Personal Case notes Brown, W
On arrival at the scene initial survey indicated a single vehicle, which appeared to have mounted the sidewalk and collided with a tree on the grass verge. The vehicle had sustained damage consistent with this impact but also had areas of damage inconsistent with this being a single impact collision.
Accident scenes always looked the same from a distance. Warrick approached the flashing lights slowly, eyes already scanning the road for the first indications of what had happened. As he drew closer he could see the Denali above the flashing lights of the police cars, up on the grass verge with its radiator grill firmly embedded in the trunk of a tree that now leant at a slightly crazy angle, swaying in the dying wind. It had at least stopped raining. He stopped a fair distance from the crash site, wanting to avoid disturbing any of the evidence on the road any more than it had been already. As he reached into the trunk for his kit his mind wandered briefly to the kind of injuries sustained in a crash like this, of how many people he had seen walk away and those who had been carried out on gurneys. He clamped down on the thought angrily and yanked the kit out of the trunk with more force than was strictly necessary. He would not think about that now, not when he needed to focus. Besides, he already knew they hadn't found Hodges dead or alive, so all speculation was pointless. Nick was approaching him from the scene, looking tired and older than his years. He raised a hint of a smile at Warrick's approach.
"Cath and I have the scene pretty much marked out. Could you concentrate on the vehicle?" He sounded tired too; this was rapidly turning into the longest kind of night.
"Sure." Warrick started towards the car, scanning the ground as he went for other signs of the collision. Debris and skid marks were clearly visible on the road, most of it already marked out with the yellow evidence triangles Nick and Catherine must have laid down. As he approached the car he saw something immediately wrong. The metal on the side facing him was dented, the front wheel pushed forward and the front wing buckled. He slowed his approach, taking more notice of the long skid mark that evidenced the car's progress to the kerb. As he reached the front wheel he knelt down, feeling along the front tyre for what he already knew he would find. His hand grazed a smooth area, stripped bald as it scraped along the road and he reached higher, feeling along the inside of the buckled wing. Standing, he moved around the car to the other side and knelt against the opposite wheel. The metal here was undamaged, the wing still smooth and unbuckled. But the wheel itself was bent, the ragged remains of the burst tyre dragged half underneath it and the metal itself cut with a deep groove, full of stone dust from the kerb. Warrick shone a light under the car, looking for the rest of the tyre and found it lying in a pool of dark liquid. Moving to the front he saw where the tree had cracked the radiator, releasing coolant onto the road; he was just reaching out to sample it when a voice behind him made him flinch. He looked up in annoyance and found Catherine's clear eyes staring back at him.
"Sorry." She said, kneeling beside him. "The tyre burst." She continued, reaching out a hand to examine the debris.
"Probably what caused him to mount the kerb." Warrick replied, reaching into his kit for a tape lift to remove a sample of the stone dust. "Have you seen the other side?" Catherine nodded.
"Looks like another impact." She said. Warrick shook his head slightly.
"I'll know more when I get it back to the lab, but I think he was pushed into the kerb."
"You mean it was deliberate." Warrick nodded. "It would fit with the missing evidence. And…"
"The missing person." Warrick finished. He looked up, towards the smashed passenger window. "Did he get out that way?" He asked, Catherine followed his gaze and then nodded.
"Most likely. The seatbelt's been cut and the window smashed in from the outside. They probably dragged him through the window unconscious, or semiconscious." Warrick released a long breath and then concentrated on photographing and carefully lifting the remains of the tyre.
"What about the second vehicle?" He asked, conscious that he was avoiding the end of the conversation they had just started.
"No sign of it when the cops arrived, it was probably drivable after the collision, maybe they took it with them."
"Well if it did push the Denali, there'll be a mess of paint transfer in that dent." He straightened up, dusting off his knees. In the distance he could see Nick, patiently measuring the skid marks, a pacing silhouette against the backdrop of red and blue light. "The sooner we can get the car back to the lab, the better chance we have of finding it before they torch it." Catherine nodded, it was probably a futile endeavour but it was better than doing nothing.
"We've done all the scene photos, if you're happy I'll call vehicle recovery."
"Fine by me." Warrick moved around the car to examine the damage to the tree, wondering if they would have to have it removed. He didn't look inside the Denali, pointedly averting his gaze from the driver's seat. 'One thing at a time', he thought to himself, 'just one thing at a time.'
Personal Case notes Brown, W
Based on initial findings at scene a reconstruction has been produced using the available forensic evidence. The sequence of events is believed to be as follows.
The Denali (hereby referred to as Vehicle 1) was travelling southbound at a speed of 50 mph. Impact on Vehicle 1 occurred first in the driver's side door, extending into the front wing. The impact appears to have been caused by the suspect vehicle (Vehicle 2). Depth of impact indicates Vehicle 2 was travelling close to the speed of Vehicle 1.
Both vehicles slowed on impact, Vehicle 2 appears to have scraped along the side of Vehicle 1, remaining in contact with the vehicle. Vehicle 1 braked sharply; sudden deceleration caused Vehicle 2 to contact the front driver's side wheel of Vehicle 1 and deform the axel, pushing the wheel into the front wheel arch. Vehicle 2 appears to have then pushed Vehicle 1 towards the kerb, indicated by the long skid marks identified as belonging to Vehicle 1 and the corresponding wear on the remaining tyres from this vehicle.
