A/N: Thank you for all the reviews. They really keep me going.
Hugs for Anaknusan for excellent beta-reading :*
Chapter 7 – The meeting
"Grissom." He answered his cell phone with the usual, professional tone and Sara guessed he must have done it without checking the caller ID.
"Hi, it's Sara."
"Oh, hi…" the tone of his voice changed immediately. Sara could almost literally feel him smiling. It had always been like this – whenever she called, Grissom seemed to be blissful. As if incredibly happy to hear from her. Even if Sara was sure he had had a bad day, there was joy in his voice reserved only for her. What surprised Sara more was that it never changed, not even when they drifted apart.
"I've heard you are an amazing teacher." Sara complimented, smiling.
"You did?" Grissom asked surprised. "Did Cassandra said so?" Sara smirked hearing him using Cassie's full name. of all the people she knew, Grissom was the only one who always used a person's full name. Even if it was a six year old kid.
"Well, it was actually something more like: uncle Gil is the best-est!"
"Really?" Grissom laughed.
"She loves your lessons."
"That's why you agreed to let her come more than once?"
"One of the reasons, yes."
"You know…" Grissom paused, "a teacher can't be good without remarkable students."
Sara guessed he must have grinned. "I thought you would say something like that. Always modest, aren't you?" She laughed. "But thank you. She is a great child."
"Any time. And she truly is. But that is not why you're calling, is it?"
"I'm calling because I want you to gather a meeting in the layout room."
"Why? You've got results?" He asked excited.
"Not what you are expecting," Sara admitted with a sigh, "but you should see this anyway."
"Where are you?"
"Where do you think?" She asked sarcastically. "Layout room." Of course. Where else would she be? Grissom grinned. Knowing her, she was ready to give her presentation or whatever she had for them even before she had made that call.
"Give me 10 minutes." He said quickly and disconnected, dialing Catherine's number immediately after that.
~*~
"So what do you have for us?" Catherine asked when she entered the room, quickly followed by the rest of the team.
"Why don't you take your seats first?" Sara asked with a smile and pointed at the chairs around the table. There was a projector in the middle, currently showing her computer's desktop on the wall. Grissom and Catherine both smiled, noticing Sara's daughter's photo set as her wallpaper.
"Oh, so it's going to be a longer explanation, I see." Nick grinned.
"Well, you can always go back to dusting something for fingerprints." Sara answered sarcastically and winked. She waited till everyone took their seats before she continued. "Ok, so, you already know processing data from individual cases didn't get me very far. I did warn you, however, that it may end like that. But…" she smiled, "I thought of a new approach. I decided to make a simple assumption that in all three cases the same tool or object was used. Now, before you say something – I do know that making assumptions is not how you work. But my software itself is not really approved for laboratory use yet, so I thought I might allow myself to do another not approved thing."
"But it led you to results?"
"If you ask if I found a tool then the answer is no, but…" she smiled again.
"I love it when you say 'but' with that accent. That means you've got something." Nick grinned making the team laugh.
"Something… yup, that's a good word." Sara smiled back. "What I found is not a tool…" she added and typed something on her keyboard. The image on the wall changed to a photo slide-show. "Here are the photos I used," she explained, "and the abrasions on them," Sara added while the appropriate part of the each photo flashed red. She typed something again to show all the pictures together and when she pressed a button all the red parts flickered once more and moved to assemble one picture. "That's what I've got after comparing them and interpolating the missing voids." She explained and once more pressed a button. The image they had been seeing now changed into three different ones. One they recognized as a 3D model.
"Is it … a hand?" Warrick asked leaning forward in his chair to have a better view.
"Yes," Sara nodded, "I think someone must have been holding the victims down. Very hard, otherwise the bruises wouldn't be so strong."
"And what does that actually give us?" Catherine asked shaking her head. "We already know they've been beaten."
"I don't think that's from a beating." Grissom bit on the tip of his glasses. "Do I recognize correctly the picture in the upper right corner? Does it mark the place on the victim's bodies where you found those particular bruises?"
"Yes." Sara nodded and enlarged the photo so the others would see what Grissom already noticed. "Most of the abrasions where on the shoulders. And both the position and direction of them indicates…"
"…that they were not made by the killer." Grissom finished for her, smiling with appreciation. "You're telling us the murderer had a helper."
"I'm not telling you anything." Sara answered. "I'm showing you what I found, reaching a conclusion is your job, isn't it?" She laughed.
"So, does it actually takes us any closer to a suspect?" Greg shrugged his shoulder. "He had a helper, so what?"
"Hmmm…" Grissom murmured and frowned. "We are still missing something, aren't we, Sara?" He asked with a smile and put his glasses back on.
"Are you guessing or did you just notice what you are all missing?" Sara crossed her arms on her chest and leaned on the wall.
