AN: sorry it takes me so long to update! it's terrible...right, anyway,
here's the next chapter, for those of you who hung around to see if I would
ever finish this! thanks to everyone who reviewed! My computer is having
format issues (more than normal.) so tell me if something is being strange.
Or if I spelled something wrong, etc.
Chapter Eighteen: Every Little Bit
"Ester Benson, 66." Brass held up a small purse covered in rhinestones. "They found the purse next to the body."
"Who called it in?" Grissom asked, surveying the scene before them. The victim was between two of the hotel's dumpsters and there was blood on the ground and the dumpsters.
"Doorman from the next building heard a commotion, called the cops."
"This isn't the same MO as our serial," Catherine said.
Brass nodded. "We know. The birthday isn't even the same. But the eyes were removed and there are towels and bleach beside the vic."
"You think the doorman interrupted our murderer?"
Brass shrugged. "That's your job. You guys check it out."
The victim was slouched between the two dumpsters. Blood stained her brightly colored cocktail dress. Her hair, dyed a startling yellow, was in disarray and stood on end. Catherine snapped pictures of the blood splatter and bottle of bleach and small pile of towels that had been dropped in front of the dumpster. Grissom carefully lifted the victim's head to examine the face - or lack thereof. As with the other victims, the flesh was torn from the bone. Her eyes were gone.
"We're missing the eyes," Grissom called over to Catherine. "Let me know if you find them - or the replacements."
"Nothing yet, but I'll keep my eyes open," Catherine said with a slight chuckle.
"Catherine." Grissom began, but decided to ignore her joke.
"Hey guys," Nick called from the end of the alley. Sara and Warrick were with him.
"What took you guys so long?" Catherine asked. "We've been here for a while. I thought you were right behind us."
"We were," Sara said. "And then we were behind some news vans."
"Then we had to find somewhere to park, and then we had to get through the crowd."
"Fine," Grissom said. "I need someone to process this crime scene with me. Sara? Catherine and Warrick, why don't you go check the boxes in the closet? Nick, since you can't check in the dumpster yet, why don't you help us with this scene?"
"Beats dumpster diving," Nick murmured. Catherine and Warrick left to check the supply closet as the coroner came to get the body.
"You know, Cath," Warrick began as they walked towards the main entrance, "these boxes are probably nothing."
"I know," Catherine said. "I just can't overlook it."
"Gut feeling?" Warrick asked, glancing over at her.
"You could say that," Catherine said with a shrug. "Do we have keys to get into this place?"
"I don't know," Warrick said. "We should..."
"It doesn't matter - look, there's the security guard, Conner," Catherine said, pointing to the man who stood just outside the police line.
"Conner," Catherine said as they approached him. "We need your keys."
"My keys?" he asked, bewildered.
"Is there a problem?" Warrick asked.
"No, I just... Never mind, here they are," Conner said, handing the keys to Warrick.
Catherine and Warrick silently entered the deserted hotel.
"Conner was acting strange," Catherine said.
"Do you think it was him?"
"I don't know...aren't there all kinds of restrictions on security guards? Background checks, and all that?"
"I think so."
Catherine sighed. "Let's just go check the supply closet."
Warrick unlocked the door and they stepped into the large room. Flicking on the lights, Catherine glanced around quickly, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Leading the way to the back corner, Catherine showed Warrick the unmarked boxes.
"Should we open them?"
Warrick shrugged. "I don't see why not." He reached into his pocket, retrieved a small pocket knife, and neatly cut the tape on the boxes. He opened the flaps to reveal all sorts of flooring supplies for both carpet and tile floors.
"I guess your hunch was right."
"Fingerprints?" Catherine suggested, and began to dust immediately.
Outside, Grissom, Nick, and Sara had finished processing the scene without much luck. Sara had discovered a partial footprint from someone who had stepped in the blood, but the print was pretty smudged and she couldn't make out any treads. No fingerprints were found, and the corkscrew and eyes were still missing. Sara and Nick knew the only thing left to do was check the dumpsters.
