Nick and Sara were sat in the break room grabbing a quick cup of coffee when they were paged. Strolling in to the DNA lab, they found Greg trying to chat up Mia. Seeing the others approaching, Greg winked at Mia and left, clutching some results.
"I'd better go deliver these to Catherine. She thinks I'm cute, you know. That woman has taste."
Nick shook his head and grinned.
"You got something for us, Mia?"
She handed them both the results of the tests she had run.
"I compared the semen you found in the toilet to James Davenport and it came back as no match. The DNA sample wasn't in CODIS either."
Sara arched an eyebrow.
"Really? If the semen came from the intruder that means he probably raped her. I was sure he'd be a repeat offender. Home invasion usually evolves from burglaries."
Mia shrugged.
"Well, if the guy has done something like this before, he was clever enough not to leave any evidence behind or get caught."
Nick nodded slowly.
"What about the skin under the fingernails? Did that come back unknown too?"
Mia slid another piece of paper across the desk and Sara picked it up.
"It came back to the husband?"
Mia nodded with a slight grin.
"Maybe she liked it rough."
Sara looked at Nick.
"Maybe she did. Maybe the intruder interrupted the Davenport's steamy little session, kills the husband and decides to have some fun with the wife before he kills her too."
Nick sighed, a frown creasing his features.
"Or maybe Joanna was having an affair. The other man walks in, finds the Davenports are still very much involved, gets jealous, kills the husband and then attacks the wife."
Sara nodded.
"That would explain the broken glass partition in the bathroom and the blood so far away from the husband, if she was running away from the killer."
Nick grinned.
"Guess we'd better go make an appointment with Doc Robbins."
Greg found Catherine and Grissom in the layout room, looking over the autopsy photos of Michelle.
"I've got the DNA test results for you."
Catherine and Grissom looked up at him in unison.
"Well, let's hear them then."
"Ok, when Doc Robbins examined the body he found no signs of rape but he did find semen, which came back to an unknown donor. That same donor provided one of the blood samples on Michelle's shirt. The major donor was obviously the victim herself. But there was a small amount coming back to a third male donor."
Greg passed the results over to Catherine. Grissom tapped the arm of his glasses against his lips as he thought.
"Maybe Mark Boreman had an accomplice, another man."
Catherine glanced up from the results.
"That would certainly make it easier to attack her and get her tied down. After all, there were no drugs or alcohol in her system. Plus, knife-weilding killers have a tendency to cut themselves which could explain the blood."
Warrick stuck his head round the layout room door.
"O'Riley's tracked down Mark Boreman. They're over at PD now."
Catherine grinned at Grissom.
"Well, we'd better not keep them waiting then."
Doc Robbins stood at the head of the two autopsy tables, Mr and Mrs Davenport laid out in front of him. Nick and Sara stood between the two tables, looking at the bodies.
"So, what've you got for us Doc?"
He pointed to Joanna Davenport.
"Ladies first. Obviously, the cause of death was the gunshot wound to the temple but she sustained a large number of injuries before that. She had serious internal bleeding due to a number of cracked ribs."
He passed both of them x-rays of Joanna's chest.
"At first I thought it was some kind of blunt force trauma but after examining the damage to her neck, I think it's more likely that she was being strangled with someone's knee on her chest. He would have been putting all his weight on her. In fact, the damage to her neck was so extensive that her vertebrae nearly fractured, not to mention the typical petechial haemorrhaging in the eyes associated with strangulation."
Sara examined the hand-shaped bruises around Joanna's throat.
"He broke her neck?"
"Not quite. She would have had full range of movement but it would have been incredibly painful. As for the skin you found under her nails, I think it came from here."
Robbins pointed at scratches on James' neck and forearms. Nick shot a look at Sara.
"Those aren't from rough sex, are they Doc?"
"No, and neither are the bruises to his knuckles. It seems that he punched his wife in the chest and the head. The muzzle stamp from the gun shot wound hid the bruise. The husband also has numerous cuts across his shoulders and the back of his neck. I found a few shards of what appears to be mirrored glass. Was there a mirror above the bed?"
