Chapter Fourteen - Aftermath
Stepping into the busy lab, Grissom glanced at his watch, making sure he had got the right time. He wasn't early, he was right on time for his shift, but the place was still bustling with life. He signed himself in at the front desk, giving Judy a smile as she jumped to answer the phone again. He turned towards the lab behind him, stopping just outside of the print lab, watching Mandy darting back and forth from her computer to the table in the middle of the room. She had a look of concentration on her face that he didn't want to disturb, but he couldn't figure out what she working on from here.
"Kidnapping." Catherine caught up to him in the hallway, checking the time on her watch. "Right on time for a change. What's the matter, Sara kick you out?"
"I just left her sleeping actually." Grissom defended himself, wondering why he even told her that much. "A kidnapping?" He rapidly tried to change the subject.
"Yeah, case started out as a murder. Katrina Langley. A single mother that recently just moved to Las Vegas. She had a steady job in a casino, until she accused one of her male colleagues of rape. She was supposed to appear in court yesterday. Her mother stopped by to check on her last night and found her daughter hanging from the ceiling." Catherine handed him the file from her hands, showing him the crime scene photos. "At first we thought suicide, but Albert ruled it out in autopsy. Cause of death was blunt force trauma to the back of the head. There was glass in the wound. She was dead long before someone decided to string her up from the ceiling. Lucky for us, our murder suspect left DNA all over the place. He's down in custody now."
"The kidnapping?" He got back to his original question.
"I was just getting to that. Katrina Langley's son, Adrian, ten years old." Catherine turned the page, tapping the picture of him. "Her mother assumed that he was with his father while the trial was going on. We only just got in touch with him an hour ago. He's been in Hawaii with his PA for the past three months. Hasn't seen his son since then."
"Did you question your murder suspect?"
"C'mon Gil, I'm not a rookie." Catherine rolled her eyes at him, leading the way towards her office. "We've been questioning the junkie for over an hour now, but he has no idea. He claims that he didn't even know that she had a kid. Not exactly sure whether to believe him or not though. He's not exactly a reliable source. We've been trying to sober him up to get a straight answer out of him. He's still down there begging for his next fix. We're working the kidnapping angle now."
"Can I help?"
The woman turned to face him as she reached her office door, presenting him with a smile. "I thought you'd never ask. Good to see you again, Gil." She unlocked her door, grabbing the file from her desk. "I've got a scene for you to check out. We just got a warrant for our junkie's house. You can take your rookie along with you. Brass is on his way there now. We're still looking for our primary crime scene, hopefully we'll get lucky. You work the murder with your fresh eyes, while we work the kidnapping."
"Okay." Grissom grabbed the address from her, giving her an awkward smile as he stepped towards the door. "What is it, Catherine? Do I have something on my face?" He couldn't help but notice how she was looking at him.
"No, I was just looking at you. You're glowing, Gil." She smiled at the man, organising the files on her desk. "You don't have much longer to go now, are you excited?"
"About?" He genuinely looked confused.
Catherine chuckled softly, shaking her head at him. "Starts with B ends with Y. Honestly, Gil. You can't be that out of it so soon into your shift." She grabbed the files related to this case, joining him out in the hallway. "The due date is coming up soon, right?"
"Yes... less than three weeks away." He realised, getting the door for her. "Where are you off to with all of that?"
"Oh, I have to debrief the lab director. Ecklie demanded that we make it all official upstairs with all the authorities. The press have already got hold of it, so he wants to be prepared before he gives them a statement in a few hours."
"But we don't have anything yet."
"Exactly." Catherine cackled with laughter. "You know that's how Ecklie works. He'd rather run straight ahead blindfolded then wait for a little thing called evidence. Let me know if you find anything at the junkies house and don't be late to the baby shower. It doesn't really work if the parents of the baby in question don't even show up."
"We'll be there." Grissom assured her, wishing her luck as she made her way towards the elevator. He knew she'd need it where Ecklie was concerned.
The man knew nothing about what they really did around here. He would rather sit around all day playing lab politics then do anything to help save a life.
"I don't get it. Why do we have to search the dead beat junkies house?" The rookie CSI complained, watching his footing as he stepped over the bits of broken glass, fast food wrappers and the stray needles that littered the junkies floor. The whole house reeked of stale bong water. The windows were covered with bin liners and cardboard boxes. The bathroom smelled like something died in there, but he was too afraid to look.
"Because it's part of the job, Oscar. There's no sign of the child here." Grissom bent low to the ground, pointing the light of his flash light towards the heap of magazines beneath the coffee table.
"Something we should probably be grateful for. This house is a death trap. My grandmother used to be a hoarder. She never cleaned a day in her life, but her house looked better than this." Oscar watched his footing, afraid he'd catch something if he got too near any of the needles. "Why aren't the FBI involved in this? Isn't that protocol?"
