Chapter 13: Hindrance
"Warrick, I need you to head straight out, a daycare is reporting that two children are missing, I want you to take the case," Catherine said.
I nodded, and headed back out, the way I came, Catherine handed me the slip, on the way out the door. I parked behind two police cars. "What happened?" I asked an officer, who was standing at the door. "The workers noticed that two children were missing at snack time, they called right away, but they still aren't sure which two are missing, we've got officers combing the area, just incase they wandered off."
I nodded, and walked in, there were daycare workers trying to take care of the children in one room, while also trying to talk to the officers who were interviewing them. I walked up to the woman who seemed to be in charge of the workers. "So where are you in discovering which children are missing?" I asked.
"We've narrowed it down to the children that were not regulars," She told me, "That's probably why we didn't notice it, earlier."
"How many children did you have here today?" I asked.
"At most, we're allowed thirty children, today we had twenty five, we count the children in every room every little while, to be sure that no one escapes, though we also have other safeguards in place, to prevent that."
"How many regulars did you have?" I asked.
"On Wednesday, we usually have about twenty regulars, today though, three of those weren't brought in, of the seven who weren't in on a regular basis, three just weren't usually brought on Wednesday, we know them, the problem is, none of the five that we don't know, will talk, they are all between two and six, and that is what makes it difficult."
"Did any of those children come in together?" I asked.
"Two brothers, ages two and three," she replied, otherwise, no."
"Where are the ones you aren't sure about?" I asked.
"In the infant room, there is an officer trying to talk to them," she said.
I went into the room that she pointed at, the three children were there, there were none any closer to the others, who kept the same distance as strangers, I asked each one a few questions, and cautiously asked them about their siblings, I was able to glean enough information from the children, to determine that none of them had any siblings. "I know which ones are missing, it's the brothers," I told the officer.
Within an hour, I had complete control over the scene, and the officers were listening to me, it was freeing working like this. Over the next little while, I learned how everything worked at the daycare, and soon I had an idea of how someone could get in and out with two children, as long as they were compliant. I headed back to the lab, after the FBI took over, Catherine had called me back. I had a picture from the mother of the children, in my head, though the FBI had taken the picture so that they could get the information out. "An amber alert has gone out for two little boys, two year old Alatos and three year old Alcarcalimo, who were taken from daycare just an hour ago," the radio said, on the way I also passed a tv on a hotel which had the words, "AMBER ALERT" across the top, and their names and ages on the side, with the picture, the words were flashing to attract attention. The picture had Nick holding Nilde, and the two boys were in front of him, facing the camera, it was a studio picture, underneath the picture, "The boys with Nilde and Uncle Turelio. I was in the lab for the rest of the night, when I got back to Nick's place, I fell right to sleep, on the couch. When I woke up, I put the boxes I had filled getting all clan related things out of Nick's office, into the basement, I was on the way up after the last box, when the doorbell rang, "Can I help you?" I asked, opening the door.
"I'm Agent Craynak with the FBI, this is my partner, Agent Johnson, we have a warrant to search the premises, if you would step outside.
I took the Warrant, and read it, they were looking for any signs of a child in the house, and correspondence with someone who may have kidnapped the boys. "Nick wasn't even in the state at the time of the kidnapping, why are you wasting resources on this?" I asked.
"We're following orders," Johnson said.
"Nick has a daughter, that in itself negates the search for signs of a child, her things are all over the house," I told them stepping out of the way.
A uniformed police officer was standing on the porch, as I sat on a chair. "You in on this too?" I asked.
"I'm just following orders too," He said.
"It's eight o-clock the next morning, they should still be searching for suspects, not harassing the innocent," I told him.
An hour later, they came out of the house, each carrying two of the totes I had brought downstairs earlier. "We'll have to go through this at the lab," Johnson said..
"No you will not, those totes have no correspondence in them, I packed them myself, they are full of textbooks, and printouts from the internet, on the paranormal, nothing else," I said.
"We'll have to see," Johnson said.
"You just wait, it was fine, you searching the house, for something that wasn't there, but taking my friend's personal research, I'll have to check with him," I said.
"We have a warrant, you can't stop us," he said.
I dialled Catherine's number, "Cath, the FBI wants to take four boxes of Nick's personal research into the paranormal, and their warrant doesn't cover it, but they're saying that it does, how can I legally stop them?"
"What is in there that will harm Nick?" Catherine asked.
"Just the fact that the warrant doesn't cover it is enough for me to want to stop them, it's Nick's stuff" I said.
"You're right, what are the specifics?"
"The warrant covers correspondence, and anything to do with children," I said.
"Was it in the totes, before they got there?"
"It's the stuff I've been clearing out of Nick's study, to make room for his guest," I told her.
"Compromise, have them look at it in the house," She told me.
"Thanks Cath," I said, without a pause, after hanging up, I dialled Nick's cell, he answered on the third ring, "Nick, I'm sure that you've heard that Nilde's brothers were kidnapped, on the TV, right?"
"They were kidnapped, crap, why does my past have to haunt everyone with my blood?"
"Well the FBI is here, they're looking into you for it, they want to take the things I just cleared out of your office, to their lab, I know you're rather protective of your research, so I'm checking, before they can leave your house."
"See if they'll go through it at the house, I don't want any of that stuff lost, what does the warrant cover?"
"All correspondence," I replied.
"Most of that is conversations on messenger services, with others like me, let me talk to the agents."
I agreed, and handed the phone to Johnson, "The homeowner wants to talk to you,"
"Hello Mr. Stokes... Of course... I'll comply with your wishes," Johnson handed the phone back to me.
"Warrick, they've agreed to let you make photocopies of anything they feel the need to take, so if you bring the photocopier downstairs, it will work a lot better," Nick said.
"Ok, Nick, I'm sorry if this call bothered you," I told him.
