Invisible Assailant
Chapter 10: Lost and Found
A/N: For my partner in crime, Manda, you're the best. And for the 'anonymous'
reviewer…this chapter is for you…for your continuing persistence in begging me for this
chapter. I really hope you contact me personally, as I would love your input on this
story…anyway, here's your bone. I really hope that it lives up to your expectations.
----
The rain soaked through the driver's jacket as he ran around to the passenger side of the
car. Blood trickled down Catherine's forehead, as he squatted down the get a better look
at her injuries. It ran down her arms before falling in droplets to the ground and
disappearing as the rain hastily swept it away. He could see the pain in her eyes—the
irises wide, pools of blue, gazing dully into his.
"Catherine, can you get up?" She raised her head slightly, biting her lip at the effort, and
shook her rained soaked head. He sighed heavily, and moved around behind her.
Wrapping his right arm securely around her legs, and his left carefully around her
midsection, he picked her up. Her eyes were drooping shut as he carried her to the car,
her body shivering from the cold.
"Stay with me Cath…come on, stay awake for me baby. You can do it."
She moaned softly in reply. Flinging open the door, he laid her gently across the backseat
and covered her with a spare blanket. For a moment, he stood there taking in the
situation. Wondering what had happened. Catherine was so still; he could barely tell
whether or not she was even breathing, the rise and fall of her chest barely visible.
"Don't die on me baby," he whispered. "Don't you dare die on me, Catherine Willows."
Catherine watched him as he got into the drivers seat and started up the car. The wheels
spun and ground against the pavement, the car lurching forward. She could feel the bile
building at the back of her throat. Soon she couldn't hold it in any longer, and she threw
up on the floor, tears rolling down her cheeks once again.
Her body had nothing left, nothing but pain and a gnawing in her stomach for another
high. He turned around and gave her a once over with his eyes. She wondered why he
was doing this for her. Why he cared so much.
"I'll always care about you, Catherine. Just because our marriage didn't work, doesn't
mean I stopped caring about you. I could never do that." He told her, with a shaky,
concerned smile.
"Thanks Ed" she mumbled mustering a smile back in his direction before he turned his
attention back to the road. Catherine shut her eyes for a moment trying to block out some
of the pain. But nothing she did could stem the aching in her head, and finally she gave in
and slipped into unconsciousness.
~*~*~
Sara hadn't even had time to blink before Nick was off and running back into the
hospital. Sprinting, Sara ran after him, pushing through the hospitals double doors and
running to the elevator. Once it opened she pushed her way in and hit the button for
Grissom's floor. The ride seemed to take forever, Sara tapping her toe impatiently as she
waited for it to reach the right floor.
"Nick!" she yelled as she stepped out of the elevator. He was talking, or rather shouting
at any person that tried to walk through the door into Grissom's room. "Nick will you
please tell me what's going on here, before you feel the need for me to chase after you
again?"
"It hit me while we were waiting to see Grissom. And I completely forgot about it."
"What hit you?"
"The connection." He replied smugly.
"Nick, what connection?"
"Between Catherine's disappearance and Grissom's ending up in the morgue freezer."
"You don't think it was an accident, do you?" She smirked, finally understanding what
Nick was getting at.
"No, and whoever it is, is going to want to finish the job. I need to get a hold of Brass and
Warrick. Someone needs to be watching this door at all times.
~*~*~
'Damnit' he cursed to himself as he watched the scene in front of him unfold. Two
uniformed police officers sitting stiffly in chairs. The young CSI, Nick was giving them
instructions.
"So naïve." He mused.
The girl, Sara, was with him. How he wanted her. To own her. To kill her. And present
the remains to her sniveling boyfriend, on his doorstep. Grissom could wait. Now he was
stalking new prey.
~*~*~
Eddie flipped on the radio as he sped down the highway. Catherine hadn't stirred since
they departed, and he was becoming worried. The radio filled the silence and helped calm
him down. Well normally it did.
"We interrupt your regularly scheduled program for a special bulletin…the search
continues for LVPD CSI Catherine Willows who was abducted two nights ago, from the
locker room inside the CSI division headquarters…"
Eddie perked his ears up at the mention of Catherine.
