Chapter 2

"I was walking up the stairs one day with a man who wasn't there..I wish, I wish he'd go away," a haunting male voice whispered.

"Gil, for the love of.." Catherine said whirling around. She stopped however, upon realizing that aside from the corpse, she was alone in the room. An undeniable chill settled over her.

Fighting off a shiver, Catherine peered out into the hallway, even though she could've sworn the voice had come from inside of the room. The hall was completely empty.

"Hey Sara."

"Yeah?" Sara answered poking her head of the so-called Blue Room.

"Did anyone just walk down this hallway?" Catherine asked, hoping she didn't look as frightened as she felt. She couldn't even figure out why she was so scared all of a sudden.

"Nope, we're the only ones up here. Grissom's still talking to that witness and David hasn't gotten here yet to pick up the bodies," Sara replied. "Why?"

"Nevermind," Catherine sighed, heading back into the Red Room.

A few minutes later as Catherine began slowly working on the blood soaked walls with a bottle of Luminol, a strange flapping noise came from the hallway. She paused in her work, looked at the body, then turned her focus back to the wall.

"Hey Catherine," Sara said, appearing in the doorway.

"What the--" Catherine exclaimed, practically jumping at the voice of her co-worker. "Geez Sara, don't sneak up on a person like that."

"Did you hear that flapping noise?" Sara asked, not bothering to apologize.

"Yeah, just a few minutes ago," Catherine replied, going back to her work. "But I'm sure it's nothing."

"What's nothing?" Grissom asked, stepping into the doorway next to Sara.

"What is this, sneak up on the blonde day?" Catherine muttered. She stepped out into the hallway. "I can't do much more until David comes to pick up our friend."

Grissom nodded, "So do we have anything?"

"Well aside from blood spatter that rivals a Jackson Pollock painting, no" Catherine replied, trying to shake a single strand of hair out of her eyes.

"I might have something," Sara said, finally chiming in.

As Sara led the way to the Blue Room, Grissom reached over and tucked the strand of hair behind Catherine's ear. His reply was a sweet smile. Before they reached the Blue Room however, David and a few of Doctor Robbins assistants came up the stairs.

"You ready for us?" David asked, offering Sara a small smile.

"Yeah," she replied. "We've got two over here."

As Sara led David into the Blue Room, Catherine and Grissom lingered in the hallway.

"So did our witness have anything productive to say?" Catherine asked trying to be casual even though she was very curious as to what was going on.

"Just last known whereabouts of our vics," Grissom replied. Then seeing Catherine's raised eyebrow. "She's an old friend, from when I first moved to Vegas."

"That's nice," Catherine replied, pretending not to care.

Before they could get any further, Sara returned. "You know Catherine, David said he heard that flapping noise too," she said.

Grissom looked at the two women confused, "What flapping noise?"

For a moment neither answered. Then Catherine, with blue eyes wide, whispered, "Gil, don't move."

All of a sudden, a huge exotic-looking bird landed on Grissom's shoulder. Catherine and Sara glanced at each other, then at Grissom, trying to figure out what to do.

"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary," the bird squawked.

"Oh my god," Catherine murmured. But as soon as she spoke, the bird decided to move to her shoulder.

"He loves you," it squawked. It then hopped to Sara's shoulder, "He loves you not."

It then landed back on Grissom's shoulder and said, "He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revelers in the blood- bedewed halls of their revel."

****Where the heck did the bird come from, what does it know, and can a bird actually be a witness to a crime?? Who is Gil's "old friend?" And what about that voice Catherine heard?? This and more in chapter 3 so stay tuned!