Catherine had been right, it hadn't been long before the phone had started ringing. Fortunately they had thought to unhook the phone in her bedroom leaving Grissom in the living room with the cordless. Between the concerned calls from people at the lab, he had called the family members from a list Lily had supplied him, and called the nightshift to let them know what had happened, putting Warrick in charge until his return.
After a couple hours of making calls and answering the phone he saw a deflated Lily finally exit her daughter's room. Stopping at the table she wordlessly opened the prescription bottle and took a valium from it before getting a bottle of water and giving Grissom what appeared to be a grateful look before retiring to her own room.
The frequency of the phone calls had started to slow, allowing the emotions to again start affecting Grissom. He walked around the living room to stretch, freezing when he saw one of his favorite photographs of Lindsey and Catherine that had been taken at a lab picnic. His heart wrenched as he softly reached to trace the lines of the young girls face, fighting back the lump rising in his throat before he was rescued by the barely audible knock at the door.
Opening the door he saw a very tired looking Jim Brass standing there, notebook in hand. "You have more details?" It was more of a statement than a question.
"Yes, I need to talk to Catherine now if she's able?"
"She's asleep I think, I'll go check." Grissom offered as he stepped back to allow the man to enter the house and turned towards her room. After only a few steps he halted and turned back to look at Brass. "How bad are the case details?" He asked, wanting to know ahead of time how much this could further affect Catherine.
Jim looked around briefly, knowing that protocol called for him to inform family first, but in this situation he was willing to bend the rules so Grissom would be more prepared for Catherine's sake. "We have witnesses who say they saw Lindsey and her friend Elizabeth Schaeffer exit the school and get into a blue Toyota, apparently being driven by Elizabeth's older sister Elena. A friend at school stated that the girls were bragging about cutting school and going to the mall instead." Jim relayed some of the basic information, almost grateful for the chance to practice before repeating it to Catherine. Taking a deep breath he continued.
"Elena had just turned seventeen and had been driving for about three weeks. Her parents characterized her as a careful driver and they had no problems with letting her drive as long as she obeyed their rules of not going near the strip during rush hour and the state laws of not driving from 10pm-5am. According to the evidence and eyewitness accounts, it appears that before Elena got to the strip she was driving a little fast, the girls were singing, laughing and urging her to keep going faster. She did so for about two minutes before she went just a little off the road on the right, but the problem really began when she started overcorrecting to get back into her lane, which in turn sent her into an oncoming lane of traffic. She quickly swerved back to the right causing them to hit a curb. At this point she was unable to regain control of the car causing them to hit a concrete wall head on." Jim stated the facts the best he could, pausing to clear his throat.
"They hit the wall at about 60 mph, if only they had been wearing seatbelts they would have most likely all survived with only minor injuries." Jim said sadly, having seen one to many senseless deaths that could have been prevented by seatbelts.
Grissom digested the information as best he could. "Is that all?" He finally asked quietly.
"Yes, I have to tell you the dayshift did a remarkable job on this," Brass answered honestly. Ecklie himself supervised, letting only the best CSI's and techs touch it. He insisted all other work be put on backburner in lieu of this case, and followed every detail making sure it was done to the letter." Jim said. "Not that he had too, because every single person was already giving it their best effort." He finished.
Grissom pondered his words for a minute, thinking for a moment that even though they had their differences, Conrad Ecklie was apparently human after all when it came to the care of his employees. Something else began nagging at his mind as he mulled over Jim's description. When it came into focus the thought caused him to look at the detective with narrowed eyes before asking his next question.
"Jim, how did you know about the laughing, the singing, them urging her to go faster, the things going on inside the car?" He asked, voice lowered in case Catherine or her mother had woken up, knowing that even the best forensics didn't usually turn up quite that much detail.
Jim grimaced as he prepared to answer the question, having already known that this would not have escaped the trained mind of an investigator like Grissom. "Elizabeth had an ipod, with a recorder. We probably wouldn't have even caught it except that Greg was still in the lab." He said, letting the implications sink in. "Greg insisted on handling it, and then turned it over to Archie when he realized there was a recorder."
"You mean their last moments are on tape?" Gil asked incredulously.
"Yes, the entire wreck, from the laughter to the screams, and then the silence. It survived the wreck intact." Jim said, shuddering even as he said it, still trying to erase what he had heard from his mind.
Grissom considered it for a moment before speaking again. "I don't think we should tell Catherine about this yet Jim, she's already fragile. Do you honestly think she can handle hearing her daughter's last moments and death on tape?"
"Sounds like the same thing Ecklie said," Jim replied with a wan smile.
"For once I agree with him. She can listen to it later perhaps, but she can't know about this right now," Gil insisted.
"She won't hear it from me." Brass agreed as Gil stood, almost angry as he thought about it. "It was good evidence, but much to personal for a case like this. " He thought as he began to approach Catherine's door. "I'll get her," he said simply as he gently knocked on the door before pushing it open when he received no response.