Chapter Six
The next morning, Nick woke feeling refreshed. He had regained some of the confidence that had been worn away by the frustration of the case. After a good night's sleep, he felt prepared to attack the case with fresh eyes.
Nick didn't quite understand it, but this case had him on edge. He was feeling an intense desire to prove himself. Perhaps it had to do with Victoria's premise, which was still lingering at the back of his mind. Before collapsing into bed last night, he had spent the better part of an hour reminiscing about his high school days, wondering what had happened to his old buddies. He wondered if his old classmates spent as much time dealing with their old high school insecurities as he had the tendency to do every now and then.
He grabbed a quick bite to eat before stepping out his front door. As he did so he felt his foot collide with something. Nick looked down and saw a package lying on his doormat.
He stooped down to pick it up, but hesitated when he saw what was written on it. It was addressed to CSI Stokes, not Nick. His gut told him something wasn't right and that this package should be treated delicately.
Glancing around, he saw nothing suspicious. Nothing out of the ordinary except for this package lying on his doormat. He walked to his car and opened the trunk where he kept his kit. He snapped on a pair of latex gloves and grabbed a large evidence bag. Walking back to his front door, he bent down and picked up the package, noting its weight with growing curiosity.
He stowed the evidence bag in the seat next to him and began to drive towards the lab. Every now and then, he'd steal a glance at the package as if it were a bomb that was about to go off, which he reminded himself unpleasantly, it very well could be.
Nick could feel his heart begin to pound as his mind raced with a variety of thoughts. Who had sent the package? What was inside? Did it contain evidence pertaining to the case or was it something more personal?
Arriving at the lab, he grabbed the evidence bag and made his way inside.
"Hey, partner. What'cha got there?" Warrick asked, coming alongside Nick.
"I don't know. Found it on my doorstep." Nick replied, raising it a bit higher for Warrick to see.
Warrick's eyes widened in suspicion. "Really? What do you think is in it?"
"Don't know. Wanna find out with me?" Nick gave Warrick a mischievous smile.
Together, they walked into a lab room and Nick set the package on a table. They both slipped on a pair of latex gloves. Very carefully, Nick opened the evidence bag and pulled out the package. He took the small knife that Warrick handed him and slit the package open.
Sharing an apprehensive look with Warrick, Nick stuck a hand inside the package and felt his fingers close on something metallic. He knew instinctively what it was.
"Oh man. You're not gonna believe this." Nick said as he retrieved his gloved hand. His fingers were gripping the hilt of a gun.
"Is that a nine millimeter?" Warrick asked, astounded.
Nick nodded. He gave Warrick a look. "What do you wanna bet that this is the gun that killed Jack Moyer?"
"I'd say that's a fair bet, but I don't know why you have it." Warrick replied.
"Maybe we're finally catching a break in this case." Nick said. "Let's print the gun and the envelope it came in."
And then we'll have Bobby do a test comparison of the bullets we pulled out of the victim and ones fired from this gun." Warrick finished.
The gun came back clean as it had been wiped down, so they sent it to Bobby in order for him to do a comparison of the bullets. They had more luck with the envelope as it had not been wiped down. Warrick had been able to recover some workable prints and he had been given to Jacqui who was going to run them through the database.
"Okay, say this is our murder weapon. Who turned it in and why did they leave it on your doorstep? Did the killer suddenly get struck with a guilty conscience? Did someone else find the gun, assume it was the murder weapon, and then leave it for you to find so the investigation could move forward? And why go to the trouble of wiping down the gun but be so careless as to leave your prints all over the envelope? And why leave it on your doorstep? Why not take it to the cops or bring it to the lab? It doesn't make sense." Warrick sighed heavily as he and Nick made their way to Bobby's workstation.
"Maybe someone found the gun and figured it was the murder weapon. He or she would be afraid to go to the cops because they'd want to know where the person got the gun. Rather than implicate themselves, they leave it on my doorstep trusting that I'd know what to do with it." Nick theorized.
Lab technicians were scurrying around the hallway, dodging the CSIs as they went about their way. It seemed that the typical hustle and bustle of their work had resumed. Greg darted past them with a paper clutched tightly in his hands and only allowed himself to be distracted long enough to give Nick and Warrick a nod of greeting, which they returned.
Nick continued with his thoughts. "As for the prints, maybe they were just really upset and weren't thinking clearly. People can get stupid when they're clouded by emotions. Of course, maybe the killer planted to prints in order to frame someone else before leaving it outside my front door."
