Date: 1/10/2006, 10:27 am
Dear Diary,
It's been 2 days. Work has been hell. Every time I look at a new piece of evidence, I'm reminded of what Dylan went through… of what Sara went through… of what I went through…
We finally got the club owner to say that she and Dylan were having sex, but she claimed that it was consensual… that they were in love. He was 14! He didn't know what love was!
And she didn't know that Doc Robbins had done a sexual assault kit during the autopsy… and it came out positive. She was arrested on the spot. At least that brings some closure.
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Date: 1/11/2006, 4:54 pm
Dear Diary,
Double shift today. I ended up spending most of it going over the notes we found in Dylan's room again. I didn't know what it is about them, but I felt like they still have something to say… I was right. I realized that we'd talked to the parents about their relationship with Dylan, but we hadn't talked to his friends. One of the notes talked about him having a fight with his best friend over some girl. So I grabbed Sara and we talked to his parents, got the lowdown on his friends…. Names, addresses…
Mark, Dylan's best friend up until a week ago, said that it was no big deal, just some girl that they both liked. He claimed that Dylan overreacted and ditched him for the girl, but Stephanie had a different story. She said that they were both vying for her attention and that Mark didn't like the fact that she chose Dylan.
We're now working on a warrant for Mark's room. Maybe we'll find some clue as to what happened behind the pool house.
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Date: 1/12/2006, 8:49 am
Dear Dairy,
Not much headway today. Either Mark didn't do anything or he's hiding that gun really well.
Grissom looked really stressed today. He tried to talk to Sara, but she's avoiding him. Ever since the autopsy, she speaks to him only when necessary. I thought she was still embarrassed about hitting him, but now, after what I found, I think it goes deeper than that. If that court case really is her mother, then she probably never wanted to become like her family, and her episode with Grissom brought her closer to that than she wanted to admit.
She didn't say much about it at breakfast, but as everyone was leaving, she asked me to stay behind. She said she was worried about me, that I had been acting odd lately. You can imagine why… I told her that the case was getting to me. That conversation went a hell of a lot farther than I thought it would. The gist:
"This case is hard, Nick. Harder than a lot of what we see… It's getting to everyone."
"It's just brought up a lot of personal issues that I'm still trying to work through…"
"Yeah, I know what you mean. Seeing this kind of thing brings back a lot of unwanted memories."
I hesitated… Was she actually admitting to being abused as a child? I wasn't going to push it, so I changed the subject… kind of.
"I just hate it that people like the club owner think they can get away with taking advantage of kids."
"But she didn't. We got her, Nicky. And Dylan's family can rest knowing that she won't be able to hurt anyone else."
"Yeah... At least he's older than I was…"
I froze. I couldn't believe I'd just said that. I looked up at her to see that she was in shock, too… Maybe Catherine doesn't repeat everything she hears.
"Oh, Nick… I'm so sorry…"
"Yeah… I am, too."
"It wasn't- It wasn't family, was it?"
"No… babysitter."
When she heaved a sigh of relief, I summoned my courage and delved deeper than I normally would have dared.
"You know what it's like, don't you, Sara? To be betrayed by someone you trust?"
She nodded and stared into the depths of her coffee cup, as if it held answers.
"My father hit us… When I was 12, my mother… well, she stopped it." She looked up and gave a sad smile. "I guess we found something else we have in common."
As if on cue, her pager went off, and she made an excuse and made to leave. I grabbed her hand before she left and thanked her. She smiled and walked away.
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