Post by scorpii on Nov 16, 2005 15:56:31 GMT 1
[glow=red,2,300]Hey everyone! A while ago I've created my own spin-off, hope you'll enjoy it. It's finished now,so have fun reading it![/glow]
New City. New Team. New CSI's. And most of all; New Stories. CSI:HellevoetSluis.
Episode 101 - Pilot
Jeffrey whistled while he walked his morning round. Every morning, day in, day out, he walked, before breakfast, his round. Satisfied, he smelled the smell of wet leaves. It had rained last night and now it was autumn, and leaves lay everywhere of course, which smelled very good when they were wet. Suddenly, Jeffrey heard footsteps behind his back. He knew these steps. He turned around to greet this person.
'Hey' he said.
'Hey Jeff' greeted the woman. Jeffrey smiled.
'It's nice to see you. You're early today, you know? How's your day today?' he asked.
'Oh, my day is fine. I was worried about yours. You like puzzles and still you haven't found out you're such an @$$hole, that's quite stupid. But I hadn't expected something else' said the woman angrily, while she grabbed something from her inside pocket and put a few photo's in his hand. Jeffrey recognized the people on the photo's and looked confused. The woman took the photo's back, tore them up and put them back in his hand.
'What the heck do you-' but he couldn't even finish his sentence. The woman had pointed a gun to his face. Jeffrey recognized it.
'Who gave you my gun?'
The woman smiled, but it was not a friendly smile. 'Oh Jeff, you're so stupid. I, instead of you, yeah, I know exactly what's going on, and you're about to find out what's going on. Bye Jeff' and she fired. Right between his eyes. He was already dead before he hit the ground. The woman laughed.
'See you in Hell, Jeff!' she said and then she turned around and walked away.
What was that smell? Joanne asked herself. You could hardly smell it, but a copper-like smell floated in her direction. Well, she walked in the wind, so all smells would float in her direction, but she recognized most smells. Not this one. This one was different. And she was very curious. Some would call it nosy, but she preferred curious. And she had to know where this smell came from. She could smell it better now, which meant she probably came closer. She knew she had to go closer. She turned the corner. A few meters furthers, in the middle of the bicycle path, was something. And she knew, she just knew, that this was the source of the smell. Suddenly she realized what it was. The body of a dead man lay there, his head in a pool of blood. Joanne turned around, and began to run as fast as she could, 'till she didn't smell the body anymore. She knew she had one more thing to do; call the HSPD, the HellevoetSluis Police Department, or, to be exact, the head of their Crime Scene Unit; Lisa Adams. She had met her once, and she knew she had to call her immediately.
Lisa sat at one side of the table. At her left hand sat Tom, on her right Amy. Tom was their weapons specialist, knives, screwdrivers, call something and he knew how to use it as a weapon. Amy knew everything about minerals and stones and stuff. Next to Tom sat Shirley, their coroner. Next to Amy sat Sam, their fingerprint and blood spatter specialist. Summers, head of the Homicide Unit, was supposed to sit on the other side of the table, but he hadn't show up yet. They were supposed to evaluate the most recent closed case, but they couldn't start without Summers, 'cause he helped them so much. Lisa knew Amy was frustrated. It was obvious Amy found this a waste of time. She knew Amy wanted to go on with the next case. Yes, it was true bad guys never slept, but Amy never slept too. Tom, well, Tom was very excited. The closed case involved a murder at a high school, with lots of different stab wounds, so there were lots of different knives used. Sam, well, you never knew what Sam thought. She was a little shy and had the best poker-face Lisa ever had seen. But Lisa couldn't think of a better fingerprint specialist. And then about Shirley. Lisa knew Shirley couldn't wait 'till she could go on with her work. Lisa knew the graveyard shift didn't like to wait for news (they, day shift, didn't like to wait either, but she didn't like to think about that), and that they had brought in lots of dead people last night. Suddenly, she heard a phone ring. Everyone looked to Lisa. Immediately, she grabbed her cell phone.
'Lisa Adams' she said. A slightly familiar voice answered her.
'Lisa, please, I've found a corpse and I don't know what to do so I called you and oh my god, it smells so bad...'
'Who is this?' Lisa asked.
'Please, Lisa, what do I have to do?'
'Where is it?'
'That bicycle path near Cape Helius'
'OK, I'll come. But who are you?'
But the other woman had hung up already.Amy looked annoyed.
'Who was it?' she asked.
'Anonymous' answered Lisa 'but she said she had found a d.b. near Cape Helius'
'What, with all those new, expensive houses?' Tom asked. Lisa nodded to confirm.
Amy still looked annoyed. 'Can't we ask Summers to check it?''
'No, he's not here. At least, he wasn't this morning' said Tom 'I had to give him a file, but he wasn't there.'
Amy looked even more annoyed.
'Ah, well, it's probably another fake thing. It happens too much lately!'
Lisa nodded again to confirm.
'You're probably right. It happens indeed too much. But we still have to investigate it. I'm sorry. Shirley, you can go back to your dear friends. Guys, come, let's go.'
All stood up, Shirley walked away to the morgue. The rest walked to their SUV's. Amy looked more annoyed than ever.
'I still think it's a joke' she muttered.
Amy couldn't believe it. She just couldn't. She took her hat off her head. Next to her stood Tom, she could feel shiver. Shivers of sorrow. On the other side of the body was Sam, she sat down on her knees and Amy saw she cried. A few steps away stood Lisa, holding her cell phone like it was the only thing left on earth. Amy knew Lisa called Shirley. Unbelievable. They had to call Shirley to come for one of their best friends. Amy saw Lisa was crying too, just like Sam. A tear rolled down Amy's own cheek when she realized what had happened. Their friend and colleague Jeffrey Summers died today. But what hurt her more was when she realized that the people you love could be ripped out of your life all of a sudden. She thought of her daughter. Her own husband, Matthew, lived in the USA for a few years, and she, Matt and Julia had decided that Julia should go with Matt, to see more of the world than just the place she lived. Julia was nineteen when she and Matt took off; she would become twenty-three next month. Amy knew; she had to call her tonight. She didn't even know to which university Julia went. Amy shivered. Imagine something would happen to Julia. Oh god, she would go mad.
