mbinc
in
cathandsara
Knock 'n' Roll
Will a case involving a hit-and-run bring Sara and Catherine closer to one another? PG-13
DISCLAIMER: CSI belongs to CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer.
Knock 'n' Roll
By
MBInc
Chapter 1
“But Grissom, you promised!” Catherine stood in Grissom’s office, hands on her hips and frustration written all over her face.
“I asked you about it a month ago,” she stated, her anger clearly detectable in her voice.
“I know,” Grissom said, “but I can’t help it Nick came down with a bad case of the stomach flu.”
“What about Sara?” Catherine pleaded.
“Can’t ask her. It’s the first time in 4 years she accepted a day off without an argument, so I’m not going to ask her.”
“Well then I will,” Catherine said while walking out off Grissom’s office -giving him no time to respond.
“Catherine, wait!” he started to her retreating form, but Catherine didn’t stop. Sighing heavily he sat back in his chair.
Catherine walked through the halls of the CSI HQ -still looking really angry ‘cause of all that had happened in Grissom’s office just minutes before. Not only had he told her he and Brass would go to the Kenner residence to execute their warrant (while she was lead-CSI on this case and therefore wanted to be there during the search of the garage), but also -and this was the thing that really ticked her off- told her she had to work extra hours on the day she specifically told Grissom she wanted off to spend some quality time with Lindsey.
Her mind still filled with thoughts about how to make it clear to Grissom that he better not pull this kind of trick on her again, she didn’t notice Warrick coming her way.
“Hey Catherine, what’s the rush?”
She jumped from surprise. “Jeez Warrick, you scared the hell out of me.”
“Sorry Cath, didn’t mean to. Who got you this worked up?” he asked clearly noticing who frustrated she was.
“Not now Warrick, where’s Sara?” she asked scanning the halls impatiently.
“So she caused this huh? What has she done this time?” he added sarcastically.
“No it’s not Sara. It’s Grissom FYI. Anyhow, have you seen Sara?”
“Grissom? He must’ve messed up big time. I haven’t seen you this worked up since…”
“Well that’s great Warrick, now, do you know where Sara is?” she interrupted, sending him an angry glare.
“Whoa, don’t take it out on me! And as for Sara, I saw her in the break-room about fifteen minutes ago. Said she had to go to the garage to check something on the SUV from the Kenner’s.”
“Thanks Warrick,” Catherine said while heading off in the direction of the CSI-garage. Before turning the corner she turned back hesitantly, and looked over at Warrick. Her mind finally registered how she had treated her best friend just now and shame washed over her.
“Sorry about that. It’s just… Grissom wants me to work on Wednesday while I specifically asked him to give me that day off so I could spend it with Lindsey. We already made plans for the whole day,” she said, the anger in her voice replaced by guilt.
“It’s ok, just cool down a bit, and don’t take it out on Sara like you did with me.” He took a few steps in her direction and placed a hand on her shoulder. With a twinkling in his eyes he added “Just ask her nicely. She probably won’t mind. You know she wouldn’t mind working for you, right?” A smirk spread over his face and he gave a little squeeze in her shoulder. Then he turned and headed for one of the labs.
“Yeah … thanks Warrick.” Catherine’s anger was now totally gone. She didn’t miss the look Warrick had sent her. “What’s up with that?” she thought.
“No problemo,” Warrick said before he completely vanished in the lab.
Chapter 2
Entering the garage, Catherine had to smile. In front of her was the big SUV that had been involved in a hit-and-run. Shattered on the floor around the car were al kinds of power tools, and mid-under the SUV two legs clad in blue coveralls could be seen. A hand came reaching out from underneath the car, and searched the floor -probably for some kind of tool.
Catherine took a few steps towards the SUV, picked up the tool that was just inches out of Sara’s reach. Kneeling down next to the car she put the tool in the still searching hand.
“Looking for this?” she asked, startling Sara, and causing her to hit her head against the bottom of the car.
“Ouch, fuck,” Sara hissed
“O my … Sara, sorry, I didn’t mean to …” Shock was written all over Catherine’s face. Catherine mentally kicked her own butt: ‘This is not the way to persuade her into working for you, Willows.’
Sara crawled away from the car. “You scared the shit out of me,” she said as she tried to stand up only to kneel down again quickly, because of the dizziness that took over her whole body.
“I’m sorry.” Catherine walked over to Sara and kneeled in front of her.
“Let me look.” She pulled Sara’s hand away from the spot on her forehead she was rubbing.
“Well, this will leave a bump, but you’ll live,” Catherine said, her mother-mode kicking in.
“Yeah, well, you know how hard-headed I am,” Sara smirked.
“What are you doing here anyway? I thought you and Grissom were going to meet up with Brass at the Kenner’s to search the garage?” she asked -the dizziness finally wearing off just to be replaced by a firm headache.
“Well, we were going to, but apparently all of a sudden Grissom wants to be lead-CSI on this case. But then he even managed to piss me off even more,” Catherine sighed.
“Big time,” she added quickly, seeing a little smirk appearing on Sara’s face.
“Grissom? … oh wait, let me guess. He scheduled you as replacement for Nick, am I right?”
“Yeah… how did you know?” Catherine asked very surprised.
“Well you’d only be this angry at him if he forgot about you spending time with Lindsey,” Sara stated seriously.
Catherine couldn’t say a thing, being so surprised at how accurate Sara has been about the situation. Silence settled between them for a minute, both women thinking about the things just said. Then, after a few minutes, Sara turned and faced Catherine.
“I’ll do it,” she said, seriousness still in her voice.
“Do what?” Catherine’s brain seemed to black-out momentarily, her eyes locked with the dark-brown eyes facing her. What she saw there made her feel tingly inside. When she realized what it was, and connecting this with the look Warrick had given her, made it all clear. She started wondering if he knew how she really felt about Sara.
A few weeks ago it had started. Every time she had to work with Sara she felt this tingly feeling in the pit of her stomach. At first she had ignored it, but after a few days Catherine had found it very hard to be close to Sara. She tried to act normal around Sara -not really knowing what to do with herself- which resulted in even more arguments with her than she had had in all those years they had worked together.
Catherine noticed she had been staring at Sara, and she tried to look away. But those eyes in front of her held her captive.
“I’ll work those hours,” Sara stated apparently not noticing Catherine’s brain-failure “It’s not like I had a full schedule otherwise,” she added, sadness lingering underneath.
“You’re willing to do that for me?” Catherine asked, still not really coping with the fact that Sara had offered her help that easily. “Even after what I did to your head?”
“Sure, why not. I’ll probably be able to figure out some way how you can make it up to me,” Sara said. “This included.” she pointed to the now clearly visible bump. When she realized how flirty that had sounded she suddenly shifted her gaze to the SUV in front of them.
Sara had noticed the tension between the two of them over the last few weeks, but she guessed it had something to do with a case involving the death of an eight-year-old girl. (Catherine had been so emotional during the interrogation of one of the suspects Sara had ordered her to step outside, and hand the case over completely to her. Grissom had backed her up and had put Catherine on another case. She had been very angry at her at first, but afterwards -when she had had some time to think about it all- she had thanked Sara for what she had done.)
Although, this time the tension seemed different.
Since Sara had her eyes fixed on the SUV she didn’t see it coming: Suddenly she felt two arms wrap around her in a strong embrace. The muttered “Thank you” almost didn’t register in her brain as she was lost in the touch of Catherine. But not wanting to make a complete fool out of herself she pulled herself together and told Catherine it wasn’t a problem at all.
Catherine’s mind was occupied with the thought that their body’s fitted perfectly. When she realized she was still embracing Sara she quickly let go and scrambled onto her feet -giving one last look at Sara before leaving, adding another “Thank you” and heading for Grissom’s office again.
Sara -still seated on the floor of the garage- followed Catherine till she was out of sight. She felt her stomach was still making flip-flops and a warmth started to spread through her whole body. Could it be that after all this time Catherine wanted the same from her as she had wanted from Catherine -practically since the first time they met?
Catherine had given her a hard time from the start and they had had lots of arguments about cases, but working together got the best out of both of them -and she had enjoyed those times. Teamed-up they were the best CSIs Las Vegas had. She didn’t want to ruin their already tense (but successful) work-relationship, so she had tried to forget about her feelings and never acted on them, but they were still there even after all those years.
Shaking her still sore head she said to herself “I better not get my hopes up, it’s probably my head that’s tricking me,” still a bit taken aback at what just happened.
While she got up, and walked over to the SUV again Greg entered the garage.
“Hey Sara,” Greg said, “I’ve got some DNA-results you might be interested in, wanna trade?”
“The only trade I am willing to make with you is my boot up your ass if you don’t give me that ASAP!” she said, her back still facing him.
“Well, that’s a tempting offer, but … I think I’ll pass,” he answered trying to sound as serious as possible. But he failed miserably and his laughter filled the room soon joined by Sara’s laughter.
Both still laughing Sara turned round to face him, and all of a sudden his laughter stopped and shock was written all over his face.
“What happened to you?” he asked pointing towards her forehead.
“Catherine…” Sara started, but before she could finish Greg interrupted
“She did this to you? She hit you?” he asked shock written all over his face.
“NO Greg! If you would let me finish. I hit my head on the bottom of the car,” she answered.
“Why would you think Catherine hit me?” she asked him already knowing the answer she would get, but trying to defend Catherine.
“Well,” Greg started suddenly finding his sneakers very interesting, “It’s not like you’re best friends.”
“Ghee Greg, thanks. Good to know we are on different terms.”
“Just so you know Catherine startled me while I was working underneath the car. Then I hit my head. There was no fighting involved.”
Greg didn’t know what to say so he quickly handed Sara the paper with the DNA-results and walked away.
While Sara looked at the results she called after Greg, “Try to keep the office-gossip to a minimum. Remember how Nick made you pay for it last time?” Greg nodded slightly.
“Just know I will make it ten times worse.” And with that said she turned back to the car and Greg -looking like a dog with his tail between his legs- went back to his lab.
She new he wouldn’t dare to talk to anybody about it -knowing the consequences that would follow from the previous time when the gossip could be traced back to start at him. It had been about Nick and his new girlfriend. Sara hadn’t heard the whole story -she just didn’t bother listening to hallway blabbering, but the part where Nick found out Sander’s was the main source of it all and the way how Nick made him pay was Sara’s favorite.
Even thinking about it now made her laugh again. Nick had made him wear the ugliest country-western outfit of the world at work for two weeks, and made him listen to the worst country songs over and over again. (Greg had told Sara just days before it all happened how much he hated country, and when Nick told Sara Greg had been the start of the rumors about him and his girlfriend she was glad to share this information with him.)
“He sure learned his lesson,” she said to herself
“Ok, Sara, focus.” She looked at the DNA-results and then some pieces of the puzzle fell together. A lot of evidence was found last shift -the case seemed almost solved- but Sara had the feeling something was off. Her mind ran back over the things that had been discovered since last shift.
