Contrary to his plans to spend more time looking over the applicant folders the next morning, Mac was rerouted to a crime scene on his way into the office. A middle-aged, Caucasian woman had been found in a dumpster with strangulation marks around her neck. Mac had no patience for criminals of any kind, but he was quite disgusted by those who threw out bodies like they were no more than a common bag of trash. That was one of the highest forms of disrespect to a body that Mac could countenance. By the time he returned to the lab, he was in a foul mood. He sent his kit full of evidence off with Danny to start running tests on while he went into his office to take a breather. He told Danny to give him thirty minutes and then he'd be back to help run trace.
Mac collapsed into his chair and sipped the black coffee he had brought in from the break room. He had foregone his usual sugar in his hurry to just retreat to his office and let the caffeine wake him up and calm his mood. As he went to put his mug down, his eyes fell on the name Lindsay Monroe that was poking out from under a sheaf of forms that had been placed on his desk after he had left the previous night. Pushing the forms off to the side, he pulled out the file and opened it up, all the while drinking his coffee.
Lindsay Diane Monroe. Age: 24. Only child. Graduated with honors from Michigan State University with a degree in forensic science. Started working at the Bozeman crime lab immediately upon graduation after working summer internships throughout college. Mac's lips silently moved as he read through the application and attached résumé. He was liking this Lindsay Monroe more and more as he went on. Her professors at Michigan State and her supervisors at the Bozeman lab all had glowing comments about her work ethic and job performance and highly recommended her to any crime lab.
Turning to the next page, Mac discovered a letter of introduction from said applicant. Taking another sip of his coffee, he settled back into the chair and started reading.
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Lindsay Diane Monroe and I am your future crime scene investigator. Mac smiled at the introductory sentence. Such confidence was always a positive; as long as it didn't become excessive and cloud judgment. You probably want to know a little bit more about me as I will shortly start working for you. There's that confidence again, plus a light, conversational tone that Mac found himself enjoying as a contrast to the traditional introductory letters he had read in the past. Of course, lightheartedness was welcomed in their field as long as it was tasteful and appropriate. I was born and raised in the Midwest, which I understand may provide both positive and negative aspects to my working for you. Mac wasn't sure what she meant by that. My techniques may prove rustic and my disposition weathered, but I know that my unique personality and background will add a much needed outlook on your big city investigations.
I'm an only child, but I've always worked well with others. I've been an honor student throughout my educated life, excelling specifically in the scientific fields. I've always been fascinated with criminal investigation during my childhood, enjoying the fictional shows on television, crime novels and the occasional murder story that hit the newspapers, whether local or from neighboring cities. I would always try and solve the mystery before the detectives did. My success rate was around 40%, a figure I was always quite pleased with, considering my limited education in my youth.
As I grew older, my fascination with science and criminology deepened and I took classes in school that could help me further my interests. I developed the desire to become a crime scene investigator when I was ten-years-old and discovered my beloved golden retriever dead. I was bound and determined to figure out how and why (old age). When I entered high school for my freshman year, all students were required to meet with a counselor. Taking one quick look at my middle school class schedules and where I excelled was all the counselor needed to hand me an application and information on Michigan State. She said Michigan State was one of the top schools for forensic science majors and if I was absolutely certain this was the field I wanted to work in, she would help me achieve it. Mac flipped through the reference letters included with the application and quickly found a letter from Stacy Burnett, a counselor from Bozeman High School. He turned back to the letter.
I thought that my desire to enter the criminology field was a passionate part of my life at this time, but I soon discovered that it was nothing compared to the desire I had for it when I thought I forever lost my chance at it. Mac had a distinct feeling that the lighthearted tone of the letter had just evaporated. What I am about to relate has probably already been revealed through a background check by your human resources department, so I would like to have my chance to explain the event and why it decidedly fueled my desire to continue my focus on criminology, so much so that I graduated from high school one year early and immediately started at Michigan State. A deep foreboding filled his chest. He was saved the trouble of continuing when a knock on his door brought him out of his thoughts.