"I'm glad you called, Warrick, have you been feeling alright since the incident?" Nick asked as I followed the agents, and the officer into the house.
"I've been feeling a little sick today, but some of that I think is from the fact that I've barely eaten."
"Eat, Warrick, and I'll see you in two days," Nick said.
"You're coming back early?" I asked.
"Yes, I think I need to do some stuff, before Abby comes," Nick replied.
"Can I still stay in you spare room?"
"Of course, when are you going to deem your house safe to return to?"
"When there is no room left in yours," I told him.
"I'll charge you rent if you take to long to kick those relatives out of your house," Nick said.
I agreed, and told him that I'd call him when I knew more about what the FBI had found. I brought the photocopier downstairs, and plugged it in, the agents pulled the first two totes open. I got another tote from the closet, and the officer that had come with them brought one in from the agents car. I sat next to the photocopier, and watched them flip through papers, slowly though a stack built up as the copier couldn't keep up with all the conversations they found. "Research?" one of them asked.
"Conversations with people who believe in the paranormal, Nick is really deep into that kind of stuff, he believes that some urban legends are truth." I said.
The agents left with a tote full of originals, and I closed the boxes they had rejected, they were all books, and printouts that weren't conversations, or letters. I went on Nick's computer after, one of the agents had called in a second Warrant to get any information off the computer, but had decided to copy the hard drive, so I wouldn't have to explain to Nick the fact that the whole computer was gone. I logged on, and did a search on something I had seen consistently throughout the conversations, it talked about 'The Phoenix' a lot, and I wanted to know what it was. I fell asleep in front of the computer, and woke up barely in time to take a shower before work. I logged off the computer, and left for work arriving with only a minute to spare. I was sent out to another scene right away, with Charlie, we started processing, but it was a fairly rank double homicide, and I skipped lunch, at ten Charlie suggested we go for supper, but I passed, in favour of finishing up at the scene. We left the scene at eleven with at car full of evidence, so we didn't stop anywhere, after logging in the evidence it was time to go home. "They've been dead two weeks, another night isn't going to make the case any harder," Charlie said, and suggested we go out for a beer, I told him that I wasn't feeling very good, and went to Nick's looking in his fridge, nothing looked appetizing, so I went to the spare room, and fell asleep within minutes. The next afternoon, I went into work, once again, I was running late, I dropped my bag into the locker room, and went to find Charlie.
"Warrick, when is the last time you ate?" Catherine asked me later, when I took my lunch break, I didn't have the energy to go across the street to get something, at the only place in the area with good food at any time of day, and ended up going back to work within minutes.
"I don't know," I said honestly.
"Come on," Catherine took my hand, and led me out of the layout room, Charlie was on his way in, "We'll be back in a bit," she told him.
I was pushed into a booth, at the restaurant, and catherine ordered for both of us, the meal for me was high in both fat, and calories. "Cath, if you're going to force me to eat, when I'm not hungry, let me order something healthy." I told her after the waiter had left.
"When you can't remember the last time you ate, you need to eat meals like the one I ordered you," she told me.
Less than ten minutes after I ate, my stomach started to bother me, as I worked, I ignored it as much as possible, once when Charlie left the room, the urge overwhelmed me, and I ran out of the room, and without the least bit of hesitation, as soon as I was bent over the toilet, my entire lunch came up, and landed in the bowl. I went back into the layout room, and got back to work, after shift, I headed back to Nick's I was tired, and still not feeling very well, so I lay down on the bed, and fell right to sleep. I was never one to sleep for more than a few hours, but for the second day in a row, I had gone straight to sleep, and woken up late. I was exhausted when I got to work, and hadn't eaten. For supper break, I was on my way into the break room, to catch a short nap, Catherine followed me in. "Let's go for lunch," she said.
I looked longingly at the couch, "Warrick, even Charlie noticed that you're acting differently, and he hardly knows you," Catherine said.
"He hardly knows me, that's why," I told her.
"You've hardly been acting like yourself around me either Warrick, come on, lets go for lunch, and we can talk."
Once we were seated, and we had ordered, I found something on the menu that was low in grease, and looked like it might be appetizing. "Warrick, what's going on with you lately, you've been almost late for work everyday this week, you were always early before, you haven't been eating right, and Charlie mentioned that you've been quiet lately, if it's noticeable enough for him to mention it to me, then it's something to be concerned about, so what's up?"
"You approach things both more directly, and less directly than Grissom, he'd look into it, by calling me into his office, and then asking me what's wrong, you are more direct, by presenting the issue, and the evidence, but less, because you disguise it with lunch," I told her.
"You're stalling," Catherine said.
"I can't tell you what's up, Cath, it's big, and it's only going to get bigger, but it will go away, three, four days tops, if I wasn't on a case, I'd take it off, and deal with it, but it'll deal with itself, just take longer," I told her.
"How long if you take time off?"
"Three days, Cath, this is normal for me, every three months, I take a week off, right, well, this snuck up on me, it's no big deal, I can handle it."
"What is it?" Cath asked.
"I can't say, Cath, it's a private family matter," I told her.
"It's affecting your work, Warrick, here's what we do, how many sick days do you have left?"
"Eight," I replied.
"We'll put you down for half a sick day from today, and the next two days, your case will be fine without you, Charlie can handle it, if you work this sick, any defence could use that against you personally, so we aren't going to risk your reputation on this," She told me.
"Ok, but let me finish today, I don't want to look weak," I told her.
"I'm not sending you home, Warrick, I'm taking you there, you're having trouble sitting up straight, I don't know what's wrong, but I know you aren't in any condition to process evidence, let alone drive."
"Fine, fine, can I finish eating first?"
"Of course, you need to eat," Cath said.
I ate a little bit, before my stomach started to bother me, I stopped, and looked at the table, Cath was nearly finished before she gave me a look, "Cath, I can't eat right now, I thought I could, but it's not happening,"
"Alright," She waved a waiter over, "Can you box this up, please?" he nodded, and took my plate.
