Behind The Scenes Chapter 23: Burn Out, a csi fanfic

Behind The Scenes

By: supercsi4

Chapter 23 – Burn Out

SARA:

Pretty easy day at work, plus I got to work with Greg and that is always fun. We were working in the lab alone so I had put on some music for us and I may have possibly turned it up too loud because when Grissom walked in, he grimaced and turned the music off.

"Didn't we talk about this once before, Greg?" Grissom was about to yell at Greg when I jumped in.

"I'm the one who turned the music on." With that Grissom stopped what he was about to say and heads over to get our results from Greg.

Later on in Grissom office, we were all together again discussing our case.

"And if Hodges can isolate any unique compounds from the gas, you know, like, gas DNA." Greg begins.

"Gasoline comparisons are only credible if you have pure samples. Otherwise, there are too many variables." He knows that Grissom.

"I know that, Grissom. What I've extracted was never exposed directly to the fire. So, if we can identify either a dye, or a unique compound, and match to a particular station, then we might be able to prove whether Carl set the fire." It's an extreme long-shot and it shows on Grissom's face. "I'll get this to Hodges." And Greg leaves the room.

"Greg's got the coroner's inquest coming up. He's been under a lot of stress. Maybe you could be a little nicer to him." If Greg won't stand up to Grissom, I sure as hell will.

"I just want to find these boys." Grissom got really worked up and stressed out over this case. I owed him a nice long back massage that evening and he sure needed it.

GRISSOM:

I hate the cases we have to work involving children. Today it was two missing boys Lucas Hanson and Jason Crowley and our prime suspect was a local pedophile named Carl Fisher, the sole reason for my current migraine.

I went to meet up with Sara and Greg in the lab to get some results from our case. Loud music was blasting inside the room when I walked in. I don't need this right now, so I walk over and turn the music off. Greg turns and looks at up at me and I'm close to giving him one of my lectures.

"Didn't we talk about this once before, Greg?"

"I'm the one who turned the music on." Well great, I can't yell at Sara if I want that back massage tonight. So I don't say anything and walk over to Greg to get his results.

"What have you found?"

"A gas container. As the heat melted the plastic, it formed pockets, trapping the gasoline inside…And if Hodges can isolate any unique compounds from the gas, you know, like, gas DNA."

"Gasoline comparisons are only credible if you have pure samples. Otherwise, there's too many variables."

"I'll get this to Hodges." And he leaves the room.

"Greg's got the coroner's inquest coming up. He's been under a lot of stress. Maybe you could be a little nicer to him." Great, I don't need Sara starting in on me too.

"I just want to find these boys."

"Okay. Carl Fisher, apparently…" She shows me the plastic container with remnants of fruit punch inside. "…eats and drinks in the backseat of his car. I found it in a seat pocket."

"Fruit punch?"

"Or a mixer." Then she shows me the whiskey bottle cap. "Whiskey…I did not find the bottle."

"And…so?" Give me something else here Sara.

"Mushrooms, picked off a cheese pizza. I found it stuffed between the cushions in the backseat of the car." Then she shows me a napkin with mushrooms inside. "If you're an adult, and you don't like mushrooms, you don't order them."

Then to top things off, Carl Fisher wanted me to sit down and do the interview with him rather then Brass. I walked into the interrogation room and sat down across from Carl Fisher as he began to talk to me.

"I'm a victim of abuse. My older brother. I was eight. He was much older…sixteen. He was jealous and angry. He wanted to destroy me. It's not offered as an excuse, but it might explain why I'm here with you right now."

I open a file folder and start showing Carl some photos and information inside. I need him to help me, even if he's a pedophile.

"These are known child molesters living within our search radius." He understands what I'm asking for without even asking.

"I met him in prison. He's an environmental offender. Situational. Only molests members of his own family. Small world…he's in my support group. Your boys are too ripe for him. He likes toddlers. A couple of these guys are mysopeds…aggressive pedophiles. Some of their pleasures derive from physical violence. They like to molest, then beat, and sometimes kill their victims. But these guys aren't killers." I was really trying to hold myself together because I could tell he was trying to get a rise out of me. It was so hard to sit there and listen to the sickening details of a pedophile.

