Past Crimes
Chapter 1
Disclaimer: I don't own anything/anyone from CSI. No money is being made from this piece of fiction.
I'm not American so I'm not going to be using American terms for things. The town of tumbleweed is a fictional one. I'm also not sure of the name of the college Nick Stokes went to so I'm just going to guess at that to (college might not exist either. I'll probably be changing from first person POV to second person POV.
I crouched over the body. I removed my sunglasses and looked up at the man that stood nearby.
"The body been moved or interfered with in any way before I got here?" I asked him.
"No, ma'am," he replied. He may have replied politely but curiosity took over.
"Why do you ask?"
I pointed the shoes, the fingernails and then to the jacket.
"Look at her shoes, tied up properly. The fingernails immaculately manicured. The only thing is that the jacket's been buttoned up the wrong way. Don't you think that it's a little strange that a woman so concerned with her appearance wouldn't dress herself properly." I pulled on a pair of latex gloves as I touched the front of the jacket. The deputy; a new one that I didn't recognise, shrugged a little.
"Maybe the murderer did it." He said.
"Yeah, maybe," I mumbled. Didn't fit the MO though, at least it didn't if it was the same person I thought it was.
"You guys better send an officer tell the doctor that he isn't done doing autopsies yet."
The deputy nodded and walked back to his patrol car to do as I had suggested. Then I started the long task of collecting the evidence and taking pictures.
"We got a problem, ma'am." The deputy had returned without me even noticing. I didn't even look up from what I was doing.
"Which is?" I asked eventually when he didn't continue.
"Sheriffs office just got a call a few minutes ago about a disturbance at the doctors house." The deputy paused again and glanced back towards the road for a moment.
"And?" I prompted.
"His housekeeper called. When she showed up for work this morning she found the doctor, he's dead." He finished awkwardly. Now I stopped what I was doing and looked up sharply.
"How?" The words were just as sharp.
"He was shot. They aren't sure yet but it looks like murder." He replied.
"Dammit," I turned back to the body.
"I'm nearly finished here. Then it looks like I'm heading over to Doc Edan's house."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Take these and put them in the boot of my car" I held up a couple of envelopes which he dutifully took. I gestured to the Ambulance guys who were nearby.
"Take her in guys." I ordered. I closed up her CS case and stood up, gathering the rest of the evidence in my other hand.
"Let's go." I said to the deputy who waited by her car, he nodded once as he held my car door open. I smiled a little, as I got in. And some say chivalry is dead, she thought.
Early the next morning she was sitting outside what passed as the seat of government in this town, a small two storey building. As soon as the doors were opened for business I was inside.
"I'd like to see Mayor Smith." I said to the woman behind the reception desk.
"Do you have an appointment?" The woman asked her.
"No, but this is important and I really do need to speak with him." I said.
"You're name?"
"Phoenix Matthews." She replied.
"I'll see what I can do." The woman said dubiously. Yeah, I thought, like he has anything better to be doing.
"He'll be right down to see you." The receptionist said.
"Thank you." I said. A moment later the Mayor came in, a tall man, dark hair just greying at the temples.
"CSI Matthews, terrible thing yesterdays murders, terrible." A born politician. I had no idea why he was still living in this town.
"Yes, sir. May we talk in your office?" I asked. He glanced toward the receptionist and nodded.
"Of course, come with me." He said amiably.
Thirty minutes later I came back out; I said nothing to the receptionist just kept walking. I headed back to the small house that I had been renting since I moved here. It was where I had most of the evidence from yesterday's murders. And the others, I thought grimly. I parked in the driveway of my small bungalow and walked up the front porch made myself some tea and sat down to go over yet more evidence. Five hours later I was still no closer to finding out who the murderer was, or who my first victim; the woman, was. Blood tests had of course been sent, but results, if any wouldn't come back for at least another day. My mobile phone rang, I took it out not even looking at the caller ID before answering.
"Matthews," I said.
"I didn't expect them this soon…yeah, I'll be right down. What are their names?"
"Got it, thanks Deputy Rice." I pressed the call end button and stood up.
