Chapter Four - Burger Queen

Hopping back into the truck, following the coroners van housing the two bodies closely, they where back at HQ quick enough to regroup and go over what they had so far. Sitting across from both Warwick and Nick, Catherine was glad that she was on this case with these two. As much as they love to muck around and make fun they also get the job done.

"So guys what do we have so far? Warrick?"

Crossing her arms she waited while he gathered his notes.

"Mother and father think that Jessica was great, more friends then enemies apparently friends with all sorts of people. When I went to talk to the boyfriend, Mark Westher, he refused to let me inside and I had to conduct the interview while standing on his porch. From what I could smell and see of his eyes, he was getting high. But otherwise nothing dodgy going on there, he was out of town when Jessica went missing. Brass is doing a check on it for me but I think that the kid was telling the truth. I called the dean and apparently, Mark was a straight A student until Jessica went missing and then he just lost it. For what it's worth, I believe him when he says that he had nothing to do with her death."

Sitting down heavily, he put his feet on the table and tried to get comfortable. Nick was nodding his head at Catherine.

"We got a whole lot of nothing, just these conflicting stories. By the sounds of it Jessica lived a double life, different from what her parents saw. She had many enemies on her own basketball team and the boyfriend, was by the sounds of things, possessive."

Catherine took off her coat, and removed her cell phone before she sat back.

"I found that she was a hard person to get to know according to what the teachers and some of her ex friends said…"

Stopping mid sentence, she sat up bolt straight and looked at Warrick

"What about that note from that Skylar Felton person? Did you take it to Greg?"

Warrick nodded

"Waiting for the results put a 911 on it and hopefully it should be back soon"

Sitting on the very edge of his seat, Warrick started bouncing his foot impatiently. Just when he was going to get up and start pacing, his beeper went off. Glancing at it he grinned

"Excellent"

And left the room quickly. Catherine sat back in her seat and closed her eyes as a comfortable silence followed between Nick and her.

"Do you think that Jessica was the latest victim?"

Catherine answered without bothering to open her eyes

"Yep I do, but Doc would be able to tell us more hopefully. What time is it Nicky?" She heard Nick adjust himself slightly

"Almost 3:00am"

Moaning quietly she did a quick mental calculation in her head. Another six hours and she'll be able to go home. This case had already dragged two days. She needed rest. Just before she was about to drift off to oblivion, her beeper went off. Opening her eyes lazily she found herself faced with the sleeping form of Nick Good to see I'm not the only one feeling the strain she thought to herself as she read the message. Standing up and stretching she moved over to the couch where Nick was splayed on

"Wakey wakey, Doc wants to see us"

Shaking his shoulder, she stood back and waited till Nick opened his eyes

"I wasn't sleeping… I was looking at the back of my eyelids"

With a wide yawn he stood and put his coat back on and muttered to himself as he followed Catherine to the coroner's office.

"If this case drags on any longer, I'm going to become a zombie"


Two hours later Catherine and Nick emerged from the coroner's office carrying his official report when they ran into Sara and Grissom.

"How is your case going?"

Catherine indicated to the file that Sara was carrying

"Yeah as good as can be expected. Been dragging on long enough"

Grissom raised his eyes at Sara's comment, and turned back too face Catherine, in time to see the look on her face when she caught sight of Sara's now unmissable black eye.

"Well if there is nobody against it, I think we might call it a morning. All of you go home and get a few hours sleep, change of clothes and meet back here at six tonight."

Without another word he turned on his heel and left.

"When he says that all of us go home, does that mean he is going to sleep in the office again?"

Sara looked at Catherine with a raised eyebrow and sighed when she nodded

"I think he feels more at home in this place then he does in his own apartment"

Saying their goodbyes, Sara watched as Catherine and Nick headed to the locker room, paging Warrick and Greg on the way, then headed to Grissom's office herself. Knocking lightly, she stood at the doorway and watched as Grissom once again went over the evidence that they had gathered from the scene. He was reading the ballistics report when he finally realized she was standing there.

"Having fun watching me?"

