Chapter 6
Brass had assigned some patrolmen to take turns watching the dump site. They had hoped that the murderer of the three women would return there at some point. Leaving the area an officer had seen some movement off in the desert as his vehicle crested a rise less than a mile from the dump site. Suspicious, he pulled off the road, drew his weapon and approached the area where he thought he had seen something.
As he drew near, and his eyes found its target, he had to turn away to try to quench his heaving stomach. Leaning over, taking deep breaths, he pulled his radio out of its holster and called in the 419. Steeling himself for the sight again, he stood silent death watching over the body until reinforcements arrived.
Grissom hated to do it, but he had to call Sara.
"Sara, its Grissom. I can't tell you how sorry I am to bother you right now, but there's been another body found near our dump site in the desert. Catherine can't get anyone to watch Lindsey before shift starts so I could really use your help."
"It's okay Grissom. Where are you? OK, got it. It'll take me about half an hour to get there. I'll be there as fast as I can."
"Thanks Sara, see you in a little while."
Sara looked at her watch. "Damn! The timing just sucks sometimes" she growled.
She picked up her phone. "Hi Sofia, hope I didn't wake you."
"Hi Sara, no I'm awake. Not up yet but awake" she snickered. "What's up?"
Sara briefly closed her eyes but quickly opened them again. Shit that's more info than I needed.
"I have to cancel our dinner plans. Grissom just called and asked for help, apparently they found another body and Catherine can't find a babysitter for Lindsey."
"Aggravating! Well guess we just have to postpone dinner. Pages me when your back in the meantime I'll try to find an address or workplace on Nicole."
"Sounds like a plan. And Sofia for what it's worth, I'm sorry I have to cancel."
"Don't worry about it, it's not your fault," she said cheerily. "See you later, Sidle."
Sara pulled her car off the road at the coordinates Grissom had dictated. She could see David standing back on the outside of the tape with the policemen and Brass, while Grissom slowly circled the victim, taking photos as he worked his way in towards the body.
Sara got out of the car, and called over to Grissom. "I'm here. What have we got?"
"White female, approximately 25 years old. David," Grissom nodded his direction, "thinks she's been dead for only a day or so, but as cold as it gets out here, it's hard to get a more definite read right now, without disturbing the body."
Very little was spoken, unless it needed to be written down. Grissom would no sooner spot a piece of evidence before Sara had it photographed, collected, and labeled.
Grissom finished, stood, and signaled to David that he could remove the body. Sara began collecting soil samples once David had removed the body, then set about gathering all the evidence bindles and bags, cleaning her equipment and putting it all back in the kit.
Seeing that Sara had started walking towards the car, Grissom headed for his own, but not before a parting shot of, "see you back at the lab, and Sara thanks for coming on such short notice."
Catherine yawned deeply, letting out an exasperated sigh when she was done. Standing exhausted in front of her locker was nothing new, but it usually occurred at the end of shift – not the beginning.
As she drew closer to the break room, Catherine detected an unusual aroma and picked up her pace. A grin formed when she spotted Greg by the coffee maker. He was darting sweet looks to Sofia, who sat at the table, sipping a soda and reading a forensics journal.
"Is that the good stuff" Catherine asked, making her way to the high-quality, and high-priced, brew sputtering from the coffee maker.
"Oh, yeah," Greg nodded.
Catherine and Sofia exchanged brief greetings before Catherine sat down opposite the detective.
Greg poured them all a cup before disappearing out the door with the rest.
"Where is everyone?" Catherine asked.
"Vartan picked up the boys and I don't think Grissom and Sara are back from their scene yet."
"He called Sara?"
"Evidently," Sofia said, adding a smile to cover the snap in her tone.
"And you're not happy about that?" Catherine asked innocently.
"It's not that but she has not been feeling well for the last couple of days, so I just think she would have been better of getting some sleep instead of working."
"Undoubtedly. Not that any of us could ever convince her about that." Catherine stared at her for a moment. "But I think your reasons for saying that are more than professional. There's a definite personal motivation going on."