Nick's POV
I finished what I had gone to DC to do, and decided to fly home right away. The only flight I could get into Vegas went through Miami, with an hour layover, I called an uncle I hadn't seen in years and said, "Uncle Robert, it's Nick, I'm going to be in Miami on layover, around noon tomorrow, you think we could meet up for lunch?" I asked.
"You don't want to meet up with me, and if you do, it'll be for a favour, who do you really want to talk to?" He asked.
"His name is Eric Delco, you probably don't know him, he works at the Miami-Dade crime lab, I need to see him, if possible."
"I'll call him, he is an acquaintance of mine, can I ask why you want to speak with him?"
"Do you have time to talk?" I asked.
"Of course," I've got a few hours,"
I thought back to what Nicole had said earlier that day ...
"Can I look into your future?" she asked, I had learned she truly had the ability of divination, so agreed. "You'll find Nilde's edwin ada soon, you'll discover his true identity as your soul mate," she closed her eyes, "first, you must make amends with your first love, without that, you are doomed to failing in any relationship, even one with your true love. He doesn't have to like you, just let him know, that you care only for your daughter, he's still to be her guardian if something happens to you, right?" Nicole looked at me. "Yes," I replied. "Good, tell him that, tell him you care only that he doesn't hate your daughter for what you did to have her."
I had nodded, I was brought out of my thoughts by my uncle calling my name over the phone, "Sorry, um, I want to talk to him about a mutual friend, would you tell him that for me?"
"I'll do that, can I ask this friend's name?"
"Tim Speedle, Listen, uncle Robert, I'll get you something, to pay for this favour," I told him.
"My wife wants a new wrist watch."
"E-mail me the specs, I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you thank you thank you, from me and my lovely bride."
"Uncle Bob, you're doing something important for me, it's the least I can do."
"I still think this is worth a thank you."
"Alright, your welcome."
Not long later, I hung up, it wasn't till the next day, that I got another phone call, "I set it up for you, Nicky, now all you gotta do is show up,"
"Thanks Uncle Bob, I'll talk to you later, when I got the watch ready for you."
"Righto Nicky, talk to you when that happens, thanks again man."
"No problem," I said, and hung up.
At the Miami airport, I sat at a table, in a restaurant, and was soon approached by a man wearing a suit shirt, and dress pants, "Nick Stokes?" he asked.
"If you're Eric Delko." I told him.
He sat across from me, we ordered from the menu, "Separate bills please," He said.
"No, I got it," I told him, "I did ask you to come here."
"So what did you want to talk to me about?" he asked.
"I don't know if Tim told you about me," I said.
"He did, You had a fight while he was in Vegas."
"We did, did he tell you what it was about?"
"No, why?"
"Because, I want to make amends, but he won't talk to me."
"What do you want?"
"He claims that I wasn't true to myself," I said, sarcastically, "The thing is, some things are more important, I wouldn't even be here, but I want him to know that I don't have anything but respect for him, we both said things that we didn't mean, I want him to know my daughter, or at least know the truth about her, can you help me with that?"
"You sound like H when you do that, I'll help you, because Tim can't stay mad forever, it will destroy him, and he would let it."
"I have three children, two boys and a girl, the boys live with their mother, I'm only a sperm donor for them, but for Nilde, there was more involved, than a donation, I wanted the whole deal to be over with, and I knew the only way that would be possible, was if the mother had a girl, every attempt after included me wishing that it would be a girl. I remember the day of the ultrasound where we were going to find out if it was going to be a boy or a girl, I remember sitting in the chair, next to the exam table, I saw that screen light up, and I watched, as my daughter appeared, I knew before the doctor said anything, that it was going to be a girl, that I would have my daughter, and be done with the charade. There are some things you spend your whole life searching for, for me, that was family, love. It's like, when you're so focussed on a case, on getting the perp, that you start to miss the obvious clues, the signs that are right in front of you, that he's right in front of you and he was the whole time."
"What do you mean?" Erik asked.
"Have you ever gotten a case like that?" I asked.
Erik nodded, "Any case that involves kids, you?"
"Kids, and there was one case that really did, no kids, victim's name was Jane Galloway, she was familiar to me, I stood, I stood there, for ten minutes, just staring at her body, she was stalked, killed, and posed, in highschool, I dated someone, prom night, she got sick, a friend took a picture, of her, hanging over the toilet, just like Jane Galloway was posed, do you know why he killed her, do you know why Jane Galloway was killed?" I asked.
Erik shook his head. "He thought I would like it, he was stalking me, he installed my cable, the signs were there, if I would have just looked around, if I wasn't so self absorbed, I would have seen it, and she never would have been killed, but I was focussed on something else, I could have saved two lives, but I'm self absorbed, and he wanted my attention, that's why he killed her."
"I'm sure that's not it, he would have killed her anyway."
"Some of the things like that, get me thinking, I can't have something happen, and not be prepared, my daughter needs someone, if something happens to me, and I need it to be someone I can trust to raise her right, to protect her, teach her the realities of life, without being cruel, as kids, Tim was always the one getting me into trouble, but he'd always get me out, always protecting me from the bullies, my brother, my sisters, I'm the youngest by a lot and they picked on me, when we were fifteen, he even took a bullet for me, saving my life, I know he'd do the same for my daughter, if he needed to, that's the way he is, he'd take a bullet for someone innocent, someone that needed help he'd do all he could to give it to them, when I was nine, I had actually already figured out that, I'm gay, nine years old, a week after I told Timmy, my parents went out, my sisters all had dates, and my brother he was married by then, couldn't be bothered with me, they got this babysitter, Timmy came to visit me the next day, I was sick, I didn't have to tell him why, he knew, things like that cement it in my mind, the only way my daughter can be happy if something happens to me, is if I make amends with Tim, and since he won't listen to me,"
"You want me to talk to him?"
