Chapter Seven: The Mystery

"So... What have we got so far?" Grissom asked Nick and Sara.

"The first victim of our mystery killer was Detective Anthony Burrow. He died three days ago from a single gunshot wound to the back of the head. The bullet was a 357 Magnum and witnesses saw a man in a black hooded sweatshirt with very green eyes." Nick started to explain. "Then our killer dumped off Kelsey and Chelsea Wight. Kelsey died of a double gunshot wound to the chest. Both bullets were from the same 357 Magnum. Her sister Chelsea died of a single gunshot wound to the back of the head by the same kind of bullet. At the scene I saw a young man in a dark hooded sweatshirt with green eyes."

"Right." Sara jumped to her feet to go through her evidence with him. "Then my victim John Walder died of eleven stab wounds to his major organs. He also had defensive wounds on his hands and he himself emptied a round of his own gun into the wall. All the bullets were accounted for, except for one that hit its target. The DNA came back as an unknown..."

"The same unknown profile from the Anthony Burrow murder." Nick jumped in so Sara wouldn't get all the credit. "Apparently the killer spat on Burrows suit jacket and that's how we got the DNA match."

"Right, then the witnesses from my crime scene saw a 1946 red Ford Sedan parked out the front of John Walder's house about ten minutes before they heard the gunshots in his house. They also said a man in a black hooded sweatshirt entered Mr Walder's apartment around 10:30pm. Then he got back in the car and left. Archie checked over the tapes but we couldn't get an ID on the guy or the plates from the car." Sara explained, handing over the snap shots from the security footage.

"And, what did you get from this case?" Grissom asked, looking over all the evidence in front of him from the case they were currently working on.

"The car was involved in road rage; the road rage started about two miles back from their crash." Nick explained, grabbing the pile of pictures they took. "We found headlight glass from both the victim's car and another unknown along with a third set of tainted glass. But we think that's from a separate incident as it looks older."

Grissom nodded understanding everything so far, thinking his CSI's had done a great job with what they had to work with. "And the victims? Did you get the autopsy reports back?"

Sara nodded taking over. "Marion Wight died of a single gunshot wound to the head. We found the bullet lodged in the back seat, meaning she was shot front to back, so the killer would have to have got out of his car to shoot them." She explained, showing Grissom the pictures from the front of the car. "David did however manage to determine that James Wight was shot while he was dead. Maybe the killer just wanted to make sure he was dead."

"So James Wight died of the crash?" Grissom asked. They both nodded, showing him the autopsy reports and photos. "Okay . . . so what else have you got?"

Before Nick could speak, Sara cut him off again. "Well the knife that was used to kill John Walder had a print on it that belonged to a Louis O'Ryan." Sara handed over his record. "He was busted once for drug possession. But look at his eyes."

"Bright green." Grissom noted. "You think he's your prime suspect?" He asked them both. Sara and Nick looked at each other trying to think. "So you don't know?"

"Well we don't have his DNA on file. We don't have an address or drivers licence either." Sara added. "But if his print was on the knife in the victim's blood. My guess is his blood is our unknown."

"We can't work with your guess work Sara." Grissom informed her. "It won't hold up in the court room."

"Even though it's a good theory?" She asked.

"You need proof to back it up. So did Archie give you the list of 1946 red Ford Sedans in the Las Vegas area?" Grissom asked them both.

"Yes . . . he gave us a list." Nick grabbed it from the stake of their evidence, showing Grissom the full two pages worth of cars.

"I guess they're not as rare as we thought." Sara smirked, dropping heavily into her chair.

"So you've hit another dead end?" Grissom asked them both. They both nodded again, leaning back in their seats. "Well Archie and I looked over some security footage. We've got you a new face to work with. We need to find out who this young lady is..."

"Why, what's she got to do with it?" Sara asked taking the picture from his hands.

"She drove the 1946 red Ford Sedan into our parking lot and delivered a ransom note straight to Brass's desk along with stealing a picture off his desk then drove out in that exact same car." Grissom smiled to them, handing over the new evidence then heading out the conference room.

Sara looked up at Nick, watching him roll his eyes with frustration. "What's up Nicky?"

"Well this gives us somethin' new at least . . . but we got another unknown and we still can't get the plates on the car." He moaned. "Where's this ransom note then?" Sara handed him the photocopy of the note. "See..." He pointed. "I told you the Bank has somethin' to do with all of this."

"But what? I read through Detective Burrows notes. All the robbers are dead. One hostage was killed and two cops lost their jobs. It's nothing out of the ordinary."

