Chapter 6

The car clearly doubled as an office. Empty fast-food wrappers lay discarded all over the place. But there was something deliberate about the mess, like it was staged.

Perhaps it was part of the character he was playing, Sara thought to herself. She bagged everything anyway then went to lie on the wheeled cart so that she could remove the GPS tracker device from underneath the car. This was one of her favourite parts of the job.

It was awkward and she was getting seriously dirty when she felt someone gently tapping her foot with theirs. She slid out from under the car and stared up at Grissom. For a moment, nothing happened then they both started to blush as Sara scrambled to her feet quickly. Grabbing a towel she began wiping her hands, effectively spreading the grease more evenly.

"This is Agent Smith's car," she began quickly before he could say anything. "I'm hoping the GPS device will tell us where he was recently, maybe track down the address to go with the keys Doc Robbins found. I bagged everything in the car, but it seems to be mainly trash. I also found a half eaten chocolate bar under the front passenger seat. I'm hoping to get some DNA off of it."

Sara knew she was blabbering and over-talking, something that only happened around Grissom, yet was unable to stop herself. When she took a momentary break to breathe, Grissom interjected.

"How did the interview go?"

In processing the car, Sara had almost forgotten all about it. She quickly filled Grissom in on what they knew. He was especially interested in Sara's account of the South Africans.

"So it's very likely that our second suspect is this John Nkosazana character?"

"That's how it's looking yes.," Sara said as her beeper went off.

"Were you planning on telling me that your team is investigating the death of an Interpol agent Gil?"

The voice of Sara's least favourite person in the lab startled both CSI's and they turned to find Conrad Ecklie standing behind them.

"I'll just remove that GPS device" Sara said, indicating with her thumb the vehicle behind her, giving Grissom a sympathetic smile. Grabbing some more tools she went back to it, effectively avoiding the conversation.

"Come to my office and I'll fill you in." She heard Grissom sigh as he lead Ecklie from the garage.

Sara took her time removing the GPS as she did not want to run into Ecklie on her way to the woman's bathroom to change out of her overalls. The further she managed to stay away from Ecklie, the better. Finally freeing the device, she dropped it off at the computer lab and headed for the bathroom.

She passed Sofia and Catherine, and smiled a greeting. They smiled back, and Sara became acutely conscious of her own dirty and haggard appearance. Catherine always managed to look perfectly groomed, even after coming off a double shift. Sara, on the other hand, often managed to rumple her shirt on her way to her car from her apartment. She took a quick shower and headed back to the computer lab.

Archie had already downloaded the information from the GPS and could provide her with a few possible addresses that Agent Smith frequented in the last few months. The address that crept up most often, 320 Alpine Lane, was probably his home address during his mission.

She used one of the computers to access her email account, and saw that Wollie Wolmerans had already made good on his promise. She wasn't surprised to find the Nkosazana brother's on the top of the list. What did surprise her was that Wolmerans had included their DNA-profiles as well as their fingerprints in his file, a file that was rather large. The man was nothing if not thorough. She was also surprised to see that both brothers had already served time in a South African jail for minor offenses. She made a mental note to ask Wolmerans why they were released.

Leaving Archie to upload the new information into the system, she phoned Brass to tell him about the developments and the address she had found. He told her to grab Nick if he was back from the airport and wait for him in front of PD.

At 320 Alpine Lane, Sara and Nick waited for Brass and the uniforms to clear the place, before stepping in to have a look. The apartment was painfully neat, reaffirming Sara's feeling that the mess in the car was part of Agent Smith's persona. One of the things the CSI's were very grateful of finding, was Agent Smith's laptop. Sara felt confident that it would contain a wealth of information regarding the poaching syndicate Smith was investigating. They also found a few letters addressed to a PO Box. The letters was addresses to Edward Casey. Sara realized she never asked Agent Scott what Smith's persona was. She mentally chastised herself for it, and resolved to phone the woman as soon as they were done here. The rest of the apartment revealed almost nothing. Even the trash cans were empty. They couldn't find a safe.

Back at the lab Sara dusted the laptop for fingerprints and then handed it over to Archie. Her beeper went off. Summoning one Rosalind Franklin. Sara grinned to herself and went to the DNA lab.

"I think you have way too much time on your hands," Sara told Greg as she reached the DNA lab.

"I serve at your pleasure my lady," he replied with a cheeky grin

"Let's have it then," Sara held out her hand.

Greg smiled at her, then started: "Well the blood on the bills was a match to your female vic. No surprises there. But I did compare the profile of our unknown male suspect to the profile of John Nkosazana supplied by our friends in the Rainbow Nation. And it's a match. I would probably like to confirm his profile. But it matches our sample perfectly. Also the DNA on the chocolate bar you found in the car. Also a match to John Nkosazana. "

"Well it confirms that they knew each other. Thanks Greg."

Sara turned to leave, her mood fairly light, the case was proceeding nicely. But Greg called her back.

"Grissom caught some real flack from Ecklie for allowing you work this job," he said softly

"Ecklie said he wanted someone who respected authority on such a high profile case. Apparently Grissom said he had full confidence in you." Greg fell silent and watched Sara closely.

Sara felt her optimistic mood dissipating and opening a few cracks.

