Ah, you all are wonderful, I must say. Thank you for reviewing – we are now in triple digits! – and thank you for sticking with this story. Anyway, this chapter (and following chapters as well) will be told from Greg's POV. Keep those reviews coming, and enjoy this next chapter! Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own the title of this chapter (or many of my other chapters for that matter). If you want to check out the song (awesome song) it's by Five for Fighting.
Chapter Twenty-Two: The Riddle (You & I)
"…and that's about all that I can tell you," Elsie concluded on the other line. The children burst out in objections.
"You can't leave us there!" Leala argued, "What happened to Mom? How did they find her?"
Elsie tried to interrupt but was stopped by Baron. "That's a terrible place to stop Aunt Elsie."
I could see Elsie rolling her eyes. "Let me finish my sentence," she explained. The children shut up automatically. "I really can't tell you what happened, because I wasn't there when they found Anna."
"Well then who was there?" Eva chimed in. Greg smiled and looked at me, waving his hands towards the children,
"I was there."
"What was it like? Did you find Mom?" Baron asks with anticipation. A smile is playing on Greg's lips.
"We'll see…" he trailed off, continuing the story, this time from his perspective.
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It was a seemingly normal day in Las Vegas, with the casinos up and running already and people streaming in from all over the country, from all walks of life, just to get a glimpse of this paradise with bright lights and flashy showgirls. For me, it was just another day.
I pulled my kit out of the crime lab's SUV and snapped on my latex gloves, walking towards where I saw Sara knelt over a dead body. I shielded my eyes from the morning sunlight, taking a glance around the rich gated community that we were in.
"Morning Sara," I greeted with a smile. Sara gave me one of her 'don't screw with me today' looks, and I just kept smiling. "Having a bad day?" I asked.
"I got about two hours of sleep. That constitutes as a nap," she grumbled. I sighed and knelt down beside her and checked my watch. It was eight o'clock.
"Well, at least you're having a better day than this guy," I offered, motioning towards our dead victim. Sara's mouth twitched, a sure sign that she was trying to fight a smile.
I walked around the scene, looking to find anything of interest. The dead male had gunshot wounds to the chest, and I was wandering around, looking for the bullets. I grinned as I found two bullets, and bagged them, walking back towards where Sara was.
"I've got bullets," I said, waving the evidence. Sara smiled.
"Good. I've got some prints here, and a few isolated fibers. Let's get back to the lab and see what we can get done."
The lab was its usual morning bustle, as cases poured in from overnight. Grissom passed us in the hallway and nodded—his normal morning greeting. Catherine was at the end of the hallway with Nick and Warrick.
"Morning Greggo," Nick said with a grin as I passed. I rolled my eyes at him and continued to walk with Sara. She was uncharacteristically quiet, and I figured that it was mainly due to lack of sleep, but Nick hadn't said a word to her as she passed.
"You and Nick have an argument or something?" I asked curiously. Curiosity killed the cat, I know, but I try to land on my feet. I smiled, recalling a passage in a book I had read a long time ago.
"I don't want to talk about it," Sara snapped. I let it go. When Sara was ready to talk, maybe she would let me know. Her and Nick had been dating for a while, and I was in full support of their relationship, even though at first I had my reservations. It was hard to see Sara—someone whom I had a crush on for years—date someone else, but in all honesty, I was glad that she was dating Nick. He seemed to be good for her somehow. Unfortunately, I guess their relationship had hit a snag, and Sara absorbed herself in her work to keep her mind off of it.
We worked in silence for a while, before Catherine ran into the room. "It's Grissom. He wants us all in his office," she said. We looked up. "Now," she said authoritatively, walking back down the hallway. I looked at Sara, curiously, and she returned my gaze, equally baffled.
We all gathered in Grissom's office, amidst the jars of dead animals swimming in formaldehyde. Grissom took his glasses off and stared at us. It was one of those rare moments—Grissom removing his glasses—and I knew that he was thoughtful, or serious. Or both.
Grissom exhaled before turning his attention to everyone in the room. "I gathered you all in here because I just received a call from Detective Mac Taylor in New York," he began. Our eyes begged him to continue. "It seems," Grissom started up again, "that one of their CSIs has been kidnapped."
Catherine's eyes widened and Sara shot an eyebrow up. Nick and Warrick stood with arms crossed in front of their chests. And then there was me, still puzzled as to what this had to do with us. Sympathetic, no doubt, to the CSI who was kidnapped, but all the same, I was still curious to hear the rest of the story.
"Her name is Annabelle Price, and she was kidnapped by a man named Cameron Clark, originally from Vegas. They also believe that from the evidence and a testimony from the suspect's mother, that there is a woman, his wife, with him."
I furrowed my eyebrows. "And they think that the kidnappers are bringing her back here?" I asked. Grissom nodded.
"They are coming back here with her," Grissom checked his watch. "Three of the detectives from New York are coming down here so that they can assist us with the case," he continued. "Right now, all other cases are to be put on hold. This is to be the only case you're focused on, understood?"
