CSI:Hellevoetsluis; Flying High, Dying Slow

[scorpii]

[glow=red,2,300]Hey guys, I've written a piece of a new story of CSI:Hellevoetsluis. I hope you enjoy it![/glow]

CSI: Hellevoetluis

Episode 102 - Flying High, Dying Slow

Eileen walked up the garden path and rang the doorbell. She waited a few minutes, but nobody opened the door. Patiently, she rang the bell again. Maybe Sally hadn’t woken up yet, she thought. Sally often slept through her alarm clock, maybe today was just another day. Eileen rang the bell for a third time, but still no one opened up. Eileen sighed and walked down the garden path again. Too bad for Sally, she just had to go to bed earlier. She walked to another house down the street, and again, she rang the bell. There, the door was opened immediately.
‘Hi Leila’ Eileen said.
‘Hi Eileen. Where’s Sally?’
‘Dunno. Think she slept through her alarm again. C’mon, let’s go.’
Leila grabbed her bag and together with Eileen, she walked to school. This wasn’t the first time. Sally went to bed way too late. Well, at least now they were early enough to be on time. Often enough, they had to wait for Sally to be ready, and most of the time they were at least fifteen minutes late.
They were at school just before the bell rang. They walked over to their regular corner of the school’s playground; maybe Sally was there already. She was. There. Already. Dead. Eileen screamed and she and Leila ran into school and looked for a teacher. They bumped into their least favourite teacher, mr Down, but now they didn’t care about that. Eileen couldn’t speak, but fortunately, Leila did.
‘Sir… please… it’s Sally… She’s dead!’
Down grabbed his cell phone while the girls showed him where they had found Sally. Meanwhile, he dialled 911 to make sure the police would come.
Amy received a call. It was the sheriff.
‘Amy Luisant speaking’
‘Hi Amy. Listen, today will be Scotts’ first day as head of the Homicide Unit. Please, take it easy on him today, okay?’
‘I will. Thanks John.’ And she hung up. She smiled to herself and thought; How am I going to tell Lisa about this? Scotts just was the best guy for the job, and Amy didn’t think of any personal matter between him and Lisa while she and John Sweets chose the one to be the new head, after Jeffrey’s girlfriend had killed him. But now she had to inform Lisa. And she didn’t know how to.
Lisa was still at home, when she also got a call.
‘Lisa Adams.’
‘Hi Lisa. How’re you?’
‘Who is this?’
‘You really want to know?’
‘Who is this?’
‘Just the detective you’ll be working with this case.’
‘Who are you then?’
‘Mark Scotts’
‘Mark!’
‘Hey Lisa. Listen, I know how you think of me, but I think you have to know I’m the head of the Homicide Unit now. And we have a case together.’
Lisa groaned. Not Mark. She hadn’t seen him in a year, but he was so annoying since he left her for another, younger, more depending girl.
‘Oh. Well, eh, then, congratulations. Who has chosen you?’
She always tried to stay polite.
‘Amy and John. You know they go better along than you and John.’
Oh yeah. It was probably because Amy didn’t have to worry about the budget. Or just because they were both members of the public library or something. She didn’t care. It was that Amy was her best friend, but otherwise she could have killed her for choosing ‘him’.
‘Yes, okay… eh, Mark… where do I have to be?’
‘Rainbow elementary… lots of concerned parents now here, we sent all kiddies home, but there are still a lot left here.’
Lisa knew where Rainbow was… Julia, Amy’s daughter, went there when she was still a little kid. Amy showed her once where it was.
‘I’m coming. I’ll take Tom with me, alright.’
But Mark already hung up. Lisa sighed. Now she really could kill Amy for picking Mark. She called Tom on his cell, but got his voicemail.
‘This is the voicemail of Tom Sapphire. At the moment, I’m not around but I’ll call you later. Just leave a message after the beep. Cliché, I know. Beep.’
Damn, Lisa thought, voicemail. But still, she left a message.
‘Tommy, I know you probably have a new girlfriend, but we have an urgent crime scene. Dead kid at an elementary school. Rainbow elementary. See you ASAP, okay? Call me. Lisa.’
And she left her house, jumped in her car and took off. She knew she had to be at the crime scene as soon as possible, but another half of her didn’t want to go because of Mark Scotts. She sighed. Ah well, she would have met him anyway some day. She couldn’t keep hiding from him for the rest of her life.

To Be Continued...

[scorpii]

Meanwhile, Amy got another call.
‘Amy Luisant.’
‘Hey Luisant, it’s Jeanne Black. Listen, I’m at the crossing of the N57 and the Zwartedijk, you know, near the carpool spot. Was an alcohol test, but they thought they smelled something illegal when they tested the driver of a van. They checked the van and found a lot of weed. Don’t worry, I got a warrant for the searching of the van. Take Jones with you, when I called Scotts he said he has asked Adams and Sapphire for it.’
Amy nodded, but remembered Black of course couldn’t see that.
‘Okay Jeanne, I’ll come. Carpool spot?’
‘Yeah, carpool spot. See you there, okay?’
‘Okay, see you there. Bye!’
‘Bye!’
Amy pushed the button with the red phone and walked over to the break room, where she found Sam.
‘Hey Sam, how’re you?’
‘Oh, hey Amy. I’m great. What’s up?’
‘Drugs. Weed.’
‘Oh. Okay, let’s get another weed-guy.’
‘Yeah. Too many weed-sheds around. C’mon, we go’
‘Okay.’
Both walked to Amy’s SUV and drove off. It didn’t take long to get to the carpool spot. No one said anything. Not until Amy spoke.
‘Sam?’
‘Hmm?’
‘You think Lisa will be angry with me?’
‘For what reason?’
‘For picking Mark as new head of Homicide?’
‘You picked Scotts?! Whoa girl, grab your bullet proof vest and hide, ‘cause she’s going to kill you.’
Amy laughed. ‘Well Sam, would you then please investigate my murder?’
Sam laughed too. ‘Okay Ames, don’t worry. I’ve seen you shoot, you can defence yourself. And otherwise, I’ll investigate your murder. Okay?’
Amy smiled and nodded.

