A/N: Bob Dylan song for chapter. Also Thanks to Torcan she gave me some hints about how I might write Sara's reaction. So if Sara even come off halfway believable then It's Torcan, if it's complete shit and out of character (like the bar fight thing) it's my fault.
Chapter 12 Not Dark Yet
"Why didn't you take him out?" The negotiator anger boiled over as he spoke to the HRT leader.
"We know there are three other hostage takers inside. If we kill one of them, what will the other three do?" It was a rhetorical question because they knew very well the others may kill the hostages.
"He just killed people in front of us." The negotiator said feeling the weight of the defeat settling over him.
"Do we have any idea who the victims are? Did anyone get a good look at their faces?" Brass asked worried about his friend inside and everyone inside really. These criminal did not seem to care about how high their body count got.
"No." The HRT said, "I know your man was in the group, but we did not see the second and third victim. The white door and blood blocked my man's view."
Brass hoped that Grissom was still alive. He did not want to have to call the man's mother to tell her that her son had died, or face Sara and the gang to tell them. Most of all, he did not want to attend his friends funeral.
"How long until you can breach?" The negotiator asked.
"We need another forty minutes. We are still working on finding a view of the inside. We need to know where the hostages are, did they move them since Grissom came out? We also need all of the suspects in the same room. So we can take them out easily and keep friendly casualties to a minimum."
"Let me know if my men can do anything to help." Brass said wanting to be inside as soon as possible.
Sara hoped Grissom was having as much luck as she was. She just got the information that could break the case. Susan Roth's head chef confirmed that they had on multiple occasions catered for the bank. It was a monthly job, that Susan Roth oversaw herself.
"How often did Mrs Roth oversee a catering event?" Sara asked the head chef, George.
"Rarely." George said, "She is more the brains behind the operation. She barely can boil water."
"So why did she oversee the banks catering?"
"She said they were important clients and she wanted to give them the VIP treatment."
"How many clients do you have?"
"Around thirty regulars and we cater at least 100 different events each year." George responded proud of the number of clients they had each year. He would tell everyone it was because of his cooking, and not just Susan's sales pitches.
"How many would you consider VIP?"
"All of them." George said smiling because he knew it was a cheesy answer, "But we do have clients bigger than the bank. Two of the local casinos use us for their big events."
"So the bank is not your most important client?" Sara asked.
"No. We have bigger clients that spend a lot more money on our catering." George said, "I think Susan liked the manager of the bank."
"Liked?"
"I think they were sleeping together. They would text and talk all the time." George said, "And it could not have been all about catering."
"Do you remember his name?"
"I think it was John something."
"John Weaver?" Sara asked to confirm the name.
"I think so. I can check. He always was the one to email their order in." George said pulling out his cellphone and searching through it to find the emails from the client. When he found it he handed Sara the phone, "John Weaver."
"Can you forward all of the emails you have from him?"
"Sure." George said, "Anything to help find who killed Susan and her family. She was a good boss."
"Did she have any enemies?"
"Not that I know of." George paused for a second, "But we did have a guy come around the last few weeks. He and Susan had a heated discussion in her office a couple of times."
"Do you know his name?"
"No he's never been a client, at least I don't remember him." George responded.
"Do you know what he looked like?"
"He was Russian. I remember that. He looked like a Russian. Tall, angry, had a scar on his neck, a tattoo like one of those weird stars on the back of his neck. Like Viggo Mortensen had on his chest in the movie where he was an undercover cop in the Russian mafia."
Sara took note, not knowing the movie George spoke of, but a quick google search would likely give her the name and pictures. She would bring them back later for George to identify.
"Do you remember his hair color? Anything else?" Sara asked taking note of the information George gave her.
"No. Sorry." George said, "I was busy trying to fill an order."
"Ok. This is helpful." Sara said, "Anything else you can think of?"
"Not really." George said, "The bank always tipped really good."
"Did they tip via check?"
"No, always cash."
"Anything weird about the banks orders?"
"No run the mill stuff." George said.
"In the emails you forwarded to me, does it include all of the equipment and other things."
"No those would be on the invoices."
"Can you send me the invoices as well."
"Sure." George said making a note to do so and it primed his memory, "There was one weird thing about the bank, we always sent extra warmers with their order."
"Warmers?"
"How we keep the food warm. The bank didn't want us to serve, so Susan would drive the food over and unload it."
"By herself?"
"Yes."
"Is that unusual?"
"No. Usually with small orders like the banks, we'd send one of the runners to take the order and unpack it." George answered.
"But the extra warmers?"
"Weird yes, but the bank guy said they distributed the food in different places, so they needed the extra warmers. Susan never said anything about it, so I just assumed that what was going on."
