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Chapter 7
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When Catherine arrived back in the conference room, Sara and Grissom were waiting for her, sitting on opposite sides of the table.
"Where's Nick?" Catherine asked warily, feeling the tension in the air.
"Still in the lab," Grissom said straightening, obviously ready for a report. "What's going on in Miami?"
"Horatio says I need more vacation time," she sneered, a smile in her eyes and tugging at her lips.
Grissom's eyes narrowed in frustration. "Anything else?"
"The Miami lab is sending us their taped conversations with Vivian and the journal that she kept there. They found it when they raided her place."
"New York is doing the same. Mac said they got a journal, too."
As the others turned to listen, it became clear that Sara was directing her words exclusively at Catherine.
"He said they caught on late to the verses," she continued. "Vivian didn't contact them right away and seemed disappointed that they didn't immediately understand her point. However, fortunately for us, she got sloppy in New York. She let slip that she liked to be near the water. Mac and his team found a cabin that she used to store everything used in the murders. Chances are, she's done the same in Miami and Vegas. If we can find them, we can nail her in all three cities."
"Great. Let's go find Nick and share the good news. Maybe he'll have some for us, too."
Catherine rose halfway through her sentence and made her way to the door, holding it open for the others. Following them down the hall to the lab, she added silently, 'Maybe Nick can figure out what's up with these two.'
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Not finding him in any of the labs or layout rooms, they asked Jackie if she'd seen where Nick went.
Jackie shrugged. "He said he wasn't feeling well. He went out for some fresh air."
Sharing worried looks, they thanked Jackie and rushed to the parking lot, Grissom calling Nick's cell phone on the way. When they reached the parking lot and still couldn't find him, Sara called his pager.
"Who's pager's beeping? I turned mine off." Catherine followed the sound towards Nick's car. Her shoulders fell when she saw what lay on the ground beside it.
"What is it, Cath?" Sara came up behind her to see Nick's pager buzzing across the asphalt, a white cloth nearby.
"No! Nick knows better, he wouldn't…" Sara trailed off as the tears started to come, this blow being the straw that broke the camel's back. She dropped down to sit on the curb, pulling her knees to her chest.
Catherine and Grissom watched as her body racked with sobs. Though not entirely surprised at Sara's reaction to her best friend's disappearance, it had been a long time since they'd see her openly show her hurt at work.
Catherine backed off as Grissom sat beside Sara, trying to comfort and calm her. As she looked around for anything that might indicate Nick's whereabouts, Catherine's eyes fell upon a small piece of paper tucked in the wiper blades of Nick's car.
"Uhhh, guys?"
They looked up to see her holding the piece of paper in the air with a gloved hand.
"Proverbs 14:17," she read.
" 'Those who are short tempered do foolish things, and schemers are hated,'" Grissom quoted.
Silence fell between the group as they thought of Greg, Warrick, and now Nick in the hands of a pissed off serial killer.
"So, now what?" Sara managed between sobs.
"Now we stay together. We work in the lab as a team, on all we have until we find the place where this sadistic bitch is and what she's done to our family."
Now it was Sara and Catherine's turn to be surprised. They looked at Grissom in shock, seeing the anger that had boiled over as his eyes flashed the steely gray that warned his patience was at an end. Never had they seen him show this much emotion, though they both laughingly called him their best friend. Readying themselves for an emotionally, if not physically, draining day, they followed a seething Grissom into the building.
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It's never easy doing one's duty, but Vivian took comfort in knowing that these blasphemous sinners were getting their just reward. Not only would they burn in Hell, but God was giving her the pleasure of sending them there.
Bent over her many books and papers before her, Vivian's thoughts were interrupted by several continuous grunts from behind her.
"Nicky, if you don't stop pulling on those chains, you're going to hurt yourself," she called without looking behind her. "You know, you should follow your friends' example. They've resigned themselves to their fates… They gave up hours ago."
She turned to glance at her captives' faces. Greg was laying on the cold basement floor as close as possible to Warrick, who was chained just a few feet away, facing Vivian with a look of disgust and anger in his eyes. Nick, defiant to the last, stood a few feet from Warrick, desperately pulling at the chains that held him to the wall.
It hurt Vivian to have to do this, to watch them suffer in their sin, but she was keeping them alive for her grand finale. She'd use these six as an example to the rest of the world, showing them the consequences of sin.
"What do you think?" she asked the boys. "I've been working on the next few and I can't decide which verse works best for your friend Sara. Let's see… Should I use 'Pride goes before destruction and haughtiness before a fall.'?" That's Proverbs 16:18, by the way. I like it but I don't think it conveys the point. What about 1 Samuel 2:3? 'Stop acting so proud! Don't speak with such arrogance! … He will judge you for what you have done.'"
She paused to see the anger and otherwise indifferent looks turn to fear for their sister and friend.
"No," Vivian smiled, "I think you're right. Too harsh. But don't worry. I've got one more that I think will be perfect. Isaiah 2:11-12. 'The day is coming when your pride will be brought low and the Lord alone will be exalted. In that day the Lord Almighty will punish the proud, bringing them down to the dust.' I like it," Vivian smirked, clearly satisfied with her findings. "It's the perfect balance of warning and foresight."
She twisted back to her workbench and grabbed her purse. Turning to the boys before leaving, she cooed, "Don't worry. Sara will be fine…for now. No, Catherine will be joining you next. She needs a little break. This case is more taxing than she's letting on."
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