Disclaimer: CBS and Anthony Zuiker own CSI, I only borrow the characters for a bit of fun.

Thanks to: WalkerTRnger, Graymoon74, Aussieforgood, Your Misanthropic Humanitarian, rebirthfry, CSIGeekfan, seattlecsifan, csijunkie no1 1, Haldir's Heart and Soul, Luvinx, RenLissa, and GSR'r for your reviews.

A/n: Hope you guys like this chapter. This is mostly to set up the next chapter, but I hope you find it entertaining.

Chapter 2

David Jacobs collapsed on the floor inside of the secret passage, nearly breathless from laughing. The look on Sharon's face had been priceless. "Oh man! I can't wait to tell Jeff about this!" He got to his feet and sauntered down the passage. He felt quite confident that he wouldn't be discovered as only a few people knew about the secret tunnels in the old house. He just wished he'd thought to put a flashlight inside the door. The place was pitch dark and he held out his hands to steady himself on the walls as he went. Jeff was going to lose it when he heard about this. He hadn't been sure who he would get with the gag, but it couldn't have turned out better. Months of planning had paid off. Turning the corner, he stopped when he saw a light up ahead. He shivered as the air around him turned colder. Inching forward, he called. "Jack? Is that you? Dude, you should've seen... Wait, who's there?" He stopped and squinted through the darkness. The light was moving, but away from him. He started toward it, his breath fogging in the cold. He called, "Whoever you are, could you come back here with the light?" It kept moving away. Muttering to himself, he hurried after it, stumbling in the darkness. Finally the light stopped. "Finally." He said, his teeth chattering in the cold, "Let's see who you are."

Grissom, Sara and Nick hurried down the stairs and out on the lawn where the screams were coming from. They found Brass and Warrick there, shooing the people who had gathered in a group around something on the ground. As they drew closer they saw what had caused the commotion. Lying on the ground was a young man. Grissom rushed over to him and felt for a pulse. "Call an ambulance!" He called and Brass radioed for one. He took note of the blood that was present around the neck of his shirt, and what looked like a slash across his throat. "Sara, come here."

Sara hurried over and bent down. "What does that look like to you?" He asked, pointing towards the wound.

Using her gloved hand, she felt the wound and pulled the corner away from the skin. "It's one of those fake wounds, you know, like fake scabs and knife wounds they sale at…" She looked up. "Are you thinking what I am?"

"Uh hum, I think we've found our corpse." He looked down as the boy started to moan. He opened his eyes and stared at them. His pupils were dilated, and he was mouthing something.

Nick leaned in. "What's he saying?"

Sara listened intently, and Grissom watched his lips. He mouthed the words after him. "She's waiting. She's waiting? Who? Who's waiting?" He touched the man's shoulder and leaned in closer. "It's okay, you're safe. Who'll get you?" But he just kept staring towards the house and mouthing 'She's waiting. The ambulance arrived, and they stepped back so that the EMTs could get to him. They strapped in to the gurney and loaded him into the van. Grissom stopped one of them as he was getting in. "Tell the ER not to let anyone but me or one of the other CSIs in to see him. We need to question him as soon as possible." The EMT nodded and jumped in to the van. Grissom turned around and found Brass. "Did you see what happened?"

He nodded. "I was getting statements when I heard a noise from the roof. I looked up in time to see him come flying through the air." He pointed to a window on the roof. "I think he came out of that window."

Grissom turned to look at the window and blinked as he saw a shadow move away from it. "Warrick." He called. Warrick jogged over from where he was standing. "Get up there and see what you can find, and make sure that no one is in there. I thought I saw someone up there. Take Nick with you, and take a uniform too, we don't need one of you flying through the air." Warrick nodded and he and Nick headed back in, snagging an officer on the way.

Sara turned to him. "Do you want me to go to the hospital to get a statement?" She didn't really want to go, she'd had her fill of hospitals, but she'd go if she had to.

Grissom sighed. "No, no I need you here. Call Catherine and get her to go by and get it, and get Greg to come out here. We need help taking all these statements. Until things change, we have two crime scenes here. Something's going on here, and if it's just someone playing a game I want them to know that I'm not willing to play." He glanced down at her and gave her a grin. "Not that all games are bad." He winked and headed back in. Sara stared after him, trying not to blush. Pulling out her cell phone she kept repeating, "Now is not the time, now is not the time." But a little devil whispered that game time could come later.

Warrick and Nick stood at the end of the hall as Officer Jensen cleared each room ahead of them.

Nick cleared his throat and asked. "So, why do you think this kid jumped out of the window?"

Warrick shook his head. "We don't know that he did yet."

"C'mon man, who would do that? Cops swarming the place and someone decides to push someone out the window? It's not like they'd be able to go anywhere." They walked forward a little as each room was cleared, there guns at the ready just in case.

"People do dumb things. Take what this kid did in the first place." As he walked forward, he couldn't help but feel that they were being watched. He stayed on alert for any sign of someone hiding that Jensen had missed.

Nick was dealing with a feeling of his own. He could swear that cobwebs were brushing the back of his neck, but he couldn't see any. He hunched his shoulders and rolled his head back, hoping to use the back of his vest to clear any stray web away. Warrick noticed this and gave him a questioning look. Nick shrugged at him and returned his attention to the hall in front of him. Jensen had reached the end of the hall, and had opened the last door. Behind the door a staircase led up to the attic. He looked back at them. "If someone is here, they'll be up there."

They nodded and followed him up.

