Chapter 7
The house was a bungalow and looked like one of those in the hood places. The paint was peeling off the wood and some of the siding was loose. The front lawn looked like a junkyard; the very epitome of what was described as trailer trash. Plus whatever neglect to the grass the owner gave was finished off by the merciless desert nature of Vegas.
Sage looked at the place, face devoid of expression. She had managed to catch a few hours of sleep when Brass called about Hefty's residence. She was up and ready to go and had gone full speed to the address with field kits in tow. Hefty was her suspect, albeit a dead one, and they were short a murder weapon and another suspect so they had to approach with caution just in case someone was a little trigger happy.
"You sure you don't want to go in?"
Sage narrowed her eyes as she looked up at Nick. Sara was back working prints and the other evidence they collected. "I'm not the reckless one. Charging in when there was a 'ferocious' beast still in the house." She gave a slight smile while she surveyed the house being cleared.
"Damn straight, slick."
"That's a first. You usually call suspects that," Sage countered, thoroughly amused by the turn the conversation was going. "I suppose you'll need DNA and fingerprint exemplars?"
Nick looked at her and replied, "Alright open up and say 'ah' smartass."
"I'd like to see you try and compel a court order for it," Sage countered as she raised her brow with that challenging look in her eye.
"Don't need one."
"Then it will be excluded. No case." Sage smiled sweetly up at the Texan.
"Oh I have other bits of evidence. Plain sight… public property…" Nick gave a charming smile that was the equivalent of Sage's current one.
Sage feigned frustration, "Damn you got me on that one… for once." She shot a wry grin just as Brass called for the all clear. She picked up her field kit and started forward with Nick keeping in step.
"I've gotten you plenty."
"You know that business with that crazy old man you set on me with that 421A/416B doesn't… doesn't count." Sage had waved her hand in a dismissal of the whole incident.
Nick started chuckling, trying hard not to turn it into a full blown laugh. He remembered that one well. The original call was for a 403, a prowler, which actually turned out to be a 406, burglary. The crazy old man that she was referring to was the witness who was homeless and in the middle of his tirade, the blanket that was his only covering came off and he did some weird dance and said something that had Sage blushing.
He paid for it later but it was worth it. In the end he couldn't be faulted for it completely since he told her to check the perimeter. He made it up to her though by getting her a jar of cashew nut butter. It wasn't peanut butter but she liked it all the same. She took it with a slight look that made her look hoity toity but it had a smile to it. Later she offered a midday meal but not at the usual place and it was pretty good.
Brass had given the all clear and Nick picked up his case along with Sage and they walked in. It was automatic for Nick to fish out his light since the lighting inside the bungalow was not the best. He could also say that it didn't look the best nor smell the best. He gave a slight cough at the unmistakable smell of decomp. "Parker," he said motioning while he put a hand up to his nose.
Sage smelled it too. It wasn't noticeable from the front entrance but it was there. It grew stronger when they moved towards one of the rooms. She set her case on the floor and took out only her light and starting moving it around and walked in. She took left and Nick followed suit and took the right. They noted a lot of stuff on the floor and tried to tread carefully. They ended up meeting in the middle and that was where the scent was the strongest.
Sage kneeled and pulled out a pointer and sifted through what were once dirty clothes. Nick blinked and tried not to choke. He managed to say, "That certainly is ripe."
Sage made a humming noise when she turned a shirt over and uncovered the source. She brought her free arm up to cover her nose as she looked at the remains of a cat. "I think kitty here lost her last life."
Nick nodded in agreement, "I can see that." He was making a face since the smell was stronger.
Sage knew the smell was getting to people. She noticed the uni starting to make a face and even Brass was betraying his thoughts though his posture was rigid. She adjusted her breathing to come out of her mouth rather than her nose since it made it less bad. She looked up at Nick and said, "Dramamine is in my kit near the opening."
"What?"
"Looking a little green there," Sage teased as she inspected the remains. The poor cat had been mutilated but as far as she could tell, it was from one weapon.
"I'm fine," Nick asserted. "I'll um… go look around."
"You do that. You might get lucky and fine the second murder weapon," Sage said with a smile and continued to poke around the cat's remains. "Make sure you photograph everything."
Nick gave her a look, said, "Yes Mom," and went to look elsewhere. It was going to take a while and even if they got the remains out, the place still had other odors. It also meant that one shower wasn't going to cut it.
Brass watched Nick leave, amused at the comment he gave and looked at Sage. She was setting up to take a picture of the remains. He didn't really get how she could stand being that close to that smell. "What's with him calling you mom?"
