I'm not sure if it's been a while or not. But here is another chapter.
I own nothing but my own characters... Dani is all mind :-)
I'd like to thank my 'darling' for making me feel like I can actually write. And for being there these past few weeks. It's been hard, but it'd of been a lot harder without you. I love you...
Chapter 3
Sara entered the room first, taking a seat across from Patty. This was the first time she'd really got a good look at the woman. She'd say she was in her mid-forties. She had short dull brown hair, if she'd of met her on the street she might think she was a man for a minute. She was really skinny, no curves what-so-ever, and even with her sitting down she could tell she was probably a bit taller than herself.
Jim stayed by the door leaning against the wall. He was going to let Sara do her thing and would be there to back her up if needed.
"My name is Sara Sidle I'm a CSI, is it alright if I ask you a few questions?"
"I already told the guy over there what happened, can me and my children please go now, we've had a very long day and I'd like to get them somewhere so they can get some sleep."
"I'm afraid not. How long have you and Christine been involved?"
Patty was thrown when she heard the question. And looked at Sara seeing if she meant it the way it sounded.
"We found both your DNA along with Christine on her sheets. I'm not here to judge I just want to know how long you two were involved?" Sara said while showing pictures of the sheets where the fluids had been found along with the DNA evidence, not that Patty would know what it really meant other than they had evidence.
"We don't tell anyone, only our families know. And we've been together on and off again for a little over sixteen years. The kids all know not to tell anyone, we don't want people using it against us, so we keep it to ourselves."
"Earlier you said that Nathan had killed his mother and than killed himself, we know that's not true, so would you like to tell us what did happen?"
Patty's head snapped up knowing she'd been caught in the lie, now how far would she go to protect her son? She didn't say anything, so Sara pushed further. "We found your sons prints on the knife, his clothes were covered in blood. I get you were trying to protect your son. But now you can help him by telling us what really happened. Was he defending himself? Did Christine go at him first?"
"No, no, you have it all wrong. I killed her. It was me, I swear it wasn't my son. He came in after I had stabbed her, he told me to give him the knife, I thought he was going to get rid of it, I swear it was me."
"Then why did you stab her?" Sara had been thrown a bit, but recovered fast.
"She found Nate dead...she, she went nuts...she said she was going to kill all of us." Sara could tell she was lying about part of it, but telling the truth about part of it too. "She came after me with the knife and... and I got it from her... and she was fighting me for it... then she fell, she fell on it. It was an accident."
Sara glanced at the two way mirror hoping Catherine was catching the half truth-lie. She then turned to look at Brass, he nodded his head letting her know he caught it too. Sara got up then and walked out, Brass right after her and soon Catherine was joining them.
Sara grabbed her phone calling Greg. "Hey it's Sara, do you still have that knife... ok good can you look and check to make sure there are no prints under the ones you took off?... Yeah, the mother said she did it and that her son took the knife from her... you did? Ok we'll be there in a minute." She slipped the phone back in her pocket. "Greg just found two notes in Casandra's jeans."
Catherine and Sara both entered the lab Greg was working in, slipping on gloves as Greg handed them each a note.
Catherine started reading hers out loud first. " Mom, I'm sorry I had to do this. You have to understand that it's not your fault. I just can't take it anymore, and unless I do this, I wont be able to tell anyone. I got online to see what I could do, how I could tell people, how I could find help. But I found I there is a chance I will end up just like him. Hurt people the way he hurt me. Johnny started touching me a few months ago. When we went on vacation with his grandparents. I don't want to be like him mom. I don't want to be a monster like that. So, I have to do this. Dani is going to need you, so please make sure you are there for her. Don't tell her what happened to me, I don't want her doing something she might one day regret. She really does love you mom. You just have to give her a chance. I'm going to miss you mom, give Dani one last hug for me. …. I love you and I'm so sorry, Nathan."
Everyone just stood frozen in the room. Sara was the first to speak. "He wouldn't of ended up a monster, he would have been one of the good guys. He should've told someone, there should have been more help out there for him." Sara then looked down at the letter in her hand.
