Disclaimer: Don't Own. Don't Sue. Do Review.
A/N: Hey. Was meaning to update this sooner, but I've been busy. So in exchange I've written quite a long chapter. Thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter; MissyJane, Moose, d-kronk and Chosen Rogue. Please keep them coming. All the medical stuff in this was from me asking my mum. There is a use for having parents who are doctors! Well R&R and ENJOY!!! - Bex
Grissom stared through the one-way mirror at the woman who sat in the room behind it. Her eyes were blotchy and filled with unshed tears. Her once perfect mascara had run down her cheeks. She was so different from the happy person in the photo, but yet she was some how still as beautiful. And finally it had dawn on him. Grissom now knew why Jenny Sinclair seemed so familiar.
Three months ago, he gave a talk to a class of students who were studying forensic science. He agreed to do it as a favour to his friend Professor Edmund Rebus. He remembered as he was talking, he scanned the class, studying the students in front of him. And that was when he saw her. She sat near the front, watching him intensely. She jotted down notes now and again, but Gris got the feeling that she was taking in everything he was saying. The rest of the class was listening, but she was actually hearing his words. He remembered that at the end of the class, Ed had come up to him and pointed her out.
"That's Jenny Sinclair, a very gifted young woman. Top of her class. She's got a lot of talent and potential. She wants to become a CSI. I can tell you now that she'd make a great one."
Grissom thought about how she looked at him in the same way as he interviewed her. Every so often she looked up at him with her watery eyes and studied him. He realised now that she was analysing him, the same way he was analysing her. After he had finished asking all the questions he thought he could get away without her lawyer being there, she spoke softly; "You gave the lecture at the Uni a few months ago. It was good."
He had already tried to confirm her alibi, but he'd had no luck so far. She claimed to be with her best friend till 10.15, then went to her class at 10.30 till 11.30, and then she went to the library. According to Doctor Al Robbins, Mr Sinclair's time of death was around 10.30. Something had knock Ethan Sinclair unconscious then it caused his heart to stop beating. But what? They had sent off a sample of his blood to see what they could find. But Grissom already had a hunch; Poison.
Now they just needed to wait for her lawyer to arrive. He walked down the corridor and into the lab, where Greg sat staring into a microscope. Grissom managed to stand right behind him without him realising that someone else was in the room.
"Greg?"
Greg spun round so quickly that he almost fell off his stall. He grabbed hold of the desk to stop himself and glared at Grissom.
"Would you please not do that!" He demanded.
Gris shrugged slightly in reply and pointed at the microscope.
"Found anything?"
"Before I almost died of a heart attack, yes. Take a look."
He moved to one side so Grissom could sit down. Grissom stared into the microscope at the slide. It was a brown liquid with small specs of a white powder in it.
"This is the liquid Sara took from the glass. She was right, it is bourbon. But I'm not sure what the powder is. I thinking ground-up medication," Greg informed, "But if you compare it to the liquid in the open bottle," Greg pointed to the microscope next to it and Gris looked into it, "There is no white powder..."
"Which means either someone's removed the bottle containing the mix or it's hidden somewhere at the crime scene. But indicates that our killer was probably with our vic when he died or came by afterwards," Gris finished for him.
Grissom grabbed the phone in the lab and dialled the familiar number. After a couple of rings, the person on the other end picked up.
"Willows."
"Hey Cath, it's Gris. How's it going?"
She sighed, "We realised that the Sinclairs had two CCTV cameras on the outside of the house. But unfortunately, both of the tape had been removed. And guess what?"
"The perp wore gloves?" He guessed.
"10 out of 10," Catherine quipped dryly.
"Have you interviewed the neighbours?"
"Put Nick and Warrick on it when they arrived," She chuckled slightly, "They were sooo thrilled!"
A half smile touched Grissom lips. He could just picture Catherine's trade mark smile appear on her face as she made that sarcastic comment. Her lips... Grissom pushed those thoughts away, as he remembered why he was calling in the first place.
"Cath, Greg thinks that it was powdered medication mixed with the alcohol that killed Mr Sinclair. The autopsy agrees with this so far. I want you to look for any medication which might have done this. Heavy-duty stuff, such as painkillers and sleeping tablets. Ok? Also the sample from the glass doesn't match the sample from the open bottle, so there's a chance the bottle originally containing the mix may still be on the property."
"Ok Gil. We'll get looking. I'll call when we find something."
She hung up. He sat down and stared at the files he had brought in with him. Something was troubling him. A gut feeling told him that he was over looking something. But what? Finally it clicked.