[scorpii]

Lisa meanwhile had arrived at the scene. Mark came walking to her SUV and Lisa slid down the window.
‘Hi Mark’ she said.
‘Hi Lisa’ he said, she heard a slight trace of apologize in his voice.
‘Okay. Mark, I don’t think we’ll work well if we don’t trust each other.’
Mark closed his eyes.
‘I’m sorry Lisa. I never should have left you. But I needed some time for myself.’
‘What’s happened with that other girl?’
Mark smiled.
‘Dumped her. She depended too much on me. Wasn’t independent at all. She put all work on my shoulders.’
‘I’m sorry Mark. I - I had to give you some space.’
Mark smiled, and so did Lisa.
Oh damn, she thought, why had they ever split up? Why? But now it was too late. Way too late. She closed the window and parked her car. A few minutes later, she found Mark in the neighbourhood of the body. Shirley was there too.
‘Hi Shirley’ Lisa said. Shirley looked up.
‘Hey Lisa. Poor kid. Sally Ridges, eleven years old. She is strangled. And she’s raped. Poor, poor kid. Lisa, promise me you’ll find this asshole.’
‘I promise. Mark, have you contacted her parents?’
‘We did. Two little girls, Sally’s best friends Eileen and Leila, have found her, and immediately warned one of their teachers, mister Down. He called 911. He’s a bit annoying but he seems okay.’
Lisa smiled. ‘He still works here? Down?’ Mark nodded. ‘Yes he does. You know him?’
Lisa shook her head. ‘I don’t. Amy does.’
‘How?’
‘Julia went to school here. Amy told me about him when she showed me where Julia went to school. She hated that guy.’
‘Oh, okay. How’s she now?’
‘Who, Amy? She’s just fine, you know her.’
Mark laughed. ‘I don’t know why I left you, Lisa, but it’s nice to speak to you again.’
Lisa smiled. Damn, why could he make her feel so… weird? But she grabbed herself together and went on with the investigation.
‘Shirley, those bruises in her neck, they seem from a hand. But…’ she tried to put her right hand on the girl’s neck, but it was too difficult to put it in exactly the same position as the bruise. ‘He used his left hand’ she concluded. ‘He’s left-handed?’
Shirley nodded. ‘Yeah. Well, that has to help you. Only twelve percent of the world population is left-handed. And looking at the size of the hand, you’re probably chasing a grown-up man.’
‘I always thought only eleven percent of the world population was left-handed. But I’m chasing a left-handed paedophile?’
‘Damn’ Tom had arrived. ‘I hate paedophiles. Why don’t they just try to get along with another grown-up? At least they can defend themselves.’
‘Join the club Tom. You’re probably not the only one who hates them.’
Both turned to Shirley, who looked back at them.
‘Shirley, what time did she die?’ Tom asked.
‘Oh. Well, considering the outside temperature I would say… around eleven last night.’
‘What’s an eleven-year old doing out at eleven?’ Lisa asked.
‘Well Lisa, I don’t know what you did when you were young, but I was outside with my friends. Especially when it snowed.’
‘Yeah, but Tom, you weren’t eleven then and it didn’t snow last night. So, I ask again; what was she doing outside last night?’
Amy and Sam had arrived at their scene, just yet. Amy walked over to Jeanne, while Sam walked over to the van and pulled open the back door. A sweet smell almost knocked her off her feet. Oh yeah. Definitely weed. Not uncommon for this town, but still, she wasn’t used to the smell. She looked inside. Bags filled with a greenish substance were packed in cardboard boxes. The officers ripped the boxes open, probably. She grabbed her kit. Just another crime scene. She unloaded the boxes while Amy was talking to Jeanne.
‘Did the driver say anything?’ Amy asked.
Jeanne nodded while she grabbed her notebook.
‘Says his name is Alan Mincs. Checked his ID, he is Alan Mincs. He’s twenty-five and he says he had to deliver these packages in the marina. Probably to get it on a boat and go somewhere else to sell it. He refuses to say whom he had to deliver it to. I asked him if there were other people involved, and he said no.’
Amy smiled. ‘he’s a liar. At least two people are involved. The boat-guy and him. And probably the one who grows it.’
‘Why can’t he have grown it himself?’
‘Because he’s the driver. I don’t consider myself as an expert, but I think that if you’re smart enough to make sure they don’t get you if they check your electricity use, you’re also clever enough to make sure you don’t get caught as the driver. So we’re still hunting the brain behind it.’
Jeanne nodded. ‘Sounds to me like you’re an expert after all.’
Amy laughed. ‘I’m not. I just go on the internet when I can’t sleep. Consider me crazy, ‘cause I am.’
