Alright, high rated M on this one...lots of cussin and mature themes...
Spoilers: Grave Danger (as always) and DLG (ps, the timeline of when DLG actually happened will be off...)
I still own nothing besides Kiersten, Riley, Emma, Dr. Martin, all of Riley's friends, Club Spike, and anything else that doesn't belong to Bruickhiemer and Zuiker. But if they wanna lend me Nick I'd be totally okay with that... ;)
Chapter 15 (wow...my little baby book is almost all growded up...—sniffle—I'm so proud! XD)
(May 19, 2006)
Nick sat hunched forward in the hospital chairs, his hands dug deep into his hair and his palms pressed hard into his head, just above his eyes. He heard a small commotion down the hall, but didn't care enough to look up and acknowledge whosever presence it was. The body sat down next to him, and Nick caught a glimpse of a pair of turquoise strappy sandal Manolo Blahniks with a large turquoise pendant of the pedal of the foot. he recognized them immediately as Riley's. She had bought them a few weeks ago and lent them to Kiersten for her date.
Sure enough, when Nick finally looked up he saw the face of a very glamorous Kiersten Philips. He nodded once in acknowledgement and then resumed his earlier position. "Shouldn't you be on a date?" He asked softly, not knowing what else to say.
"Riley's my sister..." She explained. "She comes first." The two Texans sat in silence a few moments longer before Kiersten spoke. "What happened?"
Nick shrugged. "Don't know...doctors haven't come back out yet."
Kiersten sighed wearily...
That's not a good sign...and whatever happened, must have occurred because of or around Nick...that man lays on his guilt worse than a Texan Mama...
"Where is everyone else?"
"Home...they don't know..."
Nick sighed and nodded softly. He was grateful she hadn't told them, he wasn't sure a beating from Jon would do him much good right now...though it might make the guilt go away...
"I planned on calling them when we got word on what was happening."
Nick threw his hands down to hang between his knees and shook his head in disbelief. "Why does this shit keep happening to her? And why is it always around me? Am I like a jinx to her or somethin?" he asked Kiersten, finally turning to face her.
Kiersten shook her head. "Riley's never really been lucky...family curse or somethin..." Kiersten rolled her eyes. "This isn't your fault...if anything you're the complete opposite of a jinx to her."
Nick scoffed in disbelief. "She was in a car accident only a month and a half ago...because of me."
"Funny, I didn't know you controlled the weather."
"She was driving away from me...we got in this huge fight and she drove off cryin...she wasn't payin attention because she was distracted by me...she wouldn't have been in that car accident if it wasn't for me...and now this..." He threw his hands up in surrender. He sighed and stood up angrily.
"Where are you goin?" Kiersten asked confused.
"I need to walk..." He mumbled and took off down the hall.
Well shit...he's really beatin himself up over this...
She sighed and rested her head in her hand and contemplated even calling the guys at all.
--Now let's catch up with the remorseful guilt filled Texan that we all know and love...yep Nick!--
Nick leaned against the stone wall of the hospital building and brought the cigarette to his lips. He inhaled deeply and held the smoke in his body for a long time before releasing it. He had been standing there for an hour, and had gone through almost all of Riley's cigarettes that she had left in his car. She was gonna kill him when she found out that he had smoked all of her cigarettes...Nick stiffened at that thought.
Saying the words 'kill' and 'Riley' in the same sentence wasn't exactly comforting. Nick sighed heavily, releasing the last of the smoke from his body and tossed the cigarette bud into the ash tray outside the hospital doors. He stood against the wall for a few more minutes with his eyes closed, praying that maybe when he opened them he'd be lying in bed, with Riley cuddled up next to him...and this would have all been a horrible nightmare.
When Nick finally opened his eyes he almost jumped out of his skin when he saw who was standing in front of him. "Jesus Emma! What're you doin here? Where's Porsche?"
Since they had met in the kitchen a month ago Emma, Riley, and Kiersten had bonded, therefore, Nick became close with the younger woman too. In many ways, she reminded him of the feminine version of Greg. Emma wrapped her arms around herself and shrugged. "I heard about Ry...Porsch is still at home...she's stoned out and I figured it'd be best not to bring her." Emma replied exasperatedly and rubbing her forehead.
"Relationship problems?"
Emma waved that away. "Nah...nothin big. Don't worry about it."
