Post by scorpii on Aug 25, 2006 18:31:03 GMT 1
Again, a story made of a RPG-thread. I never participated in this one too, but still, I hope you'll enjoy it.
The Crime Lab: Catch me if you can
Little Janie McCoddle opened her eyes. The 8-year-old girl took a look at her surroundings and started to panic. She wasn't familiar with this wet, dark area. She was about to scream to ask for her mother and father when suddenly a hand clamped over her mouth.
‘Scream and I'll kill you,’ said a voice she didn’t recognize. But it was definitely a man.
Janie had no choice but to obey. Since it was dark, she couldn't see the disembodied voice. Suddenly a picture was shoved under her nose.
‘See that?’ said the voice. ‘That's your mommy and daddy. If they fail to give me the money I requested, you'll never see them ever again.’
Janie could only weep.
Doreen Messer arrived at the McCoddles' house. House was an understatement. It was a mansion; and a very large one it was. Doreen blew a low whistle. 'I could get used to crime scenes like this,' she thought. Apparently, she was the first responding CSI there. She picked up her kit and walked over to Detective Flack who told her the details. Apparently, Janie McCoddle had not been seen for a day. Her parents had filed a missing person report for her. Then the parents received a ransom note in the morning. The note said that if a million dollars was not given to the kidnapper, Janie would be killed.
‘Thanks,’ said Doreen to the detective. She nodded at him and walked over to the parents.
‘Mr. and Mrs. McCoddle,’ she said. ‘I'm Detective Doreen Messer from the New York Crime Lab. Can you tell me what happened?’
Mrs. McCoddle looked up and Doreen saw that she was crying. Mr. McCoddle was patting his wife on the back.
‘Janie was playing in the backyard. Neighbour said that he saw Janie talking to a stranger, a man, and she let him in. That was the last time anyone saw her,’ said Mr. McCoddle.
‘And I heard that a ransom note was left behind?’
‘Yes.’
‘Can I have a look at it?’
‘Of course.’
He opened an envelope and took out a piece of paper. Doreen put on a pair of rubber gloves and examined the paper. It read ‘IF YOU WANT TO SEE YOUR JANIE AGAIN, LEAVE 1 MILLION DOLLARS BY THE TRASH CAN AT HER SCHOOL. YOU'RE GIVEN A WEEK FROM TODAY.’
‘Mr. and Mrs. McCoddle, I may have to take this to the lab. It's evidence.’
‘Of course, whatever it takes, Detective Messer,’ said Mrs. McCoddle. She burst into tears again.
Feeling sorry for them, Doreen took out a piece of tissue and gave it to her.
‘Thank you.’
‘Can you give me the name of your neighbour who last saw Janie?’
‘Over there. That's Kenneth Green.’
Mrs. McCoddle pointed to a bald, middle-aged man with a potbelly. Doreen made her way towards him. She was rather uncomfortable walking towards him ‘cause he had an eerie look about him.
‘Mr. Green, I heard that you were the last person to see Janie McCoddle?’
‘Yes, miss. That's correct.’
‘Can you give me the time and day?’
‘Only if I get something in return.’
She knew exactly what he wanted, as she often met men like this on the subway.
‘Mr. Green, you have to cooperate with me.’
The large man made his way towards her and she pulled out a Taser tag.
‘Whoa, whoa easy there,’ he said, backing down. ‘Look, I was just having a bit of fun, miss. Nothing personal.’
‘Sir, when it comes to solving cases, nothing I consider in dealing with it is fun. Now, how about the time and day?’
‘Two days ago; around 4 pm ‘cause I remembered there was a baseball game playing.’
‘Thank you.’
She heard a car stopping by and Doreen was relieved as she recognized it as one of the cars belonging to a CSI.
‘Wait here,’ she told him as she made her way towards the car.
Rory yawned widely as she pulled up to the crime scene. On the opposite side of the street a small group of people had gathered. She knew it was only a matter of time before it tripled in size.
She turned back to the house and when she saw Doreen heading towards her she got out and stretched. ‘Nothing like a kidnapping to wake you up. Do you think it's legit?’
‘I don't think so,’ said Doreen. She took out the ransom note and showed it to Rory. ‘The note looks real and as long as we have other evidence, we'll have to treat this case as a kidnapping.’
Doreen and Rory glanced at the couple. She felt really sorry for them.
Luke parked his car on the other side of the street. He had already spotted Doreen and Rory.
‘And I thought I was early’, Luke said to his colleagues. ‘Could you fill me in?’
The girls said what was going on and showed him the ransom note.
