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Chapter 5: The Evidence

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As the computer worked the database for the name Todd Owen, Catherine looked through the pile of evidence Nick had left on the table. On top was the case file. She decided to start there. Having only briefly been at the scene, maybe this would help her get an idea of what exactly had happened.

Opening the file, she spread the contents before her. Photographs from the scene, the sketch, notes, results pages, and the evidence and time logs spilled forth, as if battling for her attention. One by one, she studied the pieces of the puzzle, each bringing a more daunting picture before her eyes.

The photographs proved to be the most difficult to look at. The small pool of Sara's blood on the cold cement floor of the warehouse brought her back to those grief-stricken moments at the scene. The next showed a chair in the middle of the warehouse, a pair of handcuffs on the floor beside it. Scanning through several of the others, she came to the bottom of the pile of photographs and was stopped in her tracks by what she saw. The last photo was worse than the rest, showing a bed pushed into the corner, the covers rustled and the white linen ties stained red. Unable to imagine the pain and suffering Sara must have gone through, Catherine set the photo aside. As she searched for what to analyze next, her eyes drifted to the pile of evidence where one bag in particular caught her attention. She felt a small stab in the heart as she realized that it contained the sheets and linen ties.

Moving to the evidence log and putting on a pair of gloves, she checked to make sure that everything collected was sitting before her. Besides the sheets, there were two small bindles. Opening each, she let slide onto the table misshapen .22 caliber bullets. According to the log, they'd been pulled from the wall of the warehouse and had already been to Bobby D in the ballistics lab, where they'd been determined a match to the bullet pulled from Sara's leg. Also sitting nearby was a rather large bag containing a six inch serrated blade coated with dried blood. Catherine made a mental note to check with Mia later for the DNA results off the hilt and the blood.

Just then, the computer beeped and maximized the database window showing the long list of offenses committed by one Todd Owen. Her hatred for this shadow of a man grew as she scanned the list. It seemed he'd committed every crime known to man and felt no remorse. Frustrated to no end, she slammed her fist against the table in anger, stripped off her gloves, and rested her head in her hands to decompress, asking herself if keeping Sara's secret was worth loosing her mind.

"Case getting to you, too?" came a voice from the hall. She turned to see Brass leaning in the doorframe. Sighing, she nodded.

"Hey," he said with a smile, "I heard you were looking for a warrant." He waved a piece of paper in the air. "Wanna go find this Todd Owen character and haul his ass in here for an interview?"

Catherine stood. "Anything to get out of this lab."

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Grissom stood on the sidewalk simply staring at the stairs. Turning to Sara, he asked, "How are we going to get you up there again?"

"I told you, just wheel the chair up backwards."

"With you in it?"

"No, I'll be waiting in the car," she said sarcastically. "Of course with me in it! How else do you think we're going to get into my apartment?"

He looked back up at the stairs. "I don't know about this, Sara."

"Come on," she said, wheeling herself right up to the bottom step. "If I'm going to stay anywhere, I'm going to at least need a suitcase. I mean, do you really want me going around your apartment in your shirt and sweatpants?"

His hesitation earned him a smack on the leg. With a smile, he sighed. "Okay, okay…"

Ten minutes later, she was cheering him on as he pulled her up the last step to the top of the stairs. Winded, he leaned against the railing to catch his breath.

"I told you this would work!" she smiled, wheeling herself over to her apartment door a few feet away and taking the key from her purse in her lap.

"Yeah," he breathed. "The fun part's going to be getting you back down."

Heading inside, she insisted that he wait for her in the living room while she got her things together. He could hear her bustling around as she tried to pack a suitcase. Sitting in a comfortable chair, he couldn't help but remember the first and only other time he'd been in her apartment. He'd sat in this same chair and tried to comfort her as she'd poured her heart out to someone she at least somewhat trusted. Now she was putting her past in his hands again, trusting him to take care of her, and as sturdy as she looked, he knew he held precious cargo.

It was about a half an hour later when Sara wheeled herself out of the back room and saw him sitting in the chair, a sad look on his face. Coming up next to him, she put her hand over his on the armrest and smiled when he squeezed back.

"Whatcha thinkin' about?" she asked softly.