Cath's POV
Warrick slowly started to look sicker, and sicker, as we sat there, waiting for the bill, and his boxed up food, as soon as I arrived, I put cash on the table, took the food, and helped Warrick up, he leaned heavily on me, groaning in pain occasionally, I didn't know what was wrong, but it was my goal at that point to be sure that he would be ok. At my SUV, Warrick grabbed onto the rear door handle, and crawled into the back seat, he lay across the seat, holding his stomach tightly. I walked around the car, to my door, and got in. "I'm staying at Nick's my dad's sister is at my place," he said, it was almost a groan, I could tell he was in a lot of pain.
At Nick's house, Warrick was barely able to move, I suggested I should bring him to the hospital, and he said, "I go to the hospital for this, they'll be running tests for a week, won't know what's wrong with me, and won't believe me when I tell them, what's the point."
"Alright," I said, and helped him to the house, as soon as we were inside, he pointed to the couch, I put him on the couch, and he curled up in a fetal position. "Is there anything I can get for you?"
Warrick shook his head, I shrugged, and went into the kitchen, opening the fridge I saw what looked like Sara's fridge would probably look like, right before she went shopping. It had fresh fruit and vegetables on the shelves, and I could see some in the drawers, there was no milk, very little orange juice, other juices were non-existent, the lettuce was limp, the carrots looked dry, the oranges and apples were turning colour, and Warrick's leftovers were the only ones in the fridge.
"Not a lot of food in here," I said, opening the freezer, it was full of meat, something I wouldn't find at Sara's Nick had a thing of ice cream, and concentrated orange juice. While I went through Nick's cupboards looking for something to give Warrick, the phone rang, I looked at the caller ID, and didn't recognize it, not that I would answer anyway. The answering machine squawked to life, "Warrick, I'm on my way home, so if you got a girl in my house, I suggest you mover her out of the main areas, I don't want to come home and subject my daughter to seeing something like that. I was doing some thinking over the last couple days, Warrick, you might want to be prepared for your most disliked problem to show up early, if you call into the pharmacy nearest my house, they will fill your prescription for the cheapest price you'll find anywhere, if you could also pick up some formula for Nilde, I would appreciate it, be home in two hours. By the way, Warrick, I'm completely out, so please, I know there was none left at the house either."
I gave the machine a look, before walking back into the living room, "Warrick, where's Nick's medicine cabinet?" I asked the groaning man.
"Kitchen, small top cupboard," he said.
I nodded, and went back in, the cupboard he had been talking about had one shelf, clear to the back of unmarked vials, in different colours, the other shelf had vitamins, I had never pegged Nick for a health food guy, but his entire kitchen seemed to be just that, I moved the vitamin bottles around, and saw a bottle of Tylenol in the back, I pulled it out, and saw that it was expired, three months ago, behind it, I saw the bottle of Vicodin from when he was thrown out of the window, it looked nearly full, I was confused, he looked to have not been in pain for long after that, I had assumed that he had taken the pills. Putting the bottles back in the cupboard, I looked at the vials, there was a list on the door, "Blue- ally1, red-ally2, green-mem, Orange-Warrick, Purple-Colic(not likely)" I laughed for a second.
The list flipped up, there was more writing, "For Warrick, if he forgets to pick up his prescription on time, Mix with OJ concentrate, and 2liters of water, will relieve symptoms, I swear by this stuff, have him sip it slowly. Have fun man, David," there was a number written on the corner of the sheet. I pulled out my cell phone, and dialled.
"David here," the voice was way to chipper for that time of night.
"Hi, My name is Catherine Willows, I work with Nick and Warrick, your number is in Nick's medicine cabinet, Warrick's sick, and can't tell me how to help him, since the number was on a sheet concerning Warrick, maybe you can help."
"I can, if you tell me what seems to be wrong,"
"He's in a lot of pain, that's all I know," I said.
"Is the sheet you found, instructions?"
"Yes."
"Follow them, the Orange vial, in 2liters of OJ made from Concentrate," David hung up.
I shook my head, as I shifted through the vials, I pulled out an orange one, and put it on the counter, I made the juice, and added the vial, stirring it in, as soon as the juice was ready, I poured Warrick a glass, and put the rest in the fridge. I put the glass on the table, "I have to get back to work, Warrick, but there is something here, that Nick had, the note said it was for you, seems everyone knows what's going on but me."
Nick's POV
I got on the plane, for home, with Erik's promise to try to talk to Tim for me, that was the best he could offer, and it was the most I could ask for. On the way home, I thought to call ahead, I knew Warrick was staying there, and cynically I thought that he might have a girl in my spare room. I was falling for him, but I couldn't imagine him liking me as more than a friend. I picked up the phone between the seats, and punched in a calling card number, no one really thought about it, but that was the cheapest way to talk if you needed to make a phone call while on a plane. The machine picked up, "Warrick, I'm on my way home, so if you got a girl in my house, I suggest you move her out of the main areas, I don't want to come home and subject my daughter to seeing something like that..." I kept talking for a bit, before realizing I would be home before Warrick anyway, as it was only about eight at night.
I looked down at Nilde who was sleeping peacefully in the seat next to me, she was already sleeping better than when we had left, and she hadn't reacted when the person behind me had been scared by a flight attendant. I closed my eyes, and fell asleep. "MOMMY!" I heard, and saw the boys sitting on the floor in some basement, the scene played out like a movie in my head, the FBI could soon be heard upstairs, then the door opened, and two came down, carrying rifles, sweeping the room, the shorter of the two handed her gun to the other, as soon as they were sure the room was clear, and picked the boys up, they were crying, and they clung to her, "No signs of the hostages from the grocery store robbery, but the boys from the daycare are down here, we're bringing them up now." the male said into a radio.
