We can slip through the holes and the stories they told
Julie
“Jesus Julie, there’s another one back here!”
A slight twinge of panic had worked its way into Nathan’s voice, which Julie understood because she could fell a bit of that panic herself. In the eight years since she had joined the CSI division this was the worst scene she had worked. Three dead women (probably prostitutes) a dead man and enough ammo thrown around to stage, well if not a war then a minor peacekeeping mission at least.
And of course, one of the killers used a shotgun. Scenes were always worse when a shotgun was involved.
“I’ll be right there,” she called out as she finished her examination of the body in the bedroom. It was one of the women - single gunshot wound to the side of the head. Large contusion on the right side of the face. She was probably already unconscious from the blow when she was shot. From the angle, the shooter was most likely standing over the body. She stood and held her arm out, drawing a line from the bullet wound to where she estimated the gun to have been.
“Shooter most likely male of above average height,” she spoke into her digital recorder, “Based on location of gun, shell casing number 207 was the kill shot.”
She stopped the recorder and headed back into the hall. Nathan’s call had come from he bathroom - down the hall to the left of the master bedroom. There he was checking the body of yet another dead woman. She was face down, draped over the edge of the bathtub. The water had been left running at a trickle and several inches of pink stained water filled the bottom of the tub. The tips of her short blond hair just brushed the water and were also tinged pink. She could clearly see where the blood flowed into the water from bullet holes in her head and chest.
Unlike the other women, this one was still partially clothed. Her red dress was hiked up to her waist, leaving her lower half exposed. Matching high heeled shoes had been kicked into the corner along with black stockings. A purse had been tossed into the opposite corner just behind the toilet. There was no sign of her panties.
“Looks like this one was getting undressed when everything kicked off,” Nathan spoke without looking up from the body. He had a small led flashlight and was shining it on her face to get a better look at the head wound. “I’m going to guess she’ll be a match for the blood in the hall. She got tagged there, managed to make it in here and closed the door before passing out.”
Julie knelt beside the body as well and gently tilted the head up to look at the face.
“Pretty impressive for a woman with a bullet in her hea...”
The corpse’s eyes fluttered open and shifted to look at her.
Julie and the the bloodied woman both gasped in surprise. The bloodied woman twisted away from her and began flailing defensively “No! Nnnnnnooo! Don’t touch me!”
“Oh God, she’s still alive! Nathan, help me!”
Nathan, who had been staring in shock moved to hold the woman down. “Ma’am, you need to calm down! You’ve been badly injured and you’re going to hurt yourself even more!”
“Don’t! Don’t fucking...don’t!” the woman’s protests trailed off and her thrashing grew more weak. Then she collapsed back, unconscious again.
The two investigators lowered her gently to the floor.
“Get the paramedics in here now!”
---
Karen
“Ms. McGurk, are you awake?”
Karen waited for any response from the woman in the bed.
“Ms. McGurk, it’s very important that I speak with you.”
She cracked the eye that wasn’t covered by a bandage.
“The doctors tell me that you were very lucky. You were shot twice. One bullet hit your collar bone and was deflected. The other perforated your skull. Your collar bone is broken and you had a concussion, but they say you should recover. Not like your friends.”
“Bernice.” The woman’s voice sounded so small that Karen missed what she said.
“I’m sorry?”
“My name is Bernice. Or Bernie. Please don’t call me Ms. McGurk. Are the rest of the girls dead?”
“I’m sorry Bernice, but yes they are. Were you...were they close?”
Bernice closed her eye and shifted around trying to get comfortable.
“No. Not really. This was the first time I worked...The first time I partied with any of them.”
“You were there serving as prostitutes?”
Bernice lifted first one arm and then the other to check her wrists. her left arm had an IV cord running into it, but she was relieved to see no hand cuff.
“Am I under arrest?” there was still a quiver of fear in her voice.
“We have four people dead in gunfight out of a John Woo film in a suite at the most expensive resort in the valley, involving a gun that is linked to two more deaths. We have at least one of the shooters still out there. Do you think we really care about a prostitution charge?”
“I gave up figuring what cops cared about a long time ago.”
Karen didn’t appear offended at all.
“Let me make it clear for you then. No charges are being brought against you. Your hospital bill is being footed by the state. Once you’ve recovered, you are free to go. In exchange, you’ll tell us what happened in that room, including any names you were told. If we find the shooter or shooters, if the case goes to trial you will testify to whatever you can.”
Tears welled up at the corner of her eye. “Okay. Okay, I’ll tell you what I can.”
“Thank you. Let’s start with the man in the living room.”
“Mr Campbell. He told us to call him just Cambell. I think he worked for Mr Haines.”
“Haines? Is that the man who hired you?”