"Aw, man," Nick complained. "I can't think of any other job that requires you to hunt around in a dumpster."
"Try harder," Sara joked, "I'm sure there's at least one. How about an elementary school janitor? Kids throw retainers away all the time. You'd have to find those."
"I'd make the kids find 'em. This is disgusting."
"And we need to find that corkscrew. Keep digging," Grissom said from his position outside of the dumpster.
"Why don't you come in and join us?" Nick suggested. "You could even have the third dumpster all to yourself!"
"Tempting, but no. I've got to go talk to Brass."
"I think I've found something!" Sara called from her dumpster. She held up the container for a better look. "Yeah, it's the eyes alright."
"What color?"
There was a pause as Sara examined the jar. "Uh, brown. What color were this vic's eyes?"
"Blue," Nick said, "but the last vic's eyes were brown. Find anything else in your dumpster paradise?"
"Not yet, but I'm still looking."
"Jackpot," Catherine said. "There's a full set of prints on this side of the box."
"I've got a couple of partials," Warrick said. "You know, a lot of people have touched these boxes."
"I know," Catherine said. "But every bit of evidence helps. Plus, there's a security camera in the hallway outside. We might be able to find the tape with these boxes on it."
"Security cameras have been faulty. And if it is Conner, he knows where every camera in this place is. Even if it isn't Conner, the guy probably knows anyway."
"Stop being so negative. At least we're trying."
"I know...Hey Catherine, why would this guy try and halt the remodeling just because of one corkscrew? That seems a bit much to me."
"You think there's something else on the first floor."
"Well, I think we should at least look," Warrick said with a grin.
"People throw away some really interesting things," Nick commented as he held up what appeared to be a perfectly good red high heel. Sara and he had been combing through the garbage for over an hour. After Sara's initial discovery of the eyes in a jar, Nick had found two corkscrews, and Sara had found one.
"I doubt the hotel threw away the corkscrews," Sara pointed out. "I mean, they don't appear to be broken. They were probably used in the murders."
"There's no blood," Nick said.
"The killer cleans everything," Sara said, peering into the corner of the dumpster. "Nick, I think I've found something."
"What?"
"I'm not sure...blood, definitely. There's some other stuff, too - maybe the eyes. Come here and take a look," Sara called, getting down in the dumpster for a closer look. Nick got out of his dumpster and joined Sara in hers. "Can you see anything?" Sara asked. "I can't tell. It looks like he ditched the stuff in the corner of the dumpster, knowing it would probably fall to the bottom."
"I can't see anything either," Nick said with a sigh, "but we're going to have to get it out."
"What are we going to do?" Catherine asked. "Pull up all the floorboards in this place?"
Warrick shrugged. "Grissom said there was a spot of blood on the floor where he found the corkscrew, right? Let's just look around for something like that, and see what we find."
"Alright," Catherine agreed, and opened the door to the first room on the first floor, room 101. Catherine turned on the overhead lights, and they looked closely at the floor. The two CSIs examined the corners or the room, but found nothing. Warrick shrugged and suggested they move to the next room. They didn't find anything in the first five rooms, and in 106 they saw where Grissom had found the corkscrew. They continued down the hall without any luck until room 111.
"Warrick," Catherine said as they were examining the baseboards, "this guy's not stupid. He cleans everything. We shouldn't be looking for blood. There's not going to be any. Maybe we should just rip up the whole floor. They are remodeling, after all."
"They're installing over these floors, Catherine," Warrick pointed out. "Grissom found blood."
"Yeah, but that was a mistake - a one-time thing. It probably won't happen again."
"So what should we do?" Warrick asked. "We can't tear up all these floors."
"We could," Catherine insisted. "But you're right. We don't have enough manpower to do it, and Blaine would probably have a heart attack at the thought."
