In a World They Forgot

I'm Saving Myself If I'm Losing Others

"Hey Miki! I have those results for you from the robbery case you ran last week!" I turned around and smiled at Wendy.

"Thanks, I'll come talk to you in a bit; I need to sort these out first. My case with the robbery is on hold for now--put the results on my desk in the lab, same with any other results you may get." I told her gesturing to the files that were slipping from under my arm.

We'd got a huge case for the Monday evening after my weekend off, a case one the teams had been working on from over the weekend. A family of five, all gunshot victims, the eight year old girl-Helena-was the only survivor and she was critical in hospital on life support.

The team wanted to solve this case so badly but with the lack of evidence we found at the scene we were struggling to tie anyone to the murders. Grissom had sent me down to the evidence vault to get any cold gunshot cases that may provide a link via MO or victims.

There were more gunshot related cold cases in the vault than I ever imagined there to be.

"What about this one? Four people shot to death by--nope, wrong ammo." Catherine sighed as she pushed her light hair from her tired face.

I was with her and Sara and we were slowly making our way through the files, reading the reports, studying the photographs...it was dull and painfully slow work.

"What about the possibility that it's a first time killer who has just done his research and knows what he's doing and what the evidence is that could betray him?" I asked, looking up from a file, sick of reading such horrific acts of violence over and over.

"They would have to know a lot about forensic science for that." Sara pointed out.

"Yeah, but I mean if one of us turned sociopathic and went on a murder spree, we'd know exactly what to avoid leaving behind to evade arrest. We'd still see the scene as CSI's would." I explained, tying my hair back into pigtails, irritated by it tickling my neck.

"That's not a bad point you've got there Miki." Catherine said, her eyes meeting mine as she mulled the theory over.

"So, are you saying that our killer is a CSI?" Sara asked her eyebrows raised high in disbelief.

"No, but they could have a history of forensics or science." Catherine told her as she looked at the current case file to see if it was remotely plausible.

The three of us began to list possible ways the killer could have been connected to science and know how to avoid leaving evidence behind after they'd committed the crime. We were coming to a dead end when Grissom walked in, his face serious and his eyes hard.

"Helena Boulevana has just died. The bullet caused too much damage internally for her to survive. Her heart couldn't handle the strain of the recovery." He said grimly. I closed my eyes and heard Catherine and Sara reacting in similar ways with gasps and sighs. "I need you to try and find any connection, no matter how small it may be." He told us.

Catherine explained to Grissom the idea that we had come up with and he provided additional ideas and theories, but I blocked it all out. All I could think of was the little girl and the family that had lost their lives. All I could see was her fragile body, paled and broken on Robbins' table, her sister, brother and parents already locked away in the morgue. My body shook with emotion; anger, hatred, pain--feelings rushed through me. I didn't even realise that the older CSI's had been trying to get my attention for the last five minutes I'd been in my own world for.

"Miki...Miki...Miki!" Catherine shouted loudly, snapping me out of my dazed state. I mumbled an apology and looked up at her, her eyes soft with the feeling of loss. "Are there anymore cold files that match the criteria we're looking for in the vault?" She asked me quietly.