Spoiler: No Humans Involved
Disclaimer: Not mine, but I'm playing with them anyway.
The feedback has been wonderful. And greatly appreciated. I am about 3-4 chapters ahead, and so hope to post daily until it is finished.
Thanks again for the kind words,
Sheila
Ghosts Chapter 3
"I think they called her Mustang Sally. You know, ride Sally ride. She would do anything for a score."
"You sure the girl was her daughter."
"Looked like her. Kid's name was Hannah."
"Where can we find her?"
"She used to work at Jackpot off the strip until she got drug ugly. Last I heard, she was tricking somewhere off Canal Street."
"Okay, Pal. You get a free pass out the door."
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"Well, Sara, I guess I'd put her age at around 13. She's small, but she has the maturity of secondary sex characteristics."
Sara stood beside Doc Robins. "How did she die?"
He pulled his glasses down to the end of his nose. "Strangulation. Ligature marks on her necks are thick. Probably nylon socks or a tie, something like that."
"She has a lot of bruising."
"She was knocked around pretty badly over the last week or so. She was sexually assaulted repeatedly."
"She was tortured."
"Yeah."
"Any identifying marks?"
"Poor oral hygiene. I'll put her dental markers on the database, but there is a good chance she never saw a dentist. Any missing kids come up for you?"
"Nothing."
"I can tell you one thing about her. She was a fighter. Look at those defensive marks." Doc lifted up a bruised and battered arm.
The child looked fierce, even in death.
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"Hey, Catherine!" Brass trotted up to her as she left her office. "I have an interview coming in. Do you have time to help?"
"What case?"
"Sara's. Dead girl tied up in the closet."
Catherine smiled. "Jim, Sara will be all over that interview."
"Which is why I prefer you right now."
"She's not going to be happy."
"She's not herself these days. I'm uneasy about putting too much on her right now. I'll risk her wrath."
"Say no more. Warrick and Nick filled me in. If she growls, we'll just say that I jumped in last moment after hearing about the case. That's sounds about my style, don't you think?"
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"Do you know what this is?"
"No." Sara sat forward in a chair in front of Ecklie's desk.
"It's a copy of your Child Services file." Ecklie waved it in front of her.
Sara's mouth dropped. She couldn't say anything.
"How did Ecklie get this is your question. Well, Sara, you have to say the right things and know the right people."
She just stared at him.
"Sara, I didn't get this to hurt you. I have to protect the department. Do you know what a good defense lawyer would say if he got a hold of this? He would say you should never be in charge of a case involving an abused child, and he would be right."
"So I'm out." Calmly, she faced him.
"Well, you have tremendous skills. I am thinking that you could stay, work only in the lab, and I would supervise you. We would address these issues in our supervision."
She looked at him, her face deadpan, and without further reply, got up and walked out of his office.
"Sara! We aren't finished talking about this!"
She was around the corner before he could finish speaking.
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Catherine almost felt sorry for her. Sally Dutton was a ghost. She was paper thin with large dark circles under her eyes. Large bruises dotted her arms. Her bedraggled hair was pulled back, and then lay in a nest down her back.
She cried for her daughter, slapping the table in frustration. Brass waded in carefully. He asked her questions, but was patient for her replies.
"He took her for collateral?"
She hiccupped, and gathered herself, "I got mugged and I had a quarter kilo on me. He took me I had a week to reimburse him."
"You didn't come to us. Instead, you left your daughter with a drug dealer, a strange man." Brass was careful but firm."
"I didn't know what to do." She collapsed into further sobbing. Brass looked at Catherine. She went around the table and sat next to Sally.
"Sally, you need to concentrate. We need to find the man who killed Hannah. You need to tell us who that is."
"He'll kill me and my son."
"We'll catch him. And you know it's not right for your son to be with you right now. He's only five. He needs better care than what you can give him."
She erupted again. "I'll die without him."
"No, Sally. You are a mother. You want the best for him. As mothers, we sacrifice when we have to. That's what we do." Catherine put a hand on the shaking woman's shoulder.
"Hannah is so willful. She doesn't listen to me. I thought a week with Viktor would break her a little bit, calm her down. I never thought he would do this. Never."
Catherine felt a chill, and dropped her hand away from Sally. This woman knew that Viktor would hurt Hannah. "Tell me about Viktor."
"He'll kill me."
Catherine pulled her face toward her. "Tell me now. This is over for you, Sally. Your daughter is gone. Your son is gone. You will go to jail for neglecting your children. That's a fact. Non-negotiable. How long you are gone depends on how you handle this moment right here."
