A/N: I would like to thank Laura Katharine for beta-ing this chapter. She did a wonderful job! Any remaining errors are all mine.
Spying the beautiful young brunette across the street; he was mesmerized. She stood there, the slight breeze blowing, moving her hair fluidly as if it were already floating in the water. It was kismet, she was Chapter Three.
He moved up behind her quickly, elated that he'd started carrying the chloroform and duct tape with him everywhere. One never knew when inspiration would strike. As she walked alone into the dimly lit parking garage, he prepared his cloth.
Just as his hand came up she turned around. With her mouth hanging open as if prepared to scream, she stood, frozen, unable to make any sort of sound.
Pulling himself out of his daze, he could have watched her almost comical look all day; he lunged forward. Bringing one arm around her waist he held her to him as the other quickly covered her mouth. She went limp a full second before his hand reached her mouth; apparently fainting from fright, falling right into him. This one was definitely fate.
Ripping the duct tape, he bound her hands before dragging her to a quiet corner. Looking back at her lovely body one more time, he could see the stark white of her panties peeking out from under her blue skirt. Almost dizzy with giddiness, he left quickly to get the van.
He awoke with a start. Sitting up quickly in his bed, beads of sweat formed on his brow and his heart raced. Another oddity was that Hemingway was not awake. In fact he was curled up, shrinking as if it were twenty degrees in his bedroom. A single thought slammed into his head. What did he do with his gum?
Jumping out of bed he began pacing, trying to think back to what happened to his gum. He didn't remember throwing it out. He didn't remember spitting it out the window of his van, nor in the parking garage or at the lake. None of the options were familiar to him.
And as he began to fear the worst, the other side of his brain took over. He must have thrown it out. It was an act so familiar and routine that he didn't even remember doing it. That must be what happened; there was no sense worrying about it now.
Climbing back into bed, the sweat started to dry and his heart calmed down, as Hemingway began to wake up. Reaching under his pillow he grabbed the soft object, sending a shiver through Hemingway as he felt the cotton on his fingertips.
Bringing the object to his face, he breathed in her scent as Hemingway completed the transformation to full size again. Gripping him firmly, stroking hard as the scent of her permeated his nostrils for the second time.
Remembering the first time, just hours before, his offering spewing out into the condom over her completely still ass. Lying there, spread eagle for him, her beautiful brown hair floating through the murky water.
His seed shot out again, this time onto his stomach. With visions of her, the scent of her still fresh for his pleasure. Dropping his hand, which held the white fabric to his stomach, he slowly worked the warm fluid into his skin. Falling back to sleep, he still held the panties tightly in his fingers.
The ringing of the phone woke Sara from her dream of walking around the lab unable to find any evidence in the serial murder cases. Thankful that it was only a dream, she reached for her cell, which was ringing and scurrying across the top of the night table. She always kept it on vibrate as well as ring, in case she didn't hear the ringer.
"Sidle."
"We've got another one," came Grissom's voice through the receiver.
"I'll meet you there in half an hour. You need me to call Nick?"
"No, I already called him. See you then."
Jumping into the shower, Sara had one mission. A quick lather with the soap and shampoo only, no conditioner this morning there was no time. Out and dressed in an instant, she put her hair in a ponytail and threw her blue CSI hat on top. While the thought of stopping for a coffee entered her brain, so did the fact that she would be out at the lake for hours, probably with no bathroom in sight. Coffee was now out of the question, because she was not peeing in the woods with a million cops and cameras around.
Arriving at the lab, she could see Grissom had beaten her there by about thirty seconds as he was already getting out of his car. Walking into the building she heard a vehicle come to a screeching halt; she knew without turning around that it was Nick. Smiling, she continued down the hallway trying to catch up with Grissom.
The predictability of her coworkers was amazing. The ever late Nick would always be squealing in somewhere or another, explaining just why it had taken him so long to arrive. Most of the time it was due to uncontrollable circumstances such as road construction or faulty alarm clocks; his list of never-ending excuses amused her.
And Grissom, no matter how quickly she got to work, always managed to beat her. For as much grief as she gave him about not caring, he was very dedicated. Their dedication was just two different things; hers to the victim, and his to the evidence and truth. While noble, it just seemed so unfeeling.
The ride to the scene was quieter than the previous two had been, but all three minds were working out theories. As they got closer to the lake, Sara noticed that they weren't stopping in the same area as before.
"Changed the drop site on us?"
"Yeah, I guess he figured we'd have people watching the area. It's a few miles further up the road this time."
"This guy is amazing. He's killing these girls so close together. Four days after the first one and three days after the second; we barley have time to start processing the evidence before we get called for another victim."