"Why would a man be having a drink at 10.30 in the morning before work?" He thought aloud.
"Maybe he was an alcoholic?" Greg suggested.
Grissom scanned the autopsy report again and shook his head.
"Autopsy shows some lung damage caused by smoking, but no signs of alcohol abuse."
"Maybe he was just thirsty?" Greg suggested again.
Grissom gave him a look and Greg quickly looked away, as he pretended to do something more important. Gris was still thinking his question over when Brass walked in.
"A couple of officers just got back from the university. We've got this morning's tape from the CCTV camera in the café," He announced waving the tape slightly. "Also they got a profile for Estella Dickens and talked to the librarian who confirmed that she saw Mrs Sinclair in there around 11.40."
Grissom took Estella Dickens' file and read it quickly. He raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Miss Dickens is a deaf-mute."
Brass nodded, "She's a big campaigner for deaf rights. You know, goes on protests, lobbies cinemas to show more films with subtitles, things like that."
"Deaf with attitude. And soon to be an English Lit graduate as well," Gris commented. "This could be useful. I might be able to tell what they're talking about. Miss Dickens' can only speak using sign language, so I'm presuming, that as her best friend, Mrs Sinclair can to."
Brass pushed the tape into the machine and hit play. The café appeared on the screen in black and white, with the time showing in the left corner. Brass began to fast-forward the tape.
"Stop!" Grissom suddenly commanded.
Brass paused the tape. Gris had automatically recognised Jenny Sinclair carrying a tray to a table near the camera. Next to her was a pretty blond girl with long hair, which curled slightly at the end. It was the same girl in the picture attached to the file. Estella Dickens was dressed in a long denim skirt and a light tank top. Grissom grabbed a pen and pad of paper, then nodded at Brass to start the tape again. He watched their hands and wrote down the conversation they were signing. When they had walked off out of view, Brass stopped the tape and Gris handed him the pad:
Estella Dickens: On a scale of 1 to 10 how bad was the fight?
Jennifer Sinclair: Round 3 or 4. It wasn't that bad.
E.D: Really? What was it about?
J.S: The usual (sighs) Ethan wants to seize the moment but...
E.D: You are not ready.
J.S: Exactly. I know he understands but I feel like I'm under more pressure. Ok so you have heard about my love life, what is happening in yours?
E.D: Nothing really. I'm going to see him today though.
J.S: Ah yes. The mysterious lover I know nothing about. Which is unfair seeing as you have met and know the name of my guy.
E.D: That's because you have been married to him for, how long now?"
J.S: Four years in a month's time. So what you are trying to say is I won't met him till you two get married?
E.D: No. You'll meet him when the time is right that's all.
J.S: You said he's older right?
E.D: Not by too much.
J.S: How much is not too much?
E.D: God, you are going to make such a good investigator you know.
J.S: Practice makes perfect. I'm finished, you?
E.D: Yeah.
End Of Conversation
"Umm," Brass muttered after he had finished reading, "So she was definitely in the café till around 10.11." He pointed the left hand corner of the screen. "And we know that Mrs Sinclair had a fight with her husband prior to his death," Grissom pointed out.
"Yeah."
"How long does it take to drive from the Sinclairs' house to the University?"
"Around 10 minutes give and take."
"So there was no chance that Jenny Sinclair could travel home after her class which finished at 11.30, and be in the library at 11.40," Grissom stated.
"Unless she left her lesson early," Brass added.
"Yes or if she went before she would be late. Either way we need to talk to her professor, Edmund Rebus. Can you get someone to try and find him again. Also can you try and find Miss Dickens, I want to talk to her."
"Sure," Brass replied as he left.
Grissom sat down and re-read the conversation. There was definitely another clue here. He had some of the pieces of the puzzle, all he had to do now was to find the rest and put them together. He wondered how the others were getting on....
~*~*~*~*~
Warrick and Nick were anything but happy. At the moment they were pushing their way through a crowd of bystanders and reporters who had assembled at the end of the driveway. Warrick had lost count of how many times he repeated 'no comment' or 'we can not confirm that or release any information at this point in time', as he battled his way towards the yellow tape. Finally they reached it, slipped under it and walked up to the house.
"God, the press are really just vultures," Nick muttered angrily.
Warrick simply nodded in reply. They entered the house and walked into the corridor.
"Catherine? Sara?" Warrick called.
"We're up here," replied a voice from upstairs.
The two CSIs climbed up the stairs and found their colleges in the master bedroom. Sara looked up and smiled at them, her smile widening slightly on seeing Nick.
"Hey," She greeted.
"Hey."
