Revelations
"All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them."
-- Galileo Galilei
Instead of Warrick, Catherine and Grissom waited for Lindsey and Bekki outside of the brick building of Lindsey's school. Catherine got out of the SUV when she saw her blond daughter and her brunette friend.
"Mommy! I expected Uncle Warrick!" Lindsey said, wrapping her arms around Catherine's waist.
"I want to talk to Bekki's mommy," Catherine replied, leading the girls back to the car. Grissom waved at Lindsey through the driver's side window and Lindsey broke into a run.
"Uncle Gil!" Lindsey called as she threw open the back door. She bounded over the middle console to wrap her arms around Grissom's neck. Catherine and Bekki followed at a slower pace.
"Ms. Willows? Why do you want to talk to my mommy?" Bekki asked softly. Catherine stopped and crouched to Bekki's eye level.
"Your mom's name is Amanda, right?" Bekki nodded
"She's a good friend of my colleague's." Bekki looked curious.
"Sara Sidle."
"You work with Aunt Sara?" Catherine sighed and stood, taking Bekki's hand. The little girl was innocently proving all of her suspicions.
"Let's go see your mom."
-
The nurses were so used to seeing Catherine in the hospital by this point, they just smiled as she, Grissom, Bekki and Lindsey walked passed. Catherine waved Bekki in first, but Bekki grasped Catherine's hand tightly.
"What does she look like?" Catherine pushed open the door and walked in with Bekki. Amanda was dozing thanks to the drip from her IV to keep her rib and lung pains at bay.
"Mommy?" Amanda's eyes snapped open.
"Beks?" Bekki ran to her mother and after pausing for a moment to check on her injuries threw her arms around her. Catherine allowed them a few moments before clearing her throat, feeling Grissom's presence behind and Lindsey beside.
"Cath?"
"Bekki's staying with Lindsey, with us."
"I'm sorry." Grissom tactfully stepped in.
"Bekki, Lindsey and I are going to go help Sara pack up…" Bekki nodded, understanding the unasked question. They left, Catherine and Amanda stayed in her hospital room. After a few moments of silence, Catherine spoke.
"Want to explain?"
"It wasn't important and she was safe."
"Amanda, you know that's not what I'm asking."
"They always say your deepest darkest secrets come back to haunt you. She's that secret. Few know she even exists and fewer know she's mine. But I guess it's a small world that my daughter is your daughter's best friend."
"Why do I have a bad feeling that this has everything to do with the case?"
"Huh?"
"Our lab is looking at background for Anthony Lopez." Even the slight pink that had returned to her cheeks paled.
"He's Rebekkah's father," she said resignedly.
"Ah. Does she know?"
"About that bastard! Never. She's grown up without him and doesn't need…"
"Could she be motive?" Catherine interrupted, hiding her surprise at Amanda's quick change in moods.
"To…? How?"
"Is there anyway people could find out about her? Go to your friends to try and find her?"
"Why? I never asked him for support."
"She's his. Its leverage."
"I don't know."
"She can stay with me for as long as necessary and I'll see about protection at school, at least until we find Lopez." Amanda nodded solemnly.
"What did they say about you?"
"My rib punctured my lung and they want me to stay about a week. They re-set the bone with a pin so I have to go into surgery again so they can take the pin back out," Amanda explained, shifting against the bandages,. Catherine stopped her hand before she could itch her bandage.
"Don't. I speak from experience." Amanda grinned.
"It'll make it worse," Amanda shot back.
"Tell me about your daughter," Catherine implored.
"She's… so special… I almost got rid of her, you know, when I'd just found out I was pregnant. I didn't want anything that had to do with Tony. Sara, Em, Elle and Anna ganged up on me though and walked me through the nine months. Tony never knew, and quite frankly, I really don't think he would have cared. The night of conception was the only time he forced me into sex. Sure, he's hit me, whack me around, but he never forced himself on me until that night. I couldn't let her go once she was in my arms. Schott was there, holding my hand through the labour. He even held Bekki afterwards."
"So that's why he's in on this?" Catherine asked speaking for the first time during Amanda's story.
"I don't know anymore. I mean, I trusted Schott and the next thing I know he's working alongside Tony."
"Leverage?"
