Title: Fear of the Unknown

Author: IrishDachsie

Pairing: Grissom/Sara

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I do not own Gil Grissom, Sara Sidle, Warrick Brown, Nick Stokes, Catherine Willows, Jim Brass, Greg Sanders, Doc Robbins, or anything else having to do with CSI. Dammit. All other characters ARE mine though. Oh...I’m also not making any profit from this story. Double Dammit.

2 3 4

Chapter One

Grissom held up the yellow crime scene tape and ducked under it, followed closely by Nick. They entered the seemingly innocent-looking duplex in silence and walked down the hall.

Making a left turn into the kitchen, Grissom was greeted by a small smile from Sara as she looked up from her camera. "Hey..."

"Hey...cause of death?"

"Gunshot to the face."

Nick came to a stop beside of Grissom and glanced at the body before looking around the kitchen doused in blood. "Well...this doesn't look nice..."

Grissom gave him a cursory glance. "Death seldom does, Nick. Process the kitchen." Turning, he made his way further down the hall towards the living room.

His eyes focused on the wall and he studied his surroundings. "Sara!"

She quickly made her way to the living room and stood beside him, her mouth hanging open slightly. "Dear God..."

The room was covered in blood, on the far wall the word "Freak" had been scrawled in what appeared to be blood as well. "Has the vic been id'd?"

"Yeah...Peter Marsden, age 24...he lived here with his sister, Susanne."

"Well...I'm thinking someone didn't care too much for Peter."

"You think?"

They both turned around to see Brass standing behind them. "The 'freak's' sister is outside...she just got off work, and is demanding to see little brother."

"Sara..."

"Pictures...got it..."

He smiled at her, still amazed that she always knew what he was going to say. "I'm going to talk with Ms. Marsden..."

As Grissom and Brass made their way back down the hall, Nick called out to him. "Hey Griss? Can you take a look at this?"

Grissom carefully stepped into the kitchen and walked to the counter where Nick was staring at a shot glass. "What do you have, Nick?"

He gingerly picked up the glass and held it under the light. "Looks a little thick to be wine, doesn't it?"

Grissom eyed the liquid carefully before smelling it. "Blood. Animal or human?"

"Getting ready to find out."

"Let me know. I'm going out to talk to the sister."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grissom cautiously approached the young woman, obviously in distress over her brother. He watched her for a brief moment as she paced back and forth on the lawn. "Ms. Marsden?"

She spun around quickly and stepped towards him. "Tell me Peter's okay!"

"Ms. Marsden, my name is Gil Grissom. I'm with the Las Vegas Crime Lab."

"I'm sorry Mr. Gri..whoever...I'm not really concerned with who you are. I just need to know that my brother is going to be okay."

Taking a deep breath, and gently taking her arm, he led her to the brick wall surrounding the duplex. "Ms. Marsden, I'm sorry. But...I can't tell you that your brother is okay."

She leaned heavily against the wall and stared at him, her eyes filling with emotion. "What...what happened?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out."

"How?"

"Excuse me?"

"How did he...die?"

"Ma'am..."

"Tell me...was it...did he...suffer?"

Grissom sighed heavily. How am I supposed to answer this? I have no idea if he was tortured before or... "I don't believe so, Ms. Marsden."

He waited a few moments to allow Susanne to regain some composure before continuing. If anything, his time that he had been spending with Sara had taught him more about being openly compassionate. And...at this moment, he was grateful for that.

"Ms. Marsden, did Peter have any enemies that you know of?"

She wiped the tears from her face and sighed heavily. "He mentioned that some people were giving him some problems, but he thought it would just blow over..."

"Did he mention any names, or describe their appearances?"

She shook her head slowly. "He said it wasn't important...that...it would just go away in time..."

Nick walked up and whispered something into Grissom's ear. Grissom looked back at Susanne. "Would you excuse me for one moment?"

Nodding her head, she allowed her tears to flow once more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What is it, Nick?"

"Tested the blood..."

"And?"

"Human...and...it's not the vic's. He’s A positive, this is O."

"Blood...in a shot glass, and it's not Peter Marsden's?"

Nick nodded his head. "Freaky, huh?"

Grissom narrowed his eyes at the younger man before walking back towards Susanne. Curious as to where this was going, Nick followed.

"Ms. Marsden?"

She looked up from the ground, her eyes swollen and red from her tears. "Yes?"

"Was Peter involved in any Satanic rituals or anything of that sort?"

