Ch. 18
Krisalyn stood with Nick just outside of the interrogation room and listened closely to everything that was being said. They had wanted to be a part of the questioning process but Grissom and Brass had both been strictly against it. Nick was getting nervous about whatever was going to be said in there, thinking that there might be a secondary threat and that this might not have anything to do with their original case. Sighing Krisalyn leaned against the wall and stared through the viewing glass as Brass went at the guy Krisalyn had caught in the office.
"Look you entered the house of two Las Vegas Crime Scene tech's and that makes this personal mister so if I were you I would start talking and tell us who hired you, why and what it is you were after." Brass said for the fifteenth time.
"Look I have valuable information you might want, so if I were you I would be talking deal right now." The man said with a nasty smirk.
Brass decided to play the card Krisalyn had mentioned about a child. "You endangered a child, how do you think a jury is going to react to that."
"The kid wasn't there, but I have information about that kid that you might want." The man said with a nasty laugh.
"Excuse me?" Brass said not sure how to react.
"Here let me give you a tidbit that you can chew on while you work on my deal, I know where the kid is." The man said smirking.
"What is he talking about? Ella's dead." Krisalyn said confused.
"Yeah we know that but he might be trying to play us. He probably thinks his partner succeeded, maybe they were told to take Ella, they probably think she is alive." Sara said thinking about it.
"Maybe." Krisalyn said biting her lip. She watched as Grissom and Brass left the room and followed everyone else into the hallway.
"We aren't going to get anything. Let's head over and talk to suspect number two and see what he has to say." Brass said. Everyone turned and headed over to the other interrogation room that had viewing access.
Krisalyn watched them go and waited till they were out of sight. Sighing she made a decision and quickly entered the first interrogation room and watched the face of the man sitting at the table. She quickly took a seat across from him and waited to see what he was going to say. When he kept his mouth shut Krisalyn decided to reveal the truth about Ella and get his reaction.
"Ella is dead." Krisalyn whispered. "You aren't going to get any deal with information about the whereabouts of a dead little girl."
"I was wondering why it seemed no one was looking for her. I don't know who you buried in her place but I promise you that your daughter isn't dead ma'am." The man said softly.
"Do you have kids?" Krisalyn asked leaning back in her chair.
"Yes." The man said nervously.
"Then imagine yourself in my place. I can't force anyone to make a deal with you and they won't listen to me. I want you to imagine that your child is in my daughter's place. If what you say is true and she is alive then please tell me where she is so I can be her mother and protect her." Krisalyn said with a soft pleading voice. She didn't think it was going to work, she didn't think this man was going to be human but suddenly he grabbed the pen and wrote down an address.
"I lost a kid once to." He muttered as he slid the pad back to her.
Krisalyn walked out of the room holding the pad in front of her with a weary look. She tore the top sheet off and folded it carefully, placing it in her pocket before setting the pad and pen down a chair. She looked down the hall, debating on whether or not she should tell them what the suspect had informed her and then decided not to. There was no way she was going to let them know that she wanted to believe what she was told so desperately. She grabbed the keys to a CSI vehicle on her way out and quickly left the building. Even if this little girl wasn't her's she had to check, for her own peace of mind.
He knew something was wrong but he wasn't sure what it was. His men hadn't checked in since he had sent them on their mission. Frowning he quickly called his contact, wanting to know if his men got themselves caught and if they had he would have to move to another location and fast.
Krisalyn arrived at the building that was indicated and looked around. She was quickly regretting her decision not to bring back up and decided to call in for some now. She dialed Nick's cell phone, unsure whether or not he had even noticed that she was no longer at the lab. She waited patiently for him to answer his phone.
"Stokes."
"Nick it's Krisalyn."
"Where are you? Grissom and I have been calling the house looking for you." Nick said quickly.
"Bring some cops and meet me at 5100 S. Westin Avenue apartment 4." Krisalyn said immediately. She had a really bad feeling and started getting out of her car.
"Why?" Nick asked her confused.
"Can't explain just hurry up and get here." Krisalyn said as she clicked off her phone.
Krisalyn walked slowly into the building with dread feeling her up. She took her badge out of her pocket and placed it in a place were everyone would be able to see it. She pulled her gun out and slowly made her way to the apartment. She got there and glanced around the hallway as she leaned against the wall. She made the decision to knock and winced as she thought of all the ways this could go bad.