Warrick furrowed his brow and refrained from uttering his thoughts about Nick's last comment. It did not sit well with him to think that a murderer was prowling around late at night outside of his friend's home. The last thing Nick needed was to have another person invading his privacy like that. Of course, danger seemed to cling to Nick like a shadow.
"And you didn't see or hear anything strange at your place last night?" Warrick asked, trying not to sound too overly concerned for his friend's safety.
"Not a thing." Nick answered. "If this person had wanted to hurt me, they wouldn't have left a loaded gun on my doormat. They would have made use of it. All this person wanted was for me to find the gun and I did."
The note of finality in Nick's voice let Warrick know it was time to drop the subject. Deep down, Warrick knew that Nick was probably right in thinking that he wasn't in any danger. It was just that Warrick couldn't help be feel a bit apprehensive given his partner's track record and he'd rather overanalyze than get caught napping and have Nick pay the price.
They found Bobby hunched over a microscope, carefully examining the object underneath it.
"Hey, Bobby! Tell us what you got!" Nick greeted the tech cheerfully as a clapped a hand on the man's shoulder.
"Why don't you see for yourself?" the man drawled as he moved aside to accommodate Nick. "The bullet on your left is the one recovered from your victim. The one on the right is from the gun that showed up miraculously on your front doorstep."
Nick peered inside the microscope and saw what he had been expecting to see. "It's a match."
He stepped aside so Warrick could take a look as Bobby stated confidently, "These bullets were definitely fired from the same gun."
Warrick lifted his head, looking satisfied.
"And in case you were wondering, the gun's unregistered. I guess you can't have everything handed to you. That'd be too easy." Bobby teased, a wide smile plastered across his face.
Nick returned the smile. "Thanks, Bobby. Great work as usual."
"My pleasure." Bobby said with a nod of his head.
A beep emanated from Warrick's waist and he grabbed his pager. He looked up at Nick, a renewed sense of excitement shown from his eyes. "It's Jacqui. We got a hit."
They quickly made their way down the hallway towards the print lab. So great was their anticipation that they almost collided with Sara who was exiting the lab.
"Slow down there, boys." she said with a playful smile.
"Sorry Sara. Hot case." Nick apologized.
"I'd except nothing less than your usual enthusiasm, Nick." She patted his arm as he slid past her into the lab.
Warrick rested his knuckles on the counter and looked at Jacqui expectantly. "You got a name for us?"
Jacqui waved a paper in her hand and deliberately gave a long sigh.
"Come on, Jacqui. You're killing us." Nick whined.
"Aw, lighten up. A girl's gotta have her fun." Jacqui smiled. "Your prints belong to one Linton Elwell. His prints are on file since he works at the Tropicana."
Warrick and Nick exchanged a meaningful look. Yes, things were finally starting to come together. If they were lucky, they'd have this case wrapped up by lunch time.
"Let's get Brass and go talk to Mr. Elwell." Warrick suggested, unable to hide his enthusiasm.
An hour later, Brass stood outside of Linton's house with the two CSIs and a warrant. He raised his fist to knock, but when it impacted against the wood, the door creaked open.
"Mr. Elwell?" Brass called out.
There was no answer.
"Las Vegas Police! Mr. Elwell, your door's open! May we come in?" he called out again.
There was still no answer.
Not liking the feeling in the pit of his stomach, Brass unholstered his gun and raised it. The detective shot the CSIs a look which clearly indicated that he was going in first and they were not about to argue. Instead, they too unholstered their guns and prepared to follow Brass inside.
Brass stepped inside the house and walked carefully through the room, his eyes peeled for any sign of movement. Nick and Warrick allowed the detective to move a few feet ahead of them before entering Linton's house. There was absolutely no sound anywhere which was slightly unsettling.
"Uh, fellas, you might want to take a look at this." Brass called from the next room.
The men followed the sound of Brass' voice into the room and stopped short. Hanging from a beam was the body of Linton Elwell.
Warrick exhaled in amazement while Nick swiped a hand across his forehead. Looking away, Nick saw a folded piece of paper on the table next to Linton's dangling form.
"Hey." Nick nodded in the direction of the note and
Warrick grabbed the pair of gloves that he had stuck in his pocket and slipped them on.
Grabbing the piece of paper, he read aloud, "I'm so sorry for what I've done. I'm sorry that I could never be the kind of man that Jack was. I'm sorry for letting the jealousy consume me. I am sorry for the weakness that has always been a part of me. I'm sorry for killing Jack. Forgive me."
Warrick glanced up at Nick with a meaningful look in his eyes. "Looks like we found our murderer."