"I believe they're being debriefed on the case right now. Less talk, more search."
Grissom scanned his light across the floor, searching for anything that didn't have a thick layer of dust on the top of it. He didn't know how someone could live like this. He himself had just spent the day cleaning his old office from top to bottom, ready to be painted for their baby's nursery. He didn't realise how dirty it was until he was on his hands and knees scrubbing the walls. He last had the decorators in over ten years ago. He had slacked on the cleaning a little, but it had never got this bad.
"Stop!" He suddenly shouted at the younger man, cautiously pushing himself to his feet. He approached the rookie, pulling him back slightly, before he bent to tweeze the hair from the floor.
"How did you even see that?" Oscar looked impressed.
"A trained eye." Grissom raised it a little higher, examining the thin blonde strand between the blades of his tweezers. "Did you have a read through the original case file on our way over here?"
"Uh... yeah." The younger man nodded, gulping softly. He flipped through it on the drive over, but he hadn't exactly retained any information. He was more nervous about starting up another shift with the boss man then reading through the details of the case he was about to work.
"Catherine's victim, do you remember what colour her hair was?"
"Maybe." He shrugged his shoulders together, catching the scowl his supervisor was giving him. "Oh... uh, in the driver's licence picture she was a brunette, but in the autopsy photos, she was a blonde."
Grissom smiled, bagging up the hair as evidence. "Did you happen to read her tox report too?"
"I... glanced at it." Oscar scratched his head. "Do you think that she was here?"
"You tell me. What do you see?" He took a step back from the scene, letting the younger man examine it for himself. "Look for something that's out of place." Grissom searched his kit for the report, looking through it for himself. He skipped ahead to the autopsy report, realising that Albert had found track marks on their victims arms. He assumed that the junkie was just a random guy that was hired to take her out, but if the hair came back a match to her, they would have to change the angle of their case.
"I don't know." Oscar carefully stepped around their scene, running his flashlight across the junk that littered the floor. "Burger wrappers, a half eaten burrito... needles, a broken bong... there's so much junk here, how can you tell what's evidence and what's just... junk?"
"It's all technically evidence, Oscar. Everything laid out before you can tell you a story of what kind of person we're dealing with. From the condition of this place, I can tell that this person clearly has no respect for their home and they're not exactly bothered about hygiene either. By the individual items, I can tell that they're a fan of fast food. Particularly burgers and takeaway pancakes." The man motioned towards the boxes piled up in the kitchen. "What do you see, Oscar?"
"I don't know."
"Don't say you don't know. Look." Without losing his temper, Grissom motioned the younger man to the scene laid out in front of him. "Use your eyes. What do you see?"
"Needles."
"What does that tell you?"
"Junkie." Oscar shrugged his shoulders together, directing the light of his flashlight towards something else. "Empty pill wrappers. He's a pill popper too. There's crumbs on the sofa. Probably chips." He spied the packet near the coffee table, glancing at the broken bong once again. He bent to his knees a moment later, seeing a dried blood smear on a few pieces of glass. "Looks like blood. Like somebody used the bong as weapon."
"And how do we test for blood?"
Following his supervisor's direction, Oscar grabbed what he needed from his kit, positively testing the dried smear for blood. He bagged it up for evidence, coming up with his own conclusions to explain their victim's demise.
After a few hours gathering all the evidence that they could from the junkie's house, Grissom drove them back to the lab, sending Oscar off to the lab with their evidence, while he checked in with Catherine. Unlike the busy lab upstairs, the police station was practically empty. He found his way towards the conference room that was rarely ever used, examining the investigation into the missing child pinned up on the wall, before he started flipping through the file left on the table. He pulled his glasses out from his pocket to take a closer look, noticing some similarities to his scene.
"Gil, there you are." Brass found him bent over the table. "Are you working the kidnapping case with Willows?"
"Not exactly, where were these photos taken?" He motioned his attention towards the pictures on the table.
Brass joined him round the other side of the table, looking at the photos of the plain looking garden scattered across the table. A few of them had the missing child playing football in them, but the others were just of random sections of the garden. "Uh... I believe they pulled them from the victim's phone. It's not her garden or her ex husband's. She's got a ton of them on there though. Why?"
"This is our junkie's garden." Grissom straightened up, lifting one photo from the table. "It doesn't look like this anymore. Grass is overgrown, flowers are dead and the patio is covered with stale cigarette butts, but this is his garden." He flipped it over, looking for a date. "Were they romantically involved?"
"Katrina's mother never mentioned anything. Neither did our junkie." Brass shook his head.
"Is he still here?"
"Yeah. I'll get someone to bring him up to interrogation for you." Brass turned for the door, giving the man behind him a quick smile. "It's good to have you back, Gil."
