It was just past midnight when she woke up, cold sweat streamed down her face and into her eyes, her heart beat faster than it ever had before. Amy knew he was there. She carefully removed the covers of her bed and stepped onto the carpeted floor. She quickly changed from her pajamas into a pair of old jeans and a blue T-shirt. Her ears perked up, someone was coming up the stairs. She quickly reached under her pillow and grasped the cold metal of a dagger. She moved swiftly over to her open window and looked down, the pale moon light emitted a glow off of the pavement below her window, a man dressed in all black waited there . . . waited for her. Suddenly the door to her room swung open and Steve Anderson entered, a gun in hand pointed at her head.

"You're coming with me." He snarled, "Now."

"In your dreams!" Amy yelled back as she adjusted the grip she had on the dagger which was hidden behind her back. He advanced toward her quickly, the gun still pointed at her head, Amy moved quicker than he expected for someone who had just seen her father murdered a few days ago, and yet Steve Anderson was faster, he grabbed the hand that carried the knife and pulled the young girl in front of him, causing her to drop the dagger.

"You think you can get away from me?"

He placed a rag over her face, chloroform drenched, before she had a chance to wriggle her way free the darkness overcame her.

9:18 a.m.



Grissom's eyes snapped open, sweat poured down his face. He had been in his office and then drifted off into sleep. All his energy was quickly being depleted, he felt drained and weary, this case bothered him. It wasn't often that the victims he dealt with were alive, it was even less likely that the living victim would touch him that much.

"Gil?" Catherine stood in the door way of his office, "You alright?"

"Yeah," Grissom replied, "Just thinking..."

Catherine nodded slightly and sat down on the other side of the desk, "Listen, about what I said before..."

"It's alright Cath," Grissom interrupted, "You really gave me things to think about..."

Catherine smiled, "Well, can you think bout them later? We've got some problems with returning the jewels to the original owners."

He raised an eyebrow, "What kind of problems?"

Catherine sighed and rubbed her eyes, "You name it, these people got word that we found their missing jewels and they came down here like a heard of buffalo. They're creating a riot."

Grissom exhaled heavily, "Great, that's all we need." He stood up from his desk, "Shall we?"

Catherine gave Grissom an almost begging look and then nodded gravely. The two Criminalists walked from Grissom's office and down the long hallway into the foyer of the Criminalistics lab. A large group of thirteen or fourteen people crowded around Nick and Warrick who were desperately trying to calm the crowd.

"Hey people! People!" Grissom raised his voice over the crowd, "Now I understand that your all very anxious to get your jewels returned but these things take time."

Nick and Warrick flashed Grissom grateful smiles as the crowd of people turned around to face Grissom. A bald middle aged man stepped forward and faced Grissom.

"Well how long is it going to take?" The bald man asked impatiently, "We've been waiting here for hours!"

"Sir, these jewels are evidence in a murder and kidnapping case," Nick said quickly, "They're very important and will be returned to you in due time."

A robust woman with flaming red hair and bright red lipstick came forward, "Well when it's all done I'd like to have a long talk with whoever's been keeping them for all these years."

Catherine could feel her anger boiling up, "Well ma'am, when the young girl is saved from her kidnappers and taken care of in the hospital then we'll let you thank her for not telling the thieves where the jewels were before while she watched her father get murdered."

That made the woman back down and melt into the crowd.

"Listen," Grissom said in a dangerously quiet voice, "I know how much you personal items mean to you but this is a very important investigation and when we're finished processing your jewels and you fill out the proper forms, then you can have them back."

Grissom let out a weary sigh of relief, 15 more hours... He walked slowly back to his office, leaving Catherine, Nick and Warrick with the large crowd of people. Brass's men hadn't come up with anything, there were no reports of suspicious activity, and they were swiftly losing time.