Sara did go back to her place. As the boxes filled, the rooms felt less and less like her space and she became uneasy. Each item placed in a box was one more step away from Gil, away from home. She thought about the events of the last year. Remembering how upset she was when Gil spent the night at Heather's, she smiled. It was so like Gil to go charging off like the white knight that he was and rescue the damsel from herself. And the extra effort he put into finding her granddaughter and talking to her ex about letting Heather see the child; if he was capable of all of that for a friend that he didn't often see, why couldn't she have trusted him more? Sadness welled up within her as she pondered that question.
Looking at her cell phone, she considered calling Paula, but then realized her friend would be asleep. So she did the next best thing; she called Nick. He always seemed to understand her.
"Hey Sara," he answered the phone in his Texas twang.
"Hey. How are you?"
"I'm good. You?"
"Mmmm, not so good," she replied.
"Oh honey, I'm sorry to hear that. What's goin' on?"
"I um…actually, I'm in Vegas."
"Really?" He sounded excited. "You gonna let us have a chance to see ya?"
"I wasn't sure if anybody wanted to see me?"
"You kiddin? Things haven't been the same since you left. Griss, well…if you're here then you've seen for yourself. And Catherine had been out of sorts, and Warrick, man he's all messed up. And Greg, oh man…Greg was really down for awhile."
"What about you Nicky? Did you miss me?"
"Everyday girl…everyday. But look, hey, we're getting together at Pete's before shift. Come join us?"
"Everybody?"
"Well, not Gris. And Catherine is kind of iffy. Sometimes she goes over to check on him before the start of shift. He's been pretty messed up and she and Jim take turns keeping tabs on him. But the rest of us will be there."
"Okay, Pete's then. Thanks Nick."
"For what?"
"Just…being a friend when I need one."
"Hey, you've been there plenty for me…"
She remained quiet, thinking about her years at the lab and the friendships that had come to mean so much to her. Sensing her loneliness, Nick spoke again. "So what are you doin' now?"
"Packing."
"Aw Sara, you don't have to do that."
"Yeah, I do Nick."
She heard his sigh and then he asked, "So how about some help?"
"Well, I'm almost done, but…I could use a little company?"
"On my way…"
Sara smiled as she closed her phone. It would be good to see Nick again.
Just as Sara finished her call to Nick, Jim Brass was knocking on Gil's door. "Look, I know you are on leave and all," Jim said as Gil opened the door for him to enter, "but I need your brain on this case I'm working."
"Jim, you know I can't go near a crime scene…"
"Yeah, yeah…just let me tell you about it and you tell me what I'm looking for, okay?"
Gil nodded and the two men sat on his couch. Jim opened the file and began explaining the case. "So this guy was found out on off of Blue Diamond Road near Spring Mountain State Park. Looks like his car was abandoned near an old trail that leads up to a canyon. Apparently he followed the trail 'cause we found him in the canyon. Thing is, he was shot, bled out right there at the scene. But we can't find any sign that anybody else was there. The day shift has been over and over it…not tracks of any kind and the ground is pretty soft there, so you would thing some trace would have been left."
"Can you tell what kind of weapon was used?"
"Doc took a .38 slug out of him, so it wasn't a high powered rifle or anything like that."
"How long had he been there?"
"Doc said about 24 hours probably. Hard to tell with the hot sun and all, but that's his best estimate. One other thing; autopsy showed that he had eaten within two hours of his death, so he wasn't there long before he bought it."
"Car reveal anything?"
"Not yet. They are going over it again, but it looks like he still had gas and nothing seems out of the ordinary."
"So this guy makes tracks into the canyon, gets himself shot and dies there but there is no sign that anyone else was there with him?"
"Right?"
Gil stared at the crime scene photos intently. "It looks like he was near a low spot within the canyon?"
"Yeah, Park Ranger said it fills with water when it rains but then dries quickly. Creates a swirl, he said."
"Did it rain there last night?"
"Ah, I don't know…let me check with the ranger." Jim pulled out his phone and dialed the number for the ranger. After a brief chat, he closed his phone. "Well, I'll be damned…he said they did have a quick downpour in the early hours of the morning."
"A helicopter."
"What?"
"You're looking for a helicopter. It landed in the low spot. The rain would have washed away traces of its footprint, leaving the swirl pattern behind. The shooter stood at the opening, see…here," Gil pointed to a spot on the aerial shot of the scene. He's close enough to your vic to talk and to shoot. Then he headed back down the embankment, got in the chopper, and left. The rain came later and washed away any trace of him."
"So how are the vic's footprints still there?"
"They are on higher ground, less sand, more soil and rock. It holds up to the quick rain better. In the low spot, it appears to be mostly sand and sediment, much softer and washes away easier in the water."
