Chapter 12: All Out in the Open

Copyright Notice: This chapter contains references to the Radiohead song "Exit Music (For A Film)" from their iconic album "OK Computer". Therefore, this song, its lyrics, etc. are all the official property of Capitol Records and any other related entities.

Residence of Jessica Trent and Melanie Wickens
Surrey Lane
3:00 PM

Having to face the double reality of both her partner's identity and true troubled backstory, the normally emotionally underdeveloped and perpetually detached Jessica Trent was feeling some real genuine human emotion for, seemingly, the first time in her life. Understandably, she was quite livid. The couple was standing roughly three feet from one another in the dining room area of their Surrey Lane home.

"MELANIE?" the now irate Jessica barked, "Your name is Melanie?"

Melanie Wickens, meanwhile, seemed to be more aloof than Jessica had ever been for the duration of their relationship up to this point. "Everyone has secrets, Jess" she coldly said in retort.

"You don't have to tell me that!" Jessica yelled at an even louder decibel level than before, "I'm a convicted murderer, for God's sake! I may not be Little Miss Warmth and Caring, but I make no denial about my past mistakes! But now, I found out that you not only poisoned three kids with arsenic when you were younger, but also it looks like you poisoned that nice guy we had sex with?! And, mind you, I had to find that out from those CSIs and not from you yourself! We've been together for almost a year and a half!"

Melanie briefly crossed to the kitchen and retrieved a bright red teapot from the stove before returning to the dining table and pouring hot water into two teacups. "What do you want me to say?" she just as taciturnly asked.

A frustrated Jessica sighed deeply to compose herself before turning her back to Melanie. "I suppose you didn't tell the sheriff and that detective that your dad actually has a Doctorate in Chemistry from WLVU," she said, "Right?"

Melanie let out a very sinister chuckle as she crossed over to her I-Pod, which was docked on their shared I-Pod dock. She chose the song "Exit Music (For A Film)" by Radiohead. "They're smart cops," she finally said as the music filled the room, "If they didn't figure it out, then, they will."

Jessica then let out a chuckle of her own, but hers was more out of irritation as opposed to withdrawn callosity. "Heh," she replied, "You always were Daddy's little girl, weren't you?"

"Do you want some tea?" Melanie asked in a deadpan tone.

Jessica sighed once again and, perhaps against her better judgement, turned around and sat down at the table, after which time she began sipping the cup of chai tea that Melanie had prepared.

"I just want you to come out and tell me, Melanie" Jessica said, "Did you kill Hanson or not?"

"He was a threat to us," Melanie unemotionally blurted out.

"Why?" Jessica anxiously inquired, "Because he found me attractive, so therefore you automatically hated him?! Is that what you do to people who you perceive as a threat to you, Melanie?"

Melanie said nothing in response, and the couple sat silent for the next 5 minutes, sipping their tea together. Jessica was then struck with a burning pain in her abdomen which made her let out an almost wail-like groan. "Wait a minute," Jessica managed to say in between groans, "Did you…?"

Melanie got up from her seat as Jessica slid from the chair to being face-up on the hardwood floor. "I think you just answered your own questions, Jess" she cruelly replied as she knelt and loomed over her stricken partner, "And yes, I did. I slipped a fifty-milligram tab of arsenic into your tea. Just like those three assholes back in junior high."

Numbness and tingling were now setting in Jessica's extremities. "W…why?" she uttered as the pain took over.

With that, Melanie leaned down and engaged Jessica in a passionate kiss on the lips. "Because I love you," she replied after breaking the kiss, "And like I said before, the police and the CSIs are very smart people. They'll be catching up to me in due time, and I can't stand the thought of being away from you. Goodbye, my love."

Jessica sat up and began violently vomiting onto the hardwood floor. Melanie, meanwhile, slipped quietly out the back door. "We hope…that you choke…that you choke..." Radiohead singer Thom Yorke's high-pitched voice repeated from the I-Pod speaker.

