Innocent Until Proven Guilty
Chapter 3-Interagation
Greg was at Brass' office in no time at all, with Nick in hot pursuit. "Brass!" Greg burst into the detective's office. "I need you to go get Sara's statement."
"Greg, wait up!" Nick entered the office trying to catch his breath.
"Whoa! What is going on here?" He stood and walked over to the younger men.
"We are all going to go get Sara's statement."
"Nick, you're not coming."
"Greg, you are bias in this situation, you are not going alone. We need every detail, not just what could help him."
"You just want to come so you can get Grissom behind bars!" He shouted at Nick.
"Greg, Grissom is a dead man walking! We already have everything we need to convict him!" He shouted back, getting everyone in the stations attention.
"Boys! Quiet down and we will all go to the hospital and I will ask the questions." He looked at them sternly. "Ok?"
"Ok." They both dropped their heads and they all headed to Brass' car.
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Sara sat in the bed staring at her ring remembering the day Gil gave it to her. She smiled at the memory.
(Flashback)
Their date was a lot less than perfect in Gil's eyes, but Sara loved that he was trying so hard. First they went out to dinner but ended up getting kicked out because someone rented the whole place for a private dinner. Gil was so mad that he wanted to punch the snooty waiter. "I reserved this table a month ago."
"I'm sorry, Sir. We can reschedule you for," he looked at the book in front of him, "Three months from Tuesday." He spoke in a nasally voice.
"That's not good enough, buddy."
Sara pulled his arms back and he relaxed in her grasp. "Forget it, Gil. We can go somewhere else."
They walked down the street a little and found a nice family restaurant to eat at. But when they sat down they realized it was full of family and packed with kids. Sara laughed at it but he was not amused. Before they could even order their drinks, one of the kids ran over to Sara and threw up all over her new dress. "I'm sorry, Miss." The kid said before her parents came to get her.
"I am so sorry; but you know, kids will be kids." She smiled and walked away with her daughter.
Sara couldn't believe how rude that lady was and she couldn't even take control over her kids running around the restaurant. "Gil, I'm sorry to ruin our night out, but I think we should go home." Sara wiped of her dress with the napkin.
"That sounds like a good idea." He sounded upset.
"I'm sorry, baby."
"Don't worry, I'll cook you a home dinner while you take a shower." They stood and drove home.
Gil was cooking a gourmet dinner with all the fixings. The stuffed vegetables were in the oven and he went to go get the fine linens from the closet. After setting the table he remembered the food and ran to the kitchen and opened the oven. Smoke came pouring out of the oven making the smoke alarm sound. Sara came bounding down the hallway in her towel. "Gil, are you ok?"
He took out the burnt vegetables and set them on the stove. "I'm fine but I think these vegetables have seen better days." He walked over to the table and slumped into a chair with a sigh.
"Gil, what's wrong?" She straddled his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck; her towel rising up above her thighs.
"I ruined our date."
"You didn't ruin it; you didn't know all this stuff was going to happen." She kissed his lips lightly and pulled back to look him in the eyes. "Besides, it's not like we haven't had bad dates before."
"But this was the date."
"Gil?"
He stood up and sat Sara down on the chair. He got down on one knee and took her hands in his. "Sara, I have loved you ever since I met you in San Francisco, when I saw you tripped down the last step entering my class late. I'm sorry I took so long to finally act on my feelings but believe me that they were always there. I love you, Sara Sidle. I'm sorry about this horrible day and please put it behind you when I ask you this question. Sara Sidle, will you do me the honor of marrying me and becoming my wife?"
Sara dropped her towel and covered her mouth and tears stung her eyes. "I'm sorry, I never should have asked after this atrocious date." He started to stand but she held his hands.
"Gil, would you sit still so I can say yes?" he smiled at her and she smiled back.
"Yes?" he asked.
"Yes." He slid the ring onto her finger and kissed it before he stood, bringing her with him. He captured her lips with his and she deepened the kiss. She opened her mouth and his tongue snaked in. There was a knock at the door and he pulled back. She wrapped her towel around her and Gil got the door.
"Hello?"
"Your fire alarm alerted the fire station, is everything ok?" the fireman asked.
"Ya, just burnt dinner, sorry about the trouble."
"No problem."
He shut the door and walked back over to Sara. "I'll call for take out; what do you want?"
"I'm not hungry anymore." She turned around and dropped her towel as she walked into the bedroom. Gil smiled and followed her down to the bedroom.
(End Flashback)
A knock at the door brought Sara back from the past and into the bleak present. Brass entered the room, followed by Greg and Nick. "Hey, how you doing?"
"Fine." They all walked in and Brass took a seat and Greg and Nick stood next to him.
"Ok, well, I'm here to take your statement."
"I was wondering when you were going to do that."
"Ok, start from the beginning, what were you doing before the attack?"
"Gil and I were watching T.V., it was our day off together, when the phone rang. He got up and it was Catherine. He told me he was being called out to a case. I told him to get groceries on his way back and I gave him the list and he left."
