Chapter Eight â€" The Rescue
"Willows." Catherine was at her desk finishing up paperwork, when the phone rang.
"Ms. Willows, I'm not sure if you remember me, I work out at The Shelter of Hope, my name is Sr. Laura."
"Of course, I remember you. What can I do for you?" Catherine couldn't imagine why she was calling.
"Have you heard from Gil Grissom lately?"
"No, he had the day off yesterday and he's not in yet today. He should be here by now though." She answered realizing what time it was.
"He's usually there by this time?" the caller asked nervously.
"Yes. Is there something we should be concerned about?" Catherine wanted to know.
"Ms. Willows, if he doesn't shows up tonight, will you call me?"
"Why do you think he wouldn't be here?" When the caller didn't reply Catherine continued, "Listen, we figured out a long time ago that he's seeing that psychologist from your Shelter. We also know that they knew each other long ago." Then she demanded an answer to her original question, "Why do you think he won't be here?"
"Well, I might just be worrying for nothing, but she calls me on a regular basis, and I haven't heard from her in two days."
Sister Laura knew that Jenna and Gil were leaving, but they had set up a simple code for when her last call was to be made. She would end the conversation with the words, `good-bye for now.'
There was something in the nun's voice that told Catherine that she was truly concerned that something was wrong. "Alright, I'll try calling him and if he's not here in 15 minutes, I'll drive over to his place."
"Ms. Willows, promise me one thing,"
While she hesitated with completing her sentence Catherine asked impatiently, "What?"
It was hard for her to say the rest, "Don't go by yourself."
"What?" Why would she say that, Catherine wondered.
"Please take someone with you and be cautious." Sr. Laura instructed her and this time there definitely was fear in her voice.
Catherine wanted to find out more about why Sr. Laura felt something was wrong, but she had to end the call as Nick and Sara walked in. "Okay, I'll be careful. I'll call back," then she hung up.
"What's wrong?" Sara asked.
"Nothing, I just have a few calls to make. Has anyone heard from Gris, yet?"
"No, I didn't know he wasn't here. What's up?" Sara asked again.
"Nothing, I said." Catherine answered, annoyed at being questioned by the younger woman. She then grabbed her cell phone and left her office.
The phone rang and his voice mail came on. She didn't bother to leave a message. She called his house and there was no answer. That's it she said to herself, something's wrong. She went and found Jim Brass. She told him about the call from Sr. Laura. He agreed that they needed to get to Gil's. They also realized that they maybe panicking and Gil would be furious with them if nothing were wrong, so they decided not to tell the others what was going on.
Fortunately a call came in and Catherine was able to direct Sara, Nick and Warrick to handle it. She told them she had a personal emergency that she had to take care of. Sara asked her where Gris was. Cat said that she would track him down and let him know where everyone was.
The team pulled away and Sara looked out the window just in time to see Cat and Lt. Brass get into the backseat of a patrol car and drive away. She didn't know what, but she knew something was wrong. She felt it deep inside.
Nick was sitting beside her and asked what was wrong.
"Nothing, I hope."
"What?" Nick asked her.
"Catherine's hiding something from us." Was her answer as she continued to stare out the window.
When they got to their crime scene Warrick could see that Sara was preoccupied with figuring out what Cat was up to. He stopped her and told her, "if something's happened that we need to know about, they'll tell us when its time. We have a job to do here."
"And I'm doing it," she snapped back at him.
It seemed like it took forever but Cat and Brass finally made it to Gil's place. They got out of the patrol car and noticed that Gil's SUV was parked in the driveway and there was a light on in the house. They knocked, but no one answered. They tried the door. It was locked.
"Well, what do you wanted to do?" Brass asked, not wanting to be the one to make the decision to break into Gil's place, as he was trying to pretend that nothing was wrong.
"Something's wrong Jim," She told him. "Look, the lights are on, he's not at work, he doesn't answer his phone and his car is here. We need to break in."
At that point one of the officers called Lt. Brass over to the window. The shade was pulled, but if you looked at just the right angle, through a break in the window covering, you could see that there was a lamp tipped over on the floor. That was all that Brass needed to see. He ordered the officers to break in.
Cat & Jim were in shock once the door was opened. There were 3 bodies lying on the floor. Gil was tied to a chair that had tipped over. It was clear that he had been beaten. They recognized the woman from the Shelter. They didn't recognize the third woman.
Cat ran over to Gil to see if he was alive. She breathed a sigh of relief when she felt his weak pulse. At least he was alive.