As Melanie made her escape, Detective Aikers and CSI Sean Yeager turned into Surrey Lane in Sean's black Yukon, with Sean behind the wheel and Aikers in the front seat. They came up to Jessica and Melanie's house and promptly exited the vehicle. All seemed to be well as the detective knocked on the door.

"Jessica?" Aikers called out after knocking loudly 3 times on the door, "It's Detective Aikers and CSI Yeager from LVPD!"

A strained, distressed female voice was heard from inside the house. "H-Help me!" Jessica wailed.

"Jessica!" Aikers repeated in a more concerned tone. He tried the door and grunted with frustration as he found that it was locked. Sean, meanwhile, peered into the large bay window that provided a view into the dining room. He quickly saw Jessica on the floor inside, writhing in pain.

"Oh shit!" Sean exclaimed, "Aikers! Jessica's injured inside. Let's get in there!"

He didn't need to tell him twice. Aikers forcefully shouldered the door open, at which point the two men made their way into the house. Sean knelt to Jessica's side, putting two fingers to her neck to check her pulse.

Aikers withdrew his .45-caliber Glock G30S handgun from his shoulder holster. "You stay with her," Aikers instructed Sean, "I've got to secure the premises."

Sean nodded in reply as he rolled Jessica onto her side to help keep her airway clear. "Hang in there, Jessica" he said with a very consoling tone, "Help's coming." He used his free hand to take his cell phone out of the right-side pocket of his CSI identification vest and speed-dialed Dispatch. "Control," he said into the phone once they answered, "This is Charlie-Fifteen Yeager. We have a Four-Twenty-One. Please send an ambulance to the Twenty-One-Hundred block of Surrey Lane for a possible poisoning. We also need backup units as soon as they can get here."

He then looked to Jessica once he momentarily rolled her back over. "What did she give you?" he asked.

"A…Arsenic," Jessica replied as she started to catch her breath, "F…fifty milligrams."

"Okay," Sean said before putting his phone back to his ear. "Control," he said into the phone, "Please advise EMS that their patient has been poisoned with approximately fifty milligrams of arsenic."

Aikers noticed the still-ajar back door and peered out. "She went out into the alley!" he yelled to Sean, "I'm in pursuit!"

As Aikers pursued Melanie on foot through the rear alley, Catherine Willows, Lindsay Willows, and Greg Sanders arrived at the front of the house in another Yukon, having overheard Yeager and Aikers' radio traffic. Catherine and Greg bolted out of the front seats, while Lindsay hurried out from the backseat and hurried inside.

The trio entered the residence to find Sean on the dining room floor, tending to a still-retching Jessica. "What's going on?" Catherine asked Sean.

"She's been violently vomiting since Aikers and I got here," Sean replied, "She says Melanie poisoned her with arsenic."

"Where's Melanie?" Lindsay inquired.

Sean took a second to catch his own breath before replying. "It looks like she went out the back door and into the alley," he said, "Aikers is pursuing on foot. Backup and an ambulance are both on the way."

Catherine nodded before briefly trading looks with Lindsay. "Alright," she said in a very robust tone, "Greg, you go try and catch up with Aikers. Lindsay and I will take care of Jessica until the paramedics get here." She then put a reassuring hand on Sean's shoulder. "Are you okay, Sean?" she asked.

Sean nodded. "I'm good, boss" he said.

"Nevertheless," Catherine replied, "I want you to go sit on the curb outside, collect yourself, and wait for an ambulance. Then, I want you to ride with Jessica to the hospital, okay?"

"Got it," Sean said before doing as instructed.

Meanwhile, Detective Aikers continued his running pursuit before ending up in a barren-looking alleyway on the 4500 block of the neighboring Rancho Hills Drive. "Shit," he muttered under his breath after letting out an irritated sigh. He then took out his portable radio and keyed the mic.

"Control," he said into the radio, "This is Five-Zero-Three-Henry, Detective Aikers. I'm engaged in a foot pursuit of a Four-Twenty suspect in the alley at the Forty-Five-Hundred block of Rancho Hills Drive. What's the ETA on my back up?"

