Chapter 6

"Sparks?"

"Just a nickname. The techs like playing with my name. Better than the spice jokes," Sage replied as she walked through the lab. She knew it was going to be picked up sooner or later by the others. "And no you can't use it. It will make the techs jealous."

"I won't but it fits your personality," Nick countered not able to resist the small grin.

"Stop flirting with me and pay attention," Sage replied giving a small smile in return. "Now I am thinking that maybe Robbie, Jordan and Rachel were abducted around the same time. MOs are different but there might be some commonalities." She opened the file, "Like all three of them went to church, good grades… got a preference there."

"Okay but even if they were part of a preference, we don't know if the Henderson abduction is related to your missing persons and this one." Nick followed side by side with Sage. Her gruff tone didn't mean anything and he said something similar a week ago. It was part of the reason why people thought that she and Greg were together and they were just tolerating each other.

"That's where the leg work comes in handy and while it would be Lockwood's purview on questioning Robbie, we sort of know where that is going to lead."

"Right…"

"There you are. I swear Parker you just zoom in and out of here like there's no tomorrow," Warrick replied catching up. "Any reason why you opted out of the autopsy?"

"None except housekeeping and Bobby paged. Bullets matched our gun on both sets. He's running serial for possible owner." She handed the file over.

"Yeah and there is a possibility connected to another abduction, the Henderson, home invasion/ kidnapping one," Nick added.

"I remember that. So you think…"

"Not sure," Sage admitted, "But it's sort of looking like a mini pay day. We have to go back to the victim still alive and Archie is still working on traffic cams."

"Which I have finished," Archie called out.

That was the cue to follow the video tech into his area and view the tapes. He showed him what was caught on camera. Filled in the blanks between the two scenes and from there was able to back track to where it came from before there was no more. It was a start… sort of.

"That looks like it came from the direction of Lake Mead," Nick pointed out.

That hardly meant anything to Sage. She was not familiar with the territory around Vegas so she had no idea as to the layout. True she did study maps but that didn't mean much unless she was out there to see it.

"Yeah but there are unincorporated neighborhoods out that way. Lot of doors to be knocking on," Warrick replied as Archie replayed the footage.

Sage said nothing as she watched. Well the dust they got was from the desert area. If they had a chemical makeup of it, maybe. It was becoming more evident that she was going to have to talk to Robbie. She was stalling and she knew it. In cases, time was a big factor when it came to leads. By stalling she was giving him ample opportunity to change his story.

While she was sitting there, she got a page. She looked at it and frowned a bit at the ID. That was strange. "Huh reception. Excuse me."

"Don't mind us," Warrick replied. "We'll still be sitting here."

"I know you will," Sage replied as she gave an absent minded wave. She didn't notice that Nick had followed her out but was keeping his distance.

Archie watched them leave and looked at Warrick, "Going at it again?"

"Just the usual."

Meanwhile Sage headed towards the front where messages were kept. She spoke to the receptionist, "Someone was looking for me?"

The receptionist pointed in a direction and Sage followed it. Standing by the wall, huddled slightly and looking nervous was Robbie Callen. He didn't quite look good and that could be that he had just been shot and was moving around like it was nothing. He was standing by a uniform so Sage was able to guess that he might have asked for a ride here. Frowning slightly in confusion but it switched to one that deigned to be objective, she walked over and said, "Robbie?"

Robbie looked at her and said, "I came to talk. To help you find my brother and Rachel."

Sage nodded still trying not to frown in a puzzled way, "Okay but how are you here?"

"Signed out AMA and asked the cop to take me here." Robbie gave a shrug of his shoulders. "Doc said I was good anyway. Just a matter of getting rest."

Sage looked at the uniform who nodded to indicate that he was telling the truth. She nodded and led Robbie. This was unexpected.

"First off I'm sorry about the light thing." Robbie sat in the interview room rubbing his arms. He felt uncomfortable in the scrubs that the hospital gave him but they were clothes. "I don't like bright things in my eyes."

"Not your fault," Sage replied, "It is a common symptom of post-concussive syndrome. I'm not mad." She was calm about it and she really didn't pick up any threats from Robbie. Probably it was foolish to not have at least a uniform in there but one was outside the door and Nick and Warrick were watching with Lockwood.

