Here is chapter fifteen.

Disclaimer: Don't you just love a good mystery based off characters you do not own?

"Welcome back," Grissom said, his voice strained. "How was your ride?"

"Sorry," Sara and Catherine replied in unison as they entered the office in the Crime Lab.

"There was thick traffic," Catherine said while she put down her bag.

"And you know how traffic in Vegas is," added Sara.

Grissom watched as the woman walked to the other side of the room and took a seat at the table next to Jim Brass. Catherine followed soon after her. They both looked up at him earnestly and, at the same time, impatiently. Obviously, they had discovered important information, too.

"Shall I go first or shall you?" he asked.

Catherine placed her hands together. "We don't know why you rushed us here, so I suggest that you talk first."

The man paced back and forth between the table and the door many minutes before talking. "Where to start?" he asked himself. "I believe…" he drew out the last word, "that I have found the next target of the Chimera Killer. Now, I am not completely sure—can anyone be completely sure until the actual killing happens?—but I truly believe that this is a reliable lead. The problem, though, is that this murder is directed at children, and we need to take extra steps to protect them and to protect us. I believe that the Chimera Killer is planning his next kill around the Iliad. All the clues were aimed at the Judgment of Paris, which is a very important part in Greek mythology; it sets up the Trojan War."

"So," said Catherine, "we find the Iliad, we find the killer?"

"Not exactly." Grissom pulled out the newspaper that Nick had given him and placed it on the table. "See this add, the one for the school play? That was how I made the connection. When I was researching the play, I found out that none of the theaters in Vegas are showing the play until months from now."

Sara raised her hand to stop him. "What if the Chimera Killer plans to strike later on in the year? There are serial killers who are known to do that."

"Yes that is true," he replied, "but the MO of the Chimera has not been killing in a time span of months. The murders of Roxanne Theseus, Dorothea and Elliot Friar were committed in a matter of weeks. Serial killers can change their ways of doing things, but many times this takes longer to do. The Chimera would not change his way of committing these murders so easily. When I saw this advertisement for the Ofterd High school play, I knew that it was right."

"Another question," Catherine said. "How would the Chimera know about the play?"

Grissom pulled out five sections of the newspaper. Each part was of the D-section. "I found the newspaper of the last four days. As the first paper, the one from today, shows, there is an advertisement for the play. I could not find any newspapers dating before four days ago, so I called the company. They told me that the ad has been running for the past three weeks. The Chimera Killer definitely could have seen this, and planned the murders and the clues he was going to place at the Echo center."

"The high school wanted to get it out there that they were having a play based on the Iliad," Brass said, "and, unfortunately, the wrong person saw it…."

"Why don't you tell them about Zoë?"

Brass straightened up in his chair. "I talked to Zoë Theseus this morning. She sent her grandmother away and told me something very… interesting. Her name was built off Greek mythology. Zoë—Greek. Theseus—Greek mythological hero."

Catherine furrowed her brows. "What does that mean?"

"The Chimera Killer was not after Roxanne, but was after Zoë," Brass concluded. "Zoë knew it, too. She is so disturbed about that fact that, she blames herself for her mother's death."

"And she figured this out by herself?" Sara asked.

Brass gave a curt nod. "Yeah, that's what she said. Once she started thinking about it occurred to her that she was the intended target; it freaked her out."

"Then why didn't she come to us when she thought of this?" Catherine muttered. "And why was Roxanne stabbed and Zoë came out with barely any cuts?"

The Homicide Detective leaned across the table. "I met her grandmother. The woman barely takes anything Zoë says seriously. She probably could not get the woman to believe her. Also, the girl looked scared out of her wits…."

"We do not know why Zoë was not killed, and her mother was. It might be something only the Chimera can answer. Now, Grissom turned to Catherine and Sara. "Well, you implied that you discovered something."

Both women pulled out their cameras and showed off the pictures. "This was found it the office of Geoffrey Carrey, Roxanne Theseus' boss. We also found this email on Roxanne's computer." Catherine pulled out the flash drive, and Sara showed off the picture of the email.

"Is it enough for us to get a warrant?"

Brass flipped out his cell phone. "Oh yeah."

***

"Thank you for coming with me on this," Gil Grissom told Nick and Jim. "Sofia is all caught up trying to get Sara and Catherine a warrant, and they are still going over information on the Chimera's victims." He tightened his hands on the steering wheel. The Chimera Killer was overloading them with work.

"No problem," Nick said from the passenger seat. "For once there are not any other cases that need working on. This is our top priority. We'll catch this guy, Grissom; don't worry." He seemed to be reassuring himself as well.

Brass just shrugged. "This is my job."

The car pulled into the entrance of Ofterd High School. The school was very modern looking, with square wings coming off the main building and large, glass windows down the sides. Most of the parking lot was full, but there was an empty spot in the back.

"Of course all of the teachers took the close parking spots," Nick commented as he got out of the car. "My high school never looked like this."

The inside of the school was new looking, too. The walls were painted a bright blue and the lockers were a darker shade of the same color. The trio found the office with ease.

A woman was sitting at the front desk, talking on the phone and popping her gum. She grabbed a piece of paper and started to scribble madly on it. "Uh-huh. Yep. Of course. No problem, dear. Alright, see you tomorrow." She slammed the phone back down and swiveled around in her chair. "Colleen! That was Arianna on the phone. She's going to be out sick… again."

Another woman at the back desk smiled knowingly and shook her head. "Yeah, she's sick alright. What has that girl missed—five days in the last two weeks?"

"You're telling me."

"Excuse me," Grissom said. "We called the school earlier."

The woman glared up at them. "You're gonna have to be more specific, sir. A lot of people call this school. What'cha here for?"

Grissom bent down so that he was closer to the woman. "We are with the Crime Lab and are here to see the principle."

"Oh." The woman's face paled slightly. "Go on in…" She pointed to the door marked Principle.

As they walked toward the door, Brass whispered, "You might want us to do the talking, Grissom."

Sitting at a desk was a man dressed in a neat suit. His skin was as dark as his hair. When they entered, he stood up and shook hands. "I am Daniel Sampson."

The men introduced themselves.

"May I ask why you are here?" the principle asked with a hint of strain in his voice.

Jim looked at Grissom and then at Nick. "We suspect that there is a target on your school."

"A target! Do you mean like a bomb?" Mr. Sampson coughed and tried to keep his voice calm. "What do you mean?" He seemed to be repressing his emotions; there was no need for him to freak out at every threat that came his way. This was the Vegas area, after all.

"We are investigating a series of murders and they have suggested that your school may be the next target." Grissom was impressed on how Jim did not mention the words 'serial killer.' "We are concerned for the safety of your students and teachers."

Mr. Sampson got up from his chair and paced around the back of his desk. "What?! You are telling me that someone is trying to murder a person at this school?"

They all stared at each other, knowing how bad it sounded—for it was, indeed, bad.

"Yeah," said Nick, "in a nutshell."

Mr. Sampson put his fists on the desk. "No, I won't believe it!"

Grissom leaned forward in his chair. "Sir, someone is going to be killed at this school if we do not do anything about this. Please, try to reason with us."

"Why should I?"

"Because," Grissom said simply, "this is a matter of life and death. And for all you know, it could be your life that is on the line."

To be continued…

This is not one of my favorite chapters. However, it needed to be done. The first part explains what the different CSIs have learned; even though the reader knows this information already, the story would not make sense to the characters without this part. The second part sets up the next chapter.

I made up Ofterd High school, just to let you know.

R&R