Here's chapter 7 for ya… I was really hung over writing this chapter, and it was not the best I've ever written. That's when I sent it to my fantastic beta, Jess, and she totally made it work. She gets credit as being co-writer on this chapter, because she made it readable and gave it the flow that I think it has now. Thank you soooo much, Jess.
Thank you all for the reviews, I hope you will like (… And review… hint, hint…) this one as well… Enjoy.
Chapter Seven /The Case
Getting out of the car, Sara automatically noticed the apparent lack of evidence on the scene before her. She knew better than to assume that that was the case, though. She went to the back of the Tahoe and got out the kits, as Catherine went to talk to Kim and Sofia who were watching over the scene.
"Why are they wasting detective time on this one?" Catherine asked as she approached the two women.
"I don't really know." Kim offered.
"I think Captain Brass has a hunch about this one." Sofia continued.
"Hunch?" Catherine asked.
"Yes, we have a 418 downtown, and Brass thinks this is the one."
"Who found the vic?" Sara asked as she joined the other three.
"A Mr. Johnson." Sofia confirmed, looking at her notes. "He was out driving – apparently, he'd had a fight with his girlfriend and needed some air. Bad for him, lucky for us. She wouldn't have been found for weeks if he hadn't stumbled upon her."
"Anyone touch the body?" Sara asked, all business.
"Mr. Johnson checked for a pulse, but other than that, no." Kim answered, just as efficient.
"So, we don't have an ID yet?" Catherine took over. Both she and Sara knew this game by heart, and they complimented each other perfectly.
"No, we waited for you. If this is who we think it is then we'll need all the evidence we can get." Sofia explained.
"Who do we suspect she is?" Catherine asked.
"Siobhan Rowan."
"Who is she?" Catherine asked confused, not recognizing the name.
"She is the daughter of Paul and Stella Rowan." Kim informed her.
"The Chief of Staff for the Governor of Nevada?" Catherine asked. If the girl was in fact Siobhan Rowan, then they had a nightmare case on their hand. The media coverage would be unbearable and the pressure from the sheriff and the Governor would be relentless. This could possibly be a VIP case.
"God, this is all we need right now." Sara sighed, locking eyes with Kimberly.
"I know."
There was a silent understanding passing between the two women that had nothing to do with the importance of the case.
This didn't go unnoticed by Catherine and Sofia, who looked at their colleagues and waited for an explanation. Catherine was the first to speak.
"Care to fill us in here?"
"I don't think it has any relevance to the case." Sara answered cautiously. "Besides we should get a positive ID before getting ahead of ourselves." She added, walking carefully towards the scene with a kit in hand.
"She's right. We'll panic after she gets the ID." Sofia smiled to show that she was only kidding.
They watched as Sara carefully looked for an ID on the body. When she found one she got up and walked towards them again.
"I got something."
"What does it say?" Catherine asked.
"We've got trouble." Sara said flatly. "Siobhan Meghan Rowan."
"Shit." Catherine breathed out.
"You said it." Sofia added quietly, looking towards the dumped body on the ground.
They stood for a couple of minutes in silence, each processing the magnitude of the case they had just been handed.
"Look." Kimberly broke the silence. "I don't know if this is going to be a problem…" She waited until she had everyone's attention before continuing. "…but I'm married to the oldest of the Governor's daughters."
"Wha…" Catherine was speechless. 'Veronica is the daughter of the governor of Nevada? And my sister Nancy is dating her twin brother - That means that my sister is dating…Oh my God!'
"Somehow I doubt that it'll make a difference." Sara said in a low tone of voice. "Have you ever actually met him?"
"You know I haven't." Kimberly shot back, looking her square in the eyes.
"No problem then." Sara stated. She looked towards the scene and turned towards Catherine. "How do you want to do this?"
"Wait a minute." Catherine stopped her from moving closer to the scene by putting her hand on her arm. "Let me get this straight first. Veronica is the daughter of Governor Lavisham?" She looked between Kimberly and Sara for one of them to answer her. When Sara nodded in confirmation she continued. "But her name is Christiansen? And not because of marriage." She looked at Kimberly.
"She changed it when she turned 18. She kept Lavisham as a middle name, I think because of Benjamin. Look, this has nothing to do with the case; I just wanted to know if there would be any kind of conflict of interest with me working it."
"She's right Catherine." Sara said. "We need to process the scene and get her moved, before the press gets hold of this and sends out photographers."
"Fine." Catherine was not pleased, but let it go for the time being. "I'll take the body. You do perimeter and talk to Mr. Johnson."