Jeanne smiled. ‘Okay. You’ve any idea how we need to go on?’
‘Hey, this isn’t my first drugs-case. ‘Course I know how to go on. Go on with questioning our driver. I’ll see if I can help Sam.’
She walked over to Sam, who still was busy unloading the van.
‘You’re doing great Sam. Listen, I’ll check the steering wheel for prints. Let me know if you find something.’
Sam nodded without looking up. Amy walked to the front of the van and began dusting the steering wheel. She really hoped to get something. Drugs could destroy someone’s life. So why the heck would someone grow weed? Maybe it was true you made good money with it, but wasn’t a human’s life worth more than a stack of money? She lifted a few prints, hoping she could use them. Some were smudges, probably from earlier rides than this one. Some were partials, also from earlier rides and some whole, probably from earlier ones and this ride. Amy didn’t like it most of the time, but now she was very happy with the humidity in this town. You could always be sure you’d find some prints, even if the crime scene was a few days old. Sam was done unloading the boxes. But she didn’t know how to get them to the lab without destroying evidence. She went to Amy.
‘Amy, I have a question. How do I get those boxes to the lab without destroying evidence?’
Amy was thinking. Difficult question. Lots of boxes. Quite big boxes. Not easy to put in an evidence bag. But the cardboard could contain prints. She thought something out.
‘Sam. Call Jack to come and meanwhile, wrap those boxes in plastic. Let’s make sure no evidence gets lost. Jack has to take them with him to the lab, so we can go on with this van. But ask him not to unwrap the boxes until we get back.’
Sam did. Amy put the prints she lifted in Jack’s hand when he was around, and said to him that he would have something to do with those. He only smiled and returned to the lab.
Meanwhile, Lisa and Tom were still investigating the scene of the little girl. They still hadn’t figured out why the girl had been outside that late, but they did already figure out who could have killed her. They asked the mr. Down which teachers were left-handed, but didn’t tell him why. He had answered that he thought only he himself was left-handed. Which made him a suspect. Mark was asking the parents who were around if they knew someone who could have done it. A lot of responses pointed in one direction; the school’s neighbour, who seemed to have been convicted once for the assault of a kid. Also a great suspect. None of the parents knew if he was left-handed, but some seemed to be sure he was right-handed. But with only that, Mark couldn’t do anything. Shirley and the girl’s body left, and only Lisa and Tom were at the crime scene. They hadn’t found anything yet, and hoped Mark would come up with something useful. No fingerprints, of course, and no useful footprints, because it was outside and the playground was used by a lot of people. Lisa shook her head.
‘I can’t stand it Tom. No prints, nothing useful. Only the fact the killer was probably left-handed and male. Nothing else. Our only suspect is that mr Down, but according to Mark he seems okay.’
‘It would explain why he’s a teacher.’
‘Yeah, maybe, but not all teachers are paedophiles. I think.’
‘Parents say one of the school’s neighbours is convicted for child assault. But nothing else.’ Mark said. Lisa nodded. ‘What’s his name?’
‘They don’t know. They also don’t know if he’s left-handed or not.’
‘No surprise. I don’t even know if Amy’s left-handed or not. I only know of myself that I’m right-handed.’
‘Amy’s also right-handed.’ Tom said.
‘How do you know?’ Lisa asked.
‘I know how she writes. Sam’s right-handed, too. And I’m right-handed. Jack’s right-handed. Dina’s right-handed. Mikey’s right-handed. Only Jeanne is left-handed.’
‘And Jeanne’s a woman’ Mark said.
‘I didn’t know that’ Tom joked. Lisa laughed. Mark smiled.
‘Then we’ve now ruled out a lot of our colleagues.’ He said. Lisa nodded. ‘We did. C’mon, let’s go back to the lab. Nothing else here to find. Mark, put a uniform here okay? Or stay yourself, do what you like best. Tom, and me we’ll go back, see if Shirley already had got something and check who’s the convict. See ya.’
Mark nodded. Lisa and Tom both stepped in their cars and drove off.
Amy and Sam were done processing the van. They had found two footprints in the van, a few fingerprints on the handles and, of course, on the rear-view mirror. And on the radio-button. A lot were probably Alan Mincs’, so they took his prints. They went back to the lab, and Jack was waiting for them.
