Disclaimer – Please see chapter 1
A/N – Thank you all so very much to those of you that left me a review, but it would be nice to receive more from those of you who have the story on their alerts too. I really appreciate any and all feedback you send & will even try to integrate any suggestions you make. The story rating will go up and include adult themes later on, so don't forget to put it on your story alert. Story is beta'd by myself so any remaining mistakes are all mine, so I apologize in advance. I have decided to try to post 2 chapters a week, but I can't promise you that! R & R Enjoy!
Fall Out Boy – Chapter 3 Help Arrives
Arriving two hours later at the crime scene in Warm Springs, Grissom pulled the Denali to a stop in front of the lodge just as the coroners van pulled away, thankfully his migraine had eased considerably after managing to grab and hours worth of sleep in his office before the call from Nick.
Letting out a long sigh, he and Greg exited the car and grabbed their kits "Greg take the perimeter for now, cast any shoe prints you see and bag up anything else you find pertinent to the case" Grissom said as he strode past the two officers out front "Come get either Nick or I if you have any problems" he threw over his shoulder as he stepped into the home.
Greg still being the relative newbie at CSI was used to the less exciting aspects to the job, as he'd had many garbage dumps and perimeter searches with another CSI always hovering nearby.
But as he had now passed his proficiency, he was being left alone to get on with his trained techniques of evidence collection now, so got to work as requested right away.
Entering what looked to be the main living room of the lodge Grissom set down his kit, as he saw Nick crouched down concentrating on taking shots of the blood spatter covering the rug and furniture "Nick, any word from Sara at the hospital yet?" he asked without greeting, eager to find out what was going on.
Dropping his camera and standing Nick shook his head "Not a word Griss" he said putting the camera on top of his open kit "And I gotta tell you, Sara didn't look like she was gonna let go of that kid any time soon either" he added with a sympathetic look at his boss, he didn't envy him having to tackle Sara when she got like this over a case.
Grissom had been dreading hearing this from Nick, especially in light of her recent disclosure to him, and her obvious demons resurfacing from her past. He knew he would have to get to the hospital to asses the situation with Sara for himself, and soon, but he had to make sure that Nick and Greg could cope with the processing of the scene first.
Looking around the room and spotting Nick's markers laid out, then quite a few evidence bags near his kit, he turned to Nick again "Okay Nick, I'll speak with Sara soon. Greg's got the perimeter. Do you need me to process the bedroom where the woman was found?" he asked wanting to get on with anything that needed to be done quickly, so he could get to the hospital as soon as possible.
"I've processed the bedroom and I was just starting down here. So if you wanna get off to the hospital to see Sara that's fine. Greg can help me get finished up here later" Nick replied wanting Grissom to check out what the situation with Sara was "We have it covered Griss" he added in reassurance.
"Okay. Do we know the Id's and details on the two victims and the child?" Grissom asked thinking ahead in case the hospital may need some details for their records for the boy.
"We have the two DB's names and details that the local PD found out, but there doesn't seem to be anything on the kid, not even the woman's co-workers or residents in the town knew there was even a kid staying here with them" Nick replied picking up his camera to start work again, he had to admit the whole thing with Kye seemed a little odd to him.
Forgetting to ask Nick to relay for him the Id's and details so far for the case, his mind distracted by the subtle hints of the migraine mixed with his concern for Sara's mental state and mood in all of this, he picked up his kit to get ready to leave.
"Have a look around down here Nick for any signs of paperwork for the boy, then have an officer bring them out to the hospital will you please" Grissom asked as he made towards the front door.
Nick made it his next priority to look for any paperwork on the bottom floor as requested by his boss, walking into the kitchen he spotted some open text books, pens, pencils and paper laid out fairly neatly on the kitchen table.
On closer inspection of a biology book aimed at the age of a young teen, Nick frowned before putting in back down and picking up some hand written text on some papers. The writing was quite young and child like, not that of an older child more practised in handwriting skills.
Shuffling through the books and papers Nick came across several other books for the same age range in different subjects, Geography, Mathematics, English Literature, then he came across what looked to be a general education teaching manual of some kind.
Looking at the back of the book, the order label was still affixed with Charlotte Meridian's name, the lodge address printed out and dated one month ago.
Organizing the new information in his mind, Nick realized that the woman must have been home schooling the boy, and that the boy must have quite a high IQ to be tackling the books on display to him right now, but he shook his head doubtfully as his theory "Nah, the kids too young for this kinda stuff" he said to himself.
"Talking to yourself Nick. You know Sofia has that annoying habit too, breaks my concentration while I'm trying to process" Greg said coming into the room.
Nick swung around not expecting his friend to interrupt his thoughts, and after explaining Grissom's request and his own incomprehensible theory on the books and stuff , he made over to some drawers to search once more.
Greg having told Nick there was little or nothing of useful evidence outside, helped with the location of any personal papers of any of the residence of the lodge, while Nick relayed what they knew so far about the case.
Forty minutes later Greg came across a file in the living room, in the back of a cupboard marked Kye and Charlotte Meridian. Quickly flipping it open he realized he had what they were looking for.
"Nick. I think I got what we're looking for" Greg indicated to the file in his hand as Nick approached him.
Flipping through them he caught sight of a birth certificate so stopped to look at it "Kye Anthony Meridian, born 2000 in New York, Mother Charlotte Meridian, Father Unknown" Nick read from it then looked up at Greg "Kids nearly six, but no indication who the father is and the mothers name indicates she was unmarried at the time of birth" he said then looked again through the file to see if there was anything to identify a father of the child.
A thought suddenly occurred to him that was backed up by some of the evidence he had seen so far "Hey maybe the kids father was a violent guy and the Mom, boyfriend and kid were on the run" he theorized to Greg.
