Title: Goodbye, Mr. Grissom - Chapter 4
Disclaimer: These guys don't belong to me. "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" is performed by Green Day.
Spoilers: None.
"Greg, are you okay to be here?" Catherine asked as various members of the team began filing into the break room. Thinking he was too young and already upset, she hadn't paged him. Although she was pleased that he had the guts to come anyway, she wondered how he found out.
"Yes. I want to be doing something to help. Please?"
"Alright, but you stick with me unless I assign you otherwise."
"Fine." He met her worried eyes with a steady gaze, determined to prove himself worthy.
"I'm glad." She said it softly, a moment later, but it was acknowledgement enough for him.
"Okay, here's what I know." Catherine succinctly informed the group of her findings. She summarized with "I believe this is an abduction and Gil is probably still alive. I don't have to tell you that the first twenty-four hours are crucial. We are at 9 AM, eight hours down and counting."
"If someone wanted him dead, why go to all this trouble? Why not, just kill him?" Nick asked.
"I don't know. There must be a reason. All I can think is, they're either trying to coerce him or….…" She paused because uttering her worst fears aloud might make them come true. Realizing that the group was waiting for her to finish, she lamely added. "God, only knows."
"What do you want us to do?" Warrick inquired, hoping to prod her toward assignments. He was anxious to get started.
"Sara, what did you find?"
"I lifted a number of prints from the door and file cabinet. Most of them should belong to city employees who had a valid reason for being in there. We're at a standstill for any unknowns until we find out the status of AFIS. Also, Jim has custody of Grissom's file until we get a release from Atwater to work on it."
"Okay, in the meantime, I'd like for you and Warrick, to go over the evidence the Dayshift team collected. Atwater told them it's our case now and Ecklie is out of town for the weekend. Monday is a holiday so, I expect, there won't be any argument until Tuesday. If this lasts until then, it probably won't matter anyway." She took a deep breath, hating how callous she sounded. "Then, I want you two to go back over the scene and make sure they didn't miss anything."
"What if the Dayshift guys want to help?"
"No, I only want people I know I can trust on this." For the first time, Brass noted who was missing from the Graveyard shift – Hodges, Mia and Sophia.
"Jim, how long will it be before we get that release?" Catherine changed gears.
"Should be any time. After I can legally turn this over to you, I plan to find out who has access to the vault and who's been in there recently. I think one of the surveillance cameras of the front lobby has a view of the vault door. Maybe we can match the footage up to the entrance log and find someone who doesn't belong there or didn't log in."
"Great! Archie the video is all yours. Bobby, Doc Robbins should have recovered shot from the autopsy. See what you can do with it."
"I'll get it and any recovered from the scene."
"Good. As for everyone else, we do have avenues to explore: current cases, old cases; and yes, I realize how many there are, the fingerprints I lifted from his jacket, the ones Sara lifted and the ones from our 'John Doe' in the morgue. Hopefully, we'll have more from his file once it has been released. Right now, all we can do is try to manually match the prints until Tomas figures out how and the extent to which AFIS was corrupted. Nick, I want you to work his current case files and the rest of us are gonna pour over the old ones. We'll start with anyone convicted of a violent crime who was released within the past year then move backward."
---------------------------------------
Nick Stokes stood in the threshold of Grissom's office. It was difficult to enter, there were so many memories floating around in it. Like the others, he clung to the hope that there would be more to come. Squaring his shoulders, he took the most difficult step of all, the first one.
Entering Grissom's sanctuary, Nick couldn't help remember Catherine shoving him out of the way and storming down the hall. All he could manage at the time was to ask "How?"
"Preps came back. Grissom was in the alley and they shot him." Warrick replied. It hadn't occurred to him that Warrick had spared him the grisly details. Later, when he found out they had blown Grissom's head off with a shotgun, he had to sit down for a few minutes.
"Gotta do something." He had muttered after spending an indeterminate amount of time leaning against the doorframe. Looking down, he realized he was still clutching the box of evidence he had carried into the building. Eyes dropping to the box on the floor, he started to sit his box down, intending to stack them when Warrick stood and picked up Catherine's box.
"Gris would be pissed at us for not taking care of the evidence. I'll help you log it in." Warrick grimaced in something resembling a smile.
"Yeah, he would."
The minutes ticked off as he went through the files, notes and general detritus of Gil Grissom's messy desk. He went through everything, pausing at the Christmas card from Catherine with a five by seven Glamour shot of her and Lindsey enclosed. It was a good picture, taken during a time when she'd had plenty of rest, or maybe, it was merely carefully applied make up and a bit of airbrushing. Regardless, the picture presented a happy mother and daughter on a carefree day, something he knew wasn't quite the truth. The worn edges of the envelope informed him Grissom had removed and reinserted the contents many times since receiving it. When he left Grissom's office to report to Catherine, he took it with him.
------------------------------------------
Warrick Brown had always meant to ask Grissom a question, one that had been burning in his mind for quite some time. "When did you know? When were you certain, you were no longer a part of the day light?" He no longer felt he was part of that world. Even when he was out in the daylight, he felt separated from all those people, scurrying about their daily lives.
Early this morning, just as the dawn was breaking, he had pulled up, a half a block away from the convenience store, intent on paying homage to his fallen former boss. It had seemed so easy at the time, just slip up the alley, contemplate the bloody spot and allow his emotions to run rampant. He would allow himself to cry and feel his soul cleansed in the way that only the shedding of tears could do. But, the Dayshift guys were still present and they wouldn't welcome the intrusion, regardless of his motivation. He had turned the radio on and sat back, hoping they would soon depart. A slightly desperate, lonely song filled his Tahoe.
I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's home to me and I walk alone
Returning to his empty apartment near the Strip, claustrophobia set in and he went for a walk. Wandering the deserted early morning streets, he thought about Grissom and all the times he had watched him walk alone. He paused in his aimless journey, remembering working the case of a homeless man, senselessly beaten to death in this very alley. He had watched Grissom walk down this alley, right hand stretched out to the side, his thumb tapping, to some internal muse, against his middle finger. It was early morning then, as now, and Warrick followed him down the alley. Grissom looked so out of place in the Neon glow of the Strip as the dawn streaked the eastern sky.
I walk this empty street
On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Where the city sleeps
and I'm the only one and I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk alone
I walk a...
His pager vibrated, startling him from his pensive reflection. The message read. "Come to the lab ASAP. It's NOT Grissom. Catherine." He stared at it dumbly, trying to comprehend. If it wasn't Grissom then who was it? He felt a shadow fall over him - one he had walked in for so many years - Grissom's shadow.
My shadow's the only one that walks beside me
My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating
Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me
'Til then I walk alone
Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Aaah-ah,
Ah-ah, Ah-ah, Ah-ah
"You coming?" Sara asks, reminding him they have work to do.
"Yeah. I'll be along in a minute. Just trying to get my head on straight."
"Okay. I understand. If you want to talk…….." Their eyes meet and he nods. He wasn't really alone; none of them were as long as they worked together.
I'm walking down the line
That divides me somewhere in my mind
On the border line
Of the edge and where I walk alone
Read between the lines
What's fucked up and everything's alright
Check my vital signs
To know I'm still alive and I walk alone
"Get your shit together, Warrick." He mutters to himself then closes his eyes for a moment searching for strength. "All right, Man! Let's go find it!" He bolts from the seat in a fluid surge of energy, grabs his kit and follows Sara in lanky ground eating strides.
TBC