Chapter Fourteen: Moving Along

"This place is overflowing with evidence," Calleigh said, her face slightly scrunched as she sorted through a garbage can inside the bathroom.

"Hey, H," Speed started, "I think I've got something…"

Horatio, who had been crouching next to the bed and its accompanying pile of covers, looked up. He saw in Speedle's hand a small, Swiss pocket knife.

"This coulda been the tool Peters used to carve those heart-shaped marks," Speed stated, noticing Horatio's examining glance.

"It sure could…" He held out his hand, motioning for Speed to hand it to him. Once in his possession, Horatio took a closer look, rotating it between his thumb and index finger. And then, a smile:

"Guess our boy wasn't as thorough in cleaning up after himself as he might've thought…" he said, noticing small fractions of dried blood that remained near the base of the blade, where the knife could rotate in and out of its compartment.

Speed chuckled as he went for the evidence kit, pulling out a plastic bag. "Good eye."

Horatio dropped it in, tightly closing the seal. Seconds later, Robin approached him with another bagged item--this time it looked like a towel.

"I found this towel crumpled up and stuffed inside the vent over there, has a few holes in it--the surrounding fabric is singed. Tested positive for gunshot residue too," Robin said as she passed it to Horatio.

"It's white--same color as the fibers found in the victims. Good job, Robin…we've got our silencer," he looked up, granting her a rewarding smile.

"There's one more thing, though…the weapon is nowhere to be found. Wanna take a walk to the parking lot?"

"Check his car?" Horatio added.

Robin nodded, "Yeah, only other place it could be. Maybe the other fabric'll show up down there too."

Calleigh interrupted, "You're going down to the car? Would it be any trouble if you could grab me the mats from the driver and passenger seats? And maybe a sample of whatever soil or sand is in-between the treads?"

"To match with the footprints?" Robin asked.

"Yeah, I want to make sure there's nothing I overlooked."

Horatio agreed, then he and Robin stepped out, quietly closing the door behind them.

Upon reaching the elevator, Robin returned the smile Horatio had given her earlier, "I'm amazed at how you're still so passionate about all of this…you really wanna hit this guy with everything you've got, huh?"

He was looking at the numbers above the doors, slowly blinking from one number to the next, "He takes pride in what he did, and he wasn't afraid to show it…people like that don't deserve to walk free. The more evidence we get, the more likely it is that he'll be stuck behind bars for life."

There was a short ding! as the elevator doors noisily opened. After going inside, and the doors closed, Robin reassured him, "I wouldn't worry about it. Your CSIs are great! They don't miss a thing…and with you leading the way, there's no way he's getting out of this."

His eyes were grateful, knowing Robin meant what she said, "Thanks, Robbie…"

She felt a twinge in her chest, listening to his soft voice--but once again had to shrug it off. When it comes to work, the hardest thing was always learning how to keep her emotions out of the way, no matter how strong they were becoming.

And again the doors opened at the main floor, revealing a familiar crowd of police and confused residents. Once outside, they slipped under the yellow police tape and slipped on a fresh pair of latex gloves.

"Okay, we'll start with the mats and samples that Calleigh asked for. After that we'll comb this car through for any other evidence…including the murder weapon," Horatio instructed.

Robin set down the silver box, lifting the top to reveal a museum of tools. The car looked dirty--another mistake. It was possible that any soil or sand from the murder locations could still be embedded in the tire treads, since it appeared that nothing had been washed and the weather had been fairly dry.

She carefully scraped some samples into a plastic container that was almost the size of one of those film bottles--repeating the procedure on each of the wheels. Horatio, also, had already removed the mats, and had started his investigation.

"Another thing we need to look for is the cosmetics Peters used on the victims since there were none in the hotel room," Horatio informed, shuffling through the armrest compartment.

Robin nodded, doing her part on the passenger's side. She peered under the seat--nothing. She stepped out, brushing a few hairs out of her face with her arm, "Well, he sure left us nothing inside the car…but I think the samples from the outside are promising."

Horatio was troubled, "There's no weapon…think he just dropped it off somewhere?"

"You mean like in a dumpster? Sure…make it harder to find," Robin said, circling around the car. She sighed, "That's not gunna fly well with the judge…no murder weapon, no conviction?"

He shrugged, "Depends…we found his prints on the body and footprints at the scene, its almost guaranteed that the pocket knife Speed found and the towel you found were part of the murder…and if those dirt samples match up with the footprints, then we should be good to go. That's a lot of evidence, and all of it points directly to him…not to mention his near-confession at the arrest."

"Great…well, let's get him talkin', then!" Robin urged.

Horatio broke a smile, "Slow down, there's work for us in the lab."

**Whew, finals are over and I'm back to writing! I was almost scared to post, knowing how much Yaba looks forward to them (sorry!) About this chapter--short and boring, blah blah blah…I understand. Just wanted to let everyone know I'm still working on the story! Leave me a post if you're still reading! Thanks!**