Thank you all for the reviews. They mean a lot to me… I hope you'll review on this chapter as well.
A big thank you to the best beta in the world, Jess. You so make this story better!
Chapter 13
Blackmail
Coming around the corner, Catherine cursed both her high heels and Sara's longer legs. The pursuit was cut short when she collided with someone; she reached out for the hips on the body in front of her to steady herself, before looking up and realizing that it was Sara she had run into.
"Sara," She said slightly out of breath. "What's going on?" She peeked around the taller woman and saw Veronica and Kimberly walking towards the Governor and his wife.
"She's going to talk to them." Sara stated.
"Maybe it's for the best, Sara," Catherine said gently. "We all need our parents in some way, no matter how old we get."
"Not everybody, Catherine. Not everybody." Sara said quietly. "I'll be right back. I just need to make sure that she's going to be ok - that they're not going to reject her again."
"They won't. He asked for protection for her."
"Well, it's a long way from not wanting her brutally murdered to wanting her in their lives again."
"Sometimes you just have to hope for the best, hon."
"That's a feeling reserved for those who've had good things happen to them in life." Sara said evenly.
Catherine was at a loss for words. Sara sounded so detached, but at the same time so vulnerable, and the blonde didn't know how to address that. She tried to formulate an appropriate sentence, but was interrupted.
"What the hell is going on here?" Conrad Ecklie hissed, coming up to them. "Have you both completely lost your minds? We have the Governor of Nevada in the building and you act like this?"
"Conrad, it's ok. We have everything under control." Catherine tried to reassure the man.
"Under control? Under control! I've said it once and I'll say it again - she's a loose cannon with a gun!" He pointed at Sara. "And I want her off this case!"
Sara looked at both of them hearing those words. She started to say something, but Catherine held up a hand silencing her.
"Sara stays on this case." She told Ecklie assertively. "She has information to solve it, and I take full responsibility."
"I don't care how much responsibility you take, Catherine. This is possibly the biggest case of the year, and I want her off it. That's an order."
"Look, Cath…" Sara started.
"No." Catherine placed her hand on the taller woman's shoulder, silencing her yet again. "Conrad, see that woman over there with the Governor?" She asked, gesturing towards Veronica with her free hand.
"Catherine, no…" Sara started, thinking that Catherine would tell him about Veronica's history.
Catherine squeezed the shoulder her hand was on in reassurance, and continued when Ecklie looked towards the group gathered in the lobby.
"That woman is Veronica Lavisham. She's the oldest daughter of Governor Lavisham and she just happens to be best friends with …" She took the liberty of an artistic dramatic pause, "… our very own Sara Sidle. So, Conrad, do you want to tell the Governor why the friend his daughter speaks so highly of isn't working the case?" She asked.
"That's…why…" Conrad stammered.
"Now, do you still think it's a good idea to take Sara off this case?" Catherine asked sarcastically.
"That's blackmail." Ecklie spluttered, his face getting redder by the minute.
"You've got to work with what you've got, Conrad."
Huffing something unintelligible, Ecklie turned around and stormed off to his office. Catherine watched him disappear before slowly turning towards Sara.
"Now let's get back to work, Sidle."
"Catherine…" Sara started. "You just pissed off the boss – for me." The surprise was evident in her voice.
"Well, he had it coming," Catherine answered casually. "Besides, I don't like people telling me how to run my cases. Come on; let's get back to the guys and Sofia." She turned and started walking back to the conference room.
"But…" Sara started, and looked at Veronica.
"She's a big girl now, Sara. If she needs you, she knows where to find you. The best way for you to help her right now, is to solve this case."
"I guess you're right." She mumbled, not wanting the other woman to hear her actually admit it.
"What was that?" Catherine asked, amused.
"Nothing." Sara followed the other woman down the hall.
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"Veronica." The Governor and his wife had met them halfway through the lobby.
