Disclaimer: I don't own Grissom, worse luck, Catherine or any of the gang. I just play in their sandbox. Dedication: Thanks to AbyKitten for being patient and betaing and vividlyblue1 for giving me back my muse!
Chapter 3
Catherine surprised even herself at how quick she got there. She'd even beaten Brass yet he was a good five minutes closer to the scene. Stopping the car she grabbed her kit and rushed out.
"Catherine, I..." Warrick began looking as guilty as he felt.
"Not now, Warrick," she stalled him, "leave the recriminations and apologies till later, we don't have time for them just now."
He nodded and walked over to the taped off area with her. 'She's right,' he thought, 'get the job done first.'
"What have we got?" Catherine asked snapping on her flashlight, "are the two crimes related?" She bit her lip annoyed at herself, but she had to consider Grissom's abduction as just another crime or her emotional upset could make her make mistakes and that was the last thing she wanted.
"I don't think so," Warrick told her pointing at the dead body ignoring the arrival of another car, "she wasn't killed here, not enough blood. Two very different cars were also here." He moved to one set of tyre tracks, "Someone drove here, opened the door and pushed the body out."
Catherine agreed with him the tracks stopped right at the body and there were no footprints in evidence, "You deal with the DB," Catherine told Warrick, "I'll deal with the other."
"Catherine, aren't you too close to take this one?" Warrick queried, frightened of any repercussions.
"We're all to close dammit," she countered, "but I'm damn sure I'm not handing this off to Ecklie and his crew," she admonished.
"Yeah," Warrick countered, "but you're..."
Catherine cut him off, "In love with the guy yeah," she snapped, "and if we'd made it through till breakfast we might even have been dating." He could see the tears in her eyes but he knew Catherine wouldn't allow herself to break, not yet.
"Okay," he conceded, "but you yell loud and clear if you need help." She nodded her acquiescence.
She studied the line of footprints coming from Grissom's Tahoe and around the perimeter, he'd apparently been doing his walk through when for some reason he had stopped, fallen and then been dragged away. 'But why didn't he struggle?' Catherine wondered there were no signs of that. The second set of footprints was clear where he had landed and led to a second set of tyre tracks.
Something caught Catherine's attention as she shone her flashlight over the scene, she moved in for a closer look and found a small bronze dart. Reaching into her kit she took out her magnifying glass and checked the tip, there was a miniscule amount of blood on it. "So that's how they got you so easily," she muttered to herself. "It must have been another man," she mused, "a woman wouldn't have been able to lift Gil on her own." She stood up bagging the dart. They'd find out what drug was used back at the lab. 'Damn, Gil,' she thought, 'where are you?' \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
It was warm, too warm. Even though he had been careful to ration what water was in the bottles, it hadn't been enough and now it was all finished. The heat was starting to get to Grissom, he was incredibly thirsty, his head pounded, his eyes were sore and he couldn't focus properly. Swallowing was becoming a problem as were breathing and concentrating. He'd given up trying to move around or even stand, laying down on the concrete floor trying to get some relief. It was cooler down there but it didn't help much.
He was vaguely aware of the door opening and someone walking in. They stopped near him and he tried to ask a question but only a croak came out and it started him coughing. The man who had entered paid him no attention whatsoever, he quietly set about assembling a collapsible table and resting a curious contraption on it.
The man then turned to face Grissom and only then seemed to notice the distress he was in. He had a large bag hanging from one shoulder and reached into it producing a bottle of water. He helped Grissom into a sitting position and assisted him in taking a drink. He was careful to make sure that his prisoner didn't guzzle the water and make himself sick, he wanted the man healthy after all.
"Easy," he warned Grissom, "the water isn't going anywhere."
Grissom frowned and looked at the man but he didn't stop drinking taking slow, deliberate sips. There was something about the man's inflection and nuance that puzzled him. "Are you deaf?" he asked annunciating the words carefully and looking the stranger straight in the eye.
The man looked at him puzzled at first, he hadn't caught what Grissom had said. Risking the bottle being taking away from him, he let go for a moment and signed * Are you deaf? *
The man appeared startled, placing the bottle on the floor he signed * you understand this? * Grissom nodded and retrieved the bottle from where it sat, trying not to gulp at the liquid. It wasn't very cold but at least it was wet.
*Do you think your team will be back at the lab yet? * He asked.
Looking up and trying to see out of the window to gage the time by the sun Grissom nodded * they should be, why? *
The man started to stand and Grissom grabbed his arm. * Why me? * He asked then thought to himself 'God that sounds so pathetic.'
The man shrugged and released himself easily from Grissom weakened grasp. * You were the first criminalists I could grab without any fuss. *
Grissom sighed and sagged back onto the floor. He felt really stupid. He had set himself up for this and had no one to blame but himself. He should have known Catherine would eventually be proved right; she usually was when she was so adamant. She had always warned him he'd get himself into some serious trouble leaping in before he looked.
*I need you to make a call. * The man instructed him. He brought the chair over to the table by Grissom's side and then dragged his prisoner up into it, in his weakened state there was little Grissom could do but comply.
