AN: Time for the second chapter, I hope you like it! Thanks to everyone who read chapter 1, and especially to those who left a review or favorited, I love hearing from you guys!
Thanks to WalkerTRngr for the beta help!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything relating to CSI
Chapter 2
"Are you hungry?"
Sara raises an eyebrow. "Seriously?"
Lurie moves into the room, setting the tray he's carrying down at the foot of the bed. "I know it's been a while since you ate, so I brought you some food."
She glances at the tray – a plastic cup of what looks like orange juice and a plain bagel with some sort of cream cheese.
"You really think I'm going to eat anything you give me?"
He frowns. "You need to eat something."
He takes a step towards her, and she backs away until her back makes contact with the wall, making sure to maintain eye contact. He stops, expression changing from confusion to sadness to frustration.
"I'm trying to be nice," he tells her, frowning.
"Nice?" Sara repeats. "You're kidding, right? You drugged me, you kidnapped me, you chained me to a bed, you did… God knows what to me while I was unconscious, and you call that being nice?"
Lurie starts shaking his head while she's talking. "No, no, I didn't touch you while you were out, I would never do that."
The assurance should make her feel better, but it doesn't.
"I want you to be awake when we make love again."
His words send chills through her entire body, and she has to fight back tremors. Again? Does he seriously think she's Debbie?
Before she can process that, he backs away again, pausing at the open door. "I understand that you're still getting used to this, so I'll give you some time." He nods at the tray of food. "Please, eat. I promise there's nothing wrong with the food."
With that, he steps through the door and closes it, and she relaxes back down on the bed.
She tries to ignore the food, really, but she hasn't eaten since early afternoon yesterday. And if she's going to have even a chance of getting out of this situation, she needs to keep her strength up.
She takes a small bite of the bagel and a sip of what turns out to be orange juice and waits half an hour, but when she doesn't feel anything strange, she finishes the rest of the food.
Her stomach settled, she scoots up until she's leaning against the headboard, and tries to analyze the situation.
Lurie apparently thinks she's Debbie. Should she play along and hope he won't want to kill his old girlfriend twice, or try to convince him otherwise, hoping… what, exactly? That he'll realize she's not Debbie and just let her go? Yeah, the odds of that are great…
No, she has to either get herself out of this, or hope someone will miss her and figure out who took her. Which might be her best bet, to be honest. If she doesn't show up at work, she knows someone will come looking, and if they figure out she's missing, she's sure Nick's first suspicion will be Lurie.
She only hopes it doesn't take them long to figure it out, and find out where she is, because she knows it's not Lurie's house.
Grissom's not sure why, but there's an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach when he leaves the lab about an hour after the end of shift. Before turning the key in the ignition, he pulls his phone from his pocket and scrolls through his contacts until he reaches Sara's number.
He hesitates, one finger hovering over the call button, but then flips the phone shut again. She had last night off, she might be asleep, and he doesn't want to wake her because he knows she never gets enough sleep. Besides, it's not her job to keep him from overreacting.
Instead, he goes home, makes himself some breakfast, and tosses and turns in bed for an hour and a half before he finally falls into a restless sleep.
The next time Sara hears the key in the lock, it's been dark out for about two hours, so she figures it must be around seven in the evening. She's able to just reach the chain for the lightbulb in the ceiling, if not the actual bulb, so the room is bathed in a sterile, cold light again.
"I need to go to the bathroom," she says before the door's fully open.
Lurie steps into the room and frowns at her. "Of course. I'm sorry, I should have thought about that this morning."
She keeps her eyes on him as he moves closer, pulling a key chain from his pocket. Two small keys – handcuffs and a padlock, maybe, there's no keyhole in the door, which could mean a padlock on the outside – and one larger one, maybe to the door to the basement.
"Are you going to try something if I unlock this?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.
"You really expect me to answer that?" she shoots back.
To her surprise, he chuckles. "No, I suppose not." He lifts his shirt on one side, revealing a gun tucked into the waistband of his jeans. "I would think twice about it if I were you, though."
"A gun? I thought you preferred knives," she retorts before she has a moment to think about it.
She doesn't even have a chance to react before the back of his hand connects with her cheek, the force making her head snap to the side. She can feel tears stinging her eyes, but angrily blinks them back – she is not going to let him see her cry.
