Chapter Four

Tragedy Strikes

Nick and Keara finished at the diner and headed back to the crime lab. When they arrived back to the lab they headed straight for the DNA lab. Before they got there Grissom intercepted them in the hallway.

"I'm glad I found you. Keara, the school hasn't finished filing all of your paper work with the lab. Don't worry, they said everything should be ready by tomorrow afternoon. But until then you'll have to take a break from the case. So, I'm going to send you home but we'll call you tomorrow when you can come back and follow through with this case," Grissom explained.

"Okay, that's fine. I don't want anyone to get into trouble," Keara replied, she sounded truly disappointed.

"Very good, we'll see you tomorrow then," Grissom said and walked away.

"Well that's sucks," Nick frowned.

"It's okay, don't worry about it. I'll be back tomorrow, try not to solve the murder too fast," Keara teased.

"I'll let you know if we get a hit off the prints and/or DNA," Nick replied.

"Sounds good, I'll see you later," Keara replied sweetly and headed out.

Nick walked into the DNA lab. He and Greg watched Keara as she left.

"She's hot man," Greg exclaimed

Nick nodded, "yeah she is. She's really sweet too."

"Is she single?"

"Yeah."

"You gonna ask her out?"

"I'm thinking about it," Nick answered. Then he snapped back to reality, "did you get a hit on that set of DNA yet?"

"As a matter of fact, I did. The tooth and the saliva belong to the same donor, a Jeremy Morgan," Greg replied.

Nick's face drained of its color, a look of terror and panic washed over him, "did you say Jeremy Morgan? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, clean match. Why?" Greg was confused.

"That's Keara's ex-boyfriend, I gotta go. I have to check on my prints," Nick rushed out of DNA. He sprinted down the hall to the print lab.

Mandy was still going through a stack of prints.

"Mandy, did you get a hit off the prints I gave you?" Nick gasped.

"Yeah I was just about to page you. Your prints belong to a Jeremy Morgan. He was in the data base for drug possession," Mandy explained.

"Thanks Mandy," Nick shouted as he ran down to Grissom's office.

He burst through the doorway, Grissom was sitting with Catherine and Warrick. They were going over their own case with him.

"Grissom, I need Keara's home address and contact information," Nick exclaimed. He was winded, his adrenaline was through the ceiling.

"What's going on Nick?" Grissom asked as he reached for Keara's file.

"Our main suspect in our homicide is her ex-boyfriend. I just found out, she has no idea. She's already on her way home. She could be in danger," Nick was worried. Keara said she broke off the relationship because of Jeremy's temper.

Grissom found her address, "180 Anderson St. Her cell phone number is 702-445-6667. Try to get a hold of her on your way, make sure she's okay."

"Yeah, yeah," was all Nick could get out before running back out the door.

Keara pulled into her driveway and put her truck in park. She got out of her pick-up and walked to her door step. She fumbled with her keys, suddenly the hairs on the back of her neck stood straight. She felt like someone was watching her. She finally found her house key and unlocked the front door. When she opened the door her dogs came running to greet her.

"Hey boys, were you good today?" she asked them as they kissed her face.

She put her keys and her cell phone on her coffee table. Then she headed into the kitchen to prepare meals for her furry friends. While she was in the kitchen her phone began to ring.

Nick was speeding through the streets of Las Vegas, "come on Keara, pick up. Please pick up."

Keara couldn't hear her phone over the noise of the can opener. She finished opening a few cans of dog food and put them in the dog bowls. She put the bowls on the floor and the dogs came running. She went back to the counter and started to clean up. As she was cleaning she heard a knock at the door.

"Who could that be?" she whispered to herself.

She stopped what she was doing and made her way to the front door. She reached the door and opened it. She was very surprised to see the person on the other side.

"Hello Keara, it's nice to see you," a deep male voice said.

"Jeremy, what are you doing here?" Keara asked. She was a little scared.

"Did you really think you could get me busted?" Jeremy growled as he pushed his way into her house.

He shut the door behind him and locked it. He began to advance toward Keara, now was starting to panic.