Suddenly, they all heard a car and a few seconds later, Shirley came running to wards them. Sam quickly raised. Shirley saw Jeffrey and screamed of shock. Then she shivered and said:
'Oh my god! It's true... Jeff...' while she kneeled down by the body. She shook her head.
'Such a bad way to go' she said. Tom took a deep breath and asked Shirley what had killed him. Shirley turned around and looked at him.
'Judging on how it looks, I would say - his own gun.'
They all looked up.
'What do you mean?' Tom asked. Shirley closed her eyes and opened them again almost immediately.
'Take - take a look for yourself' she said. Her voice trembled. She closed her eyes and walked away. She felt awful. How could this have happened to Jeff? She liked him, he was one of her best friends! What sick mind could have done this? She got angry. She clenched her fists, turned around and walked back.
'Lisa!' she said angrily. Lisa looked up and wondered what she had done wrong. She had never seen Shirley this angry.
'Yes?' she asked carefully.
'Promise me you'll catch the sick @$$hole who did this!'
Lisa nodded and swiped the tears out of her eyes.
'I will' she felt she got angry now too. 'People!' she called, 'we will catch the sucker who did this! The one who did this must be very stupid, to make four CSI's go after him!'
Sam nodded angrily.
'I'll search for footprints! It rained last night, so this sucker must have left some prints!'
Amy looked up. 'I'll search with you' she said. Lisa nodded.
'Tom, you'll stay here with Shirley. I'll search for other evidence. Let's catch this sucker as soon as we can!'
Sam was pissed. Whoever killed Jeff, they would find him. Or her. She was sure. She clenched her fists. The only hope left was to find some evidence. Quick. The wind blew, so there was absolutely no chance of finding hairs or fibers. He probably was shot with his own gun, so they couldn't scan the bullets in IBIS and hope for finding the gun was used in a crime before. The only chance for any evidence were shoe impressions. And they weren't even sure they would find any of those. Well, at least they could try. Hope was not foolish, hope was to survive. And she would, no doubt about that. Suddenly, her attention was caught by something near her. Something right of her feet. She almost stepped in it. She kneeled down and called the others.
'Lisa! Amy! Tom! You have to come, I've found something!'
They all came, hoping she found something that would help them. Sam had found a shoe impression. Well, at least she had found one lucky thing this day.
'Nice find!' said Tom 'now we can catch the *** probably a bit sooner!' Sam grabbed the hair spray and sprayed the impression. Amy looked worried.
'What?' Sam asked 'What do I do wrong? I mean, the ground is muddy so...'
'No no no, that's not it. Take a look at that impression. Don't you think it's a little small for a man?'
Sam nodded.
'Could be female. Or just a guy with small feet.'
Amy laughed, but she wasn't very happy.
'Like that narrows it down'
'We'll check it later. I'll make a plaster-cast and in the lab I'll analise it. We will find this person, no matter how long it takes!'
Meanwhile, some people from the morgue had arrived to take the body to the morgue. They had put the body on a stretcher and shove it in the back of their van. Lisa and Tom were there already. Tom spotted some things on the grass, something that had been under Jeff, so it hadn't been blew away by the wind. He put on some gloves and grabbed the pieces. Lisa, who watched the van drive away, turned around to see Tom. She walked to him and took the pieces out of his hands. She saw it were pieces of photo's. She put them in a evidence bag and walked with Tom to Amy and Sam. Sam had made the plaster-cast and looked to Lisa.
'Are you done?' asked Lisa.
Sam nodded.
'Any chance of finding more evidence here?' asked Lisa.
'No, I don't think so. We're very lucky with this impression, I don't think there will be more things to find. Did you find anything?' Amy said.
'I didn't, Tom did. Pieces of photo's'
'Hmm. Well, let's take another look at this crime scene, and let's go back to the lab then. I want to analise this evidence.'
Lisa nodded. 'Me too. OK, let's check the crime scene again and then go back to the lab. Good idea.'
So all of them checked the crime scene again for evidence they may have missed, but they didn't find anything new. And they went back to the lab.
Once they were back, Lisa spoke to all of them.
'Okay guys, divide and conquer. Amy and Sam, you go analize that impression. Tom, you and me will go and try to get those photo pieces together. Go!'
All of them went to the labs needed to do their thing. Amy and Sam went to one of the computers. Sam scanned a photo of the impression in the computer. She so hoped it would give them something to work with. The computer was busy comparing it to other shoes now.
'You think you can handle it here?' Amy asked.
'What do you think? Sure I can' Sam answered. She wasn't angry, she was already concentrated on the computer.
'Okay. I'll go and take a look with Lisa and Tom. See if they have something to work with.'
Sam nodded and Amy took off to Lisa and Tom. She hoped the photos were useful. They probably had something to do with Jeff's murder, 'cause the wind would have blown them away if they had laid there before Jeff was shot. She walked to Lisa, who had, together with Tom, finished getting the photos together and was now dusting them.
'Found anything?' Lisa asked.
'Sam's still busy. Hope we'll find something. What have you found?'
'Nothing useful yet. But I hope there are some prints on these photos.'
For the first time, Amy took a look at the photos.
'Holy damn, we are that! There's Jeff.. and you... and Tom and Sam and me... hey, that's that little café down the street!'
Lisa nodded.
'You're right. We saw that too. You think someone's after us?'
'I surely hope not. Okay, I'll help you dusting these photos!'
