Disclaimer – Please see chapter 1
A/N – Thank you all so very much for the continued reviews & the wonderful words of comfort offered via both review, and by personal messages, it really was & is humbling. Story is beta'd by myself so any remaining mistakes are all mine, so I apologize in advance. R & R Enjoy!
Fall Out Boy – Chapter 39 Private Number
"Honey! Stay right where you are" Gil said a little more sharply than he normally would do to her.
Gil's breathing was still very rapid, he looked down as suddenly a stinging pain hit him, shooting along the base of his foot "Ouch! Son of a …." he cursed lifting his foot, then hopping backwards, at the same time leaning down to grab a hold of the sore area.
"Gil!?" Sara called out worriedly.
"Stop there!" Gil shouted at her still panicked while trying to wrap his mind around what was happening, what he must do now, then realizing he was most probably frightening Sara more by his tone, he softened it speaking to her again "Sara go call Jim right now, ask him to come here with the team, then bring me the first aid kit please" he said hoping she'd just do as he asked, before asking more questions he was sure would upset her terribly.
"Gil? Whats going on? Where's Kye? The dogs?..........Hank? Bruno?" she asked in quick succession, her voice cracking on Kye's name.
Standing upright against the house wall, but resting his lightly bleeding bare foot against his robe covered thigh to stem the flow, he took in a deep breath before speaking "Please honey, just call Jim, and then I'll explain when you've done that okay?" he asked of her, then added "Make sure you put something on your feet when you return".
Sara let out a shaky breath, her imagination was doing a right number on her thoughts at that moment, but she trusted Gil enough to carry our his request knowing he had her best interests at heart "Okay, I'll be right back" then ran back into the house to retrieve her cell phone & to search for the medical supplies.
Gil turned his head back to the brand new crime scene in front of him, he took a steadying breath as he scanned the whole area before him, he desperately tried to alter his mindset to get into investigator mode for a visual processing of what he was seeing, knowing his current thoughts and emotions were interfering with the usually natural task for him, but all he could mentally imagine in this moment was Kye being hurt, or god forbid, even worse, killed by an intruder.
Placing his foot down on top of his other to keep some balance, Gil closed his eyes for a few seconds then opened them focusing on the ground to try again with a visual run through...........................
Starting closest to him he proceeded to mentally log the details to himself
Broken glass tumbler, shattered into pieces amid a small pool of what appears to be regular dairy milk................
Contaminated with what 'has' to be my own DNA......................
Blood from the wound to the sole of my foot.
But will need to be double checked by Wendy for other possible donors......Kye's and, or the perpetrator...........Abductor
Don't get ahead of the evidence, Gil berated himself silently as he took controlled breaths to get him back on track.
This was extremely harder for him, with it being someone he cared for dearly involved.
Mental note to let the team know that I unknowingly compromised the scene as I rushed out, and around to here.
Moving his eyes a little to the next object he could see, he continued.
Half eaten or chewed, piece of dark red, precisely butchered flesh...................
Unidentifiable at present........
But most probably beef steak......
Will need analyzing to establish if the meat source is animal or human,...........
If it has been doctored with any toxins, poisons, pharmaceutical, or illegal drugs.
That thought had Gil wondering anxiously, if whoever had done this, had used something to subdue Kye along with the dogs, he dearly hoped not, the effects of some drugs on such a small child's body could be detrimental, if the person administering them got the dosage wrong.
Letting out a long shaky breath, Gil noticed that the loud, rapid heart beat sound in his ears was subsiding now enough for other sounds about him to filter in, but there were just normal early morning noises to be heard.
Refocusing again, Gil carried on.
Two Canis lupis familiaris, both laid prone, parallel to each other on the grass near to the rear exit to the property.........
On first appearance they both seem to look deceased.
No apparent visible wounds to be seen as yet.......
No types of animal control or restraints of any kind present.
Squinting his eyes to look more intently at the two pets, Gil concentrated to the best of his ability right now as he observed Hank and Bruno's current situation amongst all of this.
Both animals chests rising and falling slowly.......Which indicates either drug induced tranquilizing or even possible coma, especially as they only awoke for the day a short time ago, so should be active now.
No appearance of vomit or foam around the canines mouths to suggest possible poisoning.......................
Thats a good sign, Gil thought interrupting his processing and letting out a slightly relieved sigh.
Mental note to get Sara or Jim to call for a veterinarian to come out ASAP, and have one of the guys process both dogs for any signs of evidence.
Rear exit yard gate open half way..............
