Chapter Text
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~University Nevada - Las Vegas~
The first thing Gil Grissom noticed as he stepped out of the Tahoe, was the night air; it was still, no sounds, no movements, not even a small breeze, just the settling of dread in the pit of his stomach. As he took a deep breath he closed the passenger door; getting his focus. Looking around the surrounding area he observed every detail before heading to the back of the Tahoe to grab his gear.
He glanced towards Sara, who was grabbing her own gear. The two had been distant since the ‘the incident’, or what the DUI had been dubbed around the lab. He had always had a good working relationship with Sara, and didn’t understand what had caused her to distance herself away from him. He figured it had something to do with him turning down her dinner invitation. He had thought he had made it clear he only saw her as a friend and colleague, but now sees he wasn’t clear enough. Since he felt guilty for hurting her, he kept his distance, failing to see her burning out. The phone call was a shock to the system, but if he was honest with himself, he had seen the signs but ignored it. Lately he had been working more cases with her, to try to get that old chemistry back, but he wasn’t sure if it was working. He turned to ask her how her day was, when Brass walked up to the two CSI’s, interrupting his train of thought.
“The victim’s name is Amy Neal, twenty-two year old student, an English major,” Brass gave them a quick update as they walked towards the crime scene. “Campus security found her.”
“A little late,” Sara stated, as they walked up to the crime scene. David, the coroner, glanced their way, but continued examining the body.
“I would say she was raped first then had her throat slit. The wound goes from the right to the left, indicating her attacker was facing her.” He explained using his pen to show the movement of the knife.” There is a large amount of blood on the front, the wounds deep; she probably bled out in less than a minute. I’ll give you a full detail once I get the body back to the morgue.”
Grissom looked over the body, his eyes searching for any type of clue, while Sara pulled out her penlight searching the surrounding area; a black strap caught her eye a few feet away from the body. She walked over, squatting down next to it. “Looks like we've got a camera,” Sara said as she looked back over at Grissom, who was staying at the body. There was no indication that he had heard her.
Grissom blinked, and then gave a quick shake to his head. “I’m sorry, Sara, you were saying?” He looked over to her, an apologetic look on his face.
She held up the camera by its strap, “do you think she got any pictures of her assailant?”
Grissom eyed the swinging camera, “get it to Nick see what he can pull off the negative.”
Grissom turned back towards Brass. “Can we find out who the last person out of the photo lab was?”
“Right on it,” Brass grabbed a few uniforms and headed inside the building.
Grissom watched as they zipped up the bag over Amy Neal’s face. “She’s the third victim this month.”
“Serial rapist?” Sara paused while taking pictures of the surrounding area.
“Same MO, college student, red hair, throat slit, left nude on campus. We won’t know for sure till Greg runs the tests and see if we come up with any similarities.”
~Crime Lab~
Grissom was heading back to his office, when he heard Nick call out to him. Grissom stopped and turned to wait for Nick to catch up to him. Grissom watched the young CSI, remembering back to when he first arrived in Vegas. He had come a long way from that green CSI level one.
Nick smiled, “Grissom, I’ve got an update on the Cushing case,” Nick handed Grissom the file folder he was carrying and then waited for his reaction.
“Same weapon?” Grissom looked up at Nick.
Nick nodded, his smile turning series; “I talked to Doc Robbins. He discovered while examining the latest victim a pattern on the left hand side of the neck. Following a hunch he pulled up the autopsy reports on the other two victims, both had the same pattern. He had written it down, but didn’t take notice until now.”
Grissom eyes narrowed, it proved their suspicion "Looks like we have a serial rapist on our hands. Grab the rest of the team, and meet me in the break room.” Nick nodded as he headed down the hall.
Grissom set the files down on the table, and then walked over to the coffee pot to get a cup of coffee. He set the cup down on the table and slumped into the chair, pulled his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. The team walked in taking their seats around the table, waiting for Grissom to begin.
“These cases have moved to top priority. We have a serial rapist on our hands, and we need to stop him as soon as possible.” Grissom looked at his team, each with their own weakness and strengths. He had come to rely on them these past five years, their skills and insights. “We have to focus on the evidence, let it tell us the story. Once the press gets a hold of the story, there will be a lot of pressure from the community, higher ups, and the victim’s family to solve the case. The main key is to stay focused or we could let something slip. If we rush, we make mistakes.”
He looked at the faces of his team, he knew they were good at their jobs, professionals, well trained, but he could see the under lining emotion in their faces, some not so deep. Nick and Sara were his two most emotional CSI’s. Nick feels for the families of the victims, sympathizing with them, making himself available to them. His main weakness was crimes against children, at least on this case he will be less likely to get attached to the case, while Sara had always associated herself to the victims, specifically crime against women. He knew this case, would be especially hard on her. He looked towards Catherine, his second in command. Her resolve was set, he knew she could handle Nick if need be, but he was more worried about Sara. He could tell she was already getting agitated with the case, just sitting for a meeting made her antsy. He could always count on Warrick to handle himself as a professional, also to keep Sara on her toes and keep her busy enough to not think about the situation. He grinned slightly; they were a truly balanced team.
“Grissom?” Nick’s voice broke through his thoughts.
Grissom looked over at him, “What do we have so far?”
“Greg is now comparing fibers that were found on your latest victim Amy Neal and also the second victim Tanya Cushing.” Nick informed him.
“Let me know what he finds. Have you had a chance to look at the camera?” Grissom asked.
Nick shook his head no, “not yet, I’ll get on it right away, and let you know what I find.”
“Prelim on Neal shows that like the other two cases, no semen was present.” Catherine added to the conversation.
“He’s either using a condom, or getting off after the fact.” Warrick’s forehead was knit in concentration. “It will make it more difficult to link him between all three cases.”