It took all of Warrick's will power not to roll his eyes when he saw that Nick was smiling in the exact same way back at Sara. Catherine stood up from where she was kneeling to inspect something and smiled at them both.
"Hey, what did you manage to find out?"
"None of the other residences noticed anything. Most of them were out at the time," Nick replied grimly.
"I feel sorry for Jenny Sinclair though," Warrick added.
"Oh," Cath said giving him a look.
"Yeah. Just about everyone we talk to were hypocritical and said that she only married Ethan Sinclair for his money. And all of the talked about her as if she was a speck of dirt on their Gucci dress."
"Don't start feeling too sorry for her Warrick. She's still a suspect," Cath reminded.
"Yeah, I know," He rubbed his hands together, "So what are we looking for?"
"Greg thinks it was ground medication mixed with the bourbon that killed our vic," Sara filled them in.
"So we're looking for any possible medicines which could have been used," Catherine finished. "The other rooms we check we could only find things like aspirin, cough sweets and paracetamol. It takes a very high dosage of them to actually kill someone, even mixed with alcohol. We're looking for things like painkillers and sleeping tablets."
"Ok," Nick replied.
The two men put on their gloves and helped the women to search the room. Catherine decided to check the en-suite bathroom and Warrick went to help her. Sara and Nick continued to search the bedroom. Something on the bedside table caught Sara's eye. Nick noticed her inspecting it.
"Found something?"
"You've found something Sara?" Catherine asked from the bathroom.
It sometimes scared Nick how good her hearing was. Sara slowly turned around so Nick could see the objects in her hands.
"I just found a red rose and a note next to the bed, that's all," She informed the others.
"What does the note say?" Warrick asked moving into the doorway so he could see.
"Jenny, I'm sorry. It was wrong of me to pressure you like that. I know that we have all the time in the world and I'm just blessed to be able to spend it with you. Please forgive me. Love always Ethan," Sara read.
"Cute," Nick commented, the off Sara's look, "But you don't seem to think so."
"I'm just not a romantic."
She looked Nick straight in the eyes. This contact was only meant to last a couple of seconds, but it became fixed, as they got lost in each other's eyes.
'But right now I wish I was,' She thought, and then quickly turned away breaking the spell, 'God that sounded corny.'
She placed the rose and the note back down where she found them. All the time she was very aware that Nick was still staring at her. Or maybe she was just imagining it. All she knew was that as she turned around, he turned away very quickly.
"Aha!" a triumphant cry came from the bathroom, "Guys, I think I've found something."
~*~*~*~*~
Grissom was still buried in his thoughts when the phone sprang into life. He quickly picked it up, eager for any news.
"Grissom."
"Hey it's me."
Grissom could already tell from Catherine's voice that they had found something. He could just picture her eyes twinkling like a child's on Christmas morning. He had to suppress a chuckle before asking his next question.
"What have you found?"
"Most of the medication in the house was stuff like cough medicine, aspirin and foot cream. But upstairs in the bathroom connected to the master bedroom, there were a lot of boxes of sleeping tablets. There was even an empty box in the bin."
"Good. Good work."
"I'm sending them back with Sara. We're going to keep looking here."
His heart fell slightly at these words. Apart of him selfishly wanted the luxury of seeing Cath again, but he knew that she was the only person he trusted the most to head the search of the crime scene without him.
"Ok. See you soon."
"Yeah, see ya."
He had just hung up the phone when Brass walked in.
"The lawyer's here," He announced.
Gris followed him back to the interview room where they watched through the one-way mirror, as the lawyer entered. The lawyer, William Mayhew, had mousey brown hair and a baby face. He was clean-shaven, smart haircut and smart suit. Grissom recognised him from the photos in the house, as being the best man at Ethan's and Jenny's wedding.
"Jenny?" He heard Will softly say as he entered the room.
She turned around and stood up. Will embraced her tightly and she began to cry again slightly. Grissom watched as he rocked her slightly in comfort. After a couple of minutes she pulled away.
"Sorry I dragged you away from Emily and the boys," She apologised quietly.
"It's ok. They know how important this is. You know how much we loved Ethan. We're so sorry Jen. How are you holding up?"
"I've been better," She replied on the verge of tears. She then composed herself, "I'm doing ok."
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
She offered a weak smile that wasn't fooling anyone and sat back down. Gris decided that now was the best time to go in. Both heads turned to watch them as they entered. Mr Mayhew ushered Jenny to sit back down, shook Grissom and Brass' hands, then sat down next to her. Grissom chose to sit down opposite them, whilst Brass decided to remain standing. The lawyer slid a piece of paper across the table.
