AN: Time for the interrogation, which might reveal more than some expect… hope you like it
Thanks to WalkerTRngr for the beta help!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything relating to CSI
Chapter 14
Sara pulls into the parking space next to Grissom's car and turns the engine off, staring at her hands on the steering wheel for a moment.
Should she really be here? Should she be doing this? What exactly is she expecting to get out of this? She doesn't have an answer to any of those questions, but she's already here, so she might as well go through with it.
Taking a deep breath, she opens the door and gets out, leaning back against it for a moment.
"Hey." She looks up at Grissom's voice, just the sight of him making a few of the butterflies in her stomach settle down. "Change your mind?"
She sighs as he leans against the car next to her, and then shakes her head. "I might when we get in there and I actually see him, but not yet."
"OK."
He makes no move to go inside, though. "Are we just hanging out in the parking lot?" Sara asks a little amusedly after a few minutes, and he shrugs.
"He can wait, if you need a few more minutes."
It's sweet, really, but unnecessary. So, she pushes away from the car and slides a hand into his to tug him along towards the entrance. When they get closer, she makes to let go, but he just squeezes her hand tighter, giving her a reassuring smile.
Brass is leaning against the wall outside interrogation room four, arms crossed over his chest. He raises an eyebrow briefly when he spots their linked hands, but doesn't comment. "You sure you want to do this, kiddo?" he asks instead. "Because you don't have to. I promise I will make sure he pays for what he did."
"I know," she assures him. "It's not that I don't trust you, and I might still panic, but I think I need to at least try. I can't spend the rest of my life afraid of a shadow."
He just nods and squeezes her arm quickly. "Well, get on in there, and I'll get the interrogation started, OK? I want to get this over with as quickly as possible."
Sara can't argue with that, so she and Grissom go into the observation room next door. She keeps her eyes fixed on the floor until they're in front of the one-way mirror, and then she takes a deep breath and looks up.
The flash of panic she expects doesn't come. Lurie's leaning back in the uncomfortable metal chair, eyebrows slightly furrowed as he watches Brass enter the room. Next to him is his lawyer, the same one he had last time.
The only difference between now and when she overheard Grissom's confession a few weeks ago is that his spot's been taken by Ecklie, who's already seated at the table with an open folder in front of him.
Brass joins him and puts a recorder down on the table. "Interview with Vincent Lurie, Tuesday, February 10, 2004, seven fourteen PM. Present are Captain Jim Brass, CSI and dayshift supervisor Conrad Ecklie from the Las Vegas crime lab, and Attorney Adam Matthews, representative of the suspect."
"Now that introductions are out of the way, would you mind explaining why we're here?" Matthews asks, looking between Brass and Ecklie. "Because I have to tell you, I'm getting a little tired of the police department's witch hunt of my client."
"Is he serious?" Grissom mumbles next to her, and she feels cold anger settle in her stomach.
Which is a whole lot better than fear, so there's that.
"Witch hunt?" Brass repeats incredulously on the other side of the glass. "Did you even read the arrest warrant? Have you watched the news in the last week? Which rock have you been living under?"
"I've heard about the so-called kidnapping case," Matthews replies, and Sara puts a hand on Grissom's arm when he tenses next to her. "But let's be honest here – just because that woman was found on my client's property, that doesn't mean he had anything to do with her disappearance. It's in the middle of nowhere, he hasn't been there in months. Anyone could have broken in to use it as a… romantic getaway."
"Now, you listen here…" Brass starts, hands flat on the table as he half-rises from the chair. But Ecklie puts a hand on his shoulder, and he slowly sits back down.
"Mr. Matthews," the dayshift supervisor starts calmly, putting a piece of paper down on the table in front of the lawyer. "All the evidence collected and analyzed at your client's property were included in the documentation sent to your office along with the arrest warrant. If you had gone through the information, like you should have before this interview, you would know that we have more than enough evidence to put your client at the scene."
Matthews picks up the paper and scrutinizes it for a moment. "So, you have his fingerprints in the house? He does own it; he's not denying ever being there."
