Chapter IV

Discoveries in the Night

Maria Rymer was giving up the single life. In less then a week she would be walking down the aisle. At the moment, she and her bridesmaids were just a little on the tipsy side. Kara, a cop, had declared them all over the limit and none of them had enough cash for a cab, so they walked. They cut through Baker Park, because Hallie's place was the closest and walking through the park would shave a good ten minutes off of their walk.

Stumbling ever so slightly, they made their way through the shadowy park. "'Ria, I can not believe you flirted with that stripper!" Erin burst into a bout of giggles. Hallie jumped in too, "Yea, not all of us are taking the plunge, I'll never be able to go back to Ladies Night again!" That remark sent a tidal wave of drunken laughter through the four women. Maria had to grab onto the swing set's pole for support.

She was about to make a lewd comment about the number of times Hallie had been to the strip-joint when Erin stopped her. "Hey, what's that?" Maria turned and focused on a lump in the middle of the play-park. "Dunno...dog?"

Kara followed behind her friends, who were worried about a dog or something. Fifty feet from the object though, a realization cut through the alcohol. "Shit!" She started to jog and when she got there, she cursed again. It was no dog.

"HALLIE!" Hallie, a nurse, came to her side. "Oh my God." The petite blonde bent down and tried to find a pulse, there was none. "She's dead."

Erin, who had never even been to a funeral with an open casket gasped and got all of three feet away before vomiting.

It was physically impossible to become instantly sober, but Kara was experiencing something very much akin to it. She pulled out her phone and dialed the dispatcher. "This is Lieutenant Kara Johnson, I've got a 419 at Baker Park. We need Homicide and the Geek Squad out here..."

Maria squinted at the body and made a connection that the other three hadn't yet. With Kara still on the phone with 911 and Hallie comforting the ill Erin, it was easy to slip away. She pulled out her own cellphone. Maria Rymer had never missed a scoop in her career and did not intend to start now. When the grumpy voice of her producer answered her call, she launched strait into an explanation. "Ted, it's Maria, listen I've got a story. That missing kid, the one the AMBER alert went out for...She's just been found murdered in Baker Park. Send out a crew..." She shut the phone and looked around. She could already hear the sirens coming their way.

The very familiar sight of blue lights and yellow tape met Sofia's gaze as she pulled into the Baker Park parking lot. A large black SUV and the coroner's van were already there. She ducked under the tape and started towards the scene, a uniform filling her in as they walked.

She took everything in with a critical investigator's eye. David was already with the body and she could see two CSIs, Greg Sanders and Gil Grissom, working the scene. She looked around some more.

The LVPD was still very much a boy's club so she immediately recognized Lieutenant Johnson. As Johnson was SWAT, Sofia realized that she had to be the one who had found the body. Sofia's stride took her across to the four women that had found the body. The reek of alcohol coming from them told Sofia that they had recently left a bar somewhere. She resisted the urge to groan. They were drunk, perfect.

Johnson looked up. "Curtis."

Sofia inclined her head. Johnson sighed, "Yes, I'm drunk. No, I didn't touch the body, Hallie Underwood, the blonde, is a nurse and she checked for a pulse. When I realized we had a 419 I called it in and backed up, giving you a hundred foot perimeter. We've given our shoe prints to the Geek Squad along with fingerprints." The woman's voice was steady, even though she was slurring a bit. The brunette sighed, "How bad did I fuck up, Sofia?" The sudden change in demeanor, from professional to personal, made Sofia look up. "Well, you're drunk, but I know that Alpha has today and tomorrow off, so that shouldn't be a problem. You've followed SOP and reported everything. It doesn't look good, but beyond IAB jerking your chain, you should be okay." The brunette woman nodded. "Thanks." Sofia nodded and turned away, she needed to focus on the crime.

The body was lying in what looked to be the middle of the park, between two arched set of monkey bars. Vacant eyes stared up at the stars. The girl was dressed in a long white dress and her blonde hair was lying under her head like a halo; the combination gave the girl an angelic appearance. Sofia approached the body, careful not to disturb any evidence.

The coroner looked up. "Sofia."

She knelt by the body. "What can you tell me?" David frowned, "Young girl, approximately thirteen years of age. Her throat was slit, she bled out. What gets me, though, is that the body was washed and redressed post-mortem. He frowned, "Which throws off my liver temp measurements, but from mortis I'd say she's been dead for around twelve hours."

"But she wasn't put here until a few hours ago. There is not sufficient insect activity to suggest otherwise."

Sofia looked up into the intelligent eyes of Gilbert Grissom. "That and I think someone might have noticed a dead little girl in the middle of the day, Grissom." He nodded, "True."

She looked around the site, "What else can you tell me?" Grissom frowned, "This is a body-dump. There is very little evidence around here. We need to find the primary site." Sofia nodded and then looked back at the body. "Well, she's been washed and redressed. White dress, could signify purity. We could be looking at some kind of cult activity, or someone who wants us to look at cult activity."

Grissom knelt down beside David. "There's an abrasion on the lower lip, looks post-postmortem." Sofia nodded and looked the body over. "No markings outside of the lip abrasion and the neck wound."

She stood. "Theres an AMBER alert out for a girl about this age. I want to check that out."

She went with a uniform, they could upload and print a picture of the girl from his squad car's computer. When they got back to the parking lot, Sofia was blinded by a bright flash. She threw her hand in front of her eyes. A rush of questions came at her.

"DETECTIVE, IS THAT NADINE WINTERS!"

"HOW WAS SHE KILLED!"

Sofia sputtered out a "No comment" and rushed to the car. When she and the uniform were inside, she cursed. "How the hell did the press get a hold of this so quickly?" The uniform frowned, "I bet it was one of the girls that found her, that redhead is a reporter for Channel 5." Sofia cursed again and ran her hands through her hair. "Damn."

Catherine, searching for a way to numb the pain Carrol Winters must have been feeling, turned on the television. It flickered on to the news and Carrol Winters screamed.

Author's Note: Well, here we are, at the beginning of another twisted tale. For those of you who are interested, I suppose we've gone about a month and a half, or two months since 'Angels'. Yes, there will be lots of Sara/Sofia coming up, so no worries. I actually drew up a chart to figure out all the relationships and relationship angst I was using in this trilogy. It sort of looked like a soap opera...so I wadded up that paper and threw it away.

I'd love to hear what everyone thinks about the story so far. Hurl the reviews at me, good or bad, I am always looking for ways to better my writing.