Behind The Scenes

By: supercsi4

Chapter 19 – Toe Tags

SARA:

The Nevada chainsaw massacre is what Grissom called it. Life imitates art right in the garage of a Las Vegas resident. Grissom began photographing and I checked for fingerprints on the door. "Ok…you first," Grissom wanted me to open with my idea of how this crime went down.

"Alright…kicked in door, one bloody chainsaw, two dead bodies. Someone broke in, cut up the two guys, left the murder weapon, and split."

"What about all this mess? The furniture and appliances?"

"Some of the furniture looks new, some of it's cut up, some of it's not. Maybe they were cutting it up when the assailant came in."

"It's a workable theory for now."

I look around to make sure no one is near enough to hear what I'm about to say. "You know what this reminds me of? First time we met." Grissom looks up at me quickly from his camera, silently trying to recall that time I am about to describe. "San Francisco. Your lecture. Double murder in a garage. I heard you were a little dull as a speaker, but you can't rely on your first blush." I'm trying to get a rise out of him at our crime scene. "That was the uh…" I deliberately lick my lips for him. "…subject of your talk."

"I believe I said first opinions are crucial but if the evidence changes, so must the theory."

"Exactly," I respond just as Jim walks in.

Later on, it was reconstruction time. Grissom was setting up our first dummy as I rolled in a second. "Where do you want him?" I ask.

"Put him under the Lou Beltrain spatter…and load him up." We both spray our dummies with blue paint to simulate blood. Grissom picks up the chainsaw, turns it on, and lets it 'cut' the dummy's arm, creating a paint spatter across the ceiling, but it doesn't match the initial blood pattern, so he turns the chainsaw back off.

"Blue test paint is not lining up with the red known spatter." I have to state the obvious.

"The body's in the correct relative position, but the angle's off."

"What could throw the angle off?"

"I don't know, but it's very awkward to try and line this up." Grissom says as he struggles with handling the chainsaw until I just can't take it much longer. This is going to take a woman to demonstrate, isn't it?

"What if you line it up switching hands, like this?" I ask, starting up the chainsaw myself and mimicking Grissom's previous 'cut' on the dummy, but this time, using my left hand and my spatter pattern matches the red known spatter this time. "Ray Gaynor's killer was left handed."

"Lou Beltrain wore his watch on his right wrist…I bet he was left handed."

"So Lou could've killed Ray, cut off his arm, but who killed Lou?"

We were standing side my side thru the demonstration, but now Grissom moves to stand in front of me. "Doc Robbins said that the cuts on Lou's body were made when the chain was traveling upwards."

"Well if I attacked you…" I say as I move the chainsaw toward Grissom and his eyes got really wide, like he was scared or something, like I would really hurt him with a chainsaw. "…the chain would be traveling downwards when held normally by a left or a right handed person."

"Which means the top of the chain had to have been facing him."

"The way that this works is if Lou was holding the saw." I step back a bit to demonstrate while I explain. "The chain was dull, from cutting up his wife's things. The wife told Brass that he wasn't very handy."

"An inexperienced left handed operator with a dull chainsaw certainly increases the risk for injury."

"Kick back."

GRISSOM:

The Nevada chainsaw massacre is what I called it. Life imitates art right in the garage of a Las Vegas resident. At our gruesome crime scene, I began photographing and Sara checked for fingerprints on the door. "Ok…you first," I asked Sara. I love watching her work and think up theories for the crimes.

"Alright…kicked in door, one bloody chainsaw, two dead bodies. Someone broke in, cut up the two guys, left the murder weapon, and split."

"What about all this mess? The furniture and appliances?"

"Some of the furniture looks new, some of it's cut up, some of it's not. Maybe they were cutting it up when the assailant came in.

I'm doubtful, but encouraging "It's a workable theory for now."

Then Sara is silent for a few seconds, but I can hear her mind hard at work. "You know what this reminds me of? First time we met." I quickly look up from my camera and up at her, silently trying to recall the time she is about to describe. "San Francisco. Your lecture. Double murder in a garage. I heard you were a little dull as a speaker…" Really? "…but you can't rely on your first blush." Oh she's good, trying to get me worked up at a crime scene. "That was the uh…" She licks her lips and I'm turned on even more. "…subject of your talk."

"I believe I said first opinions are crucial but if the evidence changes, so must the theory." I correct her.

"Exactly." Thankfully Jim walked in then, interrupting us before it turned inappropriate.

Later on, one of my favorite parts of the job, it's reconstruction time. I'm setting up our first dummy while Sara rolls in a second.

"Where do you want him?"

"Put him under the Lou Beltrain spatter…and load him up." I instruct her and we both spray our dummies with blue paint to simulate blood. I pick up the chainsaw, turn it on, and "cut" the dummies arm, creating a paint spatter across the ceiling, but it doesn't match the initial blood pattern, so I turn it off.

"Blue test paint is not lining up with the red known spatter." Thank you Captain Obvious.

"The body's in the correct relative position, but the angle's off."

"What could throw the angle off?"

"I don't know, but it's very awkward to try and line this up." But I'm struggling with handling the chainsaw until Sara steps up and takes it from me, completely turning me on when she takes control. What is she wearing under her jumpsuit? My mind is beginning to wonder until I hear her 'cutting' into the dummy like I had, but with her left hand instead. She's brilliant, why didn't I think of that? There's one of the many reasons I love her.

"Lou Beltrain wore his watch on his right wrist…I bet he was left handed." I added.

"So Lou could've killed Ray, cut off his arm, but who killed Lou?" Sara asked and I move to stand in front of Sara, getting a great view down her jumpsuit. Focus Grissom, focus.

"Doc Robbins said that the cuts on Lou's body were made when the chain was traveling upwards."

"Well if I attacked you…" Sara moved the chainsaw toward me and scared the shit out of me. Be careful with that thing. "…the chain would be traveling downwards when held normally by a left or a right handed person."

"Which means the top of the chain had to have been facing him."

"The way that this works is if Lou was holding the saw." Sara steps back a bit to demonstrate while she explains. "The chain was dull, from cutting up his wife's things. The wife told Brass that he wasn't very handy."

"An inexperienced left handed operator with a dull chainsaw certainly increases the risk for injury."

"Kick back." I need a cold shower now.