Gil awoke slowly, his eyes opening momentarily until his mind finally won the battle to wake him up. The townhouse was dark and quiet and the only sound he could hear was that of the ticking clock on the wall above his head.
Four days. It had only been four days since this nightmare began and to Gil it felt like years had drug through him like a plague. Somewhere out there, the man that had hurt Sara was living his life…roaming the city, free to do it again. The bruises on Catherine were proof of it and here Gil lay, secure in his home while this mad man went free
That mad man was Conrad Ecklie
Next to him, Sara lay curled against his body, her head resting softly on his shoulder as her left arm lay loosely across his chest. He brought his arm around her tighter, pulling her to him as he tried to regain the comforting sleep from moments before. This was a rare moment, he knew, and he did not want to fully regain consciousness and have to let her go.
Since the attack she had stayed mostly in his spare room, the physical proximity of their bodies being nearly too much for her to handle. He had understood, allowing her the space to recover and overcome her demons. But tonight, with Catherine and Lindsey in the spare room and Warrick taking up guard in the living room, she had reluctantly succumbed to exhaustion huddled along the very edge of his large bed as far from physical contact as possible.
To wake up and find her here…this close…was unimaginable and he did not want to awaken her and lose the ability to hold her, to protect her, to feel her. She was nearly fully clothed, a pair of pajama pants and a large bulky sweatshirt but she felt good pressed against him…she felt comfortable. And he knew if he could, he would pull her into him, absorbing her very being into himself so that no one could ever hurt her again, no one could touch her and he could keep her safely within him, safe from the world.
If only she would let him
He turned, kissing her forehead softly and causing her to stir only slightly as she settled in closer to him. They lay this way for mere minutes longer until she turned in sleep, rolling away from his embrace to leave him feeling empty and exposed. Moving the covers back, he reluctantly moved out of the bed, careful not to wake her as he made his way from the room.
As he went down the stairs, he found Warrick sitting in the darkened living room, absorbed in some program that was displayed on the TV. He looked up at Gil
"Can't sleep?"
Gil switched on the kitchen light "It seems an odd hour to be sleeping" He replied, referring to their usual graveyard schedule "Would you like some tea?"
Warrick held up a bottle of beer. "Nope, I'm good Man"
Once the tea was brewing, Gil went back into the living room to join Warrick on the couch. He was watching some police show centering on forensics "Don't get enough of this at work?"
Warrick smiled "I like to see how other people do it" He replied "You know, maybe I am missing something"
Gil sighed "I often think that I am missing a lot"
Warrick took a slow drink of beer before looking over at him "You know this isn't your fault" He said knowingly as he motioned towards the stairs "What happened to Sara…to Catherine and Lindsey…this isn't your fault"
"I was being selfish…" Gil said quickly "I ended…what we had…" He shook his head "I guess you call that breaking up right? I thought we were better that way. That I was better that way…how does that even make sense?"
"Sometimes we do stupid shit" Warrick replied as he put his feet up on the table "We let our fear and apprehension tell us what to do...I mean, look at me and Tina."
He was studying the beer in Warrick's hand "If I hadn't made those decisions…" He shrugged "…she'd have been here and not at the lab. And she'd have been safe, Rick…" He swallowed hard before looking at Warrick thoughtfully "I made a bad decision and now people I care about are paying for it"
"Griss, c'mon man…" Warrick said 'This didn't happen to them because you broke up with Sara. Bad people who do bad things don't do them because they're given the opportunity. They do them because they're determined to. No matter what you did, he'd have done this eventually"
Gil studied him thoughtfully before speaking again "I've never thought about killing anyone in my life, even though I've studied the myriad of ways that it happens every single day for a very good portion of it" He said acutely "People like us, we help figure out the how…but I've never really thought much about the why..…"
"Until now" Warrick stated
Gil opened his mouth and closed it, blinking once before responding "Until now…"
Warrick nodded "You better go get a beer, My Friend. It is going to be a very long night"
Conrad Ecklie was livid. He had sat the majority of the day across from his boss, who was performing an executive review of his file. The review board thought that the stress of the position was getting to him, that the demands of the job were too much for Conrad and that perhaps his judgment was impaired and therefore they mandated a temporary relief of duties.
They could have over looked his losing his temper on occasion, they could even over look his behavior with Supervisor Grissom, but driving under the influence was absolutely not tolerated. Especially when that behavior led to the vehicular assault against one of their top CSI's
Ecklie was jeopardizing the integrity of the lab and it was time he stepped down. All they asked was that he complete mandated alcohol counseling with anger management sessions and perhaps he could stay on as a lower level CSI
He was, to put it mildly, enraged
And now he sat, across from Jim Brass, discussing the charges against him for vehicular assault and driving under the influence. It really was far too much for him to comprehend
"I was not drinking!" He exploded after 20 minutes listening to Brass read his charges and the supporting statements. He jumped up, banging his fist on the table in front of him
Brass rolled his eyes "Oh, come on man" He said "You saying the breathalyzer test was faulty?"
"I didn't take a breathalyzer test, Jim" He seethed "And you know it!"
Jim shrugged. "That's not what your file says"
Conrad erupted, knocking the file off of the desk with a great sweep of his arm "I don't give a flying fuck what that file says!" He bellowed "I was NOT drinking and I did not take a breathalyzer exam!"
Brass sat, hands clasped in front of him on the table; it was growing a lot more difficult to remain calm "Oh, now…" he said "Why'd you have to go do that for? Now someone's going to have to pick up all of those papers…"
"You listen to me!" Conrad seethed "You better figure out what the hell is going on here, and you better figure it out fast! You got it?"
"Are you threatening me?" Brass asked, returning Ecklie's glare with a steel gaze of his own "Because people around here don't take too kindly to one of their own being threatened" With that the door opened and two uniformed officers came in, standing just inside the door as a small, coy smile spread across Brass's face "Capiche?"
Conrad's glare turned into a sneer as he straightened his suit "Capiche" He spat, standing up. As he rounded the corner of the table, he stopped long enough to lean down close to Brass's ear "But don't forget that you do have a daughter out there…somewhere…" he said quietly before patting Brass's shoulder "…and with my connections, I'm pretty sure it won't be too hard for me to find her…"
With that Brass was up, grabbing Ecklie's arm with such force that it nearly knocked the man to his knees as he yanked it grotesquely behind his back "Now that was a threat" He said as he shoved Conrad forward violently, knocking him over the chair as he toppled to the floor. "Damn…that was a nasty fall, wasn't it officers?" Brass asked as the two officers nodded stiffly,
Brass stepped over Conrad's wriggling frame, glaring down at him "Better get those shoes fixed, Conrad. We wouldn't want you having any more accidents, now would we?"
With that he left the room, giving instructions to the officers to 'get him the hell out of my building' before storming down the hallway
He flipped his phone open as he did, waiting patiently as the answering machine on the other end picked up "Ellie…" He said, feeling desolate "It's your dad. Call me, okay? We really need to talk"
And as he heard Ecklie being escorted down the hallway in the other direction, Brass knew that he needed to get his daughter out of Vegas and perhaps even the country, no matter how much money it cost him
Anyone out there still reading? Let me know...
