Here comes chapter
thirty-eight.
Chapter 38
Meanwhile the tow truck finally arrived to Hanna's
immense relief.
However as they soon found out when they evacuated the
tow truck she had a very interesting way of showing
her gratitude.
'Where the hell have you been?' she yelled as she
leaped out of the car and came rushing towards them as
they had just gotten out.
The men, Laurel and Stanley, looked at the furious
woman who stood in front of them. The confusion over
her behaviour was shown on their features.
However Hanna didn't bother she just kept yelling.
'You work for me. You got that? I am your boss right
know and as such you will obey me so obey!'
'Lady, I don't know what your problem is,' one of the
men started.
He was pretty tall and thin with sharp features that
look as if though they had been chiselled onto his
face.
'My problem? Oh I'm gonna tell you what my problem is
Mr.,' Hanna started but stopped as she realized that
she didn't know his name.
'Stan Robinson,' he said helpfully.
'Mr. Stan Robinson. You are my problem. I work hard
and I pay taxes so when I am so extremely unfortunate
that I get four flat tires I think it's not
unreasonable that I expect you to be here on time,'
Hanna shouted.
'Ok, Miss,' Laurel started.
'Mrs. Mrs. Hanna Scott,' Hanna interrupted.
'Mrs. Scott. Were you given an estimated time of
arrival?' he calmly asked.
'No,' Hanna said slightly embarrassed.
'But,' she started but was interrupting by Laurel.
'Well then why do you see any reason to be angry?' he
asked in the same calm even voice.
The voice had really started to bother her. It didn't
seem to matter how angry she sounded or how bad she
treated him he still didn't raise his voice.
This was slowly beginning to freak her out. Her
husband usually used passive aggression but not even
he was as good as Laurel.
She carefully studied the man. He was just as his
companion taller than her but in comparison to Stan he
was short. He wasn't exactly obese but in comparison
to Stan he was.
However, Hanna reasoned. Twiggy would be obese in
comparison to Stan.
His eyes were of a medium size and sparkling with
enthusiasm. This clashed with his voice and made her
even more confused.
She wasn't sure what happened after that but somehow
she had ended up in the tow truck together with
Richard and their two boys.
Stan and Laurel had "hooked" the car on the hook and
after checking that it really was hooked and wouldn't
fall off when they returned into motion they climbed
into the car and soon they were on their way.
Hanna could feel how the fatigue of the day mixed
without he warmth in the car lulled her to sleep.
Beside her Richard, and their two sons were sitting.
Richard was silently looking out the window and Hanna
had seen how, just before she had drifted off to
sleep, he had had tears running down his cheeks. At
the sight of them she had once again been jealous of
Carol.
Steve was sitting beside his father, as far away from
his mother as possible. He had Theo in his arms and he
listened with contentment as Theo's breath became deep
and even.
He honestly hadn't thought that his little brother
would be able to sleep after first having lost his
beloved big sister and then being told by his mother
that said sister was now in hell.
However the fatigue after all the crying seemed to
have finally caught up with him.
Steve looked over at his mother and saw that she too
had booked a trip to the land of dreams.
He contemplated on whether or not his father was
sleeping. He didn't think so.
He then looked over at his father and realized that
his assumption about him had been true. He was
wide-awake with a haunting look on his face. A face
that seemed to have aged ten years, and had developed
lines and wrinkles that made it look even more weather
worn.
Steve noticed that his father's eves that had once
been a light blue had become dark like ebony.
He decided to not dwell upon it no matter how worried
it made him. He had to stay strong for Theo's sake.
When they had been young, Carol had taken care of them
both. At times acting more like their mother than
Hanna.
This had made Hanna's grudge against the girl grow
even bigger. However if she would have been honest
with everybody including herself her anger hadn't been
directed at Carol. It had been directed towards
herself because of her dysfunctional maternal
instincts. She had then made herself believe it was
Carol's fault.
After all her poor mothering skills wouldn't have been
noticed if Carol hadn't had better ones.
Steve had never been able to understand this kind of
reasoning from his mother.
Carol had been a child there was not fairness in
blaming her for the flaws of their mother.
Right now it didn't matter any longer since he
couldn't change it even if he had wanted to.
Steve looked down at his little brother. Then as he
looked out the window and saw the slowly disappearing
building of C.S.I. Headquarters he mad a vow that no
matter what happened he would take care of Theo and
protect him, the best as he could, from his mother's
exclamations.
