Disclaimer: I did not create and in no way profit from CSI: Miami.
Ignominy
Chapter 1: The Mistake
There was nothing unusual about the body on Dr. Price's exam table, a tall Hispanic male found smashed on the pavement beneath his seventh-floor apartment.
"Any sign of foul play?" Kyle asked.
"You've been watching too many detective shows," Dr. Price replied. "This looks like accident or suicide. Nothing stolen from the wallet, which was still in his pocket, and other than the perimortem broken bones, Freeman Lara wasn't injured."
"What's this stuff in his hair?"
Dr. Price took a closer look at the victim's black hair. When he was brought in, it had been wet from last night's rain, but now that it was drying a few tiny black flecks were brushing off of it.
"Could be dried blood, but he doesn't have a head injury. Let's send it to Trace."
"Horatio."
He'd been on his way to see Frank about a case they were about to close when he heard Valera call to him from the DNA lab. He stopped to see what was bothering her.
Her eyes were wide and she seemed nervous. "I just want you to know that I don't think I messed up. I had Natalia double-check my results. I was in the DNA lab the whole time the sample was running, and there was no chance of contamination."
"Okay. What case were you working?"
"Yesterday Dr. Price autopsied a suicide victim with some flecks in his hair that turned out to be dried blood. I just got around to running it this morning." Before she could finish, Valera's eyes snapped to something over Horatio's shoulder. He turned to see Rick Stetler enter, looking smug.
"Rick," Horatio greeted him with his characteristic complete lack of exuberance.
"Horatio. Miss Valera. A possible contamination of DNA evidence, something like that could really hurt your lab's reputation."
"There was no contamination, Rick. The results were accurate," he said with confidence that hid the fact he wasn't sure what those results were. He would talk to Valera later about how Rick managed to find out about this before he did.
"Really? Your own DNA tech admits the DNA could have come from another sample in her lab."
"No! What I said is that the DNA matched another sample I was running this morning, one from an unidentified drowning victim from weeks ago. It was low-priority..."
"Miss Valera," Horatio said, stopping her. He then addressed the IAB agent. "Rick, how about you leave my lab, and I will call you when this gets cleared up."
He smiled. "Right. A mistake like this, there's going to be an investigation."
Horatio watched him walk away. "Miss Valera?"
"After Natalia double-checked, I submitted the results. I included the possibility of contamination in the report just to be thorough. I had no idea that IAB even knew about it until I got the call a few minutes ago that Stetler was on his way. I was going to tell you earlier, but you were busy closing that Jackson case."
"I understand. Tell me about the lab results."
"That's about all we know right now. Somehow, DNA from a John Doe who died three weeks ago was found on a body from two days ago."
"The Lara case. Interesting. Have you run John Doe's DNA through CODIS yet?"
"No hits. I was about to run it through some other databases."
"Do it. Keep me informed."
"I will."
She returned to her lab. Horatio pulled out his cellphone. "Mr. Wolfe, there may be a situation developing. Meet me in Autopsy."