Disclaimers: I own Bethany, nothing else.
I stopped by the trace lab before heading to talk with Stella again. The report was finished, so I picked it up and looked at the results. Barbie Doll hair? What the hell? But the IR spectrum is a perfect match. Then I remembered I was supposed to go to tox, so I headed there.
"Hey, Bethany," I said, walking into the tox lab, "would you have the report on the first synagogue DB done yet?"
She walked over to her desk and pulled the top file. "Here it is. No drugs found in the blood."
"BAC?"
"0.01, most likely arising postmortem. Even if not, he would have still been coherent."
"Well, that wasn't much of a surprise."
"Sorry I don't have anything more. I haven't been able to start on the sample from the second synagogue case."
"Can you page me when you get done?"
"Sure, it probably won't get done until tomorrow though. I've got a couple of other samples I need to run first."
"Okay, thanks," I said, leaving the lab.
----
Not finding Stella in the DNA lab, I headed to her office, but I ran into Flack on my way.
"Hey, Linds, I was looking for you and Stella."
"Well, I'm looking for Stella. I figured she was in her office. I hope you've had better luck than I have today on this case. Oh, and did you hear we have another case?"
"No, I haven't had much luck. What, another case?"
By the time I had filled Flack in, we arrived at Stella's office. Flack held the door open for me, and I told Stella, "Well, Stella, I hope you've had better luck today than we have."
"Well, I haven't had much luck either," she said.
"Damn it. This case is going nowhere." I banged my fist into the wall.
"Lindsay, calm down. We're not going to get anywhere with that frustration either," Stella said. "How about combining everything that we have, and let's see where that takes us. Okay, Lindsay, you start."
"All right. Two vics, both found near synagogues. Both with swatiskas carved into their legs, antemortem, probably by a kitchen knife. One has two and the other has three. Sid speculated that it may be how many victims so far, so it's possible there's another vic out there. Both killed by strangulation, with hands that aren't much bigger than mine."
"I tested the swab the Hammerback sent up from the first vic. No foreign DNA," Stella continued the story. "I've submitted the sample from the second vic."
Flack interrupted, "Did you try fingerprinting the neck?"
Stella answered, "Apparently Hammerback did, but found nothing useable. Lindsay, go ahead and continue."
"Wait, the victims were redressed, we should print the buttons and zippers. Well with what we know. The perp was probably wearing gloves. Hammerback found a fiber around the first vics neck, but not the second. Cotton, with dye used about half of the black clothes on the market. Useless. I tape lifted the vics clothes. Only one foreign fiber, a Barbie Doll hair. I have no clue what's up with that."
"Maybe the vic or the perp has a daughter. Won't help much though," Stella said.
"Tox on the first vic shows no drugs. Not a surprise given that both have major defensive wounds. I don't have anything else."
Stella picked up. "I ran the shoeprints. The ones around the perimeter were from the gardeners shoes. So they confirm his story. The other two sets are from tennis shoes, mens size 8 and 9. Which, unfortunately are both common. They're also from common tennis shoes. So they as well, are essentially useless. I ran the vics prints through AFIS, no matches. Ran the first vics DNA through CODIS, no matches there. No matches in the missing persons database either. Flack?"
"Well, I went back to the synagogue today and spoke with the rabbi. He seemed a bit disturbed, but that's understandable. He didn't recognize the guy. He's apparently not a member of that synagogue."
"Probably goes to a different one. There's over a hundred synagogues in this city, and that's just in Manhattan," I said. Stella and Flack both looked at me, but I didn't respond further.
"Well that ruins my plans for tomorrow of visiting all the local synagogues to see if anyone knew who the vic was," Flack said.
"So, we've got two vics that we have no clue who they are, and no evidence worth a damn thing. And this guys going to strike again," I practically shouted.
"Lindsay, you've got to calm down," Stella said. "You're getting too emotional." I looked away and nodded. "I think we need to tape lift the second vics clothes, and print both sets. Flack, maybe you could send something out to all the synagogues."
"That sounds good," he said.
"Tomorrow though," Stella replied, yawning.
"Stella, we can't…" I protested. Didn't she understand that we couldn't delay the case? Didn't she realize that every moment we waited could mean more deaths?
Stella crossed her arms. "You, Lindsay Monroe, are going home. It's nine o'clock, and we've been working since eight this morning. You are going home, taking a bath, and not coming in until 9 tomorrow morning. I'll tell Mac to take you off call tonight. Understand?"
"Fine, see you tomorrow."
A/N: Constructive criticism welcome, flames not. Please review.