TITLE: No More Death, No More Murder
AUTHOR: Micky Fine
DISCLAIMER: None of the characters from the show belong to me no matter how much I beg and plead. Anyone else you don't recognize came from my head. I am making no profit from this piece of fiction.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry it took me so long to post another chapter but things are so busy. I'm not sure I'm going to continue with this fic, so if you'd like to see more please let me know. This chapter is really long to sort of make up for the time I haven't been posting. Also, I wanted to get all of this stuff into one chapter.
Reviews always welcome.
"This is our eye witness Kelly Watts."
Grissom turned to look at the woman. She seemed to be in shock at what had gone on. He sympathized with her. He could feel the shock welling up from within his body threatening to overwhelm him. But he couldn't let it. He put up mental walls around it, ignored it for the time being. He needed detachment to work the case. And to help Sara the best way he knew how. He nodded at Brass and at the woman and then he turned to Warrick and Nick.
"Warrick, I want you to photograph the scene. Every single square inch if you have to. After you're done I want you to study the blood spatter, see if you can figure out how the attack was carried out."
"Nick, I want you to look for any evidence of who the attacker was. Check for hair, threads, anything. If Sara fought her attacker she would know to leave evidence somewhere."
Both men nodded and headed off to do their assigned tasks. Proud of the detachment his people could use, even in a case as close to their hearts as this, he turned back to Brass and the eyewitness.
"So, Miss Watts, what were you doing out here?" Gil asked.
"I'm a waitress at that restaurant and bar down the street," she pointed behind her as she spoke.
Gil turned and saw a gigantic neon martini glass with an olive. He nodded.
She continued, "My shift had just ended and I was walking to the car park over there," once again she pointed and Gil once again noted the location.
"Why did you notice the young woman across the street?" Brass asked.
"I heard her heels on the sidewalk and I was admiring her outfit when this man approached her."
"What did the man look like?" Grissom asked urgently.
"I couldn't tell. It was dark and he was wearing dark clothing. He was tall though. He was at least a head taller than her and from what I could tell she was wearing two or three inch heels," she looked at Grissom questioningly.
"That will help us a little bit. What happened after he approached her?"
"They talked for a little bit. Then it seemed like she suddenly realized who it was, and wanted to get away. That's when they started fighting. As soon as I saw them starting to struggle I called the police on my cell phone. I didn't really pay attention to them while I was on the phone. The department wanted so many details I couldn't pay attention to both. After I hung up though, that was when he pulled out the gun. I couldn't tell what it was at first and then he fired a shot that went wild and hit a sign above my head. I hid behind a parked car after that. I didn't see anything else but I did hear two gunshots. After the second one there was a thudding sound. And then the sound of someone running away. A couple minutes after that, you arrived," Kelly finished pointing at Brass as she concluded.
"Thank you, Miss Watts, that was very helpful," Grissom said and then indicated to Brass that he was finished.
As he walked over to see how Nick and Warrick were doing, he heard Brass say, "Thank you Miss Watts, we may need to contact you again. Can you give me a number where..."
Grissom went over the information Kelly Watts had given him in his head. She was walking to the car park. Maybe Sara had been walking to the car park as well. He continued over to Nick and Warrick to share his revelation.
Catherine felt almost guilty, sitting uselessly inside the ambulance while Hank continually rushed, checking Sara's vital signs and who knew what else. She held Sara's hand and gave it a squeeze. Mentally, she urged her friend to fight.
To fight. Sara would have fought her attacker. Viciously. And because Sara was a CSI she would have made sure to get some sort of evidence, so that her friends could help her. Catherine's eyes widened.
"Hank, can I borrow a pair of gloves?"
"Sure, here."
"You got some rubbing alcohol I can use?"
Hank handed it over and Catherine used it to sanitize a nail file she had in her purse. Finally, she pulled out an evidence bag that she had hanging around and began to scrape under Sara's nails. With a smile she saw what looked like skin caught underneath.
"Good job Sara. You may just crack your own case."
Grissom had combed every inch of Sara's car. There had been no sign of anything unusual. Unless you counted the two bottles of luminol in her trunk. He returned the keys to the purse Nick had found at the scene. When Grissom had left to find Sara's car, Nick and Warrick had still been processing the evidence.
Instead of immediately heading straight back to the scene, Gil leaned against Sara's car and gazed up at the faintly visible stars. He used to love stargazing when he was a child. He would go down the beach and look up at the stars. Then he had become more interested in other things. Usually dead things. Funny how things change.
Well, not always funny.
