Illusions

Author: Jess

A/N: Thanks to all for reviewing and my wonderful betas Rouch, for all her help in making this coherent, and CSI4nsicAce, for all things grammatical.

Disclaimer: I do not own CSI.

Chapter Six

Greg Sanders was on top of the world. At the end of shift, the game was on. Nick and he had been playing poker online, against each other, and had even used their nights off over the last few weeks to try out their luck at a few of the lesser known casinos. 'Warrick Brown is going down,' he thought with a chuckle.

Greg smiled to himself and parked his car in his usual spot. He was a few minutes early, and planned on finding Warrick to taunt him, setting him on edge a bit. There was nothing like getting under someone's skin. He grabbed his Starbucks and locked the car.

Looking around the parking lot, his eyes' widened with excitement. "Sara!" he yelled and trotted over to her.

She turned around and looked questioningly at him. "Are you ready?" Greg asked nudging her shoulder with his.

"Huh?" She looked very perplexed. He could see her struggling to figure out what he was talking about.

Taking pity on her, he answered, "After shift… poker with the guys… remember?"

"Oh, yeah," Sara said and pushed the doors open.

"You are still coming, right?" Greg asked. He didn't like the lack of enthusiasm in her tone.

"Of course," Sara reassured him. "I wouldn't want to miss Warrick wiping the floor with you and Nick."

"Hey!" Greg said. "That is not going to happen."

"Sure it isn't," Sara said as the two entered the locker room.

"You, Sara Sidle, shall be surprised," Greg stated.

Sara laughed. "We'll see, Greggo. We'll see."

Greg scowled as she walked to the door. "Come on, Greg, assignments await us," Sara said.

"What? Are you afraid of going alone?" Greg joked as he followed her into the hallway.

Her step faltered. "Hey, Sar, I was kidding," Greg said. "Everything okay?"

"I'm fine," Sara stated and flashed him a brief smile.

Greg took a sip from his macchiato and frowned. The two entered the break room and took seats at the table. Sara began to lightly strum her fingers on the table. Greg took another sip and studied her. 'She seems tense,' Greg thought.

Sara turned towards the coffee pot and looked like she was deeply contemplating something. She stood up and walked to the coffee maker. "I wouldn't trust that stuff," Greg warned. "You and I both know how well Nick, Warrick and Catherine make coffee. You might get some weird disease from it."

Sara shook her head in amusement, putting the pot back on the burner.

Greg poured half of the liquid into the mug and handed it back. "Ah, there's nothing like the taste of caramel to get you moving," he said as she sat back down.

Sara grinned and sipped the liquid. A comfortable silence fell between the two as they drank.

"Hello, Greg. Sara," Sofia said as she entered the room.

Greg and Sara nodded to the blonde as she took a seat. "I heard your case might be a serial," Sofia said looking at Sara.

Sara was looking at the mug. Greg gently kicked her under the table. She looked startled. "What?" she asked and shot Greg a dirty look.

"Sofia wanted to know about the case," Greg said and motioned towards their newest team member.

"Sorry. Lost in thought," Sara apologized.

Greg listened to Sara relay the case information. She looked at the clock every couple of seconds, her body becoming more rigid, and her fingers tapped against the mug, steadily increasing in tempo as the seconds closed in on ten o'clock. Greg bit his lip as he contemplated her posture.

Grissom entered the room and Sara stopped talking. Her incessant tapping stopped and she had a death grip on the mug. "Greg, you and Sofia have a burglary," Grissom stated and handed him a slip of information.

"Sara, NyeCounty sent over the case file," Grissom said and handed a thick file to her. "Let me know what you find."

With that said, Grissom left the room. "Coming, Greg?" Sofia asked and removed the slip from his hand.

"Right behind you," Greg said.

He watched Sara. She was staring at the file in her hands, a crooked smile on her face. She looked up at him. "Have fun," she said and rose.

"Hey, Sara…" Greg said. "I'll find you at the end of shift. 'Kay?"

"Sure thing," she said, already reading the case file as she walked, and left the room.

Greg's lips twisted in disconcertment. Something was definitely up.

"Greg!" Sofia's yell echoed through the hallway.

Greg sighed and went to find Sofia


It had been a little over four hours since assignments. Four hours full of painstakingly reading over the Nye County CSI, coroner and police officer's reports. The words were beginning to blur. So far, nothing about the two victims' was similar besides their appearance. Kimberly Witt was not a local. The NyeCounty victim, Angie Moore was a local. Kimberly Witt was a high school English teacher. Angie Moore was a waitress at a local restaurant in Pahrump. Kimberly Witt was thirty years old and was engaged. Angie Moore would have turned thirty-six in two months and was single.

Sara rubbed her temples to relieve some of the pressure that was building up. She would need to go over the credit reports of both women to see if they had frequented the same places in the last few months. She removed the crime scene photographs and began to look through.

The display was identical. A white sheet with the body posed in the middle with white lilies spread across it. Four candles were on the corners. And each arm had a deep cut in the middle of it. Both women had traces of Xanax in their systems. And each of them had a lily in their mouths.

'Why were these two women chosen?' she wondered as she continued to flip through the photographs.

"What do you have?"

Sara looked up to see Grissom walking towards the evidence room table. "The crime scenes are identical," Sara said and passed the photos. "Same brand of candle, same cotton white sheet, and a paper lily in the mouth. All of which you could find at the local department store. There was the same amount of lilies found on each victim. I'm still working on a list of local florists that carry the Peace Lily to discuss recent sales."

She handed the NyeCounty report over. "No trace evidence was found at the scene," Sara informed him. "No fingerprints. No blood. The coroner ruled the death a homicide. She died in the same manner as Kimberly Witt."

"Any common denominator between the women?" Grissom asked and placed the photos on top of the report.

"Besides the women being brunette and in their thirties?" Sara asked. "Brass is getting their credit reports for me. So I'll look at those for anything."

Sara blinked rapidly as she pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to readjust her eyes. "Take a break," Grissom said. "Let's go to the diner and get a cup of coffee. It'll help rejuvenate you."

Sara shook her head. "No thanks," she shrugged. "Greg's secret stash of Blue Hawaiian is in his locker. He gave me the combination."

Her smile at him faltered when she looked up. He had a very perplexed look on his face. Her cell phone rang, interrupting any chance that she had to question him. "Sidle," she answered.

She listened carefully. "Thanks, Brass," she said and ended the call. "Brass faxed the credit reports to Judy."

She rose. "I'll let you know if I find anything useful," Sara said and left the room.

Sara stopped and looked back at the Evidence Room. 'Let's go to the diner and get a cup of coffee?' She replayed his question over in her head. 'Did he just ask me ou--no…he didn't…did he?' She watched him rise, but she quickly continued her course before he saw her. She shook her head in confusion. Now wasn't the time to contemplate the significance of his request. There'd be plenty of time for that later when she tried to fall asleep.