Chapter 2: Run Rabbit
For warnings and Disclaimers, see Prologue
"I don't see why I need to be removed," Sara glared at Grissom from across the desk, "this is my case, my hard work has gone into it, and if you take me off it, the recipient will have to spend too much time looking over the details to make any progress. Then the father will get away with it. I know that I'm so close to finding the missing puzzle piece, I know I am."
Grissom looked steadily at the younger CSI, who was sitting tensely in the opposing chair, fingers balled into fists, voice tight with anger.
"Sara, do you think swearing at, and threatening a suspect is a good idea?" His voice was serious "You are far too emotionally invested in this case, and you need to be impartial. You obviously cannot be fair in investigating everyone, and the department sees this as unacceptable..."
"HE DID IT!" Saras' face was white, and her dark eyes were glittering. "he did it. I know he did. I can prove it, I can. The 'department' shouldn't be about stupid politics. It should be about catching killers, like Andrew Sherpe.I don't give a SHIT about the department!"
"SARA!" Grissom was shocked at her outburst "You need a break. Go home. Sleep. How many shifts have you worked straight without sleeping since this case began?"
"Sleeping won't help getting Nicola Sherpes' father put in jail. Should he be able to get away with raping and murdering a fourteen year old, his own fucking daughter, just because I had to 'sleep'?"
"Sara, you are off this case, you will go home and rest. I don't want to see or hear from you until tonight. Don't come in until three-thirty."
"fine." Saras' response made him stare at her. "fine." He didn't expect her to agree after her little outburst. She obviously was exhausted, he could see the rings under her eyes.
"I'll see you tomorrow." Grissom said in the most gentle tone he could manage. She just looked at him, then turned around and strode out the office on her long legs.
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Nick Stokes normally hated women crying on his shoulder. It was irritating, for a great majority of the time, or it made him feel guilty. The former was much more common than the latter. Nicky was a nice guy, he usually never had anything to feel guilty about.
So, since he was such a nice guy, when he found Sara sitting on the bench in the middle of the locker room, with her face in her hands, and the sound of soft sobs emanating from her, he immediately ran to her side. Not irritation, or guilt. Concern and worry.
"Sara?" he put a hand on her shoulder, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing" Saras' red eyes indicated what she said was saying was utterly untrue.
"Of course" Nick raised an eyebrow
"I'm so tired." Nicky was the only person Sara could confess her sins to. At least, the things she considered sins, the things normal people would say were, well, normal. "This case...the evidence makes no sense, but the theory does. I don't know what to side with, my instinct, or my brain..." Nick laughed softly, humourlessly. "I would go with the evidence for now Sar. It may just agree with the theory. You'll find new evidence, don't stress"
Sara blew her breath out in a puff. "I know. I hope...urgh, I just know that something in that family is fucked up. Its just a feeling." she smiled ruefully at Nick. "I need slee-eep"
"Do you want to grab something to eat before shift?" Nick asked her, still concerned "We can go to that veggie restaurant you like"
"Sure. What time?"
"We shall meet at...hows...ahm...seven-thirty for you?"
"yeah."
"I'll get Greggo and Warrick to come. Just the 'family'" he gave her a toothy grin, which she responded to by giving her own gap-toothed grin back, feeling a lot better.
"Does the, ahem, 'family' agree to this arrangement? Are you telepathically asking them?"
"Go home Sar." Nick laughed as she walked out
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Run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run, run, run
Run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run, run, run
Bang, bang, bang, bang! goes the farmer's gun
Run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run, run, run
Run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run, run, run
Don't give the farmer his fun, fun,fun
He'll get by without his rabbit pie
So run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run, run, run
"Hits of The Blitz"
Sara heard the doorbell go as the water drummed over her head in the shower. Cursing she jumped out, nearly slipping over, shoved on her robe and underwear, then went for the door.
"Ms. Sidle?" a man of about 45 peered at her from sharp green eyes. "I have a, um package?"
"Excuse me?" Sara felt vulnerable, standing at her door in only her robe and underwear. "I didn't order anything"
"You did" the man moved his arm forward, and Sara looked down, only to see him point a gun discreetly at her ribcage. The man smiled, seeing her eyes widen, then seeing her mouth going open to scream he quickly murmured "you make any noise, and I'll fucking shoot. Don't think I won't. Now let me in"
Sara nodded showing her agreement, and stepped to the side to allow the man to pass her.
"No, you walk in front of me. I'm not an idiot, you're not running out"
Sara turned around, terror gnawing at her. What was she going to do? Oh shitshitshitshitshitshit shitshitshitshit. Where was her closest gun? Sara had guns positioned strategically around the house, being a CSI made one feel rather paranoid and utterly aware of the evil humanity inflicted.
