Angels With Scabbed Wings

Chapter One – Genesis

"Was anyone else home when it happened?"

"Just the parents?"

"So no other suspects then?"

"Nope"

Catherine sighed as she followed Brass into the house, giving him a small smile as he opened the door for her. She walked past the weeping parents, ignoring the tug on her heart. She instinctively wanted to sit and talk too them, to sympathize with them, but she had learnt over the years that this was a bad idea. They were the main suspects and nine times out of ten the main suspects always had something to do with the death that preceded her arrival. She gave Warrick a small smile as she entered the nursery, keeping her eyes on his and trying to ignore the tiny body that lay in the crib.

"What do we know about this little one?"

"His name is Emmanuel, nine months old. No visible signs if distress and no disturbance around the body."

"Ok. What kind of vibe did you get from the parents?"

"Distressed, not much else. We might have to wait a little longer before we talk to them."

Catherine nodded before moving closer to the crib. The mother part of her was horrified that someone could do this to an innocent, sweet smelling bundle that babies were. But the scientist in her wanted to know why and how his death had come about. She carefully opened her kit and extracted the fiber collector, running it carefully over the blankets that lay over Emmanuel's tiny body. She wondered briefly why Emmanuel had blankets over him, if he had been checked by his parents as Brass had said. She dismissed the thought just as quickly, most parents, guilty or not, would cover their child, an old age instinct to protect their child. Catherine and Warrick worked silently, side by side working from one corner of the room to the other until everything had been processed. A knock on the door disturbed the steady silence and Catherine turned to see David standing the door way. He gazed over to where little Emmanuel lay, his eyes becoming shiny and sad.

"Worse call in the world to get. A damn shame."

Catherine placed a hand on the younger man's shoulder.

"Make him a VIP ok David?"

"Of course. Doc has already said the same thing. He's just waiting for our arrival."

He moved closer to the crib, extracting his thermometer from the same kind of kit that the CSI's carried around with them from case to case. He inserted the thermometer into Emmanuel's liver.

"How long David?"

"No more then three hours."

David turned away from the crib to take out the smallest coroner's bag that Catherine had ever seen, placing Emmanuel carefully inside. When he pulled up the zip, it was the most finalizing sound that Catherine had heard in a long time. He gathered the body close to his chest, the same way one would have if the baby was still alive before exchanging one last look with Catherine before leaving the room. Catherine packed up her kit and with Warrick in tow, headed back downstairs. Brass was standing in front of the still weeping parents, his face solemn as he patiently waited for the tears to ease; something that Catherine was sure was not going to happen anytime soon. Catherine took a box of tissues that she spotted on one of the corner table, kneeling in front of them, offering the box to them.

"I'm Catherine Willows."

The woman nodded, blowing her nose loudly.

"I'm Savannah and this is my husband Jack."

"My colleagues and I are here to find out what happens to Emmanuel."

"Ok. What do you need to know?"

"Did you hear anything?"

"Like what?"

"Someone walking around upstairs maybe? A window opening, anything to indicate that someone was breaking in?"

Savannah Thomas gave Catherine an ironic smile.

"This house is old Miss Willows. It settles all the time, makes odd noises."

Catherine sighed under her breath, deciding to try another tact.

"What were you and your husband doing before you went and checked on Emmanuel?"

"We were eating lunch. We did nothing out of the ordinary. I put Emmanuel to bed at twelve and went up at two. He was so still."

Savannah burst into fresh tears and her husband pulled her into his chest, flashing Catherine a hard look, as if she was the source of their pain.

"Why are you still here? Someone killed our son you should be looking for them."

"Mr. Thomas, you seem like a logical person, surely you know it's not completely ridiculous for us to examine you first and foremost."

"And you have. Now go and find the bastard that did this to us."

Catherine stood, handing the tissues to Jack Thomas, her voice hard as she spoke.

"Our job is to follow the evidence Mr. Thomas and if the it leads to you, then it's you we'll be looking at."

She turned on her heel before he could say comment, her thoughts back to where they were meant to be; on finding Emmanuel's killer. She waited for Brass against his squad car, mentally processing what little evidence that they had gathered in the house. She didn't think that they would get much from it but you could do nothing more then hold your breath and cross your fingers. They had to rely on baby Emmanuel to supply what they were missing.

"What can I do for you Cath?"

"Who said I wanted anything?"

"I've known you to long, I know that look."

Brass gave her a tight smile, waiting for Catherine to indulge him and tell him what she wanted.

"I need a full back ground check on both the parents. Anything after they were born is fine."

"I know how to do a back ground check Catherine."

"I know Jim. I just need to close this case."

Brass nodded as he hopped into his car.

"It's the parent thing isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is."

She gave him a small smile and a quick wave as he drove off before turning back to the house. What happened in Emmanuel's home? What drove someone to take such an innocent life?