"Mrs Sinclair has given me a list of all the people who have key and know the codes," He explained.
Grissom scan read the list of names, then passed it to Brass.
"Your name happens to be on here Mr Mayhew," Brass stated.
Mr Mayhew glared slightly; "I've been with my wife and kids for the whole day Mr Brass."
Grissom at this point was watching Jenny. She was looking down at the table and had her hands resting cupped together on the surface.
"Mrs Sinclair," there was an edge of gentleness to Gris' voice, "Can you tell us what you did this morning?"
She looked him straight in the eye. Most people who he'd interviewed always seemed to avoid doing this. They always opted to look at who ever else was in the room. But she didn't do this and he didn't know what to make of it.
"Like I told you before. I got up around 9.15. I washed, got dressed and left around 9.45. Ethan was still there," Her voice wavered slightly. She swallowed before continuing, "I arrived at the university around 10. I went to the café with my best friend, Estella Dickens and I was with her until 10.15. I was in my first class from 10.30 till 11.30, then I went to the library. Then I went home."
"What time did you call your husband?"
"After my class."
"Did you stop any where on the way home?"
"At a deli to get some sandwiches for lunch," She replied, slightly frustrated at repeating her answers.
"What is the point of this?" Mr Mayhew butted in. "I believe Mrs Sinclair has already answered these questions."
"We're just confirming her answers," Brass replied.
"Have you contacted her professor and Miss Dickens yet?"
"We haven't been able to reach them yet."
"Well I suggest you do that or ask my client some new questions."
"Alright," Brass replied. "Mrs Sinclair, we have reason to believe that you had a fight with your husband prior to his death. Can you tell us what it was about?"
She looked at Brass slightly shocked and then looked back a Grissom. Her face relaxed slightly as if she'd realised something.
"It was last night. My husband wanted us to have a child after I graduated, but I wanted to work a bit before we started our family. That's all it was about."
Even though Brass had asked the question, she replied to Grissom.
"Do you know why your husband and his brother had fallen out?" Brass asked.
"No. He didn't tell me," She replied, shifting her gaze slightly.
She went back to looking down at the table. One of her thumbs was scratching her palm on the opposite hand. Grissom noticed this and so did Will Mayhew, who covered her hand with his own. This action caused her to stare at him. He gave her a look and squeezed her hand gently.
"Do you know where Julian Sinclair is?"
"No."
"Can you tell us why there are so many sleeping tablets at your house?" Grissom asked this time.
"I have a problem sleeping. Ethan did as well for a while after Melissa's death, but he'd stopped taking them."
"Why do you have a sleeping problem?" Grissom questioned again.
"Now Jen, you don't have to answer that...." Will began, but she cut him off.
"It's ok Will."
"You sure?"
She nodded at him and turned back to Gris' steady gaze.
"I have trouble sleeping because of a reoccurring dream I have."
"What's it about?"
She hesitated slightly, but carried on before her lawyer could protest again.
"I've had it for ages. In it I'm 12 years old again and it's dark. I'm watching from my bedroom window for my father to come home. I see him down the street and there a man dressed in black coming up behind him. I start screaming at my dad, but he doesn't hear me, he just sees me and waves. I'm forced to watch as the man....the man stabs him. Do you know how much money was in my father's wallet when his mugger stole it?" She snapped, tears streaming down her face, "$7.50! $7.50! Was that all his life was worth? $7.50? And now I've lost Ethan...."
Her voice trailed off to be replaced with tears. Will rapped his arms around her to calm her down. After a few moments she pulled away, muttering that she was ok.
"We'll continue the questioning later," Brass decided and indicated for the officer standing outside to take her to a cell.
William Mayhew was about to protest when Jenny stopped him.
"It's ok Will. I'll see you soon."
He nodded reluctantly and hugged her. She gave one last look at Grissom with her teary eyes, before she was lead away. Mr Mayhew turned to them with angry eyes.
"She didn't kill him."
"We'll just have to see if the evidence agrees with that Mr Mayhew," Brass replied.
He glared more now; "You don't know what she went through, marrying into the Sinclairs. The prejudice against her. How everyone said that she was marrying him for his money. Well she wasn't. I know Ethan and Jenny. She wouldn't kill him."
"We'll be in touch," Brass said unfazed.
Will Mayhew marched angrily out of the room and down the corridor.
'Come on Greg,' Gris though desperately, 'We need to find out what was in that glass.'
Suddenly Jenny Sinclair's words filled his head and echoed in his mind: '$7.50! Was that all his life was worth?'.
