I know I have posted three chapters in a row but I already had them pretty much written...after this the updates my slow down a little but you keep reviewing and I will do my best to update as quickly as I can!! Thanks!
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of CSI
Chapter 3
The team gathered in the break room to update on the case and get their new assignments.
"Catherine, have you found anything new since I talked to you earlier?" Grissom asked
"Yes, the victims father, Mark Shepler, is in jail on death row for the brutal attack and murder of his wife and son. Sandra escaped by hiding in the closet during the attack. Mr. Shepler has shown no remorse, in fact he admitted that if he had known Sandra was home he would have killed her to." Catherine said.
"How did he kill them?" Sara asked as she sat down. She could feel her head spinning but kept it under control enough that no one noticed…except probably Grissom that is.
"He stabbed them to death after tying them to the kitchen chairs and beating them for over four hours. He said he told her that she should be home in time to have dinner prepared when he came in from work but instead she thought her son's baseball game was more important…he was five…it was his first T ball game," Catherine paused unable to go on.
Sara shook her head as memories flooded through it. She could remember her own father beating her mother if she didn't come home in time for dinner or if it was prepared to early and was cold by the time he came in. Sara would also hide in the closet until it was quiet and then crawl in her bed and hide under the covers knowing if she got caught out of bed after 8 o'clock she would get it too.
"Five years old…this guy is pathetic." Nick said.
"Sandra was 12 years old at the time. She found her mother and brother the next morning after her father went to work." Catherine added
"He just left them there in plain sight?" Sara asked quietly
"Yea, like I said, no remorse. Sandra called her aunt who lived across town and her aunt called the police. They arrested Shepler that day. He was more pissed about finding out Sandra was home and not getting to her than he was about getting caught," Catherine said.
"Have you talked to Sofia to find out how she wants to proceed?" Grissom asked Catherine and Nick
"Yea she is going to the prison to talk with Shepler and try and find out if he knows anyone that could have wanted Sandra dead. I doubt he will be much help," Nick said.
"Okay Nick, you have pulled a double, go home and get some rest and I will see you back here your next shift unless you hear from me before then," Grissom said.
"Someone needs to go with Sofia," Nick added
"I can go," Sara offered
"Not in your condition your not. Catherine, you okay to accompany Sofia to the prison? After that if you need some sleep you can go home for a while." Grissom asked
"Yea…that's fine" Catherine answered.
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Sara walked out of the break room and down to the locker room. Just before she went in the door Judy called her name.
"Here you go, someone left this on my desk for you," Judy smile as she handed Sara the envelope with her name on it.
"Thanks Judy," Sara said as she took the envelope that was still sealed.
Sara turned as Grissom called her name at the end of the hall. She rolled her eyes as she followed him into his office.
He shut the door behind her as she turned to face him, "Look Gil, if your going to pull me off the damn case just get it over with."
"Sara…I just didn't want you in that prison. You never know what can happen in there." he said concerned.
She laughed sarcastically, "So you send Catherine instead."
"She is not sick, you are at the moment," he replied.
"I'm not sick…I'm pregnant," she said quietly. That was the first time she had actually admitted it to herself. It sent a wave of shock through her system.
"What do you have there?" Grissom asked trying to change the subject and maybe lighten the mood a little. He knew she was having a very hard time with everything right now.
Sara looked down at the envelope, "Don't know, Judy just handed it to me," she said as she started to tear open the envelope.
"Sara, wait," he grabbed her hand to still them. "The writing," was all he could say as he took a pair of gloves off his desk.
She looked down, seeing her name written there for the first time. Shit, why didn't she catch that. Her name was written in what could be the same print as the note found on Sandra Shepler's body…Sara Sidle
Grissom took the envelope as he handed her another pair of gloves. He walked out to the layout room with her following him. He carefully dusted the outside for prints. There were a few that looked to small to be a man's.
"Probably yours and Judy's" Grissom said as he carefully tore open the rest of the envelope and took the note out.
Sara was looking over his shoulder as he read it…Do I have your attention now? was all it said.
Sara felt her knees give way. She grabbed Grissom's shoulder for support as she looked to find a chair. He helped her sit and then returned to the table and dusted the note.
"No prints, on the note itself. Sara, do you know what this means?" he asked hesitantly
She was ghost white as she replied, "Yea…I'm off the case…" she trailed off as she looked at Grissom with tears in her eyes.
He knelt at her side and took her hands in his not bothering to look around for anyone watching. "Does Judy know who dropped this off?"
"I…didn't ask…I don't know…why…" she shook her head to try and clear it.
"Sshhh, we will figure this out. The camera's had to have caught something. Are you okay here while I go check with Judy and have Archie pull the tapes?" he asked
"Just go…and Gil, can we…keep this between us…for now?" she asked with pleading eyes.