I arrived outside the sheriffs office a few minutes later. A black Tahoe was parked right next to me, two men sitting inside. I walked over and tapped on the passenger car door. The man looked at me.
"Nick Stokes? I'm-" I asked.
"I don't know who you are, and I don't care to know. What I do know is why you're here." He said, a trace of irritability in his voice.
"Yeah, because I'm the one who-" I didn't let his rudeness get to me.
"I said I don't want to know. Warrick tell her." He turned to the driver of the Tahoe. Warrick was looking out the other side of the car, acting like he hadn't heard.
"Warrick!" Stokes said more sharply. Warrick had a kind of desperate look on his face. After the time I'd been having I decided to go along with whatever he was doing.
"That's right Mr. Stokes I'm from the mother ship we've come to take you home." I said in a deeper voice. Warrick snorted a laugh and eventually Nick joined in.
"Sorry, it's been a long drive and a few people here recognise me." He apologised.
"Recognise you from where?" I asked. Now he blushed a little.
"Texas State University." He said.
"Nick Stokes, Nick Stokes. Sorry name doesn't ring a bell." I said eventually when I couldn't recall that name.
"College football." He said.
"That would explain it, I was never really into football. Went to TSN as well." I held out my hand to shake and he grasped it.
"Isn't it mandatory for you to like football if you got to Texas State." Warrick Brown said.
"Oh it is," I grinned at him.
"I'm probably the only one who didn't like it." He smiled back.
"Okay, girls and boys, back to business. You want to tell us why we're here?" Nick asked.
"Follow me, it might be better to explain it back at my office." I got back in my car and led the way back to my house. Warrick pulled the Tahoe in behind me.
"Your office is in your house?" Warrick asked incredulously.
"Yeah. I got an office in the sheriffs but it's about the size of a toilet. People around here don't seem to care about evidence contamination." I opened the front door and ushered them into the sitting room where I had pushed back the couch, chair and TV set to make room to spread out the evidence.
"So what do you want us to start with?" Stokes asked me. I flipped over the old pinboard that I had managed to 'borrow' from the sheriffs office. Pictures pinned up on it, each picture was accompanied by a piece of paper with side notes containing what I knew about the crimes already. I pointed to the first picture, feeling vaguely like a schoolteacher.
"Our first victim; Sheriff Daniel Modine, hit-and run, no witnesses." I said.
"Any evidence to suggest it was murder?" Warrick asked.
"A note inside chest pocket saying 'this is not the first'. At the time I didn't think much of it, wasn't even sure if the sheriff had put it there himself or not." I pointed to the next picture.
"Until Steve Preston took over as sheriff, two weeks after Preston was murdered. He was shot twice in the chest with his own gun. I found fingerprints on the gun that were not his, so far the fingerprints are still unidentified."
"You run them through AFIS?" Nick asked. I smirked a half smile at him.
"I don't have it. When I went down to the sheriffs office and asked if they had it. they looked at me like I was from a different planet. Let's just say that this place takes the term 'old fashioned' a bit to far."
"Well we have our very own personal laptop right here; we can run it through if you like." Warrick suggested.
"Really? A real computer here? You know what the locals are gonna say if they see that?" I asked in mock surprise. Nick held the laptop up in his hand and grinned at me.
"Ask us what it is?" He asked.
"Probably." I gestured to the third picture.
"Third victim Kate Preston, sister to Daniel Modine and sister-in-law to Steve Preston. The deputy who was first called to the scene thought it was suicide because she was found hung in her brothers barn. As soon as I got out there I knew that wasn't the case. Footprints found on the scene that don't match our vic's." I pointed to the next three pictures but was interrupted by Nick.
"What makes you think that it was murder?" He asked. I looked at him.
"How would you hang yourself?" I asked.
"What do you mean?"
"To tie the rope off first and then to put the noose around your neck you'd need to use your hands right?"
"Yeah." He said obviously wondering where this was going.
"Our victim was found with her arms tied together at the elbows, tied in front of her." I once again pointed to the next victims.
