Here is chapter nine.
Disclaimer: I own CSI… and I own the White House, too (psych).
Warrick tapped madly into the computer keyboard, all the while telling Nick about his conversation with Regina's house cleaner, Lo. "She seemed a little nervous, as if she was thinking about something else. It was different, though, from when people are about to confess. She was more…" Warrick chose the word carefully, "worried."
"Does this have anything to do with your theory?" Nick asked.
"Yes and no. She said that she had to go to a job of hers. Apparently she has to keep a few jobs because her father got laid off from his job—aha." Warrick pointed to the screen. "See this? This is the website for Chapman Photography, which Regina's father, Roger Chapman, owns."
Nick motioned toward the emblem on the webpage. "Yeah, I've heard of this place, and I have seen that symbol before."
Warrick went on flipping through the website. Unsatisfied, he went to a search engine and typed various combinations of words into it. Finally, he found what he wanted. "Four months ago, Chapman Photography laid off a total of forty-two workers."
"I think I see where you are going with this," said Nick.
The other man concentrated on the screen.
Once again, he went on typing into the searching engine. He bit his lip in frustration many times, but finally he came up with the page he needed. "Times like these, I love the internet," Warrick said with a smile. He scanned the list of names until he found the one he was looking for. "Out of the forty-two workers that were fired, only one of them has the last name Gare." He pointed to the name on the long list of fired worker: Mark Gare.
Nick leaned against the table that the computer sat on. "That's great, but did she have red hair?"
"Strawberry blonde."
They shared a look. "I think that we need to talk to the maid again."
The light of the computer screen filled the dark room with an eerie light. By now, though, the CSIs were used to it. And it was here, at the computer, that Gil Grissom was seated. He scrolled down the page, trying to find the exact spot he was looking for, before talking to Catherine, who was patiently sitting in the back of the room.
"Here we are," he said as he waved her over. "Greek mythology is a very interesting thing, I must say. The Greeks had a story for almost every possible thing that could not be understood without the science and technology we have today."
"That's great," said Catherine, "except for the fact that we have a man out there killing people because of it…. The Chimera Killer."
"The Chimera Killer." Grissom let the words roll over his tongue. "The objects that we found at the crime scene, the center Echo, can all be connect back to mythology. The problem, though, is connecting them. Let us start with the DVD." He held up a picture of the movie. "Juno is the story of a pregnant teenager. However, Juno is the Roman name for Hera, the goddess of marriage and childbirth. The Romans took most of Greek mythology and turned it into their own; they changed the names of the gods and goddess. Most of the planets in the solar system are Roman names of the Greek gods."
"Grissom," Catherine said, cutting him off, "I realize that this is very interesting about the Romans and the Greeks, but can you please go back to the case."
The man fixed his glasses on his face before continuing. "Hera, the Queen of the Gods, had a temper. She was also depicted with a peacock by her side, but I do not think that that will be a factor in the case. If it were, the Chimera Killer would have left a feather, rather than a DVD. The second object was the photograph of the dove. We have thought of a dove to mean peace. It is also the sign of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. She was the wife of Hephaestus, the god of fire, but the lover of Ares, the god of war."
Catherine started to chuckle. "Even back then there were lovers and cheaters."
"Almost ironic, isn't it?" Grissom replied. "Aphrodite was one that liked to mess around with other people's love lives, for better or for worse."
"The Trojan War," Catherine said.
"Exactly. She had a magic girdle that would make anyone that wore it so attractive that everyone would fall in love with him or her. This made her powerful, for even Zeus would crumble to the power of love…. Next, we have the owl key chain. Owls are the sign of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war. The animals are always shown as being wise. The goddess also carried around a shield, Aegis, which had Medusa's head on it. Athena was said to have sprung from her father's head, fully grown, and fully armed. The city of Athens was named after her. Before it was named, however, both Athena and Poseidon wanted it as their own—to solve this, they had a contest on who could give the people a better gift. Poseidon made a spring of salt-water spring up from the ground. While it was pretty, it was impractical. Athena gave them the first olive tree. Since olives could be widely used, the goddess won the competition and was the namesake of the city. Poseidon and she never did get along, though. Once she found him and Medusa in her temple together. Athena was so mad that she changed Medusa into the horrible creature that we see her as when Perseus killed her sometime later….
