Chapter 14

Thursday, September 7th, 2006
11:33 PM

The crime scene was a mess of photographers, reporters, police and morbidly curious bystanders when they arrived. Nick approached the crime scene tape, kit in hand and held it up for Catherine to duck under before following. In front of them, a body, charred and burnt beyond recognition, head tilted down, was suspended on a stake. Nick watched as Catherine winced before moving towards the body. She glanced around at the scene surrounding the tape. "The media got here fast. Look at them circling the scene. Nick, take some shots of the crowd. Maybe our killer hung around. Check in with Sofia while you're at it. I'll talk to David about the body."

He glanced at the body, feeling a shiver run over him. "Yeah."

Nick picked up his camera, selecting groups of observers as targets and began taking photographs. He moved towards Sofia, taking more pictures as he moved. When he approached the detective he noticed she'd lost some color. "Hey, you alright?"

"Yeah. It's just, we've all been to some pretty messed up scenes lately, hard to take in. What happened to the days when a murder was just a murder, gun shot wound to the chest, stab wound to the abdomen…"

"Tell me about it."

"Don't get me wrong, I mean, those were still murders, but this scene and the scene I investigated with Grissom and Greg last week, they're so horrific and so planned."

"I get what you mean. Catherine and my last scene was a woman burnt alive over her husband's corpse. This is our second burn victim within a week."

Sofia shuttered. "I heard. I also heard that Grissom suspects all these murders might be connected."

Nick lifted his camera, taking more photos. "At this point, we all suspect it. Every murder has occurred two days after the last." He turned taking a photo of Catherine next to the body. "Sofia, the body looks like it's suspended between two stakes. The call out said it was someone burnt to a stake."

"Actually, that's a ladder. The victim was suspended on a ladder and burnt to death."

He put down his camera and turned to Sofia. "You're kidding?"

"No. If you move closer, you can see the steps."

"What the hell? Any witnesses?"

"First witnesses saw the blaze, nothing before that. They figured it was a group of college kids having a party. And guess who found the body?"

"A group of college kids, having a party."

"Right. They thought it was another party, went to check it out and found the vic burning on the stake. They said when they first arrived, the victim was screaming. They tried to put out the fire, but it kept burning…"

"The killer must have used an accelerant."

Sofia nodded. "Anyways, the screams died and they were finally able to put out the fire, but by that time the victim was dead."

Nick nodded.

"They said they used a lot of sand and a lot of water to try to douse the fire, so a lot of the evidence…"

"Destroyed. We've seen that plenty of times before, rescue efforts…"

"It would have been worth it had they been able to save the victim."

"For sure."

"Nick." Nick spun and came face to face with Catherine.

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to give Grissom a call and get one more hand on this. Do you want to help with the collection or interview witnesses?"

Nick's eyes scanned the crowd of people he'd taken a picture of before glancing back towards the victim, blackened skin hanging off the corpse. The image of Doc Robbins peeling layers of skin from the last burn victim still hadn't left his head. "I'll stick with the crowd," he said, telling himself it was because his natural empathy made him good with people. "What did Super Dave have to say?"

"The body is female. His best estimate is that she burnt to death. He can't give us an accurate TOD because of the heat of the body, but death probably occurred within the last two hours."

"Coincides with what witnesses said."

Catherine looked at him, her eyebrows furrowed in question.

"The victim was still screaming when they found her."

"Dear, lord. I might have thrown up too."

"Sorry?"

"There are several pools of vomit near the victim. If the sight didn't cause it, I bet the screams did."

"Yeah, them and the smell. I guess I'll start interviewing witnesses. Where are they?""

Beside him, Sofia began to look around, shaking her head. "Over there." She nodded towards the crime scene tape. "Someone from the media has gotten to them."

Nick glanced at Catherine, shaking his head, before following Sofia towards a young twenty-something speaking with a reporter. "I'll get the guy with the reporter. Let the others know I'll be coming around and getting shoe impressions from them, and asking them to volunteer their DNA? Explain why?"

"I'm on it."

"Thanks." He moved away from Sofia, approaching the young man speaking to the reporter.

