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For anyone who's read The Kids Aren't Alright, you may recognise Maddy Briggs, if not it's no problem. There isn't much of the kids in this one but there will be next.
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Chapter Twenty Nine # You Found Me #
"Hello?"
"Nick…it's Greg."
"Oh, hey Greg. Look, Finn got called to a crime scene by Morgan's place, is everything-"
"No, it's not… The crime scene is Morgan's place."
Nick picked up on the hollow tones of Greg's voice. "Oh god, Greg what happened?"
"I…I don't know yet. She called me, sounded…broken…she begged me to come… When I got there she was under the bed, she was practically naked there was blood everywhere…she's alive but…the nurse told me she'd been…she's been…"
Nick's heart took a swan dive off of the Eifel Tower. "Oh god…Oh Jesus Christ…"
"She's been raped, Nick, Morgan!"
"What can I do?" Nick said quickly.
"Look after the twins for a while? I'm at the hospital, they haven't let me see her yet."
"Sure, sure." Nick nodded. "Anything else?"
"I'll let you know?"
"Copy that. Hey, do Sara and Gris know?"
"Uh not yet, no, just me, you, Finn and DB, and I think Finn called Wendy who said she'd call the other techs. Russell's handling Ecklie."
Sympathy swelling inside him for his younger friend, Nick sighed. "You want me to make that call, G?"
"Thanks." Greg sounded relieved. "I don't know how many more calls I can take."
"I hear you. What should we tell the kids?" Nick realised suddenly.
"I was hoping that you'd have an idea."
"Okay…" Nick ran a hand over his face. "Okay, I'll handle it. You hang on in there Greggo, we're gonna…we're gonna get through this, okay, Morgan's gonna be fine, I promise."
"Bye Nick."
Nick sighed sadly. "Yeah, bye Nick."
"Daddy?"
Nick turned, shocked. Kristy was leaning on the door frame, her blanket in her hand.
"What are you doin' up, Kristy?" Nick frowned, picking her up to carry her back into her room.
"I hadda go to da toilet. What's wong wid Aundie Morgan?"
"She…uh…she has an owie, she's at the hospital."
"Is she gone be okay?"
"Hey, she's gonna be fine, let's go back to bed, okay?"
"Fine." Kristy grumbled.
A short while later Nick took a single swig of beer before locking the can back in the fridge and dialling the phone.
"Hey Nick."
"Sara…" Nick paused. He had no idea how to continue.
"Is everything okay, are the kids alright?"
"No, everything's not okay, but the kids are all fine."
"Then what happened?"
"Finn got called to a crime scene at Morgan's place." He lowered his voice in case there were eavesdropping children. "Greg's at the hospital, he said Morgan called him, he went over, he said it's a mess. The doctor's said Morgan's been raped."
"Wh-wh-what? Are you kidding me?"
"Would I joke about something like this?"
"No, no, Nick, no. Oh, Jesus!"
"God, this is a nightmare."
This must be a nightmare.
CSIVCSIVCSIV
"Sanders?"
Greg looked up at Maddy Briggs, the lead CSI on dayshift. "Briggs?"
"I heard about Brody, and I looked at the crime scene. Look, her case is identical to a serial killer and rapist that I've been trying to take down for six months."
Despite not liking where the conversation was headed, Greg remembered the case. "The Chimera? Wasn't that what he's called?"
"Yes."
"We're not going to give you this case-"
"I'm not asking you to. I want to share." Maddy replied just as frostily.
Greg started to raise his voice. "One of my best friends is lying in some room in this hospital-"
"And the bastard killed my cousin!" Maddy returned, and Greg's reply fell from his lips.
"Oh…Oh god, I'm sorry…I didn't know."
"We're keeping it quiet because Ecklie believes that I have enough professional composure to solve this case. You have no idea how lucky you are, how lucky she is, to be alive right now, all of the Chimera's other victims died. So I know how it feels to have someone you love to be hurt by this guy. So I want to share the case."
Greg nodded shakily. "You'll have to talk to Russell but that's fine with me."
"Good. I'll get your boss to fill you in, I'm sure you don't need to know right now…"
"No, please." Greg stopped her. "I won't be able to see Morgan for at least another hour. Please, I need to know."
Maddy sighed. "Let's sit down."
Greg sat next to her. "So what's this guy's MO?"
Maddy sighed again. "He picks his victims around town, stalks them for a while. They're mainly young blondes, twenties or thirties. And on a chosen night he follows her home. He knocks on the door, with some ruse to get inside. Once inside, he attacks."
