Chapter 7
"I can't believe you guys," Nick said after Sara finished bringing him up to speed on the case, "I thought we were working together on this one? Why didn't you call me in?"
Sara frowned an apology, "Sorry Nick, we figured you'd be sleeping – but we've got enough evidence to keep us going for a little while longer now, the case is hotting up."
Nick sighed and shook his head, "I just… you know – I always feel like I'm the third wheel when I'm working with you and Grissom. You both always seem to know what the other is thinking and you're both workaholics – I can be a workaholic too Sara, if you had called me about the third victim, I would have come in – you know I would have."
"You're right, I'm sorry Nick," Sara gave him a weak smile, "But trust me – you don't want to be a workaholic."
He gave her a small grin, "No… I don't." Sara laughed quietly. "Okay – rant over, let's go down and see the Doc."
They both stood up from the seat in the shared locker room and as Sara turned away to walk towards the door Nick lightly grabbed her arm, swung her around and pulled her into a hug. She was startled at first but relaxed quickly into his embrace. After a moment Nick pulled away and grinned at her, "Momentary overload of emotions… sorry."
She gave him and lopsided grin and punched him lightly on the shoulder, "Come on."
They entered the morgue to find Doc Robbins bustling around and the third victim, identified by her own wallet as Dianne Wilson – 24. He looked up as they entered and gave them a small smile.
"So, what can you tell us?"
"Same old story I'm sorry to say – sexually abused, strangled – though this girl received quite a few more bruises than the first two. She hasn't been gone long either – approximately ten hours?"
"There's nothing new? Nothing to distinguish this one as being any different from the others?"
"Apart from the increase in bruising, no – I'm sorry Sara."
"The patch of skin..?"
"On her left shoulder blade, here…" he walked over to Dianne and lifted her left shoulder, exposing the matchbook sized wound.
"Smaller than the others… removed after death like the others I suppose?"
The coroner nodded and glanced at Nick who was studying the wound intently.
"Hmm," Nick said thoughtfully and turned to Sara, "You said that you think the killer was doing this to hide something on the girl's skin?"
Sara nodded.
"And they've all been different sizes – the first on the leg, the second on the shoulder – kind of like this one?"
She nodded again, giving him an intense stare.
"Good place for a tattoo don't you think?" he asked with a slight grin.
Sara's eyes widened as she turned sharply towards Doc Robbins, who also grinned, and then back towards Nick – whose grin had now grown into a bright smile. She wanted to celebrate – a crack in the case – but she didn't want to be disappointed either. She allowed a small grin to escape before saying, "Nicky – if you're right… We'll check it out first. We'll go back to the parents, families and friends – Nick…" she breathed out an excited sigh and practically ran out of the morgue, leaving Nick and Doc Robbins grinning at each other.
~~
She found Grissom going through a book of shoe souls, comparing the photos she had taken at the crime scene to the images in the book.
"Grissom!" she called excitedly, causing him to look up at her, startled. "Do you want to come with me? I'm going to crack open the case!" She grinned at his perplexed expression.
"What?"
"All credit goes to Nick. Grissom – tattoos, the thing each girl has in common! The thing our killer removes!"
His eyes widened, "They all had tattoos?"
She smiled, "I'm just going to find out – Nick's gone with O'Riley to speak to Dianne's family now, I'm on my way to meet Brass to talk to Tim, and then we're going to make our way over to the Tanner residence. Want to tag along?"
He jumped out of his chair and quickly wrote a note to anyone who may come into the room that they would die if they touched his work and walked quickly with her down the hall and into the parking lot.
She jumped in the drivers seat, revved the engine loudly, grinned at him and pulled out onto the road. The case was hot.
TBC
