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Chapter 11

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The team somehow managed to make it back to the lab, though none remembered how or when. The shock was still numbing and the grief still fresh, but it had been three days since the fire at Sara's apartment and crime in Las Vegas stops for no one.

The dysfunctional family that was the graveyard shift slowly made their way into the conference room for assignments. When Grissom walked in, the group looked to him to see what the mood for tonight would be. He looked no different than most other nights, other than the fact that it was evident he'd had no sleep. He showed no emotion as he handed out assignments, his expressions unreadable. He turned to leave the table; to throw himself into some experiment as he usually did when he shut people out, when the conference room phone rang.

"Yes," he answered, putting it on speakerphone.

"Dr. Grissom, you just had a call from a woman who called herself 'a friend of the team'… She said she had an urgent message for you. 'Matt 23 38 39.'" The team listened intently as the receptionist paused.

"Thanks." Grissom turned to pick up a Bible from a nearby stack of books.

"You also have a visitor. She's making her way back now. She said it was urgent so I told her where you were."

"Thank you," he said surprised. It had been a long time since they'd had any visitors.

A moment after he'd hung up with the receptionist, Grissom and the rest of the team watched as a masked person with a clearly female figure walked into the room. The team exchanged glances. Without a word, the woman removed the ski mask and from within tumbled down familiar brown curly locks. Grissom was the first to reach her.

"Sara!" He picked her up at the waist and twirled her around twice before setting her down and shocking the team by planting a soft kiss on her cheek.

"I'm happy to see you too!" Sara exclaimed as the rest of the crew quickly got over their shock and gave her their own greetings.

"We thought…" Nick began.

"I know what you thought, and it broke my heart to put you in such agony, but I had to. I had to make you believe I was dead so that she would believe it, too. It threw her off to have to move her schedule up so far. She doesn't know how to get back on track, and that leaves her vulnerable. Did you find anything in my apartment? Anything that Miriam wouldn't want you to find?

" Sara how can you ask us that?" Grissom asked pain apparent on his face. " All we cared about was getting to you…"

" Grissom was the only one to go in. We saw him kick the door in, but beyond that, we don't know what went on up there. All we know was that when he came out, he was in tears and from what he managed to tell us, there was no way you could've survived," Catherine said her throat tightening.

Sara looked at Grissom for a moment, hesitating, but plunged in again to break the silence.

" Do you have anything you can use that might lead us to her?"

" Hey Griss, what was that message she sent earlier, before Sara came in?"

Grissom looked down at his notes.

" Matthew Chapter 23 verses 38-39." He reached down for the Bible he'd dropped when Sara came in and read. " And now look, your house is left to you empty and desolate. For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you say ' Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

" She's playing on the last verse," Sara said after a moment. " Remember? ' I will send upon Judah and Jerusalem all the disasters I have threatened.' She carried out her promise, She killed me, or so she thinks."

" She's been watching us!" Nick blurted suddenly.

" What?" Catherine and Sara asked simultaneously.

" 'You will never see me again,'" Nick quoted. "That implies that we've seen her before."

"Which means she's been watching us," Grissom finished.

"So what was similar in everything we've done in the last month, maybe two?" Catherine asked.

"We have her picture. Does it look familiar?" Grissom asked.

Warrick pulled out the photo of Vivian Corinth, aka Miriam, and it was passed around the table, along with other information.

"It says here that she has a gray Oldsmobile Aurora. I saw a car like that drive away when Grissom came out of Sara's apartment and sat in the Tahoe. Did anyone else notice it?" Warrick asked.

"There was a car like that on Kevin Sampson's block, the vic in Laughlin," Sara said, remembering the long drive out there with Catherine. "But it was gone when we left."

"I saw that car in the parking lot of the hospital the day I brought Sara home!" Grissom remembered.

"And at the Simmons house when we originally worked the scene! She's been following us everywhere!" Nick cried.

"Well, better for her to follow us than for her to go about her business and wonder if we're following her," Grissom pointed out. "What do you bet she's watching us right now, to see what we've been up to since Sara's 'death'?" He dialed Brass's number. "Hey Brass, it's Grissom. Where are you? … Lobby? Perfect. Can you pretend you're looking for something in your car and see if you notice any gray cars lurking around? … Thanks. Call me right back."

They all waited in anticipation for Grissom's phone to ring. When it vibrated across the table, they held their breath.

"Grissom," he answered.

"It's there, right across the street. But it's empty."

"Damn!" Grissom slammed his fist on the table. "Thanks, Brass." He looked at the crew. "She was ready for us. The car's there but it's empty."

"Now what?" Warrick asked.

"I have an idea," Catherine said with a smile. "Get Brass in here. We'll need his help."

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