Title: Appearances Author: Amy aka Lady Julieanne Pairing: C/S Rating: PG-13 (because I'm no good at ratings) Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever, own the rights to the show or the characters. Feedback: Please? js1n2001@yahoo.com Distribution/Archiving: Just ask. I like to know where my work goes. Summary: A string of strange murders causes the whole night shift to pull extra shifts to try to catch the killer. A/N: So, we wrap the case up and Greg finds out about the raltionship between our two favorite ladies. I think that about explains it all. ************************************************************************* Catherine had barely whispered her okay to Sara’s plans before the phone on Sara's desk rang. Sara left one hand on Catherine’s hip as she leaned across her desk to answer the phone. “Sidle.” She said as she straightened up, once again facing Catherine. Catherine couldn’t tell who was on the other end of the phone, but Sara seemed excited to hear the news. “Yeah. Okay. I can be there in fifteen minutes. Thanks.” Sara hung up the phone and scribbled something on a piece of paper before returning to Catherine. “See, we would have gotten interrupted anyway. But, as incentive…” Sara left her sentence unfinished as she pulled Catherine to her for a searing kiss. Sara pulled away leaving Catherine flushed and breathless. Sara straightened up and pushed Catherine lightly away from her. “I’ve got to get to the suspect’s house. Don’t forget to talk to Grissom.” With a light kiss on Catherine’s cheek, Sara was gone. Catherine remained in Sara’s office long enough to catch her breath and calm down. Catherine headed down the hall and found Grissom in the conference room reviewing all the files. “Grissom? I need a favor.” Catherine said as she walked in the door. “I need a big favor, actually.” Catherine said as she realized that she would essentially be asking for the night off for half of the graveyard shift. Grissom removed his glasses and stared at Catherine. He noted right away that she seemed nervous, and he knew that what ever she was about to ask for was important to her. He had never seen her this nervous before. “Yeah?” “Well, I was wondering if maybe, when we finish up this case, maybe you could let Sara, Greg and I take off. I mean Sara and Greg have both been on for two days, and I’ve been here only a little less than that. I’m sure you and Warrick and Nick can handle everything.” Catherine looked a little flustered. She had no idea what she would say if Grissom really asked why she wanted the three of them off. She couldn’t lie to him. But right now, the truth wasn’t a good option either. “Yeah.” Catherine stared at Grissom, shocked at how easily he had given in to her request. “But I’m going to need you and Greg back tomorrow. Sara worked through her day off this week, so she won’t have to come back in. Where is Sara now?” “Brass called. She’s on her way to the suspect’s house. She kind of took over this one huh? I mean I didn’t even know we had a suspect and she’s already headed over to his place. Did she tell you what’s going on?” Catherine asked. “No. All she said was that it was all right here in the files, and I’m beginning to think she was right. Of the five victims, only one stands out in anyway. She was not a prostitute like the others, she was a housewife. She also did not have any illegal drugs in her system, only the Percocet. The fiber reports detail that the fibers were clean-cut, not part of clothes, but basically debris from the manufacturer. Only three manufacturers in the Las Vegas area use the chemical dye solution found on the fibers. And the husband of our housewife happens to work at one of the manufacturers. It’s all alarmingly simple.” “Oh.” Was all that Catherine said. It did seem to be overly simple. “So what took so long in putting it all together then?” “I think we all focused on our aspects of the case. Plus the housewife, Mrs. Alicia Walker, was the fourth victim.” “Ah.” Catherine’s pager beeped letting her know that Greg was still looking for her. She left Grissom in the conference room and headed off towards Greg’s lab. “You paged?” She asked as she entered. “Catherine, just the lovely lady I was looking for.” Greg grinned like he was holding back some big secret. Catherine silently wondered if he would forget the deal. “You went out on that B&E earlier right?” “Yeah Greg. Just because were chasing down a serial doesn’t mean the rest of Vegas suddenly quits killing each other. What have you got for me?” Catherine tried to think about what she would have given Greg to run for her. There was no evidence at the scene to contradict the story of the homeowner, the only mystery was who the dead body was. “I ID’d your victim. Two time loser for residential burglary. His prints came through on AFIS just a minute ago.” Greg handed the computer print-out to Catherine and she turned to leave to room. “Oh Catherine?” Greg called to her before she was completely out the door. “Yeah.” I guess he didn’t forget, Catherine thought to herself. “So when are you going to tell me? C’mon I’ve been good.” Greg had somehow instantly reverted to childhood. He looked like a child