"She still could have done it." Nick said stubbornly.
"Yes, except for the fact that her hands had also been cut off before she died. Kind of hard to hang yourself with no hands." I said. That shut him right up.
"Laura Modine, daughter of Sheriff Modine. She was found way out of town. Her heart stopped." I pointed to the next.
"Peter, Brian and Valerie Drummond, father, son and daughter. Father and son were tied up and shot once in the head. Valerie was raped and then shot in the head, she's in the hospital in a coma and I'm not sure if she'll make it yet." Warrick frowned and I saw Nick's eyes tightening at the mention of sexual abuse, but I continued.
"I found skin under fingernails, still unidentified. The mother; Laura, has still not been found, but our next victim could be her. Female victim matches the size and approximate weight of Laura Drummond. Her face was badly disfigured and her fingertips had also been cut off, so I can't get fingerprint ID on her. I found hairs on her body, DNA that hasn't been analyzed yet."
"And finally Eoghan Edan, the doctor who did the first seven autopsies on our victims. His housekeeper found him in his home yesterday with a gunshot wound in the back, looks like a shotgun wound." I stopped and looked at them both.
"Questions?"
"Sounds like there's some kind of link, at least in the first four victims. Are you sure that Laura Modine was murdered?" Warrick asked.
"Pretty sure, yeah. Got the autopsy on that table somewhere if you want to look over it. Doc Edans said that her blood was like sludge. Her heart was pumping blood that resembled treacle around her body, eventually the heart just gave up."
"That doesn't mean she was murdered." Warrick looked up from the table where he was searching for the autopsy report.
"She wasn't tied up; she was found very close to the main road into town. I don't think that was where she died though, figure she was kept somewhere else for a while and when she died they dumped her body. If she'd died where her body was found, died of natural causes that is, she could have gone up to the road and waved someone down. There was nothing else that Edans could find on her. People come in and out on that road all the time and people around here still stop if they see someone in trouble." I told him.
"Okay," Nick said slowly.
"Why were we sent here?"
"Up to the Drummond murders I thought that there was some kind of plan to the murders, figured it was probably someone with a beef against the Sheriff's and their families. Now I'm not so sure. None of the Drummonds are related to anyone on this side of the law. Locals are getting nervous, they don't know who's next on the list so the Mayors been riding me to find this guy and I figure two heads; or three in this case, are better than one. I had our good Mayor call your boss who I had an interview with two weeks ago he said if I needed anything else in the meantime to 'not hesitate to call' I just had the mayor pass the message along, took a little persuading though…" I trailed off shrugging.
"So how'd you persuade him?" Nick asked.
"I told him that if he didn't then these crimes would probably never be solved. I mean if I had the time then I might be able to, but I don't."
"Why not? Interview for what?" Warrick asked.
"When I said questions I meant about these murders, but seeing as how ya'll are gonna find out anyway. The interview was for a job, this time next week I'll be joining you in the bright lights of Las Vegas."
"We can always use more help." Nick said.
"Well I was kind of banking on that. Main reason I want to get out of here isn't because of these murders though. I only came here about ten months ago. The first eight and a half months I got called to a cattle hustling, a DUI and a store robbery and those pass for exciting stuff around these parts. This town has very little crime in it. I only started earning what they pay me when these murders started, the rest of the time I sit around twiddling my thumbs waiting for something interesting to happen and that gets kinda boring after…oh about five minutes." I smiled at him.
"Well if what your after is more work then Vegas is the place to go." Warrick said.
"The other reason why I called in some help is that in towns like this they usually hire someone who's right out of college and I don't think that's something a newbie should get straight off, especially if their working on their own."
"How old are you?" Warrick asked.
"Getting a little nosey now aren't you?" I smiled letting him know I was kidding.
"I'm twenty seven; I had a bit of a late start."
"Why?" Asked Nick.
"Now you are getting personal." I said in a deadly calm voice. I was no longer smiling; I didn't like people digging for information, not about me anyway.
"Sorry." He muttered. I nodded to let him know it was already forgotten.
