Affliction

Chapter 12.

9am
Grissom opened his eyes to meet his wife’s. Perched on her left elbow, she smiled.

After their unplanned emotion in the shower Sara had managed to get him to lie down and sleep. Well, he pretty much collapsed onto the bed so it wasn’t as difficult as she was expecting it to be.

“Hi.” Sara said softly reaching over to softly stroke his cheek.

“Hi, how long have you been watching me?”

“Ever since you fell asleep.”

“How long have I been asleep?” Grissom frowned.

Sara took his hand and softly kissed his fingers, one by one. She reached his stump and kissed that too. “A little while.”

“What time is it?”

Sara looked at the bedside clock. “Almost nine.”

Grissom sat up quickly and jumped from the bed, shocked he’d slept so long.

“Hey, where’s the fire?”

“I have to go through those files.” He grabbed his pants and began dressing.

Sara stood and walked to him as he fastened his belt. Her hands quickly covered his.

She looked into his eyes.

“The files can wait, just a little longer. First we have breakfast.”

Grissom frowned and opened his mouth to object but as Sara grinned he stopped.

“Okay?”

Grissom smiled a little. “Okay.”

Sara continued to search his eyes. “Are you alright?”

Grissom sighed. “Yeah, I’m alright.”

“Sure?”

Grissom nodded.

“Okay.”

Sara leaned forward and kissed him softly. “I’ll get dressed.”

As Sara walked to the closet Grissom’s cell phone rang. They looked at each other and Grissom rushed to pick up his phone from the dresser.

“It’s Catherine.” He said flipping it open. Sara rushed to his side.

“Catherine?”

“Hi Gil.”

“How’s Claire?”

“She’s still in I.C.U but holding on. Sorry it’s taken so long for me to call you but she was asleep when I got here so I had to wait.”

“So…did she manage to tell you anything?”
Sara gripped onto Grissom’s hand, a prayer running over and over in her head.

“Sorry Gil, no.”

Grissom closed his eyes and sighed. Sara felt her chin quiver; she knew the answer to Grissom’s question without asking.

Catherine continued. “She didn’t hear or see anything. She remembers putting Michael to bed around 8.30pm. She watched a little television and recalls going to make a drink just after ten. That’s it.”

“So we still have nothing?”

“Not yet. Greg and Warrick are looking into Joshua’s background, family,
previous addresses. So far we can’t find any evidence of him even existing after he left the marines. Its like, he just disappeared.

“Great.” Grissom mumbled. “We’re looking for a ghost.”

“It looks that way but why, I don’t know. Yet.”

“Do you know if Nick got the results from the bullet comparison?”

“He mentioned it but said he had to check into something first. I’ll be leaving to head back to the lab in a minute. I’ll find out and let you know.”

Grissom sighed again. “Alright, call me when you know.”

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Catherine arrived back at the lab and found Nick in the processing room. He looked up to see her approaching.

“Cath, take a look at this.”

Catherine looked at three bullet comparisons Nick had in front of him.

“What is it?”

“Well, when I ran the bullet we got from Claire to compare it to the one taken from the scene of Kate’s escape, I got another hit.”

“What?”

“We have three bullets all fired from the same gun.”

Catherine looked confused. “Three?”

“Yeah, look. The one from the prison bus, the one from Claire and this one.”

Nick picked up the photo comparison. IBIS pulled this up. This bullet was taken from the body of John Chapman. Remember him? He was a journalist looking into corruption in the LVPD about six months ago.”

Catherine thought for a minute. “Oh yes, I remember. He was gunned down. Single shot to the head. We never did get the guy.”

Nick shook his head. “No we didn’t, then, but maybe we have now.”

Catherine’s mouth dropped open. “You think Joshua Stevens is a hit man?”

“Well, it would certainly explain why we can’t find any record of him after the marines. Hit men live like ghosts and he certainly has the skills to qualify for the job. Maybe someone kept in touch with him after he was dismissed and gave him a little, shall we say, direction.”

Catherine looked shocked. “I can’t believe this, how am I supposed to tell Gil and Sara? Not only do we have the possibility of Kate being involved but a guy who lives to kill. This is going to destroy them.”

Nick bit his lip a little. “I’ll probably hate myself for saying this but, you don’t have to tell them.”