Chapter 3
It was only yesterday that the team had started on this case. Alice Kenner was a suspect in a hit-and-run case where and old lady was hit by an SUV. Several witnesses had seen a silver- metallic SUV and one of them could even remember a part of the number plate. All evidence had let her and Catherine to 6 SUV’s in Las Vegas that matched the description and the part of the number plate.
Brass had found out 2 of those SUV’s were owned by a small service company and had been nowhere near the accident site. 2 others were rental-cars that had been in the company’s garage during the accident. That left them two SUV’s to find.
After some computer-searching Brass had found both owners and their cars. The first place they visited was of a Mr. Brandz, fifty years of age, clothed in an expensive suit and dark rimmed glasses framed his round face. He was a real estate agent and his office had done great business last months.
“Mr Brandz, I’m Captain Jim Brass, I’m with the Las Vegas PD.” He flashed his badge and then pointed over his shoulder towards the two women standing behind him. “These are Catherine Willows and Sara Sidle, they’re with the crime lab. We would like to ask you some questions.”
The man stepped aside and let the three of them enter. After closing the door he led them to the living room. He sat down in a large armchair near the large window at the backside of the room. Catherine took place on the couch opposite the chair and Sara and Brass both stood behind her.
“Mr Brandz, where were you two nights ago between eight and ten pm?” Sara asked impatiently, wanting to know if they were on the right track. Was he the bastard that had fled after hitting an old lady with his car, leaving her to die? She knew she shouldn’t let her emotions interfere with the job, but she couldn’t help it.
“What? Why is that any of your business?” he started.
“Got something to hide, Mr Brandz?” Brass asked.
“I was in my office if you must know, working on a last-minute sale. Big costumer, big money. It was worth the overtime.”
Catherine could feel Sara’s hand grab the back cushion of the couch in a death-grip, and threw a look over her shoulder and saw Sara’s impatience build up and before it would escalate in something worse she took over.
“Mr Brandz, we‘re investigating a hit-and-run. There were several eyewitnesses that saw an SUV that matches yours. You could help yourself by letting us have a look at your car,” Catherine said.
“Don’t you need a warrant for that?” Brandz asked.
“Only if you are not willing to cooperate. But if you’re as innocent as you say you are, why not help us out now. Saves a lot of time,” Brass told him.
“Knock yourself out,” he said while throwing the keys on the coffee table in the middle of the room, “it’s at the back. Be careful with my baby.”
“Don’t worry we’ll treat her with all the respect she deserves,” Sara said as she took a step towards the table and picked up the keys, giving the man a fake smile and walking out of the room.
“Oh, Mr Brandz?” Catherine asked as she stood up from the couch, “who has access to your car?”
“It’s my car, and I’m the only one that drives in it,” he said. He seemed to get more and more frustrated from all the questions asked.
While Brass stayed with Mr Brandz, Catherine went over to the Tahoe where Sara stood at the back to collect their kits.
“Sara? Are you ok?” Catherine asked. Sara had stood at the back of the Tahoe without opening the back nor taking out their kits.
Opening the back of the Tahoe Catherine looked over at Sara who still didn’t answer.
“Sara?” she tried one more time.
“Huh… sorry I was thinking about something. What did you say?” she said, feeling a little embarrassed being caught off guard.
“Were you thinking about the case? Did you see something inside?” Catherine asked interested in Sara’s thoughts.
Sara’s face flushed a little. She averted her eyes hoping Catherine wouldn’t notice. She couldn’t tell her the truth. She couldn’t tell her it was her she had been thinking about -or rather the fact that the two of them had to work on that SUV together. Working with her in such a confined space she would have to use all her strength to focus on the job at hand.
Feeling Catherine’s eyes still on her -and realizing she hadn’t answered yet- she remembered the question asked.
“That man works on my nerves. Don’t tell Grissom I said this, but I’ve got the feeling something’s wrong. I’m not sure what it is, but he’s hiding something,” she said.
“Stop the presses. Sara Sidle listening to her guts in stead of the evidence?” Catherine kidded, but then continued in a more serious tone, “That’s so not like you. Are you sure?”
“No, that’s why it’s called a hunch,” Sara answered sarcastically.
Taking out the two kits and offering one to Sara, Catherine said, “Well, let’s go check that SUV and we’ll know soon enough what he’s hiding.”
With a big sigh Sara took her kit out of Catherine’s hands and headed of towards the back of the house where the car was parked.
Chapter 4
Walking through the gate that led to the back garden both women noticed the SUV. It was covered with some kind of cloth.
“Why would he cover his ‘baby’?” Catherine asked as she put her kit down and snapped on some latex gloves. “She taking a nap?” she kidded.
“It’s a cover to protect the car against dust or dirt, even snow. So you don’t have to wash it as often,” Sara said as she walked once round the SUV.
“But why not put it in the garage,” She added as she stood at front of the car, pointing to the small building with two large doors next to the house.
Catherine looked over her shoulder -and being the lead-CSI on this case- she ordered Sara to search the car and she would go back inside to ask Mr Brandz if they could also have a look inside the garage. Sara agreed and gloved-up.
She pulled the cover away from the front, revealing the hood of the car. There were no scratches on the bumper and the headlights weren’t broken. They had found glass at the scene, so either they had already been replaced, or this was the wrong car. Since Mr. Brandz had given the keys voluntarily she started to search the interior also.
Opening the passenger door Sara pulled out her mini Mac-light. The passenger seat was clean, maybe even too clean. She lifted a few prints from the dashboard. Some were partial, some were smudged, but all seemed to belong to the same person.
Meanwhile, Catherine was back inside the house. Brass had just finished his questions on Mr Brandz whereabouts at the time of the accident. He now wanted to verify the alibi Brandz had given.
“Mr Brandz, we noticed you didn’t park your car in the garage. Why is that?” Catherine asked.
“I had to store some other things in there that couldn’t be left outside. Besides my baby can survive one night outside. The cover will protect her,” he answered, getting more and more irritated by the minute.
“Do you mind if we also take a look inside your garage?” Catherine tried.
“Yes I do. Listen, I’m willing to cooperate, but to a certain point. Take a look at my car -you’ll see nothing’s wrong with it. So there’s no need to take a look in my garage,” Brandz answered angrily.
Brass motioned Catherine to follow him to the hall.
“Why’s the man’s garage so interesting all of a sudden. I thought the SUV could tell you everything you need to know?” Brass asked.
“We just have this hunch. He’s hiding something in there.”
“Wait, did you say ‘we’? As in you AND Sara?”
“Actually, she was the one that first said something’s off.” Brass gave her a surprised look, but then turned serious again. “A hunch is not enough,” he stated.
“I know,” she sighed, “I’ll go back outside. Let’s hope Sara has found something that will help us get a warrant for the garage.”
“I’ll start making some calls, check out the man’s alibi,” he said to Catherine who was already halfway out.
Sara had shifted to the driver’s side. There she had found a long blond hair. She took some pictures of it. “Definitely not Mr. Brandz’s,” she said as she picked it up with the tweezers and put it in a paper envelope.
Just as she started dusting the door handle Catherine opened the back door.
“You were right,” she said to Sara while searching the back seat for evidence.
“About what?”
“Mr. Brandz, he’s definitely hiding something in there,” she said as she tilted her head into the direction of the garage.
“He wouldn’t let us in there,” Sara stated rather than asked her.
“Nope. So please tell me you’ve found something that’ll give us a warrant.” Catherine backed out of the car and stepped to the front of the car. Sara also exited the car and placed herself in front of Catherine.
“No scratches on the bumper, headlights were in tact.”
“Found some prints inside the car. Most seem to belong to one person, but I found two on the driver’s side that didn’t match any of the others I found.”
“And?” Catherine asked, looking at Sara’s hand that still held the envelope.
Sara handed the little brown envelope over to Catherine. “Found a hair, color definitely not Mr. Brandz,” she said triumphantly.
“I could kiss you!” Catherine blurted out. “I knew that bastard has something to hide.”
Sara flushed -secretly wishing Catherine would do what she had just said. “It’s a start.”
The change of color in Sara’s face didn’t go unnoticed by Catherine. It made her feel all giddy inside and made her smile. Sara saw the look in Catherine’s eyes and gave her a gap-toothed grin.
“I was just going to start on the trunk.”
“Well, let’s get on with it then,” Catherine said as she walked over to the back and opened it. Her eyes caught something that glittered on the carpet. “Could you hand me a tape-lift?” she asked sticking out her hand while crouching a little more into the SUV.
“What’ve you got?” Sara placed herself next to Catherine and handed her the tape-lift. Catherine pointed to the glittering piece of material.
“Have you got any idea what that is?” Sara asked as she leaned into Catherine to get a better look. As her shoulder touched Catherine’s a shiver went trough her spine. Her focus on the job at hand was replaced immediately with thoughts about the person whose body was touching hers.
As she tape-lifted the glitter Catherine leaned into Sara a bit more allowing Sara to have a better look at it.
When Sara felt Catherine put more weight into the touch she had to fight back a moan. Her mind went completely blank and she didn’t notice Catherine was talking to her.
“… like Lindsey got for her birthday last year.”
Sara didn’t respond. Catherine noticed and decided to tease her a little.
“You didn’t hear a word I just said, right?” she asked with a smug smile on her face.
Sara, quickly finding her equilibrium, answered, “I heard you. Lindsey has got the same glitter make-up.” Good thing she remembered Greg had given her a box with all kinds of glittery children’s make-up.
Catherine wasn’t totally convinced, but before she could say something she was interrupted by her cell phone.
“Willows.”
“Catherine, Warrick here. We’ve found the SUV. Broken headlights, bumper scratched. Looks like we’ve found our perp.”
While Catherine, Sara and Brass had gone off to Mr. Brandz, Warrick and Nick had teamed-up with O’Riley and went to the other end of town to the next address on the list.
Nobody had been at home at the Kenner residence, but the SUV had been there. Right outside, on the driveway. Nick kneeled down in front of the SUV.
“Well, this car clearly has been involved in an accident recently.”
Warrick crouched down beside him and opened his kit. Gloving up he pointed to one of the headlights -or what was left of it.
“I found some blood,” he reached in his kit for a swab and took a sample.
While Nick was testing the blood to make sure it was human and not animal -for the blood could also be from any kind of road kill (Which was highly unlikely since the headlights are on a certain height so it had to have been a pretty large animal) Warrick reached for his cell phone to inform Catherine.
Warrick had told her about the blood they had found and she had told him to get O’Riley to get a warrant so they could take the car to their HQ. She said her and Sara would meet up with them in an hour, back at CSI HQ to examine the car further.
Catherine snapped her cell phone shut and turned back to Sara.
“Warrick and Nick found the SUV. Blood on broken headlight. I told him we would meet them in an hour, which leaves us some time to finish up here.”
“But why should we look even further if this clearly isn’t the right car?” Sara asked, rather wanting to spend their valuable time on a car that was involved in their hit-and-run case -even though Mr. Brandz seemed to act strange.
