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Valentine
Valentine takes place less than a week
after First Date or Second Thoughts, and is the third part in the series. All
these stories take place in the early part of CSI series 5 - just after Down
the Drain / Harvest.
Disclaimer: I don't own CSI or any of the characters from the hit TV show. No
infringement intended.
Chapter One – Almost Perfect
Moonlight reflected gently on the lake as
soft strains from the jazz quartet on stage added to the romantic mood. Two
empty plates, that had once held exquisitely cooked calamari and vegetable
risotto respectively, were cleared by an unobtrusive waiter and coffee poured.
Grissom had been true to his word. Everything had been perfect.
They had spent the evening chatting.
Becoming reacquainted, Grissom called it. They had grown far apart in the past
few years, each keeping the other at a distance in order to avoid getting hurt.
Now they were re-establishing the comfortable relationship they once shared.
When she first came to
Now they were reminiscing about their
first meeting, many years before in
‘So, it wasn’t the lecture you found
fascinating?’ he said, the mock-offence in his tone teasing her. ‘And there I
thought you loved to learn.’
‘I do, Grissom,’ she said with a smile.
‘But your eyes distracted me that day.’
Grissom blushed, unused to the compliment.
There were so many things he wasn’t used to. Being on a date that was going so
well was one of them. Usually he felt awkward, unsure of what to talk to his
dates about. But with Sara, they already had so much in common. And now he was
discovering even more. Science was not the only thing Ms Sidle found
fascinating – she enjoyed many of the same literary works that he did: Henry
James, Emerson and Shakespeare, although she didn’t have an encyclopedic memory for it like she did for science. Amazingly, they hadn’t resorted
to talking about work once during the entire evening.
Grissom’s eyes darted over his companion’s
appearance for what was probably the hundredth time that night. Sara was
breath-taking in a satin, ivory-coloured halter-neck and dark blue pants suit.
Her hair, which usually hung loose about her shoulders, was swept up to reveal
her long, elegant neck.
He was building up the courage to tell her
how beautiful she was, when the moment was spoiled by his cell phone. Its
ringing had never sounded so harsh and unwelcome. He looked apologetically at
Sara as he fished it out of his pocket.
‘I’m really sorry.’
‘Hey, it’s not your fault,’ Sara told him
with a soft smile. ‘Look on the bright side. We made it all the way to coffee.
That’s got to be some kind of record.’
He flipped the phone open, silencing its
incessant ringing, and held it to his ear. ‘Grissom.’
After he listened for a few seconds, Sara knew
from his face that the evening was over. ‘Where are they? Okay. Don’t let
anyone except David near the bodies. I’ll be there as soon as I can.’ With
that, he hung up.
‘Bodies?’ Sara asked.
‘Two bodies were found in the desert.
They’ve been there a while. Apparently there’s a lot of insect activity at the
scene.’
‘Well, you are the bug guy,’ Sara said
with a grin, getting to her feet.
Grissom had also risen, and was taking
cash from his wallet to pay the bill. ‘I wish people would stop calling me
that,’ he said good-naturedly, pretending to frown. ‘Come on, I’ll drop you at
home before I go to the scene.’
‘Do you want a hand?’
Grissom shook his head. ‘No, Nick’s
meeting me there. You just enjoy the rest of your night off.’
They had reached the front door now, and
Sara paused with a sudden idea. ‘I can take a cab from here if you want to go
straight to the scene. I don’t mind.’
Grissom looked at her and smiled. ‘This
evening didn’t go quite to plan. But at the very least, I’m going to see you
home to your door.’ He offered her his arm as they left the restaurant for the
cool, night air.
‘Ever the gentleman, Grissom,’ she
replied, taking his arm and smiling warmly at him.
---
Grissom arrived at the scene 30 minutes
later, having dropped Sara off at her apartment. He smiled at the memory of the
soft kiss she placed on his check as she thanked him for dinner and got out of
the car. One of these days, he thought, I’m going to get through an entire date
without interruption.
Getting out of his car, he made his way to
Jim Brass and Nick Stokes, the latter of whom looked like he had just arrived
at the scene.
‘Well I’ll be,’ the younger CSI remarked.
‘I never thought I’d see the day when I beat you to a scene, Grissom.’
‘I was otherwise engaged, Nick,’ Grissom
told him. ‘It is my night off.’
‘Sorry ‘bout that Gil,’ Brass told him.
‘What? Did we interrupt you on a date or something?’
‘Something like that,’ Grissom answered
cryptically, moving away from them and towards David, who was bending over two
dead bodies several meters away. Bugs were rife, crawling over both the
corpses.
‘Any idea about time of death, David?’
Grissom asked the coroner.
‘Difficult to say,’ the earnest man looked
up and peered at Grissom through his glasses. ‘A couple of days, at least.
You’ll need to do your thing with the bugs to get a more precise timeline.’
With that he got up and stepped back from the bodies, allowing the entomologist
a better look. ‘They’re all yours. I’ve done all I can here.’
‘Cause of death?’
‘Dr. Robbins will be able to tell you
better after the autopsy, but they’ve both been shot. Point blank, back of the
head,’ David answered. ‘But someone worked them over pretty well with a knife
too.’
He pointed out the large wounds in both
victims’ chests, barely visible through all the blood. Grissom bent down for a
better look and looked up at his colleagues with a mild expression that belied
his true feelings of revulsion.
‘It is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart,’ he remarked. ‘Unfortunately for our two
victims, they appear to have lost theirs.’
Nick bent over to see what Grissom was
seeing. ‘Lost what?’
‘Their hearts. Someone’s cut them out.’
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