Chapter 11 – Listen
The audio cassette was ready to be used. Archie had extracted all the audio and separated it in three fragments as Sara had requested. He had brought it to Brass' office where he found three people outside. Catherine was discussing with a woman and Brass was watching with a tired face and folded arms over his chest, the exchange of words between the two women.
Archie was looking for Sara who was nowhere at first sight. He directed a questioned look to Brass who with a move of his head indicated where she could find her. When he entered the office she found Sara seated on Brass' couch lost in her thoughts. In her right hand was a little hand that belonged to a child not older than five. He was looking too the wall in front of him.
His presence was unknown for the two occupants of the office, so he cough to attract Sara's attention. She looked up at him. She was so pale and tired. There were bags under her eyes, and her look didn't seem to focus on him. Archie rose a hand in which was the audio cassette. Sara blinked a few times and stood up, freeing the hand of the boy that was next to her, and met Archie at the door.
The boy sensing the absence of contact, looked at his hand, and then at the two persons who where in the office. One of them was wearing a blue lab coat, and was watching him nervously. He could see Sara asking something to the man, but he couldn't heard what she was saying. The man leaned and whispered a few word in Sara's ear. They were commenting something about the audio tape that the man was holding in his right hand.
After a few moments, Sara went outside and spoke to Catherine, interrupting once again the excited discussion that she was having with the other woman.
Brass entered in his office followed by Catherine, the woman and Sara, who took a seat next to the boy. The detective was searching for a cassette player in the drawers of his desktop. When he found it, Sara gave him the tape. Once in Brass' hand he inserted it and waited. Sara turned to the boy
"Junior, I want you to listen to this tape and tell me if you recognize any voice" She told him.
There was a tensed silence that could be cut with a knife. None of the five people spoke. Junior, stood up in front of Brass' desktop, ready to do what Sara had requested. With a nod of her head, Sara silently ordered Brass to play the tape.
A husky voice was heard "My name is…Carl Roth…" Brass pushed the key pause.
"Do you recognize this voice?" The boy nodded. He was scared of that voice. He knew that it was his father's, and that made him shake a little, but a warm hand was on his shoulder supporting him. It was Sara's.
"Is it your father's voice?" She asked to him. He nodded again.
Sara directed a look to Brass who played again the tape. "Honesty is always worthy of praise, even though does not report utility, neither compensates, nor benefit"
He didn't respond to the voice. It was a melodic, but at the same time powerful voice. It didn't scare him, it was almost hypnotic.
"And what about this voice? Do you recognize it?" Sara asked again to the boy. Junior shook his head.
"Are you sure?" He nodded. He hadn't heard that voice before.
Brass played again the tape. "Tell them what happened next!?" That voice scared him. He began to shake, more than before. He knew the voice. That voice was the one who was with his father.
"Is it the voice of the man who was with your father the last time you saw him?" Sara asked, focused on the boy's reaction. Junior nodded insistent with his head.
"It's ok, Junior. You did a good job" Sara said with a sad smile on her lips.
The shacking had subsided and the boy was looking at her, but Sara got distracted speaking with Catherine and the woman from Child Services. They were discussing. Junior didn't know what was happening, only that he need to tell them more. He couldn't open his mouth, he tried, but couldn't. It was frustrating for him. He needed to let her know. Quietly, he went to Sara's side and grabbed the back of her jacket and started tugging it to get Sara's attention.
Sara looked down at the boy, who was now looking directly at her. There was something else, she could sense it. She kneeled down in front of him and watched him to the eye.
"What is it, Junior?" She asked concerned.
He was trying but it was difficult to him. He forced himself to concentrate and opened his mouth. He just needed to say it. He closed his eyes and ordered to his brain to open his mouth, and let the words escape.
"A girl was too" It was a whisper but Sara could heard him very well. She was confused and surprise at the same time that Junior had spoken and he was giving another clue to the investigation.
He had done it. At last he had told her. Sara was watching him. Catherine and the other woman had stopped and were looking at them. All of them were surprised that the boy had spoken, and they were expecting him to continue, but he couldn't. He made and effort and then fell in silence one more time.
"Do you mean there was a woman and a man with your father?" Sara asked confused. A sudden urgency running thought her mind. She needed to know what he saw, and what the woman was like.
The boy nodded. This case was more complicated.
"Did you see her?" She asked him suddenly. He nodded again.
"Was she like me?" Sara asked grabbing her hair as an indication. He shook his head, and pointed to Catherine. 'So, she was blonde' Sara thought to herself.
She asked more questions but the boy didn't know how to answer them. He was tired, and he had only saw her a few times.
The women from Child Service, Miranda Watson, was her name, was putting and effort to make more difficult to the CSI's to talk to the boy or at least asked him.
Sara was loosing her patience as she was asking the boy. He provided a new information, crucial to the case, and now he was muteness. That change in Sara's behavior frightened Junior. The woman who had found him was no longer kind with him, she was turning more impatient and the lack of response from Junior made her a little angrier.
"Ok, I think that's enough" Ms. Watson said abruptly. "He is in a catatonic state, and he shouldn't be here. This is traumatic for the child."
"The child, has a name" Sara had had enough too of that woman who was irritating her. Maybe Catherine was the people's person but not with that Miranda. She stood up and prepared to confront her.
Catherine watched the scene; she had to stop Sara before the brunette made a mistake. Quietly she put her hand on Sara's arm, to prevent her to continue.
"Miss Watson, we can make a deal, here" She said with her best smile. "You could take the … Junior" She corrected herself and looking at Sara "…and in case we have more questions to him, let us to question him"
Miranda Watson was going to protest, when Catherine rise a hand to stop her.
"That would be in the presence of a worker of Child Services" The blonde added.
Watson looked to the both women. The brunette seemed ready to jump to her throat, and the blonde seemed more reasonable. She considered the offer for a few moments.
"Okay, but first the boy has to be checked by one of our psychologists, and if our psychologist says that the boy it's not ready then there wouldn't be more questions"
Catherine looked at Sara, and then to Junior who was grabbing Sara's jacket firmly. She could see how the brunette was attached to the boy and vice versa.
"That seems fair enough" Catherine said finally. Sara let out a sigh of discomfort; meanwhile Miranda was smiling to Catherine.
They were taking baby steps, but it was new information. Sara only hoped that they could find evidence of that woman. Maybe, the samples she collected at the apartment lead them to the perpetrators of Carl Roth's murder.
TBC