Chapter 6: Due Cause
Las Vegas Crime Lab
12:30 PM
CSI Lindsay Willows, Catherine's daughter, entered the lab's lobby, having just returned from a call. Dressed in her CSI identification vest with a black cotton shirt underneath, blue jeans, and black steel-toed work boots, the short red-headed 25-year-old Level II criminalist approached the front desk. Seated behind the desk was the lab's longtime receptionist, Judy.
"Hi Judy", Lindsay greeted, "I'm all set with my Four-Eleven-A scene. Do I have any mail or messages?"
Judy was a short and quirky curly-haired blonde woman in her mid-40's who sported a very reserved black pantsuit with black flat heels, and she also wore her usual black-rimmed glasses. "Here you are", she politely replied as she handed Lindsay a stack of envelopes and individual message slips, "And Mister Yeager is looking for you. They're just about to start a case briefing in the Layout Room."
Lindsay nodded as she collected her mail and messages. "Got it", she said, "Thanks Judy."
The young CSI stopped off in the Locker Room for a moment to put her mail in her locker and hang up her identification vest before crossing into the Layout Room. Standing around the illuminated table were all of her colleagues from the Dayshift team.
At the head of the table was skillful CSI and Dayshift Supervisor Sean Yeager. Yeager was a tall, good-looking, and very athletically built brown-haired white man in his mid-30's who was dressed in a brown and white-striped button-down shirt with khakis and brown boots. A seasoned member of the Dayshift, he had just recently gotten promoted to the Supervisor position about a month before.
Standing opposite Sean was CSI Rory Kilegh, dressed in an unzipped CSI windbreaker with a U2 tour t-shirt underneath, blue jeans, and running shoes.
Kilegh, a shorter lean-figured dark-haired white man in his early 40's, was an Irish native and very experienced criminalist who had been well educated at Harvard. He also served as one of the lab's chemists in addition to his capacity as a CSI. He and Lindsay often had a flirtatious yet still very professional rapport between them.
"Miss Willows", Sean said to Lindsay, "Thanks for joining us. I take it you've cleared your 'Recovered Stolen Vehicle'?"
"I have", Lindsay replied, "Yeah. I lifted a bunch of latent prints from the car and just dropped the lifts off at the Print Lab. Auto Detail's bringing the car to our garage as we speak."
Sean nodded. "I see", he said, "I'm afraid that's going to have to go on the back burner for right now. Your mom asked us to pitch in on the Lewick homicide from their shift."
"And where is she?" Lindsay asked.
"She, Greg Sanders, and Dawn Banks all went home to grab a couple hours of sleep", Rory said, "With Morgan Brody and Bobbi Flannery in California on the Watson case, it looks like they'll need all the help that they can get."
"There is a bit of a stipulation, though" Sean said, "Catherine asked that you not handle or process any evidence to avoid any possible conflict of interest. You can help with any research or other investigative work."
A compliant Lindsay nodded, shrugging her shoulders. "Hey", she replied, "I get it. So, what's the story with this whole thing anyway?"
In response, Sean gave his subordinate a short yet very informative rundown on Hanson Lewick's murder, as well as the connection to Jessica Trent. All the while, Lindsay thumbed through Jessica Trent's case file.
"How'd we get Jessica Trent's juvenile record anyway?" Lindsay asked a few minutes later, "I thought her mother, Judge Trent, was against us looking into her without due cause."
Sean smirked cheekily. "To be honest", he said, "I spoke with the Chief Judge by phone a little while ago. She has great respect for Judge Trent, but even more so, she's sympathetic to the predicament that we're in with all this. I convinced her to sign a subpoena for her records."
"I guess what I'm wondering", Rory interjected, "Is how did a single mom like Janet Trent go from a cashier at the Palms to a Clark County Family Court prosecutor and finally one of the most esteemed Criminal Court judges in Vegas?"
"The Las Vegas Globe did a profile on her after she got appointed to the bench", Sean began explaining, "I read it. Jessica's sister Jackie enrolled in the University of Oregon to study Political Science. Janet followed suit and went to Law School there, after which time she was sworn in to the Nevada State Bar and took the job with Family Court, where she stayed until getting her appointment to the bench two years ago. My guess is that all this started with Jessica."
Lindsay flipped back to the first page of Jessica's records. "'Jessica Rachel Trent'", she read out loud, "Was convicted at the age of eight and a half for the murder of her eighty-year-old neighbor, Ruth Elliot. It says here that she stabbed the poor old lady in the chest with something called a 'floaty pen'."
Rory nodded in retort. "Based on what your mom's case notes from Two-Thousand-Two said", he explained, "It was some sort of aquarium-style pen filled with mineral oil. When Jessica stabbed Ruth, the pen's plastic casing apparently cracked, leaching mineral oil out into the wound tract."
"…And apparently this was all because the vic refused to give Jessica and her sister a cat", Lindsay inferred before sighing, "Damn. That's cold."
