Lex Talionis

Chapter 14

Sitting at the table in the Crime Lab's break room, Jim Brass glanced at the caller ID on his cell phone and, once again, let the call go to voicemail. Watching from the other side of the table, Catherine Willows chuckled as he put the phone back in his pocket.

"How many does that make?" She asked.

"I stopped counting at eight." He answered as he flicked through his notebook. "He's using Sara's cell phone now but I'm not falling for it."

"He's not going to turn up unexpectedly again is he?" Nick asked.

"Oh, I doubt it." Brass said confidently. "If he tries that when Sara's around she'll kill him. Not to mention that the only vehicle he has access to belongs to her and he'll never get that leg in a Prius. She's going to swap to the Mercedes to take him back to the townhouse."

"Okay, let's get on with it." Catherine said turning to Nick. "What have you got on those tire tracks?"

"The van looks like it may be a blow out. The wheel base measurements peg it as a Ford Transit, which is about the most popular van on the road. The tires that are on it are a generic brand and there's nothing particularly distinctive about them. I think the only chance we're going to have to find the one we're after is if it's a rental and they returned it without cleaning it properly."

Looking down at the file in front of him, Nick continued.

"I did have more luck with the second set of tracks. They belong to a 2007 Nissan Pathfinder that is still fitted with its original tires. I also compared the shoes belonging to your DB with the prints taken at the mineshaft. He was definitely there."

"Good." Catherine commented. "He now has a name by the way; Jason Beck, also known as Jay, age 32. Older brother of Kevin, the only one we managed to identify from the prints at the house. Just like his brother, we could only find Jason's fingerprints in the military database."

Searching through her file she pulled out the sheet of paper she was looking for.

"This one didn't even make it through basic training. He was kicked out after almost killing another recruit in a self-defense exercise."

She paused as her cell phone rang. "It's says Sara." She told Brass as she checked the display.

"Don't answer it." Jim advised. "I wondered how long it would take him to try your phone."

"He's going to be mad if I don't pick up."

"I'm sure he's annoyed already." Brass stated. "Just ignore him for now; we'll be talking to him soon enough anyway."

"Okay." Catherine continued. "Well, COD was a shotgun blast to the face, death was instant and Doc Robbins estimates he died between 8 and 10pm on Friday night. Sara has also positively identified the watch he was wearing as Grissom's."

She looked at Brass. "How can neither of these guys be in the system? They've both got a history of violence and I don't believe they just confined it to their brief stints in the military."

"Yeah, I couldn't pull up much on them either. Driver's licenses and vehicle registrations; that's it. According to all the usual databases these guys have never had so much as a traffic ticket." Jim responded.

"Are they local, Jim?" Nick asked.

"No, originally they came from a town called Fernley, which is east of Reno. However, last known addresses for both of them are in Carson City. I spoke to a detective with the PD there but they couldn't tell me anything, sounded like they hadn't been in town long anyway. So then I put in a call to Fernley and it seems the sheriff is the only one I can talk to and he's out of town until Monday morning. I've left a message for him to phone me back ASAP."

Picking up his coffee cup, he took a sip before continuing.

"I ran a check on Vincent Lurie's lawyer. Michael Richardson was reported missing ten days ago by his wife. He had apparently mentioned to both his wife and his secretary that he believed he was being followed in the days before he disappeared."

"Where was he when he went missing?" Catherine asked.

"His wife was visiting her mother and he was home alone. Sound familiar?"

"And the scene was never processed?" Nick queried.

Catherine's phone rang again. Jim and Nick watched without comment as she glanced at the screen then replaced it on the table.

Brass turned to answer Nick's question. "What scene? According to Mrs. Richardson, she and her husband had been going through a rough patch and when she got home and he wasn't there she wasn't particularly worried. She assumed he had either been called out by a client or had decided he needed time alone which he had done before. She only became concerned when his office called the next day to find out why he didn't come in to work."

Shifting his gaze to Catherine, he continued. "Now, it may be that he's our third man and he staged his disappearance but I'm inclined to think he's actually at the bottom of a hole somewhere."

"Dammit!" Catherine exclaimed. "Every time we get a little bit further with this thing we end up hitting another wall. Where do we go from here?"