"Police are working round the clock to find Ms. Willows and they are asking for the help
of the people of Vegas in the search. If you have any information concerning the
whereabouts of Catherine Willows, or her abductor please contact the LVPD
immediately. Ms. Willows is 40 years old, 5'6, approximately 106 pounds, blonde hair,
blue eyes…"
Eddie clicked off the radio. It unnerved him to hear them talking about Catherine that
way. Having to find out what had happened to her from some voice on the radio, some
random unidentifiable voice. Drumming his fingers on the steering wheel he tried not to
think about it. About what had been done to her.
He checked his watch. 8:30 a.m. He was a half hour late. His mother would be wondering
why he hadn't come to pick up Lindsey yet. Lindsey would be wondering where her
daddy was. How was he going to break the news to her? He didn't think he could handle
that. Having to tell his daughter that her mother might not be there to hug her in the
morning or fix her pancakes on Saturday mornings. Lindsey needed her.
He needed her.
As much as he'd like to fool himself into thinking that he didn't, he knew that he did. She
kissed the bruises and put on the band-aids. She packed the lunches and made sure she
got to school on time. Nothing could replace that kind of love. Nothing. Not even him.
He was available on weekends, or for special events. He took Lindsey out for ice cream,
Catherine made sure Lindsey ate her vegetables. He'd never been any good at that kind of
thing, being the disciplinarian. When he was with his daughter he spoiled her rotten.
He wasn't sure he could ever raise Lindsey on his own. Eddie didn't even want to think
about that. Catherine had to be okay. She had to be.
~*~*~
"You sure we're heading in the right direction, Nick?" Sara asked as he navigated the
Tahoe down a side street in Henderson.
"This is where Warrick said it was."
After making sure the guards were in place at the hospital, Sara and Nick had climbed in
the Nick's Tahoe and headed to Catherine's house. Upon exiting the hospital parking lot,
Nick had realized he'd never been to Catherine's, and had called Warrick to get the
address for him.
"You've know her longer than I have Nick, and you don't know how to get to her
house?"
"I've never had any reason to go there before Sara. Now will you let me drive, please?"
"You should have turned right at the last light."
"Sara!"
"Just trying to help."
"You're the one that wanted me to drive…if I had known you were going to be such a
backseat driver, I would have made you drive." He smirked, and made another sharp
right. Up ahead he saw the familiar flashing of police car lights and a house blocked off
with crimes scene tape. Looking over at Sara he flashed her a victory grin.
"Save your breath Stokes," she told him as he started to open his mouth to reply. She
could feel the heat rising in her cheeks. He laughed and got out, going around to the back
to grab his kit. Sighing, Sara followed, grabbed her things and started up the walk.
It was a large house, creamed colored, with a porch and swing in front. The solid oak
door was open and there was an officer inside. As she ducked under the tape, she realized
how little she knew about the older woman. The soft feel of Catherine's home was a big
contrast to the edgy and often sarcastic persona Sara was used to at work.
"Kind of creepy, huh?" Nick asked coming up behind her. "In a 'we're invading a friends
private life kind of way', you know?"
"Yea, the secret life of Catherine," Sara muttered to herself. She snapped her latex gloves
on and walked around until she found what she was looking for, Catherine's answering
machine. The light was flashing new messages.
"You find something?"
"Yea, someone's been calling her house. Recently. The light's blinking."
Nick glanced over at his partner. She's standing there, flashlight trained on the phone,
staring at it. He knew what she was thinking. Because he was certain that he was thinking
the exact same thing that she was.
~*~*~
They were his now.
He smiled. He had them right where he wanted them. Smugly he wondered if the two
CSI's had even noticed him tailing their car. 'Obviously not.' He thought to himself as he
peered through the window. From his place outside the bushes, he had a clear view of
what was taking place in her house. They'd never know what had hit them.
~*~*~
"I need a doctor! Somebody please!"
Eddie flew through the doors of Desert Palms Hospital, an unconscious Catherine in his
arms. Frantically he searched around for someone, anyone that could help him. Running
to the front desk as fast as he could, he caught the nurses' attention.
