Chapter Four

When Nick and Cathy got back to the crime lab, perhaps the person most surprised to see them was Ecklie. They explained the situation to him as briefly as possible, and he moved aside.

"By all means carry on."

As they moved past him they heard him mutter:

"He's the only one of your crew I actually like."

Nick was surprised by this; he'd assumed Ecklie would find Greg the most annoying of all of them, but Cathy wasn't and shrugged, saying

"He's a likeable guy. Which is why I think finding a motive is going to be so hard."

They dropped the samples into the DNA lab and headed straight to the computer room.

"It feels weird doing a background check on Greg."

Nick commented. Cathy didn't reply.

"Perhaps this isn't going to be as difficult as I first thought. Greg's sure made it into the papers enough times."

"Really?"

Nick asked, leaning forward to read the screen. There was a picture of a teenage girl who had a clear family resemblance to Greg.

         "16 year old gets 12 year sentence for murder


Rachel Sanders, 16, was today sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for the murder of her parents. In court Miss Sanders told of how her parents beat her brother Greg, 18, and tried to beat her. Her older brother however, protected her, and for as long as she can remember has looked after her. On the 5th of February, Rachel watched yet again as her protector and guardian struggled to fight back against his own parents, and something snapped. In rage she grabbed what she could and killed her parents from behind. Years of bitterness went into each blow as she watched the life drain from the faces of her parents. The judge commented on the lack of remorse from the girl, even now convinced she did the right thing and sentenced her to twelve years. Her brother, Greg Sanders, does not wish to say anything, which is perhaps understandable. In one week he has lost his whole family one way or another. The silver lining to this tragedy is that Greg has now inherited enough money to go to college where he will study forensic science with chemistry."


Nick and Cathy were speechless. They re-read the passage. They looked at each other, wondering if the other had known about any of this.

"I'm his best friend, but Greg never told me anything about this."

Nick said quietly.

"Me either. I can't believe somebody as kind and cheerful as Greg came out of..."

She motioned to the screen, trying to find the right word.

"...that."

"His parents were...sadistic and his sister...wait- his sister, is she still in prison?"

Cathy looked up Rachel Sanders. After a few minutes she found something.


     "RACHEL Sanders was let out of prison this morning, having served 9 years of a 12 year sentence. The 25 year old notoriously murdered her parents when she was 16 for harming her older brother who had protected her for years. Prison officials claim Miss Sanders may have been let out 3 years ago had it not been for a series of prison riots at the start of her sentence which she was found to have started. Miss Sanders told the press that she would like to put the past behind her, and hoped others would do the same."


Cathy stood up.

"That was written yesterday Nick. I don't know about you but that is too much of a coincidence for me."

Nick nodded.

"But we still don't have a motive, if Greg protected her and raised her for all those years why would she want to kill him?"

Cathy thought.

"...Look at it from her point of view...she was 16, had her whole life ahead of her, but then she kills her parents. She hated them not because they hurt her, but because they hurt Greg, and she loved Greg like a parent figure..."

"And Greg probably hated them too."



"He may have done but he didn't kill them. He was the one they hurt, to him life must have been a nightmare- every day he had violent parents to face and a little sister to take care of, when he was just a kid as well, but he didn't kill them..."

"Well obviously Greg didn't kill them- Greg would never kill anybody!!"

Nick said angrily. Cathy ignored his anger, and looked him straight in the eyes. A look of realisation appeared on her face.

"Of course- that's it!"

Nick immediately calmed down and let her speak.

"That's it! Rachel's angry at Greg because he doesn't condone what she did. He didn't back then- hence the prison riots, and he still doesn't! Rachel spent nine years of her life in prison and the one person she did it for, disagrees with what she did!"

Nick could see the pieces fitting together. Catherine started to walk away, saying

"I'll call Brass and the others"

Nick went back to the computer to print out copies of the two newspaper articles. As they printed out, Nick thought about the incident in the car, and the way Greg had behaved. A thought struck him as he tried to imagine the situation from Greg's point of view. He grabbed the documents and went to find Catherine. She had just put the phone down from Brass having filled him in and was about to ring Grissom.

"Cathy I was just thinking. I don't think Greg didn't tell anybody because he was scared of Rachel killing them too- I think he was protecting her."

"Protecting her?!"

Nick nodded, despite the incredulous look on Cathy's face.

"Even though he didn't condone what she did, Rachel is still his little sister, who he raised. Maybe he even felt guilty that she'd been in prison before."

"He raised her and she ended up killing two people."

Catherine said quietly.

"He was just a kid!"

Nick defended forcefully. Cathy put a hand on his shoulder.

"Nicky- I know that, and you know that- but I bet Greg doesn't see it that way."

TBC