The woman was no match for Catherine. "He's a Russian guy. Works out of Jersey. Comes in weekly. Stays at the Sands. Hangs out at a lounge off the strip, The Oasis. That's where I find him. He's gone now. A guy at the lounge said he flew out two days ago."
"Last name, Sally."
"I don't know. They call him Viktor the Snake. That's all I know. Please, I am hurting. I need help. I can't go this long without something. I'll die in there."
Brass said, "Sorry, Sally. You are going to have to do this the hard way." He gestured at a deputy. "You are going to have to sit in a cell and wonder if it's even a tenth as hard as a week with Viktor was for your child."
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Sara stared at Sally Dutton through the glass. She felt numb. So many things rushing through her simultaneously. The dead child. Her bruises. Her face seeking comfort against the closet wall. Greg under orders to protect her. Sally Dutton sitting there grieving her daughter almost as much as she grieved the loss of her drugs. Catherine standing over Sally when she should have been there. Ecklie and her file. Ecklie as her supervisor. Ecklie telling her she was a liability. Brass confirming this with her absence in interrogation. She didn't hear the observation room door open.
"Wondered if you would be back here."
Sara didn't turn to acknowledge her colleague.
"Brass asked me to come in, and I couldn't resist. It was sort of a mother to mother thing." Catherine moved up next to her. For a moment they both stared at Sally who sat hunched over on the table, moaning into her folded arms.
"How long has it been this way?" Sara asked.
"Excuse me."
"How long have I been a liability to the unit?"
Sara, that's not true."
"Why wait until Ecklie got involved? Why not say this to me before that?"
"What did Ecklie say to you?"
"Only the stuff you have all been thinking."
"We do not think like Ecklie, Sara."
"I can't be trusted. I have to be protected."
"We care about you, Sara. Nothing sinister about that. Please tell me what Ecklie said."
"Ask him, he'll show you. This case is not over."
"Tell me about Ecklie."
"I'm not done with this case, Catherine. There is still Viktor to catch. All of your good intentions can't keep me from doing my job."
"They are checking the lounge and the hotel right now for him." Sara turned to find Brass had entered the room.
"He's not going to be that easy. You know that."
"We got it, Sara."
"Yeah, thanks for that, Jim." Her anger was palpable.
"I'm sorry."
"Me too." Sara took one last look at the ghost of a woman slumped over on the table like a deflated doll.
"Sara, please let--" She pushed past him before he could complete his sentence. He turned to follow her, but Catherine had a hand on his arm. She shook her head slowly.
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Grissom saw her go by his office. She moved fast, but even then he could sense a tension from her.
"Sara!" he called. But she was gone.
Grissom got up and trotted after her. He caught her at the locker room. If she sensed his presence, she didn't acknowledge it. She began pulling things out of lockers.
"What's going on?"
"Don't start with me, Grissom. I don't know how much you know, but I have taken about as much as I can take right now."
He shrugged. "I've been working tread patterns on the hit and run from two nights ago. I…you just seem agitated."
She sighed. "I don't know how much longer I can handle this."
"What are you talking about?"
"I don't think I'm cut out for this, Grissom. All of you want too much from me. I can't be this person you need me to be."
"What happened?"
"I can't do this now. I gotta go." She stopped and looked at him, her eyes bright and large.
"Can we talk later?"
Reluctantly, she nodded at him. He watched as she swung her athletic bag over her shoulder and disappeared out the door.
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Catherine strode into Ecklie's office. He looked up as if expecting her and gestured to a chair.
"What did you do to her, Conrad?" Catherine had a flushed look.
"I assume you are talking about Sara."
"What did you do?"
"Catherine, you are a new supervisor. But I believe even you understand that an employee with an emotional agenda can be dangerous to this work."
"Just tell me what you did, Conrad."
"Got to the truth of the matter with her. It's what a good supervisor does." He pushed forward Sara's child services file, leaned back in his chair and waited for a response.
Catherine bent over the file for a moment. She got through the first page and then slammed it shut. "How did you get this?"
"You are not even her supervisor, and yet here you are. Even on different shifts you know more about what is going on with her than Grissom does. This tells you something about why Grissom concerns me. It's admirable how you are still so willing to pick up the slack for him."
"You had no right to do this, Conrad."
"If it impacts the work we do, then I have every right. Be careful here, Catherine, you are still new to this. Don't assume too much."
Catherine was on her feet. "You assume too much, Conrad. If we lose her because of this, you are going to have more than just a little trouble on your hands."
He tried to interrupt, but she put up her hand. "You have no idea." Then she walked out.
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TBC