Disclaimer – I don't own CSI.
A/N: I finally have something new to post. This is a little bit different, a bit more crime centred for a change, but with a good helping of Snickers. This story was slightly inspired by The Beatles song of the same name. Enjoy.
Hard Day's Night
The lab was oddly sedate for that time of night, roughly a quarter way through the graveyard shift. Not that the lab was ever overly noisy, that was usually half the appeal with the place. It was supposed to be quiet else no one would ever be able to get any work done, and the work was of the utmost importance. There was never any room for error. Yet, there was an odd feel about the place, a strange atmosphere descending down amongst the test tubes and hi-tech machinery.
And just like that, a whoosh of noise swept through the halls like a tidal wave, beginning with the double doors beside the reception and continuing on into each lab and evidence room as a swarm of people burst through the doors. It had begun.
It was all systems go! There wasn't a moment to lose. No time for dawdling or spending time congregating in the hall with co-workers, and stopping for a caffeine refill was certainly out of the question; suddenly these highly intelligent professionals meant business.
What else would you expect when they had the murder of a child to solve? The body of a young girl, aged roughly 6 or 7, had been found by a pair of local police officers, and in the trunk of an old SUV no less. It had been a routine stop; the driver had a broken taillight. As one of the officers asked for the driver's license and registration, the other did a thorough sweep of the car, checking for everything from drugs to other car faults. When he reached the back end of the car he saw a suspicious amount of blood, too much to be a paper cut or nose bleed. Brandishing his weapon, the officer lifted the lid of the trunk only to be greeted with, to the poor man's sheer horror, the pristine, lifelessly body of an innocent child.
Everyone was suddenly rushed off their feet. The usually calm and steady paced lab techs were suddenly rushing around, nipping in and out of different rooms, quickly losing patience with one another. This was an industry that lived or died by the amount of time a person stood people watching.
Grissom stepped into the layout room with a folder under his arm and a half finished cold coffee in his hand. Both he and Warrick had just dropped off some trace samples from the scene with Hodges, and the two of them, followed by the rest of time team, filed into the layout room for a quick briefing.
"What do we know so far?"
"The victim has been identified as Annabel Woodley; she turned 7 two weeks ago," Warrick sighed as he reluctantly pinned a photo of the dead girl to the display board for them all to see.
The young girl had quickly been identified when her key features were put through the missing person's system, including a distinctive birthmark that nestled on the nape of her neck. She had been missing just shy of 24 hours.
"Catherine is on her way to help inform the family," Grissom stated. "She'll bring back DNA from the family for elimination purposes."
"Brass is already looking into known paedophiles and child abusers in the area," Sara added. "Apparently there's more than you'd think."
"Doc's making this case a priority, starting the autopsy as we speak," Warrick added. "He'll let us know as soon as he's finished."
"Greg, could you collect Annabel's clothing from the morgue and begin processing them?" Grissom asked, though it was more of a request really.
"Sure thing."
"Nick, can you and Warrick begin sifting through the evidence collected from the scene?" Grissom added. "And Sara, the CCTV has been delivered as you requested. Archie will assist you."
Sara nodded.
"It goes without saying that we need to focus and work together to get through this case," Grissom stated, removing his glasses. "Annabel is counting on us to be her voice now that she doesn't have one, and I know we won't let her down."
"No pressure then," Greg mumbled, clearing his throat.
If any of the others had heard what he said they didn't acknowledge it, instead heading off into different directions to begin their various tasks. It was going to be a long night. Work was always pretty stressful, but when it was children they all had that extra ounce of motivation to get things done, to convict the offender, to get answers for Annabel's family.
Grissom accompanied Brass in interviewing the driver of the vehicle to find out what he knew. The man was shaking like a leaf the whole time, obviously in need of another fix. It quickly became apparent that the man had been paid to drive and dispose of the car after a few hours of travelling. He had had no idea what was in the trunk of the car or why some stranger had come up and asked him to drive off with his car, but he didn't ask as he was strapped for cash and it was too good an opportunity to pass up. He may have been regretting that though, having thrown up at the crime scene after the trunk was opened. The guy was many things, but a child killer wasn't one of them.
Greg collected the young girl's clothing from the morgue and processed them, searching thoroughly for hairs, fibres and other foreign materials. There was very little to go on but what he did find was sent to the appropriate lab tech for analysis.
Nick and Warrick methodically laid out every piece of evidence collected from the initial scene where Annabel's body had been discovered, including tiny pieces of broken taillight glass, some smudged fingerprints and small shreds of fabric from the trunk of the car. Individually, they set about separating the items in order of priority, attempting to identify the tiny pieces of evidence required to solve the case.
