Part 4
Ten hours later Sara was still in front of the computer reading e-mails. She was on the trail of several promising conversations. Brass had just brought her the locations of some of the computers used to write the e-mails, and a few of the people that she was communicating with were either all roommates or they were the same person. Sara was willing to bet it was the later, even though three different names were used. Who knows, maybe she accidentally made friends with someone with as many personalities as she apparently had. In another hour she was going to pay a visit to them, along with an officer or two. Grissom would probably want to come with; she really ought to find him. As if on cue he picked that moment to stick his head in the door.
"Sara, go home."
"No." She looked up at him defiantly, determination showing clearly in her eyes.
Grissom decided not to push the issue right now. "I tracked down the ex-boyfriend of our vic. A coworker of hers got me his name and address. He was most likely the source of the old facial fractures found during the autopsy. Apparently she was a punching bag for him for several years; she just broke up with him three months ago."
"Sounds like motive to me."
"Exactly. So since you to stubborn to get some much needed sleep, would you care to accompany me on a visit to a Mr. Aaron Barker?"
Sara looked startled, "Aaron Barker?" she said, reaching across the desk to grab a folder on the other side, she opened it and read the first page in the file. "Aaron Barker of 8432 Northway drive?"
Now it was Grissom's turn to look surprised. "How did you know that?"
"Three of our Vic's internet personalities have been talking to three of his internet personalities for about a few months; we traced the IP address from some of the e-mails."
"I guess it's time we pay Mr. Barker a visit," replied Grissom.
Sara's stomach growled audibly.
"That reminds me, here." Grissom said, tossing a bag into Sara's hands. "Egg salad sandwich, a pickle, and an apple. If you aren't going to sleep, you are at least going to eat something. No arguments." Then almost as an afterthought, he added, "I hope you like egg salad. I knew enough not to get you a ham sandwich, but other than that I really didn't know what you would like."
"Egg salad is wonderful, thank you." Was it her imagination, or was he almost blushing? Sara let out a small smile in spite of herself. Sometimes she thought he really did care about her. Other times she wasn't so sure. She walked around the desk to get her coat which was sitting on a chair by the door. Grissom picked it up for her and held it up.
"Allow me."
Sara slipped her arms into the coat and felt his hands rest on her shoulders for just a moment longer than they needed to. She turned around to face him, and felt her heart skip a beat. Why did she feel so different around him? Why couldn't she just do her job? What was it about him? She forced herself to take a step back to break the spell. She picked up the bag with the food Grissom had brought her and took out the sandwich.
"Want half?"
"No thanks, I had chocolate covered grasshoppers in my office a little while ago." Sara rolled her eyes and followed him out the door. Sometimes she wondered about him.