The man behind her pushed the butt of the gun into the bottom of her spine.
"Into the living room"
She walked in, feeling a sense of detachment, seeing herself standing before a stranger with a gun pointed at her. The closest gun, after the one jamming into her, was about three metres away, behind the bookcase.
"you do have such pre-teey legs, Sara." the man whispered wetly in her ear, and she flinched. The thin cotton robe only covered her to mid-thigh. She wished she had thought to put more clothes on. Or just not answered the door.
It was now or never.
Turning around she jammed her knee into the man's groin, moving towards the bookcase faster than she could have imagined. She was nearly there when she felt something smack into the base of her spine. Winded, she tripped, but determinedly started scrambling to the bookcase on her hands and knees. She heard him chortle above her.
"Sara sweetheart, its not there. You really think I'm stupid enough go to a CSI's home when they have guns readily available in every room?"
Sara grabbed for the nearest weapon, a vase on the bottom shelf. Turning around she expected to find him close enough to hit, but not so close that they were practically nose-to-nose. The next thing she saw as she raised the vase, was his fist coming towards her stomach. She collapsed on the ground.
"You know honey, you really are paranoid. So many guns in this house. You, uh, even had one taped to the underside of the bathtub."
Sara shivered. The pain in her stomach was making her queasy and the revelations made her even more nauseous. This guy had been in her house, had gone through her things. And she hadn't even noticed.
"No, no, you haven't been neglecting your little guns babe, I only just took them away earlier today, when you were at work. All 7 of 'em, so don't think you have a chance. By-the-by, hows Nicky and Greggo?" Sara felt her heart give an extra beat as he said the names of her two best friends.
"What do you want? Get the hell out, I'll scream." She was surprised at how calm her voice sounded.
"You won't scream Sara." He placed his foot on her throat, and exerted a small amount of pressure. "You won't scream"
Sara waited for the opportune moment. Twisting his ankle around and making him fall, she scrambled towards the living room door, ignoring the pain still stabbing at her stomach from his unexpected sucker-punch. She was so close to the door, she was so close, only a few centimetres, when she heard a whirring, almost whining metallic noise directly behind her. She recognized the sound from the lab, and tried to move even quicker.
But quick isn't quick enough in some cases, and this was one of these cases.
He pulled the trip wire tight around her throat, causing the skin to break, and her body to be deprived of the oxygen it so desperately needed. Sara saw dots dancing in her eyes, and began to claw at the wire cutting her neck, now realising just how bad the situation was. She heard a roaring in her head. The dots dancing turned from black to red. She only saw red.
Then she passed out.
"That was pretty damn easy" he thought to himself. Stupid bitch thought she could get away. She actually tried to hit him with that vase! He knew she'd be harder to subdue than the others, but not that hard. He liked a bit of spirit though. Made it more of a challenge. Too skinny, he thought as he effortlessly picked up her unconscious form, and carried her towards the bedroom. Less effort for me.
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"Jesus, where is she?" Greg frowned at his watch, "and is Warrick going to be here any time soon either?"
"Warrick phoned me to say that he can't make it," Nick said worriedly "but I don't know about Sar. I've tried phoning her, but no answer on her cell or home phone, and there's nothing from her pager."
He was worried. Sara was never late, and certainly never half an hour late. And she always, always answered her phone. He bit his lip, wondering what to do? Should he go round? But she would go mad, thinking she was being checked up on. He would give her another ten minutes.
Then he would go.
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"oh my goodness, what's under there?" Sara heard a voice penetrate her dreamland.
"just my little sister, she's very, very unwell." he replied to the old lady's quavering voice. "I'm getting her down to the hospital."
Sara groaned
"It's okay Jenny, you'll be okay" he said, and covered her face up even more with the blanket.
"I hope she gets better."
"I have to get her to the hospital. It's like the flu, but worse."
Sara wanted to scream or cry out, but couldn't. She was stuck in the dreamland. She was standing at the top of the escalator. DownDownDown she fell. Would this fall ever come to an end?
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Nick banged his hand on the table.
"Something 's not right Greggo. Let's check up on her."
Greg's face brightened, he still had that sweet, albeit irritating crush on Sara. "I've never been to her apartment! Won't she be pissed at us though?"
'I really fucking hope so' Nicks silent thoughts rang through his head, as he led Greg out to the Tahoe.
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Sara could feel the man moving across the car park. The rain permeated the blankets she was covered in, the ones hiding her from view. She shivered and groaned, trying weakly to roll out of his arms. Her head throbbed.