"Please, help." He gasped out of breath. "She needs your help."
Bewildered, the nurse came around the side of the desk. "I'll…I'll get you doctor, hold
on." She stammered before regaining her composure.
The next thing Eddie knew, Catherine was being wheeled away on a gurney, into
emergency surgery. Eddie tried to follow, but was ushered into a chair in the waiting
room instead. He looked down at the blood on his hands. This wasn't right. In fact, he
didn't think it could get more wrong.
"Get a handle on yourself, Ed." He mumbled to himself, flipping open his cell phone.
Carefully he punched in the numbers to CSI and braced himself for an answer. He had to
tell Grissom.
"Hello, Las Vegas police department, CSI. This is Warrick Brown speaking."
"Mr. Brown? This is Eddie Willows, I need to speak to Gil Grissom, if that's possible."
And voice on the other end fell silent.
~*~*~
It took Warrick a moment to find his voice after the man on the other end of the phone
told him his name.
Eddie Willows. And he was looking for Grissom. Why could he possible want to talk to
Gris? As far as Warrick knew, the two pretty much hated each other.
"Grissom's not here," he finally spoke. "Can I help you?"
"Yea, yea, I think you can. It's about Catherine, I…uh…"
"You what?" Warrick pried the man for information.
"I found her."
~*~*~
Meanwhile, back at Catherine's house, Sara had started playing the answering machine
tape. The first few messages were fairly harmless; one of the carpool moms, a call from
her sister, and a call from Eddie about taking Lindsey to see his mother.
"Nick this might be a bust."
"Keep listening. We know whomever it is that took her, called here. Brass has her phone
records. There has to be something on this tape that can help us find her."
"We don't know that those calls were made by the kidnapper. They could have
been…solicitors or something. She could have erased the messages."
"Do you believe that? This is Catherine, would she do that?"
"Probably not. She would save them. Well I would if I were her…of course I would tell
Grissom, and she didn't do that either." Sara mused. "So we keep going?"
"We keep going" replied Nick.
The two of them continued to listen to messages in silence. Three hang ups later they
were about to give up when the voice of a heavy male filled the air.
"Hello Catherine….remember me? I remember you. I've spent 6 long years remembering
you, what you did to me. Thinking about your face—so beautiful, so tragic. Wondering
what it would be like to see that face of yours contorted, twisted in agonizing pain…and
the look on your daughters face when she found out her mother was murdered.
Disemboweled. I've dreamed of that…every night. For six long years. Catherine, what
have you been dreaming about?"
Sara raised her hand to her mouth, trying to keep the contents of her stomach down as the
messages played. Nick was a similar shade of green—swearing profusely under his
breath.
"I'm watching you, Catherine Willows. You can't hide from me. Wherever you are, I'm
there…I know what you're doing, who you are with…you can run, but you can't hide."
"Bastard." Sara yelled, walking out to the front door. Nick hit the stop button and
removed the tape from the machine, placing it in an evidence bag and labeling with its
date, time, and file number. Next he pulled his print powder out of his kit and began to
dust for prints around the living room. He doubted he would find anything, but he knew
he had to try. Anything less and he felt like he was letting Catherine down.
Looking up for a second, he saw Sara just outside the door, arms folded across her chest.
He knew she needed space. He could process the scene alone.
He heard the shrill of a phone ringing nearby, and recognized it as his own. Peeling back
his gloves, Nick reached for his cell phone and flipped it open.
"Stokes."
"I have her." The raspy voice replied after a moment of silence. Nick immediately
recognized it as the voice he and Sara had heard on Catherine's answering machine.
"Who are you? How did you get this number?"
"I have her. Catherine," the voice repeated. "And now I have you too."
Nick looked around. He walked towards the window, and peered out. Nothing. He
checked the backyard and the kitchen. Nothing.
"Why Mr. Stokes, do you think you can find me? I don't think I am the one you should
be looking for."
And that's when he realized it. Phone in hand he sprinted to the front door. Nothing.
Sara was gone.
