Chapter 5

Sara rang the doorbell to the sprawling bungalow. After a short wait, a smiling woman pulled the door open. Her face was bare of any makeup. She wore a white smock ancient with paint. Her long hair was pulled into a tight ponytail. She gave Sara a generous smile.

"Ms. Sidle, come in. Come in." Leigh Bloodworth stood back and waved Sara in excitedly. Sara found herself in a warm open breeze way filled with light. A large African parrot sat in a gold cage bidding her a hardy "Hello"

Sara followed Leigh Bloodworth down the hall to a vast space that served as a studio. She directed Sara to a small sitting area furnished with wicker furniture. A small vase of baby roses graced an iron table in the center of the seating area.

Once they were both seated Sara was surprised to hear the other woman gush. "My God you're gorgeous."

Sara took in the other woman's face so like her own but a bit more rounded and soft. Her hair was darker than Sara's, nearly black.

Sara laughed without thinking.

Leigh Bloodworth laughed without knowing why. "What? Has no one ever told you that you are attractive?"

"I look like you."

Leigh's eyes grew wide. She looked closely at Sara as if she was studying a painting. "Damn if you don't. Oh my goodness. I am so embarrassed. You must think I am the most horrible narcissist."

"Um apparently you have a good deal of self esteem. If it makes you feel any better, I think you're gorgeous too, besides I have a picture from the faculty look book."

Leigh scrunched her nose a bit. "You mean the glamour shot? I hate that picture. It's simply dreadful. I am taking our next publicity shot myself although I doubt I can get Jarvis to sit for another picture ever. He said that was his last picture. He is freezing his age."

She paused to take a breath. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"No I'm good."

"So, you are here to talk about Sherry?"

"Yes. We understand that you and your husband were regulars."

Leigh breathed deeply and then began to speak. "Let me see if I can tell what you want to know without a ping pong game. Jarvis and I visit the domain at least once a month. We paid Sherry to watch us make love. We don't really go for any extreme domination. We tied each other up on once occasion. We did not have sex with Sherry at all. That's not allowed at Heather's"

A look of disdain crossed Sara's face.

Leigh stopped speaking. "You don't like Lady Heather?"

Sara didn't answer.

"I say that because you only got that look when I mentioned her name."

Sara fiddled and gave Leigh a blank stare.

Leigh watched her through a practiced artist's eye. She moved her head from one angel to another. She started to speak again.

"That's about it. I knew Sherry but not that well. She had a warm and giving spirit."

"What about Dr. Bloodworth?"

"He didn't know Sherry any better than I did."

Sara was skeptical. "How can you be sure?"

"Jarvis and I have no secrets and we don't have sex with other people. We take our vows very seriously."

"You just like people to watch."

Leigh gave a soft laugh. "In a word, yes."

A white phone rang on a low table near Leigh Bloodworths' hand. Sara watched as she picked up the receiver and listened.

Sara's own phone rang. She was surprised to see Grissom's number appear on her caller ID. She walked to the door and crossed into the dark hallway.

"Sara"

"Hi."

"There's no need to continue questioning the Bloodworths as suspects. They may even be targets."

"Why?"

"Brass just came to tell Dr. Bloodworth that his secretary was found dead about an hour ago. She was found on the outskirts of town, stabbed in the heart like Sherry English. Doc Robbins says that she could not have been dead for more than hour. There is no way either of the Bloodworths could have been involved. Tell you what, why don't you meet me at my house after you finish there. We need to talk about the case."

Sara disconnected the call and looked over to where Mrs. Bloodworth was still on the phone.

The other woman's voice was delicate and soft but Sara could still hear her side of the conversation. "Oh sweetheart, how is this your fault?... Are you going to
be okay?....Oh I think we should go ahead with dinner. It will make both of us feel better. ..I love you too."

Her face was pinched as put down the receiver.

Sara glanced around the studio. Most of the work was done in oils; it was passionate and striking and compelled further inspection. She stood and walked to an unfinished canvas that sat on an easel by the wide high window.

