Chapter 10

Discoveries

"Every moment of our life can be the beginning of great things."

          -Juan Mascaro

To say the place had been trashed wouldn't have been doing the chaos justice. Glass was strewn everywhere, most likely from the glass table who's frame resided in the sitting room just off of the foyer. China was all over the floor, broken plates and bowls, some pieces bloody, others smashed to tiny bits. Grissom heard Catherine gasp as she took in the desolation.

And that was only upon first glance. When Catherine and Grissom moved into the other rooms, they found much more than they had bargained for.

The sitting room, where the table had been smashed, was Catherine's first stop, while Grissom moved into the kitchen to take stock of the cutlery. Her first glance made her flinch. Not only was the table broken, but what used to be a mirror above the fireplace was on the floor, the pieces covered in blood and all of the knick knacks that Catherine guessed had adorned the mantle were strewn all over the carpet in front of the fireplace. Framed pictures of family and friends were smashed all over the room as if they'd been thrown after a moving target and ash from the fireplace was on the floor. Catherine could already picture the struggle in this room, right down to how she must have thrown ash in his face to get away – blinded him for a chance of survival.

Much like Catherine, Grissom was not ready for the chaotic state of the kitchen. Cupboards were thrown open, for shield against the cutlery all over the floor. Bullets had embedded themselves in the back of the cupboards, glasses broken from the impact of the projectiles. The china had been thrown through the window that showed the occupant of the kitchen who was coming through the door into the house. She had been cooking, baking it seemed. Batter was all over the walls, finger and handprints where some one had pushed off of the wall and some shoeprints where the perp had chased after the victim.

She knew her attacker, Grissom mused, picking up a piece of the bloodied china and bagging it. She'd been warned.

Meanwhile, Catherine had moved into the study or den where the desk against one wall had been toppled over and the television broken by a stray bullet. The CPU of her computer was still in tact but Catherine guessed some one had put their foot through the screen. There was chocolate in the room, on the walls and shoeprints of chocolate on the floor. Fingerprints were an affirmative. A blanket, that Catherine assumed had been folded nicely on the couch, was in a heap on the floor and the wooden coffee table had been overturned. Catherine shook her head, pulling the bullet out of the television and dropping it into an envelope.

Catherine and Grissom had silently agreed to leave the bedroom until last, so Grissom took the bathroom.

It was in neat shape, compared to the rest of the house, and it made Grissom believe that this was where she'd finally given up. Her energy having been spent and fear paralysing her muscles, she must have run into the room by accident, meaning to run to the bedroom. Blood was smeared all over the shower, two different sets of handprints distinctive on the tiled wall. He felt more than saw Catherine in the doorway.

"They started in the sitting room. Some one got thrown into the glass table or hit it by accident, but the broken mirror was purposeful. My guess would be she blinded him by throwing ash from her fireplace at him then, while he was down, whacking him with the mirror. He got angry and started throwing the nearest objects at her, pictures and memoirs," Catherine said, watching him inspect the blood.

"Then they moved to the kitchen where Anna had been baking before being interrupted. Before he actually entered the kitchen she was throwing dirty dishes at her, hence the broken china all over the foyer. He then pulled a gun and started shooting at her, missing but imbedding a couple of slugs in the cupboards and breaking glass in the process. I guess she tipped over the batter she had been making, I would say chocolate brownie and he stepped in it."

"She ran to the den next where he shot his last bullet into the television. She used her blanket over the sofa to cover his head while she made a run for it but not before her desk got over turned and some one sent their foot through the computer screen."

"They ended up in here where she gave up from fear and exhaustion." Grissom bent down to the garbage and pulled out a used gun cartridge.

"So he held her at gun point and got her to strip. Then easily pinned her to the wall and raped her."

They moved simultaneously into the bedroom.

Except for the bed, the room was very much in order, no gunshots or struggle to be noted. The victim was lying naked on the bed and Grissom covered his eyes as Catherine quickly took pictures before covering the victim.

"You can look now," she said.

"Now the question is, did he end it here or in the bathroom?" Grissom said, removing his hand from his eyes and slowly taking in the room.

"There's blood all over the sheets but that doesn't help much. My guess is she knew her attacker. The others all had morphine in their system, right? What if whatever the morphine was in, wasn't ingested? What if some one had notified her beforehand to not eat or drink anything offered by Anna's attacker?" Catherine asked, standing to the side of the bed her hands resting lightly on the camera around her neck.

"It might explain why she was able to put up such a rough fight," Grissom agreed, moving to stand beside her.

"Right. Let's get all of this stuff back to the lab and we'll let David take the body for autopsy. The sooner I can get myself and my daughter home, the better." Grissom silently agreed and moved back to the bathroom to gather his kit and evidence.

The ride back to the lab was made in silence, both thinking of what on earth had happened back at that house. They stayed in the Tahoe for a few moments after Grissom had put the car in park.

"Who's going to tell Amanda?" Catherine whispered finally. Grissom shrugged.

"Do we even know it's attached to the others? This guy was not worried about leaving behind evidence." Catherine had to give him that. They weren't sure whether this death had any link to the other three.

"I'll go, just let me check on Lindsey," Catherine said finally. He glanced at her. She was looking out the windshield into the building ahead of them.

"Are you sure?" he asked. Catherine nodded.

"I want to make sure Sara's okay with going home. Yeah, she's had Nick with her the whole time but unfortunately there's only so much friendship, or love, can do. She's got to talk it out and you know Sara – no therapists allowed." Catherine got out of the SUV and headed into the building, stopping in the doorway of the DNA lab. Greg looked up.

"We put her in Grissom's office. She fell asleep maybe a half an hour after you left," he said, not needing to know why she was there. Catherine nodded.