A/N: What do you think? Go on. Hit that button. It's calling your name you know! :o)
A/N: Hey. Was meaning to update this sooner, but I've been busy. So in exchange I've written quite a long chapter. Thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter; MissyJane, Moose, d-kronk and Chosen Rogue. Please keep them coming. All the medical stuff in this was from me asking my mum. There is a use for having parents who are doctors! Well R&R and ENJOY!!! - Bex
Grissom stared through the one-way mirror at the woman who sat in the room behind it. Her eyes were blotchy and filled with unshed tears. Her once perfect mascara had run down her cheeks. She was so different from the happy person in the photo, but yet she was some how still as beautiful. And finally it had dawn on him. Grissom now knew why Jenny Sinclair seemed so familiar.
Three months ago, he gave a talk to a class of students who were studying forensic science. He agreed to do it as a favour to his friend Professor Edmund Rebus. He remembered as he was talking, he scanned the class, studying the students in front of him. And that was when he saw her. She sat near the front, watching him intensely. She jotted down notes now and again, but Gris got the feeling that she was taking in everything he was saying. The rest of the class was listening, but she was actually hearing his words. He remembered that at the end of the class, Ed had come up to him and pointed her out.
"That's Jenny Sinclair, a very gifted young woman. Top of her class. She's got a lot of talent and potential. She wants to become a CSI. I can tell you now that she'd make a great one."
Grissom thought about how she looked at him in the same way as he interviewed her. Every so often she looked up at him with her watery eyes and studied him. He realised now that she was analysing him, the same way he was analysing her. After he had finished asking all the questions he thought he could get away without her lawyer being there, she spoke softly; "You gave the lecture at the Uni a few months ago. It was good."
He had already tried to confirm her alibi, but he'd had no luck so far. She claimed to be with her best friend till 10.15, then went to her class at 10.30 till 11.30, and then she went to the library. According to Doctor Al Robbins, Mr Sinclair's time of death was around 10.30. Something had knock Ethan Sinclair unconscious then it caused his heart to stop beating. But what? They had sent off a sample of his blood to see what they could find. But Grissom already had a hunch; Poison.
Now they just needed to wait for her lawyer to arrive. He walked down the corridor and into the lab, where Greg sat staring into a microscope. Grissom managed to stand right behind him without him realising that someone else was in the room.
"Greg?"
Greg spun round so quickly that he almost fell off his stall. He grabbed hold of the desk to stop himself and glared at Grissom.
"Would you please not do that!" He demanded.
Gris shrugged slightly in reply and pointed at the microscope.
"Found anything?"
"Before I almost died of a heart attack, yes. Take a look."
He moved to one side so Grissom could sit down. Grissom stared into the microscope at the slide. It was a brown liquid with small specs of a white powder in it.
"This is the liquid Sara took from the glass. She was right, it is bourbon. But I'm not sure what the powder is. I thinking ground-up medication," Greg informed, "But if you compare it to the liquid in the open bottle," Greg pointed to the microscope next to it and Gris looked into it, "There is no white powder..."
"Which means either someone's removed the bottle containing the mix or it's hidden somewhere at the crime scene. But indicates that our killer was probably with our vic when he died or came by afterwards," Gris finished for him.
Grissom grabbed the phone in the lab and dialled the familiar number. After a couple of rings, the person on the other end picked up.
"Willows."
"Hey Cath, it's Gris. How's it going?"
She sighed, "We realised that the Sinclairs had two CCTV cameras on the outside of the house. But unfortunately, both of the tape had been removed. And guess what?"
"The perp wore gloves?" He guessed.
"10 out of 10," Catherine quipped dryly.
"Have you interviewed the neighbours?"
"Put Nick and Warrick on it when they arrived," She chuckled slightly, "They were sooo thrilled!"
A half smile touched Grissom lips. He could just picture Catherine's trade mark smile appear on her face as she made that sarcastic comment. Her lips... Grissom pushed those thoughts away, as he remembered why he was calling in the first place.
"Cath, Greg thinks that it was powdered medication mixed with the alcohol that killed Mr Sinclair. The autopsy agrees with this so far. I want you to look for any medication which might have done this. Heavy-duty stuff, such as painkillers and sleeping tablets. Ok? Also the sample from the glass doesn't match the sample from the open bottle, so there's a chance the bottle originally containing the mix may still be on the property."
"Ok Gil. We'll get looking. I'll call when we find something."
She hung up. He sat down and stared at the files he had brought in with him. Something was troubling him. A gut feeling told him that he was over looking something. But what? Finally it clicked.
"Why would a man be having a drink at 10.30 in the morning before work?" He thought aloud.