Luke took a closer look at the piece of paper. ‘This should go to paper tracing, to find out what kind of paper it is and what kind of printer was used. One week? That's weird; they normally give the parents 24 or 48 hours. But that's only better for us. They should be advised not to give the money.’
Luke looked at the apparent neighbour that was totally checking Doreen out.
‘Hey, did you interview that guy?’
Doreen gave him a wary smile. ‘Yes, I did. He scares me, actually.’
‘I don't blame you. I can practically smell the whiskey on him from here.’ Rory reached into her car and pulled out her kit. ‘Where did the parents say they last saw their daughter?’
‘In the backyard, playing. Ask Mr. Smooth over there,’ she said, pointing to Green. ‘He was also one of the last person to see her.’
Luke asked her to ask the man for more answers but Doreen felt a bit disturbed by Green.
‘Any of you mind following me to interview him?’ she asked.
‘If you want, I'll ask him more questions, you can examine the last place where the girl was.’
Doreen said she'd be okay as long as she wasn't alone talking with him.
‘All right.’
‘Mr. Green, Versteeg and Messer from the New York crime lab.’
‘Yeah, I already met your friend’ he said, smiling at Doreen.
‘Could you tell us something about the man that was talking to Janie?’
‘Well eh... he had a beard, could have been about 50 years old. He was talking sweet words to her.’
‘You heard what he said?’ Luke asked him.
‘Yeah, I overheard something’.
‘But you claimed that you were inside?’
Luke gave Doreen a look that this man acted very suspicious, and Doreen gave the same look back.
‘What, you think I got anything to do with this? Why would I kidnap a little girl?’
‘Maybe because her parents got money and you don't?’
‘Is this what I deserve for trying to help you guys?’
Luke sighed and said: ‘How awful it sounds, the person who claims to have last seen the missing person, is mostly the person who was involved in the disappearance.’
Mr. Green suddenly came closer to Doreen again, and Luke grabbed him, put his arms on his back and handed him over to a policemen. ‘You're going with this officer.’
‘For what?’
‘For being disrespectful to one of us, and possible involvement in the kidnapping of an 8-year old girl.’
Luke turned to Doreen. ‘Now, let's go to Rory and investigate the garden.’
Rory watched their exchange a moment before turning and heading towards the house. She paused briefly to take in its massive size, and then turned to look at the gate to the backyard which was hanging wide open. As she got closer she noticed an impression in the dirt, where the gate had worn down the grass.
When Luke and Doreen came up behind her she pointed it out. ‘Looks like a high heel.’ She gestured to the man that was still glaring at them as he was driven away in a cop car. ‘And creep or not, I don't think they belong to him.’
‘You're right. It could be the mom's though. We might need to check all of her shoes. Wow that's gotta be a bunch!’ Luke picked up a fibre in the grass. ‘What do you think this looks like?’ he asked to his colleagues.
Doreen used took the fibre out of Luke's hand and peered at it closely.
‘Hmm... Looks like cotton, baby blue. We may have to send this to the lab,’ she said, putting it into a small envelope which Rory passed to her.
‘Oh, thanks for talking to the guy for me,’ she said to Luke, smiling a grateful smile.
She suddenly looked down and saw something in the mud.
‘Aha, footprints,’ she said, squatting down to examine it. ‘It looks too big to be a woman's or a child's. Could be the kidnapper's. Or Green's one.’
Rory raised an eyebrow, ‘Putting the cart before the horse? Just because the guys a douche doesn't make him a kidnapper. You forget Green's not the only man involved in this.’ She glanced over at Mr. McCoddle, who was acting too calm for a father whose daughter may wind up dead.
‘Hmm... You’re right, Rory,’ said Doreen, looking at the father. Mrs. McCoddle's crying her eyes out while Mr. McCoddle's just standing there, looking calm.
‘Maybe he's just putting up an image?’ she suggested. ‘Other then that, he might be involved. But I don't get it; what type of father would wanna kidnap his own child?’
‘Well, I've seen weirder things. But let's not jump to conclusions. If I were in his place, I might just as well shut down.’ Luke paused for a while. ‘I'm gonna talk with him anyway.’
He walked over to the parents. ‘Excuse me, Mr and Mrs. McCoddle, but do you know anyone that would ever want to put you through this?’
‘Well, it is obvious that this is all about the money.’ Mrs. McCoddle said.
‘Yes, but we have to count in all the possibilities. Therefore I would like to see your collection of shoes.’
‘What, why the hell would you need that?’
‘To rule you out. We have found shoe prints in your backyard. If they are yours that means that they are not from the kidnappers. I'm not saying that we think you had anything to do with this at all.’
Mr. McCoddle answered: ‘All right, if it helps finding the child.’