"Well, we've got to do something. There might be evidence hidden under here. We can't just ignore it!" Warrick walked across the room quickly, and as he did a board squeaked under him. He stopped, and turned to Catherine. "I guess we could do that," he said with a slight smile, and immediately began to pull up the board he had stepped on. The board came up relatively easily, and Warrick shone his flashlight into the hole. "It's just some papers," he told Catherine, and pulled them out.
There were only eight sheets of paper, and scanning them quickly, Catherine found that they all had information about Grace Whittier. "She was one of the victims. What was he doing, collecting all the information he could about them? There's her credit card information, her address, social security, travel log... The killer was tracking their every move. He must have been planning this for months. Sick-o. Do you think they had any idea?"
Warrick shrugged. He was walking around the room, checking the other floorboards for squeaks or hollow sounds. Catherine checked the loose board for fingerprints. Finding none, they backtracked through the other rooms to do the same thing before moving on. In room 105, they found the same type of papers about Elizabeth Martin.
Catherine decided to check the loose board in room 106, where Grissom had found the corkscrew, for fingerprints. "I don't know if Grissom checked or not, and that was the room where he was sloppy." Catherine found a partial on the side of the board. "I don't know if that's enough for anything," she sighed.
They moved on, through the rest of the rooms on the first floor. In room 113, they found information on Tamara Richards; in room 120, there was information about Antoinette McPherson. There were two loose floorboards in room 121, and both had information on Jillian Rivers, the owner of the hotel.
"This is her report card from seventh grade!" Catherine cried as they scanned through the piles of information. In room 125, they found a plastic bag full of bloodied hotel towels and in room 129, they found information on Carol Anderson. Room 130 was the last room on the first floor, and they didn't find anything in it.
"So, whenever a woman comes into the hotel that's blood and born on March 26, he starts keeping tabs on her? Finds out all about her and tracks her movements?" Catherine asked.
"Sure looks that way," Warrick said as they left the hotel.
"It doesn't make any sense. Why do it? And what does this have to do with the Fieldings?"
"I guess that's what we still need to find out."
Chapter Eighteen: Every Little Bit
"Ester Benson, 66." Brass held up a small purse covered in rhinestones. "They found the purse next to the body."
"Who called it in?" Grissom asked, surveying the scene before them. The victim was between two of the hotel's dumpsters and there was blood on the ground and the dumpsters.
"Doorman from the next building heard a commotion, called the cops."
"This isn't the same MO as our serial," Catherine said.
Brass nodded. "We know. The birthday isn't even the same. But the eyes were removed and there are towels and bleach beside the vic."
"You think the doorman interrupted our murderer?"
Brass shrugged. "That's your job. You guys check it out."
The victim was slouched between the two dumpsters. Blood stained her brightly colored cocktail dress. Her hair, dyed a startling yellow, was in disarray and stood on end. Catherine snapped pictures of the blood splatter and bottle of bleach and small pile of towels that had been dropped in front of the dumpster. Grissom carefully lifted the victim's head to examine the face - or lack thereof. As with the other victims, the flesh was torn from the bone. Her eyes were gone.
"We're missing the eyes," Grissom called over to Catherine. "Let me know if you find them - or the replacements."
"Nothing yet, but I'll keep my eyes open," Catherine said with a slight chuckle.
"Catherine." Grissom began, but decided to ignore her joke.
"Hey guys," Nick called from the end of the alley. Sara and Warrick were with him.
"What took you guys so long?" Catherine asked. "We've been here for a while. I thought you were right behind us."
"We were," Sara said. "And then we were behind some news vans."
"Then we had to find somewhere to park, and then we had to get through the crowd."
"Fine," Grissom said. "I need someone to process this crime scene with me. Sara? Catherine and Warrick, why don't you go check the boxes in the closet? Nick, since you can't check in the dumpster yet, why don't you help us with this scene?"