"I was only out for two days, Jim." Grissom collected up the photos, following him towards the interrogation room.
"Forty eight hours without you in the lab is a long time, Gil." He smirked, opening the door for him. "I'll go get your guy. His representation is still in the station. This kid doesn't know his ass from his elbow, so he won't give you any trouble. I hear you're having a baby shower tomorrow." Brass changed the subject, giving him a smile. "I wouldn't think that was your sort of thing."
"It's not... really, it's for my child."
"Nice hearing you say that." Brass nodded, taking a few steps away from him. "First time you hold your child... nothing like it in the world." He paused for a moment, remembering the first time he held Ellie in his arms. He guessed that she wasn't biologically his long before she was born, but that first time he held her, all he wanted to do was protect her and watch her grow. She was his, no matter what anyone said.
"You're coming aren't you?" Grissom double checked.
"Oh yeah, got a gift all wrapped up and everything. It'll be nice to see, Sara again. Is she coping alright with the pregnancy?"
"Fine." The other man took his seat at the table, not sure what else to add. He busied himself with the report in front of him, waiting for Brass to return with the suspect. He felt as though he knew the man already after spending hours going through his house, but he still had no idea what he even looked like or how he rationalised what he had done to this woman.
"Hey... you don't need to be pushing me." A man in tattered jeans stumbled through the door a few minutes later. His wife beater vest had dried vomit down the front. The lumberjack shirt he was wearing over the top needed a serious wash and his hair looked like a rats nest. "I want my lawyer."
"Yeah, he's on his way." Brass secured the handcuffs to the table, giving them a tug to make sure they were secure. He made his way towards the door to let the lawyer in, rolling his eyes as the young man dropped his briefcase, sending his papers flying across the hall. "Do you want us to wait some more?"
"Uh... yeah, sorry." The man scrambled across the hall on his hands and knees, scooping up his paperwork into one pile. He hurried through the doorway, dropping a few more in his haste to get to the table.
The Captain rolled his eyes, closing the door behind him, before he joined Grissom on the opposite side of the table.
"Do you know this woman?" Grissom started by sliding a photo of the deceased across the table. He was more interested in the suspect's physical reaction than any answer that came out his mouth.
For a brief moment, the man's eyes focused the victim's face. He looked like someone with a broken heart, until he pushed the photo away from him, shaking his head. "Never seen her before."
"Less than a few hours ago, you told us that you murdered her." The Captain reminded him, expecting the lawyer to interject, but he was too busy sorting through his paperwork. "Your DNA was found all over the crime scene..."
"She was in your house." Grissom interrupted the other man, wishing he had requested to carry out this interrogation by himself. He grabbed the other photos of his garden, sliding them towards the man. "By these photos, it looks as though you two knew each other pretty well. You knew her son. He played football in your yard."
The suspect's features turned a little pale as he examined the new photos. "So what if I knew her?"
"My theory is that you were romantically involved for a while. You two got into drugs together. Things got out of hand..."
"You don't know shit about us!" He barked at Grissom, rattling the chains around his wrists. "Kat never got into any of that shit, before she got attacked by that animal. They wouldn't do a thing about it. He was gonna get off. The trial was just for show."
"Kat." Grissom nodded slightly, clasping his hands together on the table. "If you cared about her so much, why did you try so hard to make her death look like a suicide?"
The junkie sighed softly, looking at his hands confined in their chains. "Her kid. He didn't deserve any of that crap that she put him through. She was gonna kill herself anyway."
"But you beat her to the punch?" Brass asked him, catching a glare from the suspect, only it wasn't directed at him. He looked at the fumbling lawyer beside him as he attempted to say something, realising he had been told something in confidence. "Why'd you string her up in her own home, Keith? Did she disgust you that much?"
"No."
"Did you kill her because she wouldn't give you the cash for your next fix?"
"No!"
"Were you tired of sharing the drugs with her?"
"No. You don't know anything about us."
"You wanted her dead so badly, then when you finally took that swing at her, you couldn't stand the sight of her anymore?"
"No! It wasn't me, okay?" Keith snapped, turning paler than the white wall behind him.
Grissom followed the man's gaze towards the photo of Adrian playing football sat on the table, realising he was covering for him. "Her son killed her." He concluded, seeing the recognition in the man's eyes.
"That's not how it was." He refused, shaking his head at them both. His voice broke with emotion that Grissom had never heard from a suspect before. "It was me. I already told you that. I killed her."
"Where is Adrian, Mr Allen?" Brass queried.
"I don't know."
"He's a ten year old boy!" Brass shouted. "What did you do with him?"
"Nothing!" The suspect yelled, looking at his lawyer for some guidance, but the man looked as though he was about to wet himself.