'Don't worry, Theo. Everything is gonna be fine,'
Steve said as C.S.I. Headquarters got out of sight.
He kept repeating this mantra as the ride continued.
He couldn't help but wondering how much was said to
convince Theo and how much that was used to convince
himself.
Meanwhile Ecklie, Warrick, Nick, Sara and Greg had
begun listening to the microcassette again. While
Lindsay more and more impatiently listened to music.
She wasn't able to hear the grownup's conversation nor
could she hear what they were listening. This last
piece of information piqued her curiosity.
Why was it that they listened to something that she
wasn't allowed to hear? They could've waited until
later, couldn't they?
She looked at the adults and through attempted
lip-reading she tried to make out what they were
saying.
However, to her great disappointment, all her attempts
failed.
'Catherine, please talk to me,' Diane continued
probing on the microcassette.
So far Catherine hadn't relented and all the occupants
in the room, excluding Lindsay, knew that she probably
wouldn't either.
Nick looked down in the file and then shut off the
microcassette.
'Listen to this,' he said.
Ecklie, Warrick, Sara and Greg gave him their
undivided attention.
After this incident I found Catherine in my office
sitting in the chair behind my desk holding a bouquet
of beautiful long stemmed crimson roses. She had
finally realized how far Brown's obsession for her
went and she was scared of what he might do. But she
wasn't scared for her own sake. She was afraid of what
Brown might do to me.
I still, after all that has happened, have a heard
time understanding how she could be worried about what
Brown would do to me when it was her that he wanted to
possess. However it might have to do with not only
Brown's obsession with Catherine but also his
obsession over our, myself and Catherine's,
relationship. He appears to have seen more in our
friendship, which is and have never been more that
just friendship. Nor will it ever be.
'Wow! He sounds kind of bitter about that last part,'
Greg exclaimed.
'Wouldn't you be if you thought that you would never
get to be together with the woman you love?' Warrick
stated.
Greg nodded silently and then refrained from speaking.
'Should I keep reading?' Nick suddenly asked.
The others nodded in the affirmative.
Shortly after that incident he callled her again. He
still used the same loving phrases as before. However
this time she called me right after his call and
relayed exactly what he had told her. She also told me
not to tell Eddie, her husband. She claimed she didn't
want to worry him. However for some reason I felt and
still feel reluctant to believe that. I don't know why
though.
Some time later he came to work to talk to her. I
found him in the lobby with a big bouquet of long
stemmed burgundy roses and a heart shaped box of
luxurious chocolate. I have never seen rage build so
quickly in a man as it did when he spotted me. One
minute he was in amazement and awe from just being
here. The next he was glaring at me with such hatred
that I felt like if his eyes were shooting spears
through my heart. However despite this we still said
hello to each other and he asked me about Catherine's
whereabouts. Just as he asked she came walking down
the corridor towards me with a bright smile lightening
her beautiful features.
Nick suddenly stopped.
'Does it really say that?' Warrick asked.
'Yes. But somebody has tried to cover it with a black
marker,' Nick responded.
'Grissom got kind of emotional. I tried to make it
less obvious what his real feelings for Catherine
were,' Ecklie explained.
'Why?' Sara asked.
'We might not always get along but he's a damn good
C.S.I. I saw no reason to why he should get fired for
almost loosing someone he loves,' Ecklie clarified.
'So you tried to blank out all the things in the
report that showed Grissom's emotions for Catherine,'
Nick stated.
'Yes. I didn't edit the whole thing just the most
obvious things. I guess I didn't too good a job
though,' Ecklie responded.
'It's okay but I'm gonna read it like he wrote it,'
Nick stated.
Ecklie nodded solemnly and Nick continued reading.
Brown saw her smiling at me and the spears that
pierced my heart became even sharper as his anger and
jealousy grew. However Catherine hadn't noticed him
and as she came walking towards me, the whole time
wearing that beautiful smile on her face, she got a
shock as she saw who standing there with me.
Thankfully enough she quickly regained her composure
and managed to give Brown a smile that nicely
interpreted could be seen as polite. She then walked
closer to me so that I, if I wanted to, could bury my
head in her silky red-blonde tresses.
Nick stopped once again and looked at the others.
The only one who was able to keep his composure was
Ecklie, which wasn't that weird since he had already
read the file when he edited it.