Greg closed his eyes as images of Morgan trying to fight off a faceless stranger, blood flying over the wall like he saw when he walked into the apartment.
"He beats and rapes his victims, being certain not to touch their faces."
"Why is he called the Chimera?" Greg asked.
"Do you remember Todd Coombs?" Maddy asked.
Greg frowned. "Yeah…wasn't he the man that raped and murdered Lindley Parker, something like that? He had two sets of DNA. I think I was still in the lab then… They called him a Chimera because he'd had a fraternal twin in the womb but his cells had swallowed his brothers giving him two sets of DNA, right?"
"Exactly. Now, this Chimera is toying with us. In our first victim, Mariah Delgado, there were two sets of DNA in her rape kit, but one belonged to her boyfriend, Kyle Jenkins. He had an airtight alibi. The MO remained the same with the next four victims, the DNA from the boyfriend in the woman's system. They were all sperm donors; we think he used a foreign object to somehow get the semen into their systems."
Greg fought the instinct to bury his head in his hands. "Morgan doesn't have a boyfriend."
"You sure about that?"
"Yeah, I am." Greg replied. "I am."
"Okay, then, that's a change in MO…"
"So what makes you so sure it's the Chimera?"
"Because he ties his victims with wire with a distinctive knot. And I've seen the knot he used."
"Mr Sanders? Ms Brody is awake now." A nurse announced. "A forensic nurse took pictures and samples already."
Greg leapt to his feet.
"I'll catch your boss up to date." Maddy nodded as Greg followed the nurse into another room.
Morgan was lying on the bed tied up to an ECG machine, an IV sticking in her arm, a nose cannula running across her face. Her eyes were open, she looked so small. There were bandages around her visible arm, but like Maddy said her face was untouched.
"Morgan…" Greg whispered.
"You came." She whispered back, holding out a shaking hand.
"Of course I came, Morgan. Of course I came." Greg replied, taking her hand and sitting by the side of her bed.
"He…he was wearing a mask."
"Morgan, you don't have to do this now." Greg protested softly.
"Greg, please. This isn't official…please."
Greg nodded. He didn't want to hear it. But she needed to say it.
"I opened the door because I'd called for a pizza. He had a pizza box, Greg. I thought he was the pizza guy." She shook her head, tears falling from her eyes. "I was so stupid."
"You couldn't have known." Greg protested.
She nodded. "He was wearing a red baseball cap, nothing distinctive. He was about six two…When I opened the door I...he put his hands around my neck, I tried to fight back, he covered my mouth. He fought, he hit. He hit hard, Greg and then he slammed the door shut and he dragged me to the bedroom. He held his knife to my throat and told me not to scream…"
Greg couldn't help but want to run away screaming, to yell at her that he didn't want to hear any more.
"Then he…" she started to cry, broken sobs and broken tears. "I never even saw his face, he could be anyone-"
"It's okay, he can't hurt you now, Morgan I'm not-"
"Greg, he said he was the Chimera, he was gonna kill me! Something stopped him from finishing it off, but he got real close, Greg and he's gonna come back-"
"No he's not, he's not going to hurt you anymore." Greg insisted.
The nurse walked into the room, gesturing to the heart monitor. "Sir, you're upsetting my patient, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
"No!" Morgan cried, grabbing onto Greg's hand as her heartbeat flew through the roof. "No."
The nurse sighed. "Try not to distress her."
Morgan turned to Greg as she left. "Please don't leave me."
"They'll have to drag me out in handcuffs." He smiled wryly, rubbing little circles in his hand with his thumb. Then he leaned in a little. "I won't let anyone hurt you, Morgan."
She smiled a little at him. "Thanks."
"No problem, Morgan, it's no problem." Greg wiped his eyes.
"Don't cry, Greg, I can't take it!" she whispered.
He nodded. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry. We're gonna catch this guy, Morgan, I swear."
"We say that all the time." Morgan whispered.
"God, I swear, I will do everything I can."
Suddenly the door flew open and Ecklie walked in. "Morgan!"
"Dad!" she choked.
Greg started to stand up but Morgan's grip on his hand tightened and he sat back down.
As Ecklie hugged Morgan tightly he looked at Greg over her shoulder and mouthed "Thank you."
CSIVCSIVCSIV
She sent him home two days later for a shower and to get a spare change of clothes. The twins had visited Greg and Morgan in the hospital a couple of times but other than that Nick was looking after them and Kristy with Catherine and Vartaan.
Greg pushed open the door to his apartment and threw his coat over a chair. He meandered aimlessly through, his only goal to get back to the hospital. They hadn't caught Chimera, and he wasn't leaving her alone until they had. Finn was with her.
