WARNING: This chapter deals with violence directed at children.
Chapter 12: The Sum Of All Tears
"I believe these are the last ones," Sara said as she hoisted a large box into the back of the car.
Catherine placed another box inside and swiped a hand across her forehead. "Pfff, it better be, 'cause if I have to carry two more I won't be able to work tonight."
"Hmmm," Sara purred as she reached for her strawberry blonde lover. "I think I can manage to find two more, I like the idea of having you at home tonight." She brushed her lips across Catherine's, a moan escaping as she felt the older woman's tongue sliding along her own.
Catherine pulled back the moment the brunette gave in to deepen the kiss, earning her a growl of the brunette. "Sorry babe, you'll have to wait till tomorrow. Warrick's off tonight, you're off. Can't have the team missing another member, you know crime won't wait."
She reached up, cupping Sara's cheek before continuing with a sexy grin on her face. "As for us, you know it only gets better when you have to wait for something you so very much want."
Before the brunette could reply she bent over and claimed Sara's lips in a fierce kiss. She then quickly stepped back, leaving a panting brunette behind as she stepped into the car.
Sara shook her head -a silly grin on her face, then walked to the front of the car, climbing in on the driver's seat. Lindsey, who was seated in the back, was totally engrossed in a pile of comic books she had discovered in Sara's apartment.
***
It was almost four o' clock when the three women arrived at the now Willows-Sidle residence. Together they started to unload the car, each of them carrying a box inside.
"Why don't we eat something first," Sara said as she placed the box in the hall. "You've got about an hour left until you need to work. Lindsey and I'll get everything later on, right Lindsey?"
"Yeah," the youngest Willows answered, "Besides, you said we'd celebrate the moving."
"Right," Catherine said, placing a box inside, then weeping her forehead. "How 'bout Chinese?"
Sara gave Lindsey a high-five as Catherine reached for the phone, smiles plastered on all three of their faces.
***
Catherine entered the CSI HQ, taking quick steps towards the break room where Grissom was probably already waiting on her before handing out the assignments. She had run a bit late due to their moving-celebration-dinner.
"Hey, Gil," she greeted as she entered the room, noticing only the grey-bearded supervisor was around.
"Catherine," he replied.
"I'm sorry I'm late. We were moving Sara's stuff this afternoon and celebrated. We kinds lost track of time during dinner."
"Oh," was the only response Grissom had to Catherine's words, then he pushed a sheet of paper towards the strawberry blonde.
"Two DBs found on a playground in a residential area. This is the address. Vartan is already there," Grissom added.
"Alright," Catherine said as she grabbed the sheet and headed for the locker room. Grissom's reaction had still surprised the strawberry blonde. Of course she knew it would take time for him to adjust to the fact Sara and her were in a relationship, but it still hurt her that their years-old friendship suffered because of it.
Opening her locker she looked at a picture of Sara, Lindsey, and herself. She first traced the face of her daughter, then that of her lover -a warm feeling settling in her body, effectively calming her down and forgetting Grissom's behavior.
Her thoughts gathered and she focused on her assignment, preparing herself for what was to come. Working on a scene with two DBs on her own was going to be a lot of work, but she would give her best.
After gathering her kit -making sure it was filled with all the necessities for working a scene, she headed out, getting into a Tahoe and heading out for the given address.
***
As she entered the street she was met with flashing blue lights, reflecting from all over the place. Several patrol cars were surrounding the playground and yellow crime scene tape set off the scene.
Catherine grabbed her kit out of the back and headed for a group of people. She noticed a few vans from local networks were already gathered. Cameras pointed towards the playground, trying to get some glimpses of the actual scene.
As Vartan spotted her he waved her over, a police officer holding up the crime scene tape for Catherine to pass.
"Catherine, good to see you," Vartan said. "How are you and the missus," he smirked. "All moving-related things settled?"
Catherine smiled. "Almost. Sara and Lindsey were unpacking the last couple of boxes as I left, they'll probably be done by now." She placed her kit onto the ground, next to her feet. "Ok," she said, tuning on her 'investigation'-mode. "What have we got here?"
"Two DBs. By the looks of it a teen and a baby. No IDs yet," the detective said as he carefully scanned his surroundings, taking in the news-predators a few feet away.
Catherine sighed. She hated these cases. Of course every case was awful, but, being a mother herself, dealing with cases concerning children very hard on her.