'There is another reason as well,' Ecklie suddenly
admitted.
'What?' Warrick, Nick, Sara and Greg asked in unison.
'He tried to write it like Brown would have,' Ecklie
stated.
'What do you men "like Brown would have"?' Sara asked
puzzlement evident in her voice.
'He thought that by thinking like Brown he would be
able to figure out what Brown could have done to
Catherine,' Ecklie explained.
'It really bothered him then, I mean not knowing,'
Sara stated.
'Yes,' Ecklie said.
Everyone was quiet, contemplating what they had just
heard.
'I'll continue now,' Nick said after a while and began
reading.
However I, despite having a craving to do so,
refrained from this and instead divided my attention
between Brown and the woman who have captured both our
hearts.
'I can't believe he's so honest,' Nick exclaimed.
'They don't know. The only ones who know are me and
Grissom, not even Brass knows,' Ecklie responded.
'You kept them from knowing this?' Warrick asked.
'Yes. This is a perfect example of why Grissom
shouldn't have worked the case. He was too close to
her. Still is and that is why he's not working the
case this time,' Ecklie explained.
The others nodded not being able to find words that
would justify what they were thinking about what they
had recently found out.
Nick started to read again and he could feel how they
all kept their attention on him and he could swear
that he couldn't even hear them breathing.
I could see how Brown felt the struggle of my
emotional turmoil. All I could do then was to hope
that Catherine didn't notice it. I knew that I
wouldn't be able to hide my emotions from Brown but I
didn't want to ruin mine and Catherine's friendship,
which is what would undoubtedly happen if she found
out about my feelings for her. I can't loose her and
Brown knows that, so does Eddie even though he would
probably never admit it. If friendship is all I get
then that is what I will accept.
Nick stopped reading as they all heard a loud sound
that they all recognized as a gunshot.
Lindsay was the first to react.
She might have been wearing headphones thus obscuring
the sound of their conversation but they couldn't keep
out the sound of the gun going off.
Ecklie, Warrick, Nick, Sara and Greg didn't react at
first but when they saw Lindsay taking off they
quickly got their thoughts together and starting
pursuing the little girl down the corridors.
Chapter 39
Due to the fact that they had been sitting still for
so long and had actually managed to relax, their
bodies didn't react that well to the sudden strain
that was now put upon them. Therefore Lindsay was able
to get quite a distance between her and her pursuers.
'Can.you.see.her?' Ecklie asked the others, almost out
of breath.
When no one answered Greg quickened his pace intent
upon not loosing the little girl again. It was enough
to have lost her once. To loose her twice was
something he didn't even want to think about much less
experience. Especially not when someone had fired a
gun and Lindsay was running towards the shooter. For
some reason he couldn't shake the feeling that Grissom
and Catherine were somehow involved in the gunshot
taking place.
He felt how, as he ran, his body protested. He hadn't
eaten that much and he hadn't drunken too much either.
He could almost feel how his cells tried to find
something to fuel their movement. But he knew it was
only his imagination playing tricks.
Prior to this moment he had never been able to
understand why people in horror movies ran so slow and
ineffective. However now he was experiencing it
himself. He could feel how the panic began to devour
him thus making it even harder to run.
His next mistake was to look behind him because as he
did he lost the precious view he had and thus he
tripped and fell. He quickly got up and ran despite
the pain that he felt surging through his body,
emitted from his ankle. Fortunately enough the
flashlight hadn't been damaged by his fall and his
heart almost skipped a beat as the beam revealed a
flash of blonde hair in front of him.
'Lindsay! Wait!' he yelled hoping that he girl would
stop.
He ran slower and slower all the time yelling. He
watched as the blonde hair stopped moving and come
closer and closer. As it finally reached him he saw
who it was. It was.
Meanwhile the others had finally forced their bodies
into a fast pace. They were starting to get warm and
they were all grateful for the effect this had on
their muscles.
Warrick and Nick took the lead with Ecklie and Sara
following closely on their tail.
'Do you see them?' Sara asked.
Their body's adaptation to motion had made it easier
to talk.
'No!' Nick and Warrick yelled while they kept running.
They might not have become as panicked as Greg did
when they had lost Lindsay the first time but they
hadn't exactly enjoyed it either. They had all been
filled with a great feeling of discomfort. Now when a
gunshot had been heard throughout the building and
Lindsay was running towards it this feeling of
discomfort had increased. Their only hope lay in that
Greg had already caught up with her.
