PART 8: Once a CSI

Chapter 28

Leo was driving down Fitch St. on his way to the South Basin area. A call had come in that a young woman had been found dead there, when he arrived a few patrol car was already there, a few cops had started to shut down the area.

He slipped under the tape and went over to where the woman was lying to take a look. But there wasn't much he could do until the CSI team and the coroner arrived, so he went talking to the guy who had called it in.

Brian showed up a little later, he was the CSI that was put on the case; it was clearly that the woman's throat had been slashed, but except for that the coroner couldn't say anything else until he had looked closer at her.

Brian was slowly working the perimeter when Leo came over to him.

"So… what do you think?"

Brian stood up, "I think she was murdered elsewhere and then dumped here."

Leo looked thoughtfully, "yeah…"

"What's on your mind, Leo?"

Leo lifted his head to meet his eyes, "two weeks ago when you were out of town, I had another one just like this, and then again last week."

Brian shot him a sharp look, but then shrugged, "meaning?"

"Both young red-haired women tied up with a rope, gagged, raped and throat slashed, and like this one, they also weighed close to two hundred pounds, oh, and all three had a rabbit foot in their pocket."

"So what… you think it's the same guy?"

Leo sighed internally, "Yes I do! But it's getting even worse; do you remember our first year in the force?"

"Yeah, some of it," Brian thought for a moment, looking back into memory, "shit… You think his back, don't you?"

Leo considered him for a second before nodding, "same type of women, killed the same way and then dumped."

"If it's him and he follows the same pattern as last time, then we only have five weeks left until his gone again, well, if this is his third Vic."

"I think we need to talk to the Captain," Leo sighed, "and I'm afraid we're going to need help!"

Brian looked at him in disbelieve, "you can't be seriously Leo, don't even go there."

"Listen Brian, I hate it as much as you do, but she is our best chance, and you know it." Leo took a deep breath, "she was so close last time. If we hadn't been so young that no one else trusted us, we would have gotten him" he added, "but I don't think they goner make the same mistake this time."

"Leo that case almost destroyed her, what do you think happens if he gets away again?" Brian replied firmly.

"I don't know Brian, and I really don't want to think about it, but have it even occurred to you, that maybe Sara would want a second chance to get him?"

"No it hasn't, fuck… I really don't like this Leo…" Brian said finally, sounding resigned, "if we're going to do this we better make damn sure that we catch him!"

Leo cocked his head and regarded him, "Yes! And this time we have one extra force."

Brian looked inquisitively at him, "like what?"

Leo smiled, "Sofia, she's not only a damn fine detective, she also knows how to handle Sara."

When they got back they went straight to the morgue to hear what the doc had found, and there was nothing surprising in it.

Afterwards they went to talk to Brian's supervisor, they told him their theory, and he agreed to the possibility that it could be the same guy.

Kane had always been fond of Sara, and it had really annoyed him when Grissom had persuaded her to come to Vegas. He knew she was good at her job, and he had no problems letting her come back for this case, if Leo and Brian could convince her to do so.

Brian went back to the lab and started working on the little things he had found. Leo got into his car and drove over to Sara's place; she was sitting outside enjoying the great weather when he arrived.

"Hi, someone is enjoying her vacation" Leo said, exchanging smiles with Sara.

"Hi, what are you doing here; I thought you were working today?"

Leo gave Sara a quirky grin as he sat down, "I am."

Sara chuckled, "okay, so what I'm a suspect?"

"Nope," Leo sighed and looked at her, "Sara, I have this case and I…" he hesitated, "would you mind take a look at it, and tell me what you think?"

Sara frowned, "Leo, you know as well as I do, that you're not allowed to show me anything."

"Yes I do," Leo looked over the city, "and still I'm asking you to take a look!"

Sara looked from Leo to the file lying on the table; she picked it up and started reading it. After a while she gazed up at Leo.

Sara grimaced, trying to keep her emotions in check, "He's back isn't he?"

Leo gazed back at her, "I'm not sure, but everything indicates it."

"How many has there been?" Sara asked him succinctly.

"Three that we know of, first one showed up while you were on vacation."

Sara leaned back in her chair, "well, if it is him, I really hope that you goner get him this time."

Leo just stared at her for a moment, eyes never leaving her face, before licking his lips. "Yeah, but I think we'll have a better chance if you will help us?"

His quiet question startled her, and she looked up, "listen Leo, I would love to catch that son of a bitch, but I don't work as a CSI any longer, so there isn't really that much I can do" Sara replied slowly.

