The Crimelab: Arachno Assault

[scorpii]

Hey guys, I got bored so I thought; why not take a RPG thread and turn it into a story? I haven't changed that much, just changed the order of some posts and some other little things... though it is not perfect yet. Here it is.

The Crime Lab: Arachno Assault

It had been a really bad date, and all she wanted to do was come home, have a soak in the tub, and a glass of wine. Perhaps curl up on the couch with her cat, Mr. Bowjangles, and a movie. But instead, she had a reason to call.
‘9-1-1, what’s your emergency?’
‘Hi, uh… this is Victoria Lester, at 1254 Clearview Lane. I have like, um, 50 tarantulas in my bedroom. NO! Hang on’ Victoria looked at her cat, who tried to grab the cable of the phone. ‘Stupid cat, get away from that!’ she hissed at him.
‘Do you mean spiders, ma’am?’ the 911 operator asked.
‘No. I mean 8-inch wide fuzzy big black spiders! Please, send someone quickly’
Victoria was about to panic now. After she had discovered the spiders in her bedroom, she ran to the living to call. But the operator didn’t seem to understand the situation.
Victoria watched how two squad cars were parked outside her house; she knew pest control had found a body in her bedroom. She saw 2 men wheel a body bag on a gurney wheel into a coroner’s van.

Detective Doreen Valenti arrived at the crime scene. From what she heard, she couldn't really wrap her head around it. A woman called 911 because she said that they were, what, spiders in her bedroom and when help arrived, they found a dead body instead.
Taking out a notebook and a pen in her left hand, she approached Victoria Lester.
‘Hi,’ she said. ‘I'm Detective Valenti of NYPD,’ she said, showing her badge.
‘And you're here to ask me questions?’
‘Yes.’
‘I told you, I don't know how that kid got in!’
‘Can you please be more specific than that?’
‘Know what? You're the detective, right? Go detect.’
Suddenly she heard a car slowing down. She turned around and saw that it belonged to a CSI.
‘You wait here,’ she said.
With that she walked off to see who is that arrived.

As Cali parked near the crime scene she saw Doreen walking towards her. She grabbed her kit from the seat beside her and got out of her little SUV.
‘Hey, Doreen, what've we got so far?’ asked Cali as she surveyed what was being done around her.
After the detective filled her in she took out her camera. Cali thought the best place to start while the coroner worked was establishing how the perp had entered the house.

As Cali proceeded to process the crime scene, Doreen went to ask the neighbours some questions. She saw a woman looking over from one of the houses so she walked over to her.
‘Detective Valenti,’ she said, pointing to her badge, which was clipped to her belt. ‘You mind answering a few questions, Miss...?’
‘Oh, Abby Jay. But you can call me Abby.’
‘Aight, Abby,’ said Doreen, taking out her notebook. ‘Did you see anyone entering the house of Miss Lester?’
‘Ummm...’
‘Did you see or hear anything?’
‘Apart from her screaming about the spiders? Well, I did hear a car pulling into the driveway before the screaming started.’
‘What type of car was it?’
‘I didn't know what brand was it, but it was a big, black with tinted windows.’
‘Did you see the driver of the car?’
‘Nope. I thought it was a friend of Miss Lester's so I didn't bother to check.’
‘Ok. Thanks for your cooperation.’
‘Anytime.’
With that, Doreen went to tell Cali what she just acquired.
‘She didn't know what type of car it was, but it's possible that there are tire tracks left behind,’ she told Cali.
Cali and Doreen's cell phones suddenly beeped. They both had a text message from Luke. It said: 'Look up'.
There was Luke, looking out of the window of Ms Lester's house.
Cali was startled but smiled at Luke's message.
‘Think we should go confer with him?’ she asked Doreen.
‘Sure. Maybe he knows something about the case that we don't know,’ said Doreen.
'Good evening, girls', Luke greeted his colleagues.
'So pest control destroyed all the spiders, God bless them, and I think I've found the source where they came from.'
Luke took Cali and Doreen to the bathroom and showed them Mrs. Lester’s shower.
Doreen peered closely into the shower and saw that there was a hole in the wall.
‘I'm not an expert on spiders, so would anyone mind telling me how they can survive in Mrs. Lester's shower? Besides, won't she able to notice them?’

A dark car arrived in front of the house. A young woman got out of it, grabbing her kit and eyeing her surroundings. Brushing her curly hair back Rhia looked around hesitatingly. Being late on the first day didn't make the best impression...but the old lady... She shook of all disturbing thoughts and went to the officer guarding the entrance door.
‘Hi. I'm Rhiannon Nerice from the Crime lab. Do you mind telling me, where my colleagues are?’ she asked giving him one of her brightest smiles.
He barely noticed her but nodded his head upstairs.
‘Um...thank you.’ Rhia went away. She heard voices and followed them to arrive in the bathroom of the house.
Keeping quiet in the background she tried not to disturb the conclusions the others were making. She decided she could bring herself in after they were finished with that...

Cali got a call for another crime scene, so Luke and Doreen continued working the scene, knowing back up was on the way.
‘I have no idea if these spiders are connected to the death of this boy. We'll have to wait for the coroner to know COD. But I won't bore you with CSI stuff anymore, Detective’, Luke joked.
A strange sound came from behind the door.
‘Hello?’
Just in time before they drew their guns, they saw that there was a young woman standing there. ‘You are our new CSI, aren't you? Have you been standing there all that time?’
‘I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. I just wanted not to interrupt you...’ Rhia started, looking down to the floor ashamed. She should have known that they would be suspicious if she'd sneak in like that.
‘Yes, I'm the new one. My name's Rhiannon Nerice. But just call me Rhia.’ She smiled shyly at everyone.
Trying to fill the awkward silence and her mistake, she continued:
‘So, as far as I heard we have a dead boy and spiders? So it will be much more difficult to define the time of death, won't it?’
Putting down her kit she approached the shower.
Doreen put her gun back into her holster.
‘Talk about a false alarm,’ she said jokingly, smiling.
She extended a hand. ‘Welcome, Rhia. I'm Detective Doreen Valenti, but for some absurd reason some of my friends call me Dory. Don't ask where I got that,’ she added, laughing.
‘Anyway, yeah, we don't really know the cause of death of the victim unless the coroner gets here.’
She took a few steps backward. ‘Speaking of the coroner, where is he anyway?’
‘He got to Cali's homicide sooner; we'll speak him in the morgue. Busy night.’
Luke put his hand out.
‘Hey Rhia. It's a shame we couldn't have a chat before, but now I can immediately see you in action. My name is Lucas Versteeg, but call me Luke. Officially, I'm your boss, but don't take that too seriously, be comfortable. You feel like looking what's behind the hole that's in the shower?’
Rhia looked a tiny bit disturbed.
‘Don't worry Rhia, the spiders are cleared.’
After shaking all the hands, she was smiling broadly at the warm welcome of them.
‘Thanks guys. I'm really looking forward to working with you.’
Then Rhia took out a flashlight. Slowly approaching the hole in the wand, she eyed it suspiciously. She illuminated the dark in there to find...a little something.
‘Seems like I've found something there...’
She pulled a bag out of her back pocket, shook it open and carefully put the finger long, flesh coloured thing into it. She turned around to face the others holding the bag in front of her.
‘So...what do you guess it is?’
She frowned staring at the evidence puzzled.
Doreen peered closely at what Rhia was holding.
‘I dunno. You're the CSI; go find out,’ she said. Then she shone her flashlight into the hole and found something else.
‘Hey, lend me one of your tweezers thingamajigs,’ she said. She heard Rhia and Luke stiffing a laugh. ‘Hey, blame me for not knowing what these tools are,’ she added, laughing herself.
She pulled something out and it turned out to be a piece of paper.
‘Should I open it now or at the lab?’ she asked.
‘Maybe it's better you open it at the lab... Dunno maybe we destroy some evidence if we open it right here...’ Rhia said quietly still eyeing her finding.
‘I think it is a piece of meat...but I will find out in the lab... may be the reason for the spiders to come here...’
After she put it back into her kit she handed Doreen another bag. ‘Here you go.’
Stepping closer she saw something moving inside the hole. ‘Hello you!’ She caught the little spider on one leg and pulled it closely out. ‘Another evidence.’ She smiled and put the animal into a little box of glass.
‘Have you already checked the other rooms?’ Rhia turned around to face Luke and Doreen.
‘No, we haven't. Let's take a closer look Mrs. Lester’s bedroom. But we need gasmasks to in there’
The three crime fighters walked into the bedroom with their gasmasks on. The pest control certainly did their best to destroy the spiders. And unfortunately, also evidence.
‘The boy was found here, so there must be some indication about what he was doing here.’
The first clue was right on the floor. A used condom.
‘Hmm. Maybe Mrs. Lester was lying...female paedophile?’
‘Does she have a daughter? A younger sister? Anyone...who's family?’
Rhia asked bagging the evidence.
‘Can we force her into a medical examination, if she'd had sex? You know...those 'clock' thing...’
She had to smile when she remembered the lesson, where she'd been taught this kind of examination. The prof had been an old one, who'd always started stuttering when he'd gotten nervous. Nearly nobody had understood the clock thing then.
Looking around carefully, she noticed the broken window.
‘Look...the window's shattered...D'you think the pest control was careless or did somebody try to flee or break in?’ She wondered aloud.

