Chapter Six
She sat in the coffee shop looking across the small table, at her daughter. She smiled. Lindsay looked up. "What?"
"Nothing." She continued to watch Lindsay pick away at her muffin. Her smile widened.
"Right, if it was nothing, you wouldn't be fixing me with that creepy smile, so you may as well tell me what it is you're thinking about."
Catherine laughed. "I was just thinking about how great you've been, letting Nick and Greg invade the house, giving Greg your room…"
"Yeah, about that, you don't think he's doing anything weird in there, do you?"
"Lindsay!" Her eyes widened, fearing her daughter's words could be true.
Lindsay laughed. "Relax mom, I was just kidding."
Catherine visibly relaxed. "Yeah, I know you were."
"And yet, you're still afraid it could be true." Lindsay popped the last bit of her muffin in her mouth and swallowed. "Don't worry mom; I doubt he's doing anything. Besides, if he is, it probably isn't any worse that what's been done in there before."
She knew her daughter was joking; she knew it. It still didn't stop her from spitting out the latte she was drinking. "Jesus Christ Lindsay!"
Lindsay laughed again. "Wow mom, you're really jumpy. You know I'm kidding."
"I know." Catherine took a deep breath. "I know. Can you stop?"
"Alright, I'll steer us back on track. You're thankful I've been so awesome, and you should be. I've been really great, amazing actually, but I don't mind." Lindsay shrugged and took a sip of her iced cap.
Catherine smiled softly and sat back in her chair, looking across at her daughter. "You've really grown up Lindsay."
"Scary, isn't it?" Lindsay grinned back at her.
She took her napkin and crumpled it up, throwing it at her daughter. "Yeah, well don't grow up too fast, smartass. You're still only sixteen."
"Seventeen in a few months."
"Yeah, and graduating in just over a year. Don't remind me." She leaned forward again and pushed Lindsay's cup closer towards her. "Now, drink up. I have to go into work soon and you have to finish up with the school work you missed Friday."
"Done."
"Really?"
"Yep, Nick helped me."
"Well, great." Catherine stood up and watched Lindsay down the remaining liquid. "So what are you going to do tonight then?"
"Just chill, I guess. When are you going to be home?"
"Early I hope."
Catherine dropped her daughter off before heading into the lab. She found Grissom in his office. "Hey, what time did you get here?"
"About twenty minutes ago."
"Anything new?"
"We got a hit on the prints. A Jordan Collier. He's in the system for aggravated assault. We've just got a warrant to search his house."
"Great."
Catherine was relieved when the search proved fruitful. They had found a gun in Collier's possession and ballistics was able to match it to the one that killed their victim. After watching Collier confess to Vartann, Catherine headed back to the lab and to Grissom's office. She sat down across from him. "He confessed."
"Good. I guess you can head home then."
"Yeah." She stood up. "What are you going to do?"
"I have to finish up a couple things here."
Catherine frowned. "Okay. I'll see you later." She walked out of his office and headed home. She tried to forget that Grissom was remaining in the lab. Instead, she thought of home and was thankful that it was early and she could spend some time with her daughter that evening.
He found himself in the lab early Monday morning. As he entered the building, he thought about the previous night. He had been relieved that the case wrapped up quickly and had headed home shortly after Catherine. When he had arrived home, he found Sara in bed, reading. He smiled, remembering how he crawled in next to her and successfully distracted her from her reading before they both fell into a quiet slumber, wrapped in each other's arms.
His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed the abundance of flower bouquets filling the entrance . To say he was surprised to see them was an understatement. He shook his head and walked past them on his way to Ecklie's office.
The door was open when he arrived. He knocked on the frame. Ecklie looked up at him and nodded for him to come in. "Conrad, I hope that this meeting means you have something to report on Warrick's case."
"Sit down Gil." He sat down and raised his eyebrows, indicating for Ecklie to continue. "That isn't why I called you in."
"So there is nothing new?"
"No. We're in the process of going through Gedda's financials, seeing if there is anything there to connect him to anyone, although I'm sure that whoever it is we're dealing with is smart enough to avoid leaving a paper trail."
Grissom ran his hand through his hair. Ecklie leaned forward. "Grissom, I may need your help. We don't have any witnesses. We need to know who was at the diner, who knew Warrick was there, who could have seen him go in. We only know about the cops who responded to the gun shot. You were at the diner with Warrick. What did you see? Who did you see?"
