Note: Thank you to everyone for reading so far. I hope you're enjoying the case. But there's much more to go so sit tight and we'll keep rolling.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything relating to CSI or it's affiliates. I am merely a fan whose would like to take already established characters into a story of my own rendering.

Burn

Chapter 7

Gilbert Grissom was not a man who was untrustworthy. He was an outstanding entomologists, teacher, friend, and CSI. He was looked up to by most of the Las Vegas Crime Lab as a man they knew they could trust in whatever he said. He had earned the respect of everyone he'd met, including Conrad Ecklie, despite their differences. His confidence in what he did and said were admired and saw as fact. If he wasn't completely confident in what he was thinking, he wouldn't say it.

Unfortunately, Grissom often only found himself confident in science. So as far as anything else went, he tended to just ignore the situation and allow for things to just blow over until they were completely forgotten.

But sometimes things that blow over blow back again.

Today, Grissom was faced with a situation that had blow back in his face and was starting to smother him. Two situations, in fact. They were completely different, yet exactly the same. Two women that had nothing in common except the admiration of one man. And he was having problems with both.

Sara, being the first woman and problem, was thought to have been dealt with. But lately, Grissom felt that she had moved on from him. Whenever he saw her flirting with Greg or Nick, it killed a small part of him that still had hope. She was a ray of sunshine in his clouded life and whenever she smiled at him, it was all he needed to fight off his need to be with her.

But recently, she's moved on. She didn't smile at him as much and she didn't work as much overtime either. She seemed happier and more confident in herself. It was wonderful for her but his guilty pleasure had always been to support her and she was needing that less and less.

But, as always, he would let the feelings blow over until next time. He couldn't react to them or he might just lose everything he'd worked for professionally. Not only would that ruin his career, but anything he might have started with Sara would be ruined as well. She would feel responsible and leave. He'd rather just suppress his feelings and face the other woman.

Lady Heather.

Of all the people in Las Vegas, he had hoped to never run into her again. They'd had a small fling and he'd moved past Sara for a while. Until he had Heather arrested for murder. She said she forgave him but because she had been a suspect, he separated himself from her just as he had done to Sara.

No one, save Jim Brass, knew what he'd done. If word got out then he could be fired Sleeping with a suspect ruins everything. A relationship with Sara would be easier.

But now Lady Heather was a name he needed to investigate. But it was just a research visit this time. Lady Heather ran the most popular fetish club in the Las Vegas area and she may know names or other clubs he could investigate.

Sitting at his desk, he held a worn business card in his hand. Lady Heather's Domain it read. She'd given it to him the first time they'd met and he'd kept it in his wallet since. Even though the leather of his wallet had faded the words and worn the paper, he could still smell her perfume. It was intoxicating.

Grissom was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice a bulky figure standing at his office door. "Hey Gil, we got Mary Hawthorne and Jeremy Hawthorne here. You wanna observe while we interrogate?"

Startled, Grissom jumped slightly, causing his knee to hit the bottom of his desk. "Ow! What?"

Brass smirked, "Sorry, Gil. I forgot that you get lost in your own world sometimes. I said we've got Mary and Jeremy Hawthorne here in separate room and I'd like to know if you wanna observe so we can talk to them already."

Still regaining his composure, Grissom rubbed his leg and looked at his friend, "Ah no, I've got to go talk to someone about the case."

"Anyone I know?" Brass looked at the business card and had a suspicion of who's name was on it. "Or would you like me to continue to keep our little secret."

"Jim!" Grissom said, startled, "Not so loud. Get in here." Grissom stood up and ushered Brass inside the office and shut the door behind him. "You know that whatever happened could kill my career. You promised."

"I know, Gil. I'm sorry." Brass replied. His amused look turned to one of concern, "So, are you going to talk to her?"

Gil looked away and turned back towards his desk, "Yeah, I've got to. She might know something or someone. And I need to be the one who talks to her. She still trusts me and she might help us get a break."

"You're right. This could be a fetish game gone bad. It would explain why the victims weren't tied up." Brass said nodding his head. "Well, I'm going to question Mary first. Ask if she's got a brother."

"Good." Gil replied, "But make sure you get details about where she's been in the last few weeks. She might be our only real lead. And see if we can get both of them to provide DNA for comparison purposes only. Tell Warrick and Sophia, I'm assuming they'll be there too."

"Yeah, they're both already there. Sophia's with Mary and Warrick's with Jeremy. Catherine got the warrant for Mary's house so she's waiting to see what you want to do."

"OK, tell here to go there and look at everything. I'm going to see an old friend." Grissom said. Brass put a hand on Grissom's shoulder and smiled briefly and the turned, opened the door and walked out of the office.

Grissom turned and picked up the business card from his desk and walked out as well.

The rain wasn't helping Grissom's mood as he pulled up to Lady Heather's club. After parking the SUV, he quickly exited the vehicle and ran up to the front door where a small overhand help to keep the rain off while he knocked on the door and waited for a reply.