Lindsey entered the bathroom hurriedly. ‘Sorry I'm late,’ she explained quickly to the others. ‘Gawd, I'm never going to get used to the traffic in this city.’ She noticed the new woman. ‘Hi,’ she greeted, sticking her hand out and flashing a smile. ‘I'm Lindsey Monroe. You must be the new addition to the team. Welcome to the team.’ She thought about how redundant that sounded. ‘New addition to the team...welcome to the team.’ Hopefully she didn't notice.

‘While you CSIs do your stuff, I'll be downstairs asking some questions to Mrs. Lester.’
With that she retreated down the stairs and outside the house where Mrs. Lester was still with the paramedics, drinking from a cup. She groaned when she saw Doreen approaching her.
‘What do you want now? I already answered all the questions asked by the others,’ she said.
‘Not mine,’ said Doreen, flipping open her notebook holding a pen in her left hand.
‘So, mind telling me what happened?’
Mrs. Lester took a deep breath and put her cup down.
‘I was taking a bubble bath - ‘
‘How about the Mr?’
‘Huh?’
‘Where's Mr. Lester?’
‘Oh, I'm currently separated from my husband, Keith. He's staying with his parents in Brooklyn. Why?’
‘We found a used condom in your bedroom. Where the dead boy was found.’
‘I have no idea what you're talking about,’ said Mrs. Lester, flushed.
‘Are you sure?’ said Doreen, now using her hands as gestures. ‘Because the way I see it, maybe you're getting it on with a younger guy, since you're now separated from your husband. Young, rich and beautiful, you know no man could resist you and - ‘
‘Alright alright,’ said Mrs. Lester, waving her hands. Doreen stopped talking and looked at her.
‘You're right; I was, umm, having fun with that boy. What's the big deal?’
‘The big deal is that he's dead.’
‘Look, before I took that shower, I told him to go home. I have no idea why he's still hanging around the room.’
Doreen wrote everything down in her notebook. ‘And the spiders?’
‘What?’
‘The spiders.’
‘I freaked out, alright? Don't tell me you're not afraid of those creepy little night crawlers.’
‘Hmm,’ said Doreen through pursed lips. Then she reached into her pocket and took out a card.
‘This is my card. Call me if you remember anything, aight?’
‘All right. Oh, Detective Valenti?’
‘Yeah?’
‘When is my house ready?’
Doreen turned her head slightly and cocked an eyebrow. ‘As soon as we're done but since this is now a crime scene, you may consider staying with a relative for a few days.’
With that she made her way back into the house but something else caught her attention on the sidewalk. She knelt down and saw a tire mark. Then she remembered what the neighbour, Abby Jay, said.
Well, I did hear a car pulling into the driveway before the screaming started.
She scribbled down a reminder in her notebook so that she'll remember to tell one of the CSIs to get a tire impression. With that, she made her way back into the house to inform the others about her newly acquired information.

Rhia smiled back at Lindsey. ‘Thanks. I'm used to be the new one!’ She winked at her telling her non-verbal that she didn't mind.
Doreen had come back and was now filling them in.
‘So, she confessed having 'fun' with the boy.’ She used the words Mrs Lester had said. ‘Did she know how old he was? How old d'you reckon he was?’
She looked at Luke and Doreen enquiring, because those two have been the only ones to see the body before it was gone.

The front door of the house opened and doc Robbins stepped through
he was holding a briefcase with essential equipment in one hand
and a gasmask in the other
he took the gasmask because he had already heard that there was a lot of pesticide in the victim's room
‘ah, they left the bedroom door open, better put the mask on right now then’
he said to himself putting on the mask
he went upstairs and into the bedroom
‘sorry I’m late’ he said examining the room which still looked green-ish from pesticide gas.
‘Ah, Doctor Robbins,’ said Doreen, greeting the Medical Examiner.
‘So, what can you tell us about the body?’
Listening to Doreen Rhia noticed that the man, who had just entered the room, was Doc Robbins, the examiner. She hoped, he could tell them anything about the body.
Smiling at him shyly she waited for him to answer Doreen's question.
‘Well, as you might have guessed he has been bitten by spiders, I do not know what type of spiders yet but I’ve sent a sample of the venom to trace so they can find out, the strange thing is that I’ve found some bruising on his arms and scratches on his lower legs, the scratches are consistent with those of a cat, but I don't have a definitive cause of death until I know whether or not the venom was poisonous enough to have killed him’
‘But Spiders generally don't kill humans!’ Rhia argued.
‘They only eat something that is already dead... could it be possible that he has been dead before the spiders got on him?’ she questioned further raising one of her eyebrow.
‘Do you think it might have been murder?’ Lindsey asked.

SLAM!
Brian awoke with a start at the loud bang on his desk. He peered at the lab technician who had slapped the briefcase down near where his head had been seconds ago. The technician addressed him as he rubbed his eyes.
‘Sleeping on the job?’
‘Jet lag,’ Brian mumbled. It had been a rough flight in from L.A. ‘What's that?’
‘Some spider poison, or something like that... you know, from that case we're working on while you're napping?’
‘I'm not really a chem --’
‘Look, we're a bit short on lab techs today. They need to know if the spiders killed the victim. You have blood samples in there, along with some reports.’
Brian yawned, and began isolating the concentration of the venom, while he thumbed through an entomology reference guide.

