What a nightmare.
Someone I put on death row about five years ago has been granted a stay of execution.
And while they were in prison, their crime was copied.
I just hate copy-cats.
They copy-cat has saved an evil psychopath from the needle.
The man is guilty, I know it.
There is no way he can be innocent.
The case was originally mine… I remember it quite well, but only because it was so brutal.
--- FLASHBACK ---
I walked through the door to the cool modern beach house, not knowing what to expect.
Megan had decided that I was to be the primary CSI on that particular case and that she would take a back-seat in the investigation.
I reached the living room of the beach house and froze in shock.
The scene in front of me was the most violent I'd ever seen.
The work of a cold-blooded killer.
In the centre of the room was a pool of congealed blood, a dark stain against the light floor.
Laying in the blood was a body, a woman with bounds hands and feet. There was also duct tape around her mouth.
From her body position, I made a guess then and there that she had been raped, almost sadistically, before being bludgeoned to death.
The room that was in front of me was so filled with horrors that I daren't cross the threshold.
After standing there, stunned, for a minute or two, I felt a hand on my arm.
It was Megan.
"Speed? Are you okay with this crime scene? I mean, I… I could be the primary on this one if you'd prefer it."
I could see a slight feeling of worry in Megan's face. This scene was fazing her slightly as well.
I know that Megan has seen a lot of things during her time at the crime lab and it takes a lot scare her.
Instantly this scene became slightly more difficult for me to cope with.
Which made my determined to do so.
I swallowed before replying.
"No. I want this one. I'll be fine."
I nodded to reassure myself.
Megan nodded too before walking away, leaving me to document the scene in photo form.
--- END FLASHBACK ---
I remember that scene as if it were yesterday.
It was my first time working as a primary CSI and I think it was the hardest case I've ever been assigned to.
Not because it was a difficult case to solve, but because the crime was so terrible that it almost left me with psychological scars.
And now I have to see it all again.
--------------------
I was glad when the scene had been processed and I could leave the beach house.
I didn't want to spend any more time in there.
The old case had been opened alongside the current one, comparing evidence and theories.
Ryan Wolfe was assigned to reviewing the evidence on the old case.
My case.
He found Eric and Calleigh comparing evidence in the corridor and decided to talk to them.
"Who was the primary on this case five years ago?"
The two of them looked at each other uneasily and Eric told him.
"Tim Speedle."
Eric was scowling and Ryan was looking slightly worried.
I could easily imagine them breaking into a fight right there in the CSI department.
Luckily, they didn't.
Calleigh stepped between them at just the right moment to prevent such a thing from happening.
After giving both Eric and Ryan a scowl, they both went back to what they had been doing.
Calleigh. Peacemaker.
After both the guys had left, she also went back to what she had been doing, shaking her head a little at the almost fight that had just happened.
--------------------
Not long after that, the criminal was dead.
Not because of the needle. He killed himself by eating peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches.
His peanut allergy killed him.
Well, good riddance.
I think that's the first time I've wished death on someone else, but he really deserves it.
--------------------
After their shifts finished, Eric and Calleigh had a drink together for the first time in a long while.
They sat at a corner table in a quite bar with their drinks and chatted.
Eric told Calleigh about his sister's new daughter and Calleigh told Eric about her planning to visit San Francisco in the near future.
They talked about everything they could think of, other than work, for as long as they could. When all the other conversation topics had run dry, however, Eric remembered something Ryan had said to him earlier in the day.
"Calleigh… do you like Ryan?"
"He's okay I suppose. Why?"
Eric sighed.
"I don't like him. And today… with Speedle's old case… He's been driving me crazy."
"What did he do?" asked Calleigh, concerned.
"It wasn't so much what he did… more what he said. He found the cobalt on the axe and came to tell me. I don't know… I think it was the way he said that really annoyed me. It was like he was saying "I found things that your friend didn't!", Y'know?"
Calleigh took another sip of her drink before answering.
"Is that why you were arguing?"
"No. This all happened after the argument. He told me that 'he can't compete with a dead man'. All because I pointed out that Speed didn't have the axe when he was doing his investigation."
When Calleigh didn't say anything, Eric went on.
"I know you found Wolfe easier to accept than I did because you weren't as close to Speed as I was…"
Eric trailed off and an emotion flickered across Calleigh's face.
Could it have been regret?
"To Speedle," she said, holding out her glass.
Eric looked taken aback, but he also picked up his glass, clinked it against hers.
"To Speedle," he agreed.