SailorStar9: After getting Chapter 51 out, this is Chapter 52 of this fic. (Sighs) Guys and girls, is it too hard for you to leave a review, instead of just putting this fic up on your favorited list and story alerts?
Disclaimers: I own nothing, except for the plot bunny which, unfortunately, is still alive and kicking.
Chapter 52: Lab Rats
"Four crime scene miniatures, four murder victims, and one diabolical killer with an obsessive streak who still remains at large." Hodges stated, after gathering his fellow lab techs in Grissom's office. "I don't know if any of you have noticed how distracted Grissom's been lately, but it's these. Keeping him up at night."
"You know the combination?" Archie blinked, seeing Hodges remove the padlock from the first miniature.
"Of course." Hodges nodded. "Grissom could use some fresh eyes on the case, and that's why I've asked you here. Obviously, this could be perceived as insulting to the CSIs who formerly worked the case, so secrecy is of the utmost importance. Double-down low."
"Oh, James, it's Moneypenny." Mandy spoke into her shoe in a fake British voice. "M needs you back at HQ."
"Shoe phone was 'Get Smart,' though." Archie pointed out.
"Oh, that's right." Mandy nodded.
"99 was so hot." Henry remarked.
"Mm." Archie nodded.
"Four people are dead, the killer is still out there, and you're mocking?" Hodges was indignant.
"We're mocking you." Mandy corrected.
"Ah." Hodges noted. "You in or out?"
"I don't really know anything about these cases." Henry stated.
"We'll review." Hodges assured.
"I don't know." Henry replied. "I have a lot of work to do."
"And by work, you mean IM'ing your Icelandic pen pal who thinks that you look like Warrick Brown because that's the picture you posted." Hodges shattered the lie.
"How...?" Henry muttered.
"I just know." Hodges replied. "Archie, in?"
"What the hell, but I got to leave early." The A/V tech shrugged. "I got a surfing trip in Santa Barbara this weekend."
"Miss Mockery?" Hodges turned to Mandy.
"Well, we can't leave the lab, we can't talk to suspects. What exactly does Grissom wants us to do?" Mandy asked.
"It's not always what you look at that matters; it's what you see." Hodges stated and the four peered closer at the miniatures.
"That's Thoreau." Henry stated.
"Oh, is it?" Hodges wondered. "Hmm."
"Okay, professor." Archie voiced. "And your point would be?"
"The answers lie in these." Hodges took out the miniature out and placed it on the case cover. "We're lab techs. We think differently than field guys. They deal with people, we deal with things. Maybe we can't find the killer, but I think we can find the thing that links all four murders. This is an opportunity. We have one shift to show Grissom what we're made of. Tonight, we could be heroes."
"All right, all right." Mandy relented. "I'm in."
"It's time to think outside the box." Hodges stated.
"The first miniature was found at the crime scene seven months ago." Hodges started, with a file in hand. "The victim is Izzy Delancy, washed-up rock star. Blunt force trauma to the back of the head. Bonked with a rolling pin, found in the drawer at the scene." He handed out the pictures that were taken.
"Stalker maybe?" Henry suggested.
"Izzy didn't have any known stalkers, and there was no forced entry." Hodges replied. "Suspects include his first wife, his current wife, the nanny he was schtuping and his teenage son."
"Motive thought to be sex?" Mandy looked from her file.
"And-or money." Hodges added. "Izzy's music library was for sale. Mucho dinero to be gained."
"So?" Mandy prompted.
"So... nothing." Hodges replied. "Every suspect was exonerated. All we were left with was this..." he looked at the miniature. "Ah, ah, ah, ah!" he chided, seeing Archie was about to sit in Grissom's chair.
"What?" Archie blinked.
"What are you doing?" Hodges questioned.
"Sitting." Archie remarked.
"No, no." Hodges tsked. "You're tempting fate. You know how you should never try on someone else's engagement ring, hold the Oscar, use the excuse that your grandmother died when she didn't..."