"We have his fingerprints on the handcuffs used to restrain miss Sidle, on the knife and gun found at the house – both of which, according to the victim, were used to threaten her into complying – as well as on a syringe and vial with traces of propofol, which was used to sedate the victim. We haven't had a chance to look into it further, but I would assume we'll find some propofol missing from Desert Palm." He finds another piece of paper and presents it. "We also have your client's DNA on the rope used to tie the victim to the bed when he raped her…"
"Now, hang on here just a minute," Matthews objects, but Ecklie continues like he didn't even speak.
"… and from the SAE kit done on the victim at the hospital. We have a cloth soaked in chloroform with DNA from both your client and the victim, and the victim's DNA in the car your client has confirmed himself he was using during the time of the abduction. In addition, we have receipts for the handcuffs that were used, and for the hardware used to bolt a bed to the wall in the room where the victim was kept in the basement of your client's property."
Sara's surprised at how objectively she can listen to Ecklie go through the evidence, almost like it's a case like any other. Maybe she's disassociating, but somehow, she doesn't think so.
"As you can see," Brass takes over, smiling darkly at Matthews, who has lost the condescending smirk that was on his face a few minutes ago, "we have premeditation, plenty of evidence… everything we need to put your client away for a very long time. If he's lucky."
At those words, Lurie frowns, turning to his lawyer. "Do something, Adam," he grinds out between clenched teeth.
Matthews shakes his head. "There's nothing I can do, Vincent." He looks between Brass and Ecklie. "What kind of deal can you offer?"
Brass scoffs. "Deal? We have more than enough evidence to get your client convicted on first-degree kidnapping, rape – both of which are category A felonies, as you well know – assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder…"
"Not to mention the fact that we, during the search of your client's property, also found a shoebox hidden under the floorboards in one of the bedrooms," Ecklie says, and at the words, all color drains from Lurie's face. Ecklie meets his eyes over the table. "Do you perhaps want to let your attorney know what was in that box? Since he clearly hasn't read the information we provided for him."
"What is he talking about?" Sara asks, turning to Grissom as Lurie sputters on the other side of the glass.
"I have no idea," he replies, looking just as confused as she is. "This is the first I'm hearing about any of this."
"They can't do this!" Lurie exclaims, pulling their attention back to the interrogation. "The search warrant was for the kidnapping case, they can't just… take whatever they want that has nothing to do with that."
"The search warrant was a general warrant," Ecklie explains calmly, sounding almost bored. "When my CSIs found the hidden box, they immediately called the judge to have it extended to cover the new evidence, which was then photographed and logged in line with standard protocol."
He places a few photos on the table, and Sara desperately wishes she could see what they are.
"As you can see, what we found is enough evidence to reopen the case of the double murder of Debbie Marlin and Michael Clark earlier this year…"
"My client was cleared of those charges," Matthews protests.
"Due to a lack of evidence," Brass agrees. "He was never charged, so there's no double jeopardy at play. We have uncovered new evidence, so we will be reopening the case with the goal of charging him this time."
Lurie is looking more and more desperate as Matthews studies the photos. "Can I have a few minutes to consult with my client?" he says eventually.
Brass shrugs and turns off the recorder. "Sure. Interview paused at seven fifty-one."
He and Ecklie gather their papers before getting up from the table and leaving the room, the door to the observation room opening a moment later.
"What did you find in that box?" Grissom asks as soon as it does.
Ecklie moves to the table to spread the evidence photos. "We found the rest of the bracelet you found parts of at the original scene," he starts, pointing at a photo of the piece of jewelry. "A knife, which we believe was used during the murders. He seems to have wiped it clean, but there were trace amounts of blood in the joints by the handle – DNA matches for Marlin, Clark, and Lurie himself; he must have nicked himself at some point. No fingerprints, but that's to be expected if he wiped it. There were a lot of photos of him and Marlin together, and a few of just her, including several from… the bathroom."
Sara gasps at the implication. "After he killed her?"
"Yeah. Don't ask me why he would take photos like that, I really don't want to know." Ecklie sighs. "But the DA feels that it should be more than enough to convict him of the double murder in addition to your kidnapping case."
"He could be looking at the needle," Brass concludes, eyes fixed on her.
