Grissom was only half-awake, surprised he had slept at all, when he felt a strange warmth against his legs. Someone was in bed with him…but who?
He was not startled when he sat up in bed and saw a lump in his sheets. It was not his nature to be jumpy. Instead, he lifted the blanket and saw his grandnephew Shane curled up and fast asleep, in LA Dodgers pajamas.
Grissom didn't have the heart to wake of move him, so he quietly kicked himself out of his own bed and went to make some coffee.
The Las Vegas horizon was gently being illuminated by a persistent sun, nudging the city out of its restless slumber. Chloe was still asleep in the couch, covered in a blue chenille throw blanket. She looked so comfortable and at peace that Grissom moved as quietly as a mouse on his way to the kitchen.
The hum of the coffee maker as it poured the steaming hot elixir into the pot woke her unintentionally. She stirred on the couch and opened her eyes, observing Grissom in the kitchen, as if she'd forgotten for a moment who he was and where she was. Then she casually threw the blanket off her body, sat up and stretched. She wore a gray and navy Yale University shirt and a pair of navy boxer shorts.
"Good morning," she yawned.
"Morning," Grissom said. "Something of yours made their way into my bed. You might want to retrieve it."
Chloe got to her senses, looked around and then realized Shane was missing. She bolted off the couch and went the way of Grissom's bedroom.
Grissom poured himself some coffee and sighed, wondering how long it would take to get used to Chloe and Shane before they had to go back to Arizona.
As he began to go through his head all the things he had to do concerning the Stop-n-Go robbery that day, Chloe trudged back into the living room, Shane under her arm. He did not look happy.
"Sorry," she apologized. "He usually crawls into bed with Walker and me late at night. He probably just got confused."
"Understandable," was Grissom's simple response.
Chloe plopped Shane somewhat roughly onto the couch, upon which he curled up, screwed his eyes shut and covered his ears with his hands.
"He's just zoning," Chloe explained to Grissom, who had cocked his head in confusion. "It's the Shane George Jackson approach to the classic temper tantrum."
"He's a quiet kid, huh?"
"Well, I think he takes after his uncle," Chloe grinned as she leaned against the kitchen counter.
"Great-uncle," Grissom corrected with a small smile—all he could muster so early. "Who do you know that went to Yale?" he gestured at the shirt with his mug.
Chloe looked down at her shirt. "One of my best girl-friends back home, Siva Martin. She majored in journalism."
"Ah," Grissom nodded. He took a quick gulp of coffee and then pushed his mug aside. "Listen, I have to tell you something very important. Today—in a few hours, in fact—one of my CSI's will be coming to question you. Because, as of now, you are a suspect and my niece, you must not let them know you are staying with me here. You're going have to go back to the Rhapsody."
Chloe's expression turned horrified. "No!"
"You have to. I'm doing this to help you," Grissom explained. "If they find out you're staying here, I can get thrown off the case and I won't be able to help you."
"Gil, I can't go back. Walker—"
"I'll go with you," Grissom promised. "I won't let him do anything to you." He opened his junk drawer and took out a legal pad and pen. He scribed a few numbers. "My beeper and cell. Call if you have an emergency and only if it's an emergency, if it's something you can't handle on your own. Remember, I work with cops." He tore the sheet off the pad and handed it to his niece. "Get dressed and get your stuff together."
Hesitantly, Chloe took the paper and stared blankly at it as if she'd just made a lifelong contract with the devil.
"Just don't take any crap," Grissom advised his niece as they walked down the Rhapsody's silk-laden corridors. He carried her suitcase and she carried her son.
"I haven't been taking his crap for six years, I'm not going to start now," Chloe said, looking down at Shane.
"Got your key?"
"Yeah."
Chloe stood Shane on his own two feet and opened her duct tape purse. Her key ring, heavy with charms advertising obscure punk rock bands and crude humor, came out and Chloe searched for the correct key. When she found it and stuck it in the door, Grissom noticed it was slightly ajar. Chloe noticed it too. "Gil?" she whispered fearfully. "Shane, come hold Momma's hand…"
"Stay back," Grissom warned. It was now he wished he was one of those CSI's that insisted on carrying their guns constantly. He quickly threw the door open and stepped inside the room.
