Chapter Four – Drops Of Silence

The body swung gently from side to side, making the rope creak eerily. For the first time in a long time, Sara felt the nausea rise heavy and sour in her throat.

"Murder?"

Grissom shook his head as he pointed to the computer that hummed quietly in the corner of the room.

"I can't do this anymore. They know what I know. They destroyed my life and my parents. I am so sorry"

Sara began to take pictures of Elizabeth Bryant's body, getting as many as she could before the coroner came to take it away. She could hear hysterical crying behind the closed door and not for the first time, she wondered what made Elizabeth take her life. Grissom worked silently beside her, lost in his own train of thought. Elizabeth's last words had been repeating like a mantra in his head since he had seen her. Look closer. The question that nagged him was what were they meant to be looking at? They didn't have any real suspects. How could you look closely at something when you had no idea what it was meant to be? They stood back and watched the coroner pronounce and take Elizabeth's body away before finishing the room. Sara quickly discovered that the sounds of hysteria were not from the parents, who stood seriously in the corner of the kitchen, but from two sobbing figures who sat in the hard seats. It was a boy not much older then Elizabeth and a little girl, no older then nine. Claire and David Bryant were far too calm for Sara's liking, standing sedately away from the sobbing pair. Claire Bryant looked like an older version of Elizabeth, only more serious and with much colder eyes. Her husband was slightly shorter with extremely broad shoulders and bushy arched eyebrows.

"Mr. and Mrs. Bryant, we are sorry for your loss."

Claire shrugged, her face pulled into a grim smile.

"It's not a loss. She chose the way out. She's with God now."

"Mr. and Mrs. Bryant can we ask you a few questions?"

They both nodded once before taking seats on one side of the table, Sara and Grissom taking the other.

"Do you know why your daughter would kill herself?"

The pair exchanged a glance before settling their hard, calm gazes on the CSI's.

"Our daughter is…was a troubled young lady. We recently discovered that she has been practicing pre-marital sex with her boyfriend. And she was pregnant."

All the pieces fell into place and Sara suddenly knew why Elizabeth was so scared. At just eighteen she knew who had committed a murder and she was pregnant to boot.

"How did you find out she was pregnant?"

David gave her a hard look.

"She told us yesterday"

"And how did you react?"

"The same way any parent would. Then I told her to pack her bags and leave this house before her sinfulness infects us all"

Grissom exchanged a glance with Sara, realizing they were on the same thought; how could someone do that to your child?

"And then what?"

"Her boyfriend came over to help her move her pack, despite our protests. We didn't want him here."

"When did you know something was wrong?"

"When Dave said that she had locked her door. We tried to open it but when we could not, we called the police."

"Sara, can you please talk to Dave and I'll finish here."

Sara gave a slight nod before moving away from Grissom and down the hall. The sobbing pair were now down in the last bedroom, one that captured the way the Bryant's lived perfectly. There were no posters on the walls, just a vivid depiction of the death of Jesus Christ above two single beds. A stack of Bibles and other religious paraphernalia littered the room. Sitting on the edge of the bed was the boyfriend Dave and Elizabeth's little sister, Amy.

"Hi, I'm Sara."

Sara took a seat on the floor, cross-legged in front of them.

"Dave, can you tell me what happened?""

He wiped his nose on his sleeve of his jersey, one arm still around the quivering little girl.

"Elizabeth called me over to help her pack. She was going to move in with me and my parents. But her dad went nuts when he saw me. He started slapping her around, calling her stupid and useless. I held him off and she locked herself in her room. That was the last time I saw her alive."

Little Amy sobbed loudly against Dave's chest before slipping off the bed and running out of the room.

"Dave, do you know what Elizabeth was so afraid of?"

Dave shook his head, his face screwing up as the tears started again.

"No, she never told me. She just said that someone knew our secret."

"Did she mention who knew?"

"No just that they did. She didn't deserve this, neither of us did. We were going to raise that baby. We were going to get married and make a life together."

Dave began to sob again and Sara moved from her place on the floor, intending to go back to the dining room but Dave's chocked up voice made her pause.

"Do you know who did this to us?"

"Not yet but I will."

"Thank you"

Sara closed the door quietly behind her and headed back to the dining room, shocked by what she saw. Amy was still sobbing but instead of comforting her child, Claire Bryant ignored the little girls repeated attempts to hug her. Amy, obviously in desperate need for comfort, moved to her father's side, trying to gain his attention. But instead of ignoring her as his wife had done, David Bryant did something much worse. He slapped the little girl across the cheek, the sound emanating off the bland walls. Far from calming her, the slap sent her into deeper hysterics, the sobs even louder then before. David pulled his hand back to slap her again only this time his hand never found its mark. With speed that Sara had only seen a few times before, Grissom moved between the man and his daughter.

"Put your hand down Mr. Bryant"

David Bryant looked at Grissom, his face pulled into a confused frown. In his world, nobody questioned the hitting of his wife and children; it was the way things were done.

"Hand down"

He dropped his hand back to his side and Grissom glanced at Sara.

"Can you please take Amy outside? I'll call Brass."
David moved forward to stop Sara but Grissom moved slightly and blocked the man off.

"What do you think you're doing with my daughter?"

Grissom didn't back down, his voice still maintaining that smooth, calm tone.

"Saving her from you"

Sara took Amy's hand, leading the little girl outside to sit on the front step.

"Are you ok sweetheart?"

Amy continued to sob, her entire body shaking. Sara said nothing more, just let the little girl lean against her. Sara had previously thought of herself as lacking in the maternal gene, that it had somehow skipped her. But a few months after her arrival in Las Vegas, she had an encounter with a little girl that had been severely abused by her own father. That small girl changed her perspective on her own instincts. While she was hardly going to pop out kids in the next few years, it was still good to know that the very thing she thought she lacked had merely been lying dormant. Brass pulled up a little while later, his face flushed.

