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CSICSICSICSICSICSICSI
Sara looked at the contents of the purse that she had spilled onto the counter. Normal contents. A wallet, a lip stick. Drivers license. The Sheriff had confirmed by looking at the drivers license photo that that was the woman that had been taken into custody. Her name was Maggie Scott, and according to the address on the ID, she was an occupant at the address.
Before the coroner had left, he had mentioned to her that he'd found the mans wallet in the DBs pants. Identified as David Scott. Maggie's husband.
She went back to searching through the drawers and cabinets.
"Any luck?" Nick asked as he entered the kitchen.
Sara glanced up at him. "Not really," she sighed. "I just don't get it. I've looked in every obvious place for a phone book, and nothing." Sara stopped looking, and glanced around her surroundings.
"What?" Nick asked.
"Did you hear that?" she asked him, continuing to scan the room and strained to listen for the noise to happen again.
"Hear what?"
She sighed, shaking her head. "Must just be this old place. Making noises."
"Little jumpy?" Warrick teased, entering the room with a few evidence bags. He gently placed them down on the kitchen table.
Sara glanced at him, but admitted silently to herself that she was. "Probably just being back here. Knowing what happened to the McBrides." She heard the noise again. "There!" she jumped a little in surprise. "Did you hear it?"
Nick and Warrick glanced at each other and shook their heads.
"Must be going crazy," she tried to joke. But even to herself, her voice sounded strained.
"You know, the last time we were here, I was processing Cassie's bedroom," Nick started, "and I thought I heard a little girl. When I checked it out, it was Warrick. There was an old piano upstairs programmed with her laugh."
She smiled slightly. "Yeah, I remember. Cassie does have an infectious laugh. But, the difference is, you were hearing something that was really there. You two can't hear what I'm hearing."
"Sara, are you OK?" Warrick asked her quietly. "If your not feeling up to this, you can go ahead to the motel, and Nick and I can finish up."
"I'm fine, War," she assured them.
"You're positive?" Nick asked, walking over and placing a hand on her arm.
Sara felt her body heat up at his skin contacting with hers. It took her a moment, but she nodded. "Yeah," she whispered. "Absolutely." They stood staring at one another for a few moments, not wanting to look away.
The phone rang, causing Nick and Sara to jump apart, realizing where they were. It rang three times before the answering machine picked up. "This is the Scott residence," a womans voice said in a monotone voice. The three CSIs silently believed it to be the voice of the wife. "We can't come to the phone right now, but please leave your name and number, and we'll get back to as soon as we can." Beep.
"Maggie, this is your mom calling," the woman started, and Warrick, Nick and Sara all froze. "We just wanted to let you know that your father and I will be by the house around nine tomorrow morning. I hope Morgan isn't too disappointed that we're getting a late start to the Grand Canyon, but -"
Sara lunged for the phone suddenly. "Uh, hi?" She silently cursed herself for not knowing what, exactly to say. For not sounding professional.
"Who is this?" the woman asked sharply.
Sara took a deep breath, suddenly wishing she'd had the composure to let Nick or Warrick answer the phone. "My name is Sara Sidle. I work with the LVPD," she answered calmly.
"The LVPD?" was the shocked response. Sara could hear the woman telling the person in the car, named Harold, who had obviously been driving to pull over. "What's wrong? Has something happened? Please let me speak to my daughter!"
"I'm sorry Ma'am," Sara said. "Maggie isn't here right now."
"Is she OK? Where's Morgan?" she was firing off questions.
"I was hoping you might have the answer to that," Sara said sadly. "Are you Morgan's Grandparents?" She knew from the message the woman had been leaving that they were, but she needed confirmation. She listened as the elderly lady sobbed quietly, and said yes. Sara heard rustling on the other end of the phone.
"My name is Harold," a man said into the phone. "My wife Mary, she's, uh-"
Sara heard the sob, and a woman loudly blowing her nose. "It's alright, I understand."
"We're Maggie's parents. Morgan's grandparents," he continued. "Please, tell me what happened to my baby and grandbaby."
"Maggie is fine, physically," Sara tried to sound positive for the elderly couple. "She's been taken into the Sheriffs office for questioning. We had been told that you had been planning on picking your grand daughter up earlier today for a trip."
"We had car trouble," Harold sounded shook up. "Been a long drive. We live in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We were almost to the Utah/Nevada boarder when the radiator blew. Put us behind schedule," he answered, almost crying himself.
Sara nodded and looked at Nick and Warrick, silently confirming that little girl was not with her grandparents.
The conversation was quick after that, Sara scribbling down the cell number of Mary and Harold, promising that they would find Morgan. Giving them the abbreviated version of what had happened -- sans the fact that their daughter was the main suspect. That could wait until after they arrived in town.
"They'll be here early tomorrow morning," Sara said, running a hand through her hair.
"So, where could she be?" Warrick asked. "At a friends, maybe?"
"I don't think so," Sara shook her head. "It just - it doesn't feel right. The Sheriff said they were new to town. Obviously both Maggie and David were here. No traces of their daughter. If you were new to town, would you trust someone whose basically a stranger, to be alone with your three year old?"
