XIV

Eric sighed quietly in exasperation.

"Yeah, I hear ya," Frank muttered darkly.

They were walking up to what would soon be the fourth door they'd knocked on so far, looking for any witnesses to Natalia's abduction. Not a single person had answered yet.

"No one's ever home during the week in these suburban developments," Eric remarked annoyedly. "We'll be lucky to find anyone at home let alone someone who actually saw what happened."

They stepped up to the door. Frank rapped hard on it five times.

Movement on the other side of the window caught Eric's eye. It was over before he could see it, but he could have sworn someone had just ducked out of sight.

Frank knocked again. Eric watched for any more movement, but there was none this time.

Frank turned to look at him. "No one's here either," he grumbled.

"Hold up a minute, Frank," Eric said quietly.

He reached out to knock on the window and pressed his badge against the glass. "Miami-Dade PD! Open the door, please!"

Silence.

"Delko..." Frank began.

"Open up right now, or we'll kick in the door!" Eric called.

"We will?" Frank muttered dryly.

The door was suddenly yanked open. A teenage girl stood there with an angry look on her face. She looked flustered, her stringy brown hair mussed up along with her t-shirt and jeans.

"Oh my God, what?" she demanded sourly. "You can't just go kicking in people's doors!"

"Yeah, we know," Eric said mildly. "What's your name?"

She scowled at him. "Renee."

"Shouldn't you be in school, Renee?" Frank asked waspishly.

"I stayed home sick," she retorted.

"Playing hooky, more like," Frank muttered.

"Look, Renee," Eric said. "We're looking for information on something that happened down the street about two hours ago. You help us and we won't tell your parents that you ditched school. Deal?"

She rolled her eyes, but nodded. "What makes you think I know anything?"

"A CSI was kidnapped at the stop sign down the street. Did you see anything?" he asked.

She didn't look completely surprised or confused, but rather thoughtful. Eric's heart skipped a beat: did this kid see something?

"What time was this?" she asked, chewing on her bottom lip.

"Between 1 and 1:30," Frank answered.

She nodded slowly, her brow furrowed in concentration. "Yeah... I was watching a movie on TV. It started at 1. I thought I heard a girl yell."

Eric and Frank glanced at each other. They hadn't mentioned that the missing CSI was a woman. This girl was really remembering something, not just making up what she thought they wanted to hear to get out of trouble.

"I looked out the window, but I didn't see anyone," she said. "Figured it was just the TV."

"Can you think of anything else that might help us?" Eric pressed. "The clock is ticking here."

Renee looked up at him, her smartass facade melting away. Her eyes were sad. "She's a friend of yours, huh? The missing girl?"

Eric hesitated, his thoughts clicking to Natalia. "Yeah, she is."

Renee sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Let me think... Oh, I saw a car drive by my house a couple minutes after I heard the yell."

"Which way was it going?" Frank asked.

Renee pointed northward down the street, away from where the stop sign was.

"What kind of car was it?" Eric inquired.

"Um... big, like a truck but not a pick-up... dark green, kind of banged up and rusty... I didn't see the brand symbol on it and I don't know anything about cars," she said.

Frank was busily writing everything down. "Did you see anything else, the driver maybe? Anyone else in the car?"

Renee shook her head. "No, it was moving kind of fast and I wasn't really paying attention. But I do remember the first two letters of the license plate were B-S. Thought it was funny. That's all I remember, I went back to watching my movie."

Eric handed her his business card. "If you think of anything else, anything at all, I need you to call me. All right?"

She took it and looked up at him pleadingly. "Please don't tell my parents I skipped? My mom would kill me."

"We'll let it slide this time," Eric told her. "But don't be doing it anymore, got it?"

She gave him a look as if to say, Yeah right. Whatever.

"Thanks for your help," Frank said, turning to go.

As Eric went to follow him, he heard a voice call out behind him.

"I hope you find your friend!" Renee said.

Eric looked at her for a moment, then nodded.

So did he.

Author's Note: SEASON 9 PREMIERE TONIGHT SEASON 9 PREMIERE TONIGHT SEASON 9 PREMIERE TONIGHT! OMG I'm going crazy with excitement here, people. I have brownies and milk and my friend's coming over to watch and the TV is all mine and I'm just so so so stoked! I'm wiggling like a puppy that has to pee. I can't imagine what it must be like for those of you in Europe who have to wait even longer. I might just die if that were me :(. My sincerest condolences. I will keep up with the updating to give you some semblance of a fix, and I hope it gets to you soon! As for my fellow Americans (at least those in the Midwest and East)... only two hours and nineteen minutes to go!