A/N: Hey guys and gals :) New chappy time :) Thank you for your reviews and feedback. Very happy people are enjoying the story so far. I am loving writing it. LOTS more still to come.
A huge thank you to my current Pat reon supporters – Nat, Mrs Crabby, Dbackfan, AliceC, ChristineS, DawnS, Jillian, IngridT, Tracer85, NiniZ and NancyB. (Don't forget you can get advanced chapters by joining and supporting, as well as members only writing and rare content. Drop me a message if you would like any info.)
Always, thank you calim, for another great beta. Thank you for your advice and suggestions :)
Chapter 13
Looking at the time on her phone, it had been 10 minutes since Grissom had gone to the bathroom. She was starting to worry and wondering if she should go find him. Hearing footsteps approaching, she looked up then let out a sigh of relief when he stepped into the room.
"I thought you'd fallen down the toilet or something," she said as she stood, watching him take off his jacket.
Raising an eyebrow at her, he opened his locker to hang up his coat and retrieve a lab coat.
"No, dear. Just gathering my thoughts," he said.
"Anything you want to share?"
Clearing his throat, he closed the locker and faced her. "Wondering how much it would be to buy a new boat."
Her eyes narrowed at him. "Very funny."
Smiling, he put the coat on. "Just needed a few minutes."
Stepping closer, Sara looked him right in the eyes. She knew him better than anyone which meant she knew he wasn't telling her the full story. But, just like earlier, their current location wasn't the best place for an in-depth personal conversation.
"Just don't forget I'm here, okay?"
"Would I do such a thing?"
Smiling back at him, Sara softly squeezed his arm. "Max wants everyone to meet in half an hour. Give her a bit of time to get organized and the rest of the team to drop off the evidence and change. So, feel like a caffeine top up?"
"Absolutely."
CSICSICSICSICSICSICSI
A half hour later, Sara and Grissom entered the breakroom and sat down just as the rest of the team stepped in chatting about the case. She glanced at Grissom, who'd been quiet all through their coffee break, and really wished she had the power to read his mind. It might help settle her ever-growing worry not only for him but for them as well. The last thing she wanted was for him to disappear back into the shell she'd spent so many years trying to break.
Hearing Catherine's voice, Sara looked up, smiling a bit at the familiar way she swept into the room, tossing out a comment or two to the others before sitting down next to her
"Hey," she said, dropping a folder onto the table.
Looking at her as Grissom still seemed lost in his own thoughts, Sara tried to smile. "Hey."
"You holding up okay?"
Now Sara frowned. "What do you mean?"
Leaning back a little, Catherine looked at Grissom who still hadn't acknowledged her.
"After what you guys found in the bedroom at the house."
Grissom's head turned Catherine's way but he didn't say anything.
Sara wasn't surprised by that reaction and Catherine shouldn't have been either especially given the audience in the room. Thankfully, Max's arrival prevented any further probing. For now, anyway.
Sitting down, the director gave everyone a quick look and laid her clasped hands upon the table.
"As you all know we have a lot to do so a quick update and then divide and conquer, okay?" she said. Seeing the nods, she continued. "Priority right now is today's scene while it's fresh. We will have to go back and talk with the victim's mother tomorrow. She was in too much distress to give us much information but that's something I'm sure none of us are surprised at after what she saw."
"I can't imagine any mother having to go through that," Catherine said sadly.
"Me either," Max agreed. "But let's stay focused. We also have to speak with some of the neighbors who either weren't home or just not answering. Detective Chavez is still working on contacting the garbage company. Seems like they don't like answering their phone so when I have any information about that, I will let you know. I've also requested copies of the original murder file from 2004 so we can all get clued up about what our killer is replicating."
"So, the scene today was the same?" Folsom asked.
Max looked at Grissom who then looked at Folsom.
"There are some differences," Grissom advised. "But I think that was the killer's point."
"Right now, we need to process," Max said retaking the conversation. "We can question later. So, I'll be going into autopsy once we're done here. Any volunteers to help me with the bodies?"
"Yes," Grissom replied immediately.
Sara looked at him as did everyone else. For a few brief seconds she was surprised but then not. She didn't argue.
"Sara?" Max said.
Taking a breath, Sara nodded. Where Grissom went she went even though she knew there were pretty gruesome things waiting in the morgue.
"Okay," Max agreed. "Josh and Chris, you're on the trash cans."
Chris squinched up his nose. "Goody," he said sarcastically.
Max looked at him and he cleared his throat before shrinking back a little and then shrugged.
"Sorry, Boss. I just thought as I had processed the outside then I'd be following on from that."
Folsom dropped a hand to his colleague's shoulder. "I guess you thought wrong," he said with a smirk.
"Beau and Allie you're on the samples we brought from the house," Max continued. "Blood, prints, hair. Anything and everything."
Beau and Allie exchanged a smile. "You got it," Allie responded.
"Penny, I need you to work on the footprints from inside and outside the house. There was no sign of forced entry anywhere, but we found the bedroom window open." Opening the folder in front of her, Max pulled out a photograph and held it up. "Chris found these prints outside said window."
Grissom slipped on his glasses and leaned closer to get a better look. "Footprints?"
"Yeah," Max said nodding. "We need to know if any of the footprints from inside and outside the house match and whether any of them shouldn't be there."
"No problem, Boss," Penny responded.
"I assume," Sara began, "that no law enforcement or EMTs made the external prints."
Max shook her head. "No. No one went near the outside of the bedroom window."
"Okay," Sara said nodding. "Then it's quite possible our victim was being watched."
