"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the case that you are about to hear involves the murders of two innocent people...Jane Galloway...a young woman in the prime of her life who found herself at the mercy of a madman's fixation...and Morris Pearson...a man who, in his quest to help others, found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time making him also a victim of that madman."
Three weeks had passed since Nick had gone back to work. He had spent quite a bit of that time meeting with the District Attorney, preparing for the Nigel Crane murder trial. He had also spent a lot of time talking with the department psychologist. Since his first visit with Dr. Hugh Stanton, despite his initial resistance, Nick had become quite comfortable discussing things with the man. And just a week ago the doctor had given the release for Nick to go back to work in the field. However, it had been agreed that since the trial was moving forward so quickly that he not take on any additional cases until after it was over. Even Nick was willing to accept this decision as he wanted to focus on helping to put Crane behind bars for good. So he had spent the past week continuing to do evidence processing within the lab for the other CSIs.
Quite frankly, he was ready to get this trial over with so that he could move past it and on with his life. Dr. Stanton had talked with him about the significance of this, but he also emphasized that Nick shouldn't look at it as a make or break milestone. Getting on with his life…getting back to normal and being able to deal with what had happened…could not be dependent on the trial and its outcome. Nick was going to have to be able to do that on his own, no matter what happened with Crane. And so the CSI had worked with the doctor on being able to sleep better, getting back into a routine at home, and working without feeling like he was under a microscope all the time. Things had been going well, but as the trial date neared Nick had missed his last two appointments with Stanton and had not returned his phone calls.
District Attorney Scott Cavanaugh turned away from the jury and looked at the defense table, then pointed in that direction. "That man...Nigel Crane...turned Jane Galloway into a prisoner in her own home. You will see and hear evidence that he was obsessed with her, stalked her, and eventually murdered her. In addition, when an innocent bystander...Morris Pearson...sensed her fear and the danger that she and others were in, he tried to help, only to pay for it with his life." Cavanaugh scanned the jury, making eye contact with each person as his eyes passed over them. "Ladies and gentlemen, when you get to the punishment phase of your deliberation…and we believe you will find Mr. Crane guilty and get to that phase…we aren't asking for the death penalty here. You won't be asked to decide whether or not a man loses his life." He turned again to glance at Crane before looking back at the jury. "But he did. He made a choice to end two lives. You won't be asked to make that choice, but you will be asked to put him behind bars for a very long time to make sure no one else has to suffer because of him. Once you hear both sides of the case and the evidence we are about to present, I trust you will make the right decision. Thank you."
Nick shifted in his seat, and Catherine leaned over to ask him in a hushed tone if he was all right. He nodded. He hadn't been sure what to expect when the trial started, especially seeing Crane for the first time since the night the man had held him at gunpoint in his own home…since he had watched him from the observation room as the man babbled senselessly after being arrested. He had prepared himself, along with help from Dr. Stanton, for a range of emotions, but he was surprised to find that he felt nothing now as he looked at the man. Crane had entered the courtroom escorted by a deputy and was seated at the defense table alongside his attorney. His appearance was neat, and he wore a pair of gray dress slacks and a white buttoned shirt with a blue tie. He did not look around the room as he was led in, nor did his eyes wander once he was seated. Nick had watched him from the moment he entered the room until he was seated with his back to him, feeling nothing. And now he wondered if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
After Cavanaugh finished his opening arguments and sat down, all eyes went to the defense table where Crane's attorney, Sharon Forte, pushed her chair back and stood up. She was a tall, thin woman, with short, mostly gray hair that made her appear older than her 52 years. Any resemblance to a sweet, older lady, however, went out the door as soon as she started to speak. Forte had made a reputation for herself in her profession. She took on cases that she felt would get her farther in her career, mostly at the expense of innocent people. High profile cases were her specialty. Anything that would get her name on the front page of the newspaper or her face on television, she was eager to take on. There was no need for Nigel Crane to be appointed a public defender. Forte jumped at the chance to defend the "Attic Creeper" as the press called him.
