previously...
catherine left the break room and headed towards her car parked in the underground car park, and then headed home to pick up Lindsey.
sara meanwhile headed towards Grissom's office to inform him that there was now an official investigation to look for Brooke, and just to talk things through with him. and hopefully try to stop herself feeling guilty for letting Brooke down.Chapter 6.
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Sara knew that Brooke, may legally be an adult, but in many ways she was still a kid, and no-one should feel as if there was no-one who would be there for them no matter what, especially a kid. Sara knew that Brooke never really was a kid, she never got to do things that other normal teenagers got to do, she had to grow up very quickly, and as a result felt she had no-one. no-one to look out for her, or talk to her, or just let her be herself. "no-one that is until she met me" Sara thought to herself "way to screw things up Sara, great job."
Sara looked into Grissom's office, and there he was, completely absorbed in whatever he was doing, he didn't even look up when she knocked on the door. so she let herself in saying "hey Griss."
grissom suddenly looked up, surprised to see Sara there. "hey Sara, how long have you been standing there?"
"not long. i knocked but you musn't have heard me. you reading about bugs again?"
"sorry. are you ok?"
"yeah, kinda. listen i just wanted to tell you that there's now an official investigation into Brooke's disappearance. the guys are helping me to try and find her. don't worry they wrapped up their cases, so you won't have Ecklie on your back, even though i know you like fighting with him." Sara smiled.
"i thought you didn't want an official investigation? what changed?"
"i didn't. but i went to her apartment to talk to her, you know, but she'd already left by the time i got there, all her things were gone, and she didn't have that much stuff to begin with, and she'd left her cell phone on the table. i just..."
"Sara it's ok. we'll find her. listen did you give her cell phone to Archie? maybe he can find out if she's been calling anyone else. you never know she may have made a friend(s) while she was here."
"i already looked through her phone. my number is the only one on it, and the only one in her call history. but i gave to him anyway, you know just incase she erased something. i doubt she did, but you never know"
just then her pager went off. she took it out her pocket, looked at it, and then raised her head back to grissom. "that was archie, nope, nothing, zilch, nada. i guess i should have expected that. where could she be griss? i ... we ... we need to find her."
"i know and we will, i promise." then he gave her hand a comforting squeeze.
at Catherine's house...
catherine was just pulling up into her driveway, hoping that Lindsey was home, and not sleeping over at a friend's house. to the best of her knowledge she wasn't meant to be at a friend's tonight, but you never knew with teenagers, they had a habit of changing things st the last minute.
entering the house, she called her daughter's name. "Lindsey.... Lindsey.... Lindsey you here honey?"
after getting no answer, she walked up the stairs to her duaghter's room to see if she was there. she knocked on the door "Lindsey? you in there hun?" she opened the door, only to find her daughter was on her laptop, with her ipod plugged into her ears and the music turned up to full volume. "no wonder she didn't hear me" Catherine thought to herself. she walked over to her, and gently shook her to get her attention.
lindsey looked up "mom? geez you scared me."
"sorry hun, but you didn't answer me, and now i know why" she said smiling.
lindsey stopped her music, and took her earphones out. "ok mom, what's up? did you finish work early or something?"
"well hello to you to. actually i need to get back to work, but i kinda need your help."
"with what?"
"well, we sorta have a case at work, and it's sorta complicated, but it involves a teenager, and well you're a teenager so i was kinda wondering if you wanted to come back to work with me and help out."
"so you need a teenager perspective. things must be bad if you're asking teenagers for help now. hang on, it doesn't involve a dead body does it?"
"no, it doesn't involve a dead body. so does that mean you'll help? come on Linds, Sara would really appreciate it."
"wait, i thought this was your case?"
"well i'm helping Sara with hers. please Linds?"
"ok, but can i at least take my laptop and ipod with me, so i've got something to do after i help you guys out?"
"yeah sure. you can go in the break room, or my office, you won't be too distrubed then."
"you mean, i won't get in the way?" lindsey said with a knowing smile on her face.
"linds i was trying to be nice. ok, let's go."
once lindsey had packed up her laptop and power cable, and ipod, they walked back down to the car, and Catherine drove them back to the lab, and after a while catherine had parked the car, and they were walking back to the break room to meet up with Sara.
in the break room...
