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In The Darkest Light

(10)

Sara could feel her heart beat stop in her chest as she rushed out of the observation room- she needed to do something. She had use whatever she had in her power to keep the focus on the present and away from the past.

"Brass...please... let me in there with him..." Sara pleaded with visible hints of desperation that her colleagues seemed not to understand.

"No Sara I'm not going to do that." Brass sighed clasping his hands together and adjusting his stance prepared to argue with her.

"Why not?" She demanded to know, it was as if in that moment she had forgotten everything about her job. She'd pushed aside every single of the reasons she knew why she couldn't talk to Tom about the case hoping that Brass would trust her enough to let her in a room with him.

"Because whatever he says to you won't be accountable in court... defence attorney would tear it apart." He reminded her while Greg watched on with a frown- he could tell that there was something more to this than simple interest over the case but as he had done for all of this time he realised that he wasn't able to vocalise his concerns.

"I know how to push his buttons... Please... just give me five minutes..." Sara continued arguing her case.

"Fine...Five minutes... I'll be right outside." Over the years that they had worked together Brass had learnt to trust Sara's judgements. Her requests were often confusing, bizarre and demanding but he had learnt to just go with them because more often than not she got the desired results. But as he let her into a room alone with a man that had obliviously hurt her in the past Brass hoped that Sara knew what she was doing.

Her hand went to her holster instinctively checking for her gun as Tom sat watching her pace. She didn't know why- he wasn't going to hurt her- not here in front of everyone. The question that lingered at the forefront of her mind was whether she would hurt him. Sara had spent years thinking about this encounter. She had thought of all the ways she could physically hurt him. She had rehearsed so many speeches that she could give this man but standing before him like this after so many year she didn't want anything but for him to disappear. Those words she had pent up didn't mean anything because in the end he had hurt her more than she could ever hurt him.

"We've missed having you around Sara." He said recognising her inability to talk. He was going to take advantage of this situation that was clear enough to both of them. "The girls and I"

"We're not here to talk about the past Tom." Sara said through gritted teeth making the boundaries of their conversation very clear. They were both aware that there were people who didn't know anything about the past listening to the two of them talking.

"Of course we're not- we wouldn't want your new cop friends to know what their darling little Sara was like back in the day would we?" He raised an eye brow at her, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. His eyes slowly trailed over her body, lingering on her breasts making her feel sick. She recognised the look that had glazed over his eyes far too well. Sara often found herself waking in the middle of the night- that look haunting her dreams in ways she wished she could ignore.

"You're being accused of murder...if I were you I'd stop messing around with remarks like that and focus on telling us the truth." She spat at him warningly.

"I can't say I like this new... clean... Sara." He mocked not giving up on his purpose of getting under her skin. "I preferred you when you were... slutty."

"Stop it." Sara's hand collided with the table loudly as she leant her weight against it using it to hold herself up. Brass peered in with a worried expression from the other side hearing the commotion.

"Sara baby... nice to see you've still kept something from the good old days... I've missed that temper of yours." He smirked enjoying the fact that he could still get the same reactions out of her. Sara took a deep breath, counting back from ten and schooling herself into indifference. She stood up straight and crossed her arms.

"Did you kill Louis Chambers?" She asked sternly getting to the point, not wanting to spend any more time with Tom than required.

"I want a deal." He demanded his face falling.

Sara studied him for a few moments not saying a word as she attempted to work out what to do next. He wasn't going to say a word. She knew that much. All they would have to do is open Louis's case file to know just how involved he was.

She walked towards the door her expression not changing as Brass watched her with anticipation as she closed the door behind her.

"He wants a deal." She announced as if she were a hostage negotiator.

"I'll see what I can do- but I don't think the DA is going to be too happy about it." Brass explained with a disappointed expression. "Greg's opening up the old case files...Let's hope he has better luck finding something to link this guy to Chambers."

Sara's heart stopped in her chest as she realised that the control she had attempted to maintain during this ordeal had finally slipped from her fingers. Her feet moved without her mind thinking it- she rushed to find Greg- to stop him. But as Sara saw him in the AV room placing a disk into the drive she realised that there was nothing she could do this time. And she knew that she couldn't stay. She couldn't be there when he found out. So she did the only thing she knew... something she had done well for so many years... run.

Nick and Langston stood patiently as Mandy sorted through all of the documents and paper she had before her with a flustered sigh. Finding what she'd been looking for she turned back indicating that it was okay for them to move closer to her desk now.

"Okay... Your victim's prints came back to a Jonathan Dennit- he used to work as a clerk at the San Francisco District Attorney's office...until he quit his day job and decided to become a private detective full time." Mandy handed Nick a few stapled together sheets that illustrated their victim's identity.

"Also... There were a lot of unknowns, which considering that it's a hotel room aren't surprising and don't really tell us much... but I got a hit of one set which were on the bedside table, the desk and the door handle, for a Jonah Phillips. He just finished a stint in jail for sexual assault but has also been incarcerated for drug possession with the intent to distribute and grand larceny over the last fifteen years." She finished handing another set of results with images to where the finger prints were located in the hotel room to Langston.

"It's been a good week for criminals from San Francisco." She mused as the two CSIs studied the notes and results they had before them. "Sara and Greg's case had a victim and a suspect from there..."

"That's interesting because our victims were both killed with the same type of knife... it's starting to sound as if these murders are linked... doesn't it?" Nick asked hypothetically to Langston who raised an eye brow at him cautiously.

"Want more?" Mandy asked teasingly leaning back against her desk enjoying having the upper hand rather than being the slave to the CSI's finger print needs.

"Sure..." Nick shrugged his shoulders at her.

"Well... Jonah Phillip's arresting officer... Louis Chambers... retired cop from SFPD who was discovered repeatedly stabbed to death behind Mix yesterday." She smiled at them waiting for the pieces to fall into place.

"It sounds like someone's going on a crime spree..." Nick commented.

"Attempting to avenge prior mistreatment?" Langston suggested considering that both the victims were working in law enforcement in their different spheres.

"I say we talk to Greg and Sara." Nick announced turning to walk out of the finger print lab. "Thanks Mandy." He called over his shoulder as he spotted Greg in the AV lab.

"Greg..." Nick said to get his friend's attention to turned to him with a frown.

"Yes?" He asked looking clearly angry about something. Nick explained while waving the papers in his hand at the younger man.

"I think our cases are actually one case..."