"Ready for the case to get even weirder?" Greg asked in anticipation as all of the graveyard shift gathered around the table in the layout room. Greg looked around at all of their faces hoping for feedback, but he got none. He shrugged his shoulders and went on. "The bullets from Josh and the house both match the gun recovered from the equipment case. The fingerprints on the equipment case match those of our friend Luke and so do one of the sets of fingerprints on the gun…."
"Wait, one of the sets?" Grissom asked
"Yes, there were two sets of fingerprints on the gun. Any takers on who the other might be?" Everyone looked around dumbfounded. They hadn't expected two sets of fingerprints. Greg sighed. They were all really worn out with this case. "The second set of prints belonged to none other than Mr. All Star."
"Josh?" Warrick asked. Greg shook his head.
"Ok, this changes everything." Sara commented and sat down in one of the chairs.
"We're going to need to talk to Hennery." Nick said crossing his arms. "Maybe he can tell us what happened."
"I don't think that is going to be possible." Brass called into he room. Seven sets of eyes turned and looked in his direction. "Hennery O'Malley died on the operating table."
Jenny said down in the chair nearest here and placed her head in her hands. She was obviously taking this hardest because she had known Hennery. They had taken some of the same classes together in their junior year. He was scheduled to graduate with her in May.
"I'm sorry." Brass said and came over to join the others in the room.
"Well, I guess we're going to have to follow the evidence then, aren't we?" Grissom said as if he was happy to be doing this.
\*/*\*/\*/*\*/\*/*\*/\*/*\*/\*/*\*/
Hennery now lay on the table in the coroner's room, as Doc Robbins and Grissom looked him over. Jenny could not bring herself to come into this autopsy, and had instead gone off with Sara to get fresh coffee for everyone. Catherine was still babysitting the boys in the interrogation rooms, and only god knows where Nick and Warrick had run off.
"He was shot in the back and it looks like a close range shot, probably within five feet." Doc said to Grissom. "I already sent the bullet down to Bobby. He should be brining you the results soon, but even I know that it came from that gun."
"What is this bruising on his face? It looks like it was made with a blunt object or something. And are those defensive wounds on his hands?" Grissom asked motioning to Hennery's face and then his hands.
"I found a piece of porcelain in there. Someone probably threw a vase at him." Doc said placing a hand on Hennery's head to show Grissom what he meant. "You can see that he has the beginning of a black eye too. And yes, those are defensive wounds on his hands, his left one especially. And, there is some ecstasy in there."
"In his blood?"
"No, in his wound. It is an obvious transfer from his attacker."
"Thanks Doc." Grissom said as he hurried out of the room and down to where Catherine was. She had finally left the room and was standing in the hallway, as if waiting for Grissom to come to her. "We need to see their hands, check for Ecstasy." He said and hurried off in the opposite direction.
Catherine turned and walked back into he interrogation room. "Hands please" she said to one and then left that room and did the same to the other. She brought what she had collected from their hands and from under their fingernails out to Grissom who had come back and was now waiting for her. Catherine handed the samples to him and he hurried off down to Greg's.
Sara was standing outside of Greg's looking in. She saw Grissom coming down the hall and turned towards him. "She's a little shook up." Sara stated motioning to Jenny who was sitting in the lab with Greg. "I guess she knew him pretty well. She was actually quite shocked that he would get himself wound up in something like a rave, but I guess he was good with wires. Jenny figured that Josh and all were probably paying good money to have him make the disco in the basement. When I talked to his roommate, he told me that he thought Hennery was going to get paid…. or laid. He couldn't remember."
Grissom laughed, "That sounds like college. And how are you doing?" He then asked her turning his attention away from Jenny and Greg in the lab.
"This isn't a abuse case, Grissom. I'm fine." She said sarcastically.
"That's not what I'm referring too."
"I'm fine, really. Jenny and I went to a Starbucks, bough ourselves some six buck frappichino, and now we are back here. She wanted to go and talk to Greg for some reason, and I am in no mood in intervene in their conversation." Sara shrugged her shoulders, "If you want me, I'll be in the break room." She said turning and walking down the hallway.
When Grissom turned his attention back to Jenny and Greg in the lab, he couldn't help noticing that they were both laughing hysterically and looking straight at him. "What is wrong with you two?" he asked sticking his head in the lab but them two of them just continued to laugh harder. He shook his head at the two of them, gave Greg the evidence to be analyzed and then left the room.
Jenny said her goodbye to Greg, and ran out into the hall after Grissom, "Was it bad?" she asked obviously referring to Hennery.
"He was shot in the back at a close range. We're going to need to go talk to Luke and Erik again." Jenny shook her head understanding what that meant. "So what were you two laughing at anyways?" Grissom asked.
A smile spread across Jenny's face, "You wouldn't understand." She answered. Grissom gave her a warning look, "Ok, Greg and I made a bet and under no circumstance does it concern you. Now where is Catherine?" she asked and walked away from him.
\*/*\*/\*/*\*/\*/*\*/\*/*\*/\*/*\*/
Everyone had gathered in the layout room again. Luke was still not talking and Erik was just dazed and confused. They had the money, Hennery and some of the drugs, but they all knew that there was more floating around out there. Now all they needed to do was figure out who had killed who and why.
"Well, you said Hennery had defensive marks on his wrists." Catherine said pacing back and forth across the room, "And a burse on his face. It sounds like he got into a fight with someone and then they shot him in the back. I don't know if that is more or less painful than stabbing though…. God…. some of these cases just make me realize what kind of world we live in."
"I know Cath, but we have to move on from that. We have to figure out who shot this kid, and then of course why he was dumped in the case."
"Well, The fingerprints on the case belong to Luke. It was then confirmed that one set of prints on the gun belongs to Luke, and the other to Josh." Nick said folding his hands across his chest.
"Well, obviously Josh didn't shoot himself. Luke must have shot him, meaning that Josh shot Hennery." Warrick said jumping into the conversation.
"But why would he shoot Hennery? Let's say they got into a fight, why?" Nick retorted
"Hennery was going to get paid." Sara stated. "We found one bill there. Hennery and Josh probably got into a fight about how much he was going to get."
"Doc found a shard of porcelain in his wound."
"I found a broken porcelain vase at the house." Sara commented, "Let's say that Josh threw the vase at Hennery. Now, if that happened to me, I would take all of my stuff and left."
"Maybe that is what he was going to do. The room where we found the two bullets was totally empty. Perhaps he was going to hook up some more lights in there, but why two bullets in the wall?"
"Warning shots?" Catherine suggested, "And you said defensive wounds? Maybe then Hennery attacked Josh. That's like a mouse against an elephant, or a geek against a jock."
"Hey!" Greg shouted from the doorway where he stood listening to everything that they were saying.
"We're all geeks here Greg." Catherine said rolling her eyes.
"Then, to get Hennery off him, Josh take a shot. He was shot in the back, meaning that he had defeated Hennery and he was now on the ground." Sara rejoined the discussion.
"Right, at the third shot, I would have done something, so that is when Luke comes up stairs and sees Hennery on the ground and Josh standing over him…."
"You guys are overlooking something." Jenny stated. "The gun you have, who's gun is it?"
"Erik's." Grissom confirmed.
"Right, how did Josh get Erik's gun?"
The room became quiet. Jenny seemed to have a knack for halting all discussion with overlooked variables.
"I think we should go ask him." Grissom said and turned and walked out of the room.
