Chapter 4
Four solemn faces in his office greeted Grissom. Quickly looking at Nick for confirmation if he had said anything Gris received a small shake of the head from the younger man.
"Ok, here's what we have again, another woman in her 30's, Sarah Simpson. Same MO, throat was cut, entrance through a bedroom window that looks like was left unlocked." Purposefully he leaves out the appearance of the victim and the note.
Catherine notices the indescribable look on his face as he makes a flash decision that Sara shouldn't hear this with the group, as he was unsure of what her reaction would be. He turns to Sara. "Can I speak with you privately?"
"Why?" Sara asks confused.
"I just think it would be better if this was discussed alone." He is ignoring the looks from the rest of the group.
"Does it have to do with the case?" She inquires tersely.
"Yes."
"Then say it here, they probably need to hear it too." Sara responds indicating Catherine and Warrick.
"Sara…. I really don't think…"
"Just spit it out Grissom." Everyone in the room notices the tiredness and a bit of annoyance in her voice and tries not to look at her or Grissom. She was obviously angry about Nick being called and not her.
"Fine, tonight's victim is similar in appearance to yesterdays." Grissom states while gauging the others reactions.
"What else?" Sara asks without missing a beat, "That's not worth a private conversation with me, so there has to be something else." She meets his eyes and challenges him to refute her.
"This time we have a note."
"A note? Isn't that a bit atypical of serial killers." Sara asks.
This is not a typical serial killer, not even close." Grissom says, slowly he brings out the note in the evidence bag for Catherine, Warrick and Sara to look at. As the trio gazes at the one thing they have to work with, Grissom carefully studies Sara's reaction. What concerns him is she seems to have none, she is looking at the note with detached interest. After reading the evidence, Catherine and Warrick look up, stunned.
Catherine turns to Sara and quietly asks her if she is ok. Sara looks at her and smiles faintly.
"I am fine." Looking at the skeptical faces staring at her she continues to reassure them. "Really, I am, no problem. He hasn't made any overt threats to me directly until now. So now I am warned."
"Brass wants to talk to you, I briefed him on the way in." Grissom tells her.
"Oh, I am sure he does."
"Has anyone been following you recently? Does anything in this note ring any bells?" This comes from Nick.
"No, no one. The note isn't…. familiar either." Sara looks distracted at the last part of the comment, almost like she is trying to remember something, and Grissom wonders what.
"Ok everyone, lets get to the job at hand then. Warrick and Catherine take the sheets again, also see what you can get off this note and the notepads. Nick and I will go to autopsy, Sara, find Brass and then when you are done check the knife wound pattern, see if they match. After that we need to go through the victims lives, find a common connection, besides the obvious, this guy is finding these women somewhere."
"Grissom, this was my case first, I should go to autopsy, as it is, I wasn't called to the scene" This is said with no small amount of fury, confirming for everyone what and who she is angry with.
"No, Brass wants to see you, so do that first, then see where we are."
"Fine." She says as she stalks out of the room in search of Jim Brass, she knew what he was doing, keeping her away from the body. She was not happy about it.As everyone breaks to go about collecting evidence, there is a palpable discomfort in the room. They are all concerned for Sara's well being with the one exception of Sara. She appears to be supremely unconcerned that there was some nutcase loose out there and he was searching for her. Catherine finds this particularly discomforting and grabs Grissom on the way out to have a talk about it.
"Grissom, can I talk to you, privately?"
"Sure, lets go to my office." As Gil leads the way, he knows what Catherine wants to talk about and is trying to come up with an answer himself.
As they enter she shuts the door as he slides behind his desk, case file in hand with the note.
"Whats up?" He asks lightly
"You know what is up Grissom… Sara. You are going to have a serious problem there. She is shutting down, usually Sara is…emotional about theses kinds of cases." They both knew that these kinds of cases where dead women. "I am afraid that she is holding everything inside, that isn't good for her. She is upset, but wont talk about it. You need to talk to her, get her to open up, let out some of whatever she is feeling."
"Why me? Why not you? You guys get along, maybe it would be better coming from another woman." Gil was grasping at straws here, and they both knew it. It was wrong of him to try and pawn this off, but he couldn't help it, he was bad with people.
Catherine was getting very angry with him, "Grissom, if I tell her to talk to someone, because you know she wont spill to me, she will simply ignore me. Maybe if it comes from a supervisor it will hold more weight, particularly from you. She admires you, takes from your example. Besides if all else fails, make it an order."
Grissom rests his head in his hands and promises Catherine he will talk to her today.
"Don't screw this up Grissom, she's the best CSI you have. You don't want to lose her." Catherine tells him tenderly as she gets up and lightly touches the top of his head. Suddenly something occurs to her and she says more to herself than anyone "Well what do you know, Warrick was right."
"What?"
"Warrick was right, this was about Sara." She relays the conversation she had with Warrick to Grissom.
Grissom just stares at her without comment about that, then just as she leaves says "Thanks Catherine."
"No problem." She gives him a smile and closes the office door behind her.
Grissom sat in quiet contemplation, debating how to bring up the subject with Sara, he was as concerned as Catherine about her, but without the push she just gave him, he probably would have just let it go. Sara never hid the fact that some cases bothered her, it wasn't in her nature, but he had a feeling that anything regarding her safety, or others concern for her would be a different story. She didn't like people fussing about her, simply because she didn't know how to handle them. He quickly looked at his watch and debated if he had enough time to talk to her before the autopsy was scheduled. As he was deciding, his office door opened with no warning and a very angry looking Sara Sidle walked up to his desk.