"Beats dumpster diving," Nick murmured. Catherine and Warrick left to check the supply closet as the coroner came to get the body.
"You know, Cath," Warrick began as they walked towards the main entrance, "these boxes are probably nothing."
"I know," Catherine said. "I just can't overlook it."
"Gut feeling?" Warrick asked, glancing over at her.
"You could say that," Catherine said with a shrug. "Do we have keys to get into this place?"
"I don't know," Warrick said. "We should..."
"It doesn't matter - look, there's the security guard, Conner," Catherine said, pointing to the man who stood just outside the police line.
"Conner," Catherine said as they approached him. "We need your keys."
"My keys?" he asked, bewildered.
"Is there a problem?" Warrick asked.
"No, I just... Never mind, here they are," Conner said, handing the keys to Warrick.
Catherine and Warrick silently entered the deserted hotel.
"Conner was acting strange," Catherine said.
"Do you think it was him?"
"I don't know...aren't there all kinds of restrictions on security guards? Background checks, and all that?"
"I think so."
Catherine sighed. "Let's just go check the supply closet."
Warrick unlocked the door and they stepped into the large room. Flicking on the lights, Catherine glanced around quickly, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Leading the way to the back corner, Catherine showed Warrick the unmarked boxes.
"Should we open them?"
Warrick shrugged. "I don't see why not." He reached into his pocket, retrieved a small pocket knife, and neatly cut the tape on the boxes. He opened the flaps to reveal all sorts of flooring supplies for both carpet and tile floors.
"I guess your hunch was right."
"Fingerprints?" Catherine suggested, and began to dust immediately.
Outside, Grissom, Nick, and Sara had finished processing the scene without much luck. Sara had discovered a partial footprint from someone who had stepped in the blood, but the print was pretty smudged and she couldn't make out any treads. No fingerprints were found, and the corkscrew and eyes were still missing. Sara and Nick knew the only thing left to do was check the dumpsters.
"Aw, man," Nick complained. "I can't think of any other job that requires you to hunt around in a dumpster."
"Try harder," Sara joked, "I'm sure there's at least one. How about an elementary school janitor? Kids throw retainers away all the time. You'd have to find those."
"I'd make the kids find 'em. This is disgusting."
"And we need to find that corkscrew. Keep digging," Grissom said from his position outside of the dumpster.
"Why don't you come in and join us?" Nick suggested. "You could even have the third dumpster all to yourself!"
"Tempting, but no. I've got to go talk to Brass."
"I think I've found something!" Sara called from her dumpster. She held up the container for a better look. "Yeah, it's the eyes alright."
"What color?"
There was a pause as Sara examined the jar. "Uh, brown. What color were this vic's eyes?"
"Blue," Nick said, "but the last vic's eyes were brown. Find anything else in your dumpster paradise?"
"Not yet, but I'm still looking."
"Jackpot," Catherine said. "There's a full set of prints on this side of the box."
"I've got a couple of partials," Warrick said. "You know, a lot of people have touched these boxes."
"I know," Catherine said. "But every bit of evidence helps. Plus, there's a security camera in the hallway outside. We might be able to find the tape with these boxes on it."
"Security cameras have been faulty. And if it is Conner, he knows where every camera in this place is. Even if it isn't Conner, the guy probably knows anyway."
"Stop being so negative. At least we're trying."
"I know...Hey Catherine, why would this guy try and halt the remodeling just because of one corkscrew? That seems a bit much to me."
"You think there's something else on the first floor."
"Well, I think we should at least look," Warrick said with a grin.
"People throw away some really interesting things," Nick commented as he held up what appeared to be a perfectly good red high heel. Sara and he had been combing through the garbage for over an hour. After Sara's initial discovery of the eyes in a jar, Nick had found two corkscrews, and Sara had found one.
"I doubt the hotel threw away the corkscrews," Sara pointed out. "I mean, they don't appear to be broken. They were probably used in the murders."
