13.
A few days passed and Eric Delko was indeed grateful for Ryan's help with the Rocket Man case. The injured CSI, was happily working on the victimology, while Delko split his time between it and the officer-involved accident. Eric had volunteered to take the extra call, knowing full well that Calleigh was still buried in the Ballistics lab. As he donned his lab coat to begin work on the Rocket Man case again, talking shop with Ryan, Calleigh suddenly made an appearance, surprising them both.
"Ryan!" she exclaimed, smiling brilliantly. "Hi! What are you doing here?"
"I got bored at home," he said.
"So H let him volunteer," Eric grinned, making quote marks with his fingers. "Two days ago," he added, getting a dig in at Calleigh's 'absence'.
"I'll have you know I am almost done down there," Calleigh remarked, looking over Ryan's work, she glanced at Eric. "How's that case with Officers Reed and O'Reilly?"
"Pretty sad really. An accident, pure and simple. The victim died right after they took him to Mt. Sinai and that ass Stetler relieved both patrolmen of duty until we get everything sorted out. Like we really need two good cops off the streets these days."
"Stetler, the human bottom feeder?" Ryan asked as he looked up, and blinked innocently.
Calleigh smothered a smirk, but said, "And unfortunately, he has a job to do. What does Alexx say about it?" she asked.
"Suicide. Like we all thought. Guy was just enough around the bend to think getting pasted by a speeding car would do the job for him. Problem is, he was right and he chose a cop car to hit him." Eric said, "So what brings you up out of the dungeon?"
"I needed an extra pair of eyes to verify something for me," she said then looked at Ryan and grinned, "No pun intended."
Glancing at her, Eric noticed that just under the surface of her good humour was an underlying soberness. "Everything all right?" he asked.
"Oh, everything is fine!" Calleigh replied, "But if ya'll think that there raccoon surviving the Rocket Man was a surprise, wait until you see what I have downstairs."
"Oh, this ought to be good," Ryan said, glancing at Eric.
"Depends on how you read the evidence," Calleigh said, turning towards the door.
"That good, huh?" Eric asked.
"I'm not so sure about that, either. Come on down and see," she said as the two men fell in behind her.
On the quick elevator ride down to the Ballistics lab Eric looked at Calleigh and asked, "You? Not so sure about something?" He felt a twinge of astonishment that she would be uncertain about anything.
"Well, you see, so far all of the guns from Rocket Man's home have come up clean. None of them have been used illegally. That includes Cletus and all his friends," Calleigh was saying as she pushed open the door to Ballistics.
"But…." Ryan drawled out, looking at her with a hint of mischievousness.
"The sniper rifle we recovered is a classified lethal weapon; a Ruger 10/22, fully suppressed 0.22 caliber semi auto sniper rifle. Very popular in the Middle East. They call them 'Hush Puppy's'." Calleigh said, and pointed out the rifle in question.
"For shooting dogs," Eric said, and smirked slightly.
"Both four and two-legged varieties, depending on which side of the conflict you're on…" Calleigh remarked.
"And this rifle was used in another case somewhere?" Ryan asked, leaning over the light table to examine the rifle.
"Yes, and so was the .22 hand gun. This one is a Beretta 87 Cheetah .22 semi- automatic compact. It was also used on another case," Calleigh said, pointing out the small handgun.
"Both were used on different cases?" Eric asked.
"That's right," Calleigh replied.
"And that's a surprise, how?" Ryan asked.
She smiled mysteriously, put a hand on her hand on her hip while her Southern drawl grew more pronounced, "Well now, I ain't done revealing everything to ya'll now, am I?"
"Oh, boy…" Ryan said, looking conspiratorially at Eric.
"So what did IBIS come up with?" Eric asked.
"Of all these guns, none of them have ever been used in a crime, except these two. The handgun is shown as being registered to Cletus Parnell's brother, Owen. The rifle is illegal. However, a check on Owen showed me that he's an ex- Marine, who has seen a lot of active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan until he left the service four years ago. Guess what his specialty was?"
"Sniping…" Eric said and took a closer look at the rifle.
"No guesses on how easy it would have been for a Marine to garner a trophy and smuggle it home." Calleigh replied.
"But then it gets matched to a crime somewhere?" Ryan asked.
"Uh huh, and this is where this gets interesting. I got the case details faxed to me from Seattle this morning."
"Seattle?" Eric asked, turning to look at her.
"Don't tell me both of them were used in Seattle," Ryan said, looking at Calleigh curiously.
"All right I won't…" she grinned.
"They were used in two separate cases in Seattle?" Eric asked.
"Two separate cases," Calleigh said and nodded at the new case files sitting next to hard copy photos of the matched bullets.
"And Owen Parnell is the only thread linking them together?" Ryan asked.
"Oh, it gets even better than that," Calleigh hinted with promise. "Just read that top report on the Beretta." She said, nodding at Eric and folding her arms.
Eric picked up the file in question, and with Ryan peering over his shoulder, they began reading the case history. Seconds later, Eric let out a low whistle.
"Used to kill a Seattle undercover detective. Says here they originally believed he'd been killed with a .9mm found at the scene, but apparently the initial medical exam by the ME didn't locate the .22 entrance wound until after they got the victim back to the autopsy room."
"The .9mm wound should have killed him, he was shot in the neck, but the .22 round was what actually did kill him. Man that sucks, shot by two different guns," Ryan commented.
"All of this over stolen artwork?" Eric added, frowning as he read the file, "Says here they have a suspect in custody who is connected with the other victim found at the scene. Man this is a twisted case."
"Now read the other case file," Calleigh said. Ryan snagged it before Eric could and flipped it open.
"Rounds recovered from an attempted hit on marine artist Schell Demereau on the morning of March 3rd 2005, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blood evidence from round recovered at scene matches blood evidence from shirt of …"
"Holy shit!" Eric breathed, he and Ryan both looked up at Calleigh in mutual shock.
"I'm telling you both right now, this information doesn't go past these doors until after I speak with him." Calleigh said, suddenly very serious. Ryan continued reading as Eric's brain went into overdrive.
"Wasn't he involved in a rescue up there that put him in the hospital for hypothermia?" he asked, and agreeing with Calleigh's request.
"Yes, and apparently that rescue was of the same marine artist described in that sniper rifle file."
"Horatio doing his protective thing, I bet you a dollar to a doughnut," Ryan said. "Says here he refused medical treatment? That's not like him…"
"It is if there was another priority on his mind," Calleigh replied. "However, that Seattle trip and his suddenly taking vacation time just got all that much clearer, despite his being involved in three cases."
"Three?" Ryan asked
"Randall Thorpe was arrested for the attempted murder of the artist by hiring Joe Miller to blow up her boat. That is the first case. That same marine artist is the one who was the target of the sniper who actually shot Horatio; that is the second case. Joe Miller was the other man found dead with the Seattle detective, making that the third case… tell me that that is all just coincidence?" She challenged.
"Ain't no such thing," Ryan instantly responded.
"Especially in our line of work."
"And now we have both guns linked to two of those Seattle cases. I would dearly like to have a discussion with Owen Parnell," Calleigh remarked. "After I have a talk with Horatio."
"But is it a coincidence that a guy who plays human cannonball trying to kill a raccoon ends up leading us to three cases in Seattle in which our boss is involved?" Ryan asked, looking curious.
"You know what they say about that, Ryan…" Eric grinned, causing the younger man to look at him.
"And that is?"
"Truth is stranger than fiction," Calleigh replied for him, giving them both a dazzling smile…