Title: Strike Three
Author: IrishDachsie
Pairing: Grissom/Sara
Rating: R
A/N: I do not own CSI or any of the characters with the exception of
Chip, Adam, Jen, and
The midnight blue Tahoe pulled up to the scene.
Slowing to a stop a few feet away, Grissom sighed. Another damn suicide…
He climbed out, took a deep breath, and walked
over towards Brass. “Hey…”
“Hey Grissom…long night?”
“Huh?”
“You just look…tired.” Upon closer inspection,
he smiled at the Entomologist.
“What?”
“Maybe you should ask Sara to change shades.”
Grissom stared at Brass, completely confused.
“Red really isn’t your color,
Gil…” He motioned towards Grissom’s neck.
“Oh…yeah…” He wiped his hand across his neck,
effectively smearing the lipstick across his skin even more.
Brass laughed and shook his head. “Oh, that
worked. Just put your damn collar up…”
“So...uh…what do we have here?”
“Nice segue, Grissom…suicide. No note. No I.D.
.357 in the mouth.”
“Damn…”
“Yeah…not very pretty. He had a nice vehicle
though. Plates came back to a…” He pulled out his black leather bound notepad
and flipped through it quickly. “Yeah…a Charles Eugene Kimball…”
“WHAT?!”
Brass looked up in surprise, only to see
Grissom briskly walking to the slate blue Ford Explorer parked by the cemetery.
Shoving the pad back into his shirt pocket, he quickly joined Grissom at the
driver’s side door.
“Dear God…”
“Gil?”
“Charles Eugene Kimball…are you sure?”
“That’s who the vehicle is registered to.
D.O.B 3/8/57…
Grissom’s hand trembled as he reached for the
door handle. “Did you touch anything?”
Brass sighed lightly. “No…you know we didn’t…”
“How do you know it was a .357?”
“It’s on the floorboard…”
Grissom merely nodded as he pulled the door
open. He stepped back quickly to avoid a stream of thick blood flowing from the
open door. Brass wrinkled his nose slightly.
“That smell is something I never did get used
to…”
Grissom said nothing, instead examining the
dead man’s right hand. As he unfolded Mr. Kimball’s fingers, the scar showed
prominently through the blood on the inside of his middle finger.
“Shit…”
For the first time, Grissom looked at the
man’s head. Or rather…where the head should have been. The lower jaw was all
that remained. The nausea hit quickly.
Muttering a string of obscenities, Grissom
stumbled backwards. Brass stared at the display, unsure of what to do. He had
never seen Grissom react this way at a scene.
“Gil?”
His eyes never leaving the front seat of the
Explorer, Grissom quietly asked one question. “Has his son been notified?”
“Son? Who…”
“Adam Kimball…Marina Del Rey.
Find him…” Finally pulling his gaze from the gruesome scene in front him, he
faced Brass. “Find him now.”
As Brass called over a young officer to take
down the information he had just been given, Grissom pulled out his cellphone. Quickly punching in the numbers, he exhaled
deeply. Two rings brought the tired voice that he desperately needed to hear.
“Sidle.”
His voice cracked slightly as he spoke.
“Sara…I…uh…”
“Griss? What’s
wrong?” Suddenly she was wide awake.
“I…can you meet me at Woodlawn? I need your
help…”
“Woodlawn? The cemetery?”
He sighed lightly. “Yeah...can you?”
“Sure…I can be there in…10 minutes.”
He nodded slowly. “Okay…there’s not much…to do
really…”
Her brow wrinkled with confusion. “Griss, what is it?”
“Uh…it’s an apparent suicide…pictures,
prints…you know, the…usual…”
She switched the phone to her other ear as she
pulled on her jeans. “Not that I mind you calling and asking me to come
in…but…why?”
“Because…I’m too close to this case…as soon as
they find out, I’m going to be pulled from it anyway…”
“Gil?”
“It’s Chip, Sara…”
“Oh God…I’m on my way…”
Before he had a chance to say anything else,
the line went dead. He numbly closed the phone and lifted his eyes to stare at
the Explorer again.