"Schott's got a family now. He's married with a teenaged son and a little angel for a daughter."
"We'll ask when we bring Scott in and when we find him," Catherine assured her.
"He lives part-time in Vegas. His wife and kids are here but his job takes him to California every winter for two months," Amanda said.
"You wouldn't have an address, would you?"
"64 Holy Oake Drive. Its where I sent my Christmas cards." Catherine nodded.
"Bekki and Lindsey are going to come back to the lab with me and we'll leave the two officers outside your room, okay?" Amanda readily agreed, knowing Bekki would be safer with Catherine at the lab than pretty much anywhere else.
"Mommy, are you done? Sara's packed and she's asking for you," Lindsey said, poking her head into the room. Catherine smiled and nodded as Lindsey and Bekki came bounding into the room, Grissom and a slightly disgruntled Nick following.
"Sara's in the waiting room," he snapped but looked chargrined at Catherine's frown and raised eyebrow. Catherine stepped out. Sara was sitting on a chair in the waiting room, arm still in a sling. She wasted no time.
"Amanda?"
"Supposed to stay for a week. Bekki?" Catherine watched the emotions flit across Sara's face.
"Bekki?
"Sara, don't. Amanda told me all about her."
"She could be motive, if that's what you're getting at," Sara replied.
"That was my first thought but that made me wonder about Paolini."
"You're sure he's in on this?"
"Amanda said he had a family, including a daughter," Catherine supplied.
"You think there might be a kidnapping? Why wouldn't he report it?"
"Maybe we should be asking him."
-
I wasn't until late into shift that Brass was able to find and pick up the elusive Scott Paolini. When he entered the interrogation room Catherine was seated comfortably, Sara hidden in the shadows and Grissom and Nick were behind the mirror in observation.
"Mr. Paolini, it's a pleasure to finally meet you," Catherine said, quickly drawing his attention away from the room. They didn't want him to know Sara was there.
"Sure." He took a seat in a chair, facing Catherine.
"We just want to ask you a few questions," Catherine continued, opening up the manila folder in front of her.
"Go ahead."
"I want to get to know you a bit better first. How's your family? Your wife? Your son? Your daughter?" He wouldn't meet her eyes as he mumbled an unenthusiastic fine.
"Come on, just fine?"
"Yeah."
"Alright then, how about your best friend, Amanda Bell? Have you talked to her lately?" Again a myriad of emotions flitted across his face.
"She's in the hospital you know. Punctured lung."
"A… Amanda?" Catherine shrugged.
"She's supposed to be staying a week."
"And her daughter?"
"Is staying with a friend." He seemed to deflate. Catherine stood and left, motioning the officer out with her.
"Why?" Scott jumped when Sara spoke. He spun in his chair.
"Sara?"
"Why'd you do it? You've got to know you're all but convicted of about four murders."
"Murders?" he asked after a minute. Sara rolled her eyes.
Catherine walked into the observation room just as Sara told him about the murders.
"You left him to Sara?" Grissom asked.
"They were friends. She'll probably get more out of him than I will," Catherine replied easily. She stood beside him, watching the interrogation.
"I don't know anything about any murders," she heard. Catherine rolled her eyes.
"Why? Did Tony take your daughter?" Every one in the interrogation room knew it was true by his surprised reaction.
"No."
"Don't play games, you idiot," Catherine mumbled. Sara opted for silence and staring. Schott sighed.
"He said he's destroy my life piece by piece, starting with my little Clare if I didn't. I didn't want to, Sair, you've got to believe me!"
"Then why didn't you come to the authorities?"
"He said he'd kill her if I did, if I told any one but Ali, or Ross, my wife and son." His hands were shaking violently now, and his eyes were starting to water. Catherine watched him break down, her hand finding Grissom's. She thought about Lindsey and how she would feel if her own little girl had been kidnapped. She shivered at the thought.
"We need the whole story," she murmured.
"You know the deal, Scott. Give us the whole story and we'll see about a lighter sentence," she heard Sara say.
"Tony came to me about a month ago…"
-
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I wrote this one in class! Don't tell my teachers!
Hope you enjoy!
Coming soon…Story behind Emily and Ellen's deaths
Confessions
And…A sequel!
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Kavi Leighanna