Chapter 108 - CSI: Georgia

A half-hour later, Jon was almost vibrating with excitement. He bounced lightly on the balls of his feet as he stood grinning in the middle of the group of twelve BATs.

Cate did her best to ignore Jon's fidgeting as she listened to the student team leader explain their approach to the exercise. But she couldn’t keep a tiny smile from her lips as she watched him from the corner of her eye.

The exercise Mandy had assigned to Cate’s team was one that would keep all twelve students plus Jon engaged for several hours, if they did it right. Just before their lunch break, Mandy had appointed two student team leaders and given each of them a written scenario that detailed the crime they would be investigating. Over their lunch hour the student teams had discussed their strategy to properly secure, control, and process the crime scene to ensure all vital evidence was collected and preserved.

Cate’s team had drawn an aggravated assault scenario. They were to process a residence and collect evidence of multiple crimes including breaking and entering, burglary, aggravated physical and sexual assault, and attempted murder. Mandy had skillfully staged the house so that the students had to collect a variety of types of evidence from the yard, doorway, and various rooms of the house. They also had to interview a role player portraying the rape/assault victim at the “hospital” and collect evidence from another role player portraying an emergency room doctor who performed a rape examination on the victim.

After the team leader completed her overview, Cate called upon each BAT in turn, asking him or her to identify a type of evidence that would need to be collected and the proper means of collecting and preserving it. She nodded along at the students’ answers, impressed with their preparation.

One by one the students pointed out that they would need to photograph, videotape, and sketch the entire scene for perspective and documentation, make plaster castings of shoe prints in the dirt, and collect fingerprints, tool marks, hair and fiber samples, the knife that was allegedly used as a weapon, and physical evidence such as linens from the bed where the rape occurred and clothing items from the victim.

They sure don’t act like they weren’t paying attention in class earlier, Cate thought with a little smirk. Maybe she had gotten the good ones, and Mandy’s group was a little slower.

“So, are we going to need to use any specialized equipment or techniques for this scene?” Cate asked the BATs. Immediately several hands shot into the air. Looking from face to face as she tried to figure out who she had not yet called upon, Cate saw Jon grinning at her, his hand in the air. She chuckled to herself. “Yes, Mr. Bongiovi? she asked, keeping her voice even and professional.

Jon’s grin widened. “Well, it’s a sexual assault scene, so we’d use the ultraviolet light to detect body fluids at the location of the assault. From what we know, that would be the bed.” He raised his eyebrows ever-so-slightly at Cate as he finished his answer.

“Excellent, Mr. Bongiovi!” Before Cate could answer Jon, she heard Mandy’s voice behind her. Cate turned and looked at her friend as she strolled up to the group, then stopped beside Cate.

“Just wanted to see how you’re coming along. My team just got started with their grid search.” Mandy tipped her head at Jon, smiling slightly as she zinged the BATs. “See, our guest paid attention in class this morning! Hope you all did too.”

“Um, I have a question about the UV light, actually,” Jon spoke up. He grinned again as Mandy gave him an inquiring look. “Does the UV fluorescence work for nonporous surfaces? Like, oh I don’t know… metal?” Jon glanced at Cate, smirking slightly.

“It should work on any surface where there would be trace evidence of bodily secretions, such as semen or vaginal fluids.” Mandy replied. Cate heard the hint of amusement in her tone. “But it’s not as likely to find them on a nonporous surface, because they are usually washed or wiped away before they can dry. There’s nothing for them to soak into.”

Mandy cocked her head slightly. “Metal, Mr. Bongiovi? What made you ask that? Did you have a certain surface in mind?”

Jon continued to grin. “Oh, just thinking about something like a metal tabletop, or…” Again his eyes flicked to Cate. He saw that she was struggling to keep a neutral expression as a pink flush crept to her cheeks. “Oh, I don’t know… maybe the hood of a car or something?”