Moving her jaw back and forth a little and running her tongue over her teeth, she ascertains that nothing seems to be broken, at least, even if she's probably going to have a hell of a shiner soon enough, before raising her eyes to Lurie.
She recognizes the look on his face – she saw it weekly growing up.
"I'm sorry, baby, I didn't mean to do that," he apologizes, voice pleading.
She wants to tell him to not call her that, but she really does need to use the bathroom, and if she pisses him off even more, he might just decide to leave her chained to the bed the rest of the night, so she keeps her mouth shut.
A moment later, she hears the sound of metal against metal as the key is inserted into the lock mechanism. When the cuff has been unlocked – the one attached to the bed, not the one on her wrist – he pulls her to her feet by the chain. "Come on."
He leads her through the door into another area of the basement – there's a set of stairs to the left, presumably leading to the upper floor – and the wall straight ahead is lined with shelving units, all empty. To the right is a wall with two more doors, and Lurie guides her to the one on the left.
"Are you going to watch me pee?" she asks when he opens the door.
"Of course not."
There's a bathroom on the other side of the door, as expected, and he pulls her inside, locking the handcuffs to a grab bar above a bathtub before he leaves the room again and closes the door.
After checking the room for cameras, Sara moves closer to the tub to be able to use both hands to get her tights and underwear off. She lifts the toilet lid, finding the toilet surprisingly clean, but still puts toilet paper on the seat before doing her business.
How long has he been planning this? she wonders, looking around the room. I saw the way he looked at me when Nick and I showed up – there's no way he'd seen me before.
The bathroom isn't new, though – the tub and sink are both olive green, and the tile is reminiscent of the early eighties. The toilet seems to have been replaced at a later date, and the grab bar she's chained to looks like another later addition, but not new. Probably added at some point when whoever used to live here needed the assurance of something to hold onto to get into and out of the tub. And in the other room, there's nothing indicating the MDF walls were erected recently, and bolting the bed to the wall wouldn't have taken more than a few minutes.
It's not much of a comfort in her situation, but it's still good to know her investigative skills haven't lapsed so much that she's gone weeks without noticing a stalker.
A banging on the door makes her jump.
"Wrap it up or I'm coming in!"
She doesn't dignify that with an answer, but does finish up, reaching to open the door when she's washed her hands – there's an old bar of soap on the sink, but nothing to dry her hands on, so she shakes the water off as best she can.
Lurie unlocks the handcuff from the grab bar and pulls her along back to the room. Sara considers trying to make a run for it, but he still has the gun, so she doesn't like her chances. Maybe if she doesn't fight, he won't bring it next time, and she can try then.
He locks her to the bed again and then grabs the tray he brought her food on earlier. "I'm glad you decided to eat. Do you want something else?"
She's about to shake her head but changes her mind. "Water?"
He disappears for a moment, and she hears the water running in the bathroom. Then he returns, the plastic cup she drank orange juice from earlier now filled with water. He puts it down next to the bed before straightening up. "I'll check on you a little later."
Check on you. Like he's taking care of her. She turns away from him before he disappears out the door, and when she hears his steps on the stairs, she lays down on the bed and lets out a long breath.
She has to figure out how to get out of here.
"I don't want to sound like a broken record or anything," Nick starts at the beginning of shift, "but where's Sara?"
Grissom looks up from the assignment slips he just picked up from Judy and scans the room, as if she's hiding in a corner. But, of course, she isn't.
"She should be here," he says with a frown. "There was no message about her being out sick or anything… let me check with Judy."
He backtracks to the reception desk where the woman in question gives him a slightly confused smile. "Did you forget something, sir?"
"Did Sara call to say she was sick?" he asks. "Or running late?"
She frowns. "No, not since I got here, and there were no messages. Do you want me to try and call her?"
"No, that's fine Judy, I'll do it myself," he assures her, hurrying back to the break room.
"She's not answering her home phone or cell," Nick announces as soon as Grissom steps through the doorway again.
"She's probably just running late," Catherine suggests. "Let's give her some time before we send out a search party, OK?"
Grissom takes a few deep breaths, to get his racing heart under control. He knows Catherine is right, but… "Keep calling, Nick," he says. "She's probably stuck in traffic, or maybe she overslept. Tell her to call me when you get a hold of her. Meanwhile, you and Catherine have a floater in the pool at the Mediterranean. Warrick, you're with me, DB in an abandoned house in Sunrise Manor."
