Rating: T (There's one swear word that I remember in there and it's only in there cause I though it was absolutely necessary. I'm not so big on the swearing.)
Summary: A mysterious death of the owner of a major pharmaceutical company and a not-so-dead man in an alley. It's not going to be an ordinary case for New York's CSIs.
Spoilers: It's set around the middle of the second season I suppose. Only spoilers I can think of would be for the first two episodes of that season, Summer in the City and Grand Murder at Central Station.
Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me. They are the property of CBS etc. You know the drill.
Author's Note: It's a slightly weird idea, and you'll see what I mean within a couple of chapters, but I'm blaming it entirely on my friend Ham. He started it and he knows why. Also, there's probably going to be a while between updates. I have a busy schedule and it's taken me a while just to get the story this far.
Holmes Pharmaceuticals was situated in one of the greatest cities in the world – New York City. It was also a second home to some of the nation's greatest medical researchers.
One of those great medical researchers was at that particular moment quite unwilling to give up and just go home. Jack Kruger had been working for pretty much five days straight. He hadn't left the building once during that time frame, just crashed for a few hours on a couch in his office when he thought he needed it or grabbed a pathetic substitute for a meal from a vending machine the management had probably had installed for that particular purpose. He was heading back to the lab he was currently working in after a few more hours sleep than he had planned to get.
Coming into the room, he was mentally cursing himself for thinking he wouldn't have needed to set the alarm on his watch, despite knowing how tired he'd been. All those thoughts vanished when he stopped shocked by the site that greeted him when he came around the corner of the lab bench.
Jason Holmes was lying on the floor, with nothing looking out of place. He would have almost looked alive, if it hadn't been for the unending blank stare and the pallor of his skin.
For a few short moments of his life, the constant buzzing of thoughts racing around Jack Kruger's brain quieted. After a few seconds one thought came to the forefront of his mind. He had to call the police.
The response from the forensics team had been quick, mainly due to the short distance the CSI's had to travel. The big white building known as Holmes Pharmaceuticals was little more than a block away from the crime lab.
Detective Flack met Stella Bonasera and Sheldon Hawkes as they entered the research lab on the fifth floor. Flack cut straight to the details, with only a quick greeting to begin. They had a job ahead of them to complete.
"Vic is Jason Holmes, and no, that name is not a coincidence. He's the guy in charge around here. Discovered by his employee, Jack Kruger a little under fifteen minutes ago. I'll let you get to work, I've got to finish taking his statement."
Stella and Hawkes moved over to the body. Hawkes knelt down and began a cursory examination of the deceased.
"There's no obvious COD. NO visible signs of trauma. Nothing obviously wrong about how he died."
"You think it could be natural causes?" Stella asked.
"No way to tell here, but it's possible. Anyway, that's up to Hammerback to find out now. I'm not the ME anymore." Hawkes replied a little wistfully.
"You love every minute of being out in the field and you know it." Stella joked.
Hawkes smiled before answering. "Not every minute. I seem to remember a floater we pulled out of the East River a few weeks ago that I didn't find too pleasant."
Stella laughed softly before returning to the job ahead of them. "We still need to process the scene like we would any other."
Both CSI's instinctively reached for their kits. Stella dusted the bench and it's sparse items for prints, while Hawkes processed a broken beaker on the floor. The contents, a gooey pale blue solution had formed a pool on the floor, a little over a metre away from the body. He carefully took a sample of the substance and took the pieces of glass as evidence.
"Got a lot of prints here." Stella spoke up a while later. "It's gonna take a long time to get through them all. But it doesn't look like any area was wiped clean. If there was someone else in here when Holmes died, it doesn't look like they cleaned up after themselves. Hopefully their prints will still be here."
"What exactly was the lab being used for?" Flack asked.
"We were researching a new treatment for nerve damage. It's nowhere near completion yet, still months away at least, but it was looking very promising." Kruger's voice was shaky, but he was still able to keep a clear head.
