The fourth chapter of my six-chapter story. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it.

As usual, thanks to all my beta readers for helping turn this into something readable. Any remaining mistakes are mine and mine alone.

Title: Ghosts in the Shadows (Chapter 4 of 6)
Author: Jonathan
Disclaimer: I don't own CSI or the characters; CBS please don't sue me.
Archiving: Just ask me before you put it up.
Synopsis: Everyone gets busy gathering evidence after Brass's shootout. Meanwhile, Grissom and Brass have a chat with the apartment electrician.

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Grissom and Sara strode into the conference room. Nick, Warrick, and Catherine were already seated. The atmosphere was that of a war council; and in many ways it was one. Everyone had put together the facts, much like Grissom had that morning, and come to the conclusion that Sara had been picked specifically by a stalker.

One of their own had been targeted. Everyone wanted to make sure there would be hell to pay.

The topic eventually came to Sara's electrician. "Brass should be bringing him in..." Nick's voice faded as Greg came into the room, running and out of breath.

Greg began speaking, but his speech was so fast no one understood what he was saying.

"Slow down, Greg. What happened?" Grissom said to the panting lab tech.

"Dispatch called. Brass got into a shootout when he drove up to the electrician's house."

Everyone exchanged looks of concern and shock.

"A shootout? With the electrician?" Catherine was the one to ask.

"Nope. Your suspect was there, blowing the door down."

It was Warrick's turn to ask. "Wait, Greg. You're saying de la Vega was at the house, Brass came along just then, and Brass and the suspect shot it out?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

Grissom asked about Brass. "He's fine. So's the guy he's bringing in. They should be in the interrogation room in about... twenty minutes."

Grissom turned around to face the four remaining CSIs. "Alright, we've got new evidence to look at. Catherine, take Nick and head over to the house. See if our suspect left anything we can use."

He turned to Warrick and Sara. "Warrick, Sara, process Brass's car. See if you can pull a match on any rounds left behind so we can see if there are any other crimes he's been up to." Everyone nodded.

"Where will you be?" Cath asked Grissom.

"Interrogation room. Brass and I will be doing some talking to the electrician."

Everyone filed out of the room quickly – except for Grissom and Sara. Both stood up, but made no real effort to walk towards the door. Warrick closed it behind him, leaving the two alone in the room.

"Grissom, I can do this," said Sara.

"I know you can. It's just that..." Grissom paused. "I want you to be careful. You know that when this comes to trial the defense is going to use your presence to say the evidence is biased." Are you sure you can do this, Sara?

"They will, but you also know that everyone has to do be on board if we're going to process all the evidence quickly. You can't have anyone sit out." Yes, I can do this, Grissom. Trust me.

Grissom just sighed in surrender. She's right, and you know it. "Just... be careful. Don't compromise anything, and I mean anything." And I do trust you, Sara.

"I know. I won't mess this up. I promise." Thanks.

Grissom gave a curt nod. Sara walked out of the room, with a faint smile. She joined Warrick and headed off to the garage; Grissom gathered his papers together and headed for his office, to gather his thoughts before the interrogation.

***

Warrick and Sara were in the CSI garage. Before them was Brass' car – or what was left of it.

Three of the four tires had been shot out and all of the windows had been broken. The interior of the car was littered with shards from the broken windows. The bodywork, surprisingly, didn't have too many bullet holes in it. Sara wondered how they had even dragged the car into the lab.

She turned to Warrick. "Now what?"

He shrugged. "Only one thing to look for in a shot up car - ballistic evidence."

"Yeah. You take the outside, I'll take the inside."

Warrick responded with an affirmative grunt.

She gave Warrick a hint of a smile. They both put on their gloves and picked up a flashlight to search for any bullet fragments that might have been left on the car, to definitely tie the gun used in the shootout to any other crimes.

As they were poking around, the two made small talk. Of course, the topic eventually turned to Grissom.

"So, how are you adjusting to your new place?" Warrick asked Sara, with just a hint of teasing in his voice.

"Excuse me?"

"You know, since you're living at Grissom's place right now..."

"Very funny, Warrick. It's just temporary." Or not. Maybe, Sara thought idly.

Warrick sensed something strange in how Sara had responded. He decided to keep probing and see how she'd respond. "And how was Grissom?"

