Hello all. Chapter 13!

Day shift was kept James busy, but his mind was always on Kendall. Was he alright? He hadn't heard anything; could it be that no news was good news in this case? "Hey, James," Sara called to him as he passed. "Doc needs your help down in autopsy. Victim from the assault last night."

James's mouth fell open. He shut his eyes, telling himself furiously that he wouldn't cry. He swallowed and slowly walked down the hallway, towards the stairs that led down to the morgue. I'm sorry, Kendall. I failed you, I'm so sorry . . .

When he walked in, Doctor Michael Rowan, the lead coroner. He was standing at the end of the long row of metal tables. There were only two bodies on the tables. One was just a few feet away from him, and was a bruised old woman. The other was at the end where Michael was, and was turned on its side as Michael inspected his upper body, while the rest of him was covered in a white sheet. James saw the head of blonde hair and when Michael called him over, he found he couldn't move his legs.

"James?" Michael looked concerned.

James swallowed and walked over to him with shaky legs. He really didn't want to see this, he didn't, he didn't . . .

Then he was over, and Michael was rolling the body onto its back.

James's jaw dropped.

It was a young man, about James's age. Blonde hair, pale skin, slim. There was a large stab wound in his abdomen. He had a face voered in pale freckles that made him look oddly vulnerable. He was covered in brusies. James felt a pang in his heart for this poor guy. Those freckles made him look so innocent and young.

But it wasn't Kendall.

It wasn't Kendall!

James turned to gape at Michael. "Which assault is this?"

"Oh? Um, Rodeo Drive, about 1am this morning."

"Um . . ." James wasn't sure how to go about putting this. "There was another assault, Sanders Avenue, number 27, last night. The victim, uh, looked a lot like this. Do you know . . .?"

"Oh, that one." Michael shrugged. "Well, he's not dead, otherwise he'd be here. I asked Gustavo, though, because I was curious. St John's hospital. I don't know what condition he's in, but he hasn't died yet."

James grinned; he couldn't help himself. "Michael, this isn't my case. So, do you mind if someone else comes down here?"

"Uh, sure . . ."

"Ok, thanks!" James almost skipped back upstairs. He was just passing the DNA lab when he overheard the conversation going on. (1)

"I've made an interesting discovery," Rachael was saying to Gustavo. "The victim, of this assault . . . when I ran his DNA through the system to analyse what the guys brought back from the scene, I got a hit in CODIS." She read aloud from her computer screen. "He's Kendall Knight. I know he's registered in California and all that, but he's Kendall Knight from Henderson. He went missing three years ago. The case was left unsolved."

Gustavo frowned. "That is interesting. Do you have contact information for the family?"

"Right here." Rachael handed him a sheet of paper, and Gustavo immediately pulled out his cell phone and started dialling.

James just stood, staring. Missing? Kendall went missing? It didn't make any sense to him. Kendall had said he moved away. But . . . he went missing? Was he abducted or did he run away? James longed to find out.

Gustavo was hanging up the phone and briefly said to Rachael, "His mother's on her way. It'll take an hour or two for her to get here."

James moved away before either of them saw them. He watched Gustavo walk down the hall towards one of the Interrogation rooms. He moved cautiously after him; this was sort of his case, after all. He watched through the window, the microphone a great advantage to him. It was Sean. James felt hatred surge through him as he listened.

"This is the knife you used to assault Kendall Knight," Gustavo was saying, holding up a photograph. "We also found Matthew Anderson's DNA on it. So, you're going for attempted murder, assault . . . and you're a pimp too? This just isn't your day."

Sean just sighed, shrugging. James was astounded. So Sean stabbed Matt. He really liked hurting his hookers, didn't he? James left the room, not wanting to hear anymore. But he was surprised when Gustavo walked out of the room and straight up to him. "James, this is your case, right?"

"Yes. Um, do you know how the victim is?"

"He's in a state of comatose right now. But it's not too serious; he was just hit pretty hard. He should be fine."

This was the peace of mind James needed to get back to work. He went about his business, interviewing families, inspecting bodies and photocopying records.

When he heard an announcement on the intercom, "Gustavo Rocque, there is a visitor for you at reception," he went too, knowing full well who would be there.

A redhead woman was standing at the reception, fingers drumming impatiently on the counter. "Mrs Knight?"