"Who's the other cop?" Nick asked curiously.

"Julian Tanner. He was the leader of the SWAT team back then that infiltrated the bank. He shot a hostage; there was a big investigation on it. Press had a field day then Julian was forced to quit." She explained.

"What does he look like?"

"He doesn't have green eyes." Sara smiled up at Nick. "You think he'd be working from a revenge angle?"

"Dunno. What's your vic's name again?"

"John Walder." Sara rested her elbow on the edge of the table, slumping her chin into her hand. "But John doesn't have anything to do with the bank robbery. Your twin's father was a security guard there. Detective Burrow worked the case with Brass . . . but Walder was never there..."

"Whoa, hold that thought." Nick stopped her.

"What?" Sara climbed off her chair to look over Nick's shoulder. "What's that?"

"This is a list of the bank robbers. Look Tommy Walder." He pointed. "He was the first one shot as the police raided the bank."

"You think Tommy and John are related?" Sara asked, glancing down the rest of the list.

"Well our mystery murderer guy killed a security guards kids. He might be killin' the kids or family members of the bank robbers too?" Nick suggested. "You find out how they're related." Nick told her, climbing to his feet as he pulled his jacket on.

"Wait. Where are you going?"

"Follow up on a lead." He simply said, straightening his jacket collar as he made his way off down the hall. Sara sighed heavily, taking her notes with her to the AV lab to look into Tommy and John Walder's past.

Grissom walked with Greg down the hall towards Catherine stood in the breakroom. "Catherine. This is Greg Sanders. Greg this is..."

"Catherine Willows." Catherine interrupted, firmly shaking the new recruits hand as she looked at his crazy hairstyle. "Nice to meet you Greg. You got a case for us then Gil?" She asked as she wanted to skip all the boring small talk and get to work.

"Yep, B&E." Grissom handed the slip over to Catherine. She snatched it from his hands, reading the address.

"I'm driving. C'mon Greg." Catherine insisted, leading the way down the hall. "Hi Nicky." She smiled as she stepped past him. Nick smiled then blushed as he looked up at Greg. "C'mon Greg, this way!" Catherine shouted.

Greg gave Nick a sweet smile, following Catherine into the elevator while he constantly looked over his shoulder at Nick.

Nick's heart melted as he watched the doors closing on that adorable smile of Greg's. The smile distracted him so much that he even forgot what he was going to do.

"You know Nick?" Catherine asked Greg as the doors opened out into the parking lot.

"I met him and Sara last night." Greg smiled innocently. "He's a pretty decent guy."

Catherine nodded, rolling her eyes at him. "If you say so." She pulled open the passenger side door for him, carefully closing it behind him as he climbed in. She walked round the car, dropping into her driver's seat where she caught Greg looking through her CD's. "You wonna play one?"

"You don't have anything I like." Greg frowned then started to tune in the radio to a techno station. "What do you mean if I say so? You don't like Nick?" He queried.

"I love Nick like a son. He's just not so great when it comes to dating. That boy is a ladies' man Greg. He sleeps with women then forgets about them the next day. There's hardly a person in that building that he hasn't slept with." She explained to him.

"Maybe he's just dating the wrong person?" Greg suggested.

Catherine rolled her eyes at him, realising the new recruit was head over heels for him. She chuckled to herself then watched as Greg started to bob his head to the beat of the music. She laughed at him a moment then took off towards their first crime scene together.

Sandra looked out the front room window as her father just started to pull away in the car. She saw this as her perfect opportunity to see what he's hiding in this mysterious lab of his. She waited until he was far enough down the drive before she took off running for the back door and down the garden without even breaking stride until she got to the doors of the lab.

Sandra looked around to check her father was gone then pushed the double doors open, looking around at the grand lab inside. She pulled the doors shut behind her; just in case her father saw them open then started walking through the large machines curiously.

She head towards the middle where the large tank was, only this time there was no table inside of it or a girl strapped down to it. The tank was completely empty. She looked around the rest of the lab at the tall machines, trying to figure out what they did, but she had never seen them before in her life, let alone on the television or in movies. She didn't even know how her father had managed to buy all this stuff as they weren't exactly the richest family around.

Sandra stopped as she saw a white board down the end of the lab with names written all over it. She slowly approached it, seeing her mother's name 'Cassandra Nelson' was at the very top of the list. It was weird to see her mother's name written down after all this time. She barely even said it let alone saw it.