“Yeah, the room was his. The other girls all came from the same service, one of them said, but Mr Haines saw me on the street and had Campbell pull over and pick me up.” She sniffled and brought her hand up to wipe at the tears. It was obvious that even this little movement pained her. “He said there was always room at his parties for one more.”
“So it was Campbell in the front room. Was Haines in the bedroom?”
“Yes. He told two of the girls to take care of Mr Campbell, but he wanted me and another girl for himself.”
Karen walked over to the small cabinet by Bernice’s bed. She picked up a small tablet that must’ve been placed there earlier. She tilted it towards Bernice and she saw that it had a floor plan of the room with the locations of the bodies marked. It looked like the hooker in the front room didn’t make it very far. Haines probably found her on his way out.
“Where were you when the shooting started?”
“I was in the bathroom. I had been in the bedroom, but while the other girl worked on him, Haines went down...” Pale as she was from the blood loss, the blush that colored her checks was even more obvious.
“He complained about the smell.”
Hastily, she tried to explain, “I’d been walking around all day and I know it isn’t that hot right now, but...”
Karen held up her hand to cut her off.
“You were in the bathroom.”
“Right. I was going to take a quick shower, but right when I started the water running, I heard a guy yell something and then there was the loudest sound I ever heard. There were a bunch more gunshots, then it got quiet. There wasn’t a window in the bathroom, so I made a run for the door. I remember hearing more shots and then I woke up here.”
“What did the man yell?”
Bernice shook her head. “Something about ‘Where’s Kara?’ or ‘Where’s Sarah?’ It was hard to make out.”
Karen considered her for a moment.
“Does the name Sarah Cale mean anything to you?”
Bernice pretended to think about the question.
“No. Was that one of the other girls? We never really got a chance to talk much.”
Before Karen could reply, a nurse stuck his head through the doorway.
“Ma’am, she’s going to need to rest soon.”
Karen nodded to the nurse. “Of course. Sorry.”
Then to Bernice, “You were great. We’ll pick this back up tomorrow?”
Bernice nodded while stifling a yawn, “Of course. Whatever I can do to help. You’ve all done so much for me so far.”
Karen smiled. “Just rest for now. We’ll talk later.”
The nurse brought in a tray of food as Karen was on her way out. She sat the tray down and, after checking Bernice’s machines, left her alone.
Bernice finished the food, waited a full 15 minutes to make sure no one else was coming and then started pulling the tubes out of her arm.
“Jesus Julie, there’s another one back here!”
A slight twinge of panic had worked its way into Nathan’s voice, which Julie understood because she could fell a bit of that panic herself. In the eight years since she had joined the CSI division this was the worst scene she had worked. Three dead women (probably prostitutes) a dead man and enough ammo thrown around to stage, well if not a war then a minor peacekeeping mission at least.
And of course, one of the killers used a shotgun. Scenes were always worse when a shotgun was involved.
“I’ll be right there,” she called out as she finished her examination of the body in the bedroom. It was one of the women - single gunshot wound to the side of the head. Large contusion on the right side of the face. She was probably already unconscious from the blow when she was shot. From the angle, the shooter was most likely standing over the body. She stood and held her arm out, drawing a line from the bullet wound to where she estimated the gun to have been.
“Shooter most likely male of above average height,” she spoke into her digital recorder, “Based on location of gun, shell casing number 207 was the kill shot.”
She stopped the recorder and headed back into the hall. Nathan’s call had come from he bathroom - down the hall to the left of the master bedroom. There he was checking the body of yet another dead woman. She was face down, draped over the edge of the bathtub. The water had been left running at a trickle and several inches of pink stained water filled the bottom of the tub. The tips of her short blond hair just brushed the water and were also tinged pink. She could clearly see where the blood flowed into the water from bullet holes in her head and chest.
Unlike the other women, this one was still partially clothed. Her red dress was hiked up to her waist, leaving her lower half exposed. Matching high heeled shoes had been kicked into the corner along with black stockings. A purse had been tossed into the opposite corner just behind the toilet. There was no sign of her panties.
“Looks like this one was getting undressed when everything kicked off,” Nathan spoke without looking up from the body. He had a small led flashlight and was shining it on her face to get a better look at the head wound. “I’m going to guess she’ll be a match for the blood in the hall. She got tagged there, managed to make it in here and closed the door before passing out.”
Julie knelt beside the body as well and gently tilted the head up to look at the face.
“Pretty impressive for a woman with a bullet in her hea...”
The corpse’s eyes fluttered open and shifted to look at her.
Julie and the the bloodied woman both gasped in surprise. The bloodied woman twisted away from her and began flailing defensively “No! Nnnnnnooo! Don’t touch me!”
“Oh God, she’s still alive! Nathan, help me!”
