A/N: Still working on Viva Las Vampire, but this chapter has been sitting around on my comp becoming steadily longer so I thought it was about time to post it.

Chapter 3: Dead People

It's a multiple down in solitary
and you'll uncover the evidence
shanghaied by a fishnet stocking
I'll hold you close while they dust for prints

-Evil Night Together, Jill Tracey

Warrick and Catherine arrived just in time to see Greg being guided down the lawn towards one of parked Tahoes by Sara. Behind them, two EMT's bearing a black body bag on a stretcher moved slowly towards the Ambulance parked on the lawn. Grissom and Brass stood watching in the doorway, they're arms folded.

"You guys haven't seen Nick, have you?" Brass asked Warrick and Catherine as they approached.

"No, you lost him?" Warrick responded with a good-naturedly, confused look.

"Not sure, we sent two uniforms to search…" Brass began before recounting the night's event's to the two CSIs with occasional input by Grissom. He, Sara and Greg had been processing the scene when an intruder barged in, taking Greg out in the process. Nick had given chase. "…And Sara's escorting him back to the Hospital, poor kid got quite the bump on the head, I think she's going to bully him into getting a CAT scan."

"So, we got one dead girl and one missing CSI." Warrick summarized.

"Turing out to be a banner night." Was Brass's choice response.

Just then, Grissom cell phone went off, he retrieved it from his belt and flipped it open.

"Grissom."

"Griss, it's me!"

"Nick! Where are you?" Grissom pressed a button on his phone and Nick's voice came unto speaker.

"Somewhere…umm…Sky Hollow Drive, according to the sign." Nick's voice informed them between labored breaths.

"What about the Perp?" Brass said to the phone in Grissom's outstretched hand.

"Lost him, he had a vehicle waiting, only got a partial plate."

"Well, hang tight, I'll get a unit to come pick you up."

"In the mean time, you can tell us what happened.

"I was heading out of the master suite and back to where the body was when some guy smashed through the back door and started going all snap happy in our crime scene!"

"Wait, he was after pictures…?"

"Of the body. Greg was knocked out but when he saw me took off. I tried to catch him but he had a pretty good head start."

"Okay Nicky," Grissom said, "Listen, someone is going to come find you and pick you up then you can put out an APB, right after that I need you with Brass on those interviews."

"Right, Boss."

o0o0o0o0o0o

"Yeah, that's going to bruise." Sara grimaced as she sneaked a look at Greg in the passenger seat.

"Stop worrying, mom, I'll be fine." He responded, adjusting a mercifully cool water bottle over his left eye.

"One more time, how many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three."

"Good. And don't call me mom." She added giving him the Sara Sidle glare.

"Duly noted." He tried to nod, but it hurt. He settled for a thumb's up with his free hand.

"So, how long was I out?"

"Not long, only a few minutes. You really scared me there for a minute, kid."

"Hey!" Greg cried, "If I can't call you mom, then you can't call me kid."

"Deal, Greg…" She flashed him her trademark grin. "So, you seriously don't remember anything?"

"Nope one minute I was dusting for prints the next I was looking up from the floor." He cringed from the memory which cause pain to shoot through his face and he emitted a small groan which he covered up with, "Of course, there are worse ways to wake up then looking to your face."

There's that grin again. Today's not so bad, he thought.

"Do we seriously have to go to the ER?" he changed the subject. "I feel fine, it's just a little bump to the head."

"Don't make me start listing all the horrible things that can result from a simple blow to the head: concussion, brain damage, cracked skull, intracerebral hemorrhage…"

"Talking to dead people."

"You're talking to dead people?"

"No, but you never know what intracerebral hemorrhage could lead to."

"Something tells me that's not one of the options."

"Never know, people probably don't publish such things in the American Journal of Forensics." Greg said as he watched out the window as the Nevada sky began to grow a few shades lighter. "Which, I know, is your preferred reading material. But, it could be very useful, in our line of work that is. No chasing down suspects that are really innocent because I could just tap into the mad psychic powers and ask 'who killed you?' and then they'd tell me and we'd know where to look. A real time saver if you ask me." He stopped and looked her at Sara.

"No, go on," she said, "this way I don't have to worry about talking to keep you awake in case you have a concussion."

o0o0o0o0o0o

"Please describe your relationship with Mrs. Leishman."

