Warning: This story deals with child death.
Gil Grissom, chief of the Las Vegas Crime Scene Investigations unit, knelt down to examine the body of the girl.
"Her name's Karyn Davis, 12, disappeared on her way home from school two days ago." Captain Jim Brass, homicide detective, told him.
"She's a little older than Lindsey." Catherine Willows uttered painfully, looking at the girl who was close to her daughters age.
"You know..." Sara Sidle began as she took the photos, "she looks posed."
Grissom and Catherine took a step back and nodded seeing what she meant.
"Signature?" Catherine asked.
"I'll look into it." Brass replied.
"Let's process the evidence." Grissom ordered.
The trio of investigators got to work, each with the hope that whoever did this wouldn't do it again.
Grissom looked up as Brass came into his office later that night.
"No record of this kind of pose on a victim, anything in the evidence?"
"She wasn't sexually assaulted in any way, she died from asphyxiation."
"Why a kid?" Brass sighed.
"That's what the evidence would tell us but she wasn't killed there so we have little to go on."
"How long before rigors sets in?" Brass asked.
"Normally 3 to 4 hours. It varies by several factors though."
"So he could have held her for the two days before we found her... that kid must have been scared to death. Damn bastard!"
"Anything from her parents?"
"No, they aren't suspects and didn't know of anyone who would do this. No one seemed to hate them that much."
"We're still looking at a few things, maybe that will help." Grissom nodded.
"Let's hope so, see you later." Brass bade and left.
Grissom picked up the photos Sara took and looked at them.
"She was posed." He murmured. "Who did this to you Karyn, and why?"
"Not another one." Catherine paled at seeing the girl.
"Tina Wilcox, 11, never made it to school this morning." Brass replied.
"Again... posed. Why? It has to mean something." Sara frowned.
"At least to the killer." Grissom said joining them.
"This whole town is going to go nuts when this hits the papers." Brass sighed.
"I'm sure as hell going to take Lindsey to and from school." Catherine said.
"Let's get to work, maybe they got sloppy this time." Grissom replied.
Brass left to talk to the family, hoping they or anyone on her school route could provide a clue as to who was behind these heart-wrenching crimes.
Grissom finished his notes and went down the hall to Bryan.
"Give me a map of Vegas and show me where these girls were found."
"You got it." Bryan nodded and set to work, it came up a few minutes later.
"North and east... how far apart?"
"Three miles."
"Can you impose these pictures on those locations?" Grissom handed them over and the man scanned them.
"What do the poses mean?"
"That's our Rosetta Stone."
"So... if we can figure that out we might just find out who's behind this." Sara replied as she and Catherine joined them.
Catherine studied the screen willing herself to find a clue.
"Grissom." Brass called from the doorway.
The C.S.I.er went to speak to him.
"It seems familiar... I just wish I knew why." Sara sighed.
"Sara, Catherine, my office." Grissom called leaving.
The women looked at each other then followed the men there.
"Brass got an interesting phone call." He looked to the cop.
"Guy with a Australian accent called, gave us a name to check out, Paul Ceres, escaped from prison in Australia six months ago... he was doing time for the murder of four young girls down there. This is what the Sydney police faxed to us." He handed the women some photos.
"Same poses... except this last one." Sara frowned.
"Probably didn't get then chance to move her before he was caught. The guy thought he was the Christ... the three were set up in a pattern to resemble a crucifix, the fourth probably would have finished it." Brass said.
"We need to find him before he kills these last two." Grissom added.
"We have an A.P.B. out." Brass answered.
"So who was the guy who called?" Sara wondered.
"Obviously someone familiar with the original case. Thank God he called." Catherine replied.
"Yeah... go find out where the two remaining victims should turn up based on this information." Grissom ordered.
The women nodded and left to see Bryan.
"What do you have on the caller?" He asked.
"Too short to trace but we're checking with the phone company." Brass answered.
"That could take a while."
"Time we might not have."
"What about the cops who caught Ceres, maybe they'd have some insight."
"Actually..." Brass looked through the faxes, "they gave the credit to one of yours. He quit after this case." He answered and handed the fax to Grissom.
"Ceres was convicted with the testimony of Sydney Crime Scene Investigator Matthew Anders..." Grissom read and stared at the reproduced photo of the man and the wheels started spinning. "Why would Ceres come all the way to America and pick up his killing spree? Why here in Vegas? Why not New York or Miami?"
