DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the CSI characters…they are all property of CBS and the writers of the show. Any original characters are mine and bear no resemblance to anyone living or dead (well not much anyway :p)
HELL HATH NO FURY
Part Two: Playtime
Eckley raised an eyebrow and stared down his least favourite night shift CSI.
"Let me see Brown…uh….no way in hell." He said venomously. Warrick Brown shifted the case files he was juggling and started to protest. Eckley held up a hand to silence him.
"Look I am not letting you see my case files, period." He paused for effect, "Especially when you obviously can't do your job alone."
Warrick glared at the day shift supervisors retreating back with white hot rage. He stormed into the break room, kicking the glass door shut behind him.
"Whoa…down boy." Catherine glanced up from her papers and grinned at him.
"That door giving you jip again?" she asked. Warrick slumped down opposite her and ran his hands through his coarse hair in obvious frustration.
"You know this case Griss gave me and Nick last week? The mutilated body in the university biology lab? Well someone from days told me that Eckley had a case almost identical to that couple of months back and he won't let me see his file on it." He grimaced, "Sometimes I wonder if he even cares about catching killers or just about his career path."
Catherine put down her coffee cup and gestured towards the case files scattered across the table.
"Is it one of these?" she asked. Warrick nodded, plucking one from the mess and handed it over to her. Catherine flipped open the file and gasped. Warrick grinned,
"Gross huh? Someone did a real number on the poor kid. Blunt force trauma to the back of the head killed him, and then the body was sliced and diced and covered in maggots."
Catherine looked slightly queasy as she scanned the initial blood reports and the coroners' findings. The body had been left in one of the disused labs, deemed unsafe and therefore technically out of bounds to all, but widely used by sexed up students and vandals. The boy had been found several hours after time of death by a couple of teenagers searching for abandoned chemicals. There had been little to no evidence at the scene, the lab floor had been examined and over 25 footprints lifted same as the surrounding counters and sinks. These belonged to various students, surveyors and unknowns. The only palpable piece of evidence was a single black hair found on the body, which had been analysed and come back inconclusive.
"Black hair?" she asked suddenly, jerking up. Warrick nodded.
"Yeah, no DNA, nothing. Why?"
Catherine shot to her feet and headed for the DNA lab, where technician Greg Saunders was busy trying to feed bubble gum to a Venus fly trap. Clearly smarter than him, the plant remained closed all through the ordeal.
"Greg, did you get the DNA back on that hair Grissom found at the crime scene earlier." Catherine asked. Greg dropped the gum, patted the plant and swivelled his chair round the face the CSIs.
"Nope." He grinned lopsidedly at her. Catherine looked on impatiently.
"There wasn't any. Its human hair alright but no tags or markers of any kind. Did find an odd substance at the root though. Gluey." He handed Catherine a sheet of paper and returned to the plant, which was snapping wildly at a passing fly.
"Glue?" Warrick asked, squinting at the results.
"What type of glue Greg?" Catherine asked. Greg shrugged,
"Sent it to trace. I don't do that stuff, all organic, all the way – that's me."
*
Never had the word "bastard" been used by so many different women to describe the same man before. Grissom twisted a stray thread from his jumper around his finger as the fourth, black haired female friend of the deceased proceeded to repeat everything her counterparts had said.
"Mike was a total bastard." She scowled, tossing her short black curls and leaning back in the hard chair of the interview room. "The reason he didn't have a girlfriend is because he couldn't commit. He'd get real bored real easy and just ignore them. Total bastard."
"So you and the deceased were never a couple?" Brass asked. The girl snorted.
"He wishes. Nah, the last girl stupid enough to date him was someone called Lila…something…he dumped her about six months ago."
Grissom thanked the girl for her time and requested a DNA sample, to which she consented, like all the others claiming she had nothing to hide. As they watched her leave, Brass checked his list and announced she was the final "friend" of the day.
"Guy clearly had a thing for girls with curly black hair" he commented, "four friends all looking exactly the same."