‘Got your prints’ he said. Amy smiled. ‘That’s fast.’ She said.
‘Matter of time. Lot’s of ‘unknown’s. Two matches.’
‘To who?’
‘To one Denise Cole, she’s in AFIS because she’s condemned for possession. Drugs. Got no address.’
‘That helps. Here you have some more, see what you can make of those.’ Amy put the other prints in his empty hands. Even the footprints.
‘I can’t do anything with footprints, you know that!’ he said. Amy smiled.
‘Then learn.’
‘Oh, you’re so evil’ Jack said.
‘When you’re born evil, you stay evil.’ and with those words, Amy and Sam disappeared to the boxes Jack had put in the layout room. They could trust him, they knew, and that trust was strengthened when they saw all plastic was still wrapped around it. Sam started taking the plastic off, while Amy called Jeanne.
‘Hey Jeanne, it’s Amy.’
‘Hey Amy.’
‘Has our friend said anything yet?’
‘Not a lot. Why don’t you come, maybe you can help us.’
‘Not yet. Got something else to do. See you!’
‘Bye!’
Amy hung up. She knew one thing left that could help them. She walked over to one of the computers in the computer-/research room and left Sam alone to process the boxes with some special substance made for surfaces like cardboard. Maybe she could find anything with this idea she now had. Maybe… She hoped for it. She typed the plate number of the van and waited. Not long after that, the computer had found something. It had found that the van belonged to a guy who’s name was John Down. Amy recognized the name. But the age didn’t match… was it his son? She knew Lisa was at Rainbow elementary, or at least, had a crime scene there. But it seemed much too… what was the right word? Stupid maybe? That these crimes were connected. Besides, what did drugs have to do with the murder of a little girl? Probably just some coincidence. She went on with her search. She found out John Down had no record at all, but she found his address. Sometimes crimes are too easy to solve, she thought. She knew the address. Just outside town. And that was probably also why no one ever was surprised by the electricity use of that house. She knew where it was. A farm. No wonder. Farms use a lot of electricity. So that’s why no one ever suspected there was a weed-thingy there. Clever. Very clever. She walked over to Jack’s ‘office’ and found Sam and Jack. She smiled. Clever girl you are Sam, Amy thought. Amy knew Sam had a crush on Jack, and she also knew Jack couldn’t resist any kind of flirting. That was what Sam was doing now. But Sam stopped flirting when she saw Amy.
‘Hi Amy’ she said. Amy kept smiling.
‘Hi Sam. Hey Jack. Found anything?’
‘Yeah, match to our friend who’s with PD now, and also a match to a girl, a Denise Cole. You found anything?’
‘Uh-huh. Searched for the plate number and found an address. John Down’s farm, just outside of town. That’s why no one ever thought there was a weed-grower. Farms do use a lot. But still, it’s an old farm. Nothing more than just a house and a very big shed.’
‘Well, maybe they thought he used a electric heater. I don’t know. Visit him?’
‘Maybe. I have to call Jeanne. Wait for me.’
She walked away, partly for a bit of privacy, partly to give Jack and Sam some privacy. Not that something would happen, but what bad could it do?
‘Jeanne Black.’
‘Hey Jeanne. Listen, I don’t know what your suspect has told you yet.’
‘Not much.’
‘I’ve an address.’
‘Where?’
‘Paardeweg 14.’
‘I know where that is’
‘Me too. Meet you there?’
‘Sure.’
Amy hung up. She went to get Sam, but bumped into someone else.
‘Jimmy!’ She said.
‘Hey Amy, I was looking for you!’ A man from about forty years looked at her. She wasn’t big, five foot six, so she had to look up to see the six foot seven tall man in the eyes. She liked this guy. He was from Narcotics, and he seemed to know everything about every case. Nice sometimes.
‘Why were you looking for me?’ Amy asked.
‘Heard you got a case with drugs involved. Listen, I know the guy you guys caught was on his way to the marina, to deliver some weed. I can tell you that he didn’t know whom the guy was to whom he had to deliver it. ‘Cause it was one of ours. So you don’t have to chase the ship-guy.’
‘Who of you was it then?’
‘Me.’
‘You?’
‘Yeah, we almost got them. But you got them first. Hope you solve it.’
‘Thanks Jimmy. But hey… if we don’t solve it, I hope you guys get them!’
Jimmy smiled and walked away. Amy continued to Sam.
‘Sam?’
‘Hmm?’
‘Come. Leave Jack, we’re going.’
‘To where?’
‘You’ll see.’
‘Okay. Bye Jack’
‘See you!’ Jack answered. Amy wasn’t sure if he said it to both of them or only to Sam. Didn’t bother.
TO BE CONTINUED!!!