"Didn't want to be caught so easily by his countrymen." Brass shrugged.
Grissom shook his head and held up the paper.
"I'll lay you Vegas odds Ceres came here because Anders is here."
"In Vegas?" Brass eyed him.
"Sure. The hunter and the prey."
"Who's who?"
"Anders is the hunted this time." Grissom answered. "We find him, we find our killer."
"Good luck, I doubt he's in the phone book." Brass frowned.
"Not the book... but he was on the phone." Grissom smiled.
"Yeah... it could have been Anders who told us about Ceres." Brass nodded slowly. "I'm gonna light a few fires at the phone company." He added and left.
Grissom looked at the photo and nodded to the man as an equal.
Brass had the location in hand two hours later and stopped by for Grissom.
The pair went to the security office and viewed the tapes of the phone banks for when the call came in.
"There he is." Grissom nodded.
"What do you want with Rick?"
"Rick?" Brass asked the security man.
"Yeah, Rick Walters, been here about 5 years, reps. the casino."
"Damn, knew he looked familiar. Remember the basketball player's kid..."
"Yeah, the ex-girlfriend tried blackmail." Grissom nodded.
"You got an address?" Brass asked.
"Yeah, if you hurry you might be able to catch him before he leaves town. He's not in trouble is he?" The security man wrote it down.
"No." Grissom assured him.
The pair pulled up at the apartment complex a short time later.
"White Cavalier." Grissom noted.
"He's still here then." Brass nodded and they started up the stairs.
A door opened and a man carrying luggage stepped out.
"Excuse me." Brass called and the man turned.
"Matt Anders." Grissom said.
The taller man turned and ran for the other stairs.
"Stop! We just want to talk to you!" Brass called taking after him.
Grissom thought for a moment then went down the stairs and waited.
Brass silently cursed as the lankier man disappeared around the corner. By the time he got there the Aussie was nowhere in sight and he carefully walked down the stairs with gun drawn. He wouldn't shoot the man but maybe it would make him stop. They needed the man to help them catch Ceres. He halted on the bottom step then quickly dashed around the corner... to find no one there. "Great, he got away!" He muttered and headed back to the apartment.
Grissom tossed something in the air and caught it as he walked to the car and knocked on the window. The man inside jumped, startled, and saw what Grissom held, the sparkplug, and his head fell forward as Grissom opened the door.
"I don't want to be involved."
"You're already involved, Matt." Grissom said as Brass arrived.
"You don't know--"
"Yeah, we do. You caught Ceres once, that's why we need you." Grissom interrupted.
"Stop him again before another little girl dies." Brass urged.
"I just... I came here to put the whole bloody thing behind me." Matt sighed removing the keys from the ignition. "He's a real sick mongrel, fancies himself the Christ." He added getting out of the car.
"We know. You studied him, where will he hole up?" Brass asked.
"I don't know, this isn't like home." He answered locking the door.
"Wanna put that back, mate?" He requested nodding toward Grisssom then headed for the stairs.
"We're not through." Brass called.
"Can't bloody well leave my stuff out in the open here, can I?" Matt replied and went up.
Catherine and Sara walked into Grissom's office after being summoned and took in the man there, brown hair starting to grey at the temples. Both women,different as they were,were attracted to him.
"Catherine Willows, Sara Sidle, this is Matt Anders, Australian C.S.I."
"Ex." Matt corrected Grissom and nodded to them.
"He got Ceres the first time." Grissom informed them.
"The mystery caller huh?" Sara deduced.
Catherine saw his eyes, they seemed to say he'd rather be anywhere but here.
"See anything?" Brass asked as Matt put the file down.
"Same pattern. I need a map of where the two girls were found."
"We know about the cross." Sara said.
"He killed them not very far from where he left them to be found."
"What about the poses." Catherine asked.
Matt dropped his eyes and shrugged then looked at Grissom.
"The map?"
"Right, Sara, set it up again."
She nodded and Matt followed her out.
"I gotta get back, let me know if he turns up anything." Brass requested and left.
"He knows what the poses mean." Catherine said certainly.
"Yeah." Grissom agreed.
"Do you?"
"No, but we push too hard and we push him right over the edge. Let's find Ceres first then figure out the poses."
Sara watched Matt look at the map with the girls photos overlaid.
"See something?" She asked after he seemed to stare at it for several seconds.
"What?" He looked at her.