She nods thoughtfully, worrying her lip as she considers.
"What are you thinking?" Grissom asks after a moment.
She looks up at him, asking him to understand with only her eyes, before turning to Brass. "Tell them that if he pleads guilty to everything, including both murders, he'll get life without parole. No death penalty."
For a few seconds after her declaration, the room is completely silent. Then Grissom sighs. "Are you sure?"
She nods. "If it means no trial, then yeah. And I don't… I'd rather he spend the rest of his life in prison anyway."
She knows that, if she had been given the opportunity during her captivity, she wouldn't have even hesitated to kill him. But to stand by passively and watch it happen… that's something completely different.
"I need to call the DA," Brass says, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "He has to approve it, but I doubt he'll object, considering it'll save us a trial."
He disappears out the door, leaving the three CSIs behind.
Sara can feel Ecklie's eyes on her and reluctantly looks up, not sure what to expect.
It's not the look of compassion and… respect she gets, though.
"You know, if it had been my daughter in that basement…" He shakes his head. "I'd probably be the first to argue for the death penalty."
With that, he too leaves the room.
She looks over at Grissom, who's sporting a surprised look she's sure is mirrored on her own face. "Ecklie has a daughter?"
He shrugs. "News to me too." Then he fixes her with a concerned look. "Are you absolutely sure about this?"
"Yes," she says, with more confidence than before. "He's never getting out. And even if he did get the death penalty, you know as well as I do that it'll be years, probably decades, before he's exhausted all his appeals. And that could mean retrials, new investigations… I want it behind me. I don't want to have to worry about a letter in the mail ten, fifteen years from now to testify again."
He nods. "And if he takes the plea deal, you won't have to testify in the first place."
The thought crossed her mind. "I said I'd testify and I will, if I have to. But if I don't have to…"
"Yeah." He sighs, sliding an arm around her shoulders, and she leans against him.
"Besides, we both know there's a chance he'll go for an insanity plea," Sara notes after a moment. "I don't want him in a hospital instead of prison."
"Definitely not," he agrees.
The sound of the door to the interrogation room opening again makes them turn back to the one-way mirror, where Brass and Ecklie have re-entered the room. She absentmindedly notes that Matthews is looking annoyed, but her eyes are quickly drawn to Lurie.
The only way to describe his body language is resignation. He's slumped forward, head hanging, eyes fixed on the table. His entire posture is indicative of someone who's given up completely, and she feels a stab of vindication.
"Have a good chat?" Brass asks as he and Ecklie sit back down at the table.
Matthews glares at him. "Lovely, thank you."
"Interview resumed at eight twenty-three. So, where were we… oh, right. CSI Ecklie was presenting the evidence we found relating to the double murder earlier this year of Debbie Marlin and Michael Clark." He stops talking while Ecklie places the photos on the table once more. "But let's pause that for a moment. You asked what kind of deal we could offer, right?"
Matthews frowns but straightens a little. "Yes?"
"Well, I had another talk with the DA, and if your client pleads guilty to all charges – both in the kidnapping case and in the double murder case – we'll take the death penalty off the table."
Lurie looks up at that, a flash of life in his eyes. "I'll do it."
"Be quiet," Matthews tells him, still focusing on Brass. "I need to talk to my client about this, and look closer at the evidence."
"No," Brass replies immediately. "You've had access to the documentation since your client was taken into custody this morning, it's not our fault you didn't bother looking at it. This offer is on the table now, if you don't take it, we will be going after the death penalty. And let me tell you – while he might not have gotten it only for the double murder, he messed with someone from law enforcement. There's not a judge in the state that won't let that sway their ruling."
Matthews looks hesitant, but Lurie turns to him and grabs him by the arm. "Accept it," he says without hesitation.
"We still have an avenue to explore," the lawyer insists, but Lurie shakes his head.
"You said yourself it was a long shot. I want to take the deal."
Matthews opens his mouth, but then sighs. "Fine. Draw up the paperwork."
Brass smirks, satisfied. "Pleasure doing business with you, gentlemen."
-CSI-
Grissom releases a long breath, letting his fingers trail up and down Sara's arm.
