When Sara re-awoke she found herself gagged and sitting in a chair. Her
wrists were tied in front of her and her ankles were tied to the chair.
"Good morning, sunshine" Boby commented smugly.
Sara grunted angrily.
"Don't worry it's not really morning. You've only been out cold for fifteen minutes at the most" Boby informed her.
He had a bottle of whiskey in one hand and was pouring it into the glass in his other hand.
"Want some?" Boby offered her a drink as a joke.
Sara was trying to break free and squealing under the gag but she couldn't say or do anything.
"Well, I offered" Boby pretended.
"I'm sorry it's had to come to this. You see I need to talk to you and this was the only way I could get you to listen to me quietly. I had to silence your constant whingeing sometime!" Boby told smarmily.
Sara tried some squealing and trying to break free again. Boby laughed at this.
"Will you stop and give that up! We have to talk about the brat. Well, I talk and you listen!" Boby informed her.
Sara went hysterical. She was determined to break free now. She jumped and wriggled and eventually the chair she was in toppled over onto the floor.
"Oh you silly girl! Look what you've done now - you've hurt yourself!" he remarked.
He came over and untied her ankles from the chair, leaving her to wriggle about on the floor legs free.
She managed to sit up eventually.
"Look I know you've grown fond of her and even I have! But enough's enough. She's a liability! She knows too much! She's going to figure it out any day now. To make matters worse she's not the kind to keep it quiet! She'll go straight to the police! She's got to go! I'm sorry Sara but I've got to kill her. I have no choice! The risks outweigh the love" Boby declared matter of factly.
Sara got up and started charging at Boby, trying to attack him with her wrists still tied up. He saw her coming and threw her down the floor. She began crying not just out of pain but also out of frustration.
She had envisioned this scenario several times before, and it had never involved her being incapacitated and unable to save Alaney.
She shook her head enough to get the gag off her mouth.
"Why are you telling me this if you've already decided?" Sara sobbed.
"I feel you have a right to know. You are her mother after all!" Boby responded smugly.
"No, you just want to torture me! Let me imagine it as you go and murder our daughter!" Sara sobbed.
Boby slapped Sara. Sara screamed and fell over onto her side.
"She is not our daughter! Never call her that! It's talk like that that will let it out!" Boby shouted.
"Don't hit me! Mom might stand by and be your punch-bag but I won't!" Sara declared.
"Oh yeah and what are you going to do about it? Go to the police?" Boby laughed.
He pulled her gag over her mouth and re-tied it tighter.
"You know what bugs me about that girl? She has no sense of fear! She seems to think justice will always win! You and your mother though - your different. You guys you know fear and you know fear will win. You guys know that sometimes - a lot of the time justice just won't be found because of extenuating circumstances" Boby commented.
Sara shook her head and Boby could hear her scream a muffled "No" in disagreeance
"It's not a bad thing. I love it. It's the only thing that is keeping you alive! You understand the rules - most of the time. I will win! I will always win! I will never go to jail because it just doesn't benefit either of us for people to find out the truth. And even if you won't admit it to yourself, sweetheart - you won't go to the police because you're petrified of me! I will always win because I have the power over you guys! But your daughter, she just doesn't seem to understand the fear. She's never felt the fear. And frankly, I don't have time to teach her the fear. I only have time to kill her" Boby explained.
Sara began screaming and struggled about on the floor.
She eventually managed to stand straight up and began listening to Boby's ranting speech.
Boby started to pace the room. "Having said that! I do still worry about you lately. Every since that girl came along you've got really feisty and attacky. You keep trying to attack me!" Boby commented.
"So, I've been thinking and I have an idea" Boby informed her.
"I think you need to be reminded of the rules. I think you need to be taught a lesson" Boby told her.
Sara froze. She didn't struggle. She didn't make a peep. She just lay petrified about what he could possibly mean. It didn't sound good. She was tied up and could do nothing! She had always thought that if her father ever attacked her in any shape or form then now she could fight him off. She was older and had learnt weapon-less self defence. Yet now, she could do nothing. If he beat her up bad enough then she could end up on a life support machine or brain damaged.
Before Sara knew it Boby was coming towards her.
He pushed her over and she fell onto the floor.
He kicked her in the stomach.
Then he kicked her in the face.
Then he just laid into her. He kept punching her, hitting her and kicking her over all.
Twenty minutes previously, just after Sara and Boby had ran out, Alaney had returned to the kitchen to clear Libby up. She got some bandages and then two tea towels. She went over to the sink and started wetting the tea towels. Libby was sitting on the kitchen floor looking dizzy and only half conscious. Alaney put a wet tea towel to Libby's bleeding head and another to her bleeding mouth. Libby held them there as Alaney began to bandage Libby's wounds.
"Thanks" Libby gestured.
"It's nothing. You have nothing to say thanks to me for" Alaney replied.
"I'm really sorry, Alaney. You should never have had to witness that!" Libby sobbed.
"It's not your fault" Alaney remarked.
Alaney gave Libby a smile to comfort her. Libby smiled back and stroked Alaney's face.
"You're a good girl" Libby commented in adoration.
Alaney began trying to wipe Libby's wounds clean. As she did she found herself having to hold back the tears. But she just couldn't. The tears began to build up until she couldn't see clearly anymore and had no choice but to stop.
"I'm sorry. I cant" Alaney sobbed.
"Go get some fresh air. I can clean myself up" Libby reassured her.
Alaney ran out the house, in floods of tears. desperate to get out of there.
Alaney was in such a rush that she didn't notice as Libby collapse seconds after she had stood up to get a new wet tea cloth.
Libby lay there unconscious and alone.
Half an hour after Libby had collapsed, Sara sat sobbing in the corner of the hut Sara was locked in. She wasn't unconscious. Boby had eventually untied her hands, took her gag off and left her sobbing in this corner. He didn't leave the hut though, he just sat there thinking things over. He didn't need to keep her tied up or gagged anymore. He had her under his power. She wasn't going to scream, squeal or try to attack him now - she was too scared of him.
He left her sobbing in the corner petrified, bruised and beaten for fifteen further minutes.
"Ready?" Boby asked.
Sara scraped together her last bit of courage to say,
"What for?" Sara asked in a hateful tone.
"I've already told you" Boby exclaimed frustrated.
He came over to her, and went to take her hand to pull her up. But she shrugged her hand away.
He knelt down and whispered in her ear.
"We're going to have a race. I'm giving you a chance to save her. We're going to race to see who finds Alaney first. If you do then she's safe, but if I do - well, you know. We're going to race and see who makes it first - mummy or daddy!" Boby whispered in a sinister tone.
Sara was secretly relieved but couldn't understand why he was being so fair. Maybe he secretly didn't want to kill Alaney? Maybe it was all a bluff? Even so, good news or not, the way he said it had sent a shiver down her spine.
"You better get up and get ready. Come here. This will be our starting line" Boby told her.
Sara couldn't quite believe it. Having said that she could never understand why Boby would give her a chance to save Alaney. She had never been able to keep up with that man's games that he plays for his amusement. So she just went along with it, hoping it was true. She wasn't in the mood to play games with him or run the fastest she ever had - but she had to for Laney's sake! Still shaken she got up, came over and stood next to him on the 'starting line'. She had to banish all her fears, all her upset and emotion for now to save Alaney.
"Ready, steady, go" Boby dictated.
Sara was so transfixed on being first that she began to go without realising Boby hadn't started to move. Instead, he grabbed the vase next to him, and before she could realise or leave, he had smashed her over the head again. She was out cold immediately.
He had planned it so she began to go off first and so the back of her head was directly in front of his reach.
He had been toying with her.
"You silly cow! Do you really think I'd let you get in the way of me disposing of her? Why on earth would I give you the chance to save her? Your such a smart girl darling and yet your so gullible. Just like your mother! I don't think this makes you a very good CSI! Isn't this what your job is basically about? Detecting liars? Detecting plans? Silly girl! You think you can take me on?" Boby lectured his unconscious daughter.
"Well I'd love to stay and gloat some more but I've got to dash. Hey - see you at the funeral!" Boby chuckled.
Boby ran out the hut and went looking throughout the woods for Alaney.
Meanwhile, Alaney had been scouring the woods looking Sara for just over an hour. She had spent forty minutes going down one direction in the woods and then had turned around and decided to go back.
"Sara? Sara? Where are you?" Alaney called out.
"Sara, you were right. I couldn't deal with them fighting! It was horrible! I hate him! How could he do that to Libby?" Alaney sobbed thinking about it.
"Sara, please I really want to go home. Can we just go?" Alaney called.
"Boby? Libby? Anyone? Can you hear me? I just want to go home! Is anyone around here?" Alaney called out.
Alaney saw a log and decided it was high time she sat down. She plonked herself down fed up and tired with her hands holding up her face.
She had been sitting there about five minutes when she heard someone call from behind her.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Boby asked smarmily.
Alaney turned round and gave him an unimpressed look.
"I can't believe you did that!" Alaney exclaimed betrayed.
"Did what?" Boby asked confused at how much Alaney knew.
"Libby!" Alaney reminded him.
"Did it really mean so little to you that you don't even remember? I've just had to leave her moping up pools of her own blood! Her own blood!" Alaney told him.
"If you're such a saint, why didn't you help her?" Boby remarked.
"Oh just go away, Boby! Once I find Sara we're going and I never want to see you again!" Alaney told him.
He came over and sat next to her.
"Believe me, I don't ever want to see you ever again either. We're agreed then. You've got to go" Boby commented.
"If you hate me so much then why are you sat here with me? You know what? I was going to leave but I would have come to visit! You know why? Because even though you're a monster I thought we had a bond! But after that little display I've given up on you. I looked into your eyes and I realised you really are evil!" Alaney told him.
Boby looked at her lovingly and touched her hand. She pulled it away and got up in outrage.
"If you're so desperate to get people to love you then why do you hurt the very people who offer you that love? Libby and Sara are the only idiots willing to love you and yet you keep hitting them or saying hurtful things You make the chances, of them leaving you alone, more and more by the day!" Alaney shouted at him.