"If you can't stay focused you're no good to us." She said bluntly.
He looked at her a moment the turned back to the map and pointed.
"Here. He's somewhere in this area."
"You're sure?" Grissom asked as they came in.
"It's equa-distance from each victim and future victims location in the crucifix. What is this area comprised of?"
Catherine quickly checked the computer and printed a list for him.
"Thanks." He gave her a slight smile then perused it. "Are these houses abandoned?"
"Probably, there used to be a corporation near-by but it folded, those homes were for the employees." Grissom answered.
"What about the corporate building?" Matt asked.
"Demolished. The city council tore it down for a shopping center but it never happened." Catherine answered.
"The waterplant is big, plenty of places to hide and hold a child prisoner." Sara looked at the list.
"Too big, he has no control of who comes and goes. It's gotta be a house, one with a basement, he built a false wall the last time and had an escape route leading a kilometer out to another house where he kept a car." Matt replied.
"I'll talk to Brass." Grissom nodded.
"You look like you could use some coffee." Catherine offered.
"Thanks." Matt nodded gratefully and followed her out.
"What is this Ceres guy about? Why kill girls?" She asked pouring a cup for him.
"He wants to free them." Matt stared at the coffee.
"Why does he pose--"
"I don't want to talk about it anymore." He cut her off and turned away.
"Hey," She touched his arm, "I know about bad memories from a case, I've had my share."
"I know we need to find him... but he left me with a lot of demons."
"If you want to talk..."
Matt shook his head.
"It's an open invitation." She smiled as her cell phone rang.
"Excuse me." She added and walked across the room to take the call.
"Where's Matt?" Grissom asked.
"Went for coffee with Catherine... fifteen minutes ago." Sara answered.
"Hey... where's Matt?"
"He went with you." sara replied with a frown.
"Lindsey called and when I was finished he was gone."
"We'd better find him." Grissom said heading for the door.
They split up and went for the exits figuring the Aussie would try to get out of the building. Grissom strode past his office and came back seeing someone out the corner of his eye. He studied the man looking at the photos of Ceres previous victims and saw how haunted Matt looked by them. This consumed him... that's why he ran.
"Grissom?" Catherine joined him.
"This case destroyed him." He replied stepping away from the door.
"Yeah it did." She agreed feeling empathy for the man.
"Maybe his path of redemption is finding Ceres before he finishes this cross."
Catherine nodded silently hoping he was right.
"Guys, we checked the houses, one has definitely been occupied lately." Brass said joining them.
"We'd better get there then."
They all looked over to see Matt in the doorway.
"Let's go." Grissom nodded.
Brass, Grissom, Sara, Catherine and Matt arrived at the house to see police surrounding it. Brass led the way inside and Sergeant O'Reilly motioned them downstairs to the basement.
"Process it." Grissom ordered, after seeing a chair with duct tape still on it.
Matt walked around the room and came to a paneled wall. He was startled to see a pair of latex gloves appear in front of him.
"Evidence." Grissom said.
Matt nodded and donned the gloves then began pushing at panels... the fourth one caused part the wall to swing inward.
"Stay behind us." Brass ordered pulling his gun.
Brass, two other officers then Grissom and Matt filed into the tunnel.
"How far did you say?" Brass called after twenty minutes.
"A kilometer."
They hurried and soon came to a set of stairs. Brass motioned them all to be silent and the three cops slowly climbed the stairs and cautiously pushed the trapdoor up... they rushed into the room to find it empty.
"Grissom." Brass called and the two men entered. "We'll put a team on both houses." He said and called it in.
Grissom nodded and saw Matt looking around then he knelt down and lifted the rug.
"What is it?" He asked joining the man.
"His map."
They turned the rug over and found it was a map drawn in marker with numbers one through three painted on it.
"Placements." Matt said touching each number, three was still wet. "He's killed his third victim already."
"Brass!"
The cop came over and was told so he called the surveillance teams at the third point of the crucifix to be on the lookout for the serial killer as he could be headed there.
The black sedan slowed down upon seeing the police cars on the street then it continued on. The driver reached over and stroked the hair of the young silent female passenger with a smile. "I have a safe place for you sheila... then I have an errand to run." Paul Ceres said looking in the rearview mirror at the house as he drove away from it.
Brass phone rang and he walked away to answer.
"We did our best Matt." Grissom said.
"He killed three girls!" Matt spat and walked to the window.