"Maybe he was an alcoholic?" Greg suggested.
Grissom scanned the autopsy report again and shook his head.
"Autopsy shows some lung damage caused by smoking, but no signs of alcohol abuse."
"Maybe he was just thirsty?" Greg suggested again.
Grissom gave him a look and Greg quickly looked away, as he pretended to do something more important. Gris was still thinking his question over when Brass walked in.
"A couple of officers just got back from the university. We've got this morning's tape from the CCTV camera in the café," He announced waving the tape slightly. "Also they got a profile for Estella Dickens and talked to the librarian who confirmed that she saw Mrs Sinclair in there around 11.40."
Grissom took Estella Dickens' file and read it quickly. He raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Miss Dickens is a deaf-mute."
Brass nodded, "She's a big campaigner for deaf rights. You know, goes on protests, lobbies cinemas to show more films with subtitles, things like that."
"Deaf with attitude. And soon to be an English Lit graduate as well," Gris commented. "This could be useful. I might be able to tell what they're talking about. Miss Dickens' can only speak using sign language, so I'm presuming, that as her best friend, Mrs Sinclair can to."
Brass pushed the tape into the machine and hit play. The café appeared on the screen in black and white, with the time showing in the left corner. Brass began to fast-forward the tape.
"Stop!" Grissom suddenly commanded.
Brass paused the tape. Gris had automatically recognised Jenny Sinclair carrying a tray to a table near the camera. Next to her was a pretty blond girl with long hair, which curled slightly at the end. It was the same girl in the picture attached to the file. Estella Dickens was dressed in a long denim skirt and a light tank top. Grissom grabbed a pen and pad of paper, then nodded at Brass to start the tape again. He watched their hands and wrote down the conversation they were signing. When they had walked off out of view, Brass stopped the tape and Gris handed him the pad:
Estella Dickens: On a scale of 1 to 10 how bad was the fight?
Jennifer Sinclair: Round 3 or 4. It wasn't that bad.
E.D: Really? What was it about?
J.S: The usual (sighs) Ethan wants to seize the moment but...
E.D: You are not ready.
J.S: Exactly. I know he understands but I feel like I'm under more pressure. Ok so you have heard about my love life, what is happening in yours?
E.D: Nothing really. I'm going to see him today though.
J.S: Ah yes. The mysterious lover I know nothing about. Which is unfair seeing as you have met and know the name of my guy.
E.D: That's because you have been married to him for, how long now?"
J.S: Four years in a month's time. So what you are trying to say is I won't met him till you two get married?
E.D: No. You'll meet him when the time is right that's all.
J.S: You said he's older right?
E.D: Not by too much.
J.S: How much is not too much?
E.D: God, you are going to make such a good investigator you know.
J.S: Practice makes perfect. I'm finished, you?
E.D: Yeah.
End Of Conversation
"Umm," Brass muttered after he had finished reading, "So she was definitely in the café till around 10.11." He pointed the left hand corner of the screen. "And we know that Mrs Sinclair had a fight with her husband prior to his death," Grissom pointed out.
"Yeah."
"How long does it take to drive from the Sinclairs' house to the University?"
"Around 10 minutes give and take."
"So there was no chance that Jenny Sinclair could travel home after her class which finished at 11.30, and be in the library at 11.40," Grissom stated.
"Unless she left her lesson early," Brass added.
"Yes or if she went before she would be late. Either way we need to talk to her professor, Edmund Rebus. Can you get someone to try and find him again. Also can you try and find Miss Dickens, I want to talk to her."
"Sure," Brass replied as he left.
Grissom sat down and re-read the conversation. There was definitely another clue here. He had some of the pieces of the puzzle, all he had to do now was to find the rest and put them together. He wondered how the others were getting on....
~*~*~*~*~
Warrick and Nick were anything but happy. At the moment they were pushing their way through a crowd of bystanders and reporters who had assembled at the end of the driveway. Warrick had lost count of how many times he repeated 'no comment' or 'we can not confirm that or release any information at this point in time', as he battled his way towards the yellow tape. Finally they reached it, slipped under it and walked up to the house.
"God, the press are really just vultures," Nick muttered angrily.
Warrick simply nodded in reply. They entered the house and walked into the corridor.
"Catherine? Sara?" Warrick called.
"We're up here," replied a voice from upstairs.
The two CSIs climbed up the stairs and found their colleges in the master bedroom. Sara looked up and smiled at them, her smile widening slightly on seeing Nick.
"Hey," She greeted.
"Hey."
