Disclaimer: I do not own CSI or its characters.

A/N Thanks for all of your awesome reviews! You guys rock - Thanks for reading and reviewing!

Chapter 9

"Gil," Brass said, coming into Gil Grissom's office without knocking. "We have a problem."

Silence; Brass must have been expecting Grissom to say something.

He continued his story, "Half an hour ago, Warrick and I talked to Barry Steingard. He said he drove the car and kidnapped Sara, but he doesn't know where she is. Well, as if that isn't bad news enough, I just found out that Mr. Steingard is dead. Some neighborhood kids found his body out by where you talked to those kids earlier."

Grissom stood up and his face held a look of horror and worriment. He stood up and began pacing back and forth behind his desk.

"What do we do now?" Brass asked.

Grissom shook his head, "You know… for the first time, I really don't know."

The house was quite large for Las Vegas and it looked quite peculiar as it was brick and not the off-white stucco like the other houses that lined the streets of Auburn Avenue in the Metro area of Las Vegas. The two police officers had been sitting outside in their patrol car in front of the house for some hours now. Every once in a while they'd check in and give a small report of anything that had went on, which was absolutely nothing. There had been no movement, no signs of any person or animal in the vicinity of the small yard. Not even a single car had pulled into the cement driveway or had even driven by for that matter. It seemed as if the whole street was a ghost town, uninhabited by any living organism. Eventually, the sun went down and the two police officers radioed in; not only to check in again, but they had a weird feeling of eeriness that would only go away if they saw or at least heard another human's voice besides their own.

"Dave," the man said, "I'm sending Teddy and Mickey over so you two guys can go home, shower, and sleep. They should be there in a few minutes."

"Thanks," Dave radioed back and then turned to his friend who was riding shotgun and said, "Finally."

"Yeah, I missed my daughter's recital. Amy's going to be pissed off again and I know Michelle is probably upset."

"They'll forgive you. Still, I wish we'd been waiting here all this time for something, but absolutely nothing happened and all we did was sit here in this damned cop car."

The two men noticed a vehicle coming around the curve, "Hey that must be Teddy and Mickey."

However, the vehicle pulled into the driveway that they'd been sitting there watching all day and then two men now had their eyes glued to the house.

Dave picked up his walkie-talkie and radioed in, "This is Dave. A car just pulled into the house. Based on what I know, it looks like it belongs to our guy."

The other two police officers arrived shortly and Brass got a call on his cell phone.

"Yeah, Jim? This is Christopher. I realize you're busy doing other things, but we found the guy."

"The dealer?" Brass asked.

"Yeah," the man replied and then gave Brass the address.

"I'll be right there."

Brass turned to Grissom, "I'm helping a friend out. They're short a few guys and I've been helping with this case. If anything turns up, I'll have my cell."

Grissom nodded and Brass hurried out the door.

Brass arrived at the brick house and greeted the other four men quietly. The five of them walked up to the house and knocked on the front door… nobody answered, but Brass heard someone inside.

"This is Detective Jim Brass with the LVPD, open up!" Brass said.

Slowly, the door opened, but the person who answered the door wasn't who they had expected. A young female opened the door. Her left eye was swollen and a dark blue – purple color and she looked like she was high.

"We're looking for Toby Rogers. Is he here?" Brass asked, but the girl didn't give an answer, just stared at nothing in particular. "Mr. Rogers? If you're in there, it would be wise to stop hiding!" Brass yelled into the house.

Still, there was no reply and Brass decided to head inside. The girl who answered the door just slumped against the wall and closed her eyes.

"Keep your gun handy, we don't know if this guy is armed. Go around and check every room, we aren't letting this guy get away again," Brass instructed.

The other four officers nodded and took their guns out. They each began going through the rooms.

Dave took the first room on the left. It looked like a laundry room, well, at least, it had a washer and dryer, but they didn't seem to be in working condition. Piles of clothes and trash lay strewn all over the floor, but there was nobody hiding in there. He went back out to the hallway and headed to the next room; the kitchen. It was pretty small and dark, but he didn't see anyone there as he quickly moved about.

He saw Brass in the hallway and let him know that those two rooms were clear and then he headed to the living room. It seemed empty at first, but then Dave saw something move behind the couch. Toby Rogers was kneeling on the ground, trying to hide apparently, but not doing a very good job.

"Stand up and keep your hands where I can see them!" Dave yelled and at this, the other four men headed into the room.

"Whoa, what'd I do?" Toby Rogers pleaded, "I didn't do anything, I swear…"

"Yeah, you didn't get that girl high or beat her up did you?" Brass moved in, taking control of the situation. "Come on, you're coming down to the station."

"You can't come in here without papers. You bastards searched my house, you broke in!" the man said.

"Oh, we have a warrant, now get going!"

Two of the police officers cuffed the man and walked him down the hall, Brass and the other two men brought up the rear.

Dave was walking down the hall next to Brass when some sound caught his attention. It was a faint sound, a tapping. The man wasn't even sure if he was actually hearing something or maybe he was just imaging it, but he stopped and listened.

"What's the matter?" Brass asked.

"Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Tapping."

"The rooms are clear, right? What could it be, the dryer tumbling some clothes?"

"I don't know, my ears are probably imaging sounds. I've been in that damned cop car all day and have been bored out of my mind."

"Yeah, I know that feeling."

They got down the hall and walked past the girl who was now passed out, leaning against the wall.

"What do we do about her?" Dave asked.

"Go radio someone to come down and get her, I guess… make sure she's alright. She should probably be looked at."

Dave nodded and headed out to his patrol car.

Brass stood there in the hallway and he thought he heard the faint tapping that Dave had heard, but then it stopped.

"Hello?" he called. "Is anybody there?"

He received no answer, but he heard the tapping again. His curiosity got the better of him and he went to look around the place once more. He glanced around the rooms and came to the kitchen. He still heard the tapping and it seemed to be a little louder now, but he couldn't be sure. He hadn't taken a break or slept for that matter in over twenty four hours.

A/N Yes, I'll end this chapter here just to make it more interesting and suspenseful. I hope this chapter didn't confuse anyone. Hmm, don't worry, you'll find out what happened to Barry Steingard and Sara in the next chapter I think or the one after. D

Once again, thanks for the lovely reviews! You guys rule!