"Totally", Sean replied in agreement, "Jessica spent a decade being housed at Saint Charity's Home for Troubled Youth. It's a high-security juvenile facility out near Tonopah. After she was caught cutting herself just before her release, a judge decided to civilly commit her to Desert State Hospital for an additional thirty days."
"What happened to her after her release?" Lindsay asked.
"Social Security records showed that she lived out in Tonopah for a while", Rory said, "She apparently lived with a boyfriend and worked for a cleaning company. She moved back here to Las Vegas by herself in Twenty-Thirteen, and her current address is on Surrey Lane."
"That's not from Hanson Lewick's home address on Gabriel Drive", Lindsay replied, "Did Detective Aikers have any luck finding any of his next of kin?"
"Not there", Sean said, "Hanson apparently was living alone in a small house he rented. He was able to get ahold of his parents in Elko. They'll be here tomorrow to claim his body and collect his personal effects."
"Okay", Lindsay replied, "Then I guess my question is, did we get anything back on any of our lab work?"
"Oh Lindsay", a male voice said from behind them at the Layout Room's open doorway, "You should know better than anybody here that you always get something from Trace."
Everyone turned to see David Hodges enter the room. Often addressed by his last name, Hodges was a tentatively contemptuous yet redeemably intelligent and amenable white lab technician in his early 50's with short salt and pepper hair who was very blatantly proud of his specialty in Trace Evidence Analysis. He was dressed in his navy-blue lab coat with a black button-down polo shirt underneath with black scrub-style pants and gray crocs.
"Ah", Lindsay said, "Hello Hodges. Pulling a double shift with us again, are we?"
Hodges smirked. "Vincent is at a forensics conference in Salt Lake City", he said. He referred to Vincent Dorsey, the Trace technician who was usually assigned to the Dayshift. "He'll be back on Monday", Hodges continued before setting 3 printout sheets on the layout table.
Sean scooped up the first of the printouts and looked them over. "Wow", he said, "What is this one from?"
"The fluid that was in the first highball glass that Greg collected from Room Four at the Park Pines", Hodges replied, "As you can see, it's a veritable surplus of various compounds. Carbonated water, sugar, phosphoric acid, and caffeine as well as ethanol, rye, barley, wheat, and yeast."
"My goodness", Rory chimed in, "I guess we should consider ourselves lucky that the mass spectrometer didn't overload on you, eh?"
Hodges rolled his eyes in retort. "Anyway", he said, "The real kicker is on that third sheet. It seems somebody slipped quite the additive in with Mister Lewick's whiskey and cola."
A now interested Rory picked up the third printout. "I see", he said, "The granular powder settled in the bottom of his glass was arsenic."
Hodges nodded. "Exactly", he replied, "I sifted out every bit of it myself. Scanning electron microscopy confirms the result for powdered arsenic."
"Mm-hmmm", Rory said, "In this form, arsenic is often found in weed killer or other pesticides. However, to find it at the levels you found, my guess is that the killer has access to some kind of banned pesticidal compound. They banned pesticides with these levels of arsenic in the late Eighties."
He and Hodges traded looks for a beat. "What?" Rory said, "I'm a trained chemist, mate." With his use of the word "mate", Rory's Irish brogue became that much more noticeable.
Hodges sardonically smirked. "How is it that you have more of an ego than I do?" he snidely asked.
"Knock it off, guys" Sean cut in with a very stern tone reminiscent of an unsympathetic teacher scolding two unruly students, "Right now. We appreciate your help, Hodges. If we need you, we'll call you."
Hodges sighed before nodding in submission to Sean and the others before leaving the Layout Room to return to his lab.
"Sorry about that, Sean" Rory said with a regretful tone.
"No worries, man" Sean replied, "Just keep your ego in check."
Just then, Sean's cell phone chirped, indicating a two-way conference call request from Mandy Webster, the technician in the Fingerprint Lab. The Dayshift supervisor pressed a button on his phone, accepting the request. "Hi Mandy", he answered.
"Hey Sean", Mandy replied from her end of the line, "Catherine told me before she left that your team would be helping out with the Lewick case, is that right?"
"Yeah", Sean said, "We're actually in the Layout Room discussing it now. Do you have something for us?"
"I do, actually" Mandy replied from her end of the line, "Greg turned in a set of three highball glasses for me to print. One glass had prints from your vic, Hanson Lewick, from his work card. The second glass had prints from a Jessica Rachel Trent, current age twenty-one, off a juvenile arrest record from Two-Thousand-Two."
"She's a person of interest in this", Sean explained, "What about the third glass?"
"I got a hit on that as well", Mandy said from her end of the line, "Comes back to a twenty-two-year-old Melody Ward. No known criminal history, but she has an old work card in the system from when she worked as a housekeeper at Mandalay Bay from Two-Thousand-Ten to last year."
"Interesting", Sean replied, "Are there any more current work or home addresses?"
