Chapter 2: The Evidence Doesn't Lie
Catherine hoped against hope that they wouldn't find anything on the tapes indicating that Sara had been in that alley. On the sixth tape, however, a camera from across the street had caught the scene. When they zoomed in, it was clear that the victim was, in fact, Sara. Repeatedly, they watched as Sara left the club and watched her assailant follow her out. In the alley he caught up to her and grabbed her arm, then proceeded to grab her other arm and pin her wrists to the wall on either side of her. Sara fought against him and managed to get free, but she couldn't get away before he back handed her across the face. Holding her face, she fell to the ground where her hand landed on the broken bottle. When the guy advanced on her again, she got up and kneed him in the groin before she ran off and out of the camera's range. Only a few seconds later the guy chased after her. Unfortunately, the camera had not been able to get the man's face captured on tape.
"There's nothing here to help us!" Practically on the verge of tears, Catherine yelled out. With a shaky sigh she turned to Greg and Brass. "Greg, can Grissom spare you for a while?
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Our missing person turned up, so I'm free."
"Good. I want you to call Sara's cell phone and home phone again. Brass, can you get a couple of uniforms and go to Sara's apartment? She might just be ignoring the phone."
"Sure. I'll call the local hospitals too, to see if she went to one to get checked out."
"Good. I'm going to finish watching these tapes to see if I can find anything on the rest that will help us. Oh, and can you get a list of everyone who was working at that bar tonight? There's a good chance that someone saw Sara and our mystery man."
"I'll see what I can do. Catherine?" By now Greg had already left to make the phone calls, so it was just Catherine and Brass in the lab.
"Hmm?"
"Shouldn't we tell Grissom about this?"
Catherine knew that she should tell Grissom about the case before word got around to him, but that didn't mean that she was looking forward to the experience. Everyone knew that Grissom had a thing for Sara no matter how much he denied it or tried to hide it. Personally, she thought he was a fool for not acting on his attraction to her. It was clear that she was attracted to him, so why hadn't he acted on it? Was it because he was afraid of conflict in the work area, or was it the age difference? Whatever it was, he needed to get over it. Even she could see that Sara was a beautiful and intelligent woman, and was worth whatever the cost to have her in your life. To be more than just friends, or a co-worker to her.
"I'll tell him, he might take it better coming from me."
Brass didn't object to this idea. He didn't want to be the one to tell Grissom that any more than she did. With a weak smile Brass left Catherine to gather her nerves to face Grissom. He would take a bullet any day rather than tell Grissom that his prodigy/love interest was missing. Grissom had never really been one to lose his cool, but there was always a first time for everything. Brass had seen it lots of time out in the field. A calm collected guy loses his cool, and the next thing you know there's a db on your hands.
"Good luck." he called back to her.
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Catherine found Grissom in his office among his various jarred specimen. Instead of working on the pile of paperwork on his desk, Gil was staring at one of his little bug friends under a magnifying glass. When he didn't seem to notice her, Catherine stepped into the cluttered office and stood in front of his desk. Still, he didn't pay her any attention. What is so interesting about that damn bug?
"Gil." Finally Grissom looked up at her, looking like she had just walked in the door.
"Is there something you need, Catherine?" Apparently he hasn't heard the news yet. Good.
"Yes, actually, there is. I take it you haven't heard about anything concerning the case you gave me at the beginning of shift."
"Should I have?" His normally blank expression turned to one of confusion at Catherine's vague question.
"Have you spoken with Sara since the last shift?" It was worth a shot; if Sara was in trouble it wouldn't seem odd for her to call Grissom for help.
"Catherine, I don't understand. What does this have to do with the case I gave you?"
"At the crime scene I found a broken bottle with trace amounts of blood on it. When trace ran it they found a match. The blood on the bottle belonged to Sara. She was attacked in an alley. From what we can tell, she got away, but we haven't been able to contact her to see if she's alright."
For a moment, Grissom sat there silently processing what she had just told him. Then he started questioning whether or not he should tell Catherine about the case Sara had been working on in her spare time. It could be crucial to the investigation, but it would also piss Sara off if she found out. Then again, if it helps find her, Grissom can deal with Sara being pissed at him. Besides, Catherine deserved to know. After all, the case did have something to do with her.
" I don't know if this will help you any, but it might. Sara has been working on an old case, in her spare time. This could be irrelevant, or it could offer you, your first suspect. Sara has been working on Eddie's case."
"What? Wait, you knew about this and you didn't tell me?"
"Sara didn't want to get you involved, not until she felt that the case was solved."
"Damnit! Gil, you knew! You knew and you didn't tell me! I had every right to know about this! She's investigating the death of my ex-husband, the father of my child, and you didn't bother to tell me!"
"Catherine-"
"No! Don't talk to me, Gil. I want that case file. It's now a part of my investigation."
Beyond pissed, Catherine stormed out of the office. If she hadn't left then, she would have ended getting suspended for cussing Grissom out. Then she wouldn't have the satisfaction of finding Sara and giving her a piece of her mind for keeping the case from her. Why had she been investigating that case anyways? It had been closed within a week of Eddie's death. There hadn't been enough evidence to convict anyone. Even though she was beyond pissed at Sara at the moment, in a way all she wanted to do was find Sara and protect her from whatever evils were after her.
"Damnit, Sara. You better be okay."
