Lex Talionis
Chapter 28
The rain that had threatened in Vegas caught up with Grissom just south of Ash Springs. After spending ten minutes trying to navigate through what seemed to be an almost impenetrable wall of water, he finally admitted defeat and pulled into the next roadhouse he came to. Unwilling to risk either his neck or the plaster cast on his leg making a dash for the diner's door, the only thing he could do was wait in the SUV and hope the downpour wouldn't last long. Half an hour later, the rain stopped as suddenly as it had started and he decided to take the opportunity to some food before continuing his journey.
Sitting inside, waiting for his order to be served, Grissom stared into his coffee cup and tried to make some sense of the thought that had been taunting him since waking that morning: why did the driver of the Pathfinder wait until they were at the restaurant to make a move? If he'd been following the Mercedes all night then, surely, it made more sense to have done something at the mineshaft. The only logical conclusion Gil could come up with was that he hadn't been the original target, and if it hadn't been him, that left only one other person he could have been after.
Grissom checked his watch and then opened his cell phone and dialed.
"Brown."
"Warrick, it's Grissom."
"Hey, Griss. I didn't recognize the number on caller ID." The joy evident in Warrick's voice at hearing from his boss made Grissom realize just what he'd put the members of his team through over the past few weeks. "How you doing?"
"I'm fine, feeling a lot better." Grissom told him. "Look, I need you to do something for me."
"Sure, man. Anything."
"I'm going to be out of town for awhile; I need you to keep an eye on Brass. I don't think it was me that guy was going for the other day. I'm pretty sure he was actually following Jim, he just switched to me thinking I'd be an easier target."
"I'll do what I can, Griss, but unless we're at a scene together there's not a whole lot I can do. I guess Sara can keep an eye out at the townhouse but what about when he's at PD?"
"Sara won't be at the townhouse; neither will Jim for that matter." Grissom explained about The Platinum. "Security in the building is pretty tight; they'll probably both be safer there than anywhere else. As for PD; speak to Vartann, see what he suggests."
"I'm on it, Griss. I'm guessing you don't want me to say anything to Brass about this."
"Not for the moment, no. He already knows that he's on this guy's hit list; I don't think we need to stress him out any further."
"Alright if I let Nick in on this?" Warrick asked. "It'll be easier at our end if there are two of us are watching out."
"That's fine, Warrick but there's one more thing; unless it's an emergency, you don't know this number, okay? I have a feeling I'm in for a lecture from Catherine, Jim or, if I'm really lucky, both of them and I'd like to put that off for as long as possible."
Warrick chuckled. "You got it. So, you going to be away long?"
"Three or four days I guess. I should be able to do what I need to in that time." Grissom looked up as the waitress neared with his meal. "Got to go, Warrick, but since you're doing me a favor I'll do one for you in return."
"Yeah? What's that?"
"Sara's back on shift tonight and she's going to be looking for volunteers to help with painting the townhouse. If I were you, I'd be ready with a plausible excuse before she gets there."
Deciding he'd done his good deed for the day, Grissom hung up before Warrick could reply. He thanked the waitress as she placed his plate in front of him and topped up his cup. He ate his burger quickly, anxious to get back on the road again.
Twenty minutes later, he drove out of the car park and continued north on US-93. Traffic had thinned out considerably and he made good time, arriving in Ely just after 11pm. Pulling in at the first motel he came across, he registered for the night, found his room and had just enough energy to send a text message to Sara advising her of his location before falling into a deep sleep on the double bed.
Sara was about to enter the Trace lab when her phone beeped informing her of an incoming message. For the moment she ignored it; this was the first time since shift began that Hodges had been alone in his lab and she meant to take advantage of it. He was bent over a microscope as she approached.
"Hodges."
He instantly stiffened before slowly raising his head to look at her.
"Ah... hi Sara, it's good to see you back." He pushed his chair back from the table attempting to look nonchalant but nothing could disguise the nervousness he was trying to hide. "Did you have a nice break?"
"I did, David, thanks for asking." She leaned against the doorframe, her relaxed manner just making Hodges more anxious.
"Um, is there something in particular I can do for you?" Sara was pleased to hear a slight tremor in his voice.
"I think you've done more than enough already, don't you?" Sara looked left and right to see if anyone was within earshot before moving further into the room. "I'm supposed to let you know that Grissom is taking all the blame for the files that were taken from the lab; there will be no mention of your involvement. As far as everyone is concerned, he came in and did it all himself."
Hodges audibly exhaled in relief; the worry had obviously been weighing on him.
