Chapter 10: Bus Crash part 2
The next few minutes were like a surreal blur. I heard Nick shout at Greg to get help, and before I could register what I was doing, my feet were moving me away from the bus driver and towards the nearest EMT. They moved Mr. Draper onto a stretcher and we followed close behind as they carted him up the steep incline and placed him in an ambulance. Greg was muttering apologies all the way up the hill, and continued as we began the descent.
"Greg, quit apologizing," Nick chastised for the fourth time.
"I... I feel bad," Greg replied with a sullen look. "I just… froze up."
"This is why field training exists," I butted in.
"I wasn't expecting blood to look like that," Greg stated.
We reached the bottom of the hill and I turned to face him. "What'd you expect? For it to be green?" I quipped.
"No, it's just… different." He mumbled, fixated on his shoes once again.
"Nick, go ahead, I'll catch up." I waved the Texan away with my hand and cleared my throat, making Greg look at me.
"Are you gonna yell at me?" He asked sheepishly.
I cracked a smile. "No, I'm not gonna yell at you. I'm gonna offer you some advice." He perked up a bit and I had to fight the urge to bite my lip before continuing. "Everyone makes mistakes. It's okay to admit to them, and you don't have to be ashamed of them. Look, the first time I was out in the field, back when I worked in New York, I saw the scene for about two seconds before I ran out and emptied my stomach onto the pavement. This job isn't pretty, and it's okay to acknowledge that it gets to you. Just move on and promise yourself you'll learn for next time."
"You think there will be a next time for me?" Greg asked.
"Yeah, I do," I told him truthfully. "You're clearly passionate about what you do, seeing as you came out here even though you didn't have to, and you clearly want to help. Keep working towards it, and one day you could be a great CSI."
He flashed me a smile. "Thanks. I have one more question though." I shuffled my feet before nodding, giving him permission to ask. "Why are you being so nice to me?" He inquired. "I was nothing but horrible to you all throughout high sch-"
I held up my hand, effectively cutting him off. "That doesn't matter anymore. What's done is done, and you can't change that. Let's just get back to work, okay?"
He nodded and we began walking towards the ruin spread out on in front of us. "So why did you come here? I mean you said you used to work in New York, but what made you move back here?"
"Well I wanted to be closer to home, and something just sort of pulled me here. I felt like this was a place that I was meant to be. That sounds stupid, now that I say it out loud." I finished with heat rising to my cheeks.
"I don't think it's stupid," Greg countered.
I shot him a smile before saddling up next to Nick. "Greetings," I muttered.
"We seem to be missing a passenger," Grissom said, cutting straight to the point.
"Well that's not good. Some might even go as far as to say that qualifies as bad." I said, studying the bus with my flashlight. Nick's laugh boomed across the crash site and Greg's laugh joined his. A smile skipped across my lips when Grissom cracked a smile.
"Thank you for that assessment, Mar." He said. I nodded in response as the boys' laughter died down. "The only one unaccounted for is an ex-con named Calvin McBride. Brass says he wasn't admitted to the hospital and isn't in any of the body bags."
"What about the rest stop in Barstow?" Nick asked.
"They're looking for him." Grissom shrugged.
At the same time Greg and I suggested, "Anyone check the bus?"
Grissom looked back and forth between us and when I glanced at Greg, he shot me a small grin which made heat rush to my cheeks as I bit my lip and refocused on Grissom and Nick.
Nick motioned for me to go first, "Ladies first."
"Oh you're too kind," I said sarcastically as I maneuvered my way inside the wreck with Nick hot on my heels. Swinging my flashlight around, I looked for anything that might resemble a human being. "This is so…"
"Creepy?" Nick suggested.
"Cool." I stated.
"You are too weird," I heard the smile in his voice as I refocused on the task at hand.
I turned around to see both Grissom and Greg staring at Nick and I. "Firefighters only look in the obvious spots," Grissom said, answering Greg's unasked question.
Greg pondered that for a moment before he asked, "What are some of the unobvious spots?"
Grissom eyed me before motioning for me to answer the question. "Well… There are walls, water heaters, one time I heard someone found a body stuffed in the box springs of a hotel room bed."
"I found a head in a bucket of paint once," Grissom chimed in.
"I think I get the picture," Greg said.
"This McBride guy is not on this bus," I concluded.
Grissom was silent for a moment. I swept the flashlight around once again, this time catching it on something shiny. I carefully bent over and gently lifted up a crumpled paper bag with a broken bottle inside. I took a whiff of its contents, which I then passed to Nick for confirmation.
"That is some cheap whiskey," Nick summarized.
"Hey, I drink that brand of whiskey, don't be hating." I blurted out before I could let my brain process what I just admitted.
Grissom and Nick chuckled when Greg spoke. "I pegged you as a Smirnoff kind of girl."
My face turned tomato red as I began to stutter, "It's not like I drink a lot… Or often… It's just… Well… I'm just educated, okay?!" I threw my hand up in exasperation.
"Moving on," Nick said, directing our attention back to the bottle. "I never gave the bus driver a breath test."
"But the driver didn't smell like alcohol," I butted in.
Grissom pulled a bag out of his pocket. "Greg, bag it and take it to the lab and swab the rim for DNA." Nick gently placed the bottle inside the clear bag that Grissom had handed Greg. "You should be wearing gloves." Grissom told Greg once the bottle was in the bag. "Mar, go with him."
"We can take my car," I motioned for him to follow as we climbed the embankment for the third time that night.
Grabbing my keys I unlocked my car and put my equipment in the trunk as Greg climbed in the passenger seat. I was double checking that everything was in its place when I heard my car door open and Greg came over to me. "Here," he held out the jacket I had loaned him earlier. "Almost forgot."
I smiled and placed it in the back of my car. "Thanks."
The ride back to the lab was silent for a while before I spoke up. "It's a good thing we both like the same type of music. Otherwise I would have to spend the entire ride explaining that I am not a devil worshipper, but that it just helps with the aggression."
"I'm glad I can make it easier for you," Greg responded. "You have aggression issues? That is something I find hard to believe."
"And why is that?" I asked as I stopped the car at a red light.
"You're too pretty to have aggression issues." I turned so I was facing him and cocked my eyebrow at him. His face turned red before he stammered. "Wh- What I mean is that you shouldn't have to be angry. You deserve to always be happy, nothing else."
I smiled sheepishly before biting my lip and focusing back on the road. "Thanks." I said as the light turned green. "It's actually been beneficial though. If I wasn't so angry all the time, I never would have gotten involved in MMA."
"You know mixed martial arts?" Greg gaped.
"Yeah, I've been training for about three years now." I blushed at his astonishment.
"That's," He began.
"Weird? Odd? Abnormal?" I chimed in.
"Actually I was going to say that's really cool."
"Really?" I perked up a bit. "Most people find it weird."
"Well it is scary knowing that you could kick my ass in less than a minute," Greg smiled. "But it's really cool."
I pulled the car into a spot outside the lab and killed the engine. We sat there for a few seconds before Greg spoke. "I wanna take you out."
"Excuse you?" I asked.
"Not like a date or anything," he quickly corrected. "You need someone to show you the city, and I can guarantee there is no one better in all of Las Vegas than yours truly."
I rolled my eyes before opening my door. "Let's get inside so we can have the tests for Grissom when he comes back."