Chapter XVIII
Victims and Suspects

Joseph Devlin had a pretty easy job, which was why he did not want to screw it up. All he had to do was drive two pre-teens around without wrecking. He had to take care of the car and of the girls, when they were in the car. That was it. So in his spare time, he could pursue other interests, like Raul, the pool boy and Final Fantasy X-2.

When he pulled up at the gate of Warren Walker, the stereo was already set to blast out the mindless bubblegum pop that the girl's preferred and the back cooler was stocked with the brand of water they liked. He was thirty minutes early, as always, so he kicked back and flipped his cellphone open so he could play Tetris. Four o'clock rolled around and then four fifteen. Joseph looked around, a bit annoyed. Miss Kirstin must have gotten caught up in her painting again. By four thirty, he was getting down right pissed.

He got out of the car and made his way over to the theater. It was empty. Only the pencil thin drama teacher was still there, shutting off the lights. She looked up, a bit surprised, "Yes? Can I help you?" He nodded, "Yeah, I'm here for Kirstin and Elise Holloway." The woman shook her head, "Kirstin didn't show up today." Joseph felt his heartbeat go into triple time. "Okay, there must have been some student thingy that went long."

Mr. Peterson, the Headmaster and sponsor of the Student Council had not seen Elise either. The balding man shrugged, "I've not seen either of the twins since the assembly." Joseph called both girls' cellphones, a last resort, and was booted to voice mail both times. His next call was to their parents.

At five minutes after five o'clock, dispatch got the call about the missing Holloway girls. Two minutes later, Maria Rymer laid down her cellphone and thanked God for friends in high and low places. Five full minutes after the press had already began moving, Detective Sofia Curtis got the call. When the first news flash broke through a rerun of Friends at five-thirty, Catherine Willows snapped the heel off of her shoe when she stomped her foot in pure frustration.
Sara Sidle's was not set to go off until six pm and since she'd gotten into bed at around two in the afternoon, it was more like a nap than a true sleep. No matter what time it was set to go off, the reliable clock radio was beaten to the punch by the shrill tones of Sara's cell phone ringing.

As always, Sara's phone, pager and alarm clock were all sitting on her bedside table so when a noise was made, Sara's still-mostly-asleep hand shot out and started groping around for the device that was going off. She found the cellphone and flipped it open. She brought it to her ear but before she could mumble off her usual greeting of 'Sidle', Catherine began her attack. As her colleague's words reached her brain, Sara's eyes shot open. She rolled to her back and stared at the ceiling, trying to make her brain comprehend what was coming out of Catherine's mouth. She was failing miserably.

An hour later, coffee in hand, Sara made it to Warren Walker Academy. She had called Sofia and had slowly pieced together what had happened.

There was a leak in the department somewhere, because the press had found out about the same time Sofia had. They hadn't even called Grissom before Channel 5 had broke the story. The Holloways had actually spoken to the press and by the time Sara had arrived at the school, Channel 5 had an exclusive and heart breaking plea from the Holloways, begging for the safe return of their daughters.
Sofia stood on the fringe of everything, simply observing for the moment. The Sheriff himself had shown up and was making a show. This case was quickly getting out of hand. She looked around, she watched the uniforms scamper from here to there, destroying any evidence that they could have possibly found. The killer, or 'Doll Collector' as the media so lovingly called him, was getting bolder. This time he'd snatched two girls from their school. When the CSIs arrived, Greg first, followed by an infuriated Catherine, and finally Sara, they began going over what little evidence they had.

The press circled around them like vultures, constantly looking for a scrap of juicy meat to swoop down on. Getting in from the parking lot to the school grounds was like running a gauntlet. Questions were being shouted, microphones being shoved in faces. Greg kept his head down and got through just fine, but then again, Greg was young and he was only a CSI I. Catherine didn't rush through, she strutted through the gauntlet, kit in hand, head held high. Sofia had to give her credit, the woman could handle the press. When she saw a third black SUV pull up, she moved. She went out to meet Sara and escort her through the blood-thirsty hordes of reporters. They didn't speak as they walked, but her hand on Sara's shoulder made them both feel better. They were almost to the gates when Maria Rymer stepped into their path, planting herself firmly, microphone in hand, camera man behind her. "Detective Curtis, CSI Sidle, as the lead investigators, what can you tell us about this latest development?" Sofia pushed by the woman, none to gently shouldering her way through. A flippant "No comment" was thrown over her shoulder. Sofia was really starting to hate Channel 5.

The school was huge and beautiful. Warren Walker was old and prestigious and very choosy about who they let in. This was the kind of place where parent's sent their kids to prepare them for Ivy League schools like Yale, Stanford. Sara and her friends at Harvardhad called kids like these 'Ties'.