"Huh?" Sara had been temporarily distracted.

"I said, how was Grissom?"

"Oh." Just how do I answer? I can't exactly say we were in each other's arms, can I? "He's, uh... a good host."

It was Warrick's turn to be a bit distracted – but this time, by her answer. He could tell she was being a touch evasive, but what about he didn't know. It must be something good, though. She doesn't seem pissed. "A good host, Sara?"

There was just a hint of a smile on Sara's face. "Yes." She went no further.

Now I'm really curious. However, extracting a secret from Sara is like trying to win a hundred poker hands in a row... only harder. "Oooo-kay..." he said, in surrender.

After an hour of searching, they had found all the evidence the car had to give. Warrick and Sara had found two bullets, both of which were relatively intact. They headed over to Ballistics, to see if the bullets could tell them anything they didn't already know.

***

Grissom stood behind the one-way mirror, watching the electrician in the interrogation room. He was fidgety, but that was not unusual. Brass came into the room and joined Grissom.

"You alright, Jim?" Grissom asked.

"Yeah. What can I say, somebody was looking out for me."

Grissom just shrugged his shoulders. "Anything on our electrician?"

Brass handed over a folder he had been carrying. "Name's Daniel Tilford. Not much of a record – just some traffic tickets, DUI, and disorderly conduct. No jail time, just some probation and community service for the last one."

"How did he get involved with our primary suspect? It doesn't add up."

"Well that's what we're going to find out, Dr. Grissom." Brass walked out, followed by Grissom. As soon as they soon entered the interrogation room, Daniel Tilford rose to his feet.

"I didn't do anything, I swear! I don't know why you guys brought me here!"

Brass spoke in a tone that showed restrained anger. "Sit down, Mr. Tilford." The witness could do nothing but meekly comply.

Brass and Grissom took their seats. Grissom took the lead in the questioning. He asked him if he was the in-house electrician for Sara's apartment building.

Daniel's answer was both defiant and confused. "Yeah, I am. So? What's this all about?"

Brass shot the electrician a glare. "Mr. Tilford, we ask the questions here. Not you." He nodded to Grissom to continue. He asked if Daniel had made a service call at Sara's apartment three days earlier.

"Yeah... I did. Brunette, slim, long legs? Yeah, I did. So what?" He was becoming increasingly upset.

Grissom slipped a photo of the hidden camera Nick had taken earlier. "This is a hidden camera we found in that apartment, Mr. Tilford. We found your prints on the exterior of the device."

"I don't know what the heck that is. Somebody else must have put it up there."

Grissom shook his head. "There were no other prints on the outside, Mr. Tilford. We know that you put it in."

Brass spoke next. "Maybe you don't understand what's at stake here. That camera was used to stalk someone, with the threat of physical harm. In the state of Nevada, that's a felony." Brass's eyes locked onto Daniel Tilford like a pair of lasers. "If you don't tell us anything useful, you're going to the slammer. For a very, very, long, time."

Grissom watched the electrician's defiance melt away at the mention of jail time.

"Alright, alright, I'll tell. Just... protect me from that nut. I swear, he was going to kill me!"

Brass nodded, but only faintly so. "Tell us your story first."

Daniel Tilford then began to confess. Someone – who identified himself as "Julio" – had approached him after lunch a week ago. Julio had offered to give him five thousand dollars if he would put the device in Sara's apartment, the address of which Julio had given to Daniel. Julio also told Daniel that when the device was put in place, to stick a piece of green fluorescent tape to a specific light post outside the apartment building.

After the electrician had finished his confession, Brass asked him if he knew who Julio was.

"Damned if I know. All I know is he wanted me to do something for five grand in cash."

Grissom slid a photo of de la Vega across the table. "Is this... Julio?"

The electrician picked up the photo and looked at it. "Yeah... that's him."

Brass and Grissom didn't openly react, but they both knew this was a crucial break.

Grissom resumed the questioning. "Did you ever see Julio before he approached you about bugging the apartment?"

"No... wait, yes. There's this nice little place, not too far from the apartment. I sometimes eat there; saw both Julio and your brunette there once, maybe twice."

There was a pause as both Grissom and Brass took the time to digest the new information.

