Title: Love Bites
Pairing: Sara/Nick, Amelia/Speed, hints at Amelia/Grissom
Spoiler: Lost Son, Viva Las Vegas, Pilot, basically all CSI episodes up to season 4/5ish.
Summary: After Nick's older sister Amelia transferred from Las Vegas, he thought he'd never see her again. Then she became a victim in a serial killer's game. Now, the Las Vegas CSIs are racing against time to find the killer.
Disclaimer: I only own what you do not recognize. I.E: Amelia, Evan, and the victims and suspects. CSI Belongs to Jerry Bruckheimer and all of those smart people who created these fine CSI series.
My Original Note: ok. do you guys like it or not? I'm still going to keep writing, but I'd like to know if you like it or not. Uh, this chapter is just...a chapter. lol. I hope it makes sense and thanks to everybody who has reviewed.
Chapter 4: Another Death
"Baby you can be tough
Say enough is enough
You can even be blunt
Just do it with love love love love
Tell me I'm wrong
That I'm coming on way too strong
Don't think I'll be crushed
Just do it with love love love love
Just do it with love love love love
Just do it with love." -Hilary Duff 'With Love'
"She was found just like this." Jim Brass said as he led Nick and Grissom towards the blue Mustang. It was early in the morning and the sun was starting to shine. Shift would be over soon and maybe Jim would be able to get some sleep. Maybe, He thought, is always the word in a serial murder case. The body of 33-year-old Alia Kraushaar lay dead next to her car in the parking lot. A puddle of blood surrounded her head and once beautiful face. Her shoulder length blonde hair was stained with blood.
Her left arm was stretched past her head, her hand was, like the others, in a letter in sign language.
"E." Grissom said, reading everybody's mind. Nick started taking pictures of the body after setting his kit down and slipping on latex gloves.
"Ok. So, D, I, E. Die?" Nick said. Grissom nodded and took samples from underneath her fingernails. When he was done, he walked down to her feet. He printed the bloody shoeprint and then took a swab.
Grissom stood up and looked around. They were outside of a condominium complex. The morning had brought a resident out to the garage where he found the body. Grissom looked at his watch. 7:10 a.m. He turned around and stood up.
"Ok, so say this vic's blood matches the unknown blood from the shoeprint. How'd he get it on his shoe before killing her?" Nick asked, obviously confused. Grissom couldn't hide that he too, was confused. It was obvious that this vic had only been dead an hour at tops. Grissom looked at the body. He noticed she had a cut on her right arm, new.
"Maybe, he took it from her." Nick gave Grissom one of his looks. Grissom smiled. Jim walked back up to them.
"Ms. Kraushaar is the wife of Michael Faire, a professor at UNLV. Michael is over there." He pointed at him. "He says his wife left at 6:15 to go to work and that's all he knows."
"Right." Nick scoffed. He turned and walked over to Michael. "Excuse me, Mr. Faire?" Michael nodded.
"Yeah." Nick shook hands with the man. Michael Faire was a strong built man, about 6'1" and pronounced muscles. His face and voice were unusually calm.
"I'm Nick Stokes with the Las Vegas Crime Lab. I just want to ask you a few questions." The man looked visibly annoyed.
"Sure. Go ahead." He sighed. Nick scowled.
"Ok. How did your wife get that cut on her right arm?" Nick asked.
"She was, uh, chopping vegetables a few nights ago. She moved her right arm and accidently cut it. She bled all over the floor, it was horrible. It seeped through the floor. The guy under us has been complaining since it happened. Alia just came home from the hospital yesterday." He said. Nick fought not to roll his eyes. He'd have to talk to the guy beneath the Faire's.
"Why didn't you clean up the blood?" He asked.
"The cleaning lady was supposed to do it, but she never came." He shrugged it off. Nick sighed. It was pretty sick to just leave blood there to seep through the floor.
"I'm going to need to see all of your shoes." Nick told him. Michael's eyes narrowed and he crossed his arms.
"Why?" He asked angrily.
"We need to rule you out as a suspect, sir." Nick told him. Michael scoffed and rolled his eyes.
"Fine, but I did step in the blood so, don't be surprised. Come with me." He said finally. Nick turned and motioned for Jim. Jim walked over.
"What do you got?" He asked. Nick's smile was broad.
"Mr. Faire is going to let me see his shoes." Nick told him. Jim turned to Michael.
"How nice of him." Jim said sarcastically.
----UNLV----
Catherine sighed as O'Reilly knocked on the door for a third time. Catherine looked up at Warrick who looked visibly annoyed. This was not how Catherine wanted to spend her morning. She was ready to go home and spend some time with her daughter, if her daughter wanted to, of course. Lindsey had begun to get out of control.
"Mr. Danliv! LVPD!" O'Reilly shouted. People were poking their heads out of the doors, staring at the small group of people in front of the certain door. They could hear a voice inside grumbling about something and then the door finally opened.
"Dude, Sergei ain't here. Left school yesterday." The sleepy student said.
"Where is he?" O'Reilly asked. The student rubbed his eyes.
"Said something about a hotel a few streets over. Over by that huge gas station. The dude was angry." He told them. Warrick and Catherine exchanged a look. Warrick looked at the student.
"Does he own any knives?" Warrick asked. The student looked surprised by that question.
"No. Sergei relies on his fists to solve his problems. I've only seen him with those plastic knives from the cafeteria." He told them. Warrick frowned.
"Does he work?" Warrick asked. The student nodded.
"Sure does. He starts at like, 5:00 and goes until 9:00 the next morning. The dude never sleeps." Warrick sighed.
