Bait

By Joan Powers

A/N This is an older story that I recently uncovered and just finished up. As a reminder, I will never do a case file without significant GSR. Thanks to Leslie for encouraging me to finish this, and to Eileen, Loisarah, PhDelicious and smryczko for their helpful detailed feedback. This story will be updated daily.

Type: Suspense, G/S angst, G/S romance

Summary: When there is insufficient evidence to indict a suspected serial killer, the CSIs are more than willing to consider an unorthodox proposal. Everyone, that is, except Grissom; especially since it involves Sara.

Timeline/Spoilers: Post Bloodlines yet prior to Season 5

Rating: PG-13 or K+

7p.m. The Lab

"No, it's a bad idea. We have absolutely no reason to even consider it." Grissom stood firm, with his arms crossed in front of his chest. As far as he was concerned, the subject was closed.

Across the conference table, Catherine and Sara sighed and exchanged frustrated glances.

The time, effort, and utter lack of progress on the brutal murder of Bonnie Dunsmore, a popular and well respected school principal, was wearing on all their nerves. She had been thirty-eight years old, with no obvious enemies and a solid reputation in Las Vegas public school system.

"Why?" Catherine asked. "You know this business, when you've got an edge, you use it. Brass said that Manny specifically asked for Sara. He's so arrogant that he's actually giving us an opportunity to nail him. We can't let this slip away."

Sara and Nick had interviewed the overconfident suspect Manuel "Manny" Rivera several times at his workplace, an upscale Las Vegas service center, coincidentally the same garage used by the victim. The tall wiry Latino man had answered their questions, but with a distinctly hostile edge. During the course of his interviews, he'd made repeated, offhandedly crude, sexual comments and innuendoes targeting Sara. He made no secret of the fact that he found women to be little more than gutter trash or pond scum.

Since traces of specialized engine grease used by the garage had been located on the victim's body, the CSIs had been able to obtain a warrant compelling DNA samples from all the employees in the service bays. Manny's DNA had come back a positive match to the DNA extracted from several stray hairs obtained off the victim's body.

At that point, they'd brought him into the station for questioning and processing, essentially examining his alibi and body with a fine-toothed comb. Unfortunately, time had been on Manny's side. The body had been discovered in the desert by a bunch of teenagers searching for an isolated place to party. Based on decomposition it had been buried for at least a week to ten days. Whatever additional physical evidence may have been present had either been compromised by the frightened teens or degraded beyond viability.

As for an alibi, Manny had been able to produce a frightened young Hispanic girl who swore he had been with her for the entire evening in question. Sara suspected that Mariana had been so terrified of incurring Manny's wrath; she would've gladly sworn they'd spent the night at a prayer meeting.

Manny's epithelial cells and fingerprints had also been found in the victim's car, yet these along with the hairs, could conceivably be explained as benign since he claimed to have overseen the recent repair of the vehicle.

Even though several of his acquaintances and co-workers believed the disgruntled Manny to be fully capable of committing such a horrible atrocity, the lab lacked sufficient hard evidence to link him indisputably to the crime and make the charges stick.

"I don't think we've exhausted all our options yet. What do we actually have on him?" Grissom rubbed his temples, searching for answers.

Nick stood against the wall. He began to reiterate their evidence, "The traces of specialized engine grease on the victim led us to Manny's garage. The rope could've been bought at any hardware store."

"Wasn't there something unusual about the knots?" Grissom prodded. The victim's wrists had been tightly bound behind her back.

Sara explained, "Yeah, it wasn't your typical double knot. It was some fancy knot, a half-hitch, typically used by fishermen or sailors."

Nick continued listing their findings, "The clothing fibers identified from the victim were consistent in color and texture with the coveralls used in Manny's garage."

"But they're also used in over fifty other garages in town," Warrick added sadly.

"Only those few hairs.." Grissom muttered to himself. "And the semen's undergone too much degradation for a positive identification."

