CHAPTER 2
"How ya doin', Houston? Long time no see." Sgt. Rick Oliver shook the private detective's hand.
"Pretty good, Rick, how's the family?" Matt had known Oliver for over six years.
"Good. Boys are growing like weeds and my daughter will graduate next spring. Hard to believe." He lifted the yellow crime scene tape so Matt could walk under it. "The lab boys are just about done. Shouldn't be but a few more minutes." He walked with Matt toward the door of the hotel room. "Detective March was here until a few minutes ago. They sent him out on some other call and I've been told to secure the scene until another detective gets here."
"Thanks, Rick." Matt couldn't believe that Murray had been picked up in a dump like this. It was known for many things, but its five star menu was certainly not among them. Murder, prostitution, drug deals, you name it had been going on here for longer than Matt had been in town. He couldn't understand why the city hadn't shut it down under the nuisance laws that were in effect.
A couple of minutes later, the CSI crew came out of the room. "How's it going, Houston?" Matt looked up to see Cheryl Crawford, one of the best CSI's around.
"Well, it was pretty good until I got the call about this." He motioned to the hotel room. "Can you tell me anything?"
Cheryl smiled and looked down. "Now, Houston, you know the rules. I can't report anything to you. Carry my case for me?" She winked at him and handed him one of the heavy cases that contained the tools of her trade. Matt took it from her and followed her to the van.
The CSI looked around to make sure no one was within ear shot of their conversation. "Look, I heard the guy that was arrested was a friend of yours. I hope he's got a good lawyer."
"He does, the very best there is; my wife." Matt didn't like the path that their talk was following.
"Good. Congratulations, by the way. Nice to know you two finally wised up." She gave him a smile that disappeared quickly. "There is a lot of evidence in there; DNA, fingerprints, broken glass, drugs…a lot of stuff. None of it good."
"Well, what's your take on it?" Matt respected her opinion and knew that she was a professional.
"It looks like the pair was boozing it up and getting high. They must have gotten into an argument, a liquor bottle was smashed over the woman's head, and she died. The coroner will have to decide if it was from the blow or the blood loss…and there was a LOT of blood."
Houston looked down at the ground. "I know you've got evidence Cheryl, but I can tell you this: I'm one hundred percent certain that he did not commit murder."
The CSI nodded her head. "I'm sure you are. But this is going to be a tough one." She closed the doors on the back of the van. "Give my best to CJ. Take care." With that, she walked around to the front of the van and drove off.
Matt walked back up to the hotel room and carefully stepped inside, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness inside. He pulled a flashlight out of his back pocket and started looking around. Cheryl hadn't been lying: there was a lot of blood, most of it at the base of a dresser that looked like it had been around at least fifty years too long. The outline where the body had been showed that the victim's head was toward the dresser. Houston pulled a pair of leather gloves out of his pocket and put them on. He opened each drawer on the dresser only to find absolutely nothing. Continuing his search around the room, Matt looked in the bathroom, finding a complete and total mess of liquor bottles and what appeared to be cigarette ashes. He knew for a fact that Murray didn't smoke, didn't take drugs, and very rarely had a drink. He turned and walked toward the bed that looked as if an elephant had recently rolled across it. The sheets were ripped as were the pillows, whose foam pieces were scattered all over the bed and the floor. More blood was on the head board. In the corner there was a chair that held what appeared to be a woman's robe and a pair of house slippers was haphazardly thrown underneath. Matt found absolutely nothing that looked as if it belonged to Murray.
Although he knew that Hoyt would let him look at the forensics reports, Matt wished that he could have seen the room as the arresting officers had seen it. Even the pictures that would accompany the report just weren't as good as the real thing. He turned back toward the bathroom and caught a glimpse of something white behind the door. Carefully moving the door, he looked down and saw what appeared to be a cigarette. Kneeling down for a closer look, Matt recognized it as looking like a type of Russian cigarette: the filter was about as long as the tobacco portion. He took out his cell phone, took a picture of the cigarette, then called Hoyt to let him know what he had found.
"A Russian cigarette? How do you know it's Russian?" Hoyt couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"Well, I don't know for certain that it is, but that's what it looks like. I've seen them before." Matt wasn't going into detail on how he had seen them. Not if he could help it.
"Alright, I'll call out the CSI's again. Like they aren't backlogged enough." He knew Matt only wanted to help his friend.
While he waited just outside the door for CSI to send someone out, Matt called Uncle Roy and told him what was going on and what he had just found. Roy had spent plenty of time dealing with the Russians while with the CIA.
"That's exactly what it sounds like, Matt. Listen, have they done a blood test on Murray? If not, CJ will want to get one done on him – just in case. For that matter, she needs to make sure it's done by an outside company." Roy hadn't known Murray Chase as long as Matt or CJ, but he would never believe the man was guilty of murder.
"Alright, I'll call her and let her know. I'm sending you a picture of the cigarette. You can see for yourself. Talk to you later." Matt sent the picture to his uncle's email, then dialed CJ's cell phone. She answered on the second ring.
"How's our boy holding up?" Matt was worried about Murray. He was a whiz at numbers and corporate mergers, but jail and being arrested for murder were way out of his league.
"About as good as can be expected." CJ looked over at her client. He was staring at the wall.
Matt told her what Uncle Roy had said about the blood test. "The sooner the better. Are you doing okay, CJ?"
"Yep, I'm fine. I'll get right on that test, Matt. Thanks for the heads up. Love you, 'bye." She knew he was really worried about Murray.
"Love you, too. I'll talk to you later." He hung up and stared back inside the trashed hotel room. It never ceased to amaze him how little some people valued human life.