Padlock obviously tampered with........Left hanging open from loop of secure bolt mechanism in place.......Needs fingerprinting.
Gil's eyes went wide momentarily as his keen eyes spotted what he believed to be a small piece of dark material, caught on top of the rough gate frame fixed to the wall.
You left a piece of yourself behind........................
Maybe it will give us a solid enough lead to where the hell Kye is?
Gil berated himself again for using the boys name, this was tough for him with his emotions all a jumble right now, but in order to possibly be able to help the child, he had to try to distance himself from his personal involvement in this task to do so.
I can't touch any of this being a part of the case, it would only compromise any possible case thats built up for the DA against a suspect, but still I can look, advise my team when they get here.
Focus on what you see, what it's telling you, Gil thought like a mantra to himself.
Make sure the team get that trace evidence to Hodges in the lab pronto.
His eyes continued their perusal.
No immediate signs of footprints on the concrete path or grassed area......Perimeter will still need a more detailed investigation.
No disturbed foliage on brief visual inspection from this vantage point.
"Damned!" he cursed at what his eyes now registered and rested on, then he shut them to try to block out the tormenting, imagined images assaulting him.
Opening them again, he could see just through the other side of the gateway, Kye's abandoned, scruffy, but lovable brown teddy bear lay ominously on the middle of the pathway.
Looking more intently at it now, Gil recognized that the toy didn't seem to look how it was supposed to, until he saw what he thought was cream colored stuffing material protruding from where one of the bears arms should be.
God, how could someone be so inhuman as to rip a child's comforting toy from their grip? Gil thought with despair, he'd seen some really bad things on the job, but something so personal to him concerning a child of all things, just made it all the more worse for him in this instance.
Sick son of a bitches! He thought angrily, not voicing his curse, but feeling yet another emotion bid for his attention.
"Gil?" Sara said touching the back of his shoulder gently, bringing him out of the negative thought.
Turning quickly to her, Gil saw her hand go to her mouth in shock, the first aid box fell to the floor with a clatter, as tears brimmed in her eyes right away, when she realized what she had previously been prevented from seeing.
"Oh god. No! Kye.........Not Kye.......Where is he?......Who's got him?.............Gil?" Sara said brokenly as she desperately fought to keep herself together, but failed miserably as an uncontrollable sob left her throat.
Gil grabbed Sara to him, into a tight embrace, mostly to try to prevent her analyzing the sight more than she already had, but also to offer and gain comfort from her presence.
"Shhhh, we'll find him honey, the dogs are alive and we'll get whoever did this okay" Gil spoke into her hair as he felt her body shake with quiet sobs.
Gil didn't want to make any solid promises to her that everything would be okay and that the boy would definitely be found safe and sound soon, because right now he wasn't sure of that himself, and statistics of past cases, told him of child kidnap or abductions outcomes never having favored their chances of being found alive again.
But he had to offer her something, along with the physical comfort he was giving her, in the form of rubbing circles briskly on her back as he held her firmly.
Trying to distract her from becoming too upset and distressed, Gil asked her if the team were on their way, she nodded then swiped at her eyes as he explained what he thought must have happened, while they waited for the others to arrive.
It never even entered their minds that this event would now reveal to the rest of the team, and most likely the lab director Conrad Ecklie their relationship, their recent co-habitation together, it was the furthest thing from their minds as both fretted for their missing foster child Kye.
Breaking apart slowly, Gil awkwardly hopped over to check the pulses of both dogs, and to see if their breathing was hampered in any way, he just about managed not to contaminate the area further before returning to Sara telling her that he thought they were just sleeping heavily.
As they waited Sara managed to compose herself to some degree, then busied herself tending to Gil's cut to his foot ,as he sat on one of the patio chairs, she'd retrieved both their cell phones which now sat on the accompanying table.
Hearing the revs of the large SUV's used by the crime lab coming to a stop outside the residence, along with a distant police siren being switched off alerted the couple to the arrival of Jim and the team.
Sara re-entered the house to let them in as Gil stood to walk around to the side gate, where his team would no doubt be, but his phone rang, so he grabbed it up and looked at the caller display with a worried frown.
'Private Number' lit up the screen.
Jim stepped out onto the patio after Sara, resting his palm on her back "Cath, Warrick and Nick are here" Jim spoke, as they both noticed the ringing phone clasped in his hand "Gil?" she inquired, wondering why he wasn't answering it.
Broken from his thought that the call might be from the potential suspect who had taken Kye, he looked up at them both "It's a private number" was all he said flipping it open as both Jim and Sara stepped up close to listen to the call.
"Dr Grissom?" the male caller asked.