"It isn't as simple as that" Boby replied.
"Oh yeah! Poor your complicated life! Poor you!" Alaney commented.
"If you hate me so much, and never want to see my rotten face again, then why haven't you walked off yet?" Boby asked.
Alaney was speechless that he'd noticed.
He gestured for her to sit next to him and she hesitantly did. She was still annoyed though and wouldn't look him in the eyes.
He put an arm round her shoulders.
"Are you alright?" Boby asked trying to look concerned.
"Why would you care?" Alaney asked defensively.
"I do" Boby replied.
"Well no! Of course I'm not all right! I've had a lot to deal with lately!" Alaney exclaimed stressed.
"I'm sorry about that" Boby told her.
"What?" Alaney asked confused.
"I never wanted you to know Sara was your mother. That's why I told her to give you away so you never had to find out she was raped. I did it for you!"
"You hypocrite! You go around doing the same to other women! You didn't even stop!" Alaney shouted.
"But my daughter's different! No one hurts my daughter or granddaughter and gets away with it!" Boby argued.
"You didn't hurt him did you?" Alaney asked worried.
Boby avoided the question.
"If you ever did find out I wanted to get rid of the pain straight away! But it's just knowing when to!" Boby explained.
He seriously did care. He could recognise this fact.
"You wimp! Pull yourself together you wet teddy bear!" he thought to himself.
"How can the pain stop? Is there something you can do?" Alaney asked excited.
"Is it something you know which you can tell me to make it better? What is it? Tell me!" Alaney demanded.
"I'll sort it" Boby told her and kissed her cheek.
Alaney pushed him off and turned her head away from him.
He sat in silence for a while then he suddenly spoke again,
"Alaney?" he asked.
She turned and looked at him unimpressed.
He grabbed her face and kissed her on the lips.
Alaney was completely gob smacked.
Her first reaction was to get up and spit his taste out her mouth.
She spat and spat until she couldn't find anything else to spit out anymore.
"It's alright" Boby told her.
"No it's not! You're my biological grandfather! You sicko! Just as I thought you couldn't get any sicker!" Alaney exclaimed.
"That's it though! I'm not!" Boby told her.
Alaney looked at him.
"What?!?" Alaney asked.
"I'm not Sara's biological father. It's someone else" Boby told Alaney.
"What" Alaney responded.
"You heard" Boby said.
"But Sara never said anything" Alaney told him.
Boby shrugged that he didn't care about this fact.
"That doesn't make it not true. She might not know" Boby told her.
Alaney was lost of words.
She thought the situation over again.
"I suppose it makes things better, but it still doesn't make it alright! Your Sara's father figure! Your as good as her father!" Alaney told him.
"Not in biology" Boby reminded her smarmily.
"But in emotions!" Alaney contradicted him.
"But it wasn't Sara I kissed! It was you! We're strangers! We've never really been like relatives until this week!"
"We could forget this week every happened. We could be non-relatives again. We aren't relatives after all!" Boby told her.
He approached her and tried to kiss her again. She pushed him off.
"No!!!!!! I don't care if you're not my grandfather! It's still unthinkable!" Alaney exclaimed.
"That's fine. I just wanted you to know how I felt" Boby pretended.
"Well you know now!" Alaney exclaimed.
"Look, you don't need to feel the same. But please don't judge me. We're not biologically or emotionally relatives, remember?" Boby played with her.
Alaney fell to the bait and got more wound up.
"Its not alright! There's 38 years between us! That's disgusting!" Alaney reminded him.
"It's an error of judgement but not biologically disgusting!" Boby explained.
Alaney's head was spinning.
"The answer's no! So, can we just forget this happened?" Alaney asked.
"Yeah. I'd appreciate that" Boby agreed.
She got up.
"I think it's best I get going. Let's never talk about this again, o.k.?" Alaney suggested walking off.
"Agreed" Boby responded.
"Alaney?" Boby called out to her.
She turned back to look at him.
"What now?" Alaney asked.
However, when she turned around it was fairly obvious what he had wanted.
He was holding Sara's gun in his hands and pointing it straight at Alaney.
He had finished playing games. He was serious now. He seriously wanted to kill Alaney.
Alaney froze petrified. She considered running but found her feet wouldn't move.
She just stood there and suddenly burst into tears.
Boby's heart skipped a beat as he felt for her.
"Stop it you pussy!" Boby thought to himself.
"Do I have any chance?" she asked petrified.
"What?" Boby asked shocked by her strange reaction.
"Are you definitely going to shoot me! - or is there something I can do to change your mind? I'll do anything! Just name it! Please don't shoot!" Alaney pleaded.
"There's nothing you can do. Just shut up and I'll make it as painless as possible" Boby replied trying to remain strong.
"There must be something I can do to change your mind!" Alaney protested sobbing.
"This is the only way. I'm sorry. I was growing quite fond of you but I still need to do this regardless. I should have done this along time ago" Boby informed her.
He truly had grown fond of Alaney. He truly did have a smidgen of parental love for her. He didn't actually want to have to kill her. But none of this conquered his need to kill her.
"This is the only way" he reassured himself aloud.
"The only way to life imprisonment!" Alaney protested.
Boby laughed.
"Your assuming they'll find your body. You're assuming they'll even pin it on me. You forget my daughter's a CSI. Over the years, I've learnt things from her. For example, I've learnt the most common forensic mistakes killers make and therefore I know how to avoid them. I also learnt that not all crimes can be brought to 'justice'. They may never find out or will never be able to prove it" Boby told her.
"But what if they do? Whatever your scared of, life in jail can't be worth it!" Alaney argued.
Boby laughed again.
"What? A 50/50 percent chance of jail compared to a 99% chance!" Boby informed her.
"What?" Alaney asked confused.
"Don't you worry your pretty little head. This will all be over soon and you won't have to worry your pretty little head about anything ever again" Boby told her as he began to aim the gun again.
Alaney burst into tears again.
"Oh come on baby. Don't you want the pain to go away? Don't you want the pain of being deserted and unloved to go? It will all be gone soon" Boby said almost mocking her
"Wait!" she pleaded with him, trying to put her death off.
"At least tell me why you hate me!" Alaney sobbed.
"I can't understand why you would hate me this much. Last week I was your number one and now you don't give a second thought to knocking me off? I don't understand" Alaney argued.
"There's a fine line between love and hate" Boby smirked.
"Well, why do you hate me?" Alaney sobbed.
She struck a chord in his heart and he felt kind of guilty.
"I don't hate you! And I can't tell you why I need to kill you but just know I need to! Now will you shut up? It will make this all a lot easier if you just shut up!" Boby replied.
"If I'm going to be dead why not tell me? It could be my dying wish!" Alaney insisted.
"No! It's not worth the risk. Now shut up - I'm trying to concentrate" he told her.
"Is this really all over Libby and yours parents money?" Alaney asked.
"Our what?" Boby asked.
"Sara once told me that if Libby and your parents found out that Sara had had a child at 14 then they'd blame you guys and they'd take all the financial support and camp cuckoo away from you and that was why you wanted to kill me" Alaney sobbed.
"Don't call it camp cuckoo!" Boby chided.
"Yeah fine that's it. That's the reason. Now shut up!" Boby told her.
"But if they know she was raped then they can't blame you guys!" Alaney argued.
"You don't know them!" Boby protested.
"Even so, I thought you guys didn't worship money! Would it really be all that bad to not have all that money? Is having to get a real job really a big enough incentive to kill someone?" Alaney asked.
"You don't understand! Just shut up! You don't need to know the reason!" Boby shouted.
She shut up and just stood they're looking at him with unintentional puppy dog eyes. Boby had an attack of conscience seeing this. He put his gun to his side.
"O.k., I'll tell you a little bit of why. Seeing as your not going to be alive to say anything" Boby told her.
Boby paused.
"Your an inconvenience! That's all I'm saying" Boby told her.
"That tells me nothing!" Alaney protested.
"Tough!" Boby replied and began to aim again.
"Wait! Why am I? Maybe I could stop being an inconvenience?" Alaney pleaded.
"No. You can't!" Boby told her.
"Why?" Alaney asked.
Boby sighed.
"There's this secret and if you found it out you'd tell everyone" Boby explained.
"Is that all? I promise I won't!" Alaney insisted.
"You will. I know you will!" Boby insisted.
"Not if my life depends on it! If you let me go and I discover anything I promise I won't tell anyone!" Alaney insisted.
"How would I be able to stop you once I put this gun down?" Boby reminded her.
"How big a secret is it? Is it really big enough to kill me over?" Alaney asked.
"Yes! Anyway, it's not just your big mouth. It's all of you. Once I get rid of you - You just disappear! The problem just disappears!" Boby explained.
"How?" Alaney asked.
"Shut up! That's it! We've finished talking! No more talking!" Boby demanded.
Alaney decided to shut up. She knew she could no longer put it off. She knew she was going to die sooner or later today. She couldn't put it off any longer so she finally decided to just stand there and wait for the inevitable.
As she waited her head began spinning with fears, worries and thoughts about death. She had a sudden panic about how it would feel to die. How it would feel to go past the threshold of unbearable pain. How it would feel to not survive. What would it feel like? She had a sudden panic about what was in the afterlife. What if it was bad? She had never given it much thought but now she wished she had.
She stood on the spot petrified. Tears were streaming down her face and she couldn't stop shaking. She tried to stop but she couldn't.
She felt so ashamed that she was letting Boby see her visible fear. He was probably getting off on it.
Boby meanwhile just stood there for ages. He was finding it harder than he thought he would to pluck up the courage to pull the trigger.
"One, two, three" he thought in his head.
But still he couldn't pull that trigger.
"One, two, three!" he demanded to himself.
Still he could not move his hands.
Alaney just stood there on the spot like a dazed rabbit in headlights. She should have taken this opportunity to run while he stalled, but she was too frozen with fear to try.
After a while she covered her eyes and said,
"Come on! Just do it! If you're going to do it please get it over and done with!" Alaney pleaded sobbing.
At first Alaney heard nothing but silence.
Then suddenly she heard a thud.