"And, now that I've put your mind at rest on that score there's something else I want to let you know." He tried to edge back further as she moved closer. "If you ever do anything like that again, I'll report you myself. Never mind the danger you helped Grissom put himself in, there's also the little matter of jeopardizing the case should anyone find out what you did."
He opened his mouth to interject but shut it again as Sara glared at him.
"If you're about to come out with an excuse, I don't want to hear it. Helping Grissom leave the hospital the way you did was bad enough but handing over case files to a victim... surely even you can see how stupid that was?"
"He bullied me into it!" Hodges blustered. "There really wasn't anyway I could say no; he's my boss."
"That's not going to cut it, David." Sara told him calmly. "You know what happened to him. You dealt with him at the hospital; can you truthfully say that Grissom was acting normally at that time?"
"Well, no." He admitted. "Not really."
"And yet, you still went ahead and did what he wanted. Both times." She shook her head. "Well, you're getting away with it this time; Grissom told you he'd protect you and that's what he's going to do but just remember; I never promised you anything."
Sara turned and walked out of the lab without looking back. Making her way to the break room, she grabbed a cup and filled it before joining Catherine at the table.
"Did Jim say when he expected to get back from Tonopah?" She asked as she took a sip.
Catherine looked up from the file she was reading. "I thought he'd be back by now; he was only going to show the guy there some photos to see if he could ID the buyer of the Pathfinder. Still, it is a six hour round trip; maybe he's taking it easy on the way back."
"That reminds me." Sara pulled out her cell phone. She read the message then closed her phone, putting it down on the table with slightly more force than she meant to.
"Trouble?"
"Not really, I should have expected it." Sara sighed. "When I asked Grissom to take things easy, I though he might stop half way to Ely and find a place to stay for the night but instead, it looks like he's done the whole trip in one go."
"Ely? When you said earlier that he'd gone up north for a couple of days I assumed you meant he'd gone to Fernley. Ely's on the other side of the state; what's he doing there?"
"I wouldn't mind knowing that myself." Jim Brass' voice came from the open doorway.
Turning, Sara smiled a welcome at him. "You're back."
"I could say the same about you." Jim returned her smile. "So, he's taken off again, huh?"
"Just for a few days." Sara told him. "There are a couple of people he needs to speak to and he thought it would be best to do it in person."
Jim looked at her tiredly. "I assume this has something to do with his 'investigation'."
"You know he was doing it, Jim." Sara pointed out. "You also know that nothing you or I say would have stopped him; he says that he needs to do this."
Brass helped himself to a cup of coffee and leaned against the bench as he drank it. "Is it really wise to let him wander around the state alone?"
"Well, first of all, I didn't 'let' him do anything; the last time I looked that's not how relationships work. Grissom is more than capable of making his own decisions and, before you say it; yes, I do know that the ones he's made recently haven't exactly been sensible but, having just spent a couple of days alone with him, I really don't think there's going to be a problem this time."
"I respect your judgment, Sara, I really do but there still the fact that he's wandering around up there without any backup; what if he asks the wrong question to the wrong person."
Sara smiled. "He's gone to see a guy in Ely who, by the looks of things, may have made the branding iron and then he's heading to Fernley to speak to a woman who had a couple of photos of Debbie Marlin up on her website. That's all but, if it makes you feel any better, I can tell you that Heather Kessler dropped a package off for him yesterday and, although I never saw all the contents, I pretty sure there was a gun in that bag. So, he does have some protection, Jim; I wouldn't worry too much about his ability to look out for himself."
Jim sat in the seat next to Catherine and sighed resignedly. "Okay, you win; I'm not getting into a fight with you over it. In fact, I'm so tired at the moment that I'm not even sure I care." Realizing what he'd just said, he quickly backpedaled. "That came out wrong; I honestly didn't mean it to sound the way it did."
"It's alright, Jim, we know what you meant." Catherine patted him on the arm. "How about telling us how your trip went?"
"Good, it looks like the drive may have been worthwhile after all." The change of subject gave Brass a second wind. "Frank Seymour's one of those people that has a busier life now than before he retired but I finally managed to get him to look through the Fernley High year books. He picked out Jason Beck straight away, said that he drove the other guy to the house and then waited while he they did the deal on the Pathfinder. He went through the books twice but couldn't give a positive ID on the buyer; however, he did pick out some possibles." He reached into his jacket for his notebook. "Considering I was showing him twenty year old photos, I think he did pretty well getting it down to five."
Jim flicked through the pages until he found the one he was after. Catherine grabbed her pen to write the names down as he read them out.