"That piece has me in fits. I can't seem to finish it. It haunts me at night. I woke in a cold sweat the other night. Jarvis wants me to destroy it. I can't bring myself to do it."

Sara didn't speak. The dots of purple and blue seemed to dance across the canvas like a grotesque ballet. Her voice was low and throaty when she spoke.

"It's wonderful."

Leigh came to stand beside the other woman. "That's it. I have to finish it now because you CSI Sidle are not an easy critic. I suppose you heard."

"About your husband's secretary? Yes."

Sara looked at the woman and saw profound sadness in her eyes. She seemed to be deeply touched by the woman's death and for some reason that surprised Sara. Sara realized that Grissom had not told her the secretary's name.

"Janet was a force of nature. She treated both of us as family from the moment she met us."

Sara continued to study the painting and Leigh studied her. "I think that I would be very afraid if my husband ever met you."

Sara walked closer the painting. "Would you tell him that you were afraid?"

"Of course."

"If you can tell him then you don't need to be afraid." Sara glanced back at the other woman. She was stunned to hear her voice leave her body. "I wouldn't be afraid for Grissom to meet you. He would like you. You would make him laugh, so few people do."

"Would you tell Grissom that I would make him laugh?"

Sara shook her head. "I wouldn't have to."

"Where did you meet this, Grissom is it?"

Sara pulled a stool to the canvas. "He was my professor in a seminar."

Leigh's laugh was rich and deep and resounded off the concrete floor. "Oh my, that's why they sent you."

Sara nodded and rested her hand under her chin. She sat up on the stool.

"And where is your Grissom? Is he the man with my husband?"

"Yes"

Leigh leaned her head against the window. She wanted to see Sara as she looked at the
painting.

"Is your Grissom as terribly serious as you are CSI Sidle?"

"Yes."

"Then I think my husband will like him. My husband fancies himself as a terribly serious man."

Sara leveled a gaze at Leigh. "He's not?"

"About what's important he is."

Sara's curiosity got the better of her once more. Just because he looked like Grissom didn't mean that he thought like Grissom. She didn't think like Leigh, did she? "What's important to him?"

"Always the investigator CSI Sidle; me, our families, our lives together, his work, the work we do together."

Sara sat up suddenly as if she became conscious of being observed. She looked at the other woman's left hand. "May I see your ring?"

Leigh blinked several times. "I shouldn't wear it when I'm working."

She passed the ring to Sara who brought it close to her face. "He had it made for you?"

"Yes."

"How long have you been married?"

"Two years, we got married here. Despite what we appear to be, Jarvis is very old fashioned." She imitated her husband's deep voice. "Leigh I will not drag you halfway across the country as my cortisone.""He uses words like that, cortisone."

"Doesn't Grissom?"
"Some. Mostly he quotes people."

The laughed the laugh of girlfriends whispering about adored men. Leigh leaned forward conspiratorially. Sara was surprised at how easy this woman was to be with.

"How long have you two been together?"

Sara's voice hinted her embarrassment. She shouldn't have talked about Grissom as if they were lovers. They weren't and probably never would be. "We aren't really"

Leigh gave a knowing look. "There's always one that's afraid."

"Were you afraid?"

"I ran from his office and barricaded myself in my apartment where I threw myself on the floor sobbing. We artists can be very dramatic." Leigh turned her hands in a loose gesture.

Sara waited for her to continue.

"He sat outside my door for six hours. He didn't move. He just sat there. I called the police on him."

Sara's dark eyes grew wide.

Leigh looked thrilled with the remembrance. "They never came. I had a show that night so I had to open the door."

"I asked Grissom out to dinner. He said no. He said he didn't know what to do."

Leigh scoffed lightly. "Oh you scientist are so boring." She saw the sadness in the other woman's eyes as she handed her ring back.

Leigh attempted to lighten the mood. "Is he tall dark and handsome?"

Sara's head moved in a so-so gesture. "He's not exactly tall but he is dark and handsome. He looks like your husband."

