CSI - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Dreamer ❯ Chapter 3

The next morning Nick got up at the usual time and got ready for work. As he got dressed he looked at the clock. He had only gotten a few hours sleep.

 

`Typical,' he thought as he pulled his black t-shirt on.

 

He quickly got a cup of coffee and ate a piece of toast as he watched the early morning news. He grabbed his coat on the way out the door, even though he wouldn't need it. It was blazing hot already. Nick got in his car and drove towards the station. Traffic wasn't so bad, and he got there pretty quickly.

 

When he reached the parking lot, he parked his car and got out. He was locking the door when Warrick pulled in next to him.

 

“Hey Nick,” Warrick greeted as he got out of his car.

 

“Hey Warrick,” Nick answered with a muffled yawn. He waited for Warrick and they walked inside together.

 

“Get any sleep last night?” Warrick asked as they past the receptionist's desk.

 

“Normal amount.”

 

“So, you only got a few hours?”

 

“Yep.”

 

They walked into the locker room and got their identification tags. Grissom poked his head around the door.

 

“Hey Nick?”

 

“Yeah boss?”

 

“Autopsy with Doctor Al and Sara.”

 

“Got ya.”

 

“And Warrick, go check those videotapes.”

 

“Sure thing, Grissom.” And with that Grissom headed off.

 

Warrick was about to leave when Nick spoke. “Have fun with that.”

 

He turned around and gave Nick a death glare. He knew searching through all those videos would take hours. “Oh believe me, I will.”

 

Nick closed his locker and headed towards the morgue. He passed some of the glass evidence rooms as he was on his way there. As he looked in one, he saw Hillary leaning over one of the tables. There were papers and books and other objects strewn all over the table.

 

`Must be from the robbery case.' Nick thought. Catherine wasn't in there; Hillary was going solo, on her first case here. `Guess they trust her.' And he continued walking.

 

When he entered the morgue, with his poncho and mask on, he saw Dr. Robbins and Sara looking at a body.

 

Dr. Al Robbins is the chief medical examiner around the lab. He's good at what he does and has an uncanny memory.

 

“There you are Nick,” Dr. Robbins said when he saw him.

 

“So, what do we got, Doc?” Nick asked.

 

“I was about to explain to Sara…” Dr. Robbins walked over to the first man that had been on the bed. There was a Y-shaped incision in his chest, like all the other checked bodies had. “We identified him as Alan Swan. He had his driver's license in his pocket. Cause of death was several blows to the head, with a rounded object, maybe a bat or a lamp.” He turned the guy's head to the side. His skull was pounded in. “Nothing odd about him. He's in perfect health, considering he's dead.”

 

Dr. Robbins walked over to the woman next. A large gash went from one side of the throat to the other. “Lisa Swan. Alan Swan's wife. Cause of death was a single slice to the neck, which appears to have been done from behind. Appears to be with a very sharp object with edges, a steak knife, maybe.”

 

Dr. Robbins walked towards the last body. It looked like an overly cooked hotdog. The sight of it made Nick sick. “And your tub man, we think he's Sebastian Swan, Alan's brother. Cause of death, a single shot to the right temple, clean.” He paused for a moment. “Nick did you say you found a gun?”

 

“Yeah, pistol, 4 caliber. Found it in the tub.” Dr. Al looked at the wound again.

 

“From what I can tell, that was probably the gun that took this man's life. I found the bullet in his near his pterion,” he pointed to a dish near Sebastian's head. “And from the angle, it looks like he shot himself.”

 

“We'll get that analyzed,” Sara said. “Thanks Doc.” he nodded his head.

 

“Oh, and you guys met Hillary already, right?” Nick and Sara nodded their heads. “Nice girl. Came in not too long ago and talked to me for a while.”

 

“Yeah, she's really nice,” Nick thought back to the night before when had been so cheerful and polite around him, even though she barely knew him and he had smelled like rotting corpse. `Really nice.'

 

“See ya,” And Nick and Sara walked out and headed towards the evidence locker, and a long day of work.

