CSI: Miami–"Die Where You Play."
An original fan fiction based on characters from the CBS television series "CSI: Miami." All CSI characters are owned by CBS Television and Alliance Atlantis. Original Characters are my own.
CSI: Miami
Die Where You Play
--1--
The CSI Humvee pulled up in front of Greenwood Elementary. It was early, 7:30 AM. Normally, Lt. Horatio Caine would have taken this early call, but he had been forced by the department to finally take a vacation. This early morning, the call came down to the acting head of the Miami Crime Scene Unit: Calleigh Dusquesne, the unit's resident fire arms expert.
She wasn't alone, however. As the hummer turned off, Eric Delko exited the driver's side door. Delko, the young handsome Latino CSI, stopped to breath in the early morning air. It was early November, and a little chill hung in the air. He walked over to the passenger side and opened the door for Calleigh. "Wow , Eric, I guess chivalry isn't dead after all!" She climbed down.
"Hey Calleigh, H said I had look after you while he was away. Just doing my job."
"Well, I won't say you've never done anything for me." With that, she flashed him one of her trademark stunning southern-belle smiles. She was slightly annoyed at Horatio's suggestion to Eric, but then again, that was just Horatio being Horatio. In the wake of Tim Speedle's death, he was just being protective of his people, of his friends.
She wore gray slacks and a white blouse, topped with a Gray business jacket. Her flowing blonde hair hung over her shoulders. Normally, she would have dispensed with the jacket, but without Horatio around, she was the point person for the lab, and she had to look the part.
Delko led the way up a flight of cement steps to the front door of the school. Standing there, waiting for them, was detective Frank Tripp. He was flanked by two uniformed officers. "You two are going to love this. I hope you cleared your schedules today."
"What do we have?" Calleigh asked.
"I got two dead kids. Young ones. One male, and one female."
The two CSIs stopped dead in their tracks. Delko's jaw dropped. "Please tell me you're kidding, Frank."
"I wish I was. Lets just say it they didn't die pleasantly either."
"Has Alexx been called?" Calleigh was referring to Alexx Woods, Coroner and personal favorite of the Miami CSIs.
"She's already here, talking to the dead, as usual."
--2--
The two CSIs followed Tripp around the school building, to the back where the playground was. It was massive. They stood in and area paved in asphalt, nearly as big as a city block. Straight ahead was a huge field of some of the greenest grass Delko had ever seen. Two soccer fields sat end to end next to each other, and above each soccer field was a large backstop and baseball diamond. Off to their right, was a large area filled in the with sand. In the sand area, there stood some playground toys. One was a small, two floor wooden structure with a slide. It could accommodate 3 kids, maximum, at a time. Next to it was a traditional dome shaped metal jungle gym. Below and slightly more to the right of the jungle gym, sat a large, sprawling wooden Big toy. It had multiple slides, a rope web, monkey bars, rope bridges, everything a student could ask for.
"Wow," Eric said. "I wish I could have gone to school here."
"Yeah, Greenwood is the top public elementary school in the State of Florida." Tripp said. "But it's not all fun and games though, Alexx is over by that jungle gym there."
The trio walked towards the sandy area, and found that Alexx Woods was indeed by the jungle gym. She was kneeling over the body of a young girl. A very young girl. "Why did you have to die in the place where you play baby? You should have been safe here. Tell me what happened to you." Her voice was a soothing alto. Calleigh guessed that if the dead had any connection to this world from the afterlife, it would be with Alexx's calm, compassionate voice.
She walked up and knelt down next to Alexx. "Good morning, Alexx, what do you know so far?"
Alexx looked over at Calleigh. She was a strong, in-shape, beautiful African American woman. Her semi-long hair was pulled into a pony tail behind her head. "Hey Calleigh, this is a nasty one. I'd say, somebody beat her to death, against that cement wall over there."
Calleigh looked up to see a cement wall about 6 feet in front of her. The wall was about 5 feet tall. At the top, the grassy area began and gently sloped up hill towards the soccer fields. There was blood on the wall, a lot of it.
"Wow, Alexx, this looks to be pretty brutal."
"Yeah, massive facial injuries. This was personal. Also she's got multiple bruises on her chest and abdomen."