She shook her head violently. "No. God, no. Why?"

Nick picked this opportunity to speak up. "Ms. Marsden, my name is Nick Stokes. And, we found a shot glass about half full of blood. And it wasn't Peter's blood."

"No...it was my blood..."

Grissom tilted his head slightly and studied the young woman in front of him. "Why was your blood in a shot glass on the kitchen counter?"

"I'm his donor."

"Donor?" The confusion could almost be heard in Nick's voice.

Susanne nodded slowly. "Yes. Peter is a vampire."

Grissom continued to study her, watching her body movements, listening to the tone of her voice. He kept his silence as Nick continued to speak.

"A vampire? Ms. Marsden...we didn't find any bite marks or anything resembling vampirism on Peter's body."

Susanne glared at Nick for a moment before opening her mouth to speak. "Well, Mr. Stokes...you either read too much or watch far too many movies. And, judging by the smugness in your tone, I'm guessing the latter."

She hesitated only a second before continuing. "Vampires do not go around sucking the life from people. They're not afraid of crucifixes. They are not repelled by garlic. They can see their reflections. They can be in the sunlight. They do not sleep in coffins. They are just like you and me and everyone else, except for the fact that they need to feed on blood once in a while in order to keep their energy levels intact. Peter was a good person. He held down a job. He loved his family. He was a loyal friend. But, a few of the people who knew about his vampirism thought of him as a..." She halted. Unable to get the words out any longer.

Grissom took a deep breath and looked at her. "A freak?"

Her eyes shot to him and locked with his. "Yes..." Her voice was barely above a whisper.

Grissom nodded and gestured for Brass to stay with her. Slowly, he walked back towards the house...with Nick right on his heels.

"Griss...tell me you don't honestly believe this..."

"I'll believe what the evidence will tell us, Nick. Test the blood in the glass against the sister's. We'll start there."

"Grissom...vampires? Come on. That's nothing but a myth. Something for Hollywood to make money off of..."

Grissom stopped walking and glared at him. "Kind of like scuba divers in trees, Nick?"

"Hey, that's different...that's plausible..."

"And, this could be too. Process the evidence, Nick."

Nick watched Grissom walk into the house and shook his head. "God, I feel like I just stepped into the X-Files..."

Headlights pulling into the driveway caught his attention, and he smiled as Warrick and Catherine walked towards him. "Hey...Mulder, Scully...Skinner's inside. I think he's looking for you..."

Catherine turned to Warrick with a puzzled look on her face. "What the hell?"

He shrugged his shoulders and chuckled. "Sounds like he turned in Animal Planet for the Sci-Fi channel to me...let's go see what we've got..."

Chapter Two

Grissom walked up behind Sara and placed his hand on her shoulder. She turned her head and gave him a smile. “I need to get the film to the lab...”

He nodded and looked back at the wall. The word screaming at him silently. He let his hand slowly fall from her shoulder and come to a rest beside hers, brushing against it slightly. “Why don’t you bring the pictures with you when you come over for breakfast and we’ll go over them after we eat...”

Her smile widened slightly. “Sounds good, Griss.”

He gave her a small wink and turned his eyes back towards the wall. Taking a few steps forward, he stopped and looked down. He knelt down and pulled his tweezers out, plucking a small white fragment from the carpet.

“Find something?”

He looked up to see Warrick looking down at him. “Yeah...could be...a piece of...tooth, maybe...” Bringing himself back to an upright position he glanced around the room. “What do you have, Warrick?”

“Vic’s blood. All over the place.”

His eyes were drawn back to the crudely written word on the wall. “What about that?”

“Yeah...written in the vic’s blood. Catherine lifted some prints, Nick found a few boot impressions in the blood.”

Sara stood quietly beside of Grissom, her eyes studying a picture on the mantle. “Freak...”

Her one-word utterance brought both sets of eyes to rest on her. Grissom spoke gently. “What?”

“Someone considered him a freak, right?”

Warrick nodded in agreement. Grissom stood still, patiently awaiting Sara’s theory.

“But...in these pictures...there’s nothing freakish about him. Mainly, a 24 year old male would be considered a freak if he had multiple visible piercings, tattoos, odd hair color...something that would make him LOOK like a freak...Peter Marsden looked like an average clean-cut 24 year old Pre-Med student or something.”

Grissom spoke calmly. “Maybe what made him a so-called freak wasn’t about outward appearances.”

