Chapter 14

"Hey Umeko, I'm glad you're still here. Do you think you can find the addresses on those women who wrote to Gunter?"

"Should be no problem." The small woman moved to another keyboard. "I have his records here. All I have to do is find where the URL originated. Lets see, Theresa lives on Coral near Little Havana, Nina is over on Tuttle Avenue off of Flagler and Lovejoy is on Ave de Aviles on the south side. Those are just the ones we pulled up before. You want more?"

"Yes, please. I have a feeling I'll need all I can get. The fingerprints Eric found didn't get me much."

"I count another eleven names so it will take a few minutes."

"Just leave them at the front desk for me. I'll pick them up in the morning. I'm going home for a hot bath."

"Yeah, you gotta take care of yourself in your condition."

"Good lord! Does everyone know?"

"I think the only ones who don't know are on vacation, like Vince."

"Well, just so long as no one starts treating me like I'm made of glass."

Calleigh had been gone for about an hour when Yelina arrived. She and Umeko sat down to continue the conversations from the previous evening.

An hour into the process, Yelina's phone played 'Sonny Boy'. "I'll just be out in the hall. It's my son's night to call from his school."

Umeko hardly nodded while she typed.

Yelina greeted, "I can set my watch by you now."

Ray's voice was excited. "Mom, I saw Ms. Boa Vista out here again today. I've been cleared of the charges!"

"Did she talk to you?"

"No, she talked to a guy named Tony, one of Corey's friends. Anyway, then she left, and when I got out of class Colonel Lafayette called me in to his office. He's the one who told me. He said he'd gotten a call that the CSI people had found proof I couldn't have done it but they hadn't told him what it was."

"No, they wouldn't. The case is still open. I'm very happy. Do you think you'll be able to concentrate on your studies now?"

"I think so. My call time's up now. I have to go. I wanted you to know. I love you."

"Good night, son. Sleep well. Same time next week?"

"Back on schedule, thanks to you and Uncle Horatio."

Umeko gave Yelina a double take when she entered. "That must have been either a hot date or the best news ever!"

"News of the best kind from the love of my life." She then went on to explain away Umeko's questioning glance.

"While you were out, I told Park Ranger guy you have four kids."

"Four?"

"Might as well be really scary while we're at it. Right now, he's too busy being luv4u to have noticed. Luver boy is telling us all about his house with five bedrooms. Oh, lookee, it's up on a hill with a view!"

"Do you think it's real?"

"I doubt it."

"I wonder why he isn't on the road to Las Vegas?"

Immediately Umeko was typing that question in the chat box.

The answer came a minute later; 'Because I'm talking with a very pretty lady. That's a better gamble any day.'

"Isn't that flattering?"

"And you notice how fast it came? I bet he has a list of pat answers for exactly that kind of question. All he had to do was cut and paste. Gunter did. And look, now he's Ranger guy answering, 'Four kids? In your profile, you said you had no kids.'

"What should we say to that? He's caught the lie."

"Right now, we do nothing. In fact, we're going to sign off from both of them. You are very embarrassed. Nothing worse than being caught in a lie."

Yelina's face showed her confusion.

Umeko winked slyly. "Now we sit back and wait. The game is about to get interesting from here on out. Remember, you're sitting in the driver's seat until you give them money. Until then, the company has no hold on you. This guy is likely to say anything to get you to join. Now we're going to make them work for the money. We need as much proof here as we can get that they are using deception to defraud the public."

The wait was ten long minutes; no doubt the amount of time it took for a bathroom break and getting another cup of coffee. Then the computer dinged again. The message this time was from luv4u; 'Hey sweetie, you sort of left me in the lurch. Are you okay? I'd sure like to talk to you some more. I have to leave town for a while and it would be nice to have someone to look forward to meeting when I get back.'

Umeko hit a switch that shut down all of the computers. "Ha! He thinks he has us already. He's hoping you think you've lost Rangerguy and, in a panic, will respond to him. We're going to play hardball. I think two or three more days of this and you'll be able to serve a warrant to shut them down."

Before Umeko could leave the room, Yelina spoke up. "Could you pull up Gunter's files that have the local women's emails? I have an idea about something and I'd like to follow it up tomorrow."

Umeko punched a switch that turned on just one computer. She quickly had the screen filled with file icons, all with women's names. "There you go. When you're done, hit this switch again. I imagine the night tech will be here by that time anyway."

Thanking her, Yelina settled down with her notebook.

"So, whose fingerprint popped last night?"

Ryan looked up at Walter. "A kid named Nate Kinson. He's a sophomore. He's being brought in."

"I can hardly wait to hear what this is about."