"Any sign of sexual assault?
"No outward signs, so I doubt it. I'll examine her more closely back at the lab though."
"What about time of death?"
"Well, liver temp is 86.6, so I'd say about 8 hours ago, approximately 11:30-12:30 this morning. Rigor is consistent with this. Her jaw, knees, and elbows are still fairly mobile. These are the last joints to go into rigor, approximately 10 hours after T-O-D. She's been dead less than that."
Eric spoke up. "I thought Tripp said there were two bodies?"
"Yes there are. About 100 yards up the hill there, you'll find Yelena waiting with victim number 2, between those trees and the fence. Young male, multiple stab wounds, same t-o-d as this young lady."
"Wow. Calleigh, I'm going to go check on that one with Yelena."
"Ok Eric. I'll start processing down here, and leave that one to you."
–3–
Calleigh looked at the wall in front of her. The large cement structure appeared to bare at least two distinct spatter patterns. After photographing the patterns, she removed a presumptive test from her kit. She wasn't surprised when it came up positive for blood. "What do you think Alexx? The killer banged her face against the wall a couple of times?"
"I would say her injuries are consistent with that."
Calleigh leaned over Alexx and took several photos of the victim's injuries. "Is that trace in the wounds on the face?"
"Yes, looks like it. You're gonna find some sand for sure, but you might get lucky. Wanna collect it here?"
"But of course." With that Calleigh leaned over the victim, and carefully pulled several fine particles from the bloody wounds on the victim's face. "I'll get some standards from the sand and the cement, and we'll send it back to trace for comparison. Do we have an ID?"
"The principal came out and identified both victims. This is Jennifer Doyle, age 10, fifth grade student here," Alexx answered. "Somebody beat her pretty good. I'll get you pictures of the wounds on her chest and abdomen. For now, I'm going to get her on her way, then go check with Eric and Yelena."
"Thanks Alexx, I'm going to go have a chat with the principal."
Alexx watched as her assistants loaded the body of Jennifer Doyle onto a gurney and into a van marked "Medical Examiner." Then, she climbed over the wall, and made her way up the grassy hill where Eric and Yelena were poised over victim number 2.
".......Ben Winston," she heard Yelena telling Eric.
"Yes," Alexx said, startling Eric a bit, "he's also a fifth grader here, like our other victim."
Eric looked around, taking in the scene. The victim lay about half way between a tree and a bush line, which sat in front of a chain link fence. A tool shed stood above the victim's head, along the bush line. His eyes moved to the victim. A young man, with shaggy brown hair. His gray Florida Marlins T-Shirt was ripped apart and covered in blood. Several stab and incised wounds were visible through the holes in the shirt. He was wearing a pair of black shorts, and sneakers with white socks. Then Eric saw something unusual. Just about 3 feet to the victims left was a pair of broken glasses. "Hey Yelena, would you grab my camera out of my kit?"
She did. "What do you have Eric?"
He pointed to the glasses, then snapped a photograph. "Those are wire rims, you think a fifth grader wears wire rims?"
"Oh Eric, some kids wear things because it makes them stand out, others wear things that make them fit in, who can tell?" Alexx said.
Eric conceded the point. "Yeah, I guess would know, Alexx. We'll have to see if our vic even wore glasses."
The trio turned back to the body. "Possible defensive wounds on his hands, "Yelena noted.
"Yeah, I noted several abrasions on his hands when I did my first exam."
"Little guy put up a fight then," Eric said solemnly. "Who identified the victims?"
"The principal," Alexx answered. "Calleigh and Tripp are talking to her as we speak."
–4–
Calleigh and detective Tripp entered the school building. "Frank, you ever go to principal's office back when you were in school?" Calleigh asked.
"Yeah, all the time for picking on little girls like you."
"Oh, that's too bad, Frank. Was it worth it?"
"I was a kid, I didn't care. Until I got to High School, then I cared about little girls like you."
"Oh Frank, you're too much." They both smiled. Sometimes a little brevity at a grisly scene helped clear the air a little bit.
They stopped in front of a door marked "Principal." Tripp knocked.
