Chapter Two

Headlights on Dark Roads

Sara entered the huge bright kitchen, which was bigger then her whole apartment, to see a small sobbing figure at the kitchen bar.

"Carla Reid?"

The sobbing form looked up, and nodded at Sara. With short, spiky brown hair with blonde tips, a nose ring, several piercings in her ears and torn jeans paired with an Eminem hoody, the young girl conflicted starkly with the surrounding influences of the house.

"Sara Sidle, CSI"

Holding out her hand, which was shaken loosely, she sat down next to the young girl, whose eyes widened when she saw Sara's face close up.

"W-what happened to your eye?"

Sara smiled

"I asked Mr. Johnson the wrong question"

Carla shook her head, and proceeded to wipe her nose on a tissue in her hand.

"They both have tempers. But Mrs. Johnson is much worse."

Sara got up and retrieved a glass of water for both herself and the young girl.

"Carla do you mind me asking you a few questions about what happened here tonight? I know you have talked to the police but it helps if we hear it from you ok?"

Carla nodded and took a deep breath and started playing with the tattered cuff of her jersey.

"I have been here for two years now. I only got the job because of the fact nobody else wanted it and the money is crap. You would think that with the way that Mr. Johnson makes money they could pay more then five dollars an hour but no. Anyway, I wanted it because I love kids and Stacie and I got on the moment I met her. She has had a hard life and she has such a good personality once you got to know her. She's one of those old souls you know? The kind of kid who just accepted everything apart of what must be done."

Sara nodded slightly and urged her on.

"What happened tonight?"

Silent tears started coming down the girl's cheeks as she remembered the event's that had unfolded.

"Stacie wanted to make something for her dad, but it involved cutting and the scissors are kept in the parent's room, you know for safety. She came and asked me if she could get the scissors from their room and I said yes, but I told her she had to do her cutting in here so that I could watch her, and then she could have her snack at the same time." Carla indicated to the plate that sat on the bench untouched, full of now browning fruit and crackers. "She loved fresh fruit, especially grapes and peaches" Smiling sadly, Carla started tearing up the tissue onto the counter "So I kept getting her snack ready, then just before I went to clear the table, Mrs. Johnston came home, saying that she had forgotten something and she then headed upstairs and a few minutes later I heard this popping sound. Mrs. Johnston came down soon after, saying that Stacie was in trouble and to not bother her. I ran up to her room as soon as she left and Stacie was just laying there!" Carla had now collapsed into sobs again, shaking uncontrollably. Sara touched her hand and reached into her pocket, and produced another tissue for the girl, who crying was starting to cease again. "I just froze. I couldn't think or register what had happened, and then when I finally awoke from my trance, I called the cops." Carla looked at Sara "Do I need to come to the police station? I mean I know I did nothing but do I need to make a statement or whatever?"

Sara nodded

"The police will be in contact with you to get your official statement but otherwise you just need to go home and rest"

Carla shook her head

"Every time I close my eyes, she's there. She was eight for crying out loud! There should never have been a gun in the house, what idiot keeps a gun in a house with small children?"

Carla took a deep shuddering breath and stood up shakily. "Is it ok for me to use the phone? I need to call my mother" Sara pulled her card out of her pocket.

"Sure you can. If you remember anything call me at this number ok?"

Carla nodded

"Thank you"

Sara left Carla to call her mother and went to find Grissom, who was in the back yard with Amy Johnson.

"I told you that I went to get a manicure earlier today. I left Stacie here with Miss Reid, then I came home for like an hour then went to a cocktail party and when I came home Stacie was dead!"

Amy was losing her temper, she had started turning red and she was throwing her arms up and yelling.

"Oh and now here comes the cow that got my husband arrested."

Giving Sara an evil look, she turned back to Grissom, and waited for just a second while Sara lowered her voice and whispered in his ear, her hair falling forward, tickling his cheek and neck. "I still don't understand why you are all here, as far as I can tell it was a accident, a tragic one for all of us, but I really don't see the need for you to still be here" The ice had moved back into her voice and she sounded completely cold again. Ignoring her last comment Grissom moved on with his questions

"Why did you come home?"

