Again I own Nothing, Hope you are enjoying so far. The Walls of Jericho

Chapter 3

"Well, I hate to say it but this break is over," Catherine stated after about twenty minutes of them both sitting on the couch staring at the floor. "Brass has the parents over at the station. He's waiting on us to start the interview."

Nick sighed heavily and stood up. He reached a hand out to Catherine who took it willingly. They stood there looking at each other for a moment, then nodded and turned to make their way to the police station.

When they arrived Brass was standing outside the interrogation room waiting on them. "How are you two holding up?" He could tell from their grave expressions that this was already eating at both of them. Not that he could blame them. It took all of his will power not to stop by his office and finish off a bottle of scotch he had tucked away in the back of one of his drawers.

Catherine gave a pained half smile.

"Let's just get it over with," Nick responded.

Brass agreed with a nod and they entered the room in silence. Nick took the seat closest to the door, remembering his earlier reaction. He didn't want to trample his friends if he needed to make another hasty retreat. Catherine sat in the middle, with Brass in the seat to the far right.

Across from them sat Nickoli Sr. and Nanette St. James. They both had obviously been crying, but it appeared that they had calmed some for the time being. Brass cleared his throat before he began. "Mr. & Mrs. St. James, we are very sorry for your loss. We do have some questions for you though. Your son Nickoli-"

"Nicky," Nanette interrupted. Brass could see Nick bristle out of the corner of his eye.

"Of course, Nicky. Was Nicky acting differently lately? Maybe being defiant or acting out, bad grades, anything like that?"

"Do you people seriously think we wouldn't have done something if we had seen any of those things happening? What kind of irresponsible parents do you think we are?" Nickoli roared at them, his face now an angry red.

"It doesn't take an irresponsible parent for your son to be…" Catherine grabbed Nick's forearm before he could finish his sentence. She didn't have to look at him to know what he was going to say.

"Mr. & Mrs. St. James, we aren't trying to accuse or blame anybody here. Please, we are trying to find out what would make your son hurt himself like he did. As a parent I can't even begin to know how you feel. But as a parent I also know I would want to get to the bottom of it." Catherine turned a sad smile to the St. James's.

"I'm sorry," Nickoli continued. "It's just that, so many people today are blaming everything on bad parents. But we do the best we can. We love our son. We give him everything he needs. And some things he doesn't. But it doesn't matter, does it? He wasn't happy. And he… he…" The tenuous control that Nickoli had on his emotions was suddenly lost.

Nick was only half-heartedly listening to Nickoli's sudden breakdown. "Mrs. St. James, the umm, message your son left. It indicated that a female hurt him. Can you give us a list of any women or girls that Nickoli… Nicky had contact with, even if it was only once. Anybody at all, a teacher, a family member, even a babysitter maybe…. It could be very important." Nick nearly choked on the word babysitter.

"I can tell you right now, Nickoli is home schooled. Our relatives all live out of state and we just have the live-in sitter. She lives with us during the week. That's why she wasn't there earlier. She was at her home for the weekend."

"Thank you. Catherine will take her name and information. Will y'all excuse me…" Nick was just shy of sprinting out the door. Catherine contemplated going after him for a second but decided against it. Instead she took down the babysitter's information.

"Thank you, Mr. & Mrs. St. James. I have one more thing I need from you before you go. To determine what does and what doesn't belong in your house, we will need your fingerprints and your DNA." Catherine braced herself for the outburst that normally took place at this request.

"Of course, and please, Ms. Willows, find out who destroyed our little boy." It was Nanette who spoke for them both again, having placed a gently restraining hand on her husband's arm before he could protest Catherine's request. "You see I work in the medical industry, so I understand the importance. And I will explain it to Nickoli so he understands it is really necessary."

Catherine nodded with relief as she pulled out the needed supplies from her kit. After she was finished she excused herself and left them with Brass. After about half an hour of searching, she finally found Nick in her office. The door was closed and the lights were off. He was doing a hell of a job hiding; she had passed her office at least three times during her search.

"Felling better?" she asked him as she skirted her way into the office before anyone could flag her down.

"Not 'till this case is over. Maybe then. Did you get the name of the… Did you get the name?" It was thirty years ago man why can't you say that word?

"Yes. She's about 50, brown hair, green eyes. Oh, and she has a birthmark near her right eye. Her name is…"

"Alison Jericho," Nick interrupted in a raspy whisper. His eyes locked on Catherine's as all the color left his face. Suddenly he couldn't breath. She was sitting on him. Touching him. Hurting him. He wanted so badly to cry out but he couldn't get enough air. She wouldn't stop. It seemed to last for days. He couldn't move, couldn't cry out, couldn't breath! The darkness slowly closed in on him as her face swam in and out of his sight.

