Thank you for the reviews – I love them… I would love reviews on this one as well…

Jess, thank you again for betaing this for me – even with a computer drama on your hands… Hope it is all better…

Chapter Nineteen

Fighting

"Ok…" Catherine paused and listened to the person on the other end of the line. "Yes, well thank you very much for your co-operation. Any chance we could get the visitor log without a warrant?" She listened again. "No, didn't think so, but it was worth a try. We'll get the warrant as soon as possible. Thank you. Bye." She hung up the phone again and looked at Sara.

"So, he's still in jail?" The brunette asked.

"Yes, he's still in jail." Catherine confirmed. "He's in the Nevada State Penitentiary."

"We already got that from the post stamps on the letters."

"Yes."

"So how did his hair end up outside the walls?" Sara wondered.

"His puppet put it there." Catherine stated. "We'll get a warrant for the visitor log and get our list of suspects from there."

"Yeah." Sara sighed. "This case won't be over any time soon, will it?"

"I'm afraid not." Catherine sighed and leaned back in her chair. "And it couldn't have happened at a worse time."

"It shouldn't have happened at all." Sara said before remembering. "Oh, Lindsey's birthday… You have to plan Lindsey's birthday."

"Yeah," Catherine ran a hand through her already ruffled hair, "I'm afraid I'll have to get Nancy to do most of that. This case is going to take up almost all of my time."

"Anything I can do to help?" Sara offered, the words out of her mouth before she knew she'd said them.

Catherine looked at her in surprise. The brunette had not spent much time with Lindsey and she was surprised that Sara would offer her help.

"I don't know. I haven't really gotten anything planned yet."

"You said she didn't want anything big?"

"Yeah, that's what she told me the other day." Catherine smiled. "She's growing up so fast."

"Not too fast I hope." Sara whispered to herself.

"What do you mean by that?" Catherine had heard what she had said.

"Nothing..." Sara looked intently at the seriously ugly ducks sitting on the desk between them, not wanting to meet Catherine's eyes.

"Sara?"

"I just think that kids should have time to be kids and not grow up too fast."

"I agree." Catherine told the brunette, who looked up in surprise. "Don't look so surprised. I grew up way too fast and look what happened to me." She added.

"Uhm…" Sara didn't know how to respond.

"You can say it," Catherine shrugged. "A stripper and an addict with a loser husband."

"Who was strong enough to turn her life around, get a different career, be damn good at what she does and raise a beautiful daughter." Sara added quietly.

"Thanks." Catherine felt the honesty in the compliment. "So what made you grow up too fast?" She asked softly.

"Oh," Sara let out a dry laugh. "I don't think we have the time or energy for that part of my life. Right now I need all my energy just to cope with my college years."

"But you'll tell me later?" Catherine asked.

"I don't know." Sara said honestly. "We're not exactly…"

"Friends… Yeah, so you keep telling me." Catherine sighed. "But that doesn't mean I don't care."

Sara looked back at the ducks, Nick's words running through her head - 'It's just, Catherine never stops surprising me, so you never know' - But she dismissed the thought as soon as it surfaced. Catherine couldn't possibly be interested in her.

"Are we absolutely sure that it is Dunne in that jail?" She asked, wanting to change the subject.

"What do you mean?" Catherine wasn't sure what she was getting at.

"Well, are we sure that he didn't pull a switch?"

"No." Catherine shook her head. "But that would be a little farfetched."

"You read those letters, Catherine. Dunne may be delusional but he is far from stupid. His IQ is up there with the best of them."

"Yeah, but a switch? He couldn't have pulled that off without inside help."

"I wouldn't rule that out as a possibility." Sara said seriously. "We need to go talk to him."

"We as in not you."

"I'm the only one who will know for sure that it's him."

"You are also a victim when it comes to him. You are not going! I'll take Nick with me."

"I am going, Catherine!" They were both getting louder.

"You are not going anywhere near that man, Sara!"

"I am! But you're not!"

"What!" Catherine asked, getting up from her chair and leaning over the desk towards Sara. "I am senior on this case and I call the shots!"

"I don't want you anywhere near that sick son of a bitch!" Sara argued, getting up from her own chair and leaning over the desk from the other side – their faces only inches apart.

"You don't have a say in that!"

"The minute you get in that room with him, the second you even hint that you know me, he will pick you as his next victim, and I don't want you to get hurt!"

"What!" The words registered with Catherine. "What?" She added in a much softer tone.

"Yeah, believe it or not I care about you too, Catherine. I don't want you to get hurt. You have a daughter to finish raising. I have nothing. Let me go in there with him."

"Sara..." Catherine breathed out, looking her softly in the eyes. "I…" She was at a loss for words.

