54. The unusual suspect (6.18)
"How were your four days off?" Sara had to force herself not to jump into Grissom's arms when she saw him at the diner. For four days he had been away, somewhere in Utah to see some bugs and his roaches had a race in Salt Lake City. Four days without him, a long time. The longest time they had been apart since they were together. When she saw him sitting at his usual place happiness took over and made her feel warm and…loved.
"Interesting and successful. I took a couple of bugs home, one of my roaches came in first, another one second."
"Sounds like you got everything you wanted."
"There was one thing I missed." His eyes told her he had been missing her as much as she missed him. Due to the case Sara worked there was barely any time to sleep, leave alone call him and listen to his voice.
"Really? I also missed something."
"Weren't you too busy to have your mind anywhere else than on the case?"
"I was very busy but you can't be too busy for some things."
"Was it worth the effort?"
"To wait? It's always worth to wait." She smiled. All the years she had been waiting for him, all the time she wondered if she was doing the right thing or made a fool out of herself, it all felt right now. And she was glad she had been this patient.
"I was talking about the case. The other thing…I hope it was worth every minute."
"Most times." A little smirk appeared in the corner of her mouth before her thoughts went back to the case and her face turned serious. "The case was unusual. Nick built up a case against a high school kid, he confessed the murder of another student, Stacy. In court his little sister, Hannah, she's twelve, told the jury and the rest of the room, she killed Stacy and showed them a bloody shirt. No matter what we tried, we couldn't work out who did it and the jury had no other choice than let them both go."
"In dubio pro reo."
"Yes, I know. When I talked to Hannah afterwards she told me, she didn't kill Stacy, Marlon, her brother did. She had played us right from the beginning."
"She must be a smart kid."
"Skipped six grades, has an IQ of 177."
"A gifted girl."
"Unfortunately she uses her gift for the wrong things."
"She got her big brother out of jail, for a twelve year old girl it's the right thing to do. A family sticks together."
"Maybe." Sara knew her family wasn't like other families but pretending you killed somebody to get your brother out of jail wasn't normal neither.
"Means we have a killer walking around free."
"Yes. And no chance to prove he did it nor any chance that I can prove what Hannah said to me. She played me, Gil. Played with me." It made her angry and helpless.
"We can't look into people's heads, Sara, and when you are between them and their goal, they'll lie to get you out of the way. Some do it in a way you can stop them because they make a mistake, some get away. I know it bothers you, it bothers me too but we can't do anything."
"Only wait until he kills again." Sara mumbled. She had never felt so helpless and played working a case like at the moment when Hannah whispered the truth to her, knowing, there was nothing Sara could do.