"No please. I could use a distraction..." He gestured to the hospital and Emma sighed. They walked into the hospital and began the journey to Riley's room as they continued their conversation.
"I think she's cheating on me..."
"Why?"
"Because she's cheating on me." Emma stated and Nick rose his brow. "I caught her with Brittany about a week ago...it's been downhill ever since then."
Nick sighed and nodded. He only knew about Brittany from what Kiersten, Porsche, and Riley had said about her. He had yet to meet the woman, but from what he knew, she was young, shy, and totally 'in love' with Porsche. She was easily hurt and let Porsche treat her like shit (and Porsche knew it). Porsche is the kind of person who, no matter what she does, is nearly impossible to be angry at (unless of course you're Porsche's mother). Nick sighed again. "Did you just over hear something or see her flirting...or did-"
"I walked in on them..." Emma replied solemnly as they stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for Riley's floor.
"Is there any way they were just sleeping...?" Emma shot him a look and Nick nodded. "I'm sorry."
Emma shrugged and laughed humorlessly. "Hey, it ain't your fault..." The elevator doors opened and they walked down the hall. "How is she?" Emma asked as they reached Kiersten. Kiersten sighed and shook her head.
"Still no word." She looked over at Nick. "Where've you been? I thought someone kidnapped you." Kiersten joked lightly, not realizing the weight of her words, and Nick winced and lowered his eyes to the floor. Through all the commotion he had forgotten today's sinister anniversary. Kiersten and Emma exchanged confused looks. Apparently Riley hadn't said anything to them about her and Nick's heart-to-heart...which was unusual, because she told Kiersten everything.
Before either Kiersten or Emma could ask anything, Riley's door opened and a young handsome doctor appeared. His deep green eyes sparkled sympathetically as he neared the group, recognizing Kiersten immediately from her many demanding questions of 'What the fuck is going on in there?' and 'why the hell won't anyone tell us anything?'. He remembered Nick from the many cases he had worked involving the hospital, and the fact that Nick was in the hospital as much as Riley was (which was pretty damn often considering she was prone to injuries and was now working there).
Dr. Martin nodded to the group and extended his hand to Nick. "Mr. Stokes, good to see you again, I'm sorry they were under these circumstances though..."
"When are they ever under good circumstances?" Nick asked and Dr. Martin nodded.
"How is she?" Kiersten asked, interrupting the conversation between the attractive men.
Dr. Martin looked over to her and replied, "She's doing better. Lucky you brought her in when you did or she might not have made it."
"What happened?" Emma asked.
"Ms. Turner suffered from Thyrotoxicosis, other wise known as hyperthyroidism." Nick dropped his jaw. He had seen a few many cases of that...he knew the symptoms, Hell that was part of his job...how did he not catch this? At the confused looks on Emma and Kiersten's faces Dr. Martin continued. "Hyperthyroidism is an imbalance of metabolism caused by overproduction of thyroid hormone. She was experiencing tachycardia, the excessive rapidity in the action of the heart, and dyspnea which is shortness of breath and difficult or labored breathing. I'm guessing this is what alerted you Mr. Stokes?" Dr. Martin assumed and Nick nodded. "Luckily this was a minor case of hyperthyroidism and was able to be treated antithyroid medications, such as radioactive iodine which destroys the thyroid and thus stops the excess production of hormones."
"Don't you usually have to have surgery to remove the thyroid?" Emma asked and the doctor shook his head.
"Only if the case is severe enough. As I said, Ms. Turner's case was a minor one, afflicted over an acute amount of time. We gave her propranolol which is a beta blocker used to treat some of the symptoms of Thyrotoxicosis including rapid heart rate, sweating, and anxiety until the hyperthyroidism can be controlled...all of which Ms. Turner had."
"Any idea what caused this?" Kiersten asked.
"Well, typical hyperthyroidism is induced from over production of iodine in the thyroid which is located in the neck, also, Grave's Disease is another cause of it. However, we gave her a Thyrotropin; thyroid stimulating hormone, test that measures the amount of the hormone THS in the blood. The standard procedure for this type of case is simply drawing blood from a vein, usually from the inside of the elbow or the back of the hand. The puncture site is cleaned with antiseptic, and a tourniquet is placed around the upper arm to apply pressure and restrict blood flow through the vein. This causes veins below the tourniquet to fill with blood as a needle is inserted into the vein, and the blood is collected in an air-tight vial or a syringe. The tourniquet is then removed to restore circulation and after blood has been collected the needle is removed, and the puncture site is covered to stop any bleeding."