[scorpii]

Meanwhile, Lisa and Tom had arrived in the lab, just in time to see Amy and Sam leave. They greeted each other.
It was weird, Lisa thought. One day you’re all working together and you see each other almost every minute, next day you’re working in different sub-teams and you’re seeing each other only for a few minutes. But the world was weird she had to admit.
She and Tom walked all the way to Shirley, who was at the other side of the building. The building wasn’t very big, but it wasn’t designed very well, so they had to walk a lot to get somewhere, which could be just a few feet away. Whatever, she loved it. At least new people had something to do in their breaks, and that was to figure out how to get to other rooms in this building. But she worked here for a very long time now, and knew all corridors and rooms. She even knew how to use the elevator, which seemed easy, but it took some practice to get used to it. Just a weird elevator.
They found Shirley at her usual spot, next to the autopsy table.
‘Hey!’ she said when they walked in.
‘Hey’ both answered.
‘I’m just finished Sally’s autopsy’ Shirley said. ‘Here are the results. Sent a sample of the girl’s DNA and some of semen, which I found in her to DNA. Lisa and Tom, please, solve this case!’
Lisa nodded sadly. Everyone who got murdered died too young. But children were different. They were the ones who died much too young.
‘What has happened to her?’ Tom asked. Shirley took a breath and answered his question. ‘She was raped. And strangled. Here, I got the measurements of the hand that strangled her, for you Lisa, like you asked. Why do you need them?’
‘I’ll tell you later. Thanks Shirley.’
‘You’re welcome.’
Lisa and Tom walked away, and went to DNA, where they found their expert, Mikey. Mikey smiled at them when they walked in.
‘Hi Mikey!’ greeted Lisa.
‘Hey Lisa! Good to see you, good to see you.’ Mikey said. He smiled, but there was a spark of sadness in the look of the bald man. Lisa saw.
‘What’s up?’ She asked.
‘A lot. Shirley told me ‘bout your case. I hate it when kiddies get hurt.’
‘Join the club, Mike, join the club.’ Tom said. Lisa thought this was enough chatting.
‘Okay guys. Mikey, do you have the DNA Shirley send you?’
‘Hmm, yes, I got it. But you’ll have to wait, have you seen what’s on my desk?’
Lisa saw and nodded. She knew how much evidence all shifts could bring in. She thanked Mikey and she and Tom went to the layout room, where she and Tom sat down.
‘Okay Lisa, now you have to tell me why you need the hand-measurements.’
Lisa smiled. ‘You know I’ve been to the USA once, for a seminar. There was a guy named Gil Grissom, and he told about a time his lab was blown up and a lot of evidence was gone. The only way they could make sure the bad guy was caught, was to measure the span of the guy’s hand. So that’s how I got the idea.’
‘Interesting.’
‘Yeah, I thought so too.’
‘And what were the measurements?’
‘Shirley wrote down the span is 23 centimetres.’
‘Much?’
‘I really don’t know.’
‘But can we take someone’s measurements?’
‘Without a warrant?’
‘Yes.’
‘I don’t know. I’ll ask one of the people I know.’
‘That lawyer-guy?’
‘Yeah, he’ll know. Hey, 23 centimetres is three times my finger. Quite big.’
‘Your fingers are short.’
‘They’re not. Listen, I’ll go to Mark, see if he found out about that neighbour of the school, then you’ll go to take the measurements of mr. Down.’
Tom nodded. ‘Okay Lisa. Let’s hope we’ll find something.’
‘Yeah. You know what to do. See you!’
‘See you.’
Lisa took off to find Mark. She looked everywhere, but couldn’t find him. She grabbed her cell phone and called him.
‘Mark Scotts.’
‘Hey Mark, it’s Lisa. Did you find out about that neighbour-guy?’
‘Lisa, what the heck are you talking about?’
‘I thought you would figure out where that guy lives.’
‘What guy?’
‘That guy in the neighbourhood of that school.’
‘Oh, yeah, that’s right! Oh, I’m so sorry Lisa, I totally forgot. I figured out where he lives, don’t worry, but I forgot where it for was.’
‘What the heck happened that you even forgot know about that little girl?’
‘Oh, too much. It’s not easy you know, being the head of Homicide. You get so much phone calls.’
‘You can handle them, don’t you?’
‘Yes I can, but it’s hard you know. I… well; I probably wasn’t very nice to Jeff sometimes. But now I realize how hard his job was. You know how much calls I get?’
‘You just said that. But I trust you can handle it. Otherwise they wouldn’t have picked you, would they?’
‘You’re right. Okay, I’ll come to you to pick you up and then we’ll go to that guy.’
‘Okay. See you in a minute!’
‘See you!’
She hung up and walked to Mikey, who still was busy with the DNA.
‘Hey Mikey.’
‘Hey Lisa. I know why you’re here. No, I haven’t got your results yet.’
‘Oh. Okay. Thanks. Then I’ll just go again…’
Mikey smiled. ‘Good luck Lisa.’
‘For what?’
‘I don’t know, but sometimes it’s nice for people to be wished good luck.’
‘Yeah, that’s right. Thanks Mikey, and good luck to you too.’
She walked away and met Mark.
‘Hey Mark. Come on, let’s go.’
‘Hey. What’s Tom doing?’
‘He’s to mr. Down, to get his hand span measurements.’
‘For what reason?’
‘I’ll tell you later. Now, let’s go.’
They walked to Mark’s car, a car Lisa always liked. They went to the street of the school. Mark rang the bell of the house of the guy they searched. Mark had told Lisa his name was Richard Gold. When he opened the door, Mark showed him his badge.
‘Good day, mr Gold. My name is Mark Scotts, and this is Lisa Adams of the Hellevoetsluis Crime Lab. May we come in?’
The man nodded and let them in. He whispered something when Lisa walked by.
‘I was wondering when you would come.’
Lisa smiled. ‘Well mr Gold, then you’ll have a nice day. I take you’ve heard that a child is assaulted and killed nearby?’
