Sara looked up at him, eyes wide, heart racing. He averted her gaze, looking around at the room, his room, he was everywhere, surrounding him.
"I, I can't be in here," he sputtered and ran off outside. Sara chased after him.
"Greg wait," she yelled following him out of the house.
He kept going until he couldn't smell the stench of him in the air and took large sharp breathes, filling his lungs with the cold, dry, night air. He put his hands on the back of his head, surrendering to the desert. He could feel tears wanting to form in his eyes.
"Greg please," Sara spoke behind him, pictures still in hand. She didn't know what to say, or if anything she did say would help at all. "You have to talk to Brass, we'll find him before he can try anything." When Greg turned around, he was startled to see Nick and D.B with her.
"What's going on?" worried Nick. Sara gave Greg a look as if asking for permission. He bowed his head and gestured to go ahead. Sara handed Nick the photos, who upon inspecting them became angrier and angrier.
"Greg," she said softly, "We don't need all the details, not yet, but we do need to know, I mean, can you confirm that the man who assaulted you was David Hughes?" He simply nodded.
"This doesn't prove he's still going to- I mean he's on the run it would be stupid to stay in the area," Nick exclaimed.
"Doesn't it though," Greg replied. He was getting light headed "He's obsessed. According to his brother he thinks I'm special, that, that he's taking his time with me." He began pacing. "As long as he's out there, I don't know if or when he's going to come back and finish what he started."
"I won't let that happen," Nick went to place a comforting hand on his shoulder, stopped only when Greg backed away slightly. "We can protect you."
"And what if we never find him? I can't be watched all the time, eventually I'll be on my own again."
"We're getting ahead of ourselves," D.B concluded. "For now, you are under protective watch, we'll gather as much as we can from the house, find out where he would go to hide out, put his picture in the papers, everything. I don't think you should stay at your place in the meantime."
"You can stay with me," Nick said immediately.
"I can't do that to you, I can't have you put your life at risk, not for me."
"And I can't let you do this alone." Nick said it with such force it took Greg by surprise. "You don't get it, seeing you on the ground that night- it scared the shit out of me and then I learn your apartment was broken into, your life threatened again and where was I?"
"It's not your job to protect me," Greg said indignantly.
"You still don't get it. I can't lose another- I can't handle losing another friend, not when I could have done something." A chill ripped through them. Sara folded her arms tightly, choosing to stare at the ground, a tear sliding gently down her cheek. Warrick's death had been a shock to everyone; she knew Nick had taken it the hardest though.
Greg could hardly argue with him at this point, it was cruel to use Warrick against him.
"Ok," he said throwing his hands in the air. Nick nodded and walked away. He couldn't stand there any longer after dropping something so heavy.
"I think it might be best if we get Finn to replace Nick. We'll send him home with you," D.B said quietly. He gave Greg a small reassuring grin before walking away himself.
Sara studied Greg, wondering what was playing in his mind that made him grimace. He was sweating despite the cold, pale, like he was about to be sick. She herself was in shock; circumstances had changed so quickly she felt winded.
"How did you know?" He stared intently, arms folded over each other. "About, that night?"
"I was sent into the alley to collect evidence. I found your shirt button, and uh, well you had buttoned them up wrong when I saw you on the back of the ambulance but you didn't say anything about them ripping your shirt- felt like you were hiding something." More movement behind his eyes. "We're going to find him Greg, I promise."
Greg gave her a tense smile and walked away to find Nick.
After Nick and Greg left the scene, Sara returned into the house. Dave had taken the bodies out already, D.B was marking blood spatter. She gave him a curt nod and went back into his bedroom, scared of what she might find. The trophies she finally read, were for little league over 24 years ago. Drawings of dragons, designs for forts, photos of vehicles were pinned behind the wall of the desk. Much like Louisa Day, the room was more of a time capsule, plucked from a 10 year old boy. Inside the desk however, were files for clients- David Hughes was a computer programmer, working from home most likely. She searched every inch for evidence they had a family cabin or lake house that he might be hiding in with no luck. She searched the bed last, pulling the blankets off, lifting the mattress around the edges, when one of the pillows fell down the side revealing Greg's vest folded neatly. Sara's heart sank. She took a picture then laid it out flat. On the bottom right side was a dry white stain that Sara easily recognized as semen. She looked away, embarrassed and angry as if she had caught him in the act. Her hands clenched tightly, she kicked the side of the bed as hard as she could.