begging for his favorite toy. “After work Greg, I promise. I cut a deal with Grissom. You, Sara, and I will all get the rest of the day off after Sara gets an arrest on the serial. She wanted to be there, so I figured we could all head out for a night on the town, get you all liquored up and then I’d tell you.” And hopefully you’ll be so far gone by then that when you wake up in the morning, you’ll forget everything. But Catherine didn’t dare say that part out loud. “Fun. Sara agreed to this? Going out with me and getting drunk. I just might change her mind about this mystery guy. I can be really charming when I’m not at work.” Greg kidded. “Well, Sara went of to our suspect’s house to gather evidence so she doesn’t know about the drinking part yet. But I seriously doubt you could change her mind. From what I can tell she’s head over heels in love.” With me. Catherine felt a surge of happiness knowing that Sara did love her. Catherine left Greg in the lab to continue his work and she went to her office to get some of her own work done. Sara’s pager beeped just as she was pulling into the CSI lot. She checked the number on her pager: Brass. Probably wants to let me know Mr. Walker is in interrogation. He’ll just have to wait. Sara thought as she grabbed the evidence from the back of the Tahoe and headed inside. Once inside she found Greg in the lab. “Greg-o. I’ve got more work for you.” She set an evidence bag in front of him. “I need a chemical analysis on this as soon as you can Greg. Then compare it to what we’ve already got.” Greg finally shifted his attention to Sara. “Salve? Sara c’mon. I’m so much more talented than this. Besides, what do you think I can tell you that you haven’t already figured out?” “C’mon Greg. Just a chemical analysis and compare it to the swabs we have from the victims. I know it will give you a generic make-up, but just do it. The more we get against this guy, the better my chances are of making it out of this building sometime this week.” Sara’s frustration started to show. “Okay. No problem. But just remember, we’re going out tonight, and I fully expect you to buy me beer for all this work.” Greg continued to kid even as he began prepping the evidence. “No chance. Buy your own. Besides haven’t we made enough deals already?” Sara said as she left the lab. Sara found Catherine in her office. “Catherine?” “Yeah?” Catherine responded instantly to hearing her name, but didn’t look up from her paperwork. “Can you help me out?” Sara asked from the doorway. Catherine looked up and saw Sara fidgeting at the doorway. “Anything you need.” Catherine replied with a grin. “Good. I need help with some evidence. I haven’t had lunch, or breakfast for that matter, and Brass paged me a couple minutes ago. You think you can check tool marks for me? I found similar polypropylene rope at the suspect’s house and I need to see if the cut ends match, and then see if any of the cutting tools I brought back from his place match the marks on the ends of the rope. Plus you know, the faster I get things done, the faster I get out of here.” “Sounds OK to me. I needed a break from the paperwork anyway. You know, when I started this job there wasn’t nearly as much paper-pushing going on. Now I feel like Grissom with all the forms I have to fill out.” Sara chuckled at Catherine’s distaste for paperwork because she felt exactly the same way. “Thanks. I’m going to go see if Brass can give me a few minutes before we start questioning Mr. Walker. I’d really like to get some food in me.” Sara headed down the hall to find Brass. Sara wandered down to the interview rooms and found Brass sitting across the table from a smiling, middle-aged white male with dark hair that was peppered with gray. Sara couldn’t see anything in his appearance that would indicate that he had ruthlessly killed five women, but she felt in her gut that he was their guy. “Brass? Got a second?” She asked as she opened the door. Brass nodded his head and followed her into the hall. “Yeah?” He didn’t sound as irritated as he had this morning, so Sara figured she might be able to convince him to give her some more time. “Think we can let him stew in there for a little bit? I’d really like to grab something for lunch real quick. Plus I pulled some favors and I’ve got the evidence from his place running right now.” “Sure. He seems comfortable enough. But try to hurry, would you? I’d like to get this over with.” Brass headed back into the interview room as Sara headed down the hall to see what was left in the break room for her to snack on. Sara knew that she should have grabbed something to eat before coming back to the office. The only thing left in the break room was the remnants of someone’s birthday cake and a single can of soda. Sara made a mental note to eat a big dinner when she left. Sara lingered in the break room longer than was necessary, but she figured no one would miss her for a little while. She tried to catch up on the news only to discover that some had absconded with half of the newspaper. Giving up, Sara decided to return to her work. With any luck she would be done a in just a couple of hours. Early enough to have a late lunch and eat some