Sandra ran her eyes down the list of people's names she didn't know until she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She slowly turned to face it, seeing the young blonde woman strapped down to a chair with her back to her.

Sandra cautiously walked towards the young woman, trying not to make a sound as she didn't know who this woman was, let alone what she was doing in here. She took one step closer, looking at the straps firmly holding the woman down to the chair. She looked at her eyes seeing they were closed but there were red bloody tears beneath her eyelids as if the woman had been crying red blood tears.

Sandra looked at the machinery all around the girl. One was clearly monitoring her heart from the continuous beeping it kept making. The others she could only guess were monitoring brain activity or something by its jumpy squiggly line.

Sandra jumped as the blonde woman's eyes suddenly snapped open.

Sandra flew back against the floor in shock, badly knocking her elbows on the hard floor. The young woman on the chair didn't say anything just stared down at Sandra intently in a way that made her very uncomfortable.

Sandra cautiously climbed to her feet, being followed by the woman's eyes the whole time. "What's your name?" Sandra whispered softly. The young woman just sat perfectly still, not saying a word. "My names Sandra . . . what's your name?" She asked again, but the woman still remained silent.

Sandra looked at the dried bloody tears beneath the woman's eyes, trying to figure out what they could have come from. She looked around the room at the machinery, but she didn't know anything about any of it, so it was no use.

What the hell is my father doing down here?

Sandra shook with terror as she heard the lab doors opening and closing along with footsteps pounding against the floor, coming closer and closer towards her. Sandra quickly looked around for somewhere to hide. She saw some stacks of cardboard boxes and things just behind one of the machines. She carefully crept over, ducking behind the boxes, hiding between them to look out at the young woman whose eyes were now closed.

Sandra listened to the footsteps then saw her father approaching the young woman, readjusting the lab jacket on his shoulders. He checked over the machinery around the young woman then clapped his hands together loudly to wake the young woman up.

"Ah, hello Ellie." Her father smiled widely at her, checking over the machines around her. "Let's try out some more tests today."

Sandra watched as her father unstrapped the young woman known as 'Ellie' from the chair.

"Stand up." Her father ordered. Ellie did as instructed. "Good, face me." Ellie turned to face him. "Very good." He scrunched up a piece of paper in his hands into a ball then threw it down lab. "Now fetch." Ellie stepped around the machinery, following the rolled up piece of paper then picked it up in her hands, bringing it back to the doctor. "Excellent. Let's try you out in the field today. Get your coat." He ordered. Ellie looked over at a coat rack. She walked over selecting her jacket from it then pulled it on, following the doctor out of the lab.

Sandra noticed that Ellie's movements were almost robotic. She didn't walk or move like a normal human. She thought about her steps before she took them as if she was counting the steps she'd need to make to reach her destination. Sandra wondered what her father had done to this woman to make her act this way.

Sandra quietly climbed out from between the boxes, watching as Ellie followed her father out of the lab. She turned up her nose in confusion. 'Mind Control' was the only thing that came to her mind that made any sense. Her father had somehow brain washed this young woman into doing everything she was told. She started to wonder if that's what her father planned on doing to the green eyed man currently recovering from his injuries too.

She feared that if her father knew she was snooping around in his lab that she might suffer the same fate.

"Okay Greg . . . work the scene." Catherine smiled at him, taking a step back.

"Okay Breaking and Entering." Greg looked around the shop with his flashlight. "The suspect smashed the window with their fist, reached through to pull the lock open."

"How can you tell it was their fist though?" Catherine asked, taking a step closer to the broken window to inspect it further. "There's no blood." She pointed out to him.

"There is a fibre though." Greg pointed to the navy blue fibre caught in the glass. "Probably their jacket . . . they wrapped it around their fist to protect it before they broke the window." He corrected, picking up the navy blue fibre with a pair of tweezers. "They went straight for the cash draw so we could dust it for prints." Greg bagged the fibre, looking around at Catherine.

"What about this scuff mark?" Catherine pointed out to him on the counter.

"I was just getting to that." He smiled at her as he hadn't really noticed it. "The shop assistant said he jumped over the counter and punched him in the face. The rubber on his shoe probably scuffed the counter as he jumped." Greg looked around the room for any signs of a struggle anywhere else. "He must have hit the shop assistant pretty hard to knock him straight out and there doesn't appear to be any signs of a struggle anywhere else."

"Good Greg, but you're still missing one vital clue."

Greg looked around trying to think then shrugged turning back to Catherine. "What?"

