Chapter Twenty Two
The sanctuary had a peaceful hush over it when Grissom and Sara pulled over. Grissom jumped out but was puzzled to find that Sara hadn't done the same. He walked over to her SUV and found her sitting still in the driver's seat.
He tapped the window. She pulled it down.
"Sara?" He searched her face. "Aren't you coming in?"
She didn't say anything but unlocked the passenger seat door. He took it that she was inviting him in. Frowning at the reason, Grissom walked to the other side and got in.
"What's wrong?" He asked her, when he was comfortably seated.
"I want to tell you about Courtney Andrews."
Grissom arched his eyebrows, not expecting to hear this. "Okay."
"Buckle up, we are going for a drive." She wasn't looking at him. Her gaze was fixed in front. She was in one of those moods when she cannot be argued with. He shot the sanctuary a brief glance before locking his seat belts in place.
She drove for a while, during which Grissom flicked her surreptitious looks. Finally, when they were zipping down a quiet residential area, Sara spoke, "I knew Rachel from one of my foster homes. She was in that same care."
"Rachel?"
"Courtney's real name." With one hand on the steering wheel, Sara used the other to nervously run through her hair. "We didn't get along at first, but she was the one who introduced me to a whole new experience; drugs, alcohol, clubs, the rock scene, you name it. When I got a scholarship to Harvard, we temporarily broke contact. After I graduated and moved to San Francisco, I found her again and we renewed our friendship. But by then, she had gotten herself into a nasty drug habit, an abusive relationship and a year old kid. I tried to get her to leave her boyfriend and clean up. But with Rach, it was an uphill task. She said she found some rich lawyer who loves her and she wanted to move to Boston with him. I warned her, but Rach never listens."
Grissom didn't say anything. He leant back against the leather upholstery and listened to her, keeping a careful eye on her driving.
"Anyways…" Sara swerved the vehicle to a right turn. "Then I came to Vegas and forgot all about her. Until a year back." She bit her upper lip. "I got a call from Rach. She said she wanted to meet me; there was something important. You remember the time I took a two week leave?"
He nodded.
"Well, I went to see her." Her jaws clenched. "She was in a condition worse than I've ever seen before. She said she was on a run. She had married some gangbanger in New York and she saw him die. She was scared that the murderers saw her too and they were going to find her and kill her. Rachel had no money, just the dirty pair of clothes she was wearing and a hungry son. In California, she has a bad rep and there was no way anyone was going to give her a job mopping tables, leave alone a credit on an apartment. No job, no food, a bad drug withdrawal, Gris, you should have seen her, she had become a skeleton of her former self."
He saw her body shudder, but he couldn't think of a way to comfort her. He instead sat mutely, waiting for her to continue.
"I knew I could give her some money, maybe even buy her an apartment, but it wouldn't help. She'll use up the money to buy drugs and just slip back into her former lifestyle. She'll get another jerk who'll fuck her and then beat her. At that point, I would have left her to her own devices if it hadn't been for Kyle. She needed to clean up her act for her son and there was only one way for her to do it. Someone had to keep an eye on her and she needed to be tied down by responsibilities. So, the first thing we did was change her and Kyle's name. They became Courtney and John Andrews. And then, by California's law, we were registered as domestic partners."
"You figured, if she was legally in a union with you, you will be able to keep tabs on her. Anything she does can be reported back to you." Grissom nodded his understanding.
"That and more." Sara eased the SUV into the driveway of a diner. When the engines stopped moving, a somber silence impregnated the interior. She finally turned to look at him.
"I got her an apartment in our name. I had some contacts and they gave her a job. If anyone from New York was searching for her, they'll be looking for a doped up, single mother, probably somewhere on the streets. Rachel was settled down and had a decent place to live. I got her into rehab and asked them to inform me about her sessions. I wanted to make sure she's going. Kyle was attending a nearby school. He's a bright kid, real bright." She gave a sad smile. "I didn't want his mom's bad choices to affect his future."
"And Catherine knew all this?"
Sara nodded. "We discussed. I told her everything about Rachel. However, when we decided to get married, I knew I had to dissolve my partnership with Rachel… Courtney. She was doing great, anyways and there was no reason for me to continue monitoring her. So, I went up to Frisco and signed the papers and handed it to her."
