All For Nothing
Chapter 8 – Are you kidding me?!
"So Mr Parez," Louise asked the man in the orange jump suit who had been glaring at her for the last ten minutes, "Why didn't you report your daughter missing?"
The man folded his arms and Brass hit the table in anger, "You'd better start talking; your daughter has been missing for 12 years. Why didn't you inform the authorities?"
He still said nothing. Louise opened the case file. "Mr Parez, you've been in prison for twelve years, for possession of cocaine. It's more than a little coincidence that your daughter also went missing twelve years ago. So what, did you sell her for drugs?"
The guy's expression confirmed Louise's fears and she exchanged a look with Brass. "Mr Parez, is your daughter in this photograph?"
He shook his head pursing his mouth angrily. Louise's eyes widened, pulling out her the pictures of the 'Three Little Birds' as Nick had begun calling them.
"Is this your daughter?" He looked at the first picture with no emotion but with the girl's sister he became visibly upset.
"They took my Carla?" he sobbed, stroking the picture.
"Carla?" Louise asked, tentatively.
"I'm going to kill them!" he yelled, smashing his fist to the table. Louise jumped but managed to stay calm.
"Mr Parez! If you don't tell me what happened, then I'm afraid I can't help you. I need to find out who killed Carla, and I can't do that unless you tell me the truth." Louise watched the man's expression soften.
"Before I was stuck in the joint, I got in with a bad crowd; Russian Mafia sort. I owed them a load of money but I couldn't pay up. Maria was a peace offering; they said they would leave the rest of my family. Carla was staying with her Grandma." He covered his face with his hands.
Brass took a seat next to Louise, "And where was her Grandma staying?"
"She had a house in Pahrump."
Xxx
"We found a body in the back garden," Brass said down the phone, as Louise stared through the glass at Mr Parez, "Looks like they got to Grandma too."
"Thanks, let me know if you find anything else." Louise watched Mr Parez for a while longer. She frowned; something definitely wasn't right. When she walked back into the interrogation room, he was smirking. "Mr Parez, I have a question for you. How did you know that picture was of Carla? She would've been only a few months old when you were put in prison."
"Do you have kids, Ms Carter?" He asked.
Louise frowned, "This isn't about me."
"You would recognise your own kid." He replied, "It's a parental thing. I knew that was my Carla the moment I looked in her eyes."
He stared at Louise as though he was trying to read her, "You look like you were a parent once."
She raised her eyebrow, "I'm 23, trust me; not a parent."
"You've got that look…" he taunted.
"There's a look?" she questioned, irritated by his persistence. Nick knocked on the window of the interrogation room, beckoning Louise.
"Lou, this guy is stalling. You're not going to get anything else useful out of him." He rubbed her arm reassuringly, "You okay?"
She jumped, "Yeah, sorry. Zoned out for a second… Where are we on tracking down the circle?"
"We've cross referenced 'Russian mobsters' with coyotes and drug circles and have come up empty. Greg is looking through all the old Vegas references to coyotes at the moment. But Grissom wants you to go home… You've been working non-stop for three days." He steered her down the hall and took her back to the lab.
"I need to solve this case, Nick." She protested.
He stood with her in reception to ensure that she clocked out and then escorted her back to her car, "What is it with me having to tell you that you want solve a case on caffeine and sleep deprivation?" he teased, as she wound down the window and started up the Lexus.
"I'll see you later Nick." She yawned through her smile. Before she could pull out of the parking lot, however, she heard the emergency bell from PD. "Looks like I'm not going home then…"
She followed Nick to the building and slipped in the front door, where cops were running around the corridors madly. Louise spotted Brass among the chaos.
"BRASS!" she shouted above the noise, "What happened?"
"Your BFF, Mr Parez, broke out!" he explained when they reached him, "He's been playing us this whole time!"
"What?" Nick frowned, "How is that even possible?"
Louise gripped her hair in frustration, "So what, he's involved?"
"It looks like it." Brass replied grimly.
"I'm so sorry, Brass," Louise sighed, "This is all my fault."
"Hey," Nick touched her shoulder reassuringly, "You didn't know that he was going to be a shady bastard. Don't blame yourself for any of this."
"Even if I don't," she said softly, watching all the uniforms glare at her as they walked past, "They will."
