Torn
By: Manigault
Rating: R
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Note: Thanks for the reviews you guys. It means a lot to me, especially coming from such wonderful fanfic writers J
Interrogation Room
10:00 pm
Grissom and Sara stood on the opposite side of the two way mirror and stared inside at the familiar woman.
"Why do you have this witness in an interrogation room?" Sara asked.
"We decided that it would benefit the department if we kept this quiet." Ecklie smirked from where he was standing in front of Grissom and Sara.
Grissom stared angrily at the man as he and Sara walked past him and around to the door that would lead to possible career jeopardy. Sara entered first, giving the woman a nervous smile when she stopped across from her and the woman looked up, staring straight at her. Jeanette looked from Sara to Grissom and then turned to Gibbes. "Who are these people? I've told you everything that I know concerning that creep."
The smugness fled Gibbes face and she exchanged a disappointed look with Ecklie who was stepping forward. "Isn't this the woman you spoke with in the casino?" Ecklie pressed. "The one that asked you about the man you were speaking with?"
Jeanette shook her head. "No, it isn't."
Sara could not believe what she was hearing. Was it possible that the woman did not remember her or Grissom?
"Can I go now?" Jeanette asked, standing up and reaching for her pocketbook even as she spoke.
Gibbes and Ecklie were stunned. Gibbes had no choice but to let the woman leave. "We will be in touch with you if we need to ask you any more questions." She dismissed the woman and then turned to the investigators who were internally feeling increasingly fortunate. "I suppose you two got off easy, but I'm warning you now to stay out of this investigation."
Grissom thought about countering that they were the ones that had been dragged back into the investigation at her insistence, but he realized it would be counter productive. They left the building without saying a word to one another, determined to take advantage of the second chance they had been given to continue their lives as they had been doing. Only, each was wondering if they could continue on in the manner they had taken for granted.
"Hey." The nervous voice rang out at them from an open window of a red Honda as they walked past. "I wanted to thank you."
Grissom looked over his shoulder, back towards the police headquarters, as Sara gaped at the woman. "You want to thank me? For what?"
"I thought you were nuts when you first came up to me, asking me questions, but then when I saw the news and I realized that man the police are looking for is a killer, I…" She wiped at a tear that threatened to fall from the corner of her eye. "I realized that I could have been his next victim. He wanted me to go up to his room."
Sara was speechless. It was the last thing she had considered when the woman had denied recognizing them in the police station. Leaning forward from the open window, Jeanette repeated her thanks. "I know enough about the law to know that you and your boyfriend could be in serious trouble if I admitted that I saw you. I didn't want that. It was apparent that agent was hoping that I would name you."
"Someone is coming." Grissom put his hand on Sara's elbow to steer her away from the car in case it was Gibbes, Ecklie, or some other person who would make a connection.
"There is one more thing that I did tell the police." Jeanette turned the ignition of her car and shifted it into gear. "The man told me his name was Scott Thomas."
Once inside Grissom's Tahoe, Sara let out her breath in a long "Shit." Grissom did not speak until they pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street, then he glanced across the seat.
"That was close."
Sara looked at him in disbelief. "That was close? Is that all you can say about it?" Sara opened the glove compartment, looked inside, and closed it with a soft click. "Scott Thomas. Where have we heard that name before?"
"The Simmons teenager was talking about going to see a Scott," Grissom said pressing his foot on the accelerator. "It has nothing to do with us, Sara; you realize that, don't you?"
Sara nodded, but she processed the information, storing it away for future reference. "I do wonder, though, if Gibbes knows anything about the boy mentioning a Scott. I don't remember saying anything about it, did you? It didn't seem essential to the case." As Sara wondered aloud, she stuck her hands in the pocket of her coat, removed them, and bent to look under the seat.
Grissom was thinking along the same lines. Would it make a difference to the case if Gibbes knew that Mallory Simmons knew Bryan Thompson as Scott Thomas? He decided to pass it past Brass and see if he could quietly relay the information to Gibbes without stirring her suspicion. Reaching the crime scene, Grissom pulled in behind Catherine's Tahoe, switched off the ignition, and reached into his own jacket pocket.
"You were looking for this?" He held her dark watch cap in his hands as a smile flit over his face.
Sara returned his smile with the one she reserved especially for him. "You are incorrigible." She reached for the cap and pulled it over her head, tucking the wavy dark hair beneath the sides as she felt his eyes running over her face.
"I don't want to lose what we have, Sara." He reached out to tuck a stray lock of hair beneath the cap, then moved away before she could respond, changing the subject. "I'll pass the information concerning Scott Thompson on to Brass and he can relay it to Gibbes in whatever method he sees fit."
Sara listened as the door clicked shut, and her thoughts rolled over each other. They were defiantly talking tonight.