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First Date or Second Thoughts
Chapter Five – Nowhere Fast
Over the next several
hours, Sara did not stop for as much as a cup of coffee. She processed evidence
like a woman possessed and more that once Catherine found herself watching the
brunette worriedly. Sara hadn’t said a word about Elaine’s visit, or her
conversation with Grissom.
So far they had managed
to match the finger print which Sara found on the toilet seat to the print
Catherine pulled off of the murder weapon. Unfortunately, there was no record
of the print on AFIS. Mia, the new tech in the DNA lab, had pulled DNA from the
sample of vomit Sara collected, and was running it through CODIS. Now,
Catherine, Sara, Greg and Grissom sat round the table in the Layout Room,
trying to make sense of it all.
‘The prints we lifted
at the scene aren’t on AFIS. So we’re either looking at someone new to the
game, or someone who just hasn’t been caught yet,’ Catherine informed them.
‘The disorganisation at
the scene, the vomit, I don’t think this prep would have had the wherewithal to
have eluded the police for any length of time,’ Sara stated. ‘I vote for it
being a newbie.’
Grissom nodded. ‘I
agree. The murder itself didn’t go to plan. The Doc thinks that this was meant
to be a long, torturous death. Multiple small lacerations were meant to bleed
out over a day, at least. But the killer cut too deep, and the victim bled out
in minutes.’
‘Definitely not the
work of someone who knew what he was doing,’ Catherine agreed. ‘Then he left
the murder weapon behind, with prints all over it. Sloppy.’
‘Well, we’ve now got
the timeline sorted out,’ Grissom told them. ‘Brass interviewed McMann’s next
door neighbour, who saw him pull into his driveway at
‘David said more than
24 hours,’ Sara interjected. ‘So time of death was sometime between
‘The Doc’s best guess
is around
‘Well, as I predicted,
there were a lot,’ Greg tried not to
look too excited as he took centre stage. ‘But Sara’s been helping me. So far,
we’ve narrowed it down to around a third of McMann’s client list.’
‘How many?’
‘Well, there were
around 200 hundred on his list, so about 66.’
‘We have 66 suspects?’
Grissom looked like he was getting a migraine.
‘So far,’ Sara cut in.
‘We’re trying to narrow it down by checking those who owed the most, were
paying the highest rates of interest. But it’s going to take a while.’
Mia bustled in with a
sheet of paper in her hand. ‘Hey, Sara, you said to get this to you as soon
as.’ She handed the printout to Sara. ‘No record, I’m afraid.’
‘Damn it,’ Sara sighed,
handing the printout to Grissom.
‘Well, the chance of
DNA being on file, when fingerprints weren’t, was a long shot,’ Grissom replied
reasonably. Sara shot him a frustrated look, which he chose to ignore. ‘Sara,
you and Greg continue working through that list…’ he paused as Jim Brass
entered the room.
‘Hey guys,’ he greeted
them. ‘Apparently, Vinny’s old business partner, Sam Hughes, had a grudge
against the victim. Vinny left him high and dry and struck out on his own. A
little bird told me Sam has a pretty bad temper, too.’
‘Have you picked him
up?’ Grissom wanted to know.
‘He’s in interview room
2,’ Brass replied with a smile. ‘Thought you might like to have a little talk
with him. The kind where you get his prints and DNA. I have a warrant all ready
for you.’
‘Thanks Jim,’ Grissom
replied. He looked at Catherine. ‘Shall we?’
Grissom and Catherine
got up from the table and followed Brass from the room. Grissom paused at the
door and turned to look at Sara.
‘You guys keep checking
the lists,’ he told them. ‘But Sara, go home in two hours when the shift ends.’
‘But Grissom, there’s
too much…’ she began to protest. He didn’t let her.
‘No doubles for you for
at least a week,’ he told her firmly. ‘If you won’t follow your doctor’s
orders, at least follow mine. Go home and get some rest. The lists will be
there tomorrow.’ With that he turned and left the room, leaving Greg to
suppress a grin at Sara’s mutinous expression.
---
Sam Hughes was a small
time thug, his face set in a permanent scowl of distrust and distaste for
anyone but himself. Catherine and Brass sat at the table opposite, while
Grissom stood against the back wall, his arms crossed, observing.
‘So, tell me. Where you
were on Monday, between
‘I was washing my hair,’ Hughes replied
sarcastically.
Catherine took a look
at the man’s greasy mop before replying dryly, ‘Somehow I find that hard to
believe.’
‘You can believe
whatever you want, sweetheart.’
‘Your buddy, Vinny
McMann was found dead a few hours ago,’ Brass told him. ‘Got any ideas as to
how he got that way?’
‘Yeah,’ Sam grinned.
‘He probably pissed someone off. Vinny had a habit of doing that.’
‘He ever piss you off,
Sam?’ Catherine asked him.
‘I think you already
know the answer to that, doll, else you wouldn’t have hauled my ass in here for
questioning,’ was the reply.
‘Vinny burned you pretty
bad, Sam, right?’ Brass said. ‘Went into business on him own, took all your
customers. You were partners, man. Friends. I think he more than pissed you
off.’
‘And what, you think I
killed him?’
‘You tell me, Sam.’