"She um...she had a slight fear of needles...did it hurt her or did she say anything?" Emma asked.
The doctor smiled and shook his head. "Nope, she was very still during the whole procedure. Normally the patient doesn't very much pain, others feel a slightly stinging sensation, and then throbbing afterwards. She hasn't complained of anything yet."
"Riley wouldn't." Kiersten noted and the doctor smiled at her.
"She's not experiencing any of the usual complications, and she is now conscious but drowsy. She seems to be doing okay, but I'd like to monitor her for a few more days."
"Do you have any idea what caused this? The increased amount of Iodine? Isn't too much iodine fatal?" Kiersten asked.
The doctor gave a soft smile to her. "Too much of anything is fatal Ms...?"
"Philips." Kiersten answered shortly. Damn...if this guy is flirting with me...I'm gonna kick his ass...which would be so much easier if he wasn't so damn sexy!
"Well, Ms. Philips, It is required as a trace element for most living organisms. Chemically, iodine is the least reactive of the halogens, and the most electropositive halogen after astatine. Iodine is primarily used in medicine, photography and in dyes. Elemental iodine, I2, is deadly poison if taken in larger amounts; a dose of 2-3 grams is enough to kill. But in Ms. Turner's case I'd say she ingested only a quarter gram..."
"How would Iodine have gotten into her system?" Emma asked.
"Well it could have been administered orally. Although that would be hard considering its distinctive visual properties and a very irritating scent. I'm not quite sure how she could have ingested it without noticing it...where does she work?"
"Part time here as a nurse and part time at Club Spike...why?"
"Well, she could have encountered it if she worked with a nuclear establishment or lived near one she would have been given a small dose of iodine in precaution to reverse any affect radioactive iodine would have on her...there are a few nuclear establishments in Vegas that I know of. You said she worked as a nurse part time here right?" The doctor asked and Emma nodded.
"Well, I do remember talk of a radioactive iodine exposure in the break room today...does she work nights?" Kiersten nodded. "Well, if it was her patient then she could have been careless and accidentally been exposed to it."
"That doesn't sound like Riley." Kiersten said defiantly. "Is there any other way?"
"Given her life style, I'd say not..."
"You said her case wasn't that severe, but her reaction to it was pretty bad...what caused that?"
"Well, over iodine production of the thyroid is often caused by stress...it could have been mental stress, like her new job, physical stress, over activity, pushing herself too hard and not resting enough, or emotional stress, such as dealing with new and traumatic information...if its hard to cope with it may put too much pressure on the body without her actual knowledge. I know that sounds odd but...more times than not it's from nerve racking news registered in a minimal amount of time."
The doctor took a moment to let them all process this before he began again. "The good news is that she is awake...we may need to run a few more tests to make sure we've purged her system of all the excess iodine, then you may see her one at a time." With that Dr. Martin left back to Riley's room.
Nick felt his knees go limp underneath him, and he dropped into the nearest chair and buried his face in his hands. Kiersten turned around to look at the older man, and sigh. She sat next to him and patted his knee lightly. "See Nick, it wasn't your fault."
Nick shook his head and huffed in anger as he stood up quickly from his chair, jolting it over in the process, and storming off down the hall.
Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck! This is all my fault! If I hadn't pushed her to fuckin fool around just cause I needed some kind of fuckin release for some damn incident that happened fuckin a year ago, and overloaded her emotional state with my damn problems this wouldn't have happened!
Nick punched the elevator wall and leaned back against the doors while rubbing his temples. The scientist in Nick knew that wasn't entirely true, the iodine would have affected Riley anyway, just not as much.
The doors dinged open and before Nick could move, they slid open, sending him falling backwards onto whoever was waiting to enter the elevator. He heard the 'oomph' under him as the two of them crashed into the ground. Nick quickly jumped up and spun around to apologize to whoever he had landed on...with all his luck it'd be the Devil himself ready to take him to the fiery pits of Hell.
"Nick?"
Fuck...I think I'll take my chances with Satan.
"Deven."
"Where is she?" Deven demanded and Nick shook his head.
"Third floor." Nick mumbled and walked off down the hall. Deven watched him go and raised his eyebrow.
"Where're you goin?" He asked the Texan.
"Coffee." Nick lied and Deven rolled his eyes and continued into the elevator.