It made her jump because she was scared that it was something that would hurt her. But when she realised she wasn't hurt she uncovered her eyes.
Boby was stood there in a daze. The gun was down on the floor.
He had dropped the gun!
"Go" Boby demanded.
"What?" Alaney asked shocked.
"Don't ask questions! Just go! Get out of here before I change my mind!" Boby demanded.
"Don't tell anyone about this! None of it!" Boby demanded.
He sat down behind him on the log. He put his hands on his face and eventually began crying.
Alaney couldn't believe Boby didn't shoot her. But more than that she couldn't believe that Boby was crying now.
She had never seen Boby cry.
For some strange reason she felt the need to go over and comfort him. After all, he had just spared her life and she was no longer scared of him.
She went over and sat next to him.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"I told you to get lost! Go before I hurt you!" Boby declared.
"I'm not afraid anymore" Alaney told him.
"Well, you should be! I might still kill you!" Boby defended his ego.
"No you won't Boby! When faced with the moment of truth you couldn't do it and you never will" Alaney insisted.
"Yeah well, death isn't the only thing I can hurt you with! I could still hurt you all the same. I could make you wish you were dead! Like your sister!" Boby defended himself.
"I have a sister?" Alaney asked excited by the news of having one.
"Is she dead?" Alaney asked.
"No, you idiot! I meant I made her wish she was dead!" Boby told her.
"Why?!? How do you know her?" Alaney asked.
"She just got in my way, alright! She's always trying to stop me hurting you" Boby told her.
"She sounds sweet" Alaney commented.
"Can I meet her?" Alaney asked.
"No!" Boby insisted.
"Well, how can you stop me?" Alaney challenged him.
"By not telling you who or where she is" Boby reminded her.
"Someone else might" Alaney suggested.
"I doubt it" Boby replied.
"Is she my dad's daughter or did Sara have another child?" Alaney asked.
"It's your dad. What's with all the annoying questions? Get lost!" he answered her.
Alaney couldn't keep it in.
"Does he have anymore children? That he knows of?" Alaney asked.
"Fine! He has a son, a daughter and you make three. Now go away!" Boby replied honestly.
"Common" Alaney remarked.
"What?" Boby asked.
"That's a fairly common family set up. To have one son and one daughter" Alaney explained.
"Thank you for sharing that. Now go" Boby snarked.
"Where's my dad from? Did he live round here? Does he live here still? Do my siblings live round here?" Alaney asked excited.
"You see I knew it! This is exactly what I told your mother. You just can't drop the father thing! He's a monster, remember? Why would you want to know a monster? You said you don't want to know me and I'm a monster! So why would you want to know him?" Boby asked frustrated.
"Oh my God! I know why you want to kill me!" Alaney realised.
"What?" Boby worried that she really had worked it out.
Had he said too much?
"He's blackmailing you! He's blackmailing you and if you kill me then he can't anymore! Maybe that's it! He's blackmailed you into killing me! Once I'm gone then it's like he never raped my mom! It makes sense that he'd hire someone to kill me - he is a monster after all. What's he got on you?" Alaney said.
"Shut up!" Boby shouted.
"Sorry! I was just offering to help you out the sticky situation your in. I have nothing to gain from this you know! I'm perfectly safe now you're not going to kill me. I was just offering to help you. Sorrrrrrry!" Alaney reminded him.
"You can't help me!" Boby responded.
"Your so infuriating!" Boby exclaimed.
Boby grunted in frustration and turned his back on her.
They sat in silence for a while.
"Are they evil?" Alaney asked.
"What! Who?" Boby asked frustrated by her presence and constant pestering.
"My brother and sister. My sister doesn't sound evil. She sounds really sweet. She sounds like she cares about me and my welfare. I'd like to meet her" Alaney replied.
"For the one hundredth time! Stop! Asking! Questions!" Boby shouted.
"Sorry, it's just I've always wanted brothers and sisters. When I was growing up, I always dreamt about having a family. A mom, a dad, brothers or sisters. I have my mom now, but I'd still like to have my siblings too" Alaney gabbed on.
Boby sighed and turned to her again.
"You've got brothers and sisters already! Don't you understand how lucky you are? You grew up around millions of kids. You have millions of brothers and sisters older and younger. Our whole community is a family! You've always had a family! Why do you need more? Everyone around here loves you and considers you their own. You've had more moms, dads, brothers and sisters than the majority of children across the world!" Boby explained.
Alaney sighed. He wouldn't understand.
They sat there in silence again.
After a while, Alaney turned back to look how Boby was doing. He looks so depressed. He turned and looked at her thoughtfully.
"I had my chance to make it all go away and I blew it! Your right I am pathetic I can't do it. I just can't kill you! You've been an inconvenience since the day you were born! I should have just killed you then. It would have probably been easier to kill a baby! Babies die so easily! If I'd killed you, back then or even just now, it would have been like you were never born. You'd just disappear! It would be like you never existed! Poof! Like magic everything would be better! But your right - I'm pathetic. I can't kill you! I just can't! Congratulations! You've won!" Boby moped
"It's not a game. We can all be on the same side" Alaney reassured him.
"No we can't!" Boby insisted.
"But!" Alaney protested.
"Look you choose the sides, princess! Not me! When it comes to the crunch I bet I know whose side your take and it won't be mine" Boby told her.
"Your not so bad you know. I'm seen your sensitive side!" Alaney joked around with him.
"No, my dear. All you've seen is that I give a shit about what happens to me. Everyone gives a shit about themselves. It's natural. It doesn't mean they give a shit about others though" Boby told her.
"But me! You just showed you care about me" Alaney reminded him.
"Maybe I do have limits. Who knows? I don't" Boby moped.
"You know what I reckon? I reckon you want to change. You want people to stop thinking of you as a monster" Alaney asked.
"No, not really. I am what I am" Boby answered.
"Seriously?" Alaney asked annoyed
"You look surprised!" Boby laughed.
Alaney got up outraged.
"I can't believe I gave a shit about you! You really are a heartless pig aren't you?" Alaney declared.
"I tried to tell you! There isn't a saint waiting to jump out of me! I'm a monster deal with it! Just because I didn't kill you doesn't mean I've stopped hurting people in other ways" Boby declared.
Alaney began to walk off. But she changed her mind. She turned around and kicked Boby in the shin.
"That's for Libby!" Alaney exclaimed furious and then walked off.
He came running after her infuriated.
He caught up with her and tackled her to the ground. Then he started to kick her in the stomach.
"What kind of psycho are you?" he shouted down at her.
"Did you seriously think I would let you get away with that?" he shouted at her.
But suddenly, out the blue, Alaney saw Sara come up behind Boby about to whack him round the head with something.
"Noooo! Get off my daughter!" Sara shouted at him.
She was holding a stick she had broke off from a tree and went charging at him. She whacked him round the head with it.
He wasn't unconscious but still stopped kicking Alaney to tend to the pain. He stepped aside and held his head.
Sara came over and immediately began comforting Alaney. She put her arms round Alaney and hugged her. Alaney was in floods of tears. Sara wasn't crying she was just furious.
"It's alright baby. It's alright. I'm here now. I won't let him hurt you" Sara reassured her.
"Leave her alone!" Sara screamed.
"I won't ever let you hurt her! If you want to hurt her you're going to have to get through me first!" Sara told him.
Sara turned back to Alaney and continued comforting her.
Sara noticed Boby sneak off behind her. She began to turn round to check she had seen this right but he had run off before she'd even had time to turn around.
Sara jumped up, grabbed the gun on the floor and began to run after him.
"Sara, what are you doing? It's over! It can't hurt me!" Alaney screamed.
Sara stopped and turned to Alaney. Alaney noticed the look in Sara's eyes. It was like her eyes were on fire. She was so full of angry and hatred.
"I've had enough! I'm tired of him thinking he can always use violence to get what he wants! He's ruined everyone's lives and I'm not letting him ruin yours! I'm going to get rid to him for good! He'll never be able to hurt you if he's dead" Sara told her.
"Dead!?!?!" Alaney screamed in reaction.
Sara took a deep breath.
"Yeah, I'm going to kill him" Sara told Alaney calmly.
Alaney looked down for only a second to let this all filter through. But when she looked up again Sara had already charged off after Boby with her gun in full aim.
"Sara!!!!!!!!" Alaney screamed at the top of her voice after her.
"Sara you can't! You can't! He's no danger! It's over! He's not worth it!" Alaney shouted after her.
She caught her breath.
"You'll be the one punished not him! Sara stop!" Alaney shouted after her.
"Saraaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Alaney screamed with all the power in her lungs.
Sara didn't stop.
Before Alaney knew it Sara was out of sight.
Alaney didn't know what to do.
She was in a state of shock.
She decided to sit down to think the situation over. She felt her knees were going to give, so sitting was a good idea she resolved.
She couldn't believe all that had just happened had happened. She was so confused she didn't know what to do. She literally sat there mouth hanging open, breathless, in shock.
She tried to clear her head and think what to do. Instead she just burst into tears.
What was she going to do!
She couldn't let Sara kill him. But how can she stop her? She couldn't!
But she couldn't just sit here!
Alaney's head was spinning so fast. Round and round it spun and spun. She thought she might faint.
She couldn't think straight. But she knew she had to do something. But she couldn't clear her head to think what that something was.
She decided to go get Libby. Libby would know what to do.
So Alaney began running back to the house.
She ran with all the might in her body.
As she was running towards the house, her head became clearer. She had an idea.
She decided she needed to call the police. She had her friends in the police department and CSI department who could find Sara before she did anything stupid. If they didn't get there in time it was still worth calling them. They could help. They'd have to know eventually. Sara could never hide the body and get away with murder. It would be better if they knew now rather than later. Alaney was dead set on calling the police.
Alaney decided she would call Grissom or Catherine. She would call them on her cell phone. She had their numbers on her cell phone.
But her cell phone was in her room.
As Alaney raced through the unlocked house door she had no need to find Libby anymore. She raced so fast to her room that she didn't notice Libby's lifeless body lying on the kitchen floor.
Alaney raced into her room, got her bag and took her cell phone.