Luke walked back towards Rory and Doreen. ‘Okay, he obviously has something to do with this’.
His colleagues asked why.
‘He said he would give their shoes to 'find the child'. What parent says that? Why not: 'finding our Janie'? I'm not too keen about hunches, but this definitely says something.’
Rory nodded then pulled out two frames and plaster for the shoe casts. While they were set to dry she spoke to Doreen, ‘You can take that ransom note into QD. Or I guess Luke can do it if you want to stay here. As for me, I'm running with the shoes... No pun intended.’
Doreen laughed at Rory's words. She pulled out the ransom note and put it into an envelope.
‘Hey, what's that?’ she asked, pointing towards the bushes.
Luke looked in the direction that Doreen pointed out.
‘I don't know, let's take a look.’
There was something pink, and when they stepped closer and closer, it was obvious that it was furry rabbit. ‘Guess they went through these bushes. The parents need to 'identify' the furry animal, though it looks pretty clear to me that it's Janie's. Let's see what's behind these bushes.’ Luke went crawling through bushes and it ended up on the street. He saw something disastrous there: There was a gun with one bullet missing... and a short blood trail leading to the road.
Doreen swabbed the blood on the road. She and the other CSIs started processing it, taking pictures and labelling it.
‘Whose blood do you think it belongs to?’ she asked. ‘I hope Janie's fine,’ she added, feeling worried.
Rory picked up the gun and put it in a bag for ballistics to confirm the type.
Cali Taylor arrived at the scene and apologized, ‘Sorry for being late, I had a court date. You guys need an extra pair of hands with this?’
‘Yeah, we can use all the help we can get. I'll take what we've found so far back to the lab so it can start processing.’ Rory said.
‘Sure as hell! We need every extra hand,’ said Doreen, grinning at Cali who just arrived. ‘You can help me photograph these blood drops if you want.’
Luke decided to go to the lab. Janie's parents had identified the cuddle rabbit as Janie's favourite object. Her mother mentioned that she must feel so alone without it.
Since the blood trail ended on the side of the road, it was not unlikely that they went into a car. It was night, so he doubted that someone saw a lot. He decided to check with the neighbours later. First he was going into Janie's parents’ records...
Doreen brought the blood swabs back into the lab, ready to process it.
‘I don't believe this,’ she said, staring at the test result.
‘What'd you find?’ asked Cali. She put down her work and curiously approached Doreen. Her friend held the test results where she could see them. ‘What the hell!’
‘We have to show this to Luke,’ said Doreen.
So she and Cali went to look for Luke who was hunched over his desk in his room.
‘Er... Luke? You should see this.’
‘What is it, gals?’
Doreen showed Luke the paper.
He didn't know what he saw. ‘Are you kidding' me?’
‘No we're not kidding you,’ said Doreen. ‘Mrs. McCoddle's blood was on the road. It interests me how the blood got there. I'm going back to the crime scene to talk to her.’
‘I'll drive,’ said Cali.
The two women grabbed their stuff and set out in Cali's SUV. It was a little cluttered with papers and empty food containers.
The drive was about twenty minutes from the lab to the scene. So Cali decided to put on a CD. She wasn't sure what Doreen liked, but a mixed CD was probably a safe bet.
The song ‘Be Our Guest’ from Disney's Beauty and the Beast filled the car. She noticed her companion try to hold in her laughter as Cali sang along doing her best with the accents and knowing all the words. It was a nice reprieve from the case.
‘Nice singing voice, Cali,’ said Doreen, trying not to laugh as Cali tried to sing along with the song.
When they arrived at McCoddle's place of residence, they waited a moment to get out of the car. They were formulating questions to lead off with.
‘Do you think that the husband should be questioned separately?’ wondered Cali. ‘He seems to be the brains of the family, even if the wife had something to do with this.’
‘Yes, I think the husband should be questioned separately.’
Doreen stared at the house. ‘You want the wife or the husband?’
‘You found the blood, so you can take the wife,’ supplied Cali.
Doreen looked at Mrs. McCoddle from across the table. The wife had mascara running down her face.
‘Mrs. McCoddle, we found your blood a few trails away from the area Janie got kidnapped.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘We found your blood a few trails away from the crime scene,’ repeated Doreen. ‘We confirmed it was yours.’
‘I dunno what you're talking about.’
Mrs. McCoddle was silent for a moment. Doreen sat across from the table, facing Mrs. McCoddle.
‘Mrs. McCoddle, you have to cooperate with me. It's the only way we can find your daughter.’
She took a deep breath and lifted her shirt to reveal a bandage. She unravelled the bandage to show a long, deep wound. The wound looked fresh.
‘How did you get that wound?’ asked Doreen.
