Don't worry, I never had any plans for inbred children! (In response to MC New York's review in case anyone's wondering!)
Hope people are still reading!
Em xxx
"Is this some kind of wind up?" Adam asked, glancing around him as though he expected hidden cameras to jump out from behind the walls and declare the whole thing a hilarious hoax. "My sister? I don't have a sister!"
Sara's heart was racing but she was not entirely sure why; she was not scared, she was certainly not excited. She was angry, confused and damn well determined to find out what in hell was going on. "Until thirty seconds ago I didn't think I had a brother."
"I'm sorry, whoever you are, but I think you're getting me confused with someone else." Adam looked angry himself now; he did not have time for this. He turned to leave but Sara grabbed his arm.
"My name is Sara Sidle. This morning my mother got shot through the head whilst on the toilet in the Boulevard Shopping Mall." She had no time to try and put it in a nicer way; he would have to make do with the blunt facts. "Do we have anything in common?"
Adam spun round and met her eye. Not such a big man now, Sara thought as she noted the shock in his eyes, but then she regretted it. He was her brother after all. My brother; I have a brother.
"Maybe we can go somewhere quiet for a chat?"
I.I.I.I.I
"Sara gets all the luck," Catherine said sarcastically as Grissom entered the room.
"Excuse me?"
"First her Mum dies, then she gets a bastard of a brother dropped into the equation."
"That bad, huh?"
"And worse. An arrogant 19 year old who evidently is a drug user and seems to have no emotions. When I told him his Mum was dead, his shock seemed to last all of what, ten seconds? And I know they say people grieve in different ways, but I swear this guy just didn't care."
"Well, maybe he wasn't surprised."
"What's that supposed to mean, Gil?"
"Well, he is the only suspect we have."
"Don't you think you're getting a bit ahead of yourself? You're the one who always goes on about the importance of evidence, and as yet we have none against Adam Sidle."
"As yet we have pretty much no evidence whatsoever, Catherine. Nothing to prove he did it, but nothing to prove he didn't either."
"Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?"
"It still stands, but we all need somewhere to begin."
Catherine shrugged. "I suppose. He's all we've got right now."
"He's all you're going to get." Grissom and Catherine both turned to Greg who had appeared in the doorway. "All the blood at the scene belonged to Laura." He shook his head. "No footprints, no gunshot residue. I'm at a loss, guys."
"There's got to be something," Catherine protested.
"You saw the scene yourself," Greg shrugged. "It was a hit and run. This guy left nothing behind."
"Adam it is, then," Grissom commented. "Where is he anyway?"
"He knew his rights, Grissom. He's gone – grieving to do apparently. I told him we'd be in touch."
"Maybe it's for the best. Someone needs to speak to Sara."
"Oh God," Catherine sighed. "I hadn't thought about that."
"How many people should find out she has a brother before she does? I think I should go and find her."
"Sara has a brother?" Greg sounded shocked. "She always told me she had no family."
"Until about an hour ago, that's what I thought too," Catherine replied. "And, more importantly, that's what she thought."
"If you need to find her, I just saw her going into the relatives' room with some guy."
"Some guy?" Catherine thought that sounded ominous. "What kind of guy?"
"I don't know, he must have been about twenty, I suppose. Low slung jeans, showing his underwear the way everyone seems to think is cool these days. I tell you- I never thought I'd say this, but looking at guys like that I'm really glad I'm not young anymore. Well, not that I'm saying I'm old, because that would make you- No, that's not what I meant-" Greg stopped midway in digging himself a hole in order to realise that neither Catherine nor Grissom were listening to him – thank God.
They had turned to look at each other. "It's him," Grissom said.
"Oh God," Catherine replied, before both stood up and left the room in an instant, leaving a confused Greg in their wake.
I.I.I.I.I
"Would you like to explain to me what's going on?" Adam asked as Sara shut the door behind them.
"I'm not entirely sure myself," Sara replied, sitting down not to make Adam feel at ease but because her legs felt worryingly weak all of a sudden. "But what I do know is that you and I share a surname and a dead mother."
"But I'm an only child. Mum would have told me."
"How old are you, Adam?"
"Nineteen."
"So you were born 1986, 87?"
"March 18th 1987."
Sara mentally placed the date in her head. She had been fifteen years old when her Mum had had Adam. All those letter she had sent her – Everything is the same as ever with me. Nothing could have been further from the truth. She had not only kept the fact that she had had another baby from Sara but she had downright lied to her.
"Do you have a father?"
"Last time I checked, that's kind of a biological necessity," Adam replied bluntly. "But if you mean do I know him, then no. Mum never mentioned him and I never asked."
"Didn't you feel curious? What kind of person doesn't want to know who his real parents are?"
"Am I on trial here?"
"No, I-" Sara stopped and rested her head in her hands. "It's a lot to come to terms with, that's all."
"Don't you think I understand that?" Adam asked, taking a seat himself. "Look, Susan – no, sorry, Sophie?"
"Sara."
This was bizarre. Sara no longer knew what to say, what to do. It had been more than twenty years since she last saw her mother. Now she was catching up with twenty years worth of news in a matter of minutes whilst her mother's body slowly cooled in the morgue downstairs. Her head spun whilst two voices battled inside her brain.
You don't know this guy. But he's a blood relation.
You can't trust him. But he's all that's left of my mother.
You have nothing in common with him. What's that got to do with anything?
He's most probably a drug user. What teenage boy isn't?
Do you really need this complication in your life? He's not a complication, he's my brother.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
Sara was so focussed on the argument running in her head that she barely noticed Catherine and Grissom burst into the room looking decidedly alarmed.
I.I.I.I.I
Adam was standing outside the door upon Catherine and Grissom's instruction. It was unlike him to go quietly, but the news he had just received had shocked even him and he was in no mood to argue anymore. Give him a few minutes.
He could hear Sara's (he thought he remembered her name correctly now) voice. She was shouting. He had worried that his sister, if that was what this woman indeed was, was quiet and polite. But now he realised that she was anything but; she did indeed seem to share some of his and his mother's traits. "Did no one think to tell me!" she was yelling. "Did you think I wouldn't be interested in the fact I have a brother?"
He leant against the wall, unable to make out the quieter voices of the Willows woman who had spoken to him earlier and the man who had entered with her. All of a sudden the shrill ring tone of his phone went off. "Shit," he muttered. Amid all the strange occurrences he had almost forgotten (but not quite) the biggest problem in his life. And it was not the death of his mother. Definitely not. He answered the call. "I told you, I haven't got the money," he spat down the line. The man on the other end of the call did not take this news well. "What do you mean I'm going to have to get it? Is that a threat?" Of course it is. "Look, I'll get it. Just give me time. I'll find it somehow."
And as he hung up, Adam suddenly had an idea. Maybe this new sister of his could be of some use after all.
The sound of the door opening jolted him back to reality. It was Sara. Her face was flushed and she slammed the door behind her. In the mood to defy her colleagues, he thought. Now could be a good time…
"Sara, I was wondering something?"
"Yes?" she questioned harshly.
Adam smiled shyly. Come on, he said to himself, make her like you. "I just thought maybe you and I- maybe you could come round for dinner tonight?"
"If you're looking for a new family, Adam-"
"Of course not," he interrupted, feigning hurt. "How can you think that? I don't want to replace Mum, she only just died!"
It worked.
"I didn't mean that," Sara apologised. "I'm sorry. I'd love to come round. Maybe we can get to know each other better."
Adam smiled. "I hope so."