Chapter 7: Collecting the Evidence
I finally found Warrick's car outside the apartment complex, after thirty minutes of searching for the damn place, and it was supposed to only take ten minutes to get there. The directions a very young rookie CSI gave me where not very clear to say the least. I pulled in next to Warrick's Tahoe and was immediately assaulted by another very rambunctious CSI.
"Mr. Grissom! Hi my name is Taylor Epps." The young man thrust his hand at me and I reluctantly took it.
"Are you the help we are supposed to get?"
"Yes sir! I am your man. I know the lab and can get everything processed in no time. Not to mention I can help you collect evidence. Yes sir, I am ready to work."
"Then why aren't you inside?"
"Your guys thought it would be best if I waited for you out front. It took you long enough. I called and they said you left about a half an hour ago."
"Yeah well the directions weren't very precise." I said.
"Let me see." Taylor Epps took the small piece of paper from my hand. "Yep that's Julie's handwriting. I don't blame you, I can't read her writing either." He offered me a big smile. "So you ready to go?"
"Let me grab my stuff."
"Oh yeah right. I forgot, the field kit."
What in the world was the CSI: San Francisco department turning into? I knew that this was going to be a very long night. The last thing I needed was an inexperienced CSI to get in my way. Great, just great.
"Shouldn't you get your field kit?" I ventured.
"No I left it at the scene. Somewhere."
At that comment I just couldn't resist. "When were you certified?"
"Three months ago."
"Oh." Was all I could get out. I began to make my way inside, but was stopped by a blood stain on the curb.
"Did you get a sample and pictures of this?"
"What?"
"Never mind." I bent down and began to filter through my kit for my necessary tools.
"Don't bother Gris. That was the first thing we got." Nick waltzed out from the door. "Already processed."
"Good. Nice to know there was someone here that knew what he was doing."
"I think you should come inside. Warrick and I are having a real dozy in there. The place is a mess."
"Have we found out who the apartment belongs to?" My question was answered by Epps standing behind me.
"Yes. A Miss Elizabeth Clark."
"And why did he pick that apartment? Did he know her?"
"That I don't know sir. But I can get someone on it."
"Good. Bring her in for questioning. I want to speak to her."
"You bet. You know I just wanted to say that it is a pleasure working with you Mr. Grissom. I mean, wow, I am really stoked."
Stoked? What the...? "Call me Grissom and thank you. Let's get inside."
The apartment number was 8B and on the second floor. The complex was nice and well kept. Now the apartment was a different story. As soon as I stepped in, I noticed that many things were broken and laying on the floor; this is definitely the site of the assault. The coffee table was broken and lay in large shards. A light flickered in a room down the hall. I made a note to go check it out.
"What do we have thus far?" I asked.
Warrick stood up from a crouched position behind the kitchen counter. "Well, a lot of blood. I have taken many swabs of blood from the kitchen alone."
"Okay. Fan out. Warrick finish the kitchen, Nick I want you to check that glass for any fibers and blood. I want to know how it got broken."
"Right."
I continued. "Have we found were the attacker was shot?"
"Yeah." Nick said. "According to the coroner that was on the scene, he was shot in the bedroom. The blood spatter on the wall confirms it."
"I'll take the room then. Get to work."
"What about me sir? I want to help." Epps rocked on his heels.
"Right, I forgot." I saw Warrick and Nick grin out of the corner of my eye. "You can help me in the bedroom. Put gloves on and get your kit."
"No offense sir but I know how to process a scene." His tone wasn't cocky or smug, but truthful. "I graduated top of my class."
"Then I don't have to remind you not to leave your field kit unattended and not to lose it again."
"Sorry. It won't happen again." Epps hung his head and I just walked off.
I thought I heard Nick say to him, "don't worry man, he has nothing against you, its just..."
"He is close to Sara." Epps finished.
"Yes but that's not what I was going to say. I mean that's just the way Grissom is, so don't worry. Okay?"
"Yeah. Have you seen my kit?"
At that point I chose not to listen anymore. The bedroom was in much better shape than the living area. The comforter was the only thing askew. There was nothing else disturbed. The only real sign of struggle was the blood sprayed on the wall to my left. I quickly assessed the situation. I saw Sara fighting off her attacker, he dragged her to the bedroom with intent to...rape her, but she reached for her gun and shot him. But where was this mystery woman? How was she tied to Thomas McBride, the attacker? Why would she let him hurt Sara? There were a lot of questions that needed answered so I dressed my hands in latex. I was taking a sample from the wall when Epps joined me.
I turned and saw his lips moving but no sound reached my quiet ears. What a wonderful time for one of my spells. I didn't even bother trying to read his lips. He kept shifting his head and not looking at me.
"Look I need you to take several shots of this wall, then the comforter. After you are done, do a fiber lift of the comforter."
I saw his lips move in a short 'okay' and decided to indulge in my curiosity about the flickering light. I hated this. I hated moving in the other direction when I was faced with my hearing problem. I hated how useless it made me feel. I am sure, by Epps's body language, that he was muttering another apology and was sorry I couldn't respond. Even if it would have been abrupt and with no real feeling.
The light came from a small bathroom across the hall. The medicine cabinet was open so I picked up one of the bottles and read it. It was an antidepressant for Elizabeth Clark and it was almost empty. The refill date was still a month away though. So I concluded that Ms. Clark was eating the pills like candy. I placed the bottle back in the cabinet and closed the door. My reflection was split into many breaks across the glass. Something definitely happened in here as well. My face was tired looking and gaunt. I never thought I looked so rough.
"Hey Gris?"
I was thankful my hearing returned in time to hear Warrick's report. "Yeah."
"I am done with the kitchen and Nick found blood on the coffee table. Where's your shadow?" He teased with a million dollar smile.
"Funny. He is taking pictures of the bedroom. Where did they get that guy?"
Warrick laughed. "I am sure you were quite the eager rookie too Gris."
"Eager, yes, but I never misplaced my kit." I smiled.
"What did you find?"
"Well it looks like the owner was suffering from depression and abused the antidepressants."
"I can't wait to see how she connects to this. Are you thinking it was Thomas McBride's girlfriend?"
"Could be. We need to connect a lot of things together first though."
"Like?"
"Well, for instance, Sara's relationship with McBride. How did he know her? Then we can worry about the girl."
"What about why Sara came here to begin with? And why did she bring her gun?"
"Playing devil's advocate Warrick?"
He smiled. "Well you taught me that. I just want Sara's pain to be over with. I have no doubt that she did what she had to do, but I am thinking what the courts will see."
"Well I want to swab the mirror for blood."
"Its been awhile since any of us have eaten. Hey what's that?" Warrick walked past me to the clothes hamper and removed a very bloody towel.
"Interesting. According to Jeremy, when he found Sara she was unconscious and in the bedroom. And the attacker was dead."
"That's what I was thinking. Who's blood is this then?"
"Bag it."
"How could they have missed such evidence?"
"This isn't Las Vegas Warrick."
"Yeah I noticed. I wonder what Sara saw in this place."
I shrugged and went back to work. We combed the scene once more for anything else we could have missed. We were there for about three hours, running theories which didn't help much because of all the unanswered questions. We cleared the scene and went back to lab. With all the evidence we had the nightshift at headquarters was going to have a field day.
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tbc...