Chapter 11
Three days passed before they found Ryan. In that time they had not had much luck. The two dead bodies had been identified as Ian Winters and David Knight. Their dorm rooms had been searched along with friends and families questioned but there were no leads on Sara. They were all members of the same fraternity but no one had seen them leave that night and no one had any idea who the fourth member of the group had been.
However they had gathered hairs on the first DB's jacket and some fingerprints on the gun that matched Ryan so they had a good chance at a conviction. The splatters that were around the pool of blood matching Sara proved she was shot. They couldn't confirm who shot the first DB though so Ryan was not going to get murder. The CSIs tried to avoid thinking about how he could still get murder on account for Sara even though the odds were remote she were still alive.
Catherine was sitting on the couch at home with Lindsey when she got the page that they had brought Ryan in. She was torn. On one hand she desperately wanted to go in and look at the man who had caused her family-both blood and CSI- so much anguish. On the other hand she still felt uneasy about leaving Lindsey, wither it were her own fears or Lindsey's she wasn't quite sure.
Lindsey looked up to see her mother's face. She had a fair idea what the message on the pager must have been. Her mother had been fantastic these last few days, wither it was comforting her from nightmares or proving all the doors and windows were locked despite the fact none of her attackers knew where she lived. But the price for her mother's care was that Catherine had not been in to the lab as much as she would have liked. She never complained to Lindsey but it was obvious Catherine felt she needed to help more in the search for Sara especially with 72 hours passed since the initial attack.
"Go mum"
"What?"
"I know it's the lab. Go. I'll be fine. Plus Sara needs you more than I do right now."
With a moments consideration Catherine replied, "Thank you Linds. Promise you'll call if you need anything!"
"Ok, I will!" Lindsey replied knowing it would have to be a pretty big emergency for her to follow up that promise.
...
Catherine walked into the lab with trepidation knowing that Ryan Norton was nearby. She headed to Grissom's office to find that everyone was already gathered there. Grissom was behind his desk tapping a pen on the edge of it. Greg was sitting on the couch staring into the distance looking lost without his mentor. Nick was pacing and Warrick was standing calmly by the door but with a look of pain obvious in his eyes.
Grissom was the first one to address her, "Hi," he said consolingly getting up and going round the desk to embrace her. They held each other for another moment before she pulled back to face him.
"When's the interrogation?" she asked.
"We have to wait for Norton's lawyer to get here." He stated with a mild disgust in his voice. "Brass said he'll come get us when it's time to start. We won't be allowed in the room obviously but we can watch through the window." With a nod Catherine sat down by Greg.
It as fifteen more minutes before Brass knocked on the door. Catherine suddenly felt nauseous; she was absolutely terrified of facing the monster and fearing that if Ryan didn't spill they may lose Sara. The group followed Brass out silently then filed into the observation room outside the first interrogation room. They saw Norton sitting there smugly at the table and everyone instantly knew he was guilty. They had all seen that expression on too many suspects not to recognise it as the face of someone who thought they were about to get off with their crimes. Grissom, Catherine, Nick, Warrick and Greg stood there trying to remain composed as Ecklie and Brass took their seats in the room.
...
"Please state your name, date of birth and address for the tape," Ecklie commanded coldly.
"Ryan Norton, 21st April 1987, Phi Fraternity House UNLV" Ryan said in a bored tone.
"Norton, can you tell us where you were on the night of June 3rd this year?" Brass said menacingly.
With a glance at his lawyer who gave him a slight nod he answered vaguely, "I was out with some friends."
"Fancy telling us who these friends were?" Brass asked roughly.
"Not really," Norton smirked.
"I see. Well would you like to tell us what you got up to that night with these 'friends'?" Ecklie spat.
"No comment" Norton's lawyer interjected.
"And whys that?" Ecklie responded coldly
"Can you please tell us what my client is being accused of here?" The lawyer demanded standing up.
"I'm pretty sure your client here is perfectly aware of his crimes but as you wish," Brass started.
"Sir, I mean no offense. I'm sure you know how to do your job but I would appreciate it if you didn't make assumptions about my client here. What evidence do you have of these supposed 'crimes'?" the lawyer interrupted.
"Oh I can give you evidence. As I was saying we think, actually no, we pretty much know that Ryan Norton was in the alleyways off 5th street where he and a group of his 'friends' started to terrorise a young girl by the name Lindsey willows and then went on to kidnap a law enforcement officer who attempted to help your clients victim. That much we are sure of since we have DNA and finger prints. What we want to know is where our officer is being held." Brass taunted.
Grissom noticed Norton's face drop at the Brass' revelation of how much they knew but contort in surprise at the word kidnap.
"What do you mean kidnap?" Norton asked worriedly.
"Sit down Ryan," the lawyer begged, "As you can see my client does not know what you are talking about! Your evidence must be circumstantial."
"She was dead!" Ryan roared causing everyone to flinch in the room. "I shot her in that alleyway. David told me she was dead." Ryan's lawyer sat down; his posture showing that he had given up.
"Well David lied. We got a call shortly after from whom we think was David telling us he had an injured Sara Sidle with him, our officer."
"I'm going to kill him!" Ryan roared even louder this time.
"Too late," Ecklie replied smugly. "When we arrived at the location we traced the call to, our officer was gone and only a male dead body was left behind who we later identified as David Knight. We now have Knight, Winters and you accounted for. Whoever else was with you that night knows where Sara is. I suggest you tell us now who he was and if you're lucky a judge may go easier on you when sentencing you for assault of Lindsey Willows and attempted murder of Sara Sidle!"
Norton thought for a moment. He was in deep trouble and it was only just beginning to occur to him that money may not be enough this time but on the other hand he was scared of John. He seemed unstable to say the very least and knew a lot about Ryan's various past wrong doings. Handing John into the police would probably only bring light to crimes of his that had slipped under the cops' radar. If the police knew about them his sentence would only increase and make up for any reduction given to him for cooperating. And there was always the added bonus of having a very angry John Carson wanting him. Even if one or both of them were locked up the thought still scared him. Ryan decided he better keep his mouth shut.
"No comment"
"For fuck sake tell us!" Brass bellowed.
"No comment" Ryan repeated.
This time Ecklie spoke up, "Well if that's your decision Norton so be it but between the DNA evidence, fingerprints and the fact you have practically confessed we have you for the attempted murder of Sara sidle, a member of law enforcement. She is one of ours and we don't like it when people mess with one of our family. This department will not stop searching until we have her back and we will make sure that there's not a hope on Earth you will be walking as free man anytime soon. We have all the evidence we need to send you away for a long time Norton so I suggest for your own sake you start cooperating with us and tell us what we need to know!"
Everyone in the observation room was slightly moved by Ecklie's speech. He had always seemed to hate the entire graveyard shift and Sara in particular. Turned out he was human after all.
Ryan was stupefied by the older man's outburst. He blurted out, "John Carson!"
...
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