They just stood there, getting lost in each other's eyes. Catherine leant closer to the brunette, her eyes leaving Sara's to look down at the younger woman's lips…

"Catherine, Sara. Is everything alright in here?" Grissom asked, poking his head in the door. "You were getting rather loud."

Cursing the man with every fibre of her being, Catherine quickly stood up straight.

"Yes, Gil. We're fine." She said shortly, watching Sara sit back down. "What are you doing here at this time of day?"

"I have an experiment."

Sara, who was sitting with her back to him, cringed at his words, remembering the pig experiment. Catherine smiled at the face the younger was sporting.

"How is your case going?" Grissom asked, not noticing Catherine's smile.

"It's going," Catherine told the supervisor. "But it's going slow. We don't have much to go on."

"Ok." He said absentmindedly. "If you need help you know where to find me."

"In a lab with your bug experiment." Catherine joked and earned a smirk from Grissom. "Thanks." She added more seriously.

"Good luck with it." He said, and disappeared down the hall.

"Look, Sara…" Catherine started as soon as Grissom was out of sight.

"We should get to the meeting." Sara interrupted her. "We have a case to solve." She got up from her chair again and walked out the door, leaving Catherine alone in the office with the ducks.

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Joining the others in the conference room, Catherine got right down to business.

"Warrick, autopsy?"

"Same MO as in Veronica's case. COD was a stab wound to the stomach and a slit throat, both causing the victim to bleed out slowly. Definite signs of rape, possibly multiple times. No trace material found on the body other than what we got running a rape kit."

"Do we have the results on that?" Catherine asked.

"We found pubic hairs, but we haven't found a match so far." Warrick informed them.

"Ok. Sofia, do we have a timeline for the vic?"

"Yes. The victim was reported missing Saturday afternoon, but a screw up somewhere meant we didn't get the call until Saturday night, which was when she was found. The reason she wasn't reported missing sooner was because the parents thought she was at a friend's house for a sleepover from Thursday to Friday, and the friend thought she had forgotten about it and was home."

"That still leaves a day." Sara interjected.

"Yes, but apparently she wasn't good at telling her parents where she was at. They assumed she was still at the friend's house, until the friend called telling them that she wasn't."

"Have you found out when she went missing?" Catherine asked.

"As far as we can figure out," Sofia looked at her papers, "he took her late Thursday afternoon. The last person to see her was a janitor at her school, who saw her leave in her car at 4 pm. Apparently she was working on a paper and had to use books in the library."

"He got her as she was coming home from the library?" Sara asked even though she didn't really want to hear the answer.

"Yes." Kimberly spoke up. "She spent a lot of time at the library apparently. A real book worm."

"Ok," Catherine sighed. "We can't keep treating these like coincidences. We got the result back on the hair, and it belongs to Dunne. I checked up on him and he is still in jail." She looked up at them. "We have a copycat and we need to find him."

"We need to talk to Dunne." Sofia stated.

"Yes, but I think we need to call Brass in on this one." Catherine held up a hand stopping Sofia as she was about to interrupt. "It's not that I don't trust you to do the job. I've read the letters he has written, and I doubt he will talk to any woman…"

"Except Veronica." Kimberly finished.

"Except Veronica," Catherine agreed. "But she is not going anywhere near him and neither are you. You are too close to this to keep a level head."

"I know, and I don't want to be anywhere near him." Kimberly informed them.

"And you're not going either, Sofia." Catherine told the other blonde.

"But…"

"Sara thinks, and I agree, that any woman getting close to Dunne will be in danger of being the next victim. Just the indication that you are close to either Sara or Veronica may set him off." Catherine continued, not letting the detective interrupt. "I'm not going either."

"Ok. I'll call Brass and get him up to speed." Sofia said.

"Good, thank you." Catherine turned to the Texan. "Nick, I want you to go with Brass."

"Sure." Nick said.

"If you're not up to it…"

"No, I'll do it." Nick stopped her. "Not a problem as long as you don't ask me to be superglue again." He added with a grin, wanting to relieve the tension a little, and earning a small smile back from the blonde.

"Catherine…" Sara started.

"Sara, we'll talk about this alone later." Catherine brushed her off. "Sofia, you go call Brass. Kimberly, you go get a warrant for the visitor log concerning him. Nick, you call and set up the interview. Warrick, you go check up on the guards in the jail."

"The guards?" Warrick asked.

"Yes, we have to look at all possibilities and he could have help on the inside."

"And what should I do?" Sara asked sarcastically.

"You follow me to my office to finish the talk we started." Catherine answered coolly. "Ok, guys let's get on with it." She said, gathering all the folders they had given her.

The others left one by one to do as they had been told; soon only Sara and Catherine were left in the room.

"I still…" Sara started.

"Get to my office!" Catherine cut her off and left the room, leaving the brunette no other option but to follow her.