"Why weren't you in the lab?"
"I was taking a break. I've been working pretty hard the last couple of days; we had a breakthrough on the treatment lately. I was attempting to catch up on some sleep in my office. I must have been up there at least five hours."
"Is there anyone who can confirm that?"
"No, I don't think so. It was late so a lot of people had already headed home. Oh, but we have cameras in all the hallways."
"I'll check with security then. See if we can confirm that. Now did your boss have any reason to be in the lab?"
"Not that I can think of. He comes around ever now and then to see how we're doing. Said he liked the hands-on approach to knowing how things were going."
"He comes around often?"
"Not all that often. He is a pretty busy man. But on this particular project, he had to be checking in oh; every few days or so once the team started making progress. He normally only comes around every few weeks, if that. He seemed pretty interested in the project though I'm not exactly sure why. I wondered if maybe he might have had a personal interest in it, but don't take that from me. I'm only hypothesising."
"When was the last time you spoke to him?"
"It would have been around yesterday morning I think. Just a regular check-in like all the others."
"He wasn't upset about anything? Give any indication that something might have been wrong?"
"No, not that I can recall."
"Is there anything else you can think of?"
Kruger shook his head. Flack gave him his card. "Thanks for your time. Call me on that number if you can think of anything else."
Flack made a careful path over to Stella and relayed the basic information that he'd received.
"Well, we'll probably be a bit longer. There's still quite a bit left here to process."
"Sure, anything you want me to do?"
Hawkes spoke up, "Any chance of getting into this guy's office. If something other than natural causes is at work here, there's likely to be something important in there."
"I've got to talk to security about their surveillance tapes anyway. I'll check it out while I'm there."
Crime scene tape cordoned off the alleyway from the pedestrians that traversed the main road it was sprung from. Not that anyone would particularly want to enter the alleyway in the first place. Saying it looked as if you could catch a few diseases just by breathing the air in there would have been an understatement. And the body sprawled against one of the walls certainly wasn't helping. It wasn't a pretty sight. There seemed to be an excessive amount of blood at the scene, but Danny Messer knew it always looked like there was more than there actually was.
Danny had been looking forward to heading home from an already overlong shift; he'd had plans to go out with Aiden and Flack. The three of them hadn't had much of a chance to catch up ever since Aiden had been fired over the Pratt case and with Flack already out on another call, it looked like they weren't going to get the chance tonight either. He'd at least been hoping that he'd still be able to catch up with his old partner and friend. But plans never go the way they should and an hour before the end of shift, he'd been called out to a scene with Mac Taylor, his boss, and Lindsay Monroe, the new girl and Aiden's replacement. From the looks of it, they could definitely be there a while. He reminded himself that he should call Aiden and let her know he wouldn't be able to make it as soon as possible. At least she'd understand his reasons, just coming off the job herself.
Detective Thacker was currently giving Mac the details that he knew about the crime scene which happened to be very few. "Male victim, no ID on the body. Anonymous call from a pay phone nearby."
Mac nodded, dismissing the arrogant detective. "Danny, you photograph." He called, not needing any acknowledgement from the younger CSI. Mac knelt next to the body for a closer look, while behind him; Danny pulled up the camera and began taking general shots of the scene. "We'll have to wait for confirmation from the medical examiner, but I think it's a pretty safe guess to say cause of death was a exsanguination. He has a torn jugular." Mac pointed to the torn flesh around the neck.
Lindsay leaned down for a closer look. "It looks a bit like a bite mark, doesn't it?"
"There's some definite tooth marks there," Mac replied. "We'll be able to make some impressions later, and then find out what from."
There were a couple of flashes of the camera, as Danny took photos. A few of the body's general position, then a few closer up of the neck wound.
"We can't do much more with the body until the ME clears it, so check out the surrounding area while we wait." Mac ordered his team.