He got into the shower, turning the radio on for the hell of it. As the water fell over his aching body the words tumbled around in his mind and they made a hell of a lot of sense.
"I found God
On the corner of First and Amistad
Where the west
Was all but won
All alone
Smoking his last cigarette
I said, "Where you been?"
He said, "Ask anything".
Where were you
When everything was falling apart?
All my days
Were spent by the telephone
That never rang
And all I needed was a call
That never came
To the corner of First and Amistad
Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lyin' on the floor
Surrounded, surrounded
Why'd you have to wait?
Where were you? Where were you?
Just a little late
You found me, you found me
In the end
Everyone ends up alone
Losing her
The only one who's ever known
Who I am
Who I'm not, who I wanna be
No way to know
How long she will be next to me
Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lyin' on the floor
Surrounded, surrounded
Why'd you have to wait?
Where were you? Where were you?
Just a little late
You found me, you found me
Early morning
The city breaks
I've been callin'
For years and years and years and years
And you never left me no messages
Ya never send me no letters
You got some kinda nerve
Taking all I want
Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lyin' on the floor
Where were you? Where were you?
Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lyin' on the floor
Surrounded, surrounded
Why'd you have to wait?
Where were you? Where were you?
Just a little late
You found me, you found me
Why'd you have to wait?
To find me, to find me."
Greg rubbed a towel through his hair.
So. God. Where were you? Where are you, everything is falling apart?
God, the Fray had a point.
Greg got in the car and headed back to the hospital, but DB, Henry and Maddy intercepted him in the waiting room.
"We may have a lead." Maddy explained.
"May?" Greg asked.
"Have you ever donated sperm, Greg?" DB asked.
"Me?" Greg asked, taken aback. "No. Why?"
"We found your DNA in Morgan's system. Your sperm."
Greg frowned. "Wh-wh-what? I didn't, I've never-"
"You didn't have to. Chimera is one smart bastard. All he needed was a sample of your blood and a laser of a specific frequency." Henry announced quietly, though the waiting room was empty. "I found traces of hydrotriglycerin in Morgan's system; it's being used in stem cell research. You whack some blood with a laser and add the hydrotriglycerin and the white blood cells mutate, becoming stem cells when they divide. Then with the right hormones etc. you can make just about any cell in the body. This technology is very new, so not many people have access."
"You know, if that wasn't used for what it was used for that would be pretty awesome." Greg remarked.
"Tell me about it." Henry nodded.
Suddenly Greg felt sick. "Someone did that to Morgan with my sperm?"
"Unfortunately."
"But, I'm not her boyfriend… I thought that was the MO."
"The Chimera probably saw you as the next best thing." Maddy suggested.
"Have you told her?"
"Nope." Russell shook his head. "That's down to you."
"Excuse me." Greg said quickly. He ducked into the bathroom and threw up violently in the toilet, before slowly making his way to the mirror.
"Hey Greggo."
Greg jumped out of his skin, turning to look at Nick. "When did you get here?"
Nick glanced at his watch. "Two minutes ago. Russell told me about the whole DNA thing. I thought you could do with someone to lean on."
Greg shook his head. "Nick, I…it's like I raped her-"
"No it's not." Nick declared with great authority. "It's nothing like that, Greg, you had nothing to do with it."
"But-"
"No buts." Nick shook his head. "If he used your gun to shoot someone, would it have been your fault he pulled the trigger?"
"If I was careless with the gun-"
"Don't be a smart ass, Greg." Nick rolled his eyes. "We're gonna get through this."
"I'm sick of disasters." Greg moaned.
"Me too." Nick nodded. "Me too."
"How're the twins?" Greg asked quietly.
"They're missin' you but they understand that you need to be with Morgan. They think that she's sick, I couldn't bring myself to tell them that she'd been attacked, again."
Greg nodded. "I miss them too, but I…"
"I get it. This sick bastard is still out there, but we're getting closer. Oh, Lola asked me to give you this." Nick passed Greg a little picture. He could interpret Lola's scribblings as a man, a woman and two little kids. "She said this one's you, that one's Morgan and these two are Reuben and Loeila."
Greg smiled weakly at the picture. "She's gonna go into some form of art or drama one day."
"Tell me about it." Nick nodded. "She's been playing role playing games for the past four days and boy does she take the lead. I think she's roped Catherine and Lou into Princesses this morning."
Greg's smile grew a little.
"You know, I haven't seen Morgan since it happened. You wanna come with me, we can tell her about the leads together?"
"Together?" Greg shrugged. "Sure."
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