Finn meanwhile, finally arrived kit in hand. She smiled at D.B as she walked in.
"Where do you need me?" she asked.
"Can you start outside? I'm nearly finished in here and I'll move on to the rest of the house," stated D.B flatly. She nodded and left.
She walked around the building searching for anything out of the ordinary. The tone had changed again since last time. She was having a hard time keeping up with it all. D.B was stressed lately, worried about Greg of course, they all were; now he was scared, and she knew that something more was going on that the others weren't telling her. She thought it must be because she was new, they didn't trust her yet. It was killing her to be out of the loop. She might not have known Greg as long as the others have, however, she knew him well enough.
She started wandering through the dirt yard littered with car parts. There were tons of nooks and crannies to hide stuff and she had to search in every single one of them. She sighed, went to start, then out of the corner of her eye she saw something bizarre. Down by the back fence were two rectangular patches of dirt sunken slightly lower than the rest of the area. As she approached, she realized they were nearly the size of a grave.
She called D.B on his phone, "Hey, is Dave still around?"
He left about an hour ago, why?
"I think I have two graves out here."
D.B hung up and went outside to join her.
"Those look like graves to me," he agreed and turned around to call Dave. An hour later they started pulling bones out of the ground, piece by piece, forming two skeletons.
Dave leaned over one and said, "They both look like males, I'll know more when I get back."
"Who do you think they are?" asked Finn turning to D.B from one of the holes.
"With two graves I thought it was just their parents, but two adult males, I'm thinking serial killer."
"A brother serial killing team? Heck of a family night."
"With any luck we'll be able to match them to a missing persons case, give their families some closure."
"Look what else we found one of the graves." Finn handed him a stack of photos. D.B looked through them with a sense of déjà vu. There were a few dozen of them of various men, some from a distance, others were close ups, asleep most likely, though they couldn't rule out they weren't dead. Two photos showed different men, unconscious, stripped and bleeding on the pavement. D.B turned green; the unexpected brutality of it all, knowing he could be planning on doing this same thing to Greg, sent shivers down his spine.
"We're going to have to get GPR to search for other corpses," D.B concluded. They had to make sure these men weren't buried there as well.
The drive back to Nick's house was awkward. Neither of them had said anything, or even knew what to say. Nick kept clearing his throat like words were getting stuck there. He didn't mean to bring Warrick into this, it had slipped off his tongue before he knew it. They haven't spoke of him much these days; they couldn't keep reliving his memory, they had to move on. Nonetheless, he could tell it had stung them, Sara and Greg, they both looked away from him as if he was showing them something indecent.
They first had to stop at the hotel to pick up Greg's stuff. Now parked in the garage, Nick noticed his friend hadn't moved to get out and instead was bouncing his leg, carelessly picking at his jeans.
"There's an officer here now who's going to follow us back to my place. We won't be alone," Nick mentioned, trying to sound casual.
"I'm not worried about it, I was just thinking," Greg replied, his leg had stopped bouncing though and he was undoing the seatbelt. He was thinking, about what the brother had said, he's an excellent tracker. He knew he was going to be followed back to Nick's place, whether they caught him in time was the question, and he was sure that if they were too late, Nick would just be an obstacle to him.
Nick and Greg arrived quickly enough to his room. Greg put the key in and was about to go inside, when Nick grabbed his arm, his gun in one hand.
"Humor me," he said under his breath and stormed in gun first looking in every corner. When he came up empty, Greg strolled in casually.
"How'd that make you feel?" he smirked. "Big and strong?"
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up." Nick holstered his gun. "Get your things already." It was the first time Greg had felt remotely normal in days. The awkwardness between them instantly vanished.
"I'm going to order pizza, I'm starving. Do you want anything else?"
"Nah pizza is perfect. Supr-"
"Supreme, extra olives, yeah I know. Ah geez, look at the time. We'll have to go to Reggy's, all the good places are closed."
By the time they got to Nick's home, it was nearly 2AM. Nick was about to pull his Tahoe into the garage when remembered it was full of cabinets and had to park in the driveway (I'll get those out of the way tomorrow). Once they were inside he reset his security alarm and checked the place, gun first, though this time Greg didn't joke when he came back holstering his gun. He dropped his stuff on the floor and they settled in, Nick in the armchair, Greg on the sofa, watching some random sport channel to fill the silence while they ate.
