AN: First of all, I want to apologize for not updating in a really, really long time. There is really no explanation, other than the fact that I have been extremely un-motivated to write since Jorja left the show. I am not going to promise anything, other than the fact that I will TRY to finish my WIP… at some point. Thanks to everyone who are still reading, I always appreciate seeing the number of hits on a story go up (not to mention reviews – hint, hint). This story has not been beta'd, so all mistakes are mine. Oh, and I don't own anything regarding the show (except for the first 5 seasons on DVD)! On with the story!!
6 – Closing in
"Whoa, you need to watch where you're going." Catherine's voice brought Grissom back to reality and he realized that he had nearly run her down on his way back to his old office. "Where's the fire?"
"He just called me." Grissom told her.
"Who? Nichols?" Catherine raised her eyebrows in a surprised look as Grissom nodded. "He actually called you?"
"Archie traced the call to the cell tower off the Strip, so he's somewhere downtown. I was just about to call Jim and get him to put some extra uniforms in the area." Grissom continued down the hallway and didn't realize Catherine was behind him until he tried to close the door to the office.
"Do you really think that he would call from where he's keeping her?" She asked, following him into the office. "He's smarter than that."
"It's not like we have anything else to go on." Grissom replied, dialling Jim's number. Catherine sighed and took a seat in one of the visitor's chairs.
"Brass."
"Jim, it's me."
"Hey, I'm on my way back to the station, I just left he prison. The guy confessed to killing Kelly, and I think we can get him on more, too."
"I heard. Listen, I need you to put some extra guys in the area around the Strip, from Freemont to Rainbow and Flamingo to Sahara." Grissom looked at the map Archie had printed for him.
"Why, what's going on?"
"Nichols just called me." Grissom revealed. "He used a pre-paid phone card, but Archie was able to pinpoint the cell tower he was closest to. I want some extra men there, keeping an eye out for him."
"You think he's calling from his hide-out?" Brass wondered.
"I know it's not very likely, but we don't have anything else to go on right now." Grissom snapped before Jim had a chance to express his opinion.
"Whoa there, I wasn't saying anything else." Brass defended himself. "I'll get the guys out there within the hour."
"Thank you." Grissom sighed, relieved that Jim hadn't argued with him. He hung up the phone and turned his attention to Catherine.
"I'm only saying that he might be trying to lead you on." She said. "He probably knows that we can trace calls, and he's trying to get us as far from where he's really hiding out as possible."
"You're probably right." Grissom admitted. "But we have to do something."
"I know." Catherine agreed. "Warrick's still waiting to hear back from some of the property records from the rest of the country. Who knows, he could have bought a place just across the border."
"We can always hope." Grissom nodded.
"And we've still got time." Catherine added. "April 9th is still more than two weeks away."
"If he sticks to his plan, yeah." Grissom noted. "He could decide to just kill her anyway."
"Somehow I don't think so." Catherine replied. "I think he's a creature of habit, he won't stray from the plan."
"God, I hope you're right." Grissom rubbed his eyes. He could feel a migraine coming.
"Why don't you go back to my place, you don't look so good." Catherine said, frowning in concern.
"Frank as always. Thank you." Grissom replied dryly.
"Oh, you know what I mean." Catherine huffed.
"Fine." He agreed grudgingly. "I have to call my doctor anyway, I forgot my migraine medicine in New York."
"And then you're going to get a few hours of sleep, OK?" Catherine gave him a stern look. "I can hold down the fort here for a while, I was going to try to track down Nichols' ex-wife."
"Good, I was going to suggest that." Grissom stood up, grabbing his jacket from the back of the chair he had just vacated. "I'll be back at six, give me a call if you need me earlier."
"Eight." Catherine replied, and Grissom frowned at her.
"Seven." He compromised.
"Fine."
xxxxx
Catherine leaned back in the chair as she waited for someone to pick up on the other end. She had finally tracked down the former Mrs. Nichols, who went by Sally Michaels these days. After her divorce from Joseph Nichols had gone through, she had quickly relocated to a small town in California, where she had gotten re-married a couple of years later. Today, she had three children and the family lived in Florida.
"Hello?" A male voice came over the line.