Upon impact with the kerb the front passenger side tyre of Vehicle 1 appears to have burst, probably due to the friction forces operating upon it. Contact between the wheel surface and the kerb caused the wheel to buckle and the car to mount the kerb. Vehicle 2 appears to have followed Vehicle 1 onto the verge, evidenced by pieces of a broken headlight belonging to Vehicle 2 found there. The most likely scenario for this is that Vehicle 2 had become attached to Vehicle 1, possible hooked under the damaged wing and was dragged with Vehicle 1 when it lost control.
Vehicle 1 continued along the verge for ten metres before impacting a tree. The impact was powerful enough to have cracked the radiator and deploy the air bags, suggesting the car was travelling at a minimum of 30 mph on impact. This impact force was also probably sufficient to release Vehicle 2 and probably push it back onto the road, as the second vehicle was not present at the scene it must be assumed the car was still in a driveable condition. The condition of the driver of Vehicle 1 could not be ascertained, although insufficient blood was present to indicate he received any serious injuries in the crash.
Autopsy Case notes – Dr A. Robbins
Victim French, Samuel. CSI case #LVPD4475French. Autopsy performed by Dr. Albert Robbins.
The dead man on the table didn't look so bad. In a way, he preferred it when the bodies looked worse than this, when they were bruised or decomposed so far that he felt death may have come as something of a relief to them. This man looked surprisingly healthy, if you didn't count the impacted side of his skull or the deep and bloody mess that had once been his legs. He had a feeling that death had come as a horrible surprise to Mr French, although it had at least probably been a brief one.
There was a living man on the other side of the table who looked a lot worse than the dead man on it. Greg was still hopping from foot to foot, looking pale and edgy. Al wondered what Grissom thought he was doing, letting him work at all. On the other hand, when it came to losing one of their own, no matter who it may be, Gil was not known for his objective following of procedure.
"So what's the verdict Doc?" Greg's tone sounded artificially light to Al's ears, he wanted to tell him that he didn't need to pretend to a man who regularly saw the worst humanity had to offer, but their relationship had never included fatherly advice. He did what training had taught him to do and stuck to the facts.
"Initial findings? It's fairly obvious what killed him." He indicated the crushed side of his skull. "Other than that, bruising appears perimortem for most of the other injuries. If you asked my opinion from my first survey, I'd say he was hit twice. The second impact killed him." He moved his hands to examine the man's legs and Greg's eyes followed. Across his crushed legs there was the remnants of a tyre mark, the image seemed strangely and tragically comical. "Vehicle obviously." He added. "I'll give you a full report after the autopsy." Greg nodded absently, his mind clearly far away.
"We think it was the same people who took David." Greg blurted the words out suddenly and seemed slightly surprised that he had spoken. Al remained impassive, suppressing the jolt of surprise at both the revelation and the outburst.
"I'll put a rush on it." Was all he said. Greg smiled at him gratefully and left the room, walking with the same nervous tension that had kept him bouncing on his toes whilst they were talking. Al was suddenly reminded of his days as an intern, newly qualified and still working predominantly with the living. In the few months it had taken him and his fellow interns to join the physicians hardened cynic society they had named that walk, along with all the other repetitive mannerisms that they saw in the patients and relatives. It was the walk of the man who waited outside surgery, or at the doors of the E.R. or in a thousand other pacing places whilst their loved ones lived or died. In a way he'd always preferred the certainty of death, the relatives he saw these days tended to expect what they saw, even if it was the worst thing in the world. He reached out for a scalpel from the metal tray beside him, starting the autopsy as quickly as he had promised. He could give them the certainties from this man at least.
Autopsy Case notes – Dr A. Robbins
Subject is a Caucasian male, aged 30 years. Time of death estimated to be between 11:00pm and 01:00am. Initial examination revealed extensive bruising to the legs and lower torso and a compound depressed skull fracture to the right temporal region with radiating fractures to the surrounding regions. Further examination revealed tibia-fibula and pelvic fractures consistent with an impact by an automobile. Bruising and tyre marks also support this conclusion. The majority of the injuries to the lower body appear to have been sustained shortly before death; however the depressed fracture of the skull and additional fractures to the pelvis and hip appear to have occurred after the first injuries. Extensive hemorrhage in the temporal region, partly resulting from severing of the middle meningial artery, is indicated as the most likely cause of death. Therefore autopsy would indicate that the body was subject to two impacts, the first most likely from an automobile, causing fractures to the lower extremities and pelvis. The second, which could also have been caused by an automobile, resulted in death.
Personal case notes: S. Sidle
Re-examination of the scene of the murder of Samuel French (Case #LVPD4475French). Due to the loss of most of the evidence collected at the scene it was necessary to return to the location to collect any evidence left in situ and to re-examine the available evidence in reference to the potentially linked case (#LVPD4476Hodges).
