CSI:LV Fic: Optimum Potential - Ch.7/20
Title: Optimum Potential
Chapter: 7/20
Author: caffeinified
Fandom: CSI: Las Vegas
Characters/Pairing: Gil Grissom
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don't own CSI. It's just for fun.
Summary: Casefile: Mira O’Hara. Warning for adult themes in case details.
Previous Chapters: 1| 2| 3| 4| 5| 6
It was seldom that involving the press yielded such beneficial results. Within the time span of twenty-four hours the seemingly dead-end case had opened up to numerous possibilities. Their Jane Doe had a name, a family and a history. Although the history of the child was shaping up to be horrific, the fact that they had anything to go on at all was something to celebrate in and of itself. In this line of work, answers only wrought more questions. It was the ability to continually press forward and find those answers until one got to the truth that made the difference between an unsolved or an open and shut case.
Mira O’Hara was not a fifteen year old teenager. She was thirteen. Her mother Michelle, while having had a rocky start as a young adult, had eventually found a way to get Mira into private school. She had married a man named John Ghetti, a local up and coming lawyer. Ghetti worked with a friend he had attended University with and had known for years, Kent Thomason. Together they formed the law firm Thomason and Ghetti.
John Ghetti’s address had been easy enough to obtain. As expected, the home was in an upscale housing division in the greater Vegas area. And once checked out, revealed that no one was home. Second on the search agenda was of course, the man’s place of business. One way or another, Mr. Ghetti was going to answer the looming questions that hung over his head.
Gil walked through the hallways of the offices with Jim and several officers in tow. The receptionist had seemed less then helpful so the entourage had decided to let themselves in. They paraded through the halls towards the office. Jim didn’t leave any time between knocking on the office door and opening it.
When his door opened unexpectedly, Jim Ghetti stopped talking into the phone in his hands for a moment to take in the scene before him with wide eyes. “Yeah, I’m gonna have to call you back.” He snapped the phone shut and stood up from his desk chair. “May I help you?”
“John Ghetti?” When the man nodded, Jim stepped farther into the room. “We’re looking for your wife, Michelle.”
His eyes looked hesitantly over the group of officers now in his office. “Michelle’s on vacation in the Hamptons.”
“And your adopted daughter, Mira?” Jim asked. “Hampton’s too?”
“Yes.” John’s eyes narrowed curiously. “What is this about?”
Something inside of Gil tensed almost to a snapping point. There was no way that a man like John Ghetti didn’t watch the news. He was an up and coming lawyer, being eyed by the D.A. for a possible job offer. Men like this kept up with the goings on in the media. “Do you watch the news, Mr. Ghetti?”
“Sometimes. Why?”
Stepping forward, Gil opened a file folder and withdrew a photograph and laid it on Mr. Ghetti’s desk in front of him. It was a picture of Mira from the autopsy table, the original photo used to bring her back to life for the media frenzy yesterday that had led them here. “When was the last time you spoke with your wife?”
Finally, the façade cracked a little. John’s eye twitched as he looked down at the photo. “Uhm…”
“Here’s a hint, Mr. Ghetti. We’re not stupid.” Jim prodded. “Any lies you tell us is obstruction of our investigation into the death of a minor.”
“The death of your step-daughter.” Gil added. John Ghetti’s lies were so poorly fabricated that it was obvious that he was hiding something. It was as if the man had just told them lies that he had been telling for quite some time. With most people they would have worked, but with those involved now they were see through. “Allow me to repeat the question. When was the last time you spoke with your wife?”
John’s brow furrowed and he shook his head. “A long time.”
“How long?” Jim asked.
The display of guilt that washed over what had originally been a confident man was palpable. John looked down again to the photo for a moment and then pushed it across the top of his desk back towards Gil. “Three years.”
A silence settled in the room as shock soaked into every inch of the air around them and into those present as well. Finally, Gil clapped his mouth closed and cleared his throat before speaking again. “And you never reported her missing? What about Mira?”