Warrick glanced at Sara. Seeing that she wasn’t going to say anything, he began to speak. “Well, there’s nothing to indicate that he had a physical handicap, or that he was mentally unstable. He didn’t have a criminal record...”

A smile slowly formed on Sara’s face as she watched Grissom’s eyes. “What aren’t you telling us?”

“Nick found a glass of blood in the kitchen. The sister says it’s her blood.” He paused momentarily. He looked into Sara’s eyes before glancing at Warrick and then continuing. “She says that she was Peter’s donor.”

“Donor?” Sara’s eyes widened slightly.

Grissom nodded. “She claims that Peter was a vampire and she donated her blood to him to keep his energy levels up.”

Warrick took a deep breath and exhaled. “Well, that’s definitely on the freakish scale...”

Sara shook her head. “So...Peter’s a vampire, Susanne’s his donor...and some unknown person shoots him in the face...why?”

Grissom tilted his head slightly and looked at her. “Fear.”

Warrick looked back at the wall. “Fear of the Freak?”

Grissom turned towards the young man and shook his head. “Fear of the unknown.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

He walked quickly down the hall to the interrogation room. Sara had gone to drop off the film, Warrick and Catherine were working on the prints and fragments, and Nick was tucked away in the lab with Greg analyzing blood samples. It was obvious that Susanne didn’t care for Nick, and Grissom figured it would be best to talk to her alone...well, with Brass. He didn’t really blame Susanne. He didn’t care for Nick’s tone himself. I’ll have to have a word with him about that later. But...first things first.

He calmly walked into the room and sat across from Susanne, who was engaged in conversation with Brass. She looked from the Detective to Grissom and tried to force a small smile, failing miserably. “What can I do to help, Mr. Grissom?”

He leaned forward in his chair, placing his arms on the table and clasping his hands together. “Tell me about your brother.”

A faint smile graced her lips for a brief moment. “What do you want to know?”

“Everything you can tell me.”

She nodded and reached for the box of tissues that Brass had placed on the table beside of her. “Okay, I’m assuming you want to know about Peter post-vampirism.”

“Yes...and...how did he become a vampire?”

She smiled gently at him, her dark eyes shining with tears. “Peter was born a vampire. He was Latent until two years ago.”

“Latent?” Grissom’s question was not condescending. He was merely trying to understand.

“Yes...kind of like...hibernation, almost. He didn’t even know he was a vampire. Not until he started going through his Awakening.”

She didn’t even wait for Grissom to ask, she could see by the look in his eyes that he wasn’t familiar with the term. “Awakening is the process of change. When the vampire’s nature begins to emerge.”

He nodded slowly. “How does that happen?”

“It starts with unexplainable nightmares. Ones that he couldn’t remember. He would wake up terrified, but not knowing why. Then his energy began to drop. I took him to every doctor in town. None of them could find anything physically wrong with him. They sent him to psychiatrists. They couldn’t find anything emotionally wrong with him. He was confused, I was confused. And then it happened.”

“What happened?”

“Blood lust. He began to crave it. Like a smoker craves nicotine.”

“How did you determine that it was due to vampirism?”

“We met Lucas. Lucas Franklin. He became one of our closest friends. He helped Peter through the rest of his Awakening. He helped me understand what was happening to Peter.”

“And...where is Mr. Franklin now?”

The tears welled up in her eyes once again and spilled out onto her cheeks. “He...he was killed in a car accident three weeks ago.”

“Ms. Marsden...how many people knew of Peter’s condition?”

She shook her head slowly. “In all honesty, I’m not sure. Lucas told him to be careful who he talked to about it. People don’t understand. People only know of Bram Stoker’s Dracula or Anne Rice’s LeStat. They know fiction. They don’t want to know the truth. But, Peter was a very trusting person...too trusting at times. He said he wouldn’t hide who he was.”

As she broke down in tears, Grissom poured her a glass of water and stood. Walking around the table, he set the glass in front of her and sat down on the edge of the table. “Ms. Marsden...we will find out what happened. And we will find out who did this to your brother.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

He was busy setting the table when the doorbell rang. With a smile on his face, he quickly walked to the door and opened it. “Hi...”

“Hi, yourself...”

He closed the door behind her and pulled her into his arms. “Are you hungry?”

Her fingers ran through the soft curls at the nape of his neck. “Actually, yes I am...”

He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips, which she deepened quickly. He returned her passion for a few moments before slowly pulling back. “Sara...”

“Hmm?”

