A/N: New chapter for a new month! Enjoy!
A Return to Vegas
Chapter 11
With a quick send-off, Sara went with the team to Caldwell's address; Maxine talked the entire drive coming up with a dozen situations and circumstances.
Josh, in the back seat with Sara, whispered, "She talks through every possible scenario every case we do."
The Caldwell address was a well-kept older house built in the 60s in a neighborhood that was a mix of gritty looking run downs and new rehabs. The front facing carport had one car sitting in the double space.
A half dozen patrol cars and a sheriff's van were parked in the street. It appeared that most of the uniforms were in the small front yard.
"This doesn't look good," Maxine muttered. "Josh, check out what's happening."
A text message sent and another received and Josh said, "Body inside—no sign of Caldwell."
Maxine parked the vehicle, mumbling about a "trampled scene" as they all got out and headed to the house. One of the uniforms waved them under the tape. A few minutes later, they walked into the house.
Of all the crime scenes she'd visited, Sara thought this was one of the neater; no odors of death or disruptions of violence were seen in the front room of the small house.
A sheriff's deputy said, "By the time we got here, Caldwell was gone—found the neighbor here—shot three times in the head." He shook his head, saying, "We think Caldwell took his car—a silver Prius—the one in the driveway is Caldwell's."
Quickly, the crime scene investigators pulled on gloves as Maxine talked to two of the officers. The others looked around, not seeing much in the living room to indicate the violence that ended the life of the man on the kitchen floor. Other than the dead body, the kitchen was tidy.
Sara lifted the top of the trash can, finding coffee grounds and a couple of used paper towels. A door opened to a dark stairway to the basement. They split up with two going downstairs; Sara and Chris took the bedrooms.
Opening the first door in the hallway, Sara found an office set-up. "This may be where we find something—but doesn't look very complex. My laptop is newer than this one."
"Let's check his bedroom first," suggested Chris.
The next door was Alan Caldwell's bedroom. Across the narrow hallway was his mother's room.
For Sara, she felt as if she'd stepped back in time. She went left; Chris went right, working around the room as they searched furniture. Each one opened drawers, feeling clothing and poking around the contents. A bottom drawer, partly open with several socks sticking out of it, felt heavy but contained only socks. Sara pushed on the back panel, tapped on the sides, but as her fingers felt the bottom, she found a protruding lump about the size of her finger.
"Hey, Chris—get your camera ready."
By the time she'd dumped socks on the floor, Chris was standing over her shoulder. He said, "Now, what does one hide under socks?"
Sara lifted the bottom of the drawer, revealing a hidden space about three inches deep. They sighed at the same time.
"Porn," Sara said. "I wish I had a dollar for every stash of porn I'd found in a drawer, I'd be rich."
At that moment, they heard the others coming from the basement. Josh shouted that they had found a sophisticated computer in the basement.
Chris and Sara looked at each other; Sara shrugged, saying, "That's what we need—his porn stash isn't important."
"I think he had something else in here," said Chris. He pointed to the magazines and his finger traced an almost invisible mark, saying, "Only three magazines and the drawer was open—socks were sticking out—the only thing disturbed in this otherwise very tidy room."
Perplexed, Sara asked, "What? Not much room." Then her eyebrows lifted as she said, "Money. He had cash stashed away."
They looked around for a while longer, finding nothing of interest in either of the bedrooms while other investigators searched the small office and took the laptop. Maxine had searched the kitchen; as she said, "All the usual places and found the usual."
Radios came alive with a report that Caldwell's mother was with her sister; both insisted they did not know where he could be but his mother admitted her son often ridiculed the men she'd work for. When she heard the lab computers had been hacked, her first thought had been that Alan was involved but he had not seemed to be upset or angry when she had accused him of being the hacker. She and her sister had worked for the Spencer's and were upset about their murders, sobbing about the probability of their son and nephew's involvement in any crime.
As the team worked on securing the computer system, the coroner arrived with several others and as they stood around talking about all that had happened, including the luck of Jim Brass, a few chuckled at his weapons. After the experts decided it would take much longer to work on the computer, Sara decided it was time for her to leave.
A young deputy gave her a lift back to the lab to get her vehicle.
