Chapter 2: The Evidence
MIAMI-DADE PD FORENSIC DIVISION
Horatio stood in the layout room. A plethora of pictures occasionally interrupted by a piece of clothing lay scattered across the evidence table. This was some of the evidence Caine had to work with.
Calleigh walked in the door for an assignment and stared at the spectacle that lay before her.
"What's the new assignment, H?" she asked.
"This one," Horatio replied, "It's this lab's only priority for the time being. Let every one know that all other cases are frozen until we solve this one."
"Yes, sir," Calleigh said on her way out.
(MONOLOGUE: HORATIO into tape recorder.)
"It looks like some of the books were purposefully pulled from the shelves. The books entitled Hellsing wereon a shelf that was untouched by the ransacking, yet they lay on the floor with the rest of the books. She could have possibly pulled them off, maybe to send a message. There's one open to a certain page. 'May your soul be cast into eternal damnation. Amen.' Who ever this person was McLadden severely disliked him or her."
Horatio stopped the tape recorder with a small click. The interruption was Ryan Wolf standing patiently just outside of the glass door. Wolf new better than to interrupt Horatio when he was working like that. Seeing that Horatio had stopped Ryan opened the door and stepped in.
"May I help you Mr. Wolf?" Caine asked.
"This missing girl from this morning," Ryan said, " is she cute?"
"That's all in the eye of the beholder and immaterial to this case," Horatio replied
"Just tell me if you think she's cute," Wolf demanded with an evil grin on his face.
"What's all this about?" Caine asked.
"Just tell me," Ryan said.
"Fine…yes," Horatio replied.
"Then I may have found her whereabouts. A young woman who claims to be Angel McLadden was checked into a hospital two hours ago," Wolf said.
"What did they find on her person?" Caine asked.
"Um…" Ryan said consulting a file, "a nine millimeter, a Chicago library card, and a contact lens case."
"Hmm…Would she have kept her library card?" Horatio asked of no one in particular, "We should follow up on this lead. If any thing else comes up call me."
"But," Ryan said, " why do you get to go to the hospital for the follow up?"
"Because I'm the only person who can willingly identify her currently," Caine replied.
"Can…" Wolf began
"No, I need you here to process," Horatio said as he walked out the door.
(The Hospital)
A young woman twiddling her thumbs resided in the room Horatio entered.
"Bonjour," Caine said.
"Bonjour, ça va?" the girl asked
"Comment ça va. Et toi?" he replied.
"Ca va," she shrugged.
(my computer doesn't do the accents I need T-T)
"Je suis Lieutenant Horatio Caine. Comment tu t'appelle?" Caine asked.
"Je suis Detective Angel McLadden," the girl replied.
"Vraiment?" Horatio said.
"Mai oui," Angel said.
"Est-çe que tu as aux jeux vidéo?" he asked
"J'aime jouer au Marvel Nemesis," McLadden replied.
"Est-çe que tu as ma entier nom?" Horatio asked
"Mai oui. Tu as Horatio Matthew Caine," she said.
(Translation)
(H: hello
A: hello, how are you
H: so so and you
A: ok
H: I'm Lieutenant Horatio Caine. What's your name?
A: I'm Detective Angel McLadden
H: Really?
A: Of course
H: What's your favorite video game?
A: Marvel Nemesis
H: What's my full name
A: It's Horatio Matthew Caine.)
"It's nice to see you again Angel," he said," but, I have to ask you some…"
Caine's phone interrupted his sentence. He removed it from his belt and found it to display "Calleigh".
"Caine," he said
'The bullets you found are from a service issue nine millimeter," came Calleigh's voice, "and the blood is hers and an unknown male. The two samples have one allele in common, so we're looking for her father or son."
"Thanks," Horatio said just before he closed the phone and replaced it on his belt.
"Can you think of anyone who might want to do this?" Horatio asked.
"Micheal McLadden," Angel replied.
"I noticed there was no vehicle in your parking spot. Do you know where it is?" Caine inquired.
