Hi everyone, thanks again for all of the reviews. I really appreciate. I'm glad that you guys enjoyed the last chapter. Here's the next one. Enjoy!
Nick held his breath as the man crossed the room getting closer and closer to him. He started to panic. He inadvertently reached down to grab his gun, but forgot where he was. His hand accidentally hit the call button lying on his bed. Just as the man neared his bed with the pillow that had suffocated Dustina voice filled the room.
"Can I help you?"
The man jumped at the sudden intrusion and it gave Nick just enough time.
"Help…get security! We need…."
The man took two quick steps and silenced Nick by placing the pillow over his head. Nick knocked over his IV stand struggling with Harris. Though he had just had surgery his survival instincts kicked in. He pushed with all his might to stop the pressure from increasing and cutting off his air.
During the struggle he was suddenly brought back to the moment when he was kidnapped. He could still remember the smell of the ether and not being able to breath as the cloth was held up to his face. He fought with more vigor, but he could fell himself weakening. He knew he wouldn't be able to hold out much longer. He hoped that his call for help would be answered.
Harris was starting to overpower Nick when he heard a gasp at the door. He turned to see a nurse standing in the doorway. He dropped the pillow and bolted out the door knocking the nurse to the ground.
The nurse screamed from the floor in the doorway, "I need security in Room 419 now!"
She got up off the floor and ran over to Nick who was clutching his side and gasping for air. She attempted to help him, but he pushed her hand away.
"No help him." He gasped and pointed to Dustin, "…not breathing." Nick could feel himself slipping away and finally fell unconscious.
The nurse checked Nick's pulse and felt a strong but fast beat. She then ran over to Dustin and checked his pulse. She found none.
She grabbed the phone at the side of the bed and pressed the number 5 for a code blue alert and announced.
"Code Blue Room 419, Code Blue Room 419, Code Blue Room 419." She hung up the phone forcefully.
Suddenly a voice echoed throughout the hallways of the whole hospital announcing her code. Within moments the room was swarming with both doctors and nurses.
After thirty minutes of shock, medical intervention and intubation Dustin's death was called at 0113.
The room slowly cleared out leaving Doctor Grossman, the nurse and two security guards standing there looking at Dustin's lifeless body.
The nurse shook her head and said trying to compose herself, "I can't believe this."
"Maureen did you get a look at the man who did this?" the doctor asked.
"No I didn't, he ran out of here pretty fast. I'm sure Mr. Stokes could probably identify him though." The four people turned to look at the unconscious man in the other bed. "Mr. Stokes was awake when I came in ... in fact he was the one that called for help. The pain must have finally gotten to him fighting with that guy."
The doctor shook his head in understanding; he faced the security guards, "Have the police been notified yet?"
"Yes sir…they should be here shortly."
"OK I want both of you standing outside this door until they get here. No medical personnel are allowed in here unless its either myself or Maureen."
The two guards nodded their heads in understanding and left the room.
Doctor Grossman took one more look at Dustin before he walked around the drape and up to the unconscious CSI on the bed. He looked over to see the IV stand on the floor with a puddle of fluid next to it. There was dried blood on Nick's right hand from where the IV had been pulled out during the attack. The murder weapon - the pillow was still lying across Nick's torso.
"I'm going to examine him to make sure that his incision is OK." He said to the nurse.
The doctor had just made it over to Nick when he groaned and shifted in bed. He slowly opened his eyes and remembered what happened. His eyes darted around the room to make sure that his attacker was gone. He finally noticed the doctor and nurse looking at him. He lifted and turned his head to look at Dustin only to see the drape drawn. He could tell by the looks in their faces that Dustin hadn't made it. He lowered his head back down and sighed.
"Dustin didn't make it?" Nick asked in a soft whisper.
"I'm afraid not." The doctor answered. "Nick I'm going to need to examine you."
"No." Nick replied.
"Nick you are safe here. We will not harm you."
Nick's eyes started closing again, but before he completely went out he said two words that he hoped the doctor would understand.
"I'm evidence."
It started off as another slow night in the lab. Each CSI was working on something. For Warrick and Catherine they were still working on their dummy. They had received a 911 the previous morning for a body in the water. When they arrived on scene with Sara, it was another dummy. That pissed Catherine off to no end.
They had dug in and went over that site as best they could. After doing so, they grabbed the other dummy and brought that one to be processed as well. Catherine had asked Sara and Greg to work the evidence from that scene while she and Warrick worked the golf course dummy.
Just as the two groups were about to take a short break Grissom walked in with Brass. The four CSIs looked up.
"Hey guys we were just about to take a break, you want to join us?" Catherine asked.
"No guys we just got a call. I need all hands on this. We have a 419 at Desert Palms."
"Well how do we know this was a murder?" Sara asked.
"Because there's a witness." Brass answered. "It appears the patient Dustin Schultz was murdered and the roommate witnessed it."
"Well that roommate is one lucky man." Warrick said.
"Luck had everything to do with it. The killer came after him as well. He was able to hit the call button before his attacker completely subdued him. A nurse came in and called security."
"Well are we sure that the killer and this roommate aren't working together?" Catherine asked.
"That's all the information I have. I don't even have the roommates name yet so let's get over there." Brass responded back.