real food. She headed down to the interview room and was almost there when Greg rounded a corner and called out her name. Sara stopped and waited for Greg to catch up with her. “Chemical analysis on the salve. Composition matches the swabs from all the victims. It’s not unique, but it will be one more nail in the guy’s coffin.” “Thanks Greg.” Sara took the report and headed into the interview room. Sara tossed the lab report to Brass and calmly sat next to him. Brass reviewed the papers, his facial expressions making it seem as if whatever was in the file was more damaging than it really was. It was a game he played, and played well. Mr. Walker appeared as calm as ever, but his eyes rapidly moved back and forth between Sara and Brass. “He knows his rights?” Sara asked, even though technically this wasn’t a police interrogation. Brass had counted on Sara getting enough to have James Walker arrested, and so had already read him his rights, and had him sign off on them. “Yeah. I keep telling to get an attorney, but he doesn’t seem to want one. I thought about calling the Public Defender’s office to see if they have someone available. But then I figured if he wants to bury himself, we’ll let him.” Brass said with a smirk. “Good. Mr. Walker, do you know why we brought you in?” Sara asked as she looked directly at the suspect. “Yeah. My wife was murdered. And you seem to think I’m somehow involved.” Mr. Walker crossed his arms in front of his chest and did his best to look annoyed. “Actually, we know you were involved.” Sara said. In reality there was nothing concrete yet to prove his involvement, but Sara didn’t want him to know that. She hoped Catherine was able to come up with something on the tool marks. “See, your wife was murdered in quite a strange way. And so were four other women.” James showed no sign of shock, or any other emotion as Sara began to explain the details. “But your wife, see, she was the only one to stand out in any kind of way. She was not a prostitute like the others. She didn’t take illegal drugs like the others.” “What’s all this got to do with me?” He didn’t seem nervous, but Sara could tell he was itching to get out the building. “See, we not only investigate the crime scene and the death, but we also investigate the lives of the victims. Often, it helps us learn more about the killer. Your wife wasn’t happy was she?” Sara tried switching tracks and started talking about his wife instead of the mostly circumstantial evidence. “Are married people ever happy?” James joked bitterly. “Did you know she was seeing a therapist?” Sara asked. She had found Alicia’s day planner at the Walker residence. Mrs. Walker was also planning on seeing a divorce attorney. The appointment would have been two days from today. “Yeah. She started going to therapy a few years back when her father died. She had some real problems dealing with the old man’s death.” Sara wondered how he could be so cold hearted. There was absolutely no emotion in his voice or mannerisms at all. Catherine opened the door to the interview room and slipped her report under Sara’s arm before she retreated out the door again. Sara stopped her questioning long enough to pick out the important parts. Match. On both the cut ends of the rope, and a pair of kitchen shears from Mr. Walker’s residence. Sara slid the report to Brass and watched as a slow smile crept across his face. Now that she had something concrete, Sara skipped the basics. “Why did you kill her?” Mr. Walker had no way of knowing what was in the report and he didn’t really seem to care. “Mostly because I didn’t like her.” Sara was shocked he admitted to killing his wife so easily. She was also taken aback by the fact that he was still not showing any emotion at all, as if he hadn’t killed five people, including his wife. He looked more like a person accused of killing a fly. The look in his eyes was cold and dead. “What do you mean mostly?” Sara hated to admit it, but she was fascinated by his cold demeanor. He killed five women, probably stayed at the hotel rooms to watch them die, and he was acting as if he had done absolutely nothing wrong. “And what about the other four? Why’d you kill them?” “Because I could.” His stone-face answer sent chills through Sara’s body. “And because you weren’t supposed to figure it out. Alicia was supposed to be just another victim. You weren’t supposed to figure it out.” He didn’t look angry or upset that he had killed his wife or four other people, just upset that he got caught. Sara began thinking that that beer Greg was talking about was a good idea. “Brass...” Sara started to ask Brass to have Mr. Walker arrested, but Brass was already moving. For a second time, Mr. Walker was read his rights. Brass left with Mr. Walker and headed towards booking. Sara headed down the hall toward Grissom’s office to fill him on the arrest. And hopefully after she talked with him she would be able to get out of here. She desperately needed to remember what the outside world was like. Grissom was once again playing with his insects. Sara told him about her search at the Walker residence, how she had found the rope, the kitchen shears, and everything else. He seemed