"Mr Allen," Grissom spoke softly, moving the photo of Adrian closer towards him. "You care about them. Both of them. We need to find, Adrian. He's vulnerable out there on his own. In order to find him, we need the facts. We know that you didn't kill her. Your prints don't match the murder weapon." He didn't have the results back from their evidence yet, but he was running on a theory. "Just tell us what happened."
"If you didn't do this." Brass offered his assistance.
"I think you should tell them what you told me." The lawyer finally spoke.
Kevin rolled his eyes, pushing the photo of the child away from him. "He was screaming at his mother that she did nothing for him. Then he hit her and she wouldn't get up. When I realised that she was dead, he took off. I had to get her out of there. I thought he'd go home, but he never showed up. I swear, I didn't do anything to him. I love that kid like a son. If I knew where he was, I'd tell you, but I don't. He's all I have left of Kat."
Climbing up from the table, Grissom terminated the interrogation, stepping out into the hallway for a moment to think. He removed his glasses, putting his back to the cold concrete wall.
Cases involving children were always hard to deal with, but they never affected him like this before. He wanted to go home, steal a drink from Brass' secret stash in his desk drawer or lock himself away in his office, but he knew that he couldn't do any of that until the case was closed.
"Hey Gil, you alright?" Brass caught up to him.
"You better let Catherine know." Grissom straightened up, avoiding his question. "Her missing boy has been on his own for nearly forty eight hours. He's ten years old. Scared... alone. And he just killed his mother."
"We'll find him. I'll call the task force on the kidnapping now." The Captain pulled his cell out of his pocket, putting a call straight through to Catherine. He finished up with the call a few minutes later, finding himself alone in the hallway. He made a quick sweep around the station to see where the lab supervisor had disappeared to, finding himself alone.
"That was Brass, we're going to have to broaden our search a little." Ditching her phone on the hood of the car, Catherine anxiously ran her fingers through her hair as she examined the map in front of her. "Adrian was the one who killed his mother. He ran off when she realised that she was dead and the idiot boyfriend decided to stage a suicide, rather than run after the kid."
"The junkie and the Mom were dating?" Greg found that hard to believe. The only link that they had was the drugs.
"Yeah, so he's been on his own for nearly..." The woman consulted her watch. "Forty eight hours now. Brass has sent a squad car back to the house. He's got one watching the junkie's place. FBI have someone watching the father..."
"So, where are we supposed to start looking?" Greg interjected. "We don't know anything about this kid."
"If you were ten years old, where would you go if you were scared out of your mind?" Nick joined them around the hood of the car. "Gris just texted me. He's got a lead. Adrian loves football. His father used to take him to this club about a mile from his school."
"I hate it when he does that." Catherine rolled her eyes, giving out a soft sigh. "Alright, Greg with me. Nicky, find your partner. You can tell him if he misses another shift, his ass is canned." She warned him, gathering up her supplies off the hood, before she climbed into the driver's seat.
Nick waved them off, giving Warrick another call, but just like before, there was still no answer. "C'mon man... where are you?"
"What are we supposed to do with a case like this?" Greg asked, fastening his seatbelt over his shoulder as Catherine took off towards the football club. "Do you have many ten year olds whacking their mothers off like this? What's the justice for something like this?"
"It's up to the court to decide what happens to this kid. Not us, Greg. We're just the ones who have to find him." She pointed out to him, opening her visor to look at the pictures of her daughter inside. "There is no justice. A life for a life is never justice. He's ten years old. He just killed the one person who loves him more than anything in the world. Or supposed to anyway." Catherine snapped her visor shut, giving the younger man a half smile. "You'll understand that one day. You got any plans for children in your future?"
"Maybe one day." Greg shrugged his shoulders together. "Hopefully before I reach Grissom's age."
"Ouch. How old do you think he is, Greg?"
"I don't know... he's gotta be pushing sixty or something by now, right?"
Catherine laughed, shaking her head at him. "He's only forty six, Greg. I'd hate to ask how old you think I am." She directed her car into the parking lot, pulling up alongside Grissom's. "Watch the door. Wait for backup." She unclipped her seatbelt, giving him a smile as she climbed out the car.
"Backup? He's a ten year old boy."
"By the book, Greg. You should know the drill by now." Catherine grabbed her vest from the back of her car, fastening it into place as she made her way towards the building. It was nearly one in the morning, so the parking lot was empty and the building was completely in the dark. She used the light of her flashlight to find her way around, keeping her hand on her holster, just in case. She wasn't expecting much of a fight from the scared ten year old, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
A few feet down the corridor, she heard the echo of a familiar voice. She followed her senses towards a set of double doors, spotting Grissom sat in the stands. His flashlight was pointed downwards, but she couldn't see anyone or anything in his line of sight.
