Chapter Two of Dirge of Vengeance. I took a lot of songs and used them, so they do not belong to me. Yeah. Uh...have fun with this.
Chapter Two
Grissom entered his office, holding a cage of bugs in one hand and his bag in the other. Not able to use his hands, he used his elbow to turn the light on.
He smiled. He hadn't been in his office for four weeks...his office was like a second home to him...
He wondered where his team was, though. Hodges said that they were out in the field. Grissom looked around his office to make sure everything was still there, and it was, but he noticed a large box amidst a pile of mail, on his desk.
He put his bag down, put the cage of bugs to the side, and was about to open the package when his phone rang. He answered.
"Grissom...What? Brass, is this a joke?...okay...calm down...I'm sure it's not that bad...yeah, I'm glad to be back, too...I'll get there as fast as I can..."
Grissom hung up, got his kit and headed to the crime scene.
(PRESENT)
Grissom walked back into his office while he waited for the test results on the blood that was all over the team's uniforms.
Who could've done this? Who had a grudge against the whole CSI graveyard shift?
Well, I think I should try finding out where they are instead of who did it. Maybe they all know something... Grissom thought to himself.
"Grissom, I got the results on the uniforms," Keppler said, coming into the office as Grissom sat in his chair. "The blood's from the cop,"
"Figures," Grissom muttered. "Anything else?"
"Yeah, there were traces of ether on the uniforms and at the scene. We were lucky enough not to get affected," Keppler replied.
"Just like last time," Grissom sighed.
"Last time?"
"A couple years ago, Nick Stokes was abducted. We didn't find blood on the uniform, but we found ether. He was drugged and buried alive. We found him covered in fire ants and holding a gun up to his chin,"
The two men were in an awkward silence.
"...Well, at least you know how to save a life," Keppler said, breaking the silence and looking around in curiosity.
Grissom shrugged.
"It hasn't gotten much better than that, really," he replied.
"What about that Proot girl? Do you think she could help?"
"Good idea. I'll call her," Grissom said and reached for his phone when his cell rang.
"Hello?" he answered. "Naomi. I was just about to call you...Really?...Okay, well, come on over. We'll analyze it here...Okay, see you in a bit. Bye,"
Grissom looked at Keppler.
"She was given a tape and a webcam transmitter in a package with no return address. We might be in luck,"
"That we got a package with no return address? I don't know how exactly you guys run things here, but in my book, packages with no return addresses means you--"
"No. It doesn't matter what's outside the box, it's what's inside. When Nick was kidnapped, we were given a flash drive and a tape. The tape had a song to taunt us and the flash drive provided a webcam feed to Nick,"
"So you're thinking that the same thing is happening with what Proot received?"
"Yes. Now, the last time, we did get the return address, but it just lead to a drunk. Naomi can tell us hopefully where she got the package and from who. She's smart enough to do that without forgetting what happened. We'll just have to wait until she gets here,"
Soon, Naomi arrived with the package at hand.
"I didn't see who put it there, but I brought the security camera footage from the door where I found it," Naomi was explaining as she got settled in her position in the AV Lab. She worked in the AV lab part-time to help Archie with analyzing footage.
"It was just waiting for you when you got home?" Grissom asked.
"Yes. I called you as soon as I got to a phone...Where is everyone?"
"That's what we're hoping to find out from this package. Keppler, why don't you go check this out and I'll explain to Naomi?"
Keppler nodded and left the room.
"What's going on?" Naomi asked, starting to get worried.
"We found the team's uniforms at the scene covered in blood. The blood was the reporting officer's. There were traces of ether at the scene, and we found most of their personal effects and kits," Grissom summed up.
"The whole team, you said?" Naomi asked, giving a confused expression.
"Yeah, Nick, Lynx, Catherine, Greg, Sara, and Warrick. Why?"
"Because Nick had called me on his way to his scene and he said he was on a case with Lynx and Greg. Their scene was only a couple blocks away from me, so I went over there to say hi and see if they needed help, but nobody was there. There wasn't even crime scene tape. There was a body, but it was just a dummy with one of those corpse flowers. I went back to get my kit, and found that box," Naomi replied as Keppler came back in.
"All clean," he said grimly, giving the tape to Grissom and flash drive to Archie.
Grissom put the tape in the player.