Catherine had been sitting in the same plastic chair in the waiting room next to the operating room for two hours. Two whole hours. She had counted the ceiling tiles. 17 times. There were 137 tiles. Then she had gone through the contents of her purse. Hair elastics, chewing gum, lipstick, lip-gloss, mirror, some evidence bags, and her trusty bottle of luminol. She never went anywhere without luminol. Hazard of the job.
She had sat her for two hours and had tried to think positive thoughts for Sara. That Sara was going to make it out of surgery. Be healthy and strong. Live happily ever after. Possibly with Grissom. Live until she was 102 and always carry luminol.
Two whole hours. She was just about to pick up one of the magazines that looked decades old when a middle-aged man in scrubs walked up to her.
"Ms. Willows?"
"Yes?"
"We just finished surgery on Miss Sidle. She was a very lucky young woman. The bullet that passed through her chest didn't hit her lungs, her aorta, or any ribs. The bullet that hit the artery in her arm did cause her to lose a lot of blood and fluids but we replaced those. She has some other injuries that appear to be from a fight. She has a sprained ankle, bruised ribs, various cuts and scrapes and a nasty bump on the head. Otherwise, she seems to be fine and she should come out of this just as good as new."
"Thank God! Thank you, Dr..."
"Dr. Schwann, James Schwann. I'll be looking after Sara, post-surgery as well. You'll be seeing a lot of me."
"Thank you very much. Can I see her?"
"In a few minutes. We're prepping a room for her."
"Thank you once again. Is it alright if I use my cell phone in here?"
"Yeah, it should be fine."
"Thanks."
Grissom was helping Nick comb the scene when his cell phone rang.
"Grissom."
"Hey, it's Catherine. I just finished talking with Sara's doctor. She pulled through surgery really well and they expect her to make a full recovery."
Gil let out a breath he didn't he'd been holding.
"Thank God."
"Let everyone know."
"I will."
"Oh, I have some scrapings I collected from underneath Sara's nails. You can send someone over to pick them up."
"I will."
"I'm going to see Sara now. I'll talk to you soon."
"Ok, bye."
"Bye."
Grissom hung up and saw several sets of eyes surveying him.
"Sara just got out of surgery. The doctor says she's going to make a full recovery."
There were several cheers.
Grissom smiled and then said, "Ok, now let's get down to business."
Catherine sat on the chair that had been placed next to Sara's bed. It was shocking how pale she was. All the other times Catherine had seen her she had been full of life, her face tan with a healthy glow. Now she looked… Catherine couldn't come up with a word that fit the emotions she felt when she looked at Sara.
Clearing her throat, Catherine began to speak.
"Hey Sara. It's me, Catherine. The doctor said it would be a good idea if I talked to you. He said it might make you wake up faster. You did a good job in surgery. The doctor said you were really lucky that the damage wasn't more serious."
She paused and silence filled the room, interrupted only by the beeping of the heart monitor.
"You know, I always thought that being a CSI gave us a pass on this sort of thing. Like, because we deal with death everyday at work we kind of get a "Get Out of Violent Death Free" card. I always thought we'd all die peacefully in our sleep at a ripe old age. But I guess I was wrong. You've proved that twice today. What a wacky day for you, huh? Threatened with a gun and nearly shot at the scene this afternoon. And then attacked and shot tonight.
"You know we're gonna find the guy who did this. Of course, it would be a huge help if you woke up really quick and just told us. But I guess you're on some heavy medication and you need to sleep it off.
"Gris is really worried about you. Actually the whole team is worried about you. I think you almost gave Brass a heart attack when he found you. But honestly, I think Gil is taking this the hardest. He's had to deal with your near death twice today. I think you've gotten the point across. He's paying attention to you now, Sara.
"We all love you. I hope you know that. I hope that you weren't scared and alone when you were lying there on the sidewalk. I hope that you knew we were coming. That we would come rescue you from this. I think we'd rescue you from a fate worse than death if we could.
"But now I've been blabbing on and on and you're probably thinking 'Cat, please shut up, I'm trying to sleep'. You're right too. I should shut up and leave you alone. I'm going to go now and help with the case but I'm absolutely positive that you won't be alone too long."
Catherine gave Sara's hand a squeeze. As she stood up she smoothed Sara's hair and smiled.
"You'll be alright girl. I'm positive."
The team had finished processing the scene just as the sun started to peek over the horizon, almost hesitant to shed light on a seemingly dark day. Nick and Warrick were packing up, preparing to head back to the lab to process data.
Brass walked up to Grissom.
"You know, what I can't figure out is why she was walking down here."
"Well, an easy way to try and find out is to check out her apartment."
"Is that where we're going next?"
"I think so. I told Catherine to meet us there."
"Alright then, let's bust this case and get this guy."
"Best idea I've heard all day."