Grissom shook his head, “serial killers will have one common element in each of their slayings, for our guy, it’s the knife.”
“We find the knife, we find him.” Sara stated.
“I doubt that we will find the knife until we find him.” Nick spoke his thoughts out loud.
“Well we don’t have much else to work with,” Sara’s voice was becoming agitated. “Three women are dead and we have nothing.”
”Not true, we know the knife is the common element. We know he at least knows enough information about forensics, by the lack of evidence. No semen, no fingerprints, no hairs, nothing. He takes their clothes, leaving no trace of him behind. Look at the evidence, read it.” Grissom tapped the folders making his point, “now everyone back to work.” Grissom stood up pulling together his notes and files.
Warrick and Catherine headed towards the Morgue to talk to Doc Robbins. As Grissom followed them out, Sara stopped him.
“How can you not be fazed by all of this?” Sara asked. She never understood how Grissom could stay un-emotional, so unattached. “Three women are dead, and there will probably be others if we can’t catch him.”
Grissom paused, masking the strong emotions that lay underneath. Emotions he had been fighting all evening. This case was hitting close to home, dredging up old memories. Ones he preferred stayed in the recesses of his mind. “Getting emotional will not solve the case any quicker, we have to keep a calm and rational mind. Look at the evidence, follow the leads. That is all we can do.”
“Is being emotional a weakness to you?” Sara pushed him, to see what lay underneath the cool exterior. All she wanted was for him to show some emotion, if she was honest with herself, show some emotion to her.
Grissom stiffened; his eyes bore into hers, “Don’t assume you know me.” He left a shocked Sara in the break room.
“You went too far Sara.” Nick stated from the back of the room, a shocked Sara spun on her heel to face the Texan. “We all deal with these cases differently. You give me crap about showing my emotions, or giving my sympathies to the victim’s family, yet you snap at Grissom for his lack of emotion, you can’t have it both ways. Whatever your issue is with him, deal with it and move on.” He stepped past her and headed toward the lab, to see if Greg had any news.
~CSI - Grissom’s Office~
Grissom continued onto his office, now even more tired. All he wanted was to sit in his dark office, put on some Mozart, and close his eyes. He was feeling a headache coming on, and wanted to quiet his mind for an hour. He opened his door only to stop short. Sheriff Atwater was sitting at his desk looking over the case files on each of three dead college girls. “Can I help you?”
“We have a serial rapist on our hands,” Atwater commented. “How is the investigation going?”
”Warrick and Catherine were called to the first case…” Grissom shut his door; setting the files he was carrying on the bookcase.
Atwater interrupted, “Nancy Hanes, found behind the library?”
“Yes, that was September first, two weeks later Nick and Sara were called back to the campus for the second victim, Tanya Cushing. She was found near the Psych buildings. Tonight, Sara and I were called to the third scene, Amy Neal, found just outside the Art Buildings, specifically the photo labs.”
“Bold leaving the bodies in plane sight,” Atwater speculated. “I’ve gotten a call from the FBI, an Agent Culpepper. You’ve worked with him before?”
Grissom’s eyes narrowed at the thought of Culpepper invading his territory, again. “Yes, and it wasn’t pleasant, he manhandled my case and my CSI’s.”
Atwater stood up, “This isn’t a time to let personal grudges get in the way of solving this case.” He opened the office door and looked back. “It’s going to get worse before it gets better. Oh, and Grissom, keep me informed.” He exited the office closing the door behind him.
Grissom slumped into his chair, tossing his glasses onto the desk and rubbed his tired eyes. The badly concealed emotions were beginning to run out of control; he shook his head as if trying to shake them out. He knew they all thought he didn’t feel any emotion, when in truth he felt them too much. There were reasons behind is persistence in keeping focused on the evidence, and not the victim. They can’t save them all. If you tried even the best CSI would burn out.
The year before his surgery he had purposely distanced himself away from his team, afraid of them knowing his weakness. Then with the lab explosion, he had shut down completely. Seeing Greg sprawled out on the floor, covered in glass and blood tore at him. When Sara had asked him to dinner, he refused. He was too caught-up in the after effects of the explosion, and his own hearing loss that he didn’t want or need an emotional entanglement; his mistake was not explaining this to Sara.
When he got back from surgery and they had gone back to the way they were, he figured there was no hard feelings. But now he saw that may not be so, it was so much easier with Catherine. They had their disagreements, but overall Catherine was his best friend, and they had a silent communication. She understood him; he didn’t have to explain his reasoning. She was the only one on the team he had confided in about his hearing.
With the promotion subsequently going to Nick, even if the promotion was pulled due to lack of funds; Sara had not understood his reasoning, and became even more withdrawn leading to the DUI. He had taken her home, ordered her to take some time off. When she had returned back to work, she was ordered to see the department therapist. He wasn’t sure if it was helping, but talking with Jim he hasn’t seen any signs of her drinking. But lately, she had started to become more testy and trying to push his buttons to get a reaction out of him.
This case was high profile; it was going to get ugly. The press, the public outcry, who ever works the case is going to be under a microscope, and now Culpepper was involved. He had decided to let Nick be lead on the case. He deserved a case like this after loosing the position to a robot for the lab, and Sara wasn’t going to be happy about it.
He sighed, then picked up the phone, and began to dial; a knock on the door interrupted him.
He set the phone down, as Nick’s walked into the door, a grin on his face. The one Grissom associated with a cat that just eyed the canary. “I take Greg found something?”
“The black fibers found at two of the scenes matched, a black synthetic.” Nick handed Grissom the printout.
“Looks like the cases are weaving together,” Grissom cocked his head eyebrow raised towards Nick. “Now we just need to unravel the mystery.”