**CSI**NICK**CSI**NICK**CSI**NICK**CSI**NICK**CSI**NICK**CSI**

When Nick opened his eyes half an hour later he was on the couch in Catherine's office. She and Doc Robbins were standing over him. Catherine had a cool cloth on his forehead. "How are you doing, Nick?" Catherine asked, as Nick looked around a little confused.

At first he didn't know if he'd be able to talk. His throat was on fire. "Better?" Nick asked, not sure what had happened. He was talking to Catherine one minute, and then flat on his back on her couch the next.

"You had a bit of a panic attack, Nick. I was glad to see you still keep some of your meds in your locker, just in case. It's a wise if not a hard choice to make." It was Doc Robbins that had his attention now. "Would you like some water? You sound a little hoarse." Nick took the proffered water. Doc Robbins didn't feel there was any need to tell Nick that he had been screaming while he was out of it. Knowing Nick he'd be too embarrassed to finish the shift, Doc Robbins thought to himself.

"Thanks for the help, Doc. I think we have it now." Catherine needed to talk to Nick in private and hoped that Doc Robbins wouldn't be hurt by her request.

"Not a problem. Before I go though, I finished the prelim on your suicide. The sexual assault kit was positive. Oh, and one other thing. I also noticed hesitation marks on the wrists. I'm not going to place a cause of death yet, but on the surface it does look like a suicide. Stop by later and I'll give you the report." With that Doc left to return to the morgue.

"It's her, isn't it?" Catherine asked as she sat in a chair next to the couch.

Nick sat up on the couch, swinging his legs over the edge to let them greet the floor. "Yeah," he responded, staring at his feet. Catherine waited to see if he would say more. "I'm not a little boy anymore. She can't hurt me anymore."

"So why are you letting her twist you up like this, Nick?" Catherine couldn't understand. If he knew that she couldn't hurt him why was he such a mess?

"She hurt other kids. Kids I could have saved if I had told someone before. If I had told before, Nickoli would still be alive. He'd be a happy little ten-year-old boy. He would still have innocence on his side. How many more do you think she's hurt in the thirty years that I've kept this secret, Catherine?" The ramifications became all too clear to him as he looked to Catherine for an answer. Tears were brimming in his eyes.

"Nick, I can't answer that. But I can tell you that you didn't do anything wrong. You were a child yourself. An innocent, victimized child. I know you hate the word victim when it's about you, but it's true. I can tell you that I am here to support you with whatever you decide to do. If you want to keep this to yourself, I'm there with you. If you want to bring this to light, I'll be right beside you. Whatever you decide, Nick, I'm right here." Catherine had stopped trying to catch the tears streaming down her face.

Nick wiped the shed tears from his own face, and then pulled Catherine into a tight embrace. "Thank you, Cath. You don't know how much that means to me." They remained that way until both had shed their load of tears.

"Ok, now I need to go do some damage control." She winked at Nick.

"Damage control? For what?" It was Nick's turn to not understand.

"Well, it seems that there was a little bit of screaming going on in here. And I don't know about you, but I don't want people thinking we've got a little "somethin' somethin'" going on. So, I recommend we go with this: You were having a rough moment with all that's been going on and I recommended some scream therapy. Sound good?" Catherine smiled at him.

"Sorry. You sure you don't want them to think…" Nick grinned.

"No!" Catherine retorted in mock embarrassment.

Catherine reached the door just as Ecklie opened it. "What is this I hear about a, a tryst of some kind going on in here?" The highly-strung man was beyond red with fury.

"Conrad, now really. Do you believe all the rumors you hear? It's just that Nick and I are on a very trying case involving a young boy. Nick was getting stressed so I recommended he try a screaming technique I had heard works pretty well. There was no tryst. You really need to get out more or something," she said, giving Ecklie a serious 'mom look'.

Ecklie did a quick double take, looking at Nick who appeared to be calm and Catherine who was chastising him. "Well, next time… Next time let me know in advance." With that he exited slamming the door.

Catherine turned to Nick who was trying hard not to laugh. When he saw her hiding a laugh of her own he couldn't hold it any longer. They laughed for several minutes. Then the truth of the matter once again slapped Nick in the face.

"Yeah, well this was fun while it lasted. Now, when are we picking her up?" Nick sighed.

"We aren't." Catherine half groaned as she looked at the new text on her cell. "The address she gave is bogus. It's an empty lot."

"Then where does she live on the weekends?" Nick pondered. "We need to do a background on her now!" Nick was up and heading for the door. Catherine just cleared out of the way.