Chapter Thirteen

"You're late," Catherine said as Sara ran into the morgue.

"I know, I know, and I'm sorry," she apologized, pulling on a cover-up. "Sofia caught me in the locker room. But I got here as quickly as possible."

"What did Sofia want to talk to you about?" Catherine asked.

Sara looked up. What was with everyone poking around in everyone else's business? Was it national nosey day or something? "Uh… she asked me about Grissom, actually. Why?"

"Oh, because she cornered me in the locker room earlier too. Asked me if I'd ever been rejected by Grissom or something. Kind of weird, actually…" Catherine said, staring off into space.

"And have you ever been rejected by Gil?" Dr. Robbins asked as he walked into the morgue.

Catherine glared at him playfully. "That shall remain private information that only members of Catherine's private group can access. Sorry."

"Aren't I a member? Doc asked.

"You wish," Catherine answered, smirking.

"What about Sara? Is she a member? Can you tell her?"

Catherine smiled. "Even if she was, I couldn't tell her right now, because, hello, you're standing right here! So it doesn't matter."

Sara laughed at the doctor's confused expression. "Dr. Robbins? What exactly do we have?"

The doctor pulled on his gloves and got to work. "Well, he is a young Hispanic boy, aged nineteen. We got ID off of dental records. His name is Jason Lee Wruald. Definitely looks like suicide. Possible overdose."

"Do you have an official TOD and COD?" Sara asked, examining the boy.

"Yes… yes. We do. Cause of death was overdose. Time of death is a bit harder, but I think we can safely say around twelve hours ago." Dr. Robbins looked at the two women in front of him. "That would put time of death a around…"

Sara looked at her watch. "Nine o' clock last night. We were all still at the lab! Why didn't anyone call it in?"

Catherine sighed sadly. "Because no one noticed. Doc, is there anything else we need to know?"

"How about stomach contents?" he asked, smirking. "There were a few drugs in his system… Tox screen came back pretty damn high. There was crystal meth, marijuana, cocaine, and more than enough painkillers. Looks like this guy had about seven prescriptions. And those painkillers were heavy duty."

"Also," Dr. Robbins continued, "Along with those drugs, there were a few cough candies, medicine, and… a cheeseburger."

Catherine looked repulsed. "This guy was sick. We can officially rule suicide, then?" The Doc nodded. "Okay then. That makes our job a whole lot easier, especially now that Brass is on leave. C'mon, Sara, we'll go find Warrick, and then go to Grissom; see if he needs any help on his hotel man."

"Wait, what?" Sara asked, confused. "Why is Brass on leave?"

"What? Oh, I think Brass and Ecklie both blew up at Grissom about one of us… bit of a mini-scuffle, the way I heard it," Catherine explained. "Anyway, thanks, Doc. See you later." She pushed open the door for herself and Sara, and started to walk down the hall.

OoOoOoO

They were about halfway down when they ran into Warrick. "Warrick!" Catherine said, giving him a huge smile. "Just the guy we were looking for. Doc Robbins ruled our guy's death suicide. We're on our way now to Grissom, see what we do next. C'mon."

"Cath, I don't think that's a good idea," he warned. "Grissom is in a foul mood. He all but fired Ecklie before."

Sara's heart lurched momentarily. She didn't know what to do when Grissom was mad, and she had no way of controlling what he did or said when he was that upset. It bothered her a bit, that he could get so mad, but she knew deep down, he was the same Gil Grissom whose heart held hers so tightly in its own. Shaking her head momentarily to rid herself of her cheesy thoughts, she clued herself back in to what Catherine was saying.

"...but he can't do that. He doesn't have the power to do that," Catherine argued.

"Yeah I know, but Ecklie was at least smart enough to listen to Grissom. Even though they hate each other, Ecklie knows that Grissom is respected way more than he is. He wouldn't risk his job for that," Warrick explained. "I heard it got pretty rough in there."

"Well, we won't bother him for long. Just one quick question. Then we're gone," said Catherine, leading the way to Grissom's office.

OoOoOoO

Once the three CSI's were outside Grissom's door, Catherine knocked briskly. "Grissom, it's Catherine. I have a question on our new case."

Grissom's voice came back muffled. "Later, Cath. I'm working."

She turned away from the door. "Warrick, your turn," she said.

Warrick knocked on the door. "Grissom? It's Warrick. We solved our case; it was suicide, and we –"

He was cut off by Grissom's response. "Not now. Later."

Sara stepped up to the door and lightly pushed Warrick out of the way. "My turn," she whispered. Knocking on the door, she called out gently, "Griss? It's Sara. We just need to ask you one question. Please open up?"

They heard shuffling behind the door, a lock click, and then the door finally opened. "Come in, but make it quick," he said groggily. "I've got work to do."

"We know, Gil, we know," Catherine said quickly, slipping past him to sitting down in front of his desk. Warrick sat down beside her, and Sara stayed standing. "Okay. Our case has been ruled suicide, so we're done for the day. What next?"

"Cath, Warrick, you go deal with the victim's family. And then go help the day team; they're a bit backed up." He turned to Sara. "Sara, stay here. I need your help on the hotel case. Alright, that's all."

Warrick and Catherine stood up to leave. "See you later then," Warrick said to Sara. She nodded and gave him a smile.

Grissom held the door open. "Thanks, you guys," he said before closing the door. "And good job as well."