She decided to try Grissom first. She knew Catherine better but she respected Grissom's opinion more. She also knew that Grissom would try that little bit harder to make sure Sara did not go to jail.
As she dialled the numbers her fingers were shaking so much. All she could think was how everything seemed so good and now it was going downhill. Sara was going to jail and all their plans to be a family were down the drain.
Alaney eventually got Grissom on the phone.
"Hello Gil Grissom?" Grissom answered.
"Grissom! You've got to help us! I think Sara's going to kill Boby!" Alaney sobbed panicked.
"What! Why?" Grissom asked alarmed.
"She said she would!" Alaney screamed.
"Are you sure it wasn't a joke?" Grissom checked.
"Do you think I'm that dumb?!?! Do you think I'd call you if I wasn't absolutely positive?!?!" Alaney reacted hysterically.
Grissom could tell by Alaney's voice that she was shaking like a leaf. He could here she was in floods of tears.
"O.k., calm down. Tell me exactly what happened and where you are. We're coming over with a tracking team straightaway" Grissom told her shaken up.
"We're staying at 33 Hoyland forest. We're the only house in actual Hoyland forest though. The rest of the houses are on the outskirts of the forest. Last time I saw her, Sara was chasing Boby through the woods with a gun! I'll explain what you need to know once someone's driving you there!" Alaney told him.
Grissom drove and Alaney told as much as she wanted them to know to Catherine. Of course, she didn't mention the kiss and Catherine didn't mention to Grissom that Alaney was Sara's daughter.
Alaney walked out her bedroom as she neared to finishing her conversation with Catherine. As she got to the kitchen she dropped the phone. She saw Libby lying there unconscious on the floor.
"Alaney? Alaney?" Catherine asked.
Alaney burst into tears. Her clear head had got all muddled again and couldn't think what to do.
She wiped her tears away and took a deep breath. She tried shaking and shaking Libby. But Libby wouldn't wake up. So Alaney checked her pulse. Libby still had one. She suddenly realised that she should put Libby in the recovery position. Then she picked up the phone again,
"Catherine?" Alaney asked.
"Alaney, are you alright?" Catherine asked panicked.
"There's one more thing I need to you to do. Call an ambulance" Alaney told her.
"What? Why? Who's hurt? Have you found Boby?" Catherine asked.
"He's gone and knocked Libby unconscious!" Alaney told Catherine in shock.
Alaney then turned the phone off. Looked at Libby in disbelief and then suddenly got angry and threw the phone across the room. She slid down onto the floor and sat there crying until the others came. Her head was spinning round and round. What was she going to do? What earth was going to happen?
She closed her eyes, put her hands on her ears and hoped that if she did this then the nightmare would go away. It would all be a dream.
Grissom, Catherine, Brass, a SWAT team, a sniffer dog team, CSI Day shift, a team of cadets and some of other LVPD friends arrived within the hour.
Alaney knew it was too late.
The cadets, SWAT team and sniffer dogs got searching straightaway. But Catherine and Grissom ran to straight to the Sidles house to see Alaney.
As they did, they saw Libby come out of the house on a stretcher.
Grissom felt his heart miss a beat in sadness. He thought he might burst out crying. Was she with him? He managed to cry though. He had more pressing things on his mind.
Grissom and Catherine ran into the house to find Alaney curled up on the floor. She looked a complete wreck.
They got her to come sit over on the sofa. Brass came in and the trio began trying to get more information out of her. Catherine sat next to her holding her hand in support.
"I don't know! I don't know!" Alaney kept sobbing in reply.
After half hour, Brass's radio began to talk.
"Captain Brass, Captain Brass, come in! Do you hear me? We've found Sara Sidle. I repeat we've found her. She's about five minutes running distance east of the house" the radio sounded.
"What about the alleged victim?" Brass asked.
"There's no sign of him anyway. We're still looking" the radio sounded.
Everyone was sitting round on tender hooks waiting to hear more.
"How is she? Has she said anything?" Brass asked.
"Sara's a mess, sir. She won't say a word! She just stares into space. Every time we ask her a question she tries to speak but she can't - she just cries and cries" the officer told him.
"So we don't know if she's done anything" Catherine remarked.
"Sir, there is one more thing you should know before you come over" the officer told him.
"What?" Brass asked.
"I'm sorry but - but - but her hands are all covered in blood, sir! It looks like she's done it!" the officer remarked.
"No! She wouldn't! She wouldn't!" Alaney screamed.
Alaney began wailing on Catherine's shoulder. Catherine stroke her head and began crying quietly herself.
"Did you ask her about the blood?" Brass asked.
"She won't, or can't, tell us where it came from, sir!" the police officer told Brass.
Alaney suddenly darted out the door.
She began running east to Sara. The others followed immediately.
They all ran with all the might left in their bodies, which for Alaney wasn't much.
When they got to the scene the police were all over Sara like a swarm of bees. They were all trying to get answers out of Sara for their questions. Usually it wouldn't be so chaotic at a crime scene, but this was one of their own, they were desperate to know what had happened. But she was unaffected by all this chaos. She looked so traumatised. Too traumatised to speak. She was mute. She looked like a ghost. She just sat there in a catatonic state.
Sometimes she would look at one of the officers and try to answer their questions but she just burst into fits of crying and couldn't speak.
On top of all that the dayshift were all over her. They were trying to examine her, prod her and swab her. "Leave the examination till we get to the station. I want you to search her head to toe when we get to the station but not now" Ecklie commanded his team.
"You can't examine her top to toe! She hasn't been arrested yet! You have no warrant!" Grissom protested.
"Which why I don't want them touching her now! When I get the judge on the phone, back at the station, we'll almost certainly get one. If not we'll need to wait till we find his body or she confesses. But just remember something, Grissom. If we search her and find another reason for that blood it could clear her. You should be begging me to examine her" Ecklie told Grissom.
"For now leave her alone. Just swab that blood" Ecklie commanded his team.
Alaney took one look at Sara and collapsed.
Sara didn't notice Alaney arrive or collapse among all the mayhem and her own internal torture.
"Alaney!" Catherine called.
Alaney wouldn't wake up. She hadn't just fainted. She needed hospital attention.
Catherine and Grissom didn't know what to do. Sara needed them but so did Alaney.
So Catherine tended to Alaney. She got her into the ambulance standing by in case Boby or Sara needed one. They could just send a new ambulance she thought to herself. Catherine didn't go with Alaney though. She knew she'd have to be down the station for Sara. Catherine would be more help to Sara than an unconscious Alaney, Catherine thought.
Grissom tended to Sara. He began walking over to her. Sara happened to look up and saw him approach. She flung open her arms and began wailing even more. He put his arms round her.
"Grissom! I've done something stupid!" Sara sobbed.
"Sshh, Sshh. We're going to sort this out, o.k.?. We're going to sort this out" Grissom reassured her.
"What have you done?" Grissom asked.
Everyone around them listened with tender hooks. He was hoping that he could at least get some logic out of her, and everyone else agreed. If anyone could get an answer out of her it was Grissom.
"I.He.I.He.I had." she sobbed illogically.
Every time she tried to speak she just couldn't say the words through her tears.
"It's o.k., it's o.k. Sshhh. Tell us later. Tell us later" Grissom assured her.
He hugged her into him again and kissed her head.
Then he just held her. He held her wailing body in his arms.
"Great! I have four witnesses to crime and none of them can speak! I have one witness who can tell me what happened up until they left the house - and she's unconscious! I have another witness who can account for most of what happened up until the victim and Sidle ran off - now she's unconscious! I have a witness who can witness the whole darn thing and he's missing and probably dead! And my only alive, conscious and present witness to the whole thing is off in cuckoo land! - and we can't get a legible sentence out her blubbering mouth!" Ecklie moaned frustrated.
"Is that all you care about, Ecklie? Cracking some stupid case? My CSI is in a catatonic state, facing life imprisonment and we're about to lose one of my best CSIs! - and all you care about is this stupid investigation of her?!? How would you feel if this was you?" Grissom shouted.
"Don't have a go at me just because all your CSIs are dodgy. There's no place for dodgy CSIs in the department. If you won't kick them out I will. Justice is all that matters, Gil. If she killed that man she needs to go to prison for it. Don't make me out to be the bad guy here! I just report what the evidence tells me. Nothing more and never less!" Ecklie shouted.
"I want a swab of the blood on her hands tested ASAP! Get it back to the lab now! And I want someone else to go down to the hospital and find out what's wrong with that kid! Why on earth has she collapsed? Has this guy done anything to make her collapse? Hurt her, for example?" Ecklie commanded his team.
"I think it just all got too much for her. She has just had a kidney transplant a few weeks ago remember! No wonder the poor kid collapsed" Catherine told him.
"Also someone get a psychiatrist to check Sidle out! Maybe they can get an answer out of her! I want a full psych report on my desk within twenty-four hours! Also! I want someone else to get down to that hospital and do a full examination of that kid - SART exam and all" Ecklie commanded.
"SART exam? Ecklie he's her grandfather!" Catherine challenged him.
"Sidle's pissed for a reason and I want to search every possible reason it could be! If you guys really want to save her precious behind then you won't stop me trying to search every possible defence for her" Ecklie explained to her.
Catherine was taken aback by his response.
Ecklie walked off.
"Wait, Ecklie! Look I know Sara and she wouldn't kill anyone. She's completely against it! We've even had discussions about it! She would never!" Catherine protested.
"Catherine, he threatened to kill her daughter! Now come on, you're a mother. Think about. You know she's killed him. We've just got to find a way to get her off. But to be frank - I think it might be impossible!" Ecklie argued.
Ecklie walked off.
"Ecklie" Catherine called.
"What?" he replied.
"Thank you" Catherine gestured.
Ecklie sighed.
"She's a good CSI and a good woman. That kid too. They don't deserve anything bad to happen to them. Their good honest people" Ecklie replied.
Catherine didn't give Ecklie's kind gesture much thought. She had too much to worry about.
What was she going to do? What were they all going to do to help Sara?