"There's no blood," Nick said.
"The killer cleans everything," Sara said, peering into the corner of the dumpster. "Nick, I think I've found something."
"What?"
"I'm not sure...blood, definitely. There's some other stuff, too - maybe the eyes. Come here and take a look," Sara called, getting down in the dumpster for a closer look. Nick got out of his dumpster and joined Sara in hers. "Can you see anything?" Sara asked. "I can't tell. It looks like he ditched the stuff in the corner of the dumpster, knowing it would probably fall to the bottom."
"I can't see anything either," Nick said with a sigh, "but we're going to have to get it out."
"What are we going to do?" Catherine asked. "Pull up all the floorboards in this place?"
Warrick shrugged. "Grissom said there was a spot of blood on the floor where he found the corkscrew, right? Let's just look around for something like that, and see what we find."
"Alright," Catherine agreed, and opened the door to the first room on the first floor, room 101. Catherine turned on the overhead lights, and they looked closely at the floor. The two CSIs examined the corners or the room, but found nothing. Warrick shrugged and suggested they move to the next room. They didn't find anything in the first five rooms, and in 106 they saw where Grissom had found the corkscrew. They continued down the hall without any luck until room 111.
"Warrick," Catherine said as they were examining the baseboards, "this guy's not stupid. He cleans everything. We shouldn't be looking for blood. There's not going to be any. Maybe we should just rip up the whole floor. They are remodeling, after all."
"They're installing over these floors, Catherine," Warrick pointed out. "Grissom found blood."
"Yeah, but that was a mistake - a one-time thing. It probably won't happen again."
"So what should we do?" Warrick asked. "We can't tear up all these floors."
"We could," Catherine insisted. "But you're right. We don't have enough manpower to do it, and Blaine would probably have a heart attack at the thought."
"Well, we've got to do something. There might be evidence hidden under here. We can't just ignore it!" Warrick walked across the room quickly, and as he did a board squeaked under him. He stopped, and turned to Catherine. "I guess we could do that," he said with a slight smile, and immediately began to pull up the board he had stepped on. The board came up relatively easily, and Warrick shone his flashlight into the hole. "It's just some papers," he told Catherine, and pulled them out.
There were only eight sheets of paper, and scanning them quickly, Catherine found that they all had information about Grace Whittier. "She was one of the victims. What was he doing, collecting all the information he could about them? There's her credit card information, her address, social security, travel log... The killer was tracking their every move. He must have been planning this for months. Sick-o. Do you think they had any idea?"
Warrick shrugged. He was walking around the room, checking the other floorboards for squeaks or hollow sounds. Catherine checked the loose board for fingerprints. Finding none, they backtracked through the other rooms to do the same thing before moving on. In room 105, they found the same type of papers about Elizabeth Martin.
Catherine decided to check the loose board in room 106, where Grissom had found the corkscrew, for fingerprints. "I don't know if Grissom checked or not, and that was the room where he was sloppy." Catherine found a partial on the side of the board. "I don't know if that's enough for anything," she sighed.
They moved on, through the rest of the rooms on the first floor. In room 113, they found information on Tamara Richards; in room 120, there was information about Antoinette McPherson. There were two loose floorboards in room 121, and both had information on Jillian Rivers, the owner of the hotel.
"This is her report card from seventh grade!" Catherine cried as they scanned through the piles of information. In room 125, they found a plastic bag full of bloodied hotel towels and in room 129, they found information on Carol Anderson. Room 130 was the last room on the first floor, and they didn't find anything in it.
"So, whenever a woman comes into the hotel that's blood and born on March 26, he starts keeping tabs on her? Finds out all about her and tracks her movements?" Catherine asked.
"Sure looks that way," Warrick said as they left the hotel.
"It doesn't make any sense. Why do it? And what does this have to do with the Fieldings?"
"I guess that's what we still need to find out."