Oh yeah... something I forgot to mention... Cath and Warrick have been married four years now
Chapter Two: Working with visitors
Grissom shook his head. He was the supervisor, and he'd been last to know that two CSIs from Miami were coming to help with the case... which appearently had been Miami's case in the first place. Talk about confusing. He leaned back in his desk chair. Their visitors would be arriving that day, and in the meantime, finger prints, and DNA were being run in the lab. As well as the liquid in the brown bottle, and the oils from the kids' eyes, so they could be sure of what it was. Grissom already knew the answer was yes, it was eucalyptus and peppermint, but he wanted lab results to prove it first.
Warrick was working on finding out where all of the children had been the nights they died, and was so far having no luck trying to talk to the hysterical parents. Catherine, Sara, and Greg were out talking to anyone who might've seen what went on. Nick was looking into the back ground of Valerie Sandon's sister.
And Grissom? He had paperwork to do. Bleh. Maybe he could get Catherine to do it for him... No, she was tired of doing his paperwork for him. She had said as much last time he'd asked. Sara straight up refused to do it, and he didn't quite trust any of the others. Maybe Summer would come in and keep him company while he did the work. No, that wasn't a choice either... Just because school had let out early that day, didn't mean she didn't have work to do... She had stressed to him the importance of her science report when she'd arrived. Then again, knowing his daughter, that was an excuse to get out of watching the paper work be done. Nope, Grissom was stuck doing it on his own, with no source of entertainment as he did so.
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The Las Vegas crime lab was alot different from the Miami one, Calleigh noticed. She had been shown the way to the break room, where she was waiting for Horatio to get done speaking with the Night Shift supervisor. Strange that the Night Shift was still working really... It was just then two pm. Maybe pulling a double? Not unheard of, especially in her lab. A bored sigh drew her attention to the fact that she wasn't alone.
She turned. Sitting at the table was a young girl. No more than ten, writing in a notebook, pausing every now and then to look at the jars in front of her, which seemed to contain a Black Widow spider, a common brown scorpion, and a Lady Bug.
"Awful young to be a CSI aren't you?" Calleigh asked with a smile. Jokingly she added, "Lab Tech maybe?"
"No. School let out early today," The girl replied, glancing up at Calleigh. She had bright blue eyes, and square-framed glasses, which were also blue.
"So, why aren't you at home?"
"Mom and dad pulled a double shift, and I don't like being at home alone." She glanced at her collection of bugs, and wrote a bit more. "Besides, the bugs I needed for my science report aren't exactly easy to catch. So, why bother, when your dad has an office full of them?"
"I'm going to take a guess, and say you're the supervisor's daughter?" Calleigh asked, remembering seeing the shelves full of bugs and other such things in the supervisor's office.
"Yeah. How'd you guess?"
"Well, his is the only office full of bugs," Calleigh pointed out, "I take it your mom is a CSI too?"
"Yup. You'll prob'ly meet her later... Sara Sidle... I'm Summer, by the way." the girl looked towards the door, "Oh, hey Uncle Nicky."
"Hi Kid, you seen your dad?" Nick asked, with a vague wave at Calleigh, "I found somethin' on Valerie Sandon's sister that he oughtta know."
"I've been avoiding him, actually," Summer replied, "He was asking if I wanted to help out with his paperwork... Aunt Catherine wouldn't do it for him. He should be in his office... Do you know where Mama is?"
"She's with Catherine and Greg..." said Nick, "I guess I'll go track down Grissom."
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Just perfect. Sara thought, as she pulled her radio off her belt. Another body to add to the collection. "This is CSI Sidle," she said into the radio, "We've got a 419 outside the Rio."
Another one, Sara? said Brass' voice, sounding slighty staticy, That's what? Five, in two days?
"Yeah," Sara replied, taking a closer look at the body. This one was a boy. "Looks like the same guy, too. Gun shot wound, bruises, eyes glued open... If I hadn't thought we were dealing with a serial killer before, I would now. "
I'll have officers there, and the coroner in ten minutes. Think you can keep the crowd at bay that long?
"We'll try," Greg and Catherine said before Sara could. "What they said," was all Sara added.
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"Is this your wife and daughter?" Horatio asked the night shift supervisor, looking at the one photo the man had on his desk.
"No," Grissom replied, looking some what reluctant to answer, "Summer's my daughter, but Sara and I never married."
With an almost visible look of pain, Horatio remembered his wife, Marisol. whom had been murdered mere hours after their wedding. The one who had been responsible was still at large... He'd caught the man who shot her, but not the one who ordered it. That memory wasn't one of his favorites, to say the least.
"Catherine tells me that you brought another of your CSIs with you?" said Grissom, after a moment of uncomfortable silence.
Horation nodded, "Calleigh Duquesne. If you'd like to meet her I-" he was interupted when the door to the office opened, and in bounded the girl from the photo.
"Do you knock?" Grissom asked her. There was a hint of amusement in his tone.
"No, I don't," the girl responded plainly, "Uncle Nicky's looking for you, he said something about Valerie Sandon's sister or something... Anyway, that's not why I came in here."
"Mr. Caine, this rude child is Summer. Summer, this is Horatio Caine, Miami CSI," said Grissom.
"Hello." said both of the others. Summer was the one who continued to speak, "Daddy, can I borrow the tarantula? Please?"
"No. Last time, you tried to take it home, and keep it as a pet. Sara was after me for weeks about that."
"I need it for my science report, along with the others, though!"