Nick's home was a comfortable one story 70's style ranch with a large backyard. He'd bought it specifically for the land size- the house itself had been nearly dilapidated. He was about halfway through his fixer upper; he'd removed the ugly orange shag and replaced it with dark hard wood flooring, the mustard yellow countertops were replaced with some dazzling light gray granite, he'd even knocked down a load barring wall to get a nice open concept (Set me back a pretty penny, but it's worth it). There were still projects lying around he hadn't got to. The bathroom hadn't been touched at all- it still gave off a feint mildew smell no matter how well he cleaned it and the dining room cupboards were stripped of color waiting to be stained.
If you squinted you could barely tell that he was being hunted down. There were small acts that brought it back, Nick going around to check all the windows, closing all the curtains, small movements he made whenever he stood up as if he might suddenly combust, then act casual again like everything was hunky dory. Every once in a while, he would look out the window to make sure the officer was still out there. After the fourth time Greg had enough.
"Would you please stop looking out, every time you do I think you've heard something. It's giving me anxiety." Nick placed the curtain back.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to. I was waiting for the shift change. Do you want another beer?" Though now that he looked, Greg hadn't touched the first one.
"Nah I'm good." When Nick had offered him the first one he'd wanted to seem like his normal self. He didn't want to explain that the reason he didn't want a drink was because the idea of being incapacitated in any sense sent a wave of panic down his spine. He'd just been gripping the cold glass tightly for the last hour, gnawing at the damp label so pieces were starting to fall off. He finally set the bottle on the coffee table to check his phone. It was just past 5am. Soon the morning light would be streaming through the windows and Greg would have to go back to the station to make a formal statement to Brass about every dirty detail. He couldn't stand the thought of anyone thinking of him in that intimate vulnerability. He wanted to run away and forget the whole thing, chance the man's tracking skills and see how long it would take before he caught him.
Out of the corner of his eye, Greg saw Nick trying to hide a yawn. He nearly rolled his eyes. Jesus Nick, just go to bed. I'll be fine.
After another stifled yawn from him, Greg gave him an excuse to go. "I think I might try to get some sleep."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, I have to make that statement later today, I should probably have a clear head."
"Probably." Nick studied his face for a moment. "You know you don't have to say anything, you could write it all down instead. Goes in the file either way."
Greg thought it over. "Nah, it would take a lot longer. I'd rather just get it over with. Besides, we both know these type of cases, thee uh, victim gets the short end of the stick." That word made his mouth dry.
"It'll get better," Nick said half-heartedly. Greg couldn't help but be bitter.
"Yeah that's assuming he gets caught, and then it's just the trial which could be a year from now. I don't even think we can prove he did anything to me in the first place, I didn't see his face, there was no evidence, and I waited all of four days before I came forward. I can't even tell you how far he got because all I remember is waking up with my pants unbuttoned." Greg didn't mean to go so far, release so much detail. He'd only wanted Nick to go to bed. He turned away from him his face beet red.
Nick eyes wide and clear, his voice strong, leaned on the edge of his seat. "All you have to do is tell them exactly what you do remember. It's their job to make a conviction, not yours. Coming forward is to help you get protection now, so we can prove he's a predator. Once he's arrested, the murder charges alone will get him the death penalty."
Greg couldn't stand to look at him and see the pity on his face. He spoke instead to the wall. "Thank you for letting me stay at your place."
"Yeah, anytime." Nick sensed he wasn't going to get any farther with him. These cases, they had to be handled delicately, a little at a time. He started cleaning up the mess, Greg seemed to have composed himself enough to help, his face still flushed. Once they'd pulled out the bed from the couch and got ready, they said good night despite the sun rising and Nick went into his room, reluctant to leave Greg on his own.
The morning light was just barely tipping in through the cracks of the curtain. Greg lay there staring at the ceiling, getting more restless with each passing minute. He had taken Nicks presence for granted. Now alone, mysterious noises seemed to pop out of nowhere, making him flinch. He could swear he heard floor boards creak and saw a shadow dash across the back patio door at some point. After an hour he remembered he brought his headphones. He played something low enough that he could still hear his surroundings, a calm guitar strumming 70's classic that helped his mind wander to better memories.
i think in a previous chapter i wrote that nick had a dog. well, sometime between the last 7 years (2 days i think for the characters) Nick lost his dog. sooo oops.