"Really?" Sofia said, giving her a cocky wink.
"Oh, yeah," Catherine retorted, nodding her head. "So spill the beans?"
Blushing, Sofia dropped her head, giving her a smirk when she looked up. "Well, we were supposed to meet for dinner before work."
"Great." Catherine gave her a gentle smile. "Seems like the two of you are finally making some progress."
She returned the smile. "I don't know. We're still not straight. I guess we'll just have to take it one step at a time and see what happens."
After arriving back at the lab, Sara told Grissom to log the evidence so she could check the various departments for progress in her own case. Knowing the A/V techs wouldn't have anything new she headed to trace.
"A few things," Hodges said immediately, jumping off his stool when Sara walked in. "The stain you found on the backseat of the car, semen. Sent it to Wendy maybe she can get any DNA out of it.
Sara nodded. It wasn't surprising. "What else?"
"The grit you pulled from the tires? It is consistent with dirt from the dumpsite. Unfortunately, it's also consistent with large areas of southern Nevada. There's nothing geologically significant about it. This is a sample of gravel from the access road. Quartz, feldspar potash, mica. Basic granite gravel. This piece of stone was in one of the tire," he said, holding out a rock with reddish-gray pattern. "It's mainly calcite and aragonite –limestone-, with an admixture of dyestuff. Definitely not a match."
Sara's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Dyed stone?"
Hodges shrugged, "yeah. Guess you can get your driveway in any color you want if you're willing to pay for it."
Sara sighed, nodding her head. "Yeah guess you're right. Anything else?"
"Yes. When I went through the adhesive tape you used to swab the car I found a tiny little piece of pink mother-of-pearl."
Sara let out a sigh, "pink mother-of-pearl hmm… Damn. I have no idea if it means anything or not."
"Can't help you there its simply used in too many things."
"Yeah I know" Sara stated leaving the room.
Fighting back a yawn, Sara turned her attention to the A/V tech calling out her name.
"What's up, Archie?"
"I took a closer or deeper look at your victims' hard disk. Not knowing if detective Curtis knew how to do it."
Taking the printout Sara looked at him, "okay, what did you find?" she asked turning her attention to the paper.
"Some deleted e-mail correspondence between your victim and a corporation – Desert Adventures -. In the beginning it's all businesslike, but over time the mails between Mr. White and a female employee Nicole Jamison becomes more personal."
"Good job Archie. Thanks."
"You're welcome Sara" Archie smiled going back to the A/V room.
Wendy looked up when Sara strode into her lab. "Hey Sara."
"Hey Wendy, did you get any useful DNA from the semen?"
"Sure the semen belongs to your victim. I also found remains of spermicidal gel which indicate he most likely was having sex with a woman."
"Yeah" Sara sighed, "but which one?"
"Sorry can't help you there" Wendy chuckled.
Chuckling, Catherine stepped into the break room, grabbing a cup of coffee she walked over to Sara. Sitting down, she watched her colleague with open amusement.
"So, you two have fun?"
"Wait until you see the body and then ask me again" Sara replied making a face.
"That bad, huh?"
"More like that eaten."
"Yuk! Do you know where Grissom is?"
"Yeah, paperwork in his office until Robbins is ready to tell more about the DB."
"Okay" Catherine said getting up, "better go see him. See you later."
"Oh Cath, have you seen Sofia?"
"No not since shift started."
"Okay, see you later."
Sara was in the process of packing up for the night when her cell phone began ringing. Without paying any attention to the caller's name she picked up and answered, "Sidle."
"The woman I want."
Sara stared into the phone; she took a breath, keeping her tone level. "What?"
Sofia's laugh echoed through the phone. "If you are up for it then I want you to come to BC, I have found Nicole." She laughed again. "What did you think I meant?"
"Nothing" Sara replied, her face reddening.
All she got in response was a low, husky laugh.
Sara drew in a deep breath. "Where do you want to meet? Desert Adventures or at her home?" She growled into the phone as he tried to sound authoritative and unaffected.