A voice inside said, "Come in." As the they entered, they saw a lithe brunette woman in a business suit looking out the window. Tripp made the intros.
"Dr. Dawkins, this is Calleigh Dusquesne, acting head of the Miami Dade Crime Scene Unit."
Calleigh kind of liked the sound of that.
The woman at the window turned around, she was beautiful. She had a tanned complexion, and could not have been a day over 40.
"Hello Officer, I'm Rose Dawkins, principal of Greenwood Elementary. Do you have any information for me? How long is my school going to be closed?"
Calleigh answered, "Hopefully not long, doctor. We're processing as fast as we accurately can. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"
"Not at all, anything I can do to help."
"Thank you doctor. First, you identified the bodies to our Medical Examiner. Did you discover them?"
"No, our playground monitor, Mrs. Biffle did. She came running into my office screaming."
"About what time was that?"
"I'd say a little before 6:30 this morning."
"Is your playground monitor always here that early?"
"Yes, she always looks for equipment that has been left out. Plus she makes sure there isn't anything laying around the playground the kids shouldn't get their hands on."
"Things like what?"
"We're mostly concerned about drugs and drug paraphanelia. The neighborhood around us has gotten a little worse over the years. We don't usually find much, but we don't take the chance."
"Do you report it to the police when you do find things?"
"Of course."
"Do you ever find any weapons?"
"We haven't in the last couple of years."
"Is Mrs. Biffle still here? I'd like to talk to her."
"Yes, she's out front telling the parents that are dropping their children off that school has been canceled."
"Great. How is it that you knew these two students? Are they regular visitors to your office?"
"No. Jennifer was a violin student, one of the best in the state. Ben has been our school attendance champion the last three years running."
"So they're good kids?"
"Yes."
"Are you aware of any reason for someone to hurt these kids?"
"Absolutely not."
"Did you or Mrs. Biffle touch the bodies in any way?"
"No."
"Okay, great. I think you've given us some place to start. Detective Tripp has agreed to accompany you and notify the parents. Can you give us copies of the victims' school records?"
"I don't know that I'm comfortable with that."
"Well, they are in the scope of our investigation. I can secure a warrant if you like."
"No, that's not necessary. But I told my secretary not to come in today, it might take me awhile to track them down."
"Well, I appreciate your help. I promise we'll release the scene as soon as we can." With that, Calleigh flashed her toothpaste commercial smile and went to find Eric.
–5–
Calleigh walked up behind Eric. He was bent over, reaching behind the tool shed. She tapped him on the shoulder. "How's it coming?"
Eric jumped. "Damn, Calleigh. You shouldn't sneak up on a guy like that!"
"It's my ninja powers. What have you found?"
"Murder weapon."
"Get out!"
"Really." Eric reached behind the shed again. His gloved hands removed a medium length, bloody, single edged knife. "Wanna hand me a biohazard container?"
Calleigh picked up a large orange container with two stickers. One said "Biohazard." The other said "Caution–Sharp Object." She handed it to him and watched as he put the knife inside, and marked it with an evidence label. "Nice work," she said. Anything else?"
"I took some blood samples from around the scene, as well as some standards from the grass, bushes and trees to give to trace. I also got a pair of broken glasses."
"From the vic?"
"Don't know yet."
"Hmmm...DNA here we come."
"You bet, Calleigh. Vic had defensive wounds. Alexx is going to see what she can recover. We might be keeping Valera mighty busy!"
"Valera needs to be busy. You have any theories?"
"I'm not even going to try and call this one yet. It's just too weird."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. Two kids murdered in the middle of the night on the playground."
"Maybe a little pre-teen love?"
"I doubt it, the principal said they were both good kids. Not the type to sneak out at night for a little boy/girl fun."
"The principal give you anything else?"
"Well, she kind of hinted that they've been finding drug evidence left at the school overnight, but again that doesn't seem to fit our vics. Still though, it's enough to have Alexx run a full tox screen."
"Drug deal gone bad?"
"Lets hope not. Kids and drugs don't mix."
–6–
Back at the lab, Detective Tripp entered the layout room, where Calleigh, Eric, and Ryan Wolfe, the newest CSI , sat around a table with the evidence in front of them. "Hey kid," Tripp said as he slapped Wolfe on the back.
