Case
#458
Ryan Swinney
As the door opened crime scene
investigators Glenn Kevkolhz, with new recruit Tarja Elliot are swept
with the stench of death. By the disgusted look on Tarja's face,
Glenn could tell that this was her first case since college.
"Want some air?" he questioned. With a nod Tarja ran for the door
and Glenn smiled to himself as he heard her repeat that morning's
breakfast, just like when he once talked about one of his first cases
over the table in the CSI break room. Glenn knelt down beside the
victim and began to scrape under her nails for any epithelia evidence
he could use.
"Twenty-four, blonde, Caucasian female named
Emma Green from Prague. Estimated time of death… Err… 8 hours
ago" detective Clive Helms said, as he leant on the door frame.
Glenn walked into the bedroom, his flashlight glistening against the
blood spattered mirrors, as he said,
"What about this
guy?"
"Twenty-six, Caucasian male named Robert Grace from
the States." Clive said.
"Maybe a tourist…" Glenn
replied. As Glenn walked back to the body of Emma Greens he could
hear the familiar sound of her heels on the cold concrete stairs. A
much relieved Tarja crouched underneath the yellow crime scene tape
and knelt beside Glenn. Tarja looked at the victims face and lowered
her head.
"This guy's a monster…" she said, as she
looked up and down dead body.
"Is there any next of kin?"
Glenn asked.
"Only a sister in Paris. Got the better half
of Europe I guess." Clive answered. Glenn knelt close to the victim
and saw her blue lips (a sign of a lack of oxygen). He took her hand
and saw her nails had also gone blue. He gave a sigh and then
finished processing the victim. The attending officers of the Prague
Police Department came over to the body and put her inside a white
bag.
"Let's finish here." Glenn said, as the CSI's
walked out of the room with the sun of dull Prague shining through
the sharp blinds of the windows.
The door opened to the
autopsy room and Glenn could see the dead body of Emma Green. The
smell of the dead never affected Glenn for some reason.
"Poor
girl…" Joan Hetroversk the coroner mentioned.
"Cause of
death?" Glenn asked.
"As you thought, lack of oxygen."
"Know why?" Glenn questioned.
"She was smothered, I
retrieved multiple black fibres from the back of her throat" Joan
said as she gave Glenn the evidence bag.
"I see defence
wounds on her wrists… she fought back." Glenn said sadly.
"The killer was too strong for her; she must have been so scared."
Joan replied.
"Any sexual abuse?" The scientists heard
from the back of the room. Tarja slowly walked over, her heels
echoing against the silence of the autopsy room.
"Not done
the test yet, but I'll check for you later." Joan said.
"What about the boyfriend?" Glenn asked.
"Stabbed in the
neck" Joan said, as she pointed out the entry wound.
"Right
in the jugular, causing arterial bleed."
"That explains
the blood on the mirrors" Glenn said to Tarja.
"Let's
just hope it's the same killer, all the evidence was useless from
his body." Tarja replied. As Tarja and Glenn walked away to the
labs they could hear the squeaky wheels of the operating tables go
back into the morgue.
The two CSI's met in the parking lot
and got into Glenn's SUV. About forty minutes later they were at
the front door of Emma Green's apartment.
"Right somehow
the killer got into her apartment." Glenn said.
"Who do
you let through your door everyday?" Tarja wondered, as she walked
through the door and began processing anything that could be involved
with Emma's death. Glenn went through into Emma's bedroom and
looked into her cupboard. He found nothing.
"Twenty-four
year old girl without clothes? Isn't there something off about
that?" he asked Tarja. He looked under her bed and pulled out a
suitcase. He opened it and found it was full of clothes.
"She
was leaving, check her phone records. This may involve a stalker"
He shouted through to the next room.
"Same story with
the boyfriend."
"Sheets have been washed. He knew what he
was doing, not allowing us to get any trace of him." Glenn said.
"He didn't know everything." Tarja said with a smug look on
her face as she walked into the bedroom with a pair of tweezers in
her hand.
"A hair!" Glenn exclaimed.
"It's
too long to be our vic." Tarja replied.
"Send it to the
lab, see if we can get some DNA" Glenn said.
Glenn kept
processing the bedroom and Tarja walked through into the bathroom.
"Eh, Officer!" she shouted hoping that officer Banks could
hear it.
"Do me a favour…" she said as she handed the
young policeman a pair of gloves. He reached into the toilet, whilst
Tarja tried not to laugh at the look of his face.
"I got
something!" he said, as he pulled out a condom. Tarja grimaced as
she saw the evidence drip in toilet water.
"Lab, now!
