Behind The Scenes
By: supercsi4
Chapter 26 – Loco Motives
SARA:
I love when I get those chances to do something to Grissom that he always pulls off doing to me. Embarrassing me in the lab, proving me wrong, pulling me into a weird experiment, and so much more. But I absolutely hate when he figures something out or gets an idea for something and just leaves the room, leaving me hanging and wanting to know more but knowing I'll have to wait until he wants to come back and fill me in.
Well today we had yet another case of the Miniature Crime Scene Killer and Grissom and I were discussing the miniature left at today's crime scene. I was scanning over the employment records and made a connection between two of our victims, but instead of mentioning it aloud to Grissom I just gave him a little snippet. "Mannleigh Chickens," I notice from the employment records.
"What about it?" Grissom asks, completely unaware about what I'm about to pull.
"I'll let you know," is all I say as I pick up the file folder and head out the door. I turn around one last time to glance back at him to confirm what I already knew, he was wearing this confused face and then the 'I know what you're trying to do' face. I give him a quick grin and leave him out of the loop.
GRISSOM:
Well today Greg and I showed up at the Mannleigh Chicken slaughterhouse, where the body of the nightshift cleaner, Raymundo Suarez, was lying facedown in the tank used to electrocute the chickens. I was sure glad I hadn't brought Sara with me, then I would have been a dead man, she may have even electrocuted me in that tank. I made that mistake once with raw hamburger meat and I'll never do that again. If she had really followed thru with that "leave of absence," I could have lost Sara forever.
Anyways, Ernie Dell, another maintenance worker, told Jim that Raymundo was sleeping with the wife of the owner, Ike Mannleigh. What made this case a hundred times worse what the miniature replica of the crime scene of the slaughterhouse. It was our third victim of the Miniature Crime Scene Killer and I was getting highly frustrated.
Later on back at the lab, I took a closer look at our latest miniature and pleasantly surprised, I found a connection to the first two. There was a red haired doll in every miniature and I smiled at my new discovery.
"You look like a kid who's just found the prize at the bottom of a Cracker Jacks box." Sara says as she walks into the room.
"Definitely some kind of doll."
"It sure is."
I turn around and point out the other doll photos from the other miniature crime scenes. "Three different views of the same dead doll. Maybe this is more than a signature. Maybe there's something these victims have in common."
"First two victims were white, third Hispanic, two men, one woman, one rich, two poor, one young, two old, one famous, two obscure…"
I interrupt her, "Yeah…" Then I pick up our blurry photo of the person who delivered the box with the miniature crime scene in it to the front porch of our crime scene. "And unfortunately, this is the best lead we have for their killer."
Sara takes the blurry photo from me and asks, "This is the most that Archie could get off that video?"
"Yeah, well, with the equipment we have here."
"I'm getting Raymundo's cell phone records. I'm gonna see if any of his calls are a match to the numbers that Penny Garden and Izzy Delancy had in common."
"Whatever happened with that number we got off the disposable cell phone? Any luck with that?"
"Disposable phone numbers are assigned by the carrier to the phone distributors. It took a little bit of legwork, but I did find the store where the phone was sold."
"Let me guess. It was paid for with cash."
"Yeah." Sara says the notices something in the employment records. "Mannleigh
Chickens."
"What about it?" Where are you going with this Sara? Do you have an idea? Is there a connection? But instead of answering any of my questions, she picks up the file folder and said, "I'll let you know," and then she heads for the door, but looks back toward me once more, "See how it feels?" Oh no she didn't just pull a 'Grissom' on me. She's trying to hide a smile as she leaves me stunned in the layout room.
I don't know why I ever doubt Sara. She found a connection between Izzy Delancy and Raymundo Suarez. Izzy filmed a PSA revealing the cruel way Ike Mannleigh, Raymundo Suarez's boss, slaughtered chickens on his farm, costing Mannleigh sixty percent of his business. We questioned Mannleigh, who admitted to holding a grudge against Izzy, but claims he had no beef with Raymundo, even though Raymundo was sleeping with his wife.
Then the logo on the shirt of the man who delivered the second miniature crime scene to Penny Garden's house was identified as Locomotiveville, a model making club. The club's website revealed that Ernie Dell, the maintenance man from the Mannleigh Slaughterhouse, is a member. We searched Ernie's house and discovered it filled with model towns and miniature crime scenes everywhere. Ernie, who appeared in Izzy's PSA and also was Penny's handyman, denied any involvement. Sara was able to trace minutes purchased on a disposable mobile phone to Ernie's credit card, so the police headed to his house to arrest him, just before I received a video from Ernie of him confessing to all the murders and then he shot himself right in front of the camera just as the police arrived at his house.