"It says", Mandy replied as she was evidently reading straight from her computer screen, "Her current employer is the Park Pines Motel on East Fremont and her home address is on Surrey Lane."
With that, every member of the Dayshift traded knowing looks. "Alright", Sean said, "We'll go do some follow up. Do me a favor and e-mail those results to Greg, Catherine, and Dawn, would you please?"
"You got it", Mandy replied, "Sheriff Curtis e-mailed me this morning and asked me to send any results to her too, so I'll do that while I'm at it."
"Awesome", Sean said, "Great job, Mandy. Thanks."
Once the conference ended, Sean switched himself into action mode. "Okay guys", he said, "Here's the plan. Rory, take a uniformed officer and go check out the motel. Talk to the manager and any other staff. Try and get a feel for Jessica Trent and Melody Ward."
"Got it, boss" Rory replied before leaving to go perform his assigned tasks.
Lindsay then perked up. "What do you need me to do?" she asked.
"Do a deep dive on Melody Ward's background", Sean replied, "I want to know the connection between her and Jessica. I'm going to go grab Detective Aikers and head to Jessica's house."
Residence of Jessica Trent and Melody Ward
Surrey Lane
1:25 PM
21-year-old Jessica Trent stepped out of her shower and put on a white cotton bathrobe before crossing to the medicine cabinet and wiping the steam condensation away with her hand. She stood in front of the mirror for an extended beat, taking stock of her figure before she was snappishly startled by a second reflection in the mirror.
She gasped before slightly turning her head. Her roommate and partner, Melody Ward, had playfully come up behind her and affectionately wrapped her arms around her waist. "God!" Jessica exclaimed, "You scared me!" With her unrest all but instantly soothed, she kissed Melody on the cheek.
Melody was a beautiful 22-year-old tan skinned and short-haired blonde white woman of medium height. She was dressed in her light blue housekeeper's uniform, white apron, and white crocs. "You heading into work, babe?" she asked.
"Later, yeah" Jessica replied, "Management put me on for the night shift. Betty called in sick. I was going to get dressed and head to the grocery store."
Melody kissed Jessica's neck before nodding and breaking the warm embrace. "Cool", she said, "I'm going to go head in now. I'll see you later, okay?"
Jessica turned around and nodded to her partner. "Okay, babe! Love you."
Melody kissed Jessica's forehead. "Love you too, doll face" she replied. She was just about to leave the room and head to work when a sudden knock came at their front door.
The couple answered the door together and found Detective Aikers, Sean Yeager, and a tall athletic-looking African-American male uniformed officer standing on their doorstep. "Jessica Trent?" Aikers inquired.
"Yes", Jessica replied with a very confused tone.
Aikers then momentarily held up his LVPD Detective's shield. "I'm Detective Andy Aikers with the Las Vegas Police", he said before putting it away and gesturing to Sean, "This is CSI Sean Yeager with the Crime Lab. May we come in for a minute, please?"
"Just a minute", Melody very stoically interjected, "Sure, but I have to head to work and Jess has to go run some errands."
"Thank you, Miss" Sean politely replied as he, Aikers, and the officer stepped inside, "And your name would be?"
"Melody Ward", Melody said, "Jessica and I live here together."
"I see", Aikers said, "Nice to meet you as well, Melody. We actually have some questions for you also."
"Respectfully gentlemen", Jessica said in a deadpan tone, "I have a pretty good idea why you're here. Did Catherine Willows send you?"
"No", Sean very matter-of-factly replied, "We're just following up on some evidence. Do either of you know a gentleman by the name of Hanson Lewick?"
The two young women traded looks before Melody replied. "I suppose you already know the answer to that", she said, "We met a guy last night at the Full Moon Club who introduced himself as 'Hanson'. He never actually told us his last name."
Aikers nodded. "Mm-hmm", he said as he noted the information down in his memo book, "In the spirit of full disclosure, ladies, I should probably tell you that we're both well aware of how your evening with Mister Lewick ended. We found both your fingerprints on some high ball glasses in a room at the Park Pines Motel on East Fremont."
Jessica crossed her arms and gave no initial reply. "We felt like partying", she finally said roughly 40 seconds later following a contemplative sigh, "Melody and I are both housekeepers at the Park Pines, so we got a room and took him back there. We arrived together on foot a little before midnight, spent about an hour and a half with him, and left him sleeping like a baby. We took off just before two a.m. and caught an Uber back here."
"Did something happen to Hanson?" Melody asked.
"I'm afraid he collapsed outside that motel room shortly after you guys left", Sean explained, "He was pronounced dead at the hospital. The coroner has determined that his death occurred as a result of suspicious circumstances."
Jessica gave a cold smirk in retort. "Then do us a favor, Mister Yeager" she said, "Would you?"
Sean shrugged his shoulder. "Sure", he replied.
"Take our damn DNA samples, please" she said, "Like Melody said when you got here, we've got things to do."
