Note: This was written for the CSI Big Bang. Thanks to Elenna for the beta. A big thank you to everyone who left feedback, it's greatly appreciated! Trying to get back to posting two chapters a week, we'll see if this works. This can be considered a sequel to Titania Falling.
Warning: Future chapters will contain non-graphic discussion of sexual violence.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable CSI: NY characters, settings, etc. are the property of Anthony Zuiker and CBS. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of the CSI franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
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Their meeting with the Provost was mostly a formality. He extended the pledge that the university would fully cooperate with their investigation, starting by making all of Tripp Norton's student records available. His assistant, he explained, would provide them with those files after they met with Aaron Dixon, the roommate. Unfortunately, he had a meeting, but he knew they'd be in good hands with Blake Huber, who was waiting at the door.
"Detective Angell, shame we couldn't meet under better circumstances," Mr. Huber said, extending his hand to greet her.
She surveyed him coolly as they shook hands. He was probably about her height, though she was taller in her boots, with sandy blond hair and a suit that easily cost the same as her monthly rent if not more. He oozed a certain kind of charm that, while it probably went over well with reassuring students and parents, instantly pinged the same radar that con artists and used car salesmen always hit with her.
"Likewise," she said as they shook hands. He then turned and extended a similar greeting to Stella before escorting them out of the Provost's office. "Norton's roommate?"
"We'll be meeting him in his adviser's office. We, at the Office of Student Affairs, felt it was best to have a part of his support system available when he receives the news." Huber held the door for them, showing them out onto the snowy lawn.
"Then he doesn't know yet?"
"The Office of Student Affairs hasn't informed him as of yet. He was in a rather intensive analytical chemistry lab when you informed us of Mr. Norton's unfortunate demise."
His back was to them as he led them across campus, so he didn't catch the glance Angell sent Stella's direction, or how the other rolled her eyes at his back. It looked like Stella was just as unimpressed with him as she was. "Were they close?"
He paused, then looked back at them. "I wouldn't know. We have more than forty thousand students, Detective Angell. I can't keep track of who is whose best friend. That said, they're both juniors studying Molecular and Cellular Biology - Tripp was Pre-Med, essentially, and Aaron is dueling with Chemistry, though from his files it appears his adviser was trying to convince him to go Pre-Med, as well - and are both undertaking undergraduate research projects. As they've been in the course of study together for three years, now, I'd assume they must have found some redeeming value in their friendship."
They reached the Silver Center before either of the detectives could ask any more questions, instead following his lead up to the office of Dr. Eisenberg. Inside the office, two people were waiting: a young man who was presumably Aaron Dixon and an older man, maybe around Mac's age, who introduced himself as Dr. Edward Eisenberg.
"I took it upon myself to inform Aaron of what happened to Tripp, so he could have some time to process the information before the questions started."
Huber nodded. "I'll be just outside, then."
"Thank you," Stella said as he closed the door behind him. They then turned to Aaron, taking the seats that Dr. Eisenberg offered them. "I'm sorry for your loss, Aaron. But we do need to ask you some questions."
"Okay," he nodded, running his palms up and down the tops of his thighs.
He was nervous, Angell thought to herself as she spoke next. "What can you tell us about Tripp?"
"Um, what do you want to know?"
"Anything. You're his roommate and we," she said, motioning to Stella and herself, "haven't ever met him before. What was he like? Did he have many friends, enemies? Where did he like to hang out?"
"Well, he was Tripp, you know?" Aaron shook his head. "He was a bit of an ass, but people still liked him anyway. Especially girls--it seemed like he always had a different girl home each night. Well, maybe not each night, but you get the drift."
"He was a player," Stella said.
"Yeah. I wouldn't let my little sister near him, if you know what I mean. But he wasn't a bad roommate." He started picking at his sleeve cuff. "He was smart, and we had mostly the same classes, so we'd study together. It was good to have someone to compete with - we're both at the top of our class, so we'd compete with each other for highest grades on assignments and tests."
"Who did better?"
"I did, but that's because I studied more - I don't go out as much as he does- did."
"Where did he usually go?"
"Um, there's this club called Aura that he goes to a lot. He likes to meet people there--they usually don't come by the dorm. I don't think they're students."
"His friends?"
"I don't know if you'd call them friends."
"Then what would you call them?"
"I don't know, customers?" He paused at Angell's raised eyebrow, sighing and slouching back in his seat. "It's hard to explain. But whenever he went out, he always came back with more money. He once joked when he got back--I think he was drunk because he never mentioned it again--that it was good he worked in a research lab. And that he could hook me up if I wanted, since I worked in a lab as well."
"Do you know what he meant?"
"I-I think he was using the labs to, you know, make drugs or something."