Sam walked through the corridor. She knew about the new case the CSIs had, but they had not returned from the crime scene yet to give her something to do. There were a lot of things to do, always, at QD, but now she was done processing all stuff and got bored. Suddenly, she noticed someone she had not yet met sitting at his desk, busy with something. She walked in and greeted.
'Hey. Do I know you? I'm Sam Noir. QD.'
Brian looked up from a large textbook entitled ‘Arachnophobia.’
‘Oh, hey. I'm Brian Shefkowitz... I just transferred from the lab in L.A., and all of a sudden I'm stuck on a case. I'm all for a challenge, but normally I prefer some sleep...’
Thankfully, his rambling was interrupted by a beep, signifying that the printer had spat out a page.
‘And we have the venom from Aphonopelma Chalcodes -- the desert tarantula.’
Brian frowned, puzzled, as he read on.
‘The venom, when injected into humans, causes only slight swelling, with some numbness and itching which will disappear in a short time.
Tarantulas are harmless to humans and are often trained as pets, although they can inflict painful bites if provoked.
Although both males and females are capable of inflicting a bite when threatened, they rarely do so and their venom is considered to be non-toxic to humans.
Bites are unlikely to cause problems other than pain at the site. Skin exposure to the urticating hairs will cause itching and a rash.
Ms. Noir, the venom was not the cause of death. I think these spiders were meant to scare Little Miss Muffet away.’
After flashing a faint smile at his little allusion, Brian called Dr. Robbins with the results.
He addressed Sam after hanging up.
‘...Nice to meet you, Sam Noir. I think we're about to become very busy here.’
Sam listened to Brian, telling all this stuff about spider venom.
She was happy she was from QD and not Toxicology or whatever.
'You know Brian, you may be right about getting busy.'
Her phone rang.
'Samantha Noir'
'Sam, you have to get back to QD here.'
She hang up and smiled to Brian.
'Nice to meet you too, Brian Shefkowitz'
and she walked back to QD.
Brian looked around the lab after she had left. Where was everyone? He was alone in his section of the lab with a vial of tarantula venom.
‘What on God's green earth are those CSIs doing over there?’ He wondered out loud.
He brought up a game of solitaire on his computer, and began to amuse himself while waiting for more evidence to come in.

Back at the crime scene the conversation between Albert Robbins, Lindsey, Rhia and Doreen continues:
‘I’m definitely not ruling out murder yet, although some types of spiders bite when they're agitated, say because something or someone tries to harm it, or when they are very hungry, this is especially true...’
*beep* *beep*
‘ah the venom must have arrived at someone who can identify what type of spider the venom is coming from. Now basically we'll just have to wait until the results get in... As I was saying, especially the extremely venomous spiders have a tendency to bite sooner as they have more chance of surviving when they try to kill their attacker.’
After they didn't find anything at the crime scene, all of them returned to the headquarters’.
Walking down the long corridor Rhia peeked cosy at the piece of flesh she was carrying in the bag. She had been thinking about it all the way to the lab.
Could it be human flesh? Or is it animal? Why was it put there? And who put it there? To which purpose?
Her thoughts were swirling in a circle seeming to be never-ending. Finally she reached her destination.
‘Hi, you must be Brian. I'm Rhiannon, but everyone calls me Rhia.’ She smiled at the new lab tech.
‘I've got some work for you to do... There's flesh in there...could you find out and tell me of which kind it is?’ she asked swinging the bag in front of him.

Luke was thinking about the case in his office. The spiders were probably not the COD. But maybe they helped the killer a bit.
He was looking into the boy's records. Name is Duncan Kelly. He's an orphan, age...17?! That's child harassment! Mrs. Lester could be charged with that.
When Luke wanted to meet up with the other CSI's, he noticed a new face.
It must be the new addition to the lab.
He walked up to the new lab tech.
‘Brian is it?’
Brian looked up, slightly embarrassed to be caught by his superiors playing computer games.
‘Um... hello you two. Yes, I'm the new guy from L.A., but I'm just a temp here in the lab. My real passion is out there.’ Brian sighed, and reluctantly took the bag, snapped on some gloves, and put the sample under a microscope.
He examined it for a little bit, going back and forth between the microscope and some reference books, and eventually looked up at Rhiannon.
‘Maybe you can find a nice juicy steak at the next scene to bring back. We can have a barbeque,’ Brian said, his stomach grumbling. ‘Insecta Lepidoptera. A type of caterpillar. That must have been one humongous bug.’
Brian paused, and looked as if he just realized something.
‘The tarantulas must have been lured into the home with bugs, such as this delicious caterpillar here.’
Brian squinted at Luke's badge.
‘Mr. Versteeg, I think it's time you and Rhiannon looked into where one can purchase large quantities of tarantulas, and some spider cuisine. Our suspect may be an entomologist, and those suspects must have had him pretty 'bugged' to get him to pull a stunt like this.’
Brian rose from his chair, and excused himself. What with the body coming in and a new lead in the case, he figured he had some time to grab a bite to eat, and maybe unpack a few more boxes back in his apartment. He put on his sunglasses and marched outside, mumbling about jet lag and spiders.

TBC...

[scorpii]

Lindsey walked into the lab where Rhiannon and Luke were standing as the lab tech left. He looked new and she would have introduced herself, but he seemed like he was in a hurry.
‘What did I miss?’ she asked her colleagues. She noticed a vacant computer with an open game of solitaire. ‘I love that game,’ she added.
Doc Robbins entered the crime lab and noticed everyone standing there.
‘Sorry I’m a bit late again’
he mumbled something about prosthetics
‘did you find anything about the spider's venom?’
‘Yes Doc, the venom appears to be non-toxic, so it probably didn't kill the boy all on it's own. We're thinking that something might have enlarged the effect of the venom. Did you find anything new?’
‘And the piece of flesh we found at the crime scene was a...’ Rhia tried hard to remember the name Brian had used. ‘...Bug. And we also think that the spiders were lured there...to cover up? To clear? We don't know that yet...’
‘Well I'm not good with such...animals...’ she added pulling a face, but smiled.
Rhia sighed and looked at Lindsey. ‘I bet you can finish the game. It doesn't look like Brian's coming back too quickly.’ She blinked at her.
‘By the way...did anyone find out anything about the tyre traces?’
Lindsey laughed but declined. Maybe after the case was solved she could go home and play on her own computer.
‘Yeah, I was wondering the same thing,’ she said in addition to Rhia's question.
‘Well, I don't think anyone made a mould of the tracks but then again I wasn't watching’
he walked to the desk and watched the piece of flesh
‘it's quite obvious that we have a murder after all’
‘Hey,’ said Doreen, appearing suddenly into the room.
‘Did any one of you get the tire impression left at Mrs. Lester's house before they found the body? I talked to an eye witness and she said that she saw a black car driving away just before the dead body was found.’
Rhia let out a sigh. ‘Well I guess I've got to return to the crime scene to get those.’
Shrugging she got her jacket and her kit. ‘See ya later!’
Rhia got in her SUV remembering the address. After she drove about half an hour she arrived. The yellow tape was blocking her path, but she held it up to slide under it. She hit her flashlight on and watched out where she stepped. She didn't want to destroy evidence. Looking hard in the dim light, she finally found the tyre traces in the earth at the side of Mrs Lester's house.
‘Thank god it did rain the night before... so there we have some beautiful traces...’
After Rhia had prepared everything, she flushed the plaster into the traces. Waiting for it to dry, she looked around in the twilight. She wasn't sure, but she thought she had seen something or someone move in the corner of her eye. She didn't dare to move, but stayed cowering on the ground. Finally she was sure, that someone was trying to return to the crime scene. Quickly she drew her gun and got up.
‘Freeze!’ She shouted.
The figure froze, but then started to run around the corner of the house. Figuring it wasn't clever to follow him, Rhia pulled out the phone and called her supervisor.
‘Luke, you've all got to come. Someone returned. I need your help out here. Maybe he left some traces...’
Shivering she eyed her surroundings suspiciously hoping for the person not to come back.