That had been a huge let down. When Doc Robbins had extracted the semen sample from the victim, the entire lab had been convinced that they finally had a substantial lead.

"Sara and I have been interviewing everyone we can think of to try to get more information on Manny. The Dunsmores used that garage but Manny didn't usually work on their cars. He claimed the day of the crime that he was just helping his co-worker with the repair before Mrs. Dunsmore picked up the vehicle. There was nothing in. his car, the garage, or his apartment to link him to the crime or the victim," Nick added.

Nick was bitterly disappointed. He and Sara had logged a massive amount of overtime trying to nail down their suspect. Now, the clock was ticking. If they didn't make a case within forty-eight hours, the suspect was free to leave town. With a condescending smirk, Manny had assured Nick and Sara that he already had plans to skip Vegas to find a more agreeable environment. Although murder has no statute of limitation, a fugitive would be considerably harder to locate and arrest, not to mention posing a considerable danger to the general public as well.

Catherine rose to fill yet another cup of coffee, and wearily suggested, "Let's try to talk through what we think happened. When did Mr. Dunsmore last see his wife?"

"She called him on her cell phone after she picked up her car from the garage. About seven p.m. on a Tuesday night. She never made it home," Sara answered.

Nick continued, "Her car was found on the shoulder of Cave Creek Expressway the next day. There were deep skid marks behind the car, as if someone forced her off the road."

"Did you examine those tracks yourselves?" Grissom asked sharply. The abandoned vehicle had initially been processed by the day shift; the body hadn't been discovered until several days later. While some of the people on days were pretty sharp, Grissom didn't trust them to do as through and meticulous a job as his team would.

"Of course" Sara sharply replied, equally acerbic and somewhat affronted as she misinterpreted his remark. She knew her job, for God's sake. "The marks tell us that someone rammed into the victim's Mercedes hard and fast. He got her car off the road quickly."

Trying to push his theories even harder, Nick grimly added, "The paint transferred to the vic's car was vintage white – a Ford blend. There were bits of glass embedded in the tail lights from an F-17 series head light, and the location of the hits suggests a medium-sized pick up truck, possibly a Ranger. The tire marks are also consistent with a Ford Ranger."

"Manny owns a Ford Escort," Sara offered. "Nick's been all over the DMV data base trying to ID this truck." Unfortunately, he wasn't having much luck.

"So he followed her from the garage then forced her car off the road. Then he must've used a gun or something to threaten her, to get her out of her car to go…where?" Catherine wondered, "Where is this guy having his fun? Where's the love nest?"

"That's the ten thousand dollar question. That would be our crime scene," Grissom sighed. Bodies buried in the desert just didn't reveal as much information as those found at the actual crime scene.

With some urgency in her voice, Sara reminded Grissom, "I still think there's a cabin at Lake Mead."

Grissom shook his head, "You're jumping to conclusions. What are you basing this on? Give me the long version." Earlier, when she'd tried to explain her reasoning, it hadn't made sense to him. That puzzled him since he usually had to exert minimal effort to follow her train of thought. She must've been tired.

"We think we can link Manny to other similar crimes," Sara explained. "I spent hours covering the police rape reports within the last four years, the length of time that Manny has been employed with the same garage. I looked for similarities between the crimes, and I cross referenced for victims who used that garage." It had been days and days of painstakingly detailed work.

She continued, "Renee Barber and Michelle Lewis were both customers at Manny's garage. Both reported being stalked by a tall Latino man then being forced to have sex with him."

"But Sara," Grissom played devil's advocate as he perused the reports she'd given to him earlier. "Renee was forced into her home while Michelle was raped in a parking garage. It's not the same MO."

"There are too many similarities in the descriptions of their assaults for it to be coincidental." Sara was firm.

"Such as…" he led.

"The perp used a bone handled, serrated-edged hunting knife to threaten each of his victims. He held it at their throats, before he raped them, and he threatened to mutilate them in a manner similar to what we found with Bonnie Dunsmore. He also traced his knife on their chests, producing a pattern similar to the stab wounds found on our vic. One of the women was bound at her wrists and ankles with white rope, using the same type of knots," Sara explained.