Sara shook her head, clearing it of esoteric thoughts. She looked around, teachers and students had left. They could get into the girl's lockers, their school email addresses, their cell phone records. The Sheriff was handling the parents, some big time Sam Braun-level rich people. Sara sighed, there was not much they could do. If this was the killer, she was probably already ahead of them. She would have the girls locked away already. Sara bit her lip for a moment and thought. Her mind raced over the possible connections and how to find them. The first and most obvious thing to do would be to check the school's security feed. Sara frowned. If this woman was smart, though, she wouldn't stick out. She would fit in, look natural. Sara ran the heel of her hand across her forehead and heaved a sigh. She was a CSI, not a criminal psychologist. So she needed evidence. She forced herself to slow down and think everything through one step at a time. A school like this would have some kind of log for visitors. They would also do background checks on their substitutes and, well, all of the staff. That's where she needed to start.

Catherine was with the Headmaster. For a short time, she'd sent Lindsey to a private school, so she had some idea of what was going on. The procedures and the snootiness were not new to her. Alexander Peterson, Headmaster, was torn between protecting his school, kissing the Holloway's asses and of course, covering his own ass. She resisted the incredibly strong urge to strangle him and continued questioning him. "Did any of the students seem to like either of the girls too much? Have they reported any problems? Have any of your security guards reported any strangers at the gates or in the drive? Has any part of the regular school routine been changed?"

She heard someone come up behind her and turned enough to see that it was Sara. Catherine turned back to the Headmaster. "This is my colleague, Sara Sidle." The man took off his glasses and cleaned them with a clothe from his pocket. "Well, Ms. Willows, Ms. Sidle, you can ask every question in the world, but I don't think I can help you. Elise and Kirstin were model students. Liked by teachers and peers alike, we've never had trouble out of either of them. His eyes kept darting over to the Holloways as he spoke. Catherine sighed, but Sara looked the man in the eyes and squared her shoulders. "Sir, we're going to need a full faculty and staff roster, as well as your visitors log and list of approved substitutes." A flier taped to a cork board caught her eye, "And what was the assembly for today?"

Catherine controlled her facial reactions rigidly. She would have eventually gotten to where Sara was. Once again, though, Sara was a few steps ahead of everyone else. Her face didn't give anything away as the Headmaster nodded and quickly walked away. The two CSIs stood in silence for a moment. Sara stared at the sunset through the huge windows of the school. "I didn't know about this until you called me, Catherine." She knew that, well she did now. "I know." They weren't looking at each other, Sara looked out the window and Catherine studied the portrait of the school's founder. "I over reacted. This case has got me...on edge. All these little girls and this man just keeps." Sara interrupted her. "Woman, Catherine. This killer is a woman." Catherine spun on her heel, and faced her colleague. "What?" Sara sighed, "It's a woman. Archie and I analyzed that video from the library. It's a woman, Catherine. If we can find a connection between the schools and the library, one woman that connects everything. We could have her."

Catherine may not have gotten along with Sara, or even liked her very much. Her colleague, though, was a good CSI and there was something in her voice. Something in that Californian accent, it was determination. If there was one thing Catherine knew about Sara, if the woman set her mind to something, she would not stop until she had gotten it.

"All right, let's find your mysterious connection."

They took the records back to CSI. Greg was chasing down leads and records from the other schools and the library. Sara read and paced. She paced to and fro, she paced fro and to. Catherine had never seen Sara quite like this. There had been many times that Sara had "gone off the deep end" but this time she had a cold focus that was chilling, to say the least. "This woman is educated, smart. She has figured out how to trick five girls into her clutches." Sara frowned and continued with her musings. "If we can find her in time, we might be able to talk her down. Get Elise and Kirstin back relatively unharmed." Catherine looked at her watch, the longest any of the girls had lasted was two days. The clock was against them. She watched Sara pace and stare at the case board full of young faces.

"Sara, you've got to slow down. The evidence doesn't tell us any of this. You're not a profiler or a psychologist, you can't climb inside this killer's mind. All you can do, all either of us can do, is process the evidence."

Greg came in around eight, his arms loaded down with files and papers. The layout room was full of paper and empty coffee cups already. Sara grabbed the files out of his hand almost immediately and put them on the table. She flipped through them and began scribbling things down in her familiar chicken scratch scrawl.

He'd never seen her like this. Sweat trickled down her brow even though it was a cool seventy degrees in the lab. Her brown eyes were focused and as hard as diamonds. She looked much like Sofia had earlier. Both women were shoulders deep in the case and Catherine was too. Greg was worried, he'd seen them all go through cases like this before and they all carried scars from them.