I woke up with a start, and looked at Nilde, she was still sleeping, what had woken me up, "Please remain seated until the plane has come to a stop at the gate, and the piolet has turned off the fasten seatbelt sign, thank you for flying with American airlines, have a great stay in Las Vegas."
I picked up the bag, once we were taxiing down the runway to the gate, I was anxious now to be home with my daughter. I waited patiently for someone to let us out, and walked down the aisle as fast as the rest of the people, I got our bags, and went down to the taxis, I got in, and gave the driver my address. I stepped into the house, to see Warrick on the couch, a half glass of Orange Juice on the table, "Warrick, what are you doing, here?" I asked.
"I'm sick, Catherine brought me home," He told me, he had a pained look on his face, he also looked half asleep.
"Oh, is that the stuff in the orange vial?" I asked
"It's not plain orange Juice, Catherine made it, she was going through your medicine cabinet,"
"Probably found the note, is that what it is?" I asked.
Warrick nodded, and took another sip of the juice. "I'm going to put Nilde in her bed, she should sleep for another hour at least," I told him.
"I heard your message, but I haven't been up to leaving the house," Warrick said.
"That's alright, I'll head out, get your prescription filled, get formula," I said.
"Your arm, how is it?" Warrick asked.
"Good, I'll be back in ten or fifteen minutes," I said, I walked up the stairs, I laid her down in the crib.
Warrick waved from the couch, as I left the house I once again saw my neighbour walking down the street, she wasn't someone I normally talked to, but she spoke first, "Hi, Nick Stokes, right?" she asked.
I nodded, "Listen, I'm sorry for calling the cops on you the other day, I don't normally but into other people's lives, but with the baby crying so much, I thought that maybe something had happened to you," she said.
"I'm glad someone was willing to, nothing new wrong, just my daughter wasn't feeling very well," I said.
"I hope they didn't take her," she said.
"Oh, no, her Edwin Ada is home, I'm just running out to get some things," I told her.
"I have to go," she said, as a car turned the corner, she turned around, and ran down the street, like a scared rabbit.
When the car came closer, I saw that the man looked angry, his hand was in the centre console, just before he drove by, he pulled out a pistol, and fired two shots, one hit me in the leg, and I grabbed it, "Bastard," I said, memorizing the licence plate, I looked down, and saw it was just a graze, I turned, and walked back to the house, he had shot at the house right next to mine too, when I stepped in, Warrick had his cell in his hand, "I thought this was a safe neighbourhood," he looked closer at me, and pushed me to sit in the leather chair, his tight voice a testament to the pain he was still in. Taking my first aid kit out, he came back into the room, and cut my pant leg a little more, proof that it was just a graze, but it was still bleeding a lot, and Warrick wrapped a bandage tightly around the wound, then I went to change. When an officer arrived, I gave my statement, then said, "I have to go to the store, my daughter will be waking up soon, and I've been to busy to go shopping."
The officer nodded, and I left the house, walking down the street once again, I looked carefully, I was also now wearing my badge and gun which had previously been sitting in the gun safe. The store clerk gave me a curious look, when I walked in, I dropped off Warrick's prescription, and then walked down the aisles to get the other things I needed, formula, diapers, milk, and any other items I was running short on. I picked up the prescription, and went to the till where I paid for everything. I had four bags, limping back down to my house, when I was nearing my house, I saw a guy wearing a vest processing the yards where the bullets should have landed, I kept walking, myself hating people standing over me when I was trying to process a scene. I stopped at my Tahoe, and pulled my kit out of the back, opening it, and pulling out a large paper bag, and evidence tape. The baggy jeans were hanging on the shower rod, to dry, the blood was nearly dry, when I got home already, and Warrick laughed as I put the bag down. "You're to easily amused when you're sick, Warrick. I had just sealed the evidence bag, when the guy came to the door, "You're the one that was grazed by the bullet?" he asked.
"Yes, I was, here are the jeans I was wearing," I handed him the bag, he looked at it, then at me, "I'm a CSI, I'm off on sick leave right now," I told him, "But old habits are hard to break."
Two weeks later
I went back to work a week after I had planned, because the Nanny hadn't been approved soon enough, with her moved in and settled, and my casts off, Abby had come and gone from my house, and Warrick had never left, except for work, sleeping on the couch, to avoid his family, or whoever it was that had taken over his house. Warrick drove me to work, though I had looked longingly at my bike which sat beside the house. At the lab, Catherine hadn't arrived yet, Warrick had to tear me away from the instructions I was giving the nanny, Tara. While we sat in the break room, Warrick was doing paperwork on the coffee table, I had nothing to do, so I wandered over to the fridge, and opened it. One whiff had me wanting to close it again, but instead I pulled a garbage can over, "Has no one emptied this thing the whole time I was gone?" I asked, pulling out containers, some were empty, that had just been shoved back in, some were full of mouldy food, one container of yogurt in the back had an expiry date for a week before the explosion, I tossed that. "What's this?" Catherine asked from the doorway, as I shut the fridge, which now only had four lunch bags, and some yogurt that was still good. There were some pickles and such in the back too.
"Nick caught a whiff of the fridge," Warrick said without looking up.
"Warrick, I asked you to do that yesterday, when you were sitting here," Catherine said.
"Sorry, I must not have heard you," Warrick said.
"Right, Nick, I've got a DB at the Bellagio for you, if you took your firearms qualification."
"Last week, Warrick babysat, but he wouldn't let me drive today," I said.
"I know, Keys for a county truck, until you're allowed to drive your standard again, and Nick, see if you can get a paint job off the county, something a little lighter, it's not good to be driving a black vehicle at four in the afternoon, it overheats too easily."