"Thanks Greg."

"Just keep your head up. You know where to find me," he said.

Sara gave him a tight smile and headed back to the computer lab. It wasn't long ago Sara was cited for subordination and she still smarted over it. It made her feel unbearably tired to think that she still had to fight to prove herself, even after years of working in the lab. Her solve rate was better that anyone's and she knew it. The fact that Grissom vouched for her made her feel grateful and lifted her heart in a remarkable degree. But surely her work could speak for itself?

"Perfect timing" Archie interrupted her thoughts as she returned to his work space. "I'm just about to access Agent Smith's laptop."

Sara took a seat next to him, and watched the progress bar on the screen slowly reach 100%.

"And voila!" Archie said. "Right, what do you want to know?"

"See if you can get the names of the syndicate he was investigating and cross-reference it with the data from South Africa."

Archie was just beginning typing away on the keyboard when a red notice appeared on the screen:

Access denied. User blocked

"Wow," Archie exclaimed, lifting his hands away from the keyboard.

"What just happened?" Sara felt her stomach clench.

"I think we were identified by the cloud as was kicked out of the system."

"Um, in English please."

"Basically we accessed Interpol's server, and it knew it wasn't Agent Smith. So they kicked us out."

"So we can't get access to the information on the laptop without going through Interpol?" Sara asked exasperated.

"I'm afraid so," Archie replied apologetically.

Sitting back Sara ran her hand over her eyes. She tried Agent Scott's cell but got no answer. She sighed in frustration. They had a possible address for the PO Box and Nick was checking that out. Sara opened the file sent by Wolmerans and started to cross reference their info with what they had on their system. She was surprised to find that they had some people of interest in common. Soon she was lost in her work. It looked more and more like they were dealing with an international syndicate, rather than an isolated incident.

"What the hell Sidle? Do you really care so little for the image of the lab that you would jeopardize our team by your actions?"

Sara was in the process of jotting down names for Brass to check-up and jumped with fright as Ecklie basically screamed in her ear. She turned round in confusion, unsure what she did wrong this time.

Finally finding her voice, she tried to speak levelly, fighting for calm. "What are you talking about?"

She could feel people all around stopping what they're doing to watch and listen to a piece of office theatre.

"I just had a snotty call from Interpol," Ekclie informed her with a sneer. "Apparently someone in this lab tried to hack their main server and they're pissed."

Realizing what had happened, and the simple explanation that could explain it, Sara felt her hackles rising. It was just like Ecklie to favour an open confrontation without bothering to find out what happened first. What infuriated Sara more was the fact that Ekclie seemed to be enjoying this.

"Well since you're the one working the dead Interpol agent's case, and pulling a stunt like this is completely within character for you, I can only assume it was you that tried to hack their site"

"Actually sir, I tried to get access to the dead agent's laptop," Archie piped in next to her.

Ekclie shot him a dark look. He opened his mouth to say something, but Sara cut across him.

"I asked him to do it," her voice dripping with anger and her tone bordering on insubordination, but right now she didn't care.

"We're following evidence in a murder investigation. We had no intention of 'hacking' Interpol."

"We will deal with this formally later. Don't think you can wangle your way out of this one." Ekclie snapped and he turned to leave.

Sara sat back down, catching one of the technician's eyes from across the hall. The woman immediately broke eye contact and looked away. Weariness crashed over Sara and she realized she felt more tired than she ever had in her life. She suddenly felt very, very cold. She fled, with as much dignity as she could muster, to the CSI-change rooms. She felt sure she was fired. But she hadn't done anything wrong, but she knew Ekclie had been chomping at the bit to get rid of her for a while now. Sitting with her face in her hands, Sara was startled when someone sat down next to her. Looking up she was both surprised and dismayed to find that it was Grissom . His eyes were kind and concerned.

"We didn't know accessing Smith's computer would be picked up at Interpol, Griss, I swear."

Why do I always feel that I have to justify myself to him, Sara thought miserably.

"I know. I never thought you did. Sara, most of the team already went home. The shift ended hours ago."

"Nick is with Brass to track down the PO Box."

"No, Nick went home to get some sleep. As you should do. We can pick this up next shift."

Sara looked up at him. "Your still here, really Griss there are still too much to do."

"I'm also leaving; I was just making sure that you do as well."

She hated to admit it, but she was exhausted. She knew it must have shown on her face as he got up. "I'll walk you to your car".

Only then did she notice he was wearing his jacket and already had his briefcase with him. She relented and removed her stuff from her locker. She had a few letters that got sent to the lab, and stuffed those in her bag with her other stuff. Grissom stood by watching her. Turning around she found him looking at her with a funny expression on his face. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but then clearly thought better of it and turned to lead the way. It was so typical of the weird thing between them. Full of stops and starts. Every time Sara thought that he might finally say something, he would dart back behind his walls. They walked in silence all the way to the parking lot. It was already a blistering hot day. Sara wanted to contribute all of the heaviness in her heart to her exhaustion, but her mind knew better.

"See you in a bit," Sara said walking quickly to her car, not permitting him time to speak. She was barely holding her emotions in check as it was. He stared after her till she drove away, then he signed and slowly walked to his own vehicle.