The woman paced back and forth in front of the jury box for a few moments, her head down as she seemed to be pondering what to say. Finally she stopped and looked up at the men and women seated before her. "I'm not sure what to say to you, ladies and gentlemen. The fact is that the state has no evidence to support prosecuting Mr. Crane for these horrific crimes. I am looking forward, as I'm sure you are, to hearing what they have to say. However I'm afraid it won't be much. There is no evidence that he stalked or murdered anyone. Mr. Crane doesn't have many friends, ladies and gentlemen. He's a loner. And he's a bit peculiar. But he's not a murderer. In his admittedly misguided attempt to reach out to people and find companionship...friendship...he happened to cross paths with two other people who had their own vulnerability issues. Jane Galloway...who had taken a sudden leave of absence from work then quit with no notice…who was seeing a doctor for anxiety medication…canceled her credit cards…changed her phone number…barricaded herself in her home behind locks and security systems. And Morris Pearson." Here, she snorted lightly. "Another misfit. Someone who claimed to have a 'gift' for seeing the future. He used his so-called gift to insert himself into police investigations, trying to gain a reputation...to become renowned like some of the more famous psychics, hoping to help solve a big crime and be noticed. But the only reputation he gained was that of a fool...trying to 'warn' people and worm his way into their lives." She looked pointedly at each juror. "He scared people," she stated. "He was different...an oddball...and he scared people. Maybe scared them enough that one of them killed him. Maybe he killed Ms. Galloway. It would be the perfect way to know details about the crime that no one else knew. Not a psychic...just a sad, pathetic murderer. But no matter what happened to these two individuals, Mr. Crane had nothing to do with their deaths. He was just unfortunate enough to have crossed paths with them as he sought friendship and companionship." She shook her head. "Ladies and gentlemen, that is not a crime. Being a loner and being strange is not a crime. And Mr. Crane is not a murderer." She let those words hang in the air as she made her way back to her seat at the defense table.
In the courtroom gallery, Catherine and Nick both sat stunned. What did this woman have up her sleeve? Was she really going to try to claim that someone else...even Morris Pearson himself...had been the killer here? They saw Cavanaugh shuffling papers on the table in front of him, looking through them as if he too had missed something. He looked up as the judge addressed him.
"Mr. Cavanaugh, is the state prepared to begin their case?" Judge David Perry asked.
The man stood up and answered, "Yes, Your Honor. The state would like to call CSI Catherine Willows as its first witness."
Catherine approached the stand and took the oath, then sat down as the D.A. approached her. She stated her name and occupation for the record and then waited for the questioning to begin.
"Ms. Willows," Cavanaugh said, "would you please describe for the jury what happened on the night Jane Galloway was murdered?"
"When I arrived at the scene with my supervisor, Gil Grissom, we found Ms. Galloway's body in her bathroom, draped over the toilet. It appeared that the body had been posed."
"What made you think that?" asked Cavanaugh.
"The bathtub was full of red residue and red stained towels. Tests confirmed it to be hair dye. The victim's hair was wet…it had been dyed in the tub after her death and then she was moved and placed over the toilet," she answered.
Cavanaugh pulled a photo out of a file he had been holding and showed it to her. "Is this one of your photos from the crime scene?" When she confirmed that it was, he requested that the judge allow it to be introduced as evidence. The judge approved, and Cavanaugh placed the photo on a board resting on an easel where the jury could see it. It showed Jane Galloway's body positioned as it had been found, draped across the toilet in her bathroom, her hair shining with the bright red hair dye. "What else did you notice about the body?"
"There were no obvious signs of cause of death. The coroner later determined that she died from asphyxiation…a lack of oxygen."
"So she had been strangled?"
"That was undetermined," Catherine answered. "But we did find a plastic grocery bag under her bed that was most likely used to smother her. We fumed it and found a facial impression on the interior surface that matched Jane's facial features. We determined that it was probable that the bag was placed over her head, cutting off her air supply…until she was dead."
Cavanaugh produced another photograph, this one of the bag in the fuming chamber, showing the facial impression. After again confirming that it was a legitimate crime lab photo, he placed it on the easel next to the other photo. "Did you notice anything unusual in the house?"
"Yes...several things. Her doors and windows had all been barred from the inside. The windows had been nailed shut and covered with tin foil, and the doors each had several locks on them. All of the locks were intact when the police arrived. They had to break the front door in to gain entrance."
"And what did that tell you?"
"That she was hiding," Catherine stated firmly. "That she was afraid. She was keeping someone out. The problem was...with all of the security measures intact, how did her killer escape the house?"
"And were you able to figure that out?" The D.A. asked.
"Not at first. But a second search of the home provided additional evidence. We found signs that someone had been living in her house without her knowledge...watching her. There were holes bored into the ceiling of several rooms in her house. When we went up into the attic, we found surveillance equipment…a digital camera with a fiber optic lens…night vision goggles…a digital video recorder…and a phone that tapped into her house line. A check of Jane's recent phone records showed that she had received numerous calls in the past several days...all from inside the house. It was apparent that someone had been spending a lot of time in the attic...watching her and filming her. There was a small access window up there that was unlocked…it only opened from the inside. We deduced that whoever was stalking her was using the window to come in and out of the house."