Nick nodded and looked at Sara.
"Care to revise our theory? It's pretty obvious that the husband attacked his wife before either of them got shot."
Sara nodded slowly, playing it all out in her mind.
James is yelling at Joanna beside the bed. When she slaps him, he follows her into the bathroom. The argument escalates and he pushes her through the glass shower partition. Bleeding and afraid, Joanna runs back in to the bedroom where James punches her in the side of the head and she falls on to the bed dazed. James climbs on top of her and strangles her. Struggling for air, Joanna claws at her husband's hands and neck.
"So, if he was strangling her on the bed, then that means that the intruder probably fired the shot at the mirror as a warning for him to stop. As soon as Joanna was free of him and out of the way, the intruder shot James in the head."
Nick looked unconvinced.
"But if this guy killed James to protect Joanna, why did she end up dead too? And why was the intruder there in the first place?"
Doc Robbins cleared his throat.
"I don't mean to confuse you two even more but the gun shot wound to Mrs Davenport's temple is inconclusive. The contact wound, muzzle stamp and angle could just as easily be suicide as murder."
Sara sighed heavily.
"She'd just seen her husband get shot, maybe she killed herself."
Nick stared at the bodies.
"That still doesn't explain the semen. It wasn't the husband's. Maybe the intruder was someone she was having an affair with. That would explain the semen, the argument and why the intruder would shoot James to protect Joanna."
Sara nodded slowly.
"That makes sense."
Doc Robbins pulled the sheets up over the faces of the Davenports.
"Well, personally I think once you find your intruder, you find your answers."
Grissom, Catherine and O'Riley faced off across the interview room with Mark Boreman. He sat there with his legs wide apart and arms crossed, his eyes roaming round the room. Catherine shared a look with Grissom, both obviously thinking that he was just too cocky for his own good.
O'Riley slid the autopsy photos of Michelle across the table. Mark grimaced but examined the photographs with macabre interest. He looked up at the officer's opposite him, shrugged and leaned back in his chair.
"Guess you talked to that Beth bitch, huh? Yeah, I knew Michelle. We met a while back and we hooked up a few weeks ago when she was here on vacation. So what?"
Catherine rolled her eyes and leaned forward.
"So, now she's lying in the morgue. Michelle Winters is dead and as far as we know, you were the last person to see her alive."
Mark shrugged.
"So what?"
O'Riley shook his head in disbelief.
"Haven't you ever seen any cop shows? That makes you our prime suspect."
For a second, Grissom thought he saw a flash of fear in Mark's eyes before he shrugged again.
"Why should I care? I didn't do anything wrong. I met the girl, had a bit of fun then dropped her off at the coach station. To be honest, I was glad to be rid of her. She was way too clingy, wanting to see me again and all that. I guess the girl's just can't resist the B-Man."
He winked at Catherine who rolled her eyes.
"Well, speaking as a woman, you know what I find really fun?"
Mark leaned forward, a leer plastered to his face as his eyes roamed her body.
"Well beautiful, I think I've got a pretty good idea."
Catherine pulled out a swab from the evidence kit at her feet, waving it in his face.
"No, you really don't. I was gonna take your DNA."
Mark leaned back in his chair and folded his arms.
"I don't think so. You're not coming anywhere near me with that"
Grissom glared at the obnoxious young man.
"Mr Boreman, this is the perfect way to prove your innocence."
"Or the perfect way for you to frame me. You cops are all the same. I ain't giving you nothing."
He swung his feet on to the table and glared right back at Grissom. Exasperated, the investigators left the interview room, meeting Warrick as he emerged from behind the one way glass. Warrick shook his head in disbelief.
"That kid is definitely hiding something."
Grissom nodded.
"He's our guy. He killed Michelle."
Catherine arched an eyebrow in surprise.
"That's not like you, Gil. What about waiting to see what the evidence has to say? He could easily have done just what he said. After dropping her off at the coach station, we have no idea what could have happened to Michelle."