Eleanor Foss twisted her spotted handkerchief between her short pink manicured fingers. She wore a v-neck sweater the same shade as her nails and her hair was unstyled yet untangled and was currently swept out of the way behind her hunched shoulders. She took several deep breaths, looking at her hands and not the two men across from her, before answering Brass's question.

"We, um, started getting together for drinks a few months ago, she'd just moved in and I invited her out with Martha –Martha Pickford – and me to welcome her."

"Why were you at her house tonight?"

"The boys were at a friend's and we were going to have a late dinner and I was picking her up."

"How did you get in?" Nick asked her.

"Julie always kept a spare key under one of the plotted plants outside, she told me incase there was ever an emergency. She knows where mine is, too." She added hastily, her eyes were wide and a wayward tear slipped down her cheek.

"Now, I know this is difficult, Mrs. Foss, and I know you already told Captain Brass, but could you walk us through this morning one more time."

"I told Jeff, my husband, that I'd be back around 11 or so and I got in my car and drove over to Julie's to pick her up. Rob's car was gone so I knew he was at work. I went to the front door and knocked, when she didn't answer I figured she was just in the shower…" She shrugged and shifted in her seat. "She was expecting me so I let myself in with the spare key. And I….saw her on the couch. Oh…God…"

"It's okay," Nick said softly, "you're doing good."

"And all I could think of was that stupid article I read! And I just…lost it!" She cried.

"What article, Mrs. Foss?"

"Online. It was about this prostitute they found dead down by The Strip…there was blood everywhere just like…and there were these huge pawprints …and guess I let my imagination run away with me." Eleanor buried her face in her hands. "It was just like I'd walked into some crazy horror movie…oh, god, this can't be real…"

"Thank you," Brass said. "Mrs. Foss, your husband's outside and Officer Metcalf will see you both out."

They all stood and Nick walked the sobbing woman out the door of the interview room and into the arms of Mr. Foss. Metcalf led them away.

Nick turned to where a man and two boys sat on a nearby bench.

"Mr. Leishman?"

Robert Leishman was tall and sturdily built with sandy blond hair and, currently, haunted red-rimmed green eyes. He nodded and got up to follow Nick into interrogation.

Another officer approached the two boys. He asked, "You guys wanna get a soda?"

Nick closed the door and took his seat beside Brass across from Mr. Leishman.

"When was the last time you spoke to your wife." Brass said, his tone was neither accusatory or gentle, simply to the point.

"Last evening, I work nights. I dropped off the kids before I went in."

"Did your wife have any plans for last night?"

"Her and Ella were going to go out."

"Did they get together regularly."

"Whenever she had the time, I guess" he shrugged, "Not much time for herself with the boys and all."

He looked a little spaced out, but occasionally his eyes would dart to the door, somewhere beyond which twin boys awaited his return.

"Did you notice anyone suspicious hanging around the neighborhood? Any cars you didn't recognize?"

"No…it's a nice neighborhood, that's why we moved…we thought it was safe."

"Did your wife have any enemies."

"No. No way. No one would ever want to hurt Julie if they knew her. This had to be something random, right? It couldn't be someone who knew her, everyone who knew he loved her. I just can't imagine anyone wanting to do this to her…"

o0o0o0o0o0o

By midday, Nick had finished up at the station, Greg and Sara had returned from the hospital and they and the rest of the CSIs were able to gather in the conference room. All had accepted that were pulling at least a double today.

"What do we know?" Grissom demanded as he entered, file in hand. He peered over the edge on his glasses at his assembled team.

"First victim: Mary Andrews." Catherine said. She opened a folder and began laying out crime scene photos like she was dealing cards. Images of a woman splayed out on a kitchen table landed in front of Sara, Nick, Warrick and Greg. "Found August third by her husband."

Sara examined one of the photos. Mary's ankles had been propped up on a chair a few inches away from the table. On the opposite side of the table, the top of another chair supported what remained of her head.

"Cause of death?" She heard Nick ask. Like he needed to, but sometimes the most straightforward deaths turned out to be more than meets the eye.

"Exsanguination from near decapitation." Catherine responded. "PD interviewed her husband and a neighbor she'd had an argument with, nothing panned out."

"Evidence collected?" Sara asked.

"One unknown print and two partials, not enough to get a hit on the latter. White fibers found on the victim's blouse, possible transfer. Results came back as an cotton acrylic blend."

