Chapter Six: Evidence Lost
Deja Vu. Grissom was getting a strong sense of it right then. This had happened before, an explosion in the lab. He wasn't sure yet if everyone was okay, he was still looking for Sara. He'd been in the break room, scolding Summer for taking his tarantula again when it had happened. The girl was fine at least, she was currently being crushed against Grissom's chest, as he had no plans of letting her go, unless someone came and pried her out of his arms. Not that Summer was complaining. She was stuck to her father like a leech. The explosion had shaken her up quite a bit.
Grissom heard Sara calling him, and turned. There she was, shoving some paramedic away, whom was trying to tend a cut on her forehead. She outran the medic and managed to get to Summer, and Grissom without hinderance. There was no prying needed to take the girl from Grissom, as she allowed herself to be passed over, and Grissom offered no resistance. He was to relieved to see that Sara was, for the most part, unharmed.
Someone else hadn't been so lucky. Ecklie. He was being taken away on a gurney. Other than Ecklie, Hodges and Wendy seemed to have gotten the worst of it. Nick, and Greg, like Sara had only sustained a few cuts, were asking them what had happened.
"Ecklie was in the lab, shouting at Hodges, for not doing something or other," said Wendy, "I interupted, and told Ecklie that we had alot of work to do for Nightshift, and that he shouldn't even be here..."
"I was leaving, to find Grissom, " said Hodges, "When I heard glass shattering... Ecklie had hit something.. One of the chemicals on the table, and I guess it hit the gunpowder that came in from another case. It had something other than gunpowder in it... But after that, Well, you get the picture.."
"Nicky!" "Greg!"
Both Nick and Greg turned around. There was Nick's wife, and Greg's girl. Both were looking exetremely worried. Neither man got much chance to say they were fine before they were being sqeezed so tightly that they couldn't breathe. Greg even started to turn blue. Who knew a scrawny girl lik Beth could be that strong.
Warrick was worried to, as was Calleigh. Brass, Horatio, and Catherine weren't here. "Grissom, Sara," said Calleigh, to the pair, "Have ya'll seen Horatio around here?"
"Or Catherine?" Warrick added.
"They weren't here," said Sara, "They went to talk to that club manager again."
Both Calleigh, and Warrick sighed in relief. "She okay?" Calleigh inquired, nodding her head at Summer, whom was now hanging on to her mother for dear life.
"I think so," said Grissom, "You wouldn't think it, normally, but she gets shaken up easily, ever since-" He was interupted by Summer squeaking, "I'm fine, I just got scared."
Curious, Calleigh asked, "Ever since?"
Warrick was the one who answered, "About two years ago, some psycho kidnapped Nick's wife, Susan, Greg's girlfriend, Beth, Brass' daughter, Ellie, mine and Cath's daughter, Lindsay, and Summer... We found them, two days later. We got there in time for everyone but Ellie."
"Oh..." Calleigh looked as though she was sorry she'd asked. She perked up when she saw Catherine's black SUV show up, and out clambered Catherine, Horatio, and Brass.
"What in the holy hell happened here?" Catherine asked, looking at all the people, crowded outside the building.
"Ecklie hit something, and it blew up some gunpowder that was being tested," Greg, walking over, arm-in-arm with Beth.
"Is everyone alright?"
"Except for Ecklie, yeah... He just got shipped off to the hospital. "
"How much of the evidence did we lose?" Horatio asked.
"Well, I think the blast was mostly in the DNA and Trace lab, so we shouldn't have lost much... the only thing that was in DNA and Trace were the hair samples, and that oil bottle," Sara paused, trying to remember if there was anything else, "and I got a match for the print on the bottle... It was the same as the one on the heart staff..."
"If we've still got the skin, from the last vic," said Brass," Then we can see if DNA confirms it."
"Depending on the damage," said Grissom. "Let's get out of here for now... We're not going to work here until morning at least."
"Whose place are we working at then?" Nick asked, approaching with Susan.
"How about ours?" Sara suggested, looking at Grissom, who shrugged.
"See ya'll there, then," said Calleigh, as she and Horatio followed Catherine and Warrick.