TBC.
Chapter 10: Lost and Found
A/N: For my partner in crime, Manda, you're the best. And for the 'anonymous'
reviewer…this chapter is for you…for your continuing persistence in begging me for this
chapter. I really hope you contact me personally, as I would love your input on this
story…anyway, here's your bone. I really hope that it lives up to your expectations.
----
The rain soaked through the driver's jacket as he ran around to the passenger side of the
car. Blood trickled down Catherine's forehead, as he squatted down the get a better look
at her injuries. It ran down her arms before falling in droplets to the ground and
disappearing as the rain hastily swept it away. He could see the pain in her eyes—the
irises wide, pools of blue, gazing dully into his.
"Catherine, can you get up?" She raised her head slightly, biting her lip at the effort, and
shook her rained soaked head. He sighed heavily, and moved around behind her.
Wrapping his right arm securely around her legs, and his left carefully around her
midsection, he picked her up. Her eyes were drooping shut as he carried her to the car,
her body shivering from the cold.
"Stay with me Cath…come on, stay awake for me baby. You can do it."
She moaned softly in reply. Flinging open the door, he laid her gently across the backseat
and covered her with a spare blanket. For a moment, he stood there taking in the
situation. Wondering what had happened. Catherine was so still; he could barely tell
whether or not she was even breathing, the rise and fall of her chest barely visible.
"Don't die on me baby," he whispered. "Don't you dare die on me, Catherine Willows."
Catherine watched him as he got into the drivers seat and started up the car. The wheels
spun and ground against the pavement, the car lurching forward. She could feel the bile
building at the back of her throat. Soon she couldn't hold it in any longer, and she threw
up on the floor, tears rolling down her cheeks once again.
Her body had nothing left, nothing but pain and a gnawing in her stomach for another
high. He turned around and gave her a once over with his eyes. She wondered why he
was doing this for her. Why he cared so much.
"I'll always care about you, Catherine. Just because our marriage didn't work, doesn't
mean I stopped caring about you. I could never do that." He told her, with a shaky,
concerned smile.
"Thanks Ed" she mumbled mustering a smile back in his direction before he turned his
attention back to the road. Catherine shut her eyes for a moment trying to block out some
of the pain. But nothing she did could stem the aching in her head, and finally she gave in
and slipped into unconsciousness.
~*~*~
Sara hadn't even had time to blink before Nick was off and running back into the
hospital. Sprinting, Sara ran after him, pushing through the hospitals double doors and
running to the elevator. Once it opened she pushed her way in and hit the button for
Grissom's floor. The ride seemed to take forever, Sara tapping her toe impatiently as she
waited for it to reach the right floor.
"Nick!" she yelled as she stepped out of the elevator. He was talking, or rather shouting
at any person that tried to walk through the door into Grissom's room. "Nick will you
please tell me what's going on here, before you feel the need for me to chase after you
again?"
"It hit me while we were waiting to see Grissom. And I completely forgot about it."
"What hit you?"
"The connection." He replied smugly.
"Nick, what connection?"
"Between Catherine's disappearance and Grissom's ending up in the morgue freezer."
"You don't think it was an accident, do you?" She smirked, finally understanding what
Nick was getting at.
"No, and whoever it is, is going to want to finish the job. I need to get a hold of Brass and
Warrick. Someone needs to be watching this door at all times.
~*~*~
'Damnit' he cursed to himself as he watched the scene in front of him unfold. Two
uniformed police officers sitting stiffly in chairs. The young CSI, Nick was giving them
instructions.
"So naïve." He mused.
The girl, Sara, was with him. How he wanted her. To own her. To kill her. And present
the remains to her sniveling boyfriend, on his doorstep. Grissom could wait. Now he was
stalking new prey.
~*~*~
Eddie flipped on the radio as he sped down the highway. Catherine hadn't stirred since
they departed, and he was becoming worried. The radio filled the silence and helped calm
him down. Well normally it did.
"We interrupt your regularly scheduled program for a special bulletin…the search
continues for LVPD CSI Catherine Willows who was abducted two nights ago, from the
locker room inside the CSI division headquarters…"
Eddie perked his ears up at the mention of Catherine.
