Hello. New chapter time :) And the mystery continues… And is about to get much, much deeper.
A huge thank you to my current Pat reon supporters – Nat, Mrs Crabby, Dbackfan, AliceC, ChristineS, DawnS, Jillian, IngridT, Tracer85, NiniZ and NancyB.
Always my gracious thanks to calim for the beta and suggestions.
On we go….
Chapter 16
All eyes fell upon Grissom at his statement.
"I assumed they used a finger," Catherine said. "No doubt they were wearing gloves."
Shaking his head, Grissom looked around the room and Sara frowned at him having no idea what he was doing.
"What did we do with the evidence from the warehouse?" he asked.
Catherine pointed to the door. "It's in the room I'm in with all the other little clues."
Without another word, Grissom was off, rushing towards the door.
"I wish he'd stop doing that," Sara grumbled, eyes rolling as she and the others quickly followed him.
When they entered the room, Grissom was in the corner by a table stacked with evidence bags. As he looked through them, he quickly found what he was looking for and turning to the group, he held up the hand they'd found at the warehouse.
"You've got to be kidding me?"
Grissom's eyebrows soared at his wife after her comment and he shook his head.
"No joke here," he stated. "This hasn't been processed yet, but I will guarantee you it's made of latex." He turned the bag over, eyes narrowing in on the fingertips of the plastic body part. "We thought the blood was fake." He looked back to the group. "I'd wager we'll find the same substance on here that we found on the mirror."
Catherine's mouth dropped open. In fact, everyone looked baffled by this possibility.
"So," Max began, stepping closer to Grissom, "you're saying the killer took this hand to our most recent crime scene, used it as a writing tool on the mirror to send us another message and then planted it at another of their own murder scenes several days later?"
"Pretty much," Grissom confirmed.
The director held out her hand. "May I?"
"Sure," Grissom replied, handing over the evidence.
Turning, Max held the bag up to Penny. "Can you please start processing this so we can confirm Doctor Grissom's theory?"
"Right away," Penny replied, taking the bag and leaving the room.
"You sound like you're confident about the results before it's even processed," Catherine pointed out as Grissom frowned at her.
Folding her arms, Max looked right at Grissom. "There are certain people's … hunches I have total confidence in."
Trying to smile at Max's compliment and faith, Grissom just about made it. Almost.
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP
Catherine's eyes widened at the familiar sound coming from the AFIS machine.
"We got a print match," she revealed in a surprised tone, hurrying across the room to the computer and sitting down. "I didn't expect one so quickly."
Everyone gathered around her as she took the mouse, clicking over the two matching prints to reveal the name and photograph of who could possibly be their first suspect.
And then, as the face and ID hit the screen, a deathly silence hit the room.
It was Grissom.
Sara blinked hard, her head slowly turning toward him noticing his jaw clicking.
They all looked at Grissom, watching him sigh then lift a hand to rub his eyes.
"After realizing that it might be the hand, I should've expected this," he said.
"Where's that print from?" Max asked.
"Um," Catherine stuttered, glancing back at the screen to check which print number it was. "The lettering on the mirror. Wait…" Spinning the chair back around, her face highlighted a realization. "This is just like…"
"Paul Milander," Grissom finished for her.
"He got your print, and planted it at a scene," Sara added.
Looking at his wife, Grissom nodded. "From the latex hand at his warehouse."
Max's eyes worked in a circle as she took in all the information flying at her.
"So… our killer has a copy of your fingerprint and has planted it at a crime scene just like Paul Milander did? Talk about complications."
Grissom blinked then, suddenly, his cheeks began to lose color.
"Gil, are you okay?" Sara asked urgently, reaching out to clasp his arm.
Blinking hard, Grissom swallowed as his eyes found hers then his attention shot to Catherine.
"The tape recording from the warehouse that you told us about. Was that Millander's actual voice?"
Catherine's mouth opened and then closed, her brow pinching as she considered the question.
"I, um, not sure. I guess I don't recall it as exactly as you do. I'm sorry we haven't had chance to really analyze it yet."
Clenching his fingers together Grissom spun around. "It's fine," he said heading back to the table. "Is the tape recorder over here?"
He rummaged around the evidence bags again, Catherine joining him as she knew what they were looking for.
"Here," she said, grabbing the bag.
Grissom stood back as she held it up. "Play it."
Sara moved in beside him and dropped her hand on his arm. Looking her way, he offered her a tiny smile to try and ease her concern.
Catherine rewound the tape and hit play. Just as over two decades prior, the recording played out just like the original. A man, saying his name and that he was going to kill himself and then…
Bang.
"Happy Birthday, Mr. Grissom."
Sara jumped when the gunshot rang out, but Grissom didn't. He just stood, staring at the tape recorder, eyes wide and then he swallowed hard before spinning around to face the boss.
"We need to go to the evidence vault. Right now."
CSICSICSICSICSICSICSI
"That was Paul Millander's voice on the tape," Grissom said as he walked, the group trailing behind him. "How else would someone know all of this – get a dead man to make a recording that matches exactly the previous one then get a hold of my fingerprint?"
