Disclaimer: I don't own CSI or the characters, and if you haven't got this after 20 chapters well, I need to improve my disclaimers :P
A/N: I'm not going to try and explain the big gap between the last chapter and this one. Things over the last few months have been.. intense to say the least but I want to apologise for how bad I am at getting this uploaded and written for all you readers.
Chapter 20: Like A Glove
The cold metal of the steel bore into Nick's skin. Nick flinched as the steel of the blade dug repeatedly at his skin, old wounds re-opening. The stinging sensation he first felt when the knife touched his skin had subsided. Instead, a dull throbbing made its way through his aching limbs, a burning sensation touching the core of his body. Each time he'd hoped that Tyrone had finally left him alone, he was yet again disappointed to hear his boots pound the hard surface of the floor, followed by the swift slice of the blade. It was as though he'd heard him
and to grind his heart into the ground further, he'd come out of hiding to punish Nick some more. It had no real meaning anymore, only to make Nick's last moments on Earth a little more harder to bare.
Nick had been beating himself up about his capture since the first moment he'd woken in the dingy basement.
'This could have been prevented if I'd just listened to Grissom. No – maybe if I'd have stayed in the bar longer with Warrick then maybe all of this could have been stopped.'
Life, however, is never so simple.
'No ifs. No Buts. No if only. Only the bleak reality of the future staring right back at me.'
Nick didn't hold much hope anymore. Any he did have he'd lost when Tyrone told him was Warrick was dead.
'If Grissom and the others found him dead, what chance is there of me coming out of this alive.?'
He'd never really doubted Grissom's abilities before now. Or any of Sara's or Cath's for that matter. They each had their strong points and equally, their weaknesses. He never realised that their skills would be required to help save him.
Grissom entered the lab, bleary eyed, but awake. Sleep was something that he could lack quite often but somehow he managed to get through each shift, solving crime after crime. He knew that he may have overlooked that essential bit of evidence because he was tired, but somehow he still managed to figure it out with the help of the rest of his team. His mission right now was to find Brass. He hadn't got in contact with either Sara or Catherine, deciding that he'd phone them when the time was right. Carrying on through the lab, he rounded a corner coming face to face with Brass. Jim Brass jumped, having been miles away in thought.
"Gil," he greeted.
Grissom eyed Brass as though he was a suspect.
"Hi Jim. Make you jump?"
Brass smiled.
"Yeah you did. Just don't tell anyone I took my eye off the ball." He grinned. " So, your office or mine?"
Grissom raised his eyebrow.
"Mine."
Brass nodded, as though he'd hadn't expected that response, and followed Grissom back down the corridor from which he'd previously come from. He followed Grissom into his office, closing the door behind the both of them before taking the seat in front of the desk. Grissom set down the folder on the desk before taking his normal seat behind his desk.
"So what do you know Gil?" Brass asked.
"I know the location" He pushed the file towards Brass who promptly picked it up off of the table, and began glancing it other.
"I know the place. Built up residential area. Don't know what point the S.O.B is trying to prove."
"Well, built up area. Innocent bystanders. Perhaps by staging the handover there he thinks that he'll get away easier. Threaten to harm those near by."
Brass nodded.
"Well, I'll call in the armed police.. Hopefully it's built up enough for him not to notice them. And I'll get someone over there and evacuate the surrounding areas. Now, were you planning to actually get Marty released for the little day trip? Or just hoping it'll never get that far?"
Brass was met with silence. He lifted his head from the file to see Grissom staring into the space in front of him, flicking a pen in his right hand.
"What? You didn't see this bit coming?"
Grissom arched his eyebrow, turning his gaze to Brass.
"I think the best thing would be to get him out for the day, but seeing the risk he is, I think he should stay where he is. We don't know how this is going to run. Something just doesn't seem right. We need to make sure that he doesn't realise we've got back up. If he does we might not get Nick back alive. He's already proved how menacing he can be. I don't want to give him the option to do it again."
Silence hung in the air.
"To be honest, I thought we'd have solved the case by now."
"I think we all thought that Gil. How do you see this being played out?"
Grissom shrugged.
"Well we know he's sly. He led Jason straight to us and that was his intention all the time. As for tomorrow, only time can tell. I don't think somehow that it's going to be as simple as he's making it out to be."
"When is it ever simple, Gil?" Brass put his hands on his knees, raising himself from his chair. He made to exit Grissom's office but stopped.
"Oh, by the way. I heard an interesting thing when I got in. Day shift were called in to deal with a murder this morning. Dead guy. Shot at close range."
"And?" Grissom responded, not understanding the point Brass was trying to make.
"I was just getting there. They got a hit off of AFIS. His name was Timothy Bryant. When they searched his address they discovered he dealt with explosives. Had all the supplies there to make a bomb. Thing is, it looks like he'd just done some business with someone."
"What makes them think that?"
"Found a list. Or rather. Half a list."
"We found part of a list in the house where we found Warrick. I've got to go Jim."
Brass nodded, understanding what he was about to do, moving aside for Grissom as he dashed towards the door.
Gil Grissom was on a mission.
Brass headed in the opposite direction to Grissom. He had some planning to do. Heading into his own, dimly lit office, he sat down behind the desk. He went to pick up the phone, and instead was surprise to find it ring as his fingers touched it. Sighing, he picked up the phone.
"Captain Jim Brass. Ah, Sheriff." Brass spun his chair a little.
'Why did the Sheriff have to phone now?' he thought to himself as the Sheriff's voice echoed around his head.
"What's going on Jim?" the Sheriff said.
"At the moment, nothing. Grissom's following up a lead. We go from there."