"Who picked up the equipment when the bank was done?" Sara asked trying to test a hypothesis she was forming.
"Susan. And yes that was a bit unusual. But I just assumed it was because she and the bank manager were fucking." George answered feeling slightly embarrassed at the crude comment at the end.
"Did Mr. Roth know?"
"Doubtful. He was always at the laundry business." George answered.
"So you think the bank manager, John, and Susan were sleeping together?"
"Yeah. I have no proof, just the way she acted with him and the insistence of being the one to deal with the bank order."
"Did anyone else help Susan bring the equipment back?"
"No." George responded.
Sara needed to talk to Grissom before she confirmed her hypothesis. Grissom might be able to get information about of John, the man now acting as bank manager since Mark Howards death. "I need to make a call to a colleague, will you have time to speak later and maybe go over the invoices?"
"Sure." George said, "We do not have much business after the new of Susan's death."
"Sorry for your loss." Sara said then excused herself. She tried to call Grissom, but his phone went directly to voicemail. Sara assumed Grissom probably had not charged the phone and it died. She called Catherine to see if Grissom was back at the lab yet.
Catherine answered the phone standing outside Grissom's house banging on the door.
"Catherine has Grissom made it to the lab yet?"
"No. Have you heard from him?"
"Not since late this afternoon." Sara said, "He stopped by my apartment with an idea on our case."
"Oh." Catherine said, "His phone keeps going to voice mail."
"Yeah. I just tried him. He may not have charged it. He kind of fell asleep on my couch, and I didn't think about trying to put it on charge for him."
"What was he doing over at your house?" Catherine's naturally nosy side came out, for a moment ignoring the worry she was feeling for Grissom.
"He had an idea about the case. Griss realized that the bank may have used Mrs. Roth's catering company. He came over to discuss it." Sara answered trying to assuage Catherine's suspensions.
"And he fell asleep?" Catherine asked not believing Sara was giving her the entire story.
"I made him some tea, and went to get dressed in work clothes. By time I walked back out he was sound asleep on the couch. I made him comfortable and went back to bed myself." Sara felt defensive about the entire situation. She did not want to wake Grissom because he clearly needed the sleep, and while it was unusual for a boss to fall asleep on one of his subordinates couches it was innocent. Griss had purposely avoided entering a relationship with Sara, despite her attempts. It seemed wrong for someone to think anything else, especially for anyone who knew Griss.
"Well at least he finally got sleep. Did he eat anything?" Catherine switched into mom mode using her key to open Grissom's door to ensure he was not inside injured.
"I made him some vegetable stir fry."
"And he ate it?"
"Yes." Sara laughed because she knew Grissom was more of a meat guy.
"Well he's not in his house right now. Where did he go after he left your apartment?"
"He went to the bank to talk to some of the employees."
"Which bank?" Catherine asked.
"Bank of America, where our first victim, Mark Howard, worked. Why?"
Catherine felt her blood run cold and her heart race, "I spoke with Brass earlier. There was an attempted robbery turned hostage situation at the bank."
Sara did not know what to say she was in shock, and at first she had no words. Then her investigator instincts kicked in, "Do we know if Grissom was inside?"
"Brass did not say anything about it, and he would have." Catherine spoke feeling her hands shake as she rushed back to her car, forgetting to lock Grissom's door on the way out.
Sara knew it was false hope, but she needed to hold onto it for now, "Maybe he was not inside."
"Brass wouldn't know." Catherine said, "If he was inside or not. The FBI took charge."
After a pause Catherine spoke, "I am going to go to the bank. You need to finish whatever you are doing at get the lab."
"I want to come with you." Sara said upset and scared for Grissom. She wanted to be there, she needed to be there. Not because she thought she could change the outcome, but because she needed to know if Grissom was alive or dead. She wanted to see him. There were things she still needed to say and do in regards to Grissom.
"You need to focus on your case. There is nothing either of us can do for Grissom and he would want you to keep the case moving along." Catherine said flinching when she spoke of what he would want, as if Grissom was already dead.
Sara agreed just to get Catherine off the phone. As soon as she got off the phone she found George, "I have to go there is an emergency. Will you have time to speak later?"
"Yeah just text or call me. We can set up a time. Maybe I could cook something for you."
"That won't be necessary." Sara said urgently packing up her items, "But thank you for the offer." The second part was an afterthought, she was too busy worrying about Grissom.
"You have a boyfriend don't you?"
"Sort of. I have to go. Please send me those invoices and emails." Sara responded before she rushed out of the building. She made it to her car and headed towards the scene of the bank robbery. Catherine would be pissed she had showed up at the scene and not the lab, but Sara needed to be there.
Thank you for reading!