"Man, we didn't know what was burning, but it was really ripe. It smelled awful and it was making this noise, this hollow screaming, almost like a whistling or a bird calling or some kind of animal dying. It didn't sound human. It was like this ghostly, almost primal sound. It was sick. Then, flames shot up and kind of thinned out and through the fire we could see the head, glowing red and staring at us, just burning. Man, I thought we were in a horror movie or someone was playing this insane joke on us. Scared the shit out of me."

"Excuse me," Nick cut in, leading the man away from the reporter. "I'm Nick Stokes. I'm with the crime lab. Mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"Uh, yeah, sure."

"Can I get your name?"

"Brian. Brian Collier."

"Alright Brian, you found the body."

Nick watched as Brian paled slightly. "Yeah, me and the guys."

"What are you and the guys doing partying on a Thursday night?"

Brian smiled, a small, slightly smug grin. The color returned to his face. "It's kind of a team bonding thing. I play on the rugby team at WLVU."

"Team bonding?" Nick asked with raised eyebrows.

"Slash rookie initiation."

"Ah, I see. Are you a rookie? Is that why you thought it was a joke?"

"No man, that's why I didn't get it. I thought if we were going to play a joke on the rookies, I'd have known about it. Besides, some of the fourth years would never let us play a joke like this."

"What year are you in?"

"Third."

"You've never seen a joke like this before."

"No way, man. Look, dude, the rookies usually have to run around the lake nude and stuff like that."

"Harmless stuff."

"Right."

"Alright, then why are you doing it out at the lake?"

The young man shifted on his feet. "Andy, our scrum half, his parents have a cabin here. We like to use it for our beginning of the year party, because well, to have the initiation in the dorms, plus all the alcohol…"

"Yeah, I get it. Why on a Thursday night?"

"We play on weekends."

Nick studied the young man. Brian Collier shifted on his feet again. "Look, man, I swear to god, our initiation is harmless, well mostly, but nothing like this."

"Alright, when you found the body, did you see anything else?"

"No, dude, just a fire. It was going good when we got here."

"You didn't see anyone suspicious? No suspicious vehicles?"

"Nah, just a fire. We thought it was another party, thought we'd check it out."

"First thing you noticed?"

Brian Collier's face paled again. "The fire was like, straight up. I would have thought flames that high, the fire would be wider, but it was totally vertical. Then, it was the smell. Nasty. I thought I was going to hurl, and the sound, it was sick, not like an awesome sick, but really, really freaky. I can't even describe it. It was like a squeaky quiet screaming. It'll be fucking haunting me, man. That and the face. When I saw the face, I did puke, but you know if I hadn't been drinking, I might have…"

Nick nodded. "Sure, right. How many of threw up?"

"I think most of us did. All the rookies for sure, but they've had a little more to drink than the rest of us."

Nick glanced towards the group of co-eds with Sofia. They all had serious, somber faces. "Scared sober now, I'll bet."

"Dude, you don't even know."

He turned back to Brian Collier. "Alright Brian, you saw the body and realized it was human, then what?"

"It was still alive, man; we tried to put out the fire. We threw dirt on it, and then sand on it, some of the guys ran to the lake and got water, but it just kept burning. The water just evaporated from the heat. The screams faded and we were still trying to douse it. By the time we did, it was too late. Shit, if the rookies had helped…"

"They didn't?"

"Not at first. They just stood there, completely pale, man, and watched. I think they still thought it was a joke, part of their initiation. I would have thought the same thing. They were too stunned to even move. We all were at first. Aaron was the one who snapped us out of it and began yelling at us, telling us what to do."

"Who called 911?"

"Andy. None of us had our cells with us. They'd been banned from the party. Andy had to run back to his place. The moment Aaron jumped into action, Andy was sprinting towards the cabin."

"Thanks Brian. I'm going to need to get a shoe impression so that I can eliminate your tread from all the others we collect off the ground."

"Yeah, sure."

"And would you be willing to give us a DNA sample so that we can match it to your vomit?"

"You can do that?" Nick nodded. "Cool, yeah, whatever you need."

"Thank you."