We all nodded. Catherine looked worried. "They don't think that the girl could be…"
"…no," Grissom finished. I always found it funny that Grissom and Catherine could finish each other's sentences like that. "There is enough evidence to believe that Anna – as they call her – is still alive. The kidnappers are supposedly on a flight from Newark to Vegas with her," he added.
Warrick frowned. "How do two kidnappers get a girl on a plane without being recognized by anyone?"
"They'd have to disguise her," Sara replied with thought. Grissom nodded in Sara's direction.
"Mac Taylor and his team collected evidence that supports that theory. They figure that the kidnappers forced Anna to change, as the team found clothing in the back seats of the get-away cars."
We all nodded. "So what do you want us to do?" Nick asked. Grissom held up a file.
"Nick, I want you and Warrick to go and visit the last known residence of Clark here in Vegas." The two men nodded and took the file from Grissom before exiting.
"Sara, I want you and Greg to go research as much as you can about the background of these people. Mac said that the suspect's mother was concerned because Mahala—Clark's wife—seemed to drag him into a cult. We need to find out if that is the reason they took Anna. Get any information that you can." Sara and I looked at each other and went off in search of any information.
Catherine was left in the office, talking to Grissom in a hushed voice. I sat next to Sara, staring at the computer, not finding much of use. We had been sitting there for nearly an hour already, and nothing helpful had come up. Sara spoke up, causing me to glance over at her.
"Here, listen to this," she said. "There is a practice called tantrism, which basically consists of human sacrifice. It's derived from mystical practices that grew out of Hinduism," she concluded. "I think that this is worth taking a look into."
I nodded as she printed the page out and we walked together to Grissom's office. Standing in the doorway, we looked at each other, eyebrows raised. Inside, besides Grissom and Catherine, there were four other men. One of the men appeared to be middle-age with bright red hair. He was talking to Catherine, while the other three men talked to Grissom. One of them had glasses and short mousy hair, the other was taller with dark hair and blue eyes. The one who appeared to be their boss must have been middle-aged, with dark hair and piercing eyes. Grissom noticed us standing in the doorway and beckoned us inside.
"We found some interesting results on cults," I said, as Sara handed the paper to Grissom. "The one we found wasn't really a cult; it was a division of Hinduism that focused on human and animal sacrifice."
Grissom motioned towards the group of men standing in his office. "These are the detectives. Detective Mac Taylor," he said, motioning toward the man with the piercing eyes, "Detective Don Flack," he continued, gesturing towards the other dark haired man, who acknowledged us with a curt nod, "Detective Danny Messer," he said, pointing to the man with the glasses, "and from Miami, Lieutenant Horatio Caine," Grissom concluded, acknowledging the man with red hair. We all nodded at one another, and Mac took the paper from Grissom's hands.
"He mentioned something over the phone…" Mac said, trailing off and looking at his two comrades from New York, "…he said that they 'wouldn't kill her yet'. I wondered what that meant, but I am beginning to think that this is some ritualistic human sacrifice," he said, eyes narrowed. Horatio nodded.
"That sounds like it would fit the profile of your kidnappers," he said, running a hand through his red hair. "Didn't you say that the wife was Arabic?" he asked, turning his attention to Mac.
"Yeah," Danny said in a heavy Staten Island accent. I smirked. New Yorkers and their accents never ceased to amuse me.
"So what are we looking at here?" Flack asked, rubbing his hands together. Danny was staring around Grissom's office and our crime lab with curiosity. "What are the options we got?"
Grissom's office was crowded enough, but Nick and Warrick returned just then with more news. "We found some background information on the kidnapper," Nick said, warily eyeing all of the guests in the office.
"It turns out that there is an abandoned warehouse a few miles outside of Vegas where Clark met his wife, Mahala, at some Hindu spiritualistic meeting," Warrick continued, "but it was burnt down about a year ago by some activist group. Apparently these people weren't too happy about the meetings that were taking place in the warehouse."
"See if you can get any witness testimonies of what went on there," Grissom said with authority. Warrick nodded at the guests and ducked out of the room with Nick following him.
"It sure is dark in this place," Danny replied with eyebrows raised. Mac shot him a 'this isn't the time or place' look. Danny just shrugged and Grissom spoke up.
"Sara, Greg, why don't you take Detectives Flack and Messer in the SUV. I want you to go down to the warehouse and see what you can find there. The fire may have damaged any sort of evidence, but see what you can dig up."
I looked at the detectives and they nodded, following us out of the room. Sara rolled her eyes. I guess being stuck with two New Yorkers wasn't what she had on her agenda that day.
That's all for now, and I might be updating tomorrow. Hooray! Yeah, I had to throw Danny's comment in there. Did anyone else notice that? The Vegas lab is really, really, really dark compared to the ones in NY and Miami. LOL. Creepy effect, maybe? Anyway, read and review please!