"Yes there is, Kane have approved that we can call you in to work this case if you want too."

Sara laughed, a soft, humorless sound, "what?"

Leo gave her a little smile, "contrary to what you think Sara, the department does know that they screwed up last time, and they do want to get him as bad as we do."

Sara pursed her lips in silent agreement, and considered, "I don't know Leo.., it's not like I handle it very well last time when he got away.., are we going to catch him this time?"

"I don't know Sara, but I think we have much better odds this time; science has come a long way since the last time we tried."

Sara thought about it, "Okay Leo, I'm in!"

Leo smiled, "yes? Okay let's find him then."

Sara went and talked to Kane who gave her a temporarily badge, afterwards she was sent off to the shooting range to regain her shooting license, and then she was ready to start working.

Sara walked into the layout room, Brian stood bent over the pictures from the last three scenes where the women had been found.

"Hey, finding anything?"

Brian stretched up, "hey, I'm not sure, but then again I don't know what I'm looking for."

Sara came over and started looking, "he drives them out there so anything that can give us an idea of what car could be nice, did you find any towing track? He has to be pretty strong if he carries them."

"Well, the last one did have abrasions on her heels, and I did find some blurred blood drops, but they are still working on the sample, so I still don't know if the blood belongs to the Vic."

"Okay, what about the two other victims?"

Brian lifted his hands in a frustrated gesture, "I don't know I wasn't the one working them."

Sara's gaze traveled over the array of items, "if we work on a theory that it is the same person then we need to get all the material which are assembled into these three cases, and we goner need everything we aggregated the last time he was at stake, there must be some of the samples we can do a better study of today!"

Brian gazed at Sara, "whoa… The boss is back!"

Sara slapped him on the shoulder, "don't call me that!"

Brian started laughing, "sorry, but it is nice to have you back."

"Thanks; let's just see if you feel the same way tomorrow."

Sofia was walking down the hallway, as she passed the layout room she looked inside and nodded at Brian, it wasn't until a few steps further down the hall she came to a full stop, it was about the time it took for her brain to understand what her eyes just had seen, she turned and went inside of the layout room.

"Hey sweetie, what are you doing down here?" Her brow furrowed, "are you even allowed to look at that?"

Sara looked at Brian who nodded.

"I'll go find the old boxes," he said and left.

Sara turned and looked at Sofia; "yes I am, as from today I'm working here!"

Sofia closed the door, "mm-hmm," she chuckled, "of course you do, so what you're not a teacher anymore?"

"Yes I am, I'm just called in for this case," Sara said dryly, "one way or another this case will be over before school starts again."

Sofia came closer, "Sara, are you kidding me?"

"I wish but no." At Sofia's incredulous look, Sara shrugged, "I'm here because I'd worked this case before."

Sofia looked at the pictures, "Sara, what are you talking about, isn't this the woman that was found this morning?"

Sara exhaled, "yes it is, listen Sofia, it's a long story and I really don't want to get into it right now, so can it please wait until we gets home?"

Sofia blinked, taken aback, "that's just great Sara, first I found out that all the sudden you're working as a CSI again, and on top of that you don't even have the time to tell me what's going on." Sofia turned and walked towards the door, "fine Sara have it your way!"

Sara smothered a sigh, "Sof, please don't leave like that."

Brian and Leo walked into the room with their hands full of boxes.

"Oh hey Curtis, you're back, has the Captain talked to you?" Leo asked.

"Hey," Sofia looked confused, "no, why is something wrong?"

Leo smiled to her, "no, you're just suppose to give the case you're working to someone else, from now on you're with us."

Sofia looked confused between the three of them; "will someone please tell me what's going on?"

The door opened and Kane walked in, "oh good, you're all here and I can see you have found all the old cases."

Kane gazed directly at Sara, "Sidle, you know this case better than anyone so you will be the leading Investigator on this case!"

Kane looked across the table at the detectives and the CSIs before continuing, "Which means the three of you will be answering directly to Sidle, who will be answering directly to me. I will be in contact with Captain Mazzucco and the chief of police."

Kane turned back to Sara, "the other nine stations have been informed about this case, so if any woman that fits the description shows up they will get in contact with us immediately." He looked around, "any questions?"

When no answer was forthcoming, he continued, "fine… then I'll leave you to it," he said quietly, and vanished.

Sofia gazed at Sara half in shock, "what the hell just happen? And did you all the sudden become my boss?"

