Irrefutable
By: Manigault
Thanks for hanging in there with this story! I appreciate each and every comment! Thank you.
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"It was creepy," Greg told Warrick and Nick as they sat around the table in the break room. He had described the scene in the motel room and they had stared back at him as if he made up the entire tale. "I'm serious!" Greg defended himself as the looks of his friends remained disbelieving.
"So, an older man and a leather clad woman are murdered in a motel room and you jump to conclusions," Nick said. Picking up his sandwich he bit into it and shook his head. Greggo was obsessed with Grissom's love life.
Sara stepped into the room and motioned for Greg.
"I need your help."
Warrick leaned back in his chair and exchanged a look with Nick. If Greg was telling the truth, then Sara would know and be honest with them.
"Sara? Is it true what-"
"It's okay, guys, really!" Greg shot them a warning glare as he hurried towards Sara. "Let's go, Sara."
Holding back, Sara looked from him to the table where Nick and Warrick were sitting, wearing dazed expressions. "I take it Greg informed you of our case?"
Warrick narrowed his eyes. "One of the victim's looks like Grissom? You think that it's a coincidence?"
"It's no coincidence," Sara told them. "Listen, I can't explain right now. Later?"
Nick put his sandwich down and turned to Warrick who was still watching the doorway where Sara had left minutes before. "I wonder if this is connected with the way Sara was behaving on the past shift?"
"Our case is closed," Warrick said and then suggested with a new determination. "I think we should pay a visit to Doc Robbins."
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Pressure was building in her chest as she moved through the motions of processing this case. She was determined to stop this psycho before he could harm Grissom in the manner he had the motel victims.
The male victim now had a name, William Richards. His wallet had been found on the nightstand with his license tucked inside the fold. The female victim was still unknown.
Doc Robbins had presented them with some interesting facts regarding both victims. That's why she had pulled Greg, to have him try to find some answers.
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Al Robbins glanced up as Warrick and Nick entered the room. He had turned back several curious lab personnel already that evening and was preparing to snap another aburpt 'out' when he saw the two investigators.
"Have a look," Robbins gestured towards the man who was on his table. "I suppose you've heard the rumors."
"Greg." Nick informed him as he and Warrick approached.
Warrick walked around the table and studied the victim with a skeptical eye. "I don't think that he is the spitting image of Grissom."
"Imagine him with a beard," Robbins suggested.
"He had a beard?" Nick questioned.
"Fake."
"Where is it?" Warrick tilted his head to the side and stared at the victim. He could see the resemblance and knew that it must have been something of a shock for Sara and Catherine to find the victims in the motel.
"Sara has it," Robbins said, and then added thoughtfully, "I recall her mumbling something about having Greg do some research on fake beards and wigs."
"Wigs?" Warrick asked.
Robbins motioned to the next table where the female was located. "Egyptian style wig."
Warrick and Nick walked over to the next table. The strawberry blond on the table didn't hit any recognition nerves, but the cut that ran from one side of her neck to the other made them both cringe.
Nick frowned and looked over at Warrick who returned his stare and nodded.
"See you later, Doc," Warrick said.
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Catherine met Brass in the hallway outside of his office and quickly gestured for him to follow her back inside.
"I spoke with Gil and informed him of this case."
"You called him on his cell?" Brass asked curtly.
Narrowing her eyes on him, Catherine confirmed that she had called him on his cell phone. "Gil seems to think that our suspect could be Doctor Lurie. Do you remember that case?"
"Lurie?" Brass tried to process this new information. He could never forget that specific case and how similar the victim was to Sara, nor how obsessed Grissom had been on proving Lurie was the killer. Grissom's small speech to Lurie in the interrogation room had left him with more insight into Grissom than he had gleamed in years of knowing the man.
"The victims were killed with a surgical knife." Catherine prompted.
"I remember." Brass said. He shook his head and pointed out that it wasn't a surgical knife used on these two victims. "Why would Gil think this case could be connected to the Marlin case?"
"Aside from the fact that the victims look similar to Gil and Lady Heather? Or, perhaps the fact that they were killed in similar ways? Granted, the man wasn't cut into pieces, but then he would want him to be found so he left him posed on the bed."
Brass eased onto the edge of his desk and considered this new infomation. "Is Sara aware of this?"
"She's working the case." Catherine placed her hands on each hip and gave him a hard stare. "What are you not telling me, Jim?"
With a shrug, Brass shook his head. "I was curious."
"There's more to it than that, but I'll let it go for now," Catherine said.
"Do we have enough evidence against Lurie to bring him in for questioning?"
"We have no evidence against him. It's all speculation."
Brass frowned at the implication. "We need to keep an eye on him."
Without another word, Brass pushed away from his desk and walked towards the doorway.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Catherine asked.
"I need to speak with Sara." Brass offered no other explanation as he left his office and went in search of Sara.
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Sara was concentrating on finding the specific knife that was used to kill the two individuals and did not hear Warrick or Nick approach. When Nick touched her elbow, she almost jumped out of her skin.
"Nick!"
"I'm sorry, Sara, but we announced ourselves and you never replied." Nick smiled apologetically and Sara's tension ebbed.
"I didn't hear you," she turned back to the weapons and scowled.
"We're here to help you find who did this," Warrick said picking up one of the knives. "Tell us what we can do and we're on it."
"Don't you have your own case to solve?" Sara was touched by their concern, but she didn't want them to neglect their own victims.
"Case closed," Nick told her with a grin, "we're that good. So use us."
Sara looked from one serious face to the other and blinked back her gratitude. She wanted them to help her bring Grissom home and right now catching this killer was the only way she knew to do that.
"We know who the male victim is, but we don't have know about the female." Sara told them, only to have Nick pick up her train of thought.
"I'm on it."
Sara watched him start to leave the room and called out to him.
"Thanks, Nick."
Turning to Warrick, she shrugged. "I can use some help identifying the type of knife that was used."
"It was not a clean cut, we know that much," Warrick mused.
"You saw the victims?" Sara asked the question, but wasn't really surprised with his answer.
"We had to see for ourselves." Warrick's reply wasn't defensive. It was stated as a fact and Sara could appreciate the honesty.
"Warrick? I need to tell you something-." Sara's urge to confide in Warrick was short lived as Brass strode into the room.
"I need to speak with you, Sara."
Warrick nodded at Sara and smiled gently. "We'll talk when your ready. I'll work on this while you chat with Brass."
For the second time in minutes, Sara was thanking one of her old friends for his help and wondering why she and Grissom had kept their relationship secret from the few people she throughly trusted.
TBC