Brass checked on Jenna. She had what appeared to be a gunshot wound to her abdomen. She had clearly lost a lot of blood.
Then Brass went and checked on the unidentified woman.  He determined that she was dead. It appeared as though she had been hit with a fireplace poker and had been stabbed.
The patrol officers called for EMS assistance.
Brass came over to see how Gil was doing. He removed the tape that was placed across his mouth. One of the patrolmen gave him a utility knife to cut the wires that bound Gil to the chair.
While doing this Jenna moaned, calling out Gil's name. Catherine ran over to her.
She was so surprised when Jenna called her by name. "Catherine, how's Gil?"
"He's alive. Take it easy were getting you help."
Jenna winced in pain and grabbed Cat's arm. "Tell him I love him, that I've loved him forever. Promise me you'll tell him." Jenna tightened her gripped on Cat's arm due to the pain that shot through her and because she wanted Cat to promise to deliver her message.
Cat's reply to her was, "You just take it easy, you can tell him yourself in a little while."
"Ahhhgg," she winced again and closed her eyes.
In another minute the EMS was there. The paramedics did their jobs. After 10 minutes of triage work, they left with two victims. The unidentified woman's body was left at the scene of the crime.
"We need to get someone in here to investigate this crime scene Catherine," Lt. Brass said, getting back to business. Realizing that Catherine was too concerned about Gil to do her job, he suggested, "Cat you go to the hospital with him, I'll stay here. I'll call in Ecklie's team to investigate."
"No!" Catherine yelled at him. "No, Gil's team will take care of this." She looked at the Lieutenant for support, "I need to call them, don't I?"
Cat was confused. Someone needed to be at the hospital with Gil. She wanted to be there, but she also knew that he would want her to find out what happened. Then she thought about Sara, she knew that Sara would want to be at the hospital.
Her first call was to Sr. Laura. "Are they okay?"
"They've been taken to Desert Spring Hospital."
Sr. Laura didn't ask for details. She said she would get over there right away.
The next call was harder to make. She called Warrick. The trio had finished their assignment and were headed back to the lab.
"Hey Catherine, Gil never showed up, what's up?" Warrick asked.
"Warrick, where are you now?" Catherine wanted to know.
"We're on our way back to the lab." He could tell by the somberness in her voice that something was wrong.
"Listen," she stopped to regain her composure. "Take Sara over to the Desert Spring Hospital, then you and Nick get over here to Gris'"
"What happened Catherine?" He asked as he changed directions so that he was headed for the hospital.
"They were attacked. There's one unidentified dead body and two victims have been transported to the hospital."
"Who's at the hospital?" Warrick inquired.
"Gil and the woman from the Shelter. I think her name is Gillian Taubman."
"How is he?" Warrick said lowering his voice so that Sara couldn't hear.
"Have Sara find out and call us." Catherine instructed him.
"Okay we'll be there in 15 minutes." He told her.
"It's Gris, isn't it?" Sara demanded to know. "What's wrong with him?"
Warrick gave Sara the instruction he received from Catherine. "Cat wants me to drop you off at the hospital so that you can find out. Then, call us with an update as soon as you know anything about how he's doing. You also need to find out how his friend from the Shelter is doing. They were attacked at his place. Sounds like their attacker was killed. Nick, you and me are going to Gris' to help with the investigation."
Even though Sara's first reaction was that she wanted to be a part of the investigation, she realized that finding out about Gil was more important to her. They dropped her off at the emergency entrance and raced to Gil's.
When they got there the police were on the street keeping the crowd away. They moved aside for Nick and Warrick as they knew who they were. Once inside, they got to work following Catherine's every
instruction.
One of the police officers called Lt. Brass outside, as there was someone who said he had some information for him. After a few minutes Brass reentered the house with Agent Conrad. He had a photo
of a woman and they all agreed that the body was the woman in the photo.
Brass told the investigating team that their victim was an ex-con named Kathy Duncan. She was known to have threaten the life of Leslie Brenden, AKA Jenna Tappen, AKA Gillian Taubman.
With the information supplied to them by Agent Conrad, the Team learned that Gil referred to his lady friend as Jenna and so they all agreed that they would also.
Then Catherine's phone rang. It was Sara. The doctors are pretty sure that Gil will pull through. He appears to have a concussion, a couple broken ribs, a fractured kneecap, a dislocated shoulder and he was suffering from dehydration.
Jenna wasn't doing as well. She lost a lot of blood from the gunshot wound to her abdomen. There appears to be kidney damage. They have her on a respirator. If she lives through the next 72 hours, then
there's hope for her.