"I tried on Suzie Quinceworthy's diamond ring last year." Mandy deathpanned. "It looked really good on her, and looked terrible on me. I don't think an emerald cut flatters my little ten-ies. Will I never marry?" she muttered.
"I'll marry you." Henry voiced, ignoring Archie's amused snort. "Although, you know, my grandmother's still alive. She lives down in Boca. I don't know if you know this, but I am the shuffleboard champion of the Boca Surf and Sand. Mm. Ladykiller of the senior set."
"Rock on." Mandy nodded. "I can do an open marriage."
"Why do you guys keep doing that?" Hodges was exasperated.
"Do what?" Mandy asked, innocently.
"Hodges, relax, man." Archie chided. "I don't want to run the lab."
"We are guests in the man's office." Hodges reminded. "If there was one person who was more respectful of space and boundaries, it's Grissom. You could at least offer him the same courtesy."
"Wait." Henry thought of something. "Is he okay with us being in here?"
"He said he'd be in Autopsy; won't be back for hours." Hodges replied. "Anyway, they never solved Izzy Delancy's murder. Two months later, Penny Garden was found dead in her house."
"Suspects included her ex-junkie nephew, who was living with her, and her drug-dealing neighbour, who was buying prescription meds from her." Mandy read of her notes. "Obvious motives - drugs and money."
"Did either of them have any connection to Izzy Delancy?" Henry asked.
"No." Archie replied. "CSIs didn't even realize this was a 'miniature' case until this was anonymously delivered to the scene the next day."
"And why wasn't it left with the body like the other one?" Mandy wondered.
"Good question." Hodges admitted. "Grissom and I really noodled over that one. The killer knew that Penny was always stinko on Cherry Herring by coupon-clipping time, so..."
"He laced her booze with liquid nicotine, which induced convulsions." Henry stated.
"And when she went all twitchy and through the window..." Archie continued.
"The OCD killer had to match it with his mini, which is why it showed up late." Mandy finished.
"Red dog barks at midnight." Henry warned, spotting Wendy in the hallway.
"What are you guys doing in here?" Wendy asked.
"Nothing." Hodges replied.
Yeah." Henry agreed and everyone innocently reclaimed their file folder and headed for the door.
"All right, freak boy," Wendy stopped Hodges. "Your phone has been ringing off the hook, so I finally answered it, and Warrick and Nick said they have a ton of trace, and they really need you to clear the decks."
"No problem." Hodges replied. "After you."
"After you." Wendy insisted.
"Hmm." Dr. Robbins mused as he and Grissom looked at the body before them. "Irides Brown. No apparent puncture wounds, abrasions or lacerations. COD appears to be drowning."
"We did pull him out of Lake Mead, you know." Grissom pointed out.
"Right." Dr. Robbins nodded. "Based on decomp, I'd put TOD around 48 hours ago."
"Where's his head, David?" Grissom asked, when Dr. Philips and Adeline wheeled a headless body in.
"They haven't found it yet." Adeline replied.
"Day shift." Grissom scoffed, causing Dr. Robbins to laugh. "Uh-oh." He muttered, seeing the skin under the body move. "He's got gas. Phew."
"Yeah, he's going to be a stinker." Dr. Robbins agreed. "You want a mask?"
"No, I'm all right." Grissom assured as Dr. Robbins completed the cut.
"What the hell?" Dr. Robbins muttered, seeing the skin continued to shift. "Rat!" he screamed when the rodent jumped out from the open skin and onto the nearby table
Grissom grabbed a metal pan and tried to cover the rat, only to miss and causing him to smash the glass and samples on the table. The terrified rat scampered to the floor to flee when Dr. Robbins tried to stab at it with his crutch. With the neat miss, the rat ran across the floor.
"Get 'im! Get 'im!" Dr. Robbins urged.
"Oh." Grissom sighed, seeing the rat had escaped through the partially opened door.
"Nice work." Dr. Robbins chided sarcastically.
"At least I tried to get him." Grissom pointed out. "Where were you?"
"I hate rats." Dr. Robbins stated plainly.