…Alan Caldwell managed to get out of Jim Brass' house without anyone seeing him by circling the block and leaving by a slower weaving route to a major avenue. After that, he made it back home in record time; his mind in a turmoil of confusion. He had to get out of Vegas, knew his Jeep would be on every cop's screen as soon as Brass dialed 9-1-1. By the time he got to his house, he had a plan—of sorts. Money was hidden in his drawer; he'd need that.
His computer was a problem but since they knew he'd hacked the lab, it would not make much difference to his future if someone managed to track him. He needed a different car—and pulling into his driveway, he saw old Mr. Snow in his yard.
Getting out of his car, he yelled, "Hey, Mr. Snow—can I borrow your car? Mine's giving me trouble!"
The old neighbor crossed the strip of grass that separated their driveways and said, "Not no, but hell no! You've never taken care of that thing you drive—and my car is almost new!"
Caldwell literally saw a flash of red. This old man had lived next door for twenty years and was refusing a simple request.
His voice was calm as he said, "Come inside and I'll get you a drink. Maybe you can take me for a ride—never been in one of those electric cars."
"It's a hybrid," the old man said as he followed the younger man into the house, pulling out a key fob and explaining how the car started by pressing a button.
A few minutes later, Alan Caldwell shot his third victim three times between the eyes. A quick search found a wallet with a twenty dollar bill in it. He left the wallet, retrieved money from his sock drawer, and was out the door.
It had taken less than five minutes. Another two minutes and he'd figured out how to start the Prius and was rolling out of the neighborhood. A gray colored car was almost invisible in a city of thousands of similar cars; Caldwell picked up an old cap and put it on his head as he contemplated what to do next. He knew every cop, deputy, and highway patrol officer would be looking for him. He needed to hide.
…Sara eased through the gate leading to Catherine's home, followed the driveway around to the guest house to see bright porch lights but behind the lights, the inside of the house was dark. Quietly, creeping into the house, removing her shoes at the door, she made out a sleeping form on one of the sofas.
She smiled; Jim had chosen to sleep on a sofa rather than in one of the comfortable bedrooms in Catherine's house. Passing him, she looked in her children's room and the soft glow given by a night light showed empty beds. In the other bedroom, a lamp had been left on next to the bed.
For a moment, she stood at the end of the bed. Her husband was asleep in the center of the bed, his reading glasses still on his nose, relaxed and unguarded. Not for the first time, she notices his long eyelashes.
Their son was stretched beside him, his head on his dad's arm, a small leg uncovered and thrown on top of Grissom's leg. The child's fingers were twined into his father's beard. Libby, who was always the one to wiggle into tight places, was sleeping on top of her dad, her dark hair curling into her dad's white hair, her face pressed against his neck. A small book was in one of her hands.
Sara wondered who had fallen asleep first. The sight was so peaceful and affectionate, she stood transfixed for several long moments as her thoughts turned to amazement that this man and the two children were so deeply ingrained in her heart she could not imagine life without them.
Wanting to shower before sleeping, she quietly gathered her pajamas and headed to the bathroom where she quickly bathed. Before turning off the shower, she knew she was not alone.
As a warm towel wrapped around her shoulders, she said, "I tried to be quiet so I wouldn't wake you." Another towel folded around her damp hair.
"I meant to stay awake," Grissom said, taking her into his arms as their lips met in a kiss.
Sara rested her head on his shoulder as he finger combed her damp hair. She could hear his heart beating through his thin shirt.
Finally, he said, "Do you want to talk?"
With a deep sigh, she said, "No, no, I don't need to talk—Jim was lucky and Caldwell is in the wind."
Grissom said, "I'll move the kids."
Neither moved for several minutes as they remained in an embrace until Sara whispered, "Don't move the kids. I'd like them close tonight."
"Libby will be thrilled to wake up with us. She wanted to stay awake until you got home."
Sara pulled away; her hands cradled her husband's face. She said, "How was their day? Filled with pony rides and swimming, I hope."
Grissom chuckled, saying, "And slushy making—when we got here they were covered with sticky syrup and who knows what else. Lindsey just laughed and hosed them off. She is very good with them—I guess I'm surprised at that." He moved around, drying her body with the towel.
Smiling, Sara said, "Please tell me our kids had a real bath before getting into bed."
"Well scrubbed," Grissom said as he began to towel her dry. When he reached her backside, he paused; a contented smile formed across his face. He said, "I love these legs."
A/N: Thank you for reading! We'd appreciate hearing from you! Are you excited for CSI Vegas, October 6? So much GSR!