Mandy chuckled. “All very good possibilities, Mr. Bongiovi. Crimes can occur in some very…. unorthodox… places.” She smiled back at Jon, recognizing his covert tease for Cate. “Excellent question. I’m sure Agent Sullivan can answer any further questions you may have, about that or anything else.”

As she turned to walk back to her group of students at the house next door, Mandy chuckled quietly. “That must’ve been fun!” she said under her breath as she grinned at Cate, then stepped away.

Cate rolled her eyes and shook her head, unable to keep from chuckling at Mandy’s comment. Shit, I’m getting it from ALL sides today! First Danny, now Mandy… and even Jon! She shot him what she thought was a stern look, but her heart jumped as she saw his sweet smile, all for her. She closed her eyes momentarily. Focus. There are students here, she reminded herself.

“Alright, team,” Cate called out, clapping her hands together. “Let’s get to it!”

The students quickly scattered from their group into pairs, with Jon joining two male BATs who were responsible for documenting the crime scene with photographs and video. Jon eagerly accepted the digital camera and took a variety of shots of the house, yard, and various details that might hold clues or evidence, at the direction of the students.

Cate observed quietly, occasionally asking the BATs a question to ensure they knew what they were doing and that they were following their evidence collection plan.

After Jon finished photographing the scene, he picked up a small video camera and recorded the “before” scene to document how everything looked prior to the agents moving in to the area. As he moved around the perimeter of the yard, Cate strolled along behind him.

When she stopped beside him, Jon pushed the “pause” button, halting the recording. “Hey, think we could borrow this?” he asked Cate, keeping his voice low and discrete. “For later?” Cate looked at Jon in surprise, then saw the mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” Cate replied. “The only record there’s gonna be of whatever may happen later will be in your dreams, Rock Star.”

“Oh, I think it’s already in there,” Jon replied. “It’s just a matter of how close reality comes to the fantasy.”

Cate glanced over to the group of students, standing together on the asphalt driveway. She saw that several of them were watching her and Jon. “Look like you’re following what I’m saying,” she muttered to Jon as she raised her hand and pointed to the corner of the yard then swept her arm slowly around.

Jon chuckled and nodded as he followed along with her ruse. “So, you coming back to the villa with me when we’re done here?” he asked hopefully.

“No,” Cate replied. “I have to go back by the office, then I need to go home and at least throw a few things into a bag if you want me to spend the night. I’ll come over in a couple hours.”

“Well, Baby, don’t worry about packing anything but your toothbrush and some work clothes,” Jon grinned. He dropped his voice to a sexy growl. “You won’t need any other clothing tonight. I think we should spend the whole evening together, naked.”

Cate snickered. “What about going out to dinner? I don’t know of any “naked” restaurants on The Island.” She shifted her position, turning her back to the students as she pointed away from them, so they couldn’t see her smirk.

“Who said we had to go out to dinner? We could do naked room service.” Jon mimicked her position, also turning away from the students. “That could open up all kinds of possibilities.”

Cate felt a flush of heat as a tingle ran down her spine at the thought of whipped-cream-covered Jon for dessert. Or better yet, chocolate-covered Jon. Maybe with a cherry on top. “That it does,” she agreed coyly.

Cate and Jon shared a private little smile, then Jon squared his shoulders and shook his hair back. “Okay, now stop distracting me. I’m trying to learn something, here,” he said primly. “I am in training, you know.” He raised the video camera and pointed it at the house, his silly grin betraying his seriousness.

“Oh, well pardon me! By all means, Mr. Bongiovi, carry on!” Cate laughed. She shook her head and turned away, then walked over to the group of BATs. “Alright! Your scene is documented. What next?” she called out.

Jon watched Cate with a little smile as she approached the group, then stood with her arms crossed over her chest as several students spoke to her. His mind went back to the advice Mandy had given him at lunch. “Use your assets,” she had told him.