“Strike three, Chip…you’re out…”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brass quietly walked over to Grissom, who was
still staring at the vehicle.
“So…yeah. We’re still trying to figure out
what he was doing here…” He motioned to their surroundings.
“He was visiting…”
“From California? Who would he be visiting
here? A cemetery of all places…”
“Laurel Neese…”
Brass looked at Grissom for further
explanation. Receiving nothing more, he sighed heavily. “So, are you going to
tell me who Laurel Neese is and what makes you think
he was here visiting her? Or…are you just going to be your normal cryptic self
and let me figure it out on my own?”
“Laurel was his wife. I know he was here
visiting her because…he was my cousin.”
Brass’ mouth dropped open slightly. “What?”
“My father’s sister’s son…that makes him my
cousin.” He crossed his arms over his chest and turned back towards the
Explorer. “Have you found Adam yet?”
“No…but we’re looking…”
“Keep trying…he…”
His voice stopped in mid-sentence as the black
Yukon slid into the spot next to Grissom’s Tahoe. “There’s your girl…”
He cast a quick glance at Brass. “Not now,
Jim…we’ll talk later…”
Brass watched the investigator walk towards
the Yukon and shook his head in disbelief.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sara met him at the front of the vehicle.
Immediately seeing the pain in his eyes, it took everything in her not to wrap
her arms around him. Instead, she discreetly placed her hand on his chest and
rubbed gently.
“Are you okay?”
He swallowed the lump in his throat as he
tilted his head down, his eyes seeming to focus on the gravel beneath Sara’s
feet. “I...it’s Chip...”
Sara looked over Grissom’s shoulder to gaze at
the Explorer surrounded by officers. “Let me go take the pictures and get what
we need so they can remove the...um...so they can remove him, okay?”
He nodded weakly. “I doubt there’ll be
one...but...look for a...”
His voice trailed off as his emotions finally
took over. A single tear spilled over his eyelid and silently ran down his
cheek.
She gently brushed the tear from his skin,
caressing his face as she did. “Look for a note?”
He leaned into her touch and whispered softly.
“Yes...”
“Sit down, honey...I’ll be right back.” She watched
him slowly walk towards a park bench across from Chip’s vehicle. As he sat
down, she shook her head slowly and began to make her way to the Explorer.
Leaning slightly into the open driver’s door,
she gasped at the sight in front of her. “Oh dear God...”
With a heavy sigh and slightly trembling
hands, she lifted the camera from it’s case and began snapping photographs of
the scene. Hearing her name, she turned to her right to find Brass standing
quietly beside of the SUV.
“Hey...”
“Hi...pretty bad, isn’t it?”
She lowered the camera and cast a quick glance
to the body inside the cab. “One of the worst I’ve seen. There’s...really not
much left, is there?”
Brass looked over at the park bench to see Grissom
staring blankly ahead of him. Tipping his head in Grissom’s direction, his eyes
met Sara’s. “Is he okay?”
She looked over her shoulder towards the man
she loved. “No...I don’t believe he is. He and Chip were pretty close. Not much
age difference between them, they grew up together...” She shifted her watery
eyes back to Brass. “Have you called Chip’s son yet?”
He shook his head slowly. “Haven’t found a
number yet. Apparently, it’s unlisted and we’re having a bit of trouble
tracking it down from here...”
Her brow furrowed in confusion. “Griss has it...”
Brass stared at her in silence for a few
moments. “He...didn’t mention that. He just told us to find him and to find him
now.”
Sara glanced back at Grissom. “Shock...he
didn’t realize. It’s in his wallet. Adam called the other day and gave it to
him. He put it in his wallet so he wouldn’t lose it...”
Had it been any other situation, Brass
would’ve made some comment about her knowing such details. But...it wasn’t any
other situation. And, he knew that if it had been another situation, he
wouldn’t have just gotten an admission of sorts from Sara confirming her
relationship with the night shift supervisor. Instead, he nodded and made his
way over to Grissom.