Robbie gave a tentative smile. He tapped the table in front of him for a moment. "I know Jordan is dead. I saw him get shot and that was after I tried to protect him. Right now I'm concerned with finding Rachel."

"Rachel Lawson?" Sage watched Robbie's reactions. She took the photo that was last taken and slid it across so he could see it. "That her?"

Robbie looked at the picture. He gave a nod. "Yes."

"Well there's our connection to Henderson," Warrick pointed out. He was surprised that this kid was folding so easily. He was also wary since it could mean that he was manipulating the situation.

"Yeah well give Parker time," Nick said. "She'll get him to say more." He knew she could do it.

"So you were living together?"

Robbie looked at Sage and thought she was crazy. He came to tell his story and she was asking questions that sounded pretty dumb. He replied, "Rachel, me and Jordan are family. Brian was supposed to be our friend. You wouldn't understand."

"Enlighten me," Sage countered. When Robbie refused, she leaned forward and added, "I know that you and your brother have identical marks on your wrists and ankles. Bruising consistent with being someone's punching bag; you were both taken from your foster parents. Rachel was kidnapped. Fill in some blanks for me. If you want us to find her you will tell us."

Robbie glanced out the window and then back at Sage. "Jordan and I were on our way home from school. A van pulls up and we were stuffed inside. We were told that we were chosen. The driver was the leader and he took us to Cavalry. He said we needed spiritual training."

"Were there any others?"

"Brian was there. He was older and showed us what to do. Rachel came a couple of weeks later."

"What happened there?"

"We worked. We worked and studied but it wasn't right. We didn't like what he had to say. So he would punish us. He said that sparing the rod spoiled the child and that we were spoiled. I took the brunt of it because I was older and I took the heat for whatever wrong Jordan and Rachel had done." Robbie looked down at the table and tapped the surface again. He looked at Sage and then at the windows. "Is this a peep show?"

"Protocol," Sage replied completely BSing that one. "Can you go back to why you were at the alley?"

"Yeah, Bob was having Brian take us on a long walk off a short pier. Bob is the one that does what the guy who was teaching us says." Robbie looked at the table. He drummed his fingers lightly as he remembered that night. "We had failed but not Rachel. She had disobeyed but she was given a second chance. We used up ours."

Sage listened and observed Robbie. Being a creature of habit, she had a notepad along with the file she had available. She made notes of her observations in her meticulous hand. Frowning she asked, "You tried to escape before haven't you?"

Robbie didn't look at Sage but nodded. "They caught up to us at the safe house and Brian gave us up. I don't know exactly where it was but…" Robbie paused as he remembered what happened. He could hear the noise in his head and the shouts, the screams and the begging. "It wasn't far from the highway into the city. We used the SUV from the house."

Warrick was about to say something about what he heard when Brass came up, "Hey Warrick. Your SUV, got a name to go with the plates. The name is Bob Maddox of Boulder City."

Nick made a motion, "Hey the cameras indicated the vehicle came from that direction."

"And we got a confirmation from our witness," Warrick added. "Got an address Brass?"

"Ready to go when you are."

At that moment, Sage came out of the room with her stuff. "Kid's done for now. He's exhausted and probably from the AMA."

Lockwood was looking at the kid as he was resting his head on his arms. "Is he all right?"

"For now," Sage replied. "What I can say is that he was able to give me a description of the house that he, his brother and Rachel escaped to. He also said that Rachel was given a second chance."

"So you're thinking that she might still be at the house?" Warrick looked at Sage after glancing at the kid. In fact every single one of them was observing.

"That is a possibility. There is also a place he refers to as Calvary and I am thinking that it must not be too far from the house assuming that they made it on foot." Sage tapped the edge of her file while Brass answered a call from his cell. "I know people have historically been known to walk great distances so it could be possible."

"Well Brass got a lead on the plates to the SUV and we've got an address. Up for a road trip?" Warrick looked at Sage.

"What about him?" Sage countered with a slight motion towards Robbie.

"I'll keep an eye on him," Nick volunteered. Lockwood agreed to it at the same time.