"You," he whispered, his eyes sparkling in the deepest blue she'd ever seen. Standing, took the suitcase from her, walked behind her chair, and leaned down to her ear. "Let's get you home."

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Looking at the old brick house as Brass's blue Taurus pulled up to the curb, Catherine suddenly debated whether she wanted to face Sara's attacker. Normally, she would've had to restrain herself from kicking the shit out of the scumbag, but it was cases like this made her realize just how close crime really was from her own backyard. Not that she ever really forgot after Eddie's death and Lindsey's near drowning, but still…

It took Brass coming around and opening the door for her to snap her out of the trance. "You ready?" he asked.

Nodding, she stepped out of the car and walked with him up to the front porch.

"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," Brass replied, moving over to one of the windows and trying to see inside.

"From what little Sara told Grissom, they knew each other in high school. Seems she didn't think much of him then, either."

Brass snorted. "Looking at his rap sheet, I don't think much of him now…" Knocking on the door again, he looked to Catherine. "How long does it take to answer the damn door? The way he's avoiding us, you'd think he knew we were coming."

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.

"I think we found our missing handgun!" Catherine said, as they ducked around the porch corner.

Brass gave a dry chuckle. "Very funny, Cath." Pushing her back as another shot was fired, he quickly grabbed his radio. "Dispatch, this is Roger-9-1-9-7. We have a 413 at 724 Sanderling Circle during routine evidence collection! Shots fired! We need backup!"

"LVPD!" Cath shouted. "Come on out, Mr. Owen! We just want to ask you a few questions!"

The only response was another shot, taking away a bit of the brick in front of her face.

"I don't think he liked your offer," Brass stated bluntly, firing a shot around her and breaking a window in the process.

"I'm gonna find a better angle."

He grabbed her by the shoulder. "What the hell are you trying to do? Get yourself killed?"

"Well, we can't both shoot from the same spot!" she retorted. "It's too easy of a target. Plus, we'll have a better chance of catching him if we're coming from two different angles. You can't see around that corner anyways."

With that, she left her kit on the ground beside him, and took off across the front yard, heading for the small garden near the fence. Diving behind the large stone bench in a bed of tall weeds, she crouched low and held her weapon up, ready to fire. She heard several shots hit the other side of the bench and realized that the focus had turned to her.

Apparently Brass noticed too. She watched as he turned the corner and fired three shots at the window. Taking cover once again behind the brick corner of the house, he screamed into his radio, asking where the hell was his backup. It wasn't long before they heard sirens screaming up the road. Squad cars appeared from both directions, and several officers joined in the shootout. What had started as a routine evidence collection had turned into utter chaos, bullets flying everywhere as they fought to bring down a ghost of a man.

Catherine once again took a chance and popped up from her hiding place, firing two shots in the direction of the window, but before she could crouch again, she felt a sharp pain in her chest that knocked her to the ground.

"Catherine!"

She didn't respond. An eerie silence suddenly filled the area as firing ceased. Realizing that Owen had probably run out of ammo, Brass looked to his colleagues and nodded toward the house, giving them the signal to search out the suspect. As half the officers moved toward the house, he holstered his weapon and ran past the cover officers as he rushed over to Catherine.

"Cath?" he shouted again. Looking down, he saw a hole in her vest where the bullet had hit her. Lifting her torso so she was sitting up, he was relieved when she groaned in pain.

"Shit…"

"Cath, you alright?"

"Yeah, it hit my vest… Hurt like hell, though." Raising her arm gingerly to take the vest off, she looked down at her shoulder to see it already beginning to bruise. "Yeah, that'll leave a mark."

"Well, the guys are pulling Owen out right now. He'll go to jail anyway for that little stunt he just tried to pull, but we'll bring him into interrogation and see if we can't get him to talk about what he did with Sara…" He offered his hand. "Come on. Let's get you up and doing your job."

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A/N: Okay, chapter 5 is up and running... I tried to use a good range of emotion. I just hope it wasn't overkill... Oh, and for future reference, 413 is officer's code for suspect with a gun. Please review!

Teaser: "So I heard you guys have an interesting case on your hands," she smiled.

"We wouldn't really know," Nick snorted. "Grissom's been gone for days and Catherine is hogging all the evidence. We don't even know who the vic is, or what the hell happened."

She looked at the floor. "I do." ...