Wolfe looked so young, some people in the lab had questioned if he was old enough to shave. A lot of people had doubts, and the going had been rough in the wake of Speed's death, but Calleigh knew Ryan could do the job.
Wolfe started things out. "So did anyone talk to the playground monitor, Mrs Biffle?"
Tripp spoke up as he sat down, "Yeah I did. She was pretty shook up, but her story didn't really differ from the principal's. However, I did get the school records on my way out." Tripp pushed two file folders across the table to Calleigh.
She picked them up, and took a minute to flip through them. "Now this is interesting, they both have the same teacher, a Mr. Swanson. That gives another commonality between the two."
Eric looked around over her shoulder into Ben Winston's file. "Looks like he didn't wear glasses."
Tripp answered, "Right. His mother confirmed he never wore glasses."
"So they might belong to our killer then."
"Possible."
Wolfe interrupted them. "Well, I swabbed the glasses and sent the sample to DNA. Also got a nice print from the left lense."
"Nice," Calleigh said. "A print on the lense, that's unusual. Okay, here's where we're at. We have two did children on the school playground, killed at a time they were supposed to be in bed. Question is, why were they there?"
Eric took first shot. "Well, we did wonder if they were romantically involved. Tripp, did their parents have anything to say about that?"
"They said they were friends, but nothing more than that."
"Okay," Ryan said, "maybe they were into drugs? You said the principal had been finding Paraphanelia on the premises."
"Well, I've got Alexx running a full tox work up. We'll know for sure soon enough. For now, we can't rule it out." As she said this, Calleigh picked up Ben Winston's bloody shirt. "What the hell happened here?"
Wolfe tried again. "You said they were good kids, maybe they were trying to stop one of their friends from using drugs, or something in that vein?"
Silence fell over the room.
Eric finally broke it. "Maybe. But a friend with a knife? Plus all this supposes they were there together."
"Time of death supports that." Calleigh said.
"So where does this leave us?" Tripp asked.
"Well, Ryan, you stay here and collect the results we're waiting for. Frank, you, Eric and I are going to have a chat with the teacher. I think it's the best lead we have at the moment."
The meeting adjourned as Wolfe headed for the DNA lab, and the other 3 headed back to the school.
–7–
Tripp led Eric and Calleigh towards the fifth grade classrooms back at Greenwood Elementary. "Why is he here today when school's canceled?" Eric asked.
"Well," Tripp answered, "He says teaching's hard work, and it just ends up being an extra day of prep time for him."
"Doesn't he know two of his students just died?"
Tripp shrugged. "Just telling you what he told me."
Just then, Calleigh's cell phone rang. She picked it up, and listened for a second. "Hey guys, it's Ryan, go ahead and start without me."
Tripp and Eric proceeded into the class room, where a tall man, balding, sat behind a desk. He appeared to be fairly well built. Eric guessed he was about 50. He had a ring of silver hair around his head. "Mr. James Swanson? I'm detective Tripp, Miami-Dade PD. This is Eric Delko, crime lab."
"Good afternoon gentleman. How can I help the Miami police?" Eric noticed the teacher didn't stand up. He also had his hands tucked under the desk.
"Well, Mr. Swanson," Tripp began, "Eric and I were hoping you could give us some information on Ben Winston and Jennifer Doyle."
"Yes, detective, of course. I was so shocked when I heard. They were such good kids. I really don't know why they were here last night."
"Have you ever had reason to suspect that either of them might be using drugs?"
"No."
"What about their friends? Any of them use?"
"Not that I know of. I would certainly try and help them if I did."
Eric took his turn. "What time do you leave the school each day?"
"About 5PM, why?"
"Where were you last night?"
"At home. Why do you ask?"
"Just checking on all people that knew both victims. Strictly routine."
Calleigh entered the room. "Mr Swanson, where are your glasses?"
"What? Who are you?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm Calleigh Dusquesne, Miami Crime Lab. You do wear glasses do you not?"
"Yes, I do. I accidently left them at home this morning. I was flustered over the news of my students' deaths."
"Great, so you won't mind if we search your home for them, right?"
"I'm afraid I do."