Her head snapped to look at him, eyes wide. "Yes? You're Gustavo Rocque?"

"I am." A slim, tall girl of about seventeen was next to Mrs Knight. "Is this your daughter, Katie?"

Mrs Knight nodded. She looked both upset and overjoyed at the same time. "We came as soon as he got your call. I mean, it took us a few hours to get here, and I probably shouldn't have taken Katie out of school, but I . . ." she caught off with a helpless sigh.

"I understand," Gustavo replied solemnly. James was so used to Gustavo yelling and being angry at everyone, this was a spooky change.

"You found my son?" Mrs Knight said, smiling nervously.

"Yes. He's in St John's hospital right now."

"Oh my God." Mrs Knight clapped a hand to her mouth, tears appearing in her eye. "What happened to him?" she whispered.

"We'll tell you that, but you're going to need to answer some questions for my assistant first, if you don't mind."

"Can I ask why?"

"It's just to tie up some loose ends in the case. It's important, though. If Katie doesn't mind waiting outside the interrogation room . . ."

"Ok. No problem. Whatever you need to know." Mrs Knight went and followed Gustavo down the hallway, Katie and James both walking subtly behind them.

Katie stationed herself in the viewing room next door, standing in front of the large window, arms folded, expression solemn. James walked in too, along with Gustavo. They could hear and see everything clearly in here. They saw Mrs Knight sit down at the table in the room on the other side of the window, and Kelly walked in shortly after. She sat down, giving Mrs Knight a comforting smile.

"Hello, Mrs Knight."

"Call me Jen. Everyone else does." She gave a small smile.

Kelly smiled back. She was good at this kind of thing. "Ok. Jen. Whatever you're gonna tell me could be important, so . . ." She opened her records and scanned through them. "Your husband was . . . shot, correct?"

She nodded. James stared. Kendall told me his dad died in an accident. Why would he lie?

Kelly continued. "Um . . . I've got some records from the interviews on your son's disappearance; you said your son had problems with depression, and there was an attempted suicide?"

Mrs Knight nodded, looking pained, but didn't say anything.

Kelly looked uncertain as she continued. "Jen, clearly your son . . . he may have had problems in his life that you didn't share with the police when he went missing. I need you to explain them to me."

Mrs Knight's eyes widened. "I . . . I can't . . ." She ran a hand through her hair. "I p-promised him I wouldn't tell anybody . . ."

Kelly didn't say anything, and eventually Mrs Knight straightened up, almost bracing herself. "Ok . . . I'll tell you."

Kelly waited. James waited. Katie waited. Gustavo waited.

"My son was a victim of rape," Mrs Knight said slowly. James froze as she continued. "He was just a kid; it was his third grade teacher. He came home late, he was crying, I eventually got him to tell me what happened." Mrs Knight wiped a hand across her eyes and kept talking. "He didn't even understand; he just kept saying that he'd touched him and said bad things, and how he hurt all over." She gritted her teeth. "The sick bastard got the life sentence, like he deserved. But Kendall wasn't the same anymore. He used to run around like a little ray of sunshine, and then suddenly he just got quieter."

She looked the way James felt; horrified and shaken. "Then, when he was twelve, he was ambushed on his way home from school. This time nothing serious happened to him. It was sheer coincidence, but my . . . my husband was coming home from work and he passed them, and—" Mrs Knight broke off with a muffled sob. "He defended Kendall. He attacked the man, and called the cops and all. But this guy, I dunno, there was this gang he was in, and they got angry . . ." She sniffed, drying her eyes with one hand. She looked like it hurt to go on. "Th-then, they found Will's body a few days later, i-it was all burnt, and it was so awful, I couldn't even recognise him, they only knew because of his ID in his pocket, and they told me he was shot and then they burned him . . ." She hid her face in her hands and started to cry. She kept talking through her hands. She couldn't seem to stop. "Kendall really changed after that. He got moody, he didn't talk to me anymore. I know he blamed himself for what happened to his dad, even though he kept denying it. He was falling apart, and I couldn't do anything!" After a moment, Kelly laid a comforting hand over hers. "I'm so sorry."