He sighed. "I'll search my memory and I'll ask the team to do the same."
"Good, we'll cross reference any names you come up with against the officers we cleared that day and see if any new names come up."
"Is that why you asked me to come in?"
"No, that was part of it, but it wasn't the main reason." Ecklie stood and walked around his desk, perching himself on the edge. "The undersheriff spoke with the sheriff and the mayor and he has managed to persuade them to allow the county to pay for Warrick's funeral. I spoke to Warrick's ex-wife this morning. We have started making funeral arrangements for Thursday. I'll get you a time and place later today. You can tell the team."
Grissom closed his eyes and sighed in relief. "Thank you and when you speak to the undersheriff, let him know my appreciation."
"I will."
Ecklie stood up and moved back around his desk. Grissom stood and moved to the door.
"Grissom, before you leave, do something about all of those flowers that keep on coming in. They're cluttering up my lab's entrance."
Grissom shook his head as he thought about Ecklie's parting words. The man had a way about him. He stopped by the reception desk on his way out and studied the flowers gathering there. "Dr Grissom?" He looked over at the day receptionist, whose name he couldn't remember. "This young man is here to see you."
He looked to where the receptionist was indicating. He saw a young man also eyeing the flowers. The young man was a scrawny African American boy who looked to be about fifteen. The young man's eyes were glancing up at him.
"Can I help you?"
He watched the young man take a deep breath and glance down at the flowers before looking back up at him. "My name is Sean. I've come to ask you about Warrick's…Mr. Brown's funeral."
"It's on Thursday. How do you know Warrick?"
"He's helped me out. He comes by our neighborhood rec center from time to time."
"Oh?" He paused and studied the young man. "Your neighborhood rec center?"
"Yeah. He, uh, started coming when it was about to close. Mr. Phelps used to run it, but he got into some trouble and was sent to jail for a bit. Warrick got the rec center reopened, found some volunteers to run it until Mr. Phelps got out and could run it again. After that, Warrick still came by whenever he could."
Grissom smiled sadly at the young man. 'Sean, was it?"
Sean nodded. "Yeah."
"Warrick's funeral is Thursday. I'm not sure about time and place yet, but I'll let you know as soon as I find out. How can I reach you?"
"Uh, through the rec center I guess. Everybody there wants to know."
"Alright."
The young man put his hand on the exit door. "Thanks."
"Sean?" He watched as Sean looked back up at him. "Look, I have to take these flowers somewhere. Do you think we could take them to the rec center?"
The young man's face brightened. "Yeah. I think that would be a good place for them."
"Great. Can you help me with them?"
Sean helped him load the flowers into his truck. He and Sean drove the flowers to Warrick's old neighborhood and unloaded them, saving a couple bouquets and leaving them in the truck. His next stop was Catherine's. He left one nice sized bouquet in the truck to take home to Sara before grabbing the largest bouquet and a couple of the smaller ones and approaching the door. He knocked with his foot. When Catherine opened the door, he thrust the smaller bouquets in her hands and put down the large one. "These came to the lab. I decided to take them here."
"Uh, thanks."
He stepped in the door. "Are Nick and Greg here? The smaller bouquets are for them. I figured you could have the large one as you're sharing your home."
"They're in the kitchen." Catherine eyed him as he slipped off his shoes and took the two bouquets from her.
"Great." He walked into the kitchen and placed the flowers on the table. Catherine followed him, carrying the large bouquet. He sat down at the table. "I'm glad you're all here. I have some news. Warrick's funeral is on Thursday. Ecklie will let us know the details later."
"Whose paying for it?"
"The county is, Catherine."
"How?"
"The undersheriff."
Nick nodded.
"Another thing." He looked around the table. Everybody's eyes were on him. He sighed. "Ecklie needs us to act as witnesses. Try to remember everyone you saw in and around the diner last Friday morning. Write all the names down and get them to Ecklie."
"Do you actually think that is going to help?"
"No, but Ecklie doesn't have anything else to go on."
"We're trusting Ecklie with this?"
"We don't have a choice, Nick. I know Ecklie isn't the greatest criminalist…"
"He's an ass."
He sighed again. "That may be, but I have to trust him."