"You awake babe?" she heard him chortle. She immediately woke up a little more, and started fighting to get her hands out from under the blankets, only to realise that they were somehow tied together. Her ankles too. She was terrified. She started to thrash about when she felt him pinch her thigh and breathe "Stop it. I still have that gun." as he dropped her carefully into what felt like the back of a car. She opened her mouth, ready to scream, when a funny, sweet-smelling cloth was clamped over her mouth. She began thrashing again, trying to get away from it. The effort was fruitless, and within thirty seconds she was unconscious again. Her captor chortled, and after pinching her thigh again, got into the drivers seat, and drove off.
No-one even noticed him drive off...
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Greg knocked on the door and as it swung open, he called out "Sara?"
No answer.
He and Nick exchanged worried looks, and both drew their guns out of their holsters. Proceeding into the apartment, they repeatedly called her name.
"I hear running water, maybe she's in the tub." Nick offered. Normally Greg would have smirked, but he just look frightened.
Nick walked cautiously down the Sara's hallway, towards the bathroom. "Sara?"
Pushing the door open slowly when he heard no answer, he saw the taps in the sink running full-blast, and he moved to turn them off.
"NICK...FUCK...NIIIIICK!" he heard Gregs voice calling him frantically from the living room, and he hurriedly moved out the empty bathroom towards the living room "What is it..."
His voice trailed off as he looked inside the room. Blood in the middle of the carpet, blood at the corner of the bookcase, and in a trail across the floor, where it stopped, near Gregs feet, where Sara's blood-spattered dressing gown lay crinkled on the floor, like a sad, sick ghost of its owner.
"Oh god..." Nick heard Greg say as he ran past him into the hall. Nick stared at the sight before him before following Greg out of the apartment. He was standing at the door, retching, while he dialled a number into his cellphone. Nick recognized Catherines' number, and gestured for Greg to pass him the phone.
"Cath? It's Nick. We're at Sara's place, and, oh god, she's not here, there's blood, she's not here, what do we do, should I phone Grissom?"
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Catherine Willows hated relying on her neighbour to babysit her daughter at nights. But this time, as she hurried out the house, after leaving instructions and gushing thanks to Mrs. Woletski, she had no time for self-recriminations as she sped to Sara's apartment in her car. She was focused solely on the task at hand.
When she had phoned Brass, he had got the multiple squad cars out there in under a minute. Then she phoned Grissom. She knew that he would go mad, but she wasn't prepared for him demanding that the night-shift process the scene. However, Ecklie was fine with it, any unpaid overtime was fine by him, and it meant that the day-shift could spend another hour working their cases.
Catherine ran up the stairs to Sara's as quickly as possible. Pausing at the top of the staircase to catch her breath, she opened the door to the stairwell, and saw the utter chaos outside Sara's apartment door.
Four cops were standing outside the apartment, with worried looks on their faces, while another put "Crime scene- do not cross" markers outside the door. Nicky was standing next to Gregg, who had a plastic bucket next to him. Greg look very...green...
"what the hell?" Catherine broke off, as she approached Nick and Greg "is Grissom here?"
"he'll be here in a second." Nick replied
"he wants us to process the scene."
With Catherines revelation, Greg bent over, and retched into the bucket. Nick answered Catherines raised eyebrow. "there was a lot- I mean a lot of blood. And uh- Sara's robe was on the living room floor. Covered in blood, I mean."
Catherine tried to be optimistic. "She fought with the assailant. It's Sara we're talking about here guys, she probably broke his nose, and punctured several vital organs."
Her optimism did nothing. Nick cleared his throat, then said quietly. "there was...there was...what looked an awful lot like semen on both the bathroom and bedroom floor"
The sound of Gregs retching intensified to their ears, and Catherine was dumbstruck. "uh, uh, was Sara seeing anyone?" she tried to put the question as delicately as possible. But was responded to with an emphatic "No" from both men.
"Catherine? Why aren't any of you in there processing?" Grissom strode up to them the anger over-sketching the worry in his eyes. The three CSI's waiting for him saw this and silently moved into the apartment.
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'mmmmmmmmm' she was so warm and snuggly. Sara burrowed deeper into the duvet. Not duvet, blankets. Blankets? Was she on the sofa? She didn't remember going to...Memories assaulted her mind. Nonononononononono. This wasn't happening. No. She was safesfaesafesafesafesafe. Oh god. She cracked her eyes open a tiny bit. She was alone. Sitting up, she looked around. She was in a small, bare room, only furnished with very basic necessities. She climbed out of the bed, noticing she still only had her underwear on, and so yanked a blanket off the bed to keep herself warm and covered. She looked out the window, only to see other dilapidated, possibly abandoned houses in a crumbling corner of Las Vegas, where the very poor lived. She had been to a couple of crime scenes in this area. She knew it vaguely. Yanking on the bottom of the window, she tried to haul it up, only to realise that it was nailed shut. She hit it with her fist hoping to break the glass.