Sara sat down with Archie in the AV lab to begin analysing the CCTV from the area. Archie was able to track the car's movements prior to it being flagged down by the police, following the car back through the streets of North Las Vegas before it disappeared inside a bypass tunnel. They were able to pick up the trail a few streets later, as the car pulled in behind a construction warehouse. Unfortunately for Sara and Archie, there wasn't a working security camera focusing on anywhere other than the front door, but they were convinced that they had a rather grainy image, subject to enhancement, of their suspect, disappearing into the darkness after paying the young drug addict to drive off with his car and a body in the trunk.
Whilst the team were hard at work in the lab, Catherine was just pulling up outside, with items from the Woodley household. She was still reeling from speaking to Annabel's parents, trying to ask them questions whilst they were wracked with grief and despair. It was so unfair to ask them to make some kind of sense out of what had happened, let it somehow sink in, and then expect them to be able to think over every incident that may have occurred, trying to remember if they'd seen that suspicious vehicle last week or this week. Her heart broke for them. But she remained professional, gently prodding for information before asking for their daughters' hairbrush to confirm that the small body in the morgue was indeed their daughters. That was when the tears well and truly flowed. Catherine made a quick getaway soon after, feeling determined to make the person who had taken this young girl's life pay with a very long spell behind bars.
Meanwhile, Sara took her printout from the tray and headed out into the hallway in search of her boss. She walked the length of the corridor, speaking his office and the different labs on the way, and yet she still couldn't find him.
She stepped out in front of Nick who was heading her way, stopping him in his tracks. "Nick. Have you seen Grissom, or Brass?"
"Not for a while. Why? What's up? What's happened?" he asked, genuinely concerned.
"I can't seem to find them anywhere; I can't seem to find anyone at all. I've got something to show him but I can't..."
"Well, first of all, take a deep breath. You'll find them; you'll figure it out. If anyone can it's you," Nick smiled, throwing in a cheeky wink for good measure.
"We're running out of time. We can't afford to be sitting around doing nothing," Sara shrugged, lowering her head. "We can't let this guy get away with it."
"Hey, hey, look at me," Nick insisted, gently lifting her chin with his finger. "You've got this. We all know what we're doing. We're all doing our bit. We'll get him, Sar. We'll get justice for Annabel."
His calming tone had a strong effect on her, as it always did. He was always the voice of reason.
"I hope so," Sara nodded, trying her best to sound optimistic. In her defence, it had been a tiring and strenuous affair trying to make some kind of sense out of the grainy footage, and backwards no less, and she was in need of a caffeine fix.
"Hey, there you both are," Greg exclaimed. "Cath's back from speaking to the parents, so we're having a meeting in the layout room, when you're ready."
Several hours passed before they got a new lead to work with, but it wasn't one they were hoping for.
"Really? Is it a confirmed kidnapping?" Grissom spoke down the phone. "You have CCTV footage? Send it over, and I'll send a couple of my guys out to you."
Sara had been walking passed his office when she overheard him speaking. She now stood in the doorway, unsure whether to go in voluntarily or wait to be asked.
"Come in, Sara," Grissom beckoned, waving her in as he rose to his feet. "Are Warrick and Nick still in the field?"
"Yeah, they went on a coffee run," Sara replied with a nod.
"They can meet up with Brass then," he stated, picking up his phone. "There's been another kidnapping. But we supposedly have good footage of the assailant."
"I'll go find Catherine," Sara stated, before stepping out the room.
So off she went. As she walked, she could feel the tension rise within her, the anger build inside her. They had to get this right. A child's life was hanging in the balance. Her life was in their hands, they had to do right by her and her family. They had to catch this guy. So she bellowed Catherine's name through the hallways, trying to track her colleague down.
"Geez Sara, you've got a good pair of lungs on ya, that's for sure," Catherine commented idly as she strolled out of one of the small storage rooms. "I'm right here, you don't have to yell."
"He's taken another little girl," Sara announced with a blank expression on her face. "But we've got him."
And sure enough, they did. The guy had got cocky. Seemingly he'd used too much force on his first victim, didn't know his own strength when it came to subduing a feisty 7-year-old girl. She'd been crying, wailing even, hysterical beyond belief, and understandably causing a stir; she was being held in a house, but could still be heard halfway down the block. Naturally he'd done what anyone does to silence another person, cover her mouth. However, as a grown man he easily overpowered Annabel, even cracking her head on the floor, hence the blood at the scene, but her parents could take solace knowing their daughter didn't suffer. But then he found himself with a dilemma; a dead body to get rid of and an urge to take another girl but this time keep her alive. He was desperate and not a master criminal so he made mistakes.