"Why?"
"Who else? We can't process."
"Send it to another lab."
"Look," Grissom looked down at his hands and touched his fingertips together. "When Warrick was arrested, Ecklie told Warrick to get a lawyer. He let me look over the evidence and let us draw our own conclusions, and he listened to us. He's keeping me up to date now."
"Alright, if you trust him, then I do too."
"That's good, Nick"
"So do I." Catherine stood up and put her hand on Grissom's shoulder. He looked over to Greg. Greg just shrugged.
He stood up. "Thanks. Remember to write those names down."
He decided that if he was going to try to remember what he saw at the diner that morning, the best place to jog his memory was the diner. As much as he didn't want to remember, he knew he had to. He had spent the last three days trying to forget what happened. He didn't want to remember hearing the gun shot or holding Warrick in his arms while he watched the blood drain from Warrick's body. He didn't want to remember any of it.
When he entered the diner, he felt sick. He wanted to throw up. The images of Warrick continued to assault his mind. He sat down at the counter, and stared down, willing his memory to recall everything that had happened before he heard the shot. He couldn't. Everything was a blur. He couldn't remember any of the faces. He couldn't even remember the face of the officer who spoke to him while he was holding Warrick's lifeless body in his arms. Instead, as he tried to summon up the faces, he only saw blurred images of faceless people moving in and out of the diner. Warrick's laughing visage was the only one he could remember.
Somebody dropped a dish and his head flew up. His eyes flew around the room. The crash startled him. The sound of the gunshot invaded in his brain. He wanted to scream. He could hear it over and over again, pounding in his brain. And he could smell it. He could still smell the blood. He could still smell the smoke from the recently fired shot. He dropped his head again and squeezed his eyes shut.
He felt a hand on his shoulder. He jumped, then looked up to see the waitress standing over him. It was the waitress that had waited on them that morning. He remembered her face. He noticed that she was looking at him funny. "Sorry?"
"I asked if I could get you anything?"
"Oh, um, just a coffee."
She smiled and grabbed the coffee pot, filling the cup in front of him. He returned her smile. "Thanks." He looked down at his cup.
"You knew him, didn't you?"
He looked back up and saw her fidgeting as she watched him. "Who?"
"The man that was shot outside last Friday. He was one of the ones sitting with you Friday."
"Yeah, we worked together. He was my friend."
"I'm so sorry."
He nodded and took a sip of his coffee. He watched her move around the counter and sit next to him. "Erin, I'm taking five." She smiled shyly at him and put her hand on his arm.
He looked down at her hand, then over at her. He raised his eyebrows.
"It's Nick, right?"
"Yeah."
"I'm Jessica."
"I remember." He smiled when she blushed.
"I, uh, didn't think you would. I mean, after that gunshot sounded and you ran out and then I heard that it was the man you were sitting with…I didn't think you'd remember."
"To be honest, I only remembered when you told me, but as soon as you told me, it was like I'd never forgotten." She blushed again and he grinned.
He watched her look down. "I'm, uh, a little surprised to see you back here."
He looked down at his cup. His smile fell. "I'm trying to remember, yet trying to forget, if that makes any sense."
She nodded. "You're trying to figure out what happened."
"Yeah."
"I wish I could help."
"You are helping." She glanced at him inquisitively. "Maybe not helping to figure out what happened, but you're really great to talk to and that's helping."
She smiled again. "I should be getting back to work." He nodded. She stood up and moved back around behind the counter, grabbing her coffee pot and making her way through the diner.
His eyes followed her as she went from table to table, offering coffee. She looked back over at him and smiled softly. He smiled back and his eyes continued to scan the room. He closed his eyes again and tried to recall the faces at the diner that morning. Now he only saw a few faces, Warrick's, the team's and the pretty waitress Jessica's. He shook his head. It was no use. He would never be able to remember who else was there.
He continued to sip away at the rest of his coffee. Jessica had moved back behind the counter and was picking up menus. Her back was to him. "Jessica?" She turned around and stared at him. "What time are you off?"
"Noon."
He looked down at his watch. A half hour. "Do you think you could…I mean, would you like to go for a walk with me, maybe get something to eat? I'd like to keep talking with you."
She smiled at him. "Sure. Wait for me?"
He smiled widely. "Can I have another cup of coffee while I wait?"