Nodding to the detective she reached for her kit, grabbed out a MAC-lite, then picked up her kit again and headed off. Waving to the reporters she spoke up, "Make sure they don't see a thing."
"I'll get them out of here," Vartan answered and set off towards the camera crews.
As Catherine neared the two bodies she saw David Phillips was already there.
"David," she greeted him.
"Ah, Catherine," he said. "Can't do much till you worked the scene." He pointed at a place near the bodies, and added, "They're almost completely buried in the sand, and I…I noticed a shoeprint right next to them."
Catherine shone her MAC-lite towards where the medical examiner pointed and noticed a box standing upside down in the sand.
"When I got here it was raining a little, thought I'd better cover it up," the coroner sheepishly shrugged.
"Good thinking, David." Catherine gave the man his credit, not many would have thought about doing that. "Now, first let's have a look at who we have here."
She grabbed her camera out of her kit and started to take photos from the sand-covered bodies. She noticed the outlines of the bodies, lying closely together -the baby in even in the arms of the taller person.
Carefully she started to brush away the sand from the face of the older person. As the face was sand-free she was met with the sight of a girl's terror-stricken face. She guessed the girl was probably a few years older than Lindsey. The strawberry blonde had to swallow hard as she cleared the baby's body from the sand.
Despite the dark she noticed the blue lips of the baby. Other than that she didn't notice any injuries on the baby's body. The older girl on the other hand, had wounds on both of her wrists.
Looking around in the sand, she searched for blood. Those slits would have left large puddles of blood behind, but there was none.
As she was done with processing the bodies, Catherine made way for David to prepare the bodies to be transported to the morgue.
Next up was checking the ground around the bodies. First the shoeprint David had discovered. After taking some shots of the shoeprint she made a cast of it. She noticed David was just placing the body of the oldest girl onto a gurney, and walked over.
"David, hang on," she said as she grabbed the girl's shoe. Comparing the soles she noticed the size was about the same, though the pattern didn't match.
***
"Petechial hemorrhages indicating a lack of oxygen," Al Robbins said. He pointed to the bruises around the baby's mouth and neck before adding, "Caused by strangulation."
Catherine bent over and took a closer look at the purplish-blue bruises, noticing a certain -unfortunately familiar- pattern. She stretched her fingers and held them just above the little girl's damaged skin.
Looking up at Al she spoke up, "And by the looks of it done by hand." She looked around apparently searching for something.
Without asking Dr. Robbins grabbed a ruler from a nearby table and handed it to the CSI.
"Thanks," Catherine said as she took the proffered object.
"Alright," she started. "These measurements are either from a woman or a man with really slim hands and fingers."
The medical examiner nodded. "Doesn't rule out the other victim as a suspect, though."
Catherine looked up surprised.
Al waved her over to the next examination table where the body of the teenage girl lay.
"Taking into consideration that her wounds seem to be self-inflicted, it could be possible that this girl had some part in the baby's death, and was having…"
"Regret later on," the strawberry blonde finished. Taking one of the girl's hands she measured it, noticing the size was a near match. "Could be. I found a shoeprint at the crime scene, though. Didn't match her shoes," she added as she checked the slit wrists of the girl.
"Hmm, well, all I can tell you about this Jane Doe is that that was the COD," he said as he nodded towards her wrists.
"She bled to death," Catherine stated.
"Yes," the coroner affirmed.
"I found hardly any blood at the scene, so the play ground must be where they were dumped. Which means there still is a primary crime scene out there somewhere."
"Covered with lots and lots of blood," Al nodded. "I've sent blood and skin samples to DNA already," the crutched man continued.
"Are the tox reports in already?" she suddenly asked, trying to forget the image that had popped into her mind because of the coroner's words.
"Not yet, I'll send them along once they're here. I did fingerprint them both. Here." He handed her the cards. "Let's hope we soon find out who these girls are."
"Yeah," Catherine sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Thanks, Al," she offered a small wave, then turned to leave the morgue.
***
Catherine entered the DNA lab and was greeted by Wendy.
"Hey, Catherine. I put both the girls' DNA through CODIS, no hits."
Catherine sighed, but wasn't really surprised by that. Not often did a child's ID pop up through CODIS, so the non-hit wasn't that odd.
"But," Wendy spoke up again as she grabbed a sheet of paper and handed it over to Catherine. "I did do a comparison. These girls are related."