"Where's the evidence? In each of these cases, the rapes went unreported for weeks, even months," Grissom asked.

Sara sighed, "They were scared to death. Renee only reported the rape after her husband found out and insisted on it. It was days later when she finally came in for processing so there wasn't much evidence left. She also refused to try to identify the man, said he'd threatened to kill her and her family if she told anyone. Michelle lived alone and only reported the rape months later when she got into counseling and a support group. There's nothing probative, and they're both still terrified of this guy.

"So there are some surface similarities," Grissom concluded.

Sara confidently replied, "They can positively identify him."

That got his attention.

Then she had to back down, deflating in front of him, "But they won't, they're too scared. I spoke with both of them at length. The physical description is Manny to a tee, along with the language and the colorful vocabulary. When I played a tape of his voice for them, they were panic stricken. Michelle almost passed out. Even though their attacks occurred over two years ago, they're still frightened. So all we have is anecdotal evidence which is inadmissible in court." Sara explained, carefully avoiding Grissom's glare. He had strong reservations about her handling this case in the first place; he'd wanted to give it to someone else.

"So we have a tenuous possibility that this guy has committed assaults prior to the murder of Mrs. Dunsmore but nothing usable," Grissom sighed. "What about these other files you gave me?"

Sara explained, "They're unsolved cases. The women were never located. Sally Baker, Amanda Lewis, and Cheryl Stein were all customers at Manny's garage, though he was not their regular mechanic." That information had taken hours upon hours to locate. "Sally Baker and Amanda Lewis's cars were never located. Cheryl Stein's was."

Nick handed several blow up photos over to Grissom, pointing out the details of the crime scene. "Look, skid marks. The collision marks are consistent with a mid-sized pickup truck, traces of the same shade of paint were transferred, similar tire spacing, tread and size….same MO, Grissom."

"This is interesting but I'm not sure it's convincing. You have nothing concrete unless you can absolutely match that truck, a truck we can't even prove Manny has. And I still think you're reaching for the Lake Mead connection," Grissom was adamant.

Warrick interceded, "I disagree. Nick, you forgot to mention the weird fragment Dr. Robbins discovered at the opening of Mrs. Dunsmore's cervix. Could that be a small fragment of a knife's bone handle?"

Nick agreed enthusiastically, "You bet."

"From the size and shape of the wound track, we know he used a large serrated blade with a slight curve. That type of knife is used by many of the local fisherman out at the lake to fillet fish. So, a fishing knife and nautical knots put Lake Mead right up on the probability list, and don't forget, it's only ten minutes away from the burial site," Warrick grinned, hoping he was right.

Grissom grudgingly admitted, "It's a possibility." Though, he still felt they were grasping at straws.

As Catherine examined the data, she interjected, "Gil, it's a pattern. The two women were raped in 2003, about six months apart from each other. Sally Baker disappeared in April 2004, Amanda Lewis in December 2004, Cheryl Stein in August 2005 then Bonnie Dunsmore in November of 2005. If this is all him, he's picking up speed. He's escalating."

Sara looked intently at Grissom, "Can we search that area where Mrs. Dunsmore's body was found? See if there is anyone else buried there? If he's never been caught before, why wouldn't he continue to use the same site?"

Grissom considered it. It was an interesting theory, but he wasn't completely convinced. Searching the desert for dead bodies involved serious manpower. And he didn't like being wrong. But then again, additional bodies with a link to the garage and thus to Manny could be the break that they need. If he'd actually committed all of those crimes, he was a seriously dangerous man. They were running out of time.

Right now, searching the desert was infinitely better than the dreadful alternative that Sara and Catherine were suggesting. There was no way he was going to allow Manny to be alone with Sara.

"Let's do it."

But would forty-eight hours be enough time to locate and process three bodies?

TBC