"We'll just have to hope the Fernley sheriff can give us some background on the brothers and release what we have on Kevin Beck to the media; see if we can flush him out." Putting his hand in his jacket pocket he withdrew a disk. "Also, I looked out the recording of the interview we conducted with Lurie. It has the lawyer's voice on it so I'm going to have Gil come in and see if he can ID him as the third perp."

"Hey, we could always just sit and wait for them to come for you, Jim." Catherine suggested, attempting to lighten the mood a little.

"Excuse me?" Nick asked bewildered by Catherine's statement.

"There were four men in that room." She held up four fingers and counted them down. "One dead, one missing, one injured." She pointed the remaining finger at Brass. "Last man standing."

"I had realized that, Catherine." Jim replied. "I plan on being armed at all times until this is over. I'm also going to insist that Gil carry as well, just in case someone decides to come back and finish the job."

"He's going to love that." She commented.

"At this point, I don't care whether he likes it or not." Jim stated. "He either carries his weapon or I'll put a 24 hour guard on him, and I think he'd appreciate that even less."

Looking at his watch he was pleased to see it was nearing 6am.

"I'll wait for another hour before calling the house. Sara was pretty wiped out last night when I left and the fact that Grissom has been playing with the phone all night leads me to think she's probably been asleep."

Deciding they'd spend the time putting together what they had on Kevin Beck, Jim made fresh coffee as Catherine and Nick gathered their notes.

An hour later, they were in Grissom's office. The press release containing the artist's sketch, Beck's license photo and description had been prepared and was on its way to the Sheriff's Office for approval prior to circulation.

There had been no further calls from Grissom during the past hour which was making Jim slightly nervous. He knew it meant that Gil had either fallen asleep or was sitting there fuming. He really hoped it was the former. Knowing he couldn't put it off any longer, he picked up his phone.

"I'm guessing that Gil spent the night in the lounge room." He said as he began dialing his home number. "As long as he's not near the kitchen or bedroom there's a good chance Sara will beat him to the phone."

Sara woke with the first ring of the bedside telephone. Realizing quickly that she was alone in the room she reached across to answer it.

"Hello" She answered still half asleep.

"Morning Sara, I was hoping you'd answer."

"Jim?" She squinted trying to read the clock but couldn't quite make it out. "What time is it?"

"It's 7 o'clock." He answered. "Where's Grissom?"

"Um… I don't know, I guess he must have gotten up a little while ago."

"Sara, he got up about eight hours ago. He's been driving me nuts with the phone for most of the night. You want to go check on him?"

"Sure, hang on."

Taking the handset with her, she made her way down the hallway. Checking rooms as she went, she finally located him in the lounge room. Returning to the kitchen, she lifted the phone back to her ear as she started a pot of coffee.

"Found him." She informed Brass. "He's asleep on the couch. Why was he calling you?"

"I've been checking out the lawyer Lurie used back when we interviewed him. It was Gil's idea and I guess he got a little impatient waiting for me to get back to him. Look Sara, I've been ignoring his calls and he's probably going to be annoyed when he wakes up."

"Thanks Jim, that's just what I need first thing in the morning."

"Yeah, well you're probably going to love what I'm about to say." He paused for a moment, and then pushed on. "I need him in here this morning to listen to a recording of the lawyer's voice."

"What time do you need him?" She asked wearily.

"As soon as possible, really." He told her. "I'm sorry Sara, I know he's supposed to be resting but this should only take five minutes. Archie's got it all set to go but unfortunately he has to leave by 8:30 so we need it done before then."

"Alright, give me time to grab some coffee and swap the cars over. I'll have him there sometime in the next hour. Okay?"

"That's great, Sara. We'll see you then."

Hanging up, she placed the handset on the counter and poured herself a cup of coffee. Turning from the pot, she wasn't entirely surprised to find Grissom standing in the doorway.

"Want one?" She offered motioning with her cup.

"No. Was that Brass?"

"Yeah, what have you been doing all night?"

"Trying to get him to answer his damn phone. You should have let me speak to him."

"You can speak to him when we get to the lab." She told him. "They need you to listen to a tape."

"When?"

"As soon as I can swap my car for yours and get you there." She informed him, pleased to see that he didn't seem annoyed after all. "Will you please go and sit down; you're supposed to keep that leg raised."

"I need water to take my pills."

"I'll bring you some, now go." She turned to get a glass as he headed back to the sofa.

Following him in, she watched as he took his medication. "How are you feeling this morning?"

