Nick bursts into the lab where Grissom and Warrick are looking over the fiber evidence from the case. "Bobby just matched the bullet marks to a gun one of Brass's guys found in the bushes behind a house 4 blocks from Voletta's house!" He exclaims with a grin, "and it's registered!"

Warrick and Gil's eyes widen with surprise. "Are you serious?" Warrick asks.

"Yep, to a Ms. Susan Walters." Nick's excitement is spilling over to his co-workers. "Brass called the police in the town given on the registration application and they said that she was reported missing by her daughter about a month ago."

"Missing? You think she was kidnaped or murdered and then someone took her gun?" Warrick rubbed the stubble on his chin while thinking about the different scenarios.

"I think she is the one pulling the trigger." Nick replies drawing a shocked look from Warrick. Grissom leans forward and looks at Nick attentively, waiting for the rest of his hypothesis. "She unloaded her bank accounts and was reported to have boarded a bus out of town. Her daughter said that she didn't see her mom just picking up and leaving, but the cops haven't pushed the case very hard because they figured she wanted to be gone. She fits the description of the shooter from all three cases and get this, she used to work in a clinic that specialized in the care and treatment of Parkinson's patients. I think she is going on some kind of Angel of Mercy killing spree."

"Well, she has gotten rid of her weapon, so she is either feeling guilty or she knows that it will be traced." Gil informs them. "We need to find her soon, she could be moving on to other methods to carry out her murders."

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Grissom is standing next to Nick in the break room when his cell phone rings. He answers it but has to plug his free ear to hear Brass's words. Nick shoots a glare at Greg, who has a small radio turned up and is bobbing his head to the beat. He caught Nick's stare and turns the radio off as Gil turns back to face Nick.

"LVPD picked up Susan Walters driving down the interstate in a car she bought with cash from a used car dealership 3 days ago. They have her at the station, they are just waiting for one of us to get there to start questioning." Grissom explains.

"Great! Let's go Gris." Nick throws his bag of chips into the trash can and puts his jacket over his arm to prepare to leave.

"Nicky, you go ahead. You have this case covered, you don't need me there." Gil gives permission to Nick.

"Really?"

"Yeah, just don't let your personal connection get in the way of the evidence."

"I won't. Thanks Gris." Nick bolts out the door to the parking lot.

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"Where's Gil?" Brass asks Nick as he approaches the door to the interrogation room.

"He is letting me handle this one on my own." Nick replies with pride in his voice.

"I know you have a personal attachment to this, just remember, we don't know for sure if she is the shooter. She could just be a middle aged woman who's gun was stolen." Brass warned Stokes before they turned to enter the room where Ms. Walters sat twirling a piece of paper in her fingers.

"I know." Nick states as he turns the handle.

They each take their places at the table, Nick sitting across from her.

"Ms. Walters, I'm Detective Jim Brass and this is Nick Stokes from the Las Vegas Crime Lab. We want to ask you some questions, is that ok?"

"I guess so." She meekly replies.

"Ms. Walters, Why did you leave your home without telling anyone? Your daughter reported you missing not long after you left." Nick asks.

"I couldn't let her know why I was leaving. If I told her I was going, she would want to know why and she is too good a person to have that on her mind." Susan informs them.

Brass shifts his position in his chair, "why did you leave?"

Susan turns her gaze to the paper in her hands, "Do you know what it's like to have Parkinson's disease detective?"

Brass and Nick look at each other as Brass replies, "No, I don't."

"Well, you get tremors and you start to get slurred speech. You can't talk right and you can't even sign your own name." She says to Brass and Nick without looking up.

"With all due respect Ms. Walters, what does that have to do with you leaving your home?" Brass presses for information. Nick stares on, he knows what it has to do with it. He is just waiting to hear her say it.

"I worked for 10 years in that hell hole. I watched some of the sweetest and smartest people I have ever met fade away. They were miserable and they couldn't do anything about it."

"But you could, couldn't you Ms. Walters?" Nick snaps causing Susan to look up at him. "You could put them out of their misery. That is what you did for them isn't it?"

"I had to. I knew what they could become." She said with sadness in her words.

"How did you pick the people you killed?" Brass inquires.

"I didn't kill them, I saved them!" She said with great force.

"Ok, how did you pick who was going to be saved?" Nick took a gentle tone to calm her down.

"I saw so many people come to that damn clinic and get turned away because they didn't have enough money for treatment or care. People traveled from all over to come and see the specialist there, and then they would go home without any help. I sat at that reception desk and had to watch them leave." She started to tear up.

"So you tracked down a few of the people you saw get turned down at the clinic and decided that you could play God. " Nick's voice quickly turned from gentle to angered.

She didn't respond until Nick stood up to leave. "You were the one that kicked in the door weren't you?" She asks.

Nick's eyes widen and the question sinks into his mind. With a slight nod of his head he relies, "yes, I was."

She broke into a sob as Nick continues, "I was there as that woman bled all over the floor. You don't think that was painful for her?" His voice getting louder, almost becoming a yell. "She laid there for so long after you shot her, and she was in pain that whole time! She was all alone in the world and then you came and you shot her! She was in a coma for 2 days, so excuse me if I don't think that you saved her!" He slams the door to the room as he storms out into the hallway. He pounds his fist into the wall and kicks the bench by his feet. "SON OF A BITCH!" He screamed as he sat down on the bench with tears streaming down his cheeks.

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The day is chilly and bright. A fresh blanket of snow lay on the cold hard ground and on the bare branches of the trees in the cemetery.

Nick gets out of his SUV and retrieves the package from the back seat. As he walks up to the head stone marked 'Voletta Greenbow' he glances around at all the crisp white flakes around him.

He kneels down a few feet from her stone and says to her, "I am sorry that you had to go through it all alone Voletta. I am sorry that I didn't make the effort to ever thank you for the Christmas cookies you left me."

He places the box of fresh cookies on the ground in front of her head stone. "Merry Christmas Mrs. Greenbow."

His cell phone rings as he is walking back to his vehicle. "Yeah Gris, I'll meet you there. Sorry I am running late, there was something I had to do before shift today." He hangs up his phone and turns for one last look at the grave of his neighbor. "See you next year Voletta."

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The End