Not recognizing the voice, Gil cautiously answered "Who's calling please?" he replied with his own question.
"Oh, um, I was given this as a contact number for a Dr Gilbert Grissom" the caller said a little nervously forgetting to add his own name.
"By whom?" Gil asked suspiciously as he looked at Jim.
"Oh right, Captain Brass of LVPD" he said quickly, then added "Excuse my phone manner" he let out a frustrated sigh "Damned things" he then continued "My name is Connor Jacobs and I'm trying to contact one of my nephews, Kye Merridian's temporary care providers, and I was told Dr Grissom is one of those".
Letting out a relieved sigh at the realization that the call was not suspicious after all, Gil watched as Jim stepped back showing his own relief , then indicate he would organize the team who were now on the other side of the gated property.
Placing a comforting arm around Sara, bringing her close into his side, oblivious to the raised eyebrows of Catherine, Warrick and Nick he spoke "Your speaking to him. Sorry for being so cryptic, but we have a bit of a situation here right now. So what can I do for you?". He said curious as to why the man was calling.
"I have the details for Marty and Charlie's memorial service for you" he said a little somberly.
Pulling Sara with him, Gil briefly glanced over at the three CSI's and captain who were already beginning their preliminary processing, and led her over to the patio chairs, this conversation would take a while and he had to be very careful how he delivered the latest news to the Uncle of the boy.
Greg turned up ten minutes later "I finally finished up with the Hopkins case. The lab grapevine was all a buzz with gossip of a call out to the bugman's, so hear I am" he announced as he set his kit down grinning.
The grin soon fell from his face when he spotted Catherine tenderly bagging up a child's bear.
Looking from one to the other including Brass, Greg soon understood the seriousness of the call out, he'd heard the lab rats rumors about Sara taking a temporary leave of absence to look after some kid, that his boss had suddenly taken some personal time off, but he never thought the two were linked.
Greg felt a sudden pang of jealousy as he moved into the yard near to Warrick inspecting the ground, and saw Grissom sat with Sara beside him on the phone, holding her hand in his, them both dressed in sleepwear and a robe.
Feeling himself staring rudely, he shook his head breaking his gaze from the private scene to look at his fellow CSI "Urm, am I missing something here?" he asked.
"You know pretty much as I do right now, apart from the fact that we got called here urgently, from Brass for a probable child abduction thats linked to the Merridian case you and Nick investigated" Warrick said closing his kit and standing up.
"Whoa!" the dots were connecting for him now "The kid Sara's been looking after?" Greg asked a bit louder than he should have done, as he remembered he hadn't seen her since that case.
Shooting a worried glance over at his boss and friend near the rear door to the house, Warrick spoke quiet but harshly "Keep it down will ya, Sara's pretty cut up at the little boy being missing" he let out a long breath then added in a more friendly tone "Grissom seems to be too, seeing as they have both been staying here with him since the case started".
The team continued to process as Brass took a statement off Gil, who told his friend to let the guys know about the material caught on the fence post and other things he'd seen earlier, including his contamination of the area around the milk puddle.
Reassuring Gil that he would. Jim methodically went through the motions that his job expected off him, even though his notes gave little clue as to a direction for the case.
The veterinarian turned up and assessed the dogs conditions after a pathway was cleared for him to walk through to get to them, as the team carried on their work.
The vet and his assistant took both animals to the local practice for observations, after reassuring the owners that he was almost certain they had only been temporary sedated, and both would be fine within hours.
Nick went with the dogs to make sure they were carefully processed too.
Sara who was continually distracted by all her friends working determinedly in the yard, kept having to reign in her emotions as her eyes brimmed with tears, at thoughts of Kye who had wound his way deeply into her heart, at where he possibly could be, silently praying that he wasn't hurt or terrified right now.
Standing now, Gil pulled Sara out of her distressing thoughts as he helped her up out of her seat, keeping a firm hold on her hand, the team seeing his attentiveness towards her ignored by him "Honey, lets go inside and get changed, they have everything covered" he said tilting his head towards the night shift team still working, nodding at Catherine who looked at him sympathetically, before guiding her inside.
"We'll go to the lab, so we can be close when there's any news" Gil said laying his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close, then kissing her on the temple as they walked into the master bedroom.
Knowing the couple had not even had a chance for a morning drink with the latest events, Brass set about putting the coffee machine on and getting cups ready for them once they returned, while he made a quick call to PD to get them to issue a an 'Amber alert' out for the boy, ASAP.
