XXI - EARL JAM

"Do you have any children, Earl?" Grissom asked. He had decided to establish the upper hand quickly once in the interview room and the more polite address of Mr. Watson was the first thing to go.

At his question, Earl stopped talking about identifying Timmy's body, and sat back in his chair. Masking his face with an appropriate mixture of regret and acceptance, he replied. "Sadly, no. Becky is unable to bare children, and so I have never been blessed with one of my own. That's why I fought so hard for Timmy. His mother - my niece -" Earl shook his head sadly. "Well, she's a little crazy. Unfortunately, it runs in the family. I've been looking after Timmy practically since the day he was born."

Grissom nodded, glancing at Catherine. She raised her eyebrow at Grissom, and Grissom knew she had picked up on Earl's odd way of relating everything to himself. 'I have never been blessed - that's why I fought - I've been looking after Timmy.'

"Were you aware that Timmy had been sexually assaulted prior to his death?" Grissom's voice was soft, his eyes penetrating, as he waited for Earl's response. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Becky flinch slightly, but still she said nothing.

"You mean Nancy?" Earl's voice was patently incredulous, and he shook his head sadly as he let his voice trail off. "I hope she burns in hell."

"Well, someone will, that's for sure." Grissom's voice was dry, and he looked towards the mirror on the wall. "You guys listening to this?"

* * * * *

In the other room, Brass muttered. "There's our cue. Okay, let's see if we can break him."

Nick clenched the various case files tightly in his hands, the look on his face his face grim. "I'm going to enjoy this," he muttered, as he headed towards the door, followed closely by Sara and Warrick. "I'm really going to enjoy this. It seems Earl is in quite a jam."

* * * * *

"Who are you talking to?" Earl's voice suddenly hardened, and he looked at the mirror. "You have people watching me behind that thing?" He pushed himself angrily away from the table, his hands clenched in tight fists. "What gives you the right to -"

"Sit down, Earl!" Grissom's voice was clipped. "We're in charge here." He glanced over to the door as his team walked in, arraying themselves across the front of the table in a neat row. "Here are my friends now."

Earl glanced edgily at the other CSI's; his eyes stuck on Nick, who was glaring at him with an oddly cheerful expression on his face.

"What are you looking at?" he had snarled at him. Nick smiled.

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

Earl turned to Grissom angrily. "Are you going to let him talk to me like that? I'm the victim here! My nephew was murdered by my niece! He was sexually abused by -"

"You. And he's not your nephew. He's your son." Nick interrupted, stepping forward until he was slightly behind and between Earl and Becky. He reached into the case file and pulled a sheet of paper, dropping it on the table.

Earl sank to his seat. His hands were tightly clenched to his sides. "I don't know what you're talking about," he muttered.

"You wouldn't believe all the interesting facts we can discover about a person with just a little bit of DNA, Earl. Didn't your mother ever tell you that smoking was bad for you?" Grissom's voice was cool, and he indicated the DNA results in front of Earl. "DNA never lies."

Earl looked at the results, before glaring at Grissom. "This will never hold up - I didn't consent to a DNA test. A lawyer will have a field day with this."

"I don't think so." Again, Nick's voice interrupted. "You left your cigarette butts in Brass' car, as garbage. If you had wanted to, you could have taken them with you, and we wouldn't have your DNA, but since you willingly left it -" His voice trailed off, and he smiled again. "Do you know what they do to child molester's in jail, Earl?"

Nick's voice was hard, his grin feral. Grissom saw Sara step forward, lightly touching him on the arm. Her simple gesture was easy to read. 'Tone it down, Nick. Relax.'

Catherine, sitting to Grissom's right, interjected thoughtfully. "Child molesters are not very popular. As a matter of fact, only child murderers are treated worse." She shot a glance at Earl. "It's a good thing you're not a murderer, isn't it Earl?"

Earl didn't ignore her this time. Shooting her a look of pure fury, he tried to lunge across the table at her. Nick quickly put his hands on his shoulders, shoving him - hard - back into his seat. "I thought Grissom told you to SIT DOWN!"

The room was silent. Earl, shaking in his chair, looked at the tight faces CSI's surrounding him. "I didn't kill anybody!" he whined.

Nick pulled out the coroner photos of Emily Watson. "You killed your sister, Emily, didn't you Earl. Your sister - Nancy's mother. You shot her, and we can prove it."

"She killed herself. Even the police said so - she had problems!"

"Her problem was you, Earl." Grissom's voice was cold. "How long did you torture your sister before you decided to kill her? I've seen the coroners' photos. Her scars are bad. It looks like you tortured her quite a bit - almost as much as you tortured your daughter Nancy."

"And what about little Andy McDonald, Earl. Didn't you kill him? Or Julie? Or Emily? Rayford Brown?" With each name, Nick dropped a new photo on the table in front of Earl. "Sheriff Davis is probably searching the old well at your place right now. Wonder what he's going to find there?"

Earl refused to look at Nick. His hands were clenched in tight fists, and a fine sheen of sweat misting his brow. "I demand to see a lawyer."

Becky Watson, who had not said one word since they had walked into the police station, was staring intensely at Emily's autopsy photos. Her gaze moved from them to the pictures of the children. Everyone was so focused on Earl, they had almost forgotten she was even in the room. She felt like she was moving through a force-field, and everything was happening in slow motion. She heard the voices, hard and accusing, but muted - almost as if people were talking with mouths stuffed full of cotton.

The young man who had tossed the pictures on the table was beside her, his back to her, facing Earl. She recognized his tenseness and anger. He was coiled so tightly, Becky was surprised he didn't explode. She was scared. She was so scared. She wanted to tell him to stop making Earl angry, because Earl would take it out on her when they left, but her tongue refused to work. She looked at the pictures again. Earl would hurt her like he had hurt Emily and Nancy. She didn't want anymore scars. With an urgent energy, faster than she would have imagined she could move, she lunged at Nick, ripping the gun from his holster.

"STOP LYING EARL!" she screamed, as she pointed the gun at him and released the trigger.

________

Author's note: This might be the last chapter for a while - family vacation time starts tomorrow, and we'll be gone for the week. If I have an opportunity between day trips, I'll post more - that is, if you all want me to.