"There's something with this hand…" he whispered more to himself than to any of the other people present in the room. Sara grinned and watched as five pairs of eyes were scrutinizing the displayed images.
"Ok, time's up!" She laughed after few minutes. "Let me show you…" she grinned widely.
"You were waiting for that, weren't you?" Greg commented with sarcasm.
"Oh, I see we have a first volunteer." Sara smirked.
"Volunteer? I didn't volunteer to anything."
"Yes you did. And Warrick did too. Come on… it's for scientific purposes."
"Go on boys, don't be shy." Nick chuckled.
"There is a point in this, isn't there?" Warrick asked when he joined Sara.
"Yes and I've chosen you for a reason. You failed to notice what's important about the size of that hand image, so I'm going to show you what you missed. From all of you Greg has the smallest hands and Warrick the biggest. And…"
"My hands are bigger than Warrick's!" Nick interrupted, examining his palms and raising them up.
"I beg to differ, Nicky." Warrick answered teasingly.
"Could you please compare sizes of your body parts in your free time?" Grissom interrupted their conversation and frowned. "Sara, could you continue?"
"Yeah,…" she choked out and coughed to conceal laughter. "Warrick, you first." She pushed a button on a keyboard and one of the images moved to the center of the screen. "That's the hand's image in a 1:1 scale. Put your hand there, please."
Warrick did as he was told. His palm was almost twice as big as the one on the image.
"Greggo, your turn."
Young CSI repeated colleague's movement and though his hand was smaller it still was bigger and a lot wider than the one that made bruises on victims' bodies.
"Thanks for your cooperation." Sara smiled. "So, now you see it?"
"Well, our suspect has a very small hands." Catherine wondered. "A teenager?"
"That was my first guess too." Sara nodded. "But it's not possible. There is a 10 year pause between the first and the second crime and if the suspect was a teenager his hand size would change in that time. It would be bigger now but my software shows that the size did not change."
"So that's leading us to nowhere?" Greg shrugged.
"I wouldn't say so…" Sara grinned and placed her own hand on the image. They all gasped as the size matched almost perfectly. Sara had more slender fingers and shape of her hand was different but the size and width of her palm and the hand from the image were equal.
"A woman?" Grissom asked and removed his glasses, putting the tip of them between his teeth.
"But that's rare. A woman being a serial killer?" Nick shook his head.
"Not a killer, an accomplice." Grissom reminded.
"Ok, now we need to find a mysterious woman having something in common with all three victims."
"That's your job." Sara grinned. "I'm off for today." She smiled widely at the thought of finally going back to the apartment and her daughter after almost four days and nights spent in the lab.
~*~
"Hey, is that a new tattoo fashion from San Francisco?" Gregg asked so suddenly that the team stared at him confused.
"What?" Both Warrick and Nick asked.
"I was talking to Sara…" Greg explained, rolling his eyes and pointing at Sara's hand, which she was still pressing against the wall. Immediately all eyes focused on an image drawn on the back of her hand.
"Oh, that's a…" she traced the butterfly-shaped drawing with her finger, "that's a…Cassie's way of reminding others about various things." She explained with a smile.
"What do you have to remember about?"
"I…" Sara smiled at her memories, "I must remember to come home." She whispered.
"First night home?" Catherine smiled understandingly. "Then we shouldn't keep you here any longer."
"Is it washable?" Grissom asked furrowing his eyebrows.
"What? This?" Sara giggled pointing at her butterfly. "Not really, but Cassie has some special erasing marker for it. Why? Does it bother you?" This time she frowned.
"No. Not that one anyway." He shook his head. "But because of this one…" he added rising his hand up and showing similar butterfly drawn on the back of his palm, "I might lose credibility in court." He grinned.
"She 'marked' you too." Sara smiled sympathetically. "What did she make you remember?"
"That's the problem. I have no idea."
Seeing Grissom's embarrassed expression Sara could hardly stifle laughing. And the rest of the team didn't even bother to try and not laugh.
"I guess," she chuckled, "you'll stay marked for a long time then."
"Sara?"
By now the team was almost literally rolling on the floor laughing. Their infectious laughter and Grissom's please-tell-me-you're-kidding face didn't help Sara to stay serious and she burst with cheery laughter too.
"Griss…relax, will you?" She said after calming down. "Show me it." She made her way to the place where he was sitting and gently took his hand into hers. "I think you're losing your investigating abilities, Gil. You didn't take a closer look at this." She smiled at him and touched his butterfly symbol. She hoped Grissom wouldn't notice how badly her own hands were shaking and how unevenly her heart was beating. All of that only because he was close. Get a hold of yourself, Sidle. "You see, Cassie always draws some hints about the thing she wants you to remember. See this?" She asked and placed her palm on top of his so he could take a closer look. "On one of the butterfly wings there's a little house." She smiled and let go of his hands. "You too have something, take a look."