Brian started laughing, "Hey, what about we all go out and get some dinner before we start looking into these old boxes?"

"Yeah," Leo chuckled, "then at the same time we can fill Sofia up to speed with what's going on."

"I like that cause quite frankly I don't have a clue to what's going on," was her only comment.

"You go ahead I'm not hungry, so I'll just stay and start looking into these boxes," Sara said as she began to open a box.

Leo placed his hand on top of the box, "just forget it Sara, you're not working the next fifty hours on an empty stomach, so you're coming with us."

Sara send him a fiercely glance, "Leo, move your hand, and stop telling me what I need."

Sofia gazed at the guys and nodded towards the door before walking over standing in front of Sara, the guys slowly moved to the door.

"Sara, will you please show me that much respect and come along, if you're to be my boss in this case, at least give me the decency to tell me why and explain what's going on."

Sara gazed into very blue eyes and thought about that for a moment, "Sorry Sof your right, it's just… I really want to get started, but I guess it can wait an hour."

Leo leaned in and whispered to Brian, "I told you she was good."

Brian just giggled, "Ladies lets go."

They went in to the local diner and sat down in a booth, after ordering food and drinkable Brian started telling Sofia about the case.

"We are trying to catch a serial killer; the woman we found this morning seems to be number three. He always kills eight and then he disappears, his victims are red-haired overweight women, he rape and kills them, and then dumps them somewhere deserted," he explained.

Leo nodded affirmatively, "and the reasons why we know all that, is because we already have faced him once, but unfortunately he got away last time. Sara was the one who got closest, actually so close that she had her gun pointed at him, so she knows how he looks, guess that's why Kane allowed her to come back and work the case."

Sofia looked at Sara inquiringly.

"How he got away?" Sara asked casually, "we were standing on the street when a car came towards me with his headlights on full beam which totally blinded me for a brief moment, but it was enough time for the suspect to get away."

"How did you found out where to find him?"

Leo smiled the brown of his eyes suddenly intense, "the only thing the women back then had in common was that they all came at the same Club. But nothing this guy does is randomly. So Sara worked out from a theory that he already had picked out the eight women he was going to kill, and that he already had revealed everything about their daily lives, and on what days they would be at the Club."

Brian cut in with a smile, "Sara used all her free time sitting in a car outside the Club taking pictures of all the women that fit the description, who they were talking too and leaving with. When one of the women turned up dead, we finally were able to narrow it down; since there only was one man we couldn't get a name on."

Lost for a moment in bittersweet memory, Leo rubbed his palm on his thighs, "while Brian and I were searching for him in the Club, Sara was searching for him outside, guess she was the one who found him. After his slip off we kept watching the Club but he never showed up again, but he did get his last victim, somehow he managed to take her somewhere between the Club and her home."

Sara got up, "excuse me," she said walking to the restroom.

Leo and Brian gazed at each other and Leo finally nodded. "Look Sofia, there's one thing you need to know about this case. Sara didn't handle the whole thing very well the last time. She kept blaming herself that our suspect got away, and I still think she does" Brian said thoughtfully. A pause hung between them, and before Sofia could speak he continued.

"Later she went after the department for not backing us up; if it hadn't been for Kane she probably would have lost her job. Actually she was right about the backup, no one took Sara's theory seriously, probably because she was so young, and to this day I still think we would have caught him, if they had sent more cops to look for him."

Leo shot Sofia a resigned look, "I don't know what to say to you Sofia, just.., please keep an eye on her because this time.., I don't think she is going to let anything get between her and him, she will be ready to do whatever it takes to get him, and I mean whatever it takes."

"So basically what you're saying is, what we're fucked because they choose to call her in and put her in charge?" Sofia asked, her tone low and chilling.

"No it's not, and if that's the way you are feeling, then maybe you should get yourself removed from the case" Leo snapped, his voice now just above a whisper.

"I should?" Sofia said, not trying to soften the words, "you're the one sitting and indicate that Sara can't handle the case or herself, and on top of that you expect me to baby-sit her, so tell me Leo, what the hell am I suppose to think?"

"Sofia, please calm down, we're sorry if that's what you think, perhaps we expressed it wrong, both of us will be right by her side all the way, don't ever doubt that" Brian assured her with a serious expression.

"You know it's because we care about her, and thinking back how she reacted last time we just can't stop worry about her. We don't expect you to baby-sit her, but whether you know it or not, you're the only one who can manipulate her to do what's best for her" Leo intoned softly.

Sofia gazed at Leo, "sorry, I didn't mean to come down on you like that, it's just been a weird day."