Catherine walked into the hospital shaking her head. In this job she'd seen every stupid thing a kid could pull, but this one took the cake. Faking a murder and then jumping out of a window for whatever reason was just the epitome of stupidity. Sometimes thinking about Lindsey being out there in this made her wish she could put her in one of those biosphere projects, but the saner part of her told her that wouldn't be a good thing. You learn from your mistakes. She just hoped that Lindsey could learn some things sooner than she had. Clearing her mind, she walked up to the nurse's station. Showing her ID, she said. "Hi, I'm Catherine Willows from the Crime Lab; I need to talk to David Jacobs. He was brought in about thirty minutes ago."

The nurse nodded and checked the computer for his whereabouts. "He's down the hall in eval-room 5. He's been sedated, so I'm not sure how much he can tell you, but you can try."

Catherine nodded and headed down the hall. She reached the room and knocked lightly on the door before entering. She watched the young man lying there, eyes closed. He looked so young. Sighing, she put her hand out and touched his shoulder. "Mr. Jac…" He jumped, and his eyes popped open at her touch. He jerked away from her and she pulled back her hand. "It's okay. I'm sorry Mr. Jacobs; I didn't mean to startle you. I'm Catherine Willows from the Crime Lab. I'm here to take your statement."

For a moment he didn't say anything, then his voice horse and scratchy, "She's not done."

Catherine squinted, shaking her head. "Who? Who's not done?

He just shook his head and turned away. "Look, you need to tell me what you know, and if someone else is involved you've got to tell me."

He looked back at her. "There's nothing you can do. You just can't understand."

"Well, why don't you try me?" Catherine encouraged. "Just start from the beginning."

He watched her for a moment then nodded.

Sara rubbed her temples and walked over to where Grissom and Greg were standing. "So far everyone says the same thing. They didn't see anything until David came sailing out of the window. They didn't see him before that, and they didn't see anyone else."

Greg nodded. "I'm got the same answers. When I asked them when they last saw David they said it was earlier at the party. He seemed in good spirits, and no one noticed anything odd about his behavior."

Grissom looked over the crowd. "It seems obvious that he pulled the prank in the first place. Hopefully Catherine will find out why he jumped out of the window. As soon as Nick and Warrick get back, we'll get back in to finish up in there so the students that live here can get back in." He looked up as a car squealed to a stop outside of the cordoned off area. A man dressed in scrubs jumped out, and jogged over to the police tape.

They watched as Brass walked up to him. They couldn't hear what he was saying at first, but as he talked, his voice rose. They walked over to him. "…and I want to know where he is!" He was saying as they stepped up.

"Hold on now." Brass urged. "You're saying he's your brother?" He pulled out his notebook and began writing. "What's your name?"

"Jeff. Jeff Jacobs." He said his hands on his hips. "And I want to know where my bother David is right now."

Brass shifted his eyes to look at him without lifting his head. "Your brother is at the hospital."

"Why? Why is he there?" He shifted, towards the people who had just walked up. "Can you tell me what's going on?"

"Grissom stepped forward. "We're not certain of everything right now, but it looks like your brother pulled a serious prank, causing a young woman to think he'd been murdered. She's also at the hospital, recovering from shock. Your brother then jumped out of the window up there." He motioned towards the roof. "Do you know if your brother's been depressed lately? Or had any problems? Maybe he's not doing well in school, or has a problem with his social life?"

"No. No, nothing like that. He's one of the happiest guys I know. He's a straight A student, and very popular with girls. There's no way he would ever jump out of a window on his own." He stared off towards the house. "He…he must have been pushed." He looked back at them, and nodded. "That's the only thing that makes sense."

Grissom contemplated this. He had thought he'd seem someone, but it could have been a shadow from something outside being cast onto the window. "We have people searching the house and if they find anyone we'll see if they question them, but I have to tell you, we searched the property before your brother fell out of the window, and we didn't find anyone."

"Not even my bother?" Jeff asked, his eyebrow cocked.

Grissom looked at Sara then turned back to him, moistening his lips, he said. "You're right, we didn't find your brother. Would you know why?"

Jeff hesitated, thinking. "There is… there is a secret passage. Not many know about it. He was probably in there. It leads up to the attic, which is where that window is. See, if Jacob was in there with someone, they could've thrown him out and be hiding out in there."

Brass blinked. "And who would that person be? Do you know of anyone who would want your brother dead?" Jeff didn't answer. "Come on son, no use closing your trap now. Is there someone who would wish your brother harm?"

Jeff cleared his throat. "I can't think of anyONE." He emphasized.

Brass exhaled and rolled his eyes. "And what does that mean?"

Jeff shook his head. "Nothing man, forget I said anything. I'm sure that I don't know of anyone who'd do this, but I'm sure that he was pushed."

Grissom and Brass shared a look before Brass made a decision. "We'd like a full statement." He turned to Greg. "Greg, can you get his statement while we finish up here?" Greg nodded, and Brass turned back to Jeff. "This is CSI Sanders. He'll take your statement, and then when he's done, you can go to the hospital to see your brother."

Greg stepped up and gestured to the car outside of the line, and they walked over, Greg leaned against the hood and pulled out his notebook. Brass turned to Grissom. "Do you think he's telling the truth?"

Grissom shrugged. "I think what he said was truthful, I just wonder about what he's not saying."

"Yeah, me to…" He was interrupted by a commotion from the house. They looked up to see Officer Jensen running from the house. Warrick and Nick came out right after him, but at a more leisurely pace. Jensen headed straight for Brass.

He arrived breathing heavily. "Sor-sorry Cap-Captain, but I-I can't go back in there." He bent at his waist, gasping for breath. Nick and Warrick ambled up.

Grissom looked at them. "What's wrong with Jensen?"

Nick shook his head, but Warrick answered. "We don't know. We were searching the attic when all of the sudden he took off, flew right past us."

Grissom turned to Jensen. "Well… what happened?"

Jensen stared for a moment, looking thoughtful, finally saying. "I can deal with a lot, but I don't deal with ghosts."

TBC…