"Now look, guys, I'm not the crook here. Last I checked, Julio was at my door, threatening to kill me! Are you guys going to do something about it?"

Neither answered the question.

"Where'd the money go?" Brass inquired.

"Paid some bills. Ain't got any of it left."

Brass looked at Grissom, then nodded. Both men rose from their chairs. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Tilford," the latter said.

"Wait. I'm not free to go?"

Brass coolly replied, "No. You're not."

Grissom followed. "Julio, as you know him, is actually a dangerous felon on the run. Two rapes, and two murders." Tilford looked shocked at Grissom's words.

"You're probably safest here, bud," said Brass. He opened the door and signaled for the officer outside to take Daniel Tilford into custody. The officer did, and soon Brass and Grissom were in the corridor.

"What do you think?" said Brass.

"He's telling the truth. No reason to lie, plus he's scared – not of us, but of the suspect."

"What now?"

"Warrick and Sara are processing your car. Nick and Catherine are at his house. Nothing we can do but wait for the evidence."

"Right. I'll see you, then." They parted ways, with Grissom heading off to look for Warrick and Sara.

***

Warrick and Sara were in Ballistics, waiting for the database search to finish. Grissom entered the room just at that moment. "Find anything?"

Sara answered. "We found two bullets, running them through the database now."

"What caliber?"

"Fifty caliber, Desert Eagle." Warrick said.

That took Grissom somewhat by surprise. "That's not very common. I wonder... the bullet database, it's local only, right?

Sara looked at Grissom, somewhat confused... "Yes, but..."

The CSI supervisor continued. "We need to compare our samples to the ones from Dallas."

Sara and Warrick immediately nodded in understanding. The Dallas police had provided their complete case file, and photos of all the evidence were included. Warrick soon had a side-by-side comparison of the bullets from Brass's car and the ones from Dallas.

"It's a match," said Sara.

Grissom nodded. "Same gun used in at least two shootings."

The computer beeped, indicating that they had found a match.

"Make that three..." Warrick said. "Dope dealer found a month ago, two rounds in the chest. Nothing probative there."

"We'll have to go over the file, make sure nothing was missed."

Sara turned to face Grissom. "Learn anything from the interrogation?"

"Plenty." Grissom laid out the evidence they had gathered from the electrician, and also described what had happened between their suspect and Brass.

As Grissom was talking though, Warrick was not only listening to him; he was also watching how Grissom and Sara dealt with each other.

They were acting all strange, tense, and uncomfortable this morning. Now... they're still tense, but not like this morning. Then it hit him. This is just like the way things were back when she was new here.Warrick had noticed, like everybody else, that the two had grown distant over the past year or so. Here they are, though, dealing with each other just like old times.

Just as Grissom was finished with his summary, Catherine walked in. "Hey. We just came back from the house – and we've got a ton of stuff of process and we could use a hand."

Grissom saw Nick walking into the room across the corridor carrying... something. All he could see was it was quite large and covered in white plastic sheeting. "Catherine, what is that?"

"Oh. That's the door our suspect broke down."

"The door." Grissom wasn't sure of what he had heard.

"Yeah, the door."

Grissom just raised an eyebrow. His eyes were asking Catherine – why? Warrick and Sara briefly exchanged glances of disbelief.

"Well, we decided it was better to do most of the processing here in the lab instead of out there in the field."

Grissom just shrugged his shoulders in surrender, but he had a wry grin on his face. "Anything aside from... that?" He pointed at the sheet-covered door.

"Yeah. We have casts of shoeprints from our suspect, and... his pickup truck." The answer came from Nick, who had just joined them.

"You found the truck?" Warrick asked.

"Three blocks from the scene. Kinda hard to drive when both of your rear tires are flat."

"How'd he get out?"

"Stole another car. O'Riley put out a bulletin on it."

Grissom began dividing the tasks they had to do among the team. "Nick, you brought it in, you process it. Take care of the door. Sara, follow up the bullets we found from Brass's car. Warrick, the shoeprints. Catherine, you're with me. Let's process that pickup. Oh, and you two," pointing to Nick and Catherine, "have Warrick or Sara bring you up to speed on the electrician. I'll head over to the garage and get a head start. Any questions?"

There were none.

"Then let's get to work."

***

To be continued...