"Just a joke, Jim," Sage replied as she adjusted her position. She was still crouched down but it was at an angle that was more suited to a gymnast stretching. She took a picture at the remains.
"Okay," Brass replied. He wrinkled his nose and watched as she worked. "What's with the pictures of the dead cat? They don't seem to have any relation to the other crimes."
Sage had finished her photos and set her camera aside. She had put on gloves and was preparing to poke around the remains. "Well, maybe not on the surface but a closer look tells me something took this cat out and it wasn't a baseball bat." She paused to look at Brass. "Generally speaking, mutilating animals is the beginning of a psychopath and it will escalate into violence towards humans."
"So Hefty was on his way to killing people. Wait, he actually did." Brass wasn't trying to be a hard ass about it but he didn't get why cat gut was interesting to Sage. It was like watching Grissom get fascinated over the decomp rate of a pig… like that one case where Grissom wrapped up the pig in the blanket.
"But Hefty is the kind that would kill for drugs. Animal mutilations imply that it's a totally different way of thinking," Sage replied as she dug around. With her finger tip, she touched something hard and gave a slight smile. She went to work with her tweezers. "Hefty was into drugs. Psychopaths typically are portrayed as crazy people but some develop very meticulous habits." She pulled out what she was looking for, "And this cat was shot with 9mm."
Brass raised a brow as he saw the goo covered bullet in the tweezers. "So the cat was shot. Big deal."
"How many people shoot a cat in the head… execution style?" Sage looked at Brass as she bagged and tagged the bullet. The remains were going to have to be disposed of by sanitation. She started fanning out from the cat and looked around.
She wasn't too far from the cat when she found something interesting. She shown her light to verify what it was and marked it. "Well more evidence that Hefty was involved with the Homicide Society scene. Worry dolls and the makings for them."
Brass made a surprised look. It seemed that there was enough evidence to point to Hefty being the one that pulled the trigger but he knew better than to jump to the conclusions before the evidence was processed. "Looking more and more like Hefty was your man?"
"We have evidence that suggests multiple assailants and at the least two guns," Sage replied with a look.
"Well I think I can help with that," Nick said coming back in. He was holding a 9mm Glock. "Found this in what more likely would be Hefty's room. Might match the bullets from our vics." He looked at Sage who had come over to look.
"What are you doing here?"
The three turned to see a young woman who was fairly well dressed and not at all perturbed by the mess the house was in. Brass held up his hand and stepped forward, leaving the two CSIs to stand there. "I'm Captain Brass with the Las Vegas PD. We have a warrant to search the premises. This is CSI Sage Parker and Nick Stokes…"
"Whatever," the woman replied, "What are you doing in my brother's house?"
Nick was the one that responded, "Your brother's house?"
"Yeah. He may be a junkie but he still has rights."
Sage frowned a bit at that but asked politely, "Does he have the street name Hefty?"
"Yeah. What are you? One of his customers? Or maybe a bimbo on the side?" The young woman was clearly agitated by the whole thing. She had a biting tone and wasn't afraid to use it. She looked at the three of them with an expectant look.
"Actually I'm a scientist," Sage replied politely.
"And I'm Joan Carson. Look I want you out."
Brass cut in, "I'm sorry but we can't." Before she could argue some more he dropped the bombshell that her brother was dead.
Nick finished with his area and was loading up the evidence into the Tahoe. They were going to head back to the lab. It was all sorted and ready to go for when they got back to the lab. The only thing missing was one CSI and she was not in the truck. Knowing that she was probably getting a last look through, he went back in. Sure enough, he found Sage in the house just looking it over. "You planning on living here?"
"No but…" Sage absently replied as she looked around. The house was a mixture of messy, clean and sanitized, if it could be put in that order. She looked at Nick, "You ever get the feeling that you think you know your job and turns out that you don't?"
"Is this one of your philosophy of life moments?" Nick wasn't sure at what she was getting at.
"No, just… It's like something is off… like at the first scene." Sage made a waving motion and brushed it off. "Never mind. I'm doing too much of what you accuse me of. Let's just get back to the lab."
"Alright," Nick replied. He followed Sage out, concerned that this case might be a little too much. He considered backing off on the leadership jokes as he climbed into the driver side.
Back at the lab, things seemed to settle down and the evidence was being processed, pieces getting sent to their respective places. The three CSIs worked their evidence and tried to piece it together even though it was difficult waiting for the results that they needed to fill in more holes. At least the interview with Hefty's sister proved to be profitable in that the house did belong to Hefty and he had a roommate who was actually missing.