‘I didn’t. But I’d like
to shake the hand of the man who did,’ Sam replied defiantly. He nodded his
head in Grissom’s direction. ‘Doesn’t your friend ever speak?’
‘Oh, I speak,’ Grissom
answered, moving away from the wall and towards the table. ‘When I have
occasion to. Say ‘ah’ please.’
‘What?’ Sam looked
confused.
Grissom reached into
his inside pocket and brought out a swab. ‘I’d like a sample of your DNA. And
Ms Willows here is going to fingerprint you.’
‘Today’s special,
two-for-one deal,’ Brass quipped, flashing Hughes a grin.
‘You ever get depressed, Sam?’ Grissom asked
the man, as he swabbed the inside of his mouth.
‘Who doesn’t?’ Sam replied as Grissom removed
the swab and capped it.
‘Ever take Valium?’
‘I’m more of an amphetamines kinda guy,’ he
smirked back.
'This won't take long,' Grissom told him,
indicating the swab in his hand.
---
Sara yawned and
stretched but didn’t look up from the sheet she was working on. Greg looked at
the clock and then looked at her.
‘Sara, shift ended 20
minutes ago.’
‘So?’
‘So, Gris said…’
Sara looked up
impatiently. ‘I heard what Grissom said.’ She looked back down at the sheet and
continued to work.
Greg sighed. ‘Man,
you’re stubborn, Sara Sidle,’ he told her. ‘I’ve got this. Go home and get some
rest.’
Sara looked up at him again,
anger beginning to register on her face. ‘Greg,’ she warned.
‘Hey, I’m all for the
work ethic and everything, but Grissom’s right this time. You need to ease
yourself back into your working-yourself-to-the-bone routine. Go home, get some
rest, come in tonight with a fresh perspective. Please.’
Sara opened her mouth
to argue, but she saw the reason in Greg’s request. ‘Okay, okay. I’m going.’
She told him. ‘But call me if you turn anything good up.’
‘You’ll be top of my
list. Now go home.’
Sara smiled at him from
the door. ‘You’re spending too much time with Grissom, Greg. You’re becoming
bossy like him.
---
Grissom double checked
the DNA results. He wasn’t happy, but thanked Mia before leaving to find
Catherine. She was coming out of the fingerprint lab.
‘No match.’
‘Me either.’
‘We’re back to square
one.’
‘There’s still the
Valium. Maybe we’ll get a lead off of that.’
‘Maybe,’ Grissom
replied. ‘This is frustrating. The killer was sloppy and left us a ton of
evidence and we still can’t find him.’
‘We will,’ Catherine
replied. She checked her watch. ‘Tonight. We should go home and get some rest.’
‘Yeah.’
‘Want to have breakfast
first?’ Catherine suggested.
‘In other words, you
want me to cook breakfast for you,’ Grissom translated.
‘Thought you’d never
ask. I have something I want to discuss with you.’
---
Grissom gave the eggs a
final stir and turned off the burner. Spooning the scrambled eggs onto plates,
he carried these and a plate stacked with toast to the table where Catherine
was sitting.
‘So, what did you want
to discuss, Cath?’ Grissom asked, placing her breakfast in front of her. ‘I
assume its not pertaining to the case…’
‘You’re right, it’s
not,’ Catherine replied. ‘I want to talk about Sara.’
Grissom swallowed a
bite of toast. ‘You think it’s too soon for her to be back at work. To be
honest, I agree. But, short of putting her on administrative leave, there
wasn’t a way I could stop her.’
‘It isn’t about work,
Gil,’ Catherine replied. ‘Although you’re right, I don’t think she’s ready to
be back yet. But I know that nothing short of a Mac Truck would stop Sara from
working.’
Grissom looked
confused. ‘Then what…’
‘I want to talk about you and Sara.’
Grissom was surprised,
but hid it, taking another bite of toast and looking at his colleague and
friend with a furrowed brow.
‘I don’t see what there
is to discuss.’
‘I do. The girl is
obviously hurting.’
‘Catherine,’ Grissom
attempted a level response. ‘Sara has just gone through a trauma. Of course she’s hurting.’
‘That’s not the only
cause of it, Gil,’ Catherine replied. ‘Call it woman’s intuition, but I’m
pretty sure the root cause of her upset has something to do with you.’
Grissom was silent at
this, and Catherine decided to give him a few minutes to mull things over. She
began to eat her breakfast, suddenly realising that she was starving. When he
still hadn’t said anything several minutes later, she looked up from her plate.
Grissom looked distraught.
‘Gil.’
‘Did she say anything?’
‘Nothing directly.
Something about your choices… She didn’t want to talk to me. But, I got the
impression that something to do with you is causing her pain.’
Again, Grissom said
nothing. Catherine decided to try a different tack. ‘Gil, I know you care about
her. More than care. But you’re going
to lose her if you don’t let her in. If you don’t talk to her. Soon.’
Grissom still didn’t
answer. Catherine shook her head at the hopelessness of the situation. After
everything they had seen, everything they had been through, the members of
their team deserved some happiness, perhaps more than most. And here were two
people determined not to claim some happiness for themselves. Seeing she was getting
nowhere fast, she gave in and returned her attention to breakfast.
---
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