Chapter 4: Flint and Kernmantle
LSPD Crime Lab
Strawberry
30 Minutes Later
The Los Santos Police Department's Crime Lab, unlike a lot of other city crime labs, was actually located within the same building as the Los Santos County Coroner's Office. The towering, gothic three-story brick building was located in the small South Los Santos neighborhood of Strawberry. Given that it was in such close proximity to the Central Los Santos Medical Center, the Strawberry Mortuary, and the coroner's small macabre novelty gift shop, that small stretch of the neighborhood was indeed, as the Strawberry Mortuary's signage read, "The Dead Center of Los Santos".
Detective Harrison ascended three steep flights of stairs and entered the lab's Trace Evidence Laboratory. The widely small sterile white room featured half a dozen surgical steel work tables, each separated by its own large rectangular protective Plexiglass partition window with a much wider and longer black steel work table that extended across the room's entire back wall. Atop the table sat various pieces of forensic testing equipment and machines with backlit glass cupboards sitting directly above that were used to store various supplies.
Harrison saw Anna Barakova working at the last work table on the far-left corner of the room. She wore a white lab coat with "LSPD CRIME LAB" embroidered in cursive-style black lettering on the left front pocket along with her name embroidered in the same style on the front of the opposite pocket. A sterile white neoprene face mask covered the bottom half of her face and her eyes were covered by a pair of clear-colored safety goggles. It looked to Harrison that she was sifting through a large, soot-covered five-gallon paint bucket with gloved hands.
"Hey Anna", Harrison greeted warmly from behind the partition window that was closest to the lab's door.
Anna looked up from the soot-covered bucket and looked to the farther corner of the room, seeing Harrison standing there. "Oh", she said with her voice somewhat muffled by the fabric of her mask, "Hi Detective. Decided to take me up on that offer to help out in the lab, huh?"
After removing and setting his leather jacket on a coat tree right by the door, the intrigued detective stepped further into the room and found his way to a lab sink. "I guess so", he replied as he turned on the sink's hot water tap and began thoroughly washing his hands, "And call me 'Troy', please."
"You got it", Anna said before motioning to another coat tree, this one adorned with multiple clean white lab coats, with her eyes. "Put on a lab coat when you're all done over there", she continued, "I've got new boxes of gloves and masks over here next to me."
Harrison did as Anna had asked and donned a white lab coat before making his way over to Anna's work table, where he then put on a pair of white nitrile exam gloves as well as a protective white neoprene face mask and a pair of safety goggles. Not trying to crowd Anna, he watchfully eyeballed the five-gallon paint bucket she was sifting through. "What've you got?" Harrison asked.
"What used to be a white multipurpose five-gallon paint bucket", Anna replied, "This particular one is the bucket that I collected from the vandalism attack at City Hall two weeks ago, the incident where the security guard was temporarily blinded."
"Right", Harrison said as he noted the extensive amount of black soot and scorching around the top rim of the bucket, "I take it the explosion must've pushed heat and chemicals outward and upward when it ignited."
"It looks that way", Anna agreeably replied, "Yes. Similar bucket-based devices were also collected from two very similar vandalism scenes from about a week prior to the City Hall incident."
Harrison nodded, now much more intrigued. "I see", he said, "Where were those incidents?"
"The first one we found was in front of the Alpha-Psi-Psi fraternity house on the ULSA campus in Richman", Anna explained.
"Ah yes", Harrison interjected, "The University of San Andreas at Los Santos. I used to catch a few of their athletic events back in the day when I came here to work cases with the Bureau."
Anna grinned and chuckled briefly in retort before getting back down to the business at hand. "Anyway", she continued, "The other incident was in front of the GQ Postal office out at the Chumash Plaza shopping center by the highway."
"Was anybody hurt during those two other incidents?" Harrison asked.
"A frat boy at the university sustained second-degree burns to the palms of both hands when he lifted the bucket lid", Anna explained, "He just spent a few days in the hospital as far as I know. And thankfully, no one got hurt at Chumash Plaza. I guess the mailman who found the suspicious bucket had the foresight to call the fire department right away instead of trying to handle it himself."
"That's good at least", Harrison replied, "Were all the bucket devices constructed with the same components?"
"Exactly the same", Anna said, "Actually, it's kind of weird just how alike they all are. ammonium nitrate, strontium carbonate, lithium carbonate, and lithium chloride were all used to construct all the devices. In addition, I found pieces of flint duct-taped to the edge of the inside rim of each bucket. Are you familiar with what flint is?"
