Chapter 19—Candid Camera

A/N: Thanks everybody for your patience. I've actually got a lull, so I might just finish this out in the next two days and start up the next story.

"Been a few years since I've done a sweep like this" Tyler said as he plugged in the black sweeping drive and clicked keys. Within minutes the lab's main monitor came to life with Jerry Lynch's emails. Calleigh stood transfixed behind him.

"Okay, start checking for emails to Melissa Matherson and WTVM within the last year. Cross-reference anything that might have to do with Eric Miller or Robert Creech."

Tyler clicked keys for several minutes. He then sat back and shook his head. "Same as Melissa's emails. Nothing really different here."

Calleigh pursed her lips and shook her head in frustration. "We can't tie Jerry Lynch or Melissa Matherson to Eric Miller's murder with what little evidence we have. On top of that we still can't figure out tampered with Angela Miller's car."

Delko poked his head into the computer lab. "Cal. Got a visitor. Two visitors, actually."

She sighed deeply. "Not now, Eric."

"I think you're gonna want to talk to this guy."

"Didn't you just say two visitors?"

Delko looked at her with his boyish grin. "Well, I think only one of them can actually talk to you."

A smile crossed Calleigh's face as she stepped out into the reception area. "Al Coleman? Hi there. I see you have company today."

The tall, blonde-haired meteorologist wore a gray pinstripe suit with a white towel draped over his left shoulder. He stood and was gently bobbing his baby daughter, whispering to her. He turned his head when Calleigh approached.

"Calleigh DuQuesne? Nice to meet you. Like to say hi to somebody special?" Gently he turned so that his daughter's curious little blue eyes met Calleigh. "This is my little girl Patricia. She's almost a month old. I think she's fascinated by your hair."

Calleigh's frustration dissolved in an instant. She smiled up to the curious little face that was covered by a colorful baby blanket. "Well, hi Patricia" she purred, reaching up and touching the little girl's tiny pink hand. She cooed contentedly while it rested on Calleigh's finger. "So they're letting you spend time with your daughter?"

Still holding Patricia, Al sat down on the couch carefully. "Well, yes and no."

She looked at him more seriously. "What do you mean by 'yes and no'?"

"Since Eric's death and Melissa's arrest, I'm the last meteorologist at WTVM. Like I told you, we're family over there. So instead of burning me out, Management told me to just take Christmas week off while they sort everything out. Some meteorologists from our sister stations around Florida are filling in while I'm off and we get some replacements. But there was something else." He reached down into the pink vinyl diaper bag and pulled out a black cassette. "See, I didn't just go down to the station to show off Patricia. It's amazing what you can smuggle in and out of a media room in a diaper bag while everybody's looking at a cute little baby."

Calleigh's eyes darted between him and the black cassette tape. "What's that?"

"The station has been doing an investigative report about car repair rip-off s in the area. Did you hear about it?"

"No."

"Well, we haven't aired it yet. One of the cars we used as bait was Angela Miller's Chevy Lumina. When we picked Angela's car for the report, we had it checked over, and there were no problems. So an autoshop professor at South Florida crossed some wires here and there, and we took it in to different garages to see which ones were legit and which ones were doing fake repairs and then charging big bucks. There should be a hidden camera in the insulation under the hood. Did anybody find it?"

"I don't think so."

It might still be there. Between the storm and the crash, our media guys never got a chance to take it out of there, and apparently the loop just kept running."

Calleigh closed her eyes and sighed as Al placed the cassettes in her hand. "We really owe you, Mr. Coleman. But why are you just coming to us with it now?"

"We were going to air it this week, but I guess you could say we got sidetracked. And then when I had a chance to catch my breath, I remembered." He looked at her sadly as his voice sank to a whisper. "And hey, I know Eric made some mistakes, but he was like an uncle to us. If you can find out who killed him, that'll be reward enough for me."

"This is gonna help more than you realize" she assured him. She waved a finger at little Patricia's curious blue eyes. The baby smiled. "Now why don't you go spend some time with your family?"

He chuckled tiredly. "I sure will. Mom's at home taking a nap, but we're gonna go wake her up and get some lunch. Please let me know the minute you find out anything." Balancing his daughter on his waist, he picked up the diaper bag and left.

Delko waited outside the door. "What's he got?"

The blonde CSI smiled up at him. "Did you guys find a hidden camera in the hood of that Lumina?"

He looked at her dumfounded. "No. Why?"

"Might want to take another look. Al Coleman tells me they put a hidden camera in the insulation of the hood. They were doing an investigation to catch repair rip-offs. He thinks this tape might have evidence."

Delko smiled. "Great. Yeah, I'll go take another look."

"I'm gonna get this over to Tyler so we can analyze it." She smiled back in the direction of the reception area. "What a cute baby."

He looked at her with that boyish grin. "Yeah. Saw you playing with her. Get you thinking about things?"

Calleigh leveled her eyes at him. "I'll see you later, Eric."

Tyler clicked the mouse, bringing the main monitor to life with the gray surveillance tape. "Okay. Looks like about a five-day loop in each one of these cassettes. No sound."

"That's okay" Calleigh reassured him. "This just might be enough."

"Here's that Monday when Patrick Casey worked on it." He watched the gray picture frame by frame while the man he recognized as Patrick Casey did a lube and oil change. "Now it looks like he's doing a tire rotation."

"Nothing unusual. Still seems strange that he'd do a tire rotation that soon, though. Keep going."

Tyler then fast-forwarded through the blackened footage to Thursday.

"Thursday. That was the day the turn signals got fixed. Hood's up."

A face came into the camera's view. He looked around the engine while his hands propped up the hood.

"Freeze that."

Tyler clicked the mouse.

"Who's that talking to the guy? Zoom in on him."

The A/V tech clicked more keys. "Those guys couldn't have known they were being videotaped. I can run it on the recognition software while we're watching this. Sometimes I'll get a hit in seconds, sometimes hours."

"Freeze right there. What did he just put in the guy's hands?"

Tyler zoomed in. "Folded piece of paper. Got some writing on it." He adjusted the picture to bring the handwriting in more clearly. "Looks like it says 'twenty OC's.'"

Calleigh furrowed her eyebrows. "Twenty OC's? Oxycontin? Okay. Start up again."

Calleigh watched closely as the young mechanic continued to work. "Freeze right there." She watched as the same pair of hands pulled off the cover to the brake fluid. "Zoom in on his hands."

Tyler boxed the corner of the frame and brought it up closer. "Right here. He just dropped something into the brake fluid."

"Yep. Straight pins. Those are our murder weapons."

The recognition software suddenly popped up on the side monitor. Tyler glanced at it. "Got a hit on the guy who gave him the piece of paper. DEA clearance. Guy's name is Gerard Lynch. Student pharmacist at the Giant Genie Pharmacy."

Frank Tripp stormed through the white door of the pharmacy lab, followed by a uniformed officer. The labcoated pharmacist and the young, bespectacled assistant stiffened up.

"Can I help you?" the pharmacist demanded. The store manager put his hand up for silence.

"Miami-Dade PD! Jerry Lynch, you're under arrest for trafficking of a controlled substance and conspiracy for the murder of Eric Miller!"

The young, thin assistant shook his head. "What the hell!"

Frank stood sternly and watched the uniformed officer snap handcuffs on him. "Come on, Doogie Howser! We got you on surveillance! Get him out of here." He immediately handed the manager a folded piece of paper. "We got a warrant to search your computers."

The pharmacist furrowed his eyebrows. "We're kind of busy" he said weakly.

"Pharmacy's closed, Doc. You're gonna have to step out. And when you get back, you might want to take an inventory of your pills!"