"And you are sure she registered those papers?" Grissom met her eyes.
"I don't see why she won't." Sara shrugged. "I mean she was happy and it wasn't as if our partnership meant anything other than legalities. Once the marriage was over, I was going to sign off my ownership andtransfer the apartment in Kyle's name."
"Did you know she was in Vegas?"
"No, I had no idea. She never told me she was coming."
"And what about John… Kyle?"
"I called his school; he's on a camping trip. He probably doesn't know about his mom and he doesn't need to know so soon." Sara's breath came out hard and shallow.
"Why didn't you tell the police?"
"Because… what we did was illegal. For the world, Rachel had disappeared, not officially changed her name to Courtney. She told me that there were some on the police force who were in cahoots with the Mafia. She didn't want them involved. She was so scared and I agreed. We got her a stolen identity and… that was it. No one was the wiser. "
"You agreed to break the law?" Grissom asked incredulously.
"Gris, I had no other choice. Rach was at the point of breaking and Kyle would have died of an infection. She was afraid of notifying anyone from the authority and I was scared that if I pressed her, she'll run away."
"Sara." He sighed, exasperatedly. "There were other ways to do the same thing."
"I knew you won't understand." She mumbled.
He closed his eyes and controlled himself. He changed the topic. "You think she was the target?"
"Can you think of any other reason?" Sara crossed her arms. "Catherine was in the law enforcement, but she didn't have any more enemies than we did. The other victims were just normal citizens, gone there for shopping."
"Besides the explosives were bought in Courtney's name." He frowned. "In your credit card."
"I must have left it there."
Grissom could see that she didn't believe in that statement anymore than he did. But if indeed Courtney was intended to be the original target and Catherine and the others were just an unfortunate coincidence, they had a big problem. Handling the Mafia is never easy, especially since they are so clean in their hit. The LVPD would have to collaborate with New York and the bureaucratic nightmare is going to stall the investigation for some time.
"Can I return back to work?" She asked, after they both returned from their thoughts.
He shook his head. "Take some rest, Sara." Before she could protest, he continued. "Not because I'm afraid of what Ecklie or the Sheriff are going to do, but because I know you need it."
"I can't." She gulped. "If I spend any more time thinking and grieving, I'll go crazy. I need my work, Gris."
"I have paperwork."
Even though she knew he meant it as a joke, she nodded. "I'll take it."
He observed her quietly for a minute and then: "I was scheduled for a seminar next month. But I neither have the spirit nor the time to work on it."
"You want me to help you?"
"It's off record and it will keep you occupied." He said.
She turned on the ignition. She knew that being allowed to return to the lab was improbable, but she gave the shot anyways. However, what she didn't tell Grissom, what neither he nor anyone needed to know, was that she was going to do a little investigation of her own. And she knew just the right people to talk to. Logical or not, she didn't think Catherine and Rachel had been victims of a gang hit.
Sean grunted in disgust as he stepped on a piece of soggy newspaper. He brushed the lapels of his coat for the umpteenth time and carefully walked towards the cabin. He hated coming down here, mainly because he was afraid someone might see him and also because he hated breathing in the dust. He didn't knock but retrieved a key from his pockets and opened the door. He grimaced when he saw the main living room littered with empty beer bottles. His sharp eyes could make out the pizza stains on the carpet. But what angered him was the TV turned on to full volume. Rocky was lounging bare-chested, watching an old Bruce Lee movie.
Sean wordlessly strode up to the unit and shut it off.
"Hey!" Rocky complained, sitting up. "It was just getting good."
"Yeah, and I suppose you want the neighbors calling the cops because you were causing noise pollution." Sean snapped.
"Whatever, I'm bored doing shit out here. I need solid action, man."
"You listen to me." Sean poked the muscled arm fully covered with tattoos. "I'm paying you and you do as I say. If you need action, get your ass outta here."
"Hey Sean." Kristen purred, emerging from inside.
Sean hardly softened at the seductive glance she threw his way. "What was the Goddamn emergency?"
She immediately mirrored his seriousness. "You need to see this."
