Chapter Eight: Going Through the Motions

The next morning…

At the crime lab, Calleigh was intensely studying a bullet and pictures of the bullet wounds.

"Got anything?" Speed asked as he walked through the doors and slipped on a lab coat.

She peeked up from the microscope, "Good morning to you too!"

He chuckled, "Sorry, guess I've been skipping a few beats. This case has really been grinding me."

"Well, I can't say too much yet. The bullet used to kill the victim was 9mm--same as the bullets used to kill our first victims. Alexx also found some cloth fibers in Jennifer Lewis's entrance wound, so I got the fibers found in Vicki and Sally's wounds too…and I was hoping you could run a comparison?" Calleigh smiled humorously, holding up a few small containers.

Speed took them from her, "Sure, you caught me in a good mood!"

"Oh yeah?" she asked, looking back into the microscope.

He plopped himself down into a swivel-chair, pushing himself to Calleigh's side, "Yep, I got to pick up four whole hours of sleep last night!"

She rolled her eyes, then gave a playful shove to Speed's chair, "Hey, where's Horatio? I thought he'd be here by now."

Speed didn't respond, he just pulled out fiber number one and set it under the 'scope.

Calleigh turned around, looking at him suspiciously, "What?"

Speed remained silent, teasing Calleigh. The curiosity was killing her, "Okay…I'm obviously missing out on something."

"No, H gave me a call earlier. Said that he was going to Robin's hotel room…again…" he said, smirking and switching to thread number two.

"I swear, sometimes you act like you're still in high school," Calleigh sighed, going back to work. "You said they haven't seen each other in almost three years! I think it's sweet that Horatio is spending time with her."

"But it kinda feels like he's spending more time with her than he does on this case…I mean, I think it's nice too--but H has kinda been one step behind on this: taking over a half an hour to get to the crime scene, not being the first of us to know about the victims…y'know?" Speed commented with concern as he examined the final cloth fiber.

She nodded, "I understand what you mean. Maybe Horatio has more than just the case on his mind right now."

"You're right," Speed said. He spun around, changing the subject, "Okay, I just checked out the fibers. Fibers one and two were from Sally Kirsten and Vicki Trenton--they were a perfect match. So our killer most likely used the same rag or cloth to silence the gun. But then I compared the fiber found in Jennifer Lewis's entrance wound, and it's not a match to the others."

Calleigh shrugged, "Maybe the other cloth had too many holes or he just decided to use something else?"

Speed bit the edge of his lip, "I don't think so…the two matching fibers are plain, white cotton, or natural fibers--like what you'd use for making a dish towel or wash cloth. But the third fiber, even though it is still natural, is silk."

"You think he might have taken one of Miss Lewis's blouses to do the job?" she asked.

"Only one way to find out. We can go back to the apartment and see what kind of clothes she owns. If the killer took it with him, then we can at least find another blouse to compare the colors or the way the fibers were weaved together."

* * * * *

Calleigh and Speed headed over to the Hallandale Apartments to search for more evidence. When reaching room 68, Calleigh kneeled down, taking out a fingerprint brush and latent print powder. She lightly covered the knob, pulling out sticky tape to transfer the prints.

"Got anything?" Speed asked as he watched her.

"Yeah…but they're either overlapping or partials. I don't usually hear of people cleaning off their doorknobs that often, so who knows how many different prints there are."

Speed chuckled, "Let's check out the inside."

They opened the door, carefully stepping into the untouched room. Calleigh looked closely at the couch--the blood was still stained on the material.

"It's a forward splatter, blood followed the bullet from the exit wound," she said matter-of-factly. "There were no signs of a struggle, so the killer probably just walked right in and did what he came to do."

"The door wasn't locked?"

"No, but Jennifer might have just fallen asleep while watching TV and forgot to lock the door, making it an easy entrance."

"Wait a second…if he just waltzed in and shot her, that doesn't leave any time for him to go into the bedroom and take one of the blouses," Speed reasoned.

Calleigh sighed, "You're right…but he could have taken one from the dryer or washing machine. Let's check it out just in case."

They followed the familiar path--across the living room, through the kitchen, and into the lounge, where the bedroom door stood open.

Calleigh collected prints from the doorknob, hoping that the selection of prints would now be narrowed down. Speed peeked inside the closet, running his hand along some of the dresses and blouses. When pushing aside a few of them, one certain dress was slightly slipping off of the plastic hanger. He examined it even closer, noticing a tiny stain.

After photographing it from a few angles, Speed took a swab to get a sample. He pulled out a small bottle of a blood-indicator called phenolphthalein, putting a few drops onto the swab.

"Hey Calleigh, take a look at this," a smile spread across his face as he showed her the now pinkish-colored swab.

She walked over to him, looking at the swab and then at the dress, "Blood on the dress?"

Speed nodded, "Sure is. It wasn't used as the silencer, but it's still a good piece of evidence. Take a look at the way the blood was smeared near the hem."

"Kinda looks like it was being rubbed between someone's fingers. Was he testing the fabric?" Calleigh looked at Speed with her large, friendly eyes.

"Chances are that he took off his rubber gloves to get a feel…and I doubt that he wasn't nervous after killing someone, so there's a good chance that we can pick up traces of perspiration."

She smiled, finishing Speed's thought, "And perspiration means DNA."

"Bingo! Let's bag it and get it back to the lab."

**I'm sorry that it took so long to get chapter eight posted! The past few days I've been stuck in the house because of allergies and an ear infection, but I couldn't get myself out of bed to whip out any more chapters. I want to give a load of credit to BlackRaven for giving me a lot of tips on fibers and fiber analysis, and also encouraging me to put in more of the evidence collecting as well, so: thank you, BlackRaven! : ) More to come soon!**