Chapter 13

Wednesday, September 6th, 2006
8:09 PM

Sara moved through her apartment feeling well rested, gathering things to get ready to return to the lab. She picked up her cell phone, feeling a little guilty at how she'd left things with Grissom, bailing on him after being gone for days. She'd been so tired and while she'd been waiting days to spend some time with him, all she could think about was her conversation with Dr. Mian and getting some rest before returning to the lab. As she walked out to her car, she opened her phone and hit the speed dial, smiling when he answered on the first ring. "Hey Griss, sorry about earlier. I was so bagged I couldn't think of anything but sleep."

"You did get some rest?"

"Yeah. I'm going to head into the lab now. Where are you?"

"At home. I'll be at the lab shortly."

"So, I'll see you then?"

"Yeah."

She hung up the phone, climbing into the car and heading into the lab.

Catherine, Nick and Warrick were all in one layout room, heads stooped over the table, looking through piles of evidence. Sara walked into the room, raising an eyebrow. "What's going on?"

"We're looking through the evidence in all of the cases."

"Okay. How long have you been at it?"

She could tell from the look on Warrick's face that they'd been at it for awhile. He'd probably been at it since he'd gotten her voice mail. Warrick sighed. "All afternoon."

"And have you gotten anywhere? Any id on our vic yet?"

"Not yet."

"Sara," Sara looked over at Catherine. "Do you want to explain to us what this professor said to you today?"

She took a deep breath, wondering how she could break it down. "Alright, his basic theory is that these murders are about ritual cleansing, but that there is no culture that will tie them together. It's more a comment on our society."

"Explain."

"Alright, Dr. Mian suggests that the killer is operating as sort of a magician, or maybe a witch if it would be easier to understand, someone who operates outside of society and profanes the values of that society. Anyways, this killer who fancies himself an ancient magician, is operating outside the cult of society by bringing in elements from societies that he values, cleansing rituals."

"Magician, not sociologist? The cell found at Grissom and Greg's scene was registered to Emile Durkheim. Are we forgetting that?"

"Sociologist turned magician?" She frowned, wondering if that statement sounded right, even to her own ears.

"He's symbolically cleansing Vegas?"

"Commenting on the values he sees as profane in Vegas and profaning the values of Vegas society."

"So why a widow and two newborn infants?"

"Maybe he's buying into all those primitive notions of cleanliness himself, or maybe it's a way to draw attention to the other crimes. He isn't picking and choosing which values to profane, he's profaning all Vegas's values, even the ones we see as positive, the right to life. What do we know about the victims in each case?"

Catherine pulled out a file and placed it on the top. "Grissom and Greg's victim. Mutilated prostitute."

"That one is obvious."

Catherine pulled out another file, throwing it on top. "Nick's and my vic, recent widow, burned alive over her husband's corpse."

"Sati. The woman is unclean because her soul is tied to her husbands. Ritual cleanliness, but not a target on Vegas society."

"He actually has to see these things as impure. The killer has to be delusional, thinking he is this magician, or whatever you called him, Sar."

"Okay, Nick, apart from her husband dying, any idea why he chose her? Other than opportunity perhaps? If he does believe in her impurity, he actually has to believe her soul is tied to her husband."

Catherine picked up the file, opening it. "I spoke to the family, friends, every one of them spoke of how close Lester and Doris Fletcher were, how they seemed to just complete each other. They said that when Lester died, it was like Doris died with him."

"Soul mates?"

"If that was why Doris Fletcher was targeted, the killer had to have known the couple."

"The obituary, anything in it about soul mates, or that would suggest it?"

"I'll check it out." Nick was off and out of the room, leaving her behind with Catherine and Warrick.

"Next victim?"

"Yours and Warrick's. I.D. unknown?" Sara nodded. "Stoned to death."

"There could be many possible motives for that. Dead end until we get an id."

"That just leaves us with what might be our first victims. The Madison infants."

"African American newborns, smothered. Likely motive, the correction of an anomaly. What do we have for evidence?"

"Shoe tread, a men's new balance walking shoe, size 11. No actual discernable tire treads, but Nick and I did get a wheel base at our scene. Large wheel base, likely a truck. Nick and I also identified several unknown prints from the funeral home. We have all the murder weapons, maternity ward blanket, two scalpels, larch logs and jute rope and your rocks."

"Warrick, what about that blood and skin tag you got from the boulder?"

"Yeah, Wendy paged me the results. Two sets of blood, one set, female, matching the victim, the other male, unknown. The skin tag matches the male unknown DNA. Wendy is running the unknown through CODIS."

"So we have the killer's DNA, but unless CODIS kicks up something, nothing to lead us to him."

