Chapter 4

Walking through the gate that led to the back garden both women noticed the SUV. It was covered with some kind of cloth.

"Why would he cover his 'baby'?" Catherine asked as she put her kit down and snapped on some latex gloves. "She taking a nap?" she kidded.

"It's a cover to protect the car against dust or dirt, even snow. So you don't have to wash it as often." Sara said as she walked once round the SUV.

"But why not put it in the garage" She added as she stood at front of the car, pointing to the small building with two large doors next to the house.

Catherine looked over her shoulder –and being the lead-CSI on this case- she ordered Sara to search the car and she would go back inside to ask Mr Brandz if they could also have a look inside the garage. Sara agreed and gloved-up.

She pulled the cover away from the front, revealing the hood of the car. There were no scratches on the bumper and the headlights weren't broken. They had found glass at the scene, so either they had already been replaced, or this was the wrong car. Since Mr. Brandz had given the keys voluntarily she started to search the interior also.

Opening the passenger door Sara pulled out her mini Mac-light. The passenger seat was clean, maybe even too clean. She lifted a few prints from the dashboard. Some were partial, some were smudged, but all seemed to belong to the same person.

Meanwhile, Catherine was back inside the house. Brass had just finished his questions on Mr Brandz whereabouts at the time of the accident. He now wanted to verify the alibi Brandz had given.

"Mr Brandz, we noticed you didn't park your car in the garage. Why is that?" Catherine asked.

"I had to store some other things in there that couldn't be left outside. Besides my baby can survive one night outside. The cover will protect her." He answered, getting more and more irritated by the minute.

"Do you mind if we also take a look inside your garage?" Catherine tried.

"Yes I do. Listen, I'm willing to cooperate, but to a certain point. Take a look at my car –you'll see nothing's wrong with it. So there's no need to take a look in my garage." Brandz answered angrily.

Brass motioned Catherine to follow him to the hall.

"Why's the man's garage so interesting all of a sudden. I thought the SUV could tell you everything you need to know?" Brass asked.

"We just have this hunch. He's hiding something in there."

"Wait, did you say 'we'? As in you AND Sara?"

"Actually, she was the one that first said something's off" Brass gave her a surprised look, but then turned serious again. "A hunch is not enough" he stated.

"I know" she sighed. "I'll go back outside. Let's hope Sara has found something that will help us get a warrant for the garage."

"I'll start making some calls, check out the man's alibi." He said to Catherine who was already halfway out.

Sara had shifted to the driver's side. There she had found a long blond hair. She took some pictures of it. "Definitely not Mr. Brandz's" she said as she picked it up with the tweezers and put it in a paper envelope.

Just as she started dusting the door handle Catherine opened the back door.

"You were right." She said to Sara while searching the back seat for evidence.

"About what?"

"Mr. Brandz, he's definitely hiding something in there" she said as she tilted her head into the direction of the garage.

"He wouldn't let us in there" Sara stated rather than asked her.

"Nope. So please tell me you've found something that'll give us a warrant." Catherine backed out of the car and stepped to the front of the car. Sara also exited the car and placed herself in front of Catherine.

"No scratches on the bumper, headlights were in tact."

"Found some prints inside the car. Most seem to belong to one person, but I found two on the driver's side that didn't match any of the others I found."

"And?" Catherine asked, looking at Sara's hand that still held the envelope.

Sara handed the little brown envelope over to Catherine.

"Found a hair, color definitely not Mr. Brandz" She said triumphantly.

"I could kiss you!" Catherine blurted out. "I knew that bastard has something to hide."

Sara flushed –secretly wishing Catherine would do what she had just said. "It's a start."

The change of color in Sara's face didn't go unnoticed by Catherine. It made her feel all giddy inside and made her smile. Sara saw the look in Catherine's eyes and gave her a gap-toothed grin.

"I was just going to start on the trunk."

"Well, let's get on with it then." Catherine said as she walked over to the back and opened it. Her eyes caught something that glittered on the carpet. "Could you hand me a tape-lift?" she asked sticking out her hand while crouching a little more into the SUV.

"What've you got?" Sara placed herself next to Catherine and handed her the tape-lift. Catherine pointed to the glittering piece of material.

"Have you got any idea what that is?" Sara asked as she leaned into Catherine to get a better look. As her shoulder touched Catherine's a shiver went trough her spine. Her focus on the job at hand was replaced immediately with thoughts about the person whose body was touching hers.

As she tape-lifted the glitter Catherine leaned into Sara a bit more allowing Sara to have a better look at it.

When Sara felt Catherine put more weight into the touch she had to fight back a moan. Her mind went completely blank and she didn't notice Catherine was talking to her.

"… like Lindsey got for her birthday last year"

Sara didn't respond. Catherine noticed and decided to tease her a little.

"You didn't hear a word I just said, right?" she asked with a smug smile on her face.

Sara, quickly finding her equilibrium, answered "I heard you. Lindsey has got the same glitter make-up." Good thing she remembered Greg had given her a box with all kinds of glittery children's make-up.

Catherine wasn't totally convinced, but before she could say something she was interrupted by her cell phone.

"Willows"

"Catherine, Warrick here. We've found the SUV. Broken headlights, bumper scratched. Looks like we've found our perp."

While Catherine, Sara and Brass had gone off to Mr. Brandz, Warrick and Nick had teamed-up with O'Riley and went to the other end of town to the next address on the list.

Nobody had been at home at the Kenner residence, but the SUV had been there. Right outside, on the driveway. Nick kneeled down in front of the SUV.

"Well, this car clearly has been involved in an accident recently."

Warrick crouched down beside him and opened his kit. Gloving up he pointed to one of the headlights –or what was left of it.

"I found some blood" he reached in his kit for a swab and took a sample.

While Nick was testing the blood to make sure it was human and not animal –for the blood could also be from any kind of road kill (Which was highly unlikely since the headlights are on a certain height so it had to have been a pretty large animal) Warrick reached for his cell phone to inform Catherine.

Warrick had told her about the blood they had found and she had told him to get O'Riley to get a warrant so they could take the car to their HQ. She said her and Sara would meet up with them in an hour, back at CSI HQ to examine the car further.

Catherine snapped her cell phone shut and turned back to Sara.

"Warrick and Nick found the SUV. Blood on broken headlight. I told him we would meet them in an hour, which leaves us some time to finish up here."

"But why should we look even further if this clearly isn't the right car?" Sara asked, rather wanting to spend their valuable time on a car that was involved in their hit-and-run case –even though Mr. Brandz seemed to act strange.

Catherine lightly touched Sara's upper arm "I know you want to get on with the case, but …" Her eye got caught of a blue object under the driver's seat.

"I think our hunch just turned into something more" She said as she stepped passed Sara and reached under the driver's seat to reveal some kind of comforter.