A/N this takes place while Grissom is on sabbatical (any mistakes are all mine I've read it three times but I'm sure I've missed lots so I apologise in advance) Before Vegas
San Francisco was something Sara Sidle rarely talked about and when she did it was only passing comments. So when Catherine pressed the subject one day she was surprised the response she got.
"Come on Sara you worked there for five years tell us something about it" pressed Cath sat on the couch in the break room
"Look I don't ask you about your past stop asking me about mine. I'm off now see you in three weeks," snapped Sara slamming her coffee down on the side and marching out the room.
"Whoa what's going on?" asked Warrick coming in and almost getting trampled by Sara on her ay out. "She just geared up for her vacation or are you two at it again?"
"We've got two CSI's and a detective coming from San Francisco about the John doe case, apparently a old serial no details they said they would bring everything" explained Catherine "I thought Sara might want to take it but instead she bit my head of and has stormed off home even with the offer of overtime. She actually stuck to her vacation as you just saw"
"Catherine their here" came Brass's voice poking his head around the doorframe.
Catherine and Warrick followed Brass to the reception where two men were stood. One was tall good looking and looked serious. The other was slightly shorter and stocky, older around Grissom's age and looked stressed carrying two boxes.
"Hi I'm Catherine Willow's this is Warrick Brown" said Cath holding her handout
"Hi James Wilson and this is Kevin West" the smarter man introduced taking Cath's hand.
"You got somewhere we can put these?" he asked indicating the boxes.
"Sure they all the files?" asked Catherine as they went into her office
"All the files any evidence we have to check out separately we've brought some photos but we can get anything you need"
"So what makes you think this is the same killer after eight years?" asked Warrick as the two men sat down. With that the older man rummaged through a box and place a photo down on the table. It was a man cut open and pinned down on a bloody piece of wood.
"I don't think there are that many people go around taking bodies apart and displaying them," he answered
"So what are we talking, how many do you think he's killed?" asked Brass
"At least nine"
Catherine sighed sitting down and running her hand through her hair. Suddenly the door burst open and man about Nick's age appeared smiling
"Sorry I got lost" he announced coming in "Jason Gibb's" he announced getting slightly disgruntled looks from his co-workers. "Hey there's a face I haven' seen in a while" he announced grabbing a photo off Cath's desk "Sara Sidle you haven't changed much" his voice seemed tinged with sadness as he placed the photo back down and joined his colleges on the sofa.
"You know Sara?" asked Catherine
"Does she still work here?" asked the James clearly the person in charge
"Yes" answered Brass noticing something in the mans voice
"That might be a problem does she know why were here?"
"No I told her some CSI's and a detective were coming but I didn't have chance to explain why she's just come back from a seminar so she wasn't up to speed on the case.
"Good" continued James "I suppose we start from the beginning"
Catherine was going to interrupt but he was already in his flow.
"Eight years ago I was called out to homicide at Motel Jump found Lacey Travers hung from the lamp shade both ears removed and her torso cut open. COD blunt force trauma. The entire room was bleached expect he bed no fibres no hairs no suspects."
"One months later Louise Shaper and Jane doe were found in a ally next to a supermarket both naked this time with ears but their arms and legs were sliced open COD again blunt force trauma both were object raped. No evidence this time rain washed any away, they'd been dead at least forty eight hours by the time we got there" continued Jason "they were posed Jane doe was laid hand under head like she was sleeping, Louise was left with a half empty bottle or beer in her mouth. We found prints traced them back to a Karl Dempsy been out with friends and dumped the bottle before going into a club bouncers and friend verified the story"
"Two months after that Lee, Kerry, Alyssa and Dean Mathews, whole family killed" James searched for a photo and placed it down "they were placed around the Christmas tree like dolls" he looked genuinely disgusted as Cath forced herself to look at the photo. "Alyssa, seven and Dean, five were killed instantly by blunt force trauma directly to the front of the forehead we think in their sleep. Dad Lee was killed in the kitchen stabbed six times and beaten. Mum Kerry was raped and beaten before been asphyxiated then all her fingers were removed and put on the fireplace"
"Mutilation" muttered Cath
" The two children had there's tongues cut out after death" added Kevin speaking for the first time
"So he's got a thing for mutilation"
"And that's about all we knew, male likes to cut things up" said Jason angrily
"Wait he killed a entire family and that's all you got?" asked Warrick
"Pools of blood on each Childs bed and the mothers. Pool in kitchen, we went over the whole place nothing. Every room he had been in was bleached including the hall nothing but swirls no hairs, no skin under mum's nails," explained Kevin "even the cast off had been cleaned"
"How did he get in?" asked Cath
"That we don't know no sign of forced entry but he back door was unlocked but the whole house was sealed and bolted so mum or dad leaving the door open seemed unlikely. Neighbours didn't hear anything but some music, probably turned on to cover any noise"
"You thinking he had a key" asked Brass as the three men nodded.
