Nick pulled up beside Sara's vehicle a few minutes before 9:00 the next morning. He turned off the ignition, and quickly climbed out of his Tahoe. He knew he was early, but he had a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach that he simply couldn't explain. He was worried about Sara, and just wanted to make sure everything was okay.
He made his way down the hall toward her door. Every step he made, his uneasiness grew worse. He stood in front of her door and knocked softly. After not receiving an answer, he tried again. He couldn't hear anything in the apartment. He reached for the door handle and was surprised to find that it opened easily. He stepped inside. A feeling of dread wrapped around him. "Sara?" He called into the quiet apartment.
Nick looked around and noticed Sara's bag, keys, and cell phone lying near the table. He walked over to the stand that held her phone and answering machine. She had one unheard message. Nick knew it wasn't his business, but he couldn't help it. He pushed the play button before walking down the hall. The only sound her heard was heavy breathing coming from the answering machine. He wondered if Sara had heard this message already and saved it for some reason.
Nick peered inside Sara's bedroom. Nothing seemed out of place, except for the fact that her bed looked completely unslept in. The sheets were neatly pulled up to meet the pillows.
Next he peered inside the guest bedroom next to the bathroom. "Sara, are you here?" He called again.
No answer.
Next Nick reached the bathroom, and pushed the door open all the way. Suddenly he felt like he was going to be sick. There was a puddle of blood near the sink, and a trail of blood splatters ending just before the black and white tiles of the bathroom met the dark wood flooring of the hallway.
Nick froze for a few seconds before work-mode took over. He managed to pull his cell phone out of his pocket without dropping it, and dialed Grissom's number.
"Grissom."
"It's Nick."
From his tone, Grissom knew something was wrong. "What's going on Nick?"
"I think you should get Sara's apartment. Call Brass."
"Nick, what happened?" Grissom asked as he got up from his desk and walked down the hall to the break room. Catherine and Warrick were just getting ready to head home after staying a few more hours to finish up the case they were working on.
"I don't know. There's blood. She's gone," Nick couldn't control his emotions anymore as a few tears escaped his eyes and rolled down his cheeks.
"Nicky, take a deep breath," Grissom said calmly. "I want you to stay there. Do you have your kit with you?"
"Yes," Nick whispered.
"Good. Now I want you to go sit in your Tahoe and wait for us to get there. Brass and Catherine are on their way. Warrick and I will be there shortly."
"Okay."
"Nick?"
"Yeah, Gris?"
"She's fine."
Nick took the phone away from his ear and pressed the "end" button. He couldn't seem to tear his eyes away from the bathroom. The blood on the ground constantly reminded him that Sara was in danger or quite possibly dead. He refused to believe the latter. But how could Grissom know if she was going to be fine. Nick vowed then and there to not give up until he found her.
Nick headed out to his Tahoe, and leaned against the back door. He tried to think of anything but Sara; baseball, football, steak 'n eggs, but it didn't help. She was gone, and he couldn't help but wonder if he had come by sooner could he have saved her.
Just a few minutes later, Nick watched as Brass's unmarked Taurus, two police cars, and ambulance and a Tahoe pulled into the parking lot.
Brass was the first one to reach Nick. "Hey," he greeted with no emotion. "Wanna show me to her apartment?"
Nick nodded without and word, and led the way into the building and up to Sara's apartment.
Two police officers quickly taped off the door with crime scene tape as Catherine went to work inside collecting any evidence she could find. They all knew that there could be problems with the night shift working Sara's case, because they were all attached to her, but there was nothing that was going to keep them away.
Grissom and Warrick showed up nearly a half hour later. "Sorry we're late," Grissom said to Nick as he walked under the tape. He could tell that Nick had been crying. And he was only hoping that Catherine would be able to keep her emotions in check. Otherwise they'd have problems. They needed to be professional.
"Cath's in the bathroom," Nick whispered. He was leaning against the counter, staring off into space.
Warrick placed a hand on his shoulder and tried to overcome the lump that was forming in his throat. "We'll find her, man. We have to."
"I know."
"Nick," Brass walked up to the two of them with a notepad in his hand. "I need to ask you some question. Protocol."
Nick nodded.
"Okay, when was the last time you spoke to the victim?"
"Sara. Don't call her a victim. She wouldn't like it. You know her name. Use it," Nick snapped.
"Sorry, Nicky. I guess it just helps me to not think of her being gone, ya know?"
Nick closed his eyes, and massaged his temples. "She called me last night after she got home from dinner with Grissom. I had offered to take her to her doctor's appointment. That's why I was here. It was scheduled for 9:30. I got here just before 9:00," he paused. "I should call the doctor's office and re-schedule her appointment. She needs to see the doctor," he rambled.
"Nicky," Brass interrupted, placing his hand on the younger man's shoulder. "Did the-Did Sara mention anything to you about someone following her, or any threats or anything?"
Nick thought for a moment. "Not that I can recall. But when she did call me back last night, she sounded a little spooked. She even dropped the phone just as I answered it. I don't know why. She said it just slipped."
"Has she said anything in the past few weeks?"
"No," Nick answered. Then jumped up suddenly and walked over to the answering machine. "But I did hear this when I got here this morning." Nick pressed 'play' on the answering machine and they listened to the heavy breathing coming out of the speaker.
Brass scribbled something on his notepad, and nodded. "Okay, we'll check into her phone bills. We've already got someone getting the security tapes," Brass paused. "And Nicky, don't go anywhere. You know the drill. First one on the scene is a suspect."
"I didn't do this, Brass. You know that!" Nick shouted.
"Nicky, I know you didn't, but if we let you go it'll look like we're playing favorites."
Suddenly Nick had a feeling of déjà vu. This is exactly what happened when Kristy Hopkins was murdered.
"Nick, don't worry about it. It's just protocol," Brass said, reassuringly. "Now I need to go talk to Grissom. You said they had dinner last night, right?"
"Yes," Nick nodded. "To talk about her job."
"Okay, thanks, Nicky." With that Brass turned and walked down the hallway to the bathroom where Grissom was helping Catherine. "Gil, I need to talk to you."
Grissom looked up. "Okay." He turned to Catherine. "You okay in here?"
"Yeah, I think I've covered everything. I'll go help Warrick in the bedroom."
"Okay," Grissom said, standing up and following Brass into the living room.
"Nicky told me you and Sara had dinner last night. Is that true?" Brass asked, getting down to business.
"Yeah. She wanted to talk about cutting back on hours, or quitting all together. She's been real shaken up since the accident."
"Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?"
Grissom thought for a moment. "No, but," he paused.
"But what?"
"I did get an interesting call yesterday," Grissom admitted.
"From who?" Brass asked.
"Lady Heather. She asked me if I wanted to have dinner with her, and when I told her I was having dinner with Sara, she seemed a little upset."
Brass wrote this down on his notepad, and nodded. "All right, we'll check into that. Thanks, Gil."
"Yeah."
"We'll find her," Brass said for what seemed like the hundredth time. He wasn't sure who he was trying to convince anymore. The team, or himself.
"Yeah," Grissom agreed. "We will."
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TBC
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