Chapter 18
Grissom must have dozed off because the rattling of the doorknob startled him awake.
"Sara," he said quietly as he looked in the direction of the door. "Sara, honey, wake up."
"No, I'm tired," she moaned.
"There's someone at the door."
"So?" She pulled the sheet more tightly around her and turned away from him. "You get it."
"We're both nearly naked, Sara," he explained.
She slowly turned onto her stomach and raised herself on her elbows as she looked at him with blatant dissatisfaction. "We "are" supposed to be sleeping in here—aren't we?"
"Yes, but. . ."
"Then let them go away thinking we're sleeping and we don't hear the door!"
They heard the door knob rattle again, then the anxious half shout/half whisper of Greg Sanders.
"C'mon, guys! Open up! Open up! Open up!"
"Dammit, Greg!" Grissom got up from the bed and adjusted his clothing until he was adequately covered, then double-checked Sara who lay on the bed and nodded her okay for him to open the door.
"Hurry up! Hurry up!" Greg rushed through the door, closing it as soon as he slipped inside. He stopped short when he first noticed the bed that was broken and leaning haphazardly on the floor, then he turned his full attention toward Sara and he smiled his most charming smile. "Hi, Sara."
"Hello, Greg." She pushed her hair back from her face as she sat up with the sheet covering her lap.
"Well, I'd say I was glad I didn't interrupt anything again, but by the looks of that bed, you two must've been into some heavy acrobatics!"
"Greg?" Grissom picked up his jeans and pulled them on.
"Yeah, Gris?"
"Shut up."
"Okay," he smiled broadly as he rocked back and forth on his heels. "Then I don't have to tell you there's been two more dead bodies found, and a dog, and Catherine, Warrick and Nick are on their way up here, and Ecklie wants to go over the new evidence with you as soon as he gets here, which," he glanced at his watch, then back at Grissom. "According to my calculation should be in about 15 seconds."
"Jesus Christ, Greg!" Sara yelled at him as she once again wrapped the sheet around herself and scampered into the bathroom to pull on her jeans.
"I told ya to let me in," he explained as he watched her disappear behind the partition. "Is it my fault it took you guys so long to answer the door and let me in?"
"How long have we been asleep?" Grissom asked as he went to the window and pulled back the curtain to peek outside. The absence of the sun shining directly on them told him it was at least afternoon.
"Well, that would depend on just when you two went to sleep, now wouldn't it?" Greg asked as he looked at Grissom. "I mean—were you awake, breaking the bed for an hour? Two hours?"
"Yeah, Greg," Grissom said sarcastically. "We were jumping up and down on the bed for two hours."
"Two hours?" Greg's brows raised in awe. "Wow—you stallion, you!"
"Shut up, Greg," Sara said as she quickly moved toward the broken bed. "Grab that part of the mattress and see if we can, at least, make it look like it isn't broken."
Together she and Greg propped it into the bed frame.
"I'm telling you—there's something going on in there!" Sophia's voice stopped in front of the door just before the knock.
Grissom opened the door to find Ecklie and Sophia standing outside with Ecklie looking a bit frazzled and Sophia disgruntled.
"Give it a rest, Sophia," Ecklie sighed as he entered the room and went to the chair at the small table then proceeded to rub his hand over his face before looking up at Grissom. "I hope you two got sufficient sleep, because we've found ourselves in what could possibly be a serial situation here. We've found two more bodies."
"And a dog," Greg added.
"A dog?" Sara asked with concern.
"Yeah," Greg nodded. "A dog."
"Oh, my God!" Sara moaned.
"Yeah—why?" Sophia rolled her eyes at Sara. "I guess that's worse than two more dead bodies!"
"Well, it certainly doesn't make it any "better!" Sara countered.
"Oh, please! It's a damned dog!"
"It was a living thing!"
"Now it's a "dead" thing!"
"You're an idiot!"
"You're a bitch!"