"Second victim, Jane Doe." Warrick said, flipping open another folder. "Found by the Luxor in an Alley off Reno Avenue." He fanned out a selection of photos on the table for the rest to see.

"I remember this one." Greg said eagerly, tapping a photo with his index finger. A purple brush decorating the top left side of his head. "It was all over the news. Something about a werewolf."

"There's no such thing as werewolves, Greg." Grissom said sternly and the younger man sunk back a little into his seat.

Sara frowned, she had hinted to Grissom to take it easy on Greg. He didn't seem to have gotten the message, she may have to be a little more blunt about it next time. She needed to be a bit more blunt about a lot of things.

"Hey, Eleanor Foss mentioned an article she read online, maybe that was it," put in Nick. "Said it really freaked her out."

"Logic was never one of the tabloid's strong points." Sara said, holding up a close-up of a bloody paw print. "Prints found around the body as well as bite-marks on her arms and legs were found to be Canine."

"Still," Grissom pressed. "We can't very well rule this an attack by a mythological creature. The more logical explanation is that she was attacked perimortem, ether right before she died or right after based on the skin around the wounds. Most likely the latter, some dogs can be scavengers."

"The case went cold, we put her face out there but no one came forward to make an ID." Warrick went on. "We assumed from her attire she was a working girl."

"And that brings us to Juliana Leishman." Grissom said, referring to the victim they'd processed this morning. He quizzed his team, "Similarities?"

"All three were women." Warrick began, stating with the obvious. "No witnesses."

"Bodies were positioned," Sara continued. "In the case of Mary and Juliana there were no sighs of a break in or of a disturbance in the house."

"See that's what I don't get." Nick said, straitening up and clasping his hands together. "Everything in those two cases points to an inside job. A husband…a friend, someone with access to the house. There are barely any defensive wounds, they didn't fight back."

"Or he jumped them." Warrick argued. "Overpowered them, killed them quickly, no chance to fight back."

"Which brings us back to a serial." Catherine pointed out. "The same killer with the same MO."

"So he picks a woman," Sara said, brow furrowed as her brown eyes scanned the array of crime scene photos before her. "Maybe he follows her, figures out her schedule…figures out a time when he can get to her alone and not expect interruptions…"

"Or he sees them and goes after them immediately." Nick added.

"No, this guy's good, he's not sloppy." Grissom spoke up. "He's careful or we would have caught him by now."

"So, going on the assumption he stalks them," Sara continued, "He waits for an opportunity, somehow gains entry to their homes, jumps them, kills them and poses their bodies accordingly."

"But what about Jane Doe," Greg said, speaking for the first time in a while, having gotten over the brief reprimand via Grissom. "He killed her in a relatively public place, why didn't he wait until she got home? That is if he does need time to prepare."

"Maybe he didn't prepare for her." Warrick said, scrutinizing an overall of the crime scene, showing a decrepit alley, the lights of the strip sparkling in the back ground. "He saw her on the street, she triggered something for him and he waited until she was alone and killed her." Most Serial Killers, they knew, often had a certain type or aspect of a person that triggered them to kill.

"But if he could wait for Mary Andrews and Juliana Leishman," Grissom said. "Why couldn't he wait for Jane Doe?"

"Maybe he doesn't need to wait." Catherine said, her voice grave. "Maybe he's always prepared."

"Okay," Grissom said. "Right now, we need the focus on the Leishman case."

"Fresh crime scene, fresh evidence." Catherine agreed, nodding.

"Nick, you and I are going to keep working on that. Catherine, I want you to go over the Andrew case, cross-reference her contacts, friends and routines with that of Juliana Leishman's. Greg, help her. Warrick, Sara, Jane Doe's the odd one out, find out who she is."

As the group began organizing the crime scene photos back into their respective folders before departing to commence their respective tasks, Sara intercepted Grissom before he could escape out the door.

"We already did everything we could to find Jane Doe." She said. "Warrick and I should be focusing on Juliana's case. Catherine said it herself, fresh evidence. What makes you think we'll have a major breakthrough, now?"

"Try harder." Grissom told her, simply. He left. Sara stood, annoyed, for a few breaths before heading out the door and off in the opposite direction.

A/N: Let me know what you think? Juts push that friendly little button at the bottom and say hi! Or we can mutually squeal over the Twilight DVD? Any takers?

Coming up next: Bella tells Greg about her near-death encounter with Tyler's Van!