Harrison nodded. "It's a type of sedimentary rock that they use to create the strikers for matchboxes", he said, "Are you saying that our potential murderer with a penchant for making buckets go boom detached a bunch of matchbox strikers and used them to activate their devices?"
"That's what the evidence seems to be telling me", Anna replied, "I also found thinly cut pieces of kernmantle climbing rope duct-taped to the opposite sides of each bucket's inside rim. I think our suspect used it as a makeshift fuse."
"That's certainly a good theory", Harrison said, "But kernmantle is a fairly tough material. Wouldn't it burn too slowly to work as an adequate fuse?"
"Ordinarily", Anna began to explain, "Yes. However, my trace evidence analysis from each of the rope pieces yielded traces of kerosene in each one. Our suspect apparently soaked each piece in each one so it could burn faster once it rubbed against the flint striker."
"Got it", Harrison said, "That's some very thorough forensic work, Anna. I'm impressed."
"Thanks", Anna replied. Harrison could tell she was smiling, even though her face mask.
Wanting to break the awkward silence, Harrison asked one last question. "Did you have time to do that analysis on the boot print from Jonah Zebedee's murder scene?" he asked.
"Actually, I did" Anna said as she grabbed a printed copy of her lab results from the case file folder beside the bucket. "I found ammonium nitrate granules embedded in that, too" she continued, along with some of the other chemical compounds I mentioned before. That black powdery substance the print was made out of indeed wasn't dirt."
"So, I was right", Harrison said.
"That you were", Anna said in a lighthearted tone, "Bonus points for you. It was actually a mixture of carbon powder and iron oxide. This particular mixture is consistent with a now-defunct brand of printer and copier toner called 'Dogma'. It was discontinued in the late Nineties."
"Okay", Harrison replied, "So it stands to reason that, in order to get that amount of defunct toner on your shoes, our suspect must spend an extended amount in a place that still has it around."
Their fruitful conversation was interrupted by the ringing of Harrison's cell phone. Harrison removed and disposed of his gloves and pulled down his mask before answering it.
"Harrison", he answered.
"Hey Troy", Xander's voice replied from his end of the line, "It's me, Adam. Mister Melendez from GQ Postal just faxed over that delivery manifest like he said he would."
"Oh good", Harrison said, "Did it fill in any of the blanks for us?"
"Oh yeah", Xander replied, "It looks like that last address that was missing from Mister Zebedee's delivery manifest was a package from the You Tool hardware store addressed to someone named 'Rick Oppenheimer' at the old LS Paper Company. The address is Twenty-Four-Sixty-Eight Innocence Boulevard in Strawberry."
"A paper company, huh?" Harrison said, "That fits with Anna's forensic results. The boot print we found at the murder scene was made from printer and copier toner."
"Okay", Xander said, "A good buddy of mine is on our Tactical Unit. That's what we call our SWAT team in case you were wondering. I'll give him a buzz and have him and the team meet us there."
"Understood", Harrison replied, "You may want to have them stage their vehicle in the abandoned Tire Nutz auto shop lot across the street. Those metal walls around it should hide their truck from prying eyes pretty well."
"Good idea", Xander said, "how'd you know about that old lot?"
"Back when I used to work FBI cases here in Los Santos years ago", Harrison explained, "That auto shop used to be a low-rent car dealership. The owner used to let us park our vehicles in his spare garage bay."
"Cool", Xander said, "I'll call the Tactical guys now."
"Got it", Harrison replied, "I'm at the Crime Lab with Anna now. I can probably get to the Paper Company ahead of you."
"Okay, bud" Xander said, "We'll be there shortly. Be careful."
"Will do", Harrison said, "Thanks Adam."
Harrison hung up the phone and set it back on his belt loop holder before removing his lab coat and mask. "Adam got a lead", he explained to Anna, "I'm going to head over to the old LS Paper Company. It seems our murder victim was supposed to make a package delivery to someone there just before he was killed."
"And a printer company clicks with the old toner I found in that boot print", Anna added, "Let me get washed up and put all the evidence back in storage and I'll meet you over there."
"Sounds good", Harrison said, "Adam's on his way with the Tactical Unit. We'll need a few minutes to clear and secure the place."
"I know the drill", Anna replied, "I'll just see you guys in a bit."
Harrison nodded affirmatively before grabbing his jacket and leaving the lab to head for the LS Paper Company.
[Author's Note: The next chapter will feature one of the three main GTA V characters that we all know and love. Stay tuned!]