Chapter 6: Realizations

Nikki felt better about getting Danny help her tell Don about the killer's fascination with the number three. As if I don't have enough problems already, Nikki thought to herself. She stumbled and dropped her keys, " Damn it!", Nikki cursed, as she bent down to pick up her keys, a hand reached out and grabbed them for her. She looked up, not expecting to be hit across the face by a very hard hand. Nikki fell to the floor, unconsciousness swirled around her and pulled her into a deep sleep.

An hour later, Danny was wandering through the hallways, trying to phone Nikki. " Oh, crap. Where the hell are you?", Danny muttered to himself.

Don came around the corner and asked, " Where the hell is who?"

" Nikki, have you seen her? I can't seem to get a hold of her. I wonder where she's gone. She hasn't answered her phone, that's not like her", Danny replied worriedly.

" Well, maybe she's following something, I'm sure she'll be fine", Flack muttered, trying to convince himself more than Danny.

" Yeah, maybe", Danny murmured. The truth was that he wasn't so sure if she was. She wouldn't just follow a lead without telling someone, and getting someone to go with her, probably Flack would be the best bet, if she was going to ask anyone to go with her.

" It's probably nothing, Danny. Don't worry about it", Flack put his hand on Danny's shoulder before he left.

Danny went to get a cup of coffee, on the way, he ran into Lindsay and Stella.

" Hey, Danny. What's wrong?", Stella asked.

" Oh, it's probably nothing. Have any of you guys heard or seen Nikki?", Danny shook his head, " I haven't been able to reach her."

"No, sorry. What would she be doing that she wouldn't answer her phone?", Lindsay asked concerned.

" I don't know, and that's the problem. She wouldn't not answer her phone on purpose", Danny answered as he looked down at the floor, " I mean, she's been working on this case for six months, maybe the killer is after her now, which makes me even more worried."

" Well, is her phone turned on?", Stella asked.

" Yeah, I think so", Danny replied, " You're thinking, cell phone tracker."

Stella grinned at him, and he continued, " Of course, of course. Why didn't I think of that?" He muttered to himself as he smacked his forehead. So, he tried phoning her again, and when all he heard was ringing, again, he nodded towards Stella.

Stella lead the way to a computer room, filled with big screens. Lindsay took Danny's hand as they walked into the room. Stella sat down on one of the chairs, and asked for the number. He tried calling her to make sure that the phone was on, and got her voicemail.

" Oh no", Danny murmured.

" What's wrong?", Stella asked.

" I got her voicemail, she turned her phone off", Danny answered quietly. He was now worried. Nikki never turned her phone off, now he had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He decided to go and see if her truck was still in the parking garage.

As he headed for the elevators, he ran into Flack again. Danny was sweating and he looked worried.

" Holy crap, Dan. What's wrong?", Don asked as he stopped Danny from falling.

" I need to go see if her truck is still in the parking garage. Her cell phone is turned off, all I got was voicemail on that last call", Danny gasped.

" Ok, calm down. I'll come with you", Don replied calmly as he turned around and went with Danny down to the parking garage.

When they got down to the floor of the garage that Nikki parked in everyday, they found her car, with nothing inside the car, but a note. Don carefully took it down and looked at it. It read:

Well, if you cops have found this note then you'll know that obviously your precious CSI didn't write this. I think that you'll know who this is when you look at the next two copies. See anything familiar? You should, if you haven't, then look for a pattern, you will find it.

Don and Danny exchanged looks, and stared at the three copies that they held in their hands. Both worried, they turned around and ran to get back up to the lab.

As they showed the letters to Mac, he called for the rest of the team.

" Ok, so what we have is a serial killer. Something we've never seen before. This guy has a fascination with the number three. He kidnaps three people, mainly women, over a three day period, which happens to be his break from killing. Then, he kills them in the same order that they were kidnapped, over the next three days. He has many ways of killing them. Again, the number three plays a part in this. He tortures them three different ways, before either stabbing, shooting, or poisoning them three times. He is very dangerous. He has kidnapped Nikki, he left three letters, all the same letter, in her car, where we believe she was taken. I believe she is the first to be kidnapped this time around. I think that he wants her to watch these women come in and be tortured, he will break his rule, she will be the last to die instead of the first. He will make her watch the other two women be killed before he kills her. She is his final chapter. I believe that she will be the last that he kills, ever. But, of course, we won't let him get that far. He wants her to suffer, she will be tortured more than three times", Mac explained.

" Ok, well, do we have any evidence at all?", Stella asked.

" No, this guy is thorough. The only evidence is from the dump site and the marks on their bodies from where they were tortured", Mac answered.

" Ok, so, basically we have nothing, he doesn't rape his victims or anything?", Stella asked impatiently.

" No, he doesn't rape, which makes me and Danny think that he's impotent", Mac replied, calm as ever. The team left the room, it was 8:30p.m. so, since Don and Danny had enough of this for a day, Mac let them go for the night.