"Okay...okay..." Cavanaugh paced in front of the witness stand, head down, appearing to consider what she had just said before looking back at her and asking, "But...how did they get the window open in the first place so that they could continue to come in and out unseen?"
Catherine looked up at him. "It had to have been someone that Jane had let into the house at one point for a legitimate reason...someone who would have been able to access the attic at that time without question. A logical answer was that it was probably a worker...someone she had called to come to the house to fix something or install something. So we investigated her recent service calls and paid visits to each of the workers who had been in the house recently."
"How many were there? And what kinds of places?"
"There was someone from the gas company…a carpet installer…the water company…and the cable man." Catherine cast a quick glance toward Crane.
Cavanaugh noted her look but did not turn that way himself. "What did you find out?"
"Well..." she began hesitantly."There wasn't a lot we could tell from talking to them. None of them acted suspiciously, and background checks on each of them came back clean."
"What made you suspect Mr. Crane was responsible?"
Catherine opened her mouth to speak but stopped as Forte called out an objection to the question.
"On what grounds, Ms. Forte?" asked the judge.
The woman stood up and inquired, "May we approach the bench, Your Honor?"
The judge agreed, and both the defense attorney and the D.A. went to stand before him. Forte spoke to him in a hushed voice, and Cavanaugh suddenly began shaking his head and speaking as well. In a moment, they both went back to their respective tables and the judge addressed the court. "Ladies and gentlemen, there is a matter that I need to discuss with the attorneys in my chambers. We are going to call a recess for lunch at this time and will reconvene at 1:00."
Nick watched as the jury filed out and Catherine stepped down from the witness stand. He stood up as she approached him. "Wonder what that's all about."
She shrugged. "I don't know. Could be the beginning of a really long trial here if she's going to fight us the whole way…and I'm sure she is." She checked her watch. "You want to grab something to eat across the street?"
The small café was starting to get crowded as the noon hour approached, but Nick and Catherine were able to secure themselves a small table in the corner of the front window. She was working on a large salad while Nick picked at the deli sandwich he had ordered.
"Something wrong with it?" she asked between bites.
"Nah…just not very hungry, I guess."
"Hmph."
He looked up at her. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"What?" she asked innocently.
"That sound you made. Can't a guy not be hungry?"
"Yeah…a guy can…but not you. Not when I've seen you eat two of those bad boys in one sitting without blinking an eye and not when I know for a fact you didn't have anything for breakfast this morning." She narrowed her eyes and took another bite of her salad. "C'mon…it's okay if you're feeling nervous about the trial."
"I know. I just…" He sighed and leaned back in his chair, pushing his plate away from him. "I don't know. That guy…until I know he's going away for good…I still…I can't seem to shake it off."
"It's not easy to do. You're still seeing the psychologist though, right? That should help." Catherine looked away for a second as she wiped her mouth with a napkin and then looked back at him when he didn't answer her. "You are still seeing him…aren't you?"
He cleared his throat and began sheepishly, "Well…I…"
"Oh, Nick! You stopped going?!"
"I didn't stop. I just…I'm taking a break…that's all."
"Now? Nick, this isn't the time to take a break! What the hell?" She looked at him in disbelief.
"I only missed two sessions, Cath. It's not like I quit for good. I just needed some time to try to deal with things…on my own…you know?"
She shook her head. "No…no, I don't know. I thought things were going well. You told me they were. You said you thought he was helping."
"He was…is. I just…" He sighed. "I hate it. I hate all of this. Nothing feels right. Maybe when the trial is over…I'll go back…if I need to…but…I just want to get back to normal." He looked at her, his dark eyes pleading with her to understand.
Those eyes never failed to soften her up, and she gave him a small smile, reaching across the table to put her hand over his. "I know you do. Look…if you say you're doing fine right now…I believe you. But promise me if things start to get difficult…you'll go back to see the doctor…or you'll talk to me. Please?"
He smiled back and squeezed her hand. "I promise."
Everyone in the courtroom stood as the jury filed back in. After they were seated, Judge Perry addressed the room. "Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for keeping you here past lunch for no reason, but we're going to need to conclude the proceedings for today. I'll ask that you all reconvene here tomorrow morning at nine o'clock. Court is dismissed." With a pounding of his gavel, the jury stood up and left the room.
Confused, Catherine and Nick looked at each other and then watched Nigel Crane be escorted from the room followed by his attorney. Cavanaugh gathered his papers up off of the table and then came over to them. He did not look happy.
"Scott?" asked Catherine. "What's going on?"
"We need to talk," he said to the two of them. "I think we're in trouble."
Anybody out there? :-) I hope so! I very much appreciate those of you who are still reading. I will do my best to update faster from now on. Please leave some feedback and let me know what you think. Thanks!
