Catherine and Warrick had visited Nick briefly, but the doctor had been
right. He was sedated and would be not be awake for many hours. They had
gathered his clothes from one of the nurses and sent them over to the lab.
Warrick took a few photos of Nick's head wounds. He also scraped under his
finger nails for possible hidden DNA from the suspect. Once they were done, they headed back to the gym.

Warrick was searching behind the building for anything that might be amiss. Catherine pulled back the crime scene tape that adorned the physical therapy room. Several police
officers were still on the scene; each of them mutely acknowledged her
presence. She knew most of these cops. When one investigated crime scenes
you got to know most of the brothers and sisters in blue. Sometimes respect
had to be earned from each side. In other instances, each division butted
heads, but they were still all part of the same team. Nick Stokes was very
well liked by criminalists and police officers alike. Catherine's drive for
answers was reflected in the expressions of each person she walked
by.

Jim Brass greeted her just inside the room. He had kept it clear, knowing
that someone from graveyard would return. There was no way anyone else was
going to step foot on this crime scene. Jim had kept tabs on Nick's well
being via his cell phone, knowing that he better served his colleagues in
keeping things secure at the gym.

"I've looked around," he said as Catherine put down her kit to scan the room
with fresh eyes.

"Yeah? Your thoughts?" Catherine respected Jim's opinion. The man had deftly
supervised the lab for many years before his demotion. Jim shrugged.

"Not much here. Hopefully some of your fancy tools will
divulge more."

Catherine walked over to the last set of lockers and began to carefully sift
through the items inside. Her instincts told her that maybe Nick's attack
wasn't just random. He could have stumbled upon something, but till he woke
up, she would just play a hunch. She pulled out every magazine and piece of
clothing and bagged them. She photographed the dent and blood smear that had
been made on the inside wall.

"It's a good thing Nick has a hard head," Catherine commented at the damage
done.

"Yeah, he'd have to be, working with Gil," Jim replied wryly, staring at the
destruction from the other locker door.

Catherine couldn't suppress a frown when she stared at the next locker. She
took photos of the dents documenting the other blood smears and small
splatter caused by Nick's head. She took a swab, just in case. Every detail
counted. Catherine pulled out her powders and began dusting the locker for prints.
She nibbled on her bottom lip when numerous ones appeared. She began the
tedious task of lifting more than thirty from the door, the shelves, and the
locker combination. She also discovered a few smudges from the broken
mirror.

Then she focused on the floor for any shoeprints. She
crouched down, aiming her flashlight all over the tiles, but they yielded
nothing. Catherine made her way over to the whirlpool, careful to avoid some
of the pink water that had spilled onto the floor. She stood up and let her eyes roam back towards the lockers.

Brass watched the criminalist with interest. "What's going through that pretty little head
of yours?"

"Nick's gun is missing."

Jim scanned the area. "I noticed that too. Our suspect keep it for a
souvenir?"

"No. He's escalating. Taking more risks," Warrick's voice echoed in the
room.

Catherine watched her coworker enter; he looked haggard. The lanky CSI's
shirt was completely unbuttoned, his black undershirt untucked from his
jeans. He strode in, taking in the scene, and lowered his kit a few feet
from the whirlpool.

"What makes you think he's escalating?" Catherine asked, intrigued by
Warrick's posture and self assurance.

"Think about it." Warrick walked over to Catherine. He glared at the still
waters of the pool and swept his gaze back to her.

"Mike Ross was the possible first victim, killed in a car crash. Suspect
used a vehicle as his murder weapon with no real physical contact. Then he
gets a bit bolder. He strangles Walter Davis with some type of cord. I think
he choked him from behind, so he wouldn't be seen."

"He switches from a car to a cord or rope as the murder weapon. Which
requires a closer proximity to the victim," Catherine added, following
Warrick's train of thought.

"Right. With Nancy, maybe it's more personal. She's going to the cops to
help us with the case. He chokes her with his bare hands." Warrick motioned
with his fingers, curling them in mid air. "He gets more aggressive, more
into the kill."

"Breaks her neck in the rage, or...after she dies, enjoying the violence
of it all," Brass interjects.

"He's stays hidden every time." Warrick cocked his head. "I don't think any
of the vics saw his approach or even his face."