It took all of Warrick's will power not to roll his eyes when he saw that Nick was smiling in the exact same way back at Sara. Catherine stood up from where she was kneeling to inspect something and smiled at them both.
"Hey, what did you manage to find out?"
"None of the other residences noticed anything. Most of them were out at the time," Nick replied grimly.
"I feel sorry for Jenny Sinclair though," Warrick added.
"Oh," Cath said giving him a look.
"Yeah. Just about everyone we talk to were hypocritical and said that she only married Ethan Sinclair for his money. And all of the talked about her as if she was a speck of dirt on their Gucci dress."
"Don't start feeling too sorry for her Warrick. She's still a suspect," Cath reminded.
"Yeah, I know," He rubbed his hands together, "So what are we looking for?"
"Greg thinks it was ground medication mixed with the bourbon that killed our vic," Sara filled them in.
"So we're looking for any possible medicines which could have been used," Catherine finished. "The other rooms we check we could only find things like aspirin, cough sweets and paracetamol. It takes a very high dosage of them to actually kill someone, even mixed with alcohol. We're looking for things like painkillers and sleeping tablets."
"Ok," Nick replied.
The two men put on their gloves and helped the women to search the room. Catherine decided to check the en-suite bathroom and Warrick went to help her. Sara and Nick continued to search the bedroom. Something on the bedside table caught Sara's eye. Nick noticed her inspecting it.
"Found something?"
"You've found something Sara?" Catherine asked from the bathroom.
It sometimes scared Nick how good her hearing was. Sara slowly turned around so Nick could see the objects in her hands.
"I just found a red rose and a note next to the bed, that's all," She informed the others.
"What does the note say?" Warrick asked moving into the doorway so he could see.
"Jenny, I'm sorry. It was wrong of me to pressure you like that. I know that we have all the time in the world and I'm just blessed to be able to spend it with you. Please forgive me. Love always Ethan," Sara read.
"Cute," Nick commented, the off Sara's look, "But you don't seem to think so."
"I'm just not a romantic."
She looked Nick straight in the eyes. This contact was only meant to last a couple of seconds, but it became fixed, as they got lost in each other's eyes.
'But right now I wish I was,' She thought, and then quickly turned away breaking the spell, 'God that sounded corny.'
She placed the rose and the note back down where she found them. All the time she was very aware that Nick was still staring at her. Or maybe she was just imagining it. All she knew was that as she turned around, he turned away very quickly.
"Aha!" a triumphant cry came from the bathroom, "Guys, I think I've found something."
~*~*~*~*~
Grissom was still buried in his thoughts when the phone sprang into life. He quickly picked it up, eager for any news.
"Grissom."
"Hey it's me."
Grissom could already tell from Catherine's voice that they had found something. He could just picture her eyes twinkling like a child's on Christmas morning. He had to suppress a chuckle before asking his next question.
"What have you found?"
"Most of the medication in the house was stuff like cough medicine, aspirin and foot cream. But upstairs in the bathroom connected to the master bedroom, there were a lot of boxes of sleeping tablets. There was even an empty box in the bin."
"Good. Good work."
"I'm sending them back with Sara. We're going to keep looking here."
His heart fell slightly at these words. Apart of him selfishly wanted the luxury of seeing Cath again, but he knew that she was the only person he trusted the most to head the search of the crime scene without him.
"Ok. See you soon."
"Yeah, see ya."
He had just hung up the phone when Brass walked in.
"The lawyer's here," He announced.
Gris followed him back to the interview room where they watched through the one-way mirror, as the lawyer entered. The lawyer, William Mayhew, had mousey brown hair and a baby face. He was clean-shaven, smart haircut and smart suit. Grissom recognised him from the photos in the house, as being the best man at Ethan's and Jenny's wedding.
"Jenny?" He heard Will softly say as he entered the room.
She turned around and stood up. Will embraced her tightly and she began to cry again slightly. Grissom watched as he rocked her slightly in comfort. After a couple of minutes she pulled away.
"Sorry I dragged you away from Emily and the boys," She apologised quietly.
"It's ok. They know how important this is. You know how much we loved Ethan. We're so sorry Jen. How are you holding up?"
"I've been better," She replied on the verge of tears. She then composed herself, "I'm doing ok."
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
She offered a weak smile that wasn't fooling anyone and sat back down. Gris decided that now was the best time to go in. Both heads turned to watch them as they entered. Mr Mayhew ushered Jenny to sit back down, shook Grissom and Brass' hands, then sat down next to her. Grissom chose to sit down opposite them, whilst Brass decided to remain standing. The lawyer slid a piece of paper across the table.