When Grissom had mentioned the hospital it reminded Sara of Nick. She had left him a number of messages and he still hadn't called her back. She figured it could have been a number of reasons why he didn't call her back. 1 – He left his cell phone in his car. 2 – Turned his cell phone off. 3 – Is unconscious and can't answer. She hoped in her mind that it was one or two, but he could still have called her from the phone in the room. Which lead her to believe that it was number 3.
She knew she should have gone with him. She felt really bad for leaving him there. The next time she saw him she would apologize for leaving him high and dry in the hospital. She sighed then grabbed her kit and followed the rest of the gang to the parking lot.
The drive to the hospital was short. The dark SUV that Warrick was driving pulled in behind Brass. The group exited the vehicle grabbed their kits and walked into the hospital.
As they walked in, the lobby was empty except for a few cops and some reporters. It always seemed that when there was a murder there was always a reporter around.
The group headed over and entered the elevators. Brass pushed the number four on the panel. He turned to speak to the group while the elevator slowly pulled them up to their destination.
"OK only you guys will see the humor in this, but it appears that the 419 happened in Room 419." Brass said with a smirk.
"You've got to be kidding." Catherine said.
"I wish I was."
They exited the elevator only to be greeted by some uniformed cops. They were guarding against any reporters that could be snooping around. Not to mention the important fact that a killer was still loose.
The CSIs made their way over to Room 419 where two more cops were standing there guarding the door. The group stopped and Grissom turned to face them.
"OK here's how we are going to work this. Greg I want you to get with security to see if there's anything on surveillance from both inside and outside the hospital. Warrick I want you to handle the killer's escape route. Sara and Catherine I want you guys to work on the body as well as the room. I will handle the witness. Any questions?…OK Warrick and Greg why don't you head out."
"We'll catch you guys later." Warrick and Greg walked back towards the elevator and stairwell.
"You guys ready?" Grissom asked.
"Excuse me, but before you go into my patient's room I would like to have a word with you."
The group turned around to see a doctor standing there he casually made his way up to the group.
"Good evening Doctor…I'm Detective Jim Brass from Homicide. This is Gil Grissom, Catherine Willows and Sara Sidle with the Crime Lab. We are here to investigate the murder of Dustin Schultz."
"Yes of course. I'm Dr. Grossman."
"What did you want to talk to us about Doctor?" Grissom asked.
"I just wanted to find out what you were going to be doing with my patient."
"Which one Dr. Grossman, the living or the dead one?" Brass asked.
"The living one actually. He's been through a lot tonight and I want to make sure that he's taken care of. I put my patient's health before anything."
"And so you should." Grissom answered. "We are just going to ask him a few questions."
"Dr. Grossman I understand patient privacy and all, but do you think that this patient could have helped the killer?" Catherine asked.
"Not likely…this man just had surgery this evening. He was just barely able to fight off the killer. If the nurse had been another minute or two we would have two bodies in there instead of one. He's only now just regained consciousness again."
"One more question Doctor before we go in there. Did you move anything or touch anything?" Sara asked.
"Well after the killer left the room the nurse called a code blue and we tried for a half an hour to revive the patient obviously without success. There were approximately eight people in the room we were moving back and forth so I would imagine that yes we did touch some things and I apologize for that. Its hard to worry about those things when you are trying to save someone's life."
A voice suddenly echoed through the hallway 'Dr. Grossman call on extension 440.'
"If you'll excuse me I have to take that, but please be easy on him or I'll have you removed from the room."
"We'll try not to upset him. You have my word." Grissom responded back.
"Thanks." Doctor Grossman walked away from the group.
"OK guys let's get to work." Grissom said as they started to push open the door to the room and stopped when they heard the doctor's voice calling out to them again.
"Mr. Grissom not sure if it means anything to you or not, but after we tried to revive Mr. Schultz the other patient wouldn't let us touch him. At first we thought he was still afraid, but before he drifted off again he said two words to us…I'm evidence."
The CSIs looked at each other then at Brass.
"Did you touch him after that?" Grissom asked.
"No we decided to wait. We didn't want to do anything against his wishes. In fact his side of the room is as it was after the crime. Nothing has been cleaned up. I'm sorry I didn't say that earlier I'm sure you understand how stressful this all is."
"We do," replied Brass. "If I may I would like to speak with the nurse that came into the room."
"Sure follow me." Brass followed the doctor over to the nurse's station as the three CSIs walked into the ill-fated room. The body of Dustin Schultz was lying on the bed uncovered. His eyes were closed, but he had a blue pallor to his skin a clear sign of suffocation. The drape had been pulled to obviously give the other patient some privacy and to not have him reminded of the body that was lying next to him.
They rarely got cases like this, but it was normal procedure to keep the other patient in the room until all evidence had been collected. Once they had collected all the evidence and questioned this witness the patient would be allowed to go into another room.
Sara and Catherine had set their kits down and started to look around the room as Grissom continued towards the other patient. As he made his way towards the other bed he could see movement coming from under the sheets. It appeared that their witness was awake just like the doctor said. He cleared his throat and announced himself before walking around the drapes.
"Gil Grissom with the Las Vegas Crime Lab. I'm here to ask you a few questions about what happened tonight."
Well there you have it. I hoped you liked it. As usual please review! Thanks!