"What do you want Jeremy?" Keara's voice shook as she questioned him.

"What did you find at Mike's house?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she was trying her best to keep calm.

Jeremy slapped her hard across the face. Then he slammed her against the wall and pulled a knife out of his pocket, "don't mess with me! I saw you with that cop at Mike's house!"

"I was there for my internship. I had no idea you were involved, I swear. Please don't hurt me," Keara pleaded.

"Get rid of whatever evidence you found," Jeremy demanded.

"I can't, I can't go back until tomorrow and, and the evidence is always locked up. I don't have that kind of authority," Keara cried.

"That's too bad," Jeremy replied.

Before Keara could react Jeremy stabbed her in the abdomen. As he pulled the knife out Wolfgang came running into the living room. The dog lunged and bit Jeremy's leg and wouldn't let go.

"Ow! You son of a bitch!" Jeremy shouted. He shook Wolfgang off of him. He finally got the dog off of him and limped quickly out the back door.

The dogs surrounded Keara and began to whimper. Keara was holding her abdomen, there was so much blood. She moved towards the coffee table to get her phone. She lost her balance and fell to her knees. As she reached for her phone again, it began to ring. She managed to grab it and answered it.

"Help, please help," she gasped into the phone.

"Keara! Keara its Nick! What's wrong, what happened?"

"Nick. . . Jeremy was…he. . ."

"Keara! Keara! Just hold on, I'm on my way! Keara, talk to me!"

Nick put down his cell phone, but he didn't hang up. He got on his radio to call for back up and emergency services.

"Dispatch, this is CSI Stokes requesting back up! I need all units' available and emergency services to 180 Anderson St! I repeat all units to 180 Anderson St!"

Nick was freaking out. He got back on his cell phone, "Keara, Keara are you still there?"

There was no answer. Keara had passed out. Nick stepped on the gas pedal. He was almost there, he was just a block away.

Nick finally reached Keara's house. He ran to the door and jiggled the door knob. It was locked. Nick took a few steps back and then kicked the door down. When he got inside he saw Keara face down on the floor. Her dogs were all guarding her. Nick ran to her and knelt by her side.

"Watch out boys, I'm here to help," Nick said the dogs.

The dogs moved away and Nick checked Keara's pulse. It was very weak. Just as he was about to roll her, the medics finally arrived. They ran inside and Nick moved out of their way. The medics rolled her over, that's when Nick saw the stab wound. The EMTs got her onto a gurney and started to give her oxygen. They wheeled her to the ambulance and Nick followed close behind.

"Are you riding along?" one of the medics asked Nick.

"Yeah, let's go," Nick replied.

The ambulance took off and rushed Keara to the hospital. The medics took her vitals and placed an IV catheter in her arm. Nick held pressure to the stab wound. She was still losing a lot of blood.

"Do you know what happened?" The other medic asked Nick.

"No, I arrived at the scene just before you did. I called it in because she sounded distressed on the phone. Is she gonna make it?" Nick was trying to stay calm.

"She's stable, but she's going to need surgery," the medic answered.

They reached Desert Palm Hospital and rushed Keara into the ER. The doctors and Nurses took over the situation.

"We'll let you know something as soon as we do," a nurse told Nick.

"Thank you, I'll be waiting outside the OR," Nick replied.

The nurse ran into the OR. Nick headed outside to call Grissom.

"Grissom," Grissom answered his phone.

"That bastard stabbed her!"

"Nick? Nicky, calm down. How is she?"

"I don't know. They've got her in surgery now," Nick answered more calmly.

"She seems like a strong girl Nick. She'll make it," Grissom assured him.

"I hope you're right. I'm gonna stay at the hospital and wait to see what happens."

"Alright Nick, keep me posted."

Nick hung up his phone and went back into the hospital. He sat down in the small waiting area by the OR. All he could do was wait.

~* Sorry it's taken so long to get these chapters posted. I've been so busy lately. I will be posting a couple more chapters today and tomorrow to make up for it! Please R&R!*~