Amy looked at Grissom with a huge amount of contempt, like he was the lowest form of human life, and therefore had no right to ask her any questions.

"I forgot something that I needed for the charity event. Why is that a problem?"

Amy shrugged like it was no big deal and fixed Sara and Grissom with a cold hard look

"I have to go back and sort out the mess that your people left."

Without a backwards glance, she turned on her heel and left Sara feeling slightly gob smacked.

"Well that went fantastically well didn't it?"

Grissom sighed, and then made a move back to the front of the house.

"I questioned Carla Reid, and she told me that they both had a hell of a temper, do you think that could mean anything? I mean Mr. Johnson hit me without so much as blinking. And with Ice Queen over there going back to the house…."

Grissom cocked his head slightly

"It might mean something but it could mean nothing. The fact that she was here when the little girl died, does lend to the idea that she could have had a hand in it. But first we check the evidence."

Hating feeling so impatient, but knowing she would have to deal, Sara matched Grissom stride, and they walked in thoughtful silence back to the house.

Catherine, Nick and Warrick met up in the break room to get up to date with the evidence.

"So did you guys find anything interesting at the sight?"

Warrick shook his head while he made them all a coffee

"It was an old site, and combined with the weather, we had nothing"

Nick nodded

"No hairs, no fibers, and what little blood we found was from the victim"

Catherine took the coffee that Warwick handed her and wrapped her hands around it.

"The autopsy didn't really tell us anything new either. She bled to death from four cuts on the main veins. One on her inner thigh, one on the neck and two on the wrists. There was also a skull fracture present, looks like a hit from a flat object, suspect a shovel but like I said, nothing new really"

Nick was adding sugar to his coffee, and reaching for the milk when he stopped

"She was missing for a month right? Do you think he has killed before?"

Warrick shrugged his shoulders.

"The report did say that the cuts were neat and precise. It could mean that he might have had practice or that he is just good at whatever he does. Do we know what school the victim went to?"

Catherine nodded

"Ok then we go from there. Interview parents, friends, teachers and team mates etc"

Warrick finished off his coffee and rinsed out the cup

"How bout we split up? Cath you can take friends and teachers, you being the people person and all. Nick you can take team mates and I will take family and the boyfriend ok?"

Both Catherine and Nick nodded, finished their coffees and got to work.

Approaching Jessica Swaye's parents small neat house, Warrick felt like he had a rock in his stomach, not quite sure what to expect from this interview. This was by far one of the worse parts of his job, talking to the dead person's family was always hard Grief does weird things to people, makes them act in ways that are unusual. As he pulled up alongside the house, his curiosity peaked when he saw the red pick up truck in the driveway.

Knocking on the pale blue front door, he heard footsteps then the door was pulled open by a small balding man answered the door.

"Mr. Swaye? I'm Warrick Brown from CSI; I have come to ask you a few questions about your daughter"

Nick Sawye shook Warrick's hand and motioned him inside.

"Of course, please do come in and call me Nick"

Nodding his understanding, Warwick was lead into the small neat living room, and he sat down on a worn brown couch. Moving away from Warwick and heading to the beginning of the hall to Warrick's left, Nick Swaye took a deep breath and shouted

"Colleen! We have a visitor!"

Then came and sat down opposite Warwick. Within a few seconds, a small compact woman walked in. With shoulder length salt and pepper hair and a small round face, she looked slightly like her husband.

Warwick stood and offered his hand again

"Warwick Brown, CSI, I'm sorry for your loss"

Colleen shook his hand, then took a seat beside her husband

"Do you want anything to drink? Water, OJ, coffee or tea?"

Warwick shook his head

"No thank you Mrs. Swaye"

"Please call me Colleen."

Getting straight down to business, he asked the first thing that had been bugging him.

"Can I ask why there is a pick up truck in the drive way?"

