Disclaimer: Unfortunately I do not own CSI
Summary: One 'small' piece of evidence is found but is it what it seems?
A/N: Again, thank-you for the reviews. Also, sorry this has taken me so long. I had a few days off to see my friends and travel home, but now my laptop is being mended. So I had to wait until my sister was at school so I could use the PC insert evil laugh here and rewrite the chapter seeing as I was half way through it when it decided not to turn on/crash & reboot. So, enjoy :D
Chapter 7: Putting a Name to the Face
Grissom and Sara were continuing their conversation in the break room.
"I've excluded two other sets of prints on the envelope as yours and the secretaries." She paused. "What is the likelihood that this print belongs to a postman?" Sara asked Grissom in a matter of fact tone.
"If it had come from a sorting office you would have found more then a partial because it would have been handled by several other workers," replied Grissom.
"Well, if it wasn't sent through the post then how did it get in here?" She grinned as her eyes lit up. "CCTV."
"Bringing it straight into the lab would be risky. I'll go grab the security tapes and get them to Archie. See if we can find something on any of them." Grissom rose. "Come and find me when you get the results." He left the break room, heading to retrieve security footage from the previous few days, leaving Sara standing there in her navy blue lab coat, arms folded across her chest.
Catherine really didn't want to take the day off of work. There were so many background checks she still had to look into, the priority being close relatives to Marty Silver. However, she couldn't forget the fact that she had a daughter, Lindsay Willows, who she spent very little time with on a regular basis. Of course, she tried to fit in as much time as possible with her, but juggling a full time job with long hours and a young child came with its difficulties. Lindsay was still asleep as it was the early hours of the morning. Catherine sometimes had trouble sleeping through the night as normally she'd be wide awake and working, and this particular night was no exception. She sat at the table, head over a bundle of papers. The stereo was playing in the background on a low volume relaxing music coming from the speakers, but she felt anything other than relaxed. So far she'd discovered that Marty Silver's father had died when Marty was two years old, which left him and his mother, along with Marty's twin sister Susan, who, it had appeared, moved abroad three years ago after the death of their mother, Marie-Anne Silver. Marie-Anne had had another relationship after the death of her husband and together they had two children. Other then being two boys, currently she had no more information on them. Looking at Marty's history though, he'd been placed in a care home when he was ten years old. It would seem as though his mother could no longer care for her rebellious son who had been troublesome in school. Sighing, she stood up and went over to the kitchen. She filled the kettle up with water and flicked the switch, turning the kettle on. Soon it would be time to wake Lindsay and get her ready for school before turning in for a few hours sleep and reporting what she'd found to Grissom.
Grissom had collected the tapes from the security cameras and had taken them to Archie. Archie was an expert when it came to technology but Grissom insisted that he sat in with Archie as he reviewed the tapes. One set of eyes may miss something, either ordinary or not. Two hopefully would not. Together they would have to review several days of footage after the kidnapping as Grissom had no idea what the exact time frame of the letter arriving in the building to it being put in the letter tray on his desk was.
"So what are we looking for exactly?" Archie asked Grissom, eyes remaining on the large screen in front of him.
"I'm not quite sure yet," replied Grissom. "We get a large number of people through out doors each day for various things. We need to review all of these tapes," he said putting his hand on the relatively large pile of tapes on top of the desk. "We've got no time frame to really work with so we can't narrow it down. We need to look for something out of the ordinary, perhaps suspicious. Until we find it, we won't know what it is."
"Lets get started then shall we?" Archie remarked, hitting the play button.
Nick was still angry with Grissom's decision. He didn't understand why he couldn't help, after all, Warrick was just as much his friend as theirs, and Nick had been on the case with Warrick. Instead though, he'd been resigned to sit at home with police posted at his door. 'Brass' orders' he thought. 'I thought he would understand. We need everyone on this.' He hoped the others at the lab were doing all they could. The Sheriff knew of the ongoing investigation into the missing CSI and the circumstances surrounding it. The Sheriff however was as stubborn as he was naïve. He didn't realise the severity that was involved. To the Sheriff Warrick Brown was a CSI. He wasn't a friend, someone he knew. The only thing they had in common was that they wanted the bad guys behind bars. Nick could imagine the Sheriff's response. 'No, we can't consider his release. Not even for the life of a CSI. Justice has to be served. He's guilty, we all know he is. Find another way. We don't want the public worrying.'
"Like we're not trying," Nick half scoffed to himself and the empty sitting room. He knew he couldn't go back to the lab because as soon as he did, Grissom would be straight on his case. Hopefully though he could persuade Catherine to let him help her with her background research. 'After all' he thought, 'I have first hand knowledge on this case.'
"Stop the tape Archie," Grissom said suddenly. Archie did as Grissom asked. There on the screen in front of them was what would seem to anyone a normal scene. They'd already noted the postman delivering that days post, so, when Grissom spotted a figure entering the lab with what looked like an envelope in his hand and placing it on the front desk, before promptly leaving, he instantly got Archie to freeze the tape. "Can you zoom in on what's in his hand?" he asked Archie.