Easing the door open, Catherine took a cautious step inside, catching her colleague looking in her direction.
"This is my colleague, Catherine, that I was telling you about." He motioned his attention towards her. He ushered the woman closer, giving her a reassuring smile as she approached. She spotted the child sat with his back to the wall, clutching his knees tightly to his chest. "Catherine, this is Adrian." He patted the seat beside him, indicating for her to join him.
"Hi, Adrian." Catherine eased herself into the chair, giving the child a slight smile. "You've got a lot of people looking for you out there."
"Because I did a bad thing?"
"Yeah, sweetie." She spoke softly, noticing the mini fire truck sitting beside him. "Do you like firemen?"
"My Dad bought it for me. It's kinda babyish." Adrian reached for the toy, spinning the wheel with his finger, before he pushed himself to his feet. He took a few steps closer towards the two CSIs, holding the fire truck out to Grissom. "Will I have to live with him now?"
"It's not really our place to say." Grissom grasped his fingers around the truck, noticing the blood splatter on the child's sleeve. "We can take you to see your mother now."
"Gil." Catherine hissed his name.
"He wants to say goodbye." He simply explained, pushing himself to his feet. He didn't blame the child for her death. He knew that he was responsible for it, but he didn't believe that he was at fault. "It's okay, Catherine." Grissom guided the child towards the exit, shielding his eyes from the flashing lights of the police cars as they made it outside.
Adrian grabbed hold of his hand at his side, clutching it tightly as they made their way towards the Captain's car. He wouldn't let go at the door, so Grissom climbed in first, putting his seatbelt on for him once they were inside.
The child anxiously looked out the window the whole drive back to the station, holding onto Grissom's hand the whole time. He gulped as the police station finally came into view, feeling a tear running down his cheek.
Captain Brass pulled into his usual spot, breathing out a soft sigh as he climbed out of the car. He felt the bitter cold of the night nipping at his skin, followed by an eerie chill running down his spine as he reached for the handle of the passenger door, letting out their ten year old murder suspect.
The whole station seemed to stand still as they made their way inside. He had never seen his deputies so still before. It was as though the whole station had been frozen in time.
"I'll uh..." Brass motioned towards the elevator. "I'll go see if Albert is ready for us, are you sure about this, Gil?" He had to check. It wasn't exactly protocol, but Grissom felt as though it was in the best interest of the child to say goodbye to his mother. "Alright... you can... you can wait in my office."
"C'mon, Adrian. We'll say goodbye in a minute." Grissom led the way. "Catherine, can you find him something to eat?"
"Sure. There should be something in the staff room for him." Catherine grabbed Greg's arm beside her, pulling him towards the staff room with her. She didn't want him asking anymore questions about what was going to happen now, fearful about the impact that this would have on a child of Adrian's age. "You got some change, Greg?"
"Is this how we treat murderers now? I thought we didn't give special treatment to anyone. No matter the circumstances, we don't get attached."
Catherine sighed, shaking her head at him. "You still have a lot to learn, Greg. Do me a favour? Go to the lab and get us some supplies. We're going to need Adrian's clothes, swabs... my camera should have a new roll of film inside. Tell Judy to give his father another call. He was on the first flight over here."
"Fine." Greg turned on his heels, grabbing the door to the staff room.
"And Greg." Catherine called after him. "Tell me if Warrick's decided to show up yet."
"Okay." Stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans, Greg made his way towards the elevator, spotting Grissom making sure their little murderer was comfortable sitting on Brass' leather sofa. He rolled his eyes as stepped into the open elevator, making his way up to the lab floor. He spotted Warrick ducking into the locker room as the doors opened, hurrying after him to see where he had been, but Nick beat him to the punch.
"Where the hell you been, man? Catherine called in an all hands on deck hours ago. We've been tryin' all your numbers, but you haven't been answerin' any of them."
"I had something to do." Warrick shrugged it off, ditching his jacket into his locker. "I'm here now."
"It's too late now." Nick snapped at him. "We needed you and you weren't there." He slammed his locker shut, storming past Greg on his way out.
"You got a beef with me too?" Warrick noticed the younger man in the doorway.
"I don't know what's going on with you, Warrick. But you need to get your priorities straight." Greg advised his mentor, feeling as though he was out of the loop since their shift had been separated. He had enjoyed working with them again over the past few hours, but they all seemed so different.
He grabbed what the needed to process their murderer's clothes into evidence, taking it down to Grissom to deal with.
"Any news on Warrick?" Catherine stopped him at the door.
"Yeah, he's just arrived." Stepping into the office, Greg dropped the kit onto desk with a heavy thud, giving his supervisor a glare as he made his way his way out again. Not willing to hear another lecture, he pulled away from Catherine, making his way back to the lab upstairs.
