Chapter Fourteen: Larger than Life
"Have you noticed anything amiss between the boys?" Frank asked Calleigh as they walked through their crime scene once more. Something had been bugging her so she asked the sergeant to accompany her back to the scene of the robbery.
"What do you mean?" She flashed her light at the magazine rack.
Frank shrugged. "They don't seem as chummy as they used to be, that's all. When Speed returned to the job I figured Delko would be beside himself to have his best friend back. But now I hardly even see the two of them talk."
"Really?" Calleigh frowned, facing him. "I hadn't even noticed. Maybe there's a little tension between because of what happened at the last crime scene…"
"Think we should mention it to Horatio?"
That made Calleigh smile. "Hon, if you've noticed that lack of communication between those two, chances are H actually knows what's causing it." She turned back toward the magazine rack. The cashier had been found near it when the small convenience store opened a few days ago. She was still trying to figure out what the man was doing near the magazines when he was murdered. Though the most baffling part of the case was the lack of robbery. The cash register was still full from the last day of work. Whoever committed the crime hadn't done it for a chance at quick cash. That led her to believe that it had something to do with the cashier, the only person at the store during those hours. "Help me move this?"
"Sure," Frank replied.
Together they shifted the heavy wooden shelving specially made to hold periodicals. With her flashlight, Calleigh shimmied behind the piece of furniture. But after a thorough examination she came up empty handed. She flipped off the light with a sigh. "Well, so much for that idea."
"Maybe he was running from our killer," offered Frank. "Most murders are committed by someone who knows the victim. He could have known that this person meant him harm and been running for safety."
"Why not just lock the door or trigger the alarm under the register?" mused Calleigh as she gazed around at the place once again. "There's got to be something that we're missing…" Her cell phone began to chirp, making them both jump in the silence. She took it from its holder surprised to see that Jake was calling her. She flipped open her phone and listened. After the call ended she turned to Frank. "Looks like we're done here. According to Jake we're having a meeting at the lab. Something about the three current cases being worked."
"Does he know who killed our cashier?" Frank asked as they headed out of the convenience store.
--
Back at the lab they headed for the break room where she'd been instructed to go. When she got there she was surprised to see that just about everybody else was in attendance. As she took a seat at the table she noticed that Delko and Speed were definitely acting weird. While Speed remained seated at the table across from her Delko was leaning against the counter with the coffeemaker. Jake gave her a quick smile before Frank pulled him into a conversation. The only person she was surprised to see was Hagen who was lurking in one of the corners. That fact that he was there made her a little edgy. Since his attempted suicide in her lab he'd been given one psych test after another, apparently passing. Horatio tried to keep the two of them apart knowing that Hagen's presence brought back bad memories. Something big was brewing on the horizon and that made her nervous. She looked around at the others wondering if they realized something was wrong. But it was hard to gauge their emotions, though she could tell that Speed was in a dark mood because of his close proximity. She thought about asking him what was wrong. They hadn't really had a serious talk since he returned to work. Maybe she would take him out to dinner one night. Jake would understand.
A minute passed before Alexx came through the door with Horatio on her heels. The leader of the crime lab closed the break room door behind him. The medical examiner settled somewhat nervously between Speed and Calleigh. Horatio remained standing.
"Thank you for all coming," he started off with, fidgeting with his sunglasses. "I know that you guys have been working on three separate cases but there is now reason to believe that these cases are linked."
"How?" Ryan asked. Calleigh hadn't even noticed he was in the room. She looked around to find him within proximity of Delko. Then her eyes trailed back to Speed. His mood hadn't shifted any, neither had his gaze; which was boring holes into the table.
"For one thing, all the victims have the same tattoo," Horatio explained. "All relatively in the same spot. During the testing of trace evidence Speed stumbled across an organic substance on the victims in the club. As he told me he remembered seeing something similar in Delko's evidence and in yours, Calleigh. He took the liberty of running the tests. All four victims have the same organic substance on them."
"So they knew each other?" Frank asked. "Maybe they were hanging out at a party. Maybe we're putting too much thought into it and they were just killed by the same guy. Some freak serial killer without a pattern."
Ryan walked toward the table. "But he does have a pattern, albeit a weird one. He's killed four people with the same tattoo."
"Then let's find out what the tattoo is for," Delko said, finally joining the conversation. Calleigh looked at Speed to gauge his reaction. To her dismay it was like he wasn't even present, his mind far away.
"Done," Horatio said. He looked at Detective Hagen. "Hagen, do you want to take it from here?"
Hagen pushed away from the wall, his movements a little hesitant, apparently uncomfortable with being around them. He was trying to figure out what they all thought of him, whether or not they would believe what he had to tell them. "The tattoo is worn by members of a militia group that has been under surveillance for quite a while now. These people are not fans of law enforcement. They believe that we are here as a part of 'big brother' to spy on them for the government. Over the years they have performed a number of crimes on law enforcement personal. Everything from slashing tires on cruisers to making threats on family members."
"Has anyone ever been arrested?" Alexx asked, a tremor in her voice. Unlike the rest of them she actually had a family at home to worry about.
Detective Hagen shook his head. "There's never been concrete evidence so all the cases have been thrown out in court."
Jake decided to officially join the discussion. "So what does this have to do with our victims? Sounds to me like we should be somewhat glad that there are less of these militia guys."
"I talked with a few buddies of mine," Hagen went on to explain. "It seems that our four victims actually wanted out. They no longer wanted to take part in the crimes committed in the name of the group."
"So they were killed by their own associates?" Calleigh asked.
"Yep," Horatio answered. "And if what Hagen has told me is true we need to be on guard."
"Why?" Delko, Ryan and Calleigh all said at the same time.
"Because the militia has been making threats against our lab for processing the crime scenes," Hagen told them. "And we have reason to believe that they will carry out their threats."
Horatio looked at them. "I don't want any of you alone, you understand? Stay with the person you were assigned to work with. Alexx, I'm going to have Hagen escort you wherever you go. We may have a very big problem on our hands."