"Mrs Sinclair has given me a list of all the people who have key and know the codes," He explained.
Grissom scan read the list of names, then passed it to Brass.
"Your name happens to be on here Mr Mayhew," Brass stated.
Mr Mayhew glared slightly; "I've been with my wife and kids for the whole day Mr Brass."
Grissom at this point was watching Jenny. She was looking down at the table and had her hands resting cupped together on the surface.
"Mrs Sinclair," there was an edge of gentleness to Gris' voice, "Can you tell us what you did this morning?"
She looked him straight in the eye. Most people who he'd interviewed always seemed to avoid doing this. They always opted to look at who ever else was in the room. But she didn't do this and he didn't know what to make of it.
"Like I told you before. I got up around 9.15. I washed, got dressed and left around 9.45. Ethan was still there," Her voice wavered slightly. She swallowed before continuing, "I arrived at the university around 10. I went to the café with my best friend, Estella Dickens and I was with her until 10.15. I was in my first class from 10.30 till 11.30, then I went to the library. Then I went home."
"What time did you call your husband?"
"After my class."
"Did you stop any where on the way home?"
"At a deli to get some sandwiches for lunch," She replied, slightly frustrated at repeating her answers.
"What is the point of this?" Mr Mayhew butted in. "I believe Mrs Sinclair has already answered these questions."
"We're just confirming her answers," Brass replied.
"Have you contacted her professor and Miss Dickens yet?"
"We haven't been able to reach them yet."
"Well I suggest you do that or ask my client some new questions."
"Alright," Brass replied. "Mrs Sinclair, we have reason to believe that you had a fight with your husband prior to his death. Can you tell us what it was about?"
She looked at Brass slightly shocked and then looked back a Grissom. Her face relaxed slightly as if she'd realised something.
"It was last night. My husband wanted us to have a child after I graduated, but I wanted to work a bit before we started our family. That's all it was about."
Even though Brass had asked the question, she replied to Grissom.
"Do you know why your husband and his brother had fallen out?" Brass asked.
"No. He didn't tell me," She replied, shifting her gaze slightly.
She went back to looking down at the table. One of her thumbs was scratching her palm on the opposite hand. Grissom noticed this and so did Will Mayhew, who covered her hand with his own. This action caused her to stare at him. He gave her a look and squeezed her hand gently.
"Do you know where Julian Sinclair is?"
"No."
"Can you tell us why there are so many sleeping tablets at your house?" Grissom asked this time.
"I have a problem sleeping. Ethan did as well for a while after Melissa's death, but he'd stopped taking them."
"Why do you have a sleeping problem?" Grissom questioned again.
"Now Jen, you don't have to answer that...." Will began, but she cut him off.
"It's ok Will."
"You sure?"
She nodded at him and turned back to Gris' steady gaze.
"I have trouble sleeping because of a reoccurring dream I have."
"What's it about?"
She hesitated slightly, but carried on before her lawyer could protest again.
"I've had it for ages. In it I'm 12 years old again and it's dark. I'm watching from my bedroom window for my father to come home. I see him down the street and there a man dressed in black coming up behind him. I start screaming at my dad, but he doesn't hear me, he just sees me and waves. I'm forced to watch as the man....the man stabs him. Do you know how much money was in my father's wallet when his mugger stole it?" She snapped, tears streaming down her face, "$7.50! $7.50! Was that all his life was worth? $7.50? And now I've lost Ethan...."
Her voice trailed off to be replaced with tears. Will rapped his arms around her to calm her down. After a few moments she pulled away, muttering that she was ok.
"We'll continue the questioning later," Brass decided and indicated for the officer standing outside to take her to a cell.
William Mayhew was about to protest when Jenny stopped him.
"It's ok Will. I'll see you soon."
He nodded reluctantly and hugged her. She gave one last look at Grissom with her teary eyes, before she was lead away. Mr Mayhew turned to them with angry eyes.
"She didn't kill him."
"We'll just have to see if the evidence agrees with that Mr Mayhew," Brass replied.
He glared more now; "You don't know what she went through, marrying into the Sinclairs. The prejudice against her. How everyone said that she was marrying him for his money. Well she wasn't. I know Ethan and Jenny. She wouldn't kill him."
"We'll be in touch," Brass said unfazed.
Will Mayhew marched angrily out of the room and down the corridor.
'Come on Greg,' Gris though desperately, 'We need to find out what was in that glass.'
Suddenly Jenny Sinclair's words filled his head and echoed in his mind: '$7.50! Was that all his life was worth?'.
A/N: What do you think? Go on. Hit that button. It's calling your name you know! :o)