Chapter 5: Complications

"Jo, you called?" Mac asked as he entered the equipment closet. Jo turned slightly and smiled warmly up at him.

"I did," she confirmed and stood. "Sheldon said that the vic had some kind of indentation in her skull, like a star. Sid confirmed Lindsay's theory of the weapon, a baseball bat, but why would there be a star on the side of the bat?" Mac shrugged. Sure, he'd had some odd cases that perplexed him until he couldn't sleep, but a star on a bat?

"This is definitely a first," Mac agreed and examined the bats.

"It could always be a sticker," Jo finally said after going through the entire closet.

"Stickers are flat."

"Nope! Not all of them. I used to buy my kids puffy stickers for good behavior when they were younger. It could always be something like that, or a wooden stamp." Jo explained and placed her hands on her hip slightly frustrated.

"That's true," Mac agreed and followed her out of the closet into the gymnasium.

"Look at this place. Must cost a fortune," Jo whistled softly. Mac silently agreed. The gym was huge in itself; three full size basketball courts in front of them, while below were two full size pools and a hot tub. One pool for swim team and the other for water polo and other water sports. Bleachers surrounded the basketball courts, with two sets of stairs by each door leading up to the balcony seats of the gym. The ceiling was high and arched into a glass dome window with tons of natural sunlight. On each side of the gym were multiple doors, leading to work out rooms, locker rooms, bathrooms and the like.

"It probably does." Mac agreed and led his colleague out of the gym into the lobby, sparkling with glittering gold trophies and plaques lining the walls. Above the middle entrance to the gym was a flat screen television playing sports highlights and the school news program.

The pair walked out of the lobby, Mac holding the door for Jo, and slowly walked down the stairs together.

"See, that's the kind of relationship I want! One where it just works and the guy feels comfortable walking next to me in public!" A girl exclaimed from a bench outside of the gym as the pair walked down the steps. Neither had noticed how close they were, how their hands bushed lightly against the other's as they walked.

"Lydia! Shut up!" Another girl hissed as Mac and Jo turned to face the pair. "Sorry about her! Hope we didn't offend y'all." She called down to the detectives before turning to her friend. "We don't even know if they're dating!" She hissed at her, her voice lowered. Jo bit her lip and Mac cleared his throat.

"That's complete bull! Look, they just look so right together! It's so meant to be! They're comfortable with each other, they don't mind being alone because it's true love!" The girl called Lydia exclaimed before her friend clamped her hand over the girl's mouth.

"Sorry again!" She yelled and dragged the girl into the gym lobby.

Jo found herself suddenly laughing. Mac turned and glanced at her, a small smile drawing across his lips. She's so gorgeous when she laughs. Jo playfully pushed Mac before the pair turned in sync and continuing down the steps to the cars. They arrived at the cars, which were conviently parked next to each other. Mac flung his kit into his car and stepped in front of Jo.

"I got it," Mac told her and opened the car door for her. She couldn't help but laugh again as she slid into the driver's seat before Mac closed the door. He's so sweet.

"Meet you back at the lab?" Jo asked as she turned the key to start the car.

"See you there," Mac said and hopped into his vehicle. As he was pulling out, another CSI vehicle pulled into the parking lot and took the place of the detective.

Adam stepped out of the car and shook himself out. He was more nervous than he expected, and he wasn't sure why. Then again, it's not every day that an investigation is jeopardized, especially one this important to such an important CSI as Lindsay Monroe Messer.

He retraced his earlier path and finally found the building, entitled Rose House. Heart hammering, he climbed the steps and reluctantly knocked on the door.

"New York crime lab! Open up!" Adam cried and stepped back to avoid being hit by the swinging door. Seconds later, a student arrived at the door and allowed him in, after taking a close look at him, of course. The student led him through the hall to the dining room, where most of the students were working either alone or in pairs.

"I'm going to need to speak with, uh-" he fumbled as he groped for the slip of paper with the girl's name on it, "Catherine Lightman." The group of students turned to face a girl sitting in the corner with a stack of books next to her knees.

"C'est moi," Catherine responded without looking up, clicking her pen vigorously. Adam nodded and moved closer to the girl.

"Is there somewhere we could talk privately?" Adam asked as he squat next to the girl.

"Yeah, sure. My room okay? No one else's up there now. Besides, it'll be a lot easier to move than to get all of them to move," Catherine explained in a low tone, gesturing to the crowd of students.

"That'll work." Adam replied and helped to grab the girl's books.

"Thanks," she mumbled and snatched up the rest of her books, leading the CSI out of the dining room to the stairs in the front of the house. They shuffled up the stairs and walked down the hallway to the left across the balcony to the room at the end of the hall.

"This is me. Sorry it's a mess, haven't gotten the chance to clean it," the girl explained as she took a seat on her bed and quickly shoved something silver into her pocket. Probably a razor, Adam realized sadly.

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened earlier. I am really sorry about how I acted earlier. You just, uh, look like someone I know who recently died."

"How?" Catherine asked without thinking. "Oh God, I'm really sorry-"

"No, it's okay. She, uh, committed suicide," Adam sniffed.

"Oh," she said quietly. "I'm really, really sorry."

"She's in a better place," Adam said quietly and looked down. "So, anyway, I wanted to talk to you about your relationship with the victim. I understand that I shook you up pretty badly after my arrival."

"I'm just not a huge fan of being watched. Doesn't feel right. But Angie. She loved the spotlight. She'd do anything to have everyone looking at her. Even, um, well, you know," she trailed off awkwardly.

"Have sex?" Adam filled in for her.

"Ding ding ding. She'd chase after anyone who breathed. There was a fight between her and another girl, Stacy Kelly, cause Angie slept with Stacy's boyfriend and Stacy walked in on it. They were best friends before that."

"Did Angie actually have a boyfriend?"

"I really don't know. She'd get together with a guy during first period and by the end of fifth period, it'd be over. She could've just gotten one before she died and the school didn't hear about it yet, or she was actually single when she died. Probably not the way she was expecting to go out." Catherine laughed at her own joke.

"Okay, thanks. Anything else you need or want to talk about? It doesn't need to pertain to the case."

"Uh, no," she shook her head awkwardly. Adam sighed internally. He was really hoping that maybe she'd talk about herself a little more.

"Well thank you. And listen, here's my information. Call me if you need anything at all, okay?" Adam asked and handed her a card.

"Thanks," she responded and they both stood. She walked him out and waved goodbye, Adam hoping that she'd actually use the number. Please stay safe.

As he walked across the campus to his car, Adam smiled to himself as he pulled out his phone.

"Hey Mac? Listen, I think we have our first suspect."

Yay! Another chapter up! I'm actually working on another fic called Chasing the Sun. It should be up shortly. Please check it out when I get it up! Thanks guys!