Author: Nicksfriend
Rating:k
Spoilers:
Disclaimer: They do not belong to me...that is for sure.
Author's note: Something different. A disease of the week kind of fic. I love Nick and I know I put him through a lot but if he weren't so darn cute well I would be picking on Gregg instead.
Nick walked back over and grabbed his kit and walked back towards the house. He spotted Gregg taking evidence outside of the house.
"Hey Nick, I thought you went home after that guy assaulted you in the yard, Catherine said he got in a pretty good punch." Gregg was taking pictures of the windows and the path that led up to the house.
"Yeah, well evidently it wasn't too bad, I'm back." cutting off his friend and walking forward into the entrance of the house.
"Well , I guess it depends on what definition of fine you use." Gregg muttered to himself as he continued taking the pictures, seeing that his friend wasn't really fine.
Nick placed his gloves on, then his shoe covers, he would need to catch every clue the killer had left behind and he felt that it started here, at the entrance.
He looked down directing his flashlight towards the floor,a shoe print, he sat his kit on the doorstep, he didn't want anything to contaminate the crime scene. He placed down a marker, number one, then took a picture.
They were probably a mixture of police,the neighbor's and possibly even Vega's prints, he would work that out later at the lab, all he wanted was the killer's prints, but this guy had been careful,he could tell by the absence of apparent fingerprints earlier, he would have to look closer.
He stood then walked forward, the dim light revealing blood spatter on the brown carpet,it was trailing towards the dining room area. Maybe he carried her, or maybe he directed the beautiful woman to the bedroom so that he could kill her there, Nick was thinking to himself as he continued to document the scene and take pictures, each blood spatter numbered, a total of 23 from the door to the dining room table, another 14 from the dining room table to the bedroom door.
No more shoe prints were found but had the blood dried, preventing any more impressions? Which only lead to another question,had days passed between their deaths or just hours? Had the killer murdered the victim in the bedroom last, was she his final victim?
His mind was racing, too many questions until they got it all in the lab. For them to be able to piece it together they would need all the clues, time of death, autopsy, photos,DNA,fingerprints, SARS kit analysis on all the victims, everything would come together to create a picture of what had taken place in the house, so he needed to get it right, they all needed to get it right if they wanted the murder solved and the murders of the five girls downstairs.
The quiet, stillness of the house of death was broken, when a recognizable voice yelled through the house."I have another victim upstairs!"
A frenzy of people started up the stairs, careful to avoid disturbing the scene.Nick knew he had to care for the victim downstairs, she was his priority. Sara could take care of whatever she found upstairs, he needed to concentrate on what was downstairs,the crime scene that he was in charge of protecting.
He stopped at the dining room, the table cloth again gained his attention, disturbed him, it wasn't wrinkled, possibly ironed,after the blood spatter was placed, then placed back on the table and set for a party of ten.
Nick could not help but to get nauseated again, what if there had been ten girls,they had only found seven,so were there three more missing or possibly even more, had the five died first and the table cloth used to move them, he shook his head, reminding himself, one step at a time.
He photographed the table and the plates, each one, documenting what each plate held and the amount of drink left in the glass,each at a different height, each with lipstick on the glass, he got a bad feeling, he probably would not find any DNA of the killer's on the plates or glasses. The food would be processed for poison and other chemicals or drugs. then something else caught his attention, no silverware, no forks, spoons or knives, he turned and opened the drawers on the cabinet, also empty,the killer had thought of the possibility they could use them as weapons.
"Catherine!" he yelled, needing to talk to her about the new discovery.
"Hey Nicky, you okay?" she yelled back from the hallway.
"Yeah, I need you to look at something." he was pointing at the table.
"What is it Nick? She asked,as she made her way towards the dining room.
"The table, it was set for ten, I think we have at least three more victims, possibly even more, I think the murderer set the table after he killed at least one victim,possibly even more victims." he turned and pointed towards the ten glasses and plates,she too noticed no silverware.
"Okay, I'm convinced too. I'll start broadening our search, we need to find the rest of the girls." she stopped and looked around the room," This is horrible." she mostly said it to herself,feeling the crime scene grow even larger and including more victims.
"I'll notify the rest of the team." she turned to leave ,but then she hesitated,"How are you holding up?" she was concerned and wanted him to know that she cared,removing her tough exterior and replacing it with a soft smile and a caring hand on his arm.
"I'm fine Catherine." He gave her a big smile," Really." again he lied, he needed to press forward finding evidence, he felt a connection,but he could not figure it out,why he felt so close to the scene, to the girl in the bedroom.
She gave him a nod,evidently his act was believed,Catherine then pulled out her radio and started talking to Jim, instructing him to widen the search, there was a great possibility of more victims. She disappeared down the hallway, and headed out the door.
He turned back to the crime scene, his attention full focus again, the girl was still in the bedroom, the coroners held at bay, there time would come, they had a lot to do, liver temps were already taken to determine time of death, he needed to see the results. It would have to wait though, he still had work to do at the scene.
He photographed the empty silverware drawer, the table, and the position of the chairs, all slid into the table,seemingly the same distance from the table,as if they had been measured, he noted it and took more photos.
He knelt down and allowed his camera to dangle from his neck then reached into his vest pulling out a tape measure. He slid the yellow flimsy metal to the table and pulled it back to where it touched the front leg of the chair,three inches, he turned and did the same thing to the chair behind him, three inches, his curiosity got the best of him and he measured each of the ten chairs, each measured exactly three inches."That's weird." he spoke out loud.
