For My Friend Warrick
No they do not belong to me...wish they did though.
Vegas Community Health Clinic
Stephanie parked her car and walked inside to get Nick, she knew he might need to hospitalized but she wanted to be the one who told him,he would definitely need some protection.
As she walked into the small clinic which was still crowded she spotted Carol,"Hey Carol where is the man I brought in this morning?"
"Hey Steph, we sent him to the community hospital for treatment, he is a pretty sick young man." she was busy and did not stop to answer questions, Stephanie felt panicked, she needed to find Nick.
Stephanie followed the nurse,"Where did you send him?" she asked wanting, more like needing a quick answer.
"Listen, we are taking care of him just like we have taken care of all the other sick pups you bring us, he will be getting very good medical care so he can go back out on the street and do more alcohol and drugs and you'll get to save him again and again." she smirked at the young naïve girl.
"You don't understand, he is not an indigent, he works with the Las Vegas police department, his life is in danger and I need to know his exact location because there are people who want him dead." she was worried,she was frank and she needed to get to the point and she needed to find Nick now.
Dr Byrd walked around the corner to hear most of the conversation,"He gave us a John Doe alias, I admitted him to the acute respiratory unit on the fifth floor at the Vegas Community Hospital."
"Thanks." she turned and ran out of the office,she knew she had to get there quickly, she pulled out her cellphone and called the number to the switchboard, she needed to talk to a Captain Brass.
She jumped into her car, and headed towards the community hospital,hoping that nothing had happened to Nick, she knew he was unable to take care of himself, he was too weak and sick, she needed to be there to protect him until his friends could arrive.
The Homeless Community
"Gregg, I need you to get the evidence back to the lab." Grissom yelled from above him, he looked agitated as he started to do hand gestures while he was talking to Brass, which usually meant he was ticked off at something or somebody.
Gregg knew he had to get going but he was still photographing the scene at the second site but stopped and handed the camera to Riley."Gotta go, the boss is calling." Gregg ran back up the hill towards the first site, the SUV had been filled with various pieces of evidence.
Grissom handed him the keys and started to walk away with Brass when Gregg stopped and turned,"How's Nick?"
"Brass just got a call from the woman who took him to the doctor, he was admitted to the community hospital, we're on our way." Gregg picked up immediately that something was wrong.
"I'll tell Catherine to meet us there when she gets done with the scene from the first site, the third site has been worked, the forth still needs to be worked, Ecklie's team will be working the tunnel, or what's left of it."
Gregg nodded, "Tell Nick I said hey."
Grissom nodded and turned again to leave, he felt an urgency to talk to Nick regarding the case, he felt that he might have figured out a significant part of the case,who was actually behind Warrick's murdera nd his disappearance from the funeral home.
Las Vegas Community Hospital
Stephanie hurried to the fifth floor and found a nurse in the hallway, "I'm here to see a John Doe who was admitted earlier." she felt relieved when the nurse pointed to the door down the hallway and smiled.
Stephanie walked down the hallway, pushing her red hair behind her ears, she wanted to make sure nothing happened to this man. She felt very protective of him, maybe because he was so sick, maybe because she knew he had been out on the streets for several days, or maybe it was the way he looked at her in the restaurant.
She reached his door and knocked lightly hoping not to disturb him, she knew he was suffering from exhaustion. When she didn't get an answer she opened it quietly and walked into the doorway, she was shocked that the man whom had been so ill was sitting up in a chair looking out the window, the room dimly lit, barely able to make out that it was him.
"Nick, are you okay?" she asked as she walked in and shut the door behind her, seeing that the man wanted to be alone but knowing that he couldn't be left alone,his life was still in danger.
"Yeah,just thinking." his voice low and gravely.
She walked over and took a seat beside him, making sure he was not disturbed."Sorry I had to leave you at the office but I'm taking finals right now." she paused then continued in a quiet voice,"I hate tests."
"Tests really can suck." he replied,again still focused on the window.
They sat in silence for a while, he was deep in thought concerning the events of the past few days, but the silence of the room was broken when an older nurse walked in and found her patient out of bed.
"Mr Doe, you are on strict bedrest. Why are you out of bed?" Her tone was that of a very upset mother scolding a child.
"I'm not sleepy." he felt honesty with the nurse might be the best thing.
"Well, that is not why you are on bedrest, it's because you are sick and you need to get better." her hands busy straightening the bed,and fluffing the pillow."Please do as I ask or I will call your physician."
He felt as if he argued that might lead to him getting him a dreaded sitter or better, restraints, so he slowly stood, his legs shaky from the lack of food over the past few days and he walked slowly back to the bed.
"Very good Mr Doe, I will get you something to eat, the doctor wants to get you started on some form of nutrition, so we are going to start with a tray and see how you do,if you can't eat then he might need to insert a feeding tube until you are better." the nurse informed as she walked out of the room.
He looked over a Stephanie,"Did she say feeding tube?"
Stephanie smiled a small smile, "I think she did, so if you are smart you will eat whatever they give you on that tray and smile while you are doing it." she walked over and sat down beside his bed.
"You don't have to do this, I'll be fine." he wanted her to not feel obligated to stay, they were strangers in a way, she knew very little about him and he even less about her,and he also felt as if she was placing her life in danger just by staying in the same room with him.
"I know I don't but I am a person of my word and I told your friend Brass that I would stay with you, and I will." she reached over and gave his hand a small squeeze and smiled.
He hesitated for a few minutes but then spoke in a very serious voice,"It isn't safe to be around me right now,people die when they get too close to me."
Her head gave a small jerk and she looked very serious,"I guess it's a risk I'm willing to take Nick." a grin spread across her face, suddenly the door to the room opened and in walked the two men whom she knew would take care of her new friend.