Nick opened his kit, taking out a swab. He swabbed Brian Collier's mouth and moved to take a shoe impression. "Mr. Stokes?"

Nick looked up. "Yeah."

"Listen, that Detective Curtis…?"

Nick shook his head. "Out of your league, dude."

"Right." The young man nodded.

Nick continued, finishing up with Brian Collier and moving through the rugby team. One rookie puked again, the vomit landing on Nick's boot.

"Oh, man, I'm really sorry."

He looked down at the puddle of puke, splashed over his boot and frowned. "Yeah, uh, don't worry about it."

"Are you sure this isn't a joke, because it would have been a really good one, fucked up, but it totally got me. I'm still shaking."

"Does this look like a joke? All these police, the coroner…"

"No man, but seriously, you sure?"

"No joke. That body on the pole is human. That woman was burnt alive."

"Christ. I was sure it was a joke. I thought it was really fucked up, but a joke I could have been able to deal with. This, shit, I don't know what to do with this. I still hear the noise coming out of it. It's going haunt me."

"I'm sure WLVU will provide you with a counselor if you need someone to talk to. It might be a good idea…"

"Yeah…maybe…"

"Did you see anything suspicious before or after? A person, a car maybe?"

"No, only the fire. We figured the vets set it and were playing with us. We followed them here, playing along, you know?"

"Yeah. Listen, Jarrett, thanks for your time and if you need someone to talk to, you should think about a counselor. I can tell you from experience, you shouldn't let this kind of stuff sit. If you don't want to see a counselor and you still need someone, here." Nick pulled out a card from his kit and handed it to the young man. "Here's my card. If you need to, give me a call."

"Thanks."

"No problem. Look, I've got to continue on but my number is there, alright?"

"Yeah, alright."

Nick nodded and moved away, seeing a young man sitting away from everybody, staring out at the lake. He glanced at Sofia and nodded towards the boy. She joined him as he approached them.

"Andy?"

The boy turned their heads and looked up. "Yeah."

"I'm Nick Stokes; I'm with the crime lab. This is Detective Curtis. We'd like to ask you a few questions."

"Alright."

"Andy, the party was at your cabin?"

"Yeah, my parent let me use it every year with the promise that it will be clean and nothing will be damaged."

"And you're able to keep that promise?"

"Yeah. We know how to keep the guys in line. We mostly do everything outside anyways. Usually it's a great place to have a team party, lots of space, gives the boys plenty of room to crash."

"Where is your cabin?"

Andy pointed towards a group of trees. "Through those trees, about five hundred yards maybe."

"Spend a lot of time out here?"

"Quite a bit, why?"

"You know the area. Anything suspicious going on tonight?"

"Well, the fire. I knew there wasn't any sort of fire pit over here, and the fire was just off the beach. I guess that's what made me curious and wanting to check it out. I thought some local kids might have been having a beach party, made their own pit…"

"Any vehicles that seemed out of place?"

"No, but my parents cabin is treed in, like this area. We couldn't see a vehicle unless it was in our yard. We might have heard some, not that I can remember, but if we did, I would have assumed it was just locals."

"You were the one who made the 911 call?"

"Yeah, I had to run back to my place to make it. I asked for an ambulance because when I left the guys at the fire, the person in the fire was still alive."

"You said it was a person burned to a stake."

"That's what it looked like. We couldn't tell it was a ladder with all the flames. Who would even think of a ladder anyways? It looked like a body standing upright in a fire. I only saw it for a second. I took off to make the phone call before any of us got a real good look at it."

"Alright, that's fine." Nick moved to reassure the young man. He glanced around at the scores of people still milling about the scene. "The ambulance attract all this attention?"

"I guess. Them and the police and the fire truck."

"Sure. Listen, did you call your parents, tell them what happened?"

"Yeah, my mom is meeting Aaron at the hospital. He got burnt trying to get at the body. My dad is on his way out here. So is our coach."

"Good. You did a good job Andy. I need you to do one more thing. I need to take your shoe impressions so that I can eliminate it from all the others. I'd also like you to volunteer your DNA."

"Yeah, whatever you need."

