Well guys... here you go w/ chapter 4... theres some more da vinci code discussion in this one (Its not important to the plot very much, and you'll get the gist of things...), if you haven't read it... well, I strongly suggest reading it, its a good book!

I didn't get this chapter betaed or edited, so sorry about any and all typos/spelling errors.

Enjoy

Chapter 4

Nick and Sara found the team in the break room, looking defeated. Warrick and Catherine were both staring into Styrofoam cups of coffee while Greg lay with his eyes closed on the couch, earphones in. Grissom was the only one standing, looking thoughtful.

"Hey," Warrick greeted them as they walked in.

"Any progress?" Nick asked, taking a seat.

Catherine shook her head. "None,"

Greg opened one eye and took his earphones out. "At least you got sleep," He said.

"Any info from the autopsy?" Sara asked, looking at Grissom.

"Not much," Grissom said. The others looked at him. "Just stuff we already know."

"This case is going nowhere," Catherine said, frustrated.

"He leaves nothing, no prints, no DNA, nothing." Sara concurred.

"Doesn't plant anything either," Greg pointed out.

"Yeah," Warrick got up and threw away his cup. "I'm starting to wish he did. At least it would give us a lead."

"There's so much we don't know," Greg said, yawning.

Grissom was watching them, still looking thoughtful. "Then start with what we do know,"

They all looked at him. "That's not much," Nick said.

"We know that his trademark is to come in through the window, tie them to the bed…" Grissom trailed off.

"Yeah, and then put them in as much pain as he can." Sara's eyes were burning with anger again.

"He doesn't discriminate between boys and girls too…" Nick said, the thought of that boy stirring old memories. He shook them off quickly.

"Are we sure that was our guy?" Catherine asked.

Nick shrugged. "Same signature."

"What signature?" Warrick said, looking slightly incredulous.

"Hey guys," Greg said quite suddenly. "The parents said that they always go out for drinks on Friday nights, and they got back early last night."

Nick thought he knew what Greg was implying. "This girl didn't have as much scarring as the others. The others all died around 4:00 in the morning. She died at 1:30."

Grissom was looking at him. "Something went wrong with this one. There's something different about this. It was almost as if…"

"He chose the night that the parents would be out," Sara said. "And that girl's window locks from the inside. The parents said they don't let her open it at night, but they know she does it when they're out."

"You think our killer stalks them first?" Warrick said, glancing around the room.

"How many people know the parents go out for drinks Friday nights?" Greg asked.

Everyone was silent. "Probably only the people at the bar," Sara said finally. "They said it was a private thing."

"But they don't go to the same bar each night." Greg said. "And how many people would know she opens the window when her parents aren't home?"

"So it's either the parents, or a stalker," Warrick said.

Nick didn't like where this was going. The parents seemed unlikely. Their story was easily verified by the owner of the bar they went to the night before. A stalker seemed more logical. The other victims had also been killed on a night when their parents were not scheduled to be home. As was proved with the others, however, this killer left no trace. Nick thought back to what the parents had said. They got back early. The bar they were at closed unexpectedly when the owners were found with drugs. That's odd. The other victims were kept alive longer. It was almost as if the killer had known the parents were getting back early. Could the parents possibly be in cahoots with their daughter's murderer? It wasn't impossible, but once again, it seemed unlikely. There was definitely something different about this one. This girl had also died differently. So had the boy, but there was nothing else distinguishing about the boy's murder. Perhaps the murderer had enough mercy to end that boy's life fairly quickly. The thing that intrigued Nick, though, was Melissa Harrison's murder. He'd read Da Vinci Code, like the rest of the world. The killer was either taunting him and his team, or Melissa Harrison, or both.

"Grissom's right," he found himself saying, almost whispering. Everybody looked at him, including Grissom. "Something was different about this one. The parents said they got back early. How would our killer have known to kill her early?"

"An accomplice?" Greg asked, raising his eyebrows.

"It's possible," Nick replied. "Also, that girl had about fifteen minutes to kill. She would have known it, too. She was reading Da Vinci Code after all. What would you do if you knew you had fifteen minutes left to do something?"

"You think she might have left something to help us identify her killer?" Sara asked, sounding a little incredulous.

"That would have been hard if he was there. And what if she didn't know who her killer was?" Catherine said.

"She had nothing to lose," Warrick looked surprised.

"People don't think straight when they're in that much pain." Greg said

"Jacques Saniere did," Grissom said quietly.

"This is a seventeen year old girl we're talking about! Not the ingenious curator of the Louvre, or the Grand Master of some secret society!" Catherine exclaimed angrily.

"There's still no harm in going back to the crime scene." Grissom said.

Nobody could think of anything to say to that. Finally, Nick broke the silence. "I'll go," He volunteered.

"And me," Catherine stood up.

Grissom looked at them and nodded. "I'll be over there in a bit. Warrick, Greg, go to the bar they were at last night and ask questions. Any suspicious activity, anybody noticing the parents doing anything strange. Nick's right. They must have had someone watching the parents. Sara, can you go back to Doc Robbins and see if he found anything else. Oh, also, look into the other murders while you're at it, please."

"Will do, boss." Greg stood up and stretched.

The others left and Nick and Catherine were left with Grissom who was shuffling through files. "I'll be there in a bit. You guys go ahead of me. I'll be right over after I take care of something." He said without looking up.

Nick nodded and left with Catherine. "I'll drive?" He offered.

She grinned. "All yours," She said, tossing him her keys.

TBC... (Reviews make me happy, and happy means i'm feeling nice, and feeling nice means I'll update...)