Mrs. McCoddle looked sadly at the family portrait on the wall.
‘Your husband abused you?’
She nodded silently. ‘The bullet casings you found, Detective Messer?’
‘Yeah, what about them?’
‘Those belonged to me. I -- I tried defending myself against my husband so I pulled out the gun and tried to shoot him but one of the bullets hit a vase. To avoid suspicion, we cleaned the area up and I threw the bullet away.’
‘How about the blood?’
‘I was bleeding when I disposed of the broken vase and bullet.’
‘Mrs. McCoddle, has your husband always been like this?’
‘No. He's actually a very good person. But these past few weeks, he has been acting strange.’
‘Define strange.’
‘Coming home late, snapping at me whenever I asked him something, always locking himself away from us.’
‘Is there anything else you want to tell me?’
She shook her head.
‘All right. Thank you, Mrs. McCoddle.’
‘My pleasure, detective.’
Doreen left the room, feeling unsatisfied. She met Cali in the hallway.
‘What did you get out of the husband?’ she asked Cali.
Cali’s interview was not much different.
‘Mr. McCoddle, we found your wife's blood near the crime scene. Do you have any idea how it could have gotten there?’ Cali stared down the man who was sitting across the room.
He looked hesitant for a moment then said, ‘She had some sort of a fit the other night.’
‘Go on.’ She wasn't sure where this was going.
‘She was yelling and screaming about my working too much and Janie not listening to her. I tried to calm her down but she got violent. She broke a vase and it cut her,’ he paused for effect. ‘She got away and ran out. I followed her and found her sobbing hysterically. She looked terrible, her clothes were torn and there were leaves in her hair.’
‘Why didn't you come forward with this before?’
Mr. McCoddle looked sick. ‘It's shameful. What does a nervous breakdown have to do with getting the girl back? My wife has been fine since I started getting off work earlier.’
‘Thank you for your time, sir.’
Cali left to confer with Doreen in the hallway.
‘What did you get out of the husband?’ Doreen asked her.
‘He claims the wife went nuts a few nights ago, cut herself on broken vase, and ran out. What did she say?’
Cali shook her head after Doreen filled her in. ‘The berserk wife versus the abusive husband, how do we play this?’
‘Looks like someone's telling a lie to us,’ said Doreen. ‘Neither wants to tell the real thing to us.’
She ran a hand through her hair. ‘I hate suspects like this. Trying to confuse and all. Makes me wanna rip their heads off.’
She took a deep breath and counted to ten. ‘So, who do you think is lying?’
Luke Versteeg was looking at the records of Janie's parents.
Mr. McCoddle had been charged for being abusive to his first wife, but the wife had dropped the charge later. Mrs. McCoddle apparently did some shoplifting in her teenage days, but well, who didn't? She also had a complaint for attacking Mr. McCoddle's first wife. 'I guess managing a business like McCoddle Inc. causes some nervous breakdowns', Luke thought.
He began to check with the neighbours. Since it was night, not a lot of people saw something, except for one old lady, Mrs. Anderson.
‘I couldn't sleep that night and was drinking a cup of warm milk downstairs. I heard a car driving very fast and stopping at the road. It was a red jeep, but unfortunately I didn't get the license plate. My eyes, you know?’
Luke nodded.
‘You didn't see a child or suspicious looking people?’
‘I did see two people, not sure if they were male or female. But one of them definitely had long hair. Blonde, I believe. But I didn't see no child, Mr. Versteeg.’
‘That's okay. Thank you for your time, Mrs. Anderson’.
‘Luke,’ said Doreen, coming round the corner. ‘How did you do with eyewitness?’
He explained everything to her. ‘Well, it was night time. I believe everyone was already on their dream train that time.’
Cali was right behind Doreen and said, ‘Lets think about this. If either the husband or the wife were telling the truth there would be evidence to prove it. So we go back and see if there is evidence besides the vase, the gun or the blood that fits one of their stories.’
‘Sure.’
Doreen and Cali drove back to the McCoddles' house.
‘Haven't you snooped around here enough?’ said Mr. McCoddle.
‘We have a warrant to search this house,’ said Doreen, shoving a piece of paper into his face. ‘We're allowed to snoop around as long as we like.’
She checked the lawn of the house, trying to look for any type of clue. She opened the mailbox and saw an envelope in it. It was addressed to the CSI. Curious, she opened it carefully. Out fell a piece of paper.
‘Cali!’ she called. ‘You have to see this!’
Cali made her way towards Doreen and took the piece of paper from her.
‘Wow,’ was all Cali could say as she read the note. ‘That is all kinds of creepy.’