"Aaron Elders, John Hayden, Joseph Napier, Sean Tate and Scott Weller. Seymour wasn't willing to try and narrow it down any further and, to be fair to him; the five do look sort of similar." He put his notebook back in his pocket. "It might take a couple of days to run these guys down but at least now, we've got something concrete to work with."
Picking his cup up, Jim drained the contents and rubbed his eyes tiredly.
"You need to go and get some sleep." Catherine said, watching him and noting the signs of exhaustion on his face.
"Yeah, you're right." Jim admitted. "I'm off tonight anyway; guess I'll head back to the townhouse and hit the sack."
"Um, Jim, your stuff's not at the townhouse anymore." Sara told him.
He gave her a confused look. "You're back five minutes and you've thrown me out already?"
"I was expecting you to be there when I drove the Mercedes home this afternoon; I was going to explain then. The townhouse is going on the market; Gil's finally admitted that he doesn't feel comfortable there anymore and he doesn't want either of us staying there either."
"Okay, I can understand that." Brass said. "So, you've packed up all my belongings and moved them... where?"
"The Platinum."
"The Platinum?" He looked at her in amazement. "I only know one place with that name and I hope that's not the place you mean because I sure as hell can't afford to take up residence there."
"It's alright, Jim. Heather pulled some strings and got the suite at a fantastic rate. There are two big bedrooms, fully-equipped kitchen; you'll love it."
"I don't know, Sara; I'm not really sure how it would look if anyone found out I was staying in a room paid for by a well-known dominatrix."
"Relax." Sara advised him. "I've had them swap the charges to my credit card; your reputation will remain well and truly intact." She stood up and looked at Catherine. "Alright if I take off for half an hour? Jim can drive me over to the hotel; I'll show him where everything is then walk back."
"That's fine." Catherine said, gathering her files together. "It's a slow night anyway but if anything comes up, you're only a few blocks away."
Sara turned to Brass. "I had the hotel run off another keycard for the suite for you; I'll just grab it from my locker and meet you in the car park."
Jim watched as Sara disappeared down the hallway and Catherine disappeared back into Grissom's office. With the room to himself, he pulled out his phone and ran through the list of names until he found the one he wanted.
The call was answered straight away. "Robbins."
"Hey Al, you got a minute."
"I'm just sitting here doing paperwork." The coroner told him. "I assume this is about Gil."
"You've heard he's on the move again?"
"Greg was in here a couple of hours ago. He mentioned Sara was back and filled me in on everything she said."
"I want your opinion." Jim said. "Is this a good sign or what?"
Robbins thought for a moment before replying. "It's hard to say without actually seeing him myself; I can only go on what I've heard. If what Sara said is correct then I'd say the signs are promising."
"I hear a 'but' in there." Brass told him.
"But, I did wonder if she was just seeing what she wanted to see or, more to the point, what Gil wanted her to see."
"Yeah, that crossed my mind too." Jim told him. "It's easy to believe everything's fine when you shut the world out for a while; which is what it sounds like those two were doing. It's when you let it back in that it has a nasty habit of kicking you in the teeth. So, what do you suggest, Al?" Do I go up there and drag him back?"
Robbins chuckled. "You know, as entertaining as that would be to see I really don't think it's going to be necessary. As long as he remembers his physical limitations at the moment, this trip of his might just do him some good."
"You think it's a good idea to have him roaming the state alone?"
"Actually, yes I do. Sara told the guys that Grissom said he 'needs' to do this and, as far as I'm concerned, that's the most promising statement he could have made. To me, using the word 'need' points to him having found a focus; he can direct his anger at a legitimate target instead of at himself or Sara or one of us."
"Okay." Brass conceded. "I can't say I'm entirely happy with things as they are but we'll play it by ear and see what happens."
"We've got to give him the benefit of the doubt, Jim." Al said. "We owe him that much and we'll just keep our fingers crossed that the improvements Sara saw in him were genuine."
Brass looked up in time to notice Sara returning from the locker room. Surprised at seeing him still in the break room, she smiled and held up the keycard in her hand.
"I hope to God they were, Al." Jim said as he returned Sara's smile. "Because if they weren't its going to be us that's left to pick up the pieces."
TBC
A/N: Finally got it up! I meant to post this before I left for the annual family get-together (you know the type; ten minutes in and you suddenly remember why all your favourite relatives are the dead ones). Anyway, I'm not going to apologise again, I feel like that's all I've been doing lately but I am going to make a concerted effort to get this back on some sort of schedule.
