Sifting through the debris of Randall's backyard junk pile, it was several hours before they found the body in question. From the looks of things she'd been there for quite some time. She was partially decomposed and it looked as if some rats and other small carnivorous animals had had a go at her. Her fingertips and prints, however were nearly fully intact, which would make identification easier. David having released the scene and Sara having photographed the locket around the girl's neck and placed it in a small zip-lock type bag, she labeled it as evidence and slipped it into her pocket.
During the ride back to hospital, both she and Jim were still fuming at the audacity of this jackass and his power games. Even from what might possibly be his deathbed he was dictating terms and this, more than anything else, infuriated them. Both Jim and Sara had little patience for games and as they got closer and closer to the infirmary, their rage had a chance to boil and build so that by the time they reached Randall's bedside and they saw him asleep, Sara reached out, slapped him a few times until he woke. His eyes full of sleep and again with the cotton mouth, he raised an eyebrow and Sara pulled the bagged evidence from her pocket and showed it to him. For his part, Jim was still smiling from when Sara had slapped the bastard. They were good slaps, too. Not light ones to gently wake someone, but bitchslaps; three loud, skin on skin cracking slaps. Struggling to focus on the locket, Randall smiled again and through dry lips and throat asked for a cup of water. Jim went into the hall, found a food trolley, grabbed a cup, filled it with water and upon his return, he threw it in Randall's face.
"There's your water. Now where's number 2?" he demanded
Looking down at his wet gown, Randall looked up at Jim and just glared at him as Jim glared back. Looking from one man to the other, Sara smiled at Jim and turned to Randall.
"I've brought the locket, so where is number 2?" she shouted, but not so loud so as to be heard from outside the room
"Someone needs to teach your boyfriend, here, some manners." Randall hissed
"Oh, he's a gentleman, but not to arseholes like you. Now, where is she?"
After a few moments of a heated staring contest between the three of them, he finally spoke.
"Instead of turning on the dirt road, go down about a mile or so and there'll be a pea gravel drive. Turn there and for about half a mile you'll see nothing but desert until you see an old mining shack. 100 yards from the back of the shack you'll find four stones in a triangular pile. Bring me the watch and I'll give you number three."
Jim had been writing down the directions and when he was done he closed his notepad and returned it to his inner pocket of his suit jacket. Turning round', Sara looked at Jim and he nodded. They left Randall there in his wet gown and returned to the lot, where Jim drove them to their next destination.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
They found the shack all right, as did they the stones. Standing a good twenty feet from the pile of rocks, Jim pulled out his cell and called the lab and David, who had just returned from the first scene. Next, Sara called Grissom to let him know where they were and for him to send someone. Within half an hour Warrick and Nick showed up, shortly thereafter followed by David and his "Who's your Coroner?" mobile.
It took a good couple of hours to not only move the stones but dig the hole to find the second victim who was buried about five feet beneath the surface. Again, Sara removed the sought after item, bagged it, labeled it and she and Jim were off, back to the hospital.
When they arrived, Randall was not in his room. Talking to one of the nurses at the on call station, Sara learned that Randall had a series of irregular heartbeats in recent hours, since they'd been there and he was currently being given an MRI, which would hopefully tell them what was going on. He seemed fine when they'd been there earlier, but as they'd been gone for a few hours, anything could have happened. However, for some strange reason Sara felt a certain amount of pity for the bastard. As for Jim, he was thinking that Randall was getting just what he deserved, but why couldn't he wait until all the bodies had been recovered to get more ill?
Jim and Sara sat in chairs until they received word that Randall was back in his room. He was lightly sedated, but coherent. So as Jim and Sara entered his room, she, again, pulled the little bag from her pocket and showed it to him. He seemed to acknowledge their presence and that of the watch. Reaching over to his bedside table, he poured himself a cup of water and glared at Jim as he drank it. After a nice long gulp, Randall licked his lips and set the cup back on the bedside table. Turning to Sara, he smiled and continued to glare at Jim, who just smiled back at him, teeth showing and all. However, in his head, he had the feeling that this guy didn't have much time left, so they'd better get down to business.
Stepping in front of Sara, Jim finally spoke.
"Look, we've played your sick little game, now where is number three!" he demanded
Still smiling at Sara, Randall said nothing, so Jim stepped between them and grabbed the blood pressure cuff and wrapped it around Randall's injured, restrained arm, slowly squeezing the bulb until it became so tight that Randall began to wince.
"This can all stop when you tell us where they all are; its all up to you." Jim said, grinning
Squeezing a few more times, Jim was sure he had Randall's attention, so he stopped pumping it. Through struggled breathing, Randall told them the location of the last body.
"From the mining shack, you'll see a small patch of trees in the distance. 50 yards from the northernmost tree you'll see the disturbance. That's it. There are no more. Now, let up, man."
Not entirely satisfied, Jim squeezed a couple more times and Randall called out in his pain.
"No more, I swear."
Releasing the pressure and removing the cuff before the nurse could come round', Jim set the cuff back on the caddy and stood as if nothing had happened. The nurse came running in and seeing that everything was normal, she took some notes and left, leaving Jim and Sara alone with him.
"If we find out that you're lying to us, you'll have more to worry about than a tight blood pressure cuff." Sara warned
"Yeah, ok. Now you and your psycho boyfriend leave me alone so I can die in peace." He hissed
Knowing, in the back of their minds, that Randall was withholding something, Jim and Sara left to return to the mining shack, calling Grissom to let him know about the third grave. The cell signal was weak and just before she relayed the coordinates the line went dead. Looking at her cell and the "No Signal" message, she growled and slammed the phone shut, jamming it into her pocket. Looking over at Jim , she huffed.
"Damned cell company. There should be more towers out there. You'd think there would be, given the amount of traffic on the highway."
"Well, at least we've got the third one. Once we uncover her we'll pay him another visit. I know there's more to what he's telling us. I've got this feeling there's at least one more." Jim said gruffly
"Yeah, I get the same feeling. He looked too satisfied when we left." She said in agitated tones