Before Rhia left, Doreen remembered that she dropped off the piece of paper she found to Sam Noir.
She decided to head on there to see what Sam has found out. On the way there she saw Luke looking worried as he was talking on the phone.
‘Yeah, okay. Stay calm, we'll be right there’. Luke hung up a nervous Rhia. Why must she be in this situation on her first day, for God's sake?
He saw Doreen in the corridor. ‘Doreen, come with me. Someone was at the crime scene.’
Luke and Doreen drove to the house as fast as they could, where they met up with Rhia. ‘Are you alright?’
Rhia's hands were still trembling a bit, but she tried to calm herself down. She folded her arms to stop the shaking.
‘Yeah...I'm okay... I was just surprised, I guess...like him...or her!’ She even tried to smile. ‘I didn't even have time to think what to do...’
‘Maybe you find some footprints over there...It seemed like he wanted to get into the house; he was fumbling with the lock on there. I think the person wanted to remove something from the crime scene, pick something up he forgot... maybe we should look again...more closely.’ Rhia suggested, slowly taking a few steps, reassuring Doreen and Luke with a smile that she was okay.
‘You don't look okay,’ said Doreen, observing Rhia closely. ‘Want me to go check the area? Or would you rather want back-up?’

As soon as Sam got back to QD, her colleague came walking to her, putting a piece of paper in her hand.
'Here Sam, Doreen dropped this off for you to analyse. Good luck with it'
Sam smiled. She took the piece of paper to her desk and carefully opened it. She didn't know if there was evidence inside it, and if there was, she didn't want to be the one destroying it. She noticed it once was part of a larger sheet; this was a ripped-off corner. Victoria's gonna die, in a male handwriting, looking like someone in or just off high school had written it. It also looked like the tiny pieces of paper high school students exchanged, if it wasn't for the message. She put the piece under the microscope. Just common notepad paper. She shook her head. This was a threat, to one Victoria. She cut off a small piece with enough ink and put it in the 'well' of a multititer plate. With a pipette, she added a fluid, which dissolved the ink. With a new pipette, she put a droplet on a new piece of paper, which she hung in a beaker with alcohol. She watched the alcohol run through the paper, taking the ink on its way. She ran the results through the ink-database from the ATF.
She heard someone walking in.
'Hey' she said, without looking who it was, eyes fixed on the computer screen, waiting for the results.
‘Hey,’ Lindsay said, entering the lab. ‘Did you get anything on the ink from the paper Doreen sent you?’
'Well' Sam turned around when she recognized Lindsay's voice.
'It's a threat, saying Victoria's gonna die. Probably written by a boy or man in or just out of high school. Written on common notepad paper, and the ink...' she summarized, while turning back to the computer, that had found what kind of ink it was. 'Ballpoint ink. Your victim, is that Victoria?'
‘Actually, she's a person of interest,’ Lindsey replied, furrowing her brow a bit. ‘Our victim was a teenage boy. Think he might have written it and she found out about it?’
Sam nodded. 'Could be. If you can get me a sample of his writing, I can match it.'
‘I can try,’ she offered. ‘Maybe one of his teachers has some school paper that he handwrote. Thanks, Sam.’ She turned to leave.
'No problem'
Sam turned back to the computer, looking for an article she had read about in a forensics magazine.

At the crime scene...
‘I'll stay with Rhia’, said Luke. The two of them walked to the other side of the house.
‘What direction did he or she run off to?’
Rhia nodded at Doreen. ‘I'm a bit...scared...but it's okay. If I could stay here for a minute, I'm gonna be fine again. Promised.’ she added with a small smile.
Then she smiled thankfully at Luke and pointed at the left corner of the house. ‘The person disappeared behind this corner.’
Slowly she started walking into the direction she said. Now, with her supervisor on her side she didn't feel that scared anymore. Lightning the ground up with her torch she carefully looked out for traces. Finally she found foot traces.
‘Ah, well. The person didn't think that it rained last night...’ She turned around with a smile to face Luke. ‘They look pretty big. I assume it was a man there. Maybe Lester's had an accomplice?’
‘That is possible.’ Luke answered.
Then suddenly Luke's eyes glanced off to something on the ground...it looked like a CD.
‘This wasn't here before. Maybe he got this out of the house to make sure we wouldn't find it. I am curious what's on it.’
Luke waited for Rhia to finish printing the foot traces. After that, they walked around the house. ‘There do not seem to be signs of forced entry. This was definitely not a break in.’
Luke thought for a moment.
‘Wasn't Mrs. Lester separated? Maybe her ex still has the key to the house?’
Doreen came up from behind to Luke and Rhia.
‘Yeah, she said that she and her husband were separated. Any one of you up for a road trip back to my home sweet home in Brooklyn?’
Luke smiled. ‘Yeah of course, I'm curious to see where you grew up.’
Ding-dong. The door opened to reveal a guy, chewing' gum. ‘Hello...’
‘Hello, we are Luke Versteeg and Doreen Valenti from the Las Vegas Crime lab. You are Mr. Lester junior right? You live with your parents?’
The guy nodded: ‘Just for a short time’.
‘Yeah, we have some questions for you.’
‘What's it about’, the man asked.
‘About Victoria.’
‘What about her? Is she alright?’ her ex asked worried.
‘Victoria is fine. Do you still own the key to your old house?’
Keith Lester answered: ‘Sure. Officially it's also my house y'know.’
Luke frowned: ‘I suppose so.’
He suddenly realized that he's been lucky to still own his house after his divorce, without a fight about it.
‘Tell me, did you go there lately?’
Doreen observed as Luke asked Keith some questions. She looked him up and down and she noticed that his shoes were very dirty.
‘Messy person, aren't you?’ she said suddenly.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Your shoes; they're very dirty. You've been running around your ex's house with it?’

Rhia decided to stay in the car in case the man would recognise her.
Although this would be very unlikely...after all it had been dim... she thought pressing her forehead against the cool window.
She watched the both of them approaching the door. A man opened it. He had long untidy hair and looked like he hadn't used the shower for about a week. Curiously Rhia eyed him trying hard to recognise something familiar about him...but all she had seen was how he had run. Desperately she turned away to her computer, where she had tried all the way down here to crack the password. Suddenly a flash shot through her head. Mrs Lester had a cat...she hadn't tried that name...
After typing ‘Mr. Bowjangles’ she pressed the enter button. ‘Password correct.’ As she searched through the files her mouth fell open with surprise...