"Is it…a book?" He asked looking at Sara from above his glasses.
"Yes. But there's still more to it. Look closer."
"Do you need a magnifying glass?" Catherine asked with sarcasm. Greg chuckled.
"There are some letters. It seems there is an A, S and L." He wondered aloud, ignoring Catherine's comment. "Oh! ASL. The book. I promised to let Cassie borrow my first sign language book."
"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?"
"Thank you, my dear." Grissom understood what he exactly said only after a smile vanished from Sara's face for a moment. He wanted to apologize but noticed in Sara's eyes that she chose to ignore what he had called her and that the apart from her no one noticed something was wrong. He decided that saying anything more might make matters worse.
"Any time." Sara smiled weakly and went back to her place. "Guys, I think it's time for me to go. I believe my daughter is giving Linds a hard time by refusing to go sleep before I come home."
"I still can't believe you didn't say a word about that." Nick said of a sudden, shaking his head.
"About what?" Sara asked confused. "Going home? You all knew about that."
"No, not that. About Cassie…" he explained, his eyes focused on the girl's picture displayed on the wall again.
Sara sighed. "You-didn't-ask answer won't satisfy you, right?" She asked, forcing a cheerful tone and tucking wisp of hair behind her ear. This certainly wasn't a conversation she wanted to have.
"Not really." He admitted with a weak smile.
"Give it a rest Nicky." Warrick interrupted. "Sara had a right to do as she wanted."
"But Cassie should be the team's daughter, like Linds is." Nick whispered.
Sara smiled. She still remembered that every one of them had their deal in looking after Catherine's daughter. They were all her uncles and aunts. What Nick didn't know was that Cassie had it all too. Only the team was different.
"Nick, do you really think that it would change anything if you knew?" She asked. "I would still be like 500 miles from Vegas."
"I could visit you from time to time." Nick smiled but quite suddenly his expression changed and next words he said were full of anger. "I could take care of you like the one who got you into this trouble should!"
Sara froze. Some of the others did too. Catherine reprimanded Nick by speaking his name aloud and Warrick placed a hand on Nick's shoulder. They wanted to get him to know that he was clearly crossing a line. After all, they had agreed not to mention Cassie's father in any kind of conversations.
Sara was confused. Nick was always her best friend, the one she always confided in, the one she trusted. She never wanted to lose him or break his trust but she just couldn't tell him the truth. And the situation couldn't stay like that either. She glanced at Grissom only to see how tense he was. He was hiding his hands in his pockets but she still noticed they were shaking, clenched in fists.
"Nick, you're making judgment without having solid evidence of what really happened." She said calmly. "Or what's more important – you don't pay attention to my own words. Didn't I already said it was my decision? I was perfectly aware of its consequences." Sara leaned against the table and crossed her arms. Nick lowered his head and murmured something under his breath. "Listen, it's not that I don't appreciate you caring for me. I always liked to be your little sister but you must understand that I am a big girl and I am capable of taking care of both me and my daughter. I chose not to tell you about Cassie or her father because it was better that way." She explained. "Better for me." She added seeing Nick's doubtful gaze. "Anyway I don't think it's important whom he is. Expect that he is a good guy." Sara noticed Grissom raising his eyebrows in amazement and smiled.
"Good guy?" This time Greg burst out. "He left you pregnant!" He shouted. The expression on Nick's face revealed that he truly agreed with the younger CSI.
Sara exhaled heavily and lowered her head. She noticed that Grissom was hardly able to stay calm this time. And she was getting angry too. When she spoke her voice barely louder than a whisper.
"Did any of you ever consider that maybe he wasn't the one who left? Or that maybe whoever of us left had a reason to do so?" The low murmurs of her voice became more harsh. "You don't know him. And you have no right to judge him…or me." Sara angrily closed her laptop and packed it in the bag.
"I'm sorry Sara," Nick stood up and carefully made his way to Sara, "I might have overreacted." He admitted and gently caressed Sara's hand.
"Yeah, me too." Greg added.
"Nick, you know that I'm fine, I really am." Sara said calmly without any signs that she was irritated just a moment ago. "I just have a daughter, that's it. Nothing more is important."
"Apparently I'm a little overprotective brother." Nick smirked. "I just wished I was Cassie's uncle, you know. That I could be there on her birthdays. And that I could buy her her first chemistry set."
"Who said you aren't her uncle?" Sara winked and Nick face was immediately brightened up with a smile. "Just, please, no more chemistry sets," she laughed and seeing their confused faces added, "it's just that with the first one she almost dyed Steffano's cat blue and after the next one we were forced to change our living room wallpaper."
"Cool!" Greg exclaimed, his words followed by everyone's laughter and Grissom's triumphant smile.
"Wish I could be there to see it." Nick laughed and Sara slapped his arm.
"Now it's really time for me to go," Sara then smiled, "see you in a few days."
