Chapter 10

Wednesday, September 6th, 2006
12:09 AM

While the argument was strong, Nick wasn't entirely convinced the three murders the team had been investigating were connected. Sure, they all involved woman, but he still had his lingering doubts. After Grissom had informed them of the aspects involved in his and Catherine's case, Nick had looked up Sati. Of the three murders, the murder within his and Catherine's case was the only murder that could really be classified as ritualistic. It was the only custom no longer in common practice anywhere, and when it was a common practice, it was practiced in India, not Africa, unlike the practices involved in the other two murders. And, his and Catherine's victim was forty years older that the other two victims. While he wasn't about to throw away the theory, knowing you never throw away a theory that Grissom voiced, he still felt like it was a bit of a stretch. He found himself torn, between his trust in Grissom and the obvious differences his case was presenting. And, truth be told, he didn't really know what was scarier, that one man could be responsible for it all, or that separate people had brutally murdered three different women in the span of one week. He was more than a little relieved that Grissom at least hadn't totally jumped on the theory and was letting them investigate their cases individually. He didn't want to have to think about the other cases. His case was bad enough, horrible, and he wanted to focus his attention on it. And, that was what he was doing, watching Mandy pour over prints, while he stood in the doorway, watching with an amused smile.

Mandy's eyebrows were scrunched up on her forehead. Her lips were drawn together. She didn't look at all thrilled to be sorting through the dozens of prints he and Catherine had left for her. Nick grinned as he stepped into the lab. "Mandy, you got anything for us yet?"

The eyes directed back at him were full of fire, as though Mandy was not at all amused by his question. He could only smirk. He held out a cup of coffee and shrugged when she raised her eyebrows. "You better come over here if you want this coffee. You know you can't drink it in the lab."

"I know that, Nick. If you think this is enough of a peace offering…"

"It's only a start, darling."

"It better be." Mandy took the cup from his hand and stood next to him in the doorway. "It'll be hours before I get through those." She nodded towards her work station. "I did, however, find something. I ran the prints you took from the coffin against the prints you and Catherine collected from the victim's family, and I came up with a couple of matches." Mandy handed him her cup of coffee and returned to the doorway with a file. "First match, Jay Fletcher."

"He's the victim's oldest son. Took care of most of the arrangements. Stands to reason his prints would be on his father's coffin."

"Alright, second match was to Jacob Blackley."

"The mortician. Also to be expected."

He handed Mandy back her coffee and took the file. He watched her sip from the mug in between glances at the file. Elijah Blackley was the contact for the funeral home on the weekend. Nick felt the need to confirm one more thing. "Any chance we pulled a print from the coffin that matched to an Elijah Blackley?"

Mandy raised an eyebrow. "No, no matches."

"Thank you." He waved the file at her as he walked away. "Page me if you get anything else from the prints."

"Don't think you'll get away without giving me what you owe me, Nick Stokes!"

Nick turned around to see Mandy smirking at him. He grinned. "Tell you what, if you're a good girl, I'll bring you breakfast after shift."

"Why, Mr. Stokes."

Nick turned around again, chuckling as he made his way down the hall. He looked into the layout room and saw Catherine fingering a piece of the burnt wood they collected. She looked like she wanted to bang that piece of wood against her own head, not that she'd ever do something like that. Still, Nick could see the frustration.

"Nick," Catherine spun her head towards his, "Hodges tested every single piece of wood for any trace of accelerant and came up empty. The bastard didn't use anything. She would have felt the heat increase and slowly burn her, all while choking on the smoke."

"Doris Fletcher did die of asphyxiation. The smoke would have built up before the fire. Hopefully she died quickly."

"Do you really think she did?"

He sighed. "I think, in this case, her age might have worked in her favor." He looked over at a piece of rope sitting on the layout table. "Did Vega get anywhere in tracing the rope."

"Nope. He only found a couple more places that sell jute rope, and neither of those places could give him a name to go along with any purchases of the rope. He's still looking, but…" Nick nodded, knowing the reasons behind Catherine's doubt. Catherine shook her head. "Did Mandy give you anything?"

"She's still buried. She did manage to isolate the prints from the coffin and she compared them to the prints we lifted earlier. Two matches were found. Jay Fletcher and Jacob Blackley."

"Both with reasons to have their prints on the coffin."

He sighed. "Yeah." He looked at Catherine and studied her. "What do you think of the cases being connected?"

"Right now, I'm not sure that I buy it. Ours seems so different." Catherine paused a moment, looking directly at him before looking back down at the evidence on the table. "But, I might be just trying to convince myself. Grissom would know more on the subject than us, and well, if he thinks that there is something to go on, then…"

Nick nodded, comforted that her thoughts were running along the same lines as his.