"Why was the door locked if the shop assistant was behind the counter?" She asked him with a wide smile.

Maybe he's not as smart as Grissom thinks. She smirked to herself.

"Because it's an inside job!" Greg suddenly shouted as though he broke the case. He suddenly remembered his conversation with Nick last night. Nick told him the first case he worked was a breaking and entering case that turned out to be an insurance scam.

Greg looked around the shop again, processing the scene in his mind. "Okay . . . if the door was locked and the shop assistant was standing behind the counter here then he would have seen the guy coming in or heard him break the glass. Instead he stood right here, watched him break in then jump the counter and punch him."

"Nice theory Greg." Catherine half smiled. "But see, we tend to go on evidence. The cops said the security cameras had been turned off. The alarm wasn't on and the door was locked. Our shop assistant doesn't have a mark on him, all we have is his word that this guy jumped the counter and punched him..."

"So it is an inside job?" Greg asked, not sure about his theory.

"Possibly. If the shop assistant was here... then why did he wait a full thirty minutes before he called the cops?" Catherine asked.

"Give his friend time to get away?" Greg suggested.

"Or to set up the scene." Catherine looked out the front door at the shop assistant giving the cops his statement. "There's a vital clue on our shop assistant Greg." She smiled at him. Greg looked at the shop assistant, realising what Catherine meant.

Greg marched out of the store, stepping up to the cops taking the young man's statement. "Hi, I'm Greg Sanders with the Las Vegas Crime Lab." Greg smiled, trying not to get too excited that he actually got to say that. "Mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"Sure." The young shop assistant nodded.

"How did you get those scratches on your arm?" Greg pointed to his arm. The young man looked down at the long lined scratches up his arm.

"Maybe from my cat?" He nervously told him, gulping hard which was a dead giveaway that he was lying.

"Uh huh." Greg nodded, not believing him for a second. "Did you bring a jacket to work today?"

"No." He shook his head.

"I found it." Catherine shouted from the shop door. "It was in the back." She walked out towards Greg emptying the contents of the jacket pockets onto the hood of a police car. Greg watched as all the money poured out of the pockets. "Oh and look at this." Catherine turned the jacket inside out to reveal some blood on the inside.

"You punched your hand through the window, huh?" Greg asked. The officers grabbed the young shop assistant, slapping cuffs on his wrists as they pulled him into a police car. "Does this mean I solved my first case?" Greg asked Catherine with a wide excited smile on his face.

"Sort of." Catherine nodded. "We'll need a real challenge to see if you're good enough for our team though." She smiled, leading the way back to her car.

Sara walked through the halls of the lab looking for Nick. She stopped as she approached the garage lab, looking in at Nick's intense stare. He was stood a few feet away from the victim James Wight's car with a look of intense concentration on his face. Sara pulled the door open, walking in towards him. "Whatcha got then?" She asked, but he didn't seem to notice she was there. "Nick!" She shouted to get his attention. Nick slowly looked round from the victim's car towards her, pulling the goggles off his face. "Whatcha doing in here? I thought you were going after a lead?"

"I did. Somethin' you said got me thinkin'." He told her as he set the goggles down on the side.

"So you're just standing in here thinking?"

"No." Nick shook his head at her, rolling his eyes. "You said that Marion Wight was shot front to back. The windshield doesn't show any signs of a bullet goin' through it." He pointed out to her.

Sara looked at the front windscreen nodded then looked at Nick waiting for the explanation but he seemed to have zoned out on her again. "Nick! So?"

"So... Sara the killer leant through the window, pressing the gun to her forehead." He demonstrated.

Sara watched him then shrugged. "So... what does that prove Nicky?"

"Sara!" Nick rolled his eyes at her. "The blood on this door." Nick pulled open the door revealing the few drips. "It doesn't match Marion or James's wound patterns, but we didn't swab it because we assumed it's Marion's right?"

"Probably . . . I still don't know where you going with this though Nicky."

"Nick, I got your results." Wendy announced, suddenly appearing in the doorway behind Sara. "The blood on the door is the same unknown male donor as Sara's crime scene."

"Ha!" Nick smiled at Sara.

"So?" Sara asked again.

"This proves that our killer was bleedin' when he killed these two. So he killed James and Marion Wight right after he killed your victim John Walder." Nick explained.

"Nicky . . . I still don't get where you're going with this." Sara asked, folding her arms across her chest. "I thought we already determined that the Wight's died after my vic?"

