Greg was wishing someone had warned him how small the interview could feel as he made his way to the chair next to Jim. Carrey was already seated next to his lawyer.
"What do you have that's so important that you bring my client out at this late hour?" The lawyer questioned. He seemed more sure of himself this time. Jim wondered if it was the absence of Warrick that gave the kid some backbone. Greg was clearly one of the brightest CSI rookies they'd hired in years. Jim Brass would know, being that he was once the leader of this rag-tag crew. The ex-lab rat may be bright, but he was still wet behind the ears as far as Brass could tell.
Greg was nervous. He looked at the man he was to interview and swallowed roughly. As he stared at the man, he was surprised when he actually felt a surge of hate run through him. This man had hurt Gemma and that was unforgivable. Long before he became a CSI, the team had taken him in as a friend. Now, the CSI's were his family. That made Gemma part of his family.
Thinking about what this man had done to Warrick's family, Greg lost the sensation of fear. He was angry. He couldn't physically attack the man like Warrick had, but he could us his wits against him. He was determined to get this guy to tell him something. He glared at the man, Carrrey glared back.
"We have evidence that your client had contacted Jillian Holcomb before the kidnapping. After the kidnapping, he attacks the family of one of the investigating officers. Gave the message to his attack victim to have the investigator back off the case. We're here to hear his reasoning for this." Brass smiled benignly at the lawyer.
The lawyer looked at Carrey expectantly. Carrey said nothing, he simply glared at Jim and Greg.
"We've got the evidence." Greg pulled out his printouts. "You called Jillian Holcomb twice back in November, wanna tell us why?"
"Wrong number?" Carrey smirked.
"No." Greg disagreed. "A wrong number lasts thirty to forty-five seconds max. You talked for over two minutes, then you called back twelve hours later. Care to explain that for real? She telling you when and where to nab her kids?"
"I didn't have anything to those kids! I had nothing to do with the kidnapping!" Carrey hollered, slamming his cuffed hands onto the table.
"If you weren't the one to kidnap the Holcomb girls, then why would you attack Gemma Brown?" Greg taunted with a sneer. "We've already proven you've attacker her…let's hear why. Did you get paid to attack her or did you just do it because you're too stupid to know better."
In the observation room, Gil grimaced as he grew nervous. "Shut up Greg!" He muttered to himself.
"No. He's doing a great job." Catherine disagreed. "Look at how Carrey is reacting. Greg has him flustered."
"I mean….what exactly was the purpose for the attack, if not for money?" Greg continued to taunt. "You get off on beating pregnant women half to death? "
"She paid me!" Carrey snarled, leaning forward across the table as far as the shackles would let him. "She paid me five thousand bucks!"
"Who?" Jim demanded.
"I think this interview is over." The lawyer stuttered nervously.
"Five thousand dollars to beat up a woman? Did it make you feel like a man?" Greg continued as if the lawyer hadn't spoke. "Is that the only way you can feel powerful?"
"No. I needed the dough."
"Sounds reasonable." Greg looked as if he was considering it. "So who is this person that hired you to beat the woman?"
"The Holcomb woman."
"Jillian Holcomb hired you to beat Gemma Brown?" Greg questioned.
"Yeah, wanted me to put the hurt on one of the CSI's, she'd looked it up, Brown was the only one that could be hurt. She wanted his woman hurt, to get his attention." Carrey explained.
"He's good." Gil smiled, his Grissom smile, proud of the young CSI. "He worked the scumbag over perfectly."
"So, will you let him do the interview with Holcomb?" Catherine questioned, smiling playfully.
"He can sit in." Gil smirked. "He doesn't get to take all the credit for this."
Warrick sat around the break room table with Nick, Sara and Lucy Malone. He'd just met the woman, but he liked her. She had a sharp tongue when it came to Nick and a wry sense of humor.
She patiently described the building she'd seen in her vision again and again even as Nick complained and whined about the futility of the project. Sara ignored the both except for an occasional reminder that they were working.
"When this is all over." Warrick told her. "I'd like for you to meet my wife."
"Oh Geez!" Nick muttered loud enough that Lucy heard him.
"Stuff a sock in it Stokes." She growled before turning her attention to Warrick. "I'd really like that Warrick. I'm really sorry….that I wasn't able to warn you about the attack in time. Sometimes…..the things I'm told….are kind of in code. The images I saw……were scrambled."
"What did you see?" Warrick questioned, his big green eyes liquid with emotion.
"I saw you…..a silhouette of you……tall and dark." Lucy tried to explain the images that had been put into her head. "Your hands…….your finger with the wedding band. Tears falling onto the band. The monitor of a heart beat…..blood."
"And you got….that my wife was being beaten from that?" Warrick questioned, swallowing roughly as he thought of the images she described.
"Later, as I was talking to Stokes, the images came again, but this time……someone whispered to me that you were his friend. Debra told me that she would take care of your baby." Lucy had tears in her eyes as she watched Warrick rise from his seat and pace over to the doorway. He stood there, staring out into the empty hall as he tried to control his emotions.
His voice was rough with emotion as he asked. "Was that it? Did you see or hear anything else?"
"Lucy-" Nick growled in warning. She looked to Sara for help, but found the woman battling tears of her own.
"Lucy?"
"Debra told me that you would soon have another child." Lucy sighed.
Warrick nodded as if accepting the idea. "We won't let this take us down. I've lived a long time looking for the happiness I've got with Gemma. He turned, quickly wiping a tear from his cheek. "I've lived my whole life with just Grams for family. I can be happy with having my wife and our one child. I don't have to have a son or anything. My three ladies are all I need. They're everything I need."
Lucy heard a whisper in her ear, but ignored it. Warrick didn't need anymore confusion in his life right now. The changes that would appear in his family life could wait until later. Save the new confusion for when it came naturally. Turning back to Sara, she caught Nick studying her as if he could read her mind and could tell that she was hiding something from Warrick.
She frowned at him as another whisper came to her. She mentally shook it off, unable to accept it. An image of Nick holding a little girl swam before her eyes. It wasn't just any little girl. He was holding Kelly Holcomb and they were sitting in her living room. The cozy scene unnerved her and she glared at Nick as if it were his fault.
Nick read her expression and rolled his eyes. "Could you please leave Warrick alone. Go do your hocus-pocus act at the circus."
"Stokes……bite me." Lucy rolled her eyes. Sara chuckled, trying to disguise it in a discreet cough. Warrick on the other hand, hooted with laughter.
