Case #458
Ryan Swinney

As the door opened crime scene investigators Glenn Kevkolhz, with new recruit Tarja Elliot are swept with the stench of death. By the disgusted look on Tarja's face, Glenn could tell that this was her first case since college.
"Want some air?" he questioned. With a nod Tarja ran for the door and Glenn smiled to himself as he heard her repeat that morning's breakfast, just like when he once talked about one of his first cases over the table in the CSI break room. Glenn knelt down beside the victim and began to scrape under her nails for any epithelia evidence he could use.
"Twenty-four, blonde, Caucasian female named Emma Green from Prague. Estimated time of death… Err… 8 hours ago" detective Clive Helms said, as he leant on the door frame. Glenn walked into the bedroom, his flashlight glistening against the blood spattered mirrors, as he said,
"What about this guy?"
"Twenty-six, Caucasian male named Robert Grace from the States." Clive said.
"Maybe a tourist…" Glenn replied. As Glenn walked back to the body of Emma Greens he could hear the familiar sound of her heels on the cold concrete stairs. A much relieved Tarja crouched underneath the yellow crime scene tape and knelt beside Glenn. Tarja looked at the victims face and lowered her head.
"This guy's a monster…" she said, as she looked up and down dead body.
"Is there any next of kin?" Glenn asked.
"Only a sister in Paris. Got the better half of Europe I guess." Clive answered. Glenn knelt close to the victim and saw her blue lips (a sign of a lack of oxygen). He took her hand and saw her nails had also gone blue. He gave a sigh and then finished processing the victim. The attending officers of the Prague Police Department came over to the body and put her inside a white bag.
"Let's finish here." Glenn said, as the CSI's walked out of the room with the sun of dull Prague shining through the sharp blinds of the windows.

The door opened to the autopsy room and Glenn could see the dead body of Emma Green. The smell of the dead never affected Glenn for some reason.
"Poor girl…" Joan Hetroversk the coroner mentioned.
"Cause of death?" Glenn asked.
"As you thought, lack of oxygen."
"Know why?" Glenn questioned.
"She was smothered, I retrieved multiple black fibres from the back of her throat" Joan said as she gave Glenn the evidence bag.
"I see defence wounds on her wrists… she fought back." Glenn said sadly.
"The killer was too strong for her; she must have been so scared." Joan replied.
"Any sexual abuse?" The scientists heard from the back of the room. Tarja slowly walked over, her heels echoing against the silence of the autopsy room.
"Not done the test yet, but I'll check for you later." Joan said.
"What about the boyfriend?" Glenn asked.
"Stabbed in the neck" Joan said, as she pointed out the entry wound.
"Right in the jugular, causing arterial bleed."
"That explains the blood on the mirrors" Glenn said to Tarja.
"Let's just hope it's the same killer, all the evidence was useless from his body." Tarja replied. As Tarja and Glenn walked away to the labs they could hear the squeaky wheels of the operating tables go back into the morgue.

The two CSI's met in the parking lot and got into Glenn's SUV. About forty minutes later they were at the front door of Emma Green's apartment.
"Right somehow the killer got into her apartment." Glenn said.
"Who do you let through your door everyday?" Tarja wondered, as she walked through the door and began processing anything that could be involved with Emma's death. Glenn went through into Emma's bedroom and looked into her cupboard. He found nothing.
"Twenty-four year old girl without clothes? Isn't there something off about that?" he asked Tarja. He looked under her bed and pulled out a suitcase. He opened it and found it was full of clothes.
"She was leaving, check her phone records. This may involve a stalker" He shouted through to the next room.
"Same story with the boyfriend."
"Sheets have been washed. He knew what he was doing, not allowing us to get any trace of him." Glenn said.
"He didn't know everything." Tarja said with a smug look on her face as she walked into the bedroom with a pair of tweezers in her hand.
"A hair!" Glenn exclaimed.
"It's too long to be our vic." Tarja replied.
"Send it to the lab, see if we can get some DNA" Glenn said.
Glenn kept processing the bedroom and Tarja walked through into the bathroom.
"Eh, Officer!" she shouted hoping that officer Banks could hear it.
"Do me a favour…" she said as she handed the young policeman a pair of gloves. He reached into the toilet, whilst Tarja tried not to laugh at the look of his face.
"I got something!" he said, as he pulled out a condom. Tarja grimaced as she saw the evidence drip in toilet water.
"Lab, now! We might get some evidence off it!" Tarja ordered as she saw the disgusted officer run for the door. Glenn met Tarja
With a loud 'bleep' in the silence of the crime scene Glenn's cell phone went off,
"Hey Joan. Right. Okay. Thanks. Bye", as he closed his cell phone he said,
"She was raped." The pair hung their heads.
"Right, lets get this back to the lab." Glenn Said.
"Hold Up! I got something." Tarja said.
"Foot-print! Very good. Linoleum is the best surface for it." Glenn said, as he went into his kit and brought out a big sheet of clear plastic.
"I'll fix the electrodes up" Tarja nodded and she set the two electrodes onto the plastic. In seconds a shoe print was given.
"Get it to the lab," Glenn asked Tarja. Glenn walked into the hallway and noticed a pot holding umbrellas. He tipped the pot over and out came a bloody knife.
"Woah! We got a knife here. Possible murder weapon," Glenn shouted. The CSI's left the building with all the evidence they needed.