"So you're awake then?"
she stared at the man with fear in her eyes. Inside his head he smiled. 'so maybe she's learning the lesson.'
"Please...let me go. If this is against the lab...we can talk it out. This isn't necessary."
"this isn't against the lab. You're not going anywhere. This is definitely necessary...unless...well, perhaps I could get someone to take your place...there's that girl...what's her name...your colleagues daughter...is it Louise? Lana?"
Sara's eyes grew wide, and she unconsciously moved backwards, away from this man, who was scaring her so much.
"LYNSEY! I knew it was an L!" his eyes sparkled as he laughed cruelly "oh, Sara, you would sacrifice an innocent child just so you can get out of here...tut tut."
"leave Lynsey alone, she's a little kid," Sara assessed the situation, where he was standing in relation to her, if she could get past him.
"I think you should think a little less of yourself Sara, and more of others...hmmm? You really are a selfish person, aren't you? Under that caring personality that you put on, your just selish. A selfish, nasty girl who should be taught better..."
"Let me go"
"After all, if you weren't selfish, you wouldn't have let mummy slice up daddy, would you? You should have stopped her Sara. You should have saved those children at the foster home from foster daddy...but you just stood by..."
"how the fuck do you know this?" tears were running down sara's face
"Then, when foster daddy came after you, you just let him...you didn't tell anyone...think how many people you could have saved...how many children...it's your fault, you know."
"let me go"
"Now Sara, what else do you write in your diaries? I know all about Gil Grissom, but I mean, that was only one, I didn't have time to read the others. What other secrets have you been hiding?"
Sara's mind exploded into stars. All she knew was that she had to get away from there, had to get out. She saw him look at her with confusion as she swung her knee up to his groin. Wow...Deja Vu...but this man seemed to have balls of steel... "Not a clever move Sara, not a clever move"
he pushed her down onto the floor, and bit her earlobe. Sara went mad, bucking around like a frightened rabbit in the jaws of the fox. She scratched and punched and clawed at him but he started punching her in the stomach, chest and arms. She curled into herself, trying to stop him, but he stood up over her, and gave her a couple of good kicks in addition, even though she was in no state to move, much less run away. Sara ached. Her arms throbbed, and her breathing was incredibly erratic. He figured that he'd cracked a couple of ribs. She was too busy concentrating on her pain that she didn't hear him rustling in a drawer, and returning. He flipped her fully onto her back and sat on her aching stomach... "Now...what shall we play to-dayah?" his accent was different.Sara looked at him, utterly petrified
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"So what I'm seeing is...she opens the door to whoever it is... he gets inside somehow, and he attacks her in the living room...she goes for the bookcase...mabye a weapon? Nicky and I foun a gun holder taped to the inside of the second bottom shelf...very hard to notice..." Catherines words were echoing around in Grissoms head. Of all people, why Sara? Why his fierce little alley-cat, prickly with a heart of gold? Why her?" Grissoms head hurt. All he could hear was Sara's words from earlier "The department should be about catching killers...he did it...should he be able to get away with raping and murdering?"
"...but there's no actual spatter at this point...so I'm assuming that he maybe cut her...small cut? Maybe she scratched him...anyway, he drags her over behind the armchair and beats the shit out of her...next stop is the bathroom... most likely to clean himself and her up...taps were on...and as far as we can make out...that's where the first rape happened."
Grissoms head jerked up... "So definitely not consensual?"
Nick, Greg, Warrick and Catherine all looked uncomfortable. "Gill know this is hard...but we need to be realistic..." Catherine spoke up. "There was so much blood for it to be...you know...and there was no birth control inside the apartment...no rubbers, nothing... There was also a lot of semen in the hall leading to the victims room, which most likely wouldn't have been there if it was consensual. We also found trip wire with our vics epithelials and blood on it...I think he strangled her before, after, or even during the rape..."
"It isn't just a victim Catherine!" Grissom suddenly shouted at her. "it's fucking Sara! Not a nameless faceless woman, its Sara that you work with and talk to every day!"
"JESUS GIL, DO YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT? I'm trying to cope the best way I can, but you're making it very difficult. I hate the idea of this happening to Sara as much as you do, but you need to face the facts that this DID happen, and we need to stay calm so we can do this for Sara, and she might just have a chance of coming back"
They all stared at Catherine. She was red, with tears in her eyes, they could see how worried she was about Sara. They had a strange, messy sort of friendship, very cool on the surface, but it was obvious that Sara meant a lot to Catherine over the past four or so years.
Nicks pager off. "Labs done with results" he said sombrely "I'll go collect and look"
The room was silent as he left...