"And you're a higher rankin' CSI then me." He remarked sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. "Sara my point is, why were James and Marion Wight headin' out of town in the first place when they already knew their daughters were dead. Why didn't they come to the station to find out what happened to them? Wendy did you get the blood results from the trunk yet?"

"Trunk?" Sara questioned.

"Another thing you missed." Nick walked round to the back of the car, popping the trunk open to show Sara the blood inside.

"I missed?" She huffed. "As I recall you were in charge of the back of the car mister!" She angrily remarked.

"Whatever!" Nick shrugged at her, not wanting to get into an argument as they were finally getting somewhere. "Wendy you get the results?"

"Yes the blood in the trunk was Chelsea Wight's blood." Wendy informed them.

"Mom and Dad killed their daughters?" Sara asked shocked.

"Maybe." Nick nodded. "That part I haven't figured out yet though . . . but only Chelsea's blood?" Nick asked Wendy.

"Definitely, there's none of Kelsey's in there." Wendy confirmed.

"So Kelsey was shot at the dump site, which explains why I found the bullet there." Nick muttered to himself. "And this trunk isn't exactly big enough for two bodies."

"Do you have a primary crime scene yet?" Sara asked.

"No. The Wight house was clean." Nick shook his head.

"You went there without me?" Sara barked at him shocked. "Nick, we're supposed to be working as a team on this."

"You were workin' on the connection between John and Tommy Walder. Did you find one?" He asked, trying to change the subject.

"Yea, their cousins. Tommy Walder doesn't have any other family. He never committed a crime before the bank robbery where he was the first to be shot and killed. His cousin however broke the law on several occasions. So maybe your theory was right about them killing family members, but why was Chelsea's body in the trunk of mom and dad's car?" Sara questioned him.

"I don't know. That's the part I haven't figured out." Nick leant against a table behind him, staring at the car in front of him.

"Did you check the house for blood?" Nick nodded. "Are you sure?"

"I know how to do my job Sara!" He snapped at her.

"I'm just checking." Sara sat on the table beside him, trying to think things through. "Well it was the dad's gun, right? Maybe he didn't want to get caught. Did you find the gun anywhere in the car?" Nick shook his head. "Maybe they didn't even know the bodies were in the car?"

Wendy cleared her throat to get their attention. "Can I tell you my theory?" Nick and Sara looked over at her with blank stares. "Well my theory is that James Wight was really one of the bank robbers. He killed Burrow's because he knew about him . . . but I don't know why he killed his daughters." She shrugged.

"Nice theory." Sara frowned at her. "See that's why they leave the real CSI work to us CSI's."

"Yours isn't much better." Nick retorted, giving Wendy a smile. "It's a nice theory Wendy, but it still doesn't explain why they dumped their daughter's bodies then started to flee town."

"Whoa." Sara suddenly jumped to her feet. "What did you just say?"

"Flee town?"

"No, no before that. Dumped the girl's bodies. Maybe they didn't know the girls were in there because they weren't in there when the parents were driving. Maybe this guy killed the girls, loaded them into the boot, dumped them off somewhere then returned the car. Or maybe..."

"Sara, you're doin' that annoyin' maybe thing again!" Nick scolded her. "Pick one theory and stick with it."

"I'm sticking with that one. There should be more blood in here if the girls were both in here. Maybe they were wrapped in plastic. This guy might of dumped it at the house. Did you check?" Nick shook his head. "See, you need me." She smiled. "We'll go check the house for plastic and go round everywhere with the UV lamps."

"Okay." Nick mumbled, climbing to his feet. "Thanks for your help Wendy."

"I did all the thinking work." Sara moaned, following him out.

"Yeah but Wendy proved that one of the girls were in the trunk." He retorted.

"Okay Ellie. You understand the plan?"

"Yes Master." She nodded.

"Go on then." Doctor Nelson handed over a gun to Ellie, watching her expertly loading it before she climbed out the van.

Doctor Nelson leant back in his seat as he watched Ellie marching up to the house. She knocked on the door waiting for someone to answer, immediately shooting them straight in the head. Doctor Nelson watched excitedly as a wide smile spread across his face. He heard three more loud gunshots, watching the flash of each one through the window of the house.

Ellie soon returned, handing over the gun to Doctor Nelson as she climbed into the back. "Very Good." He smiled round at her.

As he sped off down the road he knocked down the post box of the house Ellie had just entered reading 'Tanner Family.'

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First Uploaded May 9th = Re-edited 6th September 2010