Meanwhile, Lindsay was at the home of Joe Roberts, Duncan's journalism teacher. ‘He's dead?’ the man asked quietly. She nodded. He sank into his chair, shocked by the news. ‘I had no idea. I just saw him a couple days ago when school got out.’
‘We think he might have written a threatening letter to a person in question and I need something to match his handwriting,’ she explained. ‘Do you have maybe an old paper of his or something like that?’
He shook his head. ‘I wish I could help. I require students to type everything in this class. You might want to talk to his English teacher.’
‘May I get her name and address?’
‘I don't know her address. We don't associate outside of school. Her name is Victoria Lester.’
Lindsay paled from surprise, but it made since. Student/teacher relationship gone wrong. They probably should have checked her occupation in the first place.
While she was deep in thought, Roberts continued. ‘The office probably has a way of contacting her. I'm sure she'd love to help. Duncan was her favourite student...Detective? Are you listening?’
‘Huh...oh, yeah...thanks. You've been a great help.’
‘Hope you catch the guy who did this,’ he told her.
‘Or woman,’ she thought as she left. She decided to call Luke since he was at the crime scene. ‘Luke? Hey, it's Lindsay. I was just talking to Duncan's journalism teacher. Guess who his English teacher was? Doreen might want to have another talk with Victoria.’

Rhia took her eyes from the screen to watch Doreen and Luke interrogating Keith Lester. If she could only tell the two of them what she'd just found out.
She still couldn't believe what she was seeing there. These were the drafts of preconditions of a divorce. Obviously, Mrs Lester had wanted it, but her husband hadn't been too keen of it. Finally they had agreed to live separated for a certain time. If she still wanted divorce after this period, he would agree, but only under one condition: that she didn't see other man during that time. And she would also get their house.
Now Rhia could picture how it all had happened. Keith had caught his wife with the boy and maybe killed him in affect. Suddenly she knew how she could inform Luke. Pulling her cell phone out of her pocket she dialled Luke's number hoping her supervisor had his turned on.

Keith Lester answered: ‘Look I went there, okay?!’
‘Why?’ Luke and Doreen asked simultaneously.
‘Okay, I went there to...’
*Beep-Beep*
Luke's cell phone rang. He answered and walked a bit closer to the car, facing Rhia.
‘Rhia? Is this crucial, because you know I'm in a really important questioning?’
Somehow it seemed strange to her that she was talking through the phone with Luke, although he was standing only a metre away from the car.
‘I know, but I found something very interesting out. I cracked the password. Listen, Mr and Mrs Lester....’ She told him as shortly as possible what she'd discovered. Rhia knew this was important...or at least she hoped so. Otherwise, she would be in real troubles. She had broken a ‘holy law’. Disturbing someone in an interview was the worst thing you could do...the reason therefore has to be very convincing evidence.
So, Rhia faced the silence after her telling with concern. Wasn't the information that useful, as she had thought before?
‘Luke?’ She asked, her voice shaking. ‘Are you still there...?’
While Luke was thinking for a moment, he heard Rhia say his name and he saw her making gestures in the car. ‘Yeah, I'm here, like you can see’, Luke smiled. ‘You've been totally helpful, Rhia!’
Luke walked back to Doreen and Mr. Lester.
‘Mr. Lester, would you like to continue about what you did at your old house?’
Keith Lester thought for a while. ‘You know what, ask Victoria.’
‘We will. In the mean time you need to come with us and we'll find a nicer place to speak to you.’
Relieved Rhia let out a sigh. Pressing her hot face against the cool glass she relaxed a little bit. Then she remembered something. Brian had told her that it wasn't very usual that someone bought such a bunch of spiders without being noticed. So she made a note in her memory to check this thought once she was back in the lab. In the meantime Luke and Doreen would be questioning Mr. Lester. Maybe she found something out...then they would have some more evidence against him...

A gunmetal-grey 2006 Mustang quickly drove into the Crime Lab's parking lot. The occupant removed his sunglasses, looked around the mostly-empty lot, and swore loudly. He jumped out of the car, slammed the door, and locked his beauty.
‘Freakin' car dealers,’ Brian muttered out loud. ‘I'm probably the only CSI with a car. I can't believe he RAN OUT of SUV's!’ He kicked a tire hard, and then looked back at the vehicle. ‘Well, at least all my LA paychecks went to something NICE. Boss might not be too happy about it though. Well, after a good lunch and three separate traffic jams, back to work!’
It took a lot to get Brian's spirits down for more than thirty seconds. He cheerfully strode into the building, and loudly asked, ‘What have we --’
He was stopped short. Someone had been playing Solitaire on his computer. His eye twitched a little, and he cleared his throat, deciding to work that out later.
‘Ahem. Sorry. What did I miss?’ He shouted, and he heard his voice echoing.
After a long, awkward silence, Brian sat back down at his computer. ‘Everyone must be back at the scene,’ he reasoned to himself. Seeing as how there was no evidence on his desk, he phoned Dr. Robbins.
‘Hey, Doc! I was just wondering if the body's made it back to the lab, yet...’

Doreen and Luke were in the interrogation room with Victoria Lester. She looked as if she was in a hurry.
‘What do you want now? I have to go get my manicure in an hour!’ she said impatiently.
‘Manicures can wait. This can't.’
‘Fine. Fire away.’
‘We talked to your husband -’
‘Ex husband.’
‘Ok - ex husband - and he said that he was near your house.’
‘See? I knew it!’
‘But here's the interesting part; when we asked him why was he there, he told us to ask you.’
Victoria Lester looked surprised.
‘Mind telling us?’ asked Doreen.

While Doreen and Luke were questioning Mrs Lester, Rhia sat in front of the computer in her office. She checked the mercantile directory on the net. Scanning the screen she wrote the names of all pet shops on a list, of course with phone number.
Then she picked up the receiver and dialled the first one.
‘Hello, here's Rhiannon Nerice from the crime lab. I have one question. Did someone lately buy a bunch of...’
She quickly looked at her notes.
‘...Aphonopelma Chalcodes -- desert tarantulae?’
A man negated.
‘Well thank you very much. Bye.’ She hung up and crossed the first name on the list. She let out a sigh. Only 35 more to go...
So, she dialled the next number.
‘Hello, my name's Rhiannon Nerice. I'm from the crime lab...’

As Sam was walking through the lab to get a cup of coffee, she noticed Rhia. And although she looked busy, Sam walked in and sat down on another chair.
'Hi' she wrote on a small piece of paper, to not interrupt Rhia in her ‘conversation’ with the person on the other side of the phone line.
Rolling her eyes Rhia ended her phone call. ‘Can you believe it? I've already called 29 of the pet shops, but I found nothing...nothing!’
Then she calmed herself smiling at Sam.
‘Hi you. I'm sorry for being so rash. I just have to finish my list. It's only 6 to go. Wanna join me for a coffee in the break room then? I promise to be quick...’
She winked at Sam and dialled the next number.
‘Hello. My name's Rhiannon Nerice. I'm with the crime lab. One important question, Mister: Did someone lately buy a bunch of Aphonopelma Chalcodes -- desert tarantulae?’
As the man answered, her body became tense.
‘Really? 125? Do you remember his name? Pity. You said he paid with credit card? You still got his signature? I'm on my way!’
She hung up. A smile spread on her face.
‘Looks like we've got him. You wanna join me? Maybe you know the signature as well... and afterwards we could jump in at a small coffee shop for a reward. You come?’
Rhia asked her getting up.
Sam looked at Rhia.
'Sure I want to join you. Otherwise I'll be stuck in this lab forever. When we're on the way, maybe you can tell me what that case is about?'
She and Rhia walked out, to Rhia's SUV.