"So here's the deal, I figure we should split up the murders between us. You guys need any extra info just ask. Nick you take the Drummonds and Warrick you get Laura Modine, our unidentified woman and the doc?" I suggested. I saw Nick glance at me uneasily.
"Mind if we switch?" He asked.
"You can switch with Warrick if you want." I replied.
"I meant change with you." He said. I shook my head negatively.
"I'm not going to do the Drummonds," I said in a voice of steel, I wasn't going to be railroaded into taking a case of attempted murder and more importantly of sexual molestation of a child. I looked at Warrick, one eyebrow raised in question.
"Do you mind changing with Nick?"
"Nope," he replied. I looked back at Nick.
"Then there's no problem, is there?" I asked pleasantly. He shook his head.
"I guess not." He sighed. I smiled angelically.
"Good, let's get to work then. Warrick, I've already taken all the evidence off the girl that should be needed. If you need anymore she's down in the hospital which is just next to the sheriffs office, room 42." I told him. He nodded once. It seemed easier to refer to her as a girl rather than using her actual name, if I did that then it would mean that I thought of her as a person. Don't get me wrong; I knew Valerie Drummond was a person; I just didn't want to admit that some sick asshole could do that to a child. Warrick dragged a seat over to the small table that was totally devoted to the Drummonds. I pointed to the only other chair in the room.
"Take a seat, Nick." I headed for the kitchen table and the only other hard backed chair in the house, but paused.
"Do either of you guys want a coffee or something?" I asked. Both glanced up from what they were doing.
"I'll take a coffee, black, no sugar, thanks." Warrick said. Nick was looking at me strangely.
"Let it not be said I don't at least try to be a good host." I said. He shook his head, as if trying to clear it.
"I wasn't thinking that." He said. I smiled at him a little embarrassed by my earlier behaviour.
"Listen I'm sorry about my little…temper tantrum. Didn't mean to bite your head of or nothing, I just get a little pissed off at things like that." I said. He smiled back, showing perfectly white teeth.
"Believe me I understand, it's already forgotten about." He said.
"Cool, you want anything?" I asked
"Coffee, same as Warrick's." He replied, returning to his work. I nodded and returned to the kitchen, switched the kettle on and took out two cups, then the coffee jar. Which is where she ran into some trouble.
"I don't suppose you guys want tea instead do you?" I called. A moment later Nick appeared at my shoulder.
"What's the problem?" He asked.
"I don't drink coffee myself, so I just buy the instant variety for visitors and such. But it hasn't been used as, so now I have a coffee jar with a solid lump of instant coffee powder stuck in it. Tea isn't all that bad."
"What kind of tea do you have?"
"The ordinary kind."
"That's good, probably. Hey Warrick, you want tea instead?" He called.
"What kind?" Warrick called back.
"Ordinary." Nick said.
"You don't have any fruit or herbal?" Warrick asked.
"Not in this town. I just got ordinary, do you want it or not?" I asked.
"Yeah."
"Is he always so choosey?" I asked Nick. He just grinned and shrugged.
"What did you say?" Warrick called.
"I asked if you wanted sugar and milk."
I rubbed my eyes tiredly. Second day at this and still I had nothing else to go on. I looked at the others.
"Any luck?" I asked them. Warrick sat back tiredly shaking his head.
"Nada," Nick said.
"It would probably help if I had autopsies on the last two." He added.
"Believe me, Nick, I've tried. But Doc Edan's was the one doing the post mortems and since he was murdered no one wants to take over the job, they're afraid they'll be next." I shrugged apologetically.
"What about testing DNA from our unidentified against one of the Drummond children?" Warrick suggested. I nodded my head towards the corner of the table he was working on.
"I already tried that with Brian Drummond, no match. If your going to try it with…the other one than your going to have to go down to the hospital. I'll go with you." I stood up. Warrick was shaking his head negatively.
"That won't be necessary." He said.
"Unfortunately it probably will. Folks round these parts are pretty territorial and when something like this happens in the midst they got very protective. When I went down there the first time it was only marginally easier than getting into Fort Knox. If you go down there on your own they'll probably kick-" I was interrupted by the laptop beeping, Nick leaned over it.
