Here is the next chapter for you. Thank you so much for the reviews you have given, I hope you will review on this part as well.
Thank you Lady J again for being the best beta in the world! And for keeping the ducks on your side of the ocean, I haven't seen them in a while.
Chapter Twenty Seven
Casa de Veronica
"Oh sweetie." Catherine stepped closer to Sara, wanting to provide some sort of comfort.
The brunette held up a hand stopping her. She took a few deep cleansing breaths.
"He's got her, Catherine." She repeated after getting her breathing under control. She wiped the tears from her eyes, willing herself to stop crying and keep a distance from the information she had just been given.
"We'll find…" Catherine was interrupted by her phone ringing. "Willows."
"Catherine, it's Brass. Bridget Lavisham is gone. I'm at the house, we need CSI assistance right now."
"He's got Veronica Lavisham too." Catherine informed the captain. "I'll have to get Grissom in on this."
"Just send people over here," Brass told her, "I'll get Sofia to the other scene."
"I'll send Nick and Warrick over." Catherine told him, hanging up the phone.
"He got Bridget too?" Sara asked, having gotten a hold of herself and seeming completely calm.
"Yes."
"I'll go there with Nick."
"Sara…"
"I have to help with this, Catherine."
"You touch any of the evidence over there it will be contaminated and consequently thrown out of court." Catherine looked at her sympathetically. "You're too close to this now."
"I can't just sit here!" Sara argued, loosing the cool she was trying so hard to maintain.
"Even if I say ok to this, Grissom will have you removed the second he's up to date." Catherine stepped closer, holding out her hand.
Sara turned away from the blonde. "I have to do something, I can't just…"
"It's ok to cry, Sara." Catherine tried to get through to the brunette. "Your best friend has been kidnapped."
"I'll be alright here, Catherine." Sara said to her with her back still turned. "Go do your job. Go solve this."
"Sara…"
"Just go!" Sara took a deep breath. "Get her back. Get all three of them back safely… Please."
"Ok." Catherine stepped back. "I'll call and keep you updated."
"I'll probably go to the lab and wait there." Sara told her without turning around.
"Right." Catherine dialled a number on her phone. "I'll see you later then."
"Sure."
Catherine hit the call button as she walked out of the apartment. She turned around to take one last look at Sara who was now hiding her head in her hands, sobbing. Her heart was breaking for the brunette, but the only thing she could do to help her right now was to work the case. She instinctively knew that Sara wouldn't accept physical comfort at the moment; that she needed to be alone with her grief.
"Warrick? I need you and Nick to go to Governor Lavisham's residence. His daughter has been kidnapped."
-------------------------
"Hi Grissom." Catherine walked up to the man standing outside Veronica's house. "Wow, this is a very impressive house." She stated, looking up at the large building.
"Yes." Grissom agreed.
"A place like this should have the best alarm systems around."
"It does." Grissom looked at her. "I checked."
"There were three guards on the daughter, four on Veronica and a top security system on top of that. How the hell did they even get to her, let alone get her out of the house without anyone noticing anything?" Catherine asked incredulously.
"That's what we're here to find out." Grissom answered, walking up to the door. "Hello, Sofia."
"Grissom." Sofia nodded at Catherine. "Catherine."
"Sofia." Catherine walked up to the two of them. "How could this happen? They got not one but both of the girls we were supposed to be protecting."
"I don't know." Sofia sighed, looking back inside the house. "She disappeared from her bedroom."
"Who discovered that she was gone?" Catherine asked.
"A Walter Jones." Detective Curtis told them. "Apparently Shaw called at 8.11 to talk to Veronica, but she was putting their daughter to bed. Jones went upstairs to get her, but found the bedroom empty."
"The child sleeps in her bedroom?" Grissom asked.
"Just as long as this case is going on." A dishevelled looking Kimberly said, appearing behind Sofia. "She wanted Jules close by for as long as there was a threat against her. Veronica worries a lot, and keeping the baby in the bedroom saved her from getting up to check on her every half hour."
"I'll take the bedroom." Grissom said, stepping past the two women at the door.
"Yeah." Catherine stopped next to Shaw and placed a comforting hand on her arm. "I'll just hear what Kimberly has to say and then I'll do the perimeter."