Amy grabbed a brush and a jar of powder and began to dust. Lisa beeped Sam. Sam came running to them and immediately grabbed another brush and a jar. For a while, all four of them were dusting the photos. And after half an hour, they had found about seven prints, some of them partials and smudges, some of them useful. Lisa sighed. Okay guys, unless the computer has found anything...'
Sam shook her head.
'Computer hasn't found anything. If it would have found anything, I would have known it.'
Tom laughed.
'How? You and the computer share thought or something?'
Sam smiled.
'No silly. I asked Jack if he would alert me if the computer had found anything. He hasn't warned me yet, so the computer hasn't found anything. Yet.'
Lisa looked at Sam and smiled too.
'Jack gets all the bad jobs, isn't it?' Sam smiled back and nodded.
'Well' Amy said 'Give him another one then. Take these prints to him then, will you, Sam?'
Sam grabbed the little pile of prints and walked down the corridors to Jack. Poor Jack, she thought, he really did get all the bad jobs that had to be done. But hey, he was their fingerprint guy, so he really had to have these prints. Too bad for Jack, the better for them.
She started to think different about that half an hour later. All of them were sitting in the coffeeroom. Bored.
'Whaah, I'm so freaking bored' Tom said.
'Well Tom, you're not the only one. We all are. But we really need those prints before we can go on.' Amy said.
Suddenly, Sam got up and hit herself on the forehead.
'I'm so stupid! I'm sorry guys, I forgot to tell you about the shoeprints. Computer has found a match to a brand of woman's shoes. But the computer couldn't fin exactly what kind of shoes.'
Lisa looked like she was getting angry, but Amy could tell by Lisa's voice she wasn't.
'It's okay Sam. At least we know by now that we're chasing a woman.'
'Not that it brings us a lot further' Tom muttered.
'pessimist' Amy smiled. Lisa yawned.
'Okay, enough time wasted! I want my prints! I'm going to Jack' and she took off.
In his lab, Jack was tapping at the table on the rythm of the music he was listening.He was staring at the computer, like he was watching a very good movie. Or maybe something liked Scary Movie, 'cause he looked like he had seen something amusing. Lisa walked in.
'I want my prints!' she said, sounding a bit stressed.
'Okay, okay, relax. Here they are. Can't stand stress?' Jack smiled.
'It's not stress. I hate waste of time.'
'I've never heard you complain about waste of time' Jack kept smiling.
'Okay, you know me too good. 'They' don't want us to do any overtime at all, and even you know how many cases we get per month.'
Jack stopped smiling. Lisa nodded. Both of them watched the computerscreen and read. When she was done, Lisa looked at Jack.
'I like your music'
Jack smiled. 'Thanks. And, can you do something with these results?'
'Oh yes I can. I think we need to go ask some questions to someone.'
'When you say us, you mean I can go with you all?'
Lisa pretended that she didn't hear him.
'Jennifer Pitcher... theft... maltreatment... sounds like a really nice girl.'
Tom and Amy walked in.
'Or we could go to Jeff's girlfriend, maybe she can tell us who might have done it. I don't know, what was her name again? Carrie...' Amy thought out loud.
'I thought it was something like Stewart. Yeah, that was her name, Carrie Stewart.' Tom answered Amy's thoughts.
'Okay Jack, another nice job for you. Can you get us her adres please?' Lisa asked. '
'Find her adres? Isn't there someone else who does that?' Jack asked.
Lisa looked annoyed and sad at the same time.
'We did have someone else for that, Jack' she said, 'but since he's murdered, we need someone else for that for the moment.'
'Okay, got your point. Here you have it. It's in Nieuwenhoorn.'
'Oh, nice neighborhood. Very calm' Amy said. Lisa nodded. 'Let's go'.
Amy and Lisa took off and walked to their SUV.
'To who are we going now? Jenny or Carrie?' Amy asked.
'I think it'll be better if we go to Carrie first. She doesn't know yet that her friend is murdered.' Lisa answered. Amy looked a little worried. 'Can you take the lead then?'
Lisa laughed. 'I know, you're not good with people'
Amy nodded.
'Only with the dead ones. You understand me'
And both women stepped in the car and drove away. To Nieuwenhoorn. To Carrie.
In the lab, Sam still felt bad.
'I''m so stupid. So stupid. I should have told you all a bit less late the result of the shoeprint. I'm so stupid!'
'C'mon Sam, we know it now, don't we? Stop feeling bad. Everybody makes mistakes, don't they?' Tom tried to calm her down.
'Well, I've never seen Amy or Lisa make a mistake!'
'Amy and Lisa work here a lot longer than we do. They've made mistakes too, but they've made other mistakes. But hey, you didn't destroy any evidence, did you?'
Sam shook her head.
'Then youre mistake ain't that big. C'mon, cheer up. You're still a very good CSI'
Sam smiled. 'Thanks Tom. I don't know how to deal with this compliment, but still, thanks.'
Tom smiled too. 'You're welcome, Sam'
Meanwhile, Lisa and Amy had arrived at Carrie Stewart's house. Ah, well, Jeffrey Summers' house, but he left it to Carrie. Both of them stepped out of the car.
'You're feeling okay, Amy? You're a bit pale' Lisa said.
'No. I mean, it's nothing physical. It's just... the thing Jack said. About having someone for that job. It made me realize we will never see Jeffrey again. We'll never have lunch together again. He'll never cheer me up again.' A tear rolled down Amy's cheek.
'Yeah, well... I don't think I've realized it yet. Jeffrey was a nice guy. Handsome too. He was nice. Just a sweet guy.'
Amy nodded. 'I know. And we'll never, ever talk to him again.'
Lisa nodded, too. 'I know. But there's something else also, isn't it?'
Amy looked up.
'What do you mean?'
'Well, don't take this too hard, but... I always thought you had a relationship with him.'
Amy tried to smile, but failed.