The Jane Doe had been delivered to Doc and Sara was busy pouring over the photos that had been taken at the scene. She had been found in a small, narrow patch of scrub, her head beaten in. There was nothing there to help them to ID her and so she sat unclaimed in Doc's room, waiting for someone to recognize who she once was. While she waited for Doc's page, she went over the photos that she had just developed, making sure that they had missed nothing. There wasn't much to see beyond the bloodied face and twisted body. There was no way that they could take these pictures to the public, they would have to wait until Doc had cleaned the body and gave them something else in regards to the body and who she was. Hopefully, she will have some sort of scaring that they could run with. Until then, she could do nothing more then wait for a page to tell her that the results were in. She gazed at the photos, wondering, not for the first time, what kind of anger would possess a person to crush a skull.

Brass had the file with the entire history of the Thomas's life together within two hours of Catherine's request. He also brought her and Warrick each a coffee and a bag of fresh, still hot bagels. Catherine gave him a wide smile when she pied the file that was tucked neatly under his arm.

"I should get you to do background checks more often."

Brass chuckled lightly as he settled himself across from her grabbing a bagel and his own coffee from the tray.

"Figured that you needed some sort of boost after that crime scene. It's a parent thing, remember?"

Catherine gave him another smile before separating the father's file into three sections, handing each of the men a piece of it, along with a highlighter. For the next hour the only sound was that of the highlighters striking through relevant information. Within three hours, they had completed both backgrounds on both parents and Catherine could feel the hard edge of frustration in her shoulders, her thoughts chasing their tails around her head in a crazy bid to reach a conclusion.

"So who killed baby Emmanuel?"

Warrick glanced between Catherine and Brass waiting to see who was going to leap into the unknown. They didn't often guess when it came to these kinds of cases; it was far too easy to make assumptions that were more often then not, incorrect. But Warrick knew that when Catherine made a leap, she always looked before she landed on uncharted ground. It didn't surprise him when she spoke up first, her eyes flashing.

"Nobody broke into that house. There is nothing to support that theory. We went through that room, top to bottom and there was nothing. According to David, Emmanuel had been dead for two hours before his mother checked on him, three by the time we got there. When I first had Lindsey, I was checking on her every five minutes, literally."

"Well I don't think it's the parents. Someone still could have broken in. We've seen cases like this before Cath. We thought it was one thing but it was another thing entirely."

Catherine squared her shoulders at Warrick's comment.

"If someone broke into that house, I will buy you both a full meal at The Persian."

"And if you're right?"

"I have some yard work that I could use some help with. Deal?"

"Deal."

They all shook before turning their attention back to the task at hand.

"So with nothing on the parents, where do we go from here?"

"We need talk to Doc and see what he got from Emmanuel. Until we get that, all we can do is speculate."

"Speculating is good. How the hell does someone break into a house and leave nothing to prove that they have been there? And what would the motive be to killing a nine month old child?"

"Maybe it was cot death?"

Catherine laughed bitterly.

"Yeah and maybe I'll go back to stripping one day."

She stood, leaving the men with amused expressions. She needed to beat the pavement, needed to do something to keep herself busy.

They were still waiting for the lunch but Sara was doing what she did best; chasing white rabbits. She had taken what she could from the photos, passing them through the reconstructive programme on the computer. She then passed it through the missing person's programme, filing away any hits that might bring about a possible ID. She managed to narrow it down to two possible victims; Janice Maize and Sophia Jones. She hit print and headed over to Grissom's office, knowing that he would be there going over what little they had on the new case. She was right of course, he was behind his desk, glasses perched low on his nose.

"I narrowed it down."

Grissom looked at her over his glasses.

"Already?"

"Yup. Janice Maize and Sophia Jones"

She handed him the piece of paper, watching as he read it over.

"Chasing rabbits again huh?"

She gave him a wide smile as she took a seat across from him.

"What can I say? I have no patience."

"It's a benefit sometimes. Case in point for example."

"So we go see Doc?"

Grissom nodded as he pushed himself away from his desk, closing the file as he did so.

"We go see Doc"

Doc seemed to know they were coming. The body was laid out, neatly stitched back together, head wound free of blood and skull debris. They put on their scrubs and moved closer to the table.

"Blunt force trauma is COD. No surprises there."

"Weapon?"

"A brick, judging by the red fragments that I found in the wound. But it was wrapped in something."

Doc offered Sara the Petrie dish, a small piece of fabric tucked inside. Sara examined it closely, before giving it to Grissom.

"Looks like panty hose."

"I'll buy that. What else can you tell us Doc?"

"She was hit about the head eight to ten times, any of which could have been fatal. She also had a child at some point, she has a caesarean scar. She's been dead for about two days before she was found."