He stood up and felt the return of the unbearable itching, full force to what it had been earlier in the night, the balladry was wearing off and he needed to do so much more at the crime scene, he gave the rash a few moments to subside but it was getting worse by the minute, he needed to complete the bedroom, he felt that a possible major clue was there, he could feel it.
He knew what he had to do but it was going to get the wrath of his boss but he had to get through this, he turned and walked back out out of the house and towards the car.
"Nick, you need something?" Catherine asked as she came around the corner.
He stopped and nodded, he hated to ask Catherine for another pill but he felt a little desperate right now.
She walked over to the SUV and opened the door,"Nick, when we are done with this crime scene, you're to ride back with me and I am going to take a close look at that rash. Understand?" she gave him the pissed off Catherine look, it was so different for the kind woman he remembered seeing inside just minutes before.
"Catherine, I probably got into the poison oak or ivy at the crime scene yesterday, it's no big deal." he attempted to get her to see that it was nothing but a rash that would need some calamine lotion later, he hoped.
"Nick, I will look at that rash when we get back,no excuses." reaching into her vehicle she pulled out another pill and gave it to him along with his bottle of water he had left earlier.
"Gil called, he's busy with the other case but he said as soon as Ecklie's team arrives at the station he will send them here to relieve us."
"He can't do that, this is our crime scene Catherine." he found himself feeling a little bit territorial.
"Trust me Nicky, there's enough for everyone, we just found another victim in the car in the garage." her voice edging towards tears.
"That makes eight." his voice low and sad,this was the worst crime scene he had ever had to process.
"Take the medicine Nicky and get back to work, it'll be daylight soon." she walked away,leaving Nick alone, afraid to show her emotions in front of her friend.
He swallowed the pill with the water and went back to the house, he needed to process the bedroom.
Again he gloved and covered his shoes,he entered the house,this time closing the door, out of habit, he then walked past his markers into the hallway,reaching down he swabbed each of the blood spatter stains and then walked over to the table, each plate and glass bagged and labeled. The table cloth, he took more pictures of, the blood was dry so he folded the cloth and bagged it.
He reached down and swabbed the emesis on the floor, it reminded him how upset his own stomach was at the moment. He bagged and labeled the swabs, then he noticed how cool the room was, he hadn't noticed it earlier because the door had been open, but now it was noticeably cooler with it closed.
He walked over to take a look at the thermostat, it was on an automatic timer, he photographed it at the setting and the pre-programmed set times, all were at fifty degrees.
Nick felt that his time was getting close, Ecklie's team would be here soon, then he would have to take his evidence and leave, he had to process the bedroom, he wasn't looking forward to it but he had to do it.
He walked over to the door to the bedroom and walked in again, the body not disturbed by the coroner yet. He diagrammed the scene, blood spatter on the floor but none on the walls, the tarp had pooled,clotted blood, dark blood. The tarp covered the entire bed,no possibility of the blood getting on the bed from any angle.
He continued to photograph the scene, the dresser, the brush,comb and the jewelry box all documented and photos taken and it was bagged as evidence.
He swabbed the spatter on the dresser and even the inside of the lampt shades, he couldn't miss anything.
The woman's body still in the same position as it had been left earlier, except for the area where David had taken a liver temp, it was 92 degrees, the woman had been killed within the last twelve to sixteen hours but had the temperature of the room been a factor for determining her algor mortis?
He took pictures of the clothing bound around her ankles, it appeared to be underclothing, possibly a bra wrapped around both her hands and feet,her hands were fixed into a position as if she were praying, possibly begging for her life, Nick thought to himself.
He continued to take photos, then when he got to her face he looked at her beauty, timeless, she had the appearance of a twenty year old,her face wrinkle free, her high cheekbones would have been rosy if she still had a breath of life within her, her hair a beautiful color red, radiant even in her death, she looked beautiful, her blue eyes were piercing his soul as he starred down into them, they seemed to be calling to him, trying to tell him something, that he was missing a vital clue.
"Nick!" David called out as if he had been attempting to get his attention for several minutes.
"Sorry, you need something?" he asked still looking a little dazed.
"Are you ready for me to take the body?" he asked, moving towards the bed with the gurney.
"Yeah, sure." He moved back as David and another assistant entered to remove the body.
As they turned the body over Nick saw something, a piece of metal, a coin. "Wait!" he called out wanting to get a picture of it before he bagged it as evidence.
"Sure Nick." David and the tech held the body in place on its side, the cause of death not evident, the body held no stab wounds,there was no possible entry or exit wounds on her body, but yet it lay in a pool of blood. Had it been where the other victims had died? Maybe she had died from another cause, possible strangulation , asphyxiation,or poisoning?
He picked up the coin and placed into a bag and labeled it with his pen. David and his assistant walked out of the room with the body.
The tarp would needed to be processed at the scene, cross contamination could occur if they folded it over to place it in a bag. He would leave it for the dayshift.
Nick continued to take photos of the tarp, he knelt to take pictures of the lower part of the bed that was also covered, the tarp neatly tucked into the corners of the legs,the thick plastic smelled of death.
He stood, knowing that he needed to search the closets, two bodies still missing,but he was hesitating,a feeling of uneasiness came over him as he reached for the knob,opening the door he found something that he had not expected.
Okay, this is harder than I thought but I won't give up...I promise!