Traps Of The Heart
Summary: Who is the identity of the young woman brutally beaten and dumped in Lake Mead? Can the CSI's figure it out before they become so involved they lose their own identities? GSR. Rating for domestic violence.
Chapter One
Grissom regarded Sara in silence. The silence was heavy, it clung to them and smothered them for the entire ten minutes they had been in the Tahoe together. They'd just happened to be standing together, in one of their many awkward silences, when the call of the 419 came out. She'd looked at him and shrugged,
"Wanna ride?".
So now he was beside her in the car, driving through the heavy heat of the desert toward Lake Mead.
Sara knew he was staring at her, she could feel his gaze piercing her skin - part of her liked it, enjoyed the attention he was giving her, the other part of her hated it, it was just leading her up for another fall. She always fell so hard - and it was always his fault.
Sara gripped the steering wheel tighter and let out a soft sigh. She glanced up at the mirror, catching his eye in the process - he held her gaze for a moment before looking away. Sara felt her heart sink, he'd told her time and time again that he wasn't interested, yet she couldn't give up hope.
She could feel the heavy silence falling over them again and pressed her foot on the accelerator - the sooner they were there, the sooner she'd be free of the traps her heart set.
When they arrived at the scene some moments later, Brass was already there. He nodded in greeting to them as they pulled their silver kits out of the trunk. They walked across the dirt road and onto the sand of the desert, ducking under the yellow crime scene tape - the only sign of inhabitation.
"What we got?" Grissom asked, his voice heavy with the heat of the afternoon sun.
"Female, early thirties, in a bin bag - no ID as far as I can tell. Found floating by two teenage boys fishing". Brass filled them in on the facts as Grissom began to absorb their surroundings standing quietly for a moment.
"What you thinking?" Sara asked softly, he blinked at the interruption
"Only one road in..."
"Meaning only one way out" she finished his sentence. Her raised an eyebrow at her
"You know what they say, all roads lead to Rome". She responded with a small smile as she turned toward the body.
Sara crouched beside the body, a black bin bag covered her skin, only her features were free of the bag. Her eyes were open, staring up wards as though they had been hoping, but now through death they were waiting. Sara snapped a few shots of the body as she studied the body, the colour of the corpse's eyes transfixed Sara, they were a soft blue... just like
"Sorry I'm late" Dave called out causing Sara to jump in response lost in thought as he smiled at her. She stepped away from the body, despite the extreme Nevada temperature, she could feel herself shivering.
Sara was studying the angelic like appearance of the body so intensely that she barely noticed Grissom come and stand beside her. He was holding up his forceps like a prized possession and between them a tiny fragment of cloth.
"What you got?" she asked. Grissom squinted at his forceps
"White thread, cotton maybe" he mused as he slipped it into a evidence bag.
"Got anything for us David?" Grissom called out to the coroner.
"D'you want me to keep her in the bag until we get her back to the lab?"
"Yes" was Grissom's single word answer.
"Well leviditiy's fixed, liver temp will be way off due to the water"
"Body dump?" Sara wondered.
"I'd say so. Probably dead up to 48 hours or more, I'll know more when I get her back to the lab"
"Thanks" Sara smiled at him. He nodded in response moving towards his van to get the body bag.
Sara knelt beside the body glancing at the plastic sheeting that covered her.
"Right Jane Doe, lets see where you came from".
Grissom glanced at her, as though for a moment her thought she was speaking to him
"I'll take the perimeter" he called out as he turned to the single track road - Sara never replied.
Away from the body, Brass was questioning the teenage boys, he knew this would be a futile task but someone had to do it.
"Names."
"Jack Thompson" the taller, darker of the boys said as he leaned back on an old Ford Mondao.
"And you?".
The boy stared at Jim for a moment
"What is this? Deer in headlights? What's your name?"
"Carter...Carter Smith" the boy stammered, his blonde hair was sticking to his forehead and his blue eyes were wide.