"In the parking lot here. The asshole stole my Nissan, dropped it here, and left," Angel said. Her voice was so toxic it had a pH of –5 (obviously not possible but,it gets my point across).
"What color is it?" H asked
"Dark blue," she winced. Her back had been getting stiff so she tried to move and was oblivious to her wound. She had put direct pressure on it.
"Are you O.K.?" he inquired.
"If I was would I be here?" Angel retorted.
"Good point. Umm…Did you pull some of the books of the shelf?" Caine inquired.
"You noticed that, did you? Well, nice eye. What else did you find out of place?" McLadden interrogated.
"Didn't have time for much else," Horatio explained. "I was hoping you could fill in some of the blanks for us."
"All I remember is he broke down the door, screamed and hit me in the back of the head with what felt like a slapjack," Angel grimaced.
"A… slapjack?" H asked.
"Yeah, and the next thing I remember is throwing one of my hardback books at him to stop him from leaving." She said.
"Which one?" he asked
"Uhh…one of my Shakespeare novels…" Angel closed her eyes. " It was McBeth."
"I don't think I saw that one at your house," H responded.
"Do you think you could fill in some of my memory from what you see or saw?" McLadden asked.
" It looks like you fought him tooth and nail," he said nodding to her hands. "He cold cocked you into submission and bound your wrists together with something with an adhesive, possibly duck tape. Possible violation with an object, if he's like most aggressors."
"No violation," she said. "That's not his thing."
"You've dealt with him before?" Caine asked.
"Lived with Him for eighteen years," Angel informed him. "And he's in CODIS. Check it out."
"No, I have to collect your evidence first." Horatio said
Lieutenant Caine returned to the bureau with a case full of more evidence. After assigning his people to certain tasks, Caine returned to the layout room and his tape recorder. He worked at the evidence before him diligently until his page went off some two hours later. The display read "Eric".
Horatio made his way over to the DNA lab where Delko was stationed for the time being. "What do you have for me?"
"Exactly what she said we would," the CSI replied. "I took the liberty of looking to see if this guy had a rap sheet. It was longer than most I've seen. He was arrested twice. Once in nineteen seventy and again in nineteen ninety-two. He's been convicted twice one on child abuse and battery and the other one on B&E and child abuse. The same little girl testified against him in both cases. He has seven listed aliases including Burt Ramsey."
That struck a nerve in Horatio. He had met Burt Ramsey on a case seven years ago as a liaison from Chicago PD. The liaison should have been Angel but she was wrapped up in a "red ball case" as they called them in Chicago. It was a high priority case. Although, she did keep an internet correspondence with Caine so she was still a big help to him on an intellectual level. Ramsey was virtually useless on the case.
"He's committed every known felony except rape and murder." Delko continued. "He's wanted in every state from here to Ohio. Oh, and he has an outstanding warrant in Miami for insurance fraud. Who did you say this guy was to McLadden again?"
"Family," H grunted on his way out.
He was half way to his office when Calleigh flagged him down from the ballistics lab.
"Boss, the bullets match the gun you collected from McLadden."
"Yeah, it figures. Everything else was in her possession…but I do need to follow up on one piece." H said off hand.
Caine entered his office in remote silence. He closed the door to keep the quiet for an important phone call. H was going to call Angel and ask her about the slapjack. The call confirmed his suspicions. The slapjack was hers.
At the same time he hung up a soft knock came at his door. Ryan stepped into his office with a report in his hands.
"That the report from the car?" the Lieutenant asked.
"Yeah, the car is cleaner than new." Wolf replied.
"Thanks for your hard work, Ryan," H sighed.
End of chapter. I would like to take this time to quote a well-known character from history.
"With a scientific third degree, the master criminalist makes the physical evidence talk, wringing confessions from blood, guns, narcotics, hair, fibers, metal slivers, tire marks, tool marks, and bullets."- Jack Webb.
Thank you for making it to the end of chapter two.