A new voice popped in from behind them. It was Yelena. "You don't need his permission, we have a warrant."
–8–
Wolfe hovered over Valera, who in turn peered into a microscope. She pulled away, and turned to him. "You guys have a trace evidence gold mine. There was sand matching the sand from the playground found on both victims. Also, what I was looking at here, is tiny flecks of cement in the wounds on your female victim. They match the cement collected from the wall. Blood on the wall also matches her."
"Okay, we figured that. Tell me something new."
"Alright, don't panic. There was a second donor on the wall."
"Really?"
"Yes. Plus that donor matched a sample Eric collected from the knife handle."
"Handle or blade?"
"Handle. Blood on the blade matched the male victim."
"Nice. What can you tell me about this second donor?"
"Male for sure. Also matches the DNA you collected from the glasses."
"Now we're talking. So the glasses belong to a guy with blood on a murder weapon, and blood on a wall that also contains blood from another victim."
"Yes."
"Plus the fingerprint on the lense belongs to the teacher. I better call Calleigh again."
Across town, at the residence of James Swanson, her phone rang. She listened to Wolfe relay the information that Valera had provided. When she hung up, she addressed Yelena. "Okay, how did you get a warrant for Mr. Swanson's house?"
"One of Ben Winston's friends came forward, says Swanson sold him some marijuana."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Sounds like Mr Swanson is going to lose his job."
Eric came from around the back, garbage bag in hand. "That's going to be the least of his problems."
–9–
Jennifer didn't know what to do. That's why she came to see Ben. She had been over at their friend Larry's house studying, and had seen the pot in his desk drawer. She had been looking for a pencil when she came across it. She knew Larry was having a hard time. His parents had just gotten divorced, and they were barely speaking to each other. It seemed odd to Jennifer, they had always seemed so happy.
A few weeks ago, Larry had started acting strange. She had just assumed it was the divorce. Now she wasn't so sure. She desperately wanted to talk to him about it, but didn't want to do it alone. Ben would know what to do.
At first, she had suggested they tell their parents, but Ben had pointed out that telling would just get Larry in even more trouble. He thought they should talk to him first. If they could get him to stop, it wouldn't have to go further than that.
Jennifer mentioned that she knew Larry had been sneaking out at night. Ben suggested that they follow him. He lived 2 houses over, it would be easy for them to spot and follow him. Jennifer wasn't so sure. Ben pointed out that Larry always came back safely. Plus, if they could find out who was dealing the pot, they could kill two birds with one stone.
The next night, Ben snuck out and went over to Jennifer's house. After knocking on her window, she did the same. She still wasn't comfortable with this, but Ben said they would be fine, nobody would see them. They went back into Ben's backyard, which afforded them a view of Larry's bedroom window. They hadn't been there ten minutes when Larry climbed out of his window, looked around and walked briskly out of his yard.
Jennifer and Ben followed, not too close. He appeared to be headed for the school. That kind of made sense, they had heard rumors about joints, syringes, and pipes being found around the playground. It gave Jennifer some relief, as she knew there would be plenty of places to hide.
Larry was indeed headed for the school. They followed him around back to the playground. There, they saw a lone man standing near the jungle gym. Quietly, they ducked down behind the Big toy unit and watched as Larry approached him.
The school building had lights that shown into the playground area, so they could clearly see the man. He took a baggy from his pocket as Larry approached. Larry gave him what appeared to be money in return. Then the man turned to walk away. As he did, the light from the building revealed his face. The children looked on in horror as they recognized their teacher, Mr. Swanson.
Jennifer gasped. Ben took his hand out of the sand and covered her mouth, trying to get her to be quiet. However, some of the sand got in her nose, and she sneezed loudly. Both Larry and Mr. Swanson heard it. Swanson cursed loudly and Larry took off in the opposite direction. Swanson started running toward where the kids were hiding.
Ben pushed Jennifer away, and yelled at her to run. Then he watched in horror as she got up, and being disoriented in the dark ran right toward Swanson. The two met next to the cement wall between the big toy and jungle gym.