"Thank you."

Nick quickly worked, collecting samples off the young man. When he was finished, he pulled Sofia away. "Sofia, I want to get to the hospital and see what I can get from Aaron MacDonald. Do you want to come with me?"

"I think I better stay around here. Maybe call Vartann and ask him to meet you there."

"In that case, can I borrow your car? I came in with Catherine and she needs the denali to transport evidence. You can get a ride back with her."

Sofia chuckled. "Yeah, okay. It had better be returned looking the exact same though. I don't want to find any murals or decals painted on the side."

"Not funny. My truck was stolen."

"I'm only joking around, Nick. Here are the keys." She held out the keys and he took them.

"Thanks. I'll let Catherine know what's going on."

Friday, September 8th, 2006
12:17 AM

Catherine watched as David closed the body back, fastening the zipper. The body was lifted into the coroner's van and out of sight. After forty minutes of photographing the woman's body and helping David cut the ropes to lift the body down, she was more than relieved to have the body taken away. She felt nauseous, only slightly, as after years of experience, she'd mostly gotten used to these sorts of scenes. It had only been a few days before when she was standing over a different charred woman's corpse. Still, her stomach wasn't completely immune and she had to suppress the gag reflex that came when she'd touched the corpse and her gloved hand had stuck, momentarily, to the raw skin beneath the peeling, burnt outer shell. Even thinking about it…

Nick approached her and she turned her face up to his, wiping her forehead on her arm. "Hey, what's up?"

"One of the witnesses tried to get at the burning body and I guess, burnt himself. He's at the hospital. I'm going to go and collect off of him and interview him. You okay if I leave you?"

"Yeah, Warrick should be here soon."

"Warrick? Not Grissom?"

"Grissom was called to one of Swing's scenes. Bugs, they want him to do a timeline. Greg went out to a scene and Sara's still pouring over those files. Grissom said he'd send Rick. You got all the other shoe impressions and DNA?"

"I put them in the denali."

"What are you taking to the hospital?"

"Sofia's car. She'll need a ride back."

"Alright. Call me with an update."

"Will do."

Catherine glanced down at Nick, seeing chunks of vomit on his boot and on the hem of his pants. "Nick, did you step in the evidence?"

"No, it landed on me. One of the witnesses threw up on my boot."

Catherine bit back a laugh. Nick eyed her and turned away. When his footsteps moved away from her, she let the laugh out. She turned back to the pile of wood and took a deep breath. Her legs were sore from crouching and the lingering odor of burnt skin was getting to her. She took a few more photos while bent over and stood up, moving slowly around the pole, her flashlight pointed at the ground. She crouched back down, fingering the tinder, running her glove over it.

"Hey, Cath."

Her head moved around, and she found herself staring up into the green eyes of Warrick Brown. "Hi."

"Another tough one. You doing all right?"

Was she alright? She was tired and sore and the brutality of her past few crime scenes was catching up with her. Still, she'd managed to put it all from her mind, fatigue the only thing lingering. "Yeah, just focusing on the evidence."

"Right." The light from Warrick's flashlight moved up and down. "Is that a ladder?"

"Yes. The victim was hung on the ladder, tied at the wrists and ankles. The ladder and surrounding timber lit up around her."

"Ouch. What do you make of that?"

Catherine glanced up at the ladder, the image of the body hung from it visible in her mind. "I don't know."

"How did the ladder stay upright?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe it's buried deep into the dirt. When we dig it out, we'll have a better idea."

"Right. Are you going to get all these cadets to dig?"

"That's what they're here for. They'll have to wait until I finish up though."

"Yeah. So, where do you need me?"

"Well," she began, standing up and stretching her back, "I haven't gotten very far. David just took away the body. Nick collected shoe impressions and DNA from all of the witnesses. You can begin by bagging all of the vomit around here, then begin working on casting the shoe treads."

"Nice."

Catherine snickered at Warrick's sarcasm.

"What's Nick doing?"

"He just left, went to the hospital. One of the people who found the body tried to get at it and burnt himself. Nick went to collect off of him and interview him at the same time."