Nick looks like he's going to object, but instead he just huffs and follows Catherine out the door, phone pressed to his ear.
Grissom sighs and nods at Warrick, and they head the same way.
"Are we going the right way?" Warrick asks five minutes later, looking back over his shoulder at the intersection where Grissom just turned left.
"We're taking a quick detour," he replies, eyes fixed on the road.
"You worried about her too?"
He glances at the other man, sees a hint of concern in his eyes.
"I just want to… make sure," he says.
Warrick just nods, and they drive in silence until they reach Sara's apartment building.
The first thing Grissom sees is her car, sitting in a parking space right by the entrance.
"Maybe she did oversleep?" Warrick offers, but he sounds far from certain. "Or she could be really sick."
Grissom doesn't answer, just gets out of the car, not waiting for Warrick to follow.
A young woman is leaving the building as they reach the door, and they slip in before it can close behind her. The elevator is waiting, and soon, they emerge on Sara's floor.
Please open the door, please open the door, Grissom repeats to himself as they make their way down the hallway. She doesn't, though. He knocks again, louder this time, but still nothing.
The third time, he's practically banging on the door, but the only result is the one opposite Sara's opening.
"I'm sorry, ma'am," Warrick tries to defuse the situation. "We didn't mean to disturb you; we're just checking on a friend."
"You mean Sara?"
Grissom turns at the question, finding a woman in her eighties peering out through the crack in the door the security chain offers.
"Yes, Sara, have you seen her?" he asks, words rushing out, but she shakes her head.
"Not today, no. She ran some errands for me yesterday around, oh, four in the afternoon, and I managed to get her to let me treat her to tea and a little something sweet, but then she left."
Warrick smiles at the woman. "Thank you, ma'am."
"Of course." She doesn't close the door. "Do you two have some identification?"
Warrick throws Grissom a frown, and he shrugs, pulling his ID from his pocket.
"You don't happen to have the apartment manager's number?" he asks as he holds it up for her inspection. "Sara never showed up at work, and her car's still outside – we just want to make sure she hasn't hurt herself or is sick and needs help."
The old woman scrutinizes the two IDs, then pulls the door closed only to open it fully a moment later. "I do, but I also have Sara's spare key," she tells them, holding up the key in question. "Wouldn't that be quicker?"
"Yes, thank you, it would be."
She shuffles across the hallway in her house slippers and sticks the key in the door. When she reaches for the doorknob, though, Warrick puts a hand on her arm.
"It might be better if you stay out here, ma'am," he tells her gently, and her eyes widen.
"You don't think someone's hurt her, do you?" she asks, voice shaking slightly.
"We hope not," Warrick replies. "This is simply a precaution."
She nods and steps aside.
Grissom knows he should lead the way, but he's still relieved when Warrick reaches out to open the door and enters the apartment first.
"Sara?" he calls after Grissom has closed the door behind them. "You here?"
There's no response, and they exchange a look before moving further into the apartment. The kitchen and living area is empty, no signs of any disturbance. Warrick moves towards one door, so Grissom opens the other, which leads to an empty bathroom.
"She's not here," Warrick announces, returning from the bedroom.
Grissom sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "Maybe her car wouldn't start? We could have passed each other on the way here."
Warrick digs his phone out of his pocket and taps a few keys before holding it to his ear. "Hey, Judy," he says after a moment. "Listen, has Sara showed up yet? No? OK, thanks." He hangs up again. "Even if she had to take the bus she would be there by now. And did she lose her cell phone too?"
As if on cue, the cordless phone on the kitchen counter starts ringing, and Grissom takes the few steps needed to pick it up. "Hello?"
It's silent for a moment, then Nick's confused voice comes over the line. "Griss?"
"Yeah, Nick," he confirms. "Warrick and I stopped by on the way. She's not here, but her car is."
"Something's wrong," Nick says, voice tight with worry. "I just called her cell again, but it's either been turned off since the last time I called, or the battery has died."
Grissom knows there are several reasons why the phone might be turned off, but… Nick is right. Something is wrong here. Sara wouldn't just disappear, skip out on work. Not without telling someone.
Didn't he have a bad feeling this morning? Why didn't he stop by then, or at least call? So what if he woke her up, it would be better than this.
"OK, Nick. Are you and Catherine at the hotel?"