Sara smiled and moved into the room and sat down across from Grissom.

"Are you going to go home with the rest of us or stay here until we return?"

Grissom sat back, put his hands together and looked at Sara. The whole right side of her face was slightly swollen, with the actual eye and cheekbone, a glaring purple and blue. She still looked amazingly fresh for someone who had only gotten a couple of hours sleep.

"Tell me your theory of what happened to this little girl"

Allowing her to think for a moment he got up and made a small batch of tea and poured both himself and Sara some.

"The only thing still really annoying me is the fact that Mrs. Johnson was there, and why she was there. Also the fact of the money was going to go to her when Stacie died. It just ties up in such an odd way. I think that the stepmother did it, she so obviously hated the little girl"

She paused to take a small sip of the hot scalding tea then sat back and waited for Grissom to voice his opinion.

"I agree with all of your points but now it's up to us to catch the stepmother out. The DNA sample she gave tonight should show us if she had been abusing Stacie if Doc can find some skin fragments or something on the body but we have no proof on the gun front. Unless we can find the gun and prove that she had something to do with the killing, then we can only catch her out only on child abuse."

Stirring sugar into his tea thoughtfully he stopped mid stir and looked at Sara.

"We could match the hand prints on Stacie's body to Mrs. Johnson's, but it's not going to stand up in court with nothing else. We need to find the other odds and ends."

Sara nodded then indicated to the files spread out n the top of Grissom's desk.

"So are you going to go home at some point?" Grissom took a small sip of his own tea and nodded.

"I want to go over a few more things first then I will definitely be getting out of here"

Sara watched as he began looking through the files again, picked up one herself and sat back.

"I have no where urgent to be and the only way to ensure you go home at some point is to stay here."

A steady silence fell between them broken only by the soft rustle of pages being turned and the refilling of mugs.


Catherine turned the key to her apartment softly in the lock, trying not to disturb the sleeping girls she knew would be there. Entering as quietly as possible and carefully making her way into her own room before she turned on any lights, she sat down on the bed. Putting her keys on the bedside table and her handbag on the floor beside the bed, she quietly exited the room again making her way down the hall to her daughter's room. Opening her door quietly, she crept over to the bed and sat beside her daughter Lindsay. Her daughter stirred and rolled over, opening her eyes and grinning when she saw who it was

"Mommy! I missed you tonight. Me and Sharon played cards and some board games, but it would have been better if you were here"

Stroking her daughters face, Catherine smiled sadly

"I know baby, but I have to work to catch the bad guys. I missed you too"

Pulling her little girl into a fierce hug, she breathed in her beautiful child scent before she tucked her back into bed.

"I don't need to go back to work till later tonight, so how about I pick you up from school and we can go for ice cream?"

Nodding, she gave Catherine a toothy grin.

"Okay mommy."

Catherine stayed beside her daughter till she was well asleep then went to the guest room to check on the sitter. Upon opening the door, she found Sharon Wellis reading a book and having a hot drink.

"Hey Catherine, how was work?"

Putting her book down and indicating for Catherine to sit, she sat against the headboard and waited. The slightly plump 20-year old, had been looking after Lindsay since Catherine had decided that it would be easier on Lindsey to stay at home rather then always going to her grandmothers. With red her, freckles and a love for children, Catherine never hesitated leaving Lindsay in the younger woman's care.

"Yeah well its work you know. Put in many hours, get little pay"

Sitting on the bed she hung her head between her hands.

"How was she tonight?"

Sharon smiled

"She was great. She was a little sad at some points about you not being here and then she got sad about Eddie, but other then that she was fine. We made some cookies, there on the bench if you want some."

Catherine shook her head and then sighed

"Sharon do you think you could get Lindsay off to school for me in the morning? I'll pick her up in the afternoon, but I need to be back at work by six. Is that ok?"

Sharon nodded, as Catherine had known she would. Sharon had no family of her own and she basically lived at Catherine's because of the hours she did. It was good to know that she had at least one part of her life fairly balanced. Standing up she approached the bedroom door.

