Disclaimer: I do not own anything relating to CSI or it's affiliates. I am merely a fan whose would like to take already established characters into a story of my own rendering.
Burn
Chapter 6
Hoping to find someone who might have seen Jenna last, Sophia sat in the audio visual lab with several phone records looking for who she called last and comparing them to her cell phone address book.
So far, by tracing the phone numbers, Sophia was able to surmise that Jenna had called her mother in Houston a three days before the first victim, Melissa died. Not helpful. Jenna called her brother in Houston both the day that Melissa died and the day she died. Interesting.
Jenna also called someone named Jeremy Hawthorne everyday. He talked to her only about fifteen minutes, but something was making Sophia wonder.
Then it hit her! Hawthorne! Mary Hawthore was the girl in custody and a possible third victim! Sophia looked at her watch. Three thirty pm. Mary was due at the station around four with Brass and Warrick. That wouldn't give Sophia much time to compile the information she needed. She'd have to work fast.
Continuing to go through the records, she discovered that Jenna and Jeremy had spoken several times a day. Boyfriend? Possibly. Suspect? Possible. Someone to talk to? Definetly. Moving to the computer, Sophia traced Jeremy's phone number to an address.
Catherine and Grissom walked in the lab while Sophia was on the phone with Brass. He and Mary were on their way with Warrick behind them. Without saying much, Brass agreed that he'd get an APB out on Jeremy when he got to the station. Satisfied, Sophia hung up the phone and looked at the two supervisors with a smile.
"Jenna Rhimes' cell phone log contained several calls to a Jeremy Hawthorne." She announced with a small smile. She knew this might be their first break in the case.
"That's the same last name as out possible thirds vic, right?" Catherine asked.
"Right. Mary Hawthorne is on her way here and Warrick and I will make sure we mention it to her while Brass find Mr. Hawthorne. Other than that, there wasn't much to learn. She had a few dates on her cell calender but nothing that stood out. I'll still check up on them though."
"Good work. Keep us informed of the interviews." Grissom said. He then picked up a large paper bag. "Now I've got to see a couple of people about some other evidence.
Grissom and Catherine made their way through the halls and into the garage, where Nick and Sara had set up two large tables. One was filled with evidence that was separated and labeled from the first crime scene. The second was filled with evidence from the second crime scene. It appeared that each CSI had taken a table and they were carefully sifting through the contents, looking for clue.
However, at the moment, they were taking a break, sitting close to each other and comparing reports that were in their hands. Gil felt jealous again. It was becoming a habit. He and Sara were going to have to talk. Soon.
"You're going to need a third table." Catherine said smiling as she took the paper bag from Grissom and held it up for them to see. "We just got back from Melissa Rogers' house."
Nick and Sara were startled, neither of them hearing their supervisors come in. Feeling like two kids getting caught kissing behind the bleachers, they both jumped up out of the chairs and maneuvered theirselves behind a separate table.
Sara quickly recovered, looking at her table. "OK. I've got a space here in the corner right now. Set it there and we'll get to it soon."
"What do you have so far?" Grissom asked.
Nick and Sara looked at each other. By their mental conversation, it was decided that Nick should go first. This bothered Grissom, but it didn't show on his face. Nick looked up at his supervisors. "Since we're already talking about Melissa Rogers, we'll start with me." He looked down as to indicate the evidence that was collected, "Besides the bedsheets, we've been able to determine that Melissa touched a few things in the house. Most not relevant, but this candle is interesting."
With a gloved hand, he held up a large green candle that smelled like a pine forest. The wick had been burned at least once, but Nick turned the candle on it's side and showed a perfect fingerprint near the top. "It looks like it might have been made when the candle was burning. The fingerprint doesn't match the two victims or Mary Hawthorne. We're still running it through AFIS."
"The other thing that's interesting." Sara chimed in, "Is that we went back to look at the bodies. Doc Robbins indicated on a few burns near the chest area appeared to have some green wax near them. Since they were in the burn itself, it was easy to miss the at first. Nick and I have been able to match the wax to the candle on five of the burns, all on the chest."
Nick took over again, "Right. We've also gotten the cigarettes back from Melissa's mouth and we found a fingerprint on one of them. It matches the fingerprint on the candle."
"So we're looking for the owner of the fingerprint." Grissom concluded. "So that's the first vic. What about victim number two?"
"Jenna Rhimes." Sara began. "Again, we found a candle whose wax match a few burns in the chest area. This time it was ten of the burns." She held up another candle. This time it was a black candle that smelled like mulberries. "The difference is that this one didn't have a fingerprint. We didn't find anything else that was touched by either the victim or the owner of the other fingerprint. We're still waiting on the cigarettes though."
"Sounds like the killer is getting careful. He might have worn gloves the second time." Catherine said. "What about the rape kits?"
"Rape kits for both victims just came back. That's what we were looking at when you came in." Sara said, giving Grissom a meaningful look. But Gil's nonchalant gaze never faltered, despite his inward feelings of feeling silly. Sara continued, "Both only had one donor. The donors match. However, the clock test failed. No signs of rape. Nick has a theory that this might have started out consensual."
"Including the burns." Nick added, "I remembered the cases a while back that dealt with Lady Heather. I think we need to talk to her."
The sound of a former suspect and a brief love affair finally made Gil Grissom's face become human with an emotion that could only be intreperted as regret. "I'll pay her a visit while we wait on the rest of the evidence to come in." He said finally.
Sara saw the look and a understood. She understood everything. The other three in the room all understood that apparently there had been something between them that had gone sour at some point. All their suspicions were revealed. Gil Grissom had a life outside of work. At least for a little while.
"We'll continue with what we have here." Nick said giving Sara a nudge with his shoulder. They would talk later.
Catherine, who was looking betrayed, finally caught herself. "I'll go get that warrant for Mary Hawthorne's house as we can see if the killer might have already been there."
"OK." Grissom said, recovering from his brief thoughts of regret. "Let us know if you find anything more."
"Will do boss." Nick said.
Catherine and Grissom walked out of the garage, leaving the Nick and Sara to get back to work.
Sara started going through the contents of the bag Catherine had placed on her table while Nick opened up another table to organize the contents on. "That was weird. I mean, I kinda thought something might have happened between them, but I never thought Grissom would compromise a case like that."
"From the looks on his face, I'd say he stopped it as soon as she became a suspect." Sara said, trying to sound objective and not jealous.
Nick knew better. "It's not my place, but I think you need to get over him."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Sara said. She was terrible at lieing and it was obvious.
This only made Nick smile, "You know what I'm talking about. You deserve someone better. Someone who can give you what you need."
"Who?" Sara said with a flirty smile. "You?"
Nick blushed. "Hey, you can't get any better than Nick Stokes."
"I see." Sara laughed slightly, causing her words to quiver. "I think my personal life is none of your business for one thing. Secondly, I'll choose who I want to date and who I want to obsess over."
"That's fine." Nick put his hands up in the air as if to surrender. "I'm just saying that you can't get any better than me."
The two exchanges flirtatious smiles before going back to work.