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 5
The next thing Grissom knew it was dark and he was cold. Shivering he reached for the two blankets that he knew lay near by hoping to warm himself in them. Looking up at the sky through the small window he saw it was nearing dawn. That worried him; it hadn't been much past noon when he'd passed out.
As he took hold of the blankets his arm brushed against something, a thermos. There were two sitting side by side. One was a food thermos the other obviously held liquid. Well, at least his captor didn't want him to starve. Of course the man needed him in reasonably good condition if he was to get what he wanted. Wrapping one blanket around his shoulders and draping the other over his legs he opened the food thermos and found a fair amount of what looked like stew. A fork lay beside the thermos so he used that to eat. He was starving and had no idea when the last time was he had eaten. When he finished he opened the second thermos hoping it would be coffee but it wasn't, it was soup. He drank that down as well.
Grissom tried to sit up, a shooting pain ran up his leg into his groin bringing him up short. He raised his head and thought he might faint again, he was so light headed, it wasn't a good sign. He knew the man had left him a flashlight and that sank his hopes a little for, his captor obviously wasn't worried about anyone seeing strange lights coming from the building. It advanced Grissom's theory that he was out in the middle of nowhere.
Using the flashlight and lifting the edge of the blanket that covered his left leg, Grissom looked at the dressing and cursed. The bandage had been dry when he passed out it was now covered in blood. That wasn't good, he could bleed to death before anyone was any the wiser. Gritting his teeth he managed to raise his leg and lean it against the wall, it was the only way he could think to stem the blood flow as there was nothing else to hand he could use.
As his foot hit the wall he cried out in pain, losing consciousness once again. His last hope was that his captor returned before it was too late. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Warrick, Sara and Nick were crowding around the computer looking at the McCardle case when they heard voices rising in the corridor. Warrick immediately recognised Catherine's and wondered what was going on.
He looked questioningly at the other two, but it was clear from their reactions that it was up to him to brave the wrath of Willows and find out what was going on.
"I don't care what you think, Ecklie" Catherine all but screamed as Warrick stepped out and into the middle of an argument between his friend and the day shift supervisor. "We're re-opening this case and nothing you say will convince me to turn it back over to you."
Conrad Ecklie was furious. This wasn't the first time Graveshift had re-opened one of his cases and he was getting a little sick of it. It didn't help matters that each time they had done so they had found something he had overlooked in his rush to please the Sheriff and satisfy political means. Bad enough that Grissom seemed to take no pleasure in doing so but now his subordinates were at it. "And I'm telling you that it's a dayshift case and you have no right or authority!" he exclaimed.
Before Catherine could do any more damage Warrick chimed in, "Have you any idea of what's going on right now, Ecklie?" he asked amazement written all over his face, "We're taking this one because Grissom's life is in danger and his abductor told us to take it. If you have a problem with that just stick it where the sun don't shine!"
Catherine stared at Warrick, she had thought the younger man had came out to calm her down, and maybe he had, but Ecklie had just got on his wrong side.
"Grissom? Abducted?" Ecklie clearly didn't have a clue.
"That's right!" Catherine snapped, "How do you think the rest of the people in this building would react if they knew you were trying to interfere with our rescuing him?" she asked, "You of all people know how well respected and liked he is here. God, the very fact has always eaten away at you. So just stay the hell out of my way." With that she turned her back on him and ushering Warrick in through the door first, she joined the rest of the team in the break room.
Taking a deep breath to calm herself before she began, Catherine glanced at the computer screen and then asked, "Right, what have we got?"
Nick shook his head, disbelief clear in the gesture. "I don't know how Ecklie got away with this one, or how they managed to get a death sentence conviction. The evidence is so very patchy."
Catherine frowned. "What do you mean?"
She looked at Nick but it was Sara who answered, anger shining in her eyes. "There was a lot of circumstantial evidence but the DNA evidence only pointed to family not the person within the family. According to the report the sample was corrupted in some manner."
"Corrupted? How?" Catherine snapped, trust Ecklie to try and cut corners but why had the DA let him away with it?
"I don't know," Sara told her, "but there is still a viable sample on file and I want Greg to test it."
"Wasn't it Greg who did it originally?" Warrick sounded surprised, he was just used to it being Greg who did their trace evidence for them, the guy could be a genius at times.
"No it was one of the new lads. I'm not too sure he knew his way around the equipment as well as he should have when he first started." Sara informed him doubt clearly written in her voice.
Warrick could just guess who it was if Sara had doubts. It had to be Samuels. He had been transferred after a run in with Grissom over a contaminated sample that hadn't been contaminated when Grissom had collected it. Much as the older man may grumble at what he called Greg's antics Warrick knew Grissom respected Greg Saunders and knew that the young man knew his job and did it to perfection, all games and joking a side. Not only that, you didn't piss off one of the supervisors and get away with it, especially not Gil Grissom and not when it came to a case.
"Fine," Catherine stated, "take it to Greg and get him to work his magic." She turned to Warrick, "Did he get anything off the dart?"
Warrick shook his head. "Too much blood and not enough residue." He saw the older woman shudder and knew exactly what she was thinking. How much blood did Grissom have to lose before it became a problem? They had no way of knowing just how healthy he was right now suffering from a bullet wound.
Brass stuck his head in the door, "You got that suspect list for me?" he asked looking at Nick. He'd asked the young Texan to scare it up for him as quickly as he could. Jim Brass hated sitting in his office twiddling his thumbs when they were on a case, especially when that case concerned the life of a friend.
"Yeah," Nick answered holding out a piece of paper to the detective, "there are four names, the first one is the guy on death row. The next believe it or not is his brother. The other two have changed address since the incident and might be more difficult to contact. I think they're out of state now."
Brass merely nodded his head. "We'll track them down somehow, and I'll do the interviews myself. I'm leaving nothing to chance on this," he replied stating the obvious. They knew he cared about Gil Grissom as much as they did.