"Aaron, why didn't you ever report it?" Dr. Eisenberg interrupted, aghast.
"Because I wasn't certain, and I didn't have any proof. If he was using his lab access to make drugs, he wasn't keeping them in the room. I know." Aaron glanced back over at Angell and Stella. "I looked. The next day, since our Anal Chem labs are at different times, I searched his stuff while he was gone. I- I knew that if drugs were found in our room, we'd both get into trouble, and I didn't work this hard to get kicked out of school just because of him. But I couldn't find anything, so I just figured he was drunk and wasn't making sense."
"Could he have stored them somewhere else?" Stella asked, just as much to Dr. Eisenberg as to Aaron.
"I don't know," Aaron said. "I don't know what the lab he's in is like, but I wouldn't dare store something like that in mine. But he might have a little more freedom than I do - I mean, the lab he's in has even listed him as a PI on one of the university's mini-grants they're applying for. Dr. Tojo wouldn't ever do anything like that with me."
"Dr. Eisenberg?" Angell asked.
"Oh, I--," he took his wire-rim glasses off, polishing them on his sleeve. "Tripp Norton was a student in Dr. Stoddard's lab, and yes, he was listed as one of the principal investigators on a project members of Ben's - Dr. Stoddard's - lab put together. I believe it was a combination of two graduate students, a research assistant, and Tripp. But regardless, Dr. Stoddard wouldn't have stood for someone hiding drugs in his lab. If he found out, Tripp would have been expelled in an instant. And, unlike other researchers who depend on their students to do all the lab work, Ben is in that lab daily, assisting with the work. I can't see how Tripp would have been able to hide drugs of any kind in there."
"Would he have been able to make them?"
"Without a doubt." Eisenberg said, Aaron nodding in agreement. "Tripp is -was one of our brightest students. If it can be formulated in a chemistry lab, he would have been able to do so."
"Is there anything else you can tell us, Aaron?" Angell asked, turning back to the undergraduate.
"Not really."
"You weren't worried when he didn't come home?"
"I figured he just hooked up with someone. If he wasn't bringing a girl back to the dorm, he was staying at her place. He'd been doing more of that lately - girls don't always like waking up to find out there's another guy in the room."
I don't blame them, Angell thought to herself as she glanced down at her notebook. Aaron had done a pretty good job of introducing them to their victim. Now just one more thing. "Aaron, we'd like to see your dorm room to take a look at Tripp's things."
He glanced over at his adviser, who nodded briefly, before looking back at them. "Okay, I guess. Ummm, it isn't very clean. I haven't done laundry yet this week."
"Don't worry." She grinned reassuringly. "I have four older brothers. I'm sure I've seen worse."
Aaron looked relieved as he stood. "Okay, then, um. We're up in the dorms by Union Square. Palladium Hall--I can take you there, I guess."
"Actually, Aaron, I'd like to speak with the detectives for a moment," Dr. Eisenberg cut in.
"Oh, okay. Well, Tripp and I are in room 212. I'll meet you over there."
"Actually," Stella said before he left, "we'd prefer if you waited outside the room for us. It's a protocol thing."
He nodded, then left the office, closing the door behind him. After he was gone, Angell and Stella turned to Dr. Eisenberg. "You had something?"
"There have been rumors," he said quietly, suddenly looking very tired. "Rumors that students were using the biology and chemistry labs to produce drugs. We've been cracking down on access to chemicals, but with students like Tripp and Aaron, who have jobs in those labs, you can't be too restrictive. There has to be some level of trust so they can do their jobs without having to stop and ask every time they need a chemical."
"Was Tripp ever implicated?"
"No, names weren't ever mentioned, but I do wish Aaron had come to me. With what has been going around, it would have been enough for our department to open an investigation."
"Do you think Tripp was manufacturing drugs in his lab?"
"I would like to think that Ben would have been able to prevent that, but none of us are in our labs twenty-four hours a day. And with an undergraduate research project, Tripp would have far more freedom to come and go than other students--he would have had keys and security codes to get into the lab whenever he wanted." He sighed harshly, then stood. "When it comes down to it, any student who knows the schedules of the others in the lab would be able to avoid getting caught."
"So it is likely that he was."
"Very likely, but I can't say definitively at this time. However, I think this has been the wake-up call we needed. I'm going to speak with our department heads about an immediate inventory of the chemicals used in all the labs. We'll be able to see if there is any abnormal use anywhere."
"I'd like a copy of the results, if you don't mind," Stella said. "It might help us with our case."
"Then drugs are involved?"
"Yes, and considering how chemically perfect it was, it could only have been produced in a lab with access to the proper chemical ingredients. This isn't something someone cooked up in their kitchen out of cold medicine."