"I'll leave you to it then, and thanks for everything"

Smiling more brightly then she felt, she closed the door soundlessly behind her. Within moments she was back in her own room, and she sighed gratefully as she slid between the cool sheets. Closing her heavy tired eyes, she drifted to oblivion.


Sitting in a bar, just north of the CSI office, were Nick and Warrick. Having come to the conclusion that sleep would be a problem, the decided to discuss the case further over a couple of drinks.

"We'll keep it to a limit of two ok dude? If Grissom found out we had been drinking…."

Nick let the sentence hang in the air, and smiled when the beers where placed in front of them.

"Two it is. Cheers"

Clanking his pint against Nick's Warrick took a deep swallow of the cold, frothy brew before he spoke again.

"So what did Doc's report say?"

Opening the file that was just under his elbow Nick glanced over what was found.

"Both yet to be identified. Both were basketball players like Jessica Swaye. All three bleed to death, but that was fairly obvious being a serial killer and all. But this is the part that you will love. The body that Catherine found, there was a whole series of blunders with that one"

Warrick nodded slightly

"So I was right then?"

Nick took another drink before he answered

"Appears so dude. She had been hit over the head at lease half a dozen time, and the cuts that where there to bleed her, where jagged and not very tidy compared to the other bodies. Also there were less of them. It was just a cut along the throat and the upper thigh. The hairs we found did not match the victim and we found sexual fluid inside of her. No evidence of rape though, just the presence of the fluids. So all of the victims had sex before they died."

Warrick let out a low whistle

"Does Catherine know all of this?"

Nick shook his head.

"Nope she hightailed it home when where allowed to go early. We'll catch her up on all of this later."

Stuffing a handful of peanuts in his mouth, Nick chewed quickly as a thought dawned on him.

"What about the results on that note that you found in the girls room? Any leads?"

Warrick played coaster that his beer was meant to be sitting on.

"Inconclusive. I had a few finger prints but they didn't show up on the data base, and whom ever this Skylar person is, she has not got a criminal record and the number that was on the bottom of the note was disconnected"

Nick licked the salt from his fingers and took another drink of beer.

"So what do you think we are dealing with here? Doctor gone bad?"

Smiling when Warrick snorted slightly through a mouthful of beer, he awaited a response.

"Either that or someone has a mega grudge against basketball players"


Two hours later both Sara and Grissom where still sitting in his office looking through the files, searching for anything they may have missed earlier. It wasn't until Sara glanced at her watch that she realized just how late it was.

"Grissom it is almost six am. Are we just about done here? Because I'm not going until you do"

Grissom glanced up from the file he was reading and looked at his own watch. It was indeed almost six am and they had found nothing new to add to their case. Admitting defeat for at least a few hours he stood and stretched.

"I think it is home time"

Putting on his coat and grabbing his briefcase that was leaning against the desk, he started loading the files into it, fully intending to go over them again at home.

"Do you want a ride home?"

Sara nodded

"Damn car is still at the shop."

Looking back once just to make sure he had everything, he switched off his desk lamp and followed Sara to the door, the case still turning cartwheels in his mind. Making their way to the locker room, Grissom was making use of the quite time planning the strategy for later on that day, trying to figure out how they where going to get the step mother to confess. Busy in his own thoughts, he crashed into Sara when she paused to open the locker room swing doors.

"You're over tired or thinking. Either way you're a hazard to your own health and to others" She spoke dryly as she unlocked her locker and began grabbing the dirty clothes from the pervious day and her shower bag. She watched as Grissom grabbed a book that was a thick as a dictionary with the title Bugs: Natures Misunderstood Miracle Workers.

"Light reading?"

Sara cocked her head and pointed at the massive volume under Grissom's arm

"As a matter of fact yes. Interested?"

Sara proceeded to pack her backpack with the remaining essentials in her locker.

"I tell you what. If ever I can't sleep I'll call you and you can read that to me over the phone" Grissom looked slightly miffed when Sara looked back at him

"There is meaning to the title you know… Bugs are brilliant creatures"

Sara tried to look enthused but failed miserably.

