Devil's Breath

Chapter Six

Morgan walked into Hodges' lab and as she did, he looked up from examining Greg's clothes and asked sympathetically, "How are you doing?"

Morgan stared down at the blood covered shirt Greg was wearing earlier when he had been brought to the hospital until his clothes were taken to be examined by the lab techs as she answered coldly, "How do you think I'm doing? I… David, I'm sorry. I didn't mean…"

"Don't worry about it," he replied before she could finish. "I understand your frustration. It was a stupid question and you're worried about Greg. If it means anything, I am too. We don't usually see eye to eye on much, but I think out of all the other CSI's, besides you, he's the one that I can consider a friend somewhat. At least he doesn't consider me as much of a joke like the others."

"Have you been able to find anything?" she asked pleadingly. "I mean, anything that can help Greg?"

Hodges responded, "I haven't found much; mostly our victim's blood. However, I did find a gas receipt, as well as one for a cup of coffee inside Greg's pants pocket. The time stamp says these were purchased just before five yesterday afternoon."

Morgan spoke again saying, "Greg called me this morning after he left the diner with Nick to tell me about having to meet with his friend yesterday instead of coming with me to the new jazz club. He said that his friend had asked to meet with him around five."

"So you're saying Greg did leave to meet up with his friend, whom I learned from Russell said that Greg never made it there to his hotel room to meet him," Hodges continued. "If whoever attacked Greg did so at the diner where he had bought the coffee, the surveillance cameras across at the gas station surely would have picked up an incident."

"I think Nick is working on getting the footage to see if any of that's true," she stated. "I'm here because I need to know if you know of any kind of drug that can get Greg to do something that he could never do, cause complete memory loss for the last twenty-four hours, then disappear from his system completely within maybe twelve hours?"

Hodges asked, "There were no drugs found when the doctors ran all their tests?"

Morgan shook her head as she answered, "Nope; nothing. Please tell me that you know of something. The evidence against him is piling up, he's now been arrested, and so far, we've got nothing to help him. He's already given up hope. I can't."

"Well unfortunately, nothing comes to mind," Hodges replied. "In fact, it sounds impossible, but that doesn't mean that it is. I can search the drug databases though. It will take a while, so…"

"That's why I'm here," Morgan responded. "I really appreciate this, David. I mean, I know it's your job and all, but I still am grateful."

It was then that Conrad Ecklie walked into the room as he said, "Before you get started, Morgan, can I speak to you for a minute?"

She smiled and then answered, "Yeah, sure."

After walking back out behind him and taking a few more steps away from the lab for privacy, Morgan suddenly embraced him as she spoke up saying, "I'm so glad you're back, Dad. Everything's a mess right now."

"I know," Conrad replied as he hugged her back. "I came back from San Diego as soon as I received a call from Russell telling me that one of our own was in trouble. How's Greg doing?"

"Not good," she responded. "He's not good. I know what it looks like and I know why Captain Brass had no choice in arresting him, but Greg didn't do this, Dad. Someone had to have assaulted him and drugged him with something in order to get him to go out and shoot a man in front of a number of eyewitnesses. Someone, who's very smart and knows how to cover his tracks."

Ecklie nodded as he answered, "I believe you. Greg's a good man. I wanted to let you know that I've called in a few favors in hope to ensure that Greg is looked after as long as he's stuck inside. He'll have his own cell for starters. We've all helped to put several of the scum that's in that prison away. Hopefully, no one will recognize him as one of us while we work to set him free."

Morgan smiled and replied, "Thank you! I need to… I need…"

"Everything's going to be all right, sweetheart," Conrad said as he pulled her once again into his arms when she began to break as tears began to fall from her eyes. "We're going to find who did his to Greg and make him pay."

"It's getting harder and harder for me to believe that," she responded.

Ecklie spoke up again as he asked, "You really care about him, don't you? I mean, more than as just a friend?"

Morgan finally let go as she looked up at her father and then answered, "Yeah, I think I might."

"Then when this is all over, I suggest you tell him," he replied. "I didn't tell your mother how much I cared for her enough when I should have, nor did I tell you for the longest time. It was the biggest mistake I've ever made. I almost lost you. I don't want you to make that same mistake. I just want you to be happy."

"Thank you, Dad," Morgan responded sincerely. "I need to get back to work. We're going to find something that will help."

As she started to walk back toward the lab, her father said, "That's my girl. Try not to worry so much. I'll do all I can from my end."

As she came back into the lab, Hodges spoke up saying, "It's good that your father is back. You ready to get to work?"

"Yeah, I'm ready," she answered. "Let's find us some answers."

Meanwhile…

"You shouldn't have asked me to do this," a man spoke angrily into his cell phone. "The man we had kill Eppes is a CSI. The others will do whatever it takes to prove he's innocent."

The voice on the other end of the line replied, "As long as you covered your tracks and did exactly as you were supposed to do, you shouldn't have any problems. The Las Vegas police and CSI's won't be able to find out the truth."

The man responded, "I understand why Eppes had to die and I have no problem with having him killed, but what I want to know is, why did we have to use Greg Sanders? It was too risky. We could have used anyone."

"We used him because soon they will discover that Greg Sanders has a motive to have wanted Judd Eppes dead, which will only help to make him look guiltier," the voice stated again. "He is the perfect patsy."