I nodded, and Catherine handed me a folder, a set of keys and the case slip. Warrick tossed me his extra keys, at the front desk, I filed the paperwork for the truck, and walked out the door, driving automatic immediately started to frustrate me, I was glad I didn't have a passenger. I parked next to Warrick's Tahoe, and pulled my things out of the backseat, I didn't want to mess up his system, I put a bag down on the floor of the Tahoe so that I wouldn't have to clean it, when I gave it back, at the end of the week, since that was when I was allowed to drive standard again. O'Reilly was on swing again, I found out, as I walked into the lobby, he was waiting for me, "Nick, I haven't seen you in awhile, how's the leg?"
"Good, doc won't let me drive standard yet, I hate automatics, they are way to simple,"
"The county has an automatic?"
"One, figures, so, what do we have?" I asked.
"Maid found them, Male thirty five, single gunshot wound to the temple, Female, twenty-two, two shots to the back." he told me.
Two uniforms stood outside the room, the door was open, with tape across it, I pulled went under the tape, and surveyed the room, the woman was face down on the floor, blood had flowed out beneath her, the man was on the bed, blood had dripped down the side of his face. I stopped moving, in front of the balcony doors, it was only the second floor, if the perp was on this side of the room, as was indicative by the woman facing the door, and shot in the back, The man was tucked in, including both arms, the shot was not self inflicted, he hadn't moved after a shot like that. "What do you see?" O'Reilly asked.
"The perp stood right next to him when he took the first shot, and instead of reaching across to shoot the woman, he walked over here, he was here, when she was shot," I told him.
"You can tell that much already?"
"You're married, right?" I asked.
"I was."
"You don't sleep through someone getting out of bed, you can see where she was cuddled up next to him, she scrambled across the bed to get out, I don't sleep through Warrick getting up for a drink of water down the hall, let alone if someone got out of bed from next to me, he would have to have been killed first, he's still all tucked in."
"I couldn't sleep through my wife getting up in the middle of the night, but he could have been a heavy sleeper."
"Not that heavy, she was shot twice, she would have screamed, when she got hit."
I took pictures of the room, then started processing, "Hotel log says they were to check out in the morning,"
"How long were they here?" I asked.
"A week, from Ohio,"
"Names?"
"Mr. James Smith checked in, with his wife, and three month old daughter, paid cash."
"Three month old, there is no evidence of a child here," I said looking around, I spotted the closet, and pulled it open, laying in a bassinet was a blanket, and a note, I read the Note, "I took my daughter back from some kidnappers, don't come looking for me,"
"Pull the surveillance tapes," I told O'Reilly "we're looking for someone with a baby, or someone overweight."
The coroner took the bodies shortly after I discovered the missing baby, I finished processing the scene, and returned to the lab, with the tapes, and all the evidence I had collected. I set up in the AV lab, after logging in the evidence to be processed, each tech was given some samples to analyse, while I took the remote for the screen I was using, I found the time of the murders, and rewound the tape, from there, not one person entered the room, from the time the couple had walked in the night before, room service had been met at the door, and the first maid had been turned away. I watched again, this time the other way, hoping to spot someone in the hallway, no one went near the door, I played the five hours from the murder to when the bodies were discovered, for someone leaving, and spotted a woman walk out, she looked down the hallway, where there was another camera facing the room. I shuffled through the pile of tapes to find the one from that camera, and fast forwarded it to the right time code, she stepped out of the room, and walked with her head down to the elevator. I played it in real time, she might have looked up once, so I played the section in slow motion several times to freeze the frame in the right place. I worked for the entire shift, without taking a break to eat, Warrick came into the room where I was sorting through evidence, an hour after shift ended, "Time to head home," he told me, pulling on a pair of gloves. Together we packed up the evidence, and I signed it into lockup.
"Sorry I'm running so late, Cath and I were at a triple, we didn't get out there until eight."
"I had a double, and a kidnapping, but I did get a break, the woman looked at the security camera on her way out, carrying the baby, O'Reilly is working on an ID," I said.
We walked into the house, and Warrick went straight to the office which was quickly becoming his room, I wasn't even comfortable going in there anymore. I waited until Warrick's light was off, then made sure the house was closed up, and locked, my eyes glowed for illumination, as I walked into Nilde's room to check on her. She was just waking up, I smiled, and picked her up, I carried her down the stairs, in the kitchen, I warmed up a bottle for her, and sat at the kitchen table where I opened a cookbook, and started to look for meals for the next day. Finding some things that looked good, I memorized the recipes, and put the book away, in its hiding place, Warrick couldn't know all my secrets. Looking down at Nilde, I saw she was almost done the bottle. The second she was finished the bottle, I turned her to rest on my shoulder, and burped her. I brought her up to her room, where I laid her in her crib, she was still awake, and looked up at me. "Good Night my girl," I said, after switching the baby monitor to the channel that the one in my room was on. Walking out of the room, I turned, and allowed my eyes to illuminate the room, and check for any changes in the room, from when I had been in there last. Laying in my bed, I relaxed, and fell asleep. When I woke up, it wasn't light out yet, looking at the clock I saw it was only three thirty, I closed my eyes to see what had woken me up, I sensed movement in Nilde's room, and it wasn't her or Tara. I got out of bed, and took my gun out of the night stand, moving silently out into the hall, I heard more than one person moving in the room, it surprised me to realise that the baby monitor wasn't working in my room. I opened the door slowly, and pointed my gun at the guy closest to Nilde's crib, "move away from my daughter," I told him in my most stern voice. He raised his hands, and took a step back, "Both of you, come this way, move slowly, and keep your hands where I can see them."
As I herded the pair down the stairs to the couch, I banged on Warrick's door. The pair was soon sitting on my couch, and Warrick came down the stairs, "War, I've got some zip ties in one of the drawers, can you get some, and call Brass?"