"We think he followed them for a while mother reported someone in their garden three days before. No one took much notice until after"
"That's' seven there's two more"
Jason opened a box and picked out a video tape and looked over to James
"We had nothing for four months and then when he struck again we didn't realise it was him until it was too late" said James looking t the floor. "This tape was what we were using to help rookies. CSI's filmed one of their cases from beginning to end. They were called out to a homicide at a apartment, nothing seemed that unusual until the body got back to the morgue…this is why Sara shouldn't be anywhere near this case"
With that he gestured towards the TV with the video
"Sure" said Cath looking slightly confused. He stuck the video in and it began to play
"Hi I'm Jason and this is how to be a CSI," announced a younger Jason in a strange chat show host voice filming himself in the mirror.
"Jason stop prating about" came a female voice and a blonde steeped in front of the screen as the camera spun round onto her
"This is the lovely Lisa our DNA tech," continued Jason turning the camera back on himself "but enough of her lets talk about me"
"Shut It Jason" came a very familiar voice as the picture spun round to show a younger looking Sara. Her hair was longer than it was now and hung in limp curls. Her frame was slightly plumper than now and she looked brighter less tired and had a grin across her mouth.
"And this is sick note"
"I said shut it" warned Sara glaring at him
"Your not upsetting her are you?"
"And this is Danny but we mostly ignore him" said Jason as a tall man came into view with a wide smile before going over to Sara and kissing her on the lips
"We don't' do that sort of thing all the time here, sadly" added Jason
"Right come on you've got a case, homicide" came a new voice as a woman handed Danny a piece of paper. "Sara if you want to kill him I'm sure we could make it look like a nasty accident" smiled the new brunette as Sara turned around biscuit in hand and smiled
"Don't tempt me" she smiled as the women went to leave "that viewers is Lauren our leader she has a strange sense of humour"
"Come on Jason lets put that thing to use" Danny said before kissing Sara again
"Lauren come on let me out I'm going stir crazy" said Sara looking over at Lauren
"Sara your not working the scene at a homicide you can stay here and work it from the lab" said Lauren leaving "and that's final" she shouted
"Sick notes not allowed out he lab because Danny got her up the duff," announced Jason trying to touch Sara's stomach but getting his hand slapped away
"Watch it"
"Well you wouldn't have liked it you puked at pictures of dead bodies lest week let alone the real thing"
"HA, HA" shouted Sara shoving him away.
"Sara was pregnant" interrupted Catherine more talking to herself than anyone. No one answered but continued to watch the tape that jolted to a body been placed on a gurney.
"This is our corner Paul, wave Paul," instructed Jason
"Leave him alone" came Danny's voice as the camera shot round to him "try doing some work"
"I've done some there's is no evidence all of down stairs has been bleached it's like it was poured everywhere" he announced proudly
"COD appears to be asphyxiation," said Paul taking the man away.
"So rookie's this is what we call a pile of crap. One Male DB in his own house back window's smacked no footprints outside been wiped, no finger prints inside places been bleached."
"And minimal blood splatter across a white sheet that doesn't go with this room" added Danny
"Which makes us think the killer brought his own sheet unfortunately white cotton is like dust and the label has been unpicked so finding where it came from would be a miracle"
"Which also tells us…" started Danny
"This may not be their first time" with that he video cut off.
"We have been over that many times," sighed Kevin
"That's still only eight," said Brass looking at James the detective who was rubbing his temples.
"Jason and Danny took what little evidence they had back to the lab when I got a phone call from the morgue the man was dressed when the cut his clothes off they found he had been sewn up when they opened him up they found all his organ's had been removed. We found them a week later dumped in a bin bag outside the lab.
"He was sat on a chair with a news paper on his lap we thought he was there when he was killed because there was no blood anywhere but the sheet hung on the wall behind him, then we found the sheet had been moved there"
"Before I new all of this Sara had spotted something in one of the photo's a small piece of metal under a counter. She went to collect it. I should have made her stay in the lab she told me where she was going because Lauren was in a meeting. The scene was cleared there was a officer there I had no reason to…" he cut of realising he had said more than he wanted to.
"Half an hour later I got a call 911 from a neighbour they came home and saw the officer unconscious outside the front door. He came back to get the earring he left" James plonked a photo down
"This is all we got he came in the back we have one foot print size nine trainer widely produced" Jason stopped realising he was going of on a tangent
"He came in the back knocked the officer out with chloroform and attacked Sara…… pushed her down the stairs…..she had a miscarriage she was only four months gone" he placed some more photo's down.