"Sister?" Catherine said as she checked the sheet.
"Yep," Wendy nodded.
"Alright, thanks." Catherine walked out of the lab and headed for an empty lay-out room. In her mind she was already going through the evidence she had been able to gather at the playground.
The strawberry blonde had first scanned the fingerprints into the computer and they were now running through the Automated Fingerprint Identification System.
Beside the shoeprint she had only found a tiny sliver of a red substance that looked like paint. Nail polish was her first guess. She would have to send it to Hodges to find out exactly. So, after starting the search of the shoeprint on the computer, that was her next stop.
Just as she was on her way to find the lab rat, Vartan came walking towards her. "Still no ID on the girls," he said as he walked beside her.
"No hit through CODIS either. Found out they're sisters, though," Catherine replied. "AFIS hasn't spit out anything yet."
"Ah," the detective said. "I had a talk with the leader of the neighborhood watch, a certain Mr. Fredricks. He told me that during their first round they hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary at the playground. They called in the time they made their second round, one of them noticed the bodies."
"Did any of them recognize the girls?"
"No, the bodies were still covered with sand at that time. They never saw the recovered bodies."
Catherine nodded. "What time did they make their first round?" she queried.
Taking out a small notepad he checked. "Round 10:30 pm. And they called it in at 2:45 am. Mr Fredricks said the…" But before he could finish his sentence he was interrupted by his cell phone.
"Excuse me," he said as he reached for the phone. Catherine nodded and motioned to the lab where she saw Hodges working at a microscope. Leaving the detective in the hall, the strawberry blonde CSI walked in.
"Hodges," she started. "Could you process this first?" She handed the evidence to the lab tech.
"Sure," he quipped. "I could do that, but what's in it for me?"
"Receiving your pay check at the end of the month," Catherine replied.
"Hmm, well I was thinking more along the lines of…" He wiggled suggestively with his eyebrows before continuing, "A dinner date. With Sara as well, of course."
"You've got to be kidding me," Catherine stated, anger rising inside of her.
"No, I'm not. I can't think of something sexier than…"
"If you finish that sentence I'll kick you so hard you'll have some nuts to chew on."
"Tempting offer, but I'll have to decline, thank you."
Catherine pushed the evidence envelope into the man's hand and walked away, not giving him any more of her time and thought. The case was more important. She walked back towards Vartan who had just ended his phone call -not looking happy.
"PD just got a call from a certain Mrs. Daniels. She told the dispatcher that her eldest daughter has run off with her baby sister," he told.
"Shit," Catherine sighed. She could feel a headache coming as she rubbed her temples.
"She's on her way to the PD now," Vartan said.
"Well then, let's go."
***
Mrs. Daniels sat in the visitor's area, waiting for the detective. Her face was completely blank, not a single trace of emotion noticeable. Catherine was watching her from a few feet away, wondered by the cool demeanor of the woman. The only sign of nervousness she could detect was the woman's fidgeting with a key ring.
How can she be this calm when her children are missing? she thought. Not a single right-minded mother would remain that contained when something had happened to their child. I wouldn't. She remembered the time Sara had to literally pull her off of that punk bitch that caused Lindsey to be in danger.
Sara. She secretly wished the brunette was at her side. She could really use a strong, comforting, and loving hug from her lover. That, however, had to wait.
Vartan walked over to the woman and brought her to an interrogation room where Catherine joined them. Vartan offered the woman a chair while Catherine seated herself at the opposite side as the detective remained standing.
The short-haired blonde woman looked around, threw the key ring onto the table and took the cup of coffee the detective offered.
"Mrs. Daniels," Vartan started. "Could you please tell us when you first found out your daughters were gone?"
"At 10 pm, when I checked on Lucy, my youngest. I immediately knew something was wrong and directly went over to Rebecca's room. Both their beds were empty."
"Then why did you wait this long before calling the police?" Catherine curiously inquired.
"Because I thought Becca had taken Lucy and run off to their grandparents. She's done that before. Two weeks ago actually."
"So you called your parents instead?" Vartan asked.
"Not my parents, John's. My ex-husband's. But no, I didn't call them."
"Why not?" Catherine asked, nearly fuming.
The woman merely shrugged.
"And so you waited six hours before you call the cops?" Catherine stood up, both hands firmly planted on top of the table, leaning towards the woman.
Again the woman didn't give an answer.
