Summary: A serial killer comes to town on the boy's night to work. Things don't go calmly for Nick or Warrick when the killer decided to not play nice.
Disclaimer: This is all written in fun and trial for something new. Everything CSI is not mine and never will be. It belongs to the creative talent of the actors, the writers, the directors, and producers. I am not making any money off of this. Only meant to offer something new on something already so great. No reason to sue.
Author's Note: Wow it is late! I wanted to get this one up now since I will be busy, busy, busy here the next few days. And I wanted to add to that slower Chpt. 4 as soon as possible. Thanks again to everyone who reviewed and those who are just reading. In this chapter, our cast expands and our bad guy goes and gets himself into a new situation that may or may not (not telling!) lead into trouble! I will try to get a new chapter out sometime this weekend, but Mon. at the latest. But let us set up our dominos and enjoy the popcorn! Until next time...
Breath for me
Written by: duffshel
#5
Warrick sat at the table, sipping his coffee. He didn't sleep very well and now there a new body to add to this unusual case. Grissom and David had done all the work in the field. They were just waiting for Nick to arrive so Gil could fill them in on what was going on. From what he had heard though, it was the same style as Heather Lewis. As much as he hated to think it, Warrick hoped the guy would try something again and slip up. There was too little to go on otherwise.
He glanced at his watch again. Nick had been called about twenty minutes ago. That was the time frame he had given to Grissom on his arrival at the lab. He wasn't worried. Nick probably decided he needed to take a second shower or something.
"Are you daydreaming again, Warrick? I thought we had this discussion already."
His head snapped up at the disturbance. It was almost as if he could feel his blood stop and start in that split second of complete surprise. Last time he thought about making a new phone call to Nick.
"Damn Catherine. What is with everyone here trying to kill me?"
The blonde woman smiled sweetly, "I wouldn't do such a thing. Though I would be interested in who else has threatened your existence these past few days. You always could make such good friends when you try."
"Funny. And it was Nick."
"What did you do to him now?"
"Nothing! I did nothing and he threatened to add my body to our new case," Warrick mocked out with a gasp. The smile on his face took any believability away.
Catherine Willows laughed aloud to that one. She knew those two guys. One of them should have been dead by now with the way they acted around each other. Nothing, but a couple of over-grown boys. Her eyes swept the room.
"Did you kill him first or something? I though Grissom was calling everyone to get in early tonight with your new body."
"Nah, the dude is simply late again, even when he is early. Must be something to do with all those years living on Texas time. Get up with rooster and oil down the body."
Before Catherine could respond, the subject of their teasing walked into the room. Warrick and Catherine immediately stopped and looked at the other man. Nick still looked as if he was exhausted. And Warrick could have sworn he had seen Nick where the same clothes the day before last.
"It is about time you get here man. You should be more accurate with your estimates. You are clocked in at twenty-six minutes."
"You timing me, 'Rick?"
Catherine decided to stop this argument before it could even start to begin, "Now that we are all here, we should go see Grissom. Things have to be figured out."
The two men starred after their superior CSI. That woman always could put the two hot-shots in their place faster than a blink of an eye. It was always funny for Greg to watch them crumble under her stares and harsh words when they fucked something up. Nick knew he would never take Catherine on in a fight. She played dirty.
Neither hesitated and were out the door on her heels. They headed towards Grissom's office. Sara Sidle and Greg were already waiting there. Gil sat behind his desk and was looking over some files. Catherine cleared her throat to announce their arrival.
Gil looked up, "Good. Now that everyone is here, we have a lot of work to do. I want everyone to take a piece of this thing. The new body connects pretty nicely to the other so we are going to go with it being done by the same person. Nick, Warrick, I want you two to continue what you were doing with the evidence from the first murder. Sara, I want you and Catherine to take Greg to get started on the new evidence from the second D.B. I am going to work with Doc Robbins on each girl to see what connections we can find with them.
Everyone in the room took their orders with a nod of the head. The two girls each grabbed one of Greg's arms and pulled him from the room before he could mumble a word. Nick was about to leave the room when Grissom asked for both of them to stay.
