A/N1: I've deleted mousetrap and decided to try something different. I hope you like it.
Spoilers: Anything up until season 5 is fair game.
Thanks to my beta, Chris.
Standing at the lab table, Catherine sighed as she realized the evidence she had collected had come to another dead end. Catherine grabbed the folder sitting on the table and headed out to find Sara to see if she came up with anything.
As the blonde walked down the hall, she saw Sara storming into her lab and slamming the door shut. Catherine jumped, looking around to see if anybody else witnessed the scene.
Lab techs were looking up, staring at the door that was just slammed. Catherine shook her head and knocked on the door, cracking it open slightly, seeing if it was safe to step in. Sara had her back to the blonde, talking on the phone, unaware that Catherine was there. Catherine could tell Sara was upset and arguing with the person on the other line. Sneaking back out, but leaving the door cracked, Catherine listened to the conversation.
"That's it! You've done it now. I'm tired of your shit, and I'm going to make you pay," Sara snapped harshly into the phone before shutting it, ending the conversation.
Catherine knitted her eyebrows together, wondering who the person was on the other line and how Saw was going to make them pay. Filing it away to think about later, the older CSI knocked on the door louder and stepped into the room as if she just arrived.
Sara jumped, turning around to look at her guest.
"Was that Brass?" Catherine asked, knowing it wasn't.
The brunette just stared at Catherine for a minute before looking at the phone in her hand and shaking her head.
"No, it wasn't Brass," Sara replied, clipping the phone back on her belt.
"Oh?" came the somewhat question from the blonde.
"It was just somebody I'm meeting up with later. Nothing important." Sara lied, looking straight into the older woman's eyes.
Catherine fought the urge to cringe under Sara's glare as the brunette lied to her. Shaking her head to hide her curiosity, the blonde got down to business.
"So did you find anything in the office? I've reached a dead end with everything I've collected."
"Yeah, I actually found long strands of hair on the carpet up under the boss's desk. From just looking at it, it looks like it could be our victim's, but I'm not sure," Sara said.
"So how does a secretary's hair end up on the carpet in the Boss's office unless something is up?" Catherine asked, the gears turning in her head.
"If they were having an affair, that could be motive for the wife to kill the secretary if she found out," the brunette replied.
"True. So how long will it take to compare the samples?" Catherine asked as she leaned up against the lab table.
"Well, Greg said he had to take care of a high priority case Grissom is trying to close, and he's seriously backlogged. So he probably won't be getting our results back until tomorrow," Sara said, taking her lab coat off and draping it over her arm.
"You're about to leave?" Catherine asked in disbelief, turning to follow Sara out the door and down the hall.
"Yes, I've clocked out, and I would really like to get home," Sara said, looking straight ahead.
Catherine's thoughts of Sara's heated conversation immediately resurfaced. The blonde's musings were cut short when they were interrupted by a voice over the intercom.
"Sara Sidle, you have a visitor at reception, Sara Sidle," came the voice over the PA.
Catherine looked at Sara, surprised the young woman had a visitor. Out of everybody on the graveyard shift, Sara was the only one who hadn't had a visitor yet. Even Grissom got a visit from the occasional bug friend.
Frowning, the brunette excused herself to the lobby. Catherine followed closely behind, intrigued by who Sara's guest could be.
When Sara reached the front lobby, Warrick, Nick, Greg, and even Grissom were up front, wondering who was visiting Sara. Well, Grissom looked like he was looking for Greg rather than Sara's visitor.
Before Sara got the chance to comment on their nosiness, a woman stood up from her seat, rushing towards the young CSI.
"You have some nerve!" the young woman yelled, poking Sara in the shoulder.
Catherine looked at the short redheaded woman yelling at Sara. The blonde stared at both women in front of her to see how the scene would unfold.
Getting over the shock and straightening herself up, Sara quickly gained her composure and turned toward Grissom. "I've already clocked out so I'm heading out now." Sara said, her voice scratchy and fire behind her eyes. Anybody could see she was pissed.
Grissom just barely nodded his head and watched as Sara grabbed the young woman by the elbow and all but yanked her out the door.
The CSI team stared at the redheaded woman in the parking lot yelling and gesturing wildly. Sara turned and got into her Tahoe while the other woman was still yelling. Either Sara was being the good guy and just walking away, or she was seriously pissed off because she started the vehicle up and sped off.
"You guys think we should be worried?" Greg asked, still staring at where the argument took place.
"Nah, you know women. It's probably no big deal. It'll be over and done with by tomorrow," Nick replied, waving his hand dismissively.
"I want to know who that was," Catherine stated, turning toward Trudy at the front desk. "Who was that woman?"
"Um.let me see," Trudy said, scrolling down the sign in list with her finger. "That was Stacey Michaels."
The team looked at each other, shaking their heads and shrugging their shoulders, not recognizing the name.
Catherine stepped into the lab, ready to get her results for her current case so she and Sara could put the perp away. Walking into the break room, the blonde made her way to the coffee pot. Grabbing a cup, Catherine poured what smelled like one of Greg's special blends.
Nursing the cup in her hand, Catherine looked up to see Sara was not there.
"Warrick, have you seen Sara?" Catherine asked, sitting down on the couch.
Looking up from the paper, Warrick glanced around. He noticed, too, that the brunette was not there. The man furrowed his brow and shook his had.
"No, I haven't seen her. I passed by her lab on the way in, and I didn't see her in there, either."
"Maybe she's running late," Nick said, walking in and catching the tail end of the conversation.
"Sara? Late?" Warrick shook his head doubtful.
"Assignments," Grissom said, walking in and effectively ending the conversation. "Catherine-"
"Sorry I'm late!" Greg scurried into the room. "I was trying to finish up some samples."
"I hope those were for my case because I need those, Greg," Catherine stated, looking at the lab rat.
"It's not your case anymore, Catherine," Grissom said, shuffling through the slips in his hand. "I'm giving it to Nick; maybe a fresh pair of eyes will help because I heard you've reached a dead end, anyway. I need you and Warrick for a DB we have by an apartment complex."
Warrick stood up, grabbing the slip from Grissom.
"But, Gil." the blonde began to complain.
"We're short handed as it is. Sara called in, and said she was unable to make it-"
"Sara's not coming?!" Greg asked incredulously, voicing everyone's thoughts.
"No, she's not. We still have work to do, though! So get to it." Grissom turned and headed out the door.
Catherine and Warrick pulled up to their crime scene and hopped out of the Tahoe before heading toward Brass.
"What do we have?" the blonde asked, walking with the detective toward the body.
"Nobody saw anything, heard anything, or knows anything," Brass said sighing, clearly frustrated.
"But there's people all around." Warrick looked down the street at all the people walking and talking.
"Maybe too many people," Catherine stated, lifting her sunglasses off her eyes.
"The scene isn't messy. It looks like whoever killed our vic knew what they were doing." Brass stopped at the body.
Stepping up to the body, Catherine gasped, breathing out a "damn."
Warrick mumbled an "oh, shit," shaking his head. He knew he would be facing a few rough weeks ahead.
The blonde quickly snatched the phone off her belt and started dialing.
"Yeah, Gil? I think I might know why Sara called in today. Yeah, our DB is Stacey Michaels."
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