Revised as of June 27, 2011.
The loud droning ring of the Westclox alarm clock woke Kyle just before 8:40 pm on that fateful Monday. The 21 year old brown haired CSI quickly shut off the erratic machine and climbed briskly from his bed, cursing silently under his breath. Kyle made his way hurriedly into the kitchen while pulling on a fresh T-Shirt. The room was white from top to bottom, the only variation in color coming from the smooth tan wooden floor and the matching counter top. The floor of the room and the kitchen area lay a step higher than the center of the room, which was piled full of plain brown boxes.
"Jane we're late! Come on, get up!" He shouted frantically as he charged past the stacks of unopened moving boxes. Across the kitchen a pale white door opened and a girl sharing many similarities to Kyle hopped out, fully dressed in a pair of pale blue jeans, a green shirt and a slate grey jacket. The woman was hectically pulling on a black and white converse sneaker as she hopped into the open room. Behind her followed a massive grey mottled shape. The shape barked and jumped around the room franticly.
"Shhhhh Kryptonite, it's okay, calm down!" Jane pulled on her shoe and whistled softly. Jane gingerly calmed the wary animal before snagging a pair of car keys from the kitchen counter and nodding to Kyle before they headed for the door.
Kyle and Jane charged down stairs from there apartment, taking the stairs two at a time down four floors. Finally the pair burst out into the morning air of Manhattan, only to continue their race to an unfaithful looking Toyota. Jane opened the driver side door and slid into the leather seat in one swift motion.
By the time Jane had the keys in the ignition Kyle was seated beside her with his seat belt clicked and pulled tight. Kyle bared his teeth and checked the time on the dashboard clock. 8:47 it read. Jane closed her eyes as she turned the key in the ignition.
"I'm sorry about the oil change that never happened, but I promise you, there will be a hot wax in your future if you start."
The car roared to life, and a moment later the silver car whipped out of the small parking space and narrowly missed a rusty Honda pulling onto the busy city streets of New York.
Kyle silently wished he'd driven.
By 8:56 Jane had pulled up to a professional looking building just as the old car stalled and died. Kyle led the way into the building and headed straight for the front desk. The husky looking man seated behind the large oak desk directed them to the New York Crime Lab and Kyle and Jane found themselves in an elevator on the way up to the Lab.
It was the first time that day that the two had a moment of peace. "So, you nervous?" Kyle asked Jane, who was staring at the floor wordlessly.
Slim and brown haired like her brother, she looked up at Kyle before speaking. "No, not really, what about you?"
Kyle shrugged. "A little bit. It's our first day on the job in New York, and we're late." Jane snorted and flashed a toothy grin as she checked her watch. "It's 8:58, we're not late, in fact, we're two minutes early." Kyle tried to grin but it was more of a grimace. The elevator rang once before the doors opened and they stepped out onto clean linoleum.
Kyle felt suddenly anxious and nervous all at once as he saw the place, organized and absolutely teeming with activity. People in bright white lab coats moved among the many lab areas as they worked diligently to solve the many homicide cases of New York.
Detective Mac Taylor stood alongside a technician, who relayed the results of a DNA analysis to him when Kyle and Jane stepped warily from the elevator. As the technician finished speaking with Mac and scurried away did Mac notice the two figures. The new arrivals were hard to miss, being the only stationary objects that wasn't a wall or something else solid and inanimate.
Mac made his way to them before they were given the chance to ask for any help on where to go. "I'm Detective Mac Taylor, your the transfers from Florida right?" He asked in his normal mundane tone.
"Yeah, I'm Kyle and this is Jane." Kyle said coyly. Mac wasn't surprised by the striking similarities in the siblings. He'd been over their files, and while it hadn't mentioned they were twins, it was clear they were closer than most brothers and sisters. Seeing them in person, Mac didn't have a doubt in his mind that they were twins.
Almost as soon as the three had gotten to the office another Detective joined them. She was a tall woman with curly hair that brushed her elegant shoulders. Stella, Kyle and Jane got acquainted quickly while Mac gathered a few things from his desk.
"Transfers?" She asked, and smiled when Kyle nodded. "Don't look so nervous, Mac's already had breakfast. He won't be vicious again until lunch time."
After giving Stella a particularly crooked look, he thumbed through a few files and handed forms to each of the two transfers. "You'll need these forms to receive your NYPD badges, and your registered gun."
Mac also gave them each a locker key before sending them back to the first floor to verify the forms and fill out the rest of the paperwork.
Jane's hand already hurt from filling out the first page of paperwork. Beside her she guessed that Kyle wasn't doing any better. They stood at a counter in the precinct, manned by a tall blond haired officer chewing gum and listening to music on a lime grime Ipod. He'd already questioned why Kyle and Jane looked alike. After Kyle explained that him and Jane were twins the officer wanted to know why they weren't tan from living down south.