“Mira too.” John let out as long breath and rolled his eyes up to the ceiling and back down. “Look. Michelle was wild. I tried to tame her. Didn’t fit. She left me.” He leaned forward, both palms pressed to the top of his desk. “And I loved that little girl. But Michelle took her from me.”
“Doesn’t explain why you didn’t report them missing. If you loved her so much and Michelle was so wild weren’t you worried?” Jim pushed. It was one of the many questions hanging in the room unanswered.
John shrugged. “I’m trying to get on with the D.A. Do you think they’ll hire some guy whose wife took their kid and left?”
Another length of silence stretched out in the room as everyone took the excuse in that seemed to need digesting. “One phone call, even anonymous, may have meant the difference between life and death to Mira. You didn’t even give her that because you were scared that the D.A. wouldn’t hire you?”
“Yeah, I don’t know about personal family business keeping the D.A. from hiring you on Mr. Ghetti. A lotta those guys are pretty shady off the record. Trust me, I know.” Jim said. “But you’re a lucky son of a bitch that I can’t arrest you for doing nothing.”
“Apathy is the glove into which evil slips its hand.” The quote was whispered from Gil’s lips. Even though this man was just as guilty as the murderers themselves, the law gave them nothing to bring him in on and that angered Gil. There were times when the red tape of the political aspect of this job worked for him. But more often than not, it did the opposite, protecting the rights of those who didn’t deserve the protecting. As much as Gil liked to seem detached from that fact, he was bothered.
He turned to Jim and spoke with a calm that sounded frayed and strained at the edges. “We can do something for his nothing. Add him as a person of interest in the casefile. It puts his name in the system.”
When Gil looked back to John Ghetti, his eyes were hardened into a disgusted resolve. “A person of interest in a missing teenager’s case file, and in the molestation and eventual murder of a minor whether guilty or not… I’m sure as a prominent lawyer that even you know how that looks.” There was no way that John Ghetti would ever get hired on by the D.A., not without crooked politics and red tape.
Chapter: 7/20
Author: caffeinified
Fandom: CSI: Las Vegas
Characters/Pairing: Gil Grissom
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don't own CSI. It's just for fun.
Summary: Casefile: Mira O’Hara. Warning for adult themes in case details.
Previous Chapters: 1| 2| 3| 4| 5| 6
It was seldom that involving the press yielded such beneficial results. Within the time span of twenty-four hours the seemingly dead-end case had opened up to numerous possibilities. Their Jane Doe had a name, a family and a history. Although the history of the child was shaping up to be horrific, the fact that they had anything to go on at all was something to celebrate in and of itself. In this line of work, answers only wrought more questions. It was the ability to continually press forward and find those answers until one got to the truth that made the difference between an unsolved or an open and shut case.
Mira O’Hara was not a fifteen year old teenager. She was thirteen. Her mother Michelle, while having had a rocky start as a young adult, had eventually found a way to get Mira into private school. She had married a man named John Ghetti, a local up and coming lawyer. Ghetti worked with a friend he had attended University with and had known for years, Kent Thomason. Together they formed the law firm Thomason and Ghetti.
John Ghetti’s address had been easy enough to obtain. As expected, the home was in an upscale housing division in the greater Vegas area. And once checked out, revealed that no one was home. Second on the search agenda was of course, the man’s place of business. One way or another, Mr. Ghetti was going to answer the looming questions that hung over his head.
Gil walked through the hallways of the offices with Jim and several officers in tow. The receptionist had seemed less then helpful so the entourage had decided to let themselves in. They paraded through the halls towards the office. Jim didn’t leave any time between knocking on the office door and opening it.
When his door opened unexpectedly, Jim Ghetti stopped talking into the phone in his hands for a moment to take in the scene before him with wide eyes. “Yeah, I’m gonna have to call you back.” He snapped the phone shut and stood up from his desk chair. “May I help you?”