Was this all a nightmare? Were they going to wake up and find it was all a dream soon? They could only hope this nightmare was over soon.
"Good morning, sunshine" Boby commented smugly.
Sara grunted angrily.
"Don't worry it's not really morning. You've only been out cold for fifteen minutes at the most" Boby informed her.
He had a bottle of whiskey in one hand and was pouring it into the glass in his other hand.
"Want some?" Boby offered her a drink as a joke.
Sara was trying to break free and squealing under the gag but she couldn't say or do anything.
"Well, I offered" Boby pretended.
"I'm sorry it's had to come to this. You see I need to talk to you and this was the only way I could get you to listen to me quietly. I had to silence your constant whingeing sometime!" Boby told smarmily.
Sara tried some squealing and trying to break free again. Boby laughed at this.
"Will you stop and give that up! We have to talk about the brat. Well, I talk and you listen!" Boby informed her.
Sara went hysterical. She was determined to break free now. She jumped and wriggled and eventually the chair she was in toppled over onto the floor.
"Oh you silly girl! Look what you've done now - you've hurt yourself!" he remarked.
He came over and untied her ankles from the chair, leaving her to wriggle about on the floor legs free.
She managed to sit up eventually.
"Look I know you've grown fond of her and even I have! But enough's enough. She's a liability! She knows too much! She's going to figure it out any day now. To make matters worse she's not the kind to keep it quiet! She'll go straight to the police! She's got to go! I'm sorry Sara but I've got to kill her. I have no choice! The risks outweigh the love" Boby declared matter of factly.
Sara got up and started charging at Boby, trying to attack him with her wrists still tied up. He saw her coming and threw her down the floor. She began crying not just out of pain but also out of frustration.
She had envisioned this scenario several times before, and it had never involved her being incapacitated and unable to save Alaney.
She shook her head enough to get the gag off her mouth.
"Why are you telling me this if you've already decided?" Sara sobbed.
"I feel you have a right to know. You are her mother after all!" Boby responded smugly.
"No, you just want to torture me! Let me imagine it as you go and murder our daughter!" Sara sobbed.
Boby slapped Sara. Sara screamed and fell over onto her side.
"She is not our daughter! Never call her that! It's talk like that that will let it out!" Boby shouted.
"Don't hit me! Mom might stand by and be your punch-bag but I won't!" Sara declared.
"Oh yeah and what are you going to do about it? Go to the police?" Boby laughed.
He pulled her gag over her mouth and re-tied it tighter.
"You know what bugs me about that girl? She has no sense of fear! She seems to think justice will always win! You and your mother though - your different. You guys you know fear and you know fear will win. You guys know that sometimes - a lot of the time justice just won't be found because of extenuating circumstances" Boby commented.
Sara shook her head and Boby could hear her scream a muffled "No" in disagreeance
"It's not a bad thing. I love it. It's the only thing that is keeping you alive! You understand the rules - most of the time. I will win! I will always win! I will never go to jail because it just doesn't benefit either of us for people to find out the truth. And even if you won't admit it to yourself, sweetheart - you won't go to the police because you're petrified of me! I will always win because I have the power over you guys! But your daughter, she just doesn't seem to understand the fear. She's never felt the fear. And frankly, I don't have time to teach her the fear. I only have time to kill her" Boby explained.
Sara began screaming and struggled about on the floor.
She eventually managed to stand straight up and began listening to Boby's ranting speech.
Boby started to pace the room. "Having said that! I do still worry about you lately. Every since that girl came along you've got really feisty and attacky. You keep trying to attack me!" Boby commented.
"So, I've been thinking and I have an idea" Boby informed her.
"I think you need to be reminded of the rules. I think you need to be taught a lesson" Boby told her.
Sara froze. She didn't struggle. She didn't make a peep. She just lay petrified about what he could possibly mean. It didn't sound good. She was tied up and could do nothing! She had always thought that if her father ever attacked her in any shape or form then now she could fight him off. She was older and had learnt weapon-less self defence. Yet now, she could do nothing. If he beat her up bad enough then she could end up on a life support machine or brain damaged.
Before Sara knew it Boby was coming towards her.
He pushed her over and she fell onto the floor.
He kicked her in the stomach.
Then he kicked her in the face.
Then he just laid into her. He kept punching her, hitting her and kicking her over all.
Twenty minutes previously, just after Sara and Boby had ran out, Alaney had returned to the kitchen to clear Libby up. She got some bandages and then two tea towels. She went over to the sink and started wetting the tea towels. Libby was sitting on the kitchen floor looking dizzy and only half conscious. Alaney put a wet tea towel to Libby's bleeding head and another to her bleeding mouth. Libby held them there as Alaney began to bandage Libby's wounds.
"Thanks" Libby gestured.
"It's nothing. You have nothing to say thanks to me for" Alaney replied.
"I'm really sorry, Alaney. You should never have had to witness that!" Libby sobbed.
"It's not your fault" Alaney remarked.
Alaney gave Libby a smile to comfort her. Libby smiled back and stroked Alaney's face.
"You're a good girl" Libby commented in adoration.
Alaney began trying to wipe Libby's wounds clean. As she did she found herself having to hold back the tears. But she just couldn't. The tears began to build up until she couldn't see clearly anymore and had no choice but to stop.
"I'm sorry. I cant" Alaney sobbed.
"Go get some fresh air. I can clean myself up" Libby reassured her.
Alaney ran out the house, in floods of tears. desperate to get out of there.
Alaney was in such a rush that she didn't notice as Libby collapse seconds after she had stood up to get a new wet tea cloth.
Libby lay there unconscious and alone.
Half an hour after Libby had collapsed, Sara sat sobbing in the corner of the hut Sara was locked in. She wasn't unconscious. Boby had eventually untied her hands, took her gag off and left her sobbing in this corner. He didn't leave the hut though, he just sat there thinking things over. He didn't need to keep her tied up or gagged anymore. He had her under his power. She wasn't going to scream, squeal or try to attack him now - she was too scared of him.
He left her sobbing in the corner petrified, bruised and beaten for fifteen further minutes.
"Ready?" Boby asked.
Sara scraped together her last bit of courage to say,
"What for?" Sara asked in a hateful tone.
"I've already told you" Boby exclaimed frustrated.
He came over to her, and went to take her hand to pull her up. But she shrugged her hand away.
He knelt down and whispered in her ear.
"We're going to have a race. I'm giving you a chance to save her. We're going to race to see who finds Alaney first. If you do then she's safe, but if I do - well, you know. We're going to race and see who makes it first - mummy or daddy!" Boby whispered in a sinister tone.
Sara was secretly relieved but couldn't understand why he was being so fair. Maybe he secretly didn't want to kill Alaney? Maybe it was all a bluff? Even so, good news or not, the way he said it had sent a shiver down her spine.
"You better get up and get ready. Come here. This will be our starting line" Boby told her.
Sara couldn't quite believe it. Having said that she could never understand why Boby would give her a chance to save Alaney. She had never been able to keep up with that man's games that he plays for his amusement. So she just went along with it, hoping it was true. She wasn't in the mood to play games with him or run the fastest she ever had - but she had to for Laney's sake! Still shaken she got up, came over and stood next to him on the 'starting line'. She had to banish all her fears, all her upset and emotion for now to save Alaney.
"Ready, steady, go" Boby dictated.
Sara was so transfixed on being first that she began to go without realising Boby hadn't started to move. Instead, he grabbed the vase next to him, and before she could realise or leave, he had smashed her over the head again. She was out cold immediately.
He had planned it so she began to go off first and so the back of her head was directly in front of his reach.
He had been toying with her.
"You silly cow! Do you really think I'd let you get in the way of me disposing of her? Why on earth would I give you the chance to save her? Your such a smart girl darling and yet your so gullible. Just like your mother! I don't think this makes you a very good CSI! Isn't this what your job is basically about? Detecting liars? Detecting plans? Silly girl! You think you can take me on?" Boby lectured his unconscious daughter.
"Well I'd love to stay and gloat some more but I've got to dash. Hey - see you at the funeral!" Boby chuckled.
Boby ran out the hut and went looking throughout the woods for Alaney.
Meanwhile, Alaney had been scouring the woods looking Sara for just over an hour. She had spent forty minutes going down one direction in the woods and then had turned around and decided to go back.
"Sara? Sara? Where are you?" Alaney called out.
"Sara, you were right. I couldn't deal with them fighting! It was horrible! I hate him! How could he do that to Libby?" Alaney sobbed thinking about it.
"Sara, please I really want to go home. Can we just go?" Alaney called.
"Boby? Libby? Anyone? Can you hear me? I just want to go home! Is anyone around here?" Alaney called out.
Alaney saw a log and decided it was high time she sat down. She plonked herself down fed up and tired with her hands holding up her face.
She had been sitting there about five minutes when she heard someone call from behind her.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Boby asked smarmily.
Alaney turned round and gave him an unimpressed look.
"I can't believe you did that!" Alaney exclaimed betrayed.
"Did what?" Boby asked confused at how much Alaney knew.
"Libby!" Alaney reminded him.
"Did it really mean so little to you that you don't even remember? I've just had to leave her moping up pools of her own blood! Her own blood!" Alaney told him.
"If you're such a saint, why didn't you help her?" Boby remarked.
"Oh just go away, Boby! Once I find Sara we're going and I never want to see you again!" Alaney told him.
He came over and sat next to her.
"Believe me, I don't ever want to see you ever again either. We're agreed then. You've got to go" Boby commented.
"If you hate me so much then why are you sat here with me? You know what? I was going to leave but I would have come to visit! You know why? Because even though you're a monster I thought we had a bond! But after that little display I've given up on you. I looked into your eyes and I realised you really are evil!" Alaney told him.
Boby looked at her lovingly and touched her hand. She pulled it away and got up in outrage.
"If you're so desperate to get people to love you then why do you hurt the very people who offer you that love? Libby and Sara are the only idiots willing to love you and yet you keep hitting them or saying hurtful things You make the chances, of them leaving you alone, more and more by the day!" Alaney shouted at him.
"It isn't as simple as that" Boby replied.