Tarja was walking past the lab when she heard a yell of delight. She smiled to herself, as if she knew who it was.
"You got something?" Tarja said to the lab rat Drederik Helms.
"Yep, got DNA off your hair, but none from the condom, and guess what?"
"What?" Tarja said anxiously.
"It's XY – Male and he's in TNDD (The National DNA Database)
"Got details?"
"Carmine Gondalor, a convicted rapist, released last month etc. etc." Drederik said.
"Also the blood on the knife is consistent with that of the boyfriend, I also got a fingerprint, but that's not in TNDD unfortunately."
"God I could kiss you!" Tarja said, as she was walking away, leaving Drederik with his eyes closed and cheek in the air. Tarja met Glenn in the corridor as she rushed to Clive's office.
"I'll go with Clive back to the apartment just in case we've missed something." Tarja handed Glenn the DNA results and the suspects' profile,
"Guess I'll bring him in…" Glenn said, as he and Tarja parted ways.

Tarja entered Clive's office,
"Heard all about it, let's go!" Clive said with the tone of voice that he used when he was on the verge of solving a case. The pair got into Clive's SUV and continued on. Once they had arrived Tarja and Clive went up to the apartment via the stairs,
"I hate elevators; they always break down on me!" Clive said. Tarja 'gave him a 'you can't be serious' look and kept walking step by step. 'Bleep-Bleep-Bleep-Bleep'
"Sorry I gotta take this." Clive said. Tarja continued going upstairs until she was outside the door of #39b. She knocked and walked in.
"Crime Scene Investigator, Hello?" she shouted, not expecting a reply. She continued and walked into the living area, where Emma's body had been found. She chuckled to herself of he thought that she was actually sick. She got her torch and began inspecting the kitchen cupboards.
"What's this?" Tarja reached into the back of the cupboard and brought out a hair brush with dark hairs on it,
"This wasn't here before." She said to herself. She bagged it and continued. All of a sudden and strong hand came from behind and covered her by the mouth. She smelled something significant, and realised the sex of the attacker. She screamed into the hand hoping that Clive would hear. She scrambled all over the crime scene and managed to get rid of the attacker's hand.
"HELP! SUSPECT AT CRIME SCENE! SUSPECT AT CRIME SCENE!" she screamed as she tried to break free. She could hear the calls of Clive. The attacker stumbled over the stairwell of the apartment block and threw Tarja down 3 floors. Clive rushed to Tarja's assistance,
"Base. This is Det. 554 requesting back-up and paramedics immediately!"
Glenn and Clive waited outside the ward for any news on Tarja.
"Son-of-a-bitch! I could have got him!" Clive shouted as he punched the wall.
"It's okay! You did the right thing! You helped Tarja! That's why she is alive." Glenn said reassuringly even though he did not know himself Tarja's fate.
"I gotta go I got PPD to get Carmine in for an interview. Page me any new details." Glenn said as he tried to hide his grief.
"Glenn wait! Tarja had this…", Clive said as he gave the evidence collected to Glenn.
"Thank-you, this will help."

Glenn and a junior officer were face to face with Tarja's attacker and his lawyer.
"Let's just start this nice and simple." Glenn said.
"Where were you last Tuesday at 4.30pm?"
"At a bar…" Carmine said.
"Want to tell us some more?"
"Well there was this girl, with big …"
"Okay! That's enough, is there anyone that can back you up?" Glenn said quickly.
"Yeah, the bartender! Ask him!" Carmine replied.
"Okay, you're free to go. But don't stray too far." As Carmine walked away Glenn asked,
"By the way, why was there a hair off you in the crime scene?"
"I have no idea" he said.
"Gentlemen, this is dismissed." The smug lawyer said and he and his client walked away.