"Yeah I believe you; I'll just leave you to read the huge books."

Saying good night to the others shift that had started they made their way to Grissom's black car that was sitting in the corner of the car park. Sara curiosity got the best of her when they had settled in the vehicle, and she began shuffling through the small CD collection. Mostly classical music and some opera but she was a little shocked to fine a Beach Boys CD and a Bee Gee's one.

"So you have some secret music tastes as well huh?"

Smiling to herself she continued through the CD collection till she found the Top Gun soundtrack.

"Still living on the same street?"

Grissom asked Sara as he navigated the early morning flow of traffic.

"Yup"

The silence once again fell between them, each thinking their own thoughts on the case. After driving for several minutes in silence, and having arrived almost at her house, Sara started up the conversation again.

"So where is the gun? I mean we looked through that house and the cops looked through that house as well."

Grissom turned a sharp corner then straightened again.

"It has been taken off site. It would have to be in order for there to be no proof of it inside the house."

Feeling in no way more informed Sara just nodded.

"I still don't understand why people do the things that they do"

Grissom's voice softened

"It's amazing what hate and greed can do to a person"

Pulling along side a set of neat apartments, he turned the car off.

"I love my job but I hate what I do"

Grissom looked at Sara slightly startled.

"As many ups and positive things there are about our jobs there are just as many downs. And what makes it harder is I can't leave work at work. It follows me whatever I do. It took me weeks to work out my anger on that Kaye Shelton case we had."

Grissom looked out the windscreen of the car, peering into the quite street ahead.

"It's just the way you are Sara. Cath has Lindsay to keep her distracted; I have my bugs and roller coasters. You just need to find a distraction is all"

Sara looked at Grissom and silence fell again. After a few minutes, it became obvious that Grissom was going to offer no other help or advice, Sara grabbed her backpack that was sitting at her feet and opened the car door, allowing entrance to the chilly morning breeze that was dancing around the city.

"Night Grissom"

Without waiting for a response she closed the door, turned and made her way to her front door of her apartment block. Grissom sat and waited till she was safely inside before he started up the car again and made his way home.


At six pm, Catherine headed back into the office with a bounce in her step and a smile on her face. Heading for the locker room, she met up with Warrick and Nick.

"My, don't we look chirpy?"

Nick and Warrick both regarded Catherine with a grin, while she put her coat and purse into the small compartment.

"I picked Lindsay up from school today, had some ice cream with her then we went and did some shopping. I got to spend quite time with my daughter. Hence the grin"

Warrick looked at Nick and Nick looked at Warrick, then back at Catherine.

"You are so going to love us then! We got the labs back!"

Grinning broadly he handed over the report to Catherine, and they watched as her eyes got wider as did her smile.

"So we have something to go on at least! If this night gets any better then I will definitely be leaving with a smile! Good going guys!"

Humming to herself she emptied out the backpack she brought with her and followed the guys to the break room to grab a quick coffee before they got to work. Sitting down in the sofa next to Nick, she started getting the bigger details from him about the last body that they found near Jessica's site.

"According to the report, both had been killed the same way as Jessica. But the older body was obviously the first one to go. She had been the experimental one, she had several head wounds, and there were fewer cuts. Just one on the thigh and one on the neck. The cuts were definitely more rugged and shallower."

Catherine nodded with satisfaction. It was good news all round. The families get to bury their loved ones and they were getting closer and closer to the killer.

"So where to from here is the main question"

Warrick sighed deeply, and silenced fell and all three tried to figure out the next step.

"We could try and track that letter. Surely Jessica wasn't the only one to receive it?"

Catherine nodded slowly.

"Her old group of friend's she used to hang with reacted funny when I mentioned the name on the bottom of the note to them. I'll give Brass a call and get them in for questioning, while you guys can go back to the University and see if any of her other team mates got a note."

Nick and Warwick both nodded finished their coffees and left, leaving Catherine to make her phone call to Brass.

