AN: I am sooo sorry about the delay in updates. First I was real busy with work and school and stuff, and then my beta was busy, so it took a while. I hope you're still sticking with me! Don't own them, and reviews are always appreciated.
2 – Crazy
"Hey guys." Catherine acknowledged as Nick and Warrick entered Sara's apartment.
"Hey, where do you want us?" Warrick asked, a serious look on his face. They were all reminded of Nick's abduction and Catherine could only hope that this would have as good an outcome – that they would find Sara before it was too late.
"I'm taking this back to the lab to do a closer examination." Catherine indicated the model. "I want you three to turn this place inside out and upside down. If there's a clue, we will find it."
"You got it." Nick nodded, and Catherine left the guys alone in the apartment.
"What have you done already?" Warrick asked Greg.
"Not much, really." Greg shrugged. "I've done a quick search of this room, Catherine was going to do the bedroom, but then she found the model…" He didn't have to say more. "That's when she called you guys in. The entire lab is going to help us with other cases, and Grissom's flying in as soon as he can get a flight."
"Griss is coming back?" Nick asked, frowning. "I thought he'd be busy in the Big Apple."
"It's one of his CSIs, man." Warrick said.
"I'm not saying we won't need his help, but why the rush? Doesn't he trust us to do our jobs?"
"Uh, guys, there's something else that I should probably tell you." Greg revealed. "That's not why he's flying back. I'm not even sure he's going to be working on the case."
"Then why… Oh!" Warrick realized what Greg was getting at.
"I knew it!" Nick exclaimed.
"No you didn't." Warrick told him.
"There was something off between those two for months before Griss left, I just figured they were fighting again." Nick replied.
"Looks like it was quite the opposite." Warrick noted with a smirk.
"Guys! Can we get to work?" Greg cut into the conversation. Nick and Warrick got serious again.
"I'll take the kitchen, you guys fight over the living room." Nick stated, heading for the room he had claimed.
"I think you should do the bedroom." Greg quickly suggested.
"Why?" Warrick questioned.
"You're married, you're used to having… girlie things around." Greg reasoned. "Plus, I don't want to be going through Sara's underwear."
"Fine, but I find anything nasty and I'm dragging your sorry ass in there!" Warrick took off to the bedroom and Greg got started on processing the living room.
xxxxx
Grissom took a break from pacing the waiting area at JFK and sat down in one of the plastic airport seats by the wall. He had been able to get a ticket for the first flight, leaving at 6 am, but it felt like a lifetime away. Burying his head in his hands, he exhaled deeply.
What if they didn't find her? What if she was already dead? He couldn't lose her, not now that he had finally found her.
Pushing the disturbing thoughts out of his head, he pulled his cell from his pocket. He had to tell someone he was leaving New York. Checking his watch, he realized that there was only one person on campus awake at the moment. James, the incurable insomniac.
"Griffith." He answered after the second ring.
"James, it's Gil." Grissom greeted.
"Gil, my friend, you're up early." James noted.
"That's actually why I'm calling." Grissom said. "I'm at the airport, I'm going to Vegas in about an hour."
"What happened?" James wondered, concern evident in his voice.
"I had a call earlier from a friend and co-worker at the lab." Grissom started, not sure how to explain what was going on. "She told me that my girlfriend is missing, probably kidnapped by a killer we had been chasing for months when I left."
"Oh dear." Was James' only reply.
"I would have called the dean, but I doubt he would appreciate being woken up at this time." Grissom continued.
"You don't have to say anything else." James assured him. "I will handle the dean, you just go get your girl back."
"Thank you, James." Grissom said before hanging up. He just hoped he would.
xxxxx
Catherine carefully placed the model of Sara's living room on the table in her office.
"Where to start?" She mumbled to herself as she retrieved the small video camera device Grissom had used to examine the previous models and plugged it in. When the picture appeared on the screen, she lowered the camera into the model, searching for something to lead them in the right direction.
After almost an hour, she had still not found anything useful. There were no finger prints anywhere to be found, and nothing else that could possibly give them an ID of the perp. She had found a tiny photo of a bloody doll, similar to the ones that had been found in the other two models, but she had no idea what it meant. Sighing, she dropped the camera, which landed on the floor of the miniature. Leaning back in the chair, she reached for her cell phone when something on the screen caught her eye.
"What is that?" She asked herself as she grabbed the camera again, sliding it further under the miniature couch. There appeared to be a rag or rumpled piece of paper under the couch.
Finding a pair of tweezers, she reached into the miniature, only hoping the item under the couch was not glued like everything else. Surprisingly, it wasn't, and Catherine retrieved it with the tweezers.
Dropping the small item in a plastic evidence bag, Catherine looked closer at it. It appeared to be some sort of fabric, but she couldn't determine what kind just by looking at it.
Reaching for the phone again, she hit the call button.
"Nick, listen, I found something in the miniature. Have you looked under the couch?" She heard as Nick called the question to Greg.
"He's looking now. What did you find?"
"A small piece of fabric, looks like the miniature of a rag of some sort." Catherine explained.
"Greg has something." Nick said, covering the microphone so he could talk to Greg. "It's a rag, and it smells a lot like chloroform."
"That must be how he subdued her." Catherine realized. "Have you found anything else that could help us in any way?"
