This story is based on characters created by Anthony E. Zuiker for the television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Ghost (Part 22/26)

by Cheers

Monday Evening 06:22 PM

The conference room table was practically filled to capacity with Chinese take-out, coffee cups, soda cans, and paperwork. Arrayed around the table were six employees of the Las Vegas Police Department, all in varying degrees of exhaustion, frustration, and preoccupation. The four senior night shift CSIs were joined by Greg Sanders and Jim Brass. They were trying to sift through the evidence they had collected so far, clear their respective heads, and figure out a game plan for what to do next.

Catherine had insisted that they all eat something. When she had called to check on Lindsey, her sister had asked her if she had eaten a meal recently. Catherine had admitted that it had been a while. If that was true for her, it was probably true for the whole team. Each of them was already fighting fatigue. They shouldn't compound that by neglecting to provide even the most basic of their own needs. Her other suggestion - resting in short shifts - was met with immediate defiance, so she shelved that for now. If this case went on much longer, there would have to be limits set. Catherine just didn't think now was the time to push the matter.

The other issue that pressed on Catherine was the need to update Grissom's mother. She had sent several emails to Mrs. Grissom throughout the day, telling her that they were still working on the case. It wasn't enough, and Catherine knew it. Hopefully, this meeting of the minds would give her a direction to head the team. All Catherine had been able to tell Mrs. Grissom was that Gil was still missing and that they were working on several different leads. It seemed fruitless to tell Mrs. Grissom about Paul Stankowski. Finding him had not brought the team any closer to finding Grissom, so how would telling Gil's mother help her to deal with the ongoing terror of a still-missing son?

Catherine sighed and brought her attention back to the discussion at hand.

"So you got a warrant?" Nick was asking Brass.

"The prints in the Toyota got us the warrant for a DNA sample, no problem." Jim said.

Greg nodded. "It was a clean match, too. The urethral cells were in good enough shape. Your suspect was at that processing plant."

"Yeah," Warrick added, "and Denise was able to match the treads from the casts I took from the parking lot to the Toyota."

"And we know that at some point Grissom was in the back seat of that car," Nick offered.

"But we don't know if Grissom was in the car when Stankowski was at the processing plant," Catherine countered. "We don't have a good timeline for the sequence of events."

Jim was shaking his head. "What I don't get is why our man Paul was even out there? I mean, Goodsprings is pretty far off the beaten path. What was the attraction?"

Nick pointed his fork at the detective. "That's a good point. There must have been some reason for him to go out there." Nick swallowed the last of the food in his mouth before continuing. "We just assumed that his only purpose in coming here was to find Grissom. What if he was here for another reason?"

"Like?" Catherine asked.

Nick shrugged. "To meet someone else?"

Warrick nodded slowly. "Something he was looking for, maybe?"

"Or some place," Sara interjected. Up to now, she hadn't been participating much in the conversation, opting instead to keep reading through Grissom's notes from the Campbell case. She had found these to be extremely detailed and thorough, much more like a seasoned veteran would write than a novice investigator. Early in his career, Grissom had shown all the signs of becoming an extraordinary criminalist.

Glancing up, Sara realized that everyone was looking at her. It occurred to her that she was the one who had been reading the case notes. The rest of the team was depending on her to share any pertinent information. Grissom had been talking to her through his notes but, until now, she hadn't really understood the message. "Listen to this," she said and began to read from the case notes she had been studying. " 'The victim was found to have abrasions of bilateral palms and fingertips. Corresponding clawing blood markings were found on the south and west facing concrete walls.' "

Nick's face showed his confusion. "This is the guy Stankowski was convicted of murdering?"

"Yeah, Chad Campbell," Sara said. "The Sheriff's Department had search and recovery teams out looking for the victim. Grissom was on one of those teams and found Campbell's body in a remote access shaft of the Los Angeles Aqueduct."

"That's right," Brass agreed.

"So how'd he wind up in the access shaft of an aqueduct?" Greg asked curiously.

"According to the police report," Brass informed them, "Chad Campbell was a known dope dealer. Our man Paul was seen trying to make a buy on the night Campbell was reported missing. Apparently, Pauly didn't have enough money for the dope and the situation got heated. They fought. Chad lost. An eyewitness stated that our suspect put the victim in his car and drove off."

"Tire tracks found at the dump site matched the tires on Stankowski's car," Sara continued. "The victim had blood type O positive which was a match to the blood found in the back seat of the suspect's car. Also, type A positive blood was found on the victim's shirt and jacket. Guess what blood type our suspect is?"

"That's easy," Greg responded. "He's A positive."

"Bingo," Jim said.

"Chad Campbell was alive when he was tossed down in that shaft," Sara told them. "But he was dead when they found him four days later."

Catherine put the scenario together. "So Campbell and Stankowski got into a fight over a drug buy gone bad. Campbell was knocked out and Stankowski put him in the back seat of his car. Then he took him to this access shaft and dumped him there, knowing that if and when Campbell woke up he wouldn't be able to get out without help. Campbell did wake up and tried to climb out but couldn't. He died down in the shaft before anyone could find him."

"That's about it," Jim said grimly.

"What was the cause of death?" Nick asked quietly.

"According to the autopsy report," Sara replied, "exposure. He died of severe dehydration and hypothermia."

This last bit of information brought an uneasy hush to the room. Everyone at the table had done the mental math. Grissom had been missing for nearly three full days. And this was the desert….

It was Catherine who finally broke the silence. "What has all this got to do with our case?" she asked softly.

Sara leaned forward. "What if Stankowski came here for revenge?" She paused to look at the faces around the table. "A report filed by the Assistant District Attorney states that Grissom's testimony was pivotal to obtaining a conviction. What if Stankowski was so angry at his conviction that he planned retaliation? What if he went out to Goodsprings to search for a dump site?"

"You mean someplace he knew Grissom wouldn't be able to get out of," Jim theorized.

"Not an access shaft," Warrick stated. "There's nothing like that around there. Another kind of shaft."

"Like an old mineshaft," Catherine offered.

"That's it," Nick said, and as he did it was as if someone had thrown a light switch on. Almost as one everyone came to their feet.

"I'll contact the State Mining Commission and get a list of abandoned mineshafts in southern Nevada," Nick said as he headed out the door.

"Good," Catherine said.

"I'll call the Sheriff," Jim told her. "He'll have Search and Rescue out in five."

"Thanks," Catherine said. She turned to Sara. "We'll need the night scope."

"I'm on it," Sara said. "I'll be on the first chopper out of here. We can begin to sweep known mines even if we don't have the exact location of the shafts. The scope can pick up body heat even if the body is underground."

"Get going," Catherine told Sara unnecessarily. Sara was already moving out of the room.

Turning to Warrick, she said, "I want you and Nick on the first ground units to leave Vegas as soon as Nick gets the maps."

"We're there," Warrick said and headed out to find Nick and make sure there wasn't any delay in getting the maps they all needed.

"What do you want me to do?" Greg asked.

Catherine looked at the eager lab technician. "Pray," she told him.