A short time later the three young people were brought in and then separated, Anna Jason coming to see Catherine first. The girl was wearing a black shirt with rips up the back and around the waist, and a safety pin through each ear.

"Hello Anna, how are you?"

Catherine made sure the girl was comfortable, giving her a nice smile and a soda.

"Yeah ok I suppose. Why am I here?"

Catherine played with her pen that she held in her hand.

"I have more questions about this Skylar Felton person."

Catherine pushed the note towards Anna, watching Anna's face for any change.

"I don't know who you're talking about"

Anna folded her arms, her face and posture unyielding. Catherine gazed at her intently.

"Three people are dead, one of which is your old high school friend and you have nothing to tell me?"

Anna looked away from Catherine avoiding her gaze.

"Anna, I need you to tell me about this Skylar person. Has she threatened you in any way? Is that why you didn't want to tell me?"

Catherine kept her voice quite and even, trying to maintain her professionalism, not to lose her temper with this kid who was very obviously trying to hide something

"She said that she could help Jessica with her career, but first Jessica had to create the right image. We weren't part of that image and so…. we got dumped"

Anna sat there playing with some non-existent fabric on her pants.

"Do you know when Jessica met Skylar?"

Anna moved her hands and wrapped them around her can of soda.

"Pretty late in the year, don't know the exact dates though".

Catherine nodded and studied the girl for a second.

"Did you ever meet her?"

Anna shook her head

"Jessica usually went to her house or met up for coffee at either the campus coffee lounge or the local Starbucks. Jess talk about her a lot. Mostly about how she was going to make her career huge. Did this person kill her?"

Anna's eyes looked pleadingly at Catherine, tearing up when Catherine shrugged.

"We don't know for sure but until this person is cleared, she is definitely a suspect".

Anna nodded slightly.

"I wish I had been there for her more, you know? But when she started changing we all took it as a personal insult so we all became cold to her and then she disappeared. I wish that she had never met that Skylar person, even if she didn't kill Jess, she still changed her."

Anna looked at Catherine again

"Are we done?"

Catherine nodded and watched as the sad young girl walked out of the room.


"Didn't think I would see you here again, Mr. Stokes"

Coach Parkinson grinned broadly at Nick.

"Yeah well it's that old gym smell you know, can't keep away. Coach, this is my workmate Warrick Brown and we need to talk to some of the girls again if that's ok?"

Coach nodded and after shaking hands with Warwick, she blew her whistle and interrupted the basketball game the girls had been playing.

"Ok ladies, you all know Mr. Stokes here, well he needs to talk to some of you again, so you can do some stretches, sit ups and such while he calls you up ok?"

The girls all nodded eyes all on Nick and Warrick. Nick smiled at the girls and looked around the group.

"Ok, Scarlette Walker"

A low whistle went around the room, and all the girls started making catcalls as a tall pretty girl with long red hair stood up grinning. She followed Nick to a quite corner, while Warrick stayed behind to question a different girl.

"So how can I help you Officer?"

Scarlette sat fairly close to Nick, making him slightly uncomfortable. Her shorts seemed like they were a little too short, her t-shirt a little too tight.

"I wanted to ask you about Jessica Sway"

Scarlette's smile dropped from her face, now replaced with a scowl, and she shifted a little away from Nick.

"That little tramp."

Nick watched the girl as she stared at her teammates, her blue eyes narrowed.

"We were told that you and Jessica didn't get on?"

Scarlette snorted through her narrow nose, a smirk playing on her mouth.

"Total understatement. I hated her and she hated me. It was mutual."

Nick cocked his head slightly.

"Why did you hate each other?"

Scarlette twirled her long red hair around her fingers, eyebrows raised.

"I was better at basketball and yet she got to be captain of the team. I was and always will be better then her at this game. At least now that she has gone, I can take my rightful place as captain."

Nick looked into the girl's eyes, finding no remorse or sadness over the death of her teammate.

"Have you ever heard of a Skylar Felton?"

Scarlette paused for a second, her hand still on her hair. Then she started nodding enthusiastically, her hair bouncing around her shoulders.