Sara never liked going back to crime scenes. Some old instinct that she thought she had under control always reared its ugly head, making her actions feel like repentance for a failure in her work, another manifestation of the need to always do better that had dogged her heels for as long as she could remember. The irony of it was, Sara thought as she shone her flashlight through the echoing halls of the warehouse, they had done too good a job the first time for there to be anything much left to work with now. She watched Greg through the open warehouse door as he unpacked a kit from the car, looking older and more tired with every second that passed. The clock they were all counting in their heads was winding down and he knew it as much as anybody. Part of her wanted to go to him, to hold him and tell him some nonsense about everything being OK in the end, but she knew he wouldn't appreciate a sentiment nearly as much as he would appreciate her help. Besides, there was still a nagging part of her that said he should not be here at all, that he was endangering the conviction in this crime if it really was mixed up with the other. The thing he needed most from her now then, was to watch his back. She returned her attention to the inside of the warehouse; Greg would handle the perimeter and the locations where the body was found, hunting any scant trace that time and the rain had left behind. The inside of the building was perhaps a better chance, although the last time they were here all it had given them was a confusion of footprints in the dust and a single piece of melted polymer, dripped onto a concrete pole from where they had melted the alarm panel to reach the circuitry inside. Moving to the panel, Sara shone her flashlight inside, probing the wiring with a gloved hand. The wires to the sounder had been cut, Sara had already clipped the ends of the wires and collected them for tool marks, so they were gone now. She stood back from the panel and stared at it for a moment, considering. In the rush of evidence gathering last night she hadn't thought to much about the mechanics of the panel, assuming there would be time for that later. Now she looked more carefully at the melted edge and the cut wires. She paused for a moment and then called out.
"Greg?" She heard his footsteps coming towards her and looked up to find he had covered the distance surprisingly quickly.
"There's nothing left out there, the entire scene is washed out." His voice held an edge she hadn't heard for a long time, not since Nick had been taken. She could see a muscle clenching in his jaw but did her best to ignore it.
"Look at this." She indicated the alarm panel. Greg examined it for a moment before approaching and reaching out a finger to touch the melted edge, tipping his head to one side quizzically.
"They burnt their way in." He felt along the melted edge. "This is ABS polymer, that's going to take some serious heat. Probably a small blowtorch."
"Yeah, that's what Hodges said." The sentence was out of her mouth before she even knew it was coming. Greg's eyes snapped from the panel to her and reflexively she dropped her gaze to the floor. "Sorry." She said. She heard Greg take a shaky breath and then he reached out a hand to her, offering a watery smile.
"Don't worry about it." He said gently. "And I'd bet he used a lot more words than I did." Sara smiled in return.
"He did." She agreed. She turned back to the panel. "Seems like a lot of firepower to get through an alarm panel though, why not just bust the lock?" Greg thought for a moment and then replied.
"Mains."
"What?" Sara asked. Greg pointed to the metal trunking disappearing into the panel on the same side as the lock.
"The mains power for the alarm is going through there. Bust a lock and there's a chance you'll get a shocking surprise." Sara grimaced slightly at the pun and didn't dignify it with a response.
"So they melted the hinge side of the panel to get in. But here's the other thing." She pulled the panel open and indicated the cut wires. "They cut the wires to the sounder, but not to the silent alarm system. That's why the security guard was called."
"Maybe they didn't know about it."
"But they knew enough to have the tools to melt the panel?" Sara shook her head. "They must have thought they'd already disabled it." She mused, staring at the wires again. "What if they cut the wrong line?"
"The wrong line?" Greg asked. Sara nodded.
"These alarm systems use a phone line to inform the security company if the building is broken into. Maybe they thought they'd cut the phone line."
"We'll have to get the phone company onto it. I'll talk to Archie when we get back to the lab." Greg looked at the alarm for a moment, lost in thought. "Was this the co-polymer Dave came out for?" He asked at last. Sara nodded, but said nothing. "The alarm system is documented right?" He continued and she nodded again. Suddenly he reached out and pulled hard on the melted door, snapping the rigid plastic. "Let's take the whole thing this time, insurance or no insurance."
"I'll get the screwdriver." Sara replied, carefully keeping the surprise out of her voice. Greg smiled at her grimly, but said nothing more.
Personal case notes: S. Sidle
Processing of the alarm panel collected at the scene provided no fingerprints or tool marks. Trace analysis of the alarm panel showed the panel casing to be made from an ABS-copolymer blended with polycarbonate, to provide additional flame retardant properties.
Archie yelled Sara's name when she was half way down the corridor with a hot cup of coffee and she turned so fast a few drops splashed onto her fingers, scalding her. She returned quickly to the AV lab, ignoring the stinging pain in her hand. Archie lead her to the monitor and sat down, motioning her to do the same.
"These are the phone numbers for your warehouse." He said, indicating the screen.
"Three numbers?" Sara asked. Archie nodded.
"But only two of them are publicly listed. This one is the warehouse phone and this is the fax line."
"So what about the third?" Sara asked. Archie gave her half a smile.
"That's where it gets interesting. The third one is an unlisted number. Looking at the call list the phone company sent over, I'd guess it was being used as private office phone." He clicked the mouse and a second window appeared. "Interestingly, when I got the phone company to test the lines, the private line wasn't working."
"We thought the thieves might have a cut a phone line, to disable the silent alarm." Archie nodded.
"I don't know about you, but if I was looking for an alarm system line to a security company…"
"An unlisted number would seem like a good candidate." Sara finished. "But it wasn't?"
"It wasn't. The alarm was actually connected to the fax line."
"Which explains the appearance of our security guard.." Sara sighed. "Not that this actually gets us any further." Archie tapped a few keys and the phone numbers disappeared, replaced with a grainy image.
"That's true, but I also got the CCTV footage from the scene, finally." Sara sat up straighter.
"Anything good?" She asked, not daring to hope.
"The cameras around the crime scene were blacked out, just like you thought." Sara sagged. "But I did get something from one of the other cameras." He played the footage. Sara watched a car pull up suddenly, almost skidding to a stop. Three men jumped out, wearing ski masks. The car sped off and the three men disappeared from the frame.
"Where were they headed?" She asked.