Well, he could certainly do that. Jon was a master at the game of seduction, whether it be in a private hotel room, on a movie set, or on stage in a packed arena. And he still had a few tricks up his sleeve.

Jon smirked as the plan took shape in his mind. If he played his cards right, this could turn out to be one Hell of a memorable night, for both of them.

*****

Cate spent the better part of the afternoon supervising the crime scene exercise. As usual, she thoroughly enjoyed interacting with the students and showing off some of her non-combative investigative skills. Mandy’s students were eager and well-prepared. They peppered her with excellent questions throughout the exercise, urging her to share stories about some of the cases she had worked as a field agent.

It was obvious Jon was having a ball, as well. He strutted around the scene in his navy windbreaker and latex gloves with a huge grin on his face. Jon took a turn working with every student on his team, being careful not to do so much as to interfere the student’s opportunity to learn.

Jon grinned proudly as he swept black magnetic powder over a doorframe then lifted a perfect set of latent fingerprints from it. He was almost gleeful when Cate allowed him to spray the shower tiles with Luminol to detect trace evidence of blood. He was practically giddy as he found a weapon under the nightstand by the bed, then affixed an evidence tag to it. Cate smiled at his enthusiasm, happy that he was so excited about the work she loved.

Like the other students, Jon grimaced and “eeeewwwwed” when Cate demonstrated use of the ultraviolet light on the mattress and sheets of the bed where the sexual assault allegedly occurred. The bright fluorescence on the sheets and mattress clearly showed dried bodily fluids that could be potential evidence of the crime.

Cate snorted out a little laugh at the horrified look Jon gave her when she flippantly remarked to the students that they should resist the temptation to use the UV light on their hotel room beds when they traveled, because they probably wouldn’t like what they found. She could see in his eyes that he was thinking of the thousands of rented beds he had slept in over the decades and wondering how disgusting they really had been.

After the demonstration Jon sidled up to Cate. “Where in the hell did Mandy get the stuff on this mattress?” he muttered with a slightly disgusted look. Cate chuckled and told Jon he would have to ask Mandy that question. Jon gave her a long look, then smirked naughtily. “Let’s hope nobody uses one of those lights on that cruiser, yeah?” he whispered before sauntering off to join the BATs in collecting more evidence.

The students were just finishing up when Cate felt her Blackberry vibrate on her belt. She pulled the device out of its holster and looked at the screen, then pushed the button.

“Hiya, Boss,” Cate said cheerily as she moved to the front door of the exercise house. She stepped through the door into the yard, away from the chatter of the BATs.

“Hey, Catie,” Floyd drawled in response. “How’s the crime scene exercise goin’? Jon learning some good stuff?”

“Of course,” Cate chuckled. “You know Mandy. She’s putting them through their paces as usual. We’re almost done here. You need me to come back over? I know you needed to talk to me.”

“Naw, that’s why I’m calling now.” Floyd replied. “Listen, about your schedule tomorrow…” Cate heard papers rustling as Floyd paused. “I see here that you don’t have any training exercises planned.”

“Uh huh,” Cate nodded. “Jon has a couple interviews to do with Public Affairs in the morning, then he said he has some other business matters to attend to in the afternoon. A couple phone interviews about their new album, I think, and some calls about the movie. He’s going to be working from his hotel.”

“Yeah. Well, I just got a call from Shelby over in PA. You need to go with Jon to the interview in the morning. Be there by nine. The Director wants you to talk to the reporter about what kind of training you’ve been putting Jon through and how he’s done. And the network people want some footage of Jon on the range, doing firearms training.” Floyd drawled out the sentences unhurriedly, like what he was saying was ordinary everyday business.

“Okay, that’s no problem,” Cate nodded. “But I don’t have a range lined up…” Then she realized what Floyd had just said. “Wait… network people? I thought Jon was just doing the usual video piece for the Center to distribute to whatever outlets wanted to run a clip or soundbyte.”