Leigh walked suddenly and briskly across the room. Her words came out in a burst as she spoke aloud.

"Oh I can't resist. Come CSI Sidle."

Sara watched like a fascinated child. Leigh jumped from her own stool and ran to a small low table. She opened a drawer and pulled out a purple pouch that looked to be velvet. She returned to the sitting area and began to take out clear objects. Sara walked to where she sat.

"I have to do a reading." Leigh seemed frantic. She closed her eyes for a second and seemed to be saying a short prayer. She reached for Sara's hand. She pressed Sara's warm flesh in her own. Sara saw that the clear objects were crystals held together by a long satin ribbon. She held them up to Sara's neck and then wrapped them around one wrist. Finally she put them around Sara's neck tying them like a necklace. Once that was done she told Sara to think of Grissom.

For Sara's part, she was too entranced with this woman who seemed like a different part of herself. She couldn't stop her and was not particularly interested in doing so.

Her voice sounded sweet and inviting as she began to speak. Sara imagined that it was the voice that children heard when they thought of the perfect mother.

"I don't believe that I am telling you anything that you don't already know. You and Grissom do God's work and God is pleased that you have accepted and followed your calling. There are others that do the work of God as well."

She seemed to be watching a movie that only she could see. "There is a dark warrior with gentle heart and spirit. He has the name of a warrior. He regards each of you as family but has a special place for the huntress. The huntress may be his soul mate. I also see a wise fool. He makes you laugh but he is also quite brilliant. He wants to leave the confines that he has created for himself and the wise seeker, I'm guessing that is your Mr. Grissom, is afraid for him. He is right to hold him back just for now. You should tell him to be patient. He will listen to you. There is another man, two other men. There is a dark haired door keeper. He is wise like Grissom."

She paused as she took a breath. "He is ripe for temptress. Don't be alarmed, she is a good temptress. The other man is young like you. He loves you very much, like he loves his own sisters. His spirit is not clear. He needs more time to move through the world. He is
open to teaching and learning. In another life the dark warrior was his blood brother."

Sara's mouth went dry with the next words. "At the beginning of time God ordained a soul mate for each of us. If we follow our path as ordained by the Creator we are brought to that soul mate. Our life then becomes complete. You and Grissom have been open to much of what God has done for you."

Leigh look disturbed. "Grissom is frightened. He is afraid of himself. He is afraid of what he will become. He is right to be afraid."

Sara nodded. "Was there a deceptive healer?"

"Yes"

The crystals seemed to burn Sara's neck. "It is good that he is gone."

Leigh stopped talking for a long time. She was listening to something. Eventually her voice came out as a whisper. "The only time I have been given such assurances was when I met Jarvis." She leaned close to Sara.

"You two are a destiny that others dream of. He is right to be afraid but you will soothe his soul and all that disturbs him will quieten. Without you his demons will overtake you both. It is good that he keeps you close. You keep much turmoil at bay."
She leaned away from Sara and rested her head against the couch. She was very tired.

"You are ashamed of things that have happened. Don't be. You could never be less than perfect in his eyes. He finds perfection in your imperfection"

Sara was surprised when Leigh laughed. "He thanks God everyday that your parents did not get your teeth fixed. He does want you to grow your hair out, typical man. You have to fight. Not in the way that you are used to fighting. You have to seize all your womanly energy. It is time to put hard things aside. When he is ill, help him get well. When he feels pain, stroke where it hurts. If he is hungry, feed him. It is time for you to be a woman. You have to fight like a cool breeze through the leaves. Be gentle with him."

She reached to take the crystals from Sara's neck and brown eyes met brown. 'I thank God for bringing you here."

She exhaled deeply and looked at Sara. She laughed merrily. "Now that I am not a suspect you think I am a nut case."

Sara's mouth opened and her cheeks took on a pink tinge.

"Oh Sara my dear, it takes more than a skeptic scientist to shake me."

"Now we must decide how to proceed with your Grissom"