"From the position of the camera, they were going straight back towards the crime scene." Archie replied. "From the time code on the video and the timing of the call to the security company I'd say this happened about twenty minutes after the alarm was set off."
"The get away?" Sara wondered aloud. "Then why get out and run back?"
"Maybe they forgot something." Archie said, his tone was flippant but as he finished the sentence they turned to look at each other.
"Like evidence linking them to a murder." Sara said. She looked at the screen again. "Can you get the registration of that car?" Archie's fingers danced across the keyboard for a few moments, rewinding the film and enlarging the image of the car. The sharpening worked its way down the screen, slowly revealing the plate.
"Got it." Archie smiled and hit the print key, passing the paper to Sara. His smile faltered slightly as he looked at the image in her hand.
"Are these the guys?" He asked. Sara nodded.
"Probably." She said. Archie's face dropped a little further.
"Is there any more news?"
"Not that I know." Sara sighed and looked at the picture again. "This will help though." The edge of smile touched Archie's face again.
"You know if AV evidence finds him and not trace he'll never forgive any of us." Sara let out a sound that was half laugh, half sigh.
"Yeah, but think of all the gloating you can do when he gets back." She replied.
Officer notebook: B Henderson
Stolen vehicle reported abandoned on waste ground near intersection in Henderson. Report by neighbour, Mr W Davies, who owns property adjoining the area where the car was abandoned. Report indicates Mr. Davies saw several people running from the vehicle after he shone a light from his window into the area. Responding officer found indications that vehicle had recently sustained damage. Damage consistent with description broadcast for a suspect vehicle in an active case. Detective and CSI called.
They'd wasted no time taking the car back to the lab. It was a beat up Ford, probably once white but now a dirty grey. It was covered in mud and scratches, with a badly folded wing on the passenger side. Nick estimated in his career he had probably taken a hundred cars of this make and model apart and he could now do it blindfolded, but now wasn't the time for showing off. He carefully opened the door, smearing his gloves with the fingerprint dust he had liberally covered the door and its handle with to gain a single partial print, slightly smudged. The door protested, jammed against the folded wing and he carefully pushed it, producing a gap just wide enough to squeeze inside. He could hear Warrick carefully disassembling the engine, the click of the ratchet as he removed the spark plugs and placed them into a metal tray. As he climbed through the gap Nick noticed a damp patch on the back seat and craned his neck to get a better look. He reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a swab, twisting his body awkwardly to rub it across the fabric. He brought the swab close to his face, already catching a familiar smell. He opened the window and leaned out.
"Hey, there's gasoline on the back seat." Warrick appeared from the engine bay and came around to the side of the car.
"You think they tried to torch it?"
"Probably about to when our friend Mr Davies scared them off." Nick shone a flashlight around the car's interior, and then paused. "What's that?" He asked, pointing to the rear foot well. He began to twist his body when Warrick stopped him.
"I'll get it; this car has four doors y'know." Nick sat back, his eyes darting around the interior for a second before they focussed on the dashboard; he leant forward as Warrick spoke. "Got it." He said, reappearing at the door.
"And I got blood." Nick replied as he gently lifted the spot with another swab. He looked up at the object Warrick was holding, a piece of plastic blackened and misshapen. "What is it?" He asked. Warrick shrugged.
"Melted plastic. But look." He turned the plastic to face him and Nick saw the faint impression of ridges, the corner of a shoe print.
"So someone steps in some melted plastic, transfers it to the car on their shoe and then it drops off?"
"Or was knocked off in the impact. This stuff is pretty sticky." He looked at the sealed swab Nick was still holding. "Is there enough blood for DNA?" He asked. Nick nodded.
"Should be, but there was no DNA evidence from the first scene even before the evidence was stolen, so we've got nothing to compare it to."
"The job these guys pulled, they're probably already in the system." Warrick replied, sealing the plastic into an evidence bag.
"Probably." Nick agreed without much enthusiasm. Warrick looked at him for a moment.
"It's something." He said quietly.
"It's not a lot." Nick replied. He sealed his own evidence bag with the swab inside, holding the pen cap in his teeth as he signed the seal. "Who knows if it's even relevant, for all we know it could belong to the guy they stole the car from." He said, replacing the cap on the pen. Warrick sighed.
"True, but let us process it before we take guesses." He said, putting a hand gently on Nick's shoulder. "We don't know anything yet man." Nick returned his attention to the dashboard, reaching into the pocket of his vest for yet another pot of fingerprint powder.
"No, we don't." He replied.
Trace analysis summary report.
Case: LVPD#4476Hodges
Evidence identifier/Submitting CSI: 722401894, Brown, W
Technician: R Daniels
Material: Plastic shard
Procedure: IR spectroscopy, GC-MS
Result: Most likely composition returned Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS)-copolymer/ polycarbonate alloy .
Notes: Composition of material identical to Evidence 722401889, Plastic Alarm panel cover, submitted Sidle, S
He'd known he would have to do this since the moment this whole thing had started, or at least had started to take shape. Grissom had been putting it off, indulging a habit he knew was a character fault but had never truly shaken, a permanent ghost at the back of his mind that whispered that whatever he ignored would eventually go away. Grissom had also learned long ago that being aware of your faults did not necessarily improve them. Now he was seated behind his own desk, waiting for Greg to arrive and hoping that he didn't make this any harder than it already was. The last thing he wanted right now was to have to leave his desk and drag him away. Instead he waited and a few seconds later his patience was rewarded as Greg slipped through his door and sat without a word. For a moment they just looked at each other, Grissom observing, with the part of his brain that was always annotating every situation, that Greg looked smaller than he usually did, as if he was slowly folding in on himself.