"We're vampires." Jane had replied, and although Kyle knew that his sister was joking, the other officer didn't seen sure of it. Kyle grinned at his sister as he worked on filling out the forms.
"I don't think you've changed at all since first grade." Beside him Jane scribbled her name one last time before replying.
"Hey I color in the lines now," she remarked as she turned in her paperwork. Kyle followed suit soon after his sister, and they stood patiently as the young officer behind the desk looked through the forms before getting up and going to a storage room. When he returned he had a small brown storage box with a label on one side. The officer opened the box and handed each of the twins a holstered weapon, accompanied by a long winded speech that Jane guessed must have something to do with protocol.
Kyle strapped the holster around his waist, happy to have his gun back. Since his Florida badge had been revoked, he wasn't permitted to carry a gun until he had his NYPD badge. Beside him his sister already had her gun on and secured safely. The officer behind the desk handed them each a NYPD badge as he spoke. "Welcome to the NYPD."
"Thanks." Kyle and Jane said simultaneously. Jane gave Kyle a playful shove once they were in the elevator. "I think he was scared." She said.
Kyle grinned. "Of you." Jane flashed one of her trademark grins at her brother, knowing he was only kidding. Once more the elevator dinged and the two stepped out into the Crime Lab and made there way back to Mac's office, only to catch him on his way out.
"There's a homicide at a warehouse downtown, are you two ready for a case?" Mac asked.
"Yeah, that'd be great." Kyle answered hastily, he was anxious to get to work.
Mac nodded to Kyle's response. "Do you two need a ride?"
"Maybe. Do you think the Celica's going to start?" Kyle asked his sister.
"I can talk her around, get her to go a little farther before we have to wash it."
"Sounds like you have an older car?" Mac retorted, something like a smile touching his face.
"She means well," Jane replied, "she's just not one for the mornings."
With only a brief coaxing from Jane the Celica rumbled to life. Kyle watched, bemused as Jane gave the steering wheel a pat.
"That's our girl."
After a good fifteen or so minutes of maneuvering through the busy city streets, the black Avalanche pulled into a parking space of an empty lot. Mac pulled a silver case from the Avalanche and joined the twins at the Celica.
Kyle followed Jane to the trunk as she popped it open. Kyle and Jane grabbed their kits and Kyle closed the trunk with one hand, only to have it pop back open to his dismay.
Jane grinned and watched as her brother tried once more. "Hey, be nice to Gretta." Jane said as she handed her kit to Kyle. "She's a good car that's going to look wonderful with new tires." The trunk closed on Jane's first attempt, and with a turn of the key she made sure it would stay that way.
Once inside, Kyle turned a full circle and took one long look at the warehouse. The yellow Crime Scene tape was placed around the perimeter, tied to lamp posts and fire hydrants, and beyond the tape a surprising lack of news crews and a curious crowd.
Before he could voice his disappointment a tall dark haired detective wearing a sharp looking suit and tie greeted the three as they ducked under the crime scene tape. "Hey Mac," He said, but he froze as he noticed the twins.
"Don, this is Kyle and Jane Parks, they're the new transfers from Florida." Mac said as they made their way into the warehouse. Don nodded and Jane noticed the amused look on his face, and as he opened his mouth to ask the common question Jane cut him off with a good hearted grin on her face. "Don't say it, we're twins."
Don nodded again, "I thought so."
"So what do we have Flack?" Mac asked as he kneeled beside a body.
"Male, 26, no ID. He's got no wallet and pockets are turned out. Looks like a robbery."
Kyle pulled his flashlight from his kit and put on a fresh pair of latex gloves as he started examining the crime scene. The warehouse was large, and rather empty, old crates and boxes were stacked in random places in no specific order, the air conditioner was clearly not working, and on one side a large heavy white curtain hung down, blocking off half of the ware house. Along the wall, close to the curtain was a large power box that looked rather new compared to the rest of the ware house. Just below the power box a large coiling hose was dripping cold water onto the floor, and the sound echoed threw out the ware house as the CSI's began to process the seen. Along on of the walls was a rusty metal stair way that led behind the curtain.
"What's with the lack of a crowd?" Kyle asked Don as he inspected the victim with Mac.
"This part of town is relatively deserted not many people come around here because of all the industrial factories, it's not all that populated."
Mac looked up at Don from where he was. "Who found the body?"
Jane was snooping around by the hose, and crouched down beside it to examine the yellow rubber. The hose was free of corrosion, and compared to the rest of the ware house, it looked rather new.
"Andy Daris, he said he was on a mid morning jog when he heard a pop coming from the warehouse, he came inside and found our vic." Don replied.
Kyle was shaking his head. "Who goes for a morning jog in a industrial part of town?" Don nodded.