The paper in her hand was typed and simply read:
My demands must be met soon or the girl will die. I'm watching your investigation, if you get too close you could die too…
TBC...
The Crime Lab: Catch me if you can
Little Janie McCoddle opened her eyes. The 8-year-old girl took a look at her surroundings and started to panic. She wasn't familiar with this wet, dark area. She was about to scream to ask for her mother and father when suddenly a hand clamped over her mouth.
‘Scream and I'll kill you,’ said a voice she didn’t recognize. But it was definitely a man.
Janie had no choice but to obey. Since it was dark, she couldn't see the disembodied voice. Suddenly a picture was shoved under her nose.
‘See that?’ said the voice. ‘That's your mommy and daddy. If they fail to give me the money I requested, you'll never see them ever again.’
Janie could only weep.
Doreen Messer arrived at the McCoddles' house. House was an understatement. It was a mansion; and a very large one it was. Doreen blew a low whistle. 'I could get used to crime scenes like this,' she thought. Apparently, she was the first responding CSI there. She picked up her kit and walked over to Detective Flack who told her the details. Apparently, Janie McCoddle had not been seen for a day. Her parents had filed a missing person report for her. Then the parents received a ransom note in the morning. The note said that if a million dollars was not given to the kidnapper, Janie would be killed.
‘Thanks,’ said Doreen to the detective. She nodded at him and walked over to the parents.
‘Mr. and Mrs. McCoddle,’ she said. ‘I'm Detective Doreen Messer from the New York Crime Lab. Can you tell me what happened?’
Mrs. McCoddle looked up and Doreen saw that she was crying. Mr. McCoddle was patting his wife on the back.
‘Janie was playing in the backyard. Neighbour said that he saw Janie talking to a stranger, a man, and she let him in. That was the last time anyone saw her,’ said Mr. McCoddle.
‘And I heard that a ransom note was left behind?’
‘Yes.’
‘Can I have a look at it?’
‘Of course.’
He opened an envelope and took out a piece of paper. Doreen put on a pair of rubber gloves and examined the paper. It read ‘IF YOU WANT TO SEE YOUR JANIE AGAIN, LEAVE 1 MILLION DOLLARS BY THE TRASH CAN AT HER SCHOOL. YOU'RE GIVEN A WEEK FROM TODAY.’
‘Mr. and Mrs. McCoddle, I may have to take this to the lab. It's evidence.’
‘Of course, whatever it takes, Detective Messer,’ said Mrs. McCoddle. She burst into tears again.
Feeling sorry for them, Doreen took out a piece of tissue and gave it to her.
‘Thank you.’
‘Can you give me the name of your neighbour who last saw Janie?’
‘Over there. That's Kenneth Green.’
Mrs. McCoddle pointed to a bald, middle-aged man with a potbelly. Doreen made her way towards him. She was rather uncomfortable walking towards him ‘cause he had an eerie look about him.
‘Mr. Green, I heard that you were the last person to see Janie McCoddle?’
‘Yes, miss. That's correct.’
‘Can you give me the time and day?’
‘Only if I get something in return.’
She knew exactly what he wanted, as she often met men like this on the subway.
‘Mr. Green, you have to cooperate with me.’
The large man made his way towards her and she pulled out a Taser tag.
‘Whoa, whoa easy there,’ he said, backing down. ‘Look, I was just having a bit of fun, miss. Nothing personal.’
‘Sir, when it comes to solving cases, nothing I consider in dealing with it is fun. Now, how about the time and day?’
‘Two days ago; around 4 pm ‘cause I remembered there was a baseball game playing.’
‘Thank you.’
She heard a car stopping by and Doreen was relieved as she recognized it as one of the cars belonging to a CSI.
‘Wait here,’ she told him as she made her way towards the car.
Rory yawned widely as she pulled up to the crime scene. On the opposite side of the street a small group of people had gathered. She knew it was only a matter of time before it tripled in size.
She turned back to the house and when she saw Doreen heading towards her she got out and stretched. ‘Nothing like a kidnapping to wake you up. Do you think it's legit?’
‘I don't think so,’ said Doreen. She took out the ransom note and showed it to Rory. ‘The note looks real and as long as we have other evidence, we'll have to treat this case as a kidnapping.’
Doreen and Rory glanced at the couple. She felt really sorry for them.
Luke parked his car on the other side of the street. He had already spotted Doreen and Rory.
‘And I thought I was early’, Luke said to his colleagues. ‘Could you fill me in?’
The girls said what was going on and showed him the ransom note.
Luke took a closer look at the piece of paper. ‘This should go to paper tracing, to find out what kind of paper it is and what kind of printer was used. One week? That's weird; they normally give the parents 24 or 48 hours. But that's only better for us. They should be advised not to give the money.’