Leo gave a nod, adding a little roll of his eyes to agree, "You can say that again."

A waiter came over to the table with three plates; he put them down and started walking away.

"Excuse me, we are four but you only brought three plates?"

The waiter came back, "sorry, the tall brunette wasn't with you?"

Sofia looked at him, "yes she is."

"Well, she canceled her food before she left."

Sofia shot him a skeptical look, "left when?"

The waiter blew out a breath through his nose, and a tinge of red rose to his cheeks, "around the time when the other customers started complaint about your quarrel."

"Shit, thinks she heard us?" Brian asked.

"Oh yeah, I think you can count on that, I just hope she heard it all and not only fragments, because otherwise I think it sounded like we were defaming her," Leo replied.

Sofia buried her head in her hands; "I'm so going to sleep in another room tonight."

Brian shrugged, a touch of humor lightening his face, "don't worry Curtis, you probably don't even goner get to bed tonight."

A reluctant grin tugged at Leo's mouth, "look, let's just eat, with a little luck she cooled down again by the time we comes back, and if not we just have to elaborate what we were talking about."

They ate and went back to the lab, when they walked into the layout room a young man was standing in front of the pictures dividing them up into groups, before hanging them up on the wall.

"Excuse me young man, what are you doing, and who are you?" Leo asked.

"Hey, I'm Ned the new trainee, and I'm helping Ms. Sidle."

Sofia watched him for a moment, "You're helping? You wouldn't happen to know where Sidle is?"

Ned smiled; "sure, she is talking to Kane about getting some help with the case she is working on."

"Getting help? Ned, I think you shall stop working until we get cleared up what's going on," Brian prompted after a moment.

Ned snorted gently, still looking at the photos, "sorry, can't do that, I'd promised Ms. Sidle I would be done by the time she was back."

"Look young man, this is our case too, so please stop what you are doing," Leo said at last.

No one heard Sara coming into the room before her voice was heard "are you sure about that, Leo?"

Three people turned and looked at Sara; she on the other hand just winked to Ned and slightly nodded towards the door. Ned nodded back and walked out the door closing it behind him.

"And what is that suppose to mean?" Leo asked.

Sara's face was fierce, "you tell me? But before you do that, then please give me one good reason why I would want to work with either one of you, or why you would want to work with me, it's not like you have much faith in my abilities."

"That's a whole lot of crap, and if you had stayed around and listened to the whole conversation you would know that," Leo barked pointedly, "do you honestly think I would have asked for your help if I didn't think you were capable of doing the job?"

Sara forehead wrinkled, turning her frown into a full-blown, but befuddled, scowl, "so what when? Is it because Kane put me in charge? Because if it is you can have it, I don't care who's in charge, I'm only here for one reason and that's to catch the guy."

Brian was a bit pissed by now, "don't push this any further Sara, you know as well as we do, that neither one of us could give a damn about who's in charge. Quite frankly I don't understand why you're so pissed, the only thing we told Sofia was how things went the last time the perp was around."

"Yeah.., well fuck you Brian, and don't you ever again go hire me a baby sitter I'm a big girl who can take care of herself."

"Are you sure?" Brian asked flippantly, "´cause the way you're acting right now, I really could doubt that!"

Sara just ignored him and looked at Leo, "you're going to have it your way, I'd just talked to Kane and from tomorrow morning I'm no longer in charge, I just hope you can live with the one taking over." Sara said smiling sarcastically, "we got Nelson!"

The room turned dead silent, the only sound that was heard were three jaws hitting the floor, three people unable to say anything, all just looked at Sara in disbelieve. Sofia's brain slowly started working again and she managed to find her voice.

"Sara no.., you have to talk to Kane again, say you changed your mind" Sofia finally choked out.

Darting his eyes around uneasily, Brian steeled himself "Sara, there's no way we goner catch this guy if Nelson have anything to do with it, he couldn't investigate his own house for a pair of socks."

"Sara, come on you can't hate us that much," Leo pleaded.

Sara just gazed at them all with a stone cold face, all three looking right back, but Sofia didn't know her woman for nothing, and even if it only was for a split second, she didn't miss the twinkle in Sara's glance.

"Fuck you Sara that was cruel" Sofia said, a hint of a smile forming.

"Well, payback is a bitch," Sara laughed; "perhaps next time any of you have something to say about me, you'll say it straight to my face."

"Sidle, you gonna pay for that one" Brian quipped, laughing at the evil look she directed towards him.

