21. Monster in the Box
Sofia was in front of the restaurant to meet Sara when she was pulled into arms. Before she could fight she realized it was Sara, who pulled her into her arms. Instead of fighting she let the brunette hold her.
"Why don't we skip dinner tonight and have a little walk?" Sara whispered in Sofia's ear.
"Aren't you hungry?"
"Maybe after the walk. What do you think?"
"A walk sounds good." Sofia took Sara's hand. Under different circumstance she was sure the brunette had pulled her hand away, today she allowed Sofia to hold it, hold on to it.
"I went to Grissom again. Tell me what it is that makes me go to him whenever I've problems?" Sofia asked after a few minutes.
"He's a smart guy, you expect him to give you answers to your questions."
"Maybe."
"Did he provide you with answers?"
"None that made me happy. I know it's not my fault that Officer Kane died but…I watched her dying, Sara. I sat in front of my screen and watched her last breaths. Only watched and didn't do a damn thing."
"You can't see carbon monoxide, Sofia."
"I know. My head knows it…the rest of me isn't that far yet."
"You're a good cop and nobody in the world could have helped Officer Kane. That was impossible."
"We get paid to do the impossible."
"No, we don't. Like we don't get paid to blame ourselves for something we didn't do."
"I can't help it."
"Is there anything I can do to help you?"
"No. I need to understand that it's not my fault myself. At least Ecklie has his will now, the world knows about the models."
"Yes, thanks to the brother of Misses Tallman."
"The killer – copy cat killer. I told you when the world knows about the models there'll be copy cat killers."
"I know." Sara's hand ran softly over Sofia's back. "On one hand side I can understand him, I can understand why he did it and why she wanted him to do it. On the other hand's side it made our job more complicated. We had the monster in the box, now it's out."
"It got more complicated the moment we realized the miniature killer isn't dead."
"True. We thought it was Ernie Dell and got proved wrong. If it was really one of his foster kids, it will be hard for us to find the right one. Some of them will have changed their name, the judge won't give us their old names and some will have moved to other places."
"I hate these cases. These killings seemed to be random, we have no suspect, we have no idea where to look and I feel so useless."
"You are a lot of things, Sofia, useless isn't one of them."
"Thanks." The blonde paused for a moment, watched a child laughing on a slide on the playground they just crossed. "You're happy that Grissom is back, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"There was nothing wrong with Keppler – beside the fact that obviously had manipulated evidence? Killed a man? I'm not sure."
"Nobody can replace Grissom." Sara didn't want to talk about Keppler. In her eyes he damaged the team more than he had helped them. He died to protect a woman but if he hadn't covered for his almost father-in-law, this situation had never been.
"Do you think the miniature killer will kill again?"
"He doesn't have a reason why not. We're far away from catching him, he can go on, playing with us."
"We will get him."
"Hopefully."
"We always do. Sooner or later."
"I'm glad you think so, detective." Sara squeezed Sofia's hand again. This was more the Sofia she knew.