Chapter 3
Ryan
had searched the whole crime-scene from the dead aunt yesterday, but
he hadn't found the gun that she was shot with. The only trace from
the murderer was the bullet inside the victim, and now he was on his
way to Alexx to get it.
"Thank you Alexx." he heard
Horatio say as he opened the door. Horatio nodded to Ryan with a
'Hey' and walked through the open door.
Ryan walked into the
room.
"I'll never understand how that man works," Alexx
said and shook her head.
Ryan looked at her hopefully.
"Alexx,
I wondered if you've got the bullet from Elisabeth Jackson."
"Yes,
I've got it. Here you go." she said and gave him the evidence
bag with the bullet in it.
"Thank you. Was there anything
else?"
"No, she was a typical victim from a robbery."
Alexx looked at Ryan's face.
"But I can see that you think
the same thing as I do… You don't think it was a robbery,
huh?"
"No, it can't have been a coincidence that she
turns up dead the same night as her sister."
"Don't
think so. But there's one thing I've been thinking of… If it wasn't
a coincidence, why did the murder use a knife, when he had a gun? To
me, it looks like Malin's murder was much more personal than
Elisabeth's."
"Yeah, you're right." Ryan said
thoughtfully. "Thanks."
The elevator
doors opened and Horatio walked out. Ryan stood and waited for him a
few meters away.
"Ryan, you wanted to see me."
"Horatio,
I talked to Alexx, and we compared the two victims. There's something
wrong…. Let's say the murderer killed Elisabeth first. He shoots
her and after that he went to Malin's house to kill her. But if he
had a gun, why didn't he just shoot her? Why use a knife and risk to
leave trace behind?"
"Well, there are a few
alternatives; the murderer shoots Elisabeth and throws away the gun,
without thinking that he will need it again. And if he did, you and
Eric have to go back and find the gun. After that he arrives at
Malin's house and when he's there he realize that he doesn't have the
gun anymore. He takes the nearest weapon and kills her too."
"Or
maybe he uses different weapons on purpose and takes Elisabeth's
wallet just to make it look like a robbery." Ryan added.
"Yes
or maybe our murderer hired someone to kill Elisabeth and then killed
Malin by himself. And maybe that's why Malin's murder looks much more
personal."
"There are a lot of maybes," Ryan
sighed.
"Yes, but that's not unusual, is it?"
At the
same time Calleigh walked out of the elevator.
"Horatio, have
you got a minute?"
"One second, Calleigh…. Ryan, you
have to go back to the crime-scene and find that gun. Take Eric with
you." With a belated 'ok,' Ryan left.
"What is it
Calleigh, something new?"
"Greg was telling us the
truth; it wasn't his blood on the knife."
"That's not a
surprise."
"Do we have any trace left to follow?"
"Yes, we haven't checked Greg's phone yet. It might be
helpful."
"Dan,
have you found anything from Mr. Winston's cell-phone?" Calleigh
asked as she walked into the room.
"The guy you're looking
for is both smart, and he has got a lot of money, or he's a good
thief."
"An explanation, please."
"All the
messages from this guy have different numbers."
"What?"
"Yep."
"But
how do you know they're from the same guy?"
"I don't,
but there isn't a single message which is from the same person,
except from the messages from those on his contact list. Take a
look."
And Dan was right, Calleigh looked at the message list
and all of them came from different numbers.
"Well that can't
be a coincidence. Can it?"
"I can't see how it could
be."
Ryan and Eric jumped out of the car and
walked towards the place where Elisabeth Jackson had been found
yesterday.
"I'll take this side." said Eric and they
started to walk along the sides of the alley.
"I've
found it!" Ryan shouted half an hour later.
"I'm
coming."
Ryan stood bent over a garbage can when Eric finally
got there. He rose and held up a gun in front of Eric's eyes.
"The
CSI goldmine - a dumpster." Eric said with a smile. Ryan
laughed.
"Yep, and I think we've just found Calleigh
something to do."
They made their way back to the car and
drove back to the lab.
"Mr. Winston, last time
we spoke you forgot to mention one little thing."
"Did
I?" Mr. Winston said and sounded very surprised. A little
too surprised to be real, thought Calleigh.
"Yes, all
the messages that weren't sent from someone on your phone list, were
from different numbers."
"Oh, yeah, I must've forgotten
to mention that… He said the first time we spoke on phone that he
would use different phones every time he contacted me. Safer, he
said."
"And you didn't think that he might steal them?"
"I didn't think much about it."
"Really?"
said Calleigh and raised one of her eyebrows.
It
wasn't hard to find Calleigh; she was sitting in the break room and
drinking coffee. Eric and Ryan both knew her well enough to see that
she was bored and didn't have anything to do.
"Calleigh!"
Ryan called.
"Ryan, Eric, hey!" She smiled and rose up
out of the chair.
"We've got a work for you." said Eric
and showed her the gun.
"Great! Finally we're getting
somewhere!"
"Need more evidence?"
"Yes,
all the traces this far have been dead ends and Greg Winston doesn't
make the job easier."
"Well, maybe this could lead you
somewhere."
"Thanks guys!" she said, grabbing the
gun and walking away.
Half an hour later, Ryan
walked into the ballistics lab.
"Hi!" said Calleigh and
gave him a big smile.
"It sounds like the gun was helpful."
said Ryan returning her smile.
"Yes, this is defiantly the
gun that killed Elisabeth Jackson. And look what I just found!"
She said and almost jumped for joy.
Ryan looked at the papers she
showed him.
"It's registered to a Ted Daltrey. A well-known
burglar. And he was released from jail three months ago. "
After
a quick call to Yelina, Calleigh phoned Horatio to tell him the good
news.
"Mr Daltrey, your gun was used in a
murder yesterday. Can you explain that?" Horatio asked.
"My
gun was stolen a few days ago." Mr Daltrey answered quickly.
"It was? Did you file a report?"
"No, I didn't.
With my history, the cops aren't as helpful as you'd think."
"With
your history? It wasn't long ago you came out from jail, you was
acquitted after one year, so it wasn't so long ago you did your
latest burglary."
"People change."
"And you
want me to believe that you are one of them, even if you weren't
judged for even half of your crimes?"
"Are you accusing
me for something I'm not judged for? Is that why I'm here?"
"No,
it's not. You're here because you're involved in a murder."
"Can
you prove that?"
"Not yet. But I will. I promise you
that."
"No, you won't. Because I'm not like all the
other guys you arrest, I don't leave trace behind."
"Except
from the gun."
"As
I said; I am not involved in that. And that's why you won't be able
to prove anything."
"We'll see." said Horatio and
walked out of the room without looking back.
When he had closed
the door, he took out his cell-phone and pressed a button on his
speed dial.
"Calleigh."
"Calleigh, its
Horatio."
"Hey, what can I do for you?"
"There's
something we've missed, take all the evidence and start again from
the beginning."
"Okay, are we in hurry?"
"Kind
of, I can't keep Mr. Daltrey here in more than twelve hours and I'm
sure he's involved in this."
"Are there something
special I should look after?"
"No, but have we checked
fingerprints on the gun?"
"I just left it to Eric, but
I can go back to him and tell him its top
priority."
"Thanks."
"Always."