"Police are working round the clock to find Ms. Willows and they are asking for the help
of the people of Vegas in the search. If you have any information concerning the
whereabouts of Catherine Willows, or her abductor please contact the LVPD
immediately. Ms. Willows is 40 years old, 5'6, approximately 106 pounds, blonde hair,
blue eyes…"
Eddie clicked off the radio. It unnerved him to hear them talking about Catherine that
way. Having to find out what had happened to her from some voice on the radio, some
random unidentifiable voice. Drumming his fingers on the steering wheel he tried not to
think about it. About what had been done to her.
He checked his watch. 8:30 a.m. He was a half hour late. His mother would be wondering
why he hadn't come to pick up Lindsey yet. Lindsey would be wondering where her
daddy was. How was he going to break the news to her? He didn't think he could handle
that. Having to tell his daughter that her mother might not be there to hug her in the
morning or fix her pancakes on Saturday mornings. Lindsey needed her.
He needed her.
As much as he'd like to fool himself into thinking that he didn't, he knew that he did. She
kissed the bruises and put on the band-aids. She packed the lunches and made sure she
got to school on time. Nothing could replace that kind of love. Nothing. Not even him.
He was available on weekends, or for special events. He took Lindsey out for ice cream,
Catherine made sure Lindsey ate her vegetables. He'd never been any good at that kind of
thing, being the disciplinarian. When he was with his daughter he spoiled her rotten.
He wasn't sure he could ever raise Lindsey on his own. Eddie didn't even want to think
about that. Catherine had to be okay. She had to be.
~*~*~
"You sure we're heading in the right direction, Nick?" Sara asked as he navigated the
Tahoe down a side street in Henderson.
"This is where Warrick said it was."
After making sure the guards were in place at the hospital, Sara and Nick had climbed in
the Nick's Tahoe and headed to Catherine's house. Upon exiting the hospital parking lot,
Nick had realized he'd never been to Catherine's, and had called Warrick to get the
address for him.
"You've know her longer than I have Nick, and you don't know how to get to her
house?"
"I've never had any reason to go there before Sara. Now will you let me drive, please?"
"You should have turned right at the last light."
"Sara!"
"Just trying to help."
"You're the one that wanted me to drive…if I had known you were going to be such a
backseat driver, I would have made you drive." He smirked, and made another sharp
right. Up ahead he saw the familiar flashing of police car lights and a house blocked off
with crimes scene tape. Looking over at Sara he flashed her a victory grin.
"Save your breath Stokes," she told him as he started to open his mouth to reply. She
could feel the heat rising in her cheeks. He laughed and got out, going around to the back
to grab his kit. Sighing, Sara followed, grabbed her things and started up the walk.
It was a large house, creamed colored, with a porch and swing in front. The solid oak
door was open and there was an officer inside. As she ducked under the tape, she realized
how little she knew about the older woman. The soft feel of Catherine's home was a big
contrast to the edgy and often sarcastic persona Sara was used to at work.
"Kind of creepy, huh?" Nick asked coming up behind her. "In a 'we're invading a friends
private life kind of way', you know?"
"Yea, the secret life of Catherine," Sara muttered to herself. She snapped her latex gloves
on and walked around until she found what she was looking for, Catherine's answering
machine. The light was flashing new messages.
"You find something?"
"Yea, someone's been calling her house. Recently. The light's blinking."
Nick glanced over at his partner. She's standing there, flashlight trained on the phone,
staring at it. He knew what she was thinking. Because he was certain that he was thinking
the exact same thing that she was.
~*~*~
They were his now.
He smiled. He had them right where he wanted them. Smugly he wondered if the two
CSI's had even noticed him tailing their car. 'Obviously not.' He thought to himself as he
peered through the window. From his place outside the bushes, he had a clear view of
what was taking place in her house. They'd never know what had hit them.
~*~*~
"I need a doctor! Somebody please!"
Eddie flew through the doors of Desert Palms Hospital, an unconscious Catherine in his
arms. Frantically he searched around for someone, anyone that could help him. Running
to the front desk as fast as he could, he caught the nurses' attention.
