A/N I'm overwhelmed by all your kind reviews, thanks so much. I also appreciate you pointing out minor errors or inconsistencies in the story – thanks a lot! I think you'll find today's chapter very interesting.
Chapter 6
It was early, only 10 am. Usually Catherine was asleep by now. Yet as usual, her schedule was all messed. While she'd been looking forward to catching up on her rest before her evening shift, Brass called. They'd located Grissom's Denali.
As she sped over to the location, Nick called to update her about the case. It seemed that everyone was working overtime on this one. Unfortunately, Sara was still unconscious, but stable. Currently Warrick and Nick were analyzing their findings from the search of Marcus Hayes' Ford Sonoma. They'd discovered an unregistered handgun, a felony for an ex-con. He also was the proud owner of a fiercely loyal German Shepard. But even more interesting, they'd found evidence of human blood, and they were able to obtain sufficient amounts for DNA analysis.
He told her about the fingerprint match, and the motor oil that conclusively linked the blanket and the duct tape roll, which led them to the suspect. Hopefully they'd get some answers soon.
Hayes, Marcus Hayes that sounds familiar.
But she couldn't jog her memory. She was anxious to see what the guys uncovered.
A sense of urgency drove her, as she pressed down harder on the accelerator. She could've let the uniformed policeman check out the scene. Yet, if she was in error, she alone wanted to take full responsibility.
As she approached the elaborate house corresponding to the address that she'd been given, she felt a chill go through her entire body.
Please, I don't want to be right. But I don't think he's here.
She got out to meet with the detective, who escorted her into the house. These people were very well off. Objects d'art and antiques crowded the living room. Presumably the owners greeted them and lead them to a much less formal family room where two anxious teenaged boys waited. One swallowed nervously and the other looked like he was going to pass out.
Upon seeing the detective and Catherine, one blurted out, "We didn't mean to cause any trouble."
One of the parents gave a stern look. "Listen to the detective and tell them what they need to know."
"I don't want to go to jail," the other shaggy haired boy cried.
Catherine took charge of the scene. "Bill?" she asked the detective, "Could you possibly interview the parents in another room?" She felt that it might be easier to get information from the boys that way. When the parents reluctantly left with the detective, Catherine sat down by the boys.
"Okay, what's the story? Tell it right the first time and maybe you won't get in trouble."
"You'd fix things with our parents?" The older boy with shorter hair was astounded.
She laughed, "I don't have that kind of power. I meant the police. Tell me how you got the vehicle."
The younger one nodded to the older one to tell the story. He was nervous too.
"Well, there was this really cool movie out Tuesday night so we went to see it. And we met these two older girls there who were really into it too."
He sounded so surprised, this must not happen much for them. Catherine wasn't stunned, for neither of the two lanky boys struck her as potential ladies' men.
He continued, "Anyway, after the movie, the girls followed us out of the theater. We didn't want to seem like a bunch of babies calling mommy for a ride home, so we started walking together. We crossed the street to the convenience store where the girls bought cigarettes. Mark and I waited in the parking lot. Then Mark noticed that SUV had the keys on the driver's seat, so we….you know…"
"Trying to impress your dates?"
"You know what it's like. You got wheels, you're somebody," he pitifully explained.
"Why didn't you drive your own car to the movies?" Catherine wondered, certain that his wealthy parents had bought him one.
With a sheepish expression, he relayed, "My mom took away my keys until I improve my calculus grade."
"So you went for a little joy ride. Then what did you do?"
"Well, once the girls realized that we had wheels, they went back into the store and managed to get some beer. Guess they had fake IDs or something. Anyway, we drove to a spot down the road off highway 10 to party for a few hours. After we dropped the girls off, we parked the SUV out back in the barn so mom and dad wouldn't see it."
"I take it, they found it."
They nodded, with grim expressions.
"What else did you find in the vehicle?" Catherine pressed.
"I don't remember. There might've been some stuff on the passenger's seat but I just shoved it out of the way. We weren't really going to steal the car, just borrow it for a while," he stammered, trying to get out of trouble.
"Yeah, but it's tricky to return it, huh?" Catherine grinned, pretending to be sympathetic to their plight.
"That's right," he agreed.
After the interview was completed, Catherine was shown the way to the barn to examine Grissom's SUV. Upon opening the passenger side door, several empty beer bottles tumbled out. She coughed; it reeked of stale beer and cigarette smoke. Then she sighed, thinking of the potentially compromised evidence.
Where was Grissom's stuff?
She thought a moment. If she were one of those kids, she wouldn't care about his things; she'd stash them in the trunk, just to get them out of the way. She walked to the rear of the vehicle to carefully unlatch the hatch.
Bingo. Everything she needed to see was before her eyes. A lump caught in her throat as her cell phone rang.
"Willows," she coughed as she answered automatically.
"Cath, it's Nick. Grissom's in trouble."
She was stunned. "I'm starring at the evidence right now. How did you know?"
"We positively identified his blood in the back of Marcus Hayes' Ford Sonoma."
TBC