 

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“So, how's everything going?” Catherine walked into the evidence room and stood next to Hillary, looking at the table. The objects were sorted into piles.

 

“Good, just finished. There are quite a few clean fingerprints here, and there are a lot of bills and loan papers.” she pointed to the papers she had laid out. “I sent the prints to analysis.”

 

“What do you think?” Catherine asked.

 

“I'm guessing that the owner of the apartment is in great debt. Oh, and I looked at the shoeprints on the door. Got some good prints, they're over there.” she nodded to the glass wall on her right. There were photos of shoeprints on wood hanging up.

 

“Good work Hillary,” Catherine walked over to the photos and took a look at them. A measuring tape was by all the shoeprints in the photos. Half of them were size 6, and `treads' were written on pieces of tape stuck on the photos. The other half were size 12 and `flat soles' were written on more pieces of tape stuck on the photos. “Really good work.”

 

“Ah, Catherine?” Catherine turned around to look at her. “Thanks for letting me work on this by myself, I appreciate it.” Hillary knew that because she had changed labs, and had moved from another country, that she would be considered a beginner, a level 1 CSI. She also knew she had been put on this case because of that.

 

Catherine shook her head. “Both you and I know that you're perfectly capable of doing this, heck, if it was up to me, you'd be working with Nick and Sara and Warrick.”

 

Hillary smiled. “Well thanks anyway.”

 

“No problem.” Catherine went back into work mode. “Ok, we know the owner of the apartment, a Janelle Rikel. She says she and her boyfriend came home and her apartment was broken into. Said they stole her computer and a small TV and some jewelry. She is trying to get her insurance company to pay for the door and the window and what was stolen. ”

 

“We'll see about that. I checked out that thread I found, it's a red cotton fabric, not the sort of stuff used on clothes. Probably from a towel or face cloth. I also found something interesting under the window, a brick. Looks like that was what was used to break the window. I found a partial fingerprint and send it to be analyzed.”

 

“Hmmm. We should go back and check around for any red cloth, that fabric could have been planted to make us think it was a robbery.”

 

“It might by nice to get a warrant for Ms. Rikel and her boyfriend's shoe sizes, and if possible, their shoes. Even their fingerprints.”

 

“I'll talk to Brass. You can head back over to the apartment if you want, I'll meet you there.”

 

“Alright,” Hillary headed out and Catherine headed for Brass' office.

 

Hillary quickly went to her locker and got her bulletproof vest. She put her gun into her belt, hoping she wouldn't have to use it, and stuck a radio to her vest. She looked down at the bold `Matthews' printed on her vest. She sighed. She missed Toronto, and all her co-workers and friends there, but she'd be fine.

 

She got into one of the lab SUVs and pulled out of the parking lot. Suddenly her cell phone rang as she pulled up behind a small red Corvette.

 

“Hello?” she asked into the phone.

 

“Hey, Hillary! How's it goin'?” the male voice with a heavy British accent greeted her happily.

 

“It's fine, James. You?” James was her good friend who owned the stable where she was going to board her horse, Louie.

 

“It's good as it can be. How's work?”

 

“Good, I'm just on my way to a scene now.”

 

“What happened? Did someone get murdered? Did a bus go over a cliff? Did a building explode and you have to investigate?” She rolled her eyes, James was always so eccentric.

 

“No James, a robbery at an apartment. Happened last night. Just going back to check it out.”

 

“Ah, come on Hil, even I know that's beginner's stuff.” James did know.

 

He had served in the LA PD for a few years then decided to quit and start a horse farm. The farm's price had gone out of the roof in the first year and was now worth a good sum of money. James did trail rides and lessons, and brought in mustangs from all around America and tamed them. He had a good thing going.

 

“Well, considering I'm in a new lab, in an entirely different country, you have to think they may put me on a beginner case.” she might have sounded a bit snarky, but she really didn't mean to.

 

“Sorry ma' am, didn't know you were so edgy.” She knew he was joking. She sighed.

 

“So, anyway James, why did you call me?” she took a right onto the street where the apartment was.

 

“Oh, yeah, I forgot. Louie's almost here. He's scheduled to get here tonight. You're going to be here, right?”