"I need you two to get as much as you can from the treads and the cloth. There are a few similarities with the new one. When I have more information and clues, I will fill you two in and then together we can get things rolling."
Warrick grinned a little, "Sounds like we had better get right to work then, eh boss."
"Getting right on top of things," Nick stated as he walked out of the room with Warrick on his heels this time, "Do you have anything solid on your side of things?"
"No. I am stuck on four possible matches for the tires. Without an actual car, I really don't have much to go on. You?"
"Well, we have her detox results and have nothing in her blood that she herself put there. And as for the cloth, it is everyday cotton found in three major t-shirt brands that can be purchased at any shop around the country. I really have nothing special."
Warrick nodded grimly. They had worked hard and worked on the little evidence they had, but still came up with nothing. Robbins hadn't given them too much else to work with either. They new the cause of the death was caused by the strangulation with some sort of wide weapon. The girl fought, but the skin and blood samples from under her nails found no match in the database they had. All they really had left to do was go over the few faxes that they received during the day from the other labs. Maybe something would pop out with those.
"Nicky, maybe we should go read those faxes first. Then we may be able to get a new angle on our stuff."
"Sounds like a plan to me. Some reading won't hurt."
They walked off together, gates matched perfectly. There was a touch of defeat showing through the slouch of their shoulders. It was going tough. Neither wanted to be the tough to go.
!#$&()!#$&()!#$&()+
The lights were so much brighter than he expected. It was almost like a sensory overload. Ken didn't know what to look at first. The casino fronts pulled his attention with glitter and glam. The people pulled it right back with all the young, female flesh open to him. It was like a buffet. There was no doubt in his mind that he would find a new one tonight. He was going to kill again.
Ken walked slowly and didn't move out of the way for anyone. There was no reason for him to hurry. He had to pick carefully and observe. As he walked past the famous pyramid casino, he had forgotten the name, a loud giggle sounded into the night. Ken looked to his left and smiled. There were two girls hanging on each other. They were drunk. They would be easy.
He sauntered over to them, a smile with all the charm he could muster was on his face. The two girls giggled even louder when they finally noticed him. Ken made a big show of checking them out and making them feel as if he were interested in them. The red-head stepped towards him first, her chest thrust out.
"Well, hi there. What is a hot looking guy like you doing walking around all alone? Limp or something?"
"No sugar. I am simply waiting until I find two morsels such as yourselves. You two are exactly what I have been looking for."
The other girl pushed herself up straighter, "You want us both? What do you think we are? We aren't something you can do as a group kind of thing."
Her drunk talk only made Ken smile larger, "I could handle you both. You will both scream for me by the end of the night, I promise."
The red-head tuned to whisper in the other girl's ear. Ken watched with interest. This was going to be one the easiest grabs to date. If they came to his hotel room with him, he could do as he pleased and kill them before morning.
"What do you say ladies? Want to try something new?"
"Alright. Sounds like it could be fun. My name's Heidi," the red-head supplied, "And my friend is Colleen."
"Well, we should probably head back to my room then. I am going to need all night to do what I want to you two sweet asses."
Colleen looked unsure, but didn't refuse. Heidi looked as if she would jump the street light right then and there. Ken took one of each of their arms and led them away from the crowds. No one even noticed the handsome man walked off with the two drunks.
!#$&()!#$&()!#$&()+
Nick's head was beginning to pound. The faxes were not all that informative and there wasn't enough to make any real connections. Several young women had been killed in the four states that had responded to the request by Grissom. They had all been strangled, but only a few had been raped. There had been no evidence of the killer other than some samples found under their nails. Nick made a mental note to have a new request sent to get the results from their tests.
A sigh from Warrick made him lift his head. His partner was rubbing his eyes with his index fingers. The taller CSI hated this sort of work. He would much rather be out in the field. Nick knew deep down, he wished to be as well.
"Well, I think we got the sort end of the stick on this one. I just hope someone else made some progress. This is really being to suck."
"You can say that again. Why don't we head out to check on them? Anything new would be a great help to my head at this moment."