-----------------------
Summer sat next to the kitchen doorway, listening to the adults. She hadn't quite worked up the courage to join them yet, as she still wasn't quite sure what to make of the newcomers, Horatio and Calleigh. Calleigh seemed nice enough, if hyper. Horatio was quiet, and kept to himself for the most part. Though she wasn't normally a shy girl, the explosion earlier, had shaken her up, and she was still trying to process what exactly had happened. One moment, her father was in the door way saying "What's black, has eight legs, and isn't in my office?" The next, there was a loud bang, and glass shattering. She hadn 't been hurt, nor had Grissom, but it had still come close to making her heart leap out of her throat.
The shock was most of the reason she'd clung to her parents afterward, after she's calmed down, she'd squirmed out of her mother's grasp. Right then, she was supposed to be in bed. Another reason she hadn't gone into the living room yet. She got to her feet, and trudged into the room, deciding to make her presence known. She snuck up behind her parents, silently pleading with Greg, who had spotted her, not to say anything. He kept his mouth shut, thankfully. She climbed over the back of the couch, and squeezed herself between Grissom and Sara. Both looked at her caught off guard, but they didn't say anything. They went back to their conversation with their co-workers.
"Okay," said Brass, "here's what we got: We have a print that places Katrina Welker on the scenes, as well as hair, and boot prints that place her boyfriend there too. Also have unidentified DNA, which is likely Katrina's, but we can't prove that till Ecklie's mistake is fixed. the prints should be enough for a warrant though, but, we can't get one until tomorrow."
"So, what do we do tonight?" Calleigh asked, as Nick got up, and went to the kitchen.
"We know the hows, and possbily the whos," said Greg," So why not work on the whys?"
"Hey," said Nick from the kitchen, "Ya'll done misplaced your coffee."
"Top cupboard, on the left, bottom shelf," said Sara.
"Thanks," Nick yelled, "Hey, anyone else want some?"
The reply of "yes" was heard from all of them. Calleigh and Horatio in particular. They were still working on dealing with working nights.
"Okay," said Grissom, "We'll work on the whys. It's obvious that our perps have some serious issues... Possibly something to do with their past, that has made them do this?"
"Well, Katrina seemed perfectly sane, when we spoke with her," said Catherine, "But then so do alot of perps..."
"But they also act guilty," said Horatio, "I watched her, when you questioned her about where she was... When she did look away, it was to the right, which indicates remembering... So either she's a damn good liar, or she really believes what she told you."
"Even the part about getting that busted lip from running into a door?" Brass asked skeptically.
Nick rejoined them, "Coffee's ready, if any of ya'll need something to wake you up."
The group disassembled for a moment, to get their caffine, then regathered in the living room once more. "What if the woman isn't our perp?" Warrick asked, "I mean, isn't it possible that the print on that bottle was coincidental?"
"It's possible," said Nick.
"But highly unlikely," Greg finished.
A loud "Ow!" kept any further conversation from ensueing. Summer's cat, Grasshopper, had latched himself onto Calleigh's leg, and was procceeding to bite her fingers, any time she tried to pry him off. "Summer," Sara sighed, "Get your cat away from everyone, please." Giggling, Summer got up, to do as she was told. The silver tabby happily let go of his victim when his mistress grabbed him.
Rubbing her leg, Calleigh said, "Cat like that, ya'll don't need a guard dog."
"Don't bring him over here!" said Grissom, to Summer, when she started to take the cat back to her spot on the couch., as Sara said, "We know... The little monster tears everyone but her apart..." She paused and looked at her daughter, "You need to get to bed. Now."
"W-W-Why?" Summer said, failing to stifle a yawn.
"Probably because it's six am," said Greg. Summer trudged off , and he said, "so back to the whys... The beatings, the sexual abuse... Maybe it's something that was done to our pair?"
"Well, what's up with the gunshot wounds, and the eyes?"Warrick asked.
"I guess we'll just have to find out all we can on her," said Grissom, "If the lab hadn'tblown up in our faces thanks to Ecklie, I'd have had the info on her we needed. As it is, Katrina Welker isn't her real name... It's Allyce Barnes."
The continued to discuss the case, the explosion, and their suspect for a while more, until they had exhausted the topic. They eventually moved on to more mundane things, until it got around to their personal relationships. Sara and Grissom were up first it seemed, since Calleigh just couldn't resist asking,
"So how have ya'll been together for how many years? And haven't been fired yet? Cath and Warrick, too."