"So, you actually think someone has taken evidence from the vault?" Max replied sounding rather nervous.
He glanced her way, nodding as they rounded the corner towards an elevator.
"Taken, copied, I'm not totally sure."
Shaking her head, Max let out a huff, pressing the button for the elevator when they reached it.
"If that is the case, this is going to open a huge can of worms."
"More like a storage unit full," Catherine added.
All eyes found her as the elevator arrived and the doors pinged open.
"I swear if we get a victim at a storage unit," Sara stated, 'then we're leaving."
CSICSICSICSICSICSICSI
At the main desk to the evidence vault, Max signed everyone in, and they entered the huge warehouse.
Stopping just inside, Sara looked around. This place always sent a cold shiver down her spine. Millions and millions of items all sealed in boxes, a lot of them linking to someone's death. Someone's life or former life just sat in a box on a shelf.
"Where do you want to start?" Max asked.
"The hand points the way," Grissom said. "May as well start with Milander."
Sara pointed to her left. "M's are this way."
"Thank God for alphabetizing," Catherine remarked.
Grissom gave her a smirk as they walked by row upon row of storage shelves until they finally reached the section they were looking for. Taking the lead, Sara looked up and down the boxes, slipping on gloves as they got closer to the name they were seeking.
Finally, she stopped as did the rest beside her, all eyes scanning the names beginning with 'Mi'.
"There." Sara pointed above them, too high for anyone to reach. "Going to need a ladder."
"I'll do you a deal," Catherine said.
Frowning, Catherine looked at her friend. "O…kay."
"I'll grab the ladder, you can climb."
Rolling her eyes, Sara snorted. "Get the ladder."
Smirking, Catherine vanished around the corner of the aisle returning a few seconds later with a large double ladder on wheels. Placing it next to the shelving, she stepped on the brake.
"Be careful," Grissom told his wife, taking her hand to help her onto the ladder.
Sara flashed him a smile, stepped onto the second rung and began the climb, all the time her eyes wandering over the multitude of boxes and name tags. On the fourth shelf up, she spotted the name Mills. She was close. Up one more rung, she came face to face with what she was looking for.
"Got it!" she called out.
Looking left and right, she noticed several other boxes with 'Paul Millander' written on them. Of course. One box would be pushing it a bit.
"How many boxes are there?" Grissom called out.
His voice echoed and she glanced down. She'd had no idea how high she was and was glad Grissom hadn't insisted on going up the ladder. They didn't know if heights affected his condition but now wouldn't have been a good time to find out.
"At least three," she answered.
It was then she began to ponder about how she was going to get down with even one box in her hand.
CSICSICSICSICSICSICSI
Handing the 3rd and final box to Catherine as her feet hit the floor, Sara took in a very well needed breath.
"Well, that's my work out for the year," she joked.
Grissom's eyes found her. "I'm sure we can find you another challenge at some point."
With a smirk, she then pursed her lips at him as they all surrounded a table where the boxes now sat.
Already gloved up, Grissom reached for the first box, two immediate observations catching his eye. One was the dust on the box had been disturbed more than Sara would have caused and two…
"The seal's broken," he said flatly, as if he was expecting it, turning the box around to make sure everyone could see.
Max took the second box and Catherine the third, both examining them.
"This one's broken, too," Max said, looking at Catherine who shook her head.
"This one is still sealed," she informed them.
Puffing out his cheeks, Grissom carefully removed the lid from the box he had. Taking the inventory list from the top, his eyes scanned over it.
"The tape recorder should be in this box," he said.
Putting the list down, he carefully removed the evidence bags from the box. All were still sealed.
After a few minutes, the entire box had been emptied onto the table. Lots of different pieces of evidence linking to Paul Milander but no tape recorder.
"It's not here."
Grissom looked at Max who had watched him take every single item from the box.
"Maybe it was put back into the wrong box?" Sara suggested, pointing to the box in front of Max. "If they opened more than one, perhaps they didn't put everything back into the correct place. No doubt they were in a hurry to do whatever they were doing so they didn't get caught."
"Possible," Grissom agreed.
"Then I guess we should check," Max added, taking the lid off her box.
CSICSICSICSICSICSICSI
There was no tape recorder in the next box. But it was missing the latex hand which, according to the inventory list, was supposed to be inside.
"Maybe the items are in this box?" Catherine suggested, reaching for an explanation.
"No," Grissom disagreed. "That box hasn't been opened."
Catherine glanced back down to the unopened box. "They couldn't just reseal it?"
Sucking his bottom lip into his mouth, Grissom yet again shook his head. "I doubt they have the kind of tape used 20 years ago. We use a very different material now. It would be obvious it had been resealed."
"Ah. Good point."
"Sooo …," Sara began, "someone has actually stolen items from these boxes?"
Letting out a sigh, Grissom nodded. "It looks that way."
"This is so much worse than I thought," Max griped. "The undersheriff is going to have a breakdown."
Looking behind him, Grissom's eyes wandered over the shelving.
"Unfortunately, I think this is just the tip of the iceberg."
A/N: Titanic incoming? Lol.