We might get some evidence off it!" Tarja ordered as she saw the
disgusted officer run for the door. Glenn met Tarja
With a loud
'bleep' in the silence of the crime scene Glenn's cell phone
went off,
"Hey Joan. Right. Okay. Thanks. Bye", as he
closed his cell phone he said,
"She was raped." The pair
hung their heads.
"Right, lets get this back to the lab."
Glenn Said.
"Hold Up! I got something." Tarja said.
"Foot-print! Very good. Linoleum is the best surface for it."
Glenn said, as he went into his kit and brought out a big sheet of
clear plastic.
"I'll fix the electrodes up" Tarja
nodded and she set the two electrodes onto the plastic. In seconds a
shoe print was given.
"Get it to the lab," Glenn asked
Tarja. Glenn walked into the hallway and noticed a pot holding
umbrellas. He tipped the pot over and out came a bloody knife.
"Woah! We got a knife here. Possible murder weapon,"
Glenn shouted. The CSI's left the building with all the evidence
they needed.
Tarja was walking past the lab when she heard a
yell of delight. She smiled to herself, as if she knew who it was.
"You got something?" Tarja said to the lab rat Drederik
Helms.
"Yep, got DNA off your hair, but none from the
condom, and guess what?"
"What?" Tarja said
anxiously.
"It's XY – Male and he's in TNDD (The
National DNA Database)
"Got details?"
"Carmine
Gondalor, a convicted rapist, released last month etc. etc."
Drederik said.
"Also the blood on the knife is
consistent with that of the boyfriend, I also got a fingerprint, but
that's not in TNDD unfortunately."
"God I could kiss
you!" Tarja said, as she was walking away, leaving Drederik with
his eyes closed and cheek in the air. Tarja met Glenn in the corridor
as she rushed to Clive's office.
"I'll go with Clive
back to the apartment just in case we've missed something." Tarja
handed Glenn the DNA results and the suspects' profile,
"Guess I'll bring him in…" Glenn said, as he and Tarja parted
ways.
Tarja entered Clive's office,
"Heard all
about it, let's go!" Clive said with the tone of voice that he
used when he was on the verge of solving a case. The pair got into
Clive's SUV and continued on. Once they had arrived Tarja and
Clive went up to the apartment via the stairs,
"I hate
elevators; they always break down on me!" Clive said. Tarja 'gave
him a 'you can't be serious' look and kept walking step by
step. 'Bleep-Bleep-Bleep-Bleep'
"Sorry I gotta take
this." Clive said. Tarja continued going upstairs until she was
outside the door of #39b. She knocked and walked in.
"Crime
Scene Investigator, Hello?" she shouted, not expecting a reply. She
continued and walked into the living area, where Emma's body had
been found. She chuckled to herself of he thought that she was
actually sick. She got her torch and began inspecting the kitchen
cupboards.
"What's this?" Tarja reached into the back
of the cupboard and brought out a hair brush with dark hairs on it,
"This wasn't here before." She said to herself. She bagged
it and continued. All of a sudden and strong hand came from behind
and covered her by the mouth. She smelled something significant, and
realised the sex of the attacker. She screamed into the hand hoping
that Clive would hear. She scrambled all over the crime scene and
managed to get rid of the attacker's hand.
"HELP!
SUSPECT AT CRIME SCENE! SUSPECT AT CRIME SCENE!" she screamed as
she tried to break free. She could hear the calls of Clive. The
attacker stumbled over the stairwell of the apartment block and threw
Tarja down 3 floors. Clive rushed to Tarja's assistance,
"Base. This is Det. 554 requesting back-up and paramedics
immediately!"
Glenn and Clive waited outside the ward for any
news on Tarja.
"Son-of-a-bitch! I could have got him!"
Clive shouted as he punched the wall.
"It's okay! You did
the right thing! You helped Tarja! That's why she is alive."
Glenn said reassuringly even though he did not know himself Tarja's
fate.
"I gotta go I got PPD to get Carmine in for an
interview. Page me any new details." Glenn said as he tried to hide
his grief.
"Glenn wait! Tarja had this…", Clive
said as he gave the evidence collected to Glenn.
"Thank-you,
this will help."
Glenn and a junior officer were face to
face with Tarja's attacker and his lawyer.
"Let's just
start this nice and simple." Glenn said.
"Where were you
last Tuesday at 4.30pm?"
"At a bar…" Carmine said.
"Want to tell us some more?"
"Well there was this
girl, with big …"
"Okay! That's enough, is there
anyone that can back you up?" Glenn said quickly.
"Yeah, the bartender! Ask him!" Carmine replied.
"Okay,
you're free to go. But don't stray too far." As Carmine walked
away Glenn asked,
"By the way, why was there a hair off you
in the crime scene?"
"I have no idea" he said.
"Gentlemen, this is dismissed." The smug lawyer said and he and
his client walked away.