Catherine lightly touched Sara’s upper arm, “I know you want to get on with the case, but …” Her eye got caught of a blue object under the driver’s seat.
“I think our hunch just turned into something more,” she said as she stepped passed Sara and reached under the driver’s seat to reveal some kind of comforter.
Chapter 5
“Mr Brandz, who has access to your car?” Sara asked.
“As I told your colleague already, it’s my car, I’m the only one that drives in it.”
“Then why did we find this inside?” She held up the comforter in an evidence bag.
Mr. Brandz’s eyes betrayed him -surprise clearly visible. He tried to save himself and told them it was his little niece’s -who had stayed at his place last week, but Catherine and Sara had both caught his surprised look.
But since his car wasn’t the one involved in the hit-and-run, and having a comforter inside his car wasn’t a crime, they had nothing else to look for. (even though both women felt something was off)
After the three of them had thanked Mr. Brandz for his cooperation, they walked back to their Tahoe. While Sara put both kits in the back of the car, Catherine informed Brass that Warrick and Nick had found the other SUV -the right SUV. So they headed for the CSI HQ.
Sara took all the evidence into the layout room. The fingerprints she had found, the long blonde hair, and the comforter.
Catherine walked in after her just ending a phone call.
“Warrick said it would be another twenty minutes before the tow truck came and another twenty to get back here, so that gives us enough time to grab something to eat.”
Sara sighed and leaned both hands on the table. “I’d rather start on the evidence, check the prints through AFIS, get Greg to analyze the hair -see if he can get a DNA-profile. Brass was going to look into Mr. Brandz’s family, so that part is covered.”
“It can wait, besides if Mr. Brandz’s story checks out there’s no reason to analyze that evidence. Just wait until Brass knows more.”
“Let’s go,” Catherine said as she walked over to Sara and pushed her into the hall.
Sara was reluctant to go, but when Catherine’s hands connected with her lower back she was ready to oblige to every thing Catherine would ask.
They went to a nearby diner. As they entered the woman behind the counter waved at Catherine. The two of them took a seat at the back, and the woman walked over to them.
“Evening Libby.”
“Hey Catherine, how are ya doin?” the Gray-haired waitress asked as she gave Sara a once-over. Not waiting for Catherine’s response she offered Sara her hand. “You must be Sara, right?”
“Yeah,” Sara said surprised as she hesitantly shook the woman’s hand sending Catherine a questioning look. Catherine quickly picked up the menu and hid herself not wanting Sara to see how embarrassed she was.
Libby had been her confidant. Through the years Catherine had come often to Libby’s diner after shift, most of the times alone, sometimes with Warrick and Nick -yet never with Sara. Last week Catherine had told Libby she had feelings for someone she worked with. Although she never told her who this person was Libby immediately knew Sara was the person Catherine had been talking about.
Seeing Catherine’s flustered state Libby decided to tease Catherine a little more. “Catherine has told me a lot about you,” she said looking over from Sara to Catherine -a smug smile on her face.
“Did she?” Sara looked over at Catherine, raising an eyebrow.
“OK,” Catherine piped up, “I’m ready to order, how ‘bout you?” Not waiting for Sara to answer she gave Libby her order. Sara -still taken aback by the fact that Catherine had been talking about her with the old waitress- tried to clear her head and also order something.
As Libby walked away Catherine forced herself to look at Sara.
“I only told her good things, you know,” Catherine explained.
“Is that so?” Sara asked, feeling giddy all of a sudden.
“I told her about how dedicated you are to your work. How passionate you get when you’re working on a case,” Catherine started rambling, earning her a full-blown smile from her co-worker.
Libby came back with their orders, and put the plates on the table.
“Well, enjoy your meal.” As she started to walk off she turned around once more grinning at Catherine “Oh Catherine, you were right. She really is a looker.” Catherine’s face immediately turned beet-red.
Sara -who just came back from the toilet- hadn’t heard Libby’s comment and settled back into the boot. She saw Catherine’s flustered state which was kind of odd: Catherine and flustered in the same sentence. However, she decided not to ask her about it and started to devour her meal.
After a few minutes of silence between them the awkward moment seemed to have passed and they continued to talk amicably.
That’s when it started. From that moment on their work-relationship changed gradually. The tension between them changed.
Chapter 6
Meanwhile, Warrick and Nick were waiting for the tow truck to arrive as they saw Alice Kenner returned home. Nick flipped open his cell, and dialed Brass.
“Yeah?”
“Brass? It’s Nick. We’re still at the Kenner’s residence. Guess who just came home?”
“Isn’t O’Riley with you guys?”
“He was called to a 419.”
“I’m on my way. Stay where you are,” was the only answer Nick got, and the captain had already hung up on him.
Still staring at his cell he shrugged. “Guess he’s not in a talking mood.”
It took the captain only ten minutes to cruise through traffic and reach the Kenner residence, and as he exited his Taurus he was greeted by Warrick who walked over to him.
“Where’s our Texan jock?” Brass asked looking around for the square-jawed Texan.
“Grissom called. That 419 O’Riley had been called to? Well Nick’s working on that case now.”
“Alrighty then,” Brass said as he and Warrick walked over to the front door, but not before Warrick had pointed him to the SUV.
The captain knocked on the door, and after a few seconds it opened. A short blonde haired woman stood in the doorway.
“Alice Kenner?”
“Yes?”
“I’m captain Jim Brass, I’m with the LVPD. This is Warrick Brown, crime scene investigator.”
“Crime scene? What is going on here?” Alice asked worried.
“Could you please step outside ma’am?”
Complying to the man’s request, Alice Kenner walked onto the porch.
“Please turn around and place your hands on your back” Brass said sternly.
“WHAT!?! No! What’s this all about?”
“Ma’am,” Warrick tried, “it’s in your interest if you cooperate.”
Brass, no longer wanting to waist time, grabbed his handcuffs and stepped towards a now very angry Alice Kenner.
Placing her hands in the cuffs he told her “You’re under arrest on suspicion of manslaughter caused by a hit-and-run.”
Totally confused and becoming more and more frustrated Alice Kenner said “What!?! I haven’t done anything…I’ve been at home…”
Brass started off in the direction of his Taurus, pulling Alice along.
“Wait! Wait…My daughter is inside…I can’t leave her!”
Warrick looked over at Brass, and nodded, understanding the look the Captain gave him. Walking inside the tall dark man saw a little girl lying in a playpen. After carefully picking her up he walked over to a baby seat and placed her in it.
Together with Brass and Alice Kenner, Warrick and the baby girl -called Emma- walked towards Brass’s Taurus.
As Warrick fastened the seat in the back of the car the tow truck arrived, and by the time Brass had drove off the SUV had carefully been placed at the back of the truck.
Riding along with the tow truck (since Nick had taken the Tahoe to the 419) Warrick now was on his way to the CSI HQ, to the garage to be more precisely.
Sara and Catherine opened the door of the diner and walked out. Waving once more to Libby Sara said “She’s quite the character, isn’t she?”
Throughout their dinner Sara had noticed how Libby kept staring at her with this mad grin on her face while Catherine had been…embarrassed. ‘Hmmm first time I’ve seen her that embarrassed…very cute though’ she added mentally.
“Yeah,” Catherine answered, “she is.” Of course, the mad grin of the old waitress also hadn’t gone unnoticed by Catherine.
“We should do this more often,” Sara said after they had been walking in silence towards the CSI building.
“I’d love that,” Catherine answered sincerely. Looking over at the brunette she felt a shiver run through her spine, but before she realized what was going on they had reached the glass doors of the building.
Opening the door for Catherine Sara added “And next time I’m buying.”
“Catherine, Sara wait up!” Warrick said as he walked towards them.
“I just got here with the SUV,” he started, and looking over at Catherine he continued, “Brass has Alice Kenner at the PD. I asked him to wait with the interrogation till you got there.”
“Thanks, Warrick. I’ll meet you guys later.”
Catherine walked off, but before she rounded the corner she turned back and said “Have fun with those power tools!”
Although this was more directed at Sara -whose face was showing a full-blown gap-toothed smile because of Catherine’s remark- Warrick was the one who spoke up shaking his head.
“Later Cath.”
Chapter 7
Catherine opened the door to the interrogation room. Walking inside she took in the scene in front of her.
At the table in the middle of the room sat Alice Kenner, her head resting on her hands, her face smeared with tears.
Brass stood opposite her leaning against the wall arms folded over each other, and a stern, though sad, look on his face.
“Miss Kenner,” he spoke up, “this is Catherine Willows she’s with the crime lab and will be sitting in on this interrogation.”
As Catherine walked over to take a seat opposite Alice Kenner she again took in the woman already seated. The investigator in her immediately started to process the ‘scene’ in front of her.
Long blonde hair cascading alongside a young face, onto hunched shoulders. Black streams of mascara had flown down over her cheeks. Eyes still downcast, resting their focus on the table.
As Catherine sat down pleading red eyes looked up at her, and although it was silent, it was as if Catherine could hear her scream for help.
The whole vibe Alice Kenner was sending her was of someone innocent, someone who got the blame shoved in her shoes.
Brass now also walked over to the table and took a seat next to Catherine.
“Two nights ago a woman was hit by a car when she crossed the street. There were witnesses that saw your car speeding off. You care to explain that?”
“That wasn’t me,” Alice said defensive. “I haven’t used my car the last four or five days.”
“So you’re saying you didn’t drive your car the last few days yet it was seen at the scene?” Brass asked skeptically.
“As I just said, I haven’t used my car.”
“Then where were you two nights ago between eight and ten pm?” Catherine asked.
“I’ve been at home. My little girl has been sick. I had to take care of her, and since we just moved here and I’ve got no relatives around I’ve been home alone with her.”
“Is there anyone who can confirm that?”
Suddenly she started to sob again. “No. Listen, I was home alone with a sick baby. I know this isn’t an alibi, but you have to believe me.”
“We believe the evidence, and it tells us you caused an accident and didn’t have the guts to stop.”
Her cries became louder. “It wasn’t me. Please believe me,” she started to beg.
“I need to see my baby girl. Please let me see her….please.”
Catherine studied the blonde in front of her intently. Alice Kenner was crumbling down into little pieces, now crying out loud, repeatedly saying ‘please’.
Catherine looked over at Brass, who shot her an apologetic look, and then she spoke up to Alice Kenner again.
“Look we are still waiting on some results from our investigation, and I’m sorry but you’ll have to go to a holding cell for a while. I’m sorry but you can’t see your daughter for a while.” The mother in Catherine had a hard time saying that to her, but the CSI in her knew she had to follow the rules.
Since they had to wait for the results of the processing of the SUV that Sara and Warrick were working on, further interrogation was of no use, and therefore Brass lead Alice Kenner back to a holding cell.
On her way back to the CSI HQ Catherine had time to rethinking all that had passed.
Was Alice Kenner the one responsible for the hit-and-run leading to the death of an old lady? Catherine wasn’t sure.
The evidence they had thus far pointed to her. The SUV found on her driveway had definitely been involved in an accident.