He didn't have to wait long. The giant oak door opened and Lady Heather herself appeared in a red sheer top and black shirt with a slit all the way up her left thigh. She didn't seemed surprised to see him. "It's been a long time, Gil. I was wondering when you were going to show up." She was shouting a little due to the force of the rain.

Grissom was starting to get cold, "May I come in?" He too was shouting just enough to be heard. Lady Heather smiled and ushered him inside where he quickly felt warmer and drier. Heather turned to him after shutting the door and looked him up and down.

"You've lost weight." She said with a look in her eye that Grissom couldn't read.

But he forgot about that and smiled, "You haven't changed at all. You're still just a beautiful as the last time I saw you."

"Was that before or after you had me arrested for murder." Gil didn't respond. Heather motioned to take his jacket and Grissom offered it to her. He watched as she hung it up on an ornate coat rack. "I'm afraid I don't have my fine china I usually reserve for your visits out today. Would coffee suffice?"

"Thank you." He allowed himself to be ushered through several halls where he heard moans ans screams. "Slow night?"

Heather allowed herself to smile slightly, "The rain seems to have kept a few of my regulars home tonight. Perhaps they'll fantasize with their wives instead."

"Or maybe they'll plot murder." Grissom responded. Lady Heather continued to walk and didn't respond. She walked into a small room that Grissom had been in once before. It was Heather's private bedroom. It was also the quietest place in the building. Gil sat in a comfortable chair while Heather left the room momentarily. She returned holding two mugs that smelled of coffee.

"I hope you like it." Heather handing the mug to Grissom and then sitting in a chair that cornered his own. "So you want to know about the girls who died."

"They were burned with cigarettes. All over the body then forced to swallow them still lit." Aside from the girls' deaths being reported on the news, the cause of death had been withheld to prevent and copycats from killing and making the investigation even harder.

Lady Heather nodded, "And you want to know which of my clients likes that sort of thing?"

"Yes. We don't have any suspects and we're not going on much. Any help would be appreciated."

Heather looked in Grissom's eyes. "I'll be more than happy to help as long as you have a warrant. My client lists are confidential and I refuse to disclose anyone who wants their privacy."

"I understand." Grissom felt defeated. "I don't know if I can get a warrant."

Lady Heather nodded, "Then I can't help you."

Putting his empty mug down, Grissom got up out of his chair. "I'd love to stay and talk. About everything. But I have to catch this guy before he kills again."

"I know." Heather too got up and walked towards Grissom, who was now feeling even more nervous than he had when she first opened the door to him. He hated being nervous. Heather eased his nerves when she slid her hand down his whiskered cheek. "The beard suits you. Keep it."

"I will." Grissom's eyes met her's and for a moment he wanted to just forget about the case ans stay, but he regained his composure and started for the door. "Goodnight."

Lady Heather didn't turn around as he walked out the door. "I'm not angry, you know." Grissom stopped and turned to face her back. "Please come back sometime. We'll talk."

Without saying another word, Grissom stood there for a moment, then turned and walked out of the room and let himself out of the house. It was still raining and he ran to his SUV and quickly let himself in. Trying to get his thoughts of Heather away, he regained his composure and started the engine and pulled out of the driveway and headed for Mary Hawthrone's house.

Driving in silence for a while, Grissom pulled out his cell phone and dialed Catherine's number. "Hey Catherine. Are you still at Mary Hawthorne's house?"

"Yeah." Catherine said as she looked through an address book. "Where are you?"

"I'm on my way there. Have you found anything relevant yet?"

"Only this address book. But Sara's been looking over the one from Jenna Rhimes so I'll have to give it to her to see if anything matches. Other than that, I really haven't done much. I just got here."

"Good. I'll be there in a few minutes."

"OK. Be careful."

"I will." Grissom ended the call and dialed another number. This time to Nick. He didn't want to talk to Sara right now. "Hey Nick, how's the evidence coming?"

Nick mouthed Grissom to Sara before replying, "Not much to go on. DNA still hasn't come back yet but Greg said that he and Mia ought to have a report an about an hour. I'll call you then."

"OK, did we get anything else? What about the candle?"

"Sara's running the fingerprint now. No matches so far, but we're still working."

"OK, finish up that evidence. I'm going to meet Catherine at Mary Hawthrone's house and we'll be coming back with a few things, including an address book. Make sure Sara goes back over the other one before then."

"OK boss. Will do."

Again, Grissom ended the call and made a third. This time to Warrick. "Warrick? I didn't interrupt anything have I?"

"No man, we're just getting started with Mary. We had a delay. She refused to talk without a lawyer. She wanted to make sure that if she has to testify in court she has everything starlight with a lawyer first before she says anything."

"That's fine. Just make sure you pound the names of the two victims in her head. And find out if Jeremy Hawthrone is her brother. And also try to get a voluntary DNA sample. Tell we're at her house now and we'll need a comparison to see if the killer's been there."

"Got it. Anything else?"

"Not right now but call me before you talk to Jeremy."

"OK. See ya later."

"Thanks." Grissom ended the last call and feeling satisfied, drove up to Mary Hawthrone's house.