Danny, once he had received Mac's nod, opened the door and came in, a manila folder under his arm. He looked uneasily at the applicant folders piled on the desk, before recollecting his reason for visiting Mac's office. "Is now a good time?"
"I'm assuming you're here about our vic?"
"Yeah, when Hawkes started prepping the body for autopsy, he found the vic's ID tucked into her bra. Chad ran down the ID and got the background story on the vic. Name is Veronica Harris. 33 years old. Resident of NYC for four years. Lived in Chicago prior to that. Works as an office manager for a law firm. Single mother with two kids, ages 8 and 5." Danny hesitated before finishing his recitation. "Jordan Harris was killed in a car accident in Chicago four years ago, most likely coinciding with his wife's desire to relocate soon after. We haven't been able to locate next of kin."
Mac straightened up in his chair, thoughts of Lindsay Monroe's application momentarily forgotten. "Have we been able to locate the kids?"
"Chad's working on that now."
"Let me know the minute you get a location." No purse had been found at the scene, so the first impression had been a mugging gone bad, but if there were kids involved... Mac didn't even want to think about how much worse everything may have just become if it had turned into a kidnapping.
"Sure thing, Mac." Danny turned to leave, tucking the folder under his arm again, but he stopped at the door. He turned back to Mac. "Hey, um—" he started. Mac looked up, eyes focused on Danny. Danny seemed to lose his nerve, instead mumbling, "Never mind." He practically fled the office, almost colliding with a passing tech. Mac stared after him in confusion and then shook his head. As if things weren't tense enough in the lab, Danny was still walking on eggshells around him.
He picked up Lindsay's letter again and continued. He'd have a talk with Danny as soon as he got the lab straightened out.
During my sophomore year of high school, my life was turned completely upside down. On the night of May 22, 1997 three friends of mine and a waitress were brutally murdered in a café. I was only fifteen and I'm only alive because I made a split-second decision to wash my hands in the restroom, seconds before it happened. Even now, nine years later, it's still incredibly painful to think about. Forgive me for choosing not to elaborate further, but I will be completely upfront about everything that happened if you request to know more. That event truly fueled my passion for my chosen career. I swore that I would do my part to put those people behind bars that seek to infringe upon the rights of others, no matter how minor or how serious. Prior to this, I was seeking a lab technician position within the criminal forensics field, but after this I decided I wanted to be the one arresting the suspects when my evidence found them guilty.
Mac rubbed his chin in contemplation. His warm feelings towards Lindsay's application had cooled slightly, though through no fault of hers. The recommendations and reference letters that had been included spoke so highly of Lindsay and her dedication to her field, and they were all written after the incident in high school. By all accounts she sounded like the perfect candidate to fill one of the positions he had open, quite possibly the one on his own team, but something was chewing at the back of his mind. He was always hesitant when it came to applicants with tragic backgrounds like hers. It was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, a tragedy like that turned out amazing individuals who had burning passions that fueled their energy when working towards a goal. On the other hand, a tragedy like that could drive an individual to do whatever it took to ensure justice was served, even if the methods weren't entirely legal. From what Mac had read so far, Lindsay sounded like the former, but there was also a big difference between working in a small city and working in a big one.
I believe this will be an excellent opportunity for me to broaden my horizons and sharpen my skills. I feel that I have learned everything Montana forensics has to teach me and I have always had a certain fondness for the big city. I definitely feel that the experience I can gain working with your team would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for myself and for your team.
Mac closed the folder, having finished reading through it. He wasn't going to make a decision until he had a chance to look over the other applications, but he also needed time to digest the information he had just received. Lindsay sounded like the perfect candidate, but he needed to be absolutely sure before he acted. He got to his feet and lay the application back down on the pile he had to peruse. Grabbing his suit jacket from the coat rack, he shrugged it on and stepped out of his office.
Maybe he would have Stella look it over and get her opinion.