"Thank you."
---DNA Lab---
"Ok, so. The blood on the husband's dress shoes matches your third vic, but it doesn't match the print." Greg told Nick. Nick sighed and rubbed her chin. It was not what he was hoping for. They had no leads now. Nick hoped that Catherine and Warrick were having better luck over at the college.
"So he was telling the truth."
"Apparently. Oh. The blood from the second shoe print matches your third vic. So does the blood from the third shoe print."
"So the killer must have been in the Faire's condo."
"Yeah. You guys find any connection between the vic's yet?" Greg asked. Nick shook his head.
"Not yet. Cath and Warrick are talking to the boyfriend of the first vic. So hopefully we get something out of that." Nick turned and walked out of the lab. As he walked towards the layout room, he caught up to Sara who was heading there also.
"Hey." Sara said, looking up from the file she was reading. Nick smiled.
"Hey. Anything new?" He asked. Sara shook her head.
"Not that I know of." They walked into the layout room and found Grissom, Catherine, Warrick, and Jim already there. Nick and Sara sat in the last available seats.
"What do we have? Any connections?" Grissom asked, looking around. Warrick set three pictures on the middle of the table, one of each victim. He stood up and pointed to the first one.
"Aja Vechincov. A 31-year-old, blonde, Russian, foreign exchange student. Her boyfriend, Sergei Danbliv, and her used to have arguments all the time. Sergei, though, was at work during her murder." He then pointed to the second picture.
"Akia Valdez-Whitmore. A 32-year-old, blonde, Mexican wife of millionaire James Whitmore. He has been out of town for the last week. Mrs. Whitmore was killed at the gas station next to the hotel where Sergei Danliv is staying."
"But he was at work during her murder, also." Catherine added and Warrick sat down.
"The blood from the foot print at the first scene is a match to Aja Vechincov. But the blood from the foot print at the second scene is a match to the third victim, Alia Kraushaar." Nick said, pointing to the third picture. "According to her husband, she cut her right arm last night. The blood on the shoe print at the third scene is a match to the third vic. I checked the husband's shoes, but the only shoe with blood on it was dress shoes, which he claimed to have worn the night Alia cut open her arm. The prints don't match."
"Ah, Alia Kraushaar is a 33-year-old, blonde, German." Sara added.
"Right. So, the ages are in order: 31, 32, 33." Nick said.
"They're all blondes." Jim said.
"Yeah. And their names are in alphabetical order." Grissom said. "Aja, Akia, Alia."
"So the next victim should be 34, blonde, and be an 'Am' name." Nick said. "And we've got nothing to stop him." He added sadly. Not good.
"The camera from the gas station shoes the killer killing the second vic, but you never see his face." Sara said as she stared at the pictures of the three women. There must be another connection, Sara thought to herself. "Whoever did this has been planning for a while." Sara added silently. The names and ages couldn't have been a coincidence, Sara thought to herself. He thought this out. The sick bastard.
"If only Ames was here." Catherine muttered, startling everybody. Nobody had been prepared for that. Everybody looked at her, eyes wide, confused and surprised.
"Why?" Grissom asked. He was confused as to why Catherine would suddenly bring Amelia up. Hardly anybody talked about her anymore. It was just too difficult. Everybody had been great friends with her. And then she put in a transfer. Nobody expected it. And nobody expected not to hear from her.
"Because she's great at serial murders!" Catherine said, surprised that everybody would forget that. Amelia had always been great at solving serial murders. She was always a logical sort of person, very smart when it came to finding a pattern or a connection between two or more people.
"Oh. We can't forget. Each victim's left hand was a letter from sign language." Sara felt it was better to switch from the topic of Amelia. Everyone was very...tense when it came to her. Sara took out three pictures and laid them down below the pictures of the women. "D, I, E. Die."
"Is that everything?" Grissom asked, looking around, grateful for the change of subject.
"The blood on the knife we found matches both vic one and two. Doc Robbins found deep cuts in all three victims backs, the blade struck the left kidney. He said the wound on the third victim was made by a larger blade." Nick told him.
"Ok. So, after watching the video from the gas station, this is what he does. He waits until there's hardly anybody around the victim and then walks up behind them. He stabs them, then slams their head through the window, then into the door a couple of times and positions them the way he wants." Sara said, talking it all out. "In reality, it probably takes about a minute or so. Serious anger issues, maybe?" Sara offered. Catherine nodded.
"Possibly. Ok, Let's think try this. Think like Ames." Once again, surprised faces all around. "You're a extremely smart woman, or man, who is very logical. Look over everything and I mean everything. You know how Ames would literally spend hours going over what we thought were pointless things. Look over every word from friends, neighbors, boyfriends, husbands; every piece of evidence. What do you find?" Catherine looked at everyone. Everyone was trying to figure it out, which sort of surprised Catherine. Papers were being sifted through; photos were being looked at carefully. Everyone was in the mood. Or so she thought.
"You find a group of people who need to go home." Grissom said, standing up. He grabbed a folder and stuck it under his arm. Everyone looked at him, confused. "Get some rest, food, and take a shower."
"But Griss," Nick started to protest.
"No! There's nothing new. We'll pick this up when we've all had some sleep." Grissom walked out of the room and headed toward his office. Silence engulfed the room as they tried to figure it out. Grissom had never done that before. He always wanted everybody to spend hours looking over everything.
"I'll see you guys tonight." Warrick muttered as he stood up to leave. Everyone slowly muttered goodbyes and left. Nobody could understand why Grissom was so upset.