A/N As always, great to hear from you. Hmm, some of you have some interesting ideas about what's happening…

Chapter 4

Back in the conference room, the CSI team, with the exception of Sara and Grissom, gathered about the table to discuss the case

Catherine took the lead. "So what do we know?"

Nick had a bad feeling. "Look, Sara just took a week of vacation time. I think she has a new boyfriend." As if to explain himself, he said, "She seems happier these days." Back to business, he continued, "That clerk said she was upset and with a guy. Maybe her new boyfriend turned out to be a total loser. Maybe they got into a fight and his true colors came out."

He remembered Sara's trials with Hank. Maybe the poor girl was just unlucky. The memory of Sara's battered face bothered him immensely; he wanted to lash out at the person who did this to his friend.

"The other day she was wearing some classy jewelry, a heart shaped necklace with diamonds on it. Maybe he did turn out to be a creep." Warrick was getting angry as he spoke.

"Look at us," Catherine chastised. "We're professionals, we don't have to resort to office gossip. I know, we're all upset by this but let's do our job so we can help Sara."

Besides, she had her own suspicions about who this new boyfriend was and he would never in a million years do anything like this to her. Yet, he would also do everything in his power to be here now. His absence bothered her immensely. She'd been trying to contact him every hour on the hour, even when she'd been off duty. Where was he?

Her gut instincts were screaming that something was really wrong, but she needed evidence to support it before she could do anything substantial. She also didn't want to embarrass her friend on the off chance that she was mistaken.

She shook her head, astonished that the guys in her office could be so clueless about the people around them.

Catherine turned to Nick, " What personal effects were found at the hospital?"

All eyes turned to Nick. "Well, the diamond heart necklace is a fact, along with a few other metal rings. There was no wallet."

Catherine continued, "Her SUV wasn't found on the scene either. Any news on that? Could it possibly have been a robbery?"

Warrick shook his head; "We can rule that out, her SUV was located at the garage. She was getting her radiator fixed. The mechanic said that she wasn't in a hurry to get it back, so that might support the idea that she was leaving town with someone."

"Let's get back to the crime scene. What about the blood trail?" she asked Warrick

He shared their findings about the blood trail, the blanket and the duct tape.

"Sounds promising, let me know when you get more data. Can we ID this guy who was in the store with Sara?"

Nick shook his head sadly, "Not based on that clerk's recollection." The session with the sketch artist had been a washout. "What about the semen, Greg? Any luck there?"

Greg shook his head. "As the doctor predicted, insufficient amounts."

Warrick started to question this, when Greg insisted, "You don't wanna know, trust me."

"Can we trust the clerk's identification of Sara?" Catherine asked.

Nick answered, "Not one hundred percent. However, it places Sara in the store around ten thirty p.m., which coincides with the doctor's estimated time of her injury."

"What about video surveillance?"

Nick laughed sarcastically. "As the clerk said, these guys were super cheap, it was a dummy camera with a battery and a blinking light."

They'd all seen that one too many times. It just made their jobs a little more challenging.

"Okay, boyfriend or no boyfriend, this guy is the last person seen with Sara. So he's either a witness or the perp. We need to figure out who this guy is. Warrick, since Sara is still unconscious, why don't you check out her apartment and get any information you can from her neighbors. For the rest of us, let's get back to the evidence and look for more clues."

As they filed out of the conference room, a third disturbing possibility crossed Catherine's mind.

He could be another victim.

TBC