'I did. But not the kind you're thinking. Matthew is in the USA for a few years, and Jeff and Carrie had a lot of arguments. We sort of, I don't know, tried to help eachother. But we never, ever did what you're thinking. I was, and still am, married and Jeff had a girlfriend. We would never cheat on them. We were more like close friends.'
Lisa nodded.
'Okay. Got it. Well then, let's go. Else we're wasting time.'
Amy tried to smile. 'Yes. Maybe... yeah, let's go.'
Both walked to the door. Lisa rang the doorbell and stepped back. For a few seconds, they stood as still as statues. Then, the door was opened by a woman who could hardly be older than Amy was. About the same age, probably. Thirty-four or something. With a face that was clearly asking who they were, she opened the door for a few centimeters. Lisa showed her ID, and the woman, probably Carrie, opened the door a lot further, but didn't invite them in. Lisa introduce Amy and herself.
'Lisa Adams, and this is Amy Luisant. We're from the Hellevoetsluis Crime Lab. We have some questions about your friend.'
'What? About Jeffrey? He's a cop himself! What has happened? Hang on, you're CSIs! What has happened? Is he... is he...?' Carrie was shocked, that was for sure. But Amy, instead of Lisa, answered Carrie's question.
'Yes, indeed. He's dead.' Tactless as she were 'Can we come in please?'
Carrie stepped back to let them in. Both of them walked in and Carrie closed the door.
'Sit down, please' she said.
'Okay. Thanks. Ms. Stewart, I have a question' Lisa said.
'Go ahead and ask. The sooner this is over, the better' Carrie answered.
'Have you notice Jeffrey acted a little... ehm... strange, lately?' Amy asked.
'What do you mean? I mean, he didn't act ver different lately. I thought he had an affair, but other things, no, not really'
Amy blushed a little. Lisa immediately took over the lead.
'Well ms. Stewart, I personally can assure you Jeff didn't have an affair... but did he have any enemies?'
'He was a cop, what do you think yourself? But no, I cannot think of anyone right now...'
'What was he planning to do last tuesday about six thirty pm?'
'Eh... take a walk. He does that a lot.'
'What were you doing around that time?'
'I... I was at home. In my bed. Where are you at six thirty pm on a day you don't have to go to your job?'
Amy smiled. 'Watching tv, and hoping there's something interesting'.
Everyone fell silent. Suddenly, Lisa notice a laptop.
'I just noticed the laptop. Nice one.'
Carrie smiled. 'Thanks'. Amy understood what Lisa meant.
'Can we take it with us? It could help our investigation...'
Carrie freaked out.
'No! Not the laptop! I need it for my job. Please, go away... I need to be alone.'
Lisa and Amy walked over to the door. Outside, Amy looked and Lisa.
'Weird woman' she said.
'Like you aren't. You were whole sad and stuff before we asked her the questions. She handles it different, she freaks out. It's a shock for her, too. And you didn't want to say you're not weird? With your rocks and stones and whatever?'
'Actually, they're minerals. But you're right, there's no need to judge people you just met.'
'I didn't say that'
'No, but you wanted to say it'
'You're the second today. Am I really that clear?'
Amy smiled.
'No. We just know you too well.' And with that, she jumped back in the car, behind the steering wheel. She wanted to drive now.
Tom was waiting for them in the lab.
'Hi! What did she say?'
'Well, not very much to be honest. She said she was at home when it happened. She didn't cooperate or something. Especially no when Lisa asked if we could take a laptop for further investigation.' Amy said.
'That sounds odd. You'd think she'd also want the murderer to be found. But you said there was a laptop. If it's a laptop, it would be in plain sight, I think?'
'It was. But I thought we didn't need to be rude. She has enough to cope with. More than we do, anyway.' Lisa explained.
'Or not. Whatever. Shall I call judge Smith for a search warrant? He owes me something.'
'What have you done for him then?'
'Painted his shed last summer.'
'Okay then. Call him. We'll go home. Shift's over.'
'Shift's already over? How time flies...' And all went home.
Next day, Lisa and Amy were very early at the lab. Tom was there also, waving with a fax.
Lisa smiled. She was really happy, for the first time in days. 'I see you've got a warrant.' she said. Tom smiled too. 'Yeah. Judge Smith didn't even hestitate. He said he would do everything to help us finding the killer of Jeff.'
'Great! Shirley siad she sent you the bullet. Have you analized it already?'
Tom shook his head. 'No. I wanted to give you the warrant first.'
'Okay. Amy, c'mon' Amy followed Lisa and they went back to Carrie's house. This time, Amy rang the bell. This time, the door was opened immediately. Lisa showed Carrie the warrant.
'We've got a warrant to search your house. We hope you'll cooperate.'
Carrie nodded and opened the door far enough to let them in. Amy opened the door of a closet. She found all shoes and compared them to the picture of the impression. None of them matched. She shook her head when Lisa looked at her.
They walked to the living room and Lisa saw a sideboard. She opened a few drawers and found a few photos. Amy grabbed the laptop. They looked everywhere, but didn't find anything more.
'I'm sorry, Carrie, that we needed to make such a mess' Amy apologized.
'It's okay. Everything to find Jeff's killer.' Amy smiled. She and Lisa left and went back to the lab.
'Lisa, why don't you a look to the laptop? I'll see what everybody else is doing.' Amy asked. She knew she could say everything to Lisa without making her angry. She just had to say it at the right time.
'Okay. Great idea.'
Amy walked over to Tom.
'Well, Tom, what have we got?'
'Looks like he's shot with his own gun. I wonder who it has now.'
'Probably the killer'
'Yeah. Hey, have you and Lisa found anything at Carrie's place?'
'I don't know. We took the laptop, but that's about it. None of her shoes matched, and there wasn't anything else we needed to take, but-' Amy was rudely interrupted by her cellphone.