"We got a match on those prints you found. David Simmons, got a record for robbery. You know him?" He looked at me. The name rang a bell and I paused a moment to try to remember from where.
"Yeah, we brought him in my first week here for possession of an unlicensed firearm and narcotics. Took three deputies to bring him down after he hit one of them. They let him off with a warning though," I closed my eyes remembering that moment and something struck me as odd about him being out guy. I leaned in over him and typed in another name.
"Eric Simmons?" Nick asked.
"Who's he?" Warrick put in.
"David's brother. From what I've heard these two don't go anywhere without the other." The computer beeped again.
"Simmons, Eric. Arrested in Miami for assault with a deadly weapon, released on good behaviour. Arrested in New Orleans for suspicion of rape, released due to lack of evidence." I read out loud.
"Sounds like our guys." Warrick said.
"Yeah, but…" I trailed off. Nick picked up where I left off.
"We still need to try and identify our unidentified." He said. I nodded in agreement then looked at Warrick.
"How about we drop you off at the hospital I introduce to the nurses and you get what you need to. Nick and I'll head over to the sheriffs office then head out to visit the Simmons." I suggested to him. He took a moment to mull the idea over.
"Seems the fastest way. Once I'm done there I'll come back here and run those tests myself. If I find anything I'll let you know." He said. I wrote down my phones number and gave it to him.
"One car?" Nick asked.
"Yeah, does the maniac get to drive?" I asked.
"Maniac?" He asked. I nodded in Warricks direction.
"What?" Warrick asked innocently.
"Don't play the innocent with me; I saw your driving already. Good thing though, people aren't going to get in your way if you drive like that." I smirked at him just a little.
$$$$$$$$$
I walked into the hospital with Warrick, we didn't get very far before one of the nurses at the desk stopped us.
"Miss Matthews," she nodded to me politely, then glared at Warrick as thought he had threatened her in some ways.
"And you are?" She snapped.
"This is Warrick Brown a Crime Scene Investigator from Vegas. I called in some help from there. He'll be taking over for me on the Drummonds. He's just here to get something that I missed in my original search." I said smoothly. She continued to glower at him for a moment, looked closely at the ID chain slung around his neck, and then turned her eyes back to me.
"Well if he's a friend of yours, Miss Matthews." She said eventually.
"He is and we'd both appreciate it if you could give him whatever help he needs." I said. Her eyes widened a little.
"Are you close to catching the S.O.B who did this?" She asked. I glanced at Warrick who shrugged, letting me take the lead.
"I can't say just yet, ma'am, but we're doing our best." I replied.
"I'd better head back outside to Nick before even more people start to recognise him. I'll see you later." I hurried back to the Tahoe that we had come in. Warrick was going to head back to my house, I'd given him a key, something I; under normal circumstances, wouldn't do. I don't trust people easily. But I had a feeling about him.
Nick was sitting in the Tahoe drumming his fingers impatiently on the dashboard.
"Let's go," I said as soon as I got in the passenger side. He nodded once, put the Tahoe in gear and we headed in the direction of the Sheriffs office. I had already rung ahead and three patrol cars; all the cars that Tumbleweed had, with two officers apiece were already ready to go. Nevertheless we got out and Nick and I gave them a brief rundown of what we had found. These guys were as eager to catch these guys as we were. The deputy that had been my 'guard' at the unidentified crime scene handed me the warrants already signed by the only judge in town. I read over them just to make sure that everything was in order, the last thing I wanted was for these guys to walk on a technicality.
"Alright," I said.
"Let's go hunting." I climbed back in the Tahoe and Nick followed the patrol cars. It took us less than five minutes to get to the Simmons place. A young girl; no more than seven, sat on the front steps, she glanced up as the entourage of patrol cars pulled up in the driveway and ran into the small shack like house. A moment later Eric and David Simmons came out. David Simmons held a shotgun pointed at the ground. Nick looked over at me as I got out of the Tahoe, he didn't have to say anything though, I already had my gun in hand.