‘I’ve heard. You guys took a long time before you went to me.’
‘Mr Gold, can I ask you if you left- or right-handed?’ Mark asked. The man nodded.
‘I’m right-handed, why?’
‘Okay. No, I can’t say anything.’
Now it was Lisa‘s turn. She grabbed a sheet of paper from her kit and put it on the table. The man only stared to it.
‘What is this for?’ he asked. Lisa smiled to him.
‘I ask you to put your left hand on this sheet.’ she said. The man did so. Lisa grabbed a pen and drew the line around his hand. The man lifted his hand up and Lisa measured the span.
‘21 centimetres’ she concluded. The man looked like he was going to ask her what she had done.
‘It means you’re not our killer.’
‘I could have told you that anyway.’ Gold said.
‘I know, but I think you probably know how fragile truth is’
The man had to think about this. Lisa got up and Mark did so too. They said him goodbye and took off, to the school nearby, where Tom probably was.
‘Hi Tom’ Mark said when he saw Tom. Tom nodded and answered the question that you could read in Lisa’s eyes.
‘No Lisa, mr Down’s not our guy. 22 centimetres.’ he said.
‘Oh’ sighed Lisa ‘Who could it be then?’
Amy and Sam had arrived at the farm. Sam rang the bell of the house. Amy walked around the farm to see if she could see anything. It was an old farm, but nothing she could discover that could have anything to do with the drugs.
Jeanne was there also; she had just arrived a few minutes ago and was now walking to Amy.
‘Hey Amy.’ she said. Amy looked up.
‘Hey Jeanne’ she greeted back. Jeanne waved with a sheet of paper.
‘What have you got there?’ Amy asked.
‘Search warrant’
‘Great. How did you arrange it that fast?’
‘Just called our favourite judge and bugged him as long as I needed to get it. Always works.’
‘Perfect. Let’s check if the guy has opened up.’
They walked over to Sam, who was still waiting at the door. Just when they were all together, the owner of the house opened the door. Amy saw a blond-haired guy, which looked about thirty-five years and smelled sweet. Oh yeah, this was the right place.
‘I’m Amy Luisant, I’m from the Hellevoetsluis Crime Lab, this is my colleague Sam Jones and this is Jeanne Black from Homicide.’ Jeanne waved her badge. ‘May we come in?’
The man nodded and stepped back. Amy, Sam and Jeanne walked in, through a wooden door and in the living room; they sat down on a leather couch. The man, probably John, sat down too, on a wooden chair next to the fireplace. Jeanne looked around. The walls were covered with dirt, like no one had cleaned the house for a very long time. She saw a TV in one of the corners, and a few more wooden chairs. There was nothing else present in this room, except a very dirty carpet. There were three doors, one leading to the entrance hall with the stairs, one to the kitchen and one probably to the barn. The doorknobs were shiny, which indicated they were used a lot. But hey, they were doors everyone uses those. She turned to the man.
‘You’re John Down, I think?’
The man nodded. ‘But my friends call me Johnny.’
‘Well I prefer John. John, tell me, do you grow weed here?’
‘Is that why you’re here? Dude, listen to me. Whatever that guy Alan has told you, it’s not true. He’s crazy.’
‘Your guy Alan has told us nothing. It’s your plate number which brought us here.’
The man fell silent. Jeanne directed him out and Amy and Sam unpacked their kits and started their search. Sam went upstairs, Amy took downstairs, starting with the very, very dirty kitchen. She checked everything, every tiny piece, every square inch. All kitchen cabinets, all drawers. But everything seemed empty. She heard a cracking noise and looked up. She saw nothing, but she knew that didn’t mean there was nothing. Weird. She looked around and saw nothing but dirt. Nothing clean. Gross. It was a miracle how people could live here. She wasn’t as neat as other people might be, but if she would have lived here, she would have cleaned it immediately. She heard the cracking noise again, looked in the direction where it came from and saw a cockroach the size of a coffee mug. She was very happy that she wasn’t scared of roaches, but otherwise she would have ran out and never returned. She considered the kitchen searched, since there was nothing interesting to search anymore and she went back to the living. Not much to search in here. She looked under the couch and the carpet, and looked in the fireplace, she even looked up the chimney to make sure she missed nothing. In the hall was nothing to search in, ‘cause it was totally empty. She had decided she would search the barn with Sam, so she went upstairs to find Sam. Sam was busy with searching one of the three bedrooms now.
‘Hey Ames’ Sam said when she spotted her.
‘Hey’ Amy answered. ‘Have you found anything?’
Sam shook her head. ‘No. First bedroom had a master bed, two bedside tables and a closet. Nothing special, nothing I’ve found. This one, well, you see, one bed, one bedside table, and a closet. Simple math. Two plus one equals three. We got Alan and John and our computer came up with the name of a Denise Cole. Where do you think they have used the third bedroom for?’
Amy didn’t know. She opened the door and saw… nothing. Total darkness. She grabbed her flashlight from her pocket and shone into the room. A white beam sliced the darkness in half. She saw the curtains were closed, but there was nothing else in this room. Half the rooms of this house were empty. Could people really live like this? Amy asked herself. This house was dirty and there was hardly furniture. Unearthly almost, she thought. But that was the weird world of people around us.
‘Empty’ Amy yelled at Sam, who was in the other room. Sam said nothing.