Colleen smiled sadly at Warwick

"Our Jessica has been missing a month, and when she first disappeared, I was looking through her room for clues to where she might have been. And I came across a hand written will. Now I know this is not legal, but it was just what she wanted to happen to her personal belongings. So when I got word that her body had been found, we set about making the things she wanted done. One of which being anything we or her friends didn't want, was to be given to charity. And any money in her accounts was to be given to the RSPCA."

Gripping her husband's hand she kept her voice steady

"I want to respect her wishes"

Nick rubbed his wife's back soothingly, and indicated to the table beside Warwick

"She was a beautiful girl, was our Jessica. But maybe I'm bias"

Smiling widely, he lent over and handed Warwick a picture. From it a pretty girl with long brown hair, intelligent eye's and a wide smile, gazed at him.

"She was everyone's friend. Didn't matter about who or what you where, she was there for you. She was often judged for being like that but I think that it made her a better person"

Looking proud he glanced at his wife

"She was a very good daughter, treated us with the utmost respect even though she was nineteen"

Warrick nodded

"On the last day you saw Jessica, how was she? Was everything going ok?"

Colleen smiled, and nodded

"Her basketball team where on a winning streak and talent scouts where at almost every game, school was going good, with the midterms finally done and her relationship with Mark was becoming more serious. They had been talking about getting married, having a family together. She had it all in front of her."

Colleen was picking absentmindedly at a loose piece of thread on her apron, twisting it around her fore finger.

"At least she was happy when she left us. That makes it a tiny bit easier on us"

Silent tears where falling down her round cheeks onto her now slightly wrinkled apron.

"The police told us that, she was unconscious when that… animal hurt her the way he did, she would never had felt anything. Mr. Brown, is that true? She would have felt nothing?"

Warrick shook his head defiantly

"No she would have been… sleeping is the word that I would use"

Nick was now also crying quietly beside his wife

"It never gets any easier. I keep expecting her to walk through the door, saying she just went on a road trip and forgot to tell us"

Shaking his head he cleared his throat and stood up from the couch

"Excuse me for a moment"

He walked stiffly from the room, leaving Warwick with Colleen.

"I know that the cops have properly been up there already, but would you mind terribly if I went up to Jessica's room and had a look for myself?"

Colleen stood up and nodded

"Of course. A few things have gone, like her guitar and her posters but her computer and basically everything else is there"

She led Warrick through the kitchen and down another hall, where to his right, he was faced with a lavender room

"I'll be in the kitchen, just has a poke around if you have any questions you know where I am"

With a small smile she was gone. Warwick walked to the center of the room and had a slow look around, trying to find anything that might stick out. Finding nothing he settled for taking up Colleen's invite for poking around. On a large dresser table near the bed, a quite a few framed photos of her basketball team. On a mirror above that there were pictures of her friends cut out and plastered all over the mirror, in the center a picture of a young handsome boy had love heart stickers all around it. Presuming it was a picture of her boyfriend Mark Wester, Warwick tucked it into an evidence bag, meaning to ask before he left if he could borrow it. On the top of the dresser a variety of make up, hair brushes, combs and hair clips covered the top of the dresser to the point where the top could not be seen unless you moved it over slightly. Upon doing this Warwick spotted a small square white piece of paper. Putting on a latex glove quickly, he picked it up and carefully opened it with his gloved hand:

Loved the game. You have real talent for someone of your age.

If you interested in going further, give me a call.

555-8236

Skylar Felton

Skylar Felton? Better pass that name onto Catherine Warrick made a mental note to himself before taking another glance around the room. When nothing jumped out at him, he decided to call it a day and leave the Swaye's to move their daughter's belongings in peace.

Catherine was waiting in the Dean's office at Yale University when her cell phone rang loudly in her front pocket. Flipping it open with a faint click she spoke briskly

"Willows. Oh hi Warrick, how are you doing? Yeah just sitting in the principles office getting a sense of de javu is all. What's up? A note? Ok what's the name again? Skylar Felton… yep ok got it, yeah meet you back at the office"

Hanging up before he could answer, she heard a creak behind her as the door to the office swung open.