"Nick, you okay." Grissom asked trying to not show too much emotion but feeling as if tears could fall any moment, the man he assumed had been killed was alive.
"We need to talk." his only response, the man of emotion was emotionless, he felt as if the case needed to be resolved. He was tired and wanted to grieve for his friend, the body was gone but he didn't have to have a body to mourn the loss of what he considered his best friend, his brother.
Stephanie got the clue and stood,"I'm going to get a cup of coffee, I'll be back in awhile." she smiled at Nick and received smiles from the two men as she exited the door.
"Grissom and Brass pulled up chairs towards Nick's bed, but Nick didn't want to be lying down as he attempted to try and explain what he needed to say, so he sat up on the side of the bed, feeling just a little light headed as he did the action but recovered quickly.
"What happened back there Nick?" Grissom asked wanting answers to questions,but feeling some guilt as he looked at the frail man before him, muscles that had been there just weeks ago were now less visible,he face pale and his eyes looked sad,such a contrast to the man he had known for so many years.
"I think I figured it out, Warrick and I have worked several cases in which the assistant district attorney was involved,he seemed to have something against us in a way,accusing us of making mistakes when it was just the evidence that he didn't like. So a few months ago we had a case that involved theft here in the department, the motor bikes, I ran the prints and discovered Jeffrey's prints on several but he covered by saying that he had been on the scene of the recovery." Nick stopped, taking a few breaths,the oxygen through the nasal cannuli was helping but talking seemed to wind him just a little.
"Sinclair involved,that's a little hard to believe, he has a son and a wife and a baby on the way." Brass injected, feeling that Nick was on the wrong track.
"There's more, when Warrick was involved with the crooked judge he asked him to do several things for him, including hiding some substantial evidence in a case involving the disappearance of money,drugs and the disappearance of expensive items collected from crime scenes, I think this is when Sinclair got involved, because the evidence disappeared regardless of Warrick not cooperating, the case moved forward with another judge and the evidence still disappeared,that is when I think Sinclair got involved." He was wanting to give all the facts as he figured them out but he was still not clear on everything.
"You think that Sinclair took Warrick's place." Grissom asked wanting to get the jest of what Nick was saying.
"No, he took the judge's place, he had enough information that he was moved from his position of being the gofer to a higher position in the underground world. He used his influence and his ability to act on certain cases to move things in the direction that fit Gedda's and McKeen's agenda, he was power to the organization and his influence moved along their agenda, an underground market of stolen goods. Where did he get the goods? He got them from the police department and from our lab,from Gedda's thugs and from McKeen's position of Undersheriff,he was able to alter records, instead of a 100,000 dollars stolen he changed zeros and made it ten, pocketing the rest, and the safehouse was the best place to hide it."
"You're saying that Grayson was involved." Brass was feeling pretty unsure of the scenario, his friend had always seemed so sincere.
"No, I think he was used just as they used Warrick until you got involved Grissom and saved him from being part of what was an inside connection to the mob, Warrick would have been the best part of the team because he could have connections with the casinos and the lab, he would have been the perfect mole." He paused for a few seconds,"But you saved him Grissom."
Grissom started making the connections, this went back years."But why you Nick?"
Nick shook his head,"That's really the part I've had difficulty with, other than my suspicions and my close friendship with Warrick I really don't know."
Brass had seen the files, he knew Nick's father had some kind of connection to the case but had yet time to figure it out, he needed to go back tot he files,Nick was a big part of the puzzle and he needed to figure out which part.
"Listen, I need to get a location on Sinclair,bring him in to have a little talk." Brass stood to leave but turned back to look at Nick,"Listen, I know you hate it but you have to have a guard outside your door, I'll hand pick them myself.
Nick understood, he didn't want anybody else killed though, he just wanted to go home."Sure."
Grissom sat still, trying to understand all the connections, but it seemed to make sense suddenly, all the times Sinclair had been connected to cases that had turned into problems for the lab, evidence that seemed to be missing or tainted.
"Why did they suddenly want Warrick dead?" Grissom asked,needing to know the answer.
"Warrick was working on a case, a case that went back to the beginning of his dealings with the judge, but Warrick was smart enough to put it together,he figured out that Sinclair was now the new person in charge,the faked documents, the prints and his reactions to Warrick when he was under suspicion for killing Joanna. Warrick hired the private investigator, Benny Harper, to check out his hunch and they got too close to the truth but they hadn't gathered enough evidence before he was killed. I think McKeen was worried that Gedda would be investigated, that he had made too many mistakes. McKeen felt that Gedda would rat him out with a deal to protect his sorry ass and that he would start naming names. McKeen wouldn't go down without taking someone with him so he hired Pritchard to kill Gedda and I believe took it upon himself to kill Warrick,attempting to end the investigation into what they had uncovered. Sinclair felt the same, he too had to deal with those who would give his name in a heartbeat to save themselves because if he didn't he would go down for everything, including Warrick's death." Nick was feeling exhausted,suddenly he felt as if he could sleep.
Grissom was overwhelmed with the new information, who would they be able to trust and why did they want Nick dead,"We have a mole in the lab." a statement, how else did McKeen know what evidence that had been uncovered.
"No we don't have a mole but I believe we have an uncover CIA or FBI agent amongst us and the lab has so many new people it really is difficult to tell who without blowing their cover. I think they were feeding McKeen information to get to Sinclair." Nick's eyes were getting heavy and he lay down and pulled the sheet up, his heavy eyes closed and within just a few seconds he was asleep.
Grissom remained in his seat pondering all the information that Nick had just given to him,the thought that Jeffrey Sinclair was actually the person in charge of the mob or at least on of the top people in charge. He rubbed his head,warding off a migraine, he hadn't felt this frustrated since the miniature killer.
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