‘Sam?’. No answer. Amy walked back to the other room and saw Sam on her knees, using a pair of tweezers to grab something that lied down under the window.
‘Sam? What have you got there?’
Sam got up and showed Amy a shiny little thing.
‘An earring’ she said. Amy looked at it.
‘Nice one. You think it’s Denise Cole’s?’
‘I really don’t know. But we’ve found her prints in the van, and she has been in prison for possession… could be.’
‘Could be. Come on, let’s go to the barn, maybe we’ll find anything useful there.’
‘You don’t think this is useful?’
‘Oh, sorry Sam, of course it’s useful. Bag it, tag it, then come with me.’ Typically Amy.
Sam did what Amy asked of her and a few minutes later, Amy opened the door of which she thought it would lead them to the barn. She was right, it lead to the barn. A very sweet and strong smell floated in their direction and Amy saw a reddish light coming from lamps hanging down from the ceiling of the barn. It was obvious this was the ‘room’ that was used the most. There were rows of plants. Plants with five leaves in the shape of a hand at the end of the branches. Weed. At the end of one of the rows was a woman, with brown hair that looked like straw. She looked like she was very busy. Sam walked to her.
‘Denise Cole?’ she asked. The woman nodded. Strange, Sam thought, she looks so sad. Like she’s some kind of, well, unimportant person to a lot of people. A feeling grew in her, she was determined to find out what had happened to this woman.
‘Well’ Amy interrupted her thoughts ‘It seems like we have everything what we need. This is Denise Cole, so we have all our suspects. Come on, let’s take her outside Sam.’
Sam shook her head. ‘No Amy. I first want to know how she got here. Please Denise, tell me.’
Something changed in the look of the woman. It seemed like she had realized there were people who cared about others. Like there was still a spark of hope left for her. With a very, very soft voice she started her story.
‘I - I… I’m Denise Cole, like you said. I know how you knew who I was. My prints were in the van, weren’t they?’
Sam nodded, and asked her to go on.
‘I was in the system, because I was caught for possession of weed a few years ago. It was Johnny who had given me this weed and he - he -’ But she couldn’t go on. She started crying. Amy felt sad now too, and so did Sam.
‘Go on, please, Denise’ Sam encouraged her. The sound of her name seemed to comfort her a little, and she went on.
‘he said that if I got caught, he would bail me out. But he didn’t. He just left me down. When I got out, I went to the first person I could think of; Johnny. He gave me some kind of job, he gave me food. But I couldn’t do anything against his weed-business. I would if I could have, but I couldn’t. He said I was too stupid to say anything that mattered. He said that if I was stupid enough to get caught with weed, I was also stupid enough to be crazy. He and his stupid little friend Alan used me like I was worth nothing. When they wanted something, they used me. Check the beds, you’ll probably find… well, you know what I’m talking about.’
Sam shook her head. ‘That’s horrible. Denise, we’ve found an earring. Is it yours?’
Amy held up the little evidence-bag with the earring. Denise nodded.
‘That’s mine. Must have fallen out of my ear when I looked outside, in Alan’s bedroom. His room has the best view. It’s the only thing here that’s mine. Johnny sold everything that was mine, and Alan’s stuff, and his own stuff. Only thing they were busy with was this weed. Johnny said he had a big deal a few days ago. When we heard nothing from Alan, I immediately thought of the cops. It wouldn’t be the first time they would catch a weed-driver.’
Amy nodded. ‘That’s totally true. But Denise, we’ll get you out of here. I don’t know if you’ll end up in prison, but I promise me and Sam we’ll make sure you’ll get somewhere John isn’t.’
All women walked out, to Jeanne, who was standing next to a police car, where John sat in.
‘Hey Amy, Sam, you’re done?’ Jeanne asked. Amy shook her head. ‘No Jeanne, we have to check a few more things. Can this woman, Denise, please drive back with you? You can put John in a interview room for us, we’ll interrogate him when we get back.’
Jeanne nodded and Amy and Sam turned around, back to the bedrooms. Amy grabbed the ALS, Sam took the samples. Half an hour later, they were back in the lab and passed the samples to Mikey.
‘Mikey, I don’t know how busy you are, but these have priority. Call me if you got the results.’
Mikey nodded and the women went to PD, where they and Jeanne ‘interrogated’ Alan.
‘Well Alan, we’ve got everything now, your prints in the van, we got John, we got Denise. You can speak up or remain silent, whatever you want. Your choice.’
Finally, Alan said something useful.
‘It was Johnny’s idea. He got the plan. Because he thought it out, I had to drive to this deal. And then you guys checked me. Otherwise I would be on a Caribbean Island by now.’
‘You wouldn’t. If we hadn’t checked you, Narcotics would have caught you. They were the ones John had made the deal with. So either way you would have ended up in prison.’
Two officers came in and took Alan away. A few minutes later, John was brought in.
‘Well Johnny, what are you going to tell us?’
‘I want a lawyer.’
‘Okay, we’ll arrange it for you. Meanwhile, you can think of a very good story, ‘cause we are going to put you away.’
Amy received a call and went out of the room.
‘Amy.’
‘Hey, Mikey here. Got your results. They all match your suspects.’
‘Thank you Mike. See you!’
‘Bye.’
A tall man walked by and went to the same room as Amy was heading to. Probably John’s lawyer. Whatever, they had convincing evidence, didn’t they? Amy entered the room, looked at Sam and nodded. Sam understood.