The three CSI's spread out, Mac and Lindsay looking for evidence, with Danny photographing and giving his opinion when required.
"I've got a backpack here." Lindsay called out from near a huddle of garbage cans. She picked it up in a gloved hand, after Danny had taken photos. She pulled open the zip. "There's clothes near the top, but it's packed full."
"We can go through the contents back at the lab. Bag it for now." Mac called out. "I've got a blood trail over here." The other two CSI's moved over to check it out. From the looks of the blood, the attack had occurred further into the alley, away from the main streets and where the victim had been found. It appeared as though the victim had crawled a little way, probably to try to get help, before he collapsed.
Mac was taking swabs and Danny taking pictures, when they heard a yelp from Thacker, shortly followed by an "Oh God," from the patrolman who'd been first on the scene.
Once they had turned around fully, the reason for their shock was obvious. The 'dead' man was now standing in the middle of the alley.
"Whoa," Danny whispered under his breath, at the same time he heard Lindsay gasp. Mac, ever the calm leader, simply raised his eyebrows. There was no way this man should still have been alive, let alone standing without support. There was blood all through the alley, plus there was the hole in the side of his neck.
To Thacker's credit, he recovered from his shock fairly quickly and approached the man. "Call the paramedics," he said over his shoulder to the patrolman, who pulled out his radio and backed away a little bit to make the call-in. Thacker then spoke the man. "Sir? Are you alright?"
The man groaned sounding not 'alright' in the slightest, but other than that made no indication that he'd heard the detective. Thacker stepped closer until he was standing next to the man. "We're calling the paramedics right now. You need medical attention. I recommend you sit down until they get here."
Thacker tried to place a comforting hand on the man's shoulder to guide him, but before he could, the man had whipped around and sunk his teeth into Thacker's hand.
Thacker let out a yell and attempted to leap back. Unfortunately for him the man's teeth were firmly attached to the flesh of his hand and he only succeeded in falling backwards onto the ground, dragging the man down on top of him.
The patrolman, finished with placing the call to the paramedics, had pulled his weapon out, as had Mac and Danny. "Sir, back away," called the patrolman, but didn't receive a reaction from the man.
As the man was currently sprawled on top of Thacker, not one of the three men could get a clear shot. The patrolman was starting to look panicky about what he should do next. Luckily for Thacker, Mac didn't have any doubts. He hurried forward and with Danny's help, dragged the man off.
"Sir, if you could just calm down…" Mac tried to reassure the man. The man tried snapping at Danny, a rather unpleasant sight, considering that Thacker's blood was smeared around his mouth from where the jaws had previously been attached to the detective. The gaping wound on his neck didn't improve the sight. Danny thanked whatever God was up there watching his back, that Mac was able to hold the man back.
Mac's hold didn't last for long though and the man broke out of his grasp with more strength than should have been possible considering the man had been that close to death. The man made a lunge at Danny, but luckily for the CSI, the patrolman had finally gotten a clear shot. The bullet entered just behind the left ear and the body fell to the ground.
Everyone involved remained still for a few seconds, trying to regain his or her breath. Thacker was the first one to speak, or more accurately, yell. "What the hell just happened? That guy fucking bit me!"
Lindsay moved forward and helped him to stand up. "Are you okay?"
"No, I'm not okay! He took a chunk out of my hand!" Thacker's hand was a bloody mess. The now-truly-dead man's teeth had sunk in fairly deep and had ripped the flesh when Mac and Danny had pulled him off.
A sound of sirens announced the arrival of the paramedics, a few minutes too late to offer their life-saving skills to anyone other than Thacker and his hand. The action over, Mac ordered Danny and Lindsay to continue processing the scene; they still needed to figure out who the guy was and what he'd been doing in the alley. Listening to Thacker's insistence to the paramedics to be treated at the scene instead of at a hospital, Mac contemplated just how the man could still have been alive and why he seemed to think it was a good idea to attack the people who were trying to help him.