Chapter 3

Greg had returned to his station in the DNA lab to process the jacket himself. It would just be faster. He knew the importance of the case, and he knew how invested Sara was. Everyone from night shift had speculated at one point in time why she took rape and assault cases so seriously, and all they could agree on was that it was personal. That fact in itself made Greg feel sick. Seeing the crime scene photos of their current case was hard enough; photos with the face of someone you loved and cared about was too much for him.

"How's it coming?" Sara's voice broke his contemplations.

Surprised Grissom hadn't sent her home; he wondered what she had said to convince him she should stay. He shook his head, "You know, you're really the only one that gets under his skin."

She looked at him, trying to determine the meaning behind his words, "What do you mean?"

"Grissom. If you were anyone else, you'd be home, and banned from the lab until shift change. What did you say to him?" He asked cutting out the final sample from the collar of the jacket.

Sara did not respond, and instead looked down at the material that was now riddled with several small square holes. "It looks fairly worn, do you think we'll get a DNA sample?"

Starting the processor, he looked over at her, "It's a good possibility. I didn't find anything else on the coat that could help us, but I wanted a second opinion."

She was already searching the pockets, "I was thinking, if worse comes to worse, we can see if Tucker would give us his DNA sample and we can compare it to the rapist. If enough alleles are in common, that may be enough to get a warrant."

"He seemed more than willing to swap spit with you Sara, so that may not be a problem," he joked, hoping for a smile. Her smiles were so scarce that he took pride when he was able to produce one.

"I'll use a swab thank you," she commented with a crooked grin.

'That counts,' he told himself noting her mood.

Pulling the lining from the pocket out, she examined it, "There's a hole in the lining." She was desperate to find any piece of evidence she could get her hands on, "Let's open it and see if anything got stuck in between the material."

Carefully cutting the seam away, Greg leaned over to get a better look, "A poker chip, not that uncommon around here. Is that the tag or a piece of paper?" He asked pointing to a white corner stuck in a fold.

"Looks like paper," she commented, unfolding it. "DCV 3492. License plate number? I'm going to go run it through the DMV database, and then see if I can contact Lisa Croft. Page me when you have the DNA results?"

She was gone before he could answer.

--/--

Her eyes drifted shut while she waited for the database to continue its search. It had crashed twice already, only to finally report no Nevada plates matched. Sighing she manipulated the software to start a nation wide search.

--/--

The beep startled her awake; sitting up straight she looked at the screen, and ran out of the room to find Greg. Before she reached the DNA lab, she ran into Warrick, "I didn't think you were in already?" she asked him.

"Grissom called us all in. He wants us to compare all our notes." He explained. "There've been so many attacks by this guy in such a short period of time we're all kinda running around like a chickens with our heads cut off."

"I thought we were meeting at the start of shift? It's 12:30 in the afternoon." She stated.

He put his hands up, "He said you were on to something, and he wanted to get us all up to speed."

'The sooner we solve this, the soon he can send me home,' she was annoyed, waved a hand at Warrick and continued her trek to the Greg.

Rounding the corner she began talking immediately. "Hey, guess who the license plate is registered to?" She stopped when she saw Grissom sitting in the chair.

"Greg is in the break room." He said simply.

"I heard you called a meeting. Was I going to be invited?" She wasn't sure why she felt so defensive.

"That's why I'm here. I didn't think you were going to make yourself easy for me to find," he confessed.

She instantly felt guilty, "Look Grissom, about earlier. I was—"

"Tired, exhausted, and I stepped on your last nerve?" He filed in the words for her.

She nodded her head, grateful he seemed to be understanding.

"When I was working on my dissertation I had to spend four days straight, no sleep recording data. I was so strung out, and emotional that cried at an Oreo commercial."

She chuckled at the mental image.

He grinned back at her, the smile touching his eyes. Finally he shifted gears, "Who's car?"

"Lisa Croft's," Sara caught him up to speed on the lead with the plate number and poker chip.

He nodded and stood, "Let's join the others."

--/--

Sara studied the DNA results in front her, listening to the others around her talk about their rape cases. The rapes all took place at night, flooding the night shift with enough work that all other cases were now being assigned to other shifts.

"Sara it looks like your case is the only one he messed up," Catherine observed listening to all the dead ends.

"The DNA we got from the jacket matches the rapist DNA," she noted.

"I'll check with Brass, see if that's enough to get a warrant. We may run into problems with the manner of collection," Grissom noted.

"I just want a warrant to get a clean sample. He did meet his half brother—"

"Who seemed quite taken with Sara," Greg added.

Grissom's eyes narrowed.