With one look at the two strange men on my couch, Warrick nodded, and left the room. "If we were in Texas, you'd both be dead, I could have claimed I saw to strange forms hovering over my daughters bed, and that pesky little law sometimes extends to people raised in Texas, in other states, I carry this gun legally," I told him, "You're lucky to be alive."
Once I had tied their hands, behind their backs, put the gun on the side of the arm chair, delving slightly into their minds "Why were you in my daughters room?" I was incredibly angry.
One of the men was scared, the other was calm. "We're not scared of you," he said.
"Your friend would beg to differ, and I mean beg," I told him.
"You really are one of them," the first guy said with awe in his voice.
"Why do you think that?" I asked.
"Only one of them, could read our minds," he said.
The second guy spoke up, "The phoenix is the most powerful of creatures, he must not raise his own children, if he has any, just as the powerless must not raise them, less they feel either inadequate, or out of place."
"You should feel both inadequate, and out of place in my home, if I'm as powerful as you think I am, why would I not notice you breaking into my house, and taking my daughter?"
"You were supposed to be at work, you were supposed to start back at work tonight."
There was a knock at the door, Warrick went to answer it, "He's got the guys in the living room," Warrick said, and he came into the room, followed by Brass.
"Hey, Warrick, will you check on Nilde, their entrance was through the window, and I didn't get a chance to close it, I don't want it cooling off to much in there, her temp has been low lately, and I don't want her getting sick."
Warrick nodded, and went up the stairs. "So, Warrick has been helping you?" Brass asked.
"My job pays good, but I can't afford the price of bribing companies to get a nanny within two days, I needed help, Warrick offered, these men however did not help," I said, then picked up my gun, "SIT DOWN."
"You must have pretty good hearing," Brass said,
"That makes up for some other things I'm not good at."
"Like what, you're the Phoenix," number two said.
"I don't even know you," I turned to him.
"You don't know me, but you know my brother, he's been helping your family for most of his life, to hide any little problems, I was trying to take care of your little problems."
"You took Ninye's boys," I said.
"I took them for you, they shouldn't be raised by those without talent," number two started to stand up again.
"SIT" I had lowered my gun, and he took the opportunity to stand up.
"I'm protecting your children," he said.
"If you believe what you say, why didn't you check if they were mine before you took them, I claimed them, yes, but that was to protect the one who really did father those children, only Nilde is mine, I just take care of my family, and my family does not have the talents you claim I have," I told them.
Warrick came downstairs, "She started crying, when you started yelling," he was carrying Nilde, I relaxed immediately, and put the gun on the table behind me, reaching out for my daughter. As soon as Nilde was in my arms the tension melted from my muscles, and I forgot my problems.
I settled into the overstuffed arm chair, Warrick helped Brass bring the pair out to his car, "He'll have the paperwork ready for us when we go in for work tomorrow."
Warrick's POV
Nick nodded, but didn't move, "Come on Nick, we should get some sleep," I reached out to him.
Nick seemed to be in some sort of daze, as I helped him out of the chair, wrapping my arms around him, matching his posture, as I helped him up the stairs, at the top of the stairs, I stopped him in his tracks, "She's asleep, let's put her in her own bed," I said.
Nick wouldn't let go of his daughter, so I helped him to his room, where I settled him into his bed, "Don't go," Nick grabbed onto my arm, "Don't leave us."
I reached over, and turned out the light, the hall light, and the living room lights were still on, the doors were locked, but the security system wasn't set, and Nick's gun was still on the end table. I went to the bed, and crawled in on the side opposite Nick, then pulled him to my chest, we soon looked like a proper family, albeit the female was in the wrong place. Nick snuggled into me, and wouldn't let me move.
I settled against the headboard, and looked down at Nick, Nilde was sound asleep in his arm, and he was staring into space, though the wall was between, true space and us.
"Have you ever flown, gotten away from everything, from their eyes?" Nick asked as I was just about asleep.
"No, I'm not particularly fond of heights," I told him.
"We have to go flying together, I've just got a new rig, it's particularly good, because, you can go up with a partner, will you come flying with me?" he asked.
"I'm not particularly fond of heights, Nick."
"Come on, it will be fun," He told me.
"Alright, all right," I said, running my hand through my hair, "We can go on our next day off."
"How about in the morning?" Nick asked.
"Nick, what if we end up with a long walk back?" I asked.
"We can bring my truck, up, then we can walk to the nearest town, I've got GPS, I'll have my cell, if we're going to be late, I'll call us a cab."
"You'll call a cab, to the middle of nowhere?" I asked.
"Why not?" he asked.
"Besides the fact that any cab company would find us insane for calling a cab to a location using GPS information.
Omniscient POV
The movement of the pair was reminiscent of a family together, for a long time, but they also had a hesitancy between them, that indicated they weren't quite sure where they stood with each other. The pair soon fell asleep. Morning came, and someone woke up in another room, she walked down the stairs, and into the living room. She turned from the living room, and ran back up the stairs, throwing open the bedroom door, "What is a gun doing sitting in the middle of the living room?" she yelled.
Warrick was startled, and jumped from the bed, Nick however, barely moved.
"What is a gun..."
"Doing in the middle of the living room? There was a break in last night, it affected Nick pretty badly, I never got around to cleaning up," Warrick told her.
"Well, I'm not touching that thing," she said.
"You don't have to, Tara, just stay in the hall, make sure, if Nilde wakes up, you get to her before Nick wakes up, and if Nick wakes up first, he knows I'm still here," Warrick headed down the stairs.
Warrick picked up the gun, and checked it, he hadn't had a chance to really do that before taking Nick up the stairs. Not surprisingly, the gun was clean, cleaner than he expected, even from Nick. "Failed your fire arm qualification my ass, missed it, is more like it," he said to himself as he pushed the clip back into the gun. Tara stepped away from Warrick, when he got to the top of the stairs.
"How do you carry that so casually?" she asked him.