He smiled down at her, his blue eyes shining brightly. “Come on, breakfast is going to get cold...”

Chapter Three

“So, what did Susanne say?” She leaned against the counter and watched him as he carefully put the freshly washed breakfast dishes away.

Closing the cabinet door, he turned around and folded his arms across his chest. “Well...she explained Peter’s vampirism...and the fact that he had gone against the advice of his...mentor, for a lack of a better word...”

She cocked an eyebrow at him and silently urged him to continue.

“Lucas Franklin advised him to keep his...condition...quiet. For safety reasons.” He slowly walked past her and took hold of her hand, leading her into the living room.

“And...he didn’t...”

He shook his head slowly. “Now, he’s dead.”

He sat down on the brown leather sofa and pulled her down beside of him before reaching for the file that she had brought along with her. Pulling the photographs out, he carefully spread them across the coffee table in front of them.

“So, have you talked to this Lucas?”

With another shake of his head, he lifted a photograph to better examine it. “Killed in a car accident three weeks ago.”

She was silent for a moment as she looked over the pictures. “How many people had he told?”

“No idea. She said that Peter didn’t want to hide who he was.”

“Hate crime of a different genre...”

He turned to look at her, a silent question in his eyes.

“Well, I’ve handled cases dealing with racial prejudice, violence against homosexuals, hate based on religious backgrounds...but...this...Grissom, this is definitely...different...”

“I believe her.” His eyes never left hers, searching them for acceptance of his statement.

She nodded in agreement and pulled out another folder from her bag and handed it to him. “So do I.”

He opened the folder and smiled as he looked through the numerous articles. “Someone’s been researching...”

“Have to know what we’re dealing with...right?”

“Okay...theory?” He looked at her, his blue eyes sparkling in the light.

“He knew the person well. It wasn’t merely an acquaintance.”

He grinned and looked back at the pictures. “Nothing was moved, nothing was taken. Respect for the residents, perhaps...respect for Susanne?”

She nodded and continued with her thoughts. “I don’t think it was pre-meditated. In all likelihood, the person had just found out...and...snapped.”

“Neither Peter nor Susanne had a gun in the house.”

“Used his own gun...gang banger, drug dealer...carried it for his own protection...”

He picked up a picture of Peter and studied it carefully. “The Marsdens don’t strike me as the type of people to consort with gang bangers or drug dealers...”

She nodded in agreement. “By all accounts, he was a good kid.” She thought for a moment and turned to look at him. “Where did he work?”

He pulled out the file and read quickly. “B’More Security, 1928 Western Avenue...he worked in the office.”

“That would explain why HE didn’t have a gun...but, the guards there do...”

He looked at her and nodded. “Are you tired?”

She shook her head and smiled.

“Want to go find out who he talked to at work?”

She leaned over and pressed a kiss to his lips and reached across him, grabbing the keys to his Tahoe from the end table. “I’ll drive...”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a brief detour to pick up Brass, they were quickly on their way.

“God, don’t you CSI’s ever sleep?”

Grissom glanced at Sara before turning to look in the back seat. “Did you when you were one of us?”

“Actually...yes, I did...”

Pulling into the parking lot and shutting off the engine, Sara looked at Brass. “Well, I don’t...and...we’re here. Let’s go.”

“Demanding, isn’t she?”

Grissom grinned as he climbed out of the Tahoe. “Yeah, she can be...”

Brass shook his head as he followed Grissom closely. “And, that’s possibly more than I need to know...”

The three walked into the building and Brass walked up to the window, flashing his credentials. “Captain Jim Brass, Las Vegas PD...I need to speak with the person in charge around here, please...”

The receptionist looked up at him and nodded quickly, giving Grissom and Sara a quick glance. “Yes, sir...”

As the woman behind the glass picked up the phone, Brass turned to Grissom with a smile on his face. “You know...sometimes, I just feel so powerful...”

Sara rolled her eyes and leaned against the wall. Grissom gave him a small smile. “Amazing what a badge can do...”

Brass chuckled and then turned his attention back to the blonde who was hanging up the phone. “Mr. Thiery will be right out, sir.”

“Thank you.”

A moment later, the door opened and a tall dark-haired man walked into the lobby. “Captain Brass?”

Brass extended his hand towards the gentleman. “That would be me...”

“I’m Mike Thiery, can I help you?”

“Well, I hope so.” Gesturing to the two standing behind him, he continued. “This is Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle from Criminalistics. They’re investigating the homicide of one of your employees.”