The answers they had further gotten from Alice Kenner during the interrogation, and especially remembering Sara and her had found something wasn’t right at Brandz’s made her doubt whether Alice was the one they’re looking for.
Meanwhile Sara and Warrick, now both clad in dark blue coveralls, were working their way through the SUV.
After an hour they decided it was time for a short coffee break. Thus far they hadn’t come up with much. Of course, the blood on the outside of the car, and they had collected some of the headlight’s glass to compare with the splinter they had found on the victim’s body.
Sitting in the break room Sara kept mulling over what Catherine and her had found in the car of Mr. Brandz.
“…that she was so concerned for her baby girl.” Warrick had been talking to her, but she hadn’t heard any of it, that is, until he started about the baby girl.
Without saying a thing she placed her mug on the table, stood up and walked out of the break room.
“Sara? Where are you going?” Warrick called after her, a bit confused about Sara’s sudden departure.
“I need to check on something,” she muttered, not even turning back to face Warrick as her mind was working overtime trying to figure everything out.
Sara walked to the layout room she had been in before. Placing the evidence they found at Brandz’s back on the table and picking up the comforter a smile came onto her face. She knew her feeling had been right all along. Now she only had to find out how every piece had to be puzzled together.
Taking the comforter and the blonde hair they had found Sara went to search for Greg. As she found him she handed him both and told him to compare the DNA. Telling him to bring her the results as soon as possible, she headed for the garage again to check something else that had come into her mind.
Catherine walked through the halls as Grissom called her when she passed his office. Warrick had informed him about the case, and how he suggested to search Alice Kenner’s garage.
That’s when Grissom told her he would be doing the search at the Kenner’s residence, together with Brass.
Catherine, becoming angry, felt Grissom was undermining her abilities, but decided to control her anger and try to keep things civilized…Until Grissom gave her some other news…
Nick, who had been working on a 419 at the Bellagio had been brought home by an officer. He had come down with stomach flu and couldn’t continue his case. Therefore, Grissom had handed the case over to Warrick.
However, since Nick would be out for the next couple of days, he told Catherine she had to work his shift.
And the rest that happened is history…
Chapter 8
Back to the present.
The case had developed. Catherine was busy doing paperwork while Sara had been searching for Greg to check up on some evidence.
Half an hour later Sara headed for Catherine’s office. Her senses had been right about Mr. Brandz and the feeling that he was hiding something. So she went to Catherine to inform her of the findings.
“Hey, Catherine?”
“Yeah?” she said as she looked up from the file she was reading.
“Our hunch turned into a case solver,” Sara smiled.
“Really?” Catherine asked curiously.
“Well, remember the blonde hair in the SUV at Mr. Brandz? It belonged to Alice Kenner. I had her DNA compared with the DNA from the saliva found on the comforter. Turns out they have 7 out of 13 alleles in common.”
“Miss Kenner has a baby,” Catherine stated.
Handing over a file Sara continued, “She and her eight month old daughter recently moved to Las Vegas. Guess who sold her a house?”
“Mr. Brandz,” Catherine answered immediately.
“Bingo. Eight days ago Mr. Brandz and Miss Kenner closed the deal. My guess was he switched the cars, so I dusted the number plate of the SUV that’s supposed to be Alice Kenner’s.”
“And those prints came back Mr. Brandz’s,” Catherine answered as in her mind all the pieces of the puzzle fell in place.
“Also, someone tried to scratch the VIN numbers out of both of the cars,” Sara added.
“Well, let’s call Brass to get Mr. Brandz so we can confront him with the evidence.”
“No.”
One brow shot up as Catherine looked over at Sara. “Care to elaborate on that?”
“Well, Alice Kenner is still in the holding-cell. I heard she begged to see her daughter, so since we’ve got enough evidence to nail Brandz I think it’s priority to reunite her with her daughter.”
“Ok. I’ll call Grissom to update him. He’s on his way to search Alice Kenner’s garage.”
“Well, there’s no need for that. Tell him to meet us at Brandz’s in an hour.”
After Sara had been to Alice Kenner -who was still at the PD- and explained her how Mr. Brandz had tried to frame her for the hit-and-run, she picked up Catherine at the CSI HQ and together they went over to Brandz’s place where they would meet up with Grissom and Brass.
Throughout the ride to Brandz’s, Catherine kept sneaking glances over at Sara. Sitting behind the wheel and being involved in cruising through traffic Sara didn’t notice the strawberry blonde’s staring.
During the ride Catherine gathered up all her courage and decided to just be bold and ask Sara out. So, breaking the silence she spoke up.
“Sara.”
“Hmmm,” the brunette muttered, still focusing on the traffic jungle in front of them.
“Would you….uhm…” Catherine’s ability to form complete sentences seemed to vanish in the air.
Stopping for a traffic light Sara turned her head, focusing on the face of the blonde that had fed many of her fantasies during her sleep, a curious look came onto her face as she saw the blonde’s rather flustered state.
“Would you please turn the radio on? We could use something to break the silence,” the blonde asked ‘Damn you weasel. Stupid, stupid! You should’ve asked’ she kicked her butt mentally.
A flash of disappointment crossed over Sara’s face, but was soon replaced by her serious ‘CSI-look’.
“Sure” she answered.
Turning on the radio she let out a sigh, which didn’t go unnoticed by Catherine. This made some of her courage return. She recognized the sigh. It wasn’t one of dismissal, no, it was one of disappointment.
Then and there she decided that, the next opportunity that would come up she would grab with both hands and ask the brunette out on a real date…not just a dinner appointment between co-workers.
Arriving at Brandz’s place they saw Brass and Grissom were already there -standing at the front door. Apparently they had been here for a while and decided it was time to make the arrest.
Knocking on the door Brass called out, “Mr. Brandz open up.”
Not getting an immediate response he knocked again “Mr. Brandz!”
The door opens a little, but as soon as Brandz sees Brass and Grissom he closes the door and runs off through his house -trying to escape via the back garden.
Chapter 9
Meanwhile Sara and Catherine both had climbed out of the Tahoe and leaned against the hood of the car, waiting for the arrest to be made by the police officers before they could process the garage.
Sara, who saw movement in the back garden, told Catherine to start the car and drive it to the back. And the moment that Brandz walked by Sara opened the door, knocking him over.
“Mr Brandz, you should definitely watch where you’re going,” Sara said, as she jumped out of the Tahoe and pulled Brandz back onto his feet.
Catherine who had also left the car had drawn her gun and pointed it at Brandz. Looking over at Sara she saw a smug look on the brunette’s face, and as Sara’s eyes met hers both of their faces showed full-blown smiles, satisfied with solving another case.
Brass came over quickly and took Brandz in custody, telling him his rights while pushing him into the back of his Taurus. Together with Grissom he headed back to the PD.
Catherine and Sara decided to check Brandz’s garage, since the last time they were here we had denied them access to it, which had made them more suspicious at the time, but couldn’t do anything about it then.
Kneeling at a dark red stain on the ground Catherine took some pictures. Sara opened her kit and put on gloves.
She swatted down opposite Catherine and swabbed the stain.
Holding up the now red-colored swab for both of them to see she looked Catherine straight in the eyes.
“There’s no way out for him now. I’ll bet my paycheck this blood will come back the vic’s,” Sara said.
Catherine had nothing but admiration in her eyes. She kept staring at the sparkly brown eyes in front of her, and until she saw Sara blush and heard her cough a little, she was shook out of her deep reverie.
She shot up right, but a bit too fast. Almost tumbling over, Sara was just in time to catch her and steady the strawberry blonde again.
Both of them noticed how each other’s body reacted to their touch. And both of them really liked it. Unconsciously their faces inched closer, but before their lips got even remotely closer Sara’s cell phone rang.
Quickly releasing Catherine out of her grasp, Sara flipped open her cell. A little sigh escaped her throat before she answered.
Catherine looked at the younger woman expectantly, curious about who called, and as Sara mouthed it was Grissom she also let out a sigh.
Grissom wanted to know how far along they were with processing the garage.
“We’re done. We’ll go back to HQ and analyze the blood immediately,” the brunette said.
“Good. Let me know the results of it as soon as possible,” Grissom answered before hanging up.
Back at the HQ Catherine and Sara handed Greg the swab and went to the break room for some coffee while they waited for the results.
In silence they each enjoyed a cup of steamy black liquid, sneaking glances at each other, but not saying a word.
Suddenly Greg stormed in. “Slam dunk!” he said, “Blood’s a match to the vic’s.”
“Nailed the bastard,” Sara stated.
Catherine merely nodded and grabbed her cell, calling Grissom to inform him.
At the PD, Grissom told Brandz about all the evidence they had found. All of it pointed to him, and how he had tried to cover up his actions. Hearing this all Brandz confessed.
He had helped Alice Kenner to a house, and the first time they met he had noticed they had the same SUV. He even made a remark about their cars to Miss Kenner.
The evening of the accident, Brandz had been working late. He had one last business appointment and was on his way over when his phone went. As he reached for his cell he didn’t notice that a woman crossed the street.
Sitting back up straight he saw the woman in front of his car. He tried to brake, but it was no use…
Complete panic came over him, and he fled back home. There he placed the SUV in his garage. Remembering Alice Kenner had the exact same SUV, he switched the cars later that night.
He first tried his own key, and although it didn’t set off the alarm it neither opened the door. Suddenly he remembered that the dealer had told him about a box for a spare key that was placed on the bottom of the car.
Thinking that no one would be so stupid to use that box he was surprised to find the hidden key on Alice Kenner’s car.
To make the switch more believable he also switched the number plates, and filed off the VIN numbers from both SUV’s.
Taking all the stuff from Alice’s car and placing it into his and vice versa he overlooked the comforter.
And as he thought he had taken care of everything he headed back home, placed the SUV under a cover and went inside drowning all his troubles with a glass of whiskey.
“I couldn’t let this ruin my career. My business was doing so well the last months. What was I supposed to do?” was the last thing he said before he was lead out of the interrogation room.
Catherine sat in her office finishing off the paperwork for the Hit-and-Run case as there was a knock on the door.
“Come in.”
“Hey.”
Blue eyes shot up to see twinkling brown eyes staring at her.
“Just wanted to let you know Alice Kenner said to thank you for helping her,” Sara said leaning against the doorframe.
“Well, it was you who felt something was off from the start…so all the credits are for you.”
The strawberry blonde’s face was showing a smile. “See, sometimes it’s good to follow your heart.”
Suddenly finding courage in Catherine’s words, Sara walked over to Catherine’s desk -their eyes still locked, and smiles still plastered on their faces. She took the older woman’s hand and placed it over her heart.
“I do follow my heart. More often than you think,” She said as she closed the gap between them. She placed a soft kiss on Catherine’s lips, her tongue quickly grazing along the older woman’s bottom lip.
“See?” Sara stated seriously as she leaded back, earning her a smile from the strawberry-blonde.
“So how about a dinner-date?” Catherine asked.
“I thought you’d never ask,” Sara answered before engaging their lips once again in a smoldering kiss.
