Author's Note: I am SO sorry for the long wait. Lots of busy, a new job, new house, and some family emergencies… Wow, it's been a heck of a summer. Anyway, here it is: Chapter 8.
Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable. Sigh.
Chapter Eight
The scene put Nick's stomach in his throat. The coppery stench hit him the moment he stepped inside the house. The air weighed down on his shoulders. He surveyed the living room. There didn't appear to be anything out of place. He could feel that whatever happened in this house was very bad.
"Alright, Nick." Nick jumped at the sound of his supervisor's voice and raised his chin to meet Grissom's eyes. "We got a family of three and five bodies. Two in the dining room, two in the upstairs office, and one in the bedroom."
"Where do you want me?" Nick asked.
"Sara and I will take the three bodies upstairs. Warrick has the perimeter. You poke around downstairs. If we finish, we'll be down to help you." Nick nodded and clicked on his florescent light. "David will be here soon, so start with the bodies and work your way outward." Nick cleared his throat.
"Sure thing, Gris." Nick picked up his kit and headed toward the dining room. The floor was linoleum and blood covered the floor. Spatter on three of the four walls, he could even see blood on the large wooden table and the dishes on the table.
Two women, roughly in their thirties, lay stabbed to death one right against the wall, the other between the table and the large bay window.
"Just after dinner," he muttered. He pulled out his camera and began collecting evidence: Blood swabs of all sorts, hairs and fibers. What he didn't find was finger prints. He hoped that maybe someone else had found something.
After an hour or so, he heard footsteps approaching. Nick looked up to see Warrick leaning against the doorway.
"Damn," muttered Warrick. Nick nodded. "Has Super Dave arrived yet?"
"Present," he called. Nick tried to smile but it came out as a grimace.
"Where do you need help?" asked Warrick.
"I haven't even gotten to the kitchen yet. You find out how they got in?"
Warrick shook his head. "No, but I know how they left. They hopped a fence into the alley. The alley is concrete, and I lost the mud tracks, so I think there was a car waiting for them. Are you having any luck?"
"No," answered Nick. "I mean, I've got a lot of blood, and some hairs. There are some fibers on the young lady by the window, but they could be incidental."
Warrick snorted. "Could be cat hair or her favorite blanket," he replied. "Whoever did this had this well planned." Nick nodded and Warrick walked to the kitchen.
After Nick finished with the dining room, he headed to the living room. He observed shelves without dust, mirrors without streaks and walls with pictures hung perfectly. On one shelf he noticed a picture. A man and a woman, one of the women from the dining room, stood with their arms around each other. A girl about 10 years old stood in front of them with a toothy smile. They look happy, he mused.
Another picture caught his eye. The same woman with another man, their arms linked. They probably didn't even know the picture was being taken. He glanced around the living room again, and made his way to the office. He stopped short when he noticed something on the floor. He bent down and picked it up. A bead. It was square and glass with purple swirled in it.
"I think I got signs of a struggle," he called. He knelt down and followed the beads through the small hallway, to another room. He tried the door and it opened. Office, he observed. The room had a desk cluttered with papers, a small paper shredder, even a fancy office chair. Warrick came over.
"What did you find, Nicky?"
"Beads. From a necklace or a bracelet. It looks like it was broken or snapped."
Warrick held up a bag containing a few beads with a piece of string. Nick looked over at him. "Beads like these?" he asked. "I found them just right there on the floor." Nick started flipping through papers.
"So our attacker got to one of the girls first," answered Nick. "I'm on my way to the kitchen to help you. It looks like the women were cleaning up after dinner."
"Right, the little one's in her room, doing whatever, and the men retreated upstairs to do whatever."
"Exactly. So, I come down to help you…"
"And the attacker gets you," replied Sara from the stairs, just behind Nick. Nick nods.
"We need to regroup," concludes Warrick. "We've been here for 5 hours." Nick lays his head back.
"Feels like more," replied Nick.
Grissom came down the stairs, kit in hand. "We'll regroup at the lab," he answered. The three subordinates faced him. "The media got wind of this, and they're all outside. Answer no questions, and try to avoid them. If you feel you must say something, a 'no comment' is all that's necessary. Be ready to pull a double." Grissom headed out of the house. Sara made a small wave and followed him.
xxx
Sitting in the break room nursing a cup of Blue Hawaiian, Grissom began the conversation. "Warrick, do you know how they got in?"
"I know how they left," he replied coolly. "I'm guessing that they came in through the front door. There was no sign of forced entry, but they left through the kitchen and out the back door. They hopped a fence and ran down the alley. They must have had a car, because I lost the mud tracks. I found a few blood drops on the way." Grissom nodded thoughtfully.
"Nick?"
"I'm just wondering why she ran through the kitchen. I found some beads by the downstairs office, suggesting that a struggle began there. And Warrick found some more beads in the kitchen, so she was clearly heading for the door." Nick looked pensive. "But she was killed in the dining room…"
"So why didn't she just leave?" finished Sara. "Maybe she wanted to check on her sister in law."
"Sister in law?" questioned Nick.
"One family," answered Grissom. "Janet and Dennis Anderson, their little girl Tammy Anderson, and Raymond and Alyssa Lewis. Raymond was Janet's older brother."
"Alright, so… how does the other girl not move the whole time?" asked Sara. The group exchanged looks.
"More than one attacker," answered Grissom. "But that doesn't explain why Tammy didn't move, or why the men didn't do anything."
"Maybe they couldn't hear them," replied Warrick.
"Alright, so they get the girls, and then, what? They go upstairs to…what?"asked Sara.
An idea dawned on Nick. "I think we're looking at this all wrong," he countered. "I think maybe the attackers were part of the dinner party. There were eight seats at the dining room table, and seven plates. Two on the table, a broken one on the floor, and five in the kitchen." Nick pulled out his photographs to emphasize his point.
"Excellent observation." Grissom put a finger on his chin. "Did we collect the dirty dishes?" Nick shook his head. "Alright, what else have we got?"
Warrick lay his pictures down. "No sign of forced entry, so I'm going to agree with Nick's theory. For now," he added as he gave Nick a sidelong glance. "I got three different shoe prints in the mud; two big, one small."
"They could be from people in the house," answered Grissom. "We need to compare all the shoes in that house to rule them out. What else do you have?"
"I pulled their trash, I need to go through it. I've been working on the shoe prints."
"Sara, do you have anything else to add?" Nick didn't miss the way her face lit up at the acknowledgement.
"Tammy was lying in bed when the attacker slit her throat," she answered as her photos joined Nick and Warrick's. At least it was quick, thought Nick. Not like anyone else in the house. "I also found a partial hand print on the stairwell in blood." Grissom nodded.
"Alright, Sara, you work on the palm, we'll see if it belongs to anyone in the house. Nick, you and Warrick return to the scene, grab those dishes and the shoes. Look for anything else that might seem relevant. I have a date with some bodies." Grissom poured the rest of his coffee down the sink and headed out.
Warrick clasped a hand on Nick's shoulder. "Back to the scene," he declared.
Nick forced a smile. This is not how my night is supposed to be going.