"Yeah sure," he replied, drawing a box around the man's hand and allowing the resolution to gradually adjust itself. Once the pixels had settled down, both Archie and Grissom could make out what was written on the envelope in his hand. 'Warrick Brown, c/o Mr Gil Grissom. Las Vegas Crime Lab.'
"That's the guy," Grissom said. "See if you can get any facial shots of him," he ordered as he went searching for Sara.
Sara was still running the partial she had found on the envelope. It was proving a troublesome task, but Sara was one to persevere no matter what. She was staring at the fingerprints flashing on the screen when Grissom interrupted her.
"You found anything yet?"
"No," she said, sounding disheartened. "It's still running. Hopefully I'll get a hit soon. Did you can anything from the security tapes?"
"Well, we've got a shot of him walking in to the lab and leaving the letter on the reception desk. Archie is trying to get a clear shot of the guys face. Hopefully we'll get something from that. I'm going to ring Catherine, she if she's found anything."
"Okay," replied Sara. "Hey, what about Nick?" she asked
"I sent him home. I don't want him here unless it's absolutely necessary. I understand this is getting to us now, but Nick was over emotional. Plus we're still not sure who's behind this and if they've got Warrick, they may go after him."
Sara nodded while Grissom left Sara alone once more, finger prints still flashing furiously on the screen.
Grissom was on the phone to Catherine, filling her in on the security footage that they'd discovered. He'd woken her from her sleep but he needed to know if she'd found anything. With any luck, if Archie could get a clear photo still they could match it to someone on her list. Catherine relayed everything she'd found out so far to Grissom.
"I'm still trying to find out the names of the other two sons," Catherine replied. "I think we can rule out the sister: she's been abroad for three years now and seems to have severed any ties to the family since her mother died. Apart from that, I've got nothing else for the time being."
Grissom, who had had the arm of his glasses resting on his bottom lip while Catherine was talking responded with a simple "Ok."
"Call me if you find anything else," he added before Catherine hung up the phone. He sat in his chair, thought etched in his face. He was disturbed by a small knock on his door. Archie was standing there.
"I've got some screen shots. They're not too great as he was trying to hide his face." He passed the images to Grissom.
"It's something," he simply replied.
Warrick ached. A lot. The stench of burning flesh lingered in the air, causing him to gag. 'My flesh..if I have any left that is,' he thought to himself. He'd been out cold for a while but he could remember he'd been moved, once again shoved into a dark room and tortured with red hot metal. 'Not my personal choice of torture equipment.' His breathing was now laboured as he was struggling to fully inflate his lungs because of the injuries inflicted on his upper torso. The candles set out around the seat were flickering as the wicks had nearly burnt out. He could hear nothing coming from anywhere in the house. He pulled his arms, but the handcuff attaching him to the chair dug tightly into his wristHe had to get out of there before they killed him. 'Time for plan B' he thought to himself.
Despite the fact he was awkwardly attached to the chair, he managed to stand on his feet, lifting the chair with his tied hands. He stood there a few moments catching his breath. He'd been beaten badly and had little energy left. He made his way over to the door, which had been left slightly ajar. He listened but heard nothing. He lent on the door, allowing it to open as far as it could go. He waited at the bottom of the stairs for a while, just in case someone happened to be about but he didn't hear them. Still he heard nothing. He made his way carefully up the stairs. If he lost his balance he was going straight back down them head first. He made his way to the top. 'Now all I've got to do is find a way out.' He didn't know what he was actually going to do if he did make it outside the house.
"Hey Grissom," Sara called down the hallway enthusiastically. "I got a hit. The print belongs to a Jason Green. He's been in prison, although his offences were minor. Robbery to be precise."
"Does he look like this?" asked Grissom, handing one of the stills Archie had produced earlier on to Sara.
She smiled. "Yes he does. We've found the guy?"
"Perhaps. I'll call Brass and Catherine, tell them to get here straight away."
"What about Nick?"
"No, don't call Nick yet," Grissom replied, rushing to his office to place his calls.
Warrick had had no luck as yet with either the front or back door. They were both locked. He'd searched around the kitchen and living room but had found no keys. He couldn't say he hadn't tried to escape. Feeling tired he sat down, hands still tied to the chair. He wanted this to be over. His eyelids were too heavy for him to keep open any longer. He didn't fight as the blackness settled around him. Anytime soon, Tyrone and his partner would return, finding Warrick slumped in the chair, no longer in the basement.
Woo, this is..longer then my other chapters. It's to make up for the lack of updates lately. I hope you enjoyed even though there was a lot of descriptive bits in it :D Announcers voice: 'Tune in next week...' lol. Hopefully I'll get the next chapter out tomorrow. I've got some spare time on my hands this evening.
