Sources

Chapter 16

Sara rose early, unable to sleep for more than five hours at a time. She stood and stretched, looking over at Grissom. He was still in a deep slumber, and she smiled at how sweet and untroubled he looked. After a few seconds her smile fell. She changed into her running gear, tiptoed past Warrick, and let herself out the front door.

Running was one of the indulgences that she tried to fit in when she could. It cleared her mind better than sleep, and was cheaper than therapy. There was a news stand located two miles from her house. At least three times a week, she made it there and back.

After several minutes, she fell into a groove, concentrating on the sound of her breathing and her sneakers against the pavement.

In moments like these, her thoughts always turned to Grissom. Usually she'd run faster, trying to release the frustration and anger she felt towards him. But today she maintained her pace.

So he doesn't love me, she thought. So he won't ever love me. How can I hold that against him? He can't help how he feels, just like I can't help how I feel.

Her colleagues had told her about the fervor with which Grissom had searched for her. Mandy had recalled his shattered expression when he'd realized she was really missing. And Sara herself had seen his reaction upon finding her. There was no doubt that he cared for her. Maybe it wasn't love, but it was surely friendship.

After paying for her newspaper, Sara turned to run home with a new resolve in her steps. Things weren't bad between us because of him; it was my fault. It's up to me to make things right.

Grissom peeked into the break room, relaxing when he saw Sara there, with her nose buried in paperwork. When he'd woken up that morning, she was already gone. Her note explained that she'd gone to the lab, and that everyone was welcome to hang out at her apartment as long as they'd like. I wanted to hang out with her, not her apartment, thought Grissom as he watched her work.

She felt his presence, and looked up. "Hey!" she said with a smile. "I have gotten so much done, it's amazing!"

He grinned at her wryly. "Wouldn't it make more sense to save this energy for when your shift starts in ten hours?"

She stuck her pen in her mouth, gathering papers to show him. He sat down next to her, trying to figure out what she was so elated about.

"Okay," she said, pulling the pen out from between her lips. "This is a listing of the calls placed to Becky Palmer's cell phone the day she died."

"You were working on the Bellagio DB's?" he asked, confused.

"Yeah, Cath mentioned you guys hadn't found motive. Sooo, I checked phone records. Becky got a call from a coworker at 9:42 p.m. that night. They spoke for just over five minutes. That means she hung up within 15 minutes of the murder-suicide."

"Assuming it's a murder-suicide," he said cautiously.

She cocked her head and smiled in concession. "In any case. The call came from a doctor who worked in their office, a woman named Karen Corrigan. I made a visit to Dr. Corrigan earlier this morning."

Grissom's brows furrowed. "We interviewed all the coworkers."

"Ah, but not with the right set of questions," Sara replied. "I showed her the phone records, and what do you know, it jogged her memory."

"What had she called about?"

"The pediatric group was just one branch of a large group of doctors all across Nevada. It's not uncommon to find private physicians banding together nowadays, they're able to pool their resources for malpractice protection."

He shook his head. "Sara, I don't see-"

"I'm getting to it. The Carson City branch is sort of the headquarters for the group. They set all the policies for their employees. Three guesses which policy just changed."

"Inter-office dating?"

"Bingo. It's now forbidden. Dr. Corrigan said that Becky became very upset when she heard the news. Kept asking if she thought the policy would stick, would it only apply to new employees, and so on. So Dr. Corrigan, thinking she's being helpful, said it's not forbidden for married couples to work together. Becky calmed down a bit, thanked her, and hung up."

Grissom rubbed his beard thoughtfully. "So you're thinking Thomas Brody turned down the marriage idea, and Becky Palmer became distraught and shot him."

She nodded. "It's the closest thing we've got to motive."

"What about the gun, though? If she hadn't had a problem with him before that night, why bring a gun?"

"Way ahead of you," she smirked, fishing through the pile of papers and pulling out a file. "Look at this - Becky Palmer had been mugged four times in the past year. So I ran her name through the firearm registry, and she started carrying a gun for protection two months ago."

He watched her lean back in her chair victoriously. "Sara, that's terrific. You've done excellent work here."

Her cheeks colored a little. "Oh, and I did something else, too."

"What's that?"

"I checked our policy on inter-office dating."

He forced himself to breathe. "What did it say?"

"There's no rule against it, any employee can date any other employee. Sooo..."

Grissom fought the urge to take her hand in his. "Sooo..." he echoed, knowing that he was grinning at her like a fool.

She looked up at him with a pleased smile. "I asked Derek from ballistics out on a date."