Four solemn faces in his office greeted Grissom. Quickly looking at Nick for confirmation if he had said anything Gris received a small shake of the head from the younger man.
"Ok, here's what we have again, another woman in her 30's, Sarah Simpson. Same MO, throat was cut, entrance through a bedroom window that looks like was left unlocked." Purposefully he leaves out the appearance of the victim and the note.
Catherine notices the indescribable look on his face as he makes a flash decision that Sara shouldn't hear this with the group, as he was unsure of what her reaction would be. He turns to Sara. "Can I speak with you privately?"
"Why?" Sara asks confused.
"I just think it would be better if this was discussed alone." He is ignoring the looks from the rest of the group.
"Does it have to do with the case?" She inquires tersely.
"Yes."
"Then say it here, they probably need to hear it too." Sara responds indicating Catherine and Warrick.
"Sara…. I really don't think…"
"Just spit it out Grissom." Everyone in the room notices the tiredness and a bit of annoyance in her voice and tries not to look at her or Grissom. She was obviously angry about Nick being called and not her.
"Fine, tonight's victim is similar in appearance to yesterdays." Grissom states while gauging the others reactions.
"What else?" Sara asks without missing a beat, "That's not worth a private conversation with me, so there has to be something else." She meets his eyes and challenges him to refute her.
"This time we have a note."
"A note? Isn't that a bit atypical of serial killers." Sara asks.
This is not a typical serial killer, not even close." Grissom says, slowly he brings out the note in the evidence bag for Catherine, Warrick and Sara to look at. As the trio gazes at the one thing they have to work with, Grissom carefully studies Sara's reaction. What concerns him is she seems to have none, she is looking at the note with detached interest. After reading the evidence, Catherine and Warrick look up, stunned.
Catherine turns to Sara and quietly asks her if she is ok. Sara looks at her and smiles faintly.
"I am fine." Looking at the skeptical faces staring at her she continues to reassure them. "Really, I am, no problem. He hasn't made any overt threats to me directly until now. So now I am warned."
"Brass wants to talk to you, I briefed him on the way in." Grissom tells her.
"Oh, I am sure he does."
"Has anyone been following you recently? Does anything in this note ring any bells?" This comes from Nick.
"No, no one. The note isn't…. familiar either." Sara looks distracted at the last part of the comment, almost like she is trying to remember something, and Grissom wonders what.
"Ok everyone, lets get to the job at hand then. Warrick and Catherine take the sheets again, also see what you can get off this note and the notepads. Nick and I will go to autopsy, Sara, find Brass and then when you are done check the knife wound pattern, see if they match. After that we need to go through the victims lives, find a common connection, besides the obvious, this guy is finding these women somewhere."
"Grissom, this was my case first, I should go to autopsy, as it is, I wasn't called to the scene" This is said with no small amount of fury, confirming for everyone what and who she is angry with.
"No, Brass wants to see you, so do that first, then see where we are."
"Fine." She says as she stalks out of the room in search of Jim Brass, she knew what he was doing, keeping her away from the body. She was not happy about it.As everyone breaks to go about collecting evidence, there is a palpable discomfort in the room. They are all concerned for Sara's well being with the one exception of Sara. She appears to be supremely unconcerned that there was some nutcase loose out there and he was searching for her. Catherine finds this particularly discomforting and grabs Grissom on the way out to have a talk about it.
"Grissom, can I talk to you, privately?"
"Sure, lets go to my office." As Gil leads the way, he knows what Catherine wants to talk about and is trying to come up with an answer himself.
As they enter she shuts the door as he slides behind his desk, case file in hand with the note.
"Whats up?" He asks lightly
"You know what is up Grissom… Sara. You are going to have a serious problem there. She is shutting down, usually Sara is…emotional about theses kinds of cases." They both knew that these kinds of cases where dead women. "I am afraid that she is holding everything inside, that isn't good for her. She is upset, but wont talk about it. You need to talk to her, get her to open up, let out some of whatever she is feeling."
"Why me? Why not you? You guys get along, maybe it would be better coming from another woman." Gil was grasping at straws here, and they both knew it. It was wrong of him to try and pawn this off, but he couldn't help it, he was bad with people.
Catherine was getting very angry with him, "Grissom, if I tell her to talk to someone, because you know she wont spill to me, she will simply ignore me. Maybe if it comes from a supervisor it will hold more weight, particularly from you. She admires you, takes from your example. Besides if all else fails, make it an order."
Grissom rests his head in his hands and promises Catherine he will talk to her today.
"Don't screw this up Grissom, she's the best CSI you have. You don't want to lose her." Catherine tells him tenderly as she gets up and lightly touches the top of his head. Suddenly something occurs to her and she says more to herself than anyone "Well what do you know, Warrick was right."
"What?"
"Warrick was right, this was about Sara." She relays the conversation she had with Warrick to Grissom.
Grissom just stares at her without comment about that, then just as she leaves says "Thanks Catherine."
"No problem." She gives him a smile and closes the office door behind her.
Grissom sat in quiet contemplation, debating how to bring up the subject with Sara, he was as concerned as Catherine about her, but without the push she just gave him, he probably would have just let it go. Sara never hid the fact that some cases bothered her, it wasn't in her nature, but he had a feeling that anything regarding her safety, or others concern for her would be a different story. She didn't like people fussing about her, simply because she didn't know how to handle them. He quickly looked at his watch and debated if he had enough time to talk to her before the autopsy was scheduled. As he was deciding, his office door opened with no warning and a very angry looking Sara Sidle walked up to his desk.