"And the winner is…..Sophia Jones. Missing for two days and has one daughter."

"I don't think there's any winner in this situation Sara. But it looks like we finally have an ID."

"But no suspects."

"Yet. The trial just got hot though."

Sara gave Doc a quick smile before she followed Grissom out of the morgue. Now came not the not so fun part. Tracking down the families and informing them that they had found their loved one. Watching as their world's crumpled beneath them, shattering any hope of finding that person alive was one of the hardest aspects of this job. She, thankfully, didn't have to do it very often but she felt for Brass. He played it tough but he was a big softy at heart and Sara knew that it stung him every time he broke the news to people. His job was just as hard as hers, if not harder. She got to hide in the lab, follow the science but Brass had to stand on the front line, day after day, wound after wound, heartbreak after heartbreak. She admired his strength. As she followed Grissom, she made a mental note to buy Brass a beer after this case was over and done with.

"How did my wife die?"

Sara exchanged a quick look with Grissom, who nodded ever so slightly.

"She was bludgeoned."

"You mean she was beaten to death?"

"Yes"

Robert Jones didn't cry, he just opened and closed his mouth a few times before his eyes went impossibly wide.

"My daughter, she will be finishing school soon. I need to go and pick her up."

He made a move to stand up but his legs crumbled beneath him and he fell back into the sofa.

"Mr. Jones, we could send a plain clothes officer to pick her up, bring her right back here."

Grissom waited patiently for the man to absorb his offer. Even though the husband was a suspect, if he was as innocent as he claimed to be, this was a huge shock for him.

"Thank-you. I don't think I could drive in this condition."

Grissom nodded once before slipping off to a quiet corner to make the call. Sara turned her attention back to Mr. Jones.

"Do you want me to get you a glass of water Mr. Jones?"

"Would it be a bad thing if I asked for a vodka?"

Sara shook her head before heading to the small bar that dominated a small section of the living room. She half filled a tumbler before handing it over to Mr. Jones, who drunk from it greedily. His eyes teared as the alcohol seared his throat. It helped though, his hands stopped shaking and the glazed look seeped from his eyes.

"Thank-you, I needed that."

Sara gave him a slight smile before getting back onto the topic at hand.

"Did your wife have any enemies?"

Mr. Jones took another drink of vodka before speaking again.

"My wife, cliché as it sounds, was a well loved woman. And even if she did have any enemies I strongly doubt that they would resort to something like this."

"You'd be surprised at what I've seen Mr. Jones. Normal people can do the most evil and heinous things."

"Please call me Robert. I think this kind of situation allows first name basis."

"Well in that case, call me Sara."

"Ok Sara, what kind of person kills a homemaker?"

"Someone very sick"

Robert picked up a wedding picture, a small smile on his face.

"We met in high school. She was the most popular girl there and I was the stoner."

"Odd combination"

"I know. We got married at nineteen and so many people said that we would never make it. Thirty-five years together this year"

Robert began to sob again. Despite all of her reservations and all her training telling her otherwise, her heart still went out to the man. To love someone for so long just to have them taken away was heart breaking. After a few more minutes, the tears ceased again.

"Am I a suspect?"

"Yes. But everybody is at the beginning of an investigation. Once we have confirmed your alibi for the established time frame of her death, we can eliminate you as a suspect."

"Ok"

Grissom re-entered the room and they chatted only a little while longer before the front door burst open. A tall, willowy limbed teenage girl came striding into the room, her long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail with thick strands of royal blur ribbon.

"Daddy, what's going on?"

"Anna, you need to sit down"

Anna Jones obediently sat down next to her father, her hands coming to rest on her jean clad knees. She looked from her father to Grissom and Sara before speaking again.

"What's going on?"

Robert took his daughter's hand in his own, the tears beginning again as he spoke.

"They found mom"

Anna smiled brightly.

"Good. Is she home then?"

"No sweetheart. Mom died."

Ana's face fell and tears began to fall down her slim cheeks.

"Mom's dead?"

"Yes."

Anna fell into her father's arms, her face buried in his chest. For all his supposed lack of grace when it came to times like these, Grissom chose that time to declare their exit. He remained silent until they were back in the Delani, his deep even breaths indicating that he was lost in thought.

"The husband's alibi checks out. I just finished talking to Brass and the meeting he had at the precise time of her death makes him impossible to blame."

"So we're back to square one."

Sara felt slightly defeated. Grissom's face remained blank as he began to speak.

"Ah, young grasshopper, you have much to learn. What do we do when our suspect list is nil?"

Sara was too busy smiling at Grissom's 'Karate Kid' reference to do more then shrug.

"We look at the victims surroundings. Our suspect is hiding out there somewhere in this community."

"So let's play hide and seek then"

Now it was Grissom's turn to smile. They drove back to the lab in one of their rare, comfortable silences.