No one was there. No housekeeping, no room service…no Walker.
"Hello?" Grissom called.
The room was in total disarray. Clothes, mainly Chloe's by the looks of it, were pulled from still-open drawers and onto the carpet, thrown akimbo. The beds were stripped of their sheets in anger and one of the mattresses was actually partially hanging off the bed frame. An empty shoebox was lying on its side near the bureau, spilling its contents like viscera.
"Chloe, you and Shane can come in now. It's okay."
"Are you sure?" Chloe asked timidly.
Grissom peered inside the bathroom. It was spotless. "Yes." When Chloe didn't enter, he went into the hallway and took her by the hand. "Just a word of caution—it looks like Walker had his own temper tantrum," he said as he led Chloe and Shane into the room.
When Chloe saw the chaos, her mouth dropped open. "Oh…God…Walker's things are gone…"
Grissom nodded.
"How could he? Where could he go?" Chloe sank onto one of the beds, dumbstruck. Shane crawled up to sit with her.
"You should check to make sure nothing's missing. Besides Walker's things, that is. If there is anything missing, you're gonna have to come down to the station with me and report it."
Chloe immediately went to the overturned shoebox. "My jewelry. If that bastard took any of my jewelry…"
Grissom knelt with her. The shoebox not only contained jewelry, but several photographs, a diary with a beaded cover and, for no particular reason, some dried rose petals. He began picking up her trinkets piece by piece, recognizing some of the jewelry. "Are any of these Rose's?"
"Um," Chloe looked at what was in her hands and in Grissom's. "Yes. These two necklaces, these three sets of earrings, and these two bracelets and this locket are hers. And this one is the ring my father gave her when they were married."
Grissom admired the elegant gold braided band that had been his little sister's wedding ring and picked up one of the bracelets. "I gave her this." It was a shiny wooden bangle, smooth like marble and a brilliant mixture of browns. "I'm glad you have it now."
"It's my favorite," Chloe said, stroking its velvetiness. "My father said she wore it every day."
"She did." He pressed the bracelet into her hand.
Chloe slid the bangle onto her wrist, scooped everything else up off the floor and put it back in the box. "I think everything is here."
"Good. That's taken care of."
"Wait," Chloe said. "Wait a second…" She went into the bathroom.
Shane, feeling abandoned, slid off the bed and tugged at Grissom's jeans.
"Up," he demanded.
"He wants you to pick him up," Chloe explained from the bathroom.
"Up, please," Shane repeated.
Grissom knelt and Shane wrapped his arms around Grissom's neck, who then scooped him up and trailed Chloe in the bathroom. She spied them into the mirror.
"You look very natural," she complimented.
"Well, I've held kids before," Grissom said in light defense. "It's just that…none were my own."
Chloe opened a bathroom cabinet beneath the sink and took out a box of tampons. When she opened it, Grissom felt like he should leave, but instead, she reached inside the box and withdrew a white envelope.
"What's that?"
"My special savings. Emergency money. About five hundred dollars. He could take all the money in my purse but as long as he doesn't get this…"
"Serves him right for not thinking like a woman," Grissom gave a wry smile.
"I'll bet it all that he was looking for this," Chloe hugged the envelope to her chest. Then she ruffled Shane's hair, who was comfortable in the groove of Grissom's arms.
"Okay, so Walker didn't take it. Good. Put it back in the box, put the box back into the cabinet. Straighten up the room, make it look like you've been here all night. Tell them everything you told me but do not mention that you spent the night at my place. Please, Chloe, remember that."
"Yes," Chloe said as she replaced the envelope and then the box. "Gil, I'm worried…is this right?"
Grissom looked down at his grandnephew, then at his niece and exhaled slowly. "I hope so."