“But…”

“Here me out Cath. Why do they need to know this? Just tell them we confirmed the same gun was used in the escape and the shooting. That’s all they need to know right? They need clarification that Kate is involved. What good will come if they know about Joshua? I just think they have enough to worry about. I’ll take responsibility but I think it’s for the best that we keep this to ourselves, at least for now or at least until we have something more to go on.”

Catherine contemplated her options. “Alright, we keep it between the team for now. I’ll let them know about the other comparison.”

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Grissom and Sara ate breakfast and headed back to his study anxious to look through the files. As they sat at his desk his cell rang again.
They exchanged glances before he answered it.

“Hi Catherine, you got the results?”

“Yes, we have them.”

Sara looked on, fiddling nervously with one of the files.

“And?”

“And the gun used to shoot Claire was the same gun used in Kate’s escape. It’s a SAM-R. A Squad Advanced Marksman Rifle. He would have be trained to use the same weapon while in the marines and by the looks of it he got hold of one after he was dismissed. We will probably never find out where he got it form. Stay with what you know I guess.”

“So Kate is involved isn’t she?”

Catherine sighed. “Looks that way.”

“Do you have anything else?”

“No, we are still looking into Joshua’s background.”

“Alright, we are going to look through the files now, if I find anything I think will help I’ll let you know.”

“Yeah, me too. Talk to you later.”

“Bye Catherine.”


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Grissom and Sara spent most of the day looking through the files while the team did there best to find something on the whereabouts of Kate and Joshua.

Alas the files didn’t give them any useful information, just a background on the fiend that had kidnapped their son and in all honesty Sara wished she hadn’t read the files. Now she knew that this man was more than capable of hurting her son and would probably not blink an eye whilst doing so.

Grissom had begun scouring the internet for information on Joshua’s dismissal while Sara reluctantly continued to read. She began to feel very, very uncomfortable, nervously tapping at the desk, tapping her foot, fingering her hair. She couldn’t read anymore and dropped the file roughly on the desk, sighing loudly and angrily. She wanted to scream.

Grissom looked over, slowly taking off his glasses as her distress was more than evident. He bit his lip and stood.

“I think we should take a break honey, yes?”

Sara nodded, looking at her feet.

“Hey come here.” Grissom pulled her into his arms and held her tightly.

“You don’t have to do this alright? I can go through this lot by myself.”

Sara pulled back to look into his eyes. “I’ll be alright, just need a break.”

“Are you sure?”

Sara nodded.

“Okay.”

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8PM

Sara made coffee as Grissom peered through the window, watching the two police officers in their patrol car. He sighed heavily, they were no closer to finding their son and it tore at his heart.

The phone rang, but the house phone and not his cell. Grissom quickly looked at Sara who hurried nervously from the kitchen. Grissom approached the phone on the coffee table, took a deep breath and picked up the receiver.

“Hello….” There was a slight pause but then a heavy sigh from Grissom. “Catherine…” He was hoping for someone else.

“What? Oh, bad reception on the cell? “Grissom looked at Sara who folded her arms disappointingly across her chest.

“What? Where?” Grissom continued.

Sara eyes clouded with uncertainty.

“I’ll be right there.” Grissom put the phone down quickly.

Sara stood back in shock. “What’s happening? Where are you going?”

“They’ve found a pickup matching the description of the one found outside the night Mike was taken.”

“I’m going with you.”

“No, you need to stay here where you’ll be safe.” Grissom pulled on his jacket.

“What? Sara snapped. “I won’t be kept a prisoner Gil, not in my own house, and how safe are you going to be?”

Grissom grabbed Sara and stopped her, taking her face in his hands.

“You need to stay here in case we get a phone call. ….” He nodded. “Okay?”

Sara thought for a second.

“If she calls and someone doesn’t answer, we might not get a second chance. Honey? You understand?” He looked deep into her eyes.

Sara fiddled with the buttons on his jacket, averting his gaze for a moment. “Okay, but, be safe alright? Please. If anything happens to you…”

“They are sending a patrol car for me, I’ll be fine. Honey look at me.”

Sara lifted her head to look him back in the eye.

“I will be fine, alright? If anything happens call me straight away, you got that?”

Sara nodded. “You too.”

“I will.” Grissom headed for the door.

“Gil?” Sara called.

Grissom turned.

“I love you.”

Grissom smiled. “I love you too.” He turned and left.