She cleared her throat before starting. "Dani, my big sister, my best friend, I'm sorry. I love you more than anyone or anything on this planet. You protected me from Patty," Sara's voice got even softer when she realized what was coming next. "You made sure she never ever hit me. You also made sure I had the childhood I know you never had. I loved playing sports, and having you there cheering me was the coolest thing. You would cheer louder for me than any of the other mothers did for their sons and you were just my big sister. Everyone always said how cool you were and how they wished they had a big sister like you. You always made sure I got to my games, or when I was in peewee games that there was a snack on my day. I'm sorry I have to do this. I know you knew something was wrong, but, I knew you couldn't help me. Please don't be mad at me. And please don't stop taking your pills. I know you need them. I know you took them for me, but please don't stop just because I wont be there anymore. I love you sister. Spladidle. Nate"
Sara sat the paper down and walked out of the lab heading for the locker room. She went to a corner in the room leaning against the wall before sliding down it, pulling her knees up against her chest resting her forehead on the tops of her knees, while tears trickled down her face. That poor kid should never have died. None of this should've happened. His poor sister tried so hard to make his life good, now she's left with nothing but a note. If he'd of only told her, she'd of helped him. Gah! Why is this even bothering me. Get it together Sidle. Sara leaned her head against the wall. Seeing Catherine leaning against one of the lockers . She hadn't even heard Catherine walk in.
"Sara sweetie, what's going on?" Catherine walked over and sat down next to Sara. Not too close, she knew better than to try and invade the younger woman's personal space.
Sara was trying to find a way out of talking to Catherine, but she knew she could only stall for so long. "I just haven't been sleeping well, and I got no sleep before shift, and it's just all too much."
"If you want you can go home, Greg and I can finish this one up." Sara started to sit up to argue with Catherine, not wanting to be told to go home. Catherine grabbed Sara's hand trying to connect with her, to make her see she wasn't trying to fight with her. "I didn't say you 'had' to go home, I said you could if you wanted. I get it though, you want to finish this one up. But you are still coming to my house for breakfast after shift." With that she let go of Sara's hand, stood up, brushed off her pants from sitting on the floor and headed for the door.
"Thanks, Cath." Was all Sara was able to mutter. I thought these feelings were gone, why did she have to grab my hand, this is the last thing I need tonight. She was so close to me, she's always so close to me. Doesn't she see how much it hurts me to be that close to her. Then again it's not like she knows I had... blah, still have feelings for her. If I was smart I'd tell her just to get some distance between us. Now I have to go to her house after shift. Yay! Not.
Sara kept thinking while she got up and washed her face off. It was time for her to go finish up this case. She pulled her phone dialing Greg. "Hey, I need you to see if the SA kit is a match for Johnny, oh you already did, so what did it say. He did, ok, that should put him away. What about the knife... so the underlying print was Patty's, good we got her too. Alright, I've got a few questions for Patty, I'll find you when I 'm done." Slipping the phone back into her pocket she headed back to see Brass, she had some more questions for Patty. After filling him in on the suicide notes they both headed in, Catherine had spotted them going in and ducked into the room next to it to watch and listen as they interrogated Patty.
"We read the notes, we know what your son did. He was also a match to the DNA from Nathans sexual assault. With those two pieces of evidence your son will be looking at charges as an adult and be put behind bars for a while. We also found your prints on the knife, so we know you were telling the truth about that. Now why don't you tell us why you killed Christine? Was she going to turn your son in, is that why you did it?" Sara leaned back in her chair, satisfied with the look of disbelief on Patty's face.
Soon her face took on another look, one Sara had seen on many psychopaths faces before. "I knew her stupid fucking kids would ruin everything some day. I told her that. They are pathetic little nothings. And then she says that she's putting away my son" Patty stood up pounding her fist on the table "MY SON. Because her disgusting brat couldn't enjoy himself. Well fuck her, I should've killed her years ago. The only reason I kept her around was for the money she was getting from her ex-husbands death benefits. I should've smacked that little brat around like I did his sister, but no Dani, wouldn't let me lay a finger on him. You should arrest her, she threatened to kill me. I want her arrested now! Now!" Patty kept going on, but Sara had heard enough, she looked back and watched brass slap handcuffs on Patty before leaving the room.
Sara headed back to the lab Greg had all the evidence laid out in. Grabbing some gloves and one of the letters, she turned right around heading to Catherine's office.
"Hey slow down, we solved it. You got what you needed from Patty. Why are you still... upset?" Catherine really wasn't sure what Sara was at that moment.
"I want to go give Dani the letter her brother wrote... I figured she'll have to wear gloves, but she should get to read what her brother wanted to tell her." Sara opened the door and went over next to Catherine's desk flipping on the small lamp, before going over to sit in front of the now awake teen. Catherine went over to take a seat on the couch as Dani sat up to face Sara.
"Do you know what happened now?"
"We do, here" Sara handed her a pair of gloves. "Put these on, there is something we would like you to read."