6:14 AM

The familiar figure was hunched over a computer in a pose he'd seen many times before. Warrick shook his head, wondering if her eyes were beginning to blur yet. He'd seen her in the same position more than a few hours before, when he'd returned from their crime scene the second time. He wondered if she'd taken a break at all in that time, but that thought gave way to doubt. Sara Sidle didn't take breaks unless she was dead on her feet. She seemingly hadn't moved the entire time, except for maybe her finger, which was clicking away at the mouse. The only change he saw in her was her posture (now more tired and hunched than before), and her eyes, increasing in redness after staring at a computer screen for so long. He stepped inside the office and took a seat next to her. "How's it coming?"

He watched as Sara rubbed her eyes and stretched her back before facing him. She tried to suppress a yawn, but was unsuccessful. Warrick let out a small chuckle. "It's coming. I've searched every academic site I could think of. I found a common element. Apparently, FGC is practiced in India. The Bohra Muslims of India and Pakistan are known to practice FGC."

"Okay, but aren't we looking for a cultural connection? Correct me if I'm wrong, but Sati was practiced by factions of the Hinduism, was it not?"

"It was, but the Bohra were originally Hindu, and converted to Islam. The group could tie the elements together. I have no evidence of this yet, but, if someone was studying the customs of the group over time, that person might see all of the practices we've come across. Besides, it's the only connection I could find between the three. I don't know if the group has ever practiced Sati, or used stoning as a method of execution, I haven't been able to find any concrete information on it, but it was practiced in the area, and it is more than possible that the Bohra group was syncretistic and melded various practices used by both religions into their culture."

Warrick looked at her, watching her eyes dance as she spouted off her research. She was definitely awake now and gaining more life as she spoke. It seemed almost like a chore keeping up to her. "Wait, so you think we're looking at someone possibly from the Bohra population of India."

"Not from, but maybe knowledgeable of. Someone studying the practices of India, over time perhaps, and applying those practices to here. According to Grissom, the hotel room in his and Greg's case was registered to Emile Durkheim…"

"Who?"

"The father of sociology. Grissom thinks that maybe this is some messed up social experiment and that we shouldn't be looking for the common, but the uncommon. However, if we're looking for a man fashioning himself as Durkheim, this might be a place to start. Durkheim was interested in the practices that remained over time. The mutilation of the prostitute occurred first. It could signal the new, as it was only practiced by the Bohra after they converted to Islam. The stoning and the Sati could signal the old practices that survived the transition."

"Huh." He had no words. When Sara ran with a theory it was hard to stop her, particularly when she'd done the research and had more of a knowledge base on the subject. And, somehow he was following her and her line of thinking. He grinned and watched as she returned the grin. "So, what did everybody say when you told them you thought the cases might be connected?"

"Grissom told them. I told Grissom. He seemed reluctant at first, then ran with it and told the rest of the team. Greg looked stunned, Nick looked unconvinced, and Catherine practically scoffed outright."

"You can't really blame them though. The theory is a little out there."

"I don't blame them, but I would appreciate a little support."

Warrick rested his hand on her shoulder. "You've got mine. We're a team after all. I'll run with you, even if it all comes crashing down on us."

"Thanks Rick, I appreciate that."

He gave her shoulder a playful shake. "Anytime."

"Sorry I bailed on helping you with your case."

"You're working it, just from a different angle." He gave her another playful shake before withdrawing his arm and leaning back in his chair. He looked at her with a grin. "Hey, do you want to hear what I really came down here for?"

"You found something." Her eyes sparkled when they met his, excitement wafting off her. Her enthusiasm was contagious. Sara got more excited by evidence than anyone he'd ever met. It was like finding it was her biggest thrill. He grinned. "Yeah. That boulder we overlooked had a couple little prizes for us." He used the word prize, knowing it was exactly how Sara saw it. Her eyes lit up even brighter, and he continued, "I found a few traces of blood, and by some miracle, a skin tag, hiding in a little crevice. I sent DNA to Wendy. She's checking it against the victim now."

"It could be from dropping it on her."

"Yes, I think he would have had to hold it close to his body. If he was wearing short sleeves, it is possible he scraped himself on the rock. If Wendy doesn't get a match to our victim, we may have a DNA profile for our killer."

"Nice work! Do we have an id on our victim yet?"

"Not yet. Mandy is backed up from Nick and Catherine's case, but she just promised me she'd insert our victim's prints in that mix right away, as long as we don't let Nick know. CODIS and missing persons haven't kicked anything out yet for Wendy. The blood on the rocks did match our victim's DNA though."

"I wasn't able to get enough ridge detail to isolate the rock that caused the fatal blow, but at least we can narrow down our murder weapons."

"Got that right." He stood up, extending his hand to her. "Take a break from this and help me out with a little experiment. I need your expertise."

He grinned at her scoff. "What expertise would those be, exactly."

"Physics, never my strong suit."

"Whatever, you're light years ahead of Catherine, Nick and Greg, and possibly even a little ahead of Grissom in that department."