"Of course he did. And he left all of the vomit for me to bag up."

Catherine let out a short laugh. "What's the matter, Warrick?"

"Nothing. I guess I better get started."

"Yeah, there are twelve pools of vomit to collect." Warrick grimaced and Catherine gave him a sympathetic glance. "If it makes you feel better, one of the pools will surround Nick's boot print."

"No way."

"Yeah. One of the witnesses threw up on him."

"Nice. That does make me feel better. Thank you, Catherine."

Catherine laughed, crouching back down. She began to take more photographs, shining her light on the ground surrounding the ladder. Behind the ladder, she found what appeared to be a small, shallow trench, about one inch wide and a half an inch deep. Her flashlight followed the trench, seeing that it led away from the ladder, towards the sand. "Warrick, come here. Take a look at this."

Warrick was next to her, crouching down, the light from his flashlight joining hers.

"What do you make of this?"

"Where does it lead?"

"I'm not sure."

The two criminalists stood and followed the trench, lights fixed on the ground in front of them. The trench led them to the sand of the beach and then veered off to the trees and finally ended at a gravel road. "Warrick, one set of shoe impressions in the dirt here."

"Yeah and I'll bet they belong to the steps that tracked through the sand. Too bad we couldn't pick up the treads in the sand, just to eliminate any doubt. I'll come back and cast these."

"There are a few different sets of tire treads. We can get a few makes and models, narrow down our search a little, cross reference with the tire width Nick and I got off our last scene." She snapped multiple pictures of each set of treads. Catherine let her camera drop to her chest. "You're going to be busy."

"What do you think of the trench?"

"Well, we think accelerant was used on the fire. What if the killer dug a trench, filled it with accelerant and started the fire from back here?"

"It would give him time to get away in case somebody saw the blaze go up immediately and decided to check it out. And, a vehicle wouldn't be seen driving away from the fire. It's also safer to light a little accelerant at the beginning of a trail than to be standing over a pile of wood doused in it."

"I'll collect all of the dirt, rocks and sand around the trench. Hodges can test for an accelerant. If we're lucky, we might find a trace that hasn't burnt completely away."

"Dig deep."

"Right."

Catherine continued to move around, scanning the dark road with the light of her flashlight. She moved back towards the trench, slowly moving over the ground and illuminating the area. She bent down, getting a closer look at the ground around the trench. "Warrick, I think I found something."

"What is it?" Warrick moved beside her and she shone her flashlight over it.

Catherine snapped a picture. "Somebody traced some sort of symbol into the sand. Recognize it?"

"No, but let's put it into context. It's got to be part of the murder, right?"

"Likely."

"And we think this murder is connected to the others. It has the same freak factor."

"Two days after the last; it's connected."

"Alright, everything the killer has done so far is symbolic of something, agreed?"

"Agreed."

"So what's this murder symbolic of?"

Catherine thought back to the scene, trying to find anything that would help her out with Warrick's question. "Somebody burnt on a ladder? I don't know. Grissom told me that someone was burnt to a stake, which would lead me to think of witchcraft, but burning somebody on a ladder?"

"Yeah, got me too."

Catherine studied the symbol, taking pictures of the circle and intertwined with four arcs meeting at their end points, from every angle. "We'll show it to Grissom or Sara. Fifty bucks says one of them will know the symbol."

"That's a sucker bet."

Catherine stood up, facing him. "Alright, pick your pony," she challenged.

"Between Grissom and Sara? They'll both know it."

"Afraid to bet, Warrick?"

"Alright, Sara. She knows way too much about this stuff."

"You're betting on the underdog. My money's on Grissom. He knows way too much about everything, especially weird stuff like this."

"I'd say the odds are about fifty-fifty."

"No way. Sixty-forty in my favor."

"Are you willing to put your sixty up against my forty?"

"Even money."

Warrick laughed. "You'd think I was betting Nick."

"We'll see. You better get started on collecting that vomit. I have sand and gravel to collect."

Warrick groaned, walking away from her and back towards the main scene. Catherine followed, ready to get back at the collection. The lightness of the last few minutes had gone far into restoring some of her energy.