The End
Thank you for reading! Comments are greatly appreciated!
DISCLAIMER: CSI belongs to CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer.
Knock 'n' Roll
By
MBInc
Chapter 1
“But Grissom, you promised!” Catherine stood in Grissom’s office, hands on her hips and frustration written all over her face.
“I asked you about it a month ago,” she stated, her anger clearly detectable in her voice.
“I know,” Grissom said, “but I can’t help it Nick came down with a bad case of the stomach flu.”
“What about Sara?” Catherine pleaded.
“Can’t ask her. It’s the first time in 4 years she accepted a day off without an argument, so I’m not going to ask her.”
“Well then I will,” Catherine said while walking out off Grissom’s office -giving him no time to respond.
“Catherine, wait!” he started to her retreating form, but Catherine didn’t stop. Sighing heavily he sat back in his chair.
Catherine walked through the halls of the CSI HQ -still looking really angry ‘cause of all that had happened in Grissom’s office just minutes before. Not only had he told her he and Brass would go to the Kenner residence to execute their warrant (while she was lead-CSI on this case and therefore wanted to be there during the search of the garage), but also -and this was the thing that really ticked her off- told her she had to work extra hours on the day she specifically told Grissom she wanted off to spend some quality time with Lindsey.
Her mind still filled with thoughts about how to make it clear to Grissom that he better not pull this kind of trick on her again, she didn’t notice Warrick coming her way.
“Hey Catherine, what’s the rush?”
She jumped from surprise. “Jeez Warrick, you scared the hell out of me.”
“Sorry Cath, didn’t mean to. Who got you this worked up?” he asked clearly noticing who frustrated she was.
“Not now Warrick, where’s Sara?” she asked scanning the halls impatiently.
“So she caused this huh? What has she done this time?” he added sarcastically.
“No it’s not Sara. It’s Grissom FYI. Anyhow, have you seen Sara?”
“Grissom? He must’ve messed up big time. I haven’t seen you this worked up since…”
“Well that’s great Warrick, now, do you know where Sara is?” she interrupted, sending him an angry glare.
“Whoa, don’t take it out on me! And as for Sara, I saw her in the break-room about fifteen minutes ago. Said she had to go to the garage to check something on the SUV from the Kenner’s.”
“Thanks Warrick,” Catherine said while heading off in the direction of the CSI-garage. Before turning the corner she turned back hesitantly, and looked over at Warrick. Her mind finally registered how she had treated her best friend just now and shame washed over her.
“Sorry about that. It’s just… Grissom wants me to work on Wednesday while I specifically asked him to give me that day off so I could spend it with Lindsey. We already made plans for the whole day,” she said, the anger in her voice replaced by guilt.
“It’s ok, just cool down a bit, and don’t take it out on Sara like you did with me.” He took a few steps in her direction and placed a hand on her shoulder. With a twinkling in his eyes he added “Just ask her nicely. She probably won’t mind. You know she wouldn’t mind working for you, right?” A smirk spread over his face and he gave a little squeeze in her shoulder. Then he turned and headed for one of the labs.
“Yeah … thanks Warrick.” Catherine’s anger was now totally gone. She didn’t miss the look Warrick had sent her. “What’s up with that?” she thought.
“No problemo,” Warrick said before he completely vanished in the lab.
Chapter 2
Entering the garage, Catherine had to smile. In front of her was the big SUV that had been involved in a hit-and-run. Shattered on the floor around the car were al kinds of power tools, and mid-under the SUV two legs clad in blue coveralls could be seen. A hand came reaching out from underneath the car, and searched the floor -probably for some kind of tool.
Catherine took a few steps towards the SUV, picked up the tool that was just inches out of Sara’s reach. Kneeling down next to the car she put the tool in the still searching hand.
“Looking for this?” she asked, startling Sara, and causing her to hit her head against the bottom of the car.
“Ouch, fuck,” Sara hissed
“O my … Sara, sorry, I didn’t mean to …” Shock was written all over Catherine’s face. Catherine mentally kicked her own butt: ‘This is not the way to persuade her into working for you, Willows.’
Sara crawled away from the car. “You scared the shit out of me,” she said as she tried to stand up only to kneel down again quickly, because of the dizziness that took over her whole body.
“I’m sorry.” Catherine walked over to Sara and kneeled in front of her.
“Let me look.” She pulled Sara’s hand away from the spot on her forehead she was rubbing.
“Well, this will leave a bump, but you’ll live,” Catherine said, her mother-mode kicking in.
“Yeah, well, you know how hard-headed I am,” Sara smirked.
“What are you doing here anyway? I thought you and Grissom were going to meet up with Brass at the Kenner’s to search the garage?” she asked -the dizziness finally wearing off just to be replaced by a firm headache.
“Well, we were going to, but apparently all of a sudden Grissom wants to be lead-CSI on this case. But then he even managed to piss me off even more,” Catherine sighed.
“Big time,” she added quickly, seeing a little smirk appearing on Sara’s face.
“Grissom? … oh wait, let me guess. He scheduled you as replacement for Nick, am I right?”
“Yeah… how did you know?” Catherine asked very surprised.
“Well you’d only be this angry at him if he forgot about you spending time with Lindsey,” Sara stated seriously.
Catherine couldn’t say a thing, being so surprised at how accurate Sara has been about the situation. Silence settled between them for a minute, both women thinking about the things just said. Then, after a few minutes, Sara turned and faced Catherine.
“I’ll do it,” she said, seriousness still in her voice.
“Do what?” Catherine’s brain seemed to black-out momentarily, her eyes locked with the dark-brown eyes facing her. What she saw there made her feel tingly inside. When she realized what it was, and connecting this with the look Warrick had given her, made it all clear. She started wondering if he knew how she really felt about Sara.
A few weeks ago it had started. Every time she had to work with Sara she felt this tingly feeling in the pit of her stomach. At first she had ignored it, but after a few days Catherine had found it very hard to be close to Sara. She tried to act normal around Sara -not really knowing what to do with herself- which resulted in even more arguments with her than she had had in all those years they had worked together.
Catherine noticed she had been staring at Sara, and she tried to look away. But those eyes in front of her held her captive.
“I’ll work those hours,” Sara stated apparently not noticing Catherine’s brain-failure “It’s not like I had a full schedule otherwise,” she added, sadness lingering underneath.
“You’re willing to do that for me?” Catherine asked, still not really coping with the fact that Sara had offered her help that easily. “Even after what I did to your head?”
“Sure, why not. I’ll probably be able to figure out some way how you can make it up to me,” Sara said. “This included.” she pointed to the now clearly visible bump. When she realized how flirty that had sounded she suddenly shifted her gaze to the SUV in front of them.
Sara had noticed the tension between the two of them over the last few weeks, but she guessed it had something to do with a case involving the death of an eight-year-old girl. (Catherine had been so emotional during the interrogation of one of the suspects Sara had ordered her to step outside, and hand the case over completely to her. Grissom had backed her up and had put Catherine on another case. She had been very angry at her at first, but afterwards -when she had had some time to think about it all- she had thanked Sara for what she had done.)
Although, this time the tension seemed different.
Since Sara had her eyes fixed on the SUV she didn’t see it coming: Suddenly she felt two arms wrap around her in a strong embrace. The muttered “Thank you” almost didn’t register in her brain as she was lost in the touch of Catherine. But not wanting to make a complete fool out of herself she pulled herself together and told Catherine it wasn’t a problem at all.
Catherine’s mind was occupied with the thought that their body’s fitted perfectly. When she realized she was still embracing Sara she quickly let go and scrambled onto her feet -giving one last look at Sara before leaving, adding another “Thank you” and heading for Grissom’s office again.
Sara -still seated on the floor of the garage- followed Catherine till she was out of sight. She felt her stomach was still making flip-flops and a warmth started to spread through her whole body. Could it be that after all this time Catherine wanted the same from her as she had wanted from Catherine -practically since the first time they met?
Catherine had given her a hard time from the start and they had had lots of arguments about cases, but working together got the best out of both of them -and she had enjoyed those times. Teamed-up they were the best CSIs Las Vegas had. She didn’t want to ruin their already tense (but successful) work-relationship, so she had tried to forget about her feelings and never acted on them, but they were still there even after all those years.
Shaking her still sore head she said to herself “I better not get my hopes up, it’s probably my head that’s tricking me,” still a bit taken aback at what just happened.
While she got up, and walked over to the SUV again Greg entered the garage.
“Hey Sara,” Greg said, “I’ve got some DNA-results you might be interested in, wanna trade?”
“The only trade I am willing to make with you is my boot up your ass if you don’t give me that ASAP!” she said, her back still facing him.
“Well, that’s a tempting offer, but … I think I’ll pass,” he answered trying to sound as serious as possible. But he failed miserably and his laughter filled the room soon joined by Sara’s laughter.
Both still laughing Sara turned round to face him, and all of a sudden his laughter stopped and shock was written all over his face.
“What happened to you?” he asked pointing towards her forehead.
“Catherine…” Sara started, but before she could finish Greg interrupted
“She did this to you? She hit you?” he asked shock written all over his face.
“NO Greg! If you would let me finish. I hit my head on the bottom of the car,” she answered.
“Why would you think Catherine hit me?” she asked him already knowing the answer she would get, but trying to defend Catherine.
“Well,” Greg started suddenly finding his sneakers very interesting, “It’s not like you’re best friends.”
“Ghee Greg, thanks. Good to know we are on different terms.”
“Just so you know Catherine startled me while I was working underneath the car. Then I hit my head. There was no fighting involved.”
Greg didn’t know what to say so he quickly handed Sara the paper with the DNA-results and walked away.
While Sara looked at the results she called after Greg, “Try to keep the office-gossip to a minimum. Remember how Nick made you pay for it last time?” Greg nodded slightly.
“Just know I will make it ten times worse.” And with that said she turned back to the car and Greg -looking like a dog with his tail between his legs- went back to his lab.
She new he wouldn’t dare to talk to anybody about it -knowing the consequences that would follow from the previous time when the gossip could be traced back to start at him. It had been about Nick and his new girlfriend. Sara hadn’t heard the whole story -she just didn’t bother listening to hallway blabbering, but the part where Nick found out Sander’s was the main source of it all and the way how Nick made him pay was Sara’s favorite.
Even thinking about it now made her laugh again. Nick had made him wear the ugliest country-western outfit of the world at work for two weeks, and made him listen to the worst country songs over and over again. (Greg had told Sara just days before it all happened how much he hated country, and when Nick told Sara Greg had been the start of the rumors about him and his girlfriend she was glad to share this information with him.)
“He sure learned his lesson,” she said to herself
“Ok, Sara, focus.” She looked at the DNA-results and then some pieces of the puzzle fell together. A lot of evidence was found last shift -the case seemed almost solved- but Sara had the feeling something was off. Her mind ran back over the things that had been discovered since last shift.