'Let's quicken the pace!' Sara yelled and they all
obeyed her almost immediately.
Meanwhile Brass had once again exited the room
containing Paul and Samantha Miles to reclaim his
calm.
It was hard to not loose it in there. At first he had
tried to concentrate on something other than
Samantha's singing. When that had failed he had been
relieved when he realized that he could still keep his
composure. This had then made him relax and that had
initiated the events that lead up to his current
predicament.
He had somehow begun to watch the picture Samantha
clutched against her chest. This had then sparked
memories of Ellie from when she was a little girl. He
knew that they had never had a good relationship but
he still cared about her and he had, despite what she
thought, looked at the pictures from her childhood and
regretted not being there.
He hadn't been able to divert his eyes from the
picture and the more he looked the more he remembered
and regretted. Finally he had been overwhelmed by the
emotions that the memories produced and afraid of
loosing it in front of Paul and Samantha he had
quickly excused himself and exited the room.
He turned around as he heard the door opening and saw
that it was Al.
'Hi,' Al said as he closed the door and joined Brass
outside the door.
Brass and Al started to move further away from the
door. Neither of them wanted to be discussing what
they had experienced inside the room near the room
itself.
'Needed some air. What about you?' Brass asked as they
had moved a considerable distance from the door.
'Same here. How long do you think the power failure
will last?' Al asked.
Brass was just about to answer when the sound of a
gunshot cut their conversation short.
Al couldn't see him but he could hear as Brass began
to run toward the sound of the gunshot.
He thought about following him but realized that the
state of his leg wouldn't exactly make it easy for him
to get there. Especially not if he had planned on
getting there fast. He hoped that Brass would get
there soon and with a last deep breath starting to
walk back to the room again.
With every step that he managed his irritation of
being so useless, at least in this current situation
grew. Normally he didn't think too much of his
handicap. It really wasn't that much of a handicap to
begin, with at least not when he was doing an autopsy.
He finally reached the room, opened the door and
entered.
It had been quiet outside the room if you didn't count
the gunshot. Now he was once again assaulted by
Samantha's singing.
Meanwhile Catherine looked on in horror due the scene
that displayed itself in front of her.
Grissom was lying on the floor with blood seeping from
his wound. Brown stood over him ready to fire the
second fatal shot.
Grissom could feel how his body became even heavier
and how the pain began to cost him his consciousness.
He tried to focus on something anything that would
keep him in the land of the conscious just long enough
to get Catherine out of there.
Catherine, he thought. Where was she?
He began to search the room for her. It was hard since
he wasn't able to focus his eyes on anything in
particular. But finally he saw her.
She was sitting in the sofa with a look of pain over
her beautiful features. He was able to catch her eyes
with his and saw that the concern in them was for him.
He hated to be the one to put her through that pain.
But right now he couldn't see any way of taking it
away. He was helpless and he hated it. Brown had him
at his mercy and he knew then and there that he would
die.
His last thoughts were of Catherine, Lindsay, Warrick,
Nick, Sara and Greg. They were his family and even
though they would never know that he loved them all.
He focused his eyes on Catherine and mouthed "I love
you". He wasn't sure if she saw it or not.
He then did something that he hadn't done since he was
a little boy. He prayed.
'Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu
in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui,
Jesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis
peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae.
Amen.'
With those words he waited for Brown to pull the
trigger and made himself ready for the fatal blow.
Then he directed his gaze towards Brown and watched
the smug grin on his executioner's face.
However as Grissom watched Brown the grin on the man's
face disappeared and was soon replaced by something
that could only be described as agony.
He heard how Brown cried out in pain as the bullet
made contact with his flesh.
Brown began to loose his footing and directed his gaze
towards where the bullet had come from. He saw
Catherine with a gun in her hand and understood that
she had shot him.
The second bullet hit his shoulder and he jerked back
as he felt how she emptied her gun each time hitting
him in a different spot.
The last bullet hit him in the chest and he could
almost feel how his heart exploded as the bullet made
contact. He didn't have time to think. Instead he fell
to the ground dead.
Catherine ran over to Grissom and saw to her relief
that he was still breathing. She gently placed his
head in her lap and began to tear off the arms of her
shirt so she could use them to stop the bleeding.