They walked into the video room, originally a study. As he had instructed, the curtains were down and the lights inside were dimmed. The wall was layered with small screens showing different angles of the basement. In three of them, he could see Catherine curled up in a fetal position on the bed.
"What am I looking for?" He asked after a while.
"She's sleeping." Rocky murmured redundantly.
"Exactly, she should not be sleeping." Kristen pointed out.
"What do you mean?" Sean stared towards her.
"She had just spent a good twenty minutes watching the news. These babies capture everything perfect. I could see what she was watching. It was the Channel 7 news with King. Some guy had even made things cute for us by taking a snapshot of your sister getting cozy with another man. That picture's splayed all over. And of course, the routine stuff about the bomb blast and her involvement was being recited."
"So?"
"So, this lady shouldn't be sleeping after seeing all that."
"Hmm." Sean understood what she meant. If Catherine Willows had just witnessed the news of her cataclysmic death and the alleged betrayal by her fiancée, she should have exploded in melodrama, not calmly lying down in bed. "Maybe she's feeling the effects of the drugs."
"Yeah, if she would have eaten something. The last meal she had was yesterday. She hadn't touched the pizza we sent. She could be feeling sick, but not enough to not feel anything."
He scowled. "What is that beside her?"
"Where?"
"There." He pointed at the screen giving a direct, vertical image of the bed.
"I dunno, a black cloth?" Rocky squinted.
"No, we never gave her any dark clothes. The lighter the clothes, the better we can see her on camera."
Three pairs of eyes were focused on the dark spot beside Catherine, until it struck them.
"Fuck, it's blood! The bitch is bleeding. Just our luck that we got her during those days." Rocky muttered, his nose scrunched up in distaste.
"No, it can't be." Kristen shook her head. "I've stocked the bathroom with enough tampons."
"Then what is it?" Sean mumbled. He didn't want to admit that a cold feeling of unease was taking residence in his stomach.
"Maybe her stitches are torn and she's bleeding."
"Can't you see her bandaged hand? It's perfectly fine."
Rocky turned to glare at Kristen. "So, if you are the almighty doctor, then why don't you enlighten us?"
Her eyes widened and she sputtered out, "A shaving kit. There was a shaving kit in the bathroom closet."
She had barely registered the sharp sting on her cheek when she toppled backwards. Sean was fuming and he advanced to slap her again.
"Hey easy, easy." Rocky stepped between them.
"You fucking bitch!" Sean cursed. "Didn't I tell you NOT to leave any sharp objects in there?"
"I-I thought…" She started.
"You weren't thinking!"
"Uh, guys?" Rocky hated to go against a very angry Sean but this was needed. "The blood… it's getting more."
Sean and Kristen reluctantly tore their eyes from each other to look at the screen. Sure enough, the dark pool of blood they saw was getting larger. Catherine was bleeding, a lot.
"You!" He pointed his finger at Kristen without looking at her. "Go and attend to her."
She scrambled on her feet as fast as possible and rushed towards the basement stairs. After a brief while, they saw her form fill the screen and walk towards Catherine. She gently pushed her and then harder. She then grabbed the woman by the shoulders and straightened her. Catherine fell limply into her hands and they saw Kristen double back. Rocky gasped. The front of the nightgown Catherine wore was completely stained. A dark, viscous fluid, dripped from her right hand. Kristen almost dropped her and ran away. Within seconds, she returned back to the video room.
"We need to take her to the hospital." She spoke, in between breaths.
"You have had medical training, why don't you see to her?" Sean was curt.
"I don't have medical training! I'm just a pre-med and besides, I don't have the necessary tools. She needs to be taken to the hospital."
Rocky took several steps away from his boss. He had never seen the man so angry before and he was afraid of what he might do.
Sean was desperately trying to think. He didn't care what happened to Willows, but someone did. His plan depended on that someone's continued support and he couldn't afford to make an enemy out of that person.
After some intense planning, he slowly worded. "We'll take her to the hospital and get a doctor. I have a fake driver's license, so we can hide her identity. Make sure not a lot of people get to see her, though. They showed her picture on the news only once, but some people have damn good memories. If anyone recognizes her…" He turned towards Rocky. "You know what to do."
