Flu
Chapter 89
Bender approaches Kate with a smile. She doesn't doubt that he intends it to be ingratiating, but it reminds her of rancid oil. "Detective Beckett, it was lab analysis that led you to Mr. Heitner, was it not?"
Kate feels an uneasiness in her midsection unconnected to her pregnancy. "I questioned Mr. Heitner because he was on record as assisting in the investigation of an unsolved murder, Mr. Bender. I further determined his close association with the now-deceased Holland Frees, whom Mr. Heitner himself has claimed was a serial killer. That assertion was confirmed by matching D.N.A. found on trophies in Frees' apartment with D.N.A. from dead bodies."
"Were there any other analyses you found to be relevant, Detective Beckett?"
"Yes, there were, Mr. Bender. Chemical analysis of the leather used to strangle victims allowed us to distinguish between Mr. Heitner's kills and Mr. Frees' kills."
"And in fact, without the work of the crime lab," Bender insists, "you would have been unable to reach a conclusion on this case. Isn't that right, Detective?"
Eli jumps to his feet. "Objection. Counsel is asking the witness to speculate on a hypothetical situation. She has no way of knowing what other supportive evidence she would have gathered had C.S.U.'s analyses not been available."
Bender shrugs. "Withdrawn. I have no more questions for this witness."
"Redirect," Eli requests.
"Detective Beckett, did you have other evidence of Mr. Heitner's close association with Mr. Frees?"
"I did. Mr. Heitner participated in a class with Mr. Frees, where the techniques for making the leather used in the murder weapons were taught. We found multiple witnesses who saw them together. We also had multiple witnesses who identified Frees in proximity to his victims."
"Thank you, Detective Beckett."
Judge Markway turns off his microphone while his clerk whispers in his ear, before thumbing the switch again. "I'm scheduled to rule on another matter at this time. You can step down, Detective Beckett. This case is adjourned until two p.m."
Rick drops a handful of cracker packets beside Kate before sitting next to her on a bench near the court vending machines. "They had those over by the condiments at the concession stand. You did great, but better safe than sorry."
Kate drops his offering into her bag before unwrapping her sandwich. "Thanks, Babe, but I don't know how great I did. Bender is up to something, and it has to do with the lab."
"I wouldn't worry about it," Rick declares. "Osnitz can be a pain in the ass, but he knows his job. He impresses Alexis, and that's not easy. She did say she was writing a report on some things he could improve, but then there isn't much she doesn't think most adults could do better."
Kate crunches a healthy bite of a pickle spear. "She told me about that too. Osnitz said something about fresh eyes and assigned it to her."
Rick hands Kate the pickle that came with his own lunch. "Eyes don't come much fresher than Alexis' baby blues. I'll give Osnitz that." He checks his watch. "Even if we drag out our meal, we'll still have at least an hour to wait before Markway is back on the bench. And that's assuming he returns on time. Those instructions you got from the doctor on preventing blood clots said you're supposed to keep moving as much as possible. Want to go for a walk?"
"Babe, it's 10 degrees out there."
"We don't have to go out. This place is huge. We can listen to Holly's mix and observe the functioning of the judiciary system. It will keep the Beckett blood rushing through your veins, and I can always use it as research. Ooh, Courthouse Heat! Warm blood congealed on a cold, unforgiving floor as the body of the bailiff stiffened unseen."
"Planning on a murderous judge?" Kate inquires.
"Actually, I was thinking more like the guy who fills the vending machines, or at least someone impersonating him. Unlike a judge, no one would look at him twice – unless he kept trying to sell stale cookies. Wow! That could be how Heat catches him. Someone heard the bailiff complaining about the cookies."
"Needs work, Babe." Kate attacks a dot of mustard at the corner of Rick's mouth with a paper napkin. "But I'll go along with the walk. I've probably been here a hundred times, but there's a lot of the place I've never seen. And Holly's mix is terrific."
Harvey slips into his favorite hiding place near the Help Center. It's closed during lunch hours, ironic since that's when someone might actually come looking for help. But that's the bureaucracy, and Harvey takes advantage of every defect in it that he can. The deserted spot is the perfect place to make a phone call unseen, and there are a couple of things Harvey wants to check out. He helped one of the techs at his old workplace out of a jam and has used him as a genetics consultant ever since. Before he goes on the attack, he not only wants his ducks in a row, he wants them quacking in harmony.
"Isn't that Bender?" Rick whispers as he and Kate reach the top of a staircase. "What's he doing up here?"
"Looks like he's making a phone call he doesn't want anyone to hear." Kate pulls her earphones out of her ears. "But he should have gone outside. We can use what he says. This is a public building. There's no expectation of privacy. Shh. I can just make out what he's saying."
"Uh-huh, degraded template, template, or reaction mixture contamination. Pipette tips. That's what I thought," Bender mutters.
Kate mentally repeats the words to herself until she and Rick get some distance from Bender. She rapidly dictates them to Rick to jot down in his pocket notebook. "Have you got that?"
Rick stares at the technobabble he just wrote. "Got it, but I have no idea what it means. I think I know who would, though, and if I recall the schedule at Marlowe Prep, she's on her lunch break."
Alexis is surprised and a little disturbed to see her father's face come up on her phone. He checks on her often, probably too often, but usually not during school hours. "Dad, what's wrong?"
"Nothing, Pumpkin. Everything's fine. I just need to plumb the endless depths of your knowledge. What does degraded template, template or reaction mixture contamination, pipette tips mean?"
"Other than you shouldn't use sentence fragments? You're giving me déjà vu. Those are all things that can go wrong with D.N.A. testing. I cited them in the report I wrote for Osnitz. But they're all fixable. If substrates are contaminated, you re-extract the template or use a new reaction mixture. And you can prevent a lot of those problems by using filter pipette tips and wearing gloves while running the tests. Also, if you think a template might be degraded, you can check for D.N.A. quality by running electrophoresis."
"You can explain how that works later, but did the lab run that check on the tests for the Heitner case?"
"It did after I gave Osnitz my report, and they were all fine. Osnitz had just switched to filter pipette tips when Myron and the other techs ran them. He upped the number of PCR cycles to make sure the results would be conclusive, too. And we always wear gloves in the lab just like you do at a crime scene. It's standard operating procedure." Rick coughs as Kate wiggles her fingers and gives him a look. "You OK, Dad?"
"Fine. Thanks, Sweetheart. But there may be one very disappointed defense attorney."
Kate arches an eyebrow as Rick stuffs his phone back in his pocket. "All right. I get the message. When we start visiting crime scenes again, I'll be better about wearing gloves," Rick promises. "But for the present, I bet it's going to be fun watching Bender cross-examine Osnitz."
Kate grins, taking his arm. "I bet it will."
