6.
It was indeed clear out in the boonies. Calleigh pulled the Hummer up behind a Miami-Dade cruiser and parked. There were three other vehicles, an aid unit, fire truck, the medical examiner's wagon and personnel were scuttling to and fro about their business. Eric spotted the yellow crime scene tape cutting off a huge section of what looked like the back yard to the place, and nearby were four men, looking decidedly confused, perplexed, and not a little bit hung over. Several old cars were being buried by vegetation here and there, there was a burn barrel with a score of empty beer cans and boxes scattered around, and in general it looked trashed.
They were at the end of a cul-de-sac in what was pretty much bayou country and the house, a two story affair with a big back yard deck, was set at the very end of the drive. At the back were Florida's scrubby pine trees, palmettos, and it gently sloped to swamp and then to the water. There was a rough track leading down to a dilapidated dock and a boat launch.
"Good Ol' boys indeed." Eric murmured in amusement and they both couldn't help but notice the looks of humour on some of the officer's faces.
"This is getting weird already, how often do you see that?" Calleigh asked, nodding toward a group of officers who were barely constraining their looks of humour.
"Only at weird or hinky scenes…" Eric said as he handed Calleigh her kit. He grabbed his own and they set off, being directed by some of the officers to where Alexx was at work.
The backyard was a target hunter's dream and a crime scene nightmare. One glance at the place and both knew that they would be there for a great long while. It was apparent that several men, roaring drunk, had spent the better part of the night at target practice. Set up at the backyard's perimeter were old plywood silhouettes of deer, raccoons, and cougars. All well pockmarked, along with the backing row of pine trees indigenous to the area.
"Oh gawd!" Calleigh breathed, "we're gonna be here all day!"
"No wonder why H sent us both." Eric said as they came around the porch to where Alexx was kneeling next to the body of a man laying with his head up against the concrete foundation of the house.
"Morning, Alexx!" Calleigh greeted.
"What have we got here?" Eric asked looking down at the body. The man, in his thirties, dressed in tattered jeans, sneakers and a Harley-Davidson T-shirt, was covered in streaks of soot and dirt and was lying on his stomach. Alexx, wearing latex gloves, was in the act of lifting his head, which looked a little unnatural. Both the CSIs could see blood dribbling from his nose. She looked up at Eric with a raised eyebrow and hint of amusement.
"You're gonna love this one," she remarked. "His neck is broken," she said, feeling around the back of his neck, "He impacted with the side of the house, here," she pointed out an area at the top of his skull, then up at the house, where both could see a dent with a smear of blood, flesh and hair clinging to the siding. "Poor guy hit the side of his house so hard it broke his neck, died instantly."
"But there's more to it than that." Calleigh said, waving a hand. "Why does he smell like gasoline?"
"His buddies weren't trying to hide the evidence, were they?" Eric asked and looked around at the friends being kept nearby.
"Hardly…" Alexx smirked. "At the moment, they aren't sober enough to hold a match, much less strike it, and from what I understand, our victim here used up all the matches."
"That doesn't make any sense…" Calleigh said, looking around.
"It gets better," Alexx said as both the CSIs knelt next to the body. "His buddies claim he launched himself out a culvert at the back of the property, and that he flew screaming through air and hit the house."
"That's what Horatio said…" Calleigh remarked, looking the man's clothes over. "And he's got singe marks to prove it… look at the direction they're going."
"His finger tips are burnt, too." Eric said, then he stood up. "Where's this culvert?"
"Near the raccoon cut out." Alexx said, "and just wait 'til you hear the rest of their story!"
"It gets better?" Calleigh asked.
"Girl, this one is going down in the books as one of the weirder cases we've worked on!" Alexx said with mirth, waiting for Calleigh to finish the primary photos. "Help me roll him over, sugar." She asked and as they did, she continued. "His name is Cletus Parnell, 37 years old, and the owner of record of the house. Apparently, he and his buddies were having themselves a good old time drinking beer and target shooting for most of the night." Alexx said.
"Sounds so…" Calleigh smiled. "Southern."
"Don't I know it," Alexx replied with a droll smile. "They have been telling the officers that a real raccoon wandered into the war zone and that they had tried to get it."
"Poor thing!" Calleigh grinned.
"According to them, they missed it entirely and it dove into the culvert." Alexx said, continuing her examination.
Calleigh laughed. "Oh my, now that's pure insult to the Southern man's ego."
"So much so that Cletus here decided to dump gasoline in the culvert and eliminate the critter that way." Alexx replied, sitting back and beckoning to her assistants. She looked at Calleigh mischievously. "Only his buddies say that after going through several matches and a ten gallon can of gas, he still couldn't ignite the fuel so he decided to go down into the culvert and light it from there."
Calleigh stared at Alexx. "Tell me you're joking."
Alexx looked down at Cletus and then at Calleigh with a significant look
"Oh my…" she drawled, looking at the Medical Examiner. "This means that if his buddies encouraged him to climb down into the culvert, they could feasibly be held for manslaughter."
"Uh huh…" Alexx said. "Needless to say, our poor good old boy lit the match."
"And launched himself against the side of his house."