Grissom and the rest of the graveyard team came running in from the crime lab, "What's going on?" he panted, seeing the chaos erupting around him.
"Parez escaped," Louise muttered, "He was only screwing us over,"
"How the hell did he manage to escape police custody though?" Nick added, "Unless…"
"Don't even go there Nicky," Louise warned.
He held up his hands, "I'm just saying…"
Brass stepped forward threateningly, "Woah, woah, woah! Don't go blaming my guys here Stokes. They had nothing to do with this."
"Well how do you explain him getting out then, Jim" he emphasised, returning the threat.
Catherine stepped between them, "Gentlemen, please. This is not helping."
"She's right." Louise added, "Standing here bickering about whose fault this is won't find the guy and it won't get us any closer to finding who killed Carla, Maria and her daughter."
Brass cleared his throat, "Right. I'll organise this lot and sent out some guys."
Grissom slipped his arm around Louise's shoulder, "Lou, I'm going to have Greg drive you home.
"But…" she began.
"Louise…" he interrupted sternly as Greg reached the group. His featured softened and he pulled her aside, "I'm worried about you. You are getting too involved in these cases. I want you to go home and get some sleep, okay?"
"Alright, Gil." She replied in a whisper, "Just… find him, please."
He nodded, "Greg…"
Xxx
Greg walked Louise up to her apartment, making sure that she didn't make a run for it.
"Do you want to come in?" she asked at the door. Greg shifted uncomfortably and Louise sighed, "Grissom wants you to keep an eye on me?"
Greg nodded, following her into the apartment. "He's right, Lou. We're worried about you."
She dumped her bag on the floor and threw her weapon into the safe, frustrated that her only break in finding the girl's murderer had just slipped their clutches. "I'm fine, Greg. Really."
She stopped, halfway through searching for a coffee mug and used the kitchen counter for balance. Greg wrapped his arms around her and she turned into his chest, burying her head in his shoulder. "I am a crappy CSI." She muttered, as he held her.
"Don't say that Lou!" he objected, lifting up her chin, "You're a damn good CSI! You've been here for five months and have already made Level 3. That's 100 cases solved in 5 months."
"But I let myself get too emotional about my cases," she sighed, trying to avoid his eyes, "I become obsessed with solving cases. You heard Nick; that is the 5th time he's told me since I got here that caffeine and sleep deprivation won't solve a case."
Greg forced her to look into his eyes, "You are passionate about your job. You become involved in your cases because you see your duty to the victims' families and friends to bring the perpetrator to justice. You are amazing at seeing the other side of the story and you don't stop until you find what you are looking for. That is not obsession; that's dedication."
Louise smiled lightly, "You're too nice to me, Greg." She whispered, leaning in. She slipped her hand behind his neck and rose up onto her tiptoes, kissing him lightly.
Greg groaned as his phone rang, "Are you flipping kidding?"
She sighed as he checked the caller ID, "It's Grissom."
"It's okay. Answer it." She turned back to her coffee machine and started up the process. Greg wandered into the living room and talked to her uncle in a low voice.
When he finished his call she handed him a cup of coffee.
"Grissom wants me to go back to the lab. He's got some evidence from PD which needs to be processed." He grimaced, taking a sip from his coffee. He sighed as he put the cup onto the coffee table, "I should probably go."
Louise nodded, walking with him to the door, "Greg."
He turned around expectantly and she contemplated kissing him again.
"… Thanks for driving me home." She bit her lip as he waved, closing the door behind him and sliding down the wood, muttering to herself. "Idiot!"
A.N. Aaaaannndd... They're not together (yet.) Apologies. Sorry for not updating in a while; I've been really busy with school. Please R&R and let me know what you think. I absolutely love this case and I think it might become Louise's Nate Haskell... I've got some amazing story lines coming up, surrounding the Three Little Bird killer (and obviously the escapee) as well as Louise, Greg and all the lab shenanigans. If you have any requests for scenes/chapters you'd like to see, perhaps more Grissom/Louise bonding or of course my OTP, Greg and Louise, then please leave your comments in the section below.
In other news... OMG Season 13 feels! Since when has Nick had a girlfriend, by the way? And I think I'm more of a Modges fan, than Morganders, but she is starting to bug me a little bit. Still love Elizabeth Harnois though! Anyway... I'll try write another chapter by the weekend.
~Much love, CI
