Author's Note: My apologies for spelling Sara's name wrong. This will be corrected in the upcoming chapters.
The Next Morning...
Gil awoke to the sounds of the showering running. He groaned and rolled out of bed. He quickly donned the clothes that had been delivered and made his way to Casey's room. He took a deep breath and knocked.
"Come in!"
Gil entered and promptly came to a halt. Casey was walking into the room from the bathroom, toweling his hair dry. He wore nothing else.
"Morning." Casey said with a smile. He took in Gil's expression. "Are you blushing?"
"No," though Gil was pretty sure he was. He hopped his beard coved for him.
"Did I forget to mention I have no modesty?" He tossed the towel on to the bed.
"Yes." Gil arched an eyebrow.
Casey arched one back. "So," he said crossing his arms. "What can I do for you on this fine morning?"
"Why don't we start with breakfast and see how that goes from there?"
"I can handle that. Order up whatever you want. I'll just have scrambled eggs, really well done, oatmeal, and some biscuits. Strawberry Jam."
Gil tiled his head towards Casey.
"Oh, well, I suppose it WOULD be too distracting being naked and all."
"I'll see you in the living room." Gil quickly exited and closed the door behind him.
Still grinning, Casey quickly slipped into jeans and a T—shirt.
Breakfast held an awkward silence as they ate. Many glances were exchanged as each tried to read each other. Finally, Casey broke the stillness. "Ask away, Gil. I'm all ears."
Gil paused with a fork in hand. He set it down with a small 'clink' and considered his next words. "Excuse me." He pushed back from the table and went to get his kit. He pulled out a tape recorder and a legal pad to write down anything that came to mind.
Casey had moved to one of the sitting chairs, feet curled up underneath him.
Gil turned on the tape recorder and sat on the chair next to him, setting the tape recorder on the glass table between the chairs. "Why don't you go back and start at the beginning. What set off the argument?"
Casey took a deep breath and nodded. "I don't know what really did it to set him off. It's just a blur... We were upstairs in the bedroom. Talking about the day and what we had planned tomorrow. I was really tired. I just wanted to sleep. I didn't want to do all the dozen little things he had planned for me. He wanted me to give a few more interviews, work a little longer. I just wanted a day off. I was trying to be nice about it, trying to appeal to him. He just said I was being whinny and lazy. That he knew what was best for me and I shouldn't question him." Casey gave a short laugh. "And I gave a little retort, "Yeah, right" or "No you don't". I don't know what I said it. I knew better. I knew what that would do to him."
"Did you say it on purpose so as to shoot him?" Gil asked calmly.
"No. It just came out. I wasn't thinking. I was exhausted. I'd been on my feet for 16 hours. Studio, interviews, working out... All I could think of was SLEEP. But that wasn't on his mind. See, for Julian, sex and violence go hand and hand."
"Rape isn't about sex. It's violence."
"No one told Julian that. And if you deal with it long enough, they do start to mesh. Don't get me wrong. Julian and I were both into S&M, Dom and Sub, but Julian took it too far. He never stopped until he wanted to. So I was flippant to him; he thought disrespectful. I tried to apologize but he wouldn't listen. He slapped me and I stumbled into the bed And then he was on me. Yelling, "You think you can just cast me off like that? I won't take any lip from you!" He was pushing me onto the bed, tearing at my clothes. I got scared. And instead of just taking it," Casey voice cracked. It took a moment for him to pull himself back together. He took a deep breath, looking up. "I fought back. I struggled and managed to get away and I made for the hallway."
"Why?"
"I wanted to get downstairs."
"Not outside? You could have run outside, gotten help."
"If I had wanted help from someone, I would have already gotten it from my sister. Julian was my problem. No one else's. I had to take care of it."
"By killing him? You have a sister?"
"No! I just wanted to scare him. Make him think I could kill him. Maybe then he'd see how serious I was. How horrible this situation was. Maybe he'd back off... Yes, I do. We're twins. She lives in San Francisco."
"Why haven't you called her?"
