicide." Warrick nodded as he took the slip from Grissom.
"Sounds quick," Warrick remarked.
Grissom gave him a raised eyebrow in judgment, "Which is why it's a good evaluation case for Greg. It is also why you're on call with dispatch tonight." Nick slapped Warrick on the back and laughed at the man's predicament. They all knew what being on call meant in their profession; Warrick and Greg would be running calls all night. "And then we have the DB found in a dumpster one block off the UNLV campus. Nicky, that one has your name all over it."
Taking the slip from Grissom's grasp Nick was visibly unhappy, "I knew I should've worn my other shoes."
"Okay, that leaves us with the Rape/Homicide at the Palms." Grissom looked back down at his notes and waited to hear if there was any reaction in the room. When he detected none he continued, "Sara, you're going to run lead on this one." He paused again, hoping his next landmine would not explode in his face, "Catherine's going to run the body, which is en route now, and I will be the secondary on the scene."
"Wait, why do I need babysitting?" There it was, and now Grissom needed to minimize the damage.
"Not babysitting, Sara. This is a high profile case and the Sheriff was very specific in how the case was to be handled and more specifically who was handling it." He could see that although her anger was still present, she did appear to be calming down a bit. "Catherine and I are taking secondary at his request, but he wanted the primary to be the person in the department with the highest closure rate on rape cases. It just so happens, Sara, you are that person." Everyone in the room nodded their heads in silent agreement. They all knew that Sara was the person any of them would want investigating a rape, because she was insanely thorough and dedicated to any case involving violence on women. "Satisfied?"
Sara sat back in her seat with a look on her face that spoke of the vindication stirring in her soul, but her words remained guarded, "Fine, but if I've got lead, that means I really have lead. No relief pitching in this inning, got it?"
Grissom held up his hands in mock surrender, "Strictly a bench warmer on this one." Sara nodded her head with her sense of victory. "Okay, that should do it. Just remember to check with dispatch when you change locations. Ecklie has some bee in his bonnet about time statistics at the moment, so try not to forget." Grissom returned to his clipboard, not expecting anymore questions.
"Dispatch?" Sara questioned.
"Yes, why?"
"Well, that just seems redundant and ridiculous for us to call into Dispatch and increase their call volume when all he has to do is pull a GPS report from our phones." Sara's face was a mass of confusion from the request.
Then it was Grissom's turn to be confused, "Really, you can do that?"
Catherine chose that moment to make her presence in the doorway known, "Of course, Gil… All of our phones are GPS enabled." Catherine put a hand on her cocked hip and added her opinion to the scenario, "Sounds to me like someone is trying to artificially inflate the call volume in Dispatch."
"I hadn't thought about that, but I was thinking the GPS reports could just be one more way for them to track the evidence by showing precise times and locations of collection." Sara and Catherine appeared to be brainstorming on this new development and it sparked something in Grissom's mind.
"I'll tell you what, you two put that stuff into a one page proposal, and I'll submit it to the Under Sheriff. With full credit going to you both, of course." Grissom had a glint of mischievousness in his crystal blue eyes, "It'd be nice to have ole Ecklie over the barrel for a change." Everyone laughed and took that as their cue to depart for the evening.
Catherine, Sara and Grissom remained to conference about their high-profile case. And once everyone else had cleared the room, Catherine began, "Look, Sara… You need to watch your toes over at that crime scene. The vic is the niece of one of the gambling commissioners, which is where all the heat is coming from right now."
"That explains a lot, but what's going on at the scene?" Sara spoke freely with Catherine, and Grissom silently wondered when the two women had finally put their differences aside.
"Not only is the vic connected, but so is the key suspect. Last guy to be seen with her is the assistant manager of security at the Palms." Catherine's voice took on a conspiratorial aire, and Grissom felt a bit like an outsider during the briefing.
"Great," Sara exhaled sharply. "So, the vic is related to the gaming commissioner, and the only suspect helps run the casino where the vic was found… How am I supposed to find evidence then? You know that scene's been tampered with."
Grissom had to interject that time, "Sara, we can't go making assump-"
"Please Grissom… I've been in Vegas more than long enough to know how things work around here. That scene has been sanitized for sure." Sara was being very dismissive of Grissom's advice. "Okay, we'll hit the scene, make a good show of things, and then get back here to process the body with the coroner. Who's on duty tonight?"
Catherine felt almost like she was talking to a different woman tonight. Sara seemed so composed and self-assured, that Catherine was wondering what had been going on in her head to invoke this new self. "Well, David is en route with the body right now and Stephanie is down in the morgue. Think we should call Doc Robbins in on this one?"
"Are you kidding? No way." That answer surprised both Grissom and Catherine, "No offense to Doc Robbins, but Stephanie has a much better track record with Rape/Homicide." The two senior members of the team looked at each other with puzzled expressions, and Sara appeared to sense their confusion when she elaborated, "While she was with LA County, there was an eighty five percent closure rate on the Rape/Homicide cases in which she was the coroner of record." When their gazes still showed traces of incredulity, she further explained, "I looked her up when she first got here… If you ever get a chance, there's some pretty impressive data coming out of the LA County online databases."
Catherine was the first to break the spell of the new Sara, "Well, all right… Stephanie it is." Catherine turned and walked out of the break room.
"And when you get down there, tell her we're expecting her triple a game on this one." Sara called after Catherine as she was already in the hallway. Sara then turned to Grissom, ready to move into action, "Your car or mine?"
Grissom suddenly realized Sara was talking to him and forced himself out of his own mind, as quickly as he could, "What? Oh, um, I'll drive. That way you can get ready for the case." As he regained his footing, he felt compelled to add one more thing, "And your close up."
Sara was taken aback by his offhand remark as they both made their way out into the hallway, "What're you talking about, Gris?"
Grissom just shrugged and kept moving forward as he answered her, "High profile case is called high profile because of the press involvement… I'm sure the Sheriff will want to show off his crack crew to the cameras for this case."
Sara stopped in her tracks, as though she had never considered being chosen for this case meant she would have to be on camera at any time. Grissom looked to his side and was surprised to not find Sara there. He stopped and turned back to find her standing with an ashen expression upon her otherwise stunning face, "Sara?" He took the few steps back to where she was standing and took up position behind her. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he gave her a gentle push forward, "Come on, Tallulah… Your public awaits."