Catherine placed her hands on her hips. "The killer wanders in here. He gets
scared that his presence might raise suspicion, or maybe Nick found
something in here. Nick's a threat."

Warrick rubbed his chin, and his hand cupped his jaw line. "Nick becomes the
next aggressive act. Not content on just knocking Nick out, he tries to
drown him... watch him die."

"He took Nick's gun because..." Catherine postulated out loud.

"He took the gun because he plans on facing his next target. It's a bigger
risk, a bigger thrill." Warrick's eyes were bright. "Every attack is more
violent than the last."

"Trying to kill a law officer is one giant leap on the reckless chart," Jim
spoke up after listening to the CSI's theories.

"He's probably hopped up on God knows how many pills. Steroids cause extreme
depression and mania. Except our guy thrives on murder," Catherine continued
on about motive.

"I bet I know at least one scumbag that's already all riled up over Nicky,"
Jim added.

"But we can't prove it." All three investigators turned to see Grissom
standing there quietly. Each of them pondered how long he had been there
listening. Jim Brass smiled. The grave shift supervisor always had the strangest effect
on his team. A modern day witch doctor.

"Gil, Roger Sikes has been on Nick's case since the beginning. He was arrested for trying to deck him at headquarters for crying out loud."

"Talk about someone who hasn't mastered the art of self control," Catherine
added dryly.

"Those are all bad personality traits. None of it proves anything," Grissom
reasoned. He watched the frustrated expressions around him before taking off
his glasses. "So, let's look at what we do have."

"I dropped off the epithelials from under Nick's fingernails to DNA. I also
dropped off his clothes at trace just in case they might find any fibers
from our suspect," Warrick explained.

Catherine sighed. "More than likely all the blood here is Nick's, nothing
from the suspect. His gun is missing. We're still waiting on the analysis
from the Nancy Brookes case."

"We don't have much." Jim stated the obvious.

Grissom walked past his CSI's towards the exit. "Where does this lead?"

Catherine stood next to her boss. "It leads to a hallway, and then outside.
I haven't gotten over there yet."

"This door was locked." Grissom pointed out.

"I'll dust for prints." Warrick slapped on some latex gloves and brushed
past the other criminalists. If he noticed the pointed looks he was receiving from them, he didn't show it as he bent down to dust the entire door. Grissom gave Catherine a worried look. Warrick was treading a thin line right now.

"No signs of forced entry," Warrick announced.

Catherine nodded. "Which means someone with a key got in."

Grissom held out several fingers, ticking them off as he talked. "We have
access and opportunity."

"We have enough to drag Sikes back in for another round of questions, while
the lab processes what you've collected." Jim wanted nothing more than
another round with the Ox-man, as Nick had so aptly nicknamed the guy.

"Maybe," Grissom warned. The team spent the next hour dusting the rest of
the lockers for comparison, as well as searching for any other trace
evidence, and then headed back to the lab.


Warrick paced outside the DNA lab. Catherine was busy compiling the prints
she'd gathered from the locker. She had given him a glare when he offered to
help sort thought the numerous samples, so he regulated himself to another
part of the lab. Warrick grew tired of dodging people in the hallway as he
stalked back and forth like a caged lion outside Greg's domain. So, he
settled on leaning in the door frame, staring at the younger man as he ping
ponged between computers and microscopes.

"You know intimidation isn't going to make things work any faster," Greg
grumbled towards the floor. He had yet to look up at the brooding CSI.

"Picture that. I just want to make sure this thing gets top priority."

Greg stripped off his gloves and stomped over to Warrick. He glared up at
the other man. "I'm just the tech here. I do what I'm told, when I'm told.
It's not my fault the mayor and sheriff are breathing down my neck over their
case." Greg's voice started off confrontational, and gradually softened by
the end of his little tirade. "Despite that, I put your tests through
first."

Warrick didn't apologize for his rudeness. "How much longer?"

"When the printer beeps, then you'll have your answer." Greg stuffed his
hands into his lab coat. "I was supposed to leave hours ago. I waited around
because I want to help find out who is responsible just as much as you."

Greg walked away and perched himself on one of the stools without letting
the other man have a rebuttal. Warrick strode into the room without comment. Both men didn't speak, but the silence didn't last long. The printer began spitting out the lab report.
Greg snatched the printout and soaked in the results.

He stared at the anxious CSI. "There were no hits in CODIS on the skin cells found under Nick's nails."