"None of whom seem too cut up that he's dead." Grissom observed, bagging the swab and placing it in the tray with the others to be sent to Greg for analysis against the hair he and Catherine had recovered from the crime scene. Brass nodded and followed the CSI out to the coffee pot which was, as usual, beginning to resemble the creature from the black lagoon.
"So what now?" he asked. Grissom shrugged,
"We didn't find unaccountable prints, foot or finger, just the hair. Hopefully Greg will be able to match it to one of our girls."
"Doesn't make a suspect though. Just proves they were there." Brass noted. Grissom nodded.
"And if you're going on motive…looks like half of Vegas is a suspect."
*
Nick Stokes leaned back and aimed. The make-shift basketball made a clean arch across the break room and ended three feet from the bin.
"I thought you were a jock in college?" Sarah jabbed. Nick grinned,
"Baseball…hitter not pitcher."
"Oh right." Came the unconvinced reply. Nick stretched his arms behind his head and glanced down at the file his colleague was studying.
"That tonight's?" he asked. Sarah nodded.
"Yeah, big man it would seem. I.D'd as a bartender from Fresha, that new club on the strip. No family, but his colleagues' say he was a real player, different girl every night, never kept anyone around for longer than a week."
"Explains the genital thing then…cheating guy gets his Johnson cut off, classic revenge."
Sarah nodded, "and the heart of stone…which by the way had traces of female DNA."
Reaching forward, Nick plucked the headshot from the pile of photos and flicked his eyes over the boys face, bruised and bloody but undeniably handsome. He glanced back up at Sarah in surprise.
"You sure this is your guy?" he asked. Sarah looked confused.
"Who else would it be Nick?" she asked, taking back the photo and studying it. Nick shook his head,
"This guy looks identical to the maggot guy me and Warrick had last week..."
"Coincidence?" Sarah asked, her eyebrows raised. Nick shrugged,
"I don't know…but something about this just doesn't sit right and you know what Grissom says, if it doesn't feel right – it probably isn't."
Three photos lay across the table, three different crimes, three different victims but each with the same face. Catherine ran her fingers through her hair and exhaled loudly.
"Jesus. They say everyone has a double but this is insane." She tapped the pictures in turn, "same hair, same eye colour, same height, weight the only difference is occupation. A student, a bartender and a bus-boy."
"Make that a crispy bus-boy" Warrick announced from the doorway. Nick groaned,
"He was cremated?"
"Three days ago."
Sarah and Catherine sighed simultaneously. Any physical evidence missed the first time round was gone forever. Before she could ask the interminable question, why have a murder victim cremated and destroy any chances of exhumation, Sarah glanced down at the maggot infested body and shuddered.
"So what do we know these men had in common?" Grissom asked. Catherine flipped open a file and scanned it.
"Apart from the physical aspects, all lived in Vegas, all were under 25 and none had any money."
The others looked at her in surprise. She shrugged and grinned,
"Hey this is Vegas…if its not money related its gotta be sex related."
Sarah nodded in agreement, "That's true. All of the guys were said to be pretty promiscuous. Most of their friends and colleagues said they really played the field."
"Look at the crime itself" Grissom interjected, "The first victim was covered in maggots, the second had his genitalia removed and the third killed by a spiked metal bed sheet. All clear revenge methods. First one says 'this guys a maggot'; second 'cheater' and third 'killed by jumping into bed'."
"Don't forget the stone heart sown into the second victim. Clearly a message as to his way of treating people." Sarah added.
"Evidence?" Grissom asked. Catherine shook her head.
"Well you know all we recovered this morning was a black hair and the same hair type was found by Warrick and Nick. Down side, Greg says it's human but no DNA present. He did find a funky substance which trace ran and discovered it's an industrial solvent used to make expensive wigs…the type that are real hair and hand made and there were traces of female DNA pulled from skin cells on the heart from Sarahs vic, but nothing on file." She paused for breath as a flustered Brass burst into the room.
"Hope you guys don't have homes to go to" he shook his head, "We've got another one."
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A/N: Thanks to everyone who r and r'd the last part! This is my first fic and its great to know you guys are enjoying it! This part is slightly less gory than the last one…but believe me the next one will more than make up for it! All feedback is gratefully received so please continue to r and r!