Walter didn't have long to wait. Thirty minutes later, a gangly young man with a large share of pimples on his face was escorted into one of the interview rooms. Walter was more than happy to have to stand outside while Horatio interviewed him. He knew he was learning technique from a master.

Instead of doing what he could have done, roaring into the kid's face something like, 'You blew up a lab! What were you thinking?' Horatio began with quiet. He entered silently in his soft soled black calf skin Allen Edmonds shoes. He walked to the wall behind Nate's chair and stood off to the side. He was just far enough to the rear of the young man that, when Nate needed to read his interrogator, gauge what he meant, he had to crane his neck uncomfortably. Discomfort threw a monkey wrench into thought processes and often caused unmeant revelations. The head detective's first question was so quiet that, had the air conditioning been on, he couldn't have been heard. "Do you know why you're here?"

Nate's head ducked down before he answered. "I'm guessing it's because of the lab explosion."

"That's correct." Advancing to just behind Nate, Horatio opened a folder he'd brought in and laid out the first photo. "This is a close-up of the fingerprint we found." He threw it casually down on the table.

"So? I've probably used most of the glass in that room."

Standing beside Nate, he said matter-of-factly "That was the bottle used to create the blast. It has a layer of the remains of the potassium chlorate that caused the explosion."

"Everything in the blast area would have had remains on it."

Horatio leaned over and said quietly into the chemistry student's ear. "Yes, but Nate, this print has potassium chlorate embedded in the whorls over clean glass on the inside of the neck."

"Yeah? So?"

"Meaning, Nate, that you handled potassium chlorate, pouring it carefully into the bottle. Then you put in the ball bearings and used your thumb inside the neck to lay the bottle on its side before corking it. When the blast occurred, Nate, it blew the cork out of the bottle, exposing the fingerprint but not covering it in the powder."

"Okay, okay," Nate whined. "It wasn't even my idea."

Horatio had stood up, and then he leaned over again. "Whose idea was it?"

Nate paused. Horatio seemed to have expected this. Taking advantage of the time, he walked around the table, pulled out the chair opposite the young man and sat sideways on it. He propped his elbow on the glass top so his arm was upwards, partially obscuring his face.

"Don't say I told you. They'd kill me if they knew I told. It was Jupiter and V's idea. I mean, I told them about what my grandfather told me and they just wanted to recreate it."

"What did your grandfather tell you?"

"Grampops was a chemical engineer for Alcoa up north before he retired. He said that when he was in college he and some friends put some ball bearings in a bottle with potassium chlorate, put it to turning on a lathe. Then they left for some reason; he never said why. They were supposed to go back to the lab and check or something only they forgot and they came back the next morning to a big mess." Nate's head hung lower and lower as he spoke.

Horatio turned to face Nate. He had to lower his face practically to the table to be able to look up into Nate's eyes. "And you told your friends about this?"

"I guess I told lots of friends about it but Jupiter got really excited. His girlfriend, Virginia, she likes to be called just V, did too. She's kind of radical, you know? It got to the point where she was saying stuff like 'we have to do this, man. It'll work perfectly.'" Nate spread his hands, palms up. "Well, what's not to work?"

"And you never thought you'd get caught, did you?"

"One broken bottle in all the rest of the broken bottles? Who'd think someone would be dumb enough to go through it all?"

Horatio stood up and shook his head as he spoke. "Someone just dumb enough to have caught you." He nodded to the officer waiting outside.

Stepping outside, Horatio found Walter behind the one way mirror with a sheaf of classroom names in his hand. His large fingers were deftly running down the list.

"Walter, I'm betting there is more than one Virginia in the classes and we can't tell which one is Jupiter's girlfriend. Rather than possibly lose her, I suggest you go back to your contact at the university. I want both of them picked up at the same time."

"Yeah, okay, H." Walter wished he could sound more enthusiastic but it was beyond him. After the disaster with Lottie before, he was sure he would be tongue tied, afraid he'd say the wrong thing again.

Whether she just wanted to let bygones be bygones, or cooperated in the spirit of a working relationship, he didn't know; whatever it was, he caught her in the halls and she quickly found the name he sought. Then to make matters even easier, she took him to her office and pulled up the home addresses for both. V lived in a campus dorm while Jupiter lived at home with his mother.

"Ryan? I have the addresses. Neither one is on campus right now. This V girl lives near the campus, so why don't I pick her up and you send the uniforms out to find Jupiter.

"It might be a good idea if I go out along with the officers. If this kid has any chemicals around, they probably won't know how to handle whatever it is."

"Right. Same here. I'll meet you at the lab."