Sara glared at him, "I thought we might get a sample from him to compare. He seemed willing to help out any way he could." She stared at Greg as she finished her statement, daring him to comment.

He wisely kept his mouth shut.

"Sara, where do you need help?" Nick asked. They all sensed they were close to getting the guy.

"Someone should follow up with Lisa Croft. I'm wondering if she was the target, but Lydia somehow got in the way. I also have no idea what, if any, relationship the two had." She continued to think, "I thought we should follow up with James' place of employment. He claims to have gotten his print on Lydia's button at work. Maybe that's how he decides who his next victim will be," she explained thinking aloud for herself as much as she was for the group.

"Okay, Nick and Catherine go interview Lisa Croft, Greg and Nick get the dry cleaner records and crosscheck them against out victim list. Sara, finish up with the jacket and poker chip, then go home and get a few hours of sleep," Grissom finished looking at her waiting for her to protest, "Please?"

She nodded her resignation.

"I'm going to see if we can get that warrant," he finalized and the team stood ready to begin their assignments.

Sara stood, feeling anxious and excited. She needed to see Kelly James behind bars. Walking out of the break room, she found Grissom lurking in the hallway.

"Sara," he looked concerned.

"It's okay Grissom, I do really need to get some sleep," she waved him off.

"I promise to call you if the case breaks," he stated.

--/--

Finding nothing more on the jacket, and deciding that the poker chip was a dead end after discovering no prints, Sara grabbed the yellow back pack and headed for the parking lot, swinging by Grissom's office on her way out, "I'm going home."

He looked up, and then looked at his watch, "3:00. When are you coming back in?"

"Unless you call, I'll be in at 11:00. I need to swing by the climbing gym and return Tucker's pack. He offered to let me climb, and I thought it would be a good work out. I'll be in after I shower." She studied his reaction while she spoke, and thought she saw a flash of jealousy, but it was quickly buried.

--/--

Nick and Catherine waited on Lisa Croft's porch. "The husband identified the body, and gave us a timeline of Lydia Croft's day. We had no reason to interview other family members," Catherine explained to her colleague, as she rung the bell again.

Nick peered around the corner, spotting a car in the driveway, "California license plate, that's the car."

Before Catherine could comment, the front door opened revealing a petite, long haired brunette. She was dressed in sweats and appeared to have been crying, "Yes?"

Nick felt a surge of sympathy for the woman in front of him, "Lisa Croft?"

She nodded.

"I'm Nick Stokes, and this is Catherine Willows, we're with the Crime lab," he started gently.

New tears welled up in her eyes, "Is this about Lydia?"

"Yes, you knew her?" Catherine asked trying not to upset her further.

"She's my sister-in-law. Have you found the man that…" Trailing off, she wasn't able to finish her sentence.

"We're close ma'am. Can you tell us if Lydia ever drove your car?" Nick cocked his head toward the Audi in the driveway.

"Yes, her A/C went out in her car, not really something you can do without in this state." She answered and then her eyes narrowed, "Why?"

He wasn't ready to draw conclusion yet, and continued his questions, "Do you know a Kelly James?"

"No, I don't think so, was she murdered too?" Lisa was quickly loosing her control.

"No ma'am. He's a suspect," Catherine clarified.

"He? Kelly…there's a creep from the gym, I think his name is Kelly, I remembered wondering why a mother would call her son that. Do you think…do you think he was after me?" Her voice quivered with shock.

"We're looking into it, do you mind if we take a look at your car?" Nick requested.

--/--

Greg and Warrick were in the break room looking over the dry cleaner's list when Nick and Catherine walked in. "Hey guys, any luck with the license plate?" Greg asked hopefully.

"Not much, Lydia Croft used her sister-in-law's car frequently, so it's really hard to say who the target was. We need to figure out how he picks these women." Nick sat next to his colleagues looking defeated. "What about you?" He asked nodding at the list.

"Three out of the seven victims used the dry cleaner Kelly James works at." Warrick stated rubbing his eyes. "Did Sara find anything else before she left?"

Catherine shook her head, "No prints on the chip, nothing else from the jacket."

"What about the warrant?" Greg asked hopeful.

"Grissom wasn't in his office. He might be meeting with Brass. Other than that, dead end," the blonde conceded.

"Sara won't be happy," Greg observed.

Nick grimaced, thinking of her reaction, "Yeah, well at least she'll be rested."

Catherine flipped through the customer list Warrick had just set aside, "It's been two days since the last rape, we're due for one tonight."

They all sensed the gravity and frustration of the situation. There was not much more they could do with the evidence they had, and the rapist didn't appear to be retiring.

TBC