Sara took a step toward Sophia but Grissom stood between them and looked at Ecklie who was watching the scene as if in defeat. When he looked up at Grissom for what appeared to be a ways to escape this situation, Grissom gave him a little smile, a short chuckle and a small shrug of his shoulders.
"Is this all completely necessary?" Ecklie finally managed to get out.
"You're the one who sent them in here so they could screw around!" Sophia turned on the balding man.
"I sent them in here so they could get some sleep. They clearly couldn't get any rest with you around! Your accusations are unfounded and just plain ridiculous! Look at them! They're so damned tired the look like they could drop!"
"That's because they've been. . ."
"Sophia!" Ecklie said sternly. "Give it a rest! Just because you couldn't entice Grissom into your bed doesn't mean he'd go running to Sara's! Not everyone is obsessed with getting laid around here!"
"Yeah, right."
"Just take a seat, Sophia. For Christ's sake, get your mind out of the gutter. Just because you're preoccupied with. . ."
"Don't say it!" Sophia warned him.
"Come on, Sophia," Greg said as he gently placed his hand on Sophia's arm and guided her toward the end of the bed. "Just sit down and take it easy."
"Oh, shut up, ya little jerk!" She told him then plopped on the corner of the mattress, only to have it fall to the floor beneath her.
"Oh, wow, Soph!" Greg said with faux shock. "Look what you did! Damn, maybe you ought to consider a diet or something."
Grissom's eyes opened wider as he watched Sophia attempting to get out of her position, closely resembling a turtle stuck on its back.
"Can we "please" get on with business?" Ecklie asked with rising frustration. "Sophia, get off the floor!"
"You did that on purpose!" Sophia finally got into a semi-sitting position as she looked up at Greg.
"Hey!" Sara spoke up as she stared at Sophia. "You broke my damned bed! Now what am I supposed to sleep in?"
"The same thing you've been sleeping in for days! His. . ."
"Sophia!" Ecklie cut in again. "We've got more important issues to deal with than your hurt pride!"
"Oh yeah?" She growled as she scrambled off the mattress and grabbed Sara's torn panties, thrusting them in Ecklie's face. "Then what's this?"
"God!" Ecklie jerked his head back and glared at Sophia.
"I'd call that really bad housekeeping," Greg interjected. "You wouldda thought the maid would've cleaned that up before they rented the room to Grissom."
"Bullshit!" Sophia turned toward Sara and threw them at her. "They're her's!"
"That's it!" Ecklie got to his feet and started toward the door to leave. "One more damned word out of you, Sophia, and you're back at the lab to help in DNA!"
"Why make "them" suffer?" Greg said under his breath but received a sharp jab in his arm from Sophia.
"What's the matter, Sara? Can't keep track of your panties? A little too hot to keep them on?"
"Well, at least I didn't burn out the motor on my pulsating purple pounding machine!"
"What?" Sophia's eyes grew as she stared at Sara.
"You know. . .rrrrr, rrrrr," Sara imitated the noise of the sex toy.
"Sara," Ecklie said tiredly. "I think it's safe to say we don't need to hear about Sophia's personal habits right now."
"Really?" Greg asked. "It was just getting kind of interesting."
"Shut up," Sophia hissed at the younger man.
"Rrrrr, rrrrr," Sara said again, promptly Sophia to push her way out the door past Ecklie.
"Grissom, you'll be glad to know you'll be out of this predicament starting tonight. Evidently the "funeral" procession left town and the motel is emptying out. Catherine, Warrick and Nick are on their way up here, and by then I don't care if everyone has a room completely to themselves."
"I don't want a room to myself," Greg told him. "Not in this place! It reminds me of the Bates Motel."
"In Psycho," Sara agreed.
"Yeah! You know. . ." Greg went into the sound effects of the infamous shower scene as he repeatedly brought his arm down as if stabbing Sara. "Janet Lee and all that!"
"Greg," Ecklie looked at him. "Get a life!" He turned toward Grissom. "I'll be waiting for you at the sheriff's office. Sara, you better get some shoes on as well, it looks like we're in for a long night."