Mrs Knight tried to smile, and failed. "I didn't know what to do. When I found out he was gay, I thought it might be because of what happened to him, but I didn't say anything. I was scared to; so many things set him off really easily. He used to get so upset and angry over little things, and it worried me sick. And, when he was sixteen, he took an overdose of these sleeping pills I had. It wasn't enough to kill him, but it was obvious that's what he intended."

"Did he ever cut?"

"No. I checked for that often enough. He hates blood, anyway. I think that's why he didn't try that as suicide." Another tear streaked down Mrs Knight's face. "Then when he was nineteen, he just disappeared. He was going to go to college locally so he was still living with me for a while, but one morning I woke up and most of his things were gone, and so was he. I asked all around, but nobody had heard from him. One of my neighbours mentioned she saw him get into a truck with some guy at a gas station . . ." She pushed her hair out of her face. "But nobody knew where he was gone, and the police couldn't find him, and he didn't answer or return any of my calls or text messages. I was so scared."

James didn't even know if she was still speaking or not. Everything was echoing. He wanted to erase everything he'd heard from his mind. Or maybe make everything that had happened unhappen. It was just so awful. Kendall. Wow, I guess I didn't know you as well as I thought. You lied to me about your dad. I can't say I blame you, but you have nothing to be ashamed of. I thought I knew your story, but I really don't.

James noticed a few tears falling down Katie's cheeks too. "You didn't know," he said softly, standing next to her. "Did you?"

Katie shook her head, giving a strangled sob. "I was six when my dad died. They never told me the truth. When Kendall took those pills . . . they still treated me like a little kid." She sniffed. "I was the one who found him like that. Just lying there, no note or anything. At first I was angry with him." Katie sighed. "I'm not anymore. I couldn't be. It's impossible to be mad at him for too long."

"Trust me, I know," James said before he could stop himself. Katie gave him a confused look. James bit his lip. "I'm Kendall's boyfriend."

"What? Then you can tell me what happened to him!" Katie ignored the fact that Gustavo was now telling Mrs Knight right next door. "You know she won't give me a straight answer."

James sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Um, I'm not really sure. I think Kendall's the only one who knows. But his pimp, Sean . . . hit him with something, knocked him out. And he cut him, too. That's really all I know."

Katie looked lost. "Pimp?" It came out as a whisper.

James mentally cursed himself and his big mouth, but he nodded. "I . . . I think you should let Kendall explain for himself. It's not my place to tell you, really. Sorry."

Katie shrugged. "It's ok, I guess. I can wait."

Suddenly Gustavo appeared, arms folded. "James! A word, please."

James left Katie and walked into the hall with him. "Yes, Gustavo?"

"Faye told me."

"She did?" James was furious. And naturally, he didn't have to ask what it was Faye had told him. "I'm gonna destroy her."

Gustavo rolled his eyes. "Don't be mad at her, dog. She did it because she was worried you were in over your head. She didn't want you to get hurt." He sighed. "Judging by what just happened to that poor hooker of yours I'd say she had good reason to worry."

James didn't say anything.

"So . . . you've been involved with Kendall this whole time?" Gustavo inquired, arms folded, eyebrows raised.

"For almost five months, now," James replied, hanging his head.

"So, when you asked me if you could help out with the Matthew Anderson case . . .?"

"Yes, it was because of him. It wasn't just because him and Matthew are friends; I was a little paranoid that the same thing would happen to Kendall."

Gustavo scowled at him. "And you never reported the fact that he has an abusive pimp?"

"Er . . . he made me promise . . ."

Gustavo looked even angrier. "Do you realise that most of your actions for the past five months are against regulations?"

"Yes, Gustavo. I'm sorry." He paused. "So . . . am I suspended?"

"I'm sure many other supervisors would fire you!" Gustavo yelled. James flinched. He loved his job. "However!" Gustavo continued (still yelling), making James look up. "You haven't been working very long, and you're one of the best CSIs on my team, so I'm gonna give you another chance. Not that you deserve it, dog!"

"Gustavo, that's great! Thank—"

"But you will not go unpunished! I'm suspending you for the next two hours!"

James was confused. "What?"

Gustavo smiled. "There's someone you need to visit at the hospital. I want you back here by five. Now, shoo!"

(1) Was anyone worried? You didn't really think I'd kill Kendall, did you?

Lol, please review! And please go check out my new story! I hope you'll like it!