Chapter XI

Fun with Acronyms

"Snow"

Sara handed Sofia the fast-food breakfast burrito and then the coffee the young girl had handed her through the drive through window. Two cups of coffee came through and, finally, Sara's own vegetarian style burrito.

Sofia looked at her, obviously unimpressed. "So we're disobeying both of our supervisor's direct orders for snow?"

Sara nodded as she pulled back out onto Fremont Street. "Uh huh."

Sofia moved an empty soda can out of the passenger side cup-holder and plunked her jumbo coffee into it. "Snow in the desert in the middle of a heat wave… sure. You know if you take a right onto Blue Diamond Road it's only a few miles to my condo."

Sara would have been offended if not for Sofia's grin. "Do I need to spell it out for you, Detective?" Since Sofia's mouth was full of egg and sausage, Sara didn't wait for a reply. "South Nevada chapter of the National Organization for Women, S-N-N-O-W. Snow." Sara slowed to a stop at one of the red lights. Traffic was congested; it was ten o'clock on Sunday morning. The faithful were heading to church for spiritual enlightenment and the corrupt were going in for another day of debauchery.

"I found several flyers and pamphlets for women's groups, including snow SNNOW. They have a recruiting program on campus. I'm thinking that Helen may know something about the device we pulled out of Erica Green."

Sofia took a large gulp of coffee, "Okay, I've got a few questions. First, who's Helen?"

The light changed to green and Sara accelerated smoothly with the flow of traffic. "Helen Amendola-Fines, the President of SNNOW and one of the best victim's rights attorneys on the West Coast."

Sofia took another bite of her burrito and gestured with the uneaten half to make a point. "Are we just doing this so you don't have to deal with Hurricane Catherine back at the lab?" Sara took a drink of her own coffee while smoothly shifting lanes. "Don't you want to find out where she got that thing from?"

Sofia rolled her eyes, and mumbled through her breakfast, "That wasn't an answer."

Sara shrugged one shoulder and took a bite of her own burrito. Sofia chuckled, "Okay, last question, why didn't you ever mention you had a bike?" That one caught Sara's attention and she bobbled the burrito. Sofia smirked and slid her sunglasses down her nose. "Gossip travels fast. I heard it's a beast of a machine and that Catherine turned green with jealousy. Not that I blame her."

Sara nearly choked on a mushroom and turned the same bright shade of red as her shirt. Sofia spent the rest of the ride to the Clark County Central Library laughing so hard she was nearly in tears.

The Clark County Central Library was, compared to the over-done architecture of Vegas, rather plain. Taken by itself, though, it was lovely in its own odd way. The Greek Revival building had classic columns and an impressive flight of stairs. It put Sara in mind of the library she'd spent so much time in back at Harvard. Except, of course, the building looked completely out of place in the desert. Whoever had built it must have had good intentions and incredibly bad taste. Make-shift breakfast finished and its remains crumpled into a bag, Sara and Sofia had parked the dark blue department-issue Denali and were headed up the steps, taking the stairs two at a time, shoulder to shoulder.

"So you think these SNNOW people will know something about that thing?"

Sara nodded, "We can only hope."

The double doors of the library entrance were plastered with local flyers and posters. An announcement board spelled out the monthly SNNOW meeting in unevenly spaced white letters. The meeting was set to end in ten minutes in the Sun Conference Room. Sara knew the way.

Sofia followed, still smiling, "So you seem to know your way around this place pretty well."

Sara shrugged, "My SNNOW membership card hasn't expired quite yet."

The conference room doors were wide open and women dressed in everything from business suits to jeans and tee-shirts milled around talking. Sara looked around, going on her tiptoes to see over the many heads. She turned back to Sofia for a moment, "C'mon, she's over by the window. Don't take offence to anything she says."

Before Sofia could ask the CSI what exactly she meant, they were 'pardon me'-ing their way through the crowd. Sofia stepped on more than one set of toes and caught more than a few glances, aggravated and otherwise. Sara, on the other hand, was stopped every other step by someone who knew her. By the time they got to the large windows, Sofia felt like they'd been through a parade crowd. There were several women by the window; Sofia had no idea who was Helen and doubted that flashing her badge would help matters much. Lucky for her, Sara knew what she was doing.

"Helen."

The shortest woman by the window, turned and her almost pixie-like face burst into a smile. "Sara! You missed the meeting, but you are just in time to sign up for a spot at the annual regional meeting. We're hosting this year, you know and I would personally love to have you come in."

The petite, copper-toned hair woman was a live wire and already had Sara's hand in hers, pumping it up and down enthusiastically. "What was the name of the presentation you did, again, a few years ago?"

Sara smiled, "Mother, Sister, Daughter, Victim, as you well know, Helen."

The woman's eyes darted to Sofia. "Oh, Sara, who is this wonderful specimen?"

Sofia was about to open her mouth, but was beaten, yet again, to the punch.

"Helen, let the girl talk, honestly." The speaker glided through the crowd with a grace and ease that made Sofia want to bare her teeth.

Helen, somewhat calmer, moved her eyes from Sofia's chest to the newcomer. "Sara, let me introduce you to a friend and very talented collogue, Doctor-"

Sofia watched Sara smile. Not one of the tense smiles that she was used to seeing around the lab, but a true one that showed the gap in her teeth. She offered a hand to the newcomer, "Victoria Blake, hello Professor."

The professor, a woman of fifty or so, laughed and pulled the brunette CSI into a hug. Sofia wondered if she'd slipped into an alternate universe, she had never seen Sara Sidle act so friendly around so many people. She learned something new about the other woman every day.

Sara broke off the hug and shook her head, "Okay, sorry, manners. Helen, Professor, this is Detective Sofia Curtis, Sofia this is Helen Amendola-Fines and Doctor Victoria Blake, my Ethics professor from Harvard."

Sofia inclined her head to both women, but offered her hand to neither. The president had been ogling her the whole time and the professor was giving Sara looks that didn't exactly translate to the student-teacher relationship. The Professor alternated between gushing about Sara's academic prowness and the woman's own current lecture tour. Sofia shoved her hands into her pockets, ran her tongue over her teeth and wished for a toothpick, "I hate to bust up the reunion, but we have a few questions we were hoping you could help us answer."

Sara actually blushed, "Yes, actually, maybe if we could step into another room?"

There wasn't another room available, but the corridor was empty.

Sofia took the pictures out of the folder she'd brought along and handed them to Sara as she already had a rapport with the two -- the professor had decided to come along -- women.

Sara took a deep breath, "I was wondering if you could identify it for us."

Doctor Blake put on her reading glasses to see closer and waited patiently for Helen to pass them to her, they never got there. The tiny woman choked on her own breath, then looked from Sara to Sofia with eyes wide. "I haven't thought about these monstrosities for nearly twenty years. Where on earth did you find it?"

Sara looked to Sofia, and the Detective rubbed the back of her neck. "We can't tell you the details about an on-going investigation, but we found this in the vaginal cavity of a murder victim."

Both women went pale and the professor uttered a wispy, "Dear God."

Author's Note: Barring a miracle or at least very good luck, this will be the only update this week. Between Thanksgiving, Day After Thanksgiving sales also known as Blitz Day (My workday is going to start at 5 am to satisfy completly insane shoppers sniffing out bargains) and other pressing events, I just won't have time to look at my computer.