 

“Of course, James. Wouldn't miss it for the world. I'll change at the station once my shift ends, then straight to the barn.”

 

“Okay, okay.”

 

She changed the subject. “When does Amanda get off work?” Amanda was James' wife and Hillary's good friend from high school. Amanda had pursued her equine vet profession from Nova Scotia, to Saskatchewan, to Arizona, the ended up in Nevada. She owned the barn with her husband, and was the lead vet there.

 

“Same time you do, she'll be here.”

 

“Good,” Hillary saw the apartment building and pulled into the visitor parking lot. “I have to go, James.”

 

“Okay, Mountie,” he called her that sometimes, considering she was Canadian and had been a Royal Canadian Mounted Police(RCMP) officer for a while before she became a CSI. “Good luck with that tough case. See you tonight.”

 

“See you James,” and she hung up the phone.

 

`What a goofball.' she thought as she walked into the elevator with her evidence briefcase.

 

She quickly pulled on her latex gloves. The elevator ringed open and she walked out and headed for the room. A police officer was already there and he nodded a greeting to her as she stepped inside. She again had the feeling of `Whoa', but she began quickly.

 

She went into the bathroom first. There were towels hanging on the rack, but they were white, not red. She continued to look around. She knew she couldn't take anything out of the bathroom, but she sure could check. She opened the cabinet under the sink. There were towels there. There were a few red towels, the same colour as the fabric, on the bottom of the pile. She was about to take one out when her phone rang again. She almost hit her head on the sink.

 

`Grrrr,' she opened her cell phone. “Hello? Matthews here.”

 

“Hi Hillary, it's Catherine. We've got an okay to search around and take anything we need.”

 

“That's excellent! I found some red towels; it may be just what we're looking for.”

 

“Good, bag it and go check their shoes, see if you can find any similarities to the prints.”

 

“Already on it. Any luck with the fingerprints?”

 

“No. They're not on APHIS and Rikel and her boyfriend are refusing to give their prints.”

 

“We may not need them.” Hillary picked up the towel in one hand and placed it in a paper bag. “Okay, I'm going to go check their shoes now.”

 

“I'm going to stay here, they are letting us measure their feet.”

 

Hillary grinned; this was going better then planned. “Alright, I'll see you back at the lab.”

 

“Bye.” Catherine hung up. Hillary really had to thank her some how. She was not treating her like a beginner. Catherine knew she could do this by herself. `Maybe I can see if Lindsey likes horses and let her go riding sometime.'

 

Hillary went to the main closet. There were several pairs of shoes there, mostly female high heels, but there were some sneakers, and a pair of hiking boots.

 

`This is too easy.' she took out a measuring tape and picked up the hiking boots. Then she saw the wood chips in the treads. `Man. These guys were as planning enough to plant fabric, but not to pick the wood out of their shoes?'

 

She picked the chips out with tweezers and placed it in a baggy. Then she measured the sole of the boot. It was size 12. She put the boots into a bag and searched around some more. After the second pair of sneakers she looked through, which were size 12, she found a pair of size 6 sneakers. The treads were flattened from walking. `Probably walking shoes.'

 

She bagged the shoes and looked around more. She didn't find anything, except for more loan bills in a dresser. `This case seems to get clearer and clearer.' then she headed out the door and back to the lab.

 

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Nick sat in the lunch room. He had been at the hotel room again and had not gotten back long ago. He had looked around the bathroom again, but found nothing. He checked all of the trashcans and found a broken lamp that had dried blood smeared over it.

 

“Looks like someone tried to clean it off.” Sara had said, coming up behind him as he put it into a bag.

 

“Yeah, and did a horrible job.”

 

Nick had begun to search the trashcan again when he found something wrapped in a bloody rag. He picked it out and opened the rag. There was a long steak knife covered in more dried blood.

 

“Well, Doc was right.”

 

“He does that a lot doesn't he?”

 

“Oh yeah.”

 

Nick and Sara had gone back to the lab and fingerprinted and swabbed the blood from both the lamp and knife. They had also learned that the bullet in Sebastian's head matched the bullets in the gun Nick had found. At least there was one piece of the puzzle.