Brian heard the jingle of car keys and the hurried footsteps of the two ladies running out.
‘Hey, bring back some evidence!’ He shouted after them with a smile.
He then dialled Dr. Robbins' number for the fourth time. ‘Where on Earth *IS* that guy?’ Brian wondered.

On the drive to the pet shop, Rhia filled Sam in.
‘...So now we're trying to find out who bought all these spiders. Somebody must've known the boy would react allergic to the venom. But if Keith Lester did it, how'd he know?’
Rhia pondered looking at Sam. They reached their destination and got out of the SUV. They entered a small, dark shop with many aquariums and terrariums. She noticed a bulky man standing behind a counter.
‘‘R you the guys from the crime lab?’ he grumbled not taking his eyes of them.
Rhia nodded and took a step closer.
‘Here's the signature. Hope it'll help you.’ He actually tried to smile revealing some tooth spaces. Rhia smiled back at him and looked at the piece of paper he was shoving to them. As she deciphered the name she held her breath. Squiggly letters put together the name of Keith Lester.
‘Well...here, take at look at it! ‘ She pulled Sam closer and pointed at the name on the paper. ‘Is this writing somehow familiar to you?’
While Sam peered at the paper, Rhia let her mind wandering. How did he know about the boy’s allergy...? It doesn't make sense...Unless... She smiled.

Luke knocked on Brian's door.
‘Hey, what's up? Doc Robbins didn't find anything new, but I was wondering if you could help me out. I found a CD on the crime scene that someone probably lost. Could you take a look at what's on there?’
Brian had a questioning look on his face.
‘I eh...thought that your passion was out in the field? Maybe it's good to train for that. We need some guys on the team, y'know.’
Luke smiled. ‘I got to hurry back into interrogation, please let me know what's on it. You can take me out of the interrogation if you it's important. ‘
Brian snapped on some gloves and pulled the CD out of its bag. Reading CDs was easy, but then again, it was finally something to do, but on the other hand, it wouldn't last long, but maybe it contained a case-breaking clue. Brian decided to stop debating over the subject and get to work.
Noting the scratches in the surface caused by someone dropping it on the ground, he took out a buffing kit. Taking a foam swab, he rubbed some metallic goo all over the disc, making tiny circles and polishing harder as he went. After a few minutes of this, he took special cleaning fluid and cleaned off the excess polish, leaving a gleaming, spotless surface on the disk.
He changed gloves, then popped the CD into his computer, and explored the files. They seemed to be a bunch of word documents and images, hastily placed on the CD. Brian opened one of the images.
He saw a medical form, apparently scanned into the computer and converted into a JPG image. He zoomed in, and looked around the forms for names. Well, now things were interesting... that Duncan kid was apparently treated for anaphylaxis several years ago.
Brian opened up another image. It was a similar form, this time for a severe allergic reaction to a bee sting. He saw where this was going, but he opened every file, just to be sure.
This was a CD full of stolen medical history on the Duncan kid! Why was it at the crime scene?
Brian made two copies of the CD, and repackaged the original. Either we're still missing a piece to this puzzle, or someone could be trying to frame the wrong guy. No matter what, the CD proved that SOMEONE had stolen personal medical information on a minor.
Luke heard three distinct knocks on the interrogation room door, and with a sigh, went to open it. He found Brian there, leaning against the wall with a CD and several pages of God knows what in his hands.
‘Hey boss. I've never been given permission to interrupt an interrogation before, so I thought I'd come down here with important information before you get too deep.’
And he told him everything.

TBC...

[scorpii]

Sam looked at the paper for a while. The signature indeed looked a bit familiar, but she'd have to investigate it in the lab to confirm if it was the same writing as from the person who'd written the threat. She told Rhia that.
'...But it could still be the boy who has written that threat. If I want to confirm who's written it, I need a sample of his writing too. And that Keith doesn't really fit the description, though his signature doesn't fit the description of him either. He's Mrs. Lester's ex, right? That'd explain why the note said Victoria, and not Mrs. Lester, but on the other hand, if that, Duncan was it right? It could be he wrote it. I mean, he did know her pretty well. I have to get back to the lab. You mind giving me a lift there?' as she looked at Rhia. 'Please?'
Rhia smiled.
‘No, not at all. Can't it also be that Mr. Lester wrote that threatening note...to cause confusion? Or because Victoria was dating someone else? By the way, whose job is it to get a writing sample from the boy? I think Lindsay's on her way...’
She turned back to the man at the counter.
‘Thank you very much. You helped us very much.’ She gave him a bright smile.
The man muffled ‘you're welcome, anytime.’ as they turned to leave.
‘So, what do you say...shall we stop for a coffee at Starbuck's?’ She winked at Sam.
'Yeah, Lindsay said she'd try to get a sample of the boy's handwriting' Sam said, 'and it could indeed be the ex wrote this to cause confusion. When I have samples of the both of them, I can find out who wrote it. But for now, yes, I'd love to get a cup of coffee...'
After Sam and Rhia had stopped for a coffee break they returned to the lab. Passing the interrogation room, she overheard a few words Brian was telling Luke, who was actually supposed to be interrogating. She smiled at them and nodded her head as she passed them. Then she stopped short thinking if she should tell her investigation now or when she would be finished. But then, Luke could be in the questioning again and she wouldn't want to disturb him again...
Spinning around on her heel she cleared her throat.
‘Sorry for interrupting you, guys.’ She smiled at them asking for forgiveness.
‘Sam and I just followed the clue about the venom...we found a pet shop who affirmed that he sold a bunch of 125 spiders to a man. So we went there, because he paid with credit card and therefore his signature was there. It was Keith Lester's and Sam is now comparing it to the death threat from Victoria.’

Sam sat down on her chair and turned to her desk, where she had just put the piece of paper. As she grabbed both the piece of paper and the note, she noticed an envelope.

To QD, Sam - From Lindsay

Ah. Probably a sample of Duncan's handwriting. Sam opened the envelope and looked at the paper inside it. She laid the note, the sample of Duncan's handwriting and the sample of Keith's handwriting on the table and grabbed her magnifying glass. Both samples could be the handwriting similar to the note. Sam concentrated on the 'i' in Victoria's gonna die, since both Keith’s name and Duncan's sample had an 'i' in it. But this was as she had expected; all i's looked the same. Though you could vary a lot with a 't', so Sam now concentrated on that letter. And yes, match. To Duncan. Sam got up and walked out of her lab, to find Rhia, Luke and Brian outside an interrogation room.
'Hey guys! I matched the handwriting, to Duncan. And I have a theory. You want to hear it?'

Lindsay saw Sam approach Luke, Rhia, and Brian. She must have gotten results on the handwriting. She walked up just in time to here Sam say ‘Hey guys! I matched the handwriting, to Duncan. And I have a theory. You want to hear it?’