Swanson grabbed her and punched her in the stomach, dropping her to the ground. Ben charged him. Swanson didn't see him at first, and it gave Ben time enough to jump onto him. Grabbing his hand, he bit down into Swanson's flesh with his front teeth, trying to cause as much pain as he could. Swanson screamed loudly, and easily flung the fifth grader off of him, onto the sandy ground. He then turned his attention back to Jennifer, and began kicking her in the chest area, cursing her as he went.
Ben figured he was no match for the bigger man, and decided to go for help. He leapt on top of the cement wall and began running up the soccer field area. Swanson noticed this. Figuring he couldn't let the boy escape, he yanked the beaten girl off the ground and slammed her head into the cement wall. As he did, blood from his bite wound hit the wall as well. The girl fell back into the sand. He didn't know it, but she was dead.
Swanson then hopped the wall and chased after the boy. His long strides enabled him to catch Ben quickly, but Ben was ready. He turned and swung wildly at the teacher, connecting full in the face. His blow knocked the man's glasses sideways. Swanson grabbed them by a lense and tossed them away. Then he pulled the knife from his pocket.
Swanson swung wildly at Ben a couple of times, each time catching a piece of Bens hand as he tried to block the blows. As he did this, the wound on his own hand continued to bleed, out onto the knife handle. Finally, one blow landed hard into Ben's hand, and instinctually he reached to grab it and stop the bleeding. That was all the opening Swanson needed.
He reached in and stabbed Ben in the chest. The boy fell to the ground. In a fit of rage, Swanson leapt onto him and began slashing and stabbing wildly. Only after a couple of minutes did he recognize the boy's face.
Startled at seeing the face of one of his prize students, Swanson jumped up and away from the body. Looking around quickly, he stashed the knife behind the tool shed. He had to get out, had to think. But he didn't dare get caught with a bloody knife. He looked down and saw his clothes were also bloody. There was a jacket in his car, he could cover up with that. He ran back down the field.
He stopped in sandbox area to examine the female. He began to weep as he recognized Jennifer Doyle, the talented young Violinist. What had he done?
No time for that now.
Gotta go.
Gotta get out of here.
He had to think and clear his head.
–10–
Calleigh and Eric watched through a one way mirror as Swanson related the story to Tripp. Apparently, Larry had caught Swanson smoking dope some time ago. Swanson agreed to sell Larry some cheap stuff if he kept quiet. They were both appalled. Swanson had cut a deal with the DA. No death penalty if he plead guilty. The case was already all over the news, and as a drug-involved offense, nobody, including Swanson, thought a conviction and a death sentence would be hard to get.
The evidence was there. Besides the DNA at the scene, Eric's garbage bag contained the bloody clothes Swanson had been wearing. Also in the clothes were strands of hair that belonged to Jennifer Doyle. Add the murder weapon, and the multiple kinds of drugs found in Swanson's residence, not to mention Larry's testimony, and it was a slam dunk.
Eric shook his head. "They always underestimate us. He thought he could get back and find his glasses and knife before we did. I bet he got a sinking feeling when he rolled up and saw the police units."
Calleigh continued to stare at the monster across the mirror. "It just seems all so hopeless Eric. Any other choice those kids could have made would have had a better outcome than this. They could have just told their parents. This didn't have to happen."
–Epilogue–
Rain had settled over Miami. Sure the case had gone fast, and a dangerous man was off the street, but the death of two children was a hard thing for Calleigh to shake from her mind. The gloom of the rain only added to this sense.
Eric pulled the hummer into Calleigh's drive-way. "You gonna be ok?"
"I think so, this is just one that's going to stay with me for awhile."
"I know what you mean."
"Thanks Eric, this was tough, but I'm glad you were there to go through it with me."
"Yeah, my feelings exactly. Good night Calleigh."
She got down from the hummer, and began walking to her door. Eric pulled out of the drive, and turned down the street, driving away. Headlights fading in the rainy Miami night.
She felt her eyes water, and her face flush. Instinctively, she grabbed her cell and placed a call.
A voice came over the other line and said. "Delko."
"Hey Eric, I changed my mind, can I buy you dinner and a drink?"
"No you can't Calleigh, I'm buying. I'll be there in a second."
Calleigh smiled as she tucked her phone away, and the headlights appeared one more time in the rainy Miami night.