"Fine." He answered, then noticing her disbelieving look, decided to be truthful. "I started feeling pain in my lower leg about half way through the night. I definitely preferred it when it was numb."

"Headache?"

"No better, no worse."

"Okay. I going to make you some toast." He was about to speak when she beat him to it. "Which you are going to eat! I'll get dressed, go get the Mercedes then pick you up."

"Honey, I'm going to need clothes."

"I'll grab a pair of sweats for you. I don't really want to have to cut up another pair of your good pants. Anything else?"

"I don't think so."

"I'll go make that toast then."

He watched as she left the room, pleased that he'd been able to hide his anger from her. He remembered Jim's rule and he had every intention of following it but there was nothing in it about other people.

He had no control over Brass unfortunately but Catherine was a different story and he intended to let her know exactly what he thought of being ignored.

Arriving at the Crime Lab, Grissom headed straight for his office, finding Catherine and Jim waiting there for him. One look at his face told them exactly what kind of mood he was in.

"When I phone you I expect you to answer Catherine, especially during work hours."

"I'm sorry Gil. The caller ID said Sara; how was I supposed to know I was you?" She asked flippantly.

"Don't get smart with me; I'm not in the mood."

"Obviously." Brass commented earning himself a glare. "Where is Sara?" He asked, trying to change the subject.

"I told her not to come in with me, she's waiting over at the diner."

"Well, we've got the recording all ready to go so this shouldn't take long."

"I want to see what else you've got while I'm here." Grissom demanded.

"No way." Catherine was adamant. "You're here simply to listen to the tape recording of the lawyer's voice, nothing more. You're not having anything else to do with it just now."

"You insisted on handling the case when your ex-husband was accused of rape, Catherine, so don't suddenly turn into a hypocrite."

"I'm not turning into anything, Gil; I'm simply trying to protect you and Sara. If either of you have anything to do with this investigation, it'll jeopardize the case, you know that."

"Protect us?" He asked sarcastically. "We all know where your loyalties lie, Catherine. They start and end with you. That was made clear when Ecklie split the team."

"What are you talking about?"

"You jumped right on Conrad's little bandwagon when he went gunning for Sara back then, didn't you?"

"She was mouthing off to a superior, Gil, I couldn't just ignore it!"

"And you've never done anything like that in the past have you, Catherine?"

"So now this is about how I treated your girlfriend almost two years ago?" Catherine asked incredulously.

"Let it drop, Catherine." Jim advised.

Ignoring both of them, Grissom continued, his voice getting louder with each sentence.

"Your life has been a constant stream of dramas. How many times have I had to cover for you? Every time you've needed time off to be with Lindsay, I've bent over backwards to give it to you. You use lab resources, not to mention risking Greg's job, to discover that Sam Braun was your father and then you accept money from the man and I'm the one that has to smooth everything over for you with the department."

"Cool it, Gil" Brass warned. Hoping to calm things down he struggled to keep his tone even.

"You're not exactly pure as the driven snow yourself, you know." Catherine countered.

"Go on, rattle them off." He dared her. "Let's see what you've got on me."

"Heather."

"Prove it."

"Sofia"

He laughed at that one. "Oh no, never in a million years."

"Sara."

"That's it, isn't it?" He taunted. "That's all you've got. And ten to one says you're actually just pissed because you never figured it out."

"Gil, that's enough!" Jim demanded, seeing now that things had gotten way out of hand.

"That's it, I'm out of here." Refusing to argue further, Catherine stood and headed for the door, turning to glare at Grissom before she left. "I don't know what's wrong with you but it goes a lot deeper than a broken leg. Get some help, Gil, before someone feels the need to mention it to Ecklie."

Turning, Grissom followed her out; oblivious to the fact that the rest of the Lab was now paying attention to what was going on. Hearing him come out of the office behind her, Catherine turned to face him.

"You threatening me now, Catherine?" Grissom smile was menacing as he stared her down. "If the worst you can come up with is the fact that I'm fucking a subordinate, I don't think I have too much to worry about, do you?"

"GRISSOM!" Jim's yell carried in the silence that had descended as the argument escalated. Staring at the two antagonists he never noticed the person standing beside him until he spoke.

"Oh, I think you may have something to worry about, Gil." Ecklie said sarcastically. "I think we'll continue this in my office, don't you?"

TBC