A/N: Howdy and happy New Year. I hope everyone had a good one. Here we go with a new chapter. Thank you to those who have left a review. Nice to hear you are enjoying the story.
A huge thank you to my current Pat reon supporters – Nat, Mrs Crabby, Dbackfan, AliceC, ChristineS, DawnS, Jillian, IngridT, Tracer85, NiniZ and NancyB.
Always, my devoted thanks to calim for all of your support.
On we go…
Chapter 11
Making sure they left the crime scene area, the couple sat on a wall not so far away, enjoying the lack of activity while they ate and drank. It wasn't much but it was something and Sara knew it was important especially for Grissom to get something into his stomach. Once finished, she put their trash in a bag and threw it into the car before returning to her husband.
"Feel a little better?" she asked him.
"Yeah," he said quietly.
Her lips twitched as she tried to read him. Whether he was being totally truthful she didn't know but her thoughts we're interrupted when she heard Max.
"Hey, there you are. I thought I'd lost you."
Grissom stood and they both faced the director.
"Sorry," Sara began. "We needed a little caffeine."
Max smiled. "I could use some of that myself," she admitted, glancing over at the food truck.
"How are things out back?" Grissom asked as he pulled a pair of fresh gloves from his pocket.
Letting out a sigh, Max pushed fists into her hips. "We're getting there slowly. So far, we have found body parts in five trash cans."
Running a hand over his mouth Grissom frowned.
"What are you thinking?" Sara asked him, noticing his look.
"Several things," he said. "How did no one notice they had body parts in their trash can considering they have probably been there a while?"
"Do you ever look in the trash can when you take out the garbage bag?" Sara challenged. His eyebrows lifted as she pursed her lips at him. "Trash cans are gross. You just lift the lid, throw in the bag and put the lid back on. Plus, you only need to do that once to hide whatever is underneath. I can't say I'm surprised no one noticed."
"It's a good point," Max agreed. "The only one seriously overrun with flies was the trashcan with a hole in it. The rest I'd say just have what you'd expect."
Grissom looked behind him and towards the alleyway and then to the street.
"Do we know when collection day is?"
"Erm," Max looked across to her left and saw Serena talking to some onlookers. She waved a hand to get the detective's attention.
Spotting her, Serena stepped away from the small group of people and approached the CSI's.
"What do you need?" she asked.
"Have we talked with the garbage collection company yet?" Max enquired.
Serena's head shook. "No not yet."
"Maybe we can find out from the neighbors when the trash was due to be collected?" Grissom suggested. "Might be quicker."
Serena looked a little confused. "Why is that important?"
"Because the bodies have been here a while," Grissom began. "Did the killer know when collection was? If he did does that mean it's someone who knows the victim or maybe lives in the neighborhood? Maybe they work at the trash company. Maybe they've been hanging around and scoping out the house which means someone could have seen them. If they didn't know then what was their thinking with the 2nd victim? The body could have just been tipped into the back of a truck and never found. Did they intend for it to be found or not? Did.…"
Holding up a hand, Serena stopped Grissom. "Okay. I get it. I'll find out."
Smiling, Max's head tipped towards the detective. "I told you they were good."
"Yeah," Serena agreed. "I'm certainly seeing that. I'll come catch up with you when I get an answer."
"Thank you," Grissom replied.
"I'm just starting to realize how much we have to think about and how much work we have ahead of us," Sara grumbled. "In fact, it's crazy. Not only this scene, which is probably going to take us forever to process, but the other two murders as well still need a hell of a lot more investigation. Not to mention all the little clues we're being left and us trying to link everything together. How are we going to get anywhere with so much to do?"
"Well ahead of you, sister," Max replied. "I'm just going to call the Undersheriff. We need help. Simple as that. And considering this will likely hit the press soon, he's going to be super keen to find this bastard asap so I'm sure that overtime pot he's been sleeping on is about to get used up."
Eyebrows rising, Sara looked at Grissom. "Help is good right?"
"Yeah," he agreed. "But I suggest we carry on processing until we know how much we have and then maybe once we do know, we can come up with a strategy of where we go from there. What our specific priority is and what Max thinks she can hand to others."
Max pointed a playful finger. "I like your thinking."
Smirking, Grissom nodded back to the house. "Shall we get on?"
Giving him a confident nod, Sara then smiled. His focus seemed to be back.
"Give me a shout if you need anything," Max called to them as they walked away.
Grissom turned. "Can you ask the morgue to let me know when or if they find a note inside the body? Searching while we're here will be much better than having to come back."
"On it," Max returned, waving her phone in the air.
"So, we're confident there will be a note?" Sara asked as they headed back toward the house.
"I don't see the point of the others if there isn't," Grissom said. "This is all a game. To them anyway. A puzzle. Without all the pieces they know it can't be completed so will likely provide all the little parts required."
As they reached the door, Sara stopped. "And then what?"
Looking at her and then behind them, Grissom sucked his bottom lip into his mouth, teeth nipping down upon it.
"I wish I knew."
CSICSICSICSICSICSICSICSI
About an hour later as Sara was writing on an evidence bag with bathroom accessories inside, her gaze shifted to Grissom and Penny who were going over the shower with a UV light for the third time.
They'd already discussed the drainage and decided to wait until they'd finished in the bathroom. After all, everyone was still busy with their own tasks and neither she nor Grissom were at an age now they could go crawling under houses to retrieve pipework. Plus, it was a definite no no for Grissom given his condition. She couldn't even comprehend what would happen if he was under there and a dizzy spell happened. Let alone what it might do to his knees. She put the thought far from her mind because it wasn't going to happen.