"Wait a minute… how come you know where she lives?" Sofia demanded.
"I'm an investigator" came the teasing undertone. "Archie took a deeper look at the victims' computer and found some deleted e-mails between Sam and Nicole" she explained.
"Oh, okay you can show them to me later" Sofia said. "Let's meet at her home; I don't think her workplace opens before 9 o'clock."
"Fine, see you in a little while" Sara replied disconnecting the line.
Sara strode up to meet her, tucking her hair behind her ear and flashing a quick smile. "Hi."
"Hi. How are you?"
Sara gave her an affectionate smirk. "I'm fine."
"Of course" Sofia said, her voice soft, but carrying her seriousness. "How do you feel?"
"Tired, stomach's still a little upset."
"Okay let's speak to Ms. Jamison and then its bedtime for you" Sofia said softly, but firmly, resting a hand on her shoulder.
"And here I thought Catherine was the mother of the team" Sara chuckled, knocking on the door.
Ms. Jamison opened the door slowly, blinking in the early morning sunlight. When Sofia held out her badge to her, she frowned as she moved onto the front step, closing the door behind her. "Detective?"
"Detective Curtis and this is Sara sidle from crime lab. Sorry to disturb you this early. Are you Nicole Jamison?"
"Yes I am."
"Ms. Jamison, do you know Sam White?"
"Yes I do, he's my b… uh… friend, why?"
"I'm sorry there's no easy way to tell you this, but Sam White was found dead Saturday night."
"What? No… no why? How?"
"I realize this must be very hard for you Ms. Jamison, but we have questions, and your cooperation can help us find the answers."
"So ask your questions, detective."
"Do you know anyone who had a grudge against Mr. White?"
"No, as far as I know everyone like Sam."
"We have been informed that he was having problems with someone, did he ever mentions anything about that to you?"
"No. Seriously, everyone liked Sam."
"About Mr. White: how did you meet?"
"Through work, we arrange adventure trip. Sam worked for us as a freelance tour guide."
"How did you get along?"
"Fine. Great, actually. We were joking around every time he came by the office."
"Ms. Jamison, when did your relationship to Mr. White step over the line from professional to personal?"
"A month or two later, I called Sam, asked him if he wanted to have dinner. We met next time we both had time off."
"When did you become involved?"
"After another few months. I called him just to talk one evening I was feeling a bit lonely. Guess he could hear it because he showed up at my apartment later with beer and a pizza. Later I ended up in his arms," she said, taking a steadying breath. "So, I asked him if he wanted to be more than friends. He did."
"When did you found out he was cheating on you?"
"Technically, he was using me to cheat on his fiancée," she said, fighting to keep her voice level. "But I didn't find out, he told me."
"I imagine you were angry."
"Yeah," Nicole said with a dismissive chuckle. "Mainly at myself, for never suspecting. I was embarrassed, hurt. Really hurt."
"But you kept on seeing him."
"Not in the beginning unless it was work-related, I had to work with him a couple of times." After a minute she spoke again. "Then we ended up being guides on the same trip due to Eddie got sick. We stayed up all night and talked; he apologized for hurting me and told he felt guilty about it all."
"But not enough to drop his other girlfriend?"
She broke into a fresh sob, mopping her eyes with a Kleenex before responding. "Actually that's why he took some vacation. I told him I wasn't willing to share him so he had to decide which one of us he wanted to be with. He agreed and decided to take a few days alone in the desert to think it all through and then make his decision." She rubbed her forehead wearily with the back of her wrist, "he was supposed to return home yesterday, I just thought he had either chosen her or had come back so late he wouldn't call afraid to wake me."
"Do you know if he told the other woman about you?"
"I'm not sure. He said he would but I don't know if he did."
"One last question, Ms. Jamison" Sara said. "Do you own any jewels with pink mother-of-pearl?"
"No, it's very seldom I use jewels at all" she replied in confusion.
"Thank you for your time" Sofia said, she gave her an apologetic look. "I'm sorry. I know this must be hard on you."
Tbc…