Mrs. Lavisham hesitated for a second before pulling a surprised Veronica into a hug.
"Mom."
When her mother let her go, the Governor took over and gave her a bone-crushing hug.
"Daddy…"
"Oh, thank God," He looked briefly at Kimberly. "I see Miss Willows made sure you are protected."
"What?" Veronica didn't understand.
"I expected uniformed officers to do the job, but a detective will do just fine."
"What?" Veronica asked again. "Kim is not protecting me…"
"She's not? Well, who is then?" Turning to Kimberly, he continued. "I insist that my daughter is protected. I told Miss Willows and now I'm telling you – make sure that it happens!"
"Whoa there! Stop and rewind, please." Veronica had expected to have some sort of control over the situation, but she had no idea what was going on.
"Well Detective, what are you waiting for?" He demanded.
"I'm…" Kimberly started, but was interrupted by a slightly pissed off Veronica.
"She is waiting for me!" She started. "You do not give her any orders concerning me. You lost the right to have any say in my life years ago!" She took a deep breath before continuing. "Furthermore she is not here as a detective right now, she is here as my wife, supporting me. And I wanted to do this civilly, but you just had to let that temper loose again, didn't you!"
"Wife?" Mrs. Lavisham breathed out.
"Yes, Mom, this is my wife, Kimberly Shaw." She turned towards the slightly taller woman behind her, "Kim, these are my parents, Helen and George Lavisham."
Kimberly held out her hand and waited for someone to shake it.
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"Ok guys, what've we got so far?" Catherine asked, walking back into the conference room with Sara in tow.
"Are you done talking to the Governor already?" Warrick asked.
"No, I haven't talked to him yet. He's meeting with his daughter and we thought we should give them a little privacy. What did Doc Robbins say about the body?"
"He's not done with the autopsy yet, but the prelim suggests that the vic died from blood loss from the stab wound to the stomach and the slit throat. There were also evident signs of rape. I did the kit and it's being processed as we speak. Doc said he'd personally deliver the report when he's finished with the autopsy."
"Thanks, Rick." Catherine digested the information he'd given them. "Nick, how did you do?"
"I processed the clothes and found a few fibres and a single hair. I handed the hair over to Wendy in DNA and the fibres are in trace. The shirt wasn't ripped though, so that means…"
"That she was dressed after she was killed." Sara finished his sentence.
"Exactly. We need establish a time line from the time when she went missing, to when she was found in the desert. Maybe we'll find some more witnesses." He suggested.
"Yes, that's a good idea, Nick. Sofia…" Catherine turned towards the Detective.
"I'm on it. I'll be back in a little while." She left the room to give the orders to bring the few witnesses they had in for questioning.
"This all points to a copycat," Catherine concluded. "But we need to cover all our bases. Warrick and Nick, I need you two to cover any other angle to this. Start with Mr. Rowan; see if anyone has a grudge against him big enough to do something like this. If you don't find anything on him, then you move up from there."
"Up?" Nick asked.
"To the Governor," Catherine sighed. "Apparently she was his Goddaughter and also his youngest daughter's best friend. You never know how these sickoes think." She turned to Sara who was leaning against the wall next to the door. "Sara…"
"I'll start reading the diary we found at the house and put the prints through AFIS."
"Yes, thank you."
"No problem."
"And I'll check up on Oscar Charles Dunne. After that I'll sit in with Sofia and Kim on the interviews." She looked at the others. "Well, let's get on with it then."
Just as they were about to break up the meeting, the door opened again, revealing Veronica and Kimberly.
"Foxy," Sara put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Are you ok?"
"Well, I just had a chat with my parents, so…" She didn't finish.
"Yeah, that was really something." Kimberly offered with a smile. "I knew that V has a temper, now I know where she got it from."
"We're not finished," Veronica stated when she noticed everybody ready to leave. "I have the letters."
"I'll call Sofia." Catherine said, getting out her phone and sitting back down.