Re: Grissom & Sara #28: To heart's and eyes' delight
So I had this whole long reply written out and then the power went out- hence, my message was deleted. So here's the second try
If
choc is an angst whore, then I'm at least an angst slut. I love that there was angst for the season closer.
On to Cold Burn. For those who haven't read the book, Grissom is going to a forensics conference in New York and brings Sara with him. They get there and the conference is cancelled because of a blizzard, G and S find a dead a dead body in the snow on one of their walks (!!) and they process the scene using makeshift tools kinda like Grissom did in Jackpot. There's a local constable there (Maher) who helps our desert natives process the winter crime scene.
Anyway, Grissom goes to talk to one of the suspects and leaves Sara with Maher. After he's done, he comes back to fill Sara and Maher in, but they're not where he left them.
Now for the actual passage from the book
Grissom shuffled out into the parking lot, going first to the blue Grand Prix. The tomato stakes were still visible, but Sara and the constable- and their equipment- were gone. Their tracks, however, weren't hard to follow.
The sky was a gunmetal grey, a darkening shroud over him, as Grissom slogged on past the parking lot to the end of the building, where he still saw nothing but drifted snow. He turned the corner and, as he plodded on, slowly scanned the horizon. In the distance, through the slanting white, he could- finally!- make out two dark figures.
They were standing on the lake.
He had a tiny jarring moment before he realized that the lake would be frozen over and safe-relatively safe-for human footsteps.
Soon, moving as fast as he could, Grissom had made his way around and to the front of the hotel; he began to tramp down the hill, almost losing his balance. He could now plainly see Maher and Sara up ahead. Shouting would be useless, he knew, over the ghostly shriek of the growing blizzard; his voice just wouldn't carry to them.
this is the good stuff
And then he had an odd, dread-inducing thought- what if Maher was the killer? What if all the help in the snow, the forensics magic, had been deception and cover-up, not straightforward detection? What if Maher had lured Sara out there, to where the man knew the ice was weak, to throw her to an icy death?
The thought of Sara thrashing in the glacial waters, her screams unheard by a world gone deaf, gave Grissom a ghastly chill; Sara, another victim for him to process...
Hee hee I'll let you read the book to find out the rest