‘I think you’re John’s lawyer?’ she asked the man who had entered just before Amy. The man nodded. ‘I am. What evidence do you have which proves my client guilty?’
Weird approach for a lawyer, Amy thought, but it would probably be a part of his tactics.
‘His van filled with weed, and his fingerprints in it.’
‘It’s his van, you said it yourself. So that’ll explain the prints.’
‘And his prints on those cardboard boxes?’
‘So? He helped loading them. Doesn’t say he’s guilty.’
‘Says he’s at least an accomplice.’
‘This is all you have?’
‘No. We also have evidence of his presence in the house they grew it in.’
‘So? Only says he’s been there.’
‘We have his girlfriend who’ll testify against him.’
‘She’s a junky. No one’s going to believe her.’
Suddenly, John tried to get between Amy and his lawyer. ‘Can I say something?’ But his lawyer said he had to shut his mouth. John didn’t want to. Typical. The whole thing had been his idea, now he wanted to take the credit.
‘Well mr lawyer,’ he said, ‘you’re fired now. Okay, where were we?’
The lawyer tried to convince him for a couple more times that it was smarter to keep a lawyer, but John didn’t want a lawyer anymore. Sam didn’t mind at all, and so did Amy.
‘Your girlfriend wants to testify against you.’
‘I’ve heard you the first time you said it. Like my ex-lawyer just said, she’s a junky. No one who’ll believe her.’
‘You’re a junky too. But I have to say, John, you have planned it pretty good. Old farm, so no one would complain about high electricity bills, and you hardly have neighbours living close to your farm, so they wouldn’t smell it. You let another guy drive it to the marina, so if they caught him, they wouldn’t catch you. Nice. But I don’t understand. Why would you, besides the money it makes you, ever, ever grow weed?’
‘’Cause of how it feels. Makes you feel like you’re flying high.’
‘Yeah, but it makes you dying slow.’ Sam said.
Ouch, Amy thought, maybe not the right grammar, but somewhere it sounded good.
‘Isn’t everyone dying?’ John asked. Sam didn’t know what to say. Amy did.
‘You’re right. But everyone should die on they day they’re meant to die, not before that day.’
‘I haven’t looked at it that way yet. Interesting.’ John said. Oh, he wasn’t stupid. That was for sure.
‘You admit the whole thing was your idea?’ Sam asked.
‘Yeah, whatever. I’ll be out soon enough. Put me away, do what you want.’
Amy nodded at the officer who stood by the door, and he walked to John and took him away. Sam looked at Amy.
‘Ames? Should it be this easy? An interrogation?’
Amy smiled. ‘Sometimes Sam, sometimes. To be honest, I don’t mind at all.’
‘What’ll happen to Denise?’
Jeanne answered that question.
‘Well, she’ll go to prison too, and all will be sent to a drug rehabilitation clinic. But because she’ll testify against the two others, her prison sentence will be a bit shorter than the one of the guys. She’ll be alright.’
Sam understood. She had been worried about Denise. She would never say it to anyone, but it had been a long time since they had seen each other. Denise used to be her best friend in high school, but they had lost each other after it and Sam had missed her. Denise didn’t seem to recognize her. Maybe it was because of the drugs, she didn’t know. But now this case was closed. On to the next one.
Lisa and Tom’s case didn’t look closed at all. They hadn’t found the rapist and killer of the little girl Sally yet. Lisa was at the front desk, waiting for mr Ridges, Sally’s dad, to get her personal belongings. All stuff they didn’t need for evidence. After a while, mr Ridges showed up.
‘Hi mr Ridges.’ Lisa said. Mr Ridges nodded. ‘You can call me Pete’ he said.
‘Okay, Pete, you can call me Lisa. Would you please sign here, for Sally’s belongings?’ she asked and she showed Pete where to sign. He signed, but it wasn’t his signature that drew Lisa’s attention. More the way he signed. Left-handed.
‘mr Ridges, are you left-handed?’ she asked. Pete looked at her, he didn’t understand what she wanted.
‘mr Ridges, would you please answer my question?’ Lisa asked.
‘I am. But what has it to do with this?’
‘I’ll tell you soon enough. Please, come with me.’ She guided him through the lab, ‘til she found Tom and Mark.
‘Mark’ she said ‘may I introduce Pete Ridges? Sally’s left-handed dad.’
Mark understood and cuffed Pete. Pete still didn’t seem to know what was happening.
‘Lisa?’ Tom said ‘Got the results back from Mikey. A male, close relative raped Sally. Think dad.’
‘Let’s get his hand span.’
Both went to Mark and Pete, and Lisa asked Pete to put his hand on a sheet of paper. She measured his span and found, yes, 23 centimetres. Lisa immediately hated the guy.
‘So Pete, tell me, why would you for god’s sake rape and kill your own daughter?’
Pete smiled. ‘She wanted it. She just wanted me to make love to her. She asked me to love her.’
‘She wanted it? She asked you to love her? Listen, you are sick. You’re her dad, she wanted you to love her, not to rape her!’
‘It was healthy, she was unhealthy!’
‘unhealthy? You are unhealthy, in your brain!’ Tom really was angry now. Mark took Pete away and Tom sat down, on the ground. Lisa looked at him.
‘Tom? Are you okay?’
‘I am. I just can’t imagine people being as mad as he was.’
‘Get used to it, everyone is crazy except yourself.’
‘My mum used to say that.’
‘Then your mum was right.’
Sam and Amy entered the room.
‘Hey guys.’ Sam said. Tom nodded.
‘Hi’ Lisa said.
‘Come on, let’s go for a drink.’ Amy suggested. ‘It’s on me.’
No one would turn down that offer. Both cases closed.
THE END

[scorpii]

Please tell me what you think about it... I hope you like it

[sammie]

moooooooo! Me likies!

[scorpii]

owww thanks!