"I don't think there's anything in here that we've missed," Penny remarked, waving her light once more over the ceiling. "Blood, blood and more blood."
Looking down at her, Grissom lowered his light then removed his goggles. "Sometimes, it isn't always about what we can see. It's about what we can't see."
Looking a little confused, Penny looked around again. "So, what aren't we seeing?"
Letting out a long sigh, Grissom shook his head. "I don't know," he admitted, stepping out of the shower, Penny following behind.
"Considering how much blood there is in here, I'm not really surprised we can't see much else," Penny said as she followed him out of the shower. "Was your original scene this bad?"
As Grissom turned to face her Penny noticeably swallowed, probably wondering if maybe she'd overstepped with her question.
Suddenly, Grissom's eyes worked in a circle and then shot to Sara.
"What?" she asked frowning at him. He looked like a giant lightbulb had just exploded.
"Thank you, Penny," was his oddly happy reply before he rushed from the bathroom.
Looking totally confused, Sara and Penny exchanged a look before swiftly following him.
"Gil?" Sara called after him.
Hurrying after him, she saw him stop by the table not too far from the front door. Standing next to him, he glanced her way.
"What are you doing?" she asked with a slight shake of the head.
He pointed at the table. "There was some stuff on the table when we came in."
Sara shrugged. "Probably. Allie has processed this whole area already so…"
Before she could even finish, he was moving past her and heading back down the corridor, the two women again following behind.
Peering into the kitchen, Grissom saw it was empty and so continued to the bedroom where voices could be heard. Entering the room, Allie and Beau were inside talking to Max and all looked Grissom's way as he just about burst in.
"Ah, Gil," Max said. "I was just coming to find you to let you know that Sonya didn't find a note in our victim. Nothing easily accessible anyway although she's still processing the body."
Grissom blinked and then looked to his side as Sara and Penny caught up, both still seeming rather lost at his actions.
Max frowned at the group. "Have I missed something?"
Sara gave a shrug. "That's exactly what I'm thinking. Gil?"
Glancing at Allie, Grissom pointed behind him. "There was a book on the table in the hallway. Where is it?"
"Umm." Allie thought for a second. "In an evidence bag on the kitchen table."
Swiftly turning, Grissom brushed past Sara and Penny. At the lack of information coming her way, Sara rolled her eyes.
"I swear, she grumbled." "Men."
As before, she was in hot pursuit. This time the other CSI's seemed equally curious and followed along with Penny.
When Sara reached the kitchen, she spotted Grissom standing by the kitchen table, multiple evidence bags neatly placed upon it, his head moving from left to right as his eyes scanned over each bag in turn.
Trying to catch her breath after all the dashing around, Sara approached him just as he turned, an evidence bag in his hand. Frowning, she looked at it then her gaze returned to his wondering what the hell had gotten into him.
The other CSI's entered the room, Max taking the lead. "Have you found something?" she asked.
Grissom held the bag out to her. "Can you break the seal please?"
Well, at least he was being careful, Sara thought to herself. Asking Max to break the seal would certainly not give anyone the opportunity to accuse him of evidence tampering.
"Sure," Max said, taking the evidence bag from Grissom and ripping open the top before handing it back to him.
Slipping his hand inside the bag Grissom pulled out the contents, looked at it then held it up.
A book.
Sara's eyes found the cover - The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Her eyes now widening a little they shot back to her husband's.
"It's a clue," she realized.
Tongue running over his bottom lip, Grissom began flicking through the pages.
"The game has changed," he said.
"Changed?" Max questioned.
"Penny made a comment about all the blood in the bathroom," he continued as he carried on flicking through pages of the book. "And whether it was the same as the scene we had as she doesn't know details of the previous case." He looked up for a moment. "Catherine mentioned it when we arrived but I didn't think anything of it. But now…." His attention fell back to the book. "Like the two faces specified by Paul Milander," he paused, eyes flickering and fixing on something.
"This scene …." His head rose, eyes skimming each person in turn. "Is their Evil or Mr. Hyde. Which is why they didn't bother cleaning up the blood and left the reverse of what it should be."
Hand moving over the book, he plucked out a piece of paper that was laying on a page and held it up.
"And this is why Sonya didn't find a note inside the body. Because it's right here."
Sara's mouth popped open, eye fixing on the piece of paper before clashing with her husband's as his attention fell her way. How the heck did he put these pieces together?
All the CSI's drew closer, all looking as equally baffled at what they were seeing.
"Would you like to do the honors?" Grissom asked, holding out the paper to Penny.
Eyes widening, Penny swallowed. "Me?" she squeaked.
Grissom gave her a smile and a nod. "Sure."
Penny looked to her Boss who gave her a smile replicating Grissom's. "Go ahead," she encouraged.
"Um.…" Penny took a breath as she looked back at Grissom. "Okay."
Slowly, she took the paper from him and carefully unfolded it. Her gaze sprang to Grissom.
"It's not a code like the others," she told him. "It's a riddle."
Grissom's eyes twitched and he cleared his throat. "What does it say?"
Taking in another deep breath, Penny read the words on the paper.
"A change of face is what you've seen
Of all the things already been
Make sure you check through and through,
What you seek, is looking back at you."
"So now we're working in riddles?" Max griped. "This killer really is something else."
Rubbing a knuckle over her forehead not knowing what to immediately make of the clue, Sara glanced at her husband who had that deep look of thought on his face.
"What are you thinking?" she asked him.
His cheeks puffed out, followed by a long gust of air huffing through his lips. "That we're definitely not seeing something."