As Glenn was walking down the corridor
he was stopped by Clive,
"How's Tarja doing?" Glenn
asked.
"She's doing well, only minor injuries. She wants
to come back on the case ASAP." Clive replied.
"Okay
then see ya." Glenn said. Glenn stopped, as his cell phone rung yet
again. After closing his cell phone he ran towards the parking lot.
He arrived at Carmine Gondolor's apartment only to find his
body hanging from the banister at the top of the stairs. He met CSI
Harding from the United Kingdom who had been in Prague for a couple
of years.
"It's not a suicide. Injuries aren't
consistent. You may have another suspect on your hands." Harding
said.
"Thanks." Glenn replied, as he walked back out to
his SUV. For once in his life Glenn was stumped on a case and this
frustrated him so much. He kept going over the victims and the
evidence in his head. Then he realised the one piece of evidence that
stuck out. The hairbrush.
Glenn rushed to the Mercy Hospital
in Prague and went to Tarja's ward.
"Hey Glenn." Tarja
said exhausted.
"Hey, What did you see when you were
attacked?"
"Didn't see anything, I smelt a perfume!"
"Perfume?"
"Yeah, it was a woman! That's
all I can remember." Tarja replied.
"Okay Thank-You."
Glenn said as he rushed through the doors of the ward.
"Bye," Tarja said, as she was left alone in her room.
"Drederik! Process this hair now! Above all the other cases!"
Glenn ordered. Only half an hour later Drederik had the results, in
his hand, as he knocked on the door of Glenn's office.
"Wow, you're not going to believe this. It's a relative to the
vic!" Drederik said.
"Sorry, way ahead of you." Glenn
replied, as he walked out of the office and headed towards Clive's
office.
"Clive, track down the vic's sister! Now!"
Glenn ordered.
Glenn and Clive were in the interrogation room
with the vic's sister, Emiline Green and her lawyer.
"You
killed your sister and her boyfriend." Clive said.
"Maybe
I did, maybe I didn't." Emiline said slyly.
"Well our
evidence can prove that you did!" Glenn said.
"You wanna
tell us the story?"
"You don't have to answer
that!" her lawyer quickly replied. Emiline blanked off her lawyer
and said,
"Right. It was me."
"And I know how
you did it." Glenn said.
"You see, she never expected her
own sister would be the one that killed her. Even though you must
have stalked her for months beforehand, she decided to give you
another chance. She greeted you, but then wanted you to leave. You
wouldn't take no for an answer, so you got your pal to rape her!"
"What Pal?" she asked.
"You see we know that you
weren't alone. We found male shoe
print's, a used condom…
you couldn't have him leave his trace, but we found his hair.
Carmine Gondoler then threatened to tell the police. You
couldn't
have that could you? So that's why you staged his suicide." Glenn
said with a hint of anger in his deep voice.
"But let's
get back to your sister shall we?" Glenn suggested. With a nod from
Emiline they carried on.
"So once he had done his end of
the deal. You wanted her to suffer some more! You then smothered her
until she turned blue." Glenn said.
"You shoved your
glove down her throat." Glenn said as he pointed towards her
glove.
"I bet we can match the fibres found from the
back of her throat to your glove." Clive added.
"That's
a great story." She replied.
"But, how does it end?"
"It ends with you in prison for a treble murder." Glenn said.
"So you've heard our theory. Let us hear your side."
Clive suggested. Emiline sighed and saw the hopeless look on her
lawyer's face,
"I met Carmine, years ago when I begun
living in Paris. We got close and I told him about my sister. He said
he would give me a helping hand, so to speak."
"But why
did you kill your own sister?" Glenn asked with curiosity.
"She really killed herself. She had it coming. He was mine! Not
hers!" the suspect replied.
"Who was?" Glenn asked.
"Robert. We all went to the same college. He was with me, but I
wasn't good enough! He had to be with that tart. I caught them, in
bed! I was so angry. That's why I left for Paris."
"But
you couldn't leave it at that could you?" Glenn said.
"Of
course not. That's why I killed them." As she uttered those
words, Glenn lowered his head, signalling Clive to do his favourite
part of a case. Clive rose up,
"Emiline Green you are under
arrest for the murders of Emma Green, Robert Grace and Carmine
Gondoler." An arresting officer took Emiline out by handcuffs.
Glenn left the interrogation room and slowly walked towards the
exit.
"Hey Glenn", Tarja shouted from her SUV, just
as Glenn was getting into his.
"Nice job on the case,"
"Thanks" he replied,
"Wanna go get something
to eat?" Tarja asked.
"Nah, I don't feel like it right
now. You know double shifts, leave you exhausted. Maybe next time?"
And with that Glenn got into his SUV and drove off into the dangerous
streets of Prague, knowing that there would be an even more gruesome
case in the next days shift.