Nick nodded and the two men were on their feet. Catherine and Grissom were only a few doors down in one of the labs. They were both looking into a couple of microscopes at something. Nick could see their lips moving. Neither seemed extremely excited though.
Warrick pushed the door open. The two older CSI's looked up at the new arrivals. Grissom didn't acknowledge their entrance. Catherine smiled and waved them over.
"Hey. How are my two favorite guys?"
"Miserable and worn out from reading those faxes. The sad part, I am going to need them to send even more to us so we can get the results from the DNA tests from the samples they found under the nails of the victims."
Nick nodded his agreement with Warrick's statement. He was eager to hear what the others had found out through their work. Somehow, things had to come together and the new body may add the pieces they were missing.
"So, we have some new information that I am sure you two are most interested in. Gil and I have been doing a lot of work," Catherine said.
Warrick chuckled, "So, spill it."
"Well, it seems that this is a serial. The new girl, Becca Marks, has the same marks and signs of strangulation Heather did. And there were also traces of ether. You guys missed a fax out of New Mexico. There was more information in that one. They had two girls murdered there, same story. This guy is jumping states."
"Did they have anything on how it could be?" Nick asked with apprehension.
Catherine shook her head, "They have DNA from skin cells under the girls' nails. It is a match to each other, but not to anything on file. My guess it is the same everywhere. This was one clean guy before he stated killing young woman."
"So, even if Nick and I get anything off our stuff, it won't matter. But hopefully we can get a similar match with the DNA. I would bet the dude is still in Vegas taking in the good life."
"Could be. I just hope he stays long enough to do something stupid, but not kill anyone else. Brass wants to put out a notice to the media to warn people to be on the lookout. I seriously doubt it would do any good though."
Nick stared at the floor. This was getting way too messed up. He really couldn't believe that there was some guy driving around from state to state killing people. What really got to him too was that there was nothing from the past of this guy. How could someone with no past of any problems suddenly become an expert in murder?
"So, I guess we should get on those other labs to see if we can get one positive John Doe match going. If we can connect all these cases to one guy, then maybe we can piece something else together. I say we start having Brass send out his guys to look for anything odd, even for Vegas."
Warrick and Catherine looked towards Nick with wide eyes. It was unusual for Nick to play the Grissom role in the lab. It was reassuring to both to see the man understand his ability to take charge.
"Alright bro, let's get on the phone and start bugging the hell out of some people. Just don't use that damn drawl too much. Some people just can't understand that stuff."
"If you can get it man, I think anyone can. I mean, you are a little slow on the uptake my friend."
Catherine laughed as she watched Nick run from the room at full speed with Warrick hot on his heels. She laughed even harder when she saw the taller CSI gain on the other and take him down in the hallway. Good thing Eickles was off already
!#$&()!#$&()!#$&()+
Heidi literally threw herself at the sandy blonde haired man. He had said his name was Ken, but she could have cared less. The hotel room was enough for her to know who he was, money the man kissed her back with the passion she was giving him. She could never hold her drinks.
"Sugar, lets move this to the bed. I want this to be just right."
The red-headed girl giggled and dropped herself onto the bed for the man. She looked over at Colleen. Her friend still hadn't moved from the doorway. Colleen could always be a downer.
"Come on girl! Let's see what this guy has in him!"
With that being said, Heidi grabbed Ken's shirt and pulled him down on top of her. Even with her lips being quite busy, her ears heard Colleen move towards the bed. It dipped slightly under her added weight to Heidi's right. Heidi reached out her hand and took one of the other girl's in hers. Neither had ever done anything like this before, but Heidi was most certainly ready at that moment.
Ken wasn't complaining either. The red-head was most eager and willing. The damn blonde chick was the one not cooperating with the plan. But as he attacked the young girl's mouth under his, his mind was racing with ideas. Colleen would come around soon enough. Ken was sure he could think of a good reason for her. He felt an extra set of hands on his back.
"That's it babe. You can play too. All three of us are going to have one hell of a good time," he moaned between deepening breaths.
TBC….no comment…