"Yeah, so we could be looking at the father having found out their new location, was pissed at her for taking his kid away from him to play Mommy and Daddy with another guy" Greg added seeing a picture form in his head as some of the current details of the case made sense to him.
"Argument ensues, kid gets frightened and shoots off up to the roof space, while Daddy ends up killing first the boyfriend from the looks of things, then peruses the woman who may have ran to try to protect her child but got caught in the bedroom. He slashes her throat as she struggles, then tries to find the kid but can't, so flees the scene pronto" Nick said following the theory himself.
"The hatch to the roof space wasn't visible in the bedroom, just the closet, and not all these types of lodges have roof spaces like this one, so that's how the kid remained undetected by both the killer and the officers first on the scene" Nick carried on his assessment watching to see if Greg was following him.
"So I guess our priority is getting an ID on the kids father, then we have at least a possible suspects name" Greg summarised.
Frowning Nick nodded "Yeah, I'll call Griss and see if he can get us a DNA sample from the kid at the hospital to take back to the lab with the evidence" he said pulling out his cell phone.
Meanwhile twenty minutes later after getting directions from one of the officers, Grissom pulled up outside the small town hospital, he parked up and made his way into the reception area, then asked for directions to the child's location.
Taking the stairs rather than the elevator for the next floor Grissom, stepped through double doors to see a nurse and another woman raising their voices at each other by the nurses station down the hall from him.
He made his way over to them and stood just off from them waiting to ask where Sara and the boy were.
"Look this isn't our usual protocol. The boys not hurt or injured, he's been checked out and cleared by a doctor, so I need to get him located in one of our group homes or in temporary foster care as my job requires me to do" the woman in the semi casual cloths around the age of fifty said glaring with a raised voice.
"I understand that completely Mrs Wilson, but Kye is a very frightened and scared little boy right now, who has just lost his parents in a very traumatic way, an event he may have witnessed himself" the nurse drew in a quick breath "He only seems to be less agitated and insecure when he is close to Miss Sidle, who has offered her services to help Kye".
Listening he got the gist of what was going on, Sara was still with the child after all this time, instead of handing him over to child services as usually was the case. Grissom now thought it pertinent to intervene, so he cleared his throat to get their attention, which he did so easily.
"Supervisor Gil Grissom from Las Vegas crime lab, Sara Sidle is one of my CSI's and we are investigating the case the boy is a part of" he said stepping up to them now "I couldn't help overhearing your conversation. Is there a problem?" he asked innocently, knowing full well by now there definitely was.
"Donna Wilson Child services emergency placement officer" the woman said still clearly annoyed with how things were going.
"Staff nurse Clare Reynolds, Kye's appointed nurse" the younger woman said with a relieved smile at seemingly being rescued from the other woman's anger.
"Doctor Greyrigg is not happy about Kye's state of emotions and mental health right now, and wants observations reporting on him over the next twenty four hours at the very least, until he is happy to release him into anyone's capable care" Clare said facing Grissom as she explained in a much quieter voice "As you probably heard Miss Sidle seems to be the only person Kye is anywhere near comfortable having around him right now, and he is very likely to breakdown emotionally in a major way if that link is taken away from him" she said finishing and hoping he'd understand her predicament with the other woman.
"This really is not good for the boy to get attached to a total stranger offering comfort, then eventually having to leave that person for good. It builds up false hope for them, we don't promote this kind of behaviour, and nor should you from your CSI's Mr Grissom" Donna Wilson said sternly.
Grissom became slightly annoyed now with the woman questioning his judgement on how to supervise his CSI's, not to mention the fact that she was also bringing into question Sara's empathic actions in this case.
Yes, he was worried about Sara's emotional state recently after her blow out with Catherine, but one thing he was damned sure of was although her empathy had gotten her into trouble in the past, it sounded like she had a very good reason for tonight's actions here, after what the nurse had just told him.
That very same quality in her was one of many he so admired in her, that attracted him to her along with multiple other traits, quirks and endearing features Sara possessed about her, he'd been attracted from day one to her, but never acted on those feelings with many reasons stopping him.
Naturally his usual protective side when anyone spoke ill of Sara surfaced as he replied "Mrs Wilson, I'm sure Miss Sidle knows exactly what she is doing in making this decision to stay with the boy, she is an excellent CSI, one of our best. So if you could please come back tomorrow to check whether the child is ready to be transferred into your care, I will talk with my colleague and the boy can hopefully calm down and have a restful sleep" Grissom said dismissively looking to the nurse now, who wore a barely contained smirk.
With a huff of disgust Mrs Wilson shook her head, then turned to walk away down the hall "This isn't satisfactory you know, but I'll leave and be back in the morning. And I hope there wont be any more problems" she threw out emphasizing her last words as she stomped off muttering to herself.
Now smiling, the nurse saw that Grissom was waiting to be directed to the boys room where Sara was "Room forty five, just down there on the right" she pointed for him "Would you both like a coffee? I'm getting Kye a drink of juice, so I can get you some drinks too" she offered as Grissom started walking towards the room he needed.
"That would be great. Thank you" he said as he got to the hospital room door.
Glancing through the pane of glass in the door, Grissom was immediately struck with the force of a strange emotion he'd only felt very slightly in the past regarding Catherine with her daughter Lindsey.
Catching his breath a little as he took in one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen where Sara was concerned, he tried to reign in the emotion knowing he was going to have to portray his normal stoic façade to speak with her, but a few more moments just enjoying and cataloguing this memory for a later date wouldn't harm anyone, so he just watched for a few minutes in the empty hall.
A/N - I hope you all enjoyed this chapter that set out a little more of the story and case for you. With any luck I should post another chapter later in the week, or perhaps at the weekend. Please leave me a review which is sure to encourage me to post sooner if I receive enough of them. Thank you for reading this!