"Could be a gardener, could be a window cleaner, could be the victim," Grissom listed. "Many possibilities."
Sara's head tipped his way, her eyes narrowing and lips pursing as he looked back. "I guess we'll have to wait to find out," she returned.
He gave a slow nod as Max continued.
"Catherine I need you to start examining all the clues, notes and breadcrumbs our killer is leaving us. Start with the mirror from the house. Allie did find prints and the writing was freehand for the first time, but we don't know what was used to make it. Maybe we'll get lucky with something."
Catherine nodded, again looking at Grissom who ignored her stare once more.
Clapping her hands, Max stood up. "Right, let's get to it. Anyone needs me I'll be in the morgue."
CSICSICSICSICSICSICSI
Pushing open the morgue doors, Max, Sara and Grissom filed in, each gloving up as they entered. Sara's nose curled up at the pungent decomposing smell that filled the room from all the body parts already on the table then settled on the man who was digging into a bag and pulling out more. A mask covered his face and spatters of blood covered his elbow length gloves and plastic apron.
Looking their way, he gave them a nod.
"I'd give you a wave," he said. "But my hands are a little full."
"Don't worry about it," Sara replied, holding up a hand.
"I forgot to tell you that Hugo left us," Max said.
Sara felt a little sad about that. She'd liked Hugo. He was different and made her smile. It was always a good thing to like the people you worked with.
"This is Jack Nikolayevich. Jack, this is Sara and Dr. Grissom," Max said.
"I've heard a lot about you. Nice to meet you finally," he said.
"Jack, those body parts won't sort themselves!" came a holler from across the room.
He cringed a little as Grissom and Sara looked across the room towards where the voice had come from.
"And that will be my sister," he told them. Grissom's eyebrows soared as he looked back at the younger man. "She can be a little bossy," he continued on a whisper.
"Interesting," Grissom remarked. "Not sure I've ever come across siblings working together in the morgue before."
Jack gave a smile. "I'm a very patient man."
Grissom smirked.
"We'll come over and help once we've spoken to Sonya okay?" Max told him.
"I'll be here," Jack responded.
Max patted him on the shoulder then gestured off to the right. Grissom and Sara followed her to a large examination table where the victim lay.
Having her laid out in front of them just emphasized the brutality of her death along with the evidence of the amount of time she'd lain in her bathroom undiscovered. It had to have been 5 days due to the bloating of the body. They'd not seen that in the bathroom.
"Can someone pass me those forceps please?"
Startled a bit, Grissom and Sara looked up, seeing a woman in scrubs holding out her hand. He handed her the forceps.
"Sonya," Max said, "this is Doctor Gil Grissom and his wife Sara. They are here to help us with the serial murder case."
"Ah, yes," Sonya replied, dropping the scalpel in her hand onto a tray. "You've been mentioned a lot. An interesting first autopsy back for you I'm sure."
"That's certainly an… interesting way of putting it," Grissom said. "And we are here to help if you need anything."
Sonya looked over Grissom's shoulder towards her brother. "I'm more of a lone worker but I'm sure Jack could use all the help he could get right now."
Grissom's eyes flicked to Max who didn't seem all that surprised by the comment.
"Anything you can tell us about the victim?" she asked. "As we don't like to assume even if it looks obvious, do we have an official cause of death?"
Sighing, Sonya lifted a hand and pointed at the open throat of the corpse. Everyone leaned in a little closer.
"Severed internal carotid artery. Death by exsanguination." Her finger followed the line of the profound slice in the skin. "Very deep and clean cut. Perfect angle and one smooth slice. I'd say whoever did this knew what they were doing."
Sara frowned. "They knew how to cut someone's throat?"
Sonya nodded. "And given how clean the death blow was, they also have the right tools for the job."
"Like a surgical scalpel," Grissom said immediately.
"That would be my guess," Sonya agreed.
Letting out a loud nasal huff, Grissom looked up, his brow pinching.
"What are you thinking?" Sara asked him.
He clicked his lips together. "Exactly what was used to kill Debbie Marlin."
Sara lips parted in realization. Of course it was. "And Vincent Lurie was a surgeon," she added.
Grissom's eyes shot to her at the mention of that name.
"Who is Vincent Lurie?" Sonya asked.
Sara immediately regretted mentioning Lurie even though he would have come into the conversation at some point given the context of the case. But she didn't really think about it. It just came out.
Clearing his throat, Grissom stepped around the table, his eyes working over the body.
"Vincent Lurie was the suspect in the Debbie Marlin murder case," he explained. "Debbie was the original victim that our copycat is replicating."
"Pity he's in jail then or you'd have an immediate suspect."
Head springing to Sonya at her comment, Grissom's jaw twitched. "He isn't in jail."
Max blinked, frowning as she looked at Sara who blew out a breath and looked up at the ceiling for a second.
"I haven't had chance to get clued up on the case yet," the director said. "What do you mean he's not in jail?"
"We couldn't charge him," Grissom admitted. "Lack of physical evidence."
Swallowing at the bitterness in her husband's voice, Sara took over.
"It was a very tough case. We knew he did it but didn't have enough to go to court."
Max's eyes worked in a circle. "Do you think he could be the one responsible for this?"
Sara wasn't sure how to answer that, but she didn't have to.
"No," Grissom said. "He would have no reason to do this. He walked out the door and went back to his life as if nothing ever happened."
"Considering the circumstances," Max replied. "I think it might still be worth checking up on what the good Doctor is up to these days."
Letting out a sigh, Grissom's eyes flicked to Sara as he shrugged his shoulders. "You're the boss."
A/N: Dun dun dun… Will Grissom and Lurie meet again?