"Okay so we have a total of six bodies. Four which we think were killed by Dennis "Hefty" Carson, who also may have killed Jean Alcott…"
"Actually Hefty did kill the four at the house," Nick interrupted Sara as they sat around the conference room table trying to catch a bite to eat. "Mandy came back with printed on the gun we recovered from Hefty's house… two sets. His and another. The gun from the scene matches the unknown and she also pulled a few partials of Hefty's."
Sara looked at Nick like it was a surprise to her, "So we're right in that there are at least two suspects and one is dead. What about the girl that was reenacting?"
"I think I can help with that," Greg replied walking in. He took a seat next to Sage who automatically pushed a portion of carrot sticks towards him and went back to eating the one she had been eating for the past two minutes. "Thanks Sage."
"No problem," Sage replied, "So what do you have?"
"Well I compared the DNA from the hairs recovered to hairs taken from Jean Alcott… they're a match," Greg gave his report, leaning back in the chair he had taken.
"So Jean was the other suspect," Sara confirmed.
"It gets better," Greg continued. He chewed on a carrot stick and swallowed the bite. "As Sage requested, I compared markers for Jean Alcott and Hefty Carson. They share seven alleles in common. You got a brother-sister team."
Sage looked up at that while Sara sputtered, "But Joan Carson said Hefty was her brother. How can that be?"
Greg smiled since this was the warm up and the glide in to the case breaker probably. He leaned back in his seat some more and looked almost like a boss at a desk. "Now that is where it gets interesting. The saliva from the cigarette butt Nick collected contained alleles in common to both. So Joan Carson is Hefty's sister but she's also a sister to Jean Alcott. So you have a sibling who changed her name or she was adopted."
"I so did not see that coming." Sara was surprised. Being a CSI meant that you saw a lot of things but you couldn't really claim that you saw it all. She frowned a bit as she thought it out. "Okay so say if Jean and Hefty were working together, why target a group that Jean was dedicated to? I mean, the girl had two full bookshelves of crime novels."
"Not to mention a killer pooch," Greg muttered as a side bar. He got a bit of a scowl from Nick and made a silent motion of mock surrender.
Nick finished his scowl and picked up where Sara left off, "Maybe she didn't expect that to happen. Remember Hefty was on drugs. She asked him for help; maybe she found out that they were siblings or the other way around. Either way, she convinces him to help her out. Hefty sees what's inside…"
"Things get out of hand. Jean thinks Hefty is going off the deep end and tries to stop him. Hefty pistol whips the women and then Gerard comes in to check on Mrs. Whittenbower. He gets shot at, chased, pistol whipped and then killed," Sara took over.
"Yeah," Nick nodded in agreement, "He and Jean escape to her place. They argue and Hefty shoots Jean and someone knifes him in the alley."
"Could be the missing roommate," Sara offered. She looked over at Sage who was in thought and only appeared to be listening.
Sage had been listening to the walkthrough. It was pretty good but something wasn't right there. "That's pretty good and fits but what about the worry dolls. We found them at the Society House, Jean's place and Hefty's place. Materials at Carson's place suggested that they were made there."
"In that pigsty?" Nick looked a little incredulous at the idea. "Not to mention the smell."
"Not all of it was messy," Sage pointed out. "There were some areas that had some semblance of order. The bedroom, the roommate's was clean, almost OCD clean and that is suggested that this person was a polar opposite to Hefty but they were probably friends. It suggests methodical thought and careful planning."
"So you're suggesting a third person," Nick put forth.
Sage heard the question but she was also thinking about what she said and what the notes were saying. She got up from her seat and said that she would be back and left Sara and Nick looking at each other wondering what was going on.
Greg was giving a sleepy expression but he had been paying attention. He ate another carrot stick and said, "Looks like a light bulb went off. Must be something you two said."
Sara and Nick looked at Greg who was finished with his carrot sticks. They watched him leave stating that he had some work to do. Sara looked at Nick and said, "I swear he does that on purpose."
Nick gave a slight chuckle, "I don't think it's that. Parker just pulled a Grissom."
Before Sara could respond, Sage had come back with a stack of books. She picked one off the top and tossed it at Sara, "Here, go to the marked page and tell me what you find." She then took another off her stack and tossed it at Nick. "Same for you."
Both CSIs fell to their tasks and read the marked passages in the books they had been tossed. Sara was the first to speak, "Frontier Justice: A Marshall's Gambit, the victims in the holdup at the station had been pistol whipped by the robbers across the face."
