Grandmas & Crime Labs
Part Two
"Our vic is female, 75 years old, Hispanic, lives down at the end of the block", Tripp said as he walked over to where the body still lay in the snow, near the sidewalk. Their medical examiner, Dr. Alexx Woods, was already working on the body, trying to process as much as she could before she took it back to the lab for a full autopsy.
"Do we have an ID"?
"License found in her pocket gives her name as Esther Sanchez".
"Who found her Frank"? asked Lt. Caine.
"Two members of her family, her husband and her grandson, literally stumbled across her as they were walking to her house". Trip indicated an older man and a young boy talking with a patrol officer giving statements. "Interestingly enough, they had filed a missing person's report not several hours ago. They claimed she disappeared from the grandson's own home right around the corner late at night on Christmas Eve; said she was determined to walk home to get some medication".
"Indeed? What would possess a 75 year-old grandmother to go walking to her home a good block or so away just to get some medication, particularly in these weather conditions", muttered Horatio.
Tripp shrugged. "I don't know. Why don't you go ask them yourself"?
"You know what Frank, I think I will do just that".
Before he went to interview the family members, he went up to Alexx Woods to get a status report.
"Hey Alexx, anything you can tell me so far"?
Miami's resident coroner looked up at Horatio with a somewhat perplexed expression on her face: "Keep in mind Horatio that I am not sure how much evidence I will be able to gather, due to all the snow". Horatio nodded; the fear that the melting snow could possibly contaminate any possible evidence gnawed at the back of his mind as well. "Based on my preliminary examination however, I can tell you that she has been out here for some time. Limbs seem to be stiff, but I cannot tell if that is from rigor mortis or simply that her body became a giant popsicle and simply froze in place. I won't be able to confirm until after autopsy, but preliminary time of death would be between eight and nine hours ago, in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve. What a way to go".
"What about a cause of death Alexx"?
"Now here is where this case gets interesting. Take a look at this Horatio". She removed a hat that had been covering her head but had slid down over her face, to indicate two deep impressions on her forehead. "I'm no expert on animals, but those impressions look an awful lot like hoof prints."
"Mr. Wolfe, come over here and take a look at this will you. What do you make of this"?
Ryan Wolfe walked over, squatted down and took a look at the marks on the woman's forehead, simultaneously taking pictures from several angles with his camera. "They certainly look like animal tracks, but right now I am not certain. If I may suggest H, when Alexx is done with the body, I would like to make plaster casts of these impressions. I could take a look in some animal databases and see if we come up with a match."
"Good idea Mr. Wolfe. Follow up with Alexx on this, and let me know what you find later."
"You got it H." Ryan replied.
"Hey Horatio," Alexx called out, "there's more." She carefully rolled the body over so that her back was visible, then stared back at Horatio, eyebrows raised.
Horatio looked at her back, then at Alexx, then again at the woman's back. There were several deep tears in her jacket, and scratches on the woman's back. "Alexx, are those claw marks running down her back?"
"It sure looks like it Horatio."
"Ryan, take some plaster casts of these marks as well. It's possible that whatever animal made these claw marks on her back is the same animal that left those impressions on her forehead." Ryan nodded to show he understood while continuing to take pictures. At this point, Alexx rolled the body back to its original position when Ryan noticed something near one of the impressions on her forehead.
"Hey Alexx, what is that in the impressions? Looks like a small piece of metal."
Alex leaned in closer and with a pair of tweezers, lifted out a small piece of metal, about silver in color. It was curved, with a unique design of dots running over the edge.
Horatio examined it for a moment. "Mr. Wolfe, take this back to trace will you please?" He handed the piece to Ryan while he picked up a small evidence envelope.
"I also found additional trace evidence under the victim's fingernails," Alexx continued, "looks like skin and some small tufts of what could be either hair or animal fur."
"I'll take it back to Trace and have it analyzed H," Ryan said as he collected the skin and hair/fur from the fingernails and placed it in evidence bags.
"Thank you Mr. Wolfe," said Horatio, as he stood up and took a moment to look around at the scene and surrounding neighborhood. There were several homes along this street, looked like a relatively quiet area, with only a few trees scattered sporadically up and down the street. While sweeping his eyes along the street, he almost missed a slight impression in the snow near the base of a nearby tree. At first he thought it was a trick of light, but then he walked over and saw that there was indeed a slight impression in the snow. He brushed some snow away to get a better look and was surprised to find a black leather whip lying in the snow. "Eric, Calleigh, come here for a minute please".
When Delko and Calleigh walked over and Horatio showed them what he found, Calleigh spoke first. "Well, this certainly seems out of place here doesn't it?"
"Yeah, maybe some husband was bringing it home as a 'unique' gift for his wife," Delko added with a slight grin."
"Somehow I don't think so Eric. I don't know exactly how this ties in to our vic here, but I have a feeling that it does. Get this back to the lab all the same would you please, thanks."
He turned toward the husband and grandson at last and walked over to them.
"Hello Mr. Sanchez, my name is Lieutenant Horatio Caine. First of all, I am sorry for your loss. I was also hoping to ask you a couple of questions in addition to your statements you gave to the patrol officer if I may."
"Thank you Lieutenant. Call me Nicolas, and this is my grandson Ricardo. What else would you like to know"?
My first question is, why exactly would your wife Esther be so determined to walk a block and a half to her home just to get some medication? I know medicine is important, but with these weather conditions and all…."
"Yes yes, I know how weird it seems Lieutenant, Nicolas replied, running a hand through his hair in a rather sheepish expression. "She was drinking too much eggnog, and we begged her not to go; but she forgot her medication, and she staggered out the door into the snow. Simple as that really."
Before Horatio could reply, the grandson Ricardo piped up, "I know what happened to Grandma."
Horatio looked at the boy, who he guessed was probably about seven to nine years old. "Oh really? What happened son?"
Ricardo replied, "Grandma got run over by a reindeer, walking home from our house Christmas Eve. You can say there's no such thing as Santa, but as for me and Grandpa, we believe."
Horatio raised an eyebrow and shared a look with the grandfather Nicolas. For his part, Nicolas could only grin sheepishly, while it was all Horatio could do to maintain a poker face and not burst out laughing. "Is this true Nicolas?"
Nicolas could only shrug, not sure what else to say at the moment.
"That's ok folks. I'll be in touch. If you think of anything more, please let me know. You're free to go for now." Nicolas nodded as Horatio handed him his business card and watched them walk away.
Lt. Caine frowned. He did not like the direction this case was starting to turn. Something about all this evidence was rubbing Horatio the wrong way, but he couldn't put a finger on exactly what it was. He remembered a famous axiom by Sherlock Holmes, "When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." Well, Horatio thought, he would just have to wait and see what the evidence told him.
