Catherine's breath was uneasy, and the tears were once again flowing freely, she felt bad for the situation Sara was in, and guilty for her fear in playing a part in it. Catherine didn't understand the whole picture, but she knew that the lab explosion had evidentially started Sara into a downwards spiral of self-destructive behaviours. She felt angry with herself, and she felt angry with Nick. Nick who had known something was wrong, but who hadn't said anything at all. Slowly, almost reluctantly, she pulled out her phone. She needed to let Nick know that Sara was ok, that she was alive, but she couldn't bring herself to speak to him, so she sent a text that read
'S ok, on watch tho. Plz don't call until u have something solid, C x'
She hoped that that would be enough to at least assure the Texan for the time being.
Nicks heart was still racing, and a headache was pressing in, even though he'd read the text from Catherine, he still felt on edge, but he knew for now he had to try and hide it.
Until the rest of the evidence had been processed, there wasn't much he could do, they clearly wouldn't be speaking to Sara any time soon. Greg and David had been good, running with the evidence handed to them, and he was grateful that for once they hadn't asked for details on the case.
Nick walked slowly towards the break room, in need of coffee, although a beer would have suited him better if he hadn't been at work. Walking past the AV lab he heard Archie chuckling, although he wasn't sure why, and continued to walk past.
'Hey Nick..' Archie shouted stopping him in his tracks
'Hey Archie' Nick said turning around, plastering a smile on to his face
'I wanna show you something' Archie said a massive grin across his face.
'Umm.. I don't have any AV evidence…' Nick said his voice low
'I know…it's not from your case' Archie said still smiling
'So…why are you showing me?' Nick said, trying to keep the annoyance from his voice
'You'll see' Archie said gesturing for Nick to come closer to the screen.
'Catherine was called to sort out a bar fight scene, and I've been looking through the footage…'
Nick made to interrupt him, but Archie held a hand up to stop him
'It seems, someone had a bit of fun the other night' he said with a slight giggle in his voice as he pointed to the screen. Nick looked up, and his heart caught in his throat.
On the screen before him was a man of about 30, short dark hair, dark clothes, and a look of hunger in his eyes, on his arms, looking flushed and drunk, and far too close, was none other than Sara Sidle.
'Looks like someone got laid…' Archie said his voice light 'Lucky them'
Nick tried his hardest not to shout at Archie, to slam his fists into the screen, and forced on an even bigger smile.
'Lucky them!' he said as brightly as he could 'Umm… how did you find this?' Nick asked now curious
'Ah… well, I was trying to pinpoint when the fight started out, as none of the statements matched up' Archie started, now getting back into work mode. 'This was just a few minutes before the fight broke out… it's not what started it though, of course…' Archie flipped to another screen 'This was…' he pressed play, and on the screen there was a shot of the bar. A blonde woman was hurrying across the floor, and bumped into a patron, but carried on, a moment later, another person bumped into the same patron, who happened to be a tall and imposing Biker, and he turned and clearly said something to the person, who just shrugged and tried to walk away, the biker however, was having none of it, and grabbed the man, and threw a punch. The bar fight started from there, and got worse, until, out of energy, and being pulled apart, the fight stopped five minutes later.
'Oh… ' Nick said, his hand rubbing the back of his neck
'So…Blondie started it, and the biker guy blames someone else?' he added
'Yep..looks like it' Archie said 'Case closed'
'Yeah, Yeah I guess…' Nick said slowly 'So…where'd the blonde go? Did she stay around and watch the fight?'
'I dunno…' Archie said 'Why?'
Nick shrugged 'Curiosity?'
Archie smiled, 'ok then…' he pressed a few keys on his keyboard, and lined up some frames.