"Always best to consult the expert. Besides, you're a different size and weight and that might be of help too."

"What kind of experiment were you thinking of?"

"I thought maybe we'd drop a bolder on a dummy, then throw stones at it."

"Yeah, alright, I can see how that could help us out."

"Right on. Log off and let's go."

He waited for Sara to log off and follow, before leading her to the garage where a dummy was already waiting. "Victim was found lying on her back. I've positioned the dummy to match the position of our Jane Doe." He stared at the dummy, before looking back to Sara and watching as her scrunched up in concentration as she looked between the case file and the dummy. "What is it, Sar?"

"All of the bruising occurred in the front."

Warrick's eyes widened and he looked at her. "Why didn't I know that?"

Sara looked over at him and her face softened. "She was lying on her back in the desert, and in autopsy, and you were busy looking through other evidence afterwards. You would have found Doc Robbins's note in the file when you got to looking through it."

Warrick gave her a thankful smile, and then joined Sara in looking back down at the dummy. "Well, it wasn't a chase. If she were running away while the killer was throwing stones at her, her back would have bruises on it."

"She didn't have any ligature marks, so she wasn't bound, and her blood work was clean."

"She could have been lured."

"Then what? If it were me, as soon as I was hit by a stone I'd be running. She had to have been incapacitated first."

"So how did he incapacitate her?" He glanced up at Sara and watched her gaze wander around the garage. He noticed as it stopped where he placed a pile of rocks. She turned back to him, her eyes lit with realization. "The boulder. The way this works is if he lured her to the place she was killed, had her lay down, and then dropped the boulder on her, stoning her afterwards."

"So she waited on the ground, eyes closed, while he picked up the rock and dropped it on her? She had to have had a good reason for laying on the ground with her eyes closed. Sexual relationship?"

"Possibly. Grissom and Greg's victim was a prostitute. Killer could have paid her to lie there, told her to close her eyes and wait."

"Makes sense. We'll need an id on her to confirm that theory though. Here," he began rolling a large rock over to Sara. "This is the approximate size and weight of the boulder I took out of the desert. Pick it up and drop it on our dummy."

"Why me?"

"Because I've already hauled the boulder around. I know I can lift it. I want to see if someone your size and weight can. Maybe we can narrow the build down on our killer."

"Alright."

Warrick watched as Sara bent to pick up the boulder. She lifted it to her chest then heaved it down on the stomach of the victim, letting out a grunt as she did. Afterwards, she stood straight up and faced him, rubbing her forearms.

"What is it?"

"I scraped my arms tossing that thing."

"Right, if you did it, the killer might have as well. At least we know you can toss it."

"Making a lot of noise, doing so. Even if our victim was lured to the desert, she would have opened her eyes hearing any grunts or groans from picking it up. It had to be somebody stronger than I."

"I think I made a little noise picking it up too. If the killer had the rock in his vehicle, he wouldn't have had to bend down to pick it up, making it easier to keep quiet."

Sara nodded. Warrick stood next to her, glancing at her, before joining her in staring at the body. Footsteps sounded behind them, and Warrick turned to find his supervisor. "Hey, Griss."

"How's it coming?"

He let out a loud sigh, not saying anything, but knowing that Grissom could read his thoughts. Grissom's gaze was on both him and Sara, studying them. Warrick looked at Sara, noticing the fatigue settle in, for the first time, knowing he must look the same.

"You guys could use a break. You've been on for hours, and Sara, I don't even want to think about when the last time you slept was."

"I took a nap on the plane."

"A forty minute nap, yesterday afternoon? And before that?"

"Grissom, don't even think about asking me to go home. We don't have time for sleep. If we don't get this guy now, there's going to be another dead body tomorrow."

"Sara, I know we have to work around the clock here, but we're no good if we don't rest, even if it's just a short one."

"Grissom…"

"Sara…"

Warrick looked between the two, waiting for a battle to start raging. He was surprised when Sara merely sighed, and quickly decided that she was so tired that even she was able to admit she needed a break. However, Sara was still Sara, and Warrick sensed that while she was slowly conceding defeat, she wasn't quite ready to let it go. He was right. "Look, I want to hit the UNLV's library. I'll take a break afterwards, I promise."

Warrick looked between the two. They were staring at each other. Sara was pleading with Grissom with her eyes. Finally Grissom looked away. "Warrick?"

He held up his hands. "I'm just waiting on some results. As soon as I get those Grissom, I'm on my way out." His pager beeped signaling him to DNA. He glanced at the screen only for the pager to go off in his hand. Both Wendy and Mandy had something for him. "That's them now. Later Griss, later, Sar."

He left them in the garage and made his way to the print lab. Almost overwhelmed with fatigue, his only thoughts were of climbing into bed with his wife and taking a brief, but much needed nap.