A nurse slipped through the opening in the curtains, turning to make sure they closed behind her. Catherine approached the tall brunette, glancing at the nameplate pinned to her breast pocket, Shirley. Catherine reached into her pocket and flashed her credentials, "Catherine Willows, I'm with the crime lab." Her voice came out more subdued than she had intended.

The nurse nodded, in acknowledgement or agreement, Catherine didn't know. As Shirley took the few steps to close the distance between them, Catherine realized she'd dealt with her before. A hollowness hit her stomach when she realized just how many times she'd been here to interview a victim and how she still had to read the woman's name tag.

"She's refused the vaginal swabs." Shirley told her in a muted, not quite whispering tone that only nurses used.

"What?"

"She let us take scrapings from under her nails, do a preliminary physical exam, and we've go her clothes for you, but she refused the swabs." Shirley handed Catherine bags similar to the evidence bags she herself used.

Catherine took them, shaking her head. "I don't understand."

Shirley shrugged as if that was enough of an answer. "She should be finished getting dressed. Go on in."

Switching the evidence into her left hand, Catherine approached the closed white curtain. "Rai?" she called softly in lieu of knocking.

"Come in." Rai answered, her voice weak.

Parting the curtains, she slipped inside, repeating the nurse's earlier gesture of double-checking the closure.

"Hi." Rai said, turning around. She was wearing black sweat pants and a gray tee shirt, the kind of clothes hospitals kept on hand for rape victims. Her hair hung in her face, and Catherine wondered if Rai was trying to hide behind it. It looked to Catherine that she'd received, among other things, a left hook across her cheekbone. A cut above her right eye, her bottom lip was split, the base of her throat was red, and swollen. Rai saw her looking; her hand went to her throat.

Catherine lifted her hands in a gesture of helplessness. "I don't know what to say."

Rai shrugged. "Say what you would say to any other victim." Her voice broke, calling herself a victim.

Taking a deep breath, Catherine began. "Ok. Tell me what happened."

Rai's eyes drifted just to the right of Catherine's face and glassed over. "It was about 9 o'clock I guess. Nick had left about an hour before, when Grissom called him." Catherine noted Rai had dropped the Mr. from Grissom's name, slipping into the familiar habit she'd probably picked up explained, her voice tinged with a whine, like a child trying to convince his parents he'd done his from Nick and Sara both. "There was a knock on my door. I checked the peephole," Rai homework. "It was a policeman." Catherine's eyes exploded open at the revelation. "He said that there was an escaped prisoner and they were checking all the apartments." Rai shrugged, her eyes coming back into focus. "I had no reason to not believe him."

"Did this...policeman" Catherine choked on the word "mention Nick or Sara by name?" She didn't know where she was headed with that question, but sometimes that was when she got the best answers.

Rai shook her head. "No. He told me to stay in the living room while he checked the apartment. After he was in the bedroom for a minute or two, he called me back there, so I went." She shrugged again. "He, umm, hadn't turned on the light, and before I could, he was behind me, and pushed me on the bed." She met Catherine's eyes. "I don't remember him taking off my panties. How can I not remember that?" She didn't wait for answer, knowing there really wasn't one. "His hand was on my throat" she reached up, fingering her neck "So hard to breathe. Then he was on top of me, and in...inside me."

"Did he have a gun?"

"No. Not that I saw." She paused, thinking, then shook her head as if to clear it. "I ah, have a clock radio on my bedside table. I think he pulled that out from the wall, it sounded like that anyway; you know how a radio will give a short burst of noise when it loses power? Well it did that, and I think the noise surprised him, 'cause he stopped and that's when I ran." She swallowed hard. "He tackled me in the living room; I fell. He turned me over, so I was face up, and I kneed him in the groin. He fell over and I ran out the door." She took a deep breath; grateful she'd gotten through the story, steeling herself for the numerous times she'd have to tell it again. Especially to the one person she'd give anything not to have to tell. Nicks face flashed in her mind, and she shut her eyes against the image.

"Your lucky to be alive." Catherine's voice broke through her thoughts.

Rai nodded.

"Rai...why'd you refuse the vaginal swab?"

Rai licked her lips. "He was wearing a condom."

"You're sure?"

Again, Rai nodded. Catherine pursed her lips. "There's still a possibility of semen, and it'll help at trial if we had the swabs."

Rai took an unsteady step toward her, and in a whisper she said: "Catherine, the...guy who did this wore one, but" she paused, and Catherine could see her struggling with her choice of words. "But, Nicky didn't. He told me about that girl, Krisiti, how he was a suspect..."

Catherine took a deep, almost relieved, breath. "That's not going to happen again. You're not accusing Nick." She put her hand on Rai's arm. "We need the swab."

Rai looked up at her, through her lashes, her eyes searching Catherine's. After a moment she nodded. "Ok."

A moment later, Catherine was back on the other side of the curtain, beckoning the nurse over. "She's agreed to the swabs." Shirley nodded in understanding and passed through the curtains. While she was waiting, Catherine pulled out her cell phone and punched in Grissom's number.

"Grissom" he picked up on the first ring.

"It's me." Catherine said into the phone, turning her back on the curtains and taking a few steps away.

"How is she?" Gil asked quietly.

Catherine took a deep breath. "Cuts, bruises. Other than that, exactly as you'd expect. Gil, she said the perp was dressed as a cop."

"What?"

"Came to her door in a uniform. Gave her some bull about searching for an escaped con." She could hear Grissom breathing into the phone, deep in thought.

"I'll call Brass, let him know..." he stopped short and Catherine could hear Nick's voice suddenly in the background, she guessed he must have just walked into the room.

"You ready?" Gil asked into the phone.

"As I'll ever be. Good luck." She clicked her phone shut.

Hanging up, Grissom took a deep breath. "Nick." He called and waved a come here motion. Concern took over Nicks face when he saw Grissom's expression.

"What's up boss?"

"Shut the door, Nicky."