Disclaimer: Please refer to the first chapter. I can't think of something new to say with each chapter. I'm just not that creative...

A/N - Sorry about the delay. I've been trying to upload this for a almost a week, but kept getting errors. I should have another one pretty soon.

Mind Meld

The nightshift team was gathered in the layout room piecing together a case that was a walking media frenzy. The press had little sympathy for anything that would gather them ratings. This case being a senator's daughter left hanged in a hotel room alongside two hookers was just what the press wanted – not what the CSIs needed.

Sara walked up to the door and stood there for a second. Grissom was eying four plastic bags on the table in front of him. He only had to look up at her, and she reached for them.

"I'm on it. Taking the carpet swatches to trace to see what matches," she replied with complete professionalism as she turned from the room and headed down the hall.

Grissom gave her a half smirk and picked up the photo evidence. Before he knew it, Sara was back staring over his shoulder. He was flipping through the pictures and pausing long enough to make sure Sara got a good look as well.

Everyone had been so absorbed in their thoughts and piecing together evidence that no one said anything. There were murmurs and groans, but no words in the room.

Finally, Grissom broke the silence. He was speaking aloud, but it was directed more as a general observation and not to any one individual. "There's something off... It's–"

"Staged." Sara finished Grissom's thought.

"Exactly," he replied, pursing his lips in deliberation.

The other CSIs looked up to see what they were talking about. For the first time in hours, at least someone was making some progress. Sara laid the pictures out on the table and pointed to each of the nooses around the victims' necks.

"Look at the way they're hanging. The marks on their necks don't match up with the rope that they were found hanging by."

"So it was staged. So what? That doesn't get us any closer to a killer," Nick said, frustrated.

Grissom raised an eyebrow and cocked his head slightly, "Why, Nicky, you're missing the point. Knowing this was staged gets us closer to the motive."

Sara interjected, "Which gets us closer to the killer." The smile on her face was a killer in itself. She was overly pleased with the amount of progress they had made in those last few minutes.

The other CSIs were confused. They looked back and forth between Grissom and Sara trying to read the expressions on their faces. The staging of this scene only made it more complex, not complete.

Warrick glanced up from the papers he was reading. "How does this staging lead us to a killer? The hanging of them only means that someone tried to cover up their strangulation."

Greg added, "Yeah, just because someone hung them up to dry doesn't lead us anywhere."

Grissom sighed. He looked at each member of the crew. "The killer is sending us a message. Don't you see it?"

That last question only brought quizzical looks, raised eyebrows, and scrunched up faces from the crowd. Each of them shaking their heads, Sara studied them closely.

"Look at the positions of the bodies. The senator's daughter is in the middle with a hooker on each side. What does that resemble to you?" Sara pointed to the pictures again for emphasis.

The four other CSIs looked over the pictures intently for a moment. Catherine opened her mouth at a slight realization. "The Crucifixion?"

Sara looked decidedly pleased as her eyes got bigger. "Except being hanged by ropes rather than nailed to wood."

Grissom's face held a boyish grin like he had found an extra toy under the Christmas tree. "Yes!" He was getting more excited, even if Sara really was the only one that understood what was truly happening.

"Still not seeing motive. And, certainly not seeing a killer" Nick shook his head.

"No killer, yet, Nick. But, we've got a place to start looking," Grissom replied.

Warrick leaned back in his chair. As he tapped a pencil on the table, he ventured, "Nick has a point. We've got a pair of aces in a poker hand, and you're telling us to split and we'll hit 21."

Greg squinted. "Damn, 'Rick, speak English."

Catherine stared across the room blankly. "He's saying that we're not seeing the same thing as Sara and Grissom. And, that they're getting a conclusion based off of something they see rather than what we're seeing."

"Ah," Greg gasped, "So, we should be looking at the evidence from another angle because the game we're seeing isn't the one we're playing at all. So, when we see it in the right light, we'll get the answer we need?"

Ignoring Greg, Sara frowned in the slightest of measures, tilted her head, and sighed. "Warrick, what activities, clubs, or causes was the vic involved in?" she asked.

He grabbed a folder off of the table and opened it. Skimming the contents he looked up to see expectant faces from Grissom and Sara, while the other three still looked just as confused. Warrick finally saw what they were looking at.

"She was extremely active in the church. She was raising money for a lot of charitable organizations ran out of that church... This girl was up to her neck in good deeds."

Grissom finally looked pleased that someone else had caught on to what was happening. "And, where was the last place she was reported being seen alive that night?"

"Notes say that she was working late at the church going over the books and tallying the money for a shelter she was starting to get prostitutes off the street."

Sara put her hands on the table and glared at them. "And, where would you go after you were done getting a deposit ready?"

Catherine, Greg, Nick, and Warrick all spoke together. "The bank..."

"My guess is that she found something she wasn't supposed to," Sara speculated. "I think someone knew she was looking at the books. The killer surmised what she had found or would find. He followed her out of the church and killed her. Then, he posed her body along with the hookers."

Grissom maintained, "While the prostitutes threw us off in the beginning, I believe it was only part of the reason behind the staging. He made her a martyr for her cause."

"Why hanging?" Nick asked while Sara and Grissom were swinging themselves out of their chairs and heading for the door.

Sara laughed. "Nailing them to the walls in a hotel room is a lot harder to do. Think of the noise factor alone." She turned to Grissom and added, "I'm calling the church. Going to find out what bank she was using for the charities," Sara said with emphasized happiness.

"Good. I'll call Brass and tell him to be on standby to grab the warrant for surveillance footage and financial records once we have confirmation and meet us there," Grissom said as he grabbed her arm and lead her from the room. Together, they scampered off down the hall, both talking on their cell phones.

Grissom and Sara always had their own way of interpreting what the other one had said without the other ever having said a word. It was always one of those little constants in life that you could count on. Just as sure as people die, Grissom and Sara could read each other's minds.

"They scare me," Greg said with a little tremor in his voice.

Catherine just shook her head. "They're back," she stated matter-of-factly. The rest of the team looked at her and nodded their heads in acknowledgement.

To Be Continued...