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Chapter 4: The Investigation

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Catherine stood in the corner of the ballistics lab, watching intently as Bobby Dawson stared down a microscope at the bullet pulled from Sara's leg. With nothing to do until she got the DNA results from the rape kit and the fingernail scrapings that Grissom brought back, she anxiously awaited Bobby's findings, hoping that in the very least she would have a lead.

"Well," he said, finally lifting his head from the microscope, "this is a .22 caliber bullet, but it definitely wasn't fired by a .22 caliber gun."

She stared at him in confusion. "What?"

"Hey, you know as well as I do that people will do anything to not get caught. This person knew what they were doing. Take a look and tell me what you see."

She moved to the microscope. "What am I looking for, Bobby?"

"Anything out of the ordinary."

"Hmmm… Looks like there's a piece of paper stuck to it."

"Anything else?"

She looked closer, adjusting the lens of the microscope. "No lands and grooves. Except for being misshapen from impact, this bullet looks like it's never been fired."

Bobby smiled as Catherine looked up. "Exactly. One of the oldest tricks used by firearms fanatics is to wrap a bullet in paper or cardboard to make it seem like the weapon used is a different size than the one actually used. Now, I can't tell you how much paper or cardboard was put around the bullet, so I can't say what kind of gun was used. But what I can tell you is that the caliber is somewhere between a .22 and a .30."

She sighed. "Okay, thanks Bobby."

As she made her way out of the ballistics lab and down the hall, she felt a buzzing on her hip. Looking down at her pager, she saw Mia's name and an exclamation point. Hoping beyond hope that that didn't mean what she thought it did, she hurried to the DNA lab.

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"Okay, good news first," the doctor said, glancing back and forth between Grissom, Sara, and his notes. "You're free to go, Ms. Sidle. All the tests came back clear, and until we can figure out what to do with that knee of yours, there's no reason for you to stay. The bad news is that since we can't do anything with your knee yet, you'll be in a wheelchair for some time. That means using elevators and ramps, and under no circumstances are you to try to go up any stairs."

"Thank you," Sara smiled.

"You're quite welcome." Putting his chart under his arm, he smiled at the both of them. "We'll be calling you sometime soon about that knee." And with that, he left.

"Well, let's get you home then," Grissom said.

As he helped her into her wheelchair, she grimaced. "Griss, that might be a bit of a problem…"

"Why?"

"I live in an apartment on the second floor."

"Oh, yeah…" He furrowed his brow as if in deep thought. "Where are you going to go if you still don't want the others to know?"

"Well," she began slowly. "Your townhouse is on the first floor. I could stay with you… That is, unless you don't want me to."

"NO! No, that's fine…" he managed. "There's an extra room, and it will keep the others from asking questions."

She could see the wheels turning in his head. Suddenly, she regretted even mentioning the idea. "Look, you don't have to. All you have to do is say so, and I'll find somewhere else."

"N-no," he stuttered. "No, really, I want you to stay with me. I'm just trying to figure out how we're going to get your things…"

She laughed a little. "Let's figure that one out in the car. I need to get out of here." She started to wheel herself out of the little hospital room. Stopping for a moment, she looked back. "Well, aren't you coming?"

Giving her a sarcastic smirk, he grabbed his jacket and followed her out.

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Catherine came into the DNA lab just as a set of results was coming out of the printer. Mia looked frantic.

"Hey," she called out. "You're just in time. CODIS just kicked out a name for your suspect." Picking up the paper, she read, "Todd Owen. He's got a record a mile long, all the way from B&Es and petty theft to assault with a deadly weapon and rape."

"That's not surprising," Catherine sighed.

"Yeah, well, his DNA matches the fingernail scrapings and the swab from the rape kit, so there's a good chance that he's your man. But that's not what I paged you about. The vaginal contribution on the swab… from the victim? The DNA is a match to-"

Catherine held up a hand. "I know. It's Sara. I was at the scene."

"Oh, God… At first, I just thought that I had gotten some of the samples contaminated, but… God, is she…"

"She's okay. She was just released from the hospital, and Grissom paged me to say that he's taking her home… Look, this is a high profile case and she doesn't want anyone to know. You can't speak of this to anyone, do you understand? Especially not Nick, Greg, and Warrick."

Mia nodded, but she wasn't looking at Catherine. Cath turned around to see Nick and Warrick standing right behind her.

"Don't tell us what, Cath?" Nick asked, feigned innocence shooting darts from his eyes.

"Nothing," she said sternly, turning and brushing past them. But she couldn't get rid of them that easily. They turned and followed her into the audio/visual lab as she sat down and started searching for the name Todd Owens.

"Nothing my ass," Warrick retorted.

"Why won't anyone tell us anything about this case?" demanded Nick.

"Because this is a high profile case and I'm the primary, and I told them not to," she said flatly. "The victim wishes to remain anonymous for now. She's embarrassed, and the last thing she wants is for the people she cares about to be worried and take their focus off of what needs to be done."

"That's bullshit!" Warrick called her out, causing her to jump and turn to face him. "What the hell is going on, Cath? There's at least four of us working this case, so it's gotta be big, and yet here we are pushing papers and collecting evidence with no idea of what we're looking for!"

His outburst coupled with the look on his face cut her to the core. "Warrick, I-"

"No, you know what?" Nick interrupted. "It's alright. Here, we ran all your evidence for you..." He dumped a pile of papers and evidence bags on the table beside her. "Oh, but don't worry, I didn't put it in CODIS, so I still don't know anything."

With that, both he and Warrick stormed out of the layout room and toward the break room, leaving Catherine in a state of divided loyalty. She wanted so much to be honest with them. They were her best friends… really, her only friends since she didn't really talk to anyone outside of her work. This wasn't how friends treated each other. She started to call out after them, but then she remembered her promise to Sara. Granted, the two of them hadn't always seen eye to eye, but over time they had come to trust and respect one another. Catherine didn't want to lose any of the ground they had gained.

Frustrated, she turned back to the work before her, telling herself that the sooner Sara's case was solved, the sooner she could patch things up with the others.

A/N: Thank you once again to all of you who have reviewed. They're very encouraging and have been a tremendous help. I know it's taken forever to update, but with final exams coming up, not to mention numerous family troubles... well, life can sometimes get in the way. Please, if you would, keep us all in your thoughts and prayers.

cold-blue-perception: I'm so glad that you approve. You have no idea how meaningful it is to have such a regular reader and reviewer like you. Thank you so much for your comments. On that note, I too have found that many authors turn Catherine into something that she's not. I love her character, and can't seem to understand why so many authors have made her so cruel. While it's true that she can be spiteful and harsh at times, there are so many other levels to her character, and that is what I wanted to portray, in this story as well as others.

emma: I'm so glad that you found me... but be patient. I'm updating as fast as I can, and besides, half the fun is in the suspense! :-)

Please keep reviewing! It helps make the story what it is.

Teaser: "What do you think about this guy?" Catherine asked after ringing the doorbell.

"Well, after seeing what he did to Sara, I get the feeling that they weren't exactly the best of friends." ...

Suddenly, there was a boom and the sound of broken glass as a bullet whizzed by Brass's head. Pulling their weapons, they searched for some kind of cover...