'Right then… here's the blonde before the fight breaks out… she's sat by herself, but…it looks like she keeps looking up to someone, or towards something…'
In the video, a waitress approaches the blonde, and places a fresh drink on the table, the girl thanks her, takes a sip, and looks back over to whatever was drawing her attention. Suddenly, her glass is bought down on to the table, and the blonde is hurriedly standing up, and hurries of towards the door, where she bumps into the biker person, but carries on going. The blonde seemed to be walking rather quickly, and shoves the doors open, looking around. The video stops after that
'What happened next?' Nick asked
'Dunno' Archie replied 'There are no Cameras on the outside of the building'
'Ok… so, what made her get up so suddenly?' Nick asked
Archie shrugged 'Does it matter? This is about the fight, not some drunk chick'
'Humour me' Nick said placing his hand on Archie's shoulder and forcing on another smile.
'Ok…' Archie said, taping his keyboard again
'Here…' he pressed play, the camera was now watching over a few tables in one of the corners of the bar 'There's Sara and her date…' Archie said 'And… an older couple playing cards… some college idiots… ' Archie was about to say what he saw on the 4th table, when Sara and the man stood up, the man's arm draped over Sara's shoulder, their bodies close. Archie looked at the time stamps, then up at Nick, his humour now dropped, and his face a tad paler, he wondered if Nick had clocked it too
'Ummm… Your blonde… Your blonde was watching Sara and that Guy…'
Nicks hand started rubbing on the back of his neck again, though he wasn't aware of it 'Can you get me a still of the blonde, please?' Nick asked as calmly as he could.
'Sure' Archie pulled up the image
'Oh…Fuck…' Nick spat out.
Sara stirred slightly, her head felt heavy, and her stomach empty, this time however, she knew exactly where she was and why, she just didn't know how long she'd been asleep this time. She sensed that Catherine was in the room, watching her, analysing her, judging her. Taking a deep breath, she rolled over on to her other side, still trying to keep her body as small as possible.
'Hey' Catherine said quietly, her voice cracked, her eyes red and puffy from the crying, although the tears had long since dried up.
'I'm sorry' Sara whispered, moving her hand slowly, still wrapped up in Catherine's now blood stained shirt.
Catherine only shrugged, not trusting herself to say anything, or even knowing where to begin.
'Can I wash, please?' Sara whispered, her eyes closed tightly for a moment. She felt so dirty, so embarrassed, and she just wanted to wash away what she could.
Catherine nodded slowly 'Sar…' She started, she didn't want to let the young brunette out of her sight for even a minute. She didn't know where the lies began and the truth stopped with Sara, and she didn't truly know if she believed that the smashed glass had been an accident. What she did know was that Sara had gone beyond breaking point. 'Sure..' She said after a moment 'But, I'm going to have to stay…' She added.
Sara nodded slowly, she had hoped to be left alone, but the criminalist in her knew that she shouldn't be, and she didn't have the energy to argue.
'Here… drink this…' Catherine said passing Sara a plastic beaker of water.
Sara took it, her hand trembling slightly, and she gulped it down, only now realising just how dry and tight her throat felt. Sitting up slowly, she dragged herself off the bed, and walked towards the bathroom, Catherine close behind her, though neither said a word.
Slipping her robe off, Sara turned the shower on, letting the water warm up. Normally she would be embarrassed to let anyone see her in such a state of undress if there wasn't sex involved, but seeming as Catherine had just processed her entire body, and done a rape kit, she no longer cared. Stepping under the shower, Sara stood, allowing the water to run over her body.
Catherine stood in the doorway, watching, looking over Sara's body again, seeing every last mark on her body, seeing them for what they were, without the camera between them.
She noticed a long and pale scar on the back of Sara's neck, the bruises and bite marks on her body, and the many scars on her stomach. Catherine was aware that she was staring, but right now, she didn't care. If Sara was found guilty of killing Rose, Catherine wanted to at least help Sara with the charges that the D.A. would bring against her.
Could Catherine perhaps find proof that Sara was emotionally unstable, would a psych evaluation help, was Sara perhaps too far out of her mind to truly know what had happened. Could, if it came to it, Catherine help Sara plead for insanity, and perhaps get Sara a sentence in a mental instituion instead of a jail?