Sara was having a cup of Greg's Blue Hawaiian coffee, not that he knew that. and after the day she had she needed the coffee to keep her awake. after a few minutes Catherine and Lindsey walked in.
"Sara, we're back."
"oh hey cath, hey lindsey, you ok?"
"yeah, Sara i'm fine thanks. listen mom said you needed my help with a case or something?"
"yeah i do. did she tell you anything about the case?"
"no all she said was that it didn't involve any dead bodies, she wasn't lying was she?"
"Lindsey!"
"what, mom, i'm just checking"
"no Lindsey it doesn't involve any dead bodies. it does involve a missing teenager. she's eighteen, but i still reckon you could help us."
"yeah sure, what can i do"
"cath, can you go and ring Jim, see if he's come up with anything, and then check on the guys, see if they've got anything yet. i wanna talk to Lindsey, fill her in."
"yeah sure, call me if you find out anything?"
"yeah i will, you too ok?"
"sure, ok i'll see you both later."
"bye mom. ok so what's up. i don't think i've ever seen you guys like this over a missing person's case before."
"true, but those missing person's have all been kids. Brooke is technically an adult."
"so why are you so worked up? and what can i do to help?"
"well she may be eighteen, but she doesn't look it, and she doesn't have anyone in her life to help her out, well apart from me, so it makes it really easy for her to just disappear. not like you, you have your mom, and all of us. she has no-one Lindsey, and i let her down."
"Sara it's gonna be ok, we'll find Brooke right? that's her name?"
"yeah. we can't trace her cell phone because she left it behind, and the only number she's got on it is mine. god, how did i let this happen?"
"it's not your fault. listen if he left her cell phone, it's probably because she knew you could trace it right, i mean she knew what you did for a living. so the first thing she'll do is buy a new one, but she won't buy it here. i'll bet she'll buy one somewhere else, somewhere she can't be traced, and she'll probably pay cash. how much money has she got?"
"i don't know, i mean i know she saved up loads of money and brought it with her when she left the first time, but i don't know how much she has now. probably not much, why?"
"well what do you do when you don't have money and need it? you get a job, but she knows she can't get a job here in Vegas, but i doubt she'll have run too far.... hang on, what do you mean when she left the first time?"
"she ran away from home a few months ago. she felt like her parents were taking her for granted, so she left and came here. i'd met her before she came here, which was why she came here in the first place, i was the only person she knew, and i'd already told her to call me anytime."
"so how'd she get here? i mean did she get a bus, or train or did she drive?"
"drive, oh my god her car. but she's probably ditched it already, and anyway i have no idea what car she drives."
"seriously?! you don't know what car she drives? how can you not know that?"
"i never saw her car. wait if she drove to PD when i was meant to meet her, they might have a shot of her car on PD CCTV. Lindsey, you're a genius!"
"can i get that on tape please, or better yet tell my mom that will you? thanks."
"hey linds you coming?"
"really? ok sure."
"good, we'll try Archie first. brass sent him some footage earlier, so you never know there might be a shot of it already here, and if not, well i guess we're going to the PD."
Sara and Lindsey left the breakroom, and went to the AV lab, to see if Archie had anything.
"hey Archie, this is Lindsey, catherine's daughter. listen she had an idea on how we could possibly find Brooke. go on Linds, tell him."
"ok, here it is. Sara said that Jim sent you some footage earlier from the PD CCTV, so i was wondering she probably drove to get there right? and since we hit a dead end with her cell phone, so i thought we could possibly trace her car. so do you have any footage of outside PD?"
"erm, i don't know i can check, hang on a sec." Archie flicked through all the footage that Brass had sent him earlier. "ok here we go, this is from a camera that points outside. look i'm not promising anything ok, there might not be a shot of her car on camera."
"i know that, but it's worth a shot isn't it? come on Archie this is the only lead we've got at the moment. please?"
"ok, ok. listen why don't you guys go get a cup of coffee or something, and i'll page you if i find anything, ok."
"ok, thanks Archie. come on Linds, you drink coffee right?"
"are you kidding me? how do you think i get through early morning classes?"
Sara laughed. "come on let's go. there's a diner not too far from here. why don't you text your mom so she knows where we're going, and doesn't freak out, kay?"
"ok"
after lindsey had texted her mom to let her know where she was going, they climbed into Sara's car, and drove the five-ten minute journey to the diner.
TBC?