Luke looked at the apparent neighbour that was totally checking Doreen out.
‘Hey, did you interview that guy?’
Doreen gave him a wary smile. ‘Yes, I did. He scares me, actually.’
‘I don't blame you. I can practically smell the whiskey on him from here.’ Rory reached into her car and pulled out her kit. ‘Where did the parents say they last saw their daughter?’
‘In the backyard, playing. Ask Mr. Smooth over there,’ she said, pointing to Green. ‘He was also one of the last person to see her.’
Luke asked her to ask the man for more answers but Doreen felt a bit disturbed by Green.
‘Any of you mind following me to interview him?’ she asked.
‘If you want, I'll ask him more questions, you can examine the last place where the girl was.’
Doreen said she'd be okay as long as she wasn't alone talking with him.
‘All right.’
‘Mr. Green, Versteeg and Messer from the New York crime lab.’
‘Yeah, I already met your friend’ he said, smiling at Doreen.
‘Could you tell us something about the man that was talking to Janie?’
‘Well eh... he had a beard, could have been about 50 years old. He was talking sweet words to her.’
‘You heard what he said?’ Luke asked him.
‘Yeah, I overheard something’.
‘But you claimed that you were inside?’
Luke gave Doreen a look that this man acted very suspicious, and Doreen gave the same look back.
‘What, you think I got anything to do with this? Why would I kidnap a little girl?’
‘Maybe because her parents got money and you don't?’
‘Is this what I deserve for trying to help you guys?’
Luke sighed and said: ‘How awful it sounds, the person who claims to have last seen the missing person, is mostly the person who was involved in the disappearance.’
Mr. Green suddenly came closer to Doreen again, and Luke grabbed him, put his arms on his back and handed him over to a policemen. ‘You're going with this officer.’
‘For what?’
‘For being disrespectful to one of us, and possible involvement in the kidnapping of an 8-year old girl.’
Luke turned to Doreen. ‘Now, let's go to Rory and investigate the garden.’
Rory watched their exchange a moment before turning and heading towards the house. She paused briefly to take in its massive size, and then turned to look at the gate to the backyard which was hanging wide open. As she got closer she noticed an impression in the dirt, where the gate had worn down the grass.
When Luke and Doreen came up behind her she pointed it out. ‘Looks like a high heel.’ She gestured to the man that was still glaring at them as he was driven away in a cop car. ‘And creep or not, I don't think they belong to him.’
‘You're right. It could be the mom's though. We might need to check all of her shoes. Wow that's gotta be a bunch!’ Luke picked up a fibre in the grass. ‘What do you think this looks like?’ he asked to his colleagues.
Doreen used took the fibre out of Luke's hand and peered at it closely.
‘Hmm... Looks like cotton, baby blue. We may have to send this to the lab,’ she said, putting it into a small envelope which Rory passed to her.
‘Oh, thanks for talking to the guy for me,’ she said to Luke, smiling a grateful smile.
She suddenly looked down and saw something in the mud.
‘Aha, footprints,’ she said, squatting down to examine it. ‘It looks too big to be a woman's or a child's. Could be the kidnapper's. Or Green's one.’
Rory raised an eyebrow, ‘Putting the cart before the horse? Just because the guys a douche doesn't make him a kidnapper. You forget Green's not the only man involved in this.’ She glanced over at Mr. McCoddle, who was acting too calm for a father whose daughter may wind up dead.
‘Hmm... You’re right, Rory,’ said Doreen, looking at the father. Mrs. McCoddle's crying her eyes out while Mr. McCoddle's just standing there, looking calm.
‘Maybe he's just putting up an image?’ she suggested. ‘Other then that, he might be involved. But I don't get it; what type of father would wanna kidnap his own child?’
‘Well, I've seen weirder things. But let's not jump to conclusions. If I were in his place, I might just as well shut down.’ Luke paused for a while. ‘I'm gonna talk with him anyway.’
He walked over to the parents. ‘Excuse me, Mr and Mrs. McCoddle, but do you know anyone that would ever want to put you through this?’
‘Well, it is obvious that this is all about the money.’ Mrs. McCoddle said.
‘Yes, but we have to count in all the possibilities. Therefore I would like to see your collection of shoes.’
‘What, why the hell would you need that?’
‘To rule you out. We have found shoe prints in your backyard. If they are yours that means that they are not from the kidnappers. I'm not saying that we think you had anything to do with this at all.’
Mr. McCoddle answered: ‘All right, if it helps finding the child.’
Luke walked back towards Rory and Doreen. ‘Okay, he obviously has something to do with this’.
His colleagues asked why.