Chapter 3
It was only yesterday that the team had started on this case. Alice Kenner was a suspect in a hit-and-run case where and old lady was hit by an SUV. Several witnesses had seen a silver- metallic SUV and one of them could even remember a part of the number plate. All evidence had let her and Catherine to 6 SUV’s in Las Vegas that matched the description and the part of the number plate.
Brass had found out 2 of those SUV’s were owned by a small service company and had been nowhere near the accident site. 2 others were rental-cars that had been in the company’s garage during the accident. That left them two SUV’s to find.
After some computer-searching Brass had found both owners and their cars. The first place they visited was of a Mr. Brandz, fifty years of age, clothed in an expensive suit and dark rimmed glasses framed his round face. He was a real estate agent and his office had done great business last months.
“Mr Brandz, I’m Captain Jim Brass, I’m with the Las Vegas PD.” He flashed his badge and then pointed over his shoulder towards the two women standing behind him. “These are Catherine Willows and Sara Sidle, they’re with the crime lab. We would like to ask you some questions.”
The man stepped aside and let the three of them enter. After closing the door he led them to the living room. He sat down in a large armchair near the large window at the backside of the room. Catherine took place on the couch opposite the chair and Sara and Brass both stood behind her.
“Mr Brandz, where were you two nights ago between eight and ten pm?” Sara asked impatiently, wanting to know if they were on the right track. Was he the bastard that had fled after hitting an old lady with his car, leaving her to die? She knew she shouldn’t let her emotions interfere with the job, but she couldn’t help it.
“What? Why is that any of your business?” he started.
“Got something to hide, Mr Brandz?” Brass asked.
“I was in my office if you must know, working on a last-minute sale. Big costumer, big money. It was worth the overtime.”
Catherine could feel Sara’s hand grab the back cushion of the couch in a death-grip, and threw a look over her shoulder and saw Sara’s impatience build up and before it would escalate in something worse she took over.
“Mr Brandz, we‘re investigating a hit-and-run. There were several eyewitnesses that saw an SUV that matches yours. You could help yourself by letting us have a look at your car,” Catherine said.
“Don’t you need a warrant for that?” Brandz asked.
“Only if you are not willing to cooperate. But if you’re as innocent as you say you are, why not help us out now. Saves a lot of time,” Brass told him.
“Knock yourself out,” he said while throwing the keys on the coffee table in the middle of the room, “it’s at the back. Be careful with my baby.”
“Don’t worry we’ll treat her with all the respect she deserves,” Sara said as she took a step towards the table and picked up the keys, giving the man a fake smile and walking out of the room.
“Oh, Mr Brandz?” Catherine asked as she stood up from the couch, “who has access to your car?”
“It’s my car, and I’m the only one that drives in it,” he said. He seemed to get more and more frustrated from all the questions asked.
While Brass stayed with Mr Brandz, Catherine went over to the Tahoe where Sara stood at the back to collect their kits.
“Sara? Are you ok?” Catherine asked. Sara had stood at the back of the Tahoe without opening the back nor taking out their kits.
Opening the back of the Tahoe Catherine looked over at Sara who still didn’t answer.
“Sara?” she tried one more time.
“Huh… sorry I was thinking about something. What did you say?” she said, feeling a little embarrassed being caught off guard.
“Were you thinking about the case? Did you see something inside?” Catherine asked interested in Sara’s thoughts.
Sara’s face flushed a little. She averted her eyes hoping Catherine wouldn’t notice. She couldn’t tell her the truth. She couldn’t tell her it was her she had been thinking about -or rather the fact that the two of them had to work on that SUV together. Working with her in such a confined space she would have to use all her strength to focus on the job at hand.
Feeling Catherine’s eyes still on her -and realizing she hadn’t answered yet- she remembered the question asked.
“That man works on my nerves. Don’t tell Grissom I said this, but I’ve got the feeling something’s wrong. I’m not sure what it is, but he’s hiding something,” she said.
“Stop the presses. Sara Sidle listening to her guts in stead of the evidence?” Catherine kidded, but then continued in a more serious tone, “That’s so not like you. Are you sure?”
“No, that’s why it’s called a hunch,” Sara answered sarcastically.
Taking out the two kits and offering one to Sara, Catherine said, “Well, let’s go check that SUV and we’ll know soon enough what he’s hiding.”
With a big sigh Sara took her kit out of Catherine’s hands and headed of towards the back of the house where the car was parked.
Chapter 4
Walking through the gate that led to the back garden both women noticed the SUV. It was covered with some kind of cloth.
“Why would he cover his ‘baby’?” Catherine asked as she put her kit down and snapped on some latex gloves. “She taking a nap?” she kidded.
“It’s a cover to protect the car against dust or dirt, even snow. So you don’t have to wash it as often,” Sara said as she walked once round the SUV.
“But why not put it in the garage,” She added as she stood at front of the car, pointing to the small building with two large doors next to the house.
Catherine looked over her shoulder -and being the lead-CSI on this case- she ordered Sara to search the car and she would go back inside to ask Mr Brandz if they could also have a look inside the garage. Sara agreed and gloved-up.
She pulled the cover away from the front, revealing the hood of the car. There were no scratches on the bumper and the headlights weren’t broken. They had found glass at the scene, so either they had already been replaced, or this was the wrong car. Since Mr. Brandz had given the keys voluntarily she started to search the interior also.
Opening the passenger door Sara pulled out her mini Mac-light. The passenger seat was clean, maybe even too clean. She lifted a few prints from the dashboard. Some were partial, some were smudged, but all seemed to belong to the same person.
Meanwhile, Catherine was back inside the house. Brass had just finished his questions on Mr Brandz whereabouts at the time of the accident. He now wanted to verify the alibi Brandz had given.
“Mr Brandz, we noticed you didn’t park your car in the garage. Why is that?” Catherine asked.
“I had to store some other things in there that couldn’t be left outside. Besides my baby can survive one night outside. The cover will protect her,” he answered, getting more and more irritated by the minute.
“Do you mind if we also take a look inside your garage?” Catherine tried.
“Yes I do. Listen, I’m willing to cooperate, but to a certain point. Take a look at my car -you’ll see nothing’s wrong with it. So there’s no need to take a look in my garage,” Brandz answered angrily.
Brass motioned Catherine to follow him to the hall.
“Why’s the man’s garage so interesting all of a sudden. I thought the SUV could tell you everything you need to know?” Brass asked.
“We just have this hunch. He’s hiding something in there.”
“Wait, did you say ‘we’? As in you AND Sara?”
“Actually, she was the one that first said something’s off.” Brass gave her a surprised look, but then turned serious again. “A hunch is not enough,” he stated.
“I know,” she sighed, “I’ll go back outside. Let’s hope Sara has found something that will help us get a warrant for the garage.”
“I’ll start making some calls, check out the man’s alibi,” he said to Catherine who was already halfway out.
Sara had shifted to the driver’s side. There she had found a long blond hair. She took some pictures of it. “Definitely not Mr. Brandz’s,” she said as she picked it up with the tweezers and put it in a paper envelope.
Just as she started dusting the door handle Catherine opened the back door.
“You were right,” she said to Sara while searching the back seat for evidence.
“About what?”
“Mr. Brandz, he’s definitely hiding something in there,” she said as she tilted her head into the direction of the garage.
“He wouldn’t let us in there,” Sara stated rather than asked her.
“Nope. So please tell me you’ve found something that’ll give us a warrant.” Catherine backed out of the car and stepped to the front of the car. Sara also exited the car and placed herself in front of Catherine.
“No scratches on the bumper, headlights were in tact.”
“Found some prints inside the car. Most seem to belong to one person, but I found two on the driver’s side that didn’t match any of the others I found.”
“And?” Catherine asked, looking at Sara’s hand that still held the envelope.
Sara handed the little brown envelope over to Catherine. “Found a hair, color definitely not Mr. Brandz,” she said triumphantly.
“I could kiss you!” Catherine blurted out. “I knew that bastard has something to hide.”
Sara flushed -secretly wishing Catherine would do what she had just said. “It’s a start.”
The change of color in Sara’s face didn’t go unnoticed by Catherine. It made her feel all giddy inside and made her smile. Sara saw the look in Catherine’s eyes and gave her a gap-toothed grin.
“I was just going to start on the trunk.”
“Well, let’s get on with it then,” Catherine said as she walked over to the back and opened it. Her eyes caught something that glittered on the carpet. “Could you hand me a tape-lift?” she asked sticking out her hand while crouching a little more into the SUV.
“What’ve you got?” Sara placed herself next to Catherine and handed her the tape-lift. Catherine pointed to the glittering piece of material.
“Have you got any idea what that is?” Sara asked as she leaned into Catherine to get a better look. As her shoulder touched Catherine’s a shiver went trough her spine. Her focus on the job at hand was replaced immediately with thoughts about the person whose body was touching hers.
As she tape-lifted the glitter Catherine leaned into Sara a bit more allowing Sara to have a better look at it.
When Sara felt Catherine put more weight into the touch she had to fight back a moan. Her mind went completely blank and she didn’t notice Catherine was talking to her.
“… like Lindsey got for her birthday last year.”
Sara didn’t respond. Catherine noticed and decided to tease her a little.
“You didn’t hear a word I just said, right?” she asked with a smug smile on her face.
Sara, quickly finding her equilibrium, answered, “I heard you. Lindsey has got the same glitter make-up.” Good thing she remembered Greg had given her a box with all kinds of glittery children’s make-up.
Catherine wasn’t totally convinced, but before she could say something she was interrupted by her cell phone.
“Willows.”
“Catherine, Warrick here. We’ve found the SUV. Broken headlights, bumper scratched. Looks like we’ve found our perp.”
While Catherine, Sara and Brass had gone off to Mr. Brandz, Warrick and Nick had teamed-up with O’Riley and went to the other end of town to the next address on the list.
Nobody had been at home at the Kenner residence, but the SUV had been there. Right outside, on the driveway. Nick kneeled down in front of the SUV.
“Well, this car clearly has been involved in an accident recently.”
Warrick crouched down beside him and opened his kit. Gloving up he pointed to one of the headlights -or what was left of it.
“I found some blood,” he reached in his kit for a swab and took a sample.
While Nick was testing the blood to make sure it was human and not animal -for the blood could also be from any kind of road kill (Which was highly unlikely since the headlights are on a certain height so it had to have been a pretty large animal) Warrick reached for his cell phone to inform Catherine.
Warrick had told her about the blood they had found and she had told him to get O’Riley to get a warrant so they could take the car to their HQ. She said her and Sara would meet up with them in an hour, back at CSI HQ to examine the car further.
Catherine snapped her cell phone shut and turned back to Sara.
“Warrick and Nick found the SUV. Blood on broken headlight. I told him we would meet them in an hour, which leaves us some time to finish up here.”
“But why should we look even further if this clearly isn’t the right car?” Sara asked, rather wanting to spend their valuable time on a car that was involved in their hit-and-run case -even though Mr. Brandz seemed to act strange.
Catherine lightly touched Sara’s upper arm, “I know you want to get on with the case, but …” Her eye got caught of a blue object under the driver’s seat.
