"Sara, Alec, if you could stay for a few minutes," Thomas told them, leaning back in his chair, the last assignment slip in his hand. Maggie cast a suspicious look at them both, and preceded Jonas out of the room with a flounce.

"I've only got one assignment left," Thomas continued when they were the only three people in the break room.

"As long as it's inside, I'll take it," Sara joked. She wasn't sure her toes had thawed out yet, despite the extra layer of wool socks she'd worn inside her waterproof boots. The seminar had been fascinating, and it had gone a long way toward re-establishing her working camraderie with Grissom, but it had made her long for the dry heat of Vegas.

"It is," Thomas confirmed, but didn't hand the assignment slip over. "Alec, what kind of progress was made on the kidnapped Itzin baby?"

Sara shifted uncomfortably in her seat, but kept her mouth shut. She'd decided against telling Thomas exactly how angry with him she was for taking her off the case; thinking through it rationally, he had been correct. Alec was another story entirely, but he didn't even seem to register the fury directed toward him as he cleared his throat and began to outline the case.

"We've got fingerprints and DNA samples that have been positively identified as belonging to our perpetrator; intial analysis says XX. We've got a suspect, one Helen McGeary, a forty-eight year old nurse who's worked in the maternity ward at Boston City for six months now. She didn't show up for work the next day, and she was working the shift just before the baby was taken - everyone else on both those shifts has already been excluded based on voluntary printing and DNA sampling. The police have not yet been able to track her down; a search of her apartment revealed nothing incriminating, which leads me to believe she either hasn't been back to her apartment since the baby was taken, or she didn't make her plans at her own apartment.

"The boy's body was found approximately thirty-six hours after the initial call, two blocks away from the hospital. Autopsy has ruled SIDS as cause of death, time of death placed at some twenty-four hours earlier than the body was found. The plastic bag he was found in is down with fingerprinting now, and has been since we found it. Tim has been working as hard as he can to lift anything off of it, but it was out overnight in a dumpster, and the morning frost may have obliterated anything useful."

Thomas nodded, taking it all in, and Sara tried not to fidget. "What else?"

"It's a classic case of baby-stealing," Alec said, leaning forward, and Sara was interested in his analysis despite herself. He was a very good CSI, all other things aside. "By all acounts, Helen McGeary was incredibly frustrated with her job. She had an above-average intelligence and almost no empathy. She was frequently heard to mention the fact that she'd wanted to be a doctor, but had been limited to nursing because she was a woman. Nursing as a profession has historically been undervalued, and in a large, extremely busy hospital, her self-worth must not have felt very high. The staff development coordinator even mentioned that she would have preferred someone with more empathy, but faced with a national nursing shortage, they had to hire every qualified person they came across.

"Until as the police can locate McGeary, leading us to a possible accomplice and second crime scene, there aren't any advances that can be made in the case. There are still questions to answer, the most obvious being - was she taking the baby for herself, or to sell? But apart from that, there's no further evidentiary work to be done on the case."

"Good," Thomas said, and set the assignment slip flat on the table. "This just came in."

Sara grabbed the sheet of paper before Alec could even lean forward, and read it quickly. "Boston General. Shift change. Single mother. Bassinet in the basement - it's the same MO."

"I want you both on this case," Thomas said, holding up a hand to forestall Alec's protests. "It's high-profile. The news has already latched on to it. We were barely able to inform Monica Itzin that we'd found the body before they went to her for interviews. And now, this...you're the two best CSIs I have, and not just on night shift. Across all the shifts. We need this solved, and fast. Time may be running out." He fixed them each with a piercing glare in turn. "I don't care what personal issues you have between you. Work them out, and work together. This is not about power plays and personal feelings. This is about a day old baby."

Sara ground her teeth; the chastisement was earned, but somewhat unexpected. Until now, she'd thought him oblivious to the tension between herself and Alec. Now, she knew that he had observed it perfectly well, and had just been waiting for them to work it out like the mature adults they were. The fact that he was bringing it up in explicit conversation meant they'd both failed. She stood up and left, suddenly unable to look her supervisor in the eyes.

~*~

"Exact same scene downstairs," Alec told her. "I've got prints and a pair of scrubs - blue this time. It's all bagged and tagged."

"And I've got good news." Sara pointed upwards. "About three years ago, Boston General installed security cameras in the entire maternity wing. None in the rooms, but the hallways and the nursery are covered 24/7."

"That is good news," Alec said. "Did you get the tapes yet?"

"No, I just finished printing the nurses and going over the nursery. I've got the log book in evidence - we'll see if QD can match any of the signatures to McGeary's."

"So we can find out if she's somehow infiltrated here, too, or if her accomplice is another nurse," Alec finished her thought, and she flashed him a tentative smile. Thomas's uncharacteristic reprimand seemed to have done the trick.

"I've asked the PD to put a rush on the composite drawing they were going to do of McGeary so we can show it around here and see if anyone recognizes her." Sara paused for a moment. "Would you mind getting the tapes? I was just about to head up and talk to the mother."

Alec seemed to hesitate, obviously unsure about letting her talk to anyone with an emotional investment in the kidnapping. "Yeah. Sure."

He left, and Sara was once again able to find the mother's room by following the blue uniforms. The door was closed, and she rapped lightly on it with her knuckles, pushing it open at the muffled "Come in."

Caroline Whitten was sitting up in her bed, talking to Officer Nevins. She turned her head when Sara entered and smiled slightly at the criminalist.

"Ms. Whitten, I'm with the Boston Crime Lab," Sara introduced herself, setting her kit down on a small side table, careful not to hit the vase of cheery tulips that was already there. "I just have a few questions."

"Anything that helps," Caroline said eagerly, and Sara felt a twinge of guilt that she instantly liked this mother better than Monica Itzin. It wasn't really fair to compare them, especially when Caroline had at least fifteen years of maturity on the frightened sixteen year old.

"Do you know anyone who would want to take your baby?" Sara asked. Best to rule out a copycat first.

"No. No one."

"The baby's father?" she asked gently, knowing full well how far she was prying, and also how necessary it was for the case.

Caroline snorted. "He doesn't think it's his. He's...he's already married. It was a one night stand kind of thing when he and his wife were having some problems. He got back together with her the next day."

"I see," Sara pursed her lips. "What time did the nurse come to pick up...I'm sorry, I don't have a name listed here," she confessed, feeling vaguely disturbed.

"Andrea," Caroline supplied. "I hadn't...I couldn't decide on a name until just last night, and then she finally looked up at me and I settled on Andrea." She turned her head away, but not before the glint of tears was obvious on her cheek. She brought a hand up to wipe them away, and continued. "The nurse came right after eleven o'clock. She was new."

Sara froze, and all the equilibrium she'd been able to achieve over the past twelve hours was dashed away. She pressed the pen hard to the paper as she took notes, and tried to keep the trembling out of her voice as she continued. "You said she was new?"

"I hadn't seen her before," Caroline elaborated. "I have a good memory for faces."

"The artist should be here in about twenty minutes," Nevins supplied.

"Right. Okay." Damn, damn, damn. Get ahold of yourself, Sara snarled inwardly. "Uhm, did she touch anything in the room?"

"No. Nothing. She just took Andrea and left." Caroline paused, obviously hesitant to continue. "Are you going to...I mean, I saw on the news tonight about that other baby..." Tears fell anew.

"We'll find her," Sara promised. I just hope I can keep that promise.