"Yeah," Nick confirms. "The floater turned out to be a CPR dummy, but then someone taped up a security guard and stole an old Japanese sword, so we've got another crime."
"OK, I'm calling Cavallo – stay there until someone shows up to take over, and then head back to the lab. Warrick and I will process Sara's apartment, see if we can figure something out, and then we'll meet you there."
Nick sighs, relieved. "OK, good. See you soon."
"And Nick? Start calling hospitals."
Grissom hangs up and finds Warrick watching him closely. "So, we're upgrading this to suspicious circs?"
"Like you said – if she had car trouble and took a cab or the bus to the lab, she would be there by now. And her cell's just been turned off or died."
Warrick huffs. "That's not good."
Agreeing seems superfluous. "I'm going to call Cavallo, so he can get reinforcements to our original crime scenes. Why don't you start in here?"
He doesn't wait for confirmation before leaving the living area and closing himself in the bedroom for some privacy. The bed is neatly made, all drawers in the dresser closed, nothing out of place that he can see. A purse is sitting on top of the dresser, and he peeks inside it, looking for the missing cell phone, but no luck. He does find Sara's wallet, with her ID and credit cards, as well as her car keys, but no house keys.
Cavallo picks up the second time he tries, sounding half-asleep. Without apologizing for waking him, Grissom makes his request. "We have a situation; I need you to call in people from days or swing to cover tonight's cases."
The line is silent for a moment. "What kind of situation?"
"Sara's missing."
"What do you mean, missing?"
He takes a breath, tries to remember that he most likely woke the man up, and he can't be expected to be fully alert. "She didn't show up for work, she's not at home. Her car's still here, as are her car keys, as well as her wallet. Her cell phone's missing, and was either turned off or the battery died a short while ago."
Cavallo sighs. "Are you sure she didn't just… take off?"
"Without her ID and credit cards, and on foot? How far do you think she would get?"
"OK, OK. I'll call in someone, grave can focus on this."
"Thank you, Robert."
He hangs up and returns to the living area where Warrick is flipping through a stack of mail on the kitchen counter. "Anything?"
Warrick turns and shakes his head. "Nothing. What did Cavallo say?"
"He's calling people in, we can focus on this," Grissom relays. "And I found Sara's purse – wallet, with ID and credit cards, and car keys, but no cell phone and no house keys."
Warrick leans back against the counter, eyes going unfocused for a moment. "So, she most likely left of her own accord," he says after a moment. "Where would you go without your wallet, though?"
They both ponder the question for a moment.
"Running," they then say in unison, and Warrick moves to the front door.
"No running shoes here."
"So, she goes running and…" Grissom trails off, because he doesn't want to consider the possibilities.
"If she was in an accident or something, Nick'll find her," Warrick offers, but the part he doesn't say is lingering in the air between them.
As long as she's in the hospital.
Pushing the thought aside, Grissom makes a decision. "Let's head back to the lab – she obviously left on her own, there's nothing to find here. We can get warrants out for her phone records, maybe track her cell."
He tosses the car keys to Warrick as they leave the building, finding Sara's keys instead. Her car starts without any problem, disproving the already weakening theory that she had car trouble. Locking the car again, he digs his cell phone out of his pocket before getting into the passenger seat next to Warrick.
"What the hell is going on, Gil?" Jim answers on the first ring. "Sara's not missing, is she?"
Grissom closes his eyes, trying to not let panic creep in. "As far as we can tell, she is. She didn't show up for work, she's not at home… her car's still here, and there's nothing wrong with it. We also found her car keys and wallet, but her cell phone's missing, as well as her house keys, so our best guess is that she went out for a run and… well, that's as much as we know."
"Yeah, Nick's on the phone, calling around to the hospitals," Jim replies, before covering the mic with his hand and saying something to someone on his end. "No luck yet, but he has a couple left."
"OK, good. Cavallo's sending someone to take over for Nick and Cath, hopefully they'll be there soon. Warrick and I are on our way back to the lab – can you start working on getting a warrant for Sara's phone records, and for tracking her phone? It's been turned off, or maybe the battery's died, but I figure we should still be able to see where it was before it went offline, and if it moved from her apartment before that."
"We should be, yeah, I'll get on that right away," Jim promises. "I'll see if I can get someone else to take over for me as well."
"Good, thanks, Jim."
"Hey. Whatever happened, we'll find her, OK? That's… all there is to it."
"Yeah."