Dani did as Sara asked her, and then took the piece of paper, reading the letter her brother had wrote her. The paper had blood stains all over it, something she noticed, and with reading the letter, seeing the blood, it all became all to real for her. Tears streamed down her face, her hands shaking, her head shaking no. Before she whispered "Spododdle my lil man" She handed the paper back to Sara, grabbed her back full of meds and pulled out two bottles, dumping one pill out of each into her hand, she tossed them in her mouth and grabbed the bottle of water before swallowing them and leaning back into the couch. She had become even paler then she was before, though neither Sara or Catherine thought that would've been possible.
"Spododdle?" Catherine asked.
"Yeah, we spent a lot of time together in the car and it can get a bit boring. So, one day I said 'Spladidle'. He looked at me like i'd lost my freakin mind. Which was the look I was going for. And I told him it means 'I love you'. He simple said, Spladidle back... and I told him, no, no, that's not right and then I told him that 'I love you too, is Spododdle'. He stopped playing that game with me a little over a year ago, Saying it was stupid."
Sara leaned forward putting her hand on the girls knee. Catherine noted this, Sara was never one to initiate contact. "Johnny had been... sexual abusing him. He was afraid he'd become like him." Sara's words were soft and she had a hard time saying them. She didn't want to cause Dani any more pain, but Sara knew in the end it'd help her to move on to know what happened. To know why. "You're mother found must of found him and the notes, she confronted Patty. She told Patty that she was turning Johnny in, when Patty snapped and killed her." Sara didn't have a chance to continue before the girl stood up heading for the door. Sara grabbed a hold of her arm stopping her. "I'm sorry, but you can't leave."
Dani ripped her arm out of Sara's hand. "I'm not leaving, I'm going to find Johnny. I want to see Johnny now!"
"I'm sorry but we can't let you see him."
"Look lady, I love this kid, he's like my little brother too. I just want to talk to him. I swear, please, I need to talk to him and to Case, please, I need this?"
"Ok, but you'll have to talk to them separately. And you wont have long. Only a couple minutes with each other them, and when I say you have to go, you have to go. Will you listen to me?" Sara had stepped closer to the girl looking into her eyes to make sure she truly only wanted to talk to Johnny. Dani nodded her head and Sara knew she just wanted to talk to him.
Catherine wasn't sure if this was a good idea, this whole night had been like that, but she was trying to give Sara some leeway. Trying to let her find her own way through this stuff.
When the women all walked into the room Johnny just looked down. Dani went over and sat across the table from him. She seemed very calm. "Did you hurt him?"
He looked up at her, you could see the hurt in his eyes. He gently started pleading with the girl he saw as his big sister. "Please, don't be mad Danielle, I swear I'll get help, I'm so sorry, I don't know why I did it, I, I... I swear if I'd of known he was going to..."
"What if he was going to kill himself you wouldn't of abused him! Is that what you are trying to say!" Dani's voice slowly increased as she spoke. "You knew how much he meant to me! You knew the only thing that mattered in my life was that he didn't get hurt! I thought it was your mother... you're fucking mother who I had to keep him safe from. But it was you. I loved you! I loved you like a fucking brother! You were my best friend! You and your sister was the only reason it was ok that my mother stayed with yours. You're sick twisted mother! She killed my mom! You.. you... You killed my brother. It was you that killed him!" Dani got up making her way to the boy she once thought of as a brother.
Sara saw her and headed for her just as she reached Johnny. "I will fucking kill you, you stupid, stupid freak!" She went to hit him, to tackle him, and Sara grabbed her arm, while Catherine grabbed her around the waist. Both women trying their best to pull the girl out of the room. "I swear to you, I will kill you before I die, you and your mother, neither one of you will ever hurt anyone every again!"
The whole time, all Johnny could do was cry and say that he was sorry. Over and over. Finally The two woman had the girl in the hall. Dani sunk down against the wall crying, Sara sliding down beside her taking the girl in her arms while she shook with the anger and grief pouring out of her. All Sara could do is pull her tighter and hold on to her. "It may not seem like it now, but I promise you it does get easier. I promise. Shhh it's ok." Sara hadn't even realized she had tears streaming down her cheek now.
Catherine couldn't believe what she was seeing. This wasn't the Sara she knew at all. She wasn't even sure of what to do. But she knew she needed to move them out from in the middle of the hallway. She leaned down to the two crying in front of her. She gently put her hand on one of each of their shoulders trying to pull them away a bit. "Come on girls lets go to my office."
Dani, heard what the other woman had said and started wiping away her tears and pulled herself away from Sara to stand up. And straighten herself out. Sara did the same. "No, no... I'm ok. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that. I swear, I don't know where that came from. I'd still really like to see Case?" The girl looked at both women, figuring she'd never get to see Casandra.
