The flashing lights of the police cars painted the crime scene a garish red a blue. Gil Grissom stepped out of his SUV onto the slightly unkempt lawn. His face was stricken and pale, a startling contrast to his usual stoic composure. He slowly scanned the scene, noting the presence of both Detective Jim Brass, and CSI level three Warrick Brown, standing on the sidewalk in silent grief.
Headlights cut through the night briefly, then vanished with the sound of a car door slamming. He turned to see Catherine Willows rushing towards him across the darkened street. The darkness did nothing to hide the intense pain in her eyes, or the fresh traces of tears upon her face; their salty tracks meandering along the contours of her cheek.
Upon reaching him, Catherine swiftly embraced Grissom tightly, her small body shaking with sadness. After pulling away, both she and Gil looked towards Sara's house and took a deep breath; the night had just begun.
Grissom assigned Warrick to the back of the house, and Nick, who had just arrived, to the front. He and Catherine would process the inside of Sara's home. Somewhere in the dark a siren wailed, but tonight there was only one crime scene, only one crime.
The first thing Grissom noticed as he entered was the overwhelming smell of copper in the stagnant air that felt like death. "Blood" Catherine murmured "lots of it." They carefully removed gloves from their kits and pulled them on. The beams of their flashlights illuminated the path to Sara's bedroom, where they knew her body lay.
"Body's been positioned" Catherine said as they slowly entered the room. "Torn sheets binding the hands and feet of the victim" Grissom murmured. They could not think of her as Sara, not now, not when they had a job to do. They had to catch a murderer.
They went about collecting evidence and analyzing the various details of the scene. Catherine crouched to examine a spatter of blood on the wall next to the dresser. On the floor a glint of metal caught her attention. She reached down and pulled a large kitchen knife from underneath the bed, dripping with blood. "Gil! It looks like I've found the murder weapon" she called. After bagging it as evidence, she stopped before getting up. There, on the floor, lay a small, heart-shaped locket on a simple gold chain. She remembered the same necklace around her friend's neck and began to weep silently. Gil looked over and saw the way Catherine's small shoulders shook with her tears. He suddenly had an overwhelming urge to hold her; to soothe away this raw vulnerability. He placed a hand on the small of her back and the fragile grace of her pale face shook him. So much so that when he asked "Are you alright?" his voice trembled with emotion. Her blue eyes swam with as yet unshed tears, but she nodded and rose. "Let's get this bastard" she said through clenched teeth, and they both walked from the room; Catherine's fist tightly clutching the locket, still warm from adorning Sara's neck.