please to hear the Mr. Walker admitted to the murders. “He didn’t even sound remorseful. Or like he cared at all.” Sara shivered when she remembered the cold, unfeeling look in his eyes. “True psychopaths don’t care. Most spend their entire lives making the world believe they care, but in reality, it’s all just an act.” Grissom said thoughtfully. “Well, most of the case will be circumstantial. The only solid evidence is the rope, the shears, and his little confession. But it’s good enough to put him away.” Sara said as she turned to leave. “Sara? Don’t let it get to you too much, and have a good time tonight.” Were Grissom’s parting words. Sara was excited to finally be able to leave. She wasn’t really satisfied with the way case ended, she really wished they had more to go on, but it doesn’t always work out that way. Sara found Catherine and Greg lounging in the break room. “What took you so long?” Greg asked. “Catherine and I have just been discussing the best places to hit the town tonight. What do you think?” “Someplace where I can get something to eat and drink. That’s all that matters to me. The only thing I’ve had to eat in the past twelve hours is leftover birthday cake. Let’s go.” Sara said. Catherine drove the trio out to a restaurant where Sara could order some food, and Greg was busy acting like he didn’t really want to know about Sara’s mystery man. Both Catherine and Sara wondered how long he would continue before just blabbering on about it. After all, it was the only thing they could get him to talk about for the past two days. Greg waited until they left the restaurant and ended up at a bar. Catherine’s plan to get him wasted was off to a good start as she started doing shooters with him. They started with a Three Wise Men and Heineken chasers. Sara was amazed at the amount of liquor Catherine could drink. Greg seemed seriously out of it by the time he remembered their deal, and Catherine, cool as ever, looked like she hadn’t even begun drinking. “So, Catherine. You ever going to tell me who stole my Sara’s heart?” Greg’s words were a little slurred, and as Sara looked at him, she could see him swaying slightly in his seat. Sara hadn’t had nearly as much to drink as she had originally intended, but at least one of them needed to remain mostly sober. “Greg, it’s cute that you think my heart was yours, but I got to tell you, it never was,” Sara told him. If he hadn’t been drunk, the look on his face might have been broken-hearted, but his scrunched up face just simply looked funny in the dark of the bar. Sara tried her best not to laugh at him. “I know, I know. But a guy can dream can’t he?” Greg took another swig of his beer and hailed the waitress for another round. “Buy you another if you finally tell me.” He suggested. Catherine had been relatively quiet during the exchange, but apparently decided that now was the time to let Greg in on their relationship. Catherine slowly got up from the chair she was sitting at and moved so that she was standing next to Sara. She nudged Sara’s chair until Sara stood up. Sara looked at Catherine, completely confused. Catherine stared back at her with intense fire burning in her eyes. Sara had a vague idea of what was going to be coming her way, one hell of a heated kiss. That look in Catherine’s eyes only meant one thing. Catherine simply reached around Sara and moved the chair. She then put her hands on Sara’s shoulders and sat her back down. Catherine followed Sara into the chair, wrapping her legs around its back. Catherine settled herself into Sara’s lap and leaned forward and kissed Sara. Sara kissed back with just as much desire. She didn’t really care that Greg was sitting across the table from them, and she completely forgot about him when Catherine slipped her hands under Sara’s shirt. Greg sat across the table slowly putting everything together. When the two finally separated, Greg stared at them in shock. Catherine made no effort to move from her position in Sara’s lap. “So, uh…” Greg stammered. He couldn’t believe what he had just seen. Even he could tell, drunk or not, that that was definitely not the first kiss the two had shared. Sara turned her head and smiled widely at Greg. “You two um…” Catherine leaned forward and began nipping at the skin on Sara’s neck. She didn’t care what Greg thought, this was the first time in days she had been able to kiss her girlfriend without the fear of getting caught in the workplace. All she wanted was Sara. Sara tried to focus on Greg, though Catherine was doing a very good job at distracting her. “Yeah. The card, it said C. You know…” Greg put it together. “Catherine. Wow. I mean… I’m not sure what I mean.” He flagged down the waitress for more alcohol as he watched Sara and Catherine while they continued kissing. “A man sure can dream…” He said quietly to himself. ************************************************************************* This part was a little longer than I orignally planned. And I'm sure you noticed that the result of the case wasn't completely explained. But, in real life not everything is explained either. So, if you think you deserve it, I can write an epilogue to this. Remember, Feedback Matters!