Nathan, who had been staring in shock moved to hold the woman down. “Ma’am, you need to calm down! You’ve been badly injured and you’re going to hurt yourself even more!”
“Don’t! Don’t fucking...don’t!” the woman’s protests trailed off and her thrashing grew more weak. Then she collapsed back, unconscious again.
The two investigators lowered her gently to the floor.
“Get the paramedics in here now!”
---
Karen
“Ms. McGurk, are you awake?”
Karen waited for any response from the woman in the bed.
“Ms. McGurk, it’s very important that I speak with you.”
She cracked the eye that wasn’t covered by a bandage.
“The doctors tell me that you were very lucky. You were shot twice. One bullet hit your collar bone and was deflected. The other perforated your skull. Your collar bone is broken and you had a concussion, but they say you should recover. Not like your friends.”
“Bernice.” The woman’s voice sounded so small that Karen missed what she said.
“I’m sorry?”
“My name is Bernice. Or Bernie. Please don’t call me Ms. McGurk. Are the rest of the girls dead?”
“I’m sorry Bernice, but yes they are. Were you...were they close?”
Bernice closed her eye and shifted around trying to get comfortable.
“No. Not really. This was the first time I worked...The first time I partied with any of them.”
“You were there serving as prostitutes?”
Bernice lifted first one arm and then the other to check her wrists. her left arm had an IV cord running into it, but she was relieved to see no hand cuff.
“Am I under arrest?” there was still a quiver of fear in her voice.
“We have four people dead in gunfight out of a John Woo film in a suite at the most expensive resort in the valley, involving a gun that is linked to two more deaths. We have at least one of the shooters still out there. Do you think we really care about a prostitution charge?”
“I gave up figuring what cops cared about a long time ago.”
Karen didn’t appear offended at all.
“Let me make it clear for you then. No charges are being brought against you. Your hospital bill is being footed by the state. Once you’ve recovered, you are free to go. In exchange, you’ll tell us what happened in that room, including any names you were told. If we find the shooter or shooters, if the case goes to trial you will testify to whatever you can.”
Tears welled up at the corner of her eye. “Okay. Okay, I’ll tell you what I can.”
“Thank you. Let’s start with the man in the living room.”
“Mr Campbell. He told us to call him just Cambell. I think he worked for Mr Haines.”
“Haines? Is that the man who hired you?”
“Yeah, the room was his. The other girls all came from the same service, one of them said, but Mr Haines saw me on the street and had Campbell pull over and pick me up.” She sniffled and brought her hand up to wipe at the tears. It was obvious that even this little movement pained her. “He said there was always room at his parties for one more.”
“So it was Campbell in the front room. Was Haines in the bedroom?”
“Yes. He told two of the girls to take care of Mr Campbell, but he wanted me and another girl for himself.”
Karen walked over to the small cabinet by Bernice’s bed. She picked up a small tablet that must’ve been placed there earlier. She tilted it towards Bernice and she saw that it had a floor plan of the room with the locations of the bodies marked. It looked like the hooker in the front room didn’t make it very far. Haines probably found her on his way out.
“Where were you when the shooting started?”
“I was in the bathroom. I had been in the bedroom, but while the other girl worked on him, Haines went down...” Pale as she was from the blood loss, the blush that colored her checks was even more obvious.
“He complained about the smell.”
Hastily, she tried to explain, “I’d been walking around all day and I know it isn’t that hot right now, but...”
Karen held up her hand to cut her off.
“You were in the bathroom.”
“Right. I was going to take a quick shower, but right when I started the water running, I heard a guy yell something and then there was the loudest sound I ever heard. There were a bunch more gunshots, then it got quiet. There wasn’t a window in the bathroom, so I made a run for the door. I remember hearing more shots and then I woke up here.”
“What did the man yell?”
Bernice shook her head. “Something about ‘Where’s Kara?’ or ‘Where’s Sarah?’ It was hard to make out.”
Karen considered her for a moment.
“Does the name Sarah Cale mean anything to you?”
Bernice pretended to think about the question.
“No. Was that one of the other girls? We never really got a chance to talk much.”
Before Karen could reply, a nurse stuck his head through the doorway.
“Ma’am, she’s going to need to rest soon.”
Karen nodded to the nurse. “Of course. Sorry.”
Then to Bernice, “You were great. We’ll pick this back up tomorrow?”
Bernice nodded while stifling a yawn, “Of course. Whatever I can do to help. You’ve all done so much for me so far.”
Karen smiled. “Just rest for now. We’ll talk later.”
The nurse brought in a tray of food as Karen was on her way out. She sat the tray down and, after checking Bernice’s machines, left her alone.
Bernice finished the food, waited a full 15 minutes to make sure no one else was coming and then started pulling the tubes out of her arm.