Walter arrived at the four story high dorm that was merely a block from the campus about ten minutes later. He showed his credentials at the front desk and waited while the clerk called V's room. Not getting an answer, she announced over the loud speakers that Virginia N'ga had a visitor. A passing student casually pointed to a large room and, after looking Walter's large figure up and down as if in speculation, declared V was there.

Since there seemed to be no barrier to entry, Walter went to the large double doorway and looked in. Only one person seemed to be looking at him. All the rest were unconcerned.

"Are you V?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

V was a far cry from the woman of the alien beings featured in the popular television show. She was not tall or elegant, had no guile hidden in her dark eyes. If comparison could be made, she looked much closer to a combination of all of the male stars in The Big Bang Theory show. Her black hair was stringy and somewhat greasy, her round shouldered posture did nothing to enhance her flat chest. A bit of a pot belly and the bad skin showed a fondness for junk food. Showing more interest than discontent in Walter's purpose, she didn't resist the order to accompany him downtown.

Before leaving, he asked her to wait with the police officers and requested permission to look for chemicals in her room. Though looking thoroughly disgusted, she granted him the right to look at her side of the room. She dug out her cell and made a call.

"My roommate is expecting you but she's not pleased. Just do what you have to and get out. I need to live with her for another few months."

The young woman who opened the door in response to his knock seemed to prove that like attracts like. The only difference between the two was that V could have been sort of attractive, given a bit of hair conditioning and encouragement to stand up straight; this one needed something more along the lines of a nip and tuck to balance a nose and chin, both of which seemed twice the size necessary. There was nothing to be done for the tiny eyes that could barely contain the panic when she saw Walter's size.

Holding the door to just a crack, she pleaded for time to clean a little more.

Assuring her the room couldn't be worse than the state his room at college had attained by his Junior year, he waited while she hemmed and hawed. Finally being allowed in, he could see the challenge ahead of him. He decided to change tactics. First he found out that Patty, the roommate, was an Ancient Literature major.

"So, you don't bring chemicals home?"

"And neither does V!"

"I have to look anyway. It's part of my job. Which side is her room? I'll check only her area and leave."

The dorm building was one of the high priced ones so the rooms were slightly larger than many. Not only was there plenty of room between the beds, each side had its own closet and a large chest of drawers. Ten minutes later, he felt assured there were no chemicals in the room. He was in the process of thanking Patty and getting ready to leave when he found himself being vamped. It was the only word he could think of to describe Patty's almost ludicrous behavior.

"What? Leaving already big guy?" While Walter had been busy, she had opened half the buttons on her light blouse showing the top of a bra, raised the bottom up and tied it at her waist. She had also made an effort to smooth her mousy brown hair.

Suddenly Walter remembered the first rule in doing police business with the public; never do it alone. He knew now he should, at the very least, have asked Patty to wait outside in the hallway or better still, had an officer accompany him. Leaving Patty disappointed now could lead to her making a mess of herself and then accusing him of assaulting her.

Thinking fast, Walter said, "What time is it?" When Patty asked why, he replied loudly, opening the door at the same time, "My fiancée is going to kill me! We're having a wedding rehearsal tonight. Thanks for your cooperation, ma'am." He silently blessed the man who poked his head out of the door directly across the way and saw Patty unharmed if somewhat strangely attired.

When Walter arrived at the lab, he found he had been beaten by Ryan. Nodding to each other, Ryan then nodded to an interview room in which sat a tall, muscular, blond young man with eerily bright green eyes.

"I'm going to keep the girlfriend down on the first floor. I don't think they should know about each other as yet. I didn't find any chemicals. How about you?"

"I didn't get to look much. His mother watches crime dramas and demanded a search warrant. She took us only to certain areas. The only chemicals I saw were the kind his mother used." At Walter's inquisitive look, Ryan went on to explain, "His mother is a beautician. What's the girlfriend like?"

"Looks like a typical lab rat, only after a really hard day. I'm not sure she'll talk. Once I told her why I was bringing her in she went all quiet."

"Good luck. Mine sure doesn't look like a chem student."

"Let's hope Nate wasn't leading us down a garden path."

"Walter, what would be the point?"

"To let the real bombers get away, that's why."

Ryan shrugged. "Horatio still has Nate cooling his heels. We'll all compare notes in a while."

A few minutes later, having a line of questioning in mind, Ryan entered the room where Jupiter Thompson waited. The blond seemed neither anxious nor irritated at being held. He sat tipping his chair back, looking about at all of the activity he could see through the many glass walls. When Ryan entered, the young man gave him an appraising look, smiled ever so slightly and then went back to looking around.