"We've dusted the entire place for prints, floor, walls and ceiling, Jaqcui will have a field day with this."
"Let's just hope that at least one comes back as someone other than the obvious." Catherine said.
"I know what you mean." Nick agreed. "We haven't found any trace of blood, at least, that has to be good, right?"
"Let's hope so." Catherine sighed.
"Listen, I'm gonna get back to it." Nick said. "We'll call you if we find anything, if not we'll be back in a couple of hours."
"Same goes for me. See you later." Catherine hung up and was about to take another crack at the miniature, when there was a knock on the open door. She looked up to find Brass standing in the doorway.
"Hey, I heard about Sara." He said before sighing. "History seems to be repeating itself."
"Let's hope so." Catherine replied. When seeing the frown on Brass' face, she continued. "I mean the finding her part."
"Oh, of course." Brass nodded. "Have you got anything so far?"
"We have a lot of prints, all of which will probably come back as someone who had every right to be in that apartment." Catherine started. "We have a rag drenched in chloroform, a picture of another bloody doll, and this miniature, which is absolutely useless."
"Well, don't give up just yet." Brass told her. "If there's anything to find, our guys will find it."
"And if there isn't?" They looked at each other in silence, both imagining the worst case scenario. After a moment, Brass spoke.
"I have my guys knocking doors in Sara's building, but it's the middle of the day, not a lot of people are home." He said. "You'd think someone would have seen something, considering that he would have to carry a grown woman either into the elevator or down four flights of stairs."
"The guys are still over there." Catherine replied. "They won't leave until they are sure that they have everything that might be useful."
"Good, good." Brass nodded, before looking at the floor. "Has anyone called Gil?"
"You knew?" Catherine asked in an accusing voice.
"He didn't tell me, I just figured it out a while back." Brass explained. "So?"
"I called him about two hours ago, he's going to get a flight out here as soon as possible." Catherine said.
"Good. He should be here." Brass nodded.
"So… how did you figure it out?" Catherine wondered, but Brass only smiled.
"Don't you have a miniature to get back to?" With that, he walked away from the office.
"I'll find out, sooner or later, you just wait." Catherine mumbled as she turned her attention back to the miniature, hoping against hope that she would discover something she'd missed the first time around.
xxxxx
"This is useless." Nick complained, coming into the living room several hours later. "This guy is like Houdini or something."
"Houdini broke out of difficult entrapments, this guy is just good at not leaving any evidence." Greg mumbled from where he was lying on the floor, examining the rug up close and personal.
"Whatever." Nick sighed. "Anything?"
"Nope. Nada, zilch, gesundheit." Greg got up from the floor.
"That's bless you in German." Warrick noted, coming out of the bedroom.
"I know." Greg covered, quickly turning away to gather his kit. "Anyway, there's nothing here."
"I'll have to agree with you." Warrick frowned. "This guy is good. Too good."
"We'll just have to be better then, won't we?" Nick stated.
xxxxx
"Well, well, she's awake." Sara looked up at the voice, but didn't see anyone. Suddenly, the entire room was flooded in the light from a bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling. It was too high for her to have reached during her earlier explorations. Then the door opened, revealing a man in his forties pointing a gun at her.
"I thought it would be rude to sleep through this whole experience." She retorted dryly, and the man chuckled.
"Aren't you a feisty one?" He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. "Don't you try anything."
"Wouldn't dream of it." She rolled her eyes.
"Thatta girl." The man leaned against the wall next to the door and watched her for a moment. "I trust you've found your accommodations satisfactory?"
"Sure, I've always wanted a rock hard mattress and a bucket all to myself." Sara replied sarcastically.
"Now, now, none of that. A little respect, if you may."
"Respect? You kidnap me, lock me in this… this pit, and you expect me to show you respect? Go to hell!" It was all Sara could do not to spit on the man, but considering he was the one with the gun, she managed to contain herself.
"Well, when you put it that way…" The man seemed to be contemplating what she had just said.
"What do you want, anyway? What did I ever do to you?" Sara had been racking her brain to try to come up with the person who had done this. Granted, she had pissed more than her share of people off during the years, but she had absolutely no idea who this guy was.
"Oh, this has nothing to do with you." The man said in a light tone.
"Then what the hell am I doing here?"
"Well, I tried subtlety, but it obviously didn't work." He offered as an explanation. "And when he left town, I had to do something to get him to come back. You were just there."
"What do you mean?" Sara felt the wheels turning in her head. Was he talking about Grissom?
"Your little boyfriend, of course." The man chuckled, as if he had said something funny.
"What about him?"
"I've waited a long time to get my revenge." The man seemed lost somewhere in the past for a moment. "When he didn't get my hints, I had to do something about it. You're merely a tool to get what I really want – him."
"Then why don't you just let me go?" Sara suggested against hope.
"I can't do that, now can I? He has to know what it's like to loose someone, what it's like to lie awake at night wondering what's happening to the person he loves. Don't you think so? And don't worry, I will kill you if he doesn't find you in time. Actually, I might kill you anyway, make him watch you die before I kill him too." A primal laugh bubbled in the man's throat, and Sara unconsciously moved a little further away from him.
This man was definitely crazy.