"David Simmons, we have a warrant for your arrest." One of the deputies called.
"Yeah?" Eric Simmons called back.
"What for?"
"The murder of Sheriff Steve Preston." The deputy answered. He was an older guy, in his late thirties I'd guess and before coming back to his hometown of Tumbleweed he had been a cop in New York. He knew what he was doing.
"Where's your evidence?" David Simmons called. Just then the girl came out to join them. Eric looked at her sharply.
"Go back in the house, Casey." He snapped.
"But-" she started. His hand came up and he hit her across the back of her head.
"Now!" He snapped. My jaw tightened at seeing him hit the girl, his sister I guessed.
"Eric Simmons!" I called, walking forward the warrant for him held before in one hand the gun still in the other.
"You are under arrest on suspicion of murder." He turned away from his now crying sister to glare at me.
"Who the hell are you!"
"A smartmouth CSI." His brother told him.
"Those are big feet." I noted out loud. Eric looked down as his feet and he smirked at me.
"Suspicion don't mean shit!" He yelled. Just then my phone rang interrupting our yelling match.
"Matthews," I answered. I listened for a few moments, then hung up. I smirk I gave him in return had no humour in it.
"Suspicion just changed to concrete evidence, Mr Simmons." I said.
"You remember Laura and Valerie Drummond? They both had your DNA on them and you are under arrest for murder." The deputies handcuffed them and loaded them into back of patrols cars while a female deputy took the girl with her.
"How'd we match DNA to them?" Nick asked me, leaning across the bonnet of the Tahoe. I smiled sweetly at him.
"That was Warrick, he ran the DNA against records that already exist, the MDPD keeps very good records, including DNA records which match the skin found under Valeries fingernails and the hairs found on Laura Drummond are previously unidentified." I replied.
"How do we match them to the rest though?" He asked. I held up the shotgun that David Simmons had been holding.
"I'm willing to bet that this shotgun matches the one that Docs Edans was killed with. You read the files on Laura Modine, she had a handprint on her that left enough of an impression for me to get something useful, he held her so tightly that one of them left epithelial cells on her that weren't hers. Footprints in the barn where Kate Preston was found were a little strange looking to me; you notice how David Simmons walked with a slight limp?" He nodded.
"That's why they looked weird. Tire tracks near where Daniel Modine was found which will match their truck." I pointed at a very dilapidated looking truck nearby.
"You sound pretty sure." He said, one eyebrow raised.
"The evidence never lies, Nick." I said.
"You sound like Grissom." He muttered.
"Perish the thought." I shook my head once. He laughed as he got back into the Tahoe.
He pulled into the driveway of my house, I got out and Warrick got in after loading all their equipment first. I leaned in his car window.
"I'll be seein you gentlemen next week." I said. Nick grinned across at me, showing of those white teeth of his again.
"I'm looking forward to it." He said.
"Enjoy your last week in Dodge." Warrick added.
"Not anymore it isn't." I smiled, my mobile phone trilled and I stepped back from the Tahoe for a moment, talking quietly into it.
"Yeah, thank you, Ma'am. I'll be down there as soon as possible." I hung up. I looked back in at them.
"No rest for the wicked." I said.
"New case?" Asked Warrick.
"No, another part of the old one. I asked to be called if Valerie Drummond woke up so I could go down and talk to her, and…well she just did."
"Well that's good." He said.
"Maybe," I looked up at the sky sadly.
"Only now someone's gonna have to tell her that her whole families dead and she has to deal with the memories of what they did to her and that's going to be with her the rest of her life." I looked back at them both, in Warricks eyes I saw some sadness to, in Nicks I saw something like understanding, almost as if he knew exactly what I was talking about.
"Anyway, like I said. I'll see you both next week. Drive carefully." I nodded to them both.
"Hey, you want a lift down there?" Nick asked. I shook my head.
"Think I'm going to walk, give me some time to think."
"Take care." Nick said.
"You to." I said. Before walking off. A moment later the Tahoe passed me.