‘He said he would give their shoes to 'find the child'. What parent says that? Why not: 'finding our Janie'? I'm not too keen about hunches, but this definitely says something.’
Rory nodded then pulled out two frames and plaster for the shoe casts. While they were set to dry she spoke to Doreen, ‘You can take that ransom note into QD. Or I guess Luke can do it if you want to stay here. As for me, I'm running with the shoes... No pun intended.’
Doreen laughed at Rory's words. She pulled out the ransom note and put it into an envelope.
‘Hey, what's that?’ she asked, pointing towards the bushes.
Luke looked in the direction that Doreen pointed out.
‘I don't know, let's take a look.’
There was something pink, and when they stepped closer and closer, it was obvious that it was furry rabbit. ‘Guess they went through these bushes. The parents need to 'identify' the furry animal, though it looks pretty clear to me that it's Janie's. Let's see what's behind these bushes.’ Luke went crawling through bushes and it ended up on the street. He saw something disastrous there: There was a gun with one bullet missing... and a short blood trail leading to the road.
Doreen swabbed the blood on the road. She and the other CSIs started processing it, taking pictures and labelling it.
‘Whose blood do you think it belongs to?’ she asked. ‘I hope Janie's fine,’ she added, feeling worried.
Rory picked up the gun and put it in a bag for ballistics to confirm the type.
Cali Taylor arrived at the scene and apologized, ‘Sorry for being late, I had a court date. You guys need an extra pair of hands with this?’
‘Yeah, we can use all the help we can get. I'll take what we've found so far back to the lab so it can start processing.’ Rory said.
‘Sure as hell! We need every extra hand,’ said Doreen, grinning at Cali who just arrived. ‘You can help me photograph these blood drops if you want.’
Luke decided to go to the lab. Janie's parents had identified the cuddle rabbit as Janie's favourite object. Her mother mentioned that she must feel so alone without it.
Since the blood trail ended on the side of the road, it was not unlikely that they went into a car. It was night, so he doubted that someone saw a lot. He decided to check with the neighbours later. First he was going into Janie's parents’ records...
Doreen brought the blood swabs back into the lab, ready to process it.
‘I don't believe this,’ she said, staring at the test result.
‘What'd you find?’ asked Cali. She put down her work and curiously approached Doreen. Her friend held the test results where she could see them. ‘What the hell!’
‘We have to show this to Luke,’ said Doreen.
So she and Cali went to look for Luke who was hunched over his desk in his room.
‘Er... Luke? You should see this.’
‘What is it, gals?’
Doreen showed Luke the paper.
He didn't know what he saw. ‘Are you kidding' me?’
‘No we're not kidding you,’ said Doreen. ‘Mrs. McCoddle's blood was on the road. It interests me how the blood got there. I'm going back to the crime scene to talk to her.’
‘I'll drive,’ said Cali.
The two women grabbed their stuff and set out in Cali's SUV. It was a little cluttered with papers and empty food containers.
The drive was about twenty minutes from the lab to the scene. So Cali decided to put on a CD. She wasn't sure what Doreen liked, but a mixed CD was probably a safe bet.
The song ‘Be Our Guest’ from Disney's Beauty and the Beast filled the car. She noticed her companion try to hold in her laughter as Cali sang along doing her best with the accents and knowing all the words. It was a nice reprieve from the case.
‘Nice singing voice, Cali,’ said Doreen, trying not to laugh as Cali tried to sing along with the song.
When they arrived at McCoddle's place of residence, they waited a moment to get out of the car. They were formulating questions to lead off with.
‘Do you think that the husband should be questioned separately?’ wondered Cali. ‘He seems to be the brains of the family, even if the wife had something to do with this.’
‘Yes, I think the husband should be questioned separately.’
Doreen stared at the house. ‘You want the wife or the husband?’
‘You found the blood, so you can take the wife,’ supplied Cali.
Doreen looked at Mrs. McCoddle from across the table. The wife had mascara running down her face.
‘Mrs. McCoddle, we found your blood a few trails away from the area Janie got kidnapped.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘We found your blood a few trails away from the crime scene,’ repeated Doreen. ‘We confirmed it was yours.’
‘I dunno what you're talking about.’
Mrs. McCoddle was silent for a moment. Doreen sat across from the table, facing Mrs. McCoddle.
‘Mrs. McCoddle, you have to cooperate with me. It's the only way we can find your daughter.’
She took a deep breath and lifted her shirt to reveal a bandage. She unravelled the bandage to show a long, deep wound. The wound looked fresh.
‘How did you get that wound?’ asked Doreen.
Mrs. McCoddle looked sadly at the family portrait on the wall.
‘Your husband abused you?’
