A/N: Look how far I am! This is chapter eleven, and I've decided there will probably be fifteen total. I don't own CSI or its characters, but I did make a few up. Anima soul means "with deep feeling".

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Last Voice: A Concerto
11: Anima Soul

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"How did she get into the alley?" I whispered. It felt wrong to speak any louder.

Catherine thought for a moment, one hand across her stomach and the other holding her chin.

"Greg, stand on the steps like you're going into the building."

"Like this?"

"Up one more. Okay."

"She got home after Samson. Maybe he was waiting for her," Nick said from the top of the stairs.

I took a step up. "So… What sort of relationship did they have?"

"None as far as the other tenants know."

"Stalking?" Nick suggested with a shudder.

"If someone were stalking me, I knew it and they were standing on my doorstep... I'd freak."

Catherine nodded. "I'd ask, 'What do you want?'"

"He probably confessed his love or something," Nick grimaced.

"So he comes closer and Kasey gets even more scared," I said, motioning to Nick to come down the stairs.

"She runs away…"

Catherine looked toward the alley.

"How does she end up there?"

"Well…"

I took a breath and made a dash down the stairs.

And promptly fell on my face.

"Ouch!"

"Greggy!"

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm…" I looked up. I was facing the alley.

I pushed myself up on my knees.

"She tripped on that –" I pointed at a large crack in the sidewalk. "– and got up, kept running."

"Into the alley," Nick observed.

"He scared her bad," I murmured.

"Why would Samson confront her if he knew she would run away?"

"He's a big guy," Catherine said, helping me up. "Kasey was probably a good foot shorter."

"He knew he could catch her," Nick spat.

"He could have caught her with a fifty-pound bag of cat food slung over his shoulder. But what did he use to kill her?" Catherine asked.

I stepped into the alley again.

"None of the stuff we found matched the tool marks."

"Of course – he used it on William evening before last."

I heard their conversation and shined my flashlight across the cement.

It hadn't rained the night before.

The blood was still there, in its paint-like pools.

Nick gave me a funny took. "Greg?"

"I think he brought it with him."

"Why do you think that?"

"I think he was planning this whole damn thing."

"Don't jump to conclusions, Greggo."

The ringing of a cell phone shook me out of my speculations.

"Willows," Catherine said. "Results? Yeah? It matched the male vic? Right. Both of 'em. Sure. Thanks, Abbie."

"What?" Nick asked.

"A couple of the semen stains hadn't been cleaned out – they matched William. The paternity test? William was the father."

"He may have been unemployed, but he had something to occupy his time," I grumbled.

"Unemployed?" Nick repeated. "I forgot about that – Samson 'loved' Kasey. Kasey was pregnant. Sammy knew Billy wouldn't be able to support a kid."

"Can you say 'motive'?" I agreed.

"But how did he find out William was the father?" Catherine asked.

"That's easy," said a voice. We looked up to see Grissom on the top of the stairs. He held up an evidence bag. "This is a key – to Kasey's apartment. He gets in, finds out. Maybe finds a journal we haven't yet."

"The thick plottens."

A beeper went off. Everyone else instinctively checked theirs – I remembered and looked at my own.

"It's Brass," Grissom said. "They've probably got a lead on the guy."

He looked up – past me. Squinted, first there, and then at me. A look of understanding came across his face (subtly, of course).

I glanced casually over my shoulder. Catherine quickly looked away, trying to seem innocent.

Right.

It was that geek mind reading thing again. Usually it was Gris and Sara that did the 'Vulcan mind meld', but it looked like Cath had tried.

"So, Greg, why don't you come?"

See what I mean?

Grissom began dialing what I assumed was Brass's number and started toward his Tahoe.

"Why didn't he just call you? Like, on your phone?"

"Maybe he's in a hurry."

Rubik's cube, I thought with no humor whatsoever.

"Can I drive?" I asked lightheartedly.

"No."

Sulkily I slid into the passenger's seat.

"You know, it's dangerous to drive while talking on a cell phone."

Grissom ignored me, started the engine and said into the phone, "Yeah, Jim, it's Grissom."

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A/N: I'm just gonna end this now… Only FOUR chapters to go! I can't believe it! I know, you can't either. Heh. I drove again today. Let's not talk any more about that, okay?