'Amy Luisant. Hi Lisa! Uh-hu... what? Okay, I'll come immediately!' She said to Tom: 'Lisa has found something important. I had to come immediately. You'll go with'
CONTINUES IN SEVEN POSTS...
New City. New Team. New CSI's. And most of all; New Stories. CSI:HellevoetSluis.
Episode 101 - Pilot
Jeffrey whistled while he walked his morning round. Every morning, day in, day out, he walked, before breakfast, his round. Satisfied, he smelled the smell of wet leaves. It had rained last night and now it was autumn, and leaves lay everywhere of course, which smelled very good when they were wet. Suddenly, Jeffrey heard footsteps behind his back. He knew these steps. He turned around to greet this person.
'Hey' he said.
'Hey Jeff' greeted the woman. Jeffrey smiled.
'It's nice to see you. You're early today, you know? How's your day today?' he asked.
'Oh, my day is fine. I was worried about yours. You like puzzles and still you haven't found out you're such an @$$hole, that's quite stupid. But I hadn't expected something else' said the woman angrily, while she grabbed something from her inside pocket and put a few photo's in his hand. Jeffrey recognized the people on the photo's and looked confused. The woman took the photo's back, tore them up and put them back in his hand.
'What the heck do you-' but he couldn't even finish his sentence. The woman had pointed a gun to his face. Jeffrey recognized it.
'Who gave you my gun?'
The woman smiled, but it was not a friendly smile. 'Oh Jeff, you're so stupid. I, instead of you, yeah, I know exactly what's going on, and you're about to find out what's going on. Bye Jeff' and she fired. Right between his eyes. He was already dead before he hit the ground. The woman laughed.
'See you in Hell, Jeff!' she said and then she turned around and walked away.
What was that smell? Joanne asked herself. You could hardly smell it, but a copper-like smell floated in her direction. Well, she walked in the wind, so all smells would float in her direction, but she recognized most smells. Not this one. This one was different. And she was very curious. Some would call it nosy, but she preferred curious. And she had to know where this smell came from. She could smell it better now, which meant she probably came closer. She knew she had to go closer. She turned the corner. A few meters furthers, in the middle of the bicycle path, was something. And she knew, she just knew, that this was the source of the smell. Suddenly she realized what it was. The body of a dead man lay there, his head in a pool of blood. Joanne turned around, and began to run as fast as she could, 'till she didn't smell the body anymore. She knew she had one more thing to do; call the HSPD, the HellevoetSluis Police Department, or, to be exact, the head of their Crime Scene Unit; Lisa Adams. She had met her once, and she knew she had to call her immediately.
Lisa sat at one side of the table. At her left hand sat Tom, on her right Amy. Tom was their weapons specialist, knives, screwdrivers, call something and he knew how to use it as a weapon. Amy knew everything about minerals and stones and stuff. Next to Tom sat Shirley, their coroner. Next to Amy sat Sam, their fingerprint and blood spatter specialist. Summers, head of the Homicide Unit, was supposed to sit on the other side of the table, but he hadn't show up yet. They were supposed to evaluate the most recent closed case, but they couldn't start without Summers, 'cause he helped them so much. Lisa knew Amy was frustrated. It was obvious Amy found this a waste of time. She knew Amy wanted to go on with the next case. Yes, it was true bad guys never slept, but Amy never slept too. Tom, well, Tom was very excited. The closed case involved a murder at a high school, with lots of different stab wounds, so there were lots of different knives used. Sam, well, you never knew what Sam thought. She was a little shy and had the best poker-face Lisa ever had seen. But Lisa couldn't think of a better fingerprint specialist. And then about Shirley. Lisa knew Shirley couldn't wait 'till she could go on with her work. Lisa knew the graveyard shift didn't like to wait for news (they, day shift, didn't like to wait either, but she didn't like to think about that), and that they had brought in lots of dead people last night. Suddenly, she heard a phone ring. Everyone looked to Lisa. Immediately, she grabbed her cell phone.
'Lisa Adams' she said. A slightly familiar voice answered her.
'Lisa, please, I've found a corpse and I don't know what to do so I called you and oh my god, it smells so bad...'
'Who is this?' Lisa asked.
'Please, Lisa, what do I have to do?'
'Where is it?'
'That bicycle path near Cape Helius'
'OK, I'll come. But who are you?'
But the other woman had hung up already.Amy looked annoyed.
'Who was it?' she asked.
'Anonymous' answered Lisa 'but she said she had found a d.b. near Cape Helius'
'What, with all those new, expensive houses?' Tom asked. Lisa nodded to confirm.
Amy still looked annoyed. 'Can't we ask Summers to check it?''
'No, he's not here. At least, he wasn't this morning' said Tom 'I had to give him a file, but he wasn't there.'
Amy looked even more annoyed.
'Ah, well, it's probably another fake thing. It happens too much lately!'
Lisa nodded again to confirm.
'You're probably right. It happens indeed too much. But we still have to investigate it. I'm sorry. Shirley, you can go back to your dear friends. Guys, come, let's go.'
All stood up, Shirley walked away to the morgue. The rest walked to their SUV's. Amy looked more annoyed than ever.
'I still think it's a joke' she muttered.
Amy couldn't believe it. She just couldn't. She took her hat off her head. Next to her stood Tom, she could feel shiver. Shivers of sorrow. On the other side of the body was Sam, she sat down on her knees and Amy saw she cried. A few steps away stood Lisa, holding her cell phone like it was the only thing left on earth. Amy knew Lisa called Shirley. Unbelievable. They had to call Shirley to come for one of their best friends. Amy saw Lisa was crying too, just like Sam. A tear rolled down Amy's own cheek when she realized what had happened. Their friend and colleague Jeffrey Summers died today. But what hurt her more was when she realized that the people you love could be ripped out of your life all of a sudden. She thought of her daughter. Her own husband, Matthew, lived in the USA for a few years, and she, Matt and Julia had decided that Julia should go with Matt, to see more of the world than just the place she lived. Julia was nineteen when she and Matt took off; she would become twenty-three next month. Amy knew; she had to call her tonight. She didn't even know to which university Julia went. Amy shivered. Imagine something would happen to Julia. Oh god, she would go mad.
