It's been a week since Katrina's fist had broken Nick's nose, but even so Grissom was greatly worried about his daughter. He had to head out to a new crime scene Catharine had offered to keep an eye on Katrina, "No, Cath, I think I'm going to take her with me."
So they two sat crouched looking at the body of a man in his late thirties drenched in blood from a single wound to the neck and out the back. The body was found a few miles south of Vegas found by some boys looking to se of fireworks. Grissom looked at his daughter's blank face then at the clothes she wore; the sun blazed making the desert somewhere around 100 degrees, but even so she wore a long sleeved white turtle neck and a baseball cap that tried it's best to protect her eyes. Her vest was just like his, but hers read: K. Grissom. He said that she should change, but she shook her head and said she'd be fine.
"So, what do you think Kat?" Grissom asked pulling gloves on.
Katrina snapped another picture, "Not sure."
"Well what do you see?" Grissom asked looking at her, this was part of her training…that she was a little to early for, but the group let that slide.
Katrina stood up and walked around the body trying to look carefully, she walked to the road and bent down to take a picture of more blood, "It could be a body dump…but then again." She stopped talking and looked across the road at a gleam of silver. She walked over to it and grabbed the small silver object looking it over in her glove covered hands.
"What do you got there?" Grissom yelled over.
Katrina turned the object over in her head and stared at it in confusion, "It looks like a spike."
"What kind of a spike?"
"Well," She stared at it harder trying to remember where she's seen something like this, "remember those spikes police would lie down to stop a car?"
"Yeah," Grissom said standing up and looking at her, "Why?"
"This reminds me of when," Katrina looked around again finding another one, she put the one she found down next to it and continued to follow the row of spikes, but making sure that somebody was always behind her watching. She reached the last spike a few yards away and went to grab it, but it was stuck. She pushed sand away trying to see what was there, four more spikes appeared and she couldn't help, but grin slightly. She took several pictures, "Dad, I think I found the rest of the road spikes."
Grissom appeared behind her with a shovel, "Shall we get it out of there?"
Katrina stepped back and let her dad unbury the spikes; the two pulled it out of the ground and unraveled it to its full length. She retrieved the five spikes she found and found that six were missing, "Dad, there's a spike missing?"
"I think I know where it is," Grissom said then looked back towards the body.
"So let's look a little further behind the body," Katrina shrugged and walked back towards the body. Her dad and her looked around for awhile before the wind picked up carefully.
"Damn, get Dave in here. We need the body back at the coroner; Kat go collect some blood samples from the blood on the road…then collect the spikes I'll take care of finding the last one," Grissom pulled out his cell phone.
)()()(
"Junior, Trace finished analyzing the green on the spikes," Warrick said catching up to Katrina as she hurried down the hall.
She took the file out of his hand and flipped it open reading of the substance found, "Titanium dioxide, synthetic chemicals, HFCs…that's…"
"Hydro fluorocarbons," Warrick said smiling, "Which is made of 1, 1, 1-difluoroethane and 1, 1, 1, 2,-tetrafluoromethane. In other words…"
"Spray paint," Katrina smiled, "Did Hodges teach you those words?"
Warrick grinned, "Hey, I'm smarter than you think."
"What about the spike with the black substance?"
"A tire," Warrick said.
Katrina shut the file, "Care to join me at the scene? I think it's time we look a little closer at the road."
Warrick smiled, "Let me grab my gun and vest."
"And I'll give this to my dad," Katrina smiled.
Warrick winked at her and walked off yelling back, "I'll meet you back here in ten."
Katrina walked off towards Grissom's office looking through the file when someone grabbed her arm she looked to see Aaron smiling at her.
"Hey," Aaron said.
"Hi," Katrina muttered.
Aaron pulled her towards him out of the hallway, he kissed the top of her head, but she pushed away, "I have to leave in ten minutes that gives me enough time to talk this over with my dad." She started to turn, but Aaron gripped both of her arms and pushed her against the wall pinning her arms back.
"Don't you ever disobey me," He hissed out at her, "All I wanted was one little kiss from my girl…or would you rather repeat yesterday's lesson?"