"You've heard about the shard of alarm panel Nick found in the abandoned car?" Greg nodded, they both knew what was coming already, but for the sake of the record and his own piece of mind, Grissom had to spell it out. "The car is linked by paint scrapings to the Denali and the plastic links it to the warehouse." Greg nodded.
"So the two cases are now one case." He said, his tone flat.
"The two are now one." Grissom agreed. "And that means you can't work on the warehouse any more." Greg looked up at him; there was anger in his eyes but not very much surprise.
"So I'm back to doing nothing." His tone was bitter and Grissom unexpectedly found himself feeling defensive.
"There's nothing I can do Greg. The two cases are linked by a chain of evidence, I let you work on one with your relationship with Hodges and the defence will destroy both without breaking a sweat." To his surprise Greg made a sound that could almost be considered laughter.
"My 'relationship' to Dave." He replied. There was a derisive note in his voice and Grissom was momentarily confused. Greg continued with anger seeping slowly into his tone. "Ironic, a lawyer in Nevada will use a relationship the law in Nevada doesn't recognise to bring down a case."
"I'm sorry." Grissom said, leaning back into his chair. For a second the watery remnants of a smile graced Greg's features.
"It's not your fault." He replied, his tone a mix of frustration and defeat. "I can't be treated as next of kin; I can't be part of the investigation. I just feel…"
"Disconnected." Grissom supplied. Greg nodded.
"Andrew is being great and involving me in everything, I know you guys will tell me the second there's any news." He sighed. "But I'm effectively useless."
"He'll need you most when he comes back." Grissom replied.
"It's been a long tine." Greg said quietly, "if we haven't found him by now there's a good chance we won't." The fear hung heavy in the air once it was spoken and Greg seemed to shrink further into himself.
"Hodges is very… tenacious Greg. I wouldn't give up on him yet." Greg stood up and buried his hands in his pockets.
"I'm just preparing for the worst." He said. Grissom nodded.
"Good. But preparing for it doesn't mean assuming it's going to happen."
DNA analysis summary report:
Case: LVPD#4476Hodges
Evidence identifier/Submitting CSI: 722401896, Stokes, N
Technician: W Simms
Sample type: Blood
Procedure: WBC DNA extraction, STR-PCR, Capillary Electrophoresis
Result: Profile obtained XY. Male, no exact match. Partial match fraternal/paternal, CODIS.
Notes: Fraternal match indication – Parents of match recorded as deceased. Y-chromosome STR haplotype ordered. CODIS record appended.
Catherine had never exactly been a fan of meetings. She wasn't great at any activity that required more talking than action, something that got her into more trouble than she cared to admit. She didn't think any of them were particularly enjoying this meeting though, they had gathered around the table as if they were trying to avoid the empty chair that stared accusingly at them. She'd seen Greg in the lobby, avoiding her eyes in a way that made her heart clench in her chest and her mind reach desperately for something to say to him only to realise she really had nothing left to say. Instead she offered him another hug and he accepted it tiredly, sagging against her like the wind had been knocked out of him. As she sat at the table her hands still tingled where he had held them slightly too tight and silently begged her to tell him what he wanted to hear. Nick was speaking and she forced herself to reorient her attention to him, escaping from the memory.
"Wendy gave us a male sibling match for the DNA on the dashboard." He said. When she listened closely Catherine noticed that everyone's voice had taken on a shade of the tiredness Greg had held, as if the energy was slowly being sapped from all of them.
"Any chance of finding the brother?" Grissom asked.
"Only in the cemetery. He was murdered a year ago and the case was never solved, likely a gangland hit."
"Was the brother ever contacted as next of kin?" Catherine asked, a small flame of hope sparking into life. Nick shook his head.
"They were both fostered separately as children and social services lost track, the usual story."
"Do we have a name?" Grissom asked.
"The brother was a Tom Stevens, but he seems to have picked the surname up from one of his foster families." Nick shrugged. "Tom was in CODIS before his murder, picked up for some robbery and misdemeanour offences. Brass is tracking down a few of his old associates, see if anyone knows anything."
"Could be a family business." Catherine said doubtfully. She looked around the table, "anything else?"
"Autopsy on the security guard suggests he was run over, probably more than once." Sara said, her eyes on the file in front of her. "Doc Robbins reckoned the most likely scenario was a car hitting him in one direction and then reversing back over the body, although he says we can't quote him on that."
"Pretty cold, running over a body." Warrick said, "they must have had some nerve."
"Or have been panicking." Sara replied "we think they tried to cut the silent alarm system, there's a good chance the security guard came as a surprise to them."
"Either way it's murder." Warrick replied. Sara raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
"It's also the same group." She continued "there's the polymer from the car and Archie found security footage of a group running back towards to the crime scene from the get away vehicle."
"Any faces?" Catherine asked.
"No. The registration traces back to a vehicle stolen in Henderson, but the car hasn't been recovered."
"Then they might still have it." Warrick said, "they would have needed another vehicle after they ran Hodges off the road to transport him and the evidence."
"Assuming they took him anywhere." Grissom said. Nick looked up suddenly, an edge of anger to his voice.
"We've searched everything in a mile radius of that crash scene, there's no body." Grissom raised a placating hand.