"Then were would she be?" Nick asked, wondering the same thing. "The officers cleared the premises."
"Nick and I rechecked the first and second floor, as well as the attic," Warrick mused. "Did anyone check the cellar?"
Sara and Nick shook their heads no.
Slowly, the three of them made their way towards the cellar, guns drawn. Warrick reached out and turned the knob, Nick stood in front of Sara. Together, they made their way, silently, down the dark stairwall.
"Damn," Warrick cursed.
"Nothing," Sara fumed, as Nick let out a shaky breath.
The three made a quick sweep of the area before returning upstairs.
Bang
"What was that?" Warrick asked.
"Wait, you actually heard that?" Sara asked.
"Yeah," Nick nodded. "It was coming from over here," he nodded in the direction that was now behind Sara.
"I don't remember this room," Warrick commented.
"It's an addition," Nick summed up. The three wandered into the room, gazing around the new addition -- a dining room.
Bang
"Where is it coming from?" Sara spoke softly. Her gaze fell upon a large china cabinet that covered a large portion of the wall. Pobably sat eight feet long, six feet tall. She shone her flashlight behind the large unit, her head resting against the wall as she tried to peer behind it. "There's an inconsistancy on the floor," she murmured.
That was enough to get Warrick and Nick's attention.
"On three," Nick said as he gently moved Sara out of the way, taking her place at the one end of the unit, while Warrick stood at the other end.
The two both got firm grips on the piece, and all three were shocked when, on the count of three, rather than finding it hard to move, the furniture rolled away from the wall with little strength needed.
"I could've moved that myself," Sara stated. She watched as Nick and Warrick rolled it about four feet from the wall.
Bang
Everyones attention focused back on the floor that had been hidden beneath the cabinet. Sara quickly knelt down and traced the inconsistancy, before finding a groove in the floor board. She pulled it up and was shocked to find a latch. She pulled on it and although it was slightly heavy, she lifted it up easily. Warrick and Nick once again drew their guns as Sara moved to the side.
Bang
The hole in the floor revealed a few steps that led into a roughly five foot high room with cement walls. It was a crawl space that had obviously been created when the addition was built. It was dark.
"We're with the LVPD!" Warrick's voice boomed as he and Nick started down the steps. They could hear muffled noises, but couldn't determine what or who was making them. "Show yourself!"
The room was dark.
Sara once again grabbed her flashlight from the holster on her hip, shining it into the small dark space. She gasped at what she saw, Nick was dumb struck and sick to his stomach while Warrick was having problems registering just what exactly they were seeing.
Warrick, still being in front of Nick and Sara, used his own flashlight and found the sole light. He pulled on the string and the light bulb illuminated the room in an depressing tone. Cement floors and walls. Childrens toys strewn about in a haphazard play room.
There was a slight movement in the corner of the room that caught all of their attention. They could see a small foot trying desperately to hide itself in a corner behind a large play station.
"Morgan?" Nick called out cautiously, not wanting to scare the young child.
Warrick pressed on, Nick and Sara following him down the remainder of the steps.
They all made their way, crouching as the went, towards the small child. "My name is Warrick. My two friends here -- they're names are Nick and Sara."
"We're here to help you, Sweetie," Nick spoke softly as if he were talking to one of his neices or nephews.
When Warrick got too close, the little girl sniffled and scrambled away from him, trying to get as far away as possible. She clutched onto her teddy bear as if it held her life in it's hands.
Sara saw the fear in her eyes, and for the first time, she found her voice to speak. "You like Winnie The Pooh, Morgan?" she asked softly. For the first time the little girls scared eyes met hers, and her fright lessened a little. She nodded. Sara moved a bit closer, very slowly. "I had Tigger when I was your age. My brother always teased me because when I was a little girl, Tigger went everywhere with me. And Piglet and Roo were never hard to find, either. But I never told him that I knew he secretly loved Lumpy."
"Me 'ave Anga, too," the little girl said softly, as a few tears slipped down her cheeks.
"Ah, Kanga," Sara smiled, continuing to crawl towards the little girl. She was just a few feet from her now. "Kanga is Roo's mommy. Do you have any of the others?" Now Sara was sitting beside the little girl, her back against the cement wall.
Warrick and Nick sat back and silently watched as she made headway with the little girl.
Morgan shook her head no. "Me want tem, tow," she hiccuped.
"I think I have Tigger, Piglet and Roo somewhere at my house," she said quietly. "And I think I might even have Lumpy, too. Would you like to have them?"
Morgan's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "You would do tat for me?" she asked, her eyes shining up at Sara.
Sara smiled slightly. "Yes, I would. Besides, I think they'd like to see their old friends. I think they miss Winnie and Kanga."
Without warning, the little girl jumped up and hugged Sara tightly. "Tank you," she sniffed.
"You're welcome sweetie," Sara sighed, she closed her eyes, trying to fight back tears that were threatening to fall. When she opened her eyes, she saw Warrick and Nick watching them with interest. "Morgan?"