Suddenly, they all heard a car and a few seconds later, Shirley came running to wards them. Sam quickly raised. Shirley saw Jeffrey and screamed of shock. Then she shivered and said:
'Oh my god! It's true... Jeff...' while she kneeled down by the body. She shook her head.
'Such a bad way to go' she said. Tom took a deep breath and asked Shirley what had killed him. Shirley turned around and looked at him.
'Judging on how it looks, I would say - his own gun.'
They all looked up.
'What do you mean?' Tom asked. Shirley closed her eyes and opened them again almost immediately.
'Take - take a look for yourself' she said. Her voice trembled. She closed her eyes and walked away. She felt awful. How could this have happened to Jeff? She liked him, he was one of her best friends! What sick mind could have done this? She got angry. She clenched her fists, turned around and walked back.
'Lisa!' she said angrily. Lisa looked up and wondered what she had done wrong. She had never seen Shirley this angry.
'Yes?' she asked carefully.
'Promise me you'll catch the sick @$$hole who did this!'
Lisa nodded and swiped the tears out of her eyes.
'I will' she felt she got angry now too. 'People!' she called, 'we will catch the sucker who did this! The one who did this must be very stupid, to make four CSI's go after him!'
Sam nodded angrily.
'I'll search for footprints! It rained last night, so this sucker must have left some prints!'
Amy looked up. 'I'll search with you' she said. Lisa nodded.
'Tom, you'll stay here with Shirley. I'll search for other evidence. Let's catch this sucker as soon as we can!'
Sam was pissed. Whoever killed Jeff, they would find him. Or her. She was sure. She clenched her fists. The only hope left was to find some evidence. Quick. The wind blew, so there was absolutely no chance of finding hairs or fibers. He probably was shot with his own gun, so they couldn't scan the bullets in IBIS and hope for finding the gun was used in a crime before. The only chance for any evidence were shoe impressions. And they weren't even sure they would find any of those. Well, at least they could try. Hope was not foolish, hope was to survive. And she would, no doubt about that. Suddenly, her attention was caught by something near her. Something right of her feet. She almost stepped in it. She kneeled down and called the others.
'Lisa! Amy! Tom! You have to come, I've found something!'
They all came, hoping she found something that would help them. Sam had found a shoe impression. Well, at least she had found one lucky thing this day.
'Nice find!' said Tom 'now we can catch the *** probably a bit sooner!' Sam grabbed the hair spray and sprayed the impression. Amy looked worried.
'What?' Sam asked 'What do I do wrong? I mean, the ground is muddy so...'
'No no no, that's not it. Take a look at that impression. Don't you think it's a little small for a man?'
Sam nodded.
'Could be female. Or just a guy with small feet.'
Amy laughed, but she wasn't very happy.
'Like that narrows it down'
'We'll check it later. I'll make a plaster-cast and in the lab I'll analise it. We will find this person, no matter how long it takes!'
Meanwhile, some people from the morgue had arrived to take the body to the morgue. They had put the body on a stretcher and shove it in the back of their van. Lisa and Tom were there already. Tom spotted some things on the grass, something that had been under Jeff, so it hadn't been blew away by the wind. He put on some gloves and grabbed the pieces. Lisa, who watched the van drive away, turned around to see Tom. She walked to him and took the pieces out of his hands. She saw it were pieces of photo's. She put them in a evidence bag and walked with Tom to Amy and Sam. Sam had made the plaster-cast and looked to Lisa.
'Are you done?' asked Lisa.
Sam nodded.
'Any chance of finding more evidence here?' asked Lisa.
'No, I don't think so. We're very lucky with this impression, I don't think there will be more things to find. Did you find anything?' Amy said.
'I didn't, Tom did. Pieces of photo's'
'Hmm. Well, let's take another look at this crime scene, and let's go back to the lab then. I want to analise this evidence.'
Lisa nodded. 'Me too. OK, let's check the crime scene again and then go back to the lab. Good idea.'
So all of them checked the crime scene again for evidence they may have missed, but they didn't find anything new. And they went back to the lab.
Once they were back, Lisa spoke to all of them.
'Okay guys, divide and conquer. Amy and Sam, you go analize that impression. Tom, you and me will go and try to get those photo pieces together. Go!'
All of them went to the labs needed to do their thing. Amy and Sam went to one of the computers. Sam scanned a photo of the impression in the computer. She so hoped it would give them something to work with. The computer was busy comparing it to other shoes now.
'You think you can handle it here?' Amy asked.
'What do you think? Sure I can' Sam answered. She wasn't angry, she was already concentrated on the computer.
'Okay. I'll go and take a look with Lisa and Tom. See if they have something to work with.'
Sam nodded and Amy took off to Lisa and Tom. She hoped the photos were useful. They probably had something to do with Jeff's murder, 'cause the wind would have blown them away if they had laid there before Jeff was shot. She walked to Lisa, who had, together with Tom, finished getting the photos together and was now dusting them.
'Found anything?' Lisa asked.
'Sam's still busy. Hope we'll find something. What have you found?'
'Nothing useful yet. But I hope there are some prints on these photos.'
For the first time, Amy took a look at the photos.
'Holy damn, we are that! There's Jeff.. and you... and Tom and Sam and me... hey, that's that little café down the street!'
Lisa nodded.
'You're right. We saw that too. You think someone's after us?'
'I surely hope not. Okay, I'll help you dusting these photos!'
Amy grabbed a brush and a jar of powder and began to dust. Lisa beeped Sam. Sam came running to them and immediately grabbed another brush and a jar. For a while, all four of them were dusting the photos. And after half an hour, they had found about seven prints, some of them partials and smudges, some of them useful. Lisa sighed. Okay guys, unless the computer has found anything...'