"Willows." Catherine was at her desk finishing up paperwork, when the phone rang.
"Ms. Willows, I'm not sure if you remember me, I work out at The Shelter of Hope, my name is Sr. Laura."
"Of course, I remember you. What can I do for you?" Catherine couldn't imagine why she was calling.
"Have you heard from Gil Grissom lately?"
"No, he had the day off yesterday and he's not in yet today. He should be here by now though." She answered realizing what time it was.
"He's usually there by this time?" the caller asked nervously.
"Yes. Is there something we should be concerned about?" Catherine wanted to know.
"Ms. Willows, if he doesn't shows up tonight, will you call me?"
"Why do you think he wouldn't be here?" When the caller didn't reply Catherine continued, "Listen, we figured out a long time ago that he's seeing that psychologist from your Shelter. We also know that they knew each other long ago." Then she demanded an answer to her original question, "Why do you think he won't be here?"
"Well, I might just be worrying for nothing, but she calls me on a regular basis, and I haven't heard from her in two days."
Sister Laura knew that Jenna and Gil were leaving, but they had set up a simple code for when her last call was to be made. She would end the conversation with the words, `good-bye for now.'
There was something in the nun's voice that told Catherine that she was truly concerned that something was wrong. "Alright, I'll try calling him and if he's not here in 15 minutes, I'll drive over to his place."
"Ms. Willows, promise me one thing,"
While she hesitated with completing her sentence Catherine asked impatiently, "What?"
It was hard for her to say the rest, "Don't go by yourself."
"What?" Why would she say that, Catherine wondered.
"Please take someone with you and be cautious." Sr. Laura instructed her and this time there definitely was fear in her voice.
Catherine wanted to find out more about why Sr. Laura felt something was wrong, but she had to end the call as Nick and Sara walked in. "Okay, I'll be careful. I'll call back," then she hung up.
"What's wrong?" Sara asked.
"Nothing, I just have a few calls to make. Has anyone heard from Gris, yet?"
"No, I didn't know he wasn't here. What's up?" Sara asked again.
"Nothing, I said." Catherine answered, annoyed at being questioned by the younger woman. She then grabbed her cell phone and left her office.
The phone rang and his voice mail came on. She didn't bother to leave a message. She called his house and there was no answer. That's it she said to herself, something's wrong. She went and found Jim Brass. She told him about the call from Sr. Laura. He agreed that they needed to get to Gil's. They also realized that they maybe panicking and Gil would be furious with them if nothing were wrong, so they decided not to tell the others what was going on.
Fortunately a call came in and Catherine was able to direct Sara, Nick and Warrick to handle it. She told them she had a personal emergency that she had to take care of. Sara asked her where Gris was. Cat said that she would track him down and let him know where everyone was.
The team pulled away and Sara looked out the window just in time to see Cat and Lt. Brass get into the backseat of a patrol car and drive away. She didn't know what, but she knew something was wrong. She felt it deep inside.
Nick was sitting beside her and asked what was wrong.
"Nothing, I hope."
"What?" Nick asked her.
"Catherine's hiding something from us." Was her answer as she continued to stare out the window.
When they got to their crime scene Warrick could see that Sara was preoccupied with figuring out what Cat was up to. He stopped her and told her, "if something's happened that we need to know about, they'll tell us when its time. We have a job to do here."
"And I'm doing it," she snapped back at him.
It seemed like it took forever but Cat and Brass finally made it to Gil's place. They got out of the patrol car and noticed that Gil's SUV was parked in the driveway and there was a light on in the house. They knocked, but no one answered. They tried the door. It was locked.
"Well, what do you wanted to do?" Brass asked, not wanting to be the one to make the decision to break into Gil's place, as he was trying to pretend that nothing was wrong.
"Something's wrong Jim," She told him. "Look, the lights are on, he's not at work, he doesn't answer his phone and his car is here. We need to break in."
At that point one of the officers called Lt. Brass over to the window. The shade was pulled, but if you looked at just the right angle, through a break in the window covering, you could see that there was a lamp tipped over on the floor. That was all that Brass needed to see. He ordered the officers to break in.
Cat & Jim were in shock once the door was opened. There were 3 bodies lying on the floor. Gil was tied to a chair that had tipped over. It was clear that he had been beaten. They recognized the woman from the Shelter. They didn't recognize the third woman.
Cat ran over to Gil to see if he was alive. She breathed a sigh of relief when she felt his weak pulse. At least he was alive.
