AN: I don't own any of the CSI:NY Characters or any of the show's storylines that I may refer to from time to time, but the rest of the plot is mine.
50. Cause of Death
Nikki and Peyton were looking at the body on the table in front of them when Mac entered the room. "Thanks for coming down Mac, this is a weird case" Peyton acknowledged as their eyes momentarily locked. "How is it you manage to get all the interesting cases Nikki?" she continued, still watching Mac as he stopped at the table.
"Lucky I guess. ... This one is a mystery though, what can you tell me?"
"Looks like this guy has seen action in a war zone. Whatever shot him wasn't a conventional weapon. Massive internal damage looks like I've got part of his stomach and liver in a jar. I'd say he died instantly through massive trauma and blood loss but I'll know more after autopsy." She told them. Mac stood back from examining the wound.
"When did it happen?" he asked.
"For now my best guess is around midnight" she answered. Nikki nodded knowingly.
"Figures, the body was still warm when we got to him around 12:30. Mac what do you make of it?" Nikki asked acutely aware of a feeling that there was something between him and Peyton as they stood opposite sides of the table holding the victim, exchanging glances, as if they were talking without speaking. Nikki knew it was possible, her and Don were able to do it a lot, except for the times when they were at each others throats. It usually happened with people who were very close and knew each other very well.
"I've seen something similar, cause by an RPG."
He told them as Peyton handed Mac a covered dish with evidence. He looked at the fragments of cardboard which were in it, then he passed it to Nikki. "I doubt it would leave cardboard fragments in the wound though. I've been digging that stuff out since he arrived. It's not spontaneous combustion, but there is evidence through the wound tract of burning, I've sent tissue samples to trace along with his clothes." She told them.
"Good work, I think you're going to have to work outside the box on this one" he commented to no one in particular.
"Already covered, Danny's trying to recreate a CGI crime scene for us to work with based on the location of the vic and the tissue samples we picked up outside the body to see if we can get a point of origin for what ever hit him." Nikki told Mac as she turned to leave.
"Don't stay too long, you're all on duty later." He reminded her.
"No more than an hour I promise" Nikki told him as she walked out leaving him alone with Peyton.
"Tough night?" she asked. Mac nodded.
"Don't forget to take your own advice" she told him firmly. He nodded at her. "I'll hold you to it Mac, I'll find you when I'm done. We haven't celebrated the new year yet"
Nikki entered one of the labs, Lindsay had printed the crime scene photos and was studying them spread out on the table in front of her, to see if there was anything which they picked up by camera flash which they had missed in the dark.
"Hi! ..." She greeted her "I've identified the murder weapon" Nikki announced as she pulled over the white board and started fixing photos to it. Lindsay was focused on the crime scene photos and didn't look up.
"What was it?" she asked.
"I'm not sure you'll believe me if I tell you, I'm not sure if I believe it. ... one of these, now we just need to narrow it down to identify which one" Nikki sighed.
Lindsay looked up her eyes widened as she looked at the photos Nikki had put up and she grinned. "How easy is that gonna be?"
"I've got some ideas, but I'm gonna need some dummies and a warehouse" Nikki told her with a wicked grin. "I hope Mac will sign off on this request, and my guess is we'll be fighting the guys to run this recreation."
"How d'you figure this out?" Lindsay asked still looking at the photos in amazement.
"The GSR pattern on his jacket wasn't consistent enough, I analysed it, found a large aluminium and magnesium content, not to mention sulphur, with Strontium and Copper thrown in. I ran a back trace to find out what it could have been used for and came up with those" Nikki rambled excitedly as Don entered.
"Hey Princess, heard you got a break" He said as he stood behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders and lightly massaged them while taking in the board in front of her and Lindsay.
"Yeah, one of these is our weapon." She told him.
"You're kidding me right?" Don stepped back and looked between Lindsay and Nikki with a puzzled expression. "You're seriously telling me the guy was killed by a through and through firework?" He laughed.
"Sure looks like it." Lindsay said sceptically, watching Don's face contort while he thought about what Nikki had revealed.
"That's gotta be some looney tune who did that" He added as the news sank in.
"Because of the force and the amount of trauma my money is on one of these 2" she removed several photos leaving just two. "Now we just have to figure out which one as they both contain the same ingredients." She sighed. "Tomorrow ... damn its tomorrow already, I mean today I'll have to break down the rest and get the other so far unidentified components identified and talk to the manufacturer"
Mac entered. Don looked over "Mac you gotta see this, the guy was killed by a firework!" he informed him with an incredulous expression on his face.
"You've identified that in the last hour?" Mac asked Nikki. She nodded as Mac looked at the board. "Nice work, it's definitely up there with the steering lock of weird and wonderful, but you'll need to prove it."
"I will, just let me take some mannequins to a disused warehouse for testing." Nikki answered.
"I'll arrange it, might take a few days though with the holidays." He confirmed. "This is definitely outside the box! .. Now as the new year has officially started and you're hour's up Stella's got drinks in the breakroom to celebrate before you all go home." He grinned and walked out. Lindsay packed up her photos and Nikki pushed the board against the wall in readiness for the next day.
I know cause of death is a bit far fetched, but it was my mad daughter's idea, as she wanted Flack to say that line!