"Miss Willows how are you? I'm Dean Palmers"

A tall intimidating dark haired man held out his hand all the while wearing a smile that didn't quite make it to his eyes. Making his way around the desk to the very comfortable looking leather chair sitting royally behind it, he made himself comfortable before he spoke again

"How can I help you today?"

Catherine sat back in her chair

"I am here in connection to the death of Jessica Swaye"

The Dean put his elbows on his smooth polished desk, putting his hands together, looking almost as if she was praying.

"Yes that was a true tragedy for both her family and the school combined."

Trying to look sad, Catherine suspected that the only thing he thought was a tragedy was how his prize winning basketball team would be affected by Jessica's demise.

"I wanted to meet with you to discuss the possibility of talking to some of the other students, teachers, and friends who knew Jessica"

The dean nodded his head slowly

"I need you to understand that the school is already full to the brim with rumors about what happened to Jessica, getting them stressed and over excited. All I ask is that you don't hand over any details that are not completely required"

Catherine nodded

"Of course sir. I will use the utmost discretion"

The Dean stood up and offered his hand to Catherine

"Thank you for your consideration. If that is all Miss Willow's, I have students and worried parents to see. If you ask my receptionist's she can provide you with the information you require"

Indicating to the door with his head, he shook Catherine's hand then sat back down and started shifting through papers that sat on his desk.

Thanks for nothing. Catherine thought to herself as she turned on her heel and left the room. Heading towards the receptionist desk, Catherine cleared her throat, gaining a very annoyed glance from elderly women, who remotely resembled a toad, with bulgy eyes and a wide mouth.

Raising her eyebrow she fixed Catherine with a glare that would make Grissom sweat

"Can I help you?"

She continued to stare at Catherine coldly, her lips puckered, making her look as though she had found something distasteful on the bottom of her shoe.

"Dean Palmers said that you would be able to supply me with lists of teachers and teammates that Jessica Swaye had?"

The women turned back to her computer, tapped a few keys, turned to a printer situated close by and handed over a few papers to Catherine. Without so much of a backward glance, she turned back to her computer and resumed her typing.

"Thanks"

Catherine turned on her heel, skimming the papers as she headed towards the campus coffee shop to meet Nick.

As Catherine and Nick sat in the coffee shop going over the papers, they where interrupted when a young blonde girl brought over their drinks

"One cappuccino and one caramel frappacino"

Carefully laying the drinks on the table, she glanced at Catherine.

"Are you guy's here about Jessica?"

Catherine nodded

"Did you know her?"

Taking a seat beside Catherine, the girl glanced towards the counter

"I only have a couple of minutes, we are quite busy today. Yeah I knew Jessica. She worked here a couple of days a week till she got fired"

Nick glanced at Catherine

"Fired?"

The girl nodded

"That boyfriend of hers kept hanging around demanding free coffee, you know because she was his girlfriend, and when the boss confronted him about it she jumped to his defense saying that if he was going to kick him out he would have to fire her, and well he did"

Nick pulled a pen from his front pocket.

"What's your name?"

The girl smiled

"Sorry I should have introduced myself. Kathie James"

Kathie jumped up from the stool she had been sitting on and, turned to Catherine

"I had better go, the boss will ask questions, but if you need to talk to me anymore, I'm here five days a week. I have the weekends off. Seeya"

With a small wave she hurried off to clear some tables.

Catherine turned to Nick, who was putting sugar into his cappuccino

"Well that was completely unexpected. How the heck did she know who we were?"

Nick smiled broadly at Catherine

"If you hadn't noticed, dressed in the clothes we are compared to the other students, we can only be teachers or cops. She must have put two and two together"

Taking a deep swallow of her caramel frappacino, she closed her eyes as the sugar and caffeine filled her blood stream.