"Hi, my name is Catherine Willows, I'm calling for a Sally Michaels, is she available?"
"Hold on just a second." She could hear the man call for Sally, and a moment later a woman came to the phone.
"Hello?"
"Sally Michaels?" Catherine asked.
"That's me." Catherine could hear the hesitation in the woman's voice.
"Were you married to Joseph Nichols fifteen years ago?"
"Well, yes. What's this about? Who are you?"
"I'm sorry, I should have introduced myself." Catherine apologized. "My name is Catherine Willows and I'm with the Las Vegas crime lab."
"Oh my God, what did he do?" The woman on the other end of the line half-moaned.
"What do you mean?" Catherine asked.
"He's done something terrible, hasn't he?" Sally Michaels sighed. "I was afraid of this."
"Why were you afraid he would do something?"
"He called me." Sally said. "Started talking about someone paying for what happened to Kelly."
"When was this?" Catherine pulled a note pad closer to her and grabbed a pen.
"Oh, it was a while ago." The line went quiet for a moment as the woman tried to remember. "Sometime last summer, July I think. Yes, it was just after the Fourth of July weekend."
"And what exactly did he say?" Catherine scribbled down the approximate date. It had been a little over a month before Izzy Delancy had been murdered.
"I don't remember exactly, but it was something like 'he has to pay for what happened to Kelly, for what he did'. Something like that."
"He didn't mention any names?" Catherine pressed on.
"No. I assumed he was talking about the man who took Kelly." Sally Michaels was quiet for a moment. "We never found out who did it, so I didn't think Joseph could do any real damage."
"It seems he wasn't talking about the perpetrator." Catherine told her.
"Oh God. I should have done something, talked to the police." The guilt was evident in the other woman's voice.
"I doubt the police would have taken you seriously." Catherine tried to comfort. "And even if they did, there's really not much they could have done."
Sally Michaels seemed to contemplate this for a moment before speaking again.
"Who did he hurt? He hasn't killed anyone, has he?"
"I'm sorry, I can't discuss an ongoing case." Catherine said. "I do have one more question, though."
"I'm not sure I can help you, but I'll try."
"Does your ex-husband own any property that you know of? Maybe outside Nevada?" Catherine knew this was a long-shot, but she had to try.
"Not that I'm aware of, I'm sorry."
"No, no, it's not your fault." Catherine thought for a moment. "Is there any place that was special to Joseph? Some place he used to talk to you about?" Sally Michaels was quiet for a moment.
"Well, he always talked about buying a house in the area where he used to live with his parents."
"In Tonopah?"
"No, they moved from Tonopah when Joseph was just a baby. I don't remember what the town was called, but it's somewhere south of Vegas. He took me there once."
"Somewhere on route 95?" Catherine could feel her excitement rising. Finally, something to go on.
"I think so. I'm sorry I can't be of any more help."
"You might have helped us more than you know." Catherine told her encouragingly. "Listen, if I give you my number, could you call me if you hear from Joseph?"
"Of course." Sally Michaels promised. "But I doubt he'll call me again. Last summer was the first time I heard from him since I left Vegas fifteen years ago."
"Still. If you hear from him." Catherine gave Sally Michaels her cell number. "I appreciate it."
xxxxx
"Hey Archie." Nick greeted as he entered the AV-lab.
"Hey, any news?" Archie asked anxiously.
"Nope, nothing." Nick sat down opposite Archie. "I heard you traced the call from Nichols to somewhere around the Strip?"
"His call went through the cell tower off the Strip, but that just means he was in the area when he made the call." Archie replied.
"I know what you mean." Nick nodded. "Unfortunately I kind of agree with Catherine on this one, I think he's going out of his way to keep us off his tail. He probably went into the city to try to throw us off."
"Probably." Archie agreed. "But I put a trace on his number, so the minute he turns the phone on, I'll be able to see where he's calling from."
"Great, that's probably the best thing we've got to go on right now." Nick sighed.
"Oh, I think I might have something better." Catherine announced, coming into the room. "I just talked to Nichols' ex-wife."
"You were able to track her down?" Nick asked, and she nodded.
"She didn't know if Nichols owns any property, but she did say that he always talked about getting a place where he lived with his parents."
"Tonopah?"