"Murdered Heart, each victim was killed with a single shot to the chest," Nick said as he looked up from his book.
Sage nodded, "Coyote Run, the coyote had a habit of leaving behind homemade worry dolls, one for each of his victims." She held up a copy of the book.
Nick reached over to the stack that Sage had plopped down on the table and picked up another and opened it. He read through it quickly and came back with, "The Big Hunt, the house had a back door that was nailed shut."
"Chef's Special, the chef's dog was locked in the closet and he pounced on the detective," Sara said after she had picked up another book. She looked at the other two, "So our scenes have elements from crime novels?"
"Maybe it's a deranged fan or the missing roommate is a fan and decided one day to commit murder using pieces from the different crime novels," Nick pointed out.
"That still doesn't explain why at both scenes there were novels from DC Homicide," Sara brought up. She was thumbing through the novels left on the stacks. It seemed to her that the evidence they uncovered reflected different parts of different crime novels. The oddballs were the novels and the way how they were left behind.
Greg came back in carrying some books and happened to overhear what Sara was saying. He responded, "I think I might be able to answer that for you." He held up Baltimore Cereal and opened it rifle through it.
"Where did you get those?"
Greg glanced at Nick and replied, "I keep them in my private stash with Jamaica Heat." He found what he was looking for and handed it over. He then rifled through Child's Play.
Nick took it and read it silently. His eyes widened slightly at the text, "Whoa. The setup of the bodies matches Baltimore Cereal. The ones from The Homicide Society house." He handed it over to Sage but she motioned for him to pass it to Sara. It was a bit suspicious but he brushed it off as he gave it to Sara.
"And Jean Alcott's scene matches Child's Play," Greg said as he handed over the book opened to where the description was. "When I swabbed the bear with the book attached to it, it had me thinking." He gave a shrug of his shoulders.
"Greg I could so hug you right now," Sara said as she looked at the two books.
Sage had sat calmly watching the other CSIs at work. Her thoughts were indiscernible on her face but her focus was on the case. She couldn't help but smile a little at the blush that flushed on Greg's face when Sara complimented him on his finding. She knew that he had been nursing a crush on Sara; it wasn't that hard to see when you worked side by side in the lab. "So we have two scenes with evidence that mimics from what looks like bestselling crime novels. What does that tell us?"
"That maybe the missing roommate is into crime novels," Nick offered. He frowned a bit as he tried to remember the evidence he sorted through earlier that was collected from Hefty's house. It then occurred to him and he said, "There was one more that was collected from the house." He looked through his notes and found it. "Yeah uh it was DC Homicide: Sibling for Hire. Found it in the room that we agreed wasn't Hefty's."
"I know this one," Sara pointed out. Now that they were on a roll, all thoughts of food were forgotten. The case was getting hot and hotter by the second. "It was strange because it was almost like a setup from Strangers on a Train but they ended up being siblings only one ends up looking like an innocent bystander and both end up dead."
"Yeah but there are three siblings," Nick pointed out.
"You're also forgetting one part about Sibling for Hire," Sage finally spoke. She looked at the three pairs of eyes that looked stunned that she actually spoke. She explained, "Ellen Sue Taylor. The sister of Rita Mae Whittenbower. They shared ownership of the house. Two pairs of siblings."
"How could I miss that?" Sara was a little frustrated.
"Easy to miss," Sage offered. "Even Parsons in the story didn't figure it out that two sets of siblings were connected in some fashion aside from murder."
"Okay so I'll get Brass to find the sister," Nick said.
"I'll help Mandy with prints. If we run them through AFIS, we might find something," Sara offered.
"Run with it," Sage replied. She knew that she was expected to do something and added, "I'll follow up on the missing roommate with Detective Aguilar."
The 'meeting' broke up and the CSIs went to do their respective tasks. Nick was going in the same direction as Sage so it was easy to tag a long and stay in step. It also gave him the opportunity to ask, "How did you know about the other pair of siblings in that book?"
"I read, Stokes," Sage replied with a slight smile. "Reading was always a passion of mine and still is. Plus I like puzzles. It's why I like this job." She gave a playful jab with her finger, "You should know that but then again there is always a benefit with a former Aggie football star."
Nick gave a slight grin at that. "Don't be making fun of my alma mater."
"Since when have I not?" Sage gave a saucy grin as they made their way down to homicide to complete their respective tasks.
A/N: Looks like they found some interesting things in Hefty's place and they make connections between novels and the case. Stay tuned for more True Crime Kills...