"Oh yeah! Poor your complicated life! Poor you!" Alaney commented.
"If you hate me so much, and never want to see my rotten face again, then why haven't you walked off yet?" Boby asked.
Alaney was speechless that he'd noticed.
He gestured for her to sit next to him and she hesitantly did. She was still annoyed though and wouldn't look him in the eyes.
He put an arm round her shoulders.
"Are you alright?" Boby asked trying to look concerned.
"Why would you care?" Alaney asked defensively.
"I do" Boby replied.
"Well no! Of course I'm not all right! I've had a lot to deal with lately!" Alaney exclaimed stressed.
"I'm sorry about that" Boby told her.
"What?" Alaney asked confused.
"I never wanted you to know Sara was your mother. That's why I told her to give you away so you never had to find out she was raped. I did it for you!"
"You hypocrite! You go around doing the same to other women! You didn't even stop!" Alaney shouted.
"But my daughter's different! No one hurts my daughter or granddaughter and gets away with it!" Boby argued.
"You didn't hurt him did you?" Alaney asked worried.
Boby avoided the question.
"If you ever did find out I wanted to get rid of the pain straight away! But it's just knowing when to!" Boby explained.
He seriously did care. He could recognise this fact.
"You wimp! Pull yourself together you wet teddy bear!" he thought to himself.
"How can the pain stop? Is there something you can do?" Alaney asked excited.
"Is it something you know which you can tell me to make it better? What is it? Tell me!" Alaney demanded.
"I'll sort it" Boby told her and kissed her cheek.
Alaney pushed him off and turned her head away from him.
He sat in silence for a while then he suddenly spoke again,
"Alaney?" he asked.
She turned and looked at him unimpressed.
He grabbed her face and kissed her on the lips.
Alaney was completely gob smacked.
Her first reaction was to get up and spit his taste out her mouth.
She spat and spat until she couldn't find anything else to spit out anymore.
"It's alright" Boby told her.
"No it's not! You're my biological grandfather! You sicko! Just as I thought you couldn't get any sicker!" Alaney exclaimed.
"That's it though! I'm not!" Boby told her.
Alaney looked at him.
"What?!?" Alaney asked.
"I'm not Sara's biological father. It's someone else" Boby told Alaney.
"What" Alaney responded.
"You heard" Boby said.
"But Sara never said anything" Alaney told him.
Boby shrugged that he didn't care about this fact.
"That doesn't make it not true. She might not know" Boby told her.
Alaney was lost of words.
She thought the situation over again.
"I suppose it makes things better, but it still doesn't make it alright! Your Sara's father figure! Your as good as her father!" Alaney told him.
"Not in biology" Boby reminded her smarmily.
"But in emotions!" Alaney contradicted him.
"But it wasn't Sara I kissed! It was you! We're strangers! We've never really been like relatives until this week!"
"We could forget this week every happened. We could be non-relatives again. We aren't relatives after all!" Boby told her.
He approached her and tried to kiss her again. She pushed him off.
"No!!!!!! I don't care if you're not my grandfather! It's still unthinkable!" Alaney exclaimed.
"That's fine. I just wanted you to know how I felt" Boby pretended.
"Well you know now!" Alaney exclaimed.
"Look, you don't need to feel the same. But please don't judge me. We're not biologically or emotionally relatives, remember?" Boby played with her.
Alaney fell to the bait and got more wound up.
"Its not alright! There's 38 years between us! That's disgusting!" Alaney reminded him.
"It's an error of judgement but not biologically disgusting!" Boby explained.
Alaney's head was spinning.
"The answer's no! So, can we just forget this happened?" Alaney asked.
"Yeah. I'd appreciate that" Boby agreed.
She got up.
"I think it's best I get going. Let's never talk about this again, o.k.?" Alaney suggested walking off.
"Agreed" Boby responded.
"Alaney?" Boby called out to her.
She turned back to look at him.
"What now?" Alaney asked.
However, when she turned around it was fairly obvious what he had wanted.
He was holding Sara's gun in his hands and pointing it straight at Alaney.
He had finished playing games. He was serious now. He seriously wanted to kill Alaney.
Alaney froze petrified. She considered running but found her feet wouldn't move.
She just stood there and suddenly burst into tears.
Boby's heart skipped a beat as he felt for her.
"Stop it you pussy!" Boby thought to himself.
"Do I have any chance?" she asked petrified.
"What?" Boby asked shocked by her strange reaction.
"Are you definitely going to shoot me! - or is there something I can do to change your mind? I'll do anything! Just name it! Please don't shoot!" Alaney pleaded.
"There's nothing you can do. Just shut up and I'll make it as painless as possible" Boby replied trying to remain strong.
"There must be something I can do to change your mind!" Alaney protested sobbing.
"This is the only way. I'm sorry. I was growing quite fond of you but I still need to do this regardless. I should have done this along time ago" Boby informed her.
He truly had grown fond of Alaney. He truly did have a smidgen of parental love for her. He didn't actually want to have to kill her. But none of this conquered his need to kill her.
"This is the only way" he reassured himself aloud.
"The only way to life imprisonment!" Alaney protested.
Boby laughed.
"Your assuming they'll find your body. You're assuming they'll even pin it on me. You forget my daughter's a CSI. Over the years, I've learnt things from her. For example, I've learnt the most common forensic mistakes killers make and therefore I know how to avoid them. I also learnt that not all crimes can be brought to 'justice'. They may never find out or will never be able to prove it" Boby told her.
"But what if they do? Whatever your scared of, life in jail can't be worth it!" Alaney argued.
Boby laughed again.
"What? A 50/50 percent chance of jail compared to a 99% chance!" Boby informed her.
"What?" Alaney asked confused.
"Don't you worry your pretty little head. This will all be over soon and you won't have to worry your pretty little head about anything ever again" Boby told her as he began to aim the gun again.
Alaney burst into tears again.
"Oh come on baby. Don't you want the pain to go away? Don't you want the pain of being deserted and unloved to go? It will all be gone soon" Boby said almost mocking her
"Wait!" she pleaded with him, trying to put her death off.
"At least tell me why you hate me!" Alaney sobbed.
"I can't understand why you would hate me this much. Last week I was your number one and now you don't give a second thought to knocking me off? I don't understand" Alaney argued.
"There's a fine line between love and hate" Boby smirked.
"Well, why do you hate me?" Alaney sobbed.
She struck a chord in his heart and he felt kind of guilty.
"I don't hate you! And I can't tell you why I need to kill you but just know I need to! Now will you shut up? It will make this all a lot easier if you just shut up!" Boby replied.
"If I'm going to be dead why not tell me? It could be my dying wish!" Alaney insisted.
"No! It's not worth the risk. Now shut up - I'm trying to concentrate" he told her.
"Is this really all over Libby and yours parents money?" Alaney asked.
"Our what?" Boby asked.
"Sara once told me that if Libby and your parents found out that Sara had had a child at 14 then they'd blame you guys and they'd take all the financial support and camp cuckoo away from you and that was why you wanted to kill me" Alaney sobbed.
"Don't call it camp cuckoo!" Boby chided.
"Yeah fine that's it. That's the reason. Now shut up!" Boby told her.
"But if they know she was raped then they can't blame you guys!" Alaney argued.
"You don't know them!" Boby protested.
"Even so, I thought you guys didn't worship money! Would it really be all that bad to not have all that money? Is having to get a real job really a big enough incentive to kill someone?" Alaney asked.
"You don't understand! Just shut up! You don't need to know the reason!" Boby shouted.
She shut up and just stood they're looking at him with unintentional puppy dog eyes. Boby had an attack of conscience seeing this. He put his gun to his side.
"O.k., I'll tell you a little bit of why. Seeing as your not going to be alive to say anything" Boby told her.
Boby paused.
"Your an inconvenience! That's all I'm saying" Boby told her.
"That tells me nothing!" Alaney protested.
"Tough!" Boby replied and began to aim again.
"Wait! Why am I? Maybe I could stop being an inconvenience?" Alaney pleaded.
"No. You can't!" Boby told her.
"Why?" Alaney asked.
Boby sighed.
"There's this secret and if you found it out you'd tell everyone" Boby explained.
"Is that all? I promise I won't!" Alaney insisted.
"You will. I know you will!" Boby insisted.
"Not if my life depends on it! If you let me go and I discover anything I promise I won't tell anyone!" Alaney insisted.
"How would I be able to stop you once I put this gun down?" Boby reminded her.
"How big a secret is it? Is it really big enough to kill me over?" Alaney asked.
"Yes! Anyway, it's not just your big mouth. It's all of you. Once I get rid of you - You just disappear! The problem just disappears!" Boby explained.
"How?" Alaney asked.
"Shut up! That's it! We've finished talking! No more talking!" Boby demanded.
Alaney decided to shut up. She knew she could no longer put it off. She knew she was going to die sooner or later today. She couldn't put it off any longer so she finally decided to just stand there and wait for the inevitable.
As she waited her head began spinning with fears, worries and thoughts about death. She had a sudden panic about how it would feel to die. How it would feel to go past the threshold of unbearable pain. How it would feel to not survive. What would it feel like? She had a sudden panic about what was in the afterlife. What if it was bad? She had never given it much thought but now she wished she had.
She stood on the spot petrified. Tears were streaming down her face and she couldn't stop shaking. She tried to stop but she couldn't.
She felt so ashamed that she was letting Boby see her visible fear. He was probably getting off on it.
Boby meanwhile just stood there for ages. He was finding it harder than he thought he would to pluck up the courage to pull the trigger.
"One, two, three" he thought in his head.
But still he couldn't pull that trigger.
"One, two, three!" he demanded to himself.
Still he could not move his hands.
Alaney just stood there on the spot like a dazed rabbit in headlights. She should have taken this opportunity to run while he stalled, but she was too frozen with fear to try.
After a while she covered her eyes and said,
"Come on! Just do it! If you're going to do it please get it over and done with!" Alaney pleaded sobbing.
At first Alaney heard nothing but silence.
Then suddenly she heard a thud.
It made her jump because she was scared that it was something that would hurt her. But when she realised she wasn't hurt she uncovered her eyes.