"Who said the boys were dead?" I've got him. You better start to sweat.

"They've been gone a long time."

That's when my phone beeps with a text message informing me that Lucas Hanson was found…dead.

"Bad news?" Carl asks, but I have to get up and out of that room, so I leave without another word.

We bring in the dead boy and start processing all the new evidence that will hopefully get us closer to proving Carl Fisher did this. And I'm back in interrogation with him again.

"Okay, then…what would you do if you were going to take those boys?" I ask him, not really wanting to hear the answer, but needing to.

"I would be studying them. Do they like sports? Comic books? Do they skip school? Have any friends? Good parents, or are they neglected? Unhappy? Angry?"

"And then?"

"What do you do when you like a woman? It's a game of seduction. Once you know what they like, you make contact. You start slowly, play it cool. Especially with boys. It's about building trust. Like you're doing with me."

I have to stand up to continue this. "Do you like mushrooms, Carl?"

"I like all the nightshade vegetables. Are you going to buy me dinner?"

"We found mushrooms in the backseat of your car."

"Is this turning into an interrogation?"

I point at the door. "You're free to leave." But he doesn't move. "On the night the boys disappeared, witnesses said they saw them sitting in a car with a man, eating pizza."

"You take a date out to a nice steak dinner. Kids would rather have hamburgers or pizza."

"Did you take the kids out for pizza?"

"No, I'm talking hypothetically. You must be desperate for a suspect, or a scapegoat. Do you need to give the press something to chew on?"

"We just found Lucas Hanson's dead body. They're chewing on that."

"What about the other boy?"

"He's still missing."

"In my opinion, if someone killed one boy…he'd kill them both."

Again I have to walk out and take a break, but more importantly, I need some extra strength medicine for this migraine. That's when Brass joined me in the hallway.

"So, we're working on a couple of Jason sightings. Camper in Red Rock spotted a kid who looks like Jason, so I sent Vega. And Sofia is on her way to Bullhead City, Arizona. A woman on a bus called the cops. She swears that Jason's sitting next to her. That's what I've got. Any luck with Carl Fisher?"

"I don't know. He wants something from me…or he wouldn't still be here."

So apparently the woman on the bus was really sitting next to Jason Crowley and we were able to get to him and bring him back home. At least one of them turned out to be safe and sound. Now I'm finally ready to confront Carl with all our evidence and drag a confession out of the bastard if it's the last thing I do. So again I'm exhausted, my head is again pounding, and I'm again sitting at the table with Carl Fisher.

"So, you think I got the boys drunk, and then killed them?" He asks me again.

"Not exactly. We found Jason Crowley. Alive. On a bus headed for Houston."

"One of the lucky ones."

"That bus ticket costs $95 for a child under twelve. Jason's grandfather doesn't keep any cash in the house, and he doesn't give him an allowance, so where do you think Jason got the cash?"

"Maybe he stole it."

"From whom?"

"I don't know. Why don't you ask him?" He's breaking, slowly but surely.

"I will."

"Do you get a lot of migraines, Gil? You should ask your doctor for a prescription of Sumatriptan. Works for me."

"Captain Brass wants to put you in a lineup. If you'll agree to it, then I think this will all be over with."

"Then let's do it."

So we did a lineup. I waited out in the hallway while Sofia took Jason and his father in to do the lineup. I had high hopes that this would put the icing on the cake, but when Sofia stepped out of the room and shook her head no, I wanted to cry. I was beyond frustrated, angry, sad. I just wanted this to be over. Then Greg walked up to me and handed me a folder.

"The gas DNA panned out." He said.

"It did?" I was pleasantly surprised.

"Yeah. Hodges and I traced the gas back to a service station near Fisher's house. Station had security cameras. Got him filling up the night of the fire, so I went through the electronic receipts. All of them. Carl Fisher purchased 16 gallons."

"And?"

"His Mercury Marquis only holds 14, so, where did he put the extra two gallons?"

"In a plastic gas can?"

"All which he paid for with his ATM." He hands me the ATM receipt.

"Not the same as cash."

"Thanks, Greg." God thank you Greg. And I turn to walk back to the interrogation room.