"You see anything?"
"No" Jack replied, "Like I said, we were fishing on the lake, my line got caught on something - was real heavy. Reeled it in and next thing I know theres a frigging body!".
Brass nodded,
"Thanks, CSI Stokes will take your prints and DNA then you can be on your way".
Nick appeared on the scene and was waved over by Brass who quickly filled him in.
"Howdy boys, open up" he grinned his lopsided smile. Soon he had swabs of DNA, fingerprints and their tyre treads - for good measure. He glanced around for Grissom but instead he saw Sara knelt beside the body, her mouth was hanging open and she was shouting something.
"David!".
David was sitting in the drivers seat of the coroners van, the keys were turned in the ignition and the air conditioning was blazing, yet he heard Sara's call. He reluctantly turned off the engine and stepped out of his air conditioned haven. As he reproached the body he saw Sara standing alone holding the edge of the black bag that had covered the victim. Having left the CSI's to unbag the victim, David felt unease settle at the bottom of his stomach. He approached Sara cautiously until he reached her side, then he could see the flesh of the body before him and silence held them both.
They could both barely stand to look at the body, before them all they saw was pale skin badly beaten. There was barely and inch of her torso that wasn't black with bruising, her breasts were dun with abuse and boot marks were visible along the contours of her stomach. Hand shaped bruises marked her wrists and stained her thighs, and it was as though the marks of fingers could be seen on her disfigured neck. From where they stood, the womans' dead eyes watched them, almost pleading. Sara watched the bruises and the silence of the desert faded into the screams of her childhood.
Grissom had glanced up from the tyre treads he was studying to see the stillness of Sara and David. Frowning to himself her stood and walked over, he saw the body and the look on Sara's face. Gently he placed a hand on her shoulder, she flinched in reaction before glancing up at him. She blinked for a few moments as though she were forgetting a bad memory before she recognised him.
"Sorry" she muttered.
"You alright?" he asked, briefly concerned.
"Yeah...fine" she replied, barely a whisper.
Grissom nodded and returned his gaze to the body, he began to carefully snap photos of the horrific bruising.
"Any ideas?" Grissom asked David pointedly. David stumbled on his words as he walked over to the body
"Several" he replied darkly, "Could be asphyxiation, or internal injuries" he squinted at her neck "or even a broken neck"
"It's not broken, it's twisted" Grissom noticed.
Sara swallowed deeply and turned away from the body as past screams wrecked her mind. 'No! Please stop'.
She instantly shook her head and walked into the deserted mumbling something about trace evidence. David stared after Sara
"Aren't you gunna go after her?" he asked slowly. Grissom glanced up, torn between her and the body.
"The dead will wait" David reminded him. Grissom sighed and nodded as he took the final shots of the body.
"Fine, take her back to the mortuary and we'll follow" he instructed. David nodded and began working on the body as Grissom turned towards the desert.
Sara stepped into the passenger side of the car having silently agreed to Grissom driving them back, as she did Warrick and Catherine pulled up on the scene - Grissom filled them in before turning back to the car.
The first five minutes of the journey were in silence as Sara kept her head pressed against the window with her eyes transfixed to the road. Grissom - a man who normally revelled in awkward silences felt the tension of this one. After a moment he spoke
"So what do you think?". Sara seemed caught off guard for a moment, as though she had forgotten he was there.
"I'm thinking direct bruises in intimate places, suggests familiarity - very domestic violence" she mused.
Grissom nodded in silent response trying to phrase what he wanted to say as he remembered Sara's intimate revelations of her traumatic childhood. After several false starts he finally spoke.
"You don't have to take this case, Sara" he began slowly. She looked up instantly, meeting his eyes in the mirror. She shook her head
"I want to". He watched her for a moment before nodding again.
"But thanks" she added softly - a gentle smile on her lips. He gave her half a smile in response before they continued the rest of their journey back to the lab in silence.
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