Sam shook her head.
'Computer hasn't found anything. If it would have found anything, I would have known it.'
Tom laughed.
'How? You and the computer share thought or something?'
Sam smiled.
'No silly. I asked Jack if he would alert me if the computer had found anything. He hasn't warned me yet, so the computer hasn't found anything. Yet.'
Lisa looked at Sam and smiled too.
'Jack gets all the bad jobs, isn't it?' Sam smiled back and nodded.
'Well' Amy said 'Give him another one then. Take these prints to him then, will you, Sam?'
Sam grabbed the little pile of prints and walked down the corridors to Jack. Poor Jack, she thought, he really did get all the bad jobs that had to be done. But hey, he was their fingerprint guy, so he really had to have these prints. Too bad for Jack, the better for them.
She started to think different about that half an hour later. All of them were sitting in the coffeeroom. Bored.
'Whaah, I'm so freaking bored' Tom said.
'Well Tom, you're not the only one. We all are. But we really need those prints before we can go on.' Amy said.
Suddenly, Sam got up and hit herself on the forehead.
'I'm so stupid! I'm sorry guys, I forgot to tell you about the shoeprints. Computer has found a match to a brand of woman's shoes. But the computer couldn't fin exactly what kind of shoes.'
Lisa looked like she was getting angry, but Amy could tell by Lisa's voice she wasn't.
'It's okay Sam. At least we know by now that we're chasing a woman.'
'Not that it brings us a lot further' Tom muttered.
'pessimist' Amy smiled. Lisa yawned.
'Okay, enough time wasted! I want my prints! I'm going to Jack' and she took off.
In his lab, Jack was tapping at the table on the rythm of the music he was listening.He was staring at the computer, like he was watching a very good movie. Or maybe something liked Scary Movie, 'cause he looked like he had seen something amusing. Lisa walked in.
'I want my prints!' she said, sounding a bit stressed.
'Okay, okay, relax. Here they are. Can't stand stress?' Jack smiled.
'It's not stress. I hate waste of time.'
'I've never heard you complain about waste of time' Jack kept smiling.
'Okay, you know me too good. 'They' don't want us to do any overtime at all, and even you know how many cases we get per month.'
Jack stopped smiling. Lisa nodded. Both of them watched the computerscreen and read. When she was done, Lisa looked at Jack.
'I like your music'
Jack smiled. 'Thanks. And, can you do something with these results?'
'Oh yes I can. I think we need to go ask some questions to someone.'
'When you say us, you mean I can go with you all?'
Lisa pretended that she didn't hear him.
'Jennifer Pitcher... theft... maltreatment... sounds like a really nice girl.'
Tom and Amy walked in.
'Or we could go to Jeff's girlfriend, maybe she can tell us who might have done it. I don't know, what was her name again? Carrie...' Amy thought out loud.
'I thought it was something like Stewart. Yeah, that was her name, Carrie Stewart.' Tom answered Amy's thoughts.
'Okay Jack, another nice job for you. Can you get us her adres please?' Lisa asked. '
'Find her adres? Isn't there someone else who does that?' Jack asked.
Lisa looked annoyed and sad at the same time.
'We did have someone else for that, Jack' she said, 'but since he's murdered, we need someone else for that for the moment.'
'Okay, got your point. Here you have it. It's in Nieuwenhoorn.'
'Oh, nice neighborhood. Very calm' Amy said. Lisa nodded. 'Let's go'.
Amy and Lisa took off and walked to their SUV.
'To who are we going now? Jenny or Carrie?' Amy asked.
'I think it'll be better if we go to Carrie first. She doesn't know yet that her friend is murdered.' Lisa answered. Amy looked a little worried. 'Can you take the lead then?'
Lisa laughed. 'I know, you're not good with people'
Amy nodded.
'Only with the dead ones. You understand me'
And both women stepped in the car and drove away. To Nieuwenhoorn. To Carrie.
In the lab, Sam still felt bad.
'I''m so stupid. So stupid. I should have told you all a bit less late the result of the shoeprint. I'm so stupid!'
'C'mon Sam, we know it now, don't we? Stop feeling bad. Everybody makes mistakes, don't they?' Tom tried to calm her down.
'Well, I've never seen Amy or Lisa make a mistake!'
'Amy and Lisa work here a lot longer than we do. They've made mistakes too, but they've made other mistakes. But hey, you didn't destroy any evidence, did you?'
Sam shook her head.
'Then youre mistake ain't that big. C'mon, cheer up. You're still a very good CSI'
Sam smiled. 'Thanks Tom. I don't know how to deal with this compliment, but still, thanks.'
Tom smiled too. 'You're welcome, Sam'
Meanwhile, Lisa and Amy had arrived at Carrie Stewart's house. Ah, well, Jeffrey Summers' house, but he left it to Carrie. Both of them stepped out of the car.
'You're feeling okay, Amy? You're a bit pale' Lisa said.
'No. I mean, it's nothing physical. It's just... the thing Jack said. About having someone for that job. It made me realize we will never see Jeffrey again. We'll never have lunch together again. He'll never cheer me up again.' A tear rolled down Amy's cheek.
'Yeah, well... I don't think I've realized it yet. Jeffrey was a nice guy. Handsome too. He was nice. Just a sweet guy.'
Amy nodded. 'I know. And we'll never, ever talk to him again.'
Lisa nodded, too. 'I know. But there's something else also, isn't it?'
Amy looked up.
'What do you mean?'
'Well, don't take this too hard, but... I always thought you had a relationship with him.'
Amy tried to smile, but failed.
'I did. But not the kind you're thinking. Matthew is in the USA for a few years, and Jeff and Carrie had a lot of arguments. We sort of, I don't know, tried to help eachother. But we never, ever did what you're thinking. I was, and still am, married and Jeff had a girlfriend. We would never cheat on them. We were more like close friends.'