"Good." Grissom turned on his flashlight and pointed it up the stairs. "Up there?"
"I'll show you." Sofia said, and went up ahead of him.
"I'm so sorry, Kim." Catherine told the detective when the two had left.
"It's not your fault." Kim answered, and walked back into the house.
The blonde followed her into a large living room where two other people were waiting. Kimberly sat down on the couch next to Benjamin and Catherine sat down beside her.
"I need to know what happened." She said gently.
"I don't know what happened." Kimberly started crying again. "I wasn't here."
"She told you to go to work." Benjamin placed an arm around her, trying to comfort her.
"Were you here?" Catherine asked the man.
"No, I was here this afternoon, but she made me go back to Nancy to spend some time with her and Jeremy. She said she felt like she'd taken up enough of my time the last couple of days." The tears started running silently down his cheeks.
"I was here with two of the uniforms." The other man in the room spoke up. "Dr. Lavisham…"
"Christiansen!" Kimberly corrected him angrily. "Dr. Christiansen."
"Dr. Christiansen had made dinner and told us to stay down here and finish it. I offered to go with her but she told me to just relax and finish my meal. We had checked the premises fifteen minutes earlier and everything was normal."
"So you stayed down here and finished dinner." Catherine stated. "When was this?"
"A few minutes to 8."
"And when did Detective Shaw call?"
"8.10."
"And then what happened?"
"I went upstairs to the bedroom to get Dr. La… Christiansen, but the door was locked. I proceeded to call out for her and when she didn't answer I called the officers downstairs for backup and kicked in the door."
"And then what?" Catherine asked.
"We secured the premises and found that both Dr. Christiansen and her daughter were gone."
----------------------------
"Grissom." Catherine looked at the broken door as she walked into the bedroom.
"The door has been broken down." He stated the obvious.
"Yeah. Our Mr. Jones did that." Catherine told him. "Are you getting anything in here?"
"This was not your fault, Catherine." Grissom stood up from his crouched position and walked over to her.
"It was my case." Catherine told him. "I should have done more."
"You can't solve a crime that hasn't been committed." Grissom told her.
"I could have solved the one that had." Catherine countered.
"Did you follow every piece of evidence?"
"Of course I did."
"And did you get anything probative from that?"
"Nothing but speculations." Catherine sighed.
"Then this wasn't your fault." Grissom said with a smile, walking back to his kit. "And this is still your case." He added.
"Yeah?" Catherine asked.
"Yes." Grissom confirmed.
"I'll go have a look outside then." She turned and went outside.
----------------------------
"Did you find anything?" Catherine walked up to Grissom who was stood looking up at the house.
"Yes." He answered. "I've got hairs, fibres, prints. It looks like they're not afraid to leave anything behind anymore."
"Yeah," Catherine agreed. "I found a ladder and foot prints under the window." She pointed at a wall in the back of the garden that separated the house from the neighbour's house. "It looks like they got in down there and left the same way."
"Clever." Grissom noted. "Break into a one garden to get into the garden you really want to get into."
"We should get this stuff back to the lab." Catherine took one last look around the garden before turning around. "I'll meet you back there."
"Yes." Grissom turned around as well and walked behind her out of the garden and towards the cars.
In the car, Catherine pulled out her phone and dialled a familiar number. Waiting for it to be picked up she tapped her nails on the dashboard.
"Sidle." A croaky voice answered.
"It's me. How are you holding up?"
"I'm ok." Sara answered flatly.
"Ok." Catherine didn't buy that, but let it slide. "I'm on my way back from Veronica's. Where are you?"
"I'm still at home."
"Are you coming by the lab?"
"I don't know."
"You want me to come by your place?"
"You should work the case."
"I wish there was something I could do for you." Catherine said softly.
"Get them back."
"I'll do my best."
"I should let you get back to work."
"Sara…" Catherine couldn't finish her sentence before Sara interrupted her.
"I'll talk to you later." She said and hung up the phone.
"Damn." Catherine punched the steering wheel and leaned back in the seat. Sara had sounded so detached. Taking a deep calming breath she turned the key in the ignition and drove towards the lab.