"What's his problem?" Grissom glanced towards the door at Catherine.
"Long day." Catherine sighed softly, grabbing herself some gloves. "I can take care of him for a little while. Brass said it will be a few more minutes before she's ready. Go ahead Gil, take five." She assured him, giving him a smile, before she sat herself down on the coffee table in front of Adrian. "Hi, Adrian. Can you hold your hands up for me like this?" She instructed him, grabbing a swab from the kit.
Grissom turned for the door, spotting the prying eyes of the deputies in the corridor. "Can I help you gentlemen?" He watched them quickly trying to busy themselves with work, leaving the hallway empty once again. He checked his phone for messages, spotting Sofia running for the ladies with blotchy eyes.
It appeared that the whole team was on edge today.
"Gil, the press are going to need a statement about this mess you've got us into." Ecklie caught up to him. "How is this going to look? I thought we had our murder suspect in custody already?"
"The evidence led us to the real murderer." Grissom simply stated, giving the man a smug smile. "It's your own fault for jumping ahead of the evidence again, Conrad. Keith Allen will still be charged. He should have called an ambulance. He moved the body clear across town, then tried to stage her death as a suicide. He stopped to get high somewhere in between, forgetting all about the ten year old boy for two days that we've been searching for all night."
"The press are going to see this as sloppy police work."
"Not my problem." Grissom stepped past him, slotting his phone back into his pocket. "We could use some backup to cover the new cases coming in. As acting supervisor for day shift, you should put in a call to your team."
"Absolutely not." Ecklie shook his head, following him down the hall. "They only just finished their shift a few hours ago. They need their sleep to function for their next shift. They need time to be with their families."
"And my guys have been on shift for the past..." He consulted his watch. "Eighteen hours. They need a rest."
"They're not your guys anymore, Gil." Ecklie turned the other way. "I'll dismiss Catherine and her team after we get through this press conference. Have your guys cover the new cases. I'll see if I can get anyone in to back you up."
"Thank you, Conrad." Grissom grinned at him, taking off as he spotted Sofia leaving the ladies. He followed her into the staff room, closing the door behind him. "Is everything okay?"
"Uh..." Sofia hid her face from him, quickly wiping her eyes. "Yeah... yeah... I'm okay." She grabbed herself a coffee mug. "Do you want one?"
"No, thank you." He joined her at the counter. "This case has hit everybody hard."
"It's not..." Sofia composed herself, showing her face to Grissom, revealing her puffy red eyes. "It's not the case. It's... personal and it's my business. I don't want to spread my personal business around the lab. I'm sorry okay, I won't let it affect my work."
"Whatever it is, you don't have to go through it alone."
"It's Kara." The woman sighed softly, filling her mug with coffee. "Her father is seeking sole custody. If he wins, he's taking her out of state. I might never see her again."
"I'm sorry." Grissom reached for her hand on the counter, giving it a gentle squeeze for comfort. "If there's anything I can do."
Taking her supervisor sign of comfort the wrong way, Sofia made a sudden advancement towards him, just barely capturing his bottom lip for a kiss, before he managed to pull himself away. "Oh... God... I'm... I'm sorry, Gil." She rushed for the door to escape her humiliation, bumping into Warrick on her way out.
"Warrick." Grissom quickly pushed himself to his feet from the counter. "I thought Catherine said that you weren't in today."
"Yeah... I had uh... some personal business to deal with. What were you doing with Sofia?"
"Nothing. This personal business." He rapidly changed the subject. "I thought we talked about this gambling problem during office hours?"
"You're not my super anymore, Gris, so I don't have to answer to you."
Ignoring his attitude, Grissom warned him, "I'm still your superior. You're going to have to come up with those answers for Catherine's questions. Or you'll find yourself on the end of a suspension."
"Are you threatening me, after what I just saw?" Warrick took a step closer, feeling as though he didn't even know the man anymore.
"What do you think you saw, Warrick?"
"Children, stop bickering." Catherine burst in on them. "We've got a problem."
"What now?" Grissom rolled his eyes.
"Adrian. He split."
"What?" The man fumed, charging out the door with her. "Why weren't you watching him?"
"I was." She defended herself, feeling bad enough already. "I left him alone with one of the deputy's for two minutes, while I took his clothes up to the lab. I just dropped them off with Wendy. When I came back, he was gone and the deputy swears that he didn't see him leave."
"Find, Jim." Grissom shoved the deputy stood watching the door. "He can't have got far." He anxiously ran his fingers through his hair. "Alright, lock the building up. Split up. I'll check autopsy. He was really anxious to see his mother."
"Alright, I'll put out an alert."