They went back to his place after the interrogation and have spent the last hour and a half on the couch, not talking much, simply enjoying each other's company.
Now, though, the clock is ticking towards the start of shift.
"Did your talk with Cavallo go OK, by the way?" she asks, twisting around a little to look up at him. "I forgot to ask with all the commotion with the interrogation."
"I forgot all about it too," he admits. "But it went well. As long as we're discreet, which I assured him won't be a problem, there won't be any consequences."
"But… there is a policy against it, isn't there?" She sounds confused.
"Technically, there is, but I don't think it's ever been enforced," he explains. "I think it's more… discouragement, but as long as you're up front about it, they usually don't cause any problems. Catherine will take over your evaluations, but I asked him to hold off on letting her know about that for a little while."
"Why?"
Grissom hesitates, unsure if she'll be upset. "I just thought we might want to keep things between us for a little while. Not because I don't want people to know, I just…"
"Gil?" she interrupts him, voice amused, and the use of his first name makes a shiver run down his spine. "Relax. I wasn't thinking that you want to keep things under wraps. We just started out. It probably is better to… get a feel for things before we go public."
He lets out the breath he was holding. "Good, we're on the same page."
"I was thinking, though…" Sara continues a moment later.
"Yeah?"
"Everyone's working tonight, right? How about we pick up some food for the whole gang on the way into the lab. Celebrate a little?"
"You want to celebrate?"
"Yeah." She shrugs. "Lurie's off the streets. He's signed the plea deal – he won't get out again alive. I think that's worth celebrating. And if you and I celebrate something else too… well, nobody has to know, right?"
He smiles, leaning in to kiss her quickly. "I like the way you think."
So they leave a little early and pick up dinner for everyone from Frank's on the way. By the time Nick, Warrick, and Catherine enter the break room a few minutes before the start of shift, the table's set for a veritable feast and Sara's gone to the DNA lab to get Greg as well.
"What's all this?" Catherine asks, gesturing at the table.
"Well, Lurie signed a plea deal a few hours ago," Grissom starts.
"So we're celebrating," Sara finishes the sentence, returning with Greg in tow.
"You agreed to a plea deal?" Warrick asks with a frown. "I hope they're not too easy on him."
"Life without parole," she reports smugly.
Everyone's eyes widen at that. "And Lurie agreed to that?" Nick questions. "Where did he get his lawyer, 1-800-LAW-HACK?"
"Same lawyer he had last time," Grissom says. "He objected, but Lurie was insistent. He wanted to avoid the death penalty."
"Death penalty?" Catherine repeats. "I mean, the guy's a monster, but he still wouldn't get the needle for kidnapping and sexual assault. Sorry, Sara."
"No worries," Sara assures her. "And he wouldn't have, but, well, double murder is another matter."
If the reveal of the plea deal made everyone's eyes widen, this one makes their jaws drop.
"They found something on the murders at that house?" Nick asks, the first to connect the dots.
"They did," Grissom confirms. "The bracelet Lurie gave Debbie and took back that night, the knife used in the murders, and photos from the crime scene."
The room is silent as everyone digests the information.
"And here I thought the good doctor was smart," Warrick then says with a snort. "Why would he keep that stuff?"
"He was sure we'd never find his hiding spot," Nick reasons with a shrug.
"Well, I'm glad we did," Sara says, "because it means I don't have to testify, and I can really start on putting this whole… thing behind me."
"Hence a small celebration." Grissom indicates the table. "So… dig in."
And they do, relishing the half hour spent with friends before what will more than likely be a long shift. Grissom finds his gaze straying to Sara every few minutes, smiling when he finds her laughing with Greg or arguing about something with Nick. And when she meets his eyes, the smile softens into an expression he knows will give the game away sooner than they perhaps were thinking.
But he can't bring himself to care. Lurie's in prison where he belongs, Sara's on the way to recovering from the horrific ordeal he put her through. Grissom is still planning on getting her to see a therapist, but they can talk about that later.
They're together, finally, and that's everything.
AN: Well, here we are – the last chapter. I do have an epilogue which I'll post on Friday, as usual, but we have reached the end…