At that point Brass was finished with his conversation and Warrick said that they were ready to roll out. Sage couldn't help but study Robbie with a slight frown. She got the feeling that he was hiding something more. He gave what he could about Rachel but something about how he retreated into his lapses of silence… She followed Warrick and hummed slightly to herself her favorite hymn, thinking about her feelings.

"Nice," Warrick commented as he and Sage got out of the vehicle they took to Boulder City. It had been a long drive and he was the one driving.

"Appearances can be pretty but useless sometimes," Sage replied as she adjusted the sunglasses on her face. She was relieved to have taken off her reading glasses since she had the bad habit of leaving them on and then giving herself headaches from them. A friend told her to consider laser surgery but she never did give it serious consideration. "Especially when a possible killer/kidnapper can hide behind it," she added.

"Now I know I brought the life of the party," Brass commented.

"Merely an observation." Sage gave a slight smile as she followed the tall CSI and the Jersey cop to the front door. She studied the house and noted the peculiarities that Robbie had noted. She could say that they were at the right place based on the description but a defense attorney could point out that they just picked a vehicle and stole it.

"I take it the kid described the place," Warrick leaned in to whisper.

"Something like that." Sage looked around until she noticed the front door. It was slightly open and the handle looked like it had been broken into. "Jim," she said looking at it.

Brass was already on it. He had his service weapon out and at the door. "Las Vegas police," he called out. When he didn't receive an answer, he opened the door and walked in. He motioned for the two CSIs to stay put while he cleared the scene.

Warrick and Sage did what they were told for the most part. Both had their hands on their weapons and ready to fire just in case the suspect was still on location. They didn't have long to wait when Brass called the all clear. Sage hesitated when holstering her weapon but eventually did. She then picked up her kit and followed Warrick into the house and into the foyer that opened up into the living room which was probably as big as her place in combined square feet though that was probably exaggerating just a bit.

"Well, looks like no one's home," Brass said as he joined them. "Could be that someone broke in and looted the place."

Warrick looked around, "But there are no signs of the scene actually being tossed or anything that would make it look like a robbery." He shone his light around until he spotted a set of footprints. They were dirty and showed up nicely on the pale carpet. They led towards the kitchen and the back. "Maybe someone was here and exited the back," he commented and followed the trail.

Meanwhile Sage was studying the objects in the house starting with the living room. She had noticed the religious paraphernalia and the general look of the furniture. On the surface it spoke of someone that was extremely religious and basically like the good wholesome family that went to church every Sunday and that kind of thing. The opulence that characterized Vegas was virtually nonexistent in the place.

Sage wandered through the house, looking at the walls and the floor but getting a general look of the house. She got an uncomfortable tick at the back of her mind as she observed picture frames with Scriptures that pointed to punishment and damnation for transgressions. Several were repeated over and over as if to say that punishment of the flesh was a necessity. It reminded her of Sunday School… well one of them.

"Ms. Greely why do we have church on Sunday?"

"Because God said so."

"But it says on the seventh day He rested. The seventh day would be Saturday so why do we have service on Sunday?"

Sage had been listening to the conversation between Ms. Greely and Terrence Pollard, the new kid. She liked him in that he was asking questions. She had questions too and she would ask Ms. Greely but was told that she was evil for questioning God's word. Daddy told her to save her questions for him and he would explain them. Mama just shook her head in exasperation at that.

Sage listened to the exasperation and then without a second thought, she raised her hand, "Ms. Greely?"

"Yes Sage?" Ms. Greely looked like she was ready to yell at the whole class for the disruption especially from the eldest of the Parker family.

"Ms. Greely the reason why we have church on Sunday is because of the emperor Constatine. Sunday was a day to worship the sun god and since he was trying to…"

"How dare you blaspheme!"

Sage was staring at one of the verses hanging on the wall. Nowhere did it speak of any of the verses like from Matthew about not judging others lest you be judged or the Beatitudes. This was all heavy stuff taken from Revelation and Leviticus and a bit of Exodus and taken out of context. It was vaguely disturbing. She continued to look at the items hanging on the walls.

Warrick had finished looking around but there was nothing that would indicate something was connected. There was the possibility that something had been taken since he found a void of something that might have been large and heavy. He did become aware that it was really quiet in there and realized that he hadn't heard anything from Sage. He looked at Brass and asked, "Jim, have you seen Parker?"