He sat down beside of his friend on the bench
and followed Grissom’s gaze. He found that he was staring at the ground to the
left of the Explorer.
“Hey...”
Startled, Grissom jumped slightly and snapped
his eyes to Brass. “Oh...didn’t see you...”
“Can I ask you a few questions?”
Grissom gave a short chuckle. “Am I suspect?”
“You know better than that...there are just
some things I’m curious about.”
Grissom sighed heavily. “Go ahead...”
“What were you looking at?”
“Just now? I don’t know...”
“No...in the vehicle. You were looking at Kimball’s
hand.”
Grissom bit his lip as he hung his head down.
“A scar...Chip had a scar on his finger from an old baseball game...”
“Really?” Brass rested his back against the
back railing of the bench.
Grissom nodded slowly as he straightened
himself and took the same position that Brass had. “Yeah...we were 13...I was
almost 14. It was July of 70.”
Brass crossed his arms over his chest and
relaxed slightly, silently urging Grissom to continue.
Taking a deep breath, Grissom closed his eyes
as the memory took over.
“We were on opposite teams. He was in left
field...I came up to bat. Hit the hell out of that ball on the first pitch.” A
brief smile appeared as he remembered.
“Chip was always determined to get me out at
any cost. We were very...competitive.”
Listening to Grissom talk, Brass found himself
slightly amazed that Grissom even participated in organized sports as a
youngster. But then again...it was baseball. Grissom made no bones about how he
felt towards that sport.
“Anyway...I stood at the plate and watched the
ball in the air. I knew it would either be foul or a home run. I also knew that
Chip would try everything to make sure I was out either way.” He chuckled
lightly.
“Chip took off like a bat out of hell...as he
got to the fence, he leapt into the air to try to catch it. He got caught on
the fence and fell over to the other side. When he landed, he ended up with a
compound fracture in his middle finger.” He grinned as he turned to face Brass.
“And...I ended up being out...”
Brass offered him a small smile. “You two were
really close...”
“Yeah...he was more like the brother I never
had. When Adam started talking...I was always ‘Uncle Gil’. I don’t think he
realized that I wasn’t actually his uncle until he was about fifteen...”
Grissom’s smile faded. “Adam...how am I going
to tell him this?”
Brass leaned forward slightly. “That was
something else I wanted to ask you about...”
Grissom questioned him silently.
“Uh...Sara said that you have Adam’s number in
your wallet...”
Grissom looked confused for a moment as the
realization hit. He quickly pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and
flipped through it. His hand trembled lightly as he pulled the piece of paper
out.
“I completely forgot about that...”
“It’s perfectly understandable, Gil...shock
does odd things to people.” He reached towards the slip of paper. “You want me
to call him?”
Grissom thought for a moment and then shook
his head slowly. “No...I’ll do it...”
“Gil...are you sure?”
His eyes turned back towards the SUV. He felt
a cold shiver run through him as they pulled Chip’s body from the Explorer and
carefully laid him on the sheet on the ground.
“Yeah...yeah, I’m sure. I think Adam needs to
hear it from a family member...”
Brass nodded. “You’re probably right...I’ll go
back over here and see what I can do to help out...”
Grissom didn’t reply. Instead, he pulled out
his phone and flipped it open. Inhaling deeply, he carefully dialled the
number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Hello?”
Grissom took a deep breath. “Adam...”
“Gil! Hey, man...how are ya?”
“Um...I’m okay...you?” He knew he couldn’t
carry on small talk for very long. He closed his eyes, trapping the tears
inside.
“Good. Hey, have you talked to Dad today?”
“What?” He struggled to maintain control of
his emotions.
“He left this morning for Vegas.” His voice
softened a bit. “He said...he needed to see Mom. I had something to tell him. I
wanted him to be the first to know...but, I can’t reach his phone. Just get his
damn voicemail. And the excitement is killing me...I just HAVE to tell
someone.”