Boby was stood there in a daze. The gun was down on the floor.
He had dropped the gun!
"Go" Boby demanded.
"What?" Alaney asked shocked.
"Don't ask questions! Just go! Get out of here before I change my mind!" Boby demanded.
"Don't tell anyone about this! None of it!" Boby demanded.
He sat down behind him on the log. He put his hands on his face and eventually began crying.
Alaney couldn't believe Boby didn't shoot her. But more than that she couldn't believe that Boby was crying now.
She had never seen Boby cry.
For some strange reason she felt the need to go over and comfort him. After all, he had just spared her life and she was no longer scared of him.
She went over and sat next to him.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"I told you to get lost! Go before I hurt you!" Boby declared.
"I'm not afraid anymore" Alaney told him.
"Well, you should be! I might still kill you!" Boby defended his ego.
"No you won't Boby! When faced with the moment of truth you couldn't do it and you never will" Alaney insisted.
"Yeah well, death isn't the only thing I can hurt you with! I could still hurt you all the same. I could make you wish you were dead! Like your sister!" Boby defended himself.
"I have a sister?" Alaney asked excited by the news of having one.
"Is she dead?" Alaney asked.
"No, you idiot! I meant I made her wish she was dead!" Boby told her.
"Why?!? How do you know her?" Alaney asked.
"She just got in my way, alright! She's always trying to stop me hurting you" Boby told her.
"She sounds sweet" Alaney commented.
"Can I meet her?" Alaney asked.
"No!" Boby insisted.
"Well, how can you stop me?" Alaney challenged him.
"By not telling you who or where she is" Boby reminded her.
"Someone else might" Alaney suggested.
"I doubt it" Boby replied.
"Is she my dad's daughter or did Sara have another child?" Alaney asked.
"It's your dad. What's with all the annoying questions? Get lost!" he answered her.
Alaney couldn't keep it in.
"Does he have anymore children? That he knows of?" Alaney asked.
"Fine! He has a son, a daughter and you make three. Now go away!" Boby replied honestly.
"Common" Alaney remarked.
"What?" Boby asked.
"That's a fairly common family set up. To have one son and one daughter" Alaney explained.
"Thank you for sharing that. Now go" Boby snarked.
"Where's my dad from? Did he live round here? Does he live here still? Do my siblings live round here?" Alaney asked excited.
"You see I knew it! This is exactly what I told your mother. You just can't drop the father thing! He's a monster, remember? Why would you want to know a monster? You said you don't want to know me and I'm a monster! So why would you want to know him?" Boby asked frustrated.
"Oh my God! I know why you want to kill me!" Alaney realised.
"What?" Boby worried that she really had worked it out.
Had he said too much?
"He's blackmailing you! He's blackmailing you and if you kill me then he can't anymore! Maybe that's it! He's blackmailed you into killing me! Once I'm gone then it's like he never raped my mom! It makes sense that he'd hire someone to kill me - he is a monster after all. What's he got on you?" Alaney said.
"Shut up!" Boby shouted.
"Sorry! I was just offering to help you out the sticky situation your in. I have nothing to gain from this you know! I'm perfectly safe now you're not going to kill me. I was just offering to help you. Sorrrrrrry!" Alaney reminded him.
"You can't help me!" Boby responded.
"Your so infuriating!" Boby exclaimed.
Boby grunted in frustration and turned his back on her.
They sat in silence for a while.
"Are they evil?" Alaney asked.
"What! Who?" Boby asked frustrated by her presence and constant pestering.
"My brother and sister. My sister doesn't sound evil. She sounds really sweet. She sounds like she cares about me and my welfare. I'd like to meet her" Alaney replied.
"For the one hundredth time! Stop! Asking! Questions!" Boby shouted.
"Sorry, it's just I've always wanted brothers and sisters. When I was growing up, I always dreamt about having a family. A mom, a dad, brothers or sisters. I have my mom now, but I'd still like to have my siblings too" Alaney gabbed on.
Boby sighed and turned to her again.
"You've got brothers and sisters already! Don't you understand how lucky you are? You grew up around millions of kids. You have millions of brothers and sisters older and younger. Our whole community is a family! You've always had a family! Why do you need more? Everyone around here loves you and considers you their own. You've had more moms, dads, brothers and sisters than the majority of children across the world!" Boby explained.
Alaney sighed. He wouldn't understand.
They sat there in silence again.
After a while, Alaney turned back to look how Boby was doing. He looks so depressed. He turned and looked at her thoughtfully.
"I had my chance to make it all go away and I blew it! Your right I am pathetic I can't do it. I just can't kill you! You've been an inconvenience since the day you were born! I should have just killed you then. It would have probably been easier to kill a baby! Babies die so easily! If I'd killed you, back then or even just now, it would have been like you were never born. You'd just disappear! It would be like you never existed! Poof! Like magic everything would be better! But your right - I'm pathetic. I can't kill you! I just can't! Congratulations! You've won!" Boby moped
"It's not a game. We can all be on the same side" Alaney reassured him.
"No we can't!" Boby insisted.
"But!" Alaney protested.
"Look you choose the sides, princess! Not me! When it comes to the crunch I bet I know whose side your take and it won't be mine" Boby told her.
"Your not so bad you know. I'm seen your sensitive side!" Alaney joked around with him.
"No, my dear. All you've seen is that I give a shit about what happens to me. Everyone gives a shit about themselves. It's natural. It doesn't mean they give a shit about others though" Boby told her.
"But me! You just showed you care about me" Alaney reminded him.
"Maybe I do have limits. Who knows? I don't" Boby moped.
"You know what I reckon? I reckon you want to change. You want people to stop thinking of you as a monster" Alaney asked.
"No, not really. I am what I am" Boby answered.
"Seriously?" Alaney asked annoyed
"You look surprised!" Boby laughed.
Alaney got up outraged.
"I can't believe I gave a shit about you! You really are a heartless pig aren't you?" Alaney declared.
"I tried to tell you! There isn't a saint waiting to jump out of me! I'm a monster deal with it! Just because I didn't kill you doesn't mean I've stopped hurting people in other ways" Boby declared.
Alaney began to walk off. But she changed her mind. She turned around and kicked Boby in the shin.
"That's for Libby!" Alaney exclaimed furious and then walked off.
He came running after her infuriated.
He caught up with her and tackled her to the ground. Then he started to kick her in the stomach.
"What kind of psycho are you?" he shouted down at her.
"Did you seriously think I would let you get away with that?" he shouted at her.
But suddenly, out the blue, Alaney saw Sara come up behind Boby about to whack him round the head with something.
"Noooo! Get off my daughter!" Sara shouted at him.
She was holding a stick she had broke off from a tree and went charging at him. She whacked him round the head with it.
He wasn't unconscious but still stopped kicking Alaney to tend to the pain. He stepped aside and held his head.
Sara came over and immediately began comforting Alaney. She put her arms round Alaney and hugged her. Alaney was in floods of tears. Sara wasn't crying she was just furious.
"It's alright baby. It's alright. I'm here now. I won't let him hurt you" Sara reassured her.
"Leave her alone!" Sara screamed.
"I won't ever let you hurt her! If you want to hurt her you're going to have to get through me first!" Sara told him.
Sara turned back to Alaney and continued comforting her.
Sara noticed Boby sneak off behind her. She began to turn round to check she had seen this right but he had run off before she'd even had time to turn around.
Sara jumped up, grabbed the gun on the floor and began to run after him.
"Sara, what are you doing? It's over! It can't hurt me!" Alaney screamed.
Sara stopped and turned to Alaney. Alaney noticed the look in Sara's eyes. It was like her eyes were on fire. She was so full of angry and hatred.
"I've had enough! I'm tired of him thinking he can always use violence to get what he wants! He's ruined everyone's lives and I'm not letting him ruin yours! I'm going to get rid to him for good! He'll never be able to hurt you if he's dead" Sara told her.
"Dead!?!?!" Alaney screamed in reaction.
Sara took a deep breath.
"Yeah, I'm going to kill him" Sara told Alaney calmly.
Alaney looked down for only a second to let this all filter through. But when she looked up again Sara had already charged off after Boby with her gun in full aim.
"Sara!!!!!!!!" Alaney screamed at the top of her voice after her.
"Sara you can't! You can't! He's no danger! It's over! He's not worth it!" Alaney shouted after her.
She caught her breath.
"You'll be the one punished not him! Sara stop!" Alaney shouted after her.
"Saraaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Alaney screamed with all the power in her lungs.
Sara didn't stop.
Before Alaney knew it Sara was out of sight.
Alaney didn't know what to do.
She was in a state of shock.
She decided to sit down to think the situation over. She felt her knees were going to give, so sitting was a good idea she resolved.
She couldn't believe all that had just happened had happened. She was so confused she didn't know what to do. She literally sat there mouth hanging open, breathless, in shock.
She tried to clear her head and think what to do. Instead she just burst into tears.
What was she going to do!
She couldn't let Sara kill him. But how can she stop her? She couldn't!
But she couldn't just sit here!
Alaney's head was spinning so fast. Round and round it spun and spun. She thought she might faint.
She couldn't think straight. But she knew she had to do something. But she couldn't clear her head to think what that something was.
She decided to go get Libby. Libby would know what to do.
So Alaney began running back to the house.
She ran with all the might in her body.
As she was running towards the house, her head became clearer. She had an idea.
She decided she needed to call the police. She had her friends in the police department and CSI department who could find Sara before she did anything stupid. If they didn't get there in time it was still worth calling them. They could help. They'd have to know eventually. Sara could never hide the body and get away with murder. It would be better if they knew now rather than later. Alaney was dead set on calling the police.
Alaney decided she would call Grissom or Catherine. She would call them on her cell phone. She had their numbers on her cell phone.
But her cell phone was in her room.
As Alaney raced through the unlocked house door she had no need to find Libby anymore. She raced so fast to her room that she didn't notice Libby's lifeless body lying on the kitchen floor.
Alaney raced into her room, got her bag and took her cell phone.