“John Ghetti?” When the man nodded, Jim stepped farther into the room. “We’re looking for your wife, Michelle.”
His eyes looked hesitantly over the group of officers now in his office. “Michelle’s on vacation in the Hamptons.”
“And your adopted daughter, Mira?” Jim asked. “Hampton’s too?”
“Yes.” John’s eyes narrowed curiously. “What is this about?”
Something inside of Gil tensed almost to a snapping point. There was no way that a man like John Ghetti didn’t watch the news. He was an up and coming lawyer, being eyed by the D.A. for a possible job offer. Men like this kept up with the goings on in the media. “Do you watch the news, Mr. Ghetti?”
“Sometimes. Why?”
Stepping forward, Gil opened a file folder and withdrew a photograph and laid it on Mr. Ghetti’s desk in front of him. It was a picture of Mira from the autopsy table, the original photo used to bring her back to life for the media frenzy yesterday that had led them here. “When was the last time you spoke with your wife?”
Finally, the façade cracked a little. John’s eye twitched as he looked down at the photo. “Uhm…”
“Here’s a hint, Mr. Ghetti. We’re not stupid.” Jim prodded. “Any lies you tell us is obstruction of our investigation into the death of a minor.”
“The death of your step-daughter.” Gil added. John Ghetti’s lies were so poorly fabricated that it was obvious that he was hiding something. It was as if the man had just told them lies that he had been telling for quite some time. With most people they would have worked, but with those involved now they were see through. “Allow me to repeat the question. When was the last time you spoke with your wife?”
John’s brow furrowed and he shook his head. “A long time.”
“How long?” Jim asked.
The display of guilt that washed over what had originally been a confident man was palpable. John looked down again to the photo for a moment and then pushed it across the top of his desk back towards Gil. “Three years.”
A silence settled in the room as shock soaked into every inch of the air around them and into those present as well. Finally, Gil clapped his mouth closed and cleared his throat before speaking again. “And you never reported her missing? What about Mira?”
“Mira too.” John let out as long breath and rolled his eyes up to the ceiling and back down. “Look. Michelle was wild. I tried to tame her. Didn’t fit. She left me.” He leaned forward, both palms pressed to the top of his desk. “And I loved that little girl. But Michelle took her from me.”
“Doesn’t explain why you didn’t report them missing. If you loved her so much and Michelle was so wild weren’t you worried?” Jim pushed. It was one of the many questions hanging in the room unanswered.
John shrugged. “I’m trying to get on with the D.A. Do you think they’ll hire some guy whose wife took their kid and left?”
Another length of silence stretched out in the room as everyone took the excuse in that seemed to need digesting. “One phone call, even anonymous, may have meant the difference between life and death to Mira. You didn’t even give her that because you were scared that the D.A. wouldn’t hire you?”
“Yeah, I don’t know about personal family business keeping the D.A. from hiring you on Mr. Ghetti. A lotta those guys are pretty shady off the record. Trust me, I know.” Jim said. “But you’re a lucky son of a bitch that I can’t arrest you for doing nothing.”
“Apathy is the glove into which evil slips its hand.” The quote was whispered from Gil’s lips. Even though this man was just as guilty as the murderers themselves, the law gave them nothing to bring him in on and that angered Gil. There were times when the red tape of the political aspect of this job worked for him. But more often than not, it did the opposite, protecting the rights of those who didn’t deserve the protecting. As much as Gil liked to seem detached from that fact, he was bothered.
He turned to Jim and spoke with a calm that sounded frayed and strained at the edges. “We can do something for his nothing. Add him as a person of interest in the casefile. It puts his name in the system.”
When Gil looked back to John Ghetti, his eyes were hardened into a disgusted resolve. “A person of interest in a missing teenager’s case file, and in the molestation and eventual murder of a minor whether guilty or not… I’m sure as a prominent lawyer that even you know how that looks.” There was no way that John Ghetti would ever get hired on by the D.A., not without crooked politics and red tape.