"In house only." Grissom called after her, fearing the impact this would have on Ecklie's press conference later. He jammed his fingers into the button for the elevator, waiting for a few seconds, before he ran for the stairs. There was no telling how much this experience had already damaged their young murder suspect. He didn't want him seeing his mother sprawled out on an autopsy table like that.
He could protect him from that.
"Warrick, nice of you to finally show your face." Catherine sarcastically remarked, looking in the direction of her colleague. "What took you so long to answer all your calls?"
"Can we talk about it later? Who's this missing kid?"
"Wanted for the murder of his mother." She gave him the short version. "Ten years old. It can't be that hard to find him in a building full of cops. Even for you." Catherine gave him a smug smile, before she took off for the stairs. "Keep your phone on!"
"Yeah." Warrick pulled his phone out of his pocket, rolling his eyes at the hundreds of missed calls, along with the unanswered texts. He stuffed it back into his pocket for later, catching sight of the little person sat beneath the table in the staff room. "Hey." He knelt down to his level, spotting the bag of chips in his hands. "Chicken or beef?"
"Barbeque." Adrian answered, holding the bag out towards him.
"Thanks." Warrick grabbed himself a chip, stuffing it into his mouth. "What are you doing in here?"
"People keep staring at me out there. Wanted to be alone." The child shrugged his shoulders together, grabbing himself another handful of chips. "Is everyone mad at you too?"
"Looks like." He sat himself against the wall beside him.
"Is that guy your Dad?"
"Grissom? Nah." Warrick shook his head. "He's the closest thing to a father I've ever had though. My Dad bailed on us when I was a kid."
"My Dad left us too. Mom's friend, Keith takes care of us now."
"Oh yeah." Warrick pushed the door to the staff room shut with his foot, giving them some privacy. "Do you like him?"
Adrian shook his head, losing his appetite for the chips. "He made my Mom take bad medicine."
"Bad medicine?"
"The kids at school call her pot head."
"Oh, I see." Warrick nodded, sympathising with the kid. He couldn't stand junkie mother's prioritising their next fix over their own child. He still wasn't filled in on the details of the case, but he realised now why it was so important to Catherine. "This bad thing that you did, you know it wasn't your fault."
"I hit her." Adrian confessed, crawling out from under the table. He climbed to his feet using the chair, ditching the chips on the table. "I told her I wanted to go home. She laughed at me. Pushed me into the table." He raised his arm to show Warrick the bruise on his arm. "I grabbed the glass bottle and hit her. She fell down and wouldn't get up. Keith yelled at me. Told me to get lost."
"He told you to go?" Warrick climbed to his feet, giving the child a curious look. "He tell you where to hid too?"
"He said he'd come get me as soon as he..." Adrian stopped mid-sentence, pointing the man's attention towards the door.
"Hey, easy deputy. He's just a kid." Warrick stopped the newbie from pulling his piece on him. "The situation is contained. Tell Brass we found him. I'll keep an eye on him until Gris gets back. Now, deputy."
The deputy sighed, removing his hand from his weapon. "Captain, over here." He ushered his boss over.
"Nice of you to inform the rest of the team, Brown." Captain Brass charged straight in, pointing the deputies attention towards the kid. "Take him to one of the interrogation rooms. Lock the door and keep him under constant guard. You, my office." He pointed at Warrick, sounding even more pissed than Grissom.
"Hey, I'll come see you in a bit." Warrick called after the kid, reluctantly following the man towards his office. He flinched as the door slammed shut behind him, watching the angry Captain making his way behind his desk. "I just found him sitting there. What was I supposed to do? Call in a SWAT team? He's just a kid."
"That's not the point and you know it. Why the hell didn't you show up for shift today?"
"Personal business." Warrick folded his arms across his chest.
"This the same personal business that got you into trouble before?"
"In case you forgot, you were demoted from your position as my Supervisor. I don't have to report to you or Gris anymore." Warrick snapped back at him.
"Oh yeah, what's your new super, Catherine gonna say when she finds out you're back to your old tricks again?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Brass slid open the top drawer of his desk, grabbing the disc from inside. He glared at the other man as he placed the disc into the drive of his computer, waiting for it to load, before he ushered him closer. "Your so called sick day the other week, you spent five hours at the blackjack tables."
"You're spying on me?"
"I was there investigating a crime scene with Grissom." Brass informed him, putting some distance between them, before he smacked the guy for acting like such a brat. "You're lucky that I got to the film before he did. Smart guy like you should know that Casinos film everyone walking through their doors. What were you thinking, Rick? If I check the tapes for tonight, will I find you sat there again instead of helping us on this investigation?"
"No."
"Are you sure?" He practically yelled at him, not even noticing the door to his office opening behind him.
"Is there a problem here?" Catherine looked between the two of them. "Briefing upstairs. Ecklie wants everyone to attend. Leave someone guarding the kid this time, Jim. We can't afford to lose him again."