Looking intently at Sara's stomach, knowing that some of them had been inflicted in the past 12 months, Catherine tried to think about why the scars were there, what they were supposed to represent. What they were supposed to help with.
All of the scars ran across Sara's stomach in the same way, slightly down at an angle, below the belly button, the bottom of the scar towards Sara's right hip. Catherine frowned, it was evident that Sara really had inflicted them on herself, as she knew Sara to be right handed. Catherine counted, 18 scars in all across Sara's stomach. Catherine tried to look harder, to see if she could figure out which ones were the newest. It was hard to tell, with the water on Sara's body, and the soap suds getting in the way. Sara turned away, so her back was to Catherine
'Please…Please stop staring.' Sara forced out.
'Sara Sidle, you have a visitor… Sara Sidle, a visitor' came Judy's voice over the tannoy at the crime lab.
'Oh Fuck…' Nick repeated.
'What…?' Archie said his brow furrowed.
Nick reached his hand over and turned Archie's computer screen off, and grabbing his elbow pulled him off the chair, out the room and towards the reception desk, Archie's protesting doing nothing to stop him.
'Judy…' Nick said smiling slightly; dropping his grip on Archie's arm 'Sara's not here right now, can I help?'
'Ummm… Sure…' Judy said smiling slightly, and pointed to a man sat on one of the waiting room chairs.
'Thanks' Nick said, his eyes glancing over to the man, as Archie did the same. Both stepped over to the man.
'Excuse me, I'm Nick Stokes…' Nick began 'I'm sorry, but Sara's not here right now…' the man he was addressing looked up, his face tight, his fist clenched slightly. He had a black eye, and a split lip, but he was still instantly recognizable.
'Fuck…' Archie mumbled under his breath.
Catherine dropped her gaze 'Sorry' she mumbled, taking a slight step into the room, and grabbed some towels into her arms before leaning against the wall
'I'm sorry' she said a bit more loudly and confidently this time 'I just… your scaring me Sara. I want to help…'
'I know…' Sara said turning again, the water now turned off, as she stepped out of the shower, and held her hand out to grab the towels from Catherine, and wrapped herself up tightly.
'Toothbrush?' She said wrapping a second towel around her hair.
Catherine stepped further into the room, and opened up one of the cupboards 'Here' she said handing it to Sara with a small tube of toothpaste.
'Thanks… and thanks for cleaning up the puke…' Sara said evenly.
'Sure' Catherine managed a small smile on her lips.
Sara brushed her teeth, trying to get the taste of alcohol and vomit from her mouth. When she was finished, Sara stepped out of the bathroom, and made her way back to the bed, once again Catherine close to her.
'Hungry?' Catherine asked aware that Sara had barely eaten any of the breakfast from a few hours ago.
'Nope'
'Oh'
'You?'
'Yeah actually' Catherine said, her tummy rumbling slightly at the thought of food.
'Don't let me stop you' Sara said, trying her best to sound level.
Catherine smiled again, and picked up her phone, dialling for room service
'Sure you don't want anything?' She asked whilst waiting for the phone to be picked up.
Sara shrugged 'More toast?' She knew she had to eat.
Catherine nodded, and placed the order, and then turned to look at Sara who was now sat on the bed, her body against the headboard. Catherine decided to walk to the other side, and sit next to her.
'Why did you call me?' Catherine said, her eyes firmly fixed on the wall, not daring herself to look at the woman next to her.
'To what?' Sara asked
'To the explosion scene in Henderson'
'Oh…' Sara took a deep breath 'It's going to sound so stupid….'
'Try me' Catherine said, turning her head ever so slightly.
'I…I…' Sara began, and taking a deep breath decided that perhaps she should start telling the truth.
'I was worried I would have a panic attack at the scene… and I knew that if I did, if you were there, you would understand.' Sara said quietly, her head dropping once more towards her chest.
Before Catherine knew what she was doing, her hand had found Sara's, and gripped it tightly.