“Peter...” The man’s face dropped. “Come in my office, please...”

They followed Mr. Thiery through the halls, Grissom and Sara taking in everyone’s reaction to their presence. One certain individual seemed particularly nervous. Grissom glanced at Sara to see if she had noticed it as well. She returned his glance quickly, giving him his answer. Of course, she did...did you think she wouldn’t?

As they entered his office, Mr. Thiery closed the door behind them. “Please...have a seat.” Waiting until all three individuals had been seated, he sat down behind his desk. “How can I help you?”

Grissom watched the man closely as Sara began to question him. “Mr. Thiery, had Peter been experiencing any problems lately at work?”

He shook his head slowly. “No...no, Peter was an exemplary employee. Extremely punctual, effective in his work...personally, I wish I had more employees like him. He was a very eager young man. Always wanting to help others. Everyone liked him...”

Grissom narrowed his eyes slightly and then relaxed. “Not everyone, Mr. Thiery. Someone murdered him.”

Thiery looked at Grissom cautiously as Sara asked him another question. “When was the last time you saw him?”

“About 5:30 last night. He was getting ready to leave and had stopped in the parking lot to talk to Ben.”

“Ben?”

“Yes. Ben Garrett. He’s one of the guards here.”

Grissom looked at Brass quickly. Knowing full well what Grissom was thinking, Brass directed his attention towards the man behind the desk. “Mr. Thiery, we’re going to need to speak with Mr. Garrett.”

The man nodded. “Of course.” He pulled up the work schedule on his computer and scanned it quickly. “He’s currently on the grounds. I’ll have him paged.”

Chapter Four

Mike Thiery picked up the phone and punched the numbers into the keypad. Waiting a few seconds, he entered what Grissom assumed to be Thiery’s extension number and replaced the receiver back in its cradle. The man looked at Grissom and stated the obvious. “He’ll call back in a minute.”

Grissom merely nodded and glanced at Sara. She could feel his eyes on her, knowing that he was wanting her to continue to question the man behind the desk. She tilted her head slightly, much to Brass’ amusement. She gets more like Grissom every day. He hid his smile.

“Mr. Thiery, how long has Ben Garrett worked for you?”

“Three years...he started not long after Peter.” He looked at Sara for a moment and took a deep breath. “You don’t think Ben had something to do with this, do you?”

Grissom’s voice answered him. “That’s what we’re trying to figure out, Mr. Thiery.”

The ring of the phone took Thiery’s eyes from Grissom as he reached for the receiver. “Mike Thiery.”

He was quiet for a few seconds, listening to the voice on the other end. “Ben...yeah...I was wondering if you could come by my office for a few minutes, please.”

After a few more brief seconds, his mouth opened again. “Okay...thanks...”

Hanging up the phone, he looked at Grissom. “He’ll be right here.”

“Thank you, Mr. Thiery.”

Shifting his eyes towards Brass, Mike asked quietly, “Should I...leave...when he gets here?”

“Well, we would prefer to speak with him alone. If you don’t mind.”

Mike shook his head slowly. “No...no, of course not.”

A soft knock on the door brought Thiery from his chair and as he walked around his desk, he exhaled heavily. Opening the door, he quickly ushered the young man inside.

“Hey Mike...what’s going on?” He looked cautiously around the office at the three individuals seated quietly.

“Ben...this is Captain Brass from the police department. He wants to talk to you about Peter.”

Ben’s face paled slightly as he nodded slowly. “Okay...”

Mike placed his hand gently on Ben’s shoulder. “I’m going to step outside...if you need anything, just let me know...”

Grissom and Sara exchanged a quick glance and then both looked at Brass. Jim gave them a barely noticeable shrug and waited for Mike to close the door behind him.

Ben looked around nervously as he dug his hands into his pockets. “So...what do you want to know?”

Brass stood and gestured to the chair. “Have a seat...we just want to talk.”

Ben slowly made his way to the chair and sat down, looking at Grissom and Sara carefully sitting a couple of feet from him. Brass sat down on the edge of Mr. Thiery’s desk and crossed his arms.

“Ben...this is Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle from the Crime Lab...they’re investigating Peter’s homicide.”

Ben glanced at the two criminalists and then looked back at Brass. “Okay...”

Brass studied the young man carefully before continuing. He was obviously nervous. It doesn’t automatically make him guilty though. “Ben, we know that you were the last person to talk to Peter here yesterday.”