"I know." He said. "So we assume they took Hodges and the evidence, but where?" He looked around the assembled faces but no one replied, Catherine cast her eyes down to the table top, feeling the weight of the silence. She was relieved when it was suddenly broken by the trill of Nick's cell.
"I'll be right down." He said and snapped the phone shut. "That was Brass, he's pulled in one of Tom Stevens' known associates." Nick got up to leave and Grissom and Catherine spoke in unison.
"I'll go with you." They looked at each other and Catherine motioned to Gil.
"You go." She said. Grissom nodded and followed Nick, turning in the doorway to look at the rest of them.
"We've not lost him yet." He said. "Keep working."
Interview Transcript
Case: LVPD#4476Hodges
Suspect: James Randall
Investigating officer: Detective-Captain Brass
Also present: CSI Grissom
Trace evidence, DNA and fingerprints taken from suspect by CSI Stokes at 00:30. Interview commenced at 00:52
Det. Brass (JB), CSI Grissom (GG) and James Randall (JR)
JB:Hello James, my name is Detective Brass, this is CSI Grissom. We'd like to have a word with you.
JR: You're getting nothing.
JB: Come on James, I haven't even asked any questions.
JR: I don't know anything.
JB: You don't even know what I'm going to ask you yet.
JR: It doesn't matter, I don't know anything.
JB: It's an interesting record you have here James, quite stimulating reading. Your eighteenth birthday must have come as quite a blow.
JR: What?
JB: You're not a minor anymore, no more easy street in the juvenile courts. You're playing with the big boys now James.
GG: Why did you hit him twice?
JR: What?
GG: The guard, why did you hit him twice? He'd have probably survived if you only hit him once.
JR: I don't know what you're talking about.
JB: Come on James, don't be like that. We're not interested in you, we want the brains of the operation.
JR: I don't know anything.
JB: Well I can believe that. You knew Tom Stevens though, didn't you James?
JR: Who?
JB: Don't be stupid, we have you two on a list of known associates. Well we did until Tom bit the big one. Were you there James, did you see it happen?
JR: I don't know anything. About anything. This is harassment.
JB: We're just talking here James, just talking. Now Tom, did you know his brother?
JR: What brother?
GG: The brother who left blood in the car used to run one of my people off the road. Do you know him James? Now would be a very good time to tell us.
JR: You're all crazy.
GG: Those are nice sneakers James, can I see them?
JR: What? No.
JB: James, I think now would be a very good time to be co-operative.
JR: Fine, here.
Suspect hands his shoes to CSI Grissom.
GG: See this is interesting. There's some plastic on these shoes James, I think I've got the rest of it back at the lab with your shoe print embedded in it. We got it from that car you know nothing about.
JB: James, this is less than good my friend.
JR: I don't know what you're talking about. I share an apartment, maybe somebody took my shoes.
Interview suspended- CSI Grissom called from the room. Interview resumed 01:03.
GG: Tell me James, did the person who took your shoes take your fingers too?
JR: Huh?
GG: We've just identified your fingerprint on the door of that car. Since I'm pretty sure all your fingers are attached.
JR: Look, I was there ok, but I didn't do anything.
JB: Of course not. You were just an innocent bystander in a car involved in a kidnapping. And a robbery. And a murder.
JR: It wasn't my idea, ok? I never wanted any of that.
JB: Whose idea was it then James?
JR: Daniel. Daniel Stevens, Tom's brother.
GG: Where can we find Daniel James?
JR: I don't know. I took my money and I split. I'm not part of that gang; I was just along for the ride.
JB: That's a shame James, 'cause right now you're all I got for three crimes. Looks like you'll be taking the rap for all of them.
JR: Look, I can give you Daniel's apartment, he's never really there, but I met him at a party and he took me back there. That's how I got into this. He said it was going to be a simple job, he never said anything about murder.
JB: That's good James. Here, write it down on this piece of paper.
(Paper logged, Evidence#722401922)
JB: Now, this nice officer will take you to your room.
Interview terminated 1:10am
As far as Brass was concerned, it was his job to kick in the door. What they found on the other side was the realm of the CSI's, unless of course it was breathing and wielding a gun, but the door kicking duties definitely fell to him and his subordinates. He'd handled this door personally. The apartment was dingy and ill-lit, a theme in the residences he visited. The floor was stacked with electrical equipment, video recorders and stereo systems, TVs and DVD players. The whole place smelt slightly of oil and burnt plastic, mixed with a vague whiff of solvents that made Brass wrinkle his nose in distaste. He looked up as one of the officers approached him, shining his flashlight in Brass' eyes before he realised what he was doing and hastily dropped the beam.
"Sorry." He said, Brass waved the apology away. "All the rooms are clear, there's nobody here." Brass nodded, he'd already surmised as much himself, despite a slight flicker of hope that had existed until he had broken in the door.
"Guard the door; try to stop the neighbours getting too good a look." He said and the young man dashed off, still naïve enough to be eager. Nick was already at work, shining his own light over one of the piles of electrical equipment.
"Look at this stuff." He said, playing the beam across the boxes. "Where'd he get all of these?" Nick knelt down and probed his fingers between the piles of equipment. "There must be twenty DVD players here, all identical." He said. Warrick's head poked round the door.