At nine o'clock, Sara found the pattern she'd been looking for since the beginning. She wrote the name in her case notes in big block letter, Madison Daniels.

Unaware of the scrutiny that was now focused on her, Madison Daniels poured herself a double shot of brandy and swirled it around in her glass. She was a woman of power from a prestigious family, one that had always pushed her to do her best in everything. It was this drive that made her work. She had started out as an aid to a low level city councilman out of college and she had gone on from there. She had spent years working. Fighting her way through the world of men. She'd taken the Nevada Legislature by storm with her family first initiative. She'd pushed that through and then, when she'd run for the Nevada Senate, she'd turned hard on crime, she was the first woman from Legislature to ever watch an execution. That had lead to her two terms as Lieutenant Governor of Nevada. Carson City, though, had grown tiring to her. She had craved more. More power, more exposure, just more. She'd run for a seat in the Congress. While most saw this as a step down, she had always known what she was doing. She won her place in the House of Representatives in a landslide vote and as soon as she'd gotten there, Washington had taken her in like new favorite daughter.

She was single, devoted to her work. She was attractive, she was kind, she was exactly what everyone aspired to be, the politician of the new century. Her coiffed blonde hair and cornflower blue eyes gave her a look of youth, her well tailored suits and sensible shoes made her look professional.

She had been invited to lavish dinners at the White House. She had entertained ambassadors and multi-billionaires. When she had thrown her hat into the ring for Senate, no one was surprised. Political analysts were already looking at her, in six years she would look like a very strong candidate for vice-president, and in ten years time, she would be President of the United States.

Her life, though, was not complete as it appeared to be. Even if she had not eschewed men, had married, her life would be imperfect. In a sick twist of fate, she was barren. That was intolerable. There would be no more in the Daniels line to take after her, no brilliant little girl with blonde hair to stand beside her mother when she was inaugurated.

That was a flaw, a mistake, that she was currently taking care of. Madison was contemplating on what to do with her two newest acquisitions when her doorbell rang. With the news flickering on her television and her next speech only half read, she rose from her place on the couch and wandered through the hallway to see who would disturb her so late in the evening. If it was her campaign manger, he would be thrown out on his rear for this little annoyance.

Sara and Sofia stood outside the enormous townhouse. It was dark, but the lights were on so both women assumed someone was at home.

The door opened and both women were treated to their first glimpse of Madison Daniels. In her robe she was less then professional in appearance. As soon as she saw them, and the uniformed officers behind them, she straitened up and her face became hard. "Can I help you?" Sofia inclined her head,
"Congresswoman Daniels, we hate to come to your home like this, but I am Detective Sofia Curtis and this is Sara Sidle of the LVPD Crime Lab. You were at Warren Walker Academy today?" The woman blinked, "Why yes. I gave a lecture there this afternoon. I've been following the story about the missing girls." Sofia nodded, "We were hoping to talk to you, maybe ask you a few questions about what happened today." Daniels pushed her blonde hair out of her eyes. "Yes, of course. Come in."

Sara and Sofia went down the hallway behind their hostess, the uniform waited outside. Both women, trained observers, made note of the citations, diplomas and pictures that hung on the walls.

They entered the woman's office. It was an intimidating room, painted a powerful and passionate red. A large oak desk dominated the room and this was where the Congresswoman positioned herself. She folded her hands and braced herself behind the majestic desk. "Now, how can I help you?" Sara didn't answer immediately, her attention was drawn to one of the bookshelves. A picture sat there, for all to see. A young girl with long blonde hair in a white dress. It was obviously Daniels at a younger age, Daniels and her own mother.

Sara turned and focused her full attention on the woman. "You've given speeches at Greenspun Middle, Sedway Middle, The North Vegas branch of the Las Vegas Public Library and Warren Walker Academy. On the very same days that a girl has disappeared from each location. That is a very strong string of coincidences, Congresswoman Daniels. Is there anything you'd like to tell us?"

Sofia's jaw actually dropped a little. She knew Sara could be blunt at times, but damn. She jumped in, "What she means, Ma'am, is that there could be someone in your group or perhaps stalking you that has been taking these girls. Anything you've seen could help us at this point."

Sara only stared.

Author's Note: If you're rusty on American Politics, each state has it's own legislature. Almost all of those have two houses, a lower and an upper. The national Congress in Washington DC is also made up of two houses, House of Representatives, which is pretty much on par with the House of Commons in Brittan. Then there's the Senate which is more or less the American version of the House of Lords. Elections are in November. The House is based on population and the Senate has 2 members from each state. Okay, that's all for Government class today, students, this will be covered on the final.