He nodded. “Yeah. I saw him in the parking lot as he was leaving work. He asked me to come by the house after my shift.”

Grissom raised an eyebrow.

Brass uncrossed his arms and rested his palms on the desk on either side of him. “What time was your shift over?”

“Eight. But, then I had to pick my brother up from work at nine. And...then we went to Peter and Susanne’s house.”

Grissom cleared his throat softly. “What time did you leave the Marsden residence?”

Ben licked his dry lips. Looking directly into Grissom’s eyes, he answered. “I left around midnight.”

Picking up on his emphasis on the pronoun, Sara spoke. “What time did your brother leave?”

He shook his head slowly and swallowed. “I’m...not really sure what time Carl left.”

Grissom watched the boy carefully. “You and...Carl...arrived together?”

“Yes.”

“But...you left him there?”

“Yeah...I had to go pick someone up. And...he said that he would ask Susanne for a ride home when she got there.”

Sara clicked her pen closed and looked at Ben. “Susanne?”

A brief smile appeared on Ben’s lips. “Yeah. Carl really likes Susanne. He was going to ask her out last night when she came home.”

Grissom leaned forward in his chair slightly. “Ben...did you know about Peter’s vampirism?”

Ben nodded immediately. “Sure, why?”

“And, you didn’t have a problem with it?”

“He doesn’t have a problem with me being gay...why would I have a problem with him being a vampire?” He watched the older man’s face for some type of response. Seeing none, he sighed. “That’s who I went to pick up last night. Jason. My boyfriend. Jason Stewart.”

Grissom merely nodded. “We will have to confirm that...”

“Yeah...I know. It’s just...” Ben’s voice trailed off into silence as he looked over towards Sara.

Her posture mimicked Grissom’s as she leaned forward slightly. “Just?”

Ben shook his head slowly. “It’s just...Carl...he doesn’t know.”

She raised an eyebrow slightly as he continued. “He’s going to find out...isn’t he?”

She nodded slowly. “Chances are...yes. Is that a problem?”

Ben inhaled deeply and shrugged his shoulders softly. “It might be. He has a...temper on him sometimes. Especially when it comes to...homosexuality.”

Grissom watched the boy carefully before focusing his eyes on the left side of his belt. “Ben? Is that gun standard issue for security guards?”

Ben’s hand automatically went to his holster. “No...this is mine. I left the gun I normally carry here at Peter’s house last night.” He glanced around at the three investigators nervously. “I always take it out.”

Brass crossed his arms against his chest and looked at Ben. “Do you always leave it there?”

“No...I was...I was running late to pick Jason up and forgot it.”

Grissom’s mind automatically went back over the crime scene. A gun had not been found. “Ben, where did you leave it?”

“On the mantle. Beside of the picture of Peter and Susanne with their parents. That’s where I always put it.”

Grissom looked at Sara, then to Brass. Brass gave him a single shake of his head. He turned back to Ben and was quiet for a moment.

“Ben, we didn’t find your gun at the scene last night.”

He watched as the confusion clouded Ben’s eyes for a moment and then the realization began to set in. His eyes closed and he took a sharp intake of air. “Oh God...”

“Ben?” Sara’s voice was soft and comforting. Ben opened his eyes slowly and looked at her. “Do you know where Carl is right now?”

Ben glanced at the clock on the wall and nodded. “Yeah...he’s at work. Southwestern Steel...on Blazing Saddle Avenue.”

Brass wrote down the information quickly and pulled his cellphone out of his pocket before walking out of the office. Grissom watched Ben closely. He felt bad for the boy. It didn’t look very good for his brother.

Grissom licked his dry lips and spoke quietly. “Thank you for your help, Ben.”

Ben nodded slowly. “Yeah...”

Ben stood and began to walk towards the door. Turning around, he looked at the two criminalists. “Mr. Grissom?”

“Yes?”

“Carl...overall...he’s a good kid. He just...has some issues...”

Grissom watched him as he slowly turned, opened the door, and walked out of the room.

“Poor kid...”

Grissom turned to Sara and nodded. “Yeah...first he loses his best friend. And now...”

“It’s looking like he may lose a brother.”

Brass stuck his head in the door with a small smile on his face. “You guys coming? Carl Garrett is at work...”

Sara stood quickly, fishing the keys out of her pocket. “Blazing Saddle Avenue?”

Brass’ smile widened as he nodded. “Yeah...makes you wonder who names the streets in this town, doesn’t it?”

Section Two

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