Leo exhaled; "does that mean you're still the boss?"

Sara shook her head slowly, "nope, we are, if we don't work as a team we won't catch him."

"So what were you talking to Kane about?"

"To get two computer techs, I hope they can find out which other city's he's been in, any kind of evidence we can get our hands in can only be a help."

Brian nodded, "okay, what do you want us to do?"

"If you will review the old evidence technology has evolved so much since we gathered them that it should be possible to provide some new things with a thorough investigation" Sara suggested.

"Leo, how do you feel about looking at some tire tracks?"

"Sure, what am I looking for?" Leo asked lightly.

Sara gave him a half-shrug before answering, "I'm not sure, he's probably using his own car so check if the tracks from the three scenes are the same, and if you can find out what kind of tire it is that would be nice. If we're lucky you will find something that isn't supposed to be there."

Sara gazed at Sofia, "if it's okay with you I want to use your skills as a CSI. Do you mind going over the victims clothing and the rope he used to tie them up with? There probably won't be any DNA, but see if the ends match and the knots are the same."

"Hopefully I haven't forgotten how to do that," Sofia announced, shaking her head in approval, "and what will you be doing?"

"I'll be right here looking at pictures; I can't shake the feeling that there is something we're missing, like he is trying to tell us something."

"Yeah.., he doesn't like red-haired women," Brian snorted.

Sofia chuckled, "whoa… Brian, I think you cracked the case."

"Well, if you two comedians are done, then maybe we can get some work done?" Sara said with an amused expression.

They all got started and none of them saw each other for the next five hours. Leo came back into the layout room they had made their base.

"Hey, how's it going?" Leo said with a wave of his hand.

Sara straightened herself up and scratched her eyes, "hey, no luck so far, you?"

"It's a generic tire mostly used on a pickup truck or a small SUV. But it's the same tire tracks at all three scenes; the good news is that something is firmly stuck in one of his tires making a small mark, a small stone perhaps, but it was in all three casts."

"Good work Leo; at least we'll know when we find the right car." Sara gazed at him, "when did you come in this morning?"

"I don't know, early," he said yawning.

"You look like shit, go home and get some sleep" she urged.

"Are you sure, we still have a lot of work?"

"Yeah.., you can barely keep your eyes open."

"Guess you're right I could use a nap, okay see you later."

"Sweet dreams," Sara said, giving him a broad smile.

A little later Brian came in, "hey, finding anything?"

"Not yet. What about you?"

"I found some samples and swapped some of the clothes and ropes, but until the presence techs are done with them we won't know anything. What about Sofia and Leo have they found anything?"

"I haven't seen Sofia yet." She told him what Leo had come up with.

"Where is he now?"

She gave him a half-smirk, lifting her shoulder slightly, "I sent him home, and I think you should do the same, you look pretty tired."

"I am, and it's not like we goner get some answers right away, so guess I might as well use the time to get some sleep, see you later" he said curtly.

"Sure later, sleep well" Sara replied watching him leave.

The pictures was driving Sara crazy, she knew there was something she was missing, but right now she was at the point where she only was staring herself blind, so she decided to leave them for a while. She left the room and went searching for Sofia, she found her in one of the other rooms.

"Hey, how's it going?"

"Hey," Sofia said, smiling when Sara glared at her, "it's going, I'm just starting to get a bit sore of standing in the same position for so long."

Sara walked over and stood behind her; she placed her hands on Sofia's shoulders and slowly started rubbing them.

"Want some help?" Sara asked with a wicked grin.

Sofia started relaxing, "yeah, that would be nice, I'm almost done with the clothes but if you want, you can take a look at the ropes."

Sara put on a pair of gloves and started working on the ropes. While they worked Sofia asked a lot of questions about the case, learning as much as possible from what Sara could tell her.

They talked a bit about the rabbit foots, what it might could mean, Sara didn't know, she'd always thought it was for good luck, but she couldn't see any good luck in getting killed. They finally finished up and handed over the various tests.

"Okay, what's up next?"

Sara gave her an affectionate look, "for you… sleep."

Sofia let out a long breath as her hands flexed, "if you don't need sleep, then neither do I."

"I am I just have some things I need to check up on." Sara took her arm and walked her towards the door. "Why don't you go home and start warming the bed? I'll be home in a little while" Sara said, adding a smile to cover the snap in her tone.

Sofia narrowed her eyes, "mmpf… okay, but don't be long!"

Sara gently squeezed her hand, "I won't."

Tbc…