"Grissom and I have some blood and chocolate batter for you to analyze." Greg perked up.

"Same serial case?"

"We're not sure. I'm just going to check on Linds then I'm going to pay a visit to Sara and Amanda," Catherine replied turning her back, only to turn into Grissom. She smiled and blushed slightly before darting around him and heading down to his office.

Lindsey had indeed been sleeping peacefully when Catherine poked her head into Grissom's office. Catherine, therefore, had kissed her head and left, intent on the hospital and the victims inside. She decided to first visit Sara. The young brunette smiled slightly when she saw Catherine enter.

"I hear you get out tomorrow," Catherine said in greeting. Sara nodded.

"Yeah, but it doesn't have the same anticipation. I was hoping to get out of here and not have to return for a long while. Since Amanda's in here now, the chances of that seem to be slimming."

"I'm sorry to hear about her. Where's Nick?" Sara rolled her eyes good-naturedly.

"I finally got him to go home to sleep in his own bed," she said. Silence reigned between the two women as Catherine tried to figure out how to go about the newest victim. Sara had closed her eyes and was leaning back against the pillows.

"Catherine, am I going to have to testify for assault?" Sara asked, finally breaking the silence. It was evident by the look on Catherine's face that she hadn't even considered a case for Sara.

"Oh my, I'm sorry Sara. I got so wrapped up in this case I totally forgot about the charges against Banning," Catherine groaned, dropping into the chair Nick usually occupied. Sara only smiled.

"There was another one?"

"We don't know. The house was in ruins, chocolate, blood, glass, broken… everything. Some times I really hate this job." Sara nodded, silently agreeing with Catherine's last statement.

"The nurse came in a couple of minutes ago and said Amanda was awake. I've already been down there. She won't tell me how a rib ended up broken and puncturing a lung." Catherine nodded at Sara's silent plea to try and help her friend. Unfortunately, Catherine also had other questions to ask the young woman.

"Sara…" she started, her face twisting in pain.

"Yes," Sara answered quietly, reading the emotions on Catherine's face. "Amanda was abused."

Catherine made her way quietly into the room where Amanda was staying. Amanda's eyes were closed, but flew open when she heard the creak of the floor. Catherine saw Amanda visibly relax when she registered who had entered.

"Expecting some one?" Catherine asked softly. Amanda ducked her head.

"Hoping never to see some one again, actually," she responded.

"Anything you want to tell me?" Catherine asked, pulling a chair to Amanda's bedside. Amanda looked away but Catherine could still see the internal struggle through the twitch in her jaw.

"It's safe with me, you know. We've already figured out you have been abused in the past." Upon Amanda's questioning look Catherine shrugged.

"Access to your medical records." Amanda nodded in understanding.

"I didn't… I didn't want it to come to all of this. I never thought that moving to Vegas would result in the deaths of my friends…"

"Amanda," Catherine began on the release of a breath she didn't realize she was holding, "another woman died. Did you know Anna Summer?"

"I saw her a couple of hours ago, before I came to visit Sara. She was in one piece, I swear," Amanda said beginning to panic.

"We're not accusing you, Amanda. When Grissom and I got to her house, it was in complete ruin. We need a more exact time frame."

"I… I don't know… I left at maybe… 9."

"Okay, now, did you warn her about what happened to Emily and Ellen? She put up a fight, not like the others." Amanda nodded despairingly.

"I thought she'd be able to get out of town, get away from everything that had happened because of me. Now," she sniffled, holding back tears, "she's gone too."

"Amanda, can you tell me anything that could relate Jack Banning or Scott Paolini…"

"Scott's in on this too?" Amanda's sadness turned quickly to anger. "He was like my brother throughout my life. Why the hell is he in on all of this?" Catherine leaned back in her chair with a heavy sigh. This case was turning out to be much more complicated than she had anticipated and it was very trying for her emotions.

"Okay. We have fingerprints I'm sure Grissom is running through AFIS right now. Once we have those, maybe we'll have a better understanding of the case." Catherine stood and walked to the door. Amanda stopped her there.

"Make sure Sara stays safe," she said quietly. Catherine smiled, nodded, and left.

AFIS was still running the prints when Catherine returned and so she resigned herself to reviewing the scarce evidence from the other murder scenes to see if she could pick up anything unnatural.

"Cath, you need a break," Grissom said, entering the room and catching sight of her. Catherine shrugged, moving to another photo of their first scene.

"I'm trying to figure out how the lethal dose of morphine got into their systems. We found a dart, yippee, hooray, but we still haven't been able to prove that's the tool that killed the girls. Even so, have we gotten fingerprints off of it?" Grissom took a seat in the chair beside her, glancing at each of the pictures as Catherine shuffled through them.

"We've got nothing."

"Oh, contraire, madam. I finished with your dart, finally," Greg said, standing across from them. "Morphine in the dart, technically a match to the morphine in your vics. Got a couple prints too." He set the test results and print papers down on the table. Grissom picked them up while Catherine grinned.

"Greg, you are amazing," she said, her gaze shifting from Grissom to Greg and back again.

"Yeah, I know. Anything else?" Before either Greg or Grissom could reply, Warrick entered.

"Gris, Cath, your print came up in AFIS. An Anthony Lopez."

"Today seems to be the day of discoveries," Grissom quipped standing with Catherine and following Warrick out of the room.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Okay, I'm slowly unravelling this and its half starting to get on my nerves. Anyway, should be another chapter up really soon and I have another, different story. But I need to know if I should be putting it up.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Coming soon… Buried in evidence, an accomplice confesses

Greg's "lost" file

~Kavi Leighanna