"Wow, thanks." Jim smiled as he gathered up the file.
"Yeah, but you would have figured it out on your own, Jim. Even those half wits on Days would have figured it out eventually."
"Don't be so sure…about the half wits, I mean. And yeah, I might have come up with it, but meantime the shooter gets farther and farther away. I need to get moving on this, but I appreciate your help."
Gil saw through his friend's attempt to distract him by pulling him back into the action; giving him something to think about besides Sara. "Thanks Jim," he said meaningfully.
"No, hey…thank you." Jim stopped at the door and turned. "Oh, hey…how are things going with Sara?"
"She's at her place packing." Gil answered dispassionately.
"And taking her stuff…"
"Back to California."
Jim nodded, sadness written in the lines of his face. "Geez, I'm sorry…"
"So am I, but I'm also relieved," Gil said honestly, surprising even himself.
"Relieved?" Jim was worried by Gil's response.
"Yeah…you were right. It was a terrible conversation, but I can start to live again."
"Sometimes it sucks, you know?"
"What? Living?"
"Being right." And with that Jim was gone.
Sara opened the door to Nick's smile and her day seemed better. She had a few more boxes to pack and had them sorted but not stacked in corners. Nick stacked while she packed.
"So Sara, you seen Grissom yet?"
"Yeah," she said sitting down on one of the stacks. "You were right; he is pretty messed up. I can't believe everything he told me; I mean, I believe it but…"
"Yeah, not like him at all. But then, with a guy like that, you never really know what's going on inside anyway."
"Nick, he's one of the gentlest souls on the planet and even he was capable of brutality. Kind of makes me think it all is just hopeless."
"Aw Sara, you can't think like that. I mean, we're all human; we all have our limits. And underneath our civilized exteriors, we're all just two legged mammals, animals. And when animals are hurt, they do strange things sometimes."
Nick paused and then launched into a story. "When I was a kid, I had a friend Joey. Now Joey had a dog, a terrier mix, a mutt really. She was so gentle. She followed Joey everywhere. One summer she had puppies and Sara, you've never seen a better mother. She was funny to watch; she'd nudge the bigger ones away and let the runt have more time to nurse. And when they were older, she led them around, making them walk in single file. If one got out of line, she'd pick 'em up by the scruff of his neck and gently shake him and then put him back in line. And whenever Joey was having a bad day or was hurt, she's be right there, concerned."
"Well, Joey got another puppy and his little terrier mothered that one. She raised him just like he was her own. After he was about a year old, Joey was playing with both of them and the pup bit her; drew blood. That little mama dog went nuts. She picked up that pup, which was as big as she was by then and threw him across the yard and then pounced on him like he was her next meal. Joey kicked her off the pup and she turned on Joey, nearly biting him. She wouldn't have anything to do with Joey or the pup for days. She had given them all of her love, you see, and then they hurt her. She pined and pined until finally Joey couldn't take it anymore. He just sat on the ground next to her and cried."
"What happened?"
"The darnedest thing; she nudged her head up under his hand in his lap and just stayed there, her big eyes looking up at him sad like and all until he started petting her."
"Awe, that was a cute story…but fess up, you were Joey, weren't you?"
Nick gave her his 'aw shucks' look and smiled. "Yeah, I was. But the point is, when she was hurt by the two creatures that she loved the most, it made her do things that she normally wouldn't do. People are like that too."
"Yeah. We talked, you know. I mean….the talk."
"So ya'll are over?"
"Yeah." She sat for a moment silently remembering his words. "I asked him if we could ever, you know…get back together. Only he read my thought before I even finished asking."
"I hate it when he does that."
Sara smirked. "Yeah, it seems like he's always way out ahead of the rest of us. But he said…he said that loving me had been his greatest joy in life and now it was his greatest pain." A tear rolled down her cheek as she remembered that moment.
"He actually said that to you?"
"Yeah. And…well, he wasn't trying to be mean or hurtful. He just wanted me to understand that he couldn't go back. I think I broke something in him Nick. I wonder if he will ever be the same man." She looked up, sorrow spilling from her grief filled eyes.
"I don't know about being the same, Sara. Loving you changed him and not all in bad ways either. Looking back, I can see where he got more comfortable with people because of you. Somehow you brought him out of himself. But I think he'll find his way back. In his own oddball way, he's one of the strongest men I know. Maybe that's part of the problem; he's been too strong for too long."
"Maybe," she said, not quite convinced.
"Hey, if you're all done here, what's say we wash up and go meet the others?" Nick said, trying to distract her from her grief.
"Yeah, I'd like to do that…see the gang." She smiled.