The man, identified as Adam Bennet, had managed to suppress his fantasies and desires for pre-pubescent girls by using child pornography and child abuse websites. And for a while that had worked but a new playpark had been built at the end of his road, and walking past it every day going to and from work pushed him to his limits. He had some kind of dissociative disorder, where to him his feelings for young girls were normal, consensual even. He believed he was genuinely in love with these girls, and in reality meant them no real harm, and that they in turn loved him. It was almost sad.
And while the evening had been sad for multiple reasons, it had also turned out relatively happy. The team had got the best possible ending they could've hoped for; reuniting a family that had been so viscously torn apart.
"That right there, is why I love this job," Sara smiled, her heart almost bursting with pride and happiness from witnessing the joyous scenes in front of her as a set of parents were reunited with the child they thought they'd lost forever. She snuggled into Nick's side, gripping onto his arm gently as they watch the jubilant scenes unfold.
"Don't get much better than this, huh?"
"Moments like these keep me going, keep me walking through those doors every night," she admitted. "Moments like this make all the other stuff seem so insignificant, makes the death bearable somehow."
Nick leaned in and kissed her gently on the forehead. "You did really great today."
"Yeah, well, you're supposed to say that."
"But I mean it. You were amazing. A true professional," he continued. "I'm really proud of you, Sar. I always am."
"Thank you. And, you know, you were pretty great too."
Nick smiled as he looked down at her, their eyes meeting. "Ready for home?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Sara let out a deep breath. "Always."
They arrived home 10 minutes later. The early morning sun was just beginning to peak over the house as the pair walked up the path. "Brace yourself," Nick smirked as he opened the front door and stepped over the threshold.
"Daddy," called their daughters as they bounced through the hallway towards him.
"Hey, kiddos," he beamed, opening his arms wide to embrace his children.
Behind the two young girls dawdled Nick and Sara's even younger infant son.
"Hey, my gorgeous little man," Sara beamed as she lifted up her son, Jack, resting him on her hip.
"Mama," he shrieked.
"Yes, mama's home. Did you miss me?" she cooed at her son as she cradled him in her arms.
"Aha," he nodded.
"Good, because I've missed you too," she smiled, before turning to address her daughters that were standing in front of her. "I've missed all of you."
"We missed you, but Jane brings sweets," Emily, their second eldest child stated deadpan.
"But they're only for when you're good," said Jane, a retired paediatric nurse and now the children's overnight babysitter, as she emerged from the sitting room.
"And were they, good I mean?" Nick asked.
"They were golden, as always," Jane smiled.
"Thank you," Sara smiled, lowering Jack to the ground.
"What do you say to Jane, kids?" Nick coaxed.
"Thank 'ou," they called out.
Jane smiled as she waved goodbye. "I'll see you tonight."
Nick turned at address his children. "So who's ready for breakfast?" he asked, eagerly rubbing his hands together.
He received a collective shriek of 'yes' in return.
"So cereal?"
"No," Emily shook her head. "Pancakes!"
"On a school day? You'll have to take that up with your mother."
Three sets of beautiful dark brown eyes beamed in her direction, and she felt her usual resolve slip. She was usually a consistent mother who laid out good boundaries for their children but in light of their resent case Sara couldn't deny her children the simple pleasure of pancakes.
"Well, it seems I'm out numbered. Pancakes for breakfast it is, but just this once."
"Yay!"
"Come on then," Nick called, ushering his children into the kitchen.
"I'm helping, I'm helping," exclaimed Amelia, Nick and Sara's first born child.
"Well, you get the bowl out the cupboard," Nick instructed. "And Emily, can you get the milk out the fridge, please? But be careful, its heavy remember."
Nick lifted Jack up into the counter top so that he could see and be involved too.
Sara went on to begin tidying up the sitting room, placing her children's toys into their designated storage boxes, looking up occasionally and admiring her husband interacting with their 3 children. The best part of the day was coming home after what Sara had affectionately named their hard day's night. And it was hard, becoming even more unbearable since she became a mother. Yet, she couldn't deny she loved what she did, even now. Because now she did it for her kids, her family, to make the world they grew up in just a little bit better. And that was priceless.
Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed reading this. More from me soon. Please review.