She decided to try Grissom first. She knew Catherine better but she respected Grissom's opinion more. She also knew that Grissom would try that little bit harder to make sure Sara did not go to jail.
As she dialled the numbers her fingers were shaking so much. All she could think was how everything seemed so good and now it was going downhill. Sara was going to jail and all their plans to be a family were down the drain.
Alaney eventually got Grissom on the phone.
"Hello Gil Grissom?" Grissom answered.
"Grissom! You've got to help us! I think Sara's going to kill Boby!" Alaney sobbed panicked.
"What! Why?" Grissom asked alarmed.
"She said she would!" Alaney screamed.
"Are you sure it wasn't a joke?" Grissom checked.
"Do you think I'm that dumb?!?! Do you think I'd call you if I wasn't absolutely positive?!?!" Alaney reacted hysterically.
Grissom could tell by Alaney's voice that she was shaking like a leaf. He could here she was in floods of tears.
"O.k., calm down. Tell me exactly what happened and where you are. We're coming over with a tracking team straightaway" Grissom told her shaken up.
"We're staying at 33 Hoyland forest. We're the only house in actual Hoyland forest though. The rest of the houses are on the outskirts of the forest. Last time I saw her, Sara was chasing Boby through the woods with a gun! I'll explain what you need to know once someone's driving you there!" Alaney told him.
Grissom drove and Alaney told as much as she wanted them to know to Catherine. Of course, she didn't mention the kiss and Catherine didn't mention to Grissom that Alaney was Sara's daughter.
Alaney walked out her bedroom as she neared to finishing her conversation with Catherine. As she got to the kitchen she dropped the phone. She saw Libby lying there unconscious on the floor.
"Alaney? Alaney?" Catherine asked.
Alaney burst into tears. Her clear head had got all muddled again and couldn't think what to do.
She wiped her tears away and took a deep breath. She tried shaking and shaking Libby. But Libby wouldn't wake up. So Alaney checked her pulse. Libby still had one. She suddenly realised that she should put Libby in the recovery position. Then she picked up the phone again,
"Catherine?" Alaney asked.
"Alaney, are you alright?" Catherine asked panicked.
"There's one more thing I need to you to do. Call an ambulance" Alaney told her.
"What? Why? Who's hurt? Have you found Boby?" Catherine asked.
"He's gone and knocked Libby unconscious!" Alaney told Catherine in shock.
Alaney then turned the phone off. Looked at Libby in disbelief and then suddenly got angry and threw the phone across the room. She slid down onto the floor and sat there crying until the others came. Her head was spinning round and round. What was she going to do? What earth was going to happen?
She closed her eyes, put her hands on her ears and hoped that if she did this then the nightmare would go away. It would all be a dream.
Grissom, Catherine, Brass, a SWAT team, a sniffer dog team, CSI Day shift, a team of cadets and some of other LVPD friends arrived within the hour.
Alaney knew it was too late.
The cadets, SWAT team and sniffer dogs got searching straightaway. But Catherine and Grissom ran to straight to the Sidles house to see Alaney.
As they did, they saw Libby come out of the house on a stretcher.
Grissom felt his heart miss a beat in sadness. He thought he might burst out crying. Was she with him? He managed to cry though. He had more pressing things on his mind.
Grissom and Catherine ran into the house to find Alaney curled up on the floor. She looked a complete wreck.
They got her to come sit over on the sofa. Brass came in and the trio began trying to get more information out of her. Catherine sat next to her holding her hand in support.
"I don't know! I don't know!" Alaney kept sobbing in reply.
After half hour, Brass's radio began to talk.
"Captain Brass, Captain Brass, come in! Do you hear me? We've found Sara Sidle. I repeat we've found her. She's about five minutes running distance east of the house" the radio sounded.
"What about the alleged victim?" Brass asked.
"There's no sign of him anyway. We're still looking" the radio sounded.
Everyone was sitting round on tender hooks waiting to hear more.
"How is she? Has she said anything?" Brass asked.
"Sara's a mess, sir. She won't say a word! She just stares into space. Every time we ask her a question she tries to speak but she can't - she just cries and cries" the officer told him.
"So we don't know if she's done anything" Catherine remarked.
"Sir, there is one more thing you should know before you come over" the officer told him.
"What?" Brass asked.
"I'm sorry but - but - but her hands are all covered in blood, sir! It looks like she's done it!" the officer remarked.
"No! She wouldn't! She wouldn't!" Alaney screamed.
Alaney began wailing on Catherine's shoulder. Catherine stroke her head and began crying quietly herself.
"Did you ask her about the blood?" Brass asked.
"She won't, or can't, tell us where it came from, sir!" the police officer told Brass.
Alaney suddenly darted out the door.
She began running east to Sara. The others followed immediately.
They all ran with all the might left in their bodies, which for Alaney wasn't much.
When they got to the scene the police were all over Sara like a swarm of bees. They were all trying to get answers out of Sara for their questions. Usually it wouldn't be so chaotic at a crime scene, but this was one of their own, they were desperate to know what had happened. But she was unaffected by all this chaos. She looked so traumatised. Too traumatised to speak. She was mute. She looked like a ghost. She just sat there in a catatonic state.
Sometimes she would look at one of the officers and try to answer their questions but she just burst into fits of crying and couldn't speak.
On top of all that the dayshift were all over her. They were trying to examine her, prod her and swab her. "Leave the examination till we get to the station. I want you to search her head to toe when we get to the station but not now" Ecklie commanded his team.
"You can't examine her top to toe! She hasn't been arrested yet! You have no warrant!" Grissom protested.
"Which why I don't want them touching her now! When I get the judge on the phone, back at the station, we'll almost certainly get one. If not we'll need to wait till we find his body or she confesses. But just remember something, Grissom. If we search her and find another reason for that blood it could clear her. You should be begging me to examine her" Ecklie told Grissom.
"For now leave her alone. Just swab that blood" Ecklie commanded his team.
Alaney took one look at Sara and collapsed.
Sara didn't notice Alaney arrive or collapse among all the mayhem and her own internal torture.
"Alaney!" Catherine called.
Alaney wouldn't wake up. She hadn't just fainted. She needed hospital attention.
Catherine and Grissom didn't know what to do. Sara needed them but so did Alaney.
So Catherine tended to Alaney. She got her into the ambulance standing by in case Boby or Sara needed one. They could just send a new ambulance she thought to herself. Catherine didn't go with Alaney though. She knew she'd have to be down the station for Sara. Catherine would be more help to Sara than an unconscious Alaney, Catherine thought.
Grissom tended to Sara. He began walking over to her. Sara happened to look up and saw him approach. She flung open her arms and began wailing even more. He put his arms round her.
"Grissom! I've done something stupid!" Sara sobbed.
"Sshh, Sshh. We're going to sort this out, o.k.?. We're going to sort this out" Grissom reassured her.
"What have you done?" Grissom asked.
Everyone around them listened with tender hooks. He was hoping that he could at least get some logic out of her, and everyone else agreed. If anyone could get an answer out of her it was Grissom.
"I.He.I.He.I had." she sobbed illogically.
Every time she tried to speak she just couldn't say the words through her tears.
"It's o.k., it's o.k. Sshhh. Tell us later. Tell us later" Grissom assured her.
He hugged her into him again and kissed her head.
Then he just held her. He held her wailing body in his arms.
"Great! I have four witnesses to crime and none of them can speak! I have one witness who can tell me what happened up until they left the house - and she's unconscious! I have another witness who can account for most of what happened up until the victim and Sidle ran off - now she's unconscious! I have a witness who can witness the whole darn thing and he's missing and probably dead! And my only alive, conscious and present witness to the whole thing is off in cuckoo land! - and we can't get a legible sentence out her blubbering mouth!" Ecklie moaned frustrated.
"Is that all you care about, Ecklie? Cracking some stupid case? My CSI is in a catatonic state, facing life imprisonment and we're about to lose one of my best CSIs! - and all you care about is this stupid investigation of her?!? How would you feel if this was you?" Grissom shouted.
"Don't have a go at me just because all your CSIs are dodgy. There's no place for dodgy CSIs in the department. If you won't kick them out I will. Justice is all that matters, Gil. If she killed that man she needs to go to prison for it. Don't make me out to be the bad guy here! I just report what the evidence tells me. Nothing more and never less!" Ecklie shouted.
"I want a swab of the blood on her hands tested ASAP! Get it back to the lab now! And I want someone else to go down to the hospital and find out what's wrong with that kid! Why on earth has she collapsed? Has this guy done anything to make her collapse? Hurt her, for example?" Ecklie commanded his team.
"I think it just all got too much for her. She has just had a kidney transplant a few weeks ago remember! No wonder the poor kid collapsed" Catherine told him.
"Also someone get a psychiatrist to check Sidle out! Maybe they can get an answer out of her! I want a full psych report on my desk within twenty-four hours! Also! I want someone else to get down to that hospital and do a full examination of that kid - SART exam and all" Ecklie commanded.
"SART exam? Ecklie he's her grandfather!" Catherine challenged him.
"Sidle's pissed for a reason and I want to search every possible reason it could be! If you guys really want to save her precious behind then you won't stop me trying to search every possible defence for her" Ecklie explained to her.
Catherine was taken aback by his response.
Ecklie walked off.
"Wait, Ecklie! Look I know Sara and she wouldn't kill anyone. She's completely against it! We've even had discussions about it! She would never!" Catherine protested.
"Catherine, he threatened to kill her daughter! Now come on, you're a mother. Think about. You know she's killed him. We've just got to find a way to get her off. But to be frank - I think it might be impossible!" Ecklie argued.
Ecklie walked off.
"Ecklie" Catherine called.
"What?" he replied.
"Thank you" Catherine gestured.
Ecklie sighed.
"She's a good CSI and a good woman. That kid too. They don't deserve anything bad to happen to them. Their good honest people" Ecklie replied.
Catherine didn't give Ecklie's kind gesture much thought. She had too much to worry about.
What was she going to do? What were they all going to do to help Sara?
Was this all a nightmare? Were they going to wake up and find it was all a dream soon? They could only hope this nightmare was over soon.