The strawberry blonde was really wondered by this woman's strange behavior. How could a mother be so careless about her children? Most of the times when a kid had been gone for less then five minutes, parents would call, completely stressed out -and often calling back two minutes later to inform they'd found their child. But this woman's actions were weird.
The CSI's mother-instinct told her something was off. Way off.
She looked over at Vartan. He nodded his reply to her unspoken question. The soft approach was over.
"We've found your daughters," Catherine said. "They're both lying on a slab at the morgue."
Mrs. Daniels raised an eyebrow. "How'd you know they're my daughters?"
She pointed at the key ring. "The photo matches the girls I've had to process." No point in being tactful, the strawberry blonde thought, still amazed by Mrs. Daniels' demeanor.
"I'd like to see them," Mrs. Daniels stated emotionlessly.
"Of course," Vartan answered. "We'll take you to them."
The short-haired woman grabbed her key ring, stood up, and left the room. Catherine looked at Vartan, both of them angry at the woman.
"There's something seriously wrong with that mother," the detective said. Catherine merely nodded.
***
Graveyard shift had ended long before Mrs. Daniels, Vartan, and Catherine entered the morgue. After leaving Mrs. Daniels in the waiting area, the detective and CSI met up with Dr. Robbins.
"So she hardly responded to the news?" the coroner inquired.
"Hardly is even too much to describe how she reacted," Catherine huffed completely worked up. "That bi…"
"Catherine," Al interrupted as he reached out for her shoulder. "Why don't you head home. Have a good rest and come back next shift. If there's progress in the case I'm sure Vartan'll let you know."
The detective nodded.
"I can't," Catherine started to protest. "What if…"
Vartan waved it off. "Don't worry." Then he turned to Dr. Robbins. "Room two, right?"
As the medical examiner nodded, the detective focused on Catherine again. "The minute there's a development I'll call." With that said he walked back to Mrs. Daniels and both headed for viewing room 2.
"Alright," Catherine sighed. "I'll see you later, Doc."
Al waved once and joined Vartan and Mrs. Daniels as they walked over to the viewing room. Catherine watched the three of them as they entered the room. Suddenly her eye caught something sparkle in the sole of Mrs. Daniels' shoe.
Thinking back of the shoeprint from the scene at the playground, Catherine reached for her cell phone and dialed a number.
"Wendy? It's Catherine. Could you do me a favor?"
***
Catherine waited until Mrs. Daniels stepped out of the viewing room again.
"Catherine? You're still here?" Vartan asked as he also walked into the hall, surprised to see the CSI still around.
"Mrs. Daniels?" Catherine asked, ignoring the detective's words. "Are those Nike Air sport shoes?"
The short-haired woman was surprised by the strawberry blonde's question, but answered. "Yes."
"Bought last year?"
"Yeah. So? What's that got to do with my daughters. They're dead. I don't see how my shoes have anything to do with them."
"You might not, but I do." Catherine knelt down, examining the shoes a little closer. "Those are a size 6 and a half, right?"
"What are you? A psychic?"
"No, an investigator. Could you please lift your right foot?" Catherine asked as she grabbed latex gloves from her picket and pulled them on. Vartan and Robbins watched quietly as they both realized what the strawberry blonde was after.
The woman did what she was asked and Catherine noticed a piece of glass stuck in the sole of the shoe. "Hold still," she ordered the blonde.
She reached for a sheet of paper that was lying on a chair next to her. Holding it up next to the shoe she noticed the print matched -the piece of glass on the exact place where the pattern was altered.
Standing back up, Catherine looked Mrs. Daniels straight in the eyes. "How come your footprint was found at the scene where your daughters were found?"
"I was nowhere near that playground!" the woman quipped.
"Who said anything about a playground?" Vartan smirked. Busted. They hadn't told her yet where her daughters had been found.
The woman realized her slip and tried to get away, but was stopped by a firm hand on her shoulder.
"Hold it right there," Catherine said sternly. Vartan immediately grabbed his cuffs and arrested the woman, reading her her rights as he took her to his car.
"Great work, Catherine," Al, who had been watching silently, said as he reached out and squeezed the strawberry blonde's upper arm.
***
The short-haired woman was placed in an interrogation room. Vartan and Catherine standing in the next room, watching her through the one-way window.
