***************************************************************
Twenty minutes later Sara's house was swarming with cops. The dayshift CSI's had been called in to work the scene, but Grissom met them with fierce opposition.
"Step aside Gil, this is a dayshift case."
"The hell it is. One of our own goes missing, and you expect us not to work this case?"
"The sheriff says-"
Anger flared in the usually cool stare. Grissom stepped up to the dayshift CSI's, and said through gritted teeth,
"This is our case. Got that?"
Catherine stepped up and placed a calming hand on Grissom's arm.
"…Gil…"
He looked at her and she shook her head.
Conrad Ecklie, dayshift supervisor, smirked a little as he turned to his CSI's and began to brief them.
Catherine pulled Grissom to one side.
"There are other ways to get this case."
She pulled out her cell and talked fast.
Grissom, only hearing one side of the conversation, became confused.
***************************************************************
Catherine said her goodbyes and hung up.
"Case is ours. We should probably go tell Ecklie the good news."
She strode off to where the Dayshifts were standing.
"…How?" Grissom stared after her for a moment, then found his feet and hurried to join her.
***************************************************************
Grissom put in the call to Nick and Warrick, and soon they were standing ready on Sara's lawn, silver field kits in hand.
"Nick, Warrick, you take downstairs, Catherine and I will take upstairs." Grissom turned to each of them as he said their names.
"Work hard and fast, people. We have to find her."
Nick muttered "We will.", Warrick nodded, and together they headed up to the house. Grissom turned to the nearby Detective Brass and nodded to the street.
Brass took the hint and began to tell Grissom what he and his officers had gathered from the surrounding neighbours, most of whom were watching the circus of the law from the opposite side of the street.
"No-one saw anything-" Grissom's expression now matched his own, frustrated and anxious. "- It's not a quiet neighbourhood, nothing out of the ordinary. It would help if we could pin down a time. All we have to go on is 'sometime after her shift yesterday, and when you and Cath found this place this morning'."
"We'll try." Grissom turned on his heels, and with Catherine in tow, he headed up to the house.
***************************************************************
They worked the room swiftly and thoroughly. Catherine examined the bed, looking for fibres, hairs, anything that didn't belong to the missing CSI. Grissom took the floor, examining the blood drop he had noticed earlier, and looking for more with Luminol.
He was crouched in the corner next to Sara's tidy nightstand, searching for some clue to the events that had unfolded here sometime before they had arrived.
Ring...
Grissom and Catherine both jumped.
They stared at the phone, perched atop the bedside cabinet.
They heard Nick call up from downstairs, "Grissom!"
Ring...
Grissom called back, "Leave it, Nick!"
Catherine glanced across at him, looking to follow his lead. He returned her gaze for a moment, and then turned back to the phone.
Ring...
Grissom tentatively stepped over to the phone and lifted the receiver in a latex-gloved hand. He raised it to his ear, and spoke.
"Sara Sidle's Phone" Catherine thought she heard his voice waver a little, but dismissed it.
"Mr Grissom…I was hoping you'd be there. Missing some…one?" A harsh male voice was taunting him.
Grissom swallowed hard, the voice setting him on edge, and he suddenly turned very pale.
"Who is this?"
The tone of Grissom's voice caught Catherine off guard. Her pretty eyes widened, and she held her breath.
Grissom thought he heard the sound of an engine.
"Do you have Sara? Where is she?"
On hearing this, Catherine hit the 'speaker phone' button on the base unit, and suddenly the callous voice filled the room.
"Call yourself an investigator, Mr Grissom? Tsk tsk, you'll have to work harder than that… I will answer one of your questions, though."
Grissom heard the sound of footsteps on a concrete floor, and then the timid, frightened voice of Sara Sidle came on the other end.
"Grissom? You have to help me! I'm in a warehouse of some kind-"
The male voice cut her off.
"Bitch!"
Grissom heard the unmistakeable smack of hand on face, and he winced. Sara let out a little whimper. Catherine held a hand over her mouth in shock.
Jesus, she was in trouble.
The male voice regained its composure.
"Well. It seems that you have an extra little clue. No matter. I wonder if you'll get the right person this time, Mr Grissom."
With that, the line clicked off, and went dead.
Grissom looked at Catherine, but didn't really see her. His mind was racing. Warehouse…Engine…Concrete floor…
Catherine was shaking, and fought to stay on her feet.
"Grissom?" She caught the crack in her voice before it escaped and managed to control it.
"Cath, she's in trouble."
Catherine gravely nodded. "What do we do?"
"You go fill in Nick and Warrick, I'll find Brass. You guys finish up within the hour and meet me back at HQ. We need to find her, fast."
Grissom was at the door before Catherine called to him.
"What are you going to do?"
He turned around.
"I'm going to see Greg. Run this blood through the lab."
She nodded, then added,
"Call me if anything prominent turns up."
With a tiny affirmative wave, he was gone.