"With four inebriated witnesses watching." Alexx said as she stood up to let her assistants load the body onto a gurney. Calleigh rose, also.
"I'm done here for now, sugar, got an errand to run, but then I'll meet you back at the lab for the post, all right?" Alexx asked. Calleigh grinned.
"I'll be there… some time after figuring out how many rounds of ammunition these guys spent on one raccoon!"
"That ought to free me up most of the day!" Alexx joked as she walked off, listening to Calleigh groan good-naturedly.
In point of fact, it opened her up a little bit more, after riding back to the morgue with her assistants and seeing to the checking in of Cletus Parnell's mortal remains, she found herself in her office, looking down at Lionel Harrison's business card. She picked it up, read the number and decided to take a risky chance.
Research… For a painter of Schell's caliber, it was the vital underlying foundation to recreate exactly, in as much detail as possible, the look and feel of the period pieces she would eventually paint onto a canvas.
Chastising herself and upset at her encounter with Horatio, she hadn't gotten much sleep, so she promptly buried herself in research. Anything to divert her mind from the shame, the guilt, the confusion and an utter sense of total loss at the encounter.
In the small area devoted to the desk and computer, she had set up her drafting table, perpendicular to the desk and facing towards the spectacular view of the Atlantic. Several books lay open to various places on the desk and the floor around her feet, while printouts with relevant information were clipped to the table itself. Smack in the center, was a huge sketch pad, several different sized rulers, and a number of pencils in the tray, and Schell parked in front.
She'd been at it for several hours, now, her one hand was busily sketching an idea for a future painting, while the other held several pages of previous drawing ideas, which she would occasionally flip back to, to compare with the sketch in progress.
She was deep into the work, so much so that when she realized the phone was ringing she didn't know for how long. "Osht!" she muttered, sliding off her stool and limping badly for the phone next to her couch.
"Hello!" she gasped, wincing in pain. She looked in dismay at her foot.
"Schell Demereau?" A woman asked.
"Speaking," Schell frowned, not recognizing the voice,
"Oh good, I was hoping I had the right number."
"Um, well, yeah, you do. Who may I ask is calling?"
The woman on the other line chuckled. "Forgive me for just calling you out of the blue like this, but my name is Alexx Woods. And I have two reasons why I am calling you."
"Oh? Okay, Alex Woods? Well, what can I do for you?" Schell asked, unable to keep the perplexed sound out of her voice.
"I know we haven't met, but I saw you last night at the civic center event. My husband and I were there, and I asked the gentleman who you came in with last night if I might be able to call you. He gave me your number."
"Oh, really?" Schell asked, "No offence, but I think I need to have a chat with Lionel about that."
Alexx laughed. "Now that I understand, but forgive him, he was a little tipsy and that blonde he was with was getting jealous, so I exploited it and he gave me your number. I really hope you don't mind, there are some things I would like to talk to you about."
"Yeah? About what?"
"Well, one thing is about your paintings, my husband is a huge Marine Art collector, and your work is the latest in thing, and there're a few other things I'd like to talk about. Is there anything I can say, sugar, to talk you into joining me for brunch? This morning?"
Schell blinked in surprise.
"Umm…" she started, listening to the sincerity in the woman's voice. "Well…"
"It's on me, Miss Demereau, I'd love to have a sit down with you and I am taking a huge chance just calling you out of the blue. I've never really had the guts to do something like this before with a well known artist!"
"Oh, well…" Schell blushed furiously. "I'm not that well known…"
"My husband spotted you in the crowds last night, so that must mean something." Alexx grinned, working her wiles.
"Did he?" Schell asked.
"Uh huh, so how about it? Can I meet you somewhere?"
"Well," Schell hesitated and squirmed a little in embarrassment.
"Anywhere, you pick the place."
"There's the problem." Schell admitted. "You see Mrs. Woods, I've only been in Miami three weeks. I wouldn't know anywhere to go except the Starbucks just down the block from me."
"You're new here I take it?" Alexx asked, knowing it full well.
"As a newborn babe. I don't know where a thing is and worse I have no car, yet." Schell replied dryly.
"I tell you what, then, sugar, I'll pick you up, it'll make trying to find me in the middle of a crowded restaurant easier."
Schell paused, then shrugged. "Okay… that'll work for me."
"And please, sugar, call me Alexx, Mrs. Woods makes me sound like an old lady!" She laughed, causing Schell to chuckle with her. Despite the abrupt and surprise call, Schell liked the sound of the other woman.
"So tell me an address, I'll come over and get you."
"All right." Schell said. "1404 Ocean Court #4, Miami Beach."
There was a pause on the other end of the line.
"Miami Beach?" Alexx asked in surprise.
"Uh huh? It's not to far from you is it?"
"Uh, no sugar, its not! It's just high end, caught me by surprise is all. All right, how about I pick you up at 10:30?"
"Ok." Schell agreed, "Should I dress for it? As long as it isn't in heels?"
"I knew your feet were killing you," Alexx chuckled, causing Schell's eyebrows to rise.
"How…" Schell started, but stopped at Alexx's delighted laugh.
"I'll tell you over brunch! Wear whatever is comfortable, sugar, I'll be there shortly…"