--So now we're gonna catch up with the lab in all their CSI glory... CSI CSI CSI CSI CSI CSI tee hee--
Catherine looked around the table at her fellow coworkers minus Nick. No one had heard from him since he left work yesterday. He wasn't answering his house or his cell, and given today's anniversary, everyone was freaking out. The blonde sighed in aggravation and stood up from the table and slipped into the locker room. Going on a whim, she dialed Nick's cell and waited for the ring.
"Stokes." The Texan drawl came after the fifth ring.
"Nick?"
"Jesus Cath, don't yell...I've got a killer migraine."
"Nicky where the hell are you?"
"What?"
"Shift started an hour ago...everyone's freaking out!"
There was a pause and a shuffle could be heard. "Fuck...I'm sorry Catherine."
"Where have you been?"
"The hospital."
It was her turn to pause. "Why?" Nick sighed and more shuffling could be heard. "Are you there now?"
"Sorta...I'm sittin in my car in the parking lot." He drawled.
"Why were you there in the first place?"
He sighed. "Just...just nothin. Don't worry about it." He didn't really feel like going into the whole Riley ordeal. Only Greg and Grissom knew for sure that he had been seeing Riley, Brass had a suspicion, but had yet to confront him about it. Sara, Warrick, Catherine, and everyone else were blissfully unaware.
Catherine bit her lip. "Nicky...a-are you there because-"
"No." He quickly denied. "It's not that Cath...just don't worry about it okay?"
"Are you alright?"
He sighed in half vexation. "I'm fine Catherine."
"Well...we need you down here. Cases are pouring in."
"The Pin-up?"
"No...Grissom is handling that himself for right now...but he needs everyone else on the other cases."
Nick sighed. "Alright. I'll be there in a few."
"Okay. B-" Before she could finish her sentence Nick hung up his phone. She sighed and shook her head. Something (and she had a good idea of what) was bothering him more than he was letting on...and she planned to get to the bottom of it.
--Okay, y'all know that cool swirly thing they use in between scenes in old batman and Alfred Hitchcock movies? Well, inset that here with a picture of Nick's Denali driving...XD--
Nick walked side by side with Catherine as they entered the parking garage at the building. The only lights that were provided were harsh yellow halogen lights, which always made you squint when you first entered their presence. Nick gripped his kit tighter and stole a quick, irritant glance at Catherine, causing her to look away from him. She had been staring at him sporadically since Grissom handed them the assignment slips. It was almost as if she was trying to get inside his brain by looking in his chocolate eyes.
He tossed his head to the side to brush his bangs away from his face. He sighed as he saw the blonde detective in the distance. Her hands were stuffed into her pockets and she nodded as a greeting as they neared her.
Nick nodded in return, but left it at that. "Whacha got?"
"Well, I wasn't sure if I should call it in as a 419 or a 401 a..." She shrugged and sighed.
"Hit and run?" Catherine asked.
"You tell me." On that note the trio walked over to the car pushed up against the wall. The black car had a brunette victim pinned to the wall, as her dead upper torso lay slumped on the slightly ajar hood of the car.
"Mm, I don't know. When you run you usually take the car." Nick sighed softly and leaned in slightly closer to see that the woman's head was turned away from him, so he rounded the car to get a look at her face.
"The vic is Sylvia Mullins, works up stairs...the guard found her." Sofia informed them.
"Did you run the plates?"
"That's why I called it in as a 419. The RO's the vic's."
Nick sighed again for no particular reason, other than that this was a tragedy and looked back up at Catherine. "Hit with her own car in her own spot." He noted, seeing the name 'Mullins' printed on the step in front of where the car was supposed to stop when parking. Sofia broke away from the two to go an argue lightly with the guard about something Nick couldn't hear.
Nick clenched his jaw in anger, the source of his anger was unknown, but it was evident enough to make Catherine look up cautiously. Nick ignored her as he continued to robotically process the scene.
--Insert crazy swirly thing here...now let's catch up with our favorite female hospital occupant...(that'd be Riley)--
Riley sighed and moved her head to the left to avoid Kiersten's questions. "C'mon Ry...talk to me."
"I don't fuckin know Kiersten!" She exclaimed and threw her head back down on the pillow. Her heart monitor began to beep wildly and Kiersten stroked the slightly younger girl's arm.
