Chapter 11: Inappropriate Affect

Office of Lab Director Catherine Willows
Las Vegas Crime Lab
1:15 PM

Feeling somewhat defeated by the botched interrogations, Catherine Willows, Lindsay Willows, Greg Sanders, Rory Kilegh, Dawn Banks, and Sean Yeager all met in Catherine's office to go over things more thoroughly. Catherine sat behind her desk while Lindsay, Greg, and Rory sat in the trio of black leather-backed chairs that sat directly opposite it. The remaining 3 CSIs, meanwhile all sat on the gray leather sofa that occupied the far wall of the office.

"Margaret Finn may have been grasping at straws," Greg said in reference to Melanie Wickens' public defender, "But you have to hand it to her, she's always been a staunch defender of the accused, no matter what walk of life they're from."

"Tell me about it," Catherine replied, "I haven't always agreed with her methods, but I do admire her unwavering commitment to the underdogs of Clark County. She told me once that she frequently gets offers to join some of the most affluent criminal defense firms in the city, but she's chosen to stay on as a rank-and-file public defender for the last twenty-three years."

Sean then put up his hands in frustration from his seat on the sofa. "That's all well and good," he cut in, "But you must admit, her using the 'I-just-innocently-touched-the-incriminating-item-in-question' defense is a bit ridiculous given the nature and details of this specific case."

"True," Dawn said as she sat right beside him, "But there's no point in griping about that, now, Sean. Jessica and Melody or Melanie, or whatever her damn name is, have been let go."

"She's right," Catherine commented, "Having a thorn in your side about that isn't going to propel us any further forward."

Greg then cleared his throat. "Okay," he chimed in, "Look. You guys have all expressed some very valid points on all sides here. Personally, though, what I'm having trouble getting past is the fact that ten years in a juvie home and a few subsequent months in a mental institution hasn't helped Jessica Trent gain any real insights. She was pretty much gloating to us in that interrogation by reciting our past histories to us like that without giving us any sort of discernable comprehension into the freaking murder case in which she's a suspect."

"Inappropriate affect," Lindsay seemed to blurt out.

"What?" Catherine inquired.

"It's called 'inappropriate affect'," Lindsay explained, "It's also been referred to as 'incongruent affect.' I studied it in my Abnormal Psychology class back at WLVU. It describes behavior that is the opposite of what is expected in the moment."

"So, it's like some sort of behavioral or emotional irony, then?" Rory asked.

"You can put it like that," Lindsay replied, "Sure. My best guess is that all that time in confinement and therapy only taught Jessica to survive and manipulate to get ahead. Based on what I read in her case file earlier, she didn't seem to be big on empathy to begin with anyway."

"Lindsay," Greg said, "You didn't see her in the interrogation room with your mom and I. We were discussing the poisoning death of a man she and her girlfriend had just both had sex with and she played it off like we were in some sort of therapy session or something."

Lindsay held up a finger in retort. "Ah," she replied, "Hence her 'inappropriate affect'."

"Look," Dawn cut in, "It's like Sean just said. These insights are all well and good, but I too now am wondering how this gets us any closer to making a concrete case against either of these women for Hanson Lewick's murder."

This in-depth conversation was momentarily interrupted by a knock at Catherine's office door. "Come in," Catherine said.

The door came open, at which point both Morgan Brody and Bobbi Flannery entered the office. "Oh," Catherine said as she smiled at the sight of their entry, "It appears that our prodigal daughters have returned from San Diego. How's everything going, ladies?"

Morgan waved to everyone else in the room before addressing Catherine. "Great," she replied, "We got back last night and went home to get some sleep. I'm happy to report that Isaac Matthew Serain is now safely lodged at the Clark County Detention Center."

"Excellent work, ladies" Catherine replied.

"Thanks, boss" Bobbi said, "But we saw on the crime solve board that some of our callouts are piling up. Morgan and I are both up for some overtime, aren't we?"

"Hang on a second," Catherine said as she turned her gaze to her computer and typed a few things for a moment. "Um," she continued before giving them a confirmatory nod, "Yep. You both are."

"Okay," Morgan said, "Then I'll go handle that hit and run in Green Valley."

"Sounds good," Catherine said before turning to Bobbi Flannery. "What about you, Bobbi?" she asked.

"I heard that the Burglary detectives ended up making some headway on those North Vegas break-ins I worked on before we left," Bobbi replied, "Mind if I jump back in and follow up with them?"

Catherine put two hands up. "Not at all," she said, "Thanks, ladies. Good job." The two returning CSIs then left the office. No sooner were they out the door did Detective Andy Aikers appear in the office doorway holding a tablet in his hand. He appeared to be very excited about something.

"Hi Andy," Greg said as he got up from his chair and went over to him, "Where's the fire?"

"I think we have a way to nail Melanie Wickens after all," Aikers began explaining in a very animated tone, "I was on my way back from a lunch break when I caught a call over the radio about a Four-Thirteen at the Park Pines Motel."

A transitorily confounded Catherine shrugged her shoulders in retort. "A 'Person with a Gun' Call?" she said, "What does that have to do with our case?"

"Well," Aikers continued, "The call was about this unstable old timer who lived at the motel. He's one of those anti-governmental conspiracy theory guys, you know? He had a habit of pulling his revolver on those he thought were 'spying on him.' I responded to back up the responding officers. After we took the guy into custody, the officers and I found that, unbeknownst to motel management, the old timer had set up some surveillance cameras of his own."

"Okay," Greg replied, "So there were some more cameras on the scene that none of us thought to even look for."

Aikers nodded and held up his tablet for Greg to look at before tapping a few things on the screen. "Including," he said as an image of Melanie Wickens appeared on the screen, "In the maintenance closet."

Greg looked at the screen before moving his regard to the others. "You guys should see this," he said.

The others then got up from their respective seats and congregated around the detective's tablet.

A silent surveillance video of Melanie Wickens, clad in her housekeeper's uniform, pouring the arsenic-based powdered weed killer into two Mason jars. The fashion in which she did it indicated a very deliberate act, very much contradicting the public defender's proposed theory of Melanie having cleaned up an accidental spill.

Catherine smiled at the sight of this. "We have her dead to rights, now, don't we?" she said.