"No one has told me why I'm being detained." Is all he has to say as I reenter the room, but I'm in no mood for anymore small talk and I cut straight to the point.

"Arson is a felony. You torched your own car. We have video surveillance and electronic records that show you purchasing gas and a gas can."

"I was trying to scam my insurance company. I needed the money."

"You were destroying evidence of Lucas Hanson and Jason Crowley in your car. And I think you helped kill Lucas." No more mister nice guy.

"No, I didn't. And you're not charging me for that, so I'm guessing Jason didn't pick me out of the lineup."

"He told us he knew you. Kill one, kill both, remember?"

"If I had killed Lucas, I would have killed Jason." After a long sigh, he continues. "Lucas was looking for a father. His real one was an accident of biology. His mother was limited, always working. He was lonely. He found me…Did you know that most parents spend less than twenty minutes a day of quality time with their kids? Lucas was starved for attention. All his mother did was complain about his father and how he'd abandoned them. Do you know what that does to a child?"

"It doesn't kill them." But then he stops talking, so I continue. "Okay, Carl, just tell me what happened."

Before I have to start begging, he begins to speak. "Lucas and Jason had gotten into it with Jason's grandfather. He knocked the boys around. They ran to Lucas' house, but couldn't get in, so they came to me...I explained to them that hitting wasn't okay…I said Jason needed to call his father and tell him what was going on."

"Did you let them use your phone?"

"But they were too upset. When the grandfather pushed Lucas, he hit his head. I gave him a couple of aspirin."

"Well, if he didn't want to call his mother, why didn't you call her?"

"I couldn't risk it. She might have turned me in."

"So, instead, you took them for pizza?"

"I didn't touch him. I didn't want to hurt him."

"You gave him liquor."

"I stopped and bought some whiskey before we picked up the pizza…I was nervous about them being in the car with me. I didn't want to go back to prison."

"And you wanted to get them drunk."

"They…they just wanted to try it. I gave them a taste."

"It was more than a taste, Carl. Lucas' blood alcohol level was point one six. That's twice the legal limit for an adult…Why didn't you take them home?

"They didn't want to go home. They wanted an adventure. I promised them a dollar for every golf ball they brought back…Lucas wasn't feeling well, so he stayed in the car with me."

"And you knew that Jason wanted money, so he could go to Texas and see his dad, so you bribed him in order to be alone with Lucas."

"I didn't molest him."

"Who took his shirt off?"

"He was hot."

"What were you gonna do to him once his shirt was off?"

"It was innocent. He wasn't feeling well. He laid his head in my lap. I touched his hair. I didn't want to…I loved him. I loved Lucas, and he loved me."

"Is that what you think? Then why didn't you help him? He told you he hit his head. He was in pain. He had a concussion, Carl. You must have known that. I'm sure he was dizzy, probably had no appetite. Maybe he was even slurring his words, but you didn't care about that, because you wanted what you wanted…His brain was bleeding…Now, most kids won't die from that, because someone who really loves them takes them to the hospital, but instead, you gave him alcohol and aspirin, a lethal combination for his head injury. It prevented his blood from clotting. You killed him, Carl…And you would have killed Jason, too, except he ran away from you and out of your reach." I got you.

"You're not listening to me. I didn't want to hurt anyone. I need you to believe me."

"I don't. You had choices. You made the wrong ones. And now this little boy is gone."

Whether he confesses or not, we got him and I'm done. I meet Brass in front of his office.

"So I talked Voris into violating parole, and we're adding the charges of negligent homicide. You're not gonna see Carl for a long time." He says. "Also, we, uh…we've arrested the grandpa, Terrance Crowley, for child abuse."

"Everybody wins." I say. "Except Lucas."

With that I finally get to slip away and into Brass's office because it's the closest. I close the blinds and I still hear people yelling and arguing outside the room. I make my way over to the couch and lay down, close my eyes and try to still the throbbing of my head. I thought my head was going to explode. This case, this job, this life just got to me every once in a while and today was one of those days. I tried to relax a little, but my head pounded. I'm gonna need a long hot bath and one of Sara's famous back massages tonight.

Sure enough, I whined my way into getting that massage.