Brass checked on Jenna. She had what appeared to be a gunshot wound to her abdomen. She had clearly lost a lot of blood.
Then Brass went and checked on the unidentified woman.  He determined that she was dead. It appeared as though she had been hit with a fireplace poker and had been stabbed.
The patrol officers called for EMS assistance.
Brass came over to see how Gil was doing. He removed the tape that was placed across his mouth. One of the patrolmen gave him a utility knife to cut the wires that bound Gil to the chair.
While doing this Jenna moaned, calling out Gil's name. Catherine ran over to her.
She was so surprised when Jenna called her by name. "Catherine, how's Gil?"
"He's alive. Take it easy were getting you help."
Jenna winced in pain and grabbed Cat's arm. "Tell him I love him, that I've loved him forever. Promise me you'll tell him." Jenna tightened her gripped on Cat's arm due to the pain that shot through her and because she wanted Cat to promise to deliver her message.
Cat's reply to her was, "You just take it easy, you can tell him yourself in a little while."
"Ahhhgg," she winced again and closed her eyes.
In another minute the EMS was there. The paramedics did their jobs. After 10 minutes of triage work, they left with two victims. The unidentified woman's body was left at the scene of the crime.
"We need to get someone in here to investigate this crime scene Catherine," Lt. Brass said, getting back to business. Realizing that Catherine was too concerned about Gil to do her job, he suggested, "Cat you go to the hospital with him, I'll stay here. I'll call in Ecklie's team to investigate."
"No!" Catherine yelled at him. "No, Gil's team will take care of this." She looked at the Lieutenant for support, "I need to call them, don't I?"
Cat was confused. Someone needed to be at the hospital with Gil. She wanted to be there, but she also knew that he would want her to find out what happened. Then she thought about Sara, she knew that Sara would want to be at the hospital.
Her first call was to Sr. Laura. "Are they okay?"
"They've been taken to Desert Spring Hospital."
Sr. Laura didn't ask for details. She said she would get over there right away.
The next call was harder to make. She called Warrick. The trio had finished their assignment and were headed back to the lab.
"Hey Catherine, Gil never showed up, what's up?" Warrick asked.
"Warrick, where are you now?" Catherine wanted to know.
"We're on our way back to the lab." He could tell by the somberness in her voice that something was wrong.
"Listen," she stopped to regain her composure. "Take Sara over to the Desert Spring Hospital, then you and Nick get over here to Gris'"
"What happened Catherine?" He asked as he changed directions so that he was headed for the hospital.
"They were attacked. There's one unidentified dead body and two victims have been transported to the hospital."
"Who's at the hospital?" Warrick inquired.
"Gil and the woman from the Shelter. I think her name is Gillian Taubman."
"How is he?" Warrick said lowering his voice so that Sara couldn't hear.
"Have Sara find out and call us." Catherine instructed him.
"Okay we'll be there in 15 minutes." He told her.
"It's Gris, isn't it?" Sara demanded to know. "What's wrong with him?"
Warrick gave Sara the instruction he received from Catherine. "Cat wants me to drop you off at the hospital so that you can find out. Then, call us with an update as soon as you know anything about how he's doing. You also need to find out how his friend from the Shelter is doing. They were attacked at his place. Sounds like their attacker was killed. Nick, you and me are going to Gris' to help with the investigation."
Even though Sara's first reaction was that she wanted to be a part of the investigation, she realized that finding out about Gil was more important to her. They dropped her off at the emergency entrance and raced to Gil's.
When they got there the police were on the street keeping the crowd away. They moved aside for Nick and Warrick as they knew who they were. Once inside, they got to work following Catherine's every
instruction.
One of the police officers called Lt. Brass outside, as there was someone who said he had some information for him. After a few minutes Brass reentered the house with Agent Conrad. He had a photo
of a woman and they all agreed that the body was the woman in the photo.
Brass told the investigating team that their victim was an ex-con named Kathy Duncan. She was known to have threaten the life of Leslie Brenden, AKA Jenna Tappen, AKA Gillian Taubman.
With the information supplied to them by Agent Conrad, the Team learned that Gil referred to his lady friend as Jenna and so they all agreed that they would also.
Then Catherine's phone rang. It was Sara. The doctors are pretty sure that Gil will pull through. He appears to have a concussion, a couple broken ribs, a fractured kneecap, a dislocated shoulder and he was suffering from dehydration.
Jenna wasn't doing as well. She lost a lot of blood from the gunshot wound to her abdomen. There appears to be kidney damage. They have her on a respirator. If she lives through the next 72 hours, then
there's hope for her.