"I want some space. She'll find out soon. It's all over the news by now. I don't know...it was all so crazy. She'll probably be mad now...shit."
"Getting back to last night..." Gil prompted.
"Right, eh, I was in the hallway. It was a struggle all the way down. We were really going at it. Slamming into the walls, the floor. I know I took a few good swings at him, but he was stronger then me. Always was." Casey shrugged. "I managed to NOT fall down the stairs and he somehow managed to slug me so I fell right in front of my bag. That's where I kept the gun. It was in the living room. I keep my notebooks, cell phone and appointment book in there. It's a big bag. Julian doesn't poke around in it.
"Anyway I was on the floor and I just reached in for it. He didn't try and stop me. I pulled it out and he came closer. He wasn't even scared by me having a gun on him. He went for me again and I just pulled the trigger. I wasn't even trying to aim. And the rest is that."
"Do you have a permit for the gun?"
"Yes, I bought it in Missouri. It's in my bag. But I never, EVER bought ANY bullets. My intent was just to scare him! I don't know how the bullets got in there..."
"The evidence will tell me."
"I'm not lying, Gil. I swear to you. I never bought any bullets. You have my word. Please don't judge me."
"I don't. And I won't. That's not me."
Casey managed a weak smile. "What's going to happen now?"
"Now? I go back to the lab and see how the rest of my people are doing. We're looking at the evidence and we'll put your statement into account. After that you'll be called in for questioning."
"It's nice, not having someone judge me. For being introvert, you're really easy to talk to, Gil."
"Thank you."
The Next Day...
They lead Casey into one of the interrogating rooms and set him down with a cup of coffee which he just stared into while they compiled a list of questions.
"Poor guy. Looks like he's still in shock." Sara said as she passed the room.
"What did you guys find so far?" Gil said, coming up behind them.
"Tons of stuff." Nick said. "But we're still going through it."
"What about the gun?"
"Um...found his receipt and license for it. But no receipts for any bullets." Sara said, walking towards the labs with Gil and Nick following. "He bought the gun a few weeks ago in Missouri. All legal here, Gris. Oh, and I've been going through his medical records. He's been through the ringer. Multiple fractures on multiple bones, arms, fingers, wrist, nose. And where they live in San Francisco their neighbors have called the cops on them...13 times? Shit."
"Fingerprints?"
"There are three sets of prints on the gun."
"Three?"
"Yep, one is the dealer's, one is Casey's and the third is Julian's. However there are only TWO set of prints on the clip."
"And the one that counts belongs to...?" Sara hands him the file. "Interesting. Good work." Gil turned to Nick. "What do you have for me?"
"Well, I found a receipt for bullets. This case is just seeming a little bit too by the book, if you ask me. Here are the pictures of the 1st floor and 2nd floor. It looks like the fight started in the bedroom and ended up in the living room." The bedroom was a mess, bed sheets torn from the bed, pillows all over the room, mirror smashed, knickknacks broken on the floor. In the hallway there were painting off the wall, dents in the wall, chipped plaster, and a hole the size of a large fist. There were little specks of blood here and there. The living room was in the same state of disarray, only there was more blood spatter.
"Well, I just got back from the autopsy." Warrick said from the doorway. "The bullet entered Julian Ballentine's heart," Warrick sat down on the floor and made a gun with his hands and pointed it at Gil. "Like that. Casey was sitting on the floor when he shot Julian. Julian was standing pretty close too. Almost over him. It goes with Casey's statement." Warrick got up.
"So...no one is lying here? This is it? All cut and dry?" Sara sounded astounded.
"From our standpoint, it is. From Casey's it's a lot more harsh reality. Thanks guys. Keep me posted." Gil took the files and headed off towards the interrogating room.
"Did he say where he was for two days?" Warrick said, watching him go.
"Nope." Nick said.
"I asked Catherine and she said he was working on this case." Sara said. "But she didn't say what he was doing."
"Is there something we don't know about?" Warrick asked.
"Got me..." Nick shrugged and turned back to a sea of papers.
Sara pursed her lips, a slight frown appearing for a second on her face before she, too, turned back to her work.