She looked at the door as she heard someone knocking. The man had left to make a phone call down the street so she knew it wasn't him playing a trick on her. She winced as she cried out for someone to help her, hoping that this person was someone who was here to save her and take her away from this bad place. She just wanted to go home and see her mommy and her stuffed dog.
Krisalyn heard the small voice crying out for someone to help her and took that as probably cause. She knew her injuries were going to scream in protest but she kicked in the door and entered the apartment.
"Police." She shouted as she made her way inside.
"Help me please." Came a voice from a padlocked closet. Krisalyn made her over to it just as she heard someone enter the apartment.
"What's going on?" A uniformed officer asked.
"CSI." Krisalyn held up her badge. "I was sent her by a suspect and heard someone calling for help. It's coming from this closet." She pointed at the locked door.
They worked together to get the padlock off and then the officer headed towards the hallway to keep watch as she opened the closet slowly and her jaw dropped as she stared at the pale and frail form of the child sitting there clutching a ragged bear.
"Ella?" Krisalyn whispered as she dropped to her knees.
"Mama." Ella cried as she ran to her arms.
Krisalyn held Ella and rocked her back and forth as tears fell from her eyes. She couldn't believe it. After all this time thinking her little girl was dead she was here in her arms.
Nick and the team walked into the apartment and looked around. The uniformed cop pointed towards the open closet and said she was in there with whoever had been help captive. They walked over and stood in the doorway watching Krisalyn hug a little girl but they couldn't see her face.
"Krisalyn?" Nick asked confused.
"It's Ella, my baby is alive." Krisalyn cried as she glanced at him. "Our little girl is alive."
Nick dropped to his knees next to her and stared at the daughter he had never met. He cleared his throat and reached out his hand to touch her hair.
"Ella do you know who this is?" Krisalyn asked wiping tears from her eyes.
Ella shook her head and stared at Nick, unsure of why her mother was asking her this.
"Ella this is your daddy." Krisalyn said as finally introduced her daughter to her father.
"Daddy?" Ella asked him.
Nick nodded his head and held his arms open, holding his breath he waited to see if his little girl would come to him and breathed a sigh of relief when she did. He finally got the chance to hold his daughter.
"We've called an ambulance." Sara informed them. She glanced behind her as paramedics entered the room.
Krisalyn and Nick didn't want to let go of Ella but they could tell just by looking at her that she needed medical treatment.
"I parked the vehicle across the street, here are the keys, I'm riding with my daughter." Krisalyn informed Grissom handing over the vehicle keys.
"We'll meet you at the hospital." Sara said with a soft smile.
Krisalyn followed the gurney that carted her darted out of the grungy apartment and watched for any sign of the man who had done this to her family. She held Ella's hand tightly as the little girl threw frightened eyes all around her. Police officers that had been called in watched the gurney with fury at the thought that a child had been injured, it was a known fact that cops took cases with children involved very personally. Krisalyn climbed into the back of the ambulance after the gurney was loaded and just stared at her daughter absolutely amazed that she was actually alive. It was then that she realized the full implication of what that meant, someone else was buried in Ella's grave and someone that she used to work with had purposely deceived her.
Nick watched the faces of his colleagues and could tell that they all wanted to say something to him at the moment but no one was quite sure what to say. He shook his head as he walked outside with Warrick and watched the ambulance drive away. He had been mourning a child he had never met and now he had that child back. Something seemed a little off to him.
"We have to dig up Ella's grave and see who is buried there." Nick said softly.
"I know." Warrick nodded his head slowly in agreement.
"Someone out there has lost a child and doesn't know it yet." Nick said shaking his head.
"Well maybe they do know it and that's the problem." Warrick said.
He watched them from his vantage point with anger boiling inside of him. No one was ever supposed to find that little girl. That was his trick up his sleeve. He knew which one of the incompetent men had told Krisalyn about the apartment and he would make him pay. He watched the man who had been holding Ella slowly back away from the corner with fear in his eyes. That man was just as responsible as the others. He threw something that landed on that side to get the CSI's to look towards the corner and sure enough it worked. They noticed the man that was slowly turning to run and gave chase and he had to laugh.
Nick and Warrick rounded the corner in full pursuit with a couple of uniformed cops running with them. To Nick this was personal but to everyone else it was about catching a possible criminal. When they reached a cross section they split up and searched for the suspect. That would prove to be a big mistake.
Neither of them saw the weapon until it was to late. Three shots were fired and two men went down.