"Yes?" she asked quietly, not letting go of her grip around Sara's neck.
"Can we go upstairs?"
In a flash, the little girl pulled away from Sara's embrace and looked in her eyes. There was no mistaking the fear again. She shook her head no.
"Why not?" she asked softly.
"Daddy," she said simply.
Nick and Warrick glanced at each other wonder how any father could make his daughter so scared of him.
"You're Daddy isn't upstairs," Sara said quietly.
"Promise?" she asked, holding out her pinky finger.
Sara held up her pinky finger to the girl, winked and said, "Promise."
Morgan hooked her pinky around Sara's, satisfied. Sara knew that to a girl Morgan's age, a Pinky swear promise was as solid as a signed confession was to the court.
"Will you 'tay wit me 'til I find my mommy?"
"I'll stay with you as long as I can," Sara answered, stroking her hair. She knew she couldn't stay with the little girl until her mother was released from custody. That might never happen. But at the very least, she could stay with the girl until she was in a safe place for the night, and hopefully until her Grandparents made it to town. "Come on," she urged softly, nodding towards the stairs.
She looked at the stairs and then glanced at Nick and Warrick who were still watching the exchange silently. Tears cascaded down her cheeks and she shook her head no. She then turned into Sara's chest and closed her eyes tightly.
"Sara," Warrick spoke up, gabbing her attention. He nudged Nick and nodded his head towards the stairs that lead out of the room.
"Thank you," she mouthed to them both.
After a few minutes of relative silence in, Sara gently spoke. "Are you ready to go upstairs yet?"
Morgan glanced around and didn't see Nick or Warrick. She turned back to Sara and nodded.
Sara held Morgan's hand as she uncomfortably made her way to the stairs. Being that the little girl was probably no more than two and a half feet tall, she was able to walk with ease. As they neared the stairs, Morgan tugged on Sara's hand.
"What is it?" she asked quietly. She held her little hands up to Sara, silently requesting that she carry her out. "Hang on," Sara said as she stepped up the two bottom stairs. She glanced around the dining room and was satisfied that both Warrick and Nick weren't there. She glanced back down and held both her hands out for Morgan to take. When she did, Sara hoisted her up on her hip and walked easily up the rest of the stairs.
Together, Morgan still on her hip, her head burried in the crook of Sara's neck, they walked out of the house and into the front yard where Nick and Warrick had met with the Sheriff.
The Sheriff breathed a sigh of relief when he saw for himself that they had infact found the little girl alive. "Officer Spencer is going to take her to the clinic," he said softly.
"Uh, I don't think that's a good idea," Nick said when the male officer stepped forward to take the little girl from Sara's arms.
The Officer was about to challenge Nick, but Nick stared him down.
Sara tried to suppress the smirk that threatened to take over, but it tugged at her lips. She couldn't help but notice how sexy it was when Nick tried to intervene on her behalf. If it had been any other man, she would've been saying that she could handle it herself, but with Nick, it was different. She couldn't explain it, but it just was.
"Sara's going to go with you," Warrick stated to the Officer, who looked to the Sheriff for confirmation. He just shook his head, indicating that he trusted the CSIs and would do as they said. Warrick then addressed Sara. "Nick and I will probably be a while prossessing the dining room and what we found under it," he finished carefully, not wanting to upset the little girl.
"OK, I'll try and meet you at the station to question the suspect in a while."
"Call if you need anything," Nick said stepping a little closer to Sara. He reached out to touch Sara's arm, but noticed that the little girl tensed at his proximity.
"It's OK, he's a friend," Sara whispered to the little girl who started to relax once again. She burried her head in Sara's neck before she smiled up at Nick pensively. "We'd better go. I'm going to see if I can get a SART exam for her." She didn't even want to think that it was a possibility that she'd been put through that hell. And if the the little girl had a bad reaction to being examined, they'd just have to build a case, whatever it might be, without it. She wouldn't put the child through anymore stress than necessary.
"Ready, Ms. Sidle?" Officer Spencer asked, clearly becoming impatient.
She nodded her head in response. The Officer opened the back door for Sara, and closed it tightly once she was settled inside.
Warrick re-entered the house intent on starting the evidence collection for the newly found room. Nick on the other hand just stood outside, watching as Sara slid the little girl off her lap and onto the center of the backseat. She strapped her in securely, a little nervous since the officer clearly didn't have the appropriate child restraint seat in his patrol car. She then quickly did up her own buckle before wrapping her arm around the little girls shoulder as she snuggled into Sara's side.
"Spencer!" Nick called out before the Officer opened the drivers door. Sara's head turned at the muffled sound of Nick's voice through the car window. The Officer turned and looked at Nick a little upset that he was being delayed once again. "Drive carefully."
She heard Officers Spencer grunt of a reply when he yanked his door open and dropped himself in the car. "He's unbelievable," Spencer muttered.
"Yeah, he is," Sara whispered, the smile completely over taking her features.