Lisa nodded.
'Okay. Got it. Well then, let's go. Else we're wasting time.'
Amy tried to smile. 'Yes. Maybe... yeah, let's go.'
Both walked to the door. Lisa rang the doorbell and stepped back. For a few seconds, they stood as still as statues. Then, the door was opened by a woman who could hardly be older than Amy was. About the same age, probably. Thirty-four or something. With a face that was clearly asking who they were, she opened the door for a few centimeters. Lisa showed her ID, and the woman, probably Carrie, opened the door a lot further, but didn't invite them in. Lisa introduce Amy and herself.
'Lisa Adams, and this is Amy Luisant. We're from the Hellevoetsluis Crime Lab. We have some questions about your friend.'
'What? About Jeffrey? He's a cop himself! What has happened? Hang on, you're CSIs! What has happened? Is he... is he...?' Carrie was shocked, that was for sure. But Amy, instead of Lisa, answered Carrie's question.
'Yes, indeed. He's dead.' Tactless as she were 'Can we come in please?'
Carrie stepped back to let them in. Both of them walked in and Carrie closed the door.
'Sit down, please' she said.
'Okay. Thanks. Ms. Stewart, I have a question' Lisa said.
'Go ahead and ask. The sooner this is over, the better' Carrie answered.
'Have you notice Jeffrey acted a little... ehm... strange, lately?' Amy asked.
'What do you mean? I mean, he didn't act ver different lately. I thought he had an affair, but other things, no, not really'
Amy blushed a little. Lisa immediately took over the lead.
'Well ms. Stewart, I personally can assure you Jeff didn't have an affair... but did he have any enemies?'
'He was a cop, what do you think yourself? But no, I cannot think of anyone right now...'
'What was he planning to do last tuesday about six thirty pm?'
'Eh... take a walk. He does that a lot.'
'What were you doing around that time?'
'I... I was at home. In my bed. Where are you at six thirty pm on a day you don't have to go to your job?'
Amy smiled. 'Watching tv, and hoping there's something interesting'.
Everyone fell silent. Suddenly, Lisa notice a laptop.
'I just noticed the laptop. Nice one.'
Carrie smiled. 'Thanks'. Amy understood what Lisa meant.
'Can we take it with us? It could help our investigation...'
Carrie freaked out.
'No! Not the laptop! I need it for my job. Please, go away... I need to be alone.'
Lisa and Amy walked over to the door. Outside, Amy looked and Lisa.
'Weird woman' she said.
'Like you aren't. You were whole sad and stuff before we asked her the questions. She handles it different, she freaks out. It's a shock for her, too. And you didn't want to say you're not weird? With your rocks and stones and whatever?'
'Actually, they're minerals. But you're right, there's no need to judge people you just met.'
'I didn't say that'
'No, but you wanted to say it'
'You're the second today. Am I really that clear?'
Amy smiled.
'No. We just know you too well.' And with that, she jumped back in the car, behind the steering wheel. She wanted to drive now.
Tom was waiting for them in the lab.
'Hi! What did she say?'
'Well, not very much to be honest. She said she was at home when it happened. She didn't cooperate or something. Especially no when Lisa asked if we could take a laptop for further investigation.' Amy said.
'That sounds odd. You'd think she'd also want the murderer to be found. But you said there was a laptop. If it's a laptop, it would be in plain sight, I think?'
'It was. But I thought we didn't need to be rude. She has enough to cope with. More than we do, anyway.' Lisa explained.
'Or not. Whatever. Shall I call judge Smith for a search warrant? He owes me something.'
'What have you done for him then?'
'Painted his shed last summer.'
'Okay then. Call him. We'll go home. Shift's over.'
'Shift's already over? How time flies...' And all went home.
Next day, Lisa and Amy were very early at the lab. Tom was there also, waving with a fax.
Lisa smiled. She was really happy, for the first time in days. 'I see you've got a warrant.' she said. Tom smiled too. 'Yeah. Judge Smith didn't even hestitate. He said he would do everything to help us finding the killer of Jeff.'
'Great! Shirley siad she sent you the bullet. Have you analized it already?'
Tom shook his head. 'No. I wanted to give you the warrant first.'
'Okay. Amy, c'mon' Amy followed Lisa and they went back to Carrie's house. This time, Amy rang the bell. This time, the door was opened immediately. Lisa showed Carrie the warrant.
'We've got a warrant to search your house. We hope you'll cooperate.'
Carrie nodded and opened the door far enough to let them in. Amy opened the door of a closet. She found all shoes and compared them to the picture of the impression. None of them matched. She shook her head when Lisa looked at her.
They walked to the living room and Lisa saw a sideboard. She opened a few drawers and found a few photos. Amy grabbed the laptop. They looked everywhere, but didn't find anything more.
'I'm sorry, Carrie, that we needed to make such a mess' Amy apologized.
'It's okay. Everything to find Jeff's killer.' Amy smiled. She and Lisa left and went back to the lab.
'Lisa, why don't you a look to the laptop? I'll see what everybody else is doing.' Amy asked. She knew she could say everything to Lisa without making her angry. She just had to say it at the right time.
'Okay. Great idea.'
Amy walked over to Tom.
'Well, Tom, what have we got?'
'Looks like he's shot with his own gun. I wonder who it has now.'
'Probably the killer'
'Yeah. Hey, have you and Lisa found anything at Carrie's place?'
'I don't know. We took the laptop, but that's about it. None of her shoes matched, and there wasn't anything else we needed to take, but-' Amy was rudely interrupted by her cellphone.
'Amy Luisant. Hi Lisa! Uh-hu... what? Okay, I'll come immediately!' She said to Tom: 'Lisa has found something important. I had to come immediately. You'll go with'
CONTINUES IN SEVEN POSTS...
