Chapter 4

Grissom rushed into the lab. "Nick, Sara, you're coming with me."

"What's up?" Nick asked, looking up from the computer.

"I'll explain on the way," Grissom responded. He didn't want Greg involved in this. Grissom knew that he would be able to keep a level head, but wasn't sure Greg could.

"All hands on deck?" Greg asked from his station at a microscope.

"I just need two," Grissom answered. "Let's go."

"But," Sara was about to put up a fight when she saw the look on Grissom's face. She knew something bad had happened. "Ok, let's go."

Grissom was in the driver's seat. Sara was riding shotgun and Nick was in the back. There was silence for the first half of the ride. Nick and Sara were waiting for an explanation. Grissom was focusing on what would need to be done once they got to the scene.

"So what's going on?" Sara finally decided to ask.

"A patrol unit found Alex's car smashed, abandoned and bloodied," Grissom stated. Both Nick and Sara then understood why Grissom didn't want to mention it back at the lab.

"Maybe it was just a car accident?" Nick offered.

"There were no accident reports called in from the area where they found her car and none of the hospitals reported any accident victims coming in in the last few hours," Grissom explained.

Sara wanted to reach out to him, to comfort him. But she knew her comforting would not be accepted. It was just like when Nick was taken, Grissom was only focused on getting Nick back. He wasn't worried about himself. Damn him and his pride, she thought to herself.

They pulled up to the scene and the first thing that Grissom noticed was the street. There were almost no streetlights. Most of the lights on the scene were the flashing police lights. Surely she would know better than to stop here, Grissom thought.

Next he noticed the car. Its rear end was smashed in, but there was no car behind it. A possible hit and run? He wondered. But the car looked parked on the side of the road, like someone had pulled off. The driver's side window looked like it was down, but as Grissom got closer he noticed it was actually broken out.

Grissom swept the ground with his flashlight. There were small blood smears from the driver's side door heading towards the back of the car. They lead right to where the car that hit hers would have been.

"I want pictures of everything, samples of every hair and fiber bagged and tagged. And every inch of this street combed for a quarter mile in both directions," Grissom ordered.

"We know the drill, boss," Nick responded, trying to reassure Grissom.

"Then get to it," Grissom barked.

Grissom started taking pictures of the blood smears. He collected a few samples. Next he moved to the inside of the car. There was blood on the driver's seat and the inside of the door. He took a sample of the blood; again needing to make sure it was hers.

Her purse was spilled out on the passenger side floor. It looked like it had been jolted from its place on the seat next to her. He took a picture of the contents that had spilled and then picked it up. Her wallet and credit cards were all there. Her cell phone and FBI identification were missing. Grissom knew something wasn't right.

He started to look around the driver's side seat. He noticed the pieces of tempered glass surrounding and on the seat. The window had been broken from the outside. As he was gathering some into a bag, he saw it. It was a gun shell. Things were getting worse by the minute.

"Brass!" Grissom called out from his crouched position.

"What did you find?" Brass asked.

Grissom raised the shell. "We need to get out a missing persons report as soon as possible, see if anyone witnessed anything. I don't think canvassing the area will be good enough. No one would stick around out here."

"You know as soon as we do the Bureau is going to take over. They always do for one of their own." Brass replied, wanting Grissom to be aware of the consequences of his action. "And they are going to be pissed we didn't call them first."

"I know they'll try." Grissom knew all too well. But it was still his case, his jurisdiction, and his daughter. "Plus, we need them. WE need to know any of her recent cases, anyone that's threatened her."

"I'll get on it," Brass said. He turned to walk away, dialing a number on his phone.

Grissom continued to search the seat. He noticed a small hold partway up the seat. He shined his flashlight in the hole and thought he saw something. He got out his tweezers and fished out what he was looking at. It was the bullet, too smashed from hitting the seat frame to be able to get a ballistics match. It was a thru and thru, he confirmed to himself.

"Grissom!" It was Sara. She was searching the area behind the car.

Grissom stood up. "What is it, Sara?" he questioned, walking to where she was.

She held up the ring. "It must have slipped off," she replied, handing it to Grissom.

He looked at it under his flashlight and noticed a small piece of skin caught in the setting. "Or maybe she left us a clue."