After a few other questions Jupiter admitted, "Yeah, Nate and I are tight. I've known him since we were kids."

"Did you know we nailed him for the recent explosion in the lab the university?"

"No kidding?"

"He also fingered you and your girlfriend for helping him. Well, actually, he says he helped you and your girlfriend. He told you both about the process and V wanted to see if it would work."

Jupiter shrugged his broad shoulders and set his jaw. "He's lying. V and I were across town that night, partying it up at a friend's place."

"Where?"

"Jeez! I don't know. It wasn't really a friend of mine. It was a friend of a friend. Uh, I followed behind the guy."

"So, you don't know where you were?"

"I just know I wasn't at the lab that night. Hey! What's the big deal anyway? So some equipment got wasted. The university sure charges enough tuition to cover something like that."

Meanwhile, before approaching V, Walter made sure the female officer outside was keeping a close watch on what was going on inside. He didn't want to be caught like he'd been a couple of hours ago. Not that men didn't try to prove mishandling from male police staff; it's just that, for some reason, women were more prone to such accusations.

"Nate said I helped him blow up the lab? Nope, couldn't happen. I was with Jupiter. We were studying together."

"Where?"

"At the coffee shop. It's called the Coffee Cup."

"Anyone see you there?"

"How should I know? We were too busy studying."

"Why would Nate pick on you and Jupiter as having helped? What's he got against you?"

Peering through her smudged dark rimmed glasses, V crossed her arms under her small breasts. "Not a clue. Hey, when is this going to be done? I've got studying to do now, too."

Walter turned to leave the room and then wheeled around to ask, "I just gotta know, is Jupiter his real name?"

The dark eyes flashed and the lips spread across slightly yellow teeth. "Yeah, it's his real name. His mother was into mythology when he was born. She told him that Hercules was overused and besides, Jupiter was king of the gods."

"And you never thought of asking him to use his powers to blow up a lab?"

For just a moment, the college sophomore looked like she was musing over the possibility. Suddenly, she switched gears, looked up, and asked, "When do I get out of here?"

"I'll let you know when you can go. Just sit tight."

Walter found Ryan standing in the hallway below the entrance to Horatio's office. They could see the redhead at his desk but sitting sideways, his elbow propped on the desk, his long legs stretched out in front of him.

"I'd guess he's waiting for us."

"You go first. If you miss a step and fall, I'll catch you."

Walter looked down at the five foot nine inch Ryan. "Sure, little buddy. I'm all atwitter with anticipation on that idea."

Nevertheless, Walter went up first.

While listening to the two varying stories, Horatio had risen to his feet and stood at the tall window that overlooked the parking area in the front of the MDPD-CSI Laboratory building. "And Nate's tale makes three. We can hold Nate, both on evidence and admission. What we need next is either confession from the other two or evidence." He pulled his phone from his pocket.

"Frank, could you please go to a judge and get a warrant to search the room of Virginia N'ga at the Miami University Tuttle Dorm and for the home of Jupiter Thompson? We'll want all of their outer clothing, shoes on up to hats if they've got them. I'd recommend you concentrate on the dirty clothes. This, however, won't exclude a search for chemicals. Thanks."

He turned to Ryan and Walter. "Go back and tell each of them what the other one said. I'm going to see if Nate will come forth with any more details of the evening in the lab."

Before parting to go to their respective interview rooms, Ryan suggested to Walter that they play the phone game; calling each other each time a story changed. Walter nodded and pulled his phone from his pants pocket to his shirt pocket for easy access.

Meanwhile, Horatio decided to take the direct, invasive approach on Nate. He entered the room, walked quickly around the table to the freckle faced young man's side, leaned down and said, "Tell me, Nate, exactly step by step, how did you and your friends go about setting up the explosion? Do not, I repeat, do not leave anything out."

Nate leaned far to one side away from the breath warming his ear. Even though he hadn't heard an 'or…' after the last words, he knew there would be consequences if he left anything out. Not knowing what they might be had him gathering his memories quickly. "We went into the lab, Jupiter and V set up some jars and things for maximum noise and breakage, and I set up the jar. As soon as it was all ready, we went outside and waited. When we heard the noise, we ran inside, looked in, thought it was cool and left."

"Now, let me get this straight." Horatio had maintained his position, leaning over Nate's shoulder. "Jupiter and V set up glass to get broken?"

"Yeah, with the ball bearings flying out, we figured it would be great if they had something to hit. It was too. Man! All that glass!"

Horatio stood up and earnestly asked. "Do you know that Jupiter and V both deny they had anything to do with it?"

For the second time that day, Nate seemed genuinely surprised.

TBC