"It's part of the job, we just get used to it, Nick carries his like his kit at times, doesn't even notice it."
Warrick went back into Nick's bedroom, and opened the bedside drawer, putting the gun in. Warrick shut the drawer, and reached down to pick Nilde up, Nick woke slightly when his daughter's weight was no longer in his arms, "It's okay, Nicky, just letting you get some extra sleep," Warrick said softly.
Leaving the room, Tara offered to take Nilde from Warrick, "No, it's quite alright, I've got her." Warrick said.
"I have a feeling this is going to be the easiest job I will ever have," Tara said following Warrick down the stairs.
"Why's that?" he asked.
"Between you and Nick, I've spent nine hours here alone, with Nilde, I've spent more time here alone, than with her, you two take care of her as much as you possibly can," Tara said, "Not that it's a bad thing, I hear of some families where the kid is passed from one Nanny to the other, day to night, the parents have very little contact with their kids, I can't understand that,"
"Neither can I, nor can I understand people who can spend months with their children, then without a thought, give them up, but there is one case of that which I am thankful for, you never knew Nicky before he had his daughter, he was jumpy, the slightest thing, he'd do some things no one could explain, now he does things no one can explain, but it's not so bad, cuz he's got his reasons now."
"Explain the gun, please?" Tara asked.
"In our line of work, it is suggested we carry a gun, Nick, though he never admits it, is a nearly perfect shot, when he wants to be, he either missed his last firearms test, or miscalculated mine, causing him to fail, my guess, is he missed, and cashed in a favour or two to reschedule, without him losing face, for missing, just failing, no big deal, I'm the only one who he's ever shot with, and I've only seen him miss his shot with a pistol ten times, in six years, as far as I know, it was on purpose, to make me look better."
Warrick moved around the kitchen with ease, "You're comfortable in most any situation, aren't you?" she said.
"Unless it involves the big boss men, yeah, I guess I am."
"Big boss men?"
"God, mainly, but the Mayor, the Sheriff, the director at the lab, and the assistant director at the lab, are fairly uncomfortable people to be around."
"You're a strange man, Warrick Brown, a strange man," Tara shook her head.
"I aim to please," Warrick inclined his head, then took the bottle out of the microwave, testing it against his wrist before giving it to Nilde.
Warrick had relaxed to the feel of his friend's daughter in his arms, the gentle sounds of her breathing, and eating, and the noises from the kitchen, as Tara moved around, making breakfast for herself. The doorbell startled Warrick out of whatever thoughts ran through his head, and he made a move to get up, "Don't, I've got it," Tara said, passing through the room.
The door was opened to a young officer, "Is Warrick Brown here?" he asked.
Warrick got to his feet, as Tara stepped aside, "Shut the door, officer, we don't want to be cooling the entire desert."
Warrick's POV
"Sir, I got this address from your grandmother, it seems no one in your neighbourhood knows where you've been in the last couple weeks."
"I don't believe I've been home more than two minutes in the last three weeks, I've been helping a friend with some things, can I ask what the problem is?"
"Yes, you're the Registered owner of a house where five people were killed yesterday,"
"Metro lab's been real busy lately so it got sent to the other lab, or it wouldn't have taken so long to find me," I replied.
"How do you know Metro lab's been busy?"
"That's where I work, yes, I own a house, no I haven't been there lately, no I'm not renting it out, though I was just about to tell my family I'd be charging them rent as of the first of the month,"
"You'll need to come down, to identify the bodies," the officer said.
"Call my father," I told the officer, "He'll go down,"
"The detective will want to ask you some questions."
"Right, I'm here until further notice, so he can come by," I said.
"Why won't you come down to the station?"
"There was a break-in here last night, the home owner is spooked, I'm not leaving right now,"
"Spooked?"
"Scared, out of his wits," I told him, "It's not the first break-in and he's uncomfortable."
It was less than an hour later, that the doorbell rang again, Nick could be heard moving around upstairs, "Can I help you?" I asked, when Tara let a detective into the front porch, I was in the middle of changing Nilde, and barely glanced up at him.
"I would like to know about your house, and the family who were living there. "My aunt, her husband, and three kids, ten, twelve, and fourteen," I said, after thinking for a second.
"How long have they been there?" he asked.
"A month, a month and a half," I shrugged, then looked at Tara, "You've been here two weeks right?"
She nodded, and I turned to the detective, "Yeah, a month and a half, I've not spoken to either my aunt or her husband, for a month, the kids, I saw them," I exhaled thinking, "probably two weeks ago, when I moved out."
"So you lived there for two weeks without seeing either of the adults?"
"I worked nights at the time, I slept while they were home, when I was up, they were at work," I said.
"And the kids, you babysat, I assume?"
"They were at school, but I did try to spend some time with them, their parents spent more time trying to ignore them, then with them, I was helping them with their homework on a regular basis."
Nick's POV
I got out of bed, and heard Warrick's voice in the livingroom, talking about his family, he wasn't moving, but someone else was moving around, a male voice came from the same area, but it moved back and forth around the room, whoever it was, was pacing. I took my gun from the bedside drawer, silently thanking Warrick for putting it back, when he got up. I moved slowly out of the room, and down the stairs, the man paced in front of Where Warrick sat on the couch, holding Nilde, Tara was at the diningroom table, the man turned to me, and put his arms up, "Sir, it's ok, I'm a detective, with Las Vegas police department,"
Warrick turned to me, and said, "He is, Nick, you can lower your gun."
I lowered my gun to my side, "Sorry detective."
"He's jumpy, we had a break-in here last night," Warrick said.
"They tried to take my daughter," I said, moving to the couch. Warrick took the gun from me, gently, and put it on the end table, before letting me take Nilde. I settled onto the couch next to Warrick, who continued to talk to the detective. After awhile, the detective thanked Warrick and left.
