"SDRR" - Chapter 7
Chapter: 7 ~ “Breadcrumbs”
Author’s Notes: Okay, so my annoyance at Jake has grown since the season finale, so I’ve been kicked on this SDRR kick… It was that or the yummy chocolate I was eating at like midnight…ehehehe I heart chocolate, it helps with my writing skills… Of course, I think this is just spoiling you all…LOL...
*~*~*
Upon entering the hotel, they were stopped quickly once they entered the lobby by the hotel manager who wanted to offer any assistance he could. “Has anyone been injured in the lobby lately?” Horatio asked as he watched the entrance door open and close with each guest that entered the lobby from the outside.
“No, Lieutenant, why?”
“You’ve got a blood smear on your front door,” Horatio said and moved towards it. He had brought his kit along, so that if there happened to be any evidence that couldn’t wait for Eric and Natalia, that it would still be collected. Taking a minute to photograph the area of glass on the door, Horatio then collected a sample of the blood with a swab. He wasn’t sure if he was stretching things thinking that it was from Calleigh…he just wanted a link…something to help them find her.
“When are your doors normally cleaned?” Frank questioned the manager.
“Our night staff does it, around two or three in the morning.”
“When there’s no traffic down here…so this was done sometime after,” Frank said aloud. “We’ll need the key to the room.”
“Of course.”
Frank turned back to Horatio, to see him studying the glass. “That’s not a lot of blood, Horatio…”
“I know,” Horatio responded. “But she’s still out there…somewhere…”
After a minute, the manager handed Frank a keycard to the room and gave him the room number. “Why don’t we head upstairs? See what evidence is in that room?”
Horatio nodded before getting up, he reached down with his glove enveloped hand and picked up his kit and followed Frank to the elevator. He felt like he was losing Calleigh. Even though they were getting closer to her, she felt so far away… It had felt like sometime since he’d even seen Calleigh… He felt like she was fading…it was getting harder for him to picture her in her full color. He couldn’t remember the exact shade of her eyes anymore…it was like his brain was turning her slowly into a black and white image in his mind.
Frank went to press the button for the eighth floor, when he noticed the stained button. “Horatio? Is that blood?”
Pulled from his thoughts, Horatio turned his attention quickly to the silver metal buttons on the panel of the elevator. Crouching down, he set his kit down and started to take pictures of it. After that was done, it took a swab from his kit and started to collect a blood sample.
“Maybe Calleigh purposely did this,” Frank mused. “Like…breadcrumbs…”
“As long as these breadcrumbs don’t lead to a large pool of blood,” Horatio told Frank as he straightened up with his kit. The more he found, the more he worried…
“Horatio, Calleigh’s going to be fine…once we get her to a hospital,” Frank said slowly and started out of the metallic elevator once the doors opened.
Horatio took the keycard from Frank and pushed him back into the elevator gently, “You wait for Natalia and Eric… Eric should print the elevator…”
*~*~*
Red.
Horatio’s mind spun the first second he saw it. In the sink was a razor blade with blood on it…not much, but still… He knew that had been the thing that had started the bleeding…the small piece of metal had been responsible for the drops of blood throughout the hotel. Those droplets that were vital to sustaining life…that was how he saw them…at least at the moment… Horatio brought up his hand and hit the mirror in anger and then his eyes locked on something.
Through the mirror’s reflection, more red had been reveled to him. A red heart was drawn on the tile wall behind him, and through the mirror he had a perfect line of sight. Horatio spun around and closed the distance between the sink and the far wall. He examined it and could see that it, like the other stains, had been made in blood. “Calleigh…” he whispered as his hand floated over the top of it. He didn’t dare touch it, but he knew Calleigh had placed it there…she knew that they’d eventually find that room…she knew that he’d know that it was her…
“H!” Eric called from the doorway of the hotel room, which had been left propped open, but had crime scene taped along it to keep people out.
“In here,” he called quietly.
Natalia looked at Eric worriedly and then took in the surroundings. The bedroom had definitely been tossed about, especially the bed. “H, we got two workable fingerprints from the elevator and the door…”
“Good.” Horatio pulled himself from the heart on the bathroom wall and finally turned his attention to the case at hand. Gathering the evidence was going to help them get Calleigh back, he reminded himself. He turned over the swabs he had taken before and handed over his camera, so that they’d have an extra to get the work done faster. He couldn’t be in that room any longer. “Process the room. Call me with the results as soon as you have them.”
“Alright,” Eric said and watched concerned as Horatio made a quick exit. He turned to Natalia and sighed, “Let’s start processing…”
*~*~*
Once things had been photographed, bagged, tagged, and packed into evidence boxes Eric and Natalia had headed back to the lab for processing. Eric had gone off to process the fingerprint evidence, while Natalia had headed off to process the biologicals they had found on the bed sheets along with the swabs they had collected that contained blood.
A while later