Chapter 16 – You Will Pay
"I don't understand what you see in this Jeff guy," Nick said through a mouthful of french fries.
Sara rolled her eyes. "Can we please drop this?" she asked desperately.
"No," he answered bluntly. "I don't get it. What does he have that, oh lets say…I don't?" Nick had swallowed and was trying to hold back a smile.
Sara tried to hold hers back too. And was failing miserably. "What are you saying?"
Nick shrugged. "What does he have that I don't?" he asked again with a french fry in his hand. He popped it into his mouth and looked at her expectantly.
Sara looked down at the table and smiled. She didn't know what the answer was. Jeff was great…but so was Nick. "I don't know," she told him quickly with that goofy smile still on her face. She couldn't help it. He brought it out of her.
"That's it?" He asked dramatically, leaning forward onto the table, "You don't know? That's not an answer." He leaned back and folded his arms.
"Well that is the only answer I'm going to give you," she said leaning forward and popping one of Nick's fries into her mouth.
The waitress came by and handed them the bill. It was just after shift about a week later and they had decided that burgers and fries were an excellent breakfast/dinner right after shift. It had been a long night and Sara had invited the team to her place for breakfast, but they had all declined. Except for Nick of coarse so they decided on this little diner instead.
Sara asked Nick one more time to drop it so they did. The conversation eventually landed on Charlotte. Sara had told him about Charlotte on numerous occasions and Nick felt like he knew the child, even though he had never met her. Sara was telling him how she painted pictures and taped them up all over the house while they were still wet. They hung around at the diner for the next half hour when Sara decided to invite him to meet Charlotte. It was Saturday anyway so she wouldn't have school, and she should be out of bed now too. He accepted and he followed her to her house.
When they went into the house Nick heard Charlotte running down the stairs. He heard her run around the corner and Sara just had time to put down her keys and purse before the little girl ran into her arms.
"Hi pumpkin," she said as she hugged the little blond girl. When they came out of the hug she looked at her and spun around to face Nick.
"I would like you to meet someone," she said to the little girl. "This is my friend from work. This is Nick." Charlotte looked behind her and tilted her head shyly at the stranger.
"Hi," she said quietly, hugging her mom again.
Nick gave her his charming Texas smile. "Hi there. And what is your name?" he asked as if he didn't know.
"Charlotte," she said quietly, a hint of a smile on her face. The baby sitter came around the corner and Sara paid her before she said good-bye and left.
"Charlotte," Nick said, sounding impressed. "That is a beautiful name," he said with his hands on his hips. "And how old are you, Charlotte?"
Charlotte held out one hand with all the fingers raised but didn't say anything.
"20?" Nick asked looking confused.
Charlotte giggled. "No-o-o," she laughed and held up her hand again.
"Oh, so your 30. Ok," Nick said.
Charlotte shook her head again and smiled. "No. I'm five. See," she pointed at each finger with her other hand. "One, two, three, four, five. That's five fingers," she told him.
"Ohhhhhh," Nick said dramatically and smacked his forehead. "How silly of me. You are very smart."
Charlotte smiled and giggled again. Sara smiled too. He was very good with kids. "Can Nick come in and play with my toys, Mommy?" Charlotte asked.
"Sure. But I think we should get out of the hallway first."
"Yep," Charlotte answered nodding her head violently. Sara carried her daughter into the living room and put her down she ran over to the couch and jumped on.
Charlotte sat down and played with Nick while he talked to Sara. He stayed for about an hour and Charlotte was very upset when he left. She only let him go with a promise to come back and she was satisfied enough to let go of his arm.
"I like him," Charlotte said as soon as he had left.
"Do you?" Sara asked, walking into the kitchen.
"Yup. He is very nice and he played with me. Because not a lot of grown-ups play with me," she finished matter-of-factly. She was quiet for a minute, then, "Do you like him?" she asked curiously, following Sara into the kitchen.
"What do you mean?" Sara asked. She pulled out a little plastic cup with a picture of a monkey on it. The monkey's tail was the handle.
"Do you like him? Like you like Jeff?" she asked.
Sara smiled. "Not like I like Jeff. But I do like him. He is very nice," Sara explained. She filled the cup with milk and handed it to Charlotte.
"Oh." She said and took the cup, deep in thought.
"Why do you ask?" Sara asked after a minute.
"Well, I thought you like him like Jeff," she explained like it was obvious.
"Why do you think that?" Sara asked, leaning against the counter and folding her arms.
Charlotte shrugged. "'Cause you only talk to not that many boys," she answered into her cup.
Sara's eyebrows shot up. The deductive powers of this little girl amazed her. "I talk to lots of boys," she said defensively but with a smile.
"No you don't," Charlotte countered. "You only talk to some. And Jeff is one of them." She smiled and put her empty cup on the counter by the sink and ran off to play.
Sara stared after her. "Huh," she said to herself, turning to wash out Charlotte's cup.
SnickersSnickersSnickersSnickersSnickersSnickersSnickersSnickers
Sara went into work that night in high spirits. Everything had been so down lately that she had really enjoyed Nick's visit. As soon as she walked into the lab, however, things turned around dramatically. She was immediately whisked off to another crime scene. It was the same guy and Sara knew it as soon as she walked into the door. The whole team was there this time, except for Catherine. She had protested but Grissom really didn't want her to get into this case too much. In fact, because of the note, he really didn't want to let her out of the lab. He had asked Brass to get a cop car to go by her house every once in awhile to make sure she was ok.
This girl was the same as Jillian Haynes; battered face, raped, strangled, and cut on her stomach. The four of them were processing without speaking, each knowing what had to be done. Grissom worked the body, Warrick the bedspread and floor around it, Nick the blood, and Sara the rest of the room. There was barely any sound, except for the occasional ripping sound of a tape lifter being opened or the opening and closing of their kits. No-one said a word, until Doc. Robbins was clearing the body.
"What's this?" he asked softly to no-one in particular. All four heads looked up and tried to see what he had broken the silence for. There was a piece of paper in her mouth. Grissom took out some tweezers and carefully wedged it out. He didn't open it, just took out an evidence bag and put it in.
"Aren't you going to read it?" Doc. Robbins voiced all their thoughts.
"No. I want to take it back to the lab and see what it means. This is different, and so far we have only seen him escalate. I don't want to loose him." Grissom went back to working and the rest exchanged glances before doing so as well.
SnickersSnickersSnickersSnickersSnickersSnickersSnickersSnickers
Grissom called in the whole team before deciding to open the note. He figured that, from their reactions when they had found it, they would all want to know what it said.
Again, the room was totally silent. Nick was standing beside Grissom and the other three were on the other side of the table. Grissom worked with tweezers, carefully and gently un-wadding the note. Eventually it opened and everyone held their breath as they read the magazine cut-out words.
'I'm getting ready. It will be soon. I decided to have a practice run before my attack. You will still pay for stopping my work. You will pay. Be prepared. You will pay."
Grissom's lips were pursed as he read the awful note. Nick and Sara looked at each other as they finished. Catherine was standing beside Sara and she had started shaking. Warrick was on her other side and he rubbed her back then wrapped that arm around her shoulder, comforting her. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. The sheer terror was very evident on her face.
Grissom looked over at her. "It's going to be ok, Catherine. We'll get him," he said quietly, in attempt to console her. Catherine looked across the table at him and nodded. She tried to look strong but she was terrified, not only for herself, but for her daughter as well.
Author's Note: How do you like it? I really want to know so please Review!!!