Chapter 6
Grissom and Catherine had been warned about the smell as they approached the storage locker, but the stench still came as somewhat of a shock. It started to creep into their nostrils, as they grew closer to the entrance. When they actually crossed the threshold of the five-by-ten space, it engulfed them like a wave.
"Ahhh, nothing like the smell of rotting flesh," Grissom said.
"Yeah, it's great," Catherine replied, flatly.
They surveyed the facility as they stood in the doorway. Catherine was slightly in front of Grissom, as the single doorway didn't allow enough room for them to stand side by side. Except for the dead body half way back in to the space, it was empty. There was a pool of blood on the concrete floor from wall to wall surrounding the body and some splatter on the walls. In the blood on the floor were a few shoe prints Catherine hoped belonged to the killer and not the storage facility manager.
Catherine then began to take pictures. She then knelt down and scanned the floor for any possible evidence. She stood, taking photos for a few minutes. She knew that once she entered, there was no way to avoid the blood. After she was satisfied that she had gotten an accurate portrait, she entered. She made sure to get a few close-ups of the footprints as she walked towards the body. When she got the to it, she turned her head away. The gory body definitely reflected the fact it had been in here a while.
Grissom knelt down and took a sample of the blood on the floor. He then followed Catherine's footprints towards the body, alternating between taking his own set of pictures and scanning the floor for evidence. He stopped right behind Catherine as she started to take pictures of the body.
The body was laying face up, eyes closed, arms neatly by its side. Long dark hair was splayed on the floor all around the head. It was a petite body that still had on jeans, but no shoes. The toenails appeared painted, so both were pretty sure it was a woman. The shirt was pushed half way up the chest. There was a gaping wound on the exposed area of the body between the shirt and jeans—a deep cut right below the sternum—with bugs crawling all over it.
"We meet again, my old friends," Grissom said, kneeling down to collect some specimens.
As Catherine and Grissom collected evidence in the storage unit, Warrick was outside collecting evidence. He took pictures of the pry marks on the doorframe, the locations of the surveillance cameras, and the avenue that this particular unit was on.
He then talked to the facility manager. He found out that the building where the unit was located had just been built within the last three weeks and the security in that part of the facility had not been hooked up yet. This was disappointing; it meant no footage of the killer from the closest camera.
The facility manager was helpful, though. He informed Warrick every time someone entered, they had to enter a code, which was recorded. This created a list of everyone who entered. He then gave Warrick a list of people who had storage units and the list of people who'd been in for the last three weeks.
Back at the lab, Nick had excused himself from Alex's company. He was still on the clock and had to get back to work. Alex had stayed outside, at least for a little while longer.
She finally decided she needed to apologize to Greg and so decided to go in and find him. She stood up, dusted off her pants and entered.
It didn't take her long to find Greg. He was sitting in the break room with a sour look on his face.
"Greg," She said entering the room. "I'm so sorry."
He looked up at her. "You seem to be sorry a lot lately to a lot of people."
"I know," she agreed. "I'm just not all that thrilled about my past."
"It's not about your past," Greg told her. "It's about trust. You don't trust me, or, apparently, any one else."
The truth in Greg's word hurt. It was something she'd known, but hated to admit. "You're right." She took the seat across from Greg.
"It's not enough that I'm right," Greg replied. "I need you to trust me."
She leaned forward and reached out her hand to grab his. "I know."
He pulled his hand away. "So, be honest with me, did you do it?"
She sat back in her chair. "You have to ask?"
Greg shrugged his shoulders. "I've seen the evidence and I have to admit, there are similarities aside from the hairs."
"Similarities?" she was incredulous.
"You know I can't discuss evidence in an on-going investigation," he said, not wanting to answer her question.
"Still, even with similarities, how could you think I could do something like that?" she needed to know.
"Well," he started. "You've been through a lot recently." He paused.
"That's it?" she replied in the pause.
He sighed. "Quite honestly, if it hadn't been for the past record thing, I probably never would have thought it."
Her jaw dropped. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Well, I guess that answers the rest of my questions." She stood up and turned to walk out.
"You still haven't answered mine," he told her.
She turned back to face him, her cheeks red with anger. "If you have to ask, you don't deserve an answer."
"If you say so," he replied coldly.
She felt the tears start to well as her anger mixed with sadness. "I guess this really is good-bye, then."
"Yeah, I guess so," Greg said, his voice starting to crack.
She paused for a moment, waiting for him to say something else. When silence was all that ensued, she left. As she exited through the door, she ran into Sofia.
"Oh, sorry," she apologized as she quickly tried to wipe away any tears that had escaped.
"I was just looking for you," Sofia informed Alex. "I've got some more questions."
"Lead the way," Alex replied.
Once they were back in the interview room, Sofia started. "So, tell me about the surgical kit you have."
Ahhh, she thought. Must have something to do with the crime, Greg's similarity number one. "Well, it was a gift from my grandmother when I graduated college," Alex told her. "She was hoping I would go on to Medical school."
"Medical school?" Sofia questioned. "I thought you got a degree in accounting?"
"Dual major, actually: Biology and Accounting. Grandma wanted me to be a doctor like her father, but when I graduated I decided to go with accounting and joined the Bureau."
"Ok," Sofia responded, jotting down a note. "But why does it appear used?"
Alex sighed. "I like to dissect things for fun. It's a stress reliever for me."
"Have you ever dissected a human?" Sofia asked.
"Not since college. You can't just go out and get one of those," Alex laughed a little, trying to lighten the mood. She was concerned about where this was going.
"So you do know human anatomy?" Sofia redirected the question.
"Yeah, why?" Alex answered.
Sofia pulled some photo out of the folder in front of her and pushed them across the table to Alex. Alex was horrified but the mutilated body.
"You think I could do that?" Alex looked at Sofia.
Sofia just shrugged. "So, let's talk about your stress relief," she continued with her questioning. "We also found a bottle of Valium."
Alex pinched the bridge of her nose. She couldn't believe this was happening. "Yes, doctor prescribed," she answered.
"What for?" Sofia asked.
Alex held up her casted arm. "Kidnapped, beaten almost to the point of death, threatened with a gun. Kinda makes it hard to sleep. But I haven't taken any of those in at least six weeks. The Bureau prefers you come to work alert."
Sofia jotted down some more notes. "So, let's talk about your job at the Bureau."
"Nothing to talk about," Alex responded. "I don't work for the Bureau anymore."
"That's right," Sofia remembered. "You quit and were on vacation for the last week."
"Yes, I was in Virginia until early this morning," Alex replied.
"Yeah, funny thing about that," Sofia started. "We didn't find any receipts."
Alex let out another sigh. "Probably because I paid cash for everything. Mineral is a small town and, ironically, I hate my movements being recorded by a ton of credit card purchases. But, you can and will find me on both my flights' manifestos."
"We'll check on it. Anyone who can verify what you did in Virginia?" Sofia continued.
Alex thought for a moment. "Well, the hotel clerk can verify when I checked in and out, but other than that, I don't know if anyone saw me. I really wasn't there to visit anyone. I just had some stuff to do."
"Stuff, like what?"
"Just…personal stuff. I visited my grandmother's grave. But last time I checked, the dead weren't allowed to be alibis," she replied. Greg's doubts were becoming clearer and clearer to her and Sofia's questions were becoming more and more worrisome.
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"Did you get a DNA match?" Catherine asked Mia. They had found hairs on the latest body and had turned them over to Mia as soon as they got back.
Mia nodded, a grim look on her face. "Same as the ones from before."
"Alex?" Catherine was dumfounded.
Mia only nodded again.