"Not in a while though she did go down the hall."

Warrick frowned a bit and was about to call out her name when she appeared. She appeared a bit distracted but she was looking at the room and he could tell her full concentration was on it. He had to check though, "You find anything?"

"Lot of the same," Sage replied as she picked up her camera and began looking around. She looked at Warrick and explained, "There's a lot of religious paraphernalia around… mostly the kind of things you'd find in a picture frame but mostly really old school like fire and brimstone."

"Thinking a crazy?" Brass looked a little bored as he said it. He was slowly getting used to Sage's fascination of human behavior that was similar to Grissom's excitement over the bugs and strange circumstances.

"Not all believers are crazy, Brass," Sage replied as she looked at one painting that depicted a rather violent scene of Revelations. "This guy was a believer but probably was scared by the fire and brimstone and wrathful God part. It was a good way to get your kids to behave aside from the superstitions they told."

"Yeah well my mother said something that if you spared the rod and spoiled the child." Brass looked around and studied Sage as she studied the painting.

"Yeah well I've got a nineteen year old where the rod wasn't spared and then some and the same seemed to be done to his brother and the driver and possible our missing girl," Sage replied as she continued to look around.

"And nothing except that something heavy may be missing," Warrick added. "Parker, look at this."

Sage dropped what she was doing and came over to look at Warrick had been looking at. She could see the void and frowned, "Something missing."

"Yeah and judging from the imprint, it must be heavy," Warrick replied as he swabbed around the area. He tested it for blood but no go. "No blood."

Sage studied it and took a couple of photos. She thought about it some more as she studied it. "I think I know what it is."

"What?"

"It's a statue of a saint," Sage replied. She pointed at the outline, "The base gives it away a little. I'm actually a bit surprised since saints are commonly associated with Roman Catholicism. The rest of the stuff here is consistent with Protestant belief." She frowned in confusion.

"And how do you know that it's a statue?" Brass raised his brow. He was prepared for an explanation a la Grissom.

"I had a roommate at Ole Miss that was Catholic… more along the lines of Mexican Catholicism. She had one of her patron saint on her dresser," Sage explained. "Actually she had a couple and a few medallions."

"I sense a story behind that," Warrick replied as he sat back to look around.

"Yeah well," Sage replied as she got on her hands and knees. She shown her light on the carpeting and twisted her head sideways. She moved it slowly to look around and found something that would prove interesting. Reaching with a pair of tweezers, she clamped her discovery within them. "She was determined to keep me out of trouble. She used to tie a St. Michael to my bag and tuck St. Thomas Aquinas in my jacket pocket and then would pray the rosary while I would study."

"No wonder you're good at ignoring people," Warrick replied after making a sound.

Sage made a humming sound as she raised the tweezers to inspect the piece. It was a piece of ceramic and it was painted. It was large but not too large and easily missed. As she turned it over she spotted discoloration. She gave a slight smile, "And looks like our missing item is a statue and it might have blood." She handed them over to Warrick for his inspection.

That was when a sound occurred. Brass brought up his weapon. Sage paused to listen and Warrick held onto the tweezers. The scene was clear. Brass cleared it but there was someone else there. Sage raised her hand and listened.

It was a slight thumping sound and it was dull, like someone was stuck in a room. On her hands and knees Sage moved and listened. She motioned for the others to remain still as she moved forward. She came to the edge of the rug and leaned forward to listen. She also looked and found a hole and fingered it.

Looking on her vest, she pulled out the multi-tool that she kept and picked a tool and inserted it into the hole. She looked at Brass who was ready to fire just in case and Warrick had his hand on his gun, ready to draw. She looked down and pulled to lift a panel that opened into darkness. She leaned over and flashed her light into the hole.

Suddenly a hand reached up and grabbed her by the wrist. Sage motioned for Brass to stay his weapon since it looked like she was being pulled into the hole. She looked in and saw a girl, eighteen or nineteen, and she had lacerations on her head and she was covered in dirt. She was trying to breathe but she held on.

Warrick checked and looked at Brass, "Call an ambulance."

A/N: Looks like the case is moving forward and they found a lead that led to the girl. Scary moments and more questions abound next time on Desert Secrets...