“I think our hunch just turned into something more,” she said as she stepped passed Sara and reached under the driver’s seat to reveal some kind of comforter.
Chapter 5
“Mr Brandz, who has access to your car?” Sara asked.
“As I told your colleague already, it’s my car, I’m the only one that drives in it.”
“Then why did we find this inside?” She held up the comforter in an evidence bag.
Mr. Brandz’s eyes betrayed him -surprise clearly visible. He tried to save himself and told them it was his little niece’s -who had stayed at his place last week, but Catherine and Sara had both caught his surprised look.
But since his car wasn’t the one involved in the hit-and-run, and having a comforter inside his car wasn’t a crime, they had nothing else to look for. (even though both women felt something was off)
After the three of them had thanked Mr. Brandz for his cooperation, they walked back to their Tahoe. While Sara put both kits in the back of the car, Catherine informed Brass that Warrick and Nick had found the other SUV -the right SUV. So they headed for the CSI HQ.
Sara took all the evidence into the layout room. The fingerprints she had found, the long blonde hair, and the comforter.
Catherine walked in after her just ending a phone call.
“Warrick said it would be another twenty minutes before the tow truck came and another twenty to get back here, so that gives us enough time to grab something to eat.”
Sara sighed and leaned both hands on the table. “I’d rather start on the evidence, check the prints through AFIS, get Greg to analyze the hair -see if he can get a DNA-profile. Brass was going to look into Mr. Brandz’s family, so that part is covered.”
“It can wait, besides if Mr. Brandz’s story checks out there’s no reason to analyze that evidence. Just wait until Brass knows more.”
“Let’s go,” Catherine said as she walked over to Sara and pushed her into the hall.
Sara was reluctant to go, but when Catherine’s hands connected with her lower back she was ready to oblige to every thing Catherine would ask.
They went to a nearby diner. As they entered the woman behind the counter waved at Catherine. The two of them took a seat at the back, and the woman walked over to them.
“Evening Libby.”
“Hey Catherine, how are ya doin?” the Gray-haired waitress asked as she gave Sara a once-over. Not waiting for Catherine’s response she offered Sara her hand. “You must be Sara, right?”
“Yeah,” Sara said surprised as she hesitantly shook the woman’s hand sending Catherine a questioning look. Catherine quickly picked up the menu and hid herself not wanting Sara to see how embarrassed she was.
Libby had been her confidant. Through the years Catherine had come often to Libby’s diner after shift, most of the times alone, sometimes with Warrick and Nick -yet never with Sara. Last week Catherine had told Libby she had feelings for someone she worked with. Although she never told her who this person was Libby immediately knew Sara was the person Catherine had been talking about.
Seeing Catherine’s flustered state Libby decided to tease Catherine a little more. “Catherine has told me a lot about you,” she said looking over from Sara to Catherine -a smug smile on her face.
“Did she?” Sara looked over at Catherine, raising an eyebrow.
“OK,” Catherine piped up, “I’m ready to order, how ‘bout you?” Not waiting for Sara to answer she gave Libby her order. Sara -still taken aback by the fact that Catherine had been talking about her with the old waitress- tried to clear her head and also order something.
As Libby walked away Catherine forced herself to look at Sara.
“I only told her good things, you know,” Catherine explained.
“Is that so?” Sara asked, feeling giddy all of a sudden.
“I told her about how dedicated you are to your work. How passionate you get when you’re working on a case,” Catherine started rambling, earning her a full-blown smile from her co-worker.
Libby came back with their orders, and put the plates on the table.
“Well, enjoy your meal.” As she started to walk off she turned around once more grinning at Catherine “Oh Catherine, you were right. She really is a looker.” Catherine’s face immediately turned beet-red.
Sara -who just came back from the toilet- hadn’t heard Libby’s comment and settled back into the boot. She saw Catherine’s flustered state which was kind of odd: Catherine and flustered in the same sentence. However, she decided not to ask her about it and started to devour her meal.
After a few minutes of silence between them the awkward moment seemed to have passed and they continued to talk amicably.
That’s when it started. From that moment on their work-relationship changed gradually. The tension between them changed.
Chapter 6
Meanwhile, Warrick and Nick were waiting for the tow truck to arrive as they saw Alice Kenner returned home. Nick flipped open his cell, and dialed Brass.
“Yeah?”
“Brass? It’s Nick. We’re still at the Kenner’s residence. Guess who just came home?”
“Isn’t O’Riley with you guys?”
“He was called to a 419.”
“I’m on my way. Stay where you are,” was the only answer Nick got, and the captain had already hung up on him.
Still staring at his cell he shrugged. “Guess he’s not in a talking mood.”
It took the captain only ten minutes to cruise through traffic and reach the Kenner residence, and as he exited his Taurus he was greeted by Warrick who walked over to him.
“Where’s our Texan jock?” Brass asked looking around for the square-jawed Texan.
“Grissom called. That 419 O’Riley had been called to? Well Nick’s working on that case now.”
“Alrighty then,” Brass said as he and Warrick walked over to the front door, but not before Warrick had pointed him to the SUV.
The captain knocked on the door, and after a few seconds it opened. A short blonde haired woman stood in the doorway.
“Alice Kenner?”
“Yes?”
“I’m captain Jim Brass, I’m with the LVPD. This is Warrick Brown, crime scene investigator.”
“Crime scene? What is going on here?” Alice asked worried.
“Could you please step outside ma’am?”
Complying to the man’s request, Alice Kenner walked onto the porch.
“Please turn around and place your hands on your back” Brass said sternly.
“WHAT!?! No! What’s this all about?”
“Ma’am,” Warrick tried, “it’s in your interest if you cooperate.”
Brass, no longer wanting to waist time, grabbed his handcuffs and stepped towards a now very angry Alice Kenner.
Placing her hands in the cuffs he told her “You’re under arrest on suspicion of manslaughter caused by a hit-and-run.”
Totally confused and becoming more and more frustrated Alice Kenner said “What!?! I haven’t done anything…I’ve been at home…”
Brass started off in the direction of his Taurus, pulling Alice along.
“Wait! Wait…My daughter is inside…I can’t leave her!”
Warrick looked over at Brass, and nodded, understanding the look the Captain gave him. Walking inside the tall dark man saw a little girl lying in a playpen. After carefully picking her up he walked over to a baby seat and placed her in it.
Together with Brass and Alice Kenner, Warrick and the baby girl -called Emma- walked towards Brass’s Taurus.
As Warrick fastened the seat in the back of the car the tow truck arrived, and by the time Brass had drove off the SUV had carefully been placed at the back of the truck.
Riding along with the tow truck (since Nick had taken the Tahoe to the 419) Warrick now was on his way to the CSI HQ, to the garage to be more precisely.
Sara and Catherine opened the door of the diner and walked out. Waving once more to Libby Sara said “She’s quite the character, isn’t she?”
Throughout their dinner Sara had noticed how Libby kept staring at her with this mad grin on her face while Catherine had been…embarrassed. ‘Hmmm first time I’ve seen her that embarrassed…very cute though’ she added mentally.
“Yeah,” Catherine answered, “she is.” Of course, the mad grin of the old waitress also hadn’t gone unnoticed by Catherine.
“We should do this more often,” Sara said after they had been walking in silence towards the CSI building.
“I’d love that,” Catherine answered sincerely. Looking over at the brunette she felt a shiver run through her spine, but before she realized what was going on they had reached the glass doors of the building.
Opening the door for Catherine Sara added “And next time I’m buying.”
“Catherine, Sara wait up!” Warrick said as he walked towards them.
“I just got here with the SUV,” he started, and looking over at Catherine he continued, “Brass has Alice Kenner at the PD. I asked him to wait with the interrogation till you got there.”
“Thanks, Warrick. I’ll meet you guys later.”
Catherine walked off, but before she rounded the corner she turned back and said “Have fun with those power tools!”
Although this was more directed at Sara -whose face was showing a full-blown gap-toothed smile because of Catherine’s remark- Warrick was the one who spoke up shaking his head.
“Later Cath.”
Chapter 7
Catherine opened the door to the interrogation room. Walking inside she took in the scene in front of her.
At the table in the middle of the room sat Alice Kenner, her head resting on her hands, her face smeared with tears.
Brass stood opposite her leaning against the wall arms folded over each other, and a stern, though sad, look on his face.
“Miss Kenner,” he spoke up, “this is Catherine Willows she’s with the crime lab and will be sitting in on this interrogation.”
As Catherine walked over to take a seat opposite Alice Kenner she again took in the woman already seated. The investigator in her immediately started to process the ‘scene’ in front of her.
Long blonde hair cascading alongside a young face, onto hunched shoulders. Black streams of mascara had flown down over her cheeks. Eyes still downcast, resting their focus on the table.
As Catherine sat down pleading red eyes looked up at her, and although it was silent, it was as if Catherine could hear her scream for help.
The whole vibe Alice Kenner was sending her was of someone innocent, someone who got the blame shoved in her shoes.
Brass now also walked over to the table and took a seat next to Catherine.
“Two nights ago a woman was hit by a car when she crossed the street. There were witnesses that saw your car speeding off. You care to explain that?”
“That wasn’t me,” Alice said defensive. “I haven’t used my car the last four or five days.”
“So you’re saying you didn’t drive your car the last few days yet it was seen at the scene?” Brass asked skeptically.
“As I just said, I haven’t used my car.”
“Then where were you two nights ago between eight and ten pm?” Catherine asked.
“I’ve been at home. My little girl has been sick. I had to take care of her, and since we just moved here and I’ve got no relatives around I’ve been home alone with her.”
“Is there anyone who can confirm that?”
Suddenly she started to sob again. “No. Listen, I was home alone with a sick baby. I know this isn’t an alibi, but you have to believe me.”
“We believe the evidence, and it tells us you caused an accident and didn’t have the guts to stop.”
Her cries became louder. “It wasn’t me. Please believe me,” she started to beg.
“I need to see my baby girl. Please let me see her….please.”
Catherine studied the blonde in front of her intently. Alice Kenner was crumbling down into little pieces, now crying out loud, repeatedly saying ‘please’.
Catherine looked over at Brass, who shot her an apologetic look, and then she spoke up to Alice Kenner again.
“Look we are still waiting on some results from our investigation, and I’m sorry but you’ll have to go to a holding cell for a while. I’m sorry but you can’t see your daughter for a while.” The mother in Catherine had a hard time saying that to her, but the CSI in her knew she had to follow the rules.
Since they had to wait for the results of the processing of the SUV that Sara and Warrick were working on, further interrogation was of no use, and therefore Brass lead Alice Kenner back to a holding cell.
On her way back to the CSI HQ Catherine had time to rethinking all that had passed.
Was Alice Kenner the one responsible for the hit-and-run leading to the death of an old lady? Catherine wasn’t sure.
The evidence they had thus far pointed to her. The SUV found on her driveway had definitely been involved in an accident.
The answers they had further gotten from Alice Kenner during the interrogation, and especially remembering Sara and her had found something wasn’t right at Brandz’s made her doubt whether Alice was the one they’re looking for.