"What happened after that?" Brass was writing it all down.
"I heard a knock on the door not to much later and I thought it was Gil because he forgot his kit. I opened the door and this man tackled me inside."
"Was it Gil?"
"No." He nodded for her to continue. "The door was still open; I remember the breeze was really cold." She looked down at her ring and started playing with it. "I screamed, I don't remember what, but I remember my voice sounded weird."
"Why?" Brass asked.
"I don't know." She took a deep breath and continued. "He punched me in the face and I fell to the ground. He was on top of me and I could hear Gil calling my name. He got off of me and I heard him hit Gil with something. After awhile I couldn't hear Gil anymore and then he fell to the floor in front of me. He was bleeding from his mouth, a lot."
"We didn't find any of his blood at the scene." Nick told her.
"He was lying on the rug we had bought a couple months earlier."
"We didn't find the rug."
"I don't know why."
"Calm down." Brass put his arms on her shoulders to calm her. "Please continue."
"I called his name a couple times and he told me he was sorry-"
"Sorry for what?" Nick asked.
"That he couldn't help me. He was lying in pain on the ground and couldn't get the man off of me." Sara was physically shaking now. "Gil told me he loved me and then I blacked out. I don't remember anything else."
"Well, your neighbor never saw anyone other than Gil enter or leave the house. Are you sure it wasn't Gil?"
"I'm positive! He didn't do this."
"You're safe, Sara. He isn't going to hurt you anymore; you can tell us the truth." Nick told her gently.
"I've been telling the truth! He didn't do this!"
"Sara, the evidence say's he did."
"Why wont you listen to her?!" Greg shouted at the defense of Sara and Gil. "He didn't do this, Nick. Why don't you believe her?"
"Because she has no clue what happened to her that night!" Everyone stared at him. He turned to Sara, "Sara, I am so sorry I didn't mean-"
"No, you're not. You think I am going crazy, and I don't know what I am talking about, but I do. I know what happened that night and you aren't listening to me."
"Sara-"
"No, just leave. I'm done." Brass and Nick left.
Greg turned to Sara, "Sara-"
"Greg, I want to be alone."
"Ok." He left leaving her alone with her thoughts.
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Grissom woke from his fitful sleep and sat against the wall again. He took some food and water and stored the rest for later. Again the light turned on and the door swung open. "I brought you something, I don't think you'll need it but it might be fun to watch." He walked all the way down the tall steps and stood in front of his victim. He dropped one of Sara's necklaces to the floor.
Gil picked it up and realized it was the one he had given her for their one year anniversary. He remembered it was the one she was where that night. "What the hell did you do to her?" Gil stood, bracing his tired body against the wall. He didn't answer him, instead turned around and started walking off. Gil stumbled after him and grabbed his shoulder, turning him around. "What the fuck did you do to her?!" he demanded.
"You shouldn't worry about that, you'll be with her soon enough." He turned to walk away but Gil stopped him.
"Tell me, now." He answered him with a solid blow to his face. Gil stumbled backwards until his back was against the wall. He went to his spot in the corner and sat down again. He let out a sigh and once the lights turned off her looked up at the ceiling. "I'm sorry, Sara."
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Nick and Greg reentered the layout room and Catherine and Warrick were and they were no longer looking at the evidence, it was packed away in the boxes. "You get anything from her?" Warrick asked.
"Nothing but what she thinks happens." Nick answered.
"You can't be serious. She sat there, telling us the truth, and you don't believe her?" Greg couldn't believe what Nick was saying. "You can honestly stand there and put words into her mouth. You don't actually think he did this."
"Greg, we have been through this before-" Catherine started but was cut off.
"We are going through this stuff again!" He dumped the evidence back on the table.
"Greg, we looked through it three times."
"There has to be some hair, some fiber, something left behind by the real attacker."
"Greg! Listen to me! The only plausible person who could have attacked her is Grissom. It may be hard to hear but that is the truth."
"You think he would hurt Sara?" They stared at him. "He wouldn't."
"I didn't believe it either but the evidence-" Warrick was cut off.
"Is missing. Sara said there was a rug, and that could be why Grissom's blood stops where it does. He was on the rug, you heard Sara."
"Not this theory again, Greg." Nick shook his head. "We have him, that blood is circumstantial."
"Circumstantial my ass. You are willing to throw out a key piece of evidence because it may be circumstantial? Hell, if we call that circumstantial we might as well call all of Sara's blood circumstantial. What if it was from a nose bleed or it could be from-"
"Ok, we get your point." Warrick said, cutting him off. "Even with the blood, he is still our main suspect, and no one else was seen entering the house."
"He is innocent until proven guilty."
"He has been proven guilty already, Greg. We all know he did it, and we can get over the fact that he was our boss and go with the evidence on this." Nick was face to face with Greg.
"I'm going to keep looking. There has to be something here." Greg went to the table and brought out his magnifying glass.
"Go ahead, there is nothing there." Catherine scuffed and left the room. Nick and Warrick looked at Greg before leaving too.
"Come on, there has to be something."
TBC
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