Chapter 29

"Hey Cookie, where's ole blue eyes?"

"I think he's in the study."

"Put me on speaker phone and go get him."

She did as instructed. Glancing down the hall hoping that Brass' accented voice would not wake Jules who was down for his afternoon nap. Brass was the only one that knew about Julian. As the task force liaison, he was on a need to know basis.

"And where is Young Blues Eyes."

"Asleep so you better make it fast cause if you wake him up I can't be responsible. He can get very cranky."

Sara cackled and Grissom rolled his eyes as Brass harrumphed into the phone. "I wonder where he got that from. Okay so here's what's going on. The Royal Canadian museum in Toronto just discovered that two of their Monets were replaced with fakes."

Sara and Grissom were both silent. The possibility of ever going back to their real life was more and more remote. The excuses to Gil's mother and Sara's family were wearing thin. They had missed a year's worth of birthdays, holidays and special occasions, never mind
the physical absences that would not be explainable for another year.

Just this morning Grissom talked to Nick about taking over the night shift for good. The feds had offered him and Sara consulting contracts for the duration of their protection. Sara had taken the offer and Gil was close to doing the same.

Grissom spoke. "Do we have a timeline?"

"Well that's the good thing. The museum authenticates their major works every month. It's a very hush hush requirement from their insurance and the Monets were the real deal last month."

Grissom caught Sara looking at him. She had been doing that a lot lately. He ran a hand over his hair, maybe it was sticking up. Sara turned away from him and spoke to Brass. "So it's
happened within the last moth. Does that help us narrow down possible suspects?"

"Ah the ever intrepid Cookie. We have one promising lead."

Grissom turns, "Who?"

"Abasi Boer"

Grissom and Sara stared at one another. Grissom leaned closer to the phone. "What!"

Sara watched as Grissom nervously pulled at his ear.

"Brass…"

"I know Blue Eyes he's has more money than the Pope."

Sara watched Grissom's nervousness dissipate. It was replaced with something else. Was that fear? Sara didn't think she had ever seen Grissom afraid of any perp. She had seen him pissed or frustrated but never afraid.

"Griss that's not the only reason I am calling you"

"I know."

"Griss word is that he's smarter that you. That's not true. Is it?"

"It is."

Sara suddenly understood the fear. In the end Gil Grissom was smarter than every criminal he had come against. They might be more viscous, even more tenacious but no criminal had ever been smarter and that's why Grissom always got his man. Some cases had taken years but the criminals never beat Gil. A master thief that was smarter Gil Grissom would scare
him? It should.

"Gil how do you know that?" As Sara spoke she watched his face become a mask. He could not afford for Sara to see him afraid. If she saw that he was afraid she would become afraid for herself and Julian. He had enough of that emotion for his entire family.

"I met him once."

"Just met him?"

"At the opening of the Braun Museum. I went with Catherine. I got this feeling that someone was watching me all night. Finally Boer made his way across the room."

Gil watched as Sara's eyes left his face and went to the hall.

"There are only a handful of men and women in the world that have my expertise and my IQ, Jiles for example. Forensic experts that are geniuses or near geniuses are rare. Some geniuses like Leigh and Jarvis are artistic and there are those attracted to hard concrete sciences that have stood the test of time, biologists or chemists. The field is still very
new."

Brass' voice echoed through the room. "How do you know he's smarter than you?"

Grissom remembered Boer's cold blue eyes, eyes like dark carbon steel, void of any emotion and feeling, his bloodless lips curled into a permanent sneer.

"Dr. Gilbert Grissom."

"Dr. Abasi Boer, nice to meet you."

They had stood there, silently studying a Picasso that was on loan.

"You are quite the artist Dr. Boer."

"I dabble in it a bit."

"Your last piece went for 100 thousand."

"True. Do you have any other pursuits besides science Dr. Grissom?"

Grissom had thought of Sara when he'd been asked a similar question. "I read. I do crosswords."

"For us, reading and mental exercise are as natural as breathing. It doesn't require any real effort does it?"

Gill had felt small and insulted until Catherine had looped her arm through his. He had been a bit surprised when his best friend clung to him and called him "sweetie" and "honey". When Boer had beaten a hasty retreat Catherine explained. "I could tell that guy was in a pissing contest. Besides I didn't like his eyes. I had a customer with those eyes. One of my friends ended up stabbing him after I quit."

"Why?"

"He tried to choke her on the way to her car. No sexual assault just wanted to kill her."

Gil said a silent prayer that Catherine, Warrick and Lindsey were still in hiding.