Chapter 2
Catherine walked into the morgue where Doc Robinson was just finishing his autopsy. The victim lay on the cold metal table covered with a thin blue sheet.
"Find anything interesting?" Catherine asked him.
"It's what I didn't find that was really interesting," he replied.
She raised one eyebrow. "Oh?"
"Her heart is missing," he stated.
"Her heart? How?"
Robinson pulled back the sheet, exposing the cut on the woman's abdomen. He pointed to it. "It appears that the cut was made just below the sternum and the attacker reached under the ribs to pull out the heart."
"Wouldn't that be…messy?"
Robinson nodded. "Extremely. And, from the bruising around the wound it appears as if she was still alive when it was removed."
Catherine was disgusted, but not stunned. She had seen a lot of things in her years as a CSI and nothing really surprised her. "Any defense wounds?"
"No defense wounds," Robinson told her. "No wounds of note, actually, besides the obvious."
"Hmmm," was Catherine's only response.
"Oh, and I did find this," Robinson said, tossing a plastic bag over to Catherine.
She picked it up and looked at it. It was a playing card. "The queen of hearts," Catherine stated aloud.
"It was in the chest cavity," he added.
"I guess the killer isn't playing with a full deck," Catherine quipped.
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Nick was searching through the crowd, looking for Alex. He had to do a double take when a black-haired woman tapped on his window before realized it was her.
"Have a nice trip?" he asked, as she slid into the passenger seat.
"It was excellent," she replied. "Very relaxing."
"Good," he smiled.
"Thank you so much for picking me up," she smiled back.
He loved her smile. Even after all she'd been through, it still had an innocent quality. "Not a problem."
"Listen," she said, turning to look at him as he drove. "I was thinking, if you wanted, I could buy breakfast as a thank you."
"You know you don't have to do that," he replied. "It's really not a big deal."
"I know, I know. But I want to. I mean, I could have called a cab. Plus, I haven't seen you in a week. I need an update. I want to know how your date went."
Nick shook his head at the thought of his date. It had been a disaster. But, getting to spend time with Alex telling her about it would help ease the pain. "I could eat," he replied.
"Great! Where should we go?" she asked.
Half an hour later they were seated in a booth, waiting on their food.
"So, how did your date go?" Alex asked.
Nick rolled his eyes.
"That bad, huh?" Alex leaned forward and patted his hand in sympathy. "I'm sorry."
"It's ok," he said. "She was nice. She just wasn't…" he paused, looking for the right word. "Interesting." He really wanted to say, "She just wasn't you." But he didn't.
"Awww," she made a playful pouty face.
He motioned his hand to dismiss her. "It's really ok. Now, to change subjects, how was Virginia?"
Alex opened her mouth to speak, as she sat back in her seat. In the process she knocked her cup off the table. "Crap!" She bent over to pick up the cup.
Her shirt slid up as she bent over and revealed a mark on the small of her back. Nick stared at it trying to figure out what it was, never having seen it before.
"What's that?" he asked.
"What?" she replied as if not knowing what he was talking about, quickly tugging down her shirt.
"Is that a tattoo?" He gave her a sly smile. "You have a tattoo?" He was a little shocked. He never figured her for the type to have a tattoo.
She just nodded.
"Can I see it?" he replied.
She slid out of the booth and stood in front of Nick, with her back facing him. She lifted up her shirt just enough for him to see the tattoo.
He looked closely at it. It was a small handprint with the Greek letters Alpha and Omega on the palm.
"What does it mean?" he asked, as she put her shirt down and sat back in the booth.
"It's the handprint of God," she replied.
Nick raised an eyebrow.
"I know, I know," she heard his silent question. "And yes, I believe in God. Laugh if you will, I was just raised in church and something about it all stuck."
"No, that's cool," he said. "To be honest, I do too. It's just I never would have figured…I mean…knowing Grissom…"
"Yeah, kind of ironic, huh?" she knew what he was getting at.
"So even after everything?" he asked, his own faith wavering after the events of the past year.
"Especially after everything," she told him. "It wasn't just luck that brought me to Vegas, found me just in time…brought you to my door that day."
"It was lunch," he laughed.
"Ha. Ha. You know what I mean," she said. "You were early. Had you been on time, I would have been out of time."
He nodded. "It could have been a coincidence," he said, dismissing the conversation. This really wasn't the time or place for this conversation.
She wasn't going to let it go, but, lucky for him, the waitress came by with their food and the conversation turned to their meal. Then Nick got back to the subject of Alex's trip to Virginia. After they were finished, Nick drove Alex home.
"I can't thank you enough for picking me up," Alex said, as they pulled into the complex parking lot.
"I'm always glad to help," Nick replied.
They pulled into a parking spot and Nick put the car in park. Alex leaned over to give Nick a peck on the cheek. Nick was not paying attention, unsure if he should turn off the car. He turned his head to say good-bye and her peck meant for his cheek landed squarely on his lips.
It also was more than a peck. She was startled at first but then got lost in the kiss. Nick cupped Alex's cheek softly with his hand. After a moment, she pulled away, confused.
She had only thought about kissing Nick once and figured it would feel like kissing her brother, but it didn't. She also hadn't realized Nick had feelings for her. But the kiss made obvious his desire. "Kinda nice," she mumbled out loud.
"Just kinda nice?" Nick questioned, pretending to be hurt.
Alex looked at him, startled. She hadn't realized she had said anything out loud. "I got to go," she said, as she unbuckled herself and got out of the car. She opened the back door and grabbed her bag.
As she reached in, Nick reached back and lightly grabbed her arm. "Alex," he said softly.
She shook off his arm and pulled out her bag. She then shut the door and started quickly to her door. She wasn't sure what she was feeling. She just knew she needed to get in her apartment.
For Nick, the kiss had been everything he thought it would be: sweet and deep. Nick knew he had to go after her. He could tell she felt something too. "Alex," he called, getting out of the car.
She stopped when she heard her name and turned to look at him. Then she turned back around and kept walking. He ran to catch up with her, grabbing her arm right as she reached her door.
"Alex," he said, wanting to understand her reaction.
She turned around, not being able to shake his grasp this time. "I need to go inside," she said, pointing to the door.
"Did I do something wrong?" he asked, searching her eyes for an answer.
She shook her head. "I…I…" she stammered and looked down. She didn't understand her reaction anymore than he did.
He lifted her chin and looked into her eyes. He thought they were the most beautiful shade of green. Then he kissed her again. This time it was harder, more passionate.
This time, she pushed him away. "Look," she said forcefully, crossing her arms. "I'm dating Greg. This," she softened her voice a little. "This isn't right."
"You can't deny you felt something," Nick protested.
She put her key in the lock and opened the door. "I'm dating Greg," she repeated and then went inside, shutting the door on Nick.
Once inside, she leaned her back against the door and slid slowly to the floor. Nick was right; she had felt something. She just wasn't sure what to make of it.
Nick stared at the door for a moment. Then he started to knock on the door, but stopped himself before his hand connected with the door. He slowly put his arm back by his side and walked back to his car. If she wanted time, he'd give her time. He could wait.
Back at the lab, Catherine couldn't wait for the lab results on the victim's blood and for a hit on the fingerprints. It was taking too long, at least for her tastes. She was pretty sure they'd find something on the tox screen. You can't be conscious while your heart is being torn out and not fight back.