"Please, help." He gasped out of breath. "She needs your help."
Bewildered, the nurse came around the side of the desk. "I'll…I'll get you doctor, hold
on." She stammered before regaining her composure.
The next thing Eddie knew, Catherine was being wheeled away on a gurney, into
emergency surgery. Eddie tried to follow, but was ushered into a chair in the waiting
room instead. He looked down at the blood on his hands. This wasn't right. In fact, he
didn't think it could get more wrong.
"Get a handle on yourself, Ed." He mumbled to himself, flipping open his cell phone.
Carefully he punched in the numbers to CSI and braced himself for an answer. He had to
tell Grissom.
"Hello, Las Vegas police department, CSI. This is Warrick Brown speaking."
"Mr. Brown? This is Eddie Willows, I need to speak to Gil Grissom, if that's possible."
And voice on the other end fell silent.
~*~*~
It took Warrick a moment to find his voice after the man on the other end of the phone
told him his name.
Eddie Willows. And he was looking for Grissom. Why could he possible want to talk to
Gris? As far as Warrick knew, the two pretty much hated each other.
"Grissom's not here," he finally spoke. "Can I help you?"
"Yea, yea, I think you can. It's about Catherine, I…uh…"
"You what?" Warrick pried the man for information.
"I found her."
~*~*~
Meanwhile, back at Catherine's house, Sara had started playing the answering machine
tape. The first few messages were fairly harmless; one of the carpool moms, a call from
her sister, and a call from Eddie about taking Lindsey to see his mother.
"Nick this might be a bust."
"Keep listening. We know whomever it is that took her, called here. Brass has her phone
records. There has to be something on this tape that can help us find her."
"We don't know that those calls were made by the kidnapper. They could have
been…solicitors or something. She could have erased the messages."
"Do you believe that? This is Catherine, would she do that?"
"Probably not. She would save them. Well I would if I were her…of course I would tell
Grissom, and she didn't do that either." Sara mused. "So we keep going?"
"We keep going" replied Nick.
The two of them continued to listen to messages in silence. Three hang ups later they
were about to give up when the voice of a heavy male filled the air.
"Hello Catherine….remember me? I remember you. I've spent 6 long years remembering
you, what you did to me. Thinking about your face—so beautiful, so tragic. Wondering
what it would be like to see that face of yours contorted, twisted in agonizing pain…and
the look on your daughters face when she found out her mother was murdered.
Disemboweled. I've dreamed of that…every night. For six long years. Catherine, what
have you been dreaming about?"
Sara raised her hand to her mouth, trying to keep the contents of her stomach down as the
messages played. Nick was a similar shade of green—swearing profusely under his
breath.
"I'm watching you, Catherine Willows. You can't hide from me. Wherever you are, I'm
there…I know what you're doing, who you are with…you can run, but you can't hide."
"Bastard." Sara yelled, walking out to the front door. Nick hit the stop button and
removed the tape from the machine, placing it in an evidence bag and labeling with its
date, time, and file number. Next he pulled his print powder out of his kit and began to
dust for prints around the living room. He doubted he would find anything, but he knew
he had to try. Anything less and he felt like he was letting Catherine down.
Looking up for a second, he saw Sara just outside the door, arms folded across her chest.
He knew she needed space. He could process the scene alone.
He heard the shrill of a phone ringing nearby, and recognized it as his own. Peeling back
his gloves, Nick reached for his cell phone and flipped it open.
"Stokes."
"I have her." The raspy voice replied after a moment of silence. Nick immediately
recognized it as the voice he and Sara had heard on Catherine's answering machine.
"Who are you? How did you get this number?"
"I have her. Catherine," the voice repeated. "And now I have you too."
Nick looked around. He walked towards the window, and peered out. Nothing. He
checked the backyard and the kitchen. Nothing.
"Why Mr. Stokes, do you think you can find me? I don't think I am the one you should
be looking for."
And that's when he realized it. Phone in hand he sprinted to the front door. Nothing.
Sara was gone.
TBC.