"As of right now…"

"Yeah, look, I'm going to keep looking this over. You and Warrick should probably take a break, get some food or something."

"Yeah, I'm getting hungry and I should probably call Tina."

"Later," she called, her head looking down at all the files on the table, as Catherine and Warrick exited the room.

She continued to sort through each file, searching for any common piece of evidence. There were quiet footsteps behind her and goose bumps appearing on her arm. Grissom was just behind her, looking over her shoulder. "How's it coming?"

"Well, we may have the killer's DNA, but I cannot find one piece of evidence connecting these murders."

Grissom stepped a little closer, his chest touching her back. She watched as he reached in front of her, picking up a file. "Well, let's keep looking."

Sara continued to search through the files, silently handing off and receiving files from Grissom, working in quiet sync with each other. Her head lifted when she saw Nick stride into the room holding a newspaper. "Hey Grissom, Sara, Lester Fletcher's obituary. Third line announced the passing of a soul mate, father, brother and friend."

"Great. Anyone could have read the obituary, read the word soul mate, saw the funeral notice announcing which home was taking care of it, and noticed that the funeral wasn't until the following week, after the long weekend."

"So, we're back to anyone."

"Yeah."

"Where are Catherine and Warrick?"

"They're getting a rest and some food before shift."

"Nick, it would probably be a good idea for you to do the same." Sara looked over at Grissom, raising an eyebrow at his suggestion.

"Yeah, I will. You guys want to go for some food?"

"I'm good Nicky. I at before I came in."

"Griss?"

"I just got in, Nick. I am well rested and well fed."

"Alright then, see you guys later."

"Bye."

Nick left. Sara glanced at Grissom, watching as he was already immersed back into the evidence. She joined him, reestablishing the same quiet harmonic mode as they'd been working in before.

Thursday, September 7th, 2006
8:34 AM

Nick finished the shift, logging in the last piece of evidence in an armed robbery he'd been gathering evidence in all night. He checked his watch and then checked the lab's board, looking to see if any unusual murders had been called in yet that morning. He thought of the realization he'd had the afternoon before, that if the murders were connected, another person was going to die that day. He hadn't heard of any unusual activity yet, and that left him feeling anxious and antsy. He'd check in with Sara, see what they had, and hope some piece of evidence would come out that would lead them to finding the killer before the next murder occurred.

11:16 AM

She was still looking over the evidence, having stopped only once for food, Grissom telling her they needed to slow down and take a minute to refuel before looking at the evidence again with somewhat clearer eyes. She searching for anything that would begin to help her see where to look to find their killer. They only had so much time before he would strike again. Sara wanted to be wrong about this, more than she wanted to be wrong about almost anything before in her life. She wanted to believe that there wouldn't be another murder that day, but everything in her told her that unless she found something, there would be.

3:17 PM

Warrick looked at the page in his hand. CODIS kicked out nothing on the male DNA. One hope dashed and the frustration that came of it was distracting him from his and Tina's mutual apology. All he could think about was the case and the victims he investigated, two infants smothered and a young girl stoned to death. Tina kissed him behind the ear and he stood up, running a hand through his hair. "Sorry, baby, I can't do this right now. My mind is back at the lab. I have to go in." He ignored the look she sent him in reply, but the words that accompanied that look were not as easy to disregard.

6:38 PM

Grissom hated it when killers left no evidence, leaving nowhere for him to investigate and fearing the killer may just be smarter than him. Almost as frustrating, was when the killer did leave evidence, but only minute amounts, evidence where there was no context and did not lead to anything. Before Sara had announced that they possible had the murderer's DNA, he'd feared the murderer could be more intelligent than him, playing with them by calling himself Emile Durkheim. Now, the killer had made a mistake; he'd left his DNA behind, but Grissom still didn't know where to look and it was beyond frustrating. There was the realization that they may need another scene to gather more evidence and hopefully find some connecting factor. He'd told dispatch to call him with any unusual murders, but there had been no calls. The day had been as quiet as the night before.

10:42 PM

The minutes and second had passed by so slowly all day long. There were no murders and Catherine was beginning to feel as though there wouldn't be one. Upset that she let herself get talked into believing there was a connection, she slammed her locker door shut. Grissom appeared in the locker room entrance. "Catherine, we've got a scene. A body was found burnt to a stake out by Lake Mead. Take Nick. You two have had the most rest. Call if you need any more help."

She looked at him, taking the slip. Shit, she thought. "Where's Nick?"

"I just saw him in the break room. Sofia meet you at the scene."

"Great. I'd hoped we were all wrong."

"So did I, Catherine."