Grissom was saved from answering, when his phone rang. Horatio couldn't help a small, amused, smile, as the girl tried to silently plead with her father. He was ignoring her for the most part, as he was too involved with whoever he was talking to on the phone. Finally Summer gave up, and left, muttering something about 'the poor spider never gets out.' Appearently Grissom heard her, for even as he spoke he shook his head with a look that clearly said "kids."
Once he hung up the phone, Grissom was silent a moment. He looked out the office door, as if to see wether or not Summer had really left. "Where is your partner, Mr. Caine? We have a body on its way here for autopsy. Looks the same as the others."
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Sara, Catherine and Greg were quick to start working the scene. As Greg was the one with the best people skills, he spoke with everyone who had been in the vicinity of the body. Sara and Catherine were just getting ready to collect a drop of the same substance they'd found on the other four victims, when a high-strung-looking blonde woman ran onto the scene,
"Sorry I took so long... First time in Vegas..."
Sara gave her a confused look, where as Catherine straightened, and shook the woman's hand. "Nice to see you again, Calleigh."
"And you, Catherine," said the woman.
"Sara, this is Calleigh Duquesne. Calleigh, this is Sara Sidle. Now, before we continue with this little chat, let's finish the scene, shall we?"
As she scraped up the dob of the substance, Sara caught a wiff of Pepper Mint and Eucalyptus. Same as the other two. She stood up, closing the top over the cotton swab, and put it in an evidence bag. She was about to say an actual hello to Calleigh when she heard worried voices starting speaking rather loudly.
"What's going on here?!"
"Micheal! Micheal, honey where are you!"
Sara turned to see a young couple, shoving their way through the crowd. She approached the two, intent on asking them what was going on, but they beat her to it. "Excuse me, Miss," said the man, "What's going on here?"
Sara was going to tell them, but after she found out who they were, "I'm Sara Sidle from the Las Vegas Crime Lab. There's been a homicide. Would you mind telling me what you're doing shoving people around?"
"Crime Lab?" said the woman, "Homicide? You mean murder?"
"We're looking for our son, Micheal," said the man, "He was with a friend, but the girl called a few minutes ago to say Micheal had disappeared."
Catherine had joined them, "Would your son happen to be about fourteen years old, blonde hair, and green eyes?" Catherine looked as she was hoping they answered no.
"Yeah," said the woman, "That's Micheal." Her husband pulled his wallet out of his pocket, and showed them a picture of the boy they had so recently found dead.
"Excuse me, but what are your names?" Sara asked, heart dropping to her feet.
"George Casey. This is My wife, Lucinda."
"Mr Casey," said Catherine, "We're going to have to ask you and your wife to come with us... The boy we found matches Micheal's description."
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Things were not going well at all. There were two sobbing parents in the office, and the distraught sister of Valerie Sandon. Whom had been rather elusive until that afternoon. Warrick wondered if it wasn't some cruel joke from fate that they had all three at once. He and Catherine were watching the husband and wife as Sara and Calleigh interviewed them. They had been close to being those two... Close to sitting in that room, while one of their colleagues interviewed them about the loss of their daughter. But luckily, they had been spared that. Everyone on the team had been spared losing someone, save for one. Brass stood a ways away from them. He knew perfectly well how those people felt. He'd lost Ellie, nearly two years before.
Someone slammed into Brass, from behind, knocking him forward, "Oh, sorry, Uncle Jim!" Summer. She moved around him, bent down, and grabbed the rather large spider that had just started to crawl onto Brass' shoe.
"I thought you were told to leave Grissom's bugs alone," Catherine said, not bothering to look and see what was going on.
"Science project," was all the girl said before darting off down the hall again, spider in hand.
Brass shook his head, "I wonder if Grissom even knows how much like him she is."
'Believe me," said Warrick, "He does." He looked over at the door to see Sara coming out, "Hey Sara... What'd you get from them?"
"Not much, other than that Micheal was with a friend, and he disappeared," Sara replied, "We got a name for the girl though. Emily Brooks."
Meanwhile, still with the parents, Calleigh noticed something, "Excuse me, but what's in those necklaces?" She gestured to the black cords around their necks, on which hung small brown bottles. "We found a bottle on one of the crime scenes that looks alot like those."
"It's eucalyptus and peppermint oils," said Mrs. Casey, "It works great for soothing muscle pains, or clearing sinuses... Why?"
Calleigh glanced at the casefile, that sat next to her arm. In it, she knew were the lab results from the oils that had been found on the vics, and the oil from the bottle. She'd taken a look. It had been eucalyptus and peppermint oil. "Well, we found the same oils in and around the eyes of the victims... "
"I am sure that you'll find we're not the only ones who use it," said Mr. Casey.
"I'm sure we will," said Calleigh.
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"Hey, Grissom!" said Nick, catching up with his boss, as he headed out the door, Sara and Summer with him.
"Yeah Nick?" Grissom responded, turning.
"I found something on Valerie Sandon's sister... Turns out she spent several years in prison for attacking a kid when she was fifteen. She got out right before her parents got locked up for assault with a deadly weapon..."
"I'll talk to her tomorrow," said Sara, "Right now, I think any of us would be tired enough to pass out at any moment," she looked pointedly at Summer, who was stifling a yawn.
"I'd go talk to her tonight, but at this ungodly hour, she'd kill me, not to mention, I've got a wife who knows how to hide evidence of a crime at home..." said Nick
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Plllllleeeeeassssse lemme know what you think