'Don't you dare die on me Gil,' she threatened as she
put pressure to the wound.
Meanwhile Greg had been able to identify the blonde.
To his relief it proved out to be Lindsay and he saw
how she wore a look of concern over his current state
of being.
'Greg? Are you okay?' she gently asked.
Greg didn't answer instead he quickly enveloped her in
a hug. Lindsay was somewhat surprised at this but
graciously accepted the hug.
'We need to go now,' she said as he let her go.
Greg nodded and took hold of Lindsay's hand to keep
her from escaping again and then they continued to
move towards the break room.
When they finally arrived they came just in time for
the second gunshot.
They could hear a man cry out in pain. Then how
gunshot after gunshot was fired.
When the shooting had stopped everything became quiet
and it felt as if though the building itself was
holding its breath.
Greg could feel how Lindsay was trying to get out of
his grip and he understood that she intended to enter
the room to she how her mother and Grissom were doing.
Despite his best efforts Lindsay somehow managed to
wriggle out of his grip and he watched helplessly as
the little blonde ran into the room.
He started to go in there himself when he heard
Lindsay scream.
Meanwhile the others were still running when they hear
the scream of a little girl.
'Lindsay!' they all yelled in unison and started to
run as fast as they can.
Greg quickly entered the room and finds what had
Lindsay screaming.
Brown's flashlight is illuminating the scene.
Displaying Grissom on the floor in a pool of blood.
Catherine is beside him, with his head on her lap and
on the floor is Brown motionless.
Greg looked at Catherine's hand and saw the gun there.
He quickly came to the conclusion that Brown shot
Grissom and Catherine shot Brown.
Lindsay ran towards Catherine and Grissom a look of
panic on her features.
'Mom?' she exclaimed as she reached her mother.
Catherine didn't answer at first but when Lindsay
asked again she gently smiled at her girl.
Lindsay wasn't fooled by this. She could plainly see
the fear and pain that was plaguing her mother.
Suddenly the others came rushing in through the door.
What they saw made them stop in their tracks.
'Warrick call 911,' Nick exclaimed as he and Sara ran
towards Grissom and Catherine.
'We need to stop the bleeding,' he said to Sara.
'I already tried,' Catherine said.
They could all hear the defeat and pain in her voice
and they felt how they too were drawn into her
despair.
Catherine lowered her face towards Grissom and said.
'Gil, we have known each other for a long time and if
you think that I will let you go this easily you have
another thing coming,' she said.
'They'll be here soon,' said Warrick as he ended the
call.
'I don't know if soon is soon enough for Grissom,'
Sara said sadly.
Meanwhile Brass was running down the corridors.
He had a bad feeling that the gunshot had come from
the break room. He hoped that it didn't have anything
to do with Catherine and Grissom but he knew how
futile that though was.
He had never thought that the corridors were as long
as they appeared now. The more he ran the longer they
appeared as if they were endless and he was caught in
a maze.
He didn't realize that he had come to his destination
until he saw the flicker of flashlights inside the
break room.
'Did I miss the party?' he asked as he entered gun
raised.
He lowered his gun and became quiet at the sight that
met him.
Grissom was still on the floor and Catherine still had
his head in her lap.
Nick and Sara were applying pressure to a wound that
had been afflicted on him and Lindsay was sitting
beside her mother, gently stroking Grissom's forehead.
Brass could see the tears on the faces of mother and
daughter and as he flashed his light around the room
he saw Warrick and Greg watching the scene.
'We called an ambulance. I don't know when they'll be
here,' Warrick said.
'Let's hope they'll be here in time,' Brass said as he
joined the men by the wall.
They all knew that they couldn't do anything more than
what Nick and Sara were already doing and they thought
that it was probably better to stay out of their way.
No one in the room gave even a thought about Brown.
They all concentrated on Grissom.
However had they looked into Brown's dying eyes they
would have seen the souls of the victims he had
possessed.
Jenny, Carol and Brenda could all be seen in his eyes
and as he died they were seen leaving him and finally
getting peace.
They all waited for the ambulance and they all prayed
for it to come as soon as possible.
They had all expected something bad to happen but they
had thought that Catherine would be the victim not
Grissom. It didn't matter though. Grissom or Catherine
Brown had still gotten one of their own and for that
he had been forced to pay. With his own death.
TBC.