Disclaimer: I do not own CSI, nor do I make any profit from writing this.

A/N Thanks for reviews! I love reviews and you guys are awesome! D

Chapter 10

Dave came back in, "The paramedics are on the way." He walked into the hallway and looked up to see that Brass wasn't in it, "Jim?"

"Yeah," Brass replied and came back out of the kitchen, "I'm in here."

Dave walked up to the doorway of the kitchen, "What are you doing?"

"You're right, something is making a tapping sound and I think it's coming from around here."

"There's nobody in here and I'm pretty sure the TV isn't on."

"Just look around."

Dave shrugged and started opening cabinets and drawers, looking for the source of the sound. Both of them ended up in the same spot by the back of the room. Right in front of both of them was a medium sized hutch cabinet.

"What the hell?" Dave asked.

"I guess we should check this, too."

"Tell me, again, why are we even trying to figure out what is making the noise. We got the guy and the paramedics are on their way to pick up that girl. We don't need to be in here."

"You can't tell me you aren't the least bit curious…"

"I have a family to get home to," Dave said and then sighed. "I could be home, lying next to my wife or even just relaxing and watching some late night TV."

"I don't have anyone to go home to, except the television… but I'm not going home after this anyway."

"So," Dave said, trying to make small talk so it wouldn't be too awkward, "Have you heard from Ellie lately?"

"You know how things are. The last time I saw her was in Los Angeles. Her friend was killed, but she was okay."

"That's good. Has she changed her ways or is she still like she was before?"

"She's the same. I wish I could talk to her or just spend some father-daughter time together for a day or two; it would be nice, you know? Well, she might not care, but at least I know I care about her, whether she returns it or not."

"If she knows that, maybe she'll mature someday and even if you aren't there, she'll know you cared."

"Yeah," Brass said, "Being a parent is so stressful."

Dave just sighed again and opened the hutch cabinet's drawers and doors, finding nothing. It was then that the tapping stopped for a few minutes, leaving the two men in silence and then the paramedics came and the two men exited the room.

"Hello," the one man said, "This the girl?"

"Yes," Brass replied.

"Is she the only one?"

"We cleared the house. If there's anyone in there, we didn't see 'em."

The tapping started up again and for the first few times it seemed louder and then it stopped again.

The paramedic looked at Brass with a strange look on his face.

"Hold on. Okay, where the hell is that coming from?" Brass said and went back down the hall, determined to find out where the sound was coming from.

xxxxxxxxx

Warrick and Grissom walked up to the body, which David was hovering over. It was Barry Steingard, alright, except he wasn't in the condition in which they had spoken to him a little over forty five minutes ago. Barry Steingard's lifeless body lay on the ground, the head in a pool of deep red blood. The last time they had seen Barry, the man was sitting across the table in front of them, dressed in a grey business suit with a white shirt and black tie. He seemed more relaxed now than when he was being questioned forty-five minutes ago.

"Dang," Warrick said and he walked over to the body and David.

"As you already know, he died within the hour. Cause of death, bullet to the back of the head, but Doc Robbins will check to make sure this anything else that could have caused his death. I guess there isn't much other than that. There aren't any bruises, scrapes, no signs of struggle. Looks to me like he didn't see it coming, or it was planned, but that's for you to determine."

"Thank-you, David," Grissom said and David nodded and stood up. "Okay, Warrick. I'll take the body, you take the surrounding area."

"Sounds like a plan."

The two of them processed the scene in silence, like they had the car that belonged to Jonathan Craft. Grissom crouched by the body and started collecting anything that might be useful. Firstly, he took pictures of the wound and then stood up and got pictures of the whole body from various angles. Other than the wound, David was right, there were no signs of struggle, no scratches or bruises, nothing. There were no markings that would have been made from the nozzle of a gun pressed up against the back of the skull, but it did seem like Mr. Steingard was shot from a pretty close distance.

Warrick didn't have much either, but what he did have could be a big help. He found two shoe prints and photographed and measured them. He also found the bullet casing from the gun that killed the victim. He also found spit and he smiled. Not only would this be a big help in trying to figure out who killed Barry Steingard, it made him remember a case he worked with Sara on a few years back. It was the one with the boxers. He and Sara were checking out the ring and Sara looked at the spit bucket. Sure, it wasn't some huge, happy event to remember, but remembered the look on her face and chuckled at the thought.

"What?" Grissom asked.

"Found some spit," Warrick replied simply.

"Uhh… was it tap dancing or something, or perhaps I'm the only one that doesn't laugh when I see saliva?"

"No, I just remembered something."

Grissom just shrugged and stood up. The paramedics had the body loaded up into the truck and taken down to Doc Robbins at the morgue.

xxxxxxxxx

"Hello?" Brass called out into the vacant house and the tapping started up again.

Once more, he was back in the kitchen and now he had his head pressed up against the walls, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. He listened closely and walked right into the hutch cabinet again. Curious, he tried to move the cabinet, but wasn't strong enough.

"Hey, can I have some help in here? I want to move something," he said and the two other men came in. The other paramedic was in the hallway with the girl.

"What are you doing?" Dave asked.

"Just help me move this."

The three men pushed the hutch cabinet out of the way and behind it there was another door. Immediately, Brass got his gun out.

"Count of three?" he asked.

The other two men nodded.

One… Two… Three… He quickly turned the knob and opened the door, but he didn't need his gun. In fact, it slipped out of his hand he turned to the paramedic and Dave.

"Oh my God! Help me out here."

The paramedic pulled the woman out of the small, dark closet and Brass found a knife in one of the kitchen drawers to cut the ropes that bound her hands and feet. The paramedic cut off the rag that was tied around the woman's mouth while Brass whipped out his cell phone.

"Gil, get over here, now!"

"What's going on?" Grissom asked, not knowing what kind of answer to expect.

"We found Sara!"

A/N Yeah, another cliff hanger. ) Thanks again for reading and reviewing!

I know this chapter was really short, but the next chapter will be longer.