"I so needed that"

Half an hour later, having finished their coffee's and given their card to Kathie, they separated, Catherine heading to the English building while Nick headed for the gym, agreeing to meet up in two hours time, before all the classes finished.

"Ok girls, I want 20 laps done, get running!!"

Nick swung open the door to the gymnasium, getting a nice big whiff of sweat and court polish. Moving towards the large incredibly muscular women, whom he assumed was the coach, he stuffed the school map and the info Catherine had given him into his pocket

"Miss Emily Parkinson?"

The short, muscular lady turned to face Nick

"Yes?"

Holding out his hand he introduced himself

"Nick Stokes, CSI. I have come to ask some questions regarding Jessica Swaye."

Shaking his hand with a vice like grip, the older woman smiled sadly

"She was a great kid. Such potential, such a waste. How can I help you?"
Nick glanced at the court, where the girls where running laps, with long practiced strides.

"I need to talk to her teammates, if that's alright with you. If it makes it easier I can take them one at a time."

Miss Parkinson nodded, then turning her eyes back to the court; she blew loudly into the whistle hanging from her neck.

"Ok girls take a seat on the floor for a second will you?"

Relieved sighs echoed around the court bouncing off the walls getting back to the coach

"You will get back to running your laps in a moment, so don't worry"

Smiling happily, she watched as the twelve players sat down, all of them taking interested glances at Nick. Once they where all sitting down and it was relatively quiet, she started to speak.

"This gentleman here is Nick Stokes from CSI. He wants to speak to you girls about Jessica. He is going to call you up one at a time, alphabetically while the rest of you can do laps till your names are called"

Glancing at Nick, Miss Parkinson motioned to the group

"They are all yours"

Taking the piece of paper from his pocket he quickly glanced over the names.

"Faith Ayden?"

Lifting his head, he saw a tall lanky girl step forward, motioning to the bleachers he lead her to a relatively quite spot, while the others where made to do laps again.

"So Faith how long have you been on the team?"

With long brown hair tied back in a ponytail, defined muscles that could only come from sport and height that would rival Sara's, Nick was not at all surprised by the career choice.

"A year now, but I have been on the same team as Jessica since high school"

Her voice was tight and her hands were twisting each other. Nick nodded and indicated to the team that was still running around the court

"So have you all known each other for a while? Did you all go to the same school?"

Faith shook her head, and her ponytail swung merrily

"Nope half of the girls went to the high schools across the city. I have even played some of these girls at games before we all came here"

Faith had raised her head and was now watching the girl's strides. Nick watched her for a little noting the sadness in her eyes before he continued.

"Are you all aiming to make it into the pros?"

Faith cocked her head towards her coach

"Coach thinks we are but I am studying to have a back up, so many players have retired early from bad knees and I wanna be prepared for that and I'm on a scholarship, so if my grades fall I have to leave. The female pro's basketball is so hard to get into, you need to be the best, and Coach wants us all to push till we can't get anything else from ourselves"

Nick frowned sympathetically

"Must be tough"

Faith nodded then smiled

"But as much as we moan and complain we all love the game and love feeling like we do at the end of each training session. Most of us have never known any different. Life revolves around basketball. It is a lot tougher for women to break into the pros then it is for men."

Nick smiled

"I have to agree with you there. But it must feel good when you know that you've made it, no matter what sex you are."

Faith nodded again, smiling in response to Nick's encouraging grin.

"Would you be able to tell me about how Jessica interacted with the team? Did she get on with everyone?"

Faith thought for a second

"There where some small conflicts when we all first started here, before we got settled into a team, but otherwise, no"

Nick cocked his head slightly

"Who did she conflict with?"

Faith pointed to a pretty girl laughing with some of the other teammates

"Scarlette Walker. They both applied for the same position on the team but Jessica won out because she had more experience"

Faith was playing with the hem of her blue shirt before she looked at Nick again

"She is Jessica's replacement now, and ever since Jessica disappeared we have had her as our leader, and she sucks at it. She expects everyone to bow down to her, like she is royalty."