“Tell me...”
Adam laughed lightly into the phone. “Promise
not to tell Dad?”
Grissom’s jaw tightened. “Yeah...I promise...”
“Jen and I are getting married. I asked her
last night.”
He could practically see the young man’s
bright smile through the phone. “That’s wonderful, Adam. I’m very happy for
you.”
“Yeah...me too. So...what about you and Sara?”
“Huh?”
“Wanna make it a
double ceremony?”
Adam’s laughter brought a thin smile to
Grissom’s face. “Oh...I don’t know that we’re ready for marriage...”
“I know...I’m just pullin’
your chain a bit. That girl loves you though, man.”
“I know...I love her too...”
“So...you didn’t answer me. Have you seen Dad
yet?”
Grissom swallowed, he could taste the bile in
the back of his throat. “Adam...I need to talk to you...there’s
something...there’s something you have to know.”
“Gil...you okay? You sound...stressed.”
“I...no, no I’m not okay. Listen, Adam...there’s
really no good way to say this...”
Adam grabbed the back of the chair he was
standing behind. “Oh God...”
“Adam?”
“He...he did it, didn’t he? Dad...he...did
it...” His voice was barely above a whisper.
“Adam...I’m so sorry.” Grissom wanted to say
more, but the words just wouldn’t come.
“That fucking bastard...” His tears spilled
onto his cheeks as he cursed his father.
“Addie...there’s a
plane ticket for you at the airport. Bring Jen with you...there’ll be one there
for her as well.”
“How...how did he do it?”
“I really don’t think...”
Adam’s anger was building quickly. Before he
could stop himself, he snapped at the man he used to call ‘Uncle’. “Dammit Gil...just fucking tell me! What did he do?”
Grissom sighed as the tear rolled down his
face. “He...he shot himself...”
“Fuck...”
Grissom heard Adam start rummaging through
things. He heard the squeak of a hinge. He heard glass break as Adam slammed
something. “Addie? Addie,
you okay?”
“The .357 is gone...that’s what he used,
wasn’t it?”
Grissom hung his head. “Yeah...”
“Gil? How did you find out?”
“I...was called to a scene. I didn’t know...I
didn’t know he was even in town...”
“Shit...you’ve seen him?”
He tried to block the image of his cousin’s
dead body. It didn’t work. “Yes...and, no Addie...you
can’t see him...”
“I’m going to pack us a bag...we’ll be there
soon, I’ll call you from the airport.”
Grissom nodded. “Okay...be careful...”
“And Gil?”
“Yeah?”
“You haven’t called me ‘Addie’
in years...I’ve kind of missed that.”
Grissom wasn’t given a chance to respond as
Adam quickly hung up the phone.
He stood, sliding the cellphone
back into it’s clip and began walking towards the scene. He watched the
paramedics load the body onto a stretcher.
He felt his own anger start to well up inside
of him.
“Damn you, Chip...why couldn’t you just pick
up the damn phone?”
He wiped his face clean of the tears and made
his way back across the driveway, intent on seeing Sara. He needed her right
now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
She saw him approaching. Her heart ached for
him. She sighed as he stopped in front of her, his eyes red from his recent
emotional break.
“Hey...”
“Hi. Uh...thanks for coming in...”
“Gil...”
His eyes were drawn to the flatbed truck that
was backing up to the front of Chip’s Explorer. “So...pictures, prints...”
“Taken care of, honey.”
He looked back into her eyes and swallowed.
“Note?”
She shook her head slowly. “No...no note,
nothing...”
He gave her a quick nod and turned his head to
watch the men load the vehicle onto the back of the truck. She touched his arm
lightly as Brass walked back up to them.
“We’re heading out...there’s nothing more we
can do here.”
Grissom’s eyes remained trained on the
flatbed. Sara let her hand fall back to her side as she turned to look at Jim.
“As soon as Adam gets to Vegas, he and Grissom
will be down to claim the body...”
Brass nodded. “So, he was able to get in touch
with the son?”
