Title: Preying Mantis – Chapter 7
Author: Nuclearjane
Author's Note: See previous chapter for disclaimers and stuff.
The FBI arrived early, closer to six-thirty than seven. After introductions were made, Chloe DeCaen suggested she be allowed to set up her laptop in a conference room. All was proceeding according to her plan to keep'em off balance. Ecklie helped her connect her laptop to an overhead projector.
"Grissom just arrived. Willows will be here in a few minutes." Cavallo said as he and Atwater joined Ecklie at the table.
"Great!" Chloe enthused, eyeing the door.
"Grissom went to his office. He'll be back in a few minutes with Detective Brass."
"Come to conference room 2." She identified the speaker as Grissom, from the photo ID that accompanied his dossier, although he now sported a beard. He had a laptop and files haphazardly tucked under his other arm. His hair was still damp. She assumed the man with him was Detective Brass.
"Doesn't look like Simon to me." Chloe muttered to Barton with a chuckle, only to receive a glare in return.
"Dr. Grissom, I've heard a lot about you. I'm Chloe DeCaen and this is Rob Barton." She offered her hand, which he shook perfunctorily, then Rob's. He said nothing further, but quickly busied himself setting up the laptop and arranging files.
"And you must be Detective Brass."
"Jim." He replied as he shook hands with her, then Rob.
"Umm, I only have four copies of the Mantis case history summary." Chloe stated.
"Cath and I can share." Grissom responded glancing at the number of people filling the room.
"I can look over Jim's shoulder, if that's all right?" Atwater raised a questioning brow toward the detective.
"No problem." Brass replied. He could understand Cavallo attending, but Ecklie?
"Hey! Did I miss anything?" A cheery blonde sped into the room to take a seat by Grissom.
"Ah, no. Catherine Willows meet Chloe DeCaen and Rob Barton." Grissom introduced as he continued quickly flipping through the case summary.
"Here." Grissom handed the summary to Catherine then added. "We should have coffee arriving, momentarily." Chloe inferred he wished to wait until it's arrival to begin.
"Mantis?" He asked, peering over the rim of his glasses.
"Yeah. The guys started calling this case 'the Black Widow'. Ed Johnson, my predecessor, insisted that if they must give the suspect a moniker, it should be 'Preying Mantis' since female Preying Mantis's more often kill and devour their mates than do Black Widow spiders. It stuck."
"Uh, huh." Grissom responded.
"Has she, ah, cannibalized anyone?" Brass warily asked. A spiky haired young man entered bearing a tray with a coffee carafe and Styrofoam cups.
"Thankfully, no."
"This is Greg Sanders. He helped collect the evidence." Grissom began.
"And submitted the CODIS request. I'm Chloe DeCaen and this is Rob Barton." Chloe interjected, introducing herself and her partner. Greg beamed as he shook hands with them.
"Okay, shall we begin?" Chloe asked, glancing around the table; eye contact and nods indicated that everyone was ready.
"The Mantis case officially began about twelve years ago, although we suspect she was probably killing before that. The MO is the same. White male with multiple stab wounds, found in a cheap motel with little or no physical evidence. The description of her has been of a dark headed, brown-eyed woman of medium height and build. The age of the victim has increased over time, as has her description. Our profilers believe she is repeatedly killing a man from her past, possibly a former lover. The victim has almost unerringly been a professional male, with an advanced degree. All of the men had blue eyes with blonde or light brown hair. All were approximately six feet in height, with a somewhat athletic build." Annoyed that Grissom appeared more interested in his laptop than her presentation, she decided to try rattling his cage. "You could be her most recent poster boy, Dr. Grissom." Chloe watched him carefully.
"I prefer blondes, unless the brunette is really stimulating... intellectually, of course." He absently responded, eliciting a chuckle from the rest of the room.
"Okay, so he IS listening, but what's he doing?" She thought. She decided to continue with what they probably didn't know.
"The victim is slipped a mixture of two drugs, probably in a drink. One is similar to various date rape drugs but doesn't induce as much lethargy or memory loss since the one man who escaped her remembered the details of their encounter. It makes them uninhibited and quite susceptible to suggestion. The other drug is an endorphin stimulant. The guy who got away said it was the best orgasm he ever had."
"So, in the afterglow, she picks up a kitchen knife and stabs him to death." Catherine surmised.
"Yes, after they have sex a second time, within an hour of the first."
"Whoa, middle-aged guy who gets it up twice in an hour. Where can I get some of that stuff?" Brass joked.
"She seems to be the only source..."
"And they all end up dead."
"You got it."
"I'll pass."
"Tell us about the victim who got away." Grissom requested. He turned his laptop to Catherine for her to peruse what he had been studying then sat back to provide his full attention. Chloe caught Rob's gaze then cut her eyes at the laptop. He casually strolled to the end of the table; he would stealthily make his way behind them to find out what was on the laptop.
"Terrance Franklin was 43, at the time of his attack. He had been in Special Forces in the military before returning to school to obtain a PhD in Anthropology. His reactions were still quick; however, she managed to stab him twice. He threw her across the room and escaped. A bleeding, naked man draws attention quickly; but, she had the presence of mind to gather most of the stuff she had there and flee. We got her DNA from him. I'm hoping we might be able to match something to the evidence you have collected."
"Did he indicate whether she wore any clothing? Uh, while they were sexually involved."
"I think, maybe so, I'll have to look it up. I have a transcript of his statement on my laptop."
"Please continue."
"At the scene, some of the motel bath towels are missing. Twice, she took the sheets. There is usually some tourist stuff, pamphlets and brochures of area attractions; she tends to strike in touristy areas. Also, there is always a six-pack of a local microbrewery beer with one bottle missing. Why only one, or the significance of it, we don't really know." Chloe answered as she flipped slides to a map of the United States; red circles were scattered across it, highlighting the locations in which murders had occurred. Black flags denoting the victim's name and the date arose from the center of the circles.
"With the exception of Seattle and Chicago, most of those locations are toward the South. Maybe, she likes a cool one, after all that vigorous activity. You know, wind down a little." Brass suggested after a brief study of the map.
"That has been suggested, the beer in the Terry Franklin case was untouched."
TBC
