Chapter 14:
Sara followed them out of the room, through the hallway, and into the foyer.
"Well, it was very nice meeting you," Grissom politely said as he held out his hand.
"Likewise," Laura said, shaking his hand, "If I hear anything, anything at all, then I'll let you know." She said to him comfortingly, with a sad smile.
Grissom nodded and gave her a small "thank you," before going out the door and up to his rental car. Sara watched him from the front lawn as he unlocked the car and opened the door, thinking if she should go with him or not.
Back inside, Laura went into the kitchen to start cleaning up. But when her eyes found the opened first aid kit, still laying on the kitchen countertop, one name popped into her head. "Jason," she nearly gasped.
Sara, at the last minute, decided that it was best if she went with him. She opened the passenger door and hopped in just seconds before Grissom began backing out of the driveway. When she slammed the car door shut, it still frusterated her that he couldn't hear or see the simple task, just like it wasn't even happening. But then something caught him off-gaurd. Just after he had gotten the car out of the driveway and onto the street, Laura Sidle bursted through the front door of the house, waving her arms and yelling at him to stop. Which he, of course, did. Rather abruptly though.
"Damnit!" Sara yelled as the car jerked to a stop, catching her by suprise as she flew forward about a foot, stopping only when the dashboard got in the way. Mumbling under her breath, she put the seat-belt on and crossed her arms in front of her chest, looking like a 5-year old whose parents wouldn't buy her ice cream.
Rolling down the window, Grissom gazed curiously at the woman, who had covered the space between the front door of the house and the edge of her yard in record-time. Reaching her destination, she didn't even pause to catch her breath before she started talking a mile a minute.
"When the police came by earlier, they asked me if they knew anyone who would want to hurt Sara, and I said I wouldn't know, but actually I forgot about someone who might have had something to do with this," stoping for a moment, Laura took, what seemed to be, the first breath since she left her house, and then continued, "Jason Hughes. He's our next door neighbor and he and Sara got into an arguement yesterday morning. Actually it hadn't been the first time but--"
"Laura," Grissom said as he raised his hand up, signaling for her to stop, "you need to slow down. Now who is this again?"
Sara who had been watching her mother ramble on, word after word, then sat up in her seat and looked at her mom, a wide smile spread across her face. "Yes!" she whispered excitedly to herself.
Laura took a few deep breaths before continuing. "His name is Jason Hughes. He and Sara had an argument yesterday morning which resulted in Sara getting a sprained wrist. He even makes threats to her almost daily and I haven't seen him since Sara disappeared, and... oh God..." Laura seemed to want to say something else, but nothing else escaped her mouth, except the small half-sob, half-cough that fought it's way through her words.
Grissom smiled at her and gave her small reassurances that everything would be okay. He waited for her to go back inside the house before he pulled back out into the street.
"That's it," Sara said while facing him, sporting a large yet loving smile, "come find me."
The smile had faded from his lips as a fire ignighted in his eyes. He didn't know where he was going or how he'd find this guy, but one thing was for sure. He would like to have a
chat with this, Jason Hughes.
The first place that Grissom thought to go was back to the Police Department to give them the little bit of information that he had just acquired... and also to find this guy. Parking the car in the first spot he could find, he quickly got out and made his way toward the building. While he walked toward the station, he was lucky enough to find the man he had talked to earlier, regarding Sara, leaving. Quickening his pace just slightly, he reached the man as he was getting into his car.
"Officer Owens." Grissom said.
"I'm off duty," the man said, without looking up. He then began to fumble around with his keys and cursed under his breath when he dropped them on the floor of the car.
"It's Gil Grissom," he informed the officer, "we spoke earlier..." he continued, trying to jog the cop's memory. Lifting up his head the man looked at Grissom.
"Oh yeah. Um, what can I do for you?" he asked, seemingly confused about this 2nd visit to the police station. Grissom then filled the officer in on what he had learned at Laura Sidle's house, or at least, what he had learned regarding Jason Hughes.
Looking at Grissom, the man pulled out his notepad that he carried with him, flipped a couple pages, and returned his gaze to Grissom. "Did you say Hughes? As in
Jason Hughes?" he inquired. Upon receiving Grissom's nod, he continued talking. "Mr. Hughes was picked up by the cops yesterday afternoon, before the missing person report was filed." Grissom's eyes widened as the man kept talking, "Drug possession." Henry shrugged. "His girlfriend bailed him out about a half an hour ago though," he said, glancing down at his watch, "so he's probably back home by now."
Grissom then took a deep breath and remained silent. Probably thinking about what he should do next. Sensing this, the cop decided to give him a warning, "Listen, I know you're upset about, all of this," he said, gesturing with his hands, "but you can't go looking for this guy. Hell, I'd be in deep shit if they knew I was even telling you all of this."
Grissom gave him a smile and shrug as he said, "I understand."
But that doesn't mean I can't have just
a chat with him, he thought.
"Good." the officer said, clearly pleased with the understanding. "Now I assure you we have people, good people, working on this case." he said, giving Grissom some more assurance, before giving him a quick nod, closing his car door and driving off.
Sara, who had been leaning against a nearby car, listening to the men's conversation, was smiling to herself as the excitement she had was clearly showing through. As Grissom began the walk back to the car, she hurried up next to him and walked alongside him. "If anyone can do it," she said as she ran her hand up and down his arm, "you can." She said quietly. "Come find me."
Upon hearing this, Grissom nearly jumped out of his skin as he quickly looked over his shoulder, and spun around an entire 360 degrees. Sara then stopped walking and watched as Grissom looked around the parking lot while making his way back to the car. "He heard me," she said outloud, almost as a question more than a statement, "he
heard me," she repeated, much louder this time, and with more affirmation. Then as Grissom got into the car, she ran towards the car, full speed, adrenaline rushing, on the way, yelling, "He heard me!"
Jumping in the car and grabbing a hold of his hand, she lifted it up to her lips and gave it a soft kiss as she set it back down.
Grissom then gazed cautiously at his hand as a strange feeling overtook him. It felt as if he had just run his hand through a cobweb.
I must be more tired than I realized... he thought. He had been awake for way more than 24 hours.
Driving off, he made his way towards his hotel room. He was no use to help Sara if he wasn't alert.
Sara, on the other hand, was more awake than ever at the moment as she sat back in her seat and smiled to herself.
He's gonna find me, she kept repeating in her head, over and over again.
He's gonna find me...
Okay you wonderful readers! Let me know what you think.