"Well, Ecklie's the only one who would rag on any of us for it," said Warrick.
"Let's just say we and Ecklie have come to an...Understanding.." said Sara, with a mischevious grin, remembering you the shouting match Grissom'd had with the greasy little man. Ecklie hadn't said a word about their relationship since, and when Warrick and Catherine had married, he had given them a few mean looks, but scathing ones from everyone on Graveyard had shut him up.
"Pull that trick in Miami, and you're likely to have the FBI swoop down on you," Horatio commented.
Calleigh snorted in sarcastic agreement, "Sure are. I think any time anyone in Miami starts to act human, they set off the alarms."
"Reminds me of the old Grissom," said Greg, with a smirk, earning himself a look that could have peeled paint from Grissom. "What?" Greg asked, with a shrug, "You know it's true... Not a day went by when you weren't telling people not to get emotionally involved in cases.."
Nick raised a hand to stop him, "Enough, Greg. We all know Sara's whipped our boss into shape." Even Nick got a mean look. A shriek interupted what Nick was going to add. Then came rapid thuds, as the cat came tearing through the hall, kitchen, and finally, the living room. Sara sighed, shook her head at the cat, and stood. "My turn for nightmare duty," she said, as she headed for her daughter's room. She returned a few minutes later, "Yup, nightmares...Wish there was some way to stop them, and don't you say time, Catherine..." she added, as Cath opened her mouth to speak. Catherine closed her mouth with a shrug.
It was only a few minutes later that everyone deemed it was time to go home, take a shower, and get back to work. Sara excused herself in the middle of the "see you in a few"s , to hurry off towards the bathroom, earning herself odd looks from her friends, and a suspicious one from Grissom.
-------------------------------
"Did we get a warrant?" Sofia was asking Nick, he, she, Catherine, and Horatio, headed for the exit of the building.
"Yup," said Nick, "All we gotta do is go search our perps house. We find anything incrimnating, well, more than what we've got already, and we can arrest her. Of course, we already have enough to get her boyfriend. Anyone know if Eckilie's dead yet?" he added sarcastically.
"Nick!" Catherine exclaimed, giving him a light punch on the arm, "And no. No word on how he is, though if he was seriously hurt, it'd be all over the lab, you know that."
"You never know," said Sofia, as they piled into Catherine's suburban, "Only happened a few hours ago... What did happen, anyway?"
"Ecklie got pissed, and knocked something over. It met with gunpowder, and went boom," Nick replied, beating Catherine to the driver's seat, and snatching her keys out of her hands.
"So we have our wonderful boss to thank that we no longer have a trace lab, right?" Sofia inquired, laughing as Catherine tried to grab her car keys from Nick, and failing.
"I would hope," Horatio said, after having remained silent, "That this sort of thing doesn't happen very often."
"Pretty much," Cath replied to Sofia, giving up on reclaiming her keys, and getting in the passenger side. To Horatio she said, "And no, labs explodinh doesn't happen often... Happened once before, but it was my fault. Anyway, Grissom's talking to the boyfriend, and I've got a couple officers meeting us at Katrina's club... Then we're going to her place. "
"Let's hope that Mr. Benson doesn't get violent again, then," said Horatio, "I saw him hit an officer when he was being taken to his cell."
"Well," Sofia commented, "If he does get violent, he'll not only have Sara descending on him, but every officer there, that witnessed him using that kid as a punching bag"
"Meh, I don't think Sara would risk it," said Catherine, thoughtfully, "One wrong punch..."
Giving her a puzzled look, Sofia asked, "since when does Sara Sidle not "want to risk" a fight?"
"You didn't see her earlier," said Nick, "ran fast as greased lightnin' for the bathroom, looking green around the gills. Grissom mentioned her doin' that the other day, too."
Sofia laughed, catching on, "Oh dear. I almost feel sorry for them."
"Me too," said Catherine, "But, let them learn from their mistakes... Oh and Nicky, turn left up here."
"I know what road to turn on, woman. So unless you've got a backseat driver's license, let me drive," Nick retorted, making everyone laugh, even Horatio.
"Then why were you going past it?" Catherine asked wryly. She suddenly started digging through her purse, "And as a matter of fact, I do have a backseat driver's license. Warrick made it for me, after one to many driving tips. I think it was Lindsay's idea though. Ah! Here we go!"