Chapter 11: The Note

The next morning, Natalia arrived at work to find a tired-looking Eric reading through an old autopsy report. She looked over his shoulder. One of the autopsy photos showed a young man who bore a resemblance to their two victims. "What's this?" she asked.

"Rosendo Gutierez. He died in 2003. His death was ruled suicide."

"You think it's related to our case?"

"I don't know. His fingernails weren't trimmed like the latest two victims, there was no evidence of a struggle, there was gun shot residue on his hand..."

"Which is the kind of detail this killer could think of when staging a suicide," Natalia commented.

"The report also says there was a note."

"A suicide note?"

"Yeah. But the thing is, the case was closed and I can't find a copy of the note in any of the reports."

Natalia got on the computer and scrolled through the report of the investigation. "Huh. IAB was looking into this case."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Why don't you let me take a look at this. You have a gun to process for fingerprints."

Eric nodded. "Right. Thanks."

Calleigh walked into the fingerprint lab. "You paged?"

"Yeah," Eric answered. "I just finished processing the gun you found at the warehouse. There weren't any prints on the outside, but I found some on the bullets still in the chamber. They all came back to the victim."

She nodded. "So he was killed with his own gun."

"You don't sound surprised."

"Just reinforces the theory that he knew his killer, someone who could get close enough to take his gun from him."

"I heard what happened at the warehouse," he said after a momentary pause. "You ran in there without reinforcements."

"I heard a gunshot. If the victim had still been alive, I couldn't let him bleed to death while waiting for back-up."

He took a breath and nodded slightly. "You're right. I just worry about you."

"I appreciate that," she said before changing the subject. "You were out all day questioning safrole buyers. Think any of them could be a suspect?"

"No one stood out," Eric answered, his tone of voice switching from the concerned boyfriend to the professional scientist. "There were a few chemistry labs, an artist who uses it in her paints, a chef who uses it as an ingredient in his restaurant, and a few New Age medicine shops. A couple of people are getting citations for prohibited uses of safrole, but I didn't see any evidence that any of them were making ecstasy."

Calleigh shook her head slightly. "This killer's good at covering his tracks."

"Yeah," he agreed, "but we're really good at uncovering them."

"Yeah."

Eric looked down at his desk. "I'm going over to the deli for lunch when I finish up here. Want to join me?"

"I probably won't have time. I'm going check if the drug dealer has any known associates that could lead us to the ecstasy cook."

"Be careful," Eric requested. "One of them could easily be the killer."

She smiled at him. "Don't worry. I will be."

Natalia rushed to Horatio's office. "H, I think we've got something..." She froze at his door, shocked to find Hadrian King standing behind Horatio at the desk.

"Come in, Ms. Boa Vista. What have you found?"

She shook off her surprise and entered the room, closing the door behind her. "There was a suicide in 2003, a man named Rosendo Gutierez. He might have been an early victim of the killer."

"Agent King, didn't the killings in New Jersey begin in 2003?" Horatio asked.

"As near as we can tell."

"Killings in New Jersey?" Natalia asked curiously.

King explained. "The two murders you're investigating match the MO of a serial killer. We tracked him from New Jersey to Puerto Rico. When did Gutierez die?"

"June 19, 2003," Natalia read from the file.

"Then it could still be the same killer. His first confirmed victim in New Jersey died in November."

"He left a suicide note, but that note isn't in his file, because it was redacted as the result of an IAB investigation."

Horatio nodded. "I remember the case. A detective was named in the suicide note, Leo Kerrick. IAB was looking into whether he'd mishandled an earlier case involving the victim, but some other officers who knew Detective Kerrick pressured IAB not to pursue the case."

"We need to talk to Leo Kerrick," King said. "Not to mention IAB."

Rick Stetler grew tense when he saw Horatio Caine and Special Agent King outside his office. "What can I do for you?" he asked.

"We need all the files you have on the investigation of Leo Kerrick and the reported suicide of Rosendo Gutierez," King stated coldly.

"Why?"

Horatio answered. "There's a possibility Gutierez's death is related to our current cases."

"I don't see how. If I remember the case correctly, Gutierez shot himself in the head. He left a suicide note."

"We need to see that note," Horatio said.

"Your own Questioned Documents lab confirmed at the time that it was written in his handwriting. There was no indication of homicide."

"That isn't the point."

Stetler frowned. He glanced from Horatio to King. "I'll see what I can dig up. That case was a long time ago."

King took a seat, indicating that they would wait for as long as it took to get the information they wanted.

Leo Kerrick had left the police department years ago to work as a security guard for a private firm. Natalia caught him just as he was leaving his apartment to go to work.

"Mr. Kerrick?" she asked.

The large, stoop-shouldered man looked her over. "Who's asking?"

She showed him her badge. "Natalia Boa Vista. I'm with the crime lab. I was wondering if you could take a minute to answer some questions about Rosendo Gutierez?"

"I was cleared," he stated as he sidestepped her and headed to his car.

She turned to follow him. "We know that. We just need to know about the suicide note."

"Hey, I didn't put the gun in that kid's hand. Not my fault if there wasn't enough evidence to file his charges. It would've ended up being a he-said, she-said thing anyway, and there's no way a prosecutor was going to take it to court."

"What charges?" Natalia asked.

Kerrick reached his car. "The kid was mixed up. I could tell that from the start. But I didn't think he would kill himself, and even if I did, there's nothing I coulda done. That's what I told IAB and that's all I'm gonna say now." He got in his car and drove away.

Natalia took a deep, frustrated breath. Then she took out her cell phone and called Horatio. "Hey, it's me. Kerrick's not talking."

"I'm not surprised," he replied. "Rosendo's suicide note blamed Detective Kerrick for not taking him seriously when he reported a rape. Among others."

"A rape? Who was raped?"

"He was. Rosendo Gutierez reported that a woman he met drugged him, tied him up, raped him, then left him on the street. He went directly to the nearest police station to report it. Kerrick, according to the note, didn't believe Gutierez, in spite of his bruises, and refused to even take his statement."

Natalia wasn't sure how to respond. She stared after Kerrick's departing car. "Oh man."

"And it wasn't just him. The suicide note claims that he had no support from his friends or family, and received public ridicule when he wrote a letter to a newspaper about his experience."

"So wait," Natalia said, "so you're saying Gutierez really did commit suicide?"

"Yes. But that doesn't mean he wasn't a victim of the same killer."