Catherine eased herself into bed, Lindsey stayed by her mother's side loyally, worried about her. Catherine smiled at her daughter.
"Lindsey, sweetie, could you make Mommy a cu of tea?" She smiled; Lindsey jumped up and ran to the kitchen. Catherine laughed to herself at the crashing and banging in the kitchen. Lindsey entered her mother's room from the kitchen and handed her the tea.
"I made you a sandwich Mommy," She smiled.
"I know I heard you," Catherine smiled, stroking her daughter's soft hair. She slowly ate, not quite hungry enough to finish the sandwich. She sighed;
"Mommy needs to rest now Lindsey," She sighed softly.
"Can I go out with my friends Mommy? They invited me to the mall," Lindsey pleaded, her eyes begging with Catherine, a look she knew her mother couldn't say no to.
"Alright but I want you to get a car pool home with your friend's Mom, okay?" Catherine softly replied.
"Okay Mom," She sighed, "I'm 15, I don't need a car pool, but if I HAVE to," she rolled her eyes.
"Don't be cheeky or you won't be going," Catherine scolded, only half serious. Lindsey grabbed her cell phone and called her friends. After a few minutes she had grabbed a jacket and her money and was out the door. Catherine sighed; at last she could get some peace. Or not, the doorbell startled her away from her rest. She gently rose from the bed and walked to the front door. She looked through the peep hole, and saw that it was Nick. She pulled the door open and smiled.
"I thought I'd buy you flowers," Nick smiled, and kissed her cheek softly.
"Thank you, how sweet. Thanks Nicky, you know how to make a girl smile," She laughed.
"I have experience in that department," He laughed with her. They walked over to the window and Catherine lowered herself onto the sofa, Nick beside her. They gazed out of the huge bay window; the sun was setting softly into the horizon.
"It's a beautiful evening," Catherine whispered, her hand entwined with Nick's.
"Yeah," He smiled at her, leaning close to her. "But it's nothing compared to you," he whispered into her ear. She smiled, feeling her cheeks burn.
"You don't mean that," she whispered, trying to hide the smile on her face.
"Oh I do," He replied, kissing her softly. She returned his kiss, her hands around his neck, his in her hair. When they broke apart, she sighed.
"I need to sleep," She smiled weakly. He smiled back at her and pulled the blanket over her and rested her head on his knee.
"Go to sleep honey, it will be like I'm not here," Nick whispered. Catherine stared into Nick's eyes;
"But I don't want you to not be here,"
Sara and Greg had just clocked on for shift, and were on their way to the interrogation room, where Mr Dawson was being held. Sara opened the door and walked in to see Dawson grinning evilly at her.
"How's it going Flinch?" She sneered laughing at her. "That's my name for you," he added.
"How charming," She replied, her tone icy.
"Just sit down and keep quiet Michael," His attorney hissed.
"Okay Mr Dawson. When was the last time you saw your girlfriend?" Sara asked.
"Tuesday, I left for work and she was very much alive. She was throwing things at me, calling me an asshole, I have no feelings," He replied.
"Imagine that," Sara smiled, icily.
"What time was that?" Greg interjected.
"8am, I leave at the same time every day," he replied, sarcastically.
"Well that's funny, because we spoke to your manager, and you arrived two hours late on Tuesday, you arrived at 10am. The coroner estimated time of death at 8:30am. Care to explain that to us?" Sara hinted, eyes narrowed.
"Well…I'm not proud of it, but I went to the casino before work. Placed a few bets," He replied.
"Which casino?" She asked, coldly.
"The Sphere," He replied, his tone matching hers.
"Can anyone verify that Mr Dawson?" Greg asked.
"I don't know I was alone," he replied, his voice raised.
"How convenient. All casinos have CCTV; we'll check those and see if your alibi checks out. If we can't get you for the murder of your girlfriend, we'll still get to keep you," Sara replied, in his face.
"Oh really? How's that?" He replied, spitefully.
"For the attempted murder of a CSI," She smiled bitterly. She walked out of the interrogation room, clearly riled.
"You okay?" Greg asked, his hand upon her shoulder.
"Yeah, this case is just getting to me. That poor girl. I know he's responsible, but if his alibi checks out…I don't know," She sighed, her head in her hands. Greg pushed a strand of hair from her face, catching her eyes in his.
"We'll get him. He's going to prison for what he did to Catherine, we'll get him for this Sara, I promise," Greg kissed her lightly on the cheek. Sara stopped dead on her way back to the Audio/Visual lab. She recognised Dawson, from somewhere else. She just couldn't place it though. Brass had ordered the surveillance tapes from the Sphere and Archie was analysing them as she walked in, distracted.
"Hey, Sara check it out," Archie ran the footage from 8am to 10am. Dawson was not on a single camera in the casino.
"He was lying," Sara laughed bitterly. "Thanks Archie," she added before storming out back to the interrogation room. She swung the door open and got up in Dawson's face.
"You lied to us. You were not in that casino. You were unaccounted for between 8am and 10am that gave you plenty of time to murder Kelsey then you went to work afterwards and threw her away like trash!" She all but screamed at him, her anger burning under the surface.
"What's the matter? Don't remember me do you?" Dawson sneered. Sara's eyes narrowed, she was trying desperately to remember. Then she felt sick. She knew where she had known him from. "You…it was you…" Sara felt faint and dizzy. "You scum…." She all but whispered. Dawson sneered evilly.
"Now do you remember? Walking home alone, not a smart thing to do Sara, or whatever you're called. There's evil people out there, murderers, rapists," He laughed, mechanically. "Like me," He hissed. "I killed Kelsey, that dyke had it all coming. She thought she could cheat on me, but she was wrong. I killed her. And I'd do it again. Her and that lover of hers, Lola something. It's not normal, it's sick," He spat. "Pick up Landon for this too, he helped me kill them. He shares my views about those….lesbians…it's unnatural," He spat.
"The only thing that is unnatural is you. You killed two girls because of their sexual orientation, that's just plain sick," Sara spat back, Brass was watching her.
"It was different in some cases, I just liked the girl, she was pretty, the more she screamed the more it worked for me," He laughed malevolently. Sara felt sick, she ran from the interrogation room to the women's bathroom. She was violently sick, then collapsed, sobbing to the floor. She washed her pale face and walked out of the rest room.
"Are you okay Sara? What's up?" Brass said, his face a picture of concern.
"He's evil. He's the one who…I can't…" The tears were returning to her eyes.
Brass paled, the realisation suddenly dawning on him, "The one who what Sara?" He all but whispered. She sobbed, her voice becoming a tiny, broken whisper;
"The one that raped me,"