The elevator dinged as it landed on the morgue floor.

Nick stepped out of it with the phone still in his hand. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll take care of that. Thanks, Jim." And then he flipped it shut, feeling a weight come down on his shoulders as he did so, as if brought on by the sound of the phone clicking closed.

He was sure Sara was already in with Doc. Or David, which would be worse... But when the door to the morgue hissed closed behind him, he was pleased to see his first guess had been right. There she was, glowing along with the light beside her and staring hazily down at the body spread out before her. She looked up at the sound of his approaching footsteps and cracked one edge of her lips up, in silent greeting.

The smile he answered with was brighter without trying. "I got your message, darlin'. Where are we at?"

"Oh..." sighed Doc, "...where we always begin, with a new victim." He lay a clean, white cloth out on top of the previously-naked victim. "The body of evidence starts with the body, as evidence."

"Mm hmm," offered Nick politely – he'd heard Doc say that enough times before. "And this body is giving us what evidence?"

"Quite a bit," said Sara.

"I'd say so," said Doc. "Or at least some much needed perspective."

Nick leaned forward on his elbows on one of the tables nearby. "On what?"

"On what kind of a bastard the guy you're looking for is," answered Doc. "Let's start with the basics. And the first thing is, time of death: it's sitting at about one this morning. She died very recently, as you both surmised. But it was under far worse circumstances than our first victim."

"This just gets cheerier by the second," injected Sara, bitterly and offhandedly as she flipped her hair back and joined Nick in leaning forward.

"I can't promise that," said Doc. "But Mrs. Kenley, here suffered a lot before she died. There are extreme traumas to the sexual regions of her body. She was raped, no question."

Sara exhaled a sharp breath of air, causing Nick to look over at her. But she was staring at the floor now, and didn't seem intent on lifting her head up anytime soon.

"The actual cause of death was by strangulation, though. Her airways are almost more beaten up than her vaginal area is." He winced down at Mrs. Kenley, and inclined his head to the side once. "I'd be very surprised if she didn't appreciate it, to a degree... by the time it was happening. Because the extent of the trauma suggests that her rapist was not quick about it. Fortunately, though... the evidence suggests he didn't take long to strangle her."

"Escalation effect," said Nick, as a sweet memory from a much less horrifying time formed in his mind.

He did not miss Doc and Sara exchanging looks of puzzlement. At the sight of Sara's furrowed brow in particular, he chuckled.

"Escalation effect," he repeated. "This one time, when I was in college, there was a girl I was getting real friendly with. And eventually, we ended up doing it in the bathroom at school. Fun as hell, but as soon as it ended..."

"...the high wore off," finished Doc. "And I'm betting you scrambled to clean up and put your clothes back on."

"Sure did," confirmed Nick. Then he turned to Sara. "Understand what I mean?"

She flicked her eyebrows up once. "Mm hmm. Tricky Nick, you kinky little devil, you..."

He scratched his chin. "I aim to please, every once in a while."

"It looks like our rapist wasn't, though," continued Doc. "He must've been in a hurry to kill her after the euphoria of his acts left him. And hold on to your hats – you haven't seen this yet. Either of you..." And he took a pair of lengthy tongs from the tool tray set up near the body.

Nick leaned forward a little bit more, and spotted Doc lifting something white off the side table that he had wheeled around behind him. When he turned around, tongs in the air and white object dangling from it, Nick reflexively twitched back. While Sara covered her mouth with the side of her fist.

"This, as you can tell, is a sock," said Doc. "And you'll never guess where I found it?"

Nick wiped his arm across his face, hoping to clear away the smell a little as he did so. "In the victim's mouth," he stated grimly, but matter-of-factly.

"In the victim's mouth, it was," confirmed Doc. A sad tone was beginning to show in his voice. "A considerable ways down her throat, actually. I can't tell you if it was put there to keep her quiet during the forced intercourse... or to assist the killer in strangling her."

"Oh... I think we can assume it was pretty unbearable no matter when he used the sock," said Sara.

"Yeah, I'm with you." The disgust element was beginning to wear off; in its place, Nick could feel himself growing angrier and angrier with each new discovery.

It affected the heat in his body, causing it to rise till he realized there was a drop of sweat rolling off his forehead. And the tone of his voice dropped word by word to a menacing, barely-present whisper.

"The guy was... is... a soulless monster," he stated. "By every definition of the phrase..."

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Sara appraising him. Suddenly feeling self-conscious, he exhaled sharply and pretended to be very interested in the side of the table.

"I'd say so," agreed Doc. "If ever there was one."

The sound of a plastic bag opening and something being stuffed in it came to Nick's ears. But he didn't look up while Doc put the sock in an evidence bag and gave it to Sara.

"Anything else?" asked Sara.

"Yeah," said Doc. "Here, I've got some x-rays back. David?"

David seemed to appear out of nowhere, with the x-rays in one hand. He smiled at Sara. "Hi, Sara."

"Hi, David," she answered, and she sounded a little more cheerful when she did.

Nick's mouth twitched.