"Yeah she's a talent scout that has been around here a couple of times. I got a letter in a mail yesterday saying she was interested in my game."

Scarlette reached into her shorts pocket, withdrawing a small square of paper, neatly folded, and handed it to Nick, smiling.

"She only gave these notes to the most talented. This means that she has nothing to do with Jessica's death, she wasn't good enough to get a note."

Nick raised his eyes at the girl, as he put on a latex glove and then took the letter.

Hey Scarlette,

You have great talent for your young age. Give me

a call if you are interested in getting into the big leagues!

555-6758

Skylar Felton.

Nick put the letter in a small evidence bag he had in his pocket, dating it then putting it back into his pocket before meeting the girl's unbelieving gaze.

"What are you doing? I need to call her!"

Nick shook his head at the girl.

"Sorry this note now belongs to us. And I am afraid that Jessica did get a letter. This Felton character is the only thing connecting the murders. So just be glad that you never met her."

Nick moved away from Scarlette, and to where Warrick had just finished chatting with one of the other girls.

"So did they get a letter too?"

Nick indicated to the young women leaving with his thumb. Warwick nodded and handed over the bag in his hand that contained a neatly folded note.

"And she seemed disappointed that I wouldn't even let her copy the number. Who is this person and why are they after all these kids?"


Sara carefully studied the hand prints they had collected from the parents closely, and then compared them to the prints found on Stacie's body, taking notes on the parts that matched and those that did not. She had been sitting in the empty interview room for hours trying to piece together the puzzle that lay before her, when her cell phone rang. It had been the babysitter Carla Reid and she wanted to talk to Sara. Sara popped her head into Grissom's office, finding him behind his desk going over a file.

"I'm going to talk to one of the suspects. Carla Reid she just called me on my phone… Wanna join me?"

Grissom nodded, grabbed his coat and followed Sara wordlessly to one of the C.S.I trucks in the parking lot. They headed over to the diner that Carla had instructed for them to meet at in silence. They then spotted Carla sitting in the corner booth, dressed in the same hoody and jeans that she had worn the day of the murder.

"Carla, what's up?"

Sara approached the girl, sitting beside her, Grissom across. The girl had a tear-tracked face, her make-up smudged, giving her a raccoon look.

"I couldn't do it anymore. I'm not eating or drinking. I did it. I killed Stacie."

Carla's outburst made Sara recoil in surprise, looking at Grissom for his reaction. Grissom was sitting calmly, and indicated to the waitress and ordered three black coffees for himself, Sara and Carla.

"Let's take a deep breath and take it from the beginning ok? One step at a time."

Carla nodded at Grissom then glanced at Sara, breathing shallowly, playing with her cuff.

"I lied to you and the police officer's. I'm sorry I did."

Carla fell silent when the waitress came over with the three cups, putting one in front of each of them. Sara and Grissom waited as Carla stirred in sugar and cream into the once black coffee.

"Why did you lie?'

Sara was sick of waiting for the girl to talk, and she felt that she needed some urging.

"I was scared of Mrs. Johnson. I had threatened to go to the police with the abuse that she was inflicting on Stacie, and she had reacted in a not so nice way. She made a point of calling me at home, and when I baby sat, she often drove me home afterwards and said that I could be taken care of at any point along with my mother and little sister."

Sara looked at Grissom almost grinning; they might finally get Amy Johnston. Grissom was still sitting calmly, a note pad in front of him taking notes as he sipped his coffee.

"So what happened that day?"

Carla started to cry, her fist's clenched on top of the table in front of her.

"Mrs. Johnston had been home that day, just before it happened. I was cutting up the fruit for Stacie, when she came rushing in, she didn't say a word to me, just went straight upstairs. I heard her talking to Stacie, and I then heard a popping sound, which I assumed was a balloon I had blown up for Stacie earlier. Mrs. Johnson came rushing back down and told me that Stacie was in trouble and to leave her be, and to not to go into her room. I waited for a good ten minutes until I went upstairs, where I found Stacie."