"Your mistake, Willows. Not mine. The kid was in your custody when he went missing."
"Correction, he was in the care of one of your deputies." Catherine shouted right back at him.
Brass threw his hands up in the air, relieved that this shift was almost over. He couldn't take another minute of the aggravation between the two shifts. He pushed past the woman on his way out the office, dying for a drink right about now.
"Not a word." Catherine glared at Warrick. "Get upstairs. We'll talk later."
"What happened to innocent until proven guilty?" He called after her, groaning as he reluctantly followed her upstairs for the debriefing. He sat there bored out of his mind for what felt like hours as Ecklie debriefed the rest of the team on what they already knew. He glanced towards Grissom and Catherine towards the end, gulping softly as he saw the look in their eyes. He felt like a scared student by the end of the meeting, fearing the trip to the Principals office more than what his grandmother would say when he got home.
And she terrified him.
"Sit down." Grissom pulled up a chair in his office, perching himself on his desk, while Catherine leant against the shelving unit with her arms folded across her chest.
"Do I get a lawyer?"
"Don't get smart with me, Warrick." The other man warned him.
Reluctantly dropping into the seat, Warrick gave out a soft sigh, wishing he had never bothered to show up. He placed his hands on his knees, looking between Catherine and Grissom, feeling their disappointment in him beginning to burn a hole into his skull.
"Catherine informed me that you skipped out on a court appearance the other day. You're missing shifts, ducking calls and arguing about assignments." Grissom started the scolding, folding his arms across his chest. "What the hell is going on with you, Warrick?"
"And personal business isn't going to cut it this time." Catherine interjected. "Brass showed us the tape."
Warrick rolled his eyes, leaning back in his seat. "Am I on trial here?"
"Look, Warrick." Grissom sat forwards, looking at the younger man in front of him. "What you do in your own time is nobody's business..."
"To hell it is." Catherine interrupted her former supervisor, pushing herself off the shelves. She advanced towards Warrick, pointing an accusing finger at him. "You made it our business when you started ducking out on your responsibilities here at the lab. That shift that you missed the other day, Nicky had to work a solo and almost got shot. You know that we're short staffed already. We really needed you here, but you didn't show up until the lab director sent someone to pick you up. What the hell was so important?"
"Catherine." Grissom reached for her arm, before she got close enough to strike out at the other man.
"Why are you always defending him?" Catherine pulled away from the man. "Ignoring this isn't going to make it go away, Gil."
"I'm not ignoring it. He's here, isn't he?"
"I was trying to help someone out!" Warrick shouted, stopping the two of them from arguing. He didn't want them to get in an argument over him. In a way, they were the closet thing he had ever had to real parents and he hated the thought of being labelled the problem child that broke them up. "Yeah, I placed some bets during a shift the other day. I know it was bad, but we needed bail money."
"We?" Catherine gave him a curious look.
"A kid from my block." He confessed. "His father disappeared on them a long time ago. Mom got popped during all that gang revenge crap a few months back. He's been staying with his Aunt. She told me to keep him out of trouble. He got busted for some petty shoplifting thing. They needed bail money. That's where I was, all day today. You can check all you like, it's the truth."
"You were trying to win bail money?" Catherine tried to get the facts straight in her head. "You could have asked one of us for a loan or something, Warrick."
"My business."
"It becomes our business when you don't show up for your responsibilities." Grissom pointed out to him, catching Ecklie lurking in the hallway. He gave out a sigh, reluctantly letting him in. "What do you want, Conrad? Don't you have a press conference to get to?"
"Just a reminder that I'll be expecting a disciplinary action report on this little situation. Willows." He called out to her, before he gave the other man a smug smile. "Something that was never your strong suit. Why are you even involved in this meeting, Gil? I haven't officially reinstated you to your role of shift supervisor yet. Sofia is supposed to handle any issues that come up with the team."
"I'm just sitting in." Grissom glanced over his shoulder at Catherine. "Are we good here?"
"Yeah, I can handle it from here." She assured him, watching him grab his jacket, hightailing it out the door before anything else got in the way.
Grissom climbed into bed alongside the one he loved a few minutes later, holding her tight in his arms. He used to feel as though the lab and the work was his place of sanctuary, but holding Sara in his arms, feeling the baby kicking at his hand, he realised that it was here. He didn't care if the other stuff worked itself out, Sara and their child was all that mattered to him now.
Thanks so much for reading! Sorry about the delay in updates, tricky chapter to write and I've had a lot going on. Not so much Sara in this one, but I wanted to show a more fatherly side of Grissom, before I start on her. I hope you enjoyed reading it, please let me know what you thought.
Enjoy the rest of your week!
Thank you!
~ Holly