Another special thanks to my beta-readers, Allie and Janet. They help to keep the voices true and the story honest.

Warning: This portion of the story contains graphic material/difficult subject matter.

This story is based on characters created by Anthony E. Zuiker for the television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Remuneration, Part 14
by Cheers

"This is the biggest load of crap I've ever heard," Catherine asserted, loudly. Her tone, if not her exact words, carried beyond the closed doors of the Conference Room at CSI and into the corridor outside. She glared at both of the men who stood in front of her. Conrad Ecklie and Sheriff Mobley seemed to flinch a little at the anger in her voice. She wasn't going to let the department burn Grissom in effigy because a rookie Homicide detective had a burr up his butt. "Gil Grissom is no more capable of committing this crime than my daughter is."

"I don't disagree with you, Catherine," Sheriff Mobley replied, trying to stay as calm and collected as he could. He wouldn't serve himself well if he got into a shouting match with the fiery night shift CSI. He had to find a way to diffuse her temper, if such a thing were possible. "You know as well as I do that the department has to be very careful about this kind of internal investigation."

"Yeah, right!" Catherine shot back. You have to be careful not to lose votes come next election, she thought darkly, barely maintaining the control needed to keep from saying so out loud.

Mobley took a breath and let it out slowly. "Look, Catherine. When Nick Stokes was under investigation both Ecklie and I gave you the time you needed to find the evidence to clear him. Why don't you give us the same courtesy?"

Catherine gave him a mirthless half laugh. "You want me to believe that Conrad is really interested in proving Grissom's innocence?"

"Of course he is. We all are. No one wants to see an employee of this department go down for a crime like this. " Mobley assured her. "We're leaving Nick on the case. He'll be primary. Ecklie will be there to supervise, to assure everyone that no favoritism is involved."

That stopped Catherine's objection for the moment. She thought about what she had just been told. If they were leaving Nick on the case, then perhaps there really was some hope that Gil wouldn't simply be railroaded. She still didn't like the idea that she would have to be hands-off on this one, but at least with Nick, someone who knew the truth from the start would be involved. "And you'll leave Nick alone, let him do the job."

Mobley nodded. "Absolutely."

Conrad Ecklie simply stayed where he was, reclined against the end of a table, staring at his shoes.

This time it was Catherine's turn to take a deep breath. This was as good as the current situation was likely to get. However, she had another battle to fight. "I still need Gil to work on another case."

That brought Conrad to life. "No," Ecklie replied immediately.

"The storage unit case is dead in the water without him," she replied. "What little we have amounts to bupkus."

"You know it's standard procedure to place anyone under investigation on administrative leave," the Sheriff asserted. "That doesn't leave us much choice."

Catherine ran her fingers through her hair out of sheer frustration and a need to do something with her hands that didn't involve punching one of the men in front of her in the mouth. "What the hell are we supposed to do with all the entomological evidence we have? Can you do the analysis, Conrad? Can anyone else in this town?"

Both men knew the answer to that question was no. Grissom was one of a dozen or so forensic entomology experts in the country. Ecklie had said it himself, Grissom's work with the LVMPD elevated the reputation of everyone at the crime lab by association. Grissom was well respected nationally and internationally.

"The rules are the rules, Catherine," Conrad told her. "It's out of my hands."

"What about you, Sheriff," Catherine challenged. She didn't even attempt to keep the bitterness out of her voice. "Is placing Grissom on restricted duty out of your hands? Are you that afraid that his work on this case will constitute a threat to the city?"

Brian Mobley shoved his hands in his pockets and looked down at the floor, thinking. No one with half a brain would argue that Grissom posed a threat. Suspect or not, the threads of evidence that linked him circumstantially to the murdered girl were tenuous. He had been backed into a very uncomfortable corner by an eager young Homicide detective and Conrad Ecklie, a man with his own ax to grind where Grissom was concerned. Gil Grissom had served the city of Las Vegas for nearly twenty years. Though he and Grissom had had their differences, Brian had to admit that Grissom never failed to put the job ahead of his own personal agenda. No one who knew Grissom would argue the fact, either.

"All right," the Sheriff said, coming to a decision. "I'll place Grissom on restricted duty and assign a uniform to keep tabs on him until the investigation is completed. If he's cleared, no harm no foul. If he's not …." Mobley left the rest unsaid.

"He will be," Catherine said firmly. "You can bet the next election on that." With that, she turned and headed out of the room.

"You're very welcome," Mobley said to her retreating back.

Catherine heard him but just kept on going. She was too angry to give the Sheriff the satisfaction of gratitude. She was right about needing Gil's help with the case and dead right about his innocence. Besides, Grissom wasn't the only one who could commit professional suicide.


It was 5:23 am in the morgue. The naked body of the eight-year-old girl lay covered by a folded sheet under the lights of the autopsy bay. Doc Robbins was giving Nick the information he had requested. "I've sent the fibers and foreign hairs I collected to Trace. I put a rush on it but I won't get the results of the SART kit back until later today. I don't need the results to tell you that she's been sexually assaulted."

"Poor little thing," the CSI murmured sympathetically. Nick, in a blue lab coat and with gloved hands, folded his arms protectively over his chest. No matter how often he had seen the brutality of one person against another, it was always difficult when it came to little kids. A part of him hoped it always would be. Once you became hardened to things like this, you lose the sense of your own humanity.

"How'd she die?" Nick asked the coroner.

"She was pretty badly beaten but that's not what killed her." Robbins' pointed to the little girl's neck and mouth. "I found bruising around her throat and some inside her lips. It's as if someone cupped a hand tightly over her mouth. She was suffocated and strangled. The official cause is asphyxia. It's a toss up as to which action killed her, though. Most likely, a little bit of both."

Nick swallowed and nodded. "Anything else?"

Doc Robbins looked at the young victim again and then back at Nick. "Only that the perpetrator, whoever he was, used a condom or a foreign object during the assault. I didn't find any semen."

"He couldn't have been impotent?" Nick wanted to know.

The coroner shrugged. "That, I can't tell you. What I can say is that her vaginal canal was severely lacerated. The attack was prolonged and violent for someone so sexually immature. Whoever did this wasn't trying to be gentle."

The chill in the room seemed to seep into Nick's bones. He hugged himself as if to keep warm. Again he nodded. "Thanks, Doc."

Leaving the autopsy bay, Nick could feel the tightness in his jaw. This guy was a vicious bastard and Nick would love nothing more than to beat the living daylights out of him the moment he was found.