"Alright, alright...I'm sorry Chica. Don't have a heart attack." Kiersten joked, knowing that dry and ironic humor would be the only thing to pull a smile from the fellow Texan. Sure enough, Riley cracked a small smile at the dark joke and shook her head.
"I don't know Kiersten...I wasn't around radioactive iodine at all today...at least not that I know of..." She sighed and rubbed her forehead tiredly. "Is Nick back yet?"
Kiersten shook her head and Riley sighed. She knew he was really stressed out by all of this, and by the fact that one year ago today he had been stuck in a box underground, on the edge of suicide, being eaten alive by ants, thinking he'd never see the light of day again, slowly loosing his mind...all because some jerk had a grudge against CSI...
"Geez Chica, you're gonna wake up the comma patient fifteen floors above you with the wheels in your head...whacha think 'bout?"
Riley sighed. "Nothin...what time is it?"
Kiersten looked at her watch. "About ten o'clock...why?"
"Nick's probably at work right now..."
"Why would he be at work?"
"Cause it's his job."
"You're in the hospital..."
"So."
"Riley-"
"Just...if he comes back tell him I wanna see him."
Kiersten sighed nodded. "Do you wanna see Dev?"
"Nah. Last time I did that I got myself in a shit sit." Riley said and Kiersten laughed.
"Alright...I'll send Emma in." Riley nodded and smiled. "Don't push it Ry..." She kissed her forehead and exited the room, leaving Riley wishing Nick was there with her.
--Doodle doodle doodle (insert swirly thing here) doodle doodle doodle doodle...XD--
Nick had just gotten Sylvia Mullins bag and had yet to go through it. The prints from the camera in the parking garage hadn't come back from AFIS yet, but they were finally able to get a hold of Sylvia's bag.
Nick opened the bag and felt around for items. He found a tape recorder, camera, and a few other items including a date book. He held up the tape recorder and pressed play. Sylvia Mullins' voice came through the tiny recorder as she welcomed an unknown man and discussed taxes. Nick turned off the tape recorder, barely twenty seconds into the conversation and picked up the date book. He flipped through a few pages and found Kelly Gordon's name with a date and time next to it.
A small commotion down the hallway drew his attention for a few seconds, before he looked back at the book and picked up the tape recorder once again. He fast forwarded a few seconds, before pressing play and listening tentatively to the conversation between the victim and the daughter of the man who oh so very often haunted Nick's dreams.
He heard the two talk casually about Kelly's father and then about the estate he left for her. Suddenly, an idea formed in Nick's head, and he turned off the recording and picked up his cell phone. He dialed a number enlisted in the book and waited for the person on the other end. "Yeah, this is Nick Stokes with the Las Vegas Crime Lab. We're trying to reach Kelly Gordon's parole officer...great. I need Kelly's contact information."
--So here we go...Nick and Kelly in the interrogation room...Yay awkwardness!--
"I have relatives in Provo...I was going to visit them. I cleared it with my PO. You gonna tell me why a state trooper pulled over my bus and yanked me off?" She snapped and Nick narrowed his gaze...now was really not the time. And it was only so ironic that he just happened to be sitting across from the woman whose father tried to kill him a year ago...all for her.
"You know a lady named Sylvia Mullins?"
"Yeah." She answered shortly.
"Did you have a meeting with her yesterday?"
"Yeah. So..."
"So, why did you have a meeting with her yesterday?" he emphasized the point of yesterday, as if it held significance.
"Sylvia's handling my dad's estates."
"Hmm."
"She's the trustee...what's going on here?" She looked towards the police guard standing behind Nick, then back to the Texan himself.
"Ms. Mullins was found in her parking garage...crushed by her own car."
"And you think I had something to do with it." She finished for him.
"When you worked in the prison garage, did you just fix cars or did you learn how to steal them?"
"Are you kidding me?"
Nick narrowed his gaze again and dropped his tone. "Does it look like I'm kidding you? You waited for her to get out of work so you could let her know how you felt about her."
"Sylvia was my dad's friend. She was helping me get back on my feet. How I felt was grateful. CSI put me in jail for something I didn't do. Do you really think I'm going to kill somebody the minute I get out?"
"Hold out your hands." Nick asked, ignoring her last question. He picked up a swab and looked at Kelly expectantly. She didn't move, only glared at him. "Hold out your hands." He demanded again. "Ms. Mullins' airbag deployed on impact. Airbag dust gets everywhere. It's really hard to get rid of."