As Glenn was walking down the corridor he was stopped by Clive,
"How's Tarja doing?" Glenn asked.
"She's doing well, only minor injuries. She wants to come back on the case ASAP." Clive replied.
"Okay then see ya." Glenn said. Glenn stopped, as his cell phone rung yet again. After closing his cell phone he ran towards the parking lot.
He arrived at Carmine Gondolor's apartment only to find his body hanging from the banister at the top of the stairs. He met CSI Harding from the United Kingdom who had been in Prague for a couple of years.
"It's not a suicide. Injuries aren't consistent. You may have another suspect on your hands." Harding said.
"Thanks." Glenn replied, as he walked back out to his SUV. For once in his life Glenn was stumped on a case and this frustrated him so much. He kept going over the victims and the evidence in his head. Then he realised the one piece of evidence that stuck out. The hairbrush.

Glenn rushed to the Mercy Hospital in Prague and went to Tarja's ward.
"Hey Glenn." Tarja said exhausted.
"Hey, What did you see when you were attacked?"
"Didn't see anything, I smelt a perfume!"
"Perfume?"
"Yeah, it was a woman! That's all I can remember." Tarja replied.
"Okay Thank-You." Glenn said as he rushed through the doors of the ward.
"Bye," Tarja said, as she was left alone in her room.

"Drederik! Process this hair now! Above all the other cases!" Glenn ordered. Only half an hour later Drederik had the results, in his hand, as he knocked on the door of Glenn's office.
"Wow, you're not going to believe this. It's a relative to the vic!" Drederik said.
"Sorry, way ahead of you." Glenn replied, as he walked out of the office and headed towards Clive's office.
"Clive, track down the vic's sister! Now!" Glenn ordered.

Glenn and Clive were in the interrogation room with the vic's sister, Emiline Green and her lawyer.
"You killed your sister and her boyfriend." Clive said.
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't." Emiline said slyly.
"Well our evidence can prove that you did!" Glenn said.
"You wanna tell us the story?"
"You don't have to answer that!" her lawyer quickly replied. Emiline blanked off her lawyer and said,
"Right. It was me."
"And I know how you did it." Glenn said.
"You see, she never expected her own sister would be the one that killed her. Even though you must have stalked her for months beforehand, she decided to give you another chance. She greeted you, but then wanted you to leave. You wouldn't take no for an answer, so you got your pal to rape her!"
"What Pal?" she asked.
"You see we know that you weren't alone. We found male shoe
print's, a used condom… you couldn't have him leave his trace, but we found his hair. Carmine Gondoler then threatened to tell the police. You
couldn't have that could you? So that's why you staged his suicide." Glenn said with a hint of anger in his deep voice.
"But let's get back to your sister shall we?" Glenn suggested. With a nod from Emiline they carried on.
"So once he had done his end of the deal. You wanted her to suffer some more! You then smothered her until she turned blue." Glenn said.
"You shoved your glove down her throat." Glenn said as he pointed towards her glove.
"I bet we can match the fibres found from the back of her throat to your glove." Clive added.
"That's a great story." She replied.
"But, how does it end?"
"It ends with you in prison for a treble murder." Glenn said.
"So you've heard our theory. Let us hear your side." Clive suggested. Emiline sighed and saw the hopeless look on her lawyer's face,
"I met Carmine, years ago when I begun living in Paris. We got close and I told him about my sister. He said he would give me a helping hand, so to speak."
"But why did you kill your own sister?" Glenn asked with curiosity.
"She really killed herself. She had it coming. He was mine! Not hers!" the suspect replied.
"Who was?" Glenn asked.
"Robert. We all went to the same college. He was with me, but I wasn't good enough! He had to be with that tart. I caught them, in bed! I was so angry. That's why I left for Paris."
"But you couldn't leave it at that could you?" Glenn said.
"Of course not. That's why I killed them." As she uttered those words, Glenn lowered his head, signalling Clive to do his favourite part of a case. Clive rose up,
"Emiline Green you are under arrest for the murders of Emma Green, Robert Grace and Carmine Gondoler." An arresting officer took Emiline out by handcuffs. Glenn left the interrogation room and slowly walked towards the exit.

"Hey Glenn", Tarja shouted from her SUV, just as Glenn was getting into his.
"Nice job on the case,"
"Thanks" he replied,
"Wanna go get something to eat?" Tarja asked.
"Nah, I don't feel like it right now. You know double shifts, leave you exhausted. Maybe next time?" And with that Glenn got into his SUV and drove off into the dangerous streets of Prague, knowing that there would be an even more gruesome case in the next days shift.