"'Is there anyone who/Ever remembers changing there mind from/The paint on a sign?/Is there anyone who really recalls/Ever breaking rank at all/For something someone yelled real loud one time...'" the tape played.
"Belief, by John Mayer. Good song," Naomi noted. Grissom gave her a look and she nodded an apology.
"Archie, could you please put in the flash drive?"
Archie nodded to Grissom and put the flash drive in and let Grissom control the computer.
"'Everyone believes/In how they think it ought to be/Everyone believes/And they're not going easily...'"
Words first appeared on the screen: I PROPOSE A GAME, MR. GRISSOM. NO RANSOMS, NO TRICKS ON EITHER SIDE. NO CHEATING OR ELSE. THEY ARE ALLOWED TO ESCAPE. YOU AREN'T ALLOWED TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHERS FROM THEM UNTIL THE VERY END. THEY PROBABLY DON'T REMEMBER, ANYWAY. WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO TOUCH EACH OTHER'S COMPUTERS. IF YOU DO, I WILL HACK INTO YOURS. THE GAME'S AFOOT, MR. GRISSOM, WHETHER YOU WANT IT TO OR NOT.
The screen then changed on Grissom's mouse click to a webcam feed with five panels. The whole team was accounted for, except for Sara.
"'Belief is a beautiful armor/But makes for the heaviest sword/Like punching under water/You never can hit who you're trying for/Some need the exhibition/And some have to know they tried/It's the chemical weapon/For the war that's raging on inside/Everyone believes/From emptiness to everything/Everyone believes/And no ones going quietly/We're never gonna win the world/We're never gonna stop the war/We're never gonna beat this/If belief is what we're fighting for...'"
Naomi watched in both curiosity and fear of what was going on. Her eyes traveled from Nick to Nick, comparing the situation they were in. Keppler was watching Catherine with a mild worried expression on his face. Archie muttered something about going to get a cup of coffee.
"'What puts a hundred thousand children in the sand/Belief can/Belief can
What puts the folded flag inside his mother's hand/Belief can/Belief can...'"
Grissom watched the feed with a grim expression on his face. The gravest expression he's ever had.
A tear slid down his face.
"This is the most disturbing thing I've ever seen," Naomi finally managed to say.
"Same here. What kind of bastard would do this?" Keppler said, clearly upset by this himself.
"I guess I'll analyze the rest of that tape," Naomi said.
"I'll trace the webcam," Archie said.
"...I guess I'll just...I don't know what I'm doing," Keppler stuttered, feeling helpless. Grissom just stood and watched the monitor.
Naomi put her headphones on and put the tape in the stereo and she watched the waves as she listened to both sides. She got a notebook and pen, and started to listen, occasionally asking Grissom questions about the case to help with interpreting the music. Finally, after half and hour, she was done with a page of notes.
"Well, for 'Outside Chance', I think he was trying to say that you aren't going to catch him, they're surrounded by stone, he's unforgiving, and in the song, the singer mentioned a 'girl', so I think that means you won't be able to get her, no matter which direction you try. That pertains to either Catherine or Sara, but most likely Sara because we don't have a feed of her. Pleasing him won't be easy. You think you'll get him; he's only human. And last is that you can only try."
"All of that from one song?" Grissom said, eyebrows raised.
"Just wait. The song 'Belief'...I got a lot out of that song...something about the paint on a sign...yelling out loud...I think also that when you find them, they won't go that easily...then there's armor...swords...and punching underwater, not able to get who you're trying for...and
overall, looking in the perspective you gave me, you're never going to win the game if you're believing that you will..." Naomi said, looking over her notes.
Well...that's a happy thought... Grissom thought.
"Okay, the last song, 'Perfect Grave'...I didn't get much out of it...He probably knows you were on sabbatical and knows you take some sort of pills...and you don't quite know what you're feeling inside at the moment...You could keep trying to save them and wreck you're life, but that's the last thing you'll do, probably meaning he intends to kill you...I'm afraid that's all I have, Grissom. I'm sorry..."
Grissom nodded as he took the notes for later in the investigation.
"Thanks, Naomi," Grissom said shakily.
"You'll find them...I know you will. You found me and the others how many times before," she said, trying to cheer him up.
Grissom twitched a smile.
"Thanks," he said quietly and shakily. "Why don't we go to that scene that Nick was supposed to go to?"