"If it's alright with you, I'd rather stay here," Catherine said, her hands clenched in fists at her sides as she noticed the woman's cold demeanor. "I don't think it's safe for her if I get in the same room with her again."
Vartan nodded then left the room. A few seconds later Catherine watched as he entered the interrogation room.
"Now, Mrs. Daniels," he started. "Why did you do it? We know you smothered your baby, slashed Rebecca's wrists."
Without blinking she started to smirk. "She finally stopped." was the only thing she said.
In the other room Catherine was startled by her cell phone. Doc Robbins had the tox reports. Rebecca's came back clean. Lucy's though, showed there were traces of a tranquilizer in her blood.
As soon as she snapped her phone shut she stormed into the interrogation room, not able to contain herself any longer.
"You drugged your baby and strangled her," the strawberry blonde spit as she jabbed her index finger towards the woman. "What kind of mother are you?"
"She wouldn't stop crying," the woman stated calmly. "I had to do something."
"So you killed her?" Vartan quipped. "And your other daughter Rebecca?"
"That stupid kid tried to sneak out of the house. Wanted to take Lucy with her. She saw me and started to run. I had to stop her." Not a single trace of emotion was on the woman's face as she unraveled everything.
Catherine was fuming inside. She raised her arm and was ready to punch the woman straight in the face, but was stopped when she realized what she was about to do. It wouldn't make her any better than the woman sitting in front of her.
She stepped back, turned to leave and threw over her shoulder Vartan should handle things further, she was going home.
***
The first rays of sunlight were already creeping out of hiding as Catherine opened the front door and stepped in. Tiredly she shrugged her coat off and started to ascend the stairs.
After checking on a still soundly sleeping Lindsey, Catherine kicked out her shoes and silently undressed. Walking to the bed she carefully lifted the covers and climbed in.
Just as she settled herself into a comfortable position she felt Sara automatically reach out for her. Gratefully she let herself be pulled close to the brunette's body.
She placed her head onto Sara's chest, sighing deeply as the younger woman's arms squeezed her even tighter to her body. She felt Sara's lips softly placing a kiss on her head.
Suddenly, it was as if something inside her burst -tears welling up and starting to flow in an seemingly unstoppable stream, sobs wracking through her body.
Sara was fully awake the second she heard Catherine's sobs, and tried to pull the strawberry blonde up and look into her eyes.
"What happened? Did Grissom…" the brunette started, but was interrupted by the older woman.
"No," she said in between sobs. "It's this case I'm working on…"
Sara didn't need to know more, and merely tightened her embracing arms around her lover. She held onto the crying woman, offering all the comfort and safety she could while Catherine shed all her tears.
She cupped the strawberry blonde's chin and started to shower her lover's face with kisses -chasing away all tears. She then claimed Catherine's lips, hoping to convey love, trust, safety.
They would talk about it later, once Catherine was calmed down a little.
***
The strawberry blonde's sobbing had long stopped, but both of the women were still awake.
The sun was now shining brightly and birds' twittering came in through the opened window.
Catherine and Sara had shifted against the headboard, the older woman lying in the brunette's arms.
"Wanna talk about it?" Sara asked, her hand still circling across Catherine's stomach. The strawberry blonde reached for Sara's hand and entwined their fingers, needing to strengthen the bond between them even more.
"Last night's case…" the older woman started, then took a big sigh before continuing. "A woman killed her 8 month old baby because she cried a lot. Her older daughter witnessed it and tried to run away, but was…I can't understand this woman could…"
Catherine didn't need to finish her sentence as Sara understood what had happened. She reached down and cupped the strawberry blonde's cheek. "You are a wonderful mother."
That was all the shorter woman needed to hear. She bent over and claimed the brunette's lips in a fierce kiss. Just as things were about to get out of hand there was a soft knock at the door.
Sara smiled into the kiss, then rested her forehead against Catherine's before speaking up. "Come on in, Lindsey."
The door opened and a blonde whirlwind entered their bedroom. The youngest Willows looked questioningly at her mother and Sara, then -as the brunette patted the bed- sprinted forward and jumped on the bed.
She immediately reached out for her mother, little arms sneaking around her neck. The smile the little blonde conjured onto the lips of her mother convinced Sara Catherine would be ok.
Catherine made room for Lindsey to crawl in between Sara and her. The girl immediately settled herself between the two women, and so the three of them spent the rest of the morning, all cuddled up, in bed.
To Be Continued…