Chapter Ten: A clear-cut case of murder
Kensi moved over to the door as quickly as she could, which now was a semi-fast shuffle. "Could we have some help in here?" The urgency in her voice meant that two nurses immediately left their station and rushed into the room. Various unpleasant noises could be heard and Kensi felt her won gorge rise in sympathy
"Miss Blye? Should you really be here?" Hetty materialised at her side in a disconcerting manner. Kensi realised her reactions were way out whack, as she'd had no warning of the older woman's presence.
"My room's just down the hallway." She gestured with her hand. "And the doctor said I should try to get a little exercise, so I was just visiting Callen and… And why am I explaining this to you?"
"Because I am concerned?" Hetty suggested gently and crooked her arm invitingly. "Why don't we go back to your room and we can talk properly?"
Kensi correctly interpreted this as an invitation she could not refuse and conceded with good grace. Apart from anything else, she was starting to feel quite tired now. All things considered, it had been a fairly stressful day.
Shortly after exiting the I-15, the road started to deteriorate, and soon they were bumping along a dirt track. Ahead, the crags of Clark Mountain loomed high. "Beautiful!" Eric leaned back in his seat, beaming with enthusiasm. "Isn't it amazing? I can't wait to get started climbing."
"Absolutely." Insincerity rang out in Deeks' voice.
"Light's going to start fading soon," Sam warned. "After we've checked in with the on-scene guys we'd better set up camp." He concentrated on the road ahead, although it was really more of a track, pieces of which had been washed away by recent rainstorms. It made for challenging driving and even with the benefit of four wheel drive his wrists were beginning to ache. When they finally reached the parking area, the Medical Examiner was just getting out of his van. Dan Jacobs was a familiar face to both Sam and Deeks, a middle-aged man with a dry wit and a love of jazz.
"No Hetty? I'm disappointed. I've heard of her mountaineering exploits - they're the stuff of legend. Is there any truth in the rumour that she once assumed cover as a Sherpa and got to the summit of Everest?"
Sam shrugged his shoulders. "You never can tell, with Hetty, Dan. Best to assume everything is true and even then she'll still surprise you." He'd heard some wild rumours about Hetty over the years, most of which had turned out to be based in fact. Callen had once described her as an enigma, wrapped in a conundrum, and even that probably underestimated her. Once again, Sam's thoughts fell back to his partner, and he wondered how long it would be before they got any defininte news about him. "It looks like you boys are prepared for a longish stay," Dan remarked, rubbing his hands together and casting an eye over the piles of equipment. "It's getting cold already, in the shadows, so I hope you brought something to ward off any night chills?"
"Deeks has enough plaid shirts to stock a shop. A second-hand shop."
"Whereas Sam was strangely insistent on me wearing long underwear. I'm just hoping he didn't pick the all-in-one variety with a flap in the back." He looked across enquiringly.
"What else? In a fetching pale pink. You'll look adorable."
Deeks decided to ignore this. "I just brought along some extra insurance in the form of a bottle of 15 year old Bowmore."
"I like the way you think, Marty." Dan's eyes widened appreciatively as Deeks pulled the bottle of single malt out of his rucksack and he handled it with reverence. "I'm almost tempted to camp out with you, just to get a taste of that. But I'll manage to resist. I'll think of you boys tonight, when I'm tucked up in my nice, warm, comfortable bed."
It was only with considerable difficulty that Deeks repressed a groan of envy. "We could swap, Dan? Of course, it would be a hardship to tear myself away from here, but I might just manage it. I'll trade you for the Bowmore?"
"Nice try, Marty – but no coconut." Dan started off up the path that led to the base of the limestone crags, leaving his assistant to follow along behind, carrying the equipment.
"Eric- could you stay here and scout out a suitable camp site? Deeks and I will go on up with Dan." Judging from the information they'd received, the body of the dead Marine was going to be an horrific sight – bad enough for hardened agents to deal with, far less Eric, who had no previous experience. Sam didn't want to expose him to anything like that unless it was strictly necessary.
As it turned out, that was a wise decision. Dan's preliminary examination revealed that he had died of a broken neck, while sustaining multiple injuries on his plummet down the mountain. His face was battered beyond all recognition, but the worst thing was the number of broken bones that had pierced his skin. Or perhaps it was the fact that he had been alive during the fall and had not died until the final impact with the ground.
"Not much doubt about what caused him to fall." Sam's voice was grim and his features were set as he held up one end of a climbing rope. "A clean cut. This was deliberate." He tried very hard to push down the feeings of anger and regret that were simmering in his gut. "This guy had been working for months to get back to his unit, and just when he was almost there, someone killed him."
"And two of his buddies." Deeks looked up from studying the screen of his smart-phone. "Ops has just confirmed they both died of their injuries en route to the hospital. We've got a triple homicide on our hands."
Dan straightened up. "Are you okay with me removing the body? I want to try to get out of here while there's still enough light. That dirt track was bad enough in full daylight. I don't want to even think about attempting it in the dark."
"Go ahead." Sam looked up at the mountain. "We've still got to go up a bit further and see how the remaining Marine is doing. He's been stranded somewhere on the third tier for over eight hours now." He glanced across at Deeks. "Alright with you?"
"Of course. The sooner we get going the better."
The time for joking around was gone. They started up the path, Sam taking the lead as the sun began to sink in the sky and the limestone wall became flushed with rosy light.