"Sara, let's not get ahead of ourselves. We haven't seen this body yet. We don't know how fresh it is. Let's not go in there assuming just because it's the third body found that it's the third victim. Or that it's even related to the others just yet."
"Grissom..." Letting out a deep breath, she ignored the snicker coming from Nick in the back seat and continued. "You're right, but weren't you thinking the same thing?"
"Of course I was. I just didn't voice it. I argue the points back and forth in my head first, always questioning myself and my theories."
A half perplexed and half angry Sara looked skeptically at her boss.
"I thought that's why we worked these cases together Grissom, to bounce ideas and thoughts off of each other."
"Yes, but..." Pausing he looked at her, a smile forming on his face as he tried to take her mind off of the victims. "If you argue them in your head first, weeding out the bad theories, you come across as wiser than you really might be."
This time there was a louder snicker from the backseat as Sara smacked Grissom lightly on the arm.
Grissom came to a stop fairly close to the taped off area. The cluster of cops was a little larger this time than the last.
"Sara, get close and look for foot prints to photo and cast again. Nick, grab the perimeter and the small parking area."
"Sure thing, Boss." With that, Nick grabbed his kit and was off.
Walking close to the body, Grissom and Sara both squatted down, looking over the naked form for any obvious evidence.
"It looks like another one, Grissom."
Trying to ignore her little I told you so tone, Grissom continued his scan of the body. With his voice elevated slightly in excitement Grissom spoke, "Sara, check out her hair."
Averting her attention from the tape residue still on her ankles, Sara's eyes drifted slowly higher, stopping to study the victim's brown hair carefully. Her eyes opened wide as her heart started to race at the sight of the possible case breaking evidence.
"Oh my God, it's gum tangled in her hair, isn't it? He dropped it from his mouth; it must have been too dark for him to find it."
"Or it's not his at all, but it looks like there may be a usable dental impression there."
"Maybe even a pocket of saliva inside. We've got to get that now, before the water can do any more damage, Grissom."
Smiling at her renewed vigor he asked warmly, "Hand me some scissors, will you Sara?"
With the gum removed and safely saved, Sara went happily— as happy as she could get at a murder scene, shooting and casting the few footprints at the scene.
With the scene scoured and the body removed, they headed back to the lab to start putting things together on their latest victim.
Walking into the break room, Sara could see a few people gathered around the television.
"The newly dubbed 'Coed Killer' has struck again, leaving many young college students fearing for their lives. Chuck talks with one of them now live, Chuck?"
"Debbie, I'm here with Jason Pleasant, who will be attending UNLV this fall. Jason, tell me, how has the 'Coed Killer' affected you and your plans for school next month?"
"Well, he's only killed women so far, but you never know with these guys man, they're crazy. He could kill me just for walking with my girlfriend, you know, man?"
"Yes, I do. Back to you Debbie."
"Are you kidding me, he has a name now?" Sara sank into a chair, disgusted again with the media.
"Come on girl, you knew it was just a matter of time before they got their grubby little hands on this story."
"I know Warrick, but the Coed Killer? I mean, come on. It's just a coincidence that the first two have been college students. He's picking young girls that age; the odds are pretty good they go to school."
"I know, but alliteration is everything to these guys." The smirk on his face began to grow bigger. "You know that, it makes everything sound so much bigger and more dangerous."
"Well, he's plenty dangerous; I hate them making him sound more important than he is though."
"Yeah. Hey at least Greg's in the clear now."
"Thankfully for him, Greg stands out, even in Vegas. They had a very public date, and nobody forgot them." Sara said smiling at the thought of Greg's loud clothing, until the image of Kelly enjoying her last evening entered her mind. "Anyway, back to the grind, see you later?"
"You know it Sidle." Warrick responded in his smooth voice.
Leaving Warrick and the gaggle of observers in the break room, Sara headed back to the lab where they'd set up all three cases together. Entering the room she found Grissom and Nick adding the latest items of evidence on the third white board.
"According to Brass we have an ID on the third victim. Tracey Marks, she was a student at the International Academy of Design and Technology in Henderson."
"I guess that would be why they're calling him the Coed Killer."
With a tilt of his head Grissom's eyes squinted almost involuntarily. "The Coed Killer?"
"Yeah, I just heard it on the news. They're all over this already."
"Let's get to it; we have our work cut out for us." Pausing only long enough for Sara and Nick to be seated with paper and pen, Grissom continued. "From the first case we have, a green cotton fiber from gardening gloves. We also have those same fibers in the second and third cases too. Duct tape, Nick did you compare that tape against the duct tape found on victim number two?"