He knew he shouldn't lead the Sheriff in circles but currently, he didn't want the aggravation.
"You better not be lying to me. I'll call you back within the hour, and I want to know what's going on."
The receiver clicked. Brass put the phone down before picking it up again. He had business to attend too.
Sara squinted at the clock through tired eyes. She didn't realise how late it was. Cursing, she got out of her bed and made her way to her sitting room. The glass she'd left on the table hours before still sat there, water stains littering the sides. Ignoring the glass on the table, she took another one and poured herself an ice cold glass of water. She'd slept a lot longer then she'd intended too, although she knew that she'd be grateful for it in a few hours time.
Gil Grissom hurried through the lab trying to track down the letter that the day shift found. He knew that he shouldn't really interfere. It wasn't just because it wasn't Night Shifts case – he didn't want to deal with Ecklie at the moment. He headed into the evidence vault. Finding the evidence he needed, he dealt with the necessary paperwork before searching for the particular piece evidence he was looking for. There, near the bottom of the pile was a sealed evidence bag containing a piece of paper. Smiling slightly, he pulled it out, before heading back to the evidence room.
All the evidence they'd collected since the beginning of the case was laid out in the evidence room. Moving pictures and files aside, he found inside another evidence the note that Sara had found inside the house. Reaching across for it, he took it aside to another surface. He pulled on some latex gloves before handling the evidence bags any further. Lining the two halves up against each other he felt a little hope. He was no handwriting expert, but, he could see that the writing on both halves were a match.
Opening both evidence bags, he lined up both halves of the paper.
"Like a glove," he said out loud.
Pulling off his latex gloves, he left the evidence room. He needed to get in contact with Catherine and Sara, find Brass and get in contact with Ecklie.
Catherine was already in the break room when Sara got there. Grabbing a cup, Sara poured herself a coffee.
"You seen Grissom yet?" she asked Catherine.
"No. Only just got here myself," she said sighing into her own cup. "I guess we shouldn't make him wait any longer."
They both made their way out of the break room to the evidence room, making idle chatter about Grissom's new evidence. Both of them were shocked however as they stepped into the entrance to see Grissom conversing with Ecklie. It was well known that Grissom and Ecklie didn't get on well with each other and this new development only confused the two of them further.
"Grissom," Catherine said, trying to hide the surprise in her voice, glancing briefly at Ecklie. "You found something," she said, just to emphasise her point.
"Catherine, Sara," Ecklie greeted, a traces of a smile etching the corners of his face.
Catherine bit her tongue before mumbling some sort of greeting, while Sara stood stony faced behind her, arms folded across her chest, clicking her tongue on the side of her cheek.
Grissom pointed to the table in front of him, the two pieces of the letter sitting side by side.
"Remember at the crime scene the other day we found half of a list?" Both Catherine and Sara nodded in unison. "Well, the other half was found earlier today at another crime scene. The victim was shot at close range, the rest of the list screwed up in his hand. My guess is that Tyrone grabbed it before he left, accidentally leaving the end behind."
"That makes sense. But if he went to all that trouble killing the guy, why leave the other half in the house?" Sara said.
"Sometimes even the smallest detail can be overlooked when you work so meticulously."
"Look. We've been over this again. We know Tyrone was planning something. Something involving explosives," Brass said to Jason.
"And my client has already told you Captain Brass, that he doesn't know what he's planning."
Brass shot Jason's lawyer a dark look before continuing as though he'd never spoken.
"Thing is, we printed that list. And your prints were all over the thing. Now tell us what you know."
Silence filled the interview room.
"Listen. We all know why you're here. Tyrone set you up. Plain and simple."
"He didn't," Jason shouted, his angered cries echoing round the room. "He wouldn't do that."
"You sure about that Jason? You think it was a coincidence he got you to take that van back when he knew we were looking for you? That it was just your prints and those of the explosives guy on that sheet of paper?" Brass said, noting the way his accusations were tormenting Jason. "He played you like a pack of cards."
Jason slammed his fists down on the table, sending vibrations down to the floor. "He wouldn't do that."
"Captain Brass I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk to my client like that."
"Come on Jason," Brass said, "You're a smart guy. Why don't you tell us what you know and maybe we can work something out."
"I'm not a grass."
"So what? You're just going to let him get away with murder? Framing you?"
"Murder?" Jason asked.
"Yeah, murder. Well that's what it's going to be if we don't find the missing CSI. You want that huh?" Brass said, the level of his voice raising.
"He wouldn't. He said he wasn't going to kill them." Nervousness tinged Jason's voice.
"Then why don't you tell us what the plans were?"
Silence.
"You're already in deep trouble. Any further and it's just going to get worse."
Jason's lawyer, Marcus Hunt had listened to the conversation with detail.
"Can I have a few minutes with my client Captain Brass?" Marcus asked.
Ten minutes after Marcus asked for a few minutes alone, Brass went back into the interview room.
"I've discussed you suggestions with my client Captain," he said.
"So you're ready to talk?" he asked Jason.
Jason glanced briefly at Marcus, who nodded.
"I don't want to go down for murder. All I've done in the past was some robberies. I was going through a tough patch. Tyrone was in the same prison as me, acting the tough one. I tried to ignore him. But things, they escalated and before long he had me under his thumb. I just want a clean break. Get on with my life."
"Well, if you tell me what I need to know, then we'll see what we can work out."
"Fine. I'll tell you what you need to know. Just... just don't let him know I told you."
So that was chapter 20. I know where this is going so I can write it between lesson times so the space in between shouldn't be so big. Sorry again and I hope you tune in for the next chapter.