Grissom’s head snapped around as he glared at
the Captain. “Why don’t you ask ME that, Jim? There’s no need to talk like I’m
not standing here. Sara doesn’t know a goddamn thing about whether or not I got
in touch with Adam.”
Soft fingers on the side of his neck ended his
tirade. “Gil...it’s okay. He didn’t mean...”
His eyes closed and he muttered softly.
“Sorry...long night...”
He pulled away from Sara’s touch and walked to
the small bank by the side of the road.
“Jim...he just...”
Brass offered her a reassuring smile. “I know
Sara. This is a personal thing for him. No harm done, no offense
taken.” He looked towards Grissom, watching the supervisor of night shift
slowly sit down on the grass. “Go take care of him. And...if either of you need
anything...”
Sara returned his smile and nodded. “We’ll
call you. Thanks Jim.”
As Brass walked away, he turned back around
quickly and called Sara’s name. Her movement towards Grissom halted as she
looked back at him.
“Yeah?”
“Congratulations...” He motioned towards the
man sitting on the grass. “I’m just sorry I had to learn about the two of you
this way...”
Sara gave him a brief but bright smile. “Thank
you...”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
She sat down beside of him and rubbed his back
gently. She noticed that his eyes were focused on a patch of grass soaked with
Chip’s blood. Her hand moved up, coming to a rest on the back of his neck. Her
fingers lightly stroked the curls at the base of his skull.
“You doing okay?”
“I...yeah...no...” He sighed heavily as he
pulled a blade of grass and held it up, examining the drying blood. “I don’t
know, Sara...”
“Do you...have any idea why?”
He shrugged his shoulders as he pulled a
bindle out of his pocket and slid the blade inside. “He had problems with
depression in the past. I don’t...I thought he was doing better. I talked to
him last week...he...he sounded fine.”
“Had he ever talked about suicide before?”
Grissom nodded as he fingered the small bindle,
his eyes still focused on the dark patch of grass. Suddenly, he let out a soft
gasp.
“Gil?”
“Call Robbins...ask him...to run some tests to
see if he had any...diseases of any sort...”
“What?”
For the first time since she had taken a seat
beside of him, he looked at her. “Chip...his father died of cancer...Laurel,
his wife...she died of cancer. He said one time that if he was ever
diagnosed...he wouldn’t put himself or his family through the pain that he
watched and felt...”
She ran her fingers through his hair as a tear
dropped from his eye. “Did you get hold of Adam?”
“Yes...he and his fiancee
are on their way...”
“Fiancee?”
“Yeah...he asked Jen to marry him last
night...” He slid his arm around her back and pulled her against him. “He couldn’t
wait to tell Chip...and now...well...”
They sat in silence, holding one another as
the tears flowed down his face.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
They had gone to the airport to pick up Adam
and Jen. Little was said on the way home. As they sat at the kitchen table,
each with a drink to calm their nerves, Grissom and Sara answered the questions
as best they could.
After a few hours, Adam and Jen retreated to the
guest room that Sara had prepared for them. Grissom downed another scotch and
drunkenly dropped the glass onto the table. Sara sighed and helped him down the
hall and into their bed.
The worst part was over. The discovery, the
explanations. Al had called a couple of hours earlier with the results of the
tests that Grissom had requested. As suspected, cancer was found in Chip’s
liver with a orange-sized tumor next to his colon. As
Grissom fell into a drunken slumber, he murmured something incoherent and
pulled Sara into his embrace.
The hardest part was yet to come. The
questions, the funeral, the learning to deal with Chip’s death knowing there
was nothing anyone could’ve done. Sara allowed her tears to finally fall as she
held her lover, her fingers gently rubbing his scalp as he slept.
She kissed his head and whispered softly. “I
love you...we’ll get through this together.”
His arms tightened around her as he nuzzled
against her chest. Knowing that in some way he had heard her promise, she
allowed sleep to overtake her. There would be much to take care of in the
coming days and weeks. Right now...they needed sleep.
~ End