 

Warrick had found something, possibly. He had footage of all three Swans going up the elevator to the third floor. The he had footage of Sebastian Swan leaving by himself with a large bag of, something. The Sebastian returned to the third floor, and that was the last of him on the video.

 

Nick sat in the lunchroom, waiting for his shift to be over. He felt his eyes drooping, so he took another drink of his coffee. He knew the results from the swabs and the fingerprints wouldn't be back until tomorrow. The only thing he'd done lately was watch surveillance videos with Warrick and talk to Catherine. Catherine had said that they were wrapping up with the robbery case. She said that Hillary had done a good job and was at the apartment retrieving more evidence, but that was over an hour ago.

 

Nick took another long gulp of his coffee. Then he looked at his watch.

 

`Finally!' he got up and put his empty mug in the washing machine. He went straight for his locker. He passed Sara in the hall. She was on her way out.

 

“Good night, Sara.” he said.

 

“Night, Nick.” she walked by him and headed out the lab's front doors.

 

Nick turned into the locker room. Hillary was sitting on the bench, pulling some steel-toe boots on. She wore a black jacket and jeans, and she had her hair tied back.

 

`She looks, different.' Nick quietly walked to his locker.

 

“Oh, hey Nick. Didn't see you there.” she lased up her boot and pulled her pant leg over it.

 

“Where you off to?” Nick mentally kicked himself. He barely knew the girl and he was asking where she was going! She really didn't seem to mind though.

 

“I'm going to pick up my horse at a barn off highway 15.”

 

“You have a horse?”

 

“Yep.” she grinned. Nick didn't really know horses very well, but he knew a little bit about them.

 

“What kind?” Hillary grinned at him. She liked to talk with Nick, even though she really hadn't done so yet.

 

“Black Morgan gelding. He's been on the road since I flew in from Toronto.”

 

Nick opened his locker. “How'd the case go?” he asked, trying to make conversation.

 

“Really good.” Hillary sighed a bit. Nick didn't say anything. He knew he would be too if he was put on such an easy case. “Catherine and I finished up. We figured out that the owner of the apartment and her boyfriend broke in themselves and `stole' some things then broke the window. They did it all so their insurance company would pay them so they could pay off debt. Once they were cornered with the evidence, they broke down and confessed.”

 

“Oh yeah? That's complicated.” Nick said grinning. Why he was grinning, he didn't know.

 

“I know. How's your case going?”

 

“We're getting the fingerprints and blood splatter analyzed now. We figured out the Alan Swan had been in heavy debt and was bumming off of his brother. We think that maybe his brother got tired of it and killed him, and Alan's wife was just in the way.”

 

“That's more complicated then my case.”

 

Nick nodded his head. “Slightly.”

 

Hillary looked at her watch. “Well, I got to go. See you tomorrow Nick, and good luck with that case.”

 

“See ya.”

 

Hillary walked towards the exit, but Grissom stopped her in the hall.

 

“Good work on that case today, Hillary,” he said with a bit of I'm-sorry-for-putting-you-on-such-an-easy-case tone in his voice. “Catherine said you did most of it solo.” Hillary nodded her head. “I'll promise you one thing,” Grissom continued, jokingly. “You won't be working with cases like that for ever.”

 

“Of course not.” Hillary joked. She always liked Grissom; he was her favorite professor back when she had gone to school in the US for a few years. “Night.”

 

“Night Hillary. Again, good work.” they both went their separate ways.

 

Hillary unlocked the door of her black pickup truck and sat in the driver's seat. She let out a sigh. She had no idea why she was so tense! She should be tense, but not this tense. She pulled out of the parking lot and headed for the barn, hoping the trip hadn't been so stressful for her beloved horse.

 

But for some reason, one she couldn't put her finger on, she kept seeing Nick grinning at her in her memory. This made he grin in turn, and every time she figured out she was sitting in the front seat of that truck grinning like an idiot, she shook her head.

 

`Must be the stress,' she thought, although she knew that wasn't the answer.