‘Fire away!’ Rhia said surprised. She would have placed a bet on the ex-husband. Looking at Sam cosy she crossed her feet and started playing with a curl from her hair.
Why on earth did a boy, who was allergic to venom, buy a bunch of spiders??? He must've been nuts...
Brian's eyes widened as each CSI came up and added to the story. As more and more information became apparent, he smiled. ‘I bet I'm thinking what you're thinking,’ he said with a grin, ‘but I'd love to hear it!’
The enthusiasm of the team made a smile appear on Luke's face.
‘Please Sam, don't keep us waiting much longer.’
Sam smiled.
'I think I was the ex, Keith. I think he once found that note or something, and then used it to frame Victoria for this murder on that poor boy. Then, why would that boy write Victoria's gonna die? I guess it may just have been something 'innocent', maybe something he wrote to a classmate of his or something, or maybe because he had some sort of relation with Victoria and he may not have wanted that. So I think Keith did it, he purchased those spiders, and wanted to frame Victoria for it. What do you think?'
‘All the evidence says you're right, Sam. But now I'm confused about this CD.’ Brian frowned, and looked down at the disk.
Rhia frowned. Did she overlook something on the CD? Well, she wasn't that expert in such computer things, but when she had opened the file back in the car all she had found was the ‘contract’ about their split... She shook her head.
‘What else is on the CD?’ She asked curiously trying not to look too confused.
Brian handed over the printed pages. ‘There was a bunch of stolen medical information on Duncan on the CD. This CD was found at the scene after someone chased a suspect, apparently. So, either someone is expertly framing the ex, or the ex was stupid enough to carry this CD around with him... or... something I haven't thought of yet.’
‘...Or he lost it when he wanted to destroy evidence...’ Rhia added a thought of her own.
‘Why on earth would they need the medical information? And how did they get it, anyway?’ Her thoughts were spinning around in her head violently. She turned to Luke.
‘Have you already asked them about the CD?’
Sam heard what the others said. That CD... there was something going on, that was for sure, since the boy had been killed. Two potential suspects both seemed to try to frame the other. IF they were trying to do that. And whoever had used the info on the CD, no one seemed to know who of both suspects might have done it. Even though she herself thought of Keith. So, who had used that info?
'Who has used that info?' she echoed her thoughts out loud, without knowing she was echoing her thoughts out loud.
‘This CD proves that SOMEONE stole private medical information of a minor, and that they knew how that Duncan would go into anaphylactic shock from a tarantula bite.’
Brian listened to Sam's question, and replied, finally glad there was a way to decide once and for all just who the CD belonged to.
‘Bring me their computers. It's a simple matter of looking at the history of their computer activity -- a more modern version of Cinderella's glass slipper!’
Brian knew the technical details would bore them, but it was easy at this point. He hoped they would be allowed to stall the suspects long enough to get a warrant and examine the computers.
Luke nodded. ‘We'll need those computers to see who got this information. My money is still on Keith, but...He admitted being the near the house, but told us to ask Victoria about it...
Maybe she asked him to go back and take the CD. Not so smart that he lost it...
I still have some unfinished conversation with Mrs. Lester. I'll get back to her, anyone wanna come with?’
‘I'll go,’ Lindsay offered. She hadn't had much to do in this case, so she was more than willing to take the opportunity.
In the meantime Rhia grabbed her mobile and dialled the number of the judge. When he answered she explained everything and asked for a search warrant for Keith Lester's house. To search Victoria's would be much easier because hers was still a crime scene... At first the judge didn't seem to keen on giving her one, but Rhia explained and finally convinced him.
‘You better are right!’ he grumbled as good-bye. Rhia's eyes started to shine. ‘So who will come to Keith's house with me?’
She asked the others not looking at one in particular.
Sam glanced at her watch and swore.
'I wish I could, Rhia, but I'm late for a course I'm taking'
She knew Rhia was curious what course.
'Forensic psychology' she said, before Rhia could ask it.
'But I have to go now. See you later'
Rhia looked smilingly at Sam. ‘Well...have fun! Looks like I've got to go alone...’
She felt a bit uncomfortable, but felt really nice for Sam to take an additional course. So, she took out her car keys and off she went. After picking up the warrant at court, she first drove to Victoria's home. Shivering she got out, watching her surroundings closely.
Calm down... Keith is in the Crime lab, silly! Rhia tried to shake off bad thoughts and entered the house. In the living room she found a laptop. She confiscated it and put it on the passenger's seat.
After a short time she entered Keith's house. It was very messy...everywhere there were things lying around. She found two laptops and three computers. Sighing she took the laptops first and brought then the hard drives to her car.
‘Well...it's been easier than I thought...’ Rhia said to herself as she pulled her car into a free space at the lab. She went in and knocked at the doorframe of Brian's office.
‘Could you lend me a hand?’ With a sheepish smile she turned around and returned to her car again.

TBC...

[scorpii]

Brian finished clearing space for the evidence, and went out to Rhia's car. A determined grin crept onto his face when he saw all the computers.
‘Now this is more like it!’ He grunted as he carried an armful back to his desk.
Brian began plugging the computers in, and immediately made copies of each hard drive.
‘Thank you very much, Rhia. We will soon see just how important this evidence is!’ Brian exclaimed.
Brian had to wait a while for the copies to finish -- but it was a very important step where sensitive digital data was concerned. He got to work, his fingers flying across the keyboards making that ‘clickity’ sound he loved.
If anyone had been watching him, they would have noticed his keystrokes becoming more forceful, and a confused look worked its way into his face. They would have noticed that he was having a hard time making sense of everything he had found. They would have seen him stop and fold his arms across his chest in frustration, and hear him heave a deep sigh.
‘This doesn't make sense,’ Brian mumbled. ‘Unless...’
He looked at Rhia, who had been wandering around near the lab playing with various tools while she waited for Brian to work.
‘Rhia,’ he called across the room, ‘Is Victoria allergic to tarantulas, too? According to the computer history, Keith had been stealing medical information on Victoria, and Victoria had been stealing information on Duncan... but I've got a terrible feeling those spiders weren't meant for Duncan,’ Brian finished his theory, his voice solemn.
He could only pray that Rhia could get to Luke in time. If Keith and Victoria had worked out a story beforehand, this would never hold up in court!
Rhia had been wandering around in Brian's office restless. She eyed several of his tools and listened as he hammered into the keyboard. As he finally spoke to her, she froze. After he had finished she really sprinted to the interrogation room. Knocking shortly she opened the door.
Catching her breath she brought out these words: ‘I'm sorry, I have to interrupt you, Luke. But Brian found out something very important.’ She emphasised the word very and looked at her supervisor earnestly.

Mrs. Lester coughed: ‘Could I have another glass of water, please?’’
‘If you answer our questions first.’
‘What? That's just cruel.’
‘Yeah, more things are. Did you ask Keith to take away evidence from the crime scene?’
‘I don't know what you're talking about’, Victoria asked.
‘The one with information about Duncan's health records. I doubt that you got that information at school...?’
‘So I'm his teacher,’ Victoria said. ‘Doesn't mean I did anything. And I still don't know what records you're talking about.’
‘The one's that showed that he was allergic to spiders,’ Lindsay told her.
‘What? I thought everyone knew that. The kids joked around about one day in science class when the teacher brought in some kind of spider. Duncan wouldn't go near it.’

Luke excused himself and walked outside with Rhia and she told him everything that Brian found out. ‘Wow, that's pretty something. Thanks and tell Brian; got job.’
He went inside again.
‘Victoria, tell me. When Keith backed away from the tarantula in class. Did you as well?’
Victoria sighed. ‘Actually... I escaped the classroom. I know, some teacher am I, right...’