Katrina gasped from the pain flying through her arms his grip forming bruises over bruises, "No, please. I-I'll listen."
"Yeah, you will," He pulled out his cell phone and clicked some buttons he held the phone out to her showing a number and a name: Brittney Kain, "You wouldn't want me calling your mommy…would you?"
Katrina shook her head.
"Didn't think so," He slipped his phone in his pocket and pushed his lips against hers. He pulled away with a psychotic look in his eyes, "I'll see you later." He gave her one last arm squeeze making her gasp in pain before walking away.
Katrina bit back the tears and held her head high, "Breathe…" She took a couple deep breaths then went straight to Grissom's office. She put on her best poker face and continued into the room, "Dad, Trace finished up with the green substance."
"And what is it?" Grissom asked looking at the photos from the crime scene.
"Green spray paint," Katrina handed him the file, "The black on the other spike is from a tire, Warrick and I are going back to look for any treds."
Grissom looked at the file and smiled at his daughter, "Alright, but stay with him."
"I will," Katrina promised walking out grabbing her vest off the chair by the door just as Warrick was coming down the hall.
"I'll keep an eye on her Gris," Warrick yelled.
"Carefully," Grissom whispered.
)()()(
"Junior," Warrick said, "What happens when a tire meets a row of spikes?"
"A flat tire," Katrina stood a few feet from Warrick trying to find anything around where the body had been.
"Bingo," Warrick said.
Katrina walked over to him stumbling in the process, Warrick caught her arm and she winced from the bruises, "Thanks."
"Yeah," Warrick let her go and pointed at a dead bush, "Think that's our tire there?"
"We'll have to bring it back to the garage, check out if there are any punctures and if they match our spikes," Katrina took a picture and bent down a grin appearing, "I've got blood."
Warrick appeared next to her, "So how does the Vic's blood get on the flat tire twenty yards from the road and ten yards from the body?"
"Maybe the Vic was killed on the road by whatever penetrated his neck; caused blood to splatter onto the tire," Katrina paused, "the killer moved the body, tossed the tire and buried the spikes."
"Good idea, but that still doesn't tell us what killed him," Warrick said looking at the tire.
"A bullet, maybe," Katrina said.
Warrick sighed, "We'll have to ask Doc."
"Yeah," Katrina looked at the tire and inched closer, "Warrick…is that green spray paint?"
Warrick squinted his eyes, "I think it is." He chuckled and stood up straight offered his hand, "Let's keep looking."
Katrina took his hand allowing him to help her up, "I'll look around here." She wandered past the tire towards a fallen over tree. The skinny trunk had something lodged in its side. She smirked knowing what she had found, she took a picture and pulled the spike out with a pair of tweezers and dropped it in an evidence bag. She wandered over to Warrick and held the bag in front of his face.
"How does a spike get from the road to there and lodged into a tree?" Warrick asked.
"I was hoping you could answer that," Katrina smiled and looked up at the sun, "What time is it?"
Warrick looked at his watch, "One, we missed break."
"Great, there goes lunch," Katrina muttered.
"Hey, as long as we discuss the case I think we can go grab a bite to eat," Warrick smiled.
"Sounds yummy," Katrina smiled at Warrick; he took the bag and his kit walking back to the truck. Katrina picked up her kit and took one last look around before following after.
)()()(
"Is it possible to shoot a spike out of a normal gun?" Katrina asked putting a fry in her mouth.
"Well," Warrick took a drink of his soda, "It'd have to be modified."
"So they would've needed the spike in advanced?" Katrina asked.
"Yeah, pretty much."
"There's no way that spike could've traveled that far unless it was shot at the man."
Warrick sighed and leaned back in his chair, "Yeah, but why shoot a man for causing a flat?"
"There was more to it?"
"Maybe, but that doesn't explain much," Warrick sighed.
"So what we have to work off of is green spray paint and a tire?" Katrina frowned, "That gets us nowhere."
"There's a lot of auto shops in Vegas," Warrick muttered.