"I think I'll better clock out before Doc Rob gets the HazMat gear." Adeline looked at Dr. Philips.
"So according to this, a month after Penny Garden's murder, Grissom investigated an electrocution at the Mannleigh chicken plant." Wendy took the lead, the lab techs continuing in the A/V lab. "The victim was Raymundo Suarez, early 30s, a night-time janitor. It looked like a possible industrial accident, or maybe even a workplace homicide. Right up until they found the perfect half-inch scale cast metal mini."
"Suspects included the boss, Ike Mannleigh." Archie nodded. "Raymundo was sleeping with his wife, Bubbles."
"I can't even do it with my cat watching." Henry remarked. "Wait. sex, drugs, rock and roll. Do you think it's a pattern?"
"No, 'cause according to this, sex may not have actually been the issue." Wendy replied. "Yeah, Ike Mannleigh was exonerated, and another co-worker, Ernie Dell, he looked good for all of the murders."
"Yeah, that's right, he was caught on tape in an animal rights PSA made by Izzy Delancy." Henry agreed.
"Yes, he was." Archie confirmed, showing them the PSA on the monitor. "Look at this."
"Ew." Wendy winced, seeing the chicken abuse.
"Yeah, tell me about it." Archie rolled his eyes. "I had to scan this thing for hours. I haven't been able to eat chicken since. Anyway, Ernie Dell was really into model trains. You know, the way a serial killer's really into pets. So when CSIs went to his house, they found these molds for all these creepy little things, some of which matched pieces from the Izzy Delancy miniature. Ernie was caught on some neighbourhood watch surveillance video delivering the mini to Penny Garden's house."
"This guy can't stay away from a camera." Henry remarked.
"You don't know how right you are." Archie snorted. "He confessed on live video, e-mailed it directly to Grissom."
"This is exactly why I didn't invite you to join us." Hodges stated, after getting Wendy into the hallway. "You take over everything."
"Uh..." Wendy blinked.
"Grissom asked me to gather some techs to review the 'miniature' cases." Hodges stated. "Like a think tank."
"Yeah, I know, they told me." Wendy nodded. "So, kudos to you."
"I hand selected them with careful consideration to group dynamics." Hodges added.
"Well, I can see that." Wendy conceded. "I mean, it's you and your back-up singers. You're Davy Hodges and the Lemmings. You should take your act on the road."
"We can hear you." Henry called from the lab.
"Look, the only reason that you don't like me is because I actually stand up to you." Wendy pointed out. "Which, by the way, is exactly what you need. You know I would be good at all this 'miniature' stuff."
"That's not the only reason." Hodges stated.
"Really?" Wendy quirked a brow. "Okay, what is it?"
"You think you're too cool." Hodges retorted.
"Oh, my God." Wendy exclaimed. "What are we, 12?"
"I don't know, are we?" Hodges shot back.
"I don't know, are we?" Wendy fired back.
The 'argument' was cut short by a barely audible giggle behind Hodges and the two parties looked at the highly amused female coroner.
"Don't mind me, please continue." Adeline teased. "This is getting rather entertaining. All I'm missing is the popcorn." She winked at Archie.
"You're out early." Archie cradled an arm around her waist.
"A certain furry four-footed mammal decided that Irides Brown's intestines make a very cosy hiding place." Adeline rolled her eyes. "I clocked out before Doc Rob decided to pull out the HazMat suits just to go rat-hunting."
"HazMat suits just to kill a rat?" Henry echoed. "Isn't it… over the top?"
"You haven't seen Doc Rob freak out." Adeline deathpanned.
"Later, Betties." Archie knocked on the glass door of Henry's lab.
"Quitter." Hodges retorted, seeing the A/V tech put on his straw hat.
"Arch, let it slide." Adeline pulled Archie off, before her significant other could fire back a remark. "You're obviously above his maturity level. Are we really sure we want him at the wedding?"
Wendy smiled as Henry stifled an amused laugh when they heard the question before focusing back on the miniatures.
SailorStar9: Now that's done, read and review.