"Based on these fractures," Doc pressed forward, "I'm betting she was a frequent abuse victim, too. Like your first victim was. No way to tell if it was the same person abusing them, though."

"It probably was," said Nick. "And I bet he's got the kids... God only knows what he might be planning on doing with them..."

"Then perhaps this might help you find them a little faster," said David. "Here. Janice Kenley's cell phone. There's a voice mail on it, too. Here you are, Sara."

She accepted them with another smile. "Thank you much."

"Yeah," said Nick, rather forcefully. "Thank you, David."

"Here, Nick, hold this for me," said Sara.

She thrust the phone into his hand and reached around for Doc's printing powder and brush. Nick laughed once.

"Oh, shut up," Sara commanded immediately. "There might be prints on it."

"I didn't say anything," replied Nick in a mock-defensive tone. "I'm shocked you would make such implications of me, Sidle..."

"Yeah, I just bet you are," she said.

And he was pleased to note, she was smiling wider for him...

"Great. Now give it back." And she held a hand out expectantly.

"Yes, ma'am," answered Nick, with a playful salute. "It's all yours, my little opportunist."

She ignored him this time, as that determination settled on her face that told him and the rest of the world she was working now. And her hunch turned out to be correct! Within moments, she had lifted a beautiful print off.

And she didn't miss the chance to gloat, either. "Ah ha!" She waved it towards him once. "What do you think, Nick?"

"Poor sport..." he taunted back. Then he addressed Doc again. "Anything else?"

"I don't think so," replied Doc. "I think you've got all that Mrs. Kenley had left to give."

Nick raised his head first, and his eyes second. "Okay," he said, with a single nod for emphasis. "Thank you, Doc."

"Yeah," added Sara.

"No problem," said Doc. "And let me know how it all turns out. For now, Sara... you'll be pleased to hear, I'm sure, that I'm going to start on the girl now."

She looked up from the print just as she was sealing the evidence bag closed.

"Nick's told me you have a... special interest in this one. I promise I'll be the utmost in careful," assured Doc.

She turned, dragging her jaw along the floor in the process, to look at Nick behind her.

But he shrugged, "I might have mentioned..." and scratched the back of his head innocently.

She stared at him for a moment, shaking her head and coloring her features – with a look that he couldn't figure between gratitude and exasperation – and he stared back...

And then she turned to Doc and nodded. "Yes, Nick told you right. I, uh... I met her only once, but... sometimes those are the encounters that stand out, you know?"

Doc smiled kindly at her. "Yes, I do know. That's how David, here, came to work with us."

"Really?" asked Sara.

She turned to look at David, who was in the back drawing on some wax paper. He nodded, and grinned.

Nick sniffed. "I never knew that, Super Dave."

"It's true," said David. "I ran into Doc totally by accident, and, well... fresh out of school, and here I was, working in the crime lab!"

"Wow!" Sara sounded impressed. "Very good, David. Good eye, Doc."

"Thank you. I've always prided myself on it."

"It's why you're so good at your job," said Nick. "Now, Sara, whadda ya say to some lunch, now? I'm still buyin'." Before David starts panting like a puppy again, he added to himself. Though the mental image actually made him smile a little...

"Sounds great, Nicky. Lead the way."

The halls outside the morgue were quiet, with nothing but the fading sounds of Doc and David back-and-forth-ing about the case. Nick took Sara's robe from her and threw it into the hamper with his own. Where he noticed that the laundry hadn't been done since he and Sara had last been there; because their previous robes were still there.

"Thank you, Nick."

He looked up from his mildly-amusing discovery. "You're welcome," he said automatically. But then paused, and shook his head. "Uh... for what?"

She took a single step closer to him – which was a lot closer in such a small hallway. "For telling Doc Robbins about Penny. I appreciate it."

"You're welcome," he said again, a bit more sincerely now that he understood... "I know how it feels, you know?" Then he offered her his arm. "Shall we?"

She gripped onto it like before, and followed him through the halls towards the elevator. For a moment, neither of them said anything. Nick looked ahead determinedly, and could still see Sara's wandering eye from the corner of his own steady ones.

Suddenly, an idea occurred to him. "So, how long you gonna make David wait?"

She looked over at him and crinkled her forehead, obviously confused. "What? 'Wait'...? Wait for what?"

"Aw, come on, now, Sara, you know what I mean," he teased. "Super Dave's been such a good boy. When're you plannin' on rewarding him for it?"

She laughed. Which would normally make him feel better, when she would laugh even after she'd had that look on her face that had been there a few seconds ago. But this time, it made him feel that much less assured.

Until she spoke, anyway.

"No, no, no," she said hastily. "Sorry, but David's fascination with corpses is a real deal breaker for me."

"Really?" asked Nick in a downtrodden voice.

"Yeah," she said. "I'm old fashioned, I guess." And her grip tightened on his bicep. "I like heroes. ...And sometimes cowboys. Know any?"

He grinned widely as they stepped into the elevator. But shook his head playfully as he pressed the ground floor button.

"Oh, Sara..." he whispered, half-chuckling. "Let me count the ways..."