"And we just may stop him from killing a fourth."
"May! There's no guarantee!" He replied angrily.
"We got the bastard!" Brass called.
"You got him?" Matt asked almost in disbelief.
"He went to the third site... the girl was already dead." He imparted the grim news as well.
"But he won't get a fourth." Grissom replied.
"I need to get back to question him." Brass nodded and left them.
"It's over, he won't escape again."
"Over... it'll never be over for me." Matt uttered and headed back to the stairs before Grissom could ask what he meant.
Brass closed the door with a sigh and rubbed his temples.
"That bad huh?" Grissom asked as the foursome joined him.
"He had to set them free." Brass sighed again as Matt walked over to the two way mirror. "we've contacted the Australian Embassy about how they want to handle this--"
"What's he doing?" Sara asked as Ceres stood in front of the mirror and smiled.
"Hello Matt."
They all looked to the forensics man who had paled.
"We finished the game... or did we? You remember how the game went... don't you? Of course you do Matt. Checkmate!" Ceres started laughing.
"What does he--" Brass started to ask when Matt whirled on them ashen faced.
"Do you have a daughter?!?"
"I do." Catherine said frowning.
"Oh please sweet Lord!" He uttered and bolted.
The others ran after him with Grissom reaching him first.
"What?!?" He demanded.
"Ceres has her daughter!"
"No! Lindsey is at a friends. My nanny dropped her off!" Catherine replied grabbing her phone.
"He has her." Matt shook his head, anguished.
"Hi Bonnie, it's Catherine, can I talk to Lindsey? What do you mean she's not there?!?"
"I'll get a unit to your place." Brass said and hurried away.
Grissom put an arm around Catherine who had disconnected and tried again.
"There's no answer at home." She said with trembling voice.
"Where would he have taken her?!?" Sara demanded of Matt.
"She's buried somewhere... two hours of oxygen at the most."
"Oh... God..." Catherine sobbed.
"Do you have any idea where she might be?" Grissom asked.
Matt closed his eyes and leaned against the wall.
"Damn it!" Sara cursed and started for the stairs.
"The map." Matt said stopping her.
"The map?" Grissom asked.
"I need to see it." Matt nodded.
Catherine reached deep down and found her strength and led them there.
Matt silently made gestures toward it, as if measuring something then pointed above where the first victim was found.
"Why there?" Sara demanded.
"The Ascension." Matt replied.
"I'll tell Brass." Sara ran out.
"Are you sure?" Catherine looked at Matt, tears in her eyes. "That's my baby."
"I'm sure." He nodded.
Brass had the whole force out going over the area Matt indicated. Catherine refused to stay behind and was at the scene with Grissom and Sara.
"We've got something!" An officer called.
They dug and found a box, long enough to fit a girl Lindsey's size, and pried it open.
"LINDSEY!" Catherine cried as her daughter was lifted out and placed on a stretcher. "Mommy's here baby." Catherine stroked her hair as tears poured down her face.
"Mommy." Lindsey whispered and her eyes fluttered open.
"Hi baby." Catherine smiled through her tears.
"We need to get her to the hospital." The EMT said and they boarded the ambulance.
"Thank God we found her in time." Sara uttered.
"God... and Matt Anders." Grissom nodded.
"I need to check her." The nurse said coming inside and carrying a stuffed koala.
"Who's your friend?" Catherine smirked holding her daughter's hand.
"Actually, the man asked me to give this to Lindsey."
The girl grinned, taking it.
"What man?" Catherine asked concerned.
"Didn't leave a name, tall, dark hair with a touch of grey, brown eyes, Australian accent..." The nurse smiled.
"Honey, I need to go into the hall for a minute..." Catherine said and stood.
"We'll be fine." The nurse promised and smiled at Lindsey who played with the koala.
Catherine nodded and hurried out to catch Matt but he was nowhere in sight.
The elevator doors opened and Grissom stepped out.
"How is she?"
"Good. We've been talking about what happened. I think she'll be okay."
"Like her mom." Grissom nodded.
"Hey Sara." Catherine nodded to her as she walked up.
"Hey." She said solemnly.
"You okay?" Grissom asked.
"Brass called... there was an accident... Nick is dead."
The trio stood there stunned by the news of the loss of their colleague.
"What next?" Catherine sighed deeply and returned to Lindsey.
Grissom and Sara looked at each other wondering that themselves.
The End