"Fine. Let's get this over with." Sara grabbed her kit once again and walked towards the man standing with a uniformed cop. Catherine grabbed her kit as well, and moved carefully towards the body, leaving Sofia and Kimberly standing alone together.
"You want to tell me about this?" Sofia asked.
"Not really." Kim answered. "Besides, we'd better give the Captain a heads up."
"Sure." Sofia said, getting out her phone. "I'll call him."
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"Are you ready to go?" Catherine asked.
"Yeah." Sara got up from her crouched position. "There's nothing left to find here. This isn't the primary scene; she was dumped here."
"Yeah, poor girl. She was only 17 years old." Catherine sighed. "We'd better talk to Nick and Warrick. They have the missing person's case, and I'll bet we just solved it for them."
"I'll call them and arrange to meet with them back at the lab, if that's okay with you?"
"Sure, I'll go tell Curtis and Shaw that we're heading back while you do that." Catherine said, and started walking towards the two women.
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The drive back was uneventful, mainly because they both had their minds on the case in hand. Catherine was curious as to why Shaw had never met her in-laws, but she didn't press the subject. With the mood Sara had been in all day she knew that the brunette wouldn't tell her anything.
"Hey, Ladies." Warrick greeted them as they walked into Cath's office, after leaving their findings with the right lab technicians.
"Hi guys." Catherine said sitting down behind her desk. Sara, who had seated herself in a vacant chair next to Nick, nodded her hello.
"Who was your missing person?" Catherine asked, getting straight to the point.
"A Siobhan Rowan," Nick answered. "She's the…"
"…Daughter of the Chief of Staff in the Governor's office." Catherine interrupted him.
"Wow. You've sure got your politics down." Nick sounded impressed.
"Well, as much as I would like for you to think so, not really Nicky." Catherine smiled. "We found the body. It seems we're working the same case, and it is one political hot potato."
"You're telling us!" Warrick interjected. "It was big when she was just missing; this is going to be hell."
"Hell is not a strong enough word for this case." Nick said. "And the Governor has, what…three kids, and the youngest is the same age as the vic."
"He has five." Sara, who had been silent during the entire conversation, spoke up suddenly. "He and his wife have five kids." She clarified, before looking at Catherine. "I guess you have lead on this one. What do we do?"
"Erm…" Catherine thought about their course of action for a minute before speaking up again. "Warrick, I want you down at the morgue with the body. Nick, I need you to process the vic's clothes and get the lab results together for a later meeting…"
"But…" Sara interrupted.
Catherine held up a hand silencing her.
"I know that's your speciality, but I need you with me. We're going to meet up with the detectives at her parent's house. She still lived with them and we need to go through her room." She looked at each of them before continuing. "I know I don't have to say this, but we talk to nobody about this. The press does not get anything from this office."
The others nodded. She really didn't have to tell them, but they understood her doing so.
"Ok, let's get to work." Catherine finished. "Sara, I'll meet you outside in five, I just need to catch Grissom up. He's gonna love this."
Sara nodded and they all left the office, each going off their separate ways to do what they had been asked.
As Sara walked through the reception area, she spotted something white out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head and saw a familiar figure wearing a white lab coat standing near the doors.
"Veronica?"
"Sara. Sorry to bother you at work." Veronica came nearer.
"Foxy, I really can't talk right now. I'm busy with a case."
"I know, I have to get back to the hospital as well, it's just…" Veronica paused and went up close to Sara lowering her voice. "Kim called me and told me something. I need for you to tell me it's not true."
"She shouldn't have told you anything." Sara deliberately evaded the question, and Veronica picked up on that.
"God. That poor kid." She sighed, sitting down on the chairs next to them.
"Sara, you ready?" Catherine had appeared out of nowhere. "Veronica?" She said, noticing the other woman sitting in the chairs.
"Catherine, nice to meet you again." Veronica got up and shook the older woman's hand. "I heard this rumour, and I needed confirmation." She offered as an explanation as to why she was there.
"Is this rumour something that we should be discussing in the reception area?" Catherine asked Sara.
"No." Sara knew that she was being rude, but she couldn't help it. She really didn't need for these two women to get familiar with each other. She knew that Foxy would pick up on her feelings for Catherine and demand that she acted on them, something that Sara was not prepared to do – ever.
"Ok. Let's take this to my office, then." Catherine turned and walked back towards her office, with Veronica following close by.
'This is not happening!'
Sara had no other option but to follow the two of them.