The CSI Effect

Mike awoke suddenly to the sound of his pager buzzing against the cold, hard surface of his desk, that he had inadvertantly fallen asleep on. Rubbing the side of his throbbing face he looked at the screen to see that it was Dr Langdon that had brough him back into the real world. At least the night's sleep in his office, although it had been an uncomofrtable one, meant that he didn't have far to go: the forensic labs and morgue being opposite police headquarters.

When he arrived he was immediately greeted by an excited Dr Langdon, acting just as a child waiting for Santa on Christmas eve.

"I think I found the identity of the poison"

He was practically bouncing on the spot, awaiting to be overwhelmed with gratitude but the very sore and tired detective was far from fulfilling this expectation. That's not to say that he wasn't pleased but that's what a sleep in an office payed for by the government will do to a guy.

"That's great, what is it?"

It was beyond hope to get a simple answer from Langdon.

"I had toxicology run more in depth screens, we used every proceedure in the books; UPLC–TOFMS, GC–MS, HPLC–DAD, 1H and 13C NMR were all done and we finally we found unusually high levels of phenethylamine..."

"Wow, can you slow down for a minute and pretend that I haven't got a chemistry degree?"

"Well, I've never came acoss a substance that increases this before, well at least not without leaving a trace so I did some research in medical journals and found a case from Belgium involving 1,8-Bromobenzo-2-aminopropane, which mimics phenethylamine"

Things were still not any clearer to Mike.

"OK, think of it this way, your presenting evidence to a jury, how would you explain it?"

He hoped that this would do the trick.

"1,8-Bromobenzo-2-aminopropane is otherwise known as Bromo-Dragonfly, its an hallucinogenic drug that is digested in a liquid form. It's becoming popular in Europe and is yet to make it across the Atlantic, which is why it isn't in most of our screens. In fact, I think this is the first case in North America. You don't mind if I publish it do you?"

"What, no, of course not, knock yourself out. First let's solve this case. If it's not readily available in the United States then how did the victim get her hands on the stuff?"

"That my friend would come under the category of not my problem. What I can tell you is so far only the Scandinavians have classed this as an illegal drug and it can take as little as 1ml for a person to overdose on"

"Once again, you were surprisingly a help" Mike said in way of thanks.

Now all he had to do was cross-reference people who knew the victim with visits to Nothern Europe and he would have a viable suspect.

Meanwhile, Billie Joe sat patiently in the airport's seating area, waiting on Adrienne to unboard from her flight. Finally people started to trickle through and he could see her in the distance, pulling her suitcase elegantly behind her, head held high and striding confidently as ever. He could feel his heart start to beat faster as a smile spread across his face. Years on from when he first layed eyes on her and he still felt like a love-struck schoolboy when he saw her.

Minutes later and her arms were wrapped around his neck, the two just fully releasing how much they had missed each other.

"I'm so glad your home"

"I'm glad to be home, I missed you, you know"

Eventually they let go of one another and Billie picked up her suitcase, pulling it behind him awkwardly, it hitting against the back of his heel with every step as they headed out into the parking lot.

"So, how was D.C? I want to hear all about it" he asked once he had manovered out of the complex parking system and hit the open road, now with some free attention to focus on the woman he had missed so much.

"D.C is the shithole its always been but Quantico's teaching facilities are fantastic." She wondered if she should broach the subject of relocating there permenantly but decided against it when the car next to them had a close call with a truck.

"I think I got just as much out of the week as the students, it really was great to teach to people who appreciate your work"

"People appreciate your work."

"Yeah, sure you, Mike, the ones that are used to working with me. I can assure you there are still plenty out there that make my job difficult to say the least. It was just good to not have that pressure, it trully was all about the case, the science, the victim. I could get used to that"

"Well, I know how you feel there. The job sure is easier when you don't have a higher up breathing down your neck"

The conversation was interupted with the ringing of Adrienne's mobile that she was immediately regretting switching on again.

"Dr Nesser" She answered, professional in a instant.

"And you don't believe that is the case?... Yes...Yes...I see"

She pulled out a notebook and pen from her handbag and began scribbling notes as she continue to talk down the line to some unknown but undoubtably law enforcement personel.

"... No, no, its no trouble, I shall be there as soon as possible".

She smiled over at Billie Joe who sighed, resiging to the fact that a detour was in store. She gave him the address that she had been given, both knowing that more than a half an hour catch up was beyond their reach.