Grissom's eyes narrowed.
"Sometimes it's the lack of evidence too, Catherine. He refuses to give a DNA sample even though he knows he's a suspect. He was sexually active with Michelle before she turns up dead and her best friend said he didn't treat her particularly well. He took a young girl's life for no reason other than his own satisfaction."
O'Riley sighed.
"I agree with you, Grissom, I think we all do. But we can't hold this kid for more than a couple more hours with just circumstantial evidence, especially if he calls in an attorney."
Warrick suddenly grinned.
"I don't think we'll need to keep him longer than that. Look."
He pointed through the window. In the interview room, Mark had sparked up a cigarette.
"That butt will be prime for DNA and we're well within our rights to take it once he stubs it out, long as it stays in plain sight."
Catherine flicked her hair over her shoulder with a sultry smile.
"Stand back gentlemen and let the lady do her thing."
She marched back into the interview room and stopped beside Mark with a sharp look in her eye. One hand on the table beside her, she leaned in close, ignoring the bluish tendrils snaking round her head.
"This is a non smoking building. Put that out or I'll have one more thing to put you in handcuffs for."
Mark blew his smoke over Catherine's shoulder and then grinned, his nose just an inch or so from hers.
"You can put me in handcuffs anytime you want, baby. I've always loved the older woman."
He stabbed the cigarette out against the edge of the table and flicked it near the door. Catherine smiled and stood straight up, ignoring the disappointment in his eyes.
"Thank you."
She started to walk away to pick up the butt when Mark jumped to his feet. She stopped and turned to him.
"Something wrong?"
Mark opened his mouth, paused and then snapped it shut again. Catherine took a step towards him.
"Mr Boreman? Is something wrong?"
He was unable to look her in the eye when his quiet voice finally emerged.
"I didn't kill Michelle. She was a sweet girl. I did like her, you know, but she was just a distraction, a way to get over someone else. Someone I went running back to anyway. Michelle realised that and I know she was upset but we parted on good terms. Just cos I wasn't in love with her doesn't mean I would've hurt her."
Catherine was surprised by the sudden change from the overly-confident, cocky B-Man to the timid, almost boyish Mark. She took another step towards him.
"What do you mean when you said you parted on good terms? You said before that she wanted to stay with you in Vegas."
Mark shrugged and collapsed back in to the chair, staring at the floor.
"She did want to stay but at the coach station I explained to her about the situation with my ex. Michelle, well, she cried a bit, she thought we were going somewhere, you know? But she encouraged me to go back to my ex and sort things out. I asked if we could just be friends and she laughed, she had a great laugh, and said yes."
He touched the photo of Michelle, gently brushing her face and looked up at Catherine.
"I swear I didn't hurt her. At least, not in the way that you think…"
Mark's voice trailed off and he looked away, blinking back tears. Catherine walked towards the door, pausing to discreetly push the cigarette butt into an evidence bag with her pen while pretending to tie her shoelace. Opening the door, she glanced at Mark.
He cleared his throat and folded his arms, obviously trying to put back on the cockiness he had displayed before but failed miserably.
Back out in the corridor, she met up with Grissom and handed him the evidence.
"I'm starting to doubt he did it, Gil."
Grissom pursed his lips and looked back through the window at Mark. Catherine followed his gaze.
"Gil, look at him. He's genuinely upset, scared even."
Grissom shook his head, his intense gaze now falling on Catherine.
"Scared of being caught maybe. People will say anything to stay out of prison."
Catherine threw her hands up in exasperation.
"And sometimes they tell the truth about what happened and I really don't think he did anything to Michelle except turn her down. Why are you so focused on him, Gil? What about the evidence?"
Grissom glanced at the cigarette butt in his hand.
"The evidence will either prove or disprove his guilt. But someone tortured Michelle Winters and killed her. She did nothing to deserve that. By all accounts, she was a friendly, well-behaved young woman with her whole future ahead of her till someone tore it away."
He marched away, leaving Catherine to worry in his wake.