"For now, don't move" he said as he quickly made his way out to talk to Judy.
Sara sat there with a million things running to her head. Then it all fell into place. Sandra Shepler had the same initials as her, her father, Mark Shepler, had the same as her own father. Sara's mother stabbed her father to death, and Sandra's father stabbed her mother to death. They were both vegetarians and, "O my" Sara said out loud as she thought about the prenatal vitamins in the victims apartment. Just then Greg entered the room.
"Hey Sar, how's it…" he trailed off as he looked at her… "you don't look so good."
Grissom walked back in to see Sara grab the trash can next to her chair and heave into it. He rushed to her and sent Greg to get a wet towel. "Sara, honey, you going to be okay?"
She shook her head no as she held her stomach that was hurting from the dry heaves that she couldn't get to stop. She finally sat up as Greg walked back in with the towel.
"What's wrong with her?" he asked as he handed the towel to Grissom who gently put it to Sara's forehead.
"Greg, give us a minute," he ordered.
"Judy was gone to the bathroom and when she returned to her desk the envelope was there. She didn't see anyone around so she just assumed someone who worked here dropped it off. Archie is pulling the tapes from the cameras now." Grissom updated her.
"Griss, think about all the evidence in the case. The initials of the victim and her father. The way her father murdered her mother, the vegetarianism, the…vitamins" she glanced around to make sure no one was in hearing distance.
"Sara do you think he could have known? You didn't even know until today…" he said quietly.
She silently rose and walked toward the locker room with Grissom right behind her. She entered seeing Greg at his locker changing his shirt but didn't even acknowledge him. He looked at her funny as she walked by without a word. Grissom was following her and shook his head at Greg before he could speak. "Not now," Grissom whispered.
Sara opened her locker, grabbed her pills, and opened the case examining them closely. She took a seat on the bench in between the lockers, oblivious to Greg's prying eyes.
Grissom, however, was not. "Greg, out" was all he said.
Greg closed his locker which caused Sara to jump, bringing her back to the present. She hid her pills until Greg exited the room. However, Greg didn't go far. He paused on the other side of the door to finish buttoning his shirt.
"Have they been tampered with?" he heard Grissom ask.
"Not that I can see," Sara replied
"We need to get them to trace, find out for sure," Grissom told her
"Grissom, I'm not ready for…" she trailed off
"I will handle it personally" he promised
"Griss, does this mean my entire past is going to be involved in this case?" she asked with a hint of emotion
"I think that is what our killer wants and clearly, I don't see any way around it. I am afraid this guy is fixated on you which means you need to be very careful and observant. Hopefully Archie will find something." Grissom held his hand out and she handed him the pills.
Greg scrambled off when he heard them walking towards the door wondering what the hell they were talking about.
Grissom sent Sara to his office to lay down on the sofa. He found Greg and sent him to the diner to get them something to eat. He really just wanted to get Sara something but he told Greg to take orders from everyone so it didn't look suspicious.
As soon as Greg left Grissom went and sent Hodges on a break. Then he took the pills out and processed one to find out if they had been tampered with or not. While he was waiting for the printout, he went to check on Sara.
He found her sitting with her knees pulled up to her stomach and her arms wrapped around them silently crying in the dark.
"Honey, you need to try and rest." he told her as he took a seat beside her.
"Every time I close my eyes I see him hitting her. I see her grab the knife and…" she stopped and quietly sobbed.
"Let it out…talk to me, you will feel better," Grissom said as he took her hand.
She gripped his hand and then let it go, "someone could see us" she whispered
"I don't care" he replied
"I do,.. I can't…take anymore right now," she said as more tears fell.
Grissom reached up and closed the blinds then he pulled Sara to him and wrapped his arms around her. She tensed for a moment then gave in. She needed him so badly right now. She was so tired and physically exhausted. Her whole body ached.
She let herself cry in his arms. She cried for her mother and father, for the abuse she endured as a child both physically and verbally, for the new victim who probably had a childhood very similar to her own, for the victim's mother and little brother, and for the baby she herself was carrying that she could not bare to even think about yet.
Grissom just held her and rocked back and forth. Finally she pulled back and looked into his eyes. He could tell the tears had helped. He knew she still needed to talk it out but decided to give her space and let her do it in her own time.
"Thank you," she whispered as he leaned down and kiss her lightly on the lips.
"Anytime, Ms. Sidle," he smiled. "Now, rest while I go check something."
She knew where he was going but was thankful he didn't say it out loud. She lay back and closed her eyes and after a few minutes, sleep finally came.
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Grissom took the printout and looked at the results. He found what he already suspected. Sugar pills, with food coloring to make them match the color of the original pills.