"Dammit." Warrick swore before he shook his head. "We're no closer on this thing."

Greg studied each line of data and held out a finger to silence the
criminalist. "The skin cells do match the ones under Nancy Brooke's nails as
well."

Greg handed the report to Warrick. The CSI read the readout. "We have proof that it's the same killer then."

"Just get me a DNA reference and we'll have our suspect." Greg removed his
lab coat and headed out.

Warrick looked up from the paper. "Thanks, Greg." The tech waved at him as he continued down the hallway. Warrick sighed to himself and started out of the lab as well.

He saw Catherine heading towards him, gripping some results of her own. "What cha got?" He asked, hoping it was more probative then his.

"It's not a smoking gun, but enough to finally haul Roger back over here." Catherine acknowledged.

"Yeah?"

Catherine handed him her own report. "We lifted dozens of smudged prints as well as some from unknowns. There were a few from Bob Fulton, who'll we'll talk to, but that's where he normally works." Catherine raised one of her eyebrows. " Over ten sets were from Roger Sikes. His fingerprints were all over the locker combination as well as inside the locker door."

"We proved that he used the locker, but he does work there."

Catherine nodded. "True, but his prints are not on any of the other lockers.
We have enough to go at him again and see what shakes loose."

"Maybe get him to admit to a DNA test," Warrick said hopefully.

"We'll have to come up with a creative way for that. He's hostile as it is.
We'll play with that overblown ego a bit." Catherine speculated.

"Jim just called. Roger Sikes isn't at home. He's heading over to Michelle
Wilson's house next."

Both investigators spun around to see that Grissom had slipped in without
either of them noticing his approach yet again. Grissom leaned against the
wall.

"Can we put out an APB?" Warrick asked.

Grissom shook his head. "We have no grounds for that kind of action. All we
want to do is question him some more."

Warrick fumed. "He might be leaving the city, Gris!"

"He might. But we have no evidence linking him to Nick's attack." Grissom
glanced at his watch. "Nick might be awake soon, get an eye witness
statement, and I'll make sure LVPD hauls him in."

Catherine put her hand on Warrick's shoulder, "Let's each find a place to
sack out for a couple of hours. We'll go talk to Nicky, when we've had a
chance to rest. I'm not letting us get as run down as he did." Catherine
stared at her partner, her guilt over Nick's fatigue eating away at her.

"We're no good to anyone if we're dead on our feet." Warrick didn't respond, but he let Catherine guide him to a quiet office with a couch. After she made sure he at least laid down, she found a sofa in the Assistant director's office to spread herself on. 'He was gone for the day, thank goodness,' she thought.

She couldn't get the images out of her head of Nick laying on the floor motionless.She had actually scoffed at Grissom's warnings about the case. He had been right about the danger involved. Catherine closed her tired eyes and quietly sobbed. After a few minutes she finally fell into a restless sleep.

TBC...


I don't know how many times I can thank everyone for their e-mails and feedback, just know that its appreciated.

A.Remains-

Thanks girl, you rule.

Staresp4cat-

There will be clues, don't worry, they will present themselves as the chapters continue. No real Nick in this chapter, but you'll learn about his recovery from the next ones. Thanks again.

Mudhousejunkie-

I'm always reminded of the take charge Grissom that I adored in season one. He is the man!

PL Wynter-

I have a Catherine and Nick story brewing in my brain, must re-watch "Revenge is Best Served Cold" again for much inspiration.

PietraBob-

I'm so happy to see another lurker come out and say hi, but I must pick up my jaw from the floor. Thank you so much for your kind words. I will continue to try and write a compelling story for you to enjoy. I'm outlining my next one, and will try to strive for realism and characterizations. I will continue to write what I enjoy, what makes me happy, but I would be lying if I didn't say its nice to see others enjoy the fruit of the writing bug.

ner-

Thanks again for your continued support!

C1-

Hey again. I always hated Mobley and for the most part Grissom has never really put up with the imp. That was a fun scene to write! Thanks again.

amarawind-

Glad I have you hooked. Hope you enjoyed it.

rozy07-

Your wish is my command. I think Chapters 6 and 7 took me the longest to get just right. I rewrote those scenes quite a bit to capture all the aspects I wanted to convey. Glad to see it worked. Thank you as usual.