"Yeah, there was no match. I did however, already get a chance to compare the tape from the third vic with that of the second, and we do have a match there, my friends."
"Nice, Nicky. Okay, so we can link the second and third cases that way. We also have the video tapes from the Venetian and from a couple of businesses across the street from the apartment of the first victim. Sara, did we get anything off the tapes?"
"I checked with Archie, and he's got nothing so far. There was no evidence of any crime on any of the tapes. He's still going through the tapes from the Mirage for case number two though. Archie's going to use the facial recognition software. He'll run it on all the tapes from case number one, and then run it on the tapes from case number two. Hoping that we get at least one same face in each of the cases tapes."
"Yeah, well they are casino tapes, I'm sure he'll get plenty of matches to keep Brass busy. We also have a broken wrist for the first victim, but not for the second or third. Having the tox screen results back from the first two victims, we can assume that was the reason for the addition of chloroform. Knock them out when he grabbed them so there would be no struggle. Chloroform will probably appear in the third tox screen as well."
"Now the only thing new and different in the third case is the gum we found in the victim's hair. I'll be making a mold of the dental impression in that and then handing it over to Johnson, the day shift DNA guy. I never thought I'd say this, but I miss Greg. Johnson's so slow and keeps putting Ecklie's stuff ahead of mine."
"Since Brass cleared his alibi, can we get him back now?"
"Too risky Sara, he knew the second victim, and was the last person to see her before the killer. I'm letting him come back to work tomorrow, but he will stay very clear of any evidence in this case. He'll be working in a separate lab and nothing from this case will even go in the same room as him, is that clear?"
"Yes, sir, no appearance of impropriety."
"Exactly, Nick, we can't afford it when this goes to court. So let's get to work and see what we can do with this evidence."
Samantha Wells was just getting done with her shift at the Luxor when she decided to make a detour before going home. She had a craving for the homemade fudge available over at the Monte Carlo's Street of Dreams shops.
Walking down the strip with the volume on her iPod turned way up, Sam, as everyone called her, had no idea she was being followed. Paying for the fudge, the girl was oblivious to the man standing outside the store, hiding behind a tree on the cobblestone lined street.
Heading to the bus stop, she never noticed that same man get on two people behind her, and when she got off, she paid no attention to him as he followed her down the steps.
The first time she took notice of the stranger was as his hand was closing over her mouth, just seconds before she fell unconscious.
With the girl falling limply into his arms, he began to worry for the first time. Unsure of what to do with the offending object which was starting to fall off of Chapter Four. With wires falling out of her ears he could hear the music through the headphones. The clip on its case gave way and the small music maker fell to the street.
Clanking as it hit the pavement, he was torn at whether to leave it where it lay, or pick it up and destroy it later with her clothes. Coming to his senses and realizing that it's always better to bring anything evidentiary with you, he decided to take it.
Dragging Chapter Four down a side street, he ran back and picked up the iPod, shoving it into his sweatshirt pocket. Walking quickly back to the body, he reached past that newest item he'd just forced in there to grab the duct tape.
Following the protocol he'd perfected in his last two abductions, he left her there to go retrieve his van. Still nervous at leaving his chapters behind, he was getting used to having them unattended for a bit. It made what would happen later all that much sweeter.
"There aren't any cameras in the parking garage where Tracey Marks' car is parked." Brass exhaled as he plunked down in an extra chair opposite Grissom's desk.
"Odd, most have them now-a-days."
"Yeah, well it's just our luck with this case huh? Anyway, I spoke with the friend she was visiting, and she left her around ten that night. According to the friend, Tracey was heading right to the garage; she was tired and wanted to get home. You guys come up with anything else?"
"We've got good comparable foot prints at all three scenes. They all match each other. But, they're Timberland boots, too widely sold to track down a single purchase, but there is a unique cut on the sole. Again, we'll need a suspect to make a match."
"Great, we've got bupkus." Brass said as he exhaled loudly.
"Yeah, and I'm a little nervous Jim; this guy is taking women at an alarming rate. Usually if you work that quickly, you make more mistakes than this guy's made."
"True, but at the same time he doesn't seem too worried about leaving any evidence either. You think he's got a set number he wants to take and then that's it?"
"Jim, you know as well as I do that he won't stop. Once they start and get away with it; even if his initial plan was to stop, he won't. Plus, if you're talking about the gum, we won't know until we have a suspect if it was his. And as far as the cameras go, he may not even realize they exist."
"Right, which means he couldn't have planned out that part too carefully. This guy is on my last nerve and he's plucking away at it, Gil."
TBC