We now get deeper into the scene to collect evidence. Will it shine light on what happened? Having seen the CSI season finale, I thought I'd take a Quentin Tarantino angle and write myself in for a brief cameo. It's suppose to be a bit whimsical.
CSI Hawaii
Tantalus – Tuesday Evening
The rest of the crime scene team arrived as the night deepened while officers ushered vehicular passersby up and down the street, keeping the curious away. A jovial-looking, rotund man led four other techs over to the wall, where Lisa was conducting an initial survey with a powerful maglight to locate any evidence.
"Howdy," the man said, introducing himself in a relaxed southern drawl, getting Lisa's attention.
"John Simmons, howyadoin?" she declared in her New York accent at the familiar face. They quickly shook hands as the other techs began setting up floodlights. A muscular man raised poles while a thin brunette strung cables and power cords.
When the task was done, John motioned over to the young tech. "Okay Alice, power it up."
Lights bathed the area in powerful illumination, giving a better view of the body. Gil Grissom and Wesley DeMello had just come back over the wall and went to discuss their findings with Rob and Hank. Gil described the scene and his initial impressions. "Getting the body off of that slope is going to be tricky. Do you have air support?"
Rob nodded. "Yeah, but not until daylight. We'll have the chopper up then."
Hank shrugged. "Well, we're not going anywhere for a while. Okay, I've established our entry and exit point. Anyone coming or going signs in and out. All evidence comes here to me, where I'll log it in. I made a call and some of the boys are bringing water and pizza. However, you only eat and drink over there. I don't want anyone getting contaminated."
Gil made a wry grin, thinking of all of the water bottles and cold pizza he had gone through doing similar scenes; it seemed to be the standard of nourishment throughout the US for this type of work.
Detective Taniguchi then looked to Wesley and Gil. "I'm lead on the investigation. My partner will be here soon as we like to work in pairs. Wes, this is your scene. Gil, please back him up."
They broke from the huddle and Wes waved at Lisa, who was taking photos of the wall. "Lisa, bring two techs with you. We're going back down."
John took over the photography as Lisa brought the two young techs over and showed Wes a log sheet. "I've jotted down our arrival time, persons present, and weather conditions. Anytime you're ready, Padawan," she said, using Wes' nickname.
They swapped out Tyvek booties and gloves and proceeded back down. In the ensuing hours, they collected dirt samples, shoe impressions, and insects. Wesley plucked various maggots with a long tweezers and handed them to Lisa, who put them in a bowl. The FBI agent looked over to the young brunette. "Alice, take the maggots…go dump them in hot liquid until they float and then put them in a fifty percent alcohol solution. That will preserve them. Keep a few out as live samples. I suppose the can eat pizza."
The young woman scurried back up the hill and looked around for something hot and she zeroed in on Detective Taniguchi, who was drinking coffee.
"Excuse me sir, is that coffee hot?"
"Nice and toasty, young lady."
Without another word, Alice plucked the cup out of his hands and dumped half the maggots into the coffee.
Rob's eyes widened, aghast. "What are you doing with my coffee?"
"Sorry sir, I needed to burn off the outer layer of the maggots so they can be preserved," she said with an apologetic grin. As the maggots floated back up, she hurried off to make the solution...and find pizza.
Back down the hill, Gil was catching flies with a net and stuffing them in a container designed to kill them with chemicals while Wes and Lisa examined the wounds on the body. "Looks like a puncture wound to the groin and one to the throat," voiced DeMello. "Since he got serviced, probably up there, I'm guessing the killer came down to get his keys and wallet afterward."
"Hmmm, maybe those shoe impressions will yield some useful information," commented Lisa. "At first glance, the molds appear to be consistent with a woman's foot. What do you think, this guy was a john and the deal went bad?"
Gil cocked his head, pondering the evidence. "I'm not so sure; johns would tend to dress discretely, not wanting to be noticed, but this guy wanted to stand out. Also, the shoes look like some kind of tenny loafers based on the tread pattern, not what you'd expect in a prostitute."
With that, Alice returned down the hill. "John wanted to pass along that he's found blood, semen, and a broken press-on fingernail. Oh, and Lisa, you owe Detective Taniguchi a cup of coffee."
Gil looked up to see John scraping and swabbing the wall above. It seemed that his theory of the crime was correct thus far. Now, if a motive and a suspect could be uncovered….
Flashing lights heralded the arrival of personnel from the Medical Examiners. At the Evidence Control Point, Hank's box was rapidly filling up as he filled out chain of custody forms.
Rob marched over to the ME investigators. "I was planning on waiting for a chopper tomorrow morning, but what do you think?"
One investigator looked over the rock wall. "We have a basket and a winch. All we need is the manpower to guide it."
The detective looked at his watch; it was well past midnight. "Yeah, let's do it." He looked down the hill and called, "Wes, we're sending a basket down. Can you guys guide it up?"
"That might be best. A chopper might blow evidence away. Send it down."
Robs partner, Detective Ah Lo, escorted the cradle down the brightly lit slope. With the team members below, they gently laid the body in a body bag strapped to the basket.
"Okay, start the winch!" yelled Wesley and they walked the corpse back up the hill.
As they crested the rock wall, several vans pulled up at the perimeter and camera men got out. Rob shook his head. "Damn media. Now the circus begins."