Meanwhile Sara and Warrick, now both clad in dark blue coveralls, were working their way through the SUV.
After an hour they decided it was time for a short coffee break. Thus far they hadn’t come up with much. Of course, the blood on the outside of the car, and they had collected some of the headlight’s glass to compare with the splinter they had found on the victim’s body.
Sitting in the break room Sara kept mulling over what Catherine and her had found in the car of Mr. Brandz.
“…that she was so concerned for her baby girl.” Warrick had been talking to her, but she hadn’t heard any of it, that is, until he started about the baby girl.
Without saying a thing she placed her mug on the table, stood up and walked out of the break room.
“Sara? Where are you going?” Warrick called after her, a bit confused about Sara’s sudden departure.
“I need to check on something,” she muttered, not even turning back to face Warrick as her mind was working overtime trying to figure everything out.
Sara walked to the layout room she had been in before. Placing the evidence they found at Brandz’s back on the table and picking up the comforter a smile came onto her face. She knew her feeling had been right all along. Now she only had to find out how every piece had to be puzzled together.
Taking the comforter and the blonde hair they had found Sara went to search for Greg. As she found him she handed him both and told him to compare the DNA. Telling him to bring her the results as soon as possible, she headed for the garage again to check something else that had come into her mind.
Catherine walked through the halls as Grissom called her when she passed his office. Warrick had informed him about the case, and how he suggested to search Alice Kenner’s garage.
That’s when Grissom told her he would be doing the search at the Kenner’s residence, together with Brass.
Catherine, becoming angry, felt Grissom was undermining her abilities, but decided to control her anger and try to keep things civilized…Until Grissom gave her some other news…
Nick, who had been working on a 419 at the Bellagio had been brought home by an officer. He had come down with stomach flu and couldn’t continue his case. Therefore, Grissom had handed the case over to Warrick.
However, since Nick would be out for the next couple of days, he told Catherine she had to work his shift.
And the rest that happened is history…
Chapter 8
Back to the present.
The case had developed. Catherine was busy doing paperwork while Sara had been searching for Greg to check up on some evidence.
Half an hour later Sara headed for Catherine’s office. Her senses had been right about Mr. Brandz and the feeling that he was hiding something. So she went to Catherine to inform her of the findings.
“Hey, Catherine?”
“Yeah?” she said as she looked up from the file she was reading.
“Our hunch turned into a case solver,” Sara smiled.
“Really?” Catherine asked curiously.
“Well, remember the blonde hair in the SUV at Mr. Brandz? It belonged to Alice Kenner. I had her DNA compared with the DNA from the saliva found on the comforter. Turns out they have 7 out of 13 alleles in common.”
“Miss Kenner has a baby,” Catherine stated.
Handing over a file Sara continued, “She and her eight month old daughter recently moved to Las Vegas. Guess who sold her a house?”
“Mr. Brandz,” Catherine answered immediately.
“Bingo. Eight days ago Mr. Brandz and Miss Kenner closed the deal. My guess was he switched the cars, so I dusted the number plate of the SUV that’s supposed to be Alice Kenner’s.”
“And those prints came back Mr. Brandz’s,” Catherine answered as in her mind all the pieces of the puzzle fell in place.
“Also, someone tried to scratch the VIN numbers out of both of the cars,” Sara added.
“Well, let’s call Brass to get Mr. Brandz so we can confront him with the evidence.”
“No.”
One brow shot up as Catherine looked over at Sara. “Care to elaborate on that?”
“Well, Alice Kenner is still in the holding-cell. I heard she begged to see her daughter, so since we’ve got enough evidence to nail Brandz I think it’s priority to reunite her with her daughter.”
“Ok. I’ll call Grissom to update him. He’s on his way to search Alice Kenner’s garage.”
“Well, there’s no need for that. Tell him to meet us at Brandz’s in an hour.”
After Sara had been to Alice Kenner -who was still at the PD- and explained her how Mr. Brandz had tried to frame her for the hit-and-run, she picked up Catherine at the CSI HQ and together they went over to Brandz’s place where they would meet up with Grissom and Brass.
Throughout the ride to Brandz’s, Catherine kept sneaking glances over at Sara. Sitting behind the wheel and being involved in cruising through traffic Sara didn’t notice the strawberry blonde’s staring.
During the ride Catherine gathered up all her courage and decided to just be bold and ask Sara out. So, breaking the silence she spoke up.
“Sara.”
“Hmmm,” the brunette muttered, still focusing on the traffic jungle in front of them.
“Would you….uhm…” Catherine’s ability to form complete sentences seemed to vanish in the air.
Stopping for a traffic light Sara turned her head, focusing on the face of the blonde that had fed many of her fantasies during her sleep, a curious look came onto her face as she saw the blonde’s rather flustered state.
“Would you please turn the radio on? We could use something to break the silence,” the blonde asked ‘Damn you weasel. Stupid, stupid! You should’ve asked’ she kicked her butt mentally.
A flash of disappointment crossed over Sara’s face, but was soon replaced by her serious ‘CSI-look’.
“Sure” she answered.
Turning on the radio she let out a sigh, which didn’t go unnoticed by Catherine. This made some of her courage return. She recognized the sigh. It wasn’t one of dismissal, no, it was one of disappointment.
Then and there she decided that, the next opportunity that would come up she would grab with both hands and ask the brunette out on a real date…not just a dinner appointment between co-workers.
Arriving at Brandz’s place they saw Brass and Grissom were already there -standing at the front door. Apparently they had been here for a while and decided it was time to make the arrest.
Knocking on the door Brass called out, “Mr. Brandz open up.”
Not getting an immediate response he knocked again “Mr. Brandz!”
The door opens a little, but as soon as Brandz sees Brass and Grissom he closes the door and runs off through his house -trying to escape via the back garden.
Chapter 9
Meanwhile Sara and Catherine both had climbed out of the Tahoe and leaned against the hood of the car, waiting for the arrest to be made by the police officers before they could process the garage.
Sara, who saw movement in the back garden, told Catherine to start the car and drive it to the back. And the moment that Brandz walked by Sara opened the door, knocking him over.
“Mr Brandz, you should definitely watch where you’re going,” Sara said, as she jumped out of the Tahoe and pulled Brandz back onto his feet.
Catherine who had also left the car had drawn her gun and pointed it at Brandz. Looking over at Sara she saw a smug look on the brunette’s face, and as Sara’s eyes met hers both of their faces showed full-blown smiles, satisfied with solving another case.
Brass came over quickly and took Brandz in custody, telling him his rights while pushing him into the back of his Taurus. Together with Grissom he headed back to the PD.
Catherine and Sara decided to check Brandz’s garage, since the last time they were here we had denied them access to it, which had made them more suspicious at the time, but couldn’t do anything about it then.
Kneeling at a dark red stain on the ground Catherine took some pictures. Sara opened her kit and put on gloves.
She swatted down opposite Catherine and swabbed the stain.
Holding up the now red-colored swab for both of them to see she looked Catherine straight in the eyes.
“There’s no way out for him now. I’ll bet my paycheck this blood will come back the vic’s,” Sara said.
Catherine had nothing but admiration in her eyes. She kept staring at the sparkly brown eyes in front of her, and until she saw Sara blush and heard her cough a little, she was shook out of her deep reverie.
She shot up right, but a bit too fast. Almost tumbling over, Sara was just in time to catch her and steady the strawberry blonde again.
Both of them noticed how each other’s body reacted to their touch. And both of them really liked it. Unconsciously their faces inched closer, but before their lips got even remotely closer Sara’s cell phone rang.
Quickly releasing Catherine out of her grasp, Sara flipped open her cell. A little sigh escaped her throat before she answered.
Catherine looked at the younger woman expectantly, curious about who called, and as Sara mouthed it was Grissom she also let out a sigh.
Grissom wanted to know how far along they were with processing the garage.
“We’re done. We’ll go back to HQ and analyze the blood immediately,” the brunette said.
“Good. Let me know the results of it as soon as possible,” Grissom answered before hanging up.
Back at the HQ Catherine and Sara handed Greg the swab and went to the break room for some coffee while they waited for the results.
In silence they each enjoyed a cup of steamy black liquid, sneaking glances at each other, but not saying a word.
Suddenly Greg stormed in. “Slam dunk!” he said, “Blood’s a match to the vic’s.”
“Nailed the bastard,” Sara stated.
Catherine merely nodded and grabbed her cell, calling Grissom to inform him.
At the PD, Grissom told Brandz about all the evidence they had found. All of it pointed to him, and how he had tried to cover up his actions. Hearing this all Brandz confessed.
He had helped Alice Kenner to a house, and the first time they met he had noticed they had the same SUV. He even made a remark about their cars to Miss Kenner.
The evening of the accident, Brandz had been working late. He had one last business appointment and was on his way over when his phone went. As he reached for his cell he didn’t notice that a woman crossed the street.
Sitting back up straight he saw the woman in front of his car. He tried to brake, but it was no use…
Complete panic came over him, and he fled back home. There he placed the SUV in his garage. Remembering Alice Kenner had the exact same SUV, he switched the cars later that night.
He first tried his own key, and although it didn’t set off the alarm it neither opened the door. Suddenly he remembered that the dealer had told him about a box for a spare key that was placed on the bottom of the car.
Thinking that no one would be so stupid to use that box he was surprised to find the hidden key on Alice Kenner’s car.
To make the switch more believable he also switched the number plates, and filed off the VIN numbers from both SUV’s.
Taking all the stuff from Alice’s car and placing it into his and vice versa he overlooked the comforter.
And as he thought he had taken care of everything he headed back home, placed the SUV under a cover and went inside drowning all his troubles with a glass of whiskey.
“I couldn’t let this ruin my career. My business was doing so well the last months. What was I supposed to do?” was the last thing he said before he was lead out of the interrogation room.
Catherine sat in her office finishing off the paperwork for the Hit-and-Run case as there was a knock on the door.
“Come in.”
“Hey.”
Blue eyes shot up to see twinkling brown eyes staring at her.
“Just wanted to let you know Alice Kenner said to thank you for helping her,” Sara said leaning against the doorframe.
“Well, it was you who felt something was off from the start…so all the credits are for you.”
The strawberry blonde’s face was showing a smile. “See, sometimes it’s good to follow your heart.”
Suddenly finding courage in Catherine’s words, Sara walked over to Catherine’s desk -their eyes still locked, and smiles still plastered on their faces. She took the older woman’s hand and placed it over her heart.
“I do follow my heart. More often than you think,” She said as she closed the gap between them. She placed a soft kiss on Catherine’s lips, her tongue quickly grazing along the older woman’s bottom lip.
“See?” Sara stated seriously as she leaded back, earning her a smile from the strawberry-blonde.
“So how about a dinner-date?” Catherine asked.
“I thought you’d never ask,” Sara answered before engaging their lips once again in a smoldering kiss.
The End
Thank you for reading! Comments are greatly appreciated!