"Finally, we have the golden apple," said Grissom. "There are many sides to it. Hera took to giving the hero Heracles the Twelve Labors because he was the child of her husband, but not her. The eleventh Labor was to steal the golden apples of the Hesperides, which are on Hera's tree. In one story, Heracles offered to take up the job of holding the world from Atlas if he would get a golden apple from Hera's tree. However, the hero tricked the titan into taking back the world and giving him the apple. In yet another story, the golden apple is the apple of Eres, the goddess of discord and strife. There is a story that overlaps this one, and I believe that it is what we are looking for. When Eres was the only god not invited to a wedding, she decided to create mischief. For revenge she threw a golden apple at the feet of three goddesses."
Grissom pointed at the computer screen. There was a picture of a pure golden apple with the Greek words printed on the side: για την ορθότερη.
"It translates into for the fairest," said the man. "Do you know whose feet Eris threw the apple at?"
Catherine turned her somber face at the computer. "Let me guess—Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite."
"Precisely," Grissom said. "Zeus decided to pick a man named Paris to choose which of the women would get the apple. Athena offered wisdom; Hera offered all of Asia; and Aphrodite offered the most beautiful woman on Earth. Paris chose the latter offer: the most beautiful woman on Earth was Helene of Sparta. Unfortunately, she was already married to Menelaus, but when Paris came to 'pick her up' so to speak, she gladly went along with him back to Troy. This caused the Trojan War and made Helene into Helene of Troy."
"And this later caused Homer to write the epic the Iliad," mused Catherine. "This then led to the Odyssey."
Grissom scrolled down the web page again until he came up to another section of ancient Greek.
Μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος
οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί' Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε' ἔθηκεν…
Sing, goddess, the rage of Achilles the son of Peleus,
the destructive rage that sent countless ills on the Achaeans...
"You must admit that it is a beautiful piece of work," muttered Grissom as he read the quote from the Iliad.
"But is it beautiful enough to kill for?" Catherine asked.
They both stared at the screen in a mutual answer.
Sara, like her coworkers, had been sitting in front of a computer screen for hours. She was trying to match the shoe print that was found on Roxanne's body to one in the system. So far, she had had no luck in finding any match whatsoever. She had gone through many of the most common boots and shoes, but found no luck.
"Hey," said a voice from the doorway.
Sara turned around in her chair to find Brass standing with a pile of files under his arm.
"I could hear you groaning from out in the hallway," he chortled. "What is the problem? Anything I can help with?"
"I don't know," she sighed. "I'm trying to match this shoe print—it is a very clear print—but I cannot find one. I have gone through many of the different shoe brands that are common in the area and are popular with people. I just cannot get anything."
"What about expensive shoes? Armani or whatever all that crap is?"
Sara laughed slightly and started to search the database. Earlier, she had narrowed down the style of the shoe from the outline and ridges. They were not work boots, nor were they regular loafers. The information that she had discovered along the way helped eliminate some of the shoes.
The computer started to beep and flash the MATCH FOUND sign when Sara pulled over one of the shoe prints to the matching screen.
"Well, will you look at that," she said. "We found the shoe print: Giorgio Armani Men's Perforated Leather Oxfords."
Brass snorted on the way out. "What did I tell you—crap."
Sara turned back to her computer. It may be crap, she thought, but it is still crap of a killer.
To be continued…
Athena is my favorite of the Greek gods and goddesses. I read parts of the Odyssey last year in school. I liked it.
I find it ironic that Hera tried to kill Heracles, but both have the 'Hera' in their names:
Hera
Heracles
I found the Greek spellings off the internet, so I hope that they are right. I did do much research on it, though. I do not know how to speak Greek, but I think it would be cool to. :}
R&R