Ten minutes later -"I'll get Greg to print the door and frame to see if our perp entered the house leaving prints, but I suspect that whoever did this just threw some doctored meat into the yard, waited for the dogs to drop, then entered waiting for Kye to come outside on his own" Catherine said breaking Jim's thoughts as he poured drinks out.
"Yeah, I think you'll find your right there" Jim said putting the pot down, then shot a look over towards the bedroom doors down the hall, lowering his voice he spoke again "I'm liking 'The 'Ice man' Frost, for this one Cath" he commented.
"Yeah me too, but even so we'll still need to check out all the child offenders in the area to cover all our bases" Catherine replied, then added worriedly "I just hope Kye's not injured or …......." she didn't need to finish for them both to know what she was about to say.
"God Jim, just imagining what that child was, and still is going through, at the hands of some sick bastard that would snatch a kids comforter from them, is just...." she never continued with her vent as they heard one of the bedroom doors open, then Gil step out closing it behind him.
"Sara's taking a shower, She'll be out shortly" was all he said taking the offered cup from Brass.
Swapping glances with each other Catherine placed a comforting hand on Gil's shoulder as he sat down, Jim cleared his throat to speak "Gil, we'll need a picture of Kye for the Amber alert. Do you have one?" he asked tentatively.
Catherine interrupted "We have one in his mothers file that can be used, it looks like a pretty recent one" she said rubbing her friends shoulder then dropping her hand away again.
"Hows Sara doing?" she asked searching for Gil to raise his eyes to her, which he didn't, he just kept looking at the cup in his hand.
Letting out a deep sigh Gil answered somberly "Not good" he paused "I think she blames herself for not being up and ready for when Kye woke, and for not protecting him from whoever has him".
"She's struggling with all this emotional stress" he added, then swallowed heavily before taking a drink from his cup.
Sharing a knowing look with Jim, that Gil was also feeling some amount of guilt and was also finding it hard to cope with the emotional upheaval himself, Catherine spoke gently to him "We'll find him Gil. Don't worry, we've got the best team in the US out there batting for the little guy".
Looking up and managing a weak appreciative smile at her, Gil nodded distractedly.
Fifteen minutes later Sara came out of the bedroom looking clean and fresh, but the redness around her eyes plainly spoke she had shed more tears while away from the others.
"I'm heading into the lab to get started, the boys will still be some time before they are finished. Do you want them to lock up for you?" Catherine asked as she watched Sara drink her coffee stood close to Gil on his seat.
Leaning over the counter, reaching into a large wooden bowl, Gil pulled out a bunch of keys, then proceeded to pull off a smaller attached set of 3 keys handing them to Catherine "Thanks. I'm going to drive us both into the lab, can you ask them to make sure the gate is secured before leaving too" he said as he stood, then turned to Sara "Are we Ready?".
Sara took a last large swallow of her drink then put the cup in the sink before weakly smiling at Catherine and Jim, who gave her sympathetic smiles in return "I'll catch up with you both at the lab shortly" Cath told her.
Gil clasped Sara's hand in his again, in reassurance that he was with her all the way, and wasn't at all concerned for what anyone thought at his public display of support and affection towards her now.
Truth be known he wanted to keep her close all the time, as much receiving comfort from her presence, as he offered her with his words, gestures and touches.
Just as the couple closed the front door to the house, Brass' cell rang.
"Brass" he answered in his usual business manner.
Catherine tried to listen in on the conversation but only managed to hear Jim's side of it.
"Was he on his own, was there a child with him?" He asked the caller.
Jim locked eyes with Catherine and shook his head in the negative "What about his associate Nelson Carlton? Have you picked him up yet?".
"Damned!" Jim cursed "Thompson, get him back to PD, I'm on my way in right now" Jim said making towards the door pulling his keys from his pocket "But make sure no one at the crime lab knows we have him in custody yet, because his care providers are on their way there and one of them is Grissom, and he's gonna want to be in on the interview if he knows we have him okay" he said knowing that the young officer knew what he was implying where Gil was concerned involving a case with a child.
"Meet me at PD Cath, I take it you'll be doing the interview with me" Jim shouted over his shoulder to her as he quickly left not awaiting an answer.
A/N – Hope you all enjoyed the chapter this week, it's rather longer than intended, but I have to say I'm happy with it. See I'm an animal lover, so I couldn't possibly kill two innocent doggies! FYI, Canis lupis familiaris is the scientific name for domesticated dogs. 'Assume nothing' with this story, another twist coming real soon. More next weekend!
Please take the time to review the chapter or the story so far, they really do encourage me to keep on writing – Thanks!