Catherine could hide her gasp as she saw the picture of Sara's face, three stitches on her forehead and several bruises.
"This is Sara's blood she had a contusion on her forehead we know he came from behind hit her head against the wall and pushed her down the stairs took the earring and swab we found a bit of latex from gloves the thick type not any of Sara's"
The whole room was silent as Catherine, Warrick and Brass took this information in.
"Needless to say Danny was on this case he worked for weeks but got nothing no leads nothing about any victim's connected. Eventually he stopped chasing and Sara came back to work. Two months after Sara was discharged from hospital Danny was late for work he'd gone out for a jog as usual and Sara had come in early to get some paper work done. Lauren and her went to a warehouse a hand had been found outside" he stopped as if he couldn't say it all at once "inside Danny was……." he couldn't finish so instead with a shaky hand placed a photo down that caused Catherine to take a deep breath. His hands strung from the ceiling arms and legs splayed and cut open down the centre insides spilling onto the floor
"Oh my god" muttered Cath "Sara saw?"
"She didn't' speak for nearly two weeks after, then barley said anything for two moths until one day I get a resignation letter she's going to Vegas"
"Did you get anything from that case" asked Warrick putting the photo to the bottom of the pile
"It wasn't random. We think Danny got too close obviously he'd seen Sara maybe he considered her as a threat and because of that realised Danny was"
"Whole place was a bloody mess but still no hairs clothes were dumped in a barrel of bleach, barrel was already there. There was a trial of blood from behind the warehouse from a small path where he jogged, signs of struggle but nothing useful. Only hairs we found were Danny's we think he shaves his head. No one around to see anything. For a years killing spree we have a male, size nine shoe kills mostly at random enjoys mutilation often poses bodies after. They disappeared for seven years or changed the signature which is unlikely"
"And now they're in Vegas" sighed Cath "thank you"
"We should probably go check into our hotel leave you to go through this if you need any think my number," said James getting up as the others followed Jason hung behind
"I want to be there when they're charged. They took away my two best friends I want to see the smug look wiped of there face for this" he handed Cath a photo and walked out
"What is it?" asked Warrick. Catherine looked down at the photo it was Sara and Danny he had his arms wrapped around her holding a baggy tee shirt up revealing a slight bump. She flicked it over on the back it had fifteen weeks scrawled across it in Sara's handwriting.
"Man I can't believe she never said" sighed Warrick
"I don't think it's the sort of thing you talk about" sighed Brass.
Catherine was sat in the break room it was three weeks since the visit from San Francisco three weeks since she had last seen Sara before her vacation. Three weeks since the homicide. Two weeks since she got a phone call two DB's in California had been found strung up, one week since Jason called to tell her they caught him red handed he had got cocky and not done his research husband came home early and found him attacking his wife, knocked him out with a pipe. Jason was there when they arrested him and when he was sentenced to death and now she had the letter telling Sara that. Jason had said he claimed the people chose him they looked at him and he knew they were evil he had to cut it out of them. He hadn't killed for seven years as he had been in and out of prison for various charges involving drugs.
"Hey interesting envelope?" asked Sara coming in with a smile
"Sara" Cath shot up and hugged the younger women
"Hey nice to see you too" said Sara backing off at the sudden display of affection "have you been at Greg's magic brownies again?" asked Sara smiling nervously
"No I'm just sorry we argued before you left"
"Oh we argue all the time I didn't think that was special" smiled Sara sitting down
"This is for you" she handed Sara the envelope and she reacted immediately to the writing. Slowly Sara opened it as she read he face paled and for a minute Catherine thought she was going to faint. Instead her hands trembled and tears spilled down her face
"Sara" Cath wasn't sure what to say Sara folded the letter and looked up at Catherine her cheeks wet with tears.
"There's something I need to tell" started Sara. Catherine sat down, hearing the story again was going to be hard as it would be for Sara telling it but Cath knew Sara needed to tell it. So she sat listened through the whole thing learning new information like meeting Danny and others who she worked with, Sara had even met his parents after she found out she was pregnant then the story turned to what Cath was dreading hearing Sara say she lost her baby and there farther and how they were killed. At the end Sara broke down again so Catherine simply held the younger women until the tear stopped.
"So do you want to go? I could come with you if you want" asked Cath as Sara finally broke away
"No. I've seen enough death. Just as long as Danny and our baby have justice" said Sara getting up "and Cath I'll be ok," she added leaving. Cath was left sitting alone suddenly knowing why Sara had to fight so hard why she always wanted justice for families, for victims she had never found it until now.
THE END
Wow that was long and possibly boring but let me know what you think just try to be nice please : )