"Let's be honest, brother. If you were insecure about your weight would you go jogging through central park?" Looking over from the hose, Jane waited for Kyle to look up, a grin tugging at her lips.
Don frowned, an expression that was more amused than dismayed. "You're self conscious about your weight?" The detective was eying Kyle speculatively.
"I love every pound I have to my name," Kyle assured Flack.
Like the good investigator Jane was pretending to be, she went back to the hose, going over it's length with her flashlight. She managed to keep the grin out of her voice but not off her face when she spoke.
"I'm sure you do, and I really didn't want to say anything, but you've been looking a little beefy around the middle. Might want to do some sit ups or something."
Mac was contenting himself with examining the body. "COD was a single gun shot wound to the chest it looks like, TOD was maybe a few hours ago..."
Kyle nodded. "What's with this?" He asked as he shined his light at a green leaf of some sort, then Kyle gingerly picked it up and examined it before passing it to Mac.
"I don't know, but we'll find out." Mac declared as he dropped the leaf into a brown evidence bag.
Jane was still busy examining the hose, she was now leaning over it trying to figure out why it bothered her.
"Did you find something Jane?" Mac called over his shoulder. Jane stood and shrugged.
"Nope."
Don took one last look around before going to talk to Andy Daris again.
"I'm gonna check out the stairway, maybe there's something up there..." At that Jane began to examine the rusty stairway, as she climbed up the steps she noticed that the stairs led a to a railing that stretched around the perimeter of the warehouse, suspended roughly ten feet up..
Kyle and Mac looked around, examining the boxes and many dusty crates scattered through out the large ware house. Kyle lifted the wooden top of a box off, and peered inside, but the box was empty. He continued to search for evidence of any kind throughout the many boxes.
"This place looks a lot like our apartment." Kyle said with a sigh.
Mac paused to shoot Kyle a cynical look. "Do you often entertain with dead bodies?"
Shaking his head, Kyle looked to his new boss, his joke plain in his eyes. "Well, it's really the entertainment that kills them."
"The bodies I can understand. They'll fit rather snugly into a closet, but where the hell are you hiding this?" called Jane from across the warehouse, she was standing by the white curtain, holding it back with one hand and staring past it with a surprised look on her face. Jane started to pull the heavy curtain back, revealing rows and rows of leafy green plants. Mac and Kyle walked towards the indoor garden.
"You know," Jane started as she stared at the plants, "It used to be that people weeded their gardens, now they garden their weed." She said with an amused look on her face.
Mac looked around, shining his light across the plants, then he shined his light up, towards the high ceiling. A series of heavy duty hanging lights were placed above the plants, and Mac had a pretty good idea why. He made his way to the metal grey box on the wall, he examined the grey panel before opening it to flip the switch inside. The warehouse filled with light, bright but nowhere near blinding.
"The lights serve as sunlight for the plants," Kyle started, "And the hose is used for watering them." He finished.
"Why not just use the sprinkler system?" Jane piped up, as she shined her light across the sprinkler system that wound throughout the ware house.
"The lights are suspended below the sprinkler system, which react to heat that would be created from the lights being on and that would trigger the system. The water from the sprinklers would fall onto the lights, damaging them." Mac explained as he looked at the lights and the sprinkler system.
"So the sprinkler system is broken, either from someone breaking it, or from natural causes..." Jane said. Mac nodded. Kyle began to pace, something he did often while he was thinking.
"So there's a drug scandal set up, someone would have had to come here to take care of all these plants by watering them, and turning the lights on and off. It makes sense that the vic was here if he was involved in drugs, but who would kill someone here, while he's harvesting his plants?"
"Maybe he had a partner, and things went south." Mac suggested. "Then maybe that partner's coming back for the plants."
"You wouldn't just leave them all here. All these plants have got be worth a lot of cash." Jane added. Kyle stopped pacing.
"Then maybe that certain partner is coming back, but when he does, all he's going to find is a crime scene."
"I'll let Flack in on what we know so far, you two keep processing." Mac said before he went to find Flack, leaving Kyle and Jane to process the scene.
"I'll check around the body for any more evidence." Kyle declared.
Jane nodded, "Okay, I'll dust the hose and box for prints, and photograph the garden." At that the two twins set off to there work. Kyle pulled a swab from his kit to collect a sample of a dark liquid substance on the vic's jeans before he photographed the scene. He also found a white powdery substance on the vic's shirt sleeve that he collected for trace, though he already suspected that it was a drug of some sort.
Jane dusted the electric box from top to bottom with her finger print powder she carried in her kit and had just started dusting the hose when two men with a stretcher walked into the warehouse. "We're here for the body?"
Kyle nodded to them, "It's all yours." The two men moved the body onto the stretcher and took him away to leave Kyle and Jane to their daunting task.