Faith smiled bitterly "I wish Jessica was back, when she left so did our team morale. We where together for a year before she disappeared, we had gotten in sync with each other you know? We knew where everyone stood for ability's and we all knew who was boss and now we are in shambles."

Nick watched as the girls, who were meant to be doing steady laps, were now striding in an easy movement, pushing themselves only when they were spotted by their Coach. Turning back to Faith, he watched as she kept shooting evil looks at Scarlette.

"Where you and Jessica close?"

Faith smirked

"No, not friends wise. She hung out with a different crowd all through high school, and hangs out with the in crowd now. We are close because of the game and that's it. Off the court, no way."

Nick smiled

"One of those friends huh? Plenty of those here I would say,"

He indicated to the court and Faith nodded enthusiastically

"Yeah. You would never catch any of these girls together off the court. Apart from myself and Amy, we are pretty tight, otherwise no."

"Thank you for your help Faith."

Faith stood up

"No problem, seeya later"

Running back to the court, she went back to her laps, her ponytail flying behind her. Stepping back to courtside, he waited for the coach to grab the next girl for questioning.

Stretching her arms above her head, Sara sighed heavily. Fighting back a yawn, she went to find Greg Sanders the lab tech wanna be CSI, to see if he had her results back yet, she wanted the information from the evidence collected at the scene. Following the loud pounding music to the lab, she swung open the door to Garbage, playing so loudly that Greg, who was doing an interesting imitation of an air guitar, never heard her come in. Watching him thrust his hips and throw his head around in a manic fashion, having a great time brought a much-needed smile to her face. Greg was one of the most relaxed people Sara had ever met, and he often brought much-needed comic relief to the night shift. But the great thing about Greg was he did his job as well as he played the joker, even Grissom had to admit that. Reaching over, she switched off the CD player and Greg turned to Sara mid arm swing, grinning in the deafening silence.

"New CD. I have done the work you wanted so I thought I would give it a listen."

Straightening his lab coat and running his hand over his spiked hair, he stopped mid run and his jaw dropped

"What the hell happened to your eye?"

Sara shrugged

"Ask the wrong question get a wrong answer"

He handed over the sheet of paper with all the info on it, still looking at Sara's eye.

"Don't get too excited, there is nothing that you don't already know on that piece of paper. All the hairs and fibers you found match with the surroundings. You found the gun yet?"

Sara shook her head slightly, still very aware of her head. Greg nodded and held onto the neck of his coat

"I guess you need some little mystery for you to solve. Have you been to the autopsy?"

Sara smiled at Greg

"Nope gotta go and find Grissom first, he's run away again. I was hoping to get a shower in, I feel off after being at that crime scene."

Greg smiled sadly

"You ok? I mean its a little kid, I even had trouble doing the lab stuff, let alone the actually scene."

"I'm ok it's just something you have to do with this job. It goes hand and hand with first autopsy and first mass murder. It's another thing to do, but I am glad that parts over. Now we just need to figure out what happened"

Heading back to the door she smiled at Greg again, pausing when he made a stop sign with his hand.

"Hold on a second, you look like you need one of these."

He ducked behind a small shelf, reaching into the small fridge under it, handing Sara a bottle.

"It's a new energy drink on the market. And let me tell you it rocks. I have had three bottles already, even though you're only meant to have one a day. But I figured special job calls for special circumstances."

Sara smiled kindly at him, and took a small sip of the dark fluid in the bright green bottle. The caffeine hit her instantly, the sharp taste awakening her senses and her mind.

"This stuff's good. Thanks Greg."

Greg smiled widely, moving back into his chair.

"Happy to be of service. I have plenty here if you feel like another one later"

Sara nodded and turned her back to Greg, throwing over her shoulder,

"As you were"

She hit the play button on the CD player, resuming the loud, thumping base. As the music faded slightly as she got further down the corridor towards Grissom's office, she was looking more and more forward to that shower.