"Not if it isn't there." And with that Kelly held out her hands so Nick could swab them. She saw him look at her tattoo questioningly. The last time someone had done that in one of these interrogation rooms...she was wishing him dead.
--Nick's the most interesting person in this chapter (figured everyone's tried of hospitals) so we're gonna stick with Nick for a while--
It was quiet...too quiet...didn't that just sound like a bad horror movie? But that's basically what this was...it was like a really bad horror movie that Nick was staring in, and no one cared enough to tell him. He sat at the computer desk in the only empty room in the entire lab. The florescent light from the lamp next to him felt like it was blinding him. He pulled up the case file he was looking for...his case file.
Nick searched through all the facts and evidence from his case, the cup, the dog entrails, and the recording...he reluctantly clicked on it and the words he heard in his nightmares flooded the computers' speaker system. "Hi CSI guy, you wondering why you're here?"
The flashback hit Nick like a head on crash with a semi. The memories of lying in the coffin, only seeing by the harsh green light of the glow sticks, and Walter Gordon's harsh words assaulting his ears. "Because you followed the evidence. Because that's what CSIs do."
Nick felt his breathing become labored. He felt his oxygen running out, and the ants' harsh bites pumping venom into his blood. The voices and faces of his coworkers standing around him, frantically trying to save him. "So breathe quick, breathe slow, put your gun in your mouth and pull the trigger. Anyway you like, you're going to die here." Nick took in a deeper breath and tried to calm himself.
"Okay. Perfect." The voice said softly. Nick raised his brow and played the last part of the tape back. "You're going to die here. Okay. Perfect."
Nick furred his brow and looked at the computer. Archie...
Nick took the tape of Kelly's voice and the tape from Walter Gordon and headed down to the A/V lab. "Hey, Archie."
"Hey, I did my best to enhance the parking garage footage, but I just can't get an image of the killer's face." Archie explained.
"If you got a couple of minutes I need a voice comparison." Nick began and Archie looked over at him curiously.
"Yeah, what do you got?"
Nick held up the small tape and waved it slightly. "Kelly Gordon's voice on tape. I want to see if it's the other voice in the Walter Gordon audio file."
Archie nodded slightly. "Grissom told you."
Nick looked at him suspiciously. "No, but he obviously told you."
Archie's face fell and he looked away quickly. He was busted. "Nick, uh..."
Nick shook his head and clenched his jaw. "You know what? Forget about it. If the girl's involved then she's capable of murder. It's all cued up for you. Her voice is first." Nick finished and left the tapes on the table before walking out of Archie's lab. Nick sighed and walked down the hall before his cell began to ring. He unclipped it from his belt and looked at the display. K.P. Kiersten... "Stokes."
"Where are you?" Kiersten whispered harshly. Nick sighed.
"Am at work Kiersten, what do you need?" He said irritated.
"It's not what I need, Riley's been askin about you and I'll be damned if I'm gonna tell her that her boyfriend went off for coffee and never came back. She freaked out when we told her no one's heard from him in almost fourteen hours. They had to give her sedatives to calm her down and get her heart rate back down..." Kiersten drawled and Nick sighed, feeling the guilt wash over him like a heavy blanket.
"We're swamped on cases Kiersten, I can't talk. I haven't had time to breathe, let alone call y'all Tell her I'm sorry."
"She knows your sorry...she just doesn't know why you took off to begin with." Kiersten said, causing Nick to lapse into silence. "Go back to work Nick. They obviously need you." Kiersten hung up and Nick sighed. She hadn't said it with venom or emphasized the fact that the lab needed him...but it felt like she did. He knew he couldn't just walk away from work, but he should have at least called them and let someone know where he was going.
"Oh, hey, Nick, Nick." Catherine called form down the hall, and hurried to catch up with him. "We caught a break."
"The security guard confessed." Nick guessed and Catherine shook her head.
"No. Archie isolated a frame of the killer turning the focus ring." She handed the tired Texan the photo from Archie's lab. It was the killer's hand...with a tattoo of a small flower on the palm.
Nick looked back up at Catherine. "We got her..."
--Just FYI, I cut the scene with Grissom cause it pissed me off how it went down...(shrugs)...hey, it's my book...--
Alright...we'll catch up with our beloved, troubled, theatrical couple in the next chapter...until then, --waves--
That's all folks!
-Chella