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Chapter 6

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Splitting up, the team took on the search with a renewed vigor. Working as thoroughly as ever, all five remaining members of the graveyard family, along with some outsiders from swing shift, searched everything Greg owned for some kind of sign as to his whereabouts.

After their last search, they all gathered outside Greg's front door to try and figure out what to do next.

"I say we go back to the lab and sort out what we have," Nick exhaled noisily. "I know it's not much, but if we put it together with what we know, maybe we'll get something."

"Where's Warrick?" came Sara's obviously concerned voice from one of the nearby SUVs.

Team members looked around when he didn't answer.

Just then, one of the newbies from swing shift spoke up.

"He saw something he wanted to collect and told me to go ahead when you called us all out front. He said he'd be right there." Though answering Sara's question, the tall and lanky young woman addressed Grissom.

"You left him alone?" Nick cried, rushing to the back of the house where Warrick had been working. When he got there, Warrick's kit was laying open on the ground next to a shoeprint he'd been processing. In a way, it was kind of fitting; Warrick always said it was all about the shoeprints.

As more of the team came up behind him, Nick put on a glove to pick up a white rag laying a few feet away.

"It's not like Vivian to leave evidence behind," Grissom said, looking on.

"Smell it, Griss. It's doused with something. Could be chloroform." Nick passed off the rag, hoping for some explanation as to what was happening.

"Well, this accounts for how she may have been able to subdue them," Grissom proclaimed. "She drugged them. Okay, there's nothing else here. Let's get back to the lab. Maybe we can get some DNA off of that rag."

"Sara, what tipped you off that Warrick was gone?" Catherine asked.

"This." Sara held up a small piece f paper similar to the one found on Greg's locker. "I found it on the Tahoe. Proverbs 28:20."

Since the renewal of Vivian's antics, Grissom had taken to carrying a small pocket-sized Bible with him for just such moments as this. He pulled it out now and turned to Proverbs.

" 'The trustworthy will get a rich reward. But the person who wants to get rich quick will only get into trouble.'"

"She's no targeting us for what we're dong. She's targeting us for what we've already done!" Catherine cried incredulously, realization dawning.

"Grab Warrick's stuff and let's get out of here," Grissom called. "We've got work to do."

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"We've been doing this all wrong!" Nick cried. "She expected us-no, she wanted us to continue following the original pattern… And we fell right into that trap! That's why Warrick and I came up empty."

"That's also how she knew she could pull it off… She's an expert at this." Catherine had gone back to sonme of the databases she had been showing Greg and was now projecting her findings for all to see. "On the left in New York. On the right is Miami."

"Long, tight spirals. Just like Vegas," Nick observed.

"Right." Catherine maximized pictures of the CSI crews in both cities. "The only difference is that the CSIs in those cities didn't go missing. This is a whole new ball game… I think we need to make some phone calls."

"Okay, Cath, you talk to Miami. You're already familiar with them. Sara, you talk to New York. Talking patterns with them will be easiest for you." Grissom rubbed his temples as he delegated the tasks.

"What about me?" Nick asked.

"You need to cool your jets. Get started on Greg and Warrick's stuff in the lab."

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"Caine," came the familiar voice of Catherine's favorite Miami colleague.

"I seem to have lost my tan in the last two years," she said with a smile, wondering if he remembered that conversation. "And my boss has cut my vacation time… You wouldn't happen to know any place I could get one in Vegas, would you?"

"Catherine Willows. I should have known I hadn't heard the last from you. Chasing another runaway you need our help with?"

It was clear to Catherine that Horatio Caine, and probably the rest of his CSI team, hadn't lost this laid back style.

"Well, we hard core CSIs here in Vegas could probably use a few of your 'fanciful' theories right about now, if only to lighten the mood," Catherine said heavily. "We do need your help, though, and in a bad way."

"Okay, who's flying where, and when?" he asked, realizing that the time for friendly pleasantries was over.

"Actually, no one's flying anywhere this time. We need information. We've got a crazy woman who thinks she's talking to God. She's killed four people, including her court bailiff, and now she's kidnapping CSIs."

"Vivian Corinth," Horatio broke in knowingly. "She blew in here like a hurricane."

"I know. That's why I'm calling. We need to know everything we can about her as quickly as possible. We have no idea what she's doing to Greg and Warrick, and she's made it clear that she's out for the lab and the entire crew."

"What do you need to know, Catherine?"

"Did she hold any patterns when she hit Miami? Anything that determined any kind of order?"

"Every person she it fell upon a spiral-"

"Same here. Long and tight-"

"With the lab at the middle," they finished simultaneously.

"She sent us verses by letter and pager to warn us about divine punishment. She also talked to us by phone," Horatio continued.

"Us too. She wanted to get across the point that she was enforcing God's law. That's why she left verses at the scenes." Catherine recalled that first phone conversation in the conference room.

Horatio sighed. "Unfortunately, we missed that until about number seven. She didn't contact us until number six, and by the time we pulled it all together, she'd left her epicenter, giving us absolutely nothing. She's good, Catherine."

"I know. That's what scares me. We've already caught her once, but she never confessed or left enough evidence to truly convict her. So, they let her go. Then our only piece of evidence tying her to the crimes got 'lost in the system' by our dayshift supervisor."

"Ouch! What was it?"

"A journal. She kept entries of all the victims here in Vegas, including one of our CSIs that she was planning to, and almost did, kill."

"She actually went after one of your CSIs?" Horatio sounded shocked.

"Yeah. She set Sara's apartment on fire. We didn't see her again for three days… We thought she was dead."

"Wow. Gutsy move. Well, we got a journal, too, with details of all of her victims in Miami. It looked like a continuance."

"Probably from New York. Horatio, would you mind sending that journal overnight?"

"Sure. I'll send the prints we got off of it and copies of the phone conversations, too. Maybe they'll help."

"See, I knew there was a reason I liked you! Thanks. Tell the rest of the team I said hi."

"Sure, no problem, Catherine. Tell your boss I said you need more vacation time. Sasha says hi."

" 'Kay. Thanks again. Bye."

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