He made his way back to her locker to see if there were more pills in there. He found a bag with the next few months worth of pills in it. He took them to the layout room and, after making sure he was alone, took a packet out and began to inspect it. They all looked the same as the pills he just finished analyzing.
He took a few different pill samples from the packet and went to repeat the test on them. Hodges was back so he discretely performed the test and when Hodges offered to help Grissom politely declined.
"Don't let me hold you up David. Please continue your work." Grissom told him. He knew Hodges was still trying to watch him so Grissom just kept his back to him until he finally gave up and went back to work.
After fifteen minutes Grissom took the printout and the pill samples and anything else that would have allowed Hodges to repeat the process and find out what Grissom was testing.
When he entered the layout and seen Greg coming down the hall he discreetly packed up the pills and sat in the chair to read his results. The only pills that had been tampered with were the ones Sara was on now and he suspected the month before but she had already disposed of the packet so he could not find out for sure. He would need to take a blood sample to make sure there were no traces of the pills in her system and he would go ahead and run the necessary test to confirm the pregnancy.
"Where's Sara," Greg asked as he put down a few to go boxes.
About that time Hodges and Wendy walked in. "Thanks Greg," Wendy said as she took the box with her name on it.
"No problem. Here is yours Hodges," Greg handed him a box. He then grabbed the one with Sara's name. "You want me to take this to her?" Greg looked at Grissom.
"She is sleeping now. She can eat it when she wakes." Grissom said as he turned to go.
"Wow, if I was sleeping on the job…" Greg started but was interrupted by Grissom, "She is sick Greg. She shouldn't even be here."
"Point taken," Greg said as he opened his own box. "Aren't you going to eat Griss?"
"In a minute, I am going to look in on Sara first," Grissom said as he turned and walked out the door.
"There is something going on with this case that they are both hiding," Greg stated to no one in particular.
"I agree," Hodges said, "usually Grissom tells me what he is working on when he is in my lab. Today he done everything he could to keep me from finding out."
Wendy rolled her eyes at Hodges, "Probably because he is sick of you being a nosy little kiss ass."
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Grissom seen Catherine enter the lab and he made his way to her. He wanted to just break down and tell her everything so he would have some help on keeping Sara safe but he knew Sara would be very upset. It was going to have to come out soon though. They had to find this guy.
"Back so soon?" he said to Catherine as she walked up to him
"Yea, he didn't have much to say. Just that the 'little bitch finally got what she deserved'" Catherine said using her fingers to make little quotation marks.
"He is a real piece of work Gil, probably a sociopath. If he wasn't in jail I would swear he is our killer." she scoffed.
"To bad he has a good alibi. There is some food in the break room. You can have some out of the box with my name on it. I am going to check on Sara. She's still not feeling well." Grissom said as he turned to go.
"Why don't you just send her home. We can handle this for tonight" Catherine insisted.
"I don't think she needs to be alone. She can just sleep here" he told her.
When Grissom cracked the door to his office he could see Sara starting to stir. He walked in and closed the door, still able to see in the dim light coming from the pulled the shades.
"How long was I out?" Sara asked sleepily.
"Just over an hour. How do you feel?" he asked as he laid his hand across her forehead.
"Better, I think" she sat up slowly.
"Greg brought you some more soup. You need to try and eat"
"Ugh, I don't know if that's a great idea," she grimaced at the thought of food.
"Sara you have to try" he pleaded. "Its been nearly least two days since you were able to hold anything down."
Sara stood and could feel how weak her body had became. She knew Grissom was right. She had to try and keep something down.
"Do you want to go to the break room or would you like me to bring it in here?" Grissom asked
"Here, I don't want to look at anyone else right now." Sara said quietly
"Honey, we need to talk with Catherine. We have to let someone in on this," Grissom said holding up the note that had been on his desk.
"What about…" Sara trailed off as she looked to her stomach
"We may not have to tell her that yet but we can't hide it forever. Catherine is a good friend and I trust her completely. She will back us up and then you could even report to her and it could keep us out of trouble down the line…" Grissom told her
Sara sat back on the sofa. Her head was spinning again. Not only was her past about to be exposed, her whole life was about to be laid in front of Catherine with a simple 'please don't tell' being the only thing between keeping her sanity and her whole world falling apart. She wasn't sure how much she could handle.
"I just…can we just…start with the case…please Gil?" she begged.
"Okay, we will see how you do when we fill her in, but we can't wait much longer. Your safety could be at risk" Grissom said as he turned to get Catherine and Sara's food from the break room.
Author's notes:
Well…there is chapter 3...Please read and review!!! I will do my best to get chapter 4 up within the next 24 hours but you have to review first!!!