Rhia went to Brian's office and knocked on the doorframe.
‘Hi there.’ She smiled. ‘Luke said you did a good job. Wanna join me? I intended to watch the whole scene enfolding through the 'mirror'...’
With these words she turned around and went to the glass window, through which the interrogation could be watched.
‘Sure, Rhia!’ Brian jumped up and followed her to the room. ‘My butt was getting numb, and the suspense is killing me... not a healthy combo for a new CSI!’

Sam closed her eyes and let her head rest against the wall of the toilet cubicle. The teacher giving the course had given them a break, and Sam had a huge headache. The course had turned out to be much more difficult than she had expected. But, it's never too late to learn more things. She looked what she had in her purse. Gum, few pens, notebook, her cell... boring. But, wait, she could call one of the CSIs to hear how the case turned out. She grabbed her cell and dialled one of the numbers. The phone on the other side was picked up.
'Hey, it's me, Sam. How's the case?'

Just as Brian joined her, Rhia's cell phone beeped.
‘Oh hi, Sam. Of course I'll fill you in.’ She smiled. ‘Brian looked at their computers and he found out that Victoria, too, is allergic to spiders. Interesting turning point, dont'cha think? Now we're watching Luke interrogating the two suspects. I'll give you another call when we're finished here.’
She waited for the answer.
‘Oh...well, then it's better you call me after finishing your course. I wouldn't wanna disturb you in the lesson. Okay...bye then!’
After hanging up she turned to Brian. ‘It was Sam. She wanted to know how far we got. Well, she made me pondering a bit. Are allergies of spiders very common here?’

Luke saw Victoria trembling with her fingers.
‘Did you run away because you were afraid? Or because you are allergic for spiders yourself?’
Victoria looked shocked. ‘I...how do you know that?’
‘Well, we're from a crime lab. We know things. We also know that this allergy is mostly inherited.’
A silence...
Victoria laughed nervously. ‘What do you mean by that? You're saying that Duncan was my son? That's ridiculous’

Brian leaned comfortably against the wall and shrugged. ‘Well, an allergy specific to spiders would be very rare, but the medical condition we've been dealing with all along is called ANAPHYLAXIS. It's a severe and rapid systemic allergic reaction to any number of allergens, such as spider venom or bee stings, which are normally non-toxic to humans. Anaphylaxis is more common than you'd think.’
Brian stopped himself before he totally bored Rhia to death, and went back to eyeing Luke and Victoria. He wondered which of the many unopened boxes in his apartment contained his nice clothes for court.
‘Wait. Has anaphylaxis got anything to do with an anaphylactic shock? You know, my mom's been allergic to milk. Once she ate a piece of cake and broke down. The paramedics said something about anaphylactic shock...because the cake contained milk...’
Rhia looked questioning at Brian, barely noticing Victoria's pale face in the corner of her eye. Quickly she turned her head again back to the window.
Suddenly her phone beeped. She answered it and got very pale. When she hung up, she turned to Brian.
‘Sorry, I gotta go. A friend of mine had a car accident...Please tell Luke when you see him.’ She stuttered and left.
What a fabulous first day... Rhia thought sarcastic. Could it get any worse...?

After the lesson, Sam walked back to her car. She was no CSI, so she didn't need an SUV, but she drove this nice old Mercedes. She wondered if the others had caught the perp already. She wanted to call Luke, but didn't want to disturb him if he'd be in an interrogation. Neither did she want to disturb the others. She decided to drive back to the lab.
As fast as the New York traffic allowed her, she returned to the lab. She looked for the others, but didn't find them until she noticed Brian in a room at the other side of the 'mirror' in an interrogation room.
'Hey!' she saw Luke was interrogating Victoria. 'Any news?'

In the interrogation room...
Luke raised his voice a bit: ‘Well he was, wasn't he?’
Victoria sighed. ‘Yes he was. I know, I'm sick. Sleeping with my son.’
‘I guess you could say that.’
‘Look, I just wanted to get closer to him. I did not plan for it to be this way.’
‘Then what did you plan?’, Luke asked.

Brian had been staring at the wall for some time, and gave a little jump when Sam appeared.
‘You surprised me,’ he stated, a little embarrassed.
Brian proceeded to fill her in while the hall clock's ticking echoed from wall to wall.
‘This would make for a very tense TV show,’ Brian mumbled sarcastically.
Sam smiled. 'Yes, indeed. Jeez, that woman is indeed sick. Sleeping with her son... everybody's got their way to get closer to their relatives, but this... I got no words for it.'
She turned back to the window, folded her arms and continued watching the interrogation.
Brian, too, fell silent, watching the window. He wondered why it always came to a thin pane of mirrored glass that separated the innocent from the guilty. But before he became too metaphysical, he noticed a spark in Luke's eyes.
The spark of a man who has completed a very difficult puzzle.
‘We got her.’ Brian's whisper was barely audible, as if he was afraid that by saying it aloud, everything they worked so hard for would collapse. ‘We got her.’ He was relieved. ‘I’m gonna get a cup of coffee.’
In the interrogation room, Victoria didn’t answer Luke’s question. Sam too was quiet. A silence.
The silence was not the kind of silence Sam liked. In the interrogation room, both Victoria and Luke said nothing. She looked around. There should be chairs here. She decided to say this to Luke when the case was done, and she sat down on the ground, with her back against the wall. Waiting for Luke to end the case.

Finally, Victoria made a sound. She started crying.
‘I gave up Duncan for adoption because his father was violent. I didn't want him to grow up in such an environment. But all these years I have never forgotten him. I watched him go to school, watched him getting on the bus...as if it felt that he was part of my life.’
Luke spoke: ‘but watching the boy wasn't enough? You actually wanted a piece of him?''
‘Don't you say it like that! You don't know what it was like.’
A silence...
‘When I got that job offered at his school, I was happy as hell. But I didn't fish for it. It just came on my path, like it was...meant to be somehow. Duncan and I had the most wonderful conversation and... We became closer.’
‘Did you ever tell him that you are his mother?’
Victoria sighed. ‘I wanted to. But I couldn't. I loved him too much. And he loved me. I wasn't going to lose him again. Hell, I was gonna quit my job for him it would have come that far!’
‘But it didn't’, Luke said. ‘It became much worse’.

Sam got up again and saw how Victoria cried. She would have felt sorry for her if she hadn't known what Victoria had done. After Luke had finished his sentence, Victoria hung her head. Sam noticed how two officers walked into the interrogation room and guarded Victoria out. Sam sighed.
Was this the end of the case, finally?

Brian returned to the hallway with a cup of black coffee just in time to see Victoria being escorted out. He checked his watch. Dishonesty always bothered him, especially when people cling to a lie to the bitter end. He was glad he worked for a department full of bright, dedicated people to make sure only the bad guys wind up in jail.

The End.

[briguy4588]

Very nice! On to Case 6! Woohooo!

[scorpii]

Thanks. Indeed, on to case 6!

[mystic]

Hey...that's a great idea!
Let's see what the next case brings...

[Doreen]

Haha, good idea. I like it. ;D

[scorpii]

Thanks!!! I could do this with the other (older) cases as well. But it will take some time, my summer job starts monday so I really don't have much time.