"Wait 'til you see the kitchen." He said. Nick rose to join him and Brass followed, casting his eyes about the room. It wasn't just the DVD players; there must have been ten televisions, most of them the same make and model. The stereos too and the video recorders, although those looked older, their boxes covered in a thin sheen of dust. As he passed through the kitchen door Brass saw what Warrick meant, the countertops were littered with electronic debris, motors and heads and leads. The table had a large box sitting on it, possibly once a computer, with leads trailing out of it to a circuit board lying unprotected on the wooden surface. Suddenly Brass tripped and stumbled, he looked down to find cabling snaking across the floor, loosely taped down with strips of duct tape. Warrick was already by the table, shining a light over the tools arrayed on it. Nick murmured something to him and he reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out an evidence bag.
"What's he been doing here?" Brass wondered aloud. Nick shrugged.
"Repairing things?" He looked around himself. "Some of this stuff is real old; some of it's brand new. I'm guessing this is a hobby." Brass looked around at the mess of wires and the objects cluttering every surface.
"Some hobby." He muttered.
"Well some of the stuff in the living room looks like it might have come out of a robbery." Warrick said.
"And whoever robbed the warehouse would have needed this kind of technical know how to bypass the alarm." Nick continued. He sighed and looked around himself. "I guess we better ship it all back to the lab and process it." He looked defeated and Warrick placed his hand briefly on his shoulder.
"I'll get you some help." Brass said and stepped out of the room, feeling unreasonably uncomfortable. Hope was a horrible thing when it kept rising and dying.
Personal case notes N. Stokes.
Case: LVPD4476Hodges
Evidence log (partial)
Electronic/ Electrical items collected.
Floor plan for residence appended.
See individual evidence reports for item descriptions
Room A
DVD player – 20 items
Television – 12 items
Video Recorder - 8 items
Stereo Receiver/ Amplifier – 18 items
Room B
Circuit boards – 33 items (sent to AV for identification and analysis)
Computer (incomplete) – 1 item
Catergory 5 cable – 2 items
Power Cable – 3 items
Multimeter – 1 item
Radio (valve) – 1 item
Radio (transistor) – 3 items
Room C
Computer (complete) – 1 item
Items range in condition from new to heavily damaged. Most new items are those found in bulk in room A, items in room A were of similar makes and models (see attached log for full details).
It looked like they'd emptied a hi-fi store onto the evidence table. Not all the boxes had fitted, so they were also stacked about the room and to Nick the piles looked both massive and totally useless. He scrubbed his hand across his forehead, trying to erase the dull ache that was settling above his eyes. Depression was seeping to all of them; he could see it in the dull gazes that greeted him when he looked around the table. Catherine raised her eyebrows at him, snapping on a pair of gloves and offering him a weak smile.
"Shall I serve?" She asked. She passed him the first of the black boxes, handing another to Warrick and pulling a third towards herself. Nick put on his own gloves and felt around the edges of the machine. He probed the drawer, pulling it out and shining a flashlight into the gap. Reaching for the screwdriver he was turning the machine onto its side to reach the screws at the bottom when the top of box caught the light.
"Hmm." Nick made an interested noise and tipped the case again, making the light glance off its surface. Warrick and Catherine both looked up.
"What is it?" Catherine asked. Nick held out his hand.
"Hand me that UV." Nick replied. Catherine passed him the lamp and Warrick moved to the wall, switching off the lights. Slipping on his glasses, Nick shone the UV light on the top of the box and letters appeared, glowing in unearthly relief against the dark surface.
"Acorn electronics." Catherine read. Below the name there was an address and Nick pulled out his notebook, copying it down. "Hey, shine it over here." Nick handed the lamp to her and she shone it on the DVD player she had been examining. The same legend appeared and Catherine handed the light to Warrick, who shone it first on his own evidence, then on the rest of the boxes piled around the table. At least half of them showed the same markings. Moving to the wall Warrick switched the lights on and the three of them looked at each other. "I wonder if Acorn electronics has had a robbery lately?" Catherine asked.
Business Licence Information
City of Las Vegas
Business name: Acorn Electronics
Type of business: Electronics retailer
Address: Not displayed
Owner: Albert Golding
Owner title: Owner
Status: Out of business
Albert Golding was a very worried man. He'd been a worried man for so long now that the lines had etched permanently into his forehead; aging his face and making him look as if he might at any moment fold in on himself. When the knock came, it took a while for him to convince his hands to stop shaking for long enough to let him open the door, but when he saw the police badge on the other side a wave of unexpected calm fell over him and he felt, to his great surprise, better than he had in months. He showed them in, the policeman with the brusque manner and the other man, who was quieter and more thoughtful, but whose eyes darted about the room like he was cataloguing Albert's life.
Not that there was much left to catalogue; the picture of his wife on the mantle, when Ruth still smiled without grimacing with the pain that had plagued for the last few months. A few scant possessions, some books that had always travelled with him and had settled, like him, onto dusty shelves in this godforsaken place. The brusque policeman was sitting on the couch, giving him a smile that Albert couldn't help but find slightly predatory. The quiet man was still browsing around the room, reading the titles of the books and studying the few paintings that hung on the wall. Albert had painted those boats himself, from life in a far away place and he almost wanted to ask the quiet man's opinion of them, but he held his tongue.
"So all we want to know is how your stock wound up in this kid's house." The brusque man was speaking to him but he only caught the end of the sentence. It didn't matter; he knew what this was about anyway. He hesitated for a moment and the quiet man turned to face him, eyes wide and questioning.
"Why do you mark your stock with a UV pen Mr Golding?" The quiet man asked. Albert was taken by surprise for a moment and his mouth opened to answer almost without his permission.