"Why don't we go back to my office for a bit and if you calm down and you still want to see her we'll see what we can do. That doesn't mean you'll get to, but it also doesn't mean you might either. Catherine offered.
All three of them headed back to her office, Catherine caught sight of social services, though the other two didn't. Knowing things were about to get even more interesting she went inside her office. Dani took her spot on the couch with Sara in the chair in front of her. Neither one of them saying much. So Catherine got to break the news. "Social Services are here so you wont be able to talk to Casandra today. But I will make sure we are updated about where she is going and then I'll make sure you get the information so you can get a hold of her."
"So, Case has to stay with social services? She is a good person, I know her mom and brother are two very fucked up people" Catherine took a step forward looking at her. This wasn't the age to start letting things slide, no matter how bad of a day the girl had had. "Sorry, I know language, anyway, can Case come stay with me? I know my friend wouldn't care. I swear I'll take care of her."
Sara stood up, this was the hard part. "You can't go to your friends house. You'll probably be sent to a group home for the day or weekend before being placed. Until you're eighteen, you have no choice in the matter... I'm really sorry Dani." Sara went over to Catherine's desk writing something down before handing it to the teen. "If you need anything, I don't care if it's for a ride, five dollars, or help with your homework, you call me, any time of the day or night." Sara sat down looking Dani in the eye's, "I mean it, you call and I will be there. Ok?"
"Is Danielle in here?" A lady in her forty's popped her head in the room. "Good I have the right room, Danielle, if you'll come with me I'll get you somewhere so you can get some sleep." The teen got up, grabbed her bag of medication and followed the lady out of the room. Too stunned and shocked to do or say anything.
Sara sat down on the couch, running her hand through her hair. "That was hard. It shouldn't of been. I've been there Cath... I've been that girl that has to leave her house and go to a group home. Group homes aren't a good place."
Catherine knew Sara had been in foster care but didn't know why, and knew this wasn't the place to talk. "Hey, we finished up our case. Why don't we head to my house and I'll fix you something to eat and we can have our conversation there?"
Yeah, I'll meet you at your house, I want to check on one thing and then I'll be there." Catherine wasn't sure if this was Sara's way of getting out of it. "Get that look off your face Cath, I'm coming over, I swear."
Sara left her office heading for the layout room. Catherine just sat down for a moment before getting up going to get her stuff to go home for the day.
Catching Greg, Sara stopped him from putting away all the evidence. "Greg I want to go over everything one more time, so i'll lock everything us.
"You sure Sara? I could stay and help if ya want?" Greg who was no longer the cute lab geek, but the hardened CSI offered.
"No, I'd rather do it on my own if that's ok?
Sara decided to look at all the rooms side by side. It was obvious that Nate and Dani had little in their rooms compared to the other two teen's. All of the rooms did seem to fit each teen in their own way. Nate's room was a light blue, with deep dark trim, very stylish, just like his sisters, except hers was a light purple. Casandra's and Johnny's weren't as stylish, but in stead were filled with entertainment pieces, where Nate and Dani didn't even have TV's in their rooms. Even the clothing was different. Casandra and Johnny both had huge closets full of designer clothing, while Nate and Dani had Walmart type clothing. Though she could see Dani not really caring about labels and perhaps Nate was too young to care about them as well.
As Sara finished putting everything away, she wished Dani was still around so she could ask her a few questions. Like how they looked so truly happy in the pictures. There was a lot more to all this then what meets the eye. Sara knew she could find out where they took her, but she knew she needed to let the case go. But there was one last thing she wanted to see.
Sara made her way to Archie's lab. "Hey, is the 3D program all ready to go?"
"Yeah but I thought you guys got a confession?"
"The video please, and I'd like to be alone." Sara wasn't asking she was demanding and Archie knew better than to get in her way. He simple cued it up. Showed her what to hit to start it and left.
Sara hit the button and was a bit taken back at first. It showed the room without any blood splatter and Christine standing in the middle. She still looked dead, but without the blood and knife wounds. Out of nowhere you could see the blood splatter start, and you could see the shape of the person stabbing Christine as the blood hit her. After the first two wounds, she sat down on the bed for a while, then she stood back up. Then she started getting stabbed, over and over, one by one each of the wounds would come to life, you could see her fight against what looked to be nothing... the nothing being where Patty had stood... you could see when she stopped fighting, when she had finally given up. When the blood loss had become too much.
Sara stood up from the computer. Horror stricken. The new 3D technology would be great in court, but it made it all far to real for her.
I hope you all enjoyed the chapter... Please review... tell me if u hated it or loved it. I promise this will be a Cath/Sara story. And i'll bring a juicey chapter soon... promise.