"Control to Five-Zero-Three-Henry," a male dispatcher replied from the radio a few seconds later, "Be advised. Patrol units Two-Bravo-One and Two-Bravo-Two are rolling Code Three down Surrey Lane now. Their ETA is approximately two to three minutes. Any sign of your suspect?"

Aikers did one last visual check in every direction of the alleyway before sighing once again and keying the mic. "Negative," he said, "Be advised, the suspect is Melanie Wickens. White female, age twenty-three. Blonde hair, approximately Five-Four, and weighing about one-hundred-twenty pounds. Last seeing fleeing down an alleyway on the Twenty-One-Hundred block of Surrey Lane, wearing a white cotton t-shirt, blue jeans, and black Converse sneakers."

No sooner did the detective clip his radio back to his belt loop and turn around was he violently struck on the right side of his forehead. He then fell to the dirty ground of the alleyway, landing flat on his back.

Melanie Wickens stood over the wounded cop with a sharp piece of wood in her hand, having just broken it off a bigger wooden palette. Her wide-eyed look could only be described as purely maniacal as she straddled the scathed Aikers' legs.

"She's mine," she said with a very sadistic tone, "SHE'S MINE!" The frenzied murderer then plunged the sharpened piece of wood into the left side his chest as if it were a dagger, at which point Aikers hollered out in pain before all his air had rapidly escaped from his chest as a result of his newly-inflicted wound.

"AIKERS!" Greg called out as he rounded the corner into the alleyway with two older male uniformed officers on either side of him. The CSI supervisor drew his Glock .40 G22 handgun at the sight of the crazy woman menacing over his wounded colleague. "DROP THE WEAPON!" he hollered at Melanie at the highest decibel level he could muster through his anger.

Greg's commands didn't even seem to register to Melanie as she lifted the now bloodied makeshift dagger high in her hands for a second time. She didn't have time to bring it down again as the backs of both her hands were suddenly torn open by 4 bullets from Greg's Glock. Two rounds hit each hand, sending the wood piece flying off to the side.

Melanie could do nothing except squeal in extreme pain as she saw her now blown-open and badly-bleeding hands. The two officers pulled her off Aikers and over to the side wall of the alley. The first officer held her at bay while his partner hustled back to their patrol car to retrieve a first aid kit.

Greg, meanwhile, knelt to the wounded detective. "Andy!" he anxiously called out, "Can you hear me?"

"Y…yes," Aikers hoarsely replied as air escaped from his open chest wound.

Greg nodded as he grabbed his cell phone and speed-dialed Dispatch. "Control," he said into the phone a few seconds later, "This is Charlie-Oh-One Sanders. I have a Four-Twenty-Two in the alleyway at the Forty-Five-Hundred block of Rancho Hills Drive! I have an officer down with severe injuries and a Four-Twenty suspect detained. We need a transport unit and paramedics at our location Code Three!"

"Copy that, Charlie-Oh-One" a female dispatcher replied, "I have a unit diverting there now and I will notify EMS."

Greg quickly put his phone back in the left-side pocket of his CSI identification vest before grabbing a clean pair of blue nitrile exam gloves from the right pocket. He donned the gloves before carefully pressed each hand against Aikers' wound sites to apply the appropriate pressure and help slow his bleeding. "Hang in there, Andy" he hearteningly said, "You're going to be okay, man. Help's coming."

[Author's Note: My original plan for Aikers' rescue was to have Catherine be the hero, but I took into account what someone said in one of the reviews regarding their belief that Greg was "underutilized" (their words) during his time on the show. Therefore, Greg gets his time to shine instead. Also, there will be 2 chapters coming up after this one: the "Finale" and the "Epilogue" before the story concludes, so please stay tuned! Finally, the next chapter will feature a surprise cameo from an old friend of the CSI team, so I hope you all enjoy that! Thanks, everybody!]