"Apparently they moved from Tonopah when he was little." Catherine revealed. "She didn't remember the name of the place, but Warrick's checking with the national registration, it shouldn't be long before we know where the Nichols relocated to."
"Right you are." Warrick joined the group. "After leaving Tonopah, the Nichols family moved to Searchlight, Nevada. Why didn't we check this information before, when we dug into Nichols' past?" He dropped a folder onto the table.
"We didn't think his childhood was all that relevant." Catherine replied. "Searchlight, that's on route 95, right?"
"Sure is." Nick confirmed.
"I was just about to go through the real estate records, see if any property has changed hands down there in the last year or so." Warrick said, heading for the door. "Just wanted to let you know."
"I'm gonna call Grissom, he'll want to know." Catherine checked her watch. "It's almost six, anyway."
"I'll give Jim a call, tell him what's going on, start rallying the troops." Nick followed Catherine out of the room.
Grissom answered his cell after the first ring.
"Yes?" He sounded out of breath, like he'd run to the phone.
"Did I wake you?" Catherine asked.
"No, I was just getting out of the shower, what's going on?"
"Well, I talked to Nichols' ex-wife, and she told me that he used to talk about getting a place where he lived with his parents as a boy." Catherine told him. "They left Tonopah when he was little, and Warrick just talked to the national registration, and they moved to Searchlight."
"That's not a very big place, we should get down there, see if anyone's seen anything out of the ordinary." He said.
"We will, Warrick's checking if any property has been sold down there in the last year, we should know something soon, and Nick's talking to Jim, he'll get some guys together."
"I'll be at the lab in fifteen minutes."
"Not unless you plan to break about fifty traffic laws you won't." Catherine told him. "And I think it would be a shame if you had to see Sara through bars when we find her."
"Fine, half an hour."
"Better." She hung up and went to find Warrick.
xxxxx
"Have we got anything yet?" Grissom asked as he rushed into the break room where the entire night shift was gathered.
"A couple of properties have been sold in the Searchlight area in the past year." Warrick told them. "One to a person under the name of Kelly Winters, with the social security number of a dead kid."
"Kelly Nichols'?" Catherine asked, and Warrick nodded.
"Well, that's it, let's go." Greg stood up, Nick following suit. Grissom, who had never sat down, headed for the door, where he almost walked into Archie.
"He's turned the phone on." Archie announced.
"Where is he?" Catherine asked.
"What difference does it make, we know where he's got Sara." Greg said in an exasperated voice, but Catherine ignored him.
"He's in Henderson." Archie told her.
"Trying to trick us again." She stated. "But why has he turned the phone on, he must have figured out that we'll have a trace on it."
The answer came as a shrill tone filled the air. Grissom pulled his cell phone from his pocket and flipped it open.
"Grissom."
"Does it frighten you, not knowing where she is? Not knowing what I'll do to her?" The voice was barely a whisper.
"Nichols." Grissom breathed into the phone. The others froze around him.
"Any closer to finding me yet? Somehow I doubt it."
"As a matter of fact, we have not focused all our efforts on finding your hiding place." Grissom stated. He didn't think it would be a good idea to reveal that they were on their way to Nichols' hide-out.
"When you find her body, you'll regret that." The words cut like a knife through Grissom, but he knew he needed to stay calm.
"Would you like to know who killed your daughter?"
The line was quiet for so long that Grissom thought Nichols had hung up.
"You don't know who killed my Kelly." Nichols finally replied. "You didn't have a clue back then, and you still don't."
"Oh, but we do." Grissom said. "We have a taped confession." Granted, this was a white lie.
"Tell me!" Nichols yelled.
"Let Sara go, and I will."
"No, no, that's not…"
"Then you'll never know. Is that what you want?"
"Shut up! You don't know, you're just trying to get me to let her go. Forget it! In fact, I think the rules of the game just changed…" A click sounded through the phone.
"Let's go, we have to find her now." Grissom rushed down the hallway towards the parking lot. "I think he's going to kill her."
xxxxx
Nichols slammed the phone shut and threw it angrily into the backseat. That bastard! He was trying to use Kelly to get him to let his girlfriend go.
Well, he'd just have to live with the consequences.