“Well, you’ll do that too,” Floyd answered. “But the people from Entertainment Tonight are the ones who want the footage of Jon shooting. And they want to interview the woman who taught him to shoot.” Cate could hear the grin in Floyd’s voice.

“ME?” she exclaimed. “Entertainment Tonight wants to interview ME? Floyd, how would they even know who the Hell I am?”

Floyd chuckled. “Catie, you know how the Director likes to put you out front and center whenever he can. I have a feeling this was his idea. You give a good interview, and you and Jon have developed a really good partnership. You make a Hell of a team.”

Cate could tell from the warmth of Floyd’s voice that he wasn’t really talking about her and Jon’s professional relationship. Floyd was a master at reading people, and Cate was sure he was well-aware of the misery she had been in for the last few days. She was also sure he could tell that her problems with Jon had resolved themselves, just by how happy she was today. His smile when she had snuck in late to the meeting this morning was proof.

“And don’t worry about a range,” Floyd continued. “Shelby already took care of that. Already had the camera people over there to set up shots, check the lighting, all that stuff. You just show up in the morning with Jon and some guns and bullets, and you’ll be good to go.”

“I… uh… wow.” Cate couldn’t seem to think of anything else to say. She heard Floyd chuckle again into the phone.

“Catie, I’m sure you’ll be more eloquent than that tomorrow.” Floyd paused. “You know, as much as you’ve done for the Center lately, and now with this, I have a feeling there may be a promotion around the corner for you.” Floyd wasn’t going to say anything to Cate outright, but the Director had hinted as much at this morning’s staff meeting.

Cate shook her head, but then realized Floyd couldn’t see her. “I don’t want a promotion. I’m happy right where I am,” she replied.

Floyd smiled to himself. “Catie Honey, it does my old heart good to hear that. But sooner or later you’re gonna have to take what you’ve earned and move on. You’re too good to stay put.” He chuckled. “Now, tell Jon, finish your crime scene, and go home and think of some shit to say besides ‘I, uh, wow.” he teased.

“I will, Boss,” Cate laughed. “Thanks.”

“See ya tomorrow,” Floyd answered, then he was gone.

Cate chuckled to herself as she slid her Blackberry back into its holster. Holy Shit, Entertainment Tonight!

“Everything okay?” she heard Jon’s voice behind her, soft and slightly worried.

Cate turned to face him and smiled. “Yeah. Apparently you and I are being interviewed for national TV tomorrow morning. I know that’s like a daily event for you, but not so much for me.” She shook her head wonderingly. “Floyd said they want to talk to me about your training, then get some video of us on the range.”

Jon laughed. “Shit. You’re not gonna tell them how bad I was at everything, are you?”

Cate grinned. “No. Well, maybe just one or two little stories…” she teased. “Like when I put you on your ass in DTs.”

Jon grinned back. “Yeah, or like when I couldn’t shoot for shit because you were all wrapped around me on the range?” he asked slyly. “Hell, you could re-enact that one for them. They’d love to have something like that for the story.”

Cate shook her head. “Nuh uh. I’m not laying a finger on you while cameras are rolling!” she insisted.

Jon chuckled and stepped in closer. “Okay. As long as you lay a finger or ten on me later tonight,” he purred softly. He gave Cate a naughty smile. “No cameras around then… unless you want them.”

Cate snickered, then gave him a more sober look. “Seriously, you didn’t have anything to do with this, did you?” she asked.

“Not a thing,” Jon answered honestly. “But I think it’s a great idea. You deserve credit for the work you’ve done here with me. For me.”

Cate gave Jon a grateful smile. “Thanks,” she said softly. She and Jon held each others’ gaze for a long minute, then she grinned and pointed to the door. “Now get back in there and finish up!” she barked teasingly.

“Yes, ma’am!” Jon replied promptly, snapping off a salute before turning on his heel and striding back into the house.