"But not many that do personal paint jobs with neon-lemon-lime-green," She smiled.
"You're definitely Grissom's kid," Warrick chuckled.
"So I've heard," Katrina smiled just as Warrick's cell phone rang.
"Brown," Warrick smiled, "Where is it? In the parking ramp on level four? Yeah, that helps thanks." He snapped his phone shut.
"Well?"
"That was Brass," Warrick ate his last fry and stood up pulling his vest on, "he found our vehicle."
"Well, there go my afternoon plans of sitting and going through files," Katrina stood up and drank the rest of her soda, "Are we sure it's ours?"
Warrick nodded, "Oh yeah, they're sure."
)()()(
Katrina couldn't help, but smile wide at the site of the bright green truck, "Very eye popping."
"Which means if there is a stain, it might happen to stick out," Warrick added.
"We ran the plates," Brass said walking towards them, "it's registered to Michael Whales."
"The dead guy," Katrina shrugged, "Well he obviously didn't drive it up here."
"So let's find out whom did," Warrick walked towards the truck pulling open the drivers door, "I'll get the inside."
"I'll check the outside," Katrina went around to the passenger's side pulling out her UV flash light shinning it on the door.
Warrick pulled down the mirror finding the registration to the car and fifteen hundred in cash, "He was a gamble."
The passenger door opened and Katrina stood with a swab the end a bright pink, "We've got blood on the door."
"We'll get a tow up here to bring it back to the garage," Warrick climbed out of the car and shut the door, he looked up at the ceiling seeing a camera, "Hey, Brass, is there a way we can get a copy of the footage?"
"Already on it," Brass said opening his cell phone.
"Warrick, I don't know cars, but this tire doesn't look right," Katrina said from the other side of the truck; Warrick walked around to see her crouching in front of the back tire he walked over and crouched next to her, "Is that right?"
"No," Warrick said looking at the crooked bolts, "This was definitely a hurried job."
)()()(
"So the spike was lodged in a tree?" Grissom asked as they stood over the lit table showing pictures of the crime scene.
"Yeah, a few feet from the tire," Warrick said.
"How does it get lodged in a tree?" Grissom asked.
"Not sure," Katrina answered, she was going to add something when a different voice interrupted.
"Hey, Gris, the DNA off the tire and the truck match the Vic's," Greg said walking in looking at a piece of paper, he looked up and froze as his eyes met Katrina's.
She looked at the clock trying not to look at him, her eyes went wide at the time, "I have to go!" She kissed her dad's cheek said bye to Warrick and left in a hurry.
"Where's she going?" Grissom asked.
"Maybe she finally got a boyfriend?" Warrick getting a protective glare out of Grissom, "Hey, only joking."
Greg, being completely forgotten, felt his heart tear open again. The two had been able to avoid each other for so long…but this just sent him back down the hole. He dropped the file on the table and walked down the hall watching Katrina stop at the end of the hall with a terrified glance, she said something, but a hand grabbed her arm roughly pulling her out of Greg's site. Greg quietly walked down the hall to hear someone getting angry at Katrina.
"What the hell were you doing?" The man, he hoped it was a man…or this girl has a voice problem, snapped.
"I'm sorry," Katrina said, "I-I was going over the case with Warrick in my dad."
"Or were you busy flirting with someone?" He asked.
"No, I swear," Katrina said, but there was a smack and a thud. He heard Katrina sob quietly.
"Shut up," he snapped, "Or I'll do it again."
She went quiet.
"Let's go," he said.
Once Greg was sure they were far enough away he rounded the corner to see Katrina being shoved out the door followed by…Aaron. Katrina's face had a red mark already bruising appearing on her face, Greg's anger boiled to a point that he went back to his lab shoving just cleaned tubes and beakers to the floor in a loud shatter. Glass danced across the floor and he had drawn attention. He slammed his fists on the counter and punched the cabinet drawing blood from his fist.
"Greg, what's wrong?" Sara snapped from the doorway seeing the glass and Greg's knuckles.
He didn't answer her; he shoved past her leaving the labs to go home and beat himself up for not seeing this coming.