"So many robberies." He replied, his voice sounding rough and older than he remembered. Since Ruth had died he hadn't had much reason to talk. "We marked the stock to have some way of getting it back to us, if the police ever found it." The edge of bitterness in his tone was involuntary and he regretted it.
"But what about when your customers bought it?" The quiet man asked. Albert shrugged.
"They never noticed, who looks for a thing like that these days?" He wanted to add that there had been few customers to notice anyway, but there was no sense in throwing oil on that particular fire.
"Your company is insolvent isn't it Mr Golding?" The policeman spoke again and Albert turned his attention to him, seeing the quiet man come to stand by the fireplace out of the corner of his eye.
"Yes, for six months." He replied.
"Any bankruptcy procedures against you?"
"Yes." Albert repeated, almost grateful that the conversation was plodding to its inevitable conclusion.
"Then that property would become forfeit to your creditors, wouldn't it?" The brusque man asked the question as if he didn't already know the answer. It was a habit Albert despised.
"Yes." He replied shortly. "That was why I gave it to Daniel."
"Ah yes, Daniel." The policeman said thoughtfully and Albert saw the quiet man stand more to attention. For the first time a horrible thought crossed his mind. Was this not about the bankruptcy and an old man's folly? What on earth had Daniel done?
"He used to work for me sometimes, in the shop. He repaired things the customers brought in. He was a good boy." Albert realised his tone was defensive, but there was nothing he could do about it.
"So you gave him the stock. For safekeeping?" The policeman asked. Albert shook his head, too defeated to fight anymore.
"It was a stupid thing to do. I just couldn't face losing everything." It was the best excuse Albert had come up with, even in his own mind, but he knew it wasn't strictly true. An old instinct had kicked in when he realised the bank would want to take all the things from the shop; an old instinct to run with what you could carry.
"We think Daniel might have hurt somebody." The quiet man spoke with a gentle tone, as if he realised that Albert was far away, lost for a second in a memory. "We need to find him."
"He's a good boy." Albert replied stubbornly but his heart was sinking to his boots. It could have happened so easily.
"Do you know where he is?" The brusque man spoke sharply but Albert looked into his eyes and saw an emotion there he recognised, a hint of a desperate fear he knew too well.
"I gave him the keys to the shop." He said quietly, his voice tightening as if his throat was trying to close off his betrayal. "The lease is still in my name although the whole place is boarded up."
"Thank you." The quiet man said. They were both already moving towards the door when Albert spoke again.
"What about the stock and the… Bankruptcy?" The brusque man turned back to face him, his face almost apologetic.
"Someone will be round to talk to you about that." He said. Albert closed the door behind them and went to sit in his favourite chair, staring at the picture of Ruth on the mantelpiece and listening to the tick of the clock. Tears were sliding slowly down his cheeks, but he could not raise a hand to stop them.
They don't approach from the road. Nick would have called it instinct, Sara luck and Warrick just good procedure, but for whatever reason they leave the Denali in a parking lot and walk slowly round the back of the shop, towards the chain link fence that surrounds a small overgrown yard, where the yellowing grass is knee high. The sun is high in the sky and their shadows walk before them, passing through the wire to cast themselves in the long grass. They peer through the holes, dividing the area without speaking. Warrick paces along one side of the fence and into the alley that runs between the shop and an adjacent building, Sara follows the other side of the fence to where it meets the shop. Nick concentrates on opening the rusty gate to reach the yard itself. Warrick shouts, louder than Nick would like him to but loud enough for Sara to turn around and follow the sound. He is pointing to the end of alley, where a car is parked and Sara reaches into her jacket for the picture from the security camera and holds it out to Warrick, pointing to it urgently. They share a look, then hear Nick's voice. They both turn and retreat to the fence again, finding him inside the caged garden, holding apart the strands of long grass. Warrick sees it first; Sara follows their eyes and catches a familiar sight that makes her heart thump against her chest for a second. The evidence bag has her name on it, although she cannot honestly say she can remember writing that particular seal. She'd barely been able to think that night, with the wind and the rain. Warrick pulls out a camera and photographs the bag, Nick picks it up with tweezers and puts it in a bag of his own; the bag within a bag making him think briefly of an infinity mirror. The three of them turn to face the building, the windows covered by sacking from the inside and the glass catching the sun, glaring flashes of white that try to blind them. Swift discussion and agreement makes them retreat, back through the rusty gate and out of the grass, because they all know now and the importance of the next two minutes has dawned on them. They can feel the hope flowering, slightly desperate and probably forlorn, but still they creep backwards, sharing looks to check they are all still in agreement. Once they are a safe distance away Nick raises his phone to his ear and speaks, then the three of them move to the car to wait. There is too much experience between them to think that spur of the moment heroics will end anything other than badly, yet they can all feel their muscles tightening with the involuntary desire to act. They look at each other, they stay silent, and they wait.
Operation: Search and recovery
Case: LVPD#4476Hodges
Officer in charge: Detective Captain Brass
Property: Acorn Electronics
Date and Time: 10-25 0900 hours
Appended documents: Map
Notes: Surveillance indicates at least three males, seen entering and leaving shop by front entrance. One male fits description of Daniel Stevens. At least one person known to be armed, Colt M9 pistol observed in the hand of one of the suspects during surveillance and it cannot be assumed that there are not more arms within the shop. Entrance for the operation will be through the front of the premises with officers positioned at the rear in case of escape. Surveillance prior to entry will be conducted to ascertain approximate positions for suspects. Initial entry to be made by armed officers in standard protective clothing, followed by officer backup and CSI when the scene is secured.