She nodded silently. ‘The bullet casings you found, Detective Messer?’
‘Yeah, what about them?’
‘Those belonged to me. I -- I tried defending myself against my husband so I pulled out the gun and tried to shoot him but one of the bullets hit a vase. To avoid suspicion, we cleaned the area up and I threw the bullet away.’
‘How about the blood?’
‘I was bleeding when I disposed of the broken vase and bullet.’
‘Mrs. McCoddle, has your husband always been like this?’
‘No. He's actually a very good person. But these past few weeks, he has been acting strange.’
‘Define strange.’
‘Coming home late, snapping at me whenever I asked him something, always locking himself away from us.’
‘Is there anything else you want to tell me?’
She shook her head.
‘All right. Thank you, Mrs. McCoddle.’
‘My pleasure, detective.’
Doreen left the room, feeling unsatisfied. She met Cali in the hallway.
‘What did you get out of the husband?’ she asked Cali.
Cali’s interview was not much different.
‘Mr. McCoddle, we found your wife's blood near the crime scene. Do you have any idea how it could have gotten there?’ Cali stared down the man who was sitting across the room.
He looked hesitant for a moment then said, ‘She had some sort of a fit the other night.’
‘Go on.’ She wasn't sure where this was going.
‘She was yelling and screaming about my working too much and Janie not listening to her. I tried to calm her down but she got violent. She broke a vase and it cut her,’ he paused for effect. ‘She got away and ran out. I followed her and found her sobbing hysterically. She looked terrible, her clothes were torn and there were leaves in her hair.’
‘Why didn't you come forward with this before?’
Mr. McCoddle looked sick. ‘It's shameful. What does a nervous breakdown have to do with getting the girl back? My wife has been fine since I started getting off work earlier.’
‘Thank you for your time, sir.’
Cali left to confer with Doreen in the hallway.
‘What did you get out of the husband?’ Doreen asked her.
‘He claims the wife went nuts a few nights ago, cut herself on broken vase, and ran out. What did she say?’
Cali shook her head after Doreen filled her in. ‘The berserk wife versus the abusive husband, how do we play this?’
‘Looks like someone's telling a lie to us,’ said Doreen. ‘Neither wants to tell the real thing to us.’
She ran a hand through her hair. ‘I hate suspects like this. Trying to confuse and all. Makes me wanna rip their heads off.’
She took a deep breath and counted to ten. ‘So, who do you think is lying?’
Luke Versteeg was looking at the records of Janie's parents.
Mr. McCoddle had been charged for being abusive to his first wife, but the wife had dropped the charge later. Mrs. McCoddle apparently did some shoplifting in her teenage days, but well, who didn't? She also had a complaint for attacking Mr. McCoddle's first wife. 'I guess managing a business like McCoddle Inc. causes some nervous breakdowns', Luke thought.
He began to check with the neighbours. Since it was night, not a lot of people saw something, except for one old lady, Mrs. Anderson.
‘I couldn't sleep that night and was drinking a cup of warm milk downstairs. I heard a car driving very fast and stopping at the road. It was a red jeep, but unfortunately I didn't get the license plate. My eyes, you know?’
Luke nodded.
‘You didn't see a child or suspicious looking people?’
‘I did see two people, not sure if they were male or female. But one of them definitely had long hair. Blonde, I believe. But I didn't see no child, Mr. Versteeg.’
‘That's okay. Thank you for your time, Mrs. Anderson’.
‘Luke,’ said Doreen, coming round the corner. ‘How did you do with eyewitness?’
He explained everything to her. ‘Well, it was night time. I believe everyone was already on their dream train that time.’
Cali was right behind Doreen and said, ‘Lets think about this. If either the husband or the wife were telling the truth there would be evidence to prove it. So we go back and see if there is evidence besides the vase, the gun or the blood that fits one of their stories.’
‘Sure.’
Doreen and Cali drove back to the McCoddles' house.
‘Haven't you snooped around here enough?’ said Mr. McCoddle.
‘We have a warrant to search this house,’ said Doreen, shoving a piece of paper into his face. ‘We're allowed to snoop around as long as we like.’
She checked the lawn of the house, trying to look for any type of clue. She opened the mailbox and saw an envelope in it. It was addressed to the CSI. Curious, she opened it carefully. Out fell a piece of paper.
‘Cali!’ she called. ‘You have to see this!’
Cali made her way towards Doreen and took the piece of paper from her.
‘Wow,’ was all Cali could say as she read the note. ‘That is all kinds of creepy.’
The paper in her hand was typed and simply read:
My demands must be met soon or the girl will die. I'm watching your investigation, if you get too close you could die too…
TBC...