"Sorry I'm late. I had to make an arrest for Catherine and Greg. How can I help you?"

Sara glanced down at Amy who had cried herself to sleep and was now lying curled on Sara's lap.

"Father slapped little Amy here. Grissom's inside if you want details."

Brass paused as he moved past her, a small smile on his face.

"You look good with the kid Sara."

He left quickly, all business again and Sara filed the comment as a compliment. She continued to stroke Amy's soft brown hair as the little girl continued to suck her thumb and sleep, the tears still wet on her cheeks. Sara pretended not to hear the yelling going on inside the house, even though she could hear Grissom and Brass's voices mixed in with Amy's parents before Grissom and Brass burst out of the fly screen door, Dave following close behind.

"We're taking Amy with us."

Grissom held open the door for Dave, who climbed into the passenger side next to Brass. He then opened the back door for Sara, who scooped up Amy, who was surprisingly light, and got into the car, Grissom slipping in beside her. The ride back to HQ was completely silent, Sara doing nothing more then look out the window, lost in thought of Elizabeth. She could not imagine being so terrified that she could possibly take her own life. What kind of person could strike that kind of fear, so deep that there seemed no way out?

"Dave, you go with Detective Brass, ok? We need you to give a statement over what happened with Elizabeth"

Dave nodded his head low as he exited the vehicle, Brass's big hand on his shoulder as they entered HQ.

"It's such a waste"

Grissom's voice was low and thoughtful, almost as if he was talking to himself.

"In one night a young girl and a baby are lost with no real explanation as to why she felt that suicide was her only way out."

"There are never any answers to death Grissom. You know that better then I do."

Grissom glanced down at Amy, who was still sleeping soundly between them. He wondered if this child, this symbol of innocence realized just how severely her world had altered. She had lost her older sister and her future niece or nephew to suicide. No person, young or old should have to live with that. For now, Amy coped with her grief in the only way children knew how; escaping to her dreams.

"Will she have to go into foster care?"

"Most likely, with our statements as well as Dave's. At least she'll have a better chance at life"

"Foster care is hardly a better life Grissom."

"You came out better then most."

"That's because the scars you gather aren't on the outside Grissom. Bouncing from home to home, never really feeling like you have a home, being shunned by your new 'family' and being labeled because you don't have parents like the rest of the kids, really hurts you."

"Sara I didn't mean-"

"I know Grissom, I know."

Amy began to stir in Sara's arms and she waited with baited breath to see how the girl would react. Amy opened her bloodshot eyes, glancing between Sara and Grissom, her face pulled into a frown.

"Where are we?"

"At a laboratory."

"Why?"

"Because we need to ask you some questions."

"Can I get something to eat first? I'm really hungry"

Sara gave Grissom a small smile over the top of Amy's head.

"Sure Amy. Let's go in."

Amy climbed from the car, her face serious as she somehow managed to match Sara's long strides with several of her own quick steps.

"Did you take me away because daddy smacked me again?"

"Has he done it before?"

"Yes, it's the biblical way. Is that why you took me away?"

"In a way, yes. But first we need to talk to you about what happened to Elizabeth.

"Ok"

Sara led the little girl to the vending machine in the main reception area. She handed Amy a couple of dollar bills and stood back, allowing her to choose for herself. Amy was so used to having her world controlled by her father that when it came to choosing something for herself, she couldn't. She was starting to get agitated, bouncing from foot to foot on the verge of tears and Sara decided to make the choice for her. She selected a diet coke for herself, a Tang for Amy and a large chocolate Brownie that Greg had told her was the best sugar rush on the face of the earth. She then took Amy's hand and led her down the hall to a free interview room, pretending not to notice when Grissom slipped quietly into the room, sitting on a chair behind them. If she wasn't well aware of his gaze, Sara would believe that it was just her and Amy.

"So Amy, do you know why Elizabeth was so scared?"

Amy nodded, taking a huge bite of brownie and chasing it down with a gulp of soda.

"I know cause I always listen when Elizabeth is on the phone. I like to hear what the older girls talk about"

"Do you know who she was talking to?"

"Anna"

"Anna Jones?"

Amy shrugged.

"I don't know her last name. But she sounded angry with Elizabeth. Real angry"

"Do you know why she was so angry?"

"Cause she saw something she shouldn't of"

"And what was that?"

"Charlie kissing Anna"

"So they were angry at Elizabeth because she saw Anna kissing a boy?"

Amy smiled widely at Sara, her voice in rushed, excited tones.

"Charlie is a girl silly! I thought it was a boy too till I heard Elizabeth talking to her. She sounded mad as well."

Sara gulped and glanced at Grissom. He looked as surprised as she felt. Sara had been right to think that Elizabeth was the key, because in her death, she had busted open an entire case.

"Sara?"

Amy looked at Sara with wide solemn eyes, brownie crumbs dotting her chin and lips.

"Yes sweetheart?"

"Elizabeth's not coming back, is she?"

"No honey, she's not"

"So mommy was right then? Elizabeth is resting with the angels?"

Sara felt her eyes well with tears. Amy was a poor victim in all this. The killer of Sophia Jones took an innocent life down with them.

"Yes honey, Elizabeth is resting with angels"

"Good. Elizabeth would make a great angel."

Sara sat back and watched Amy finish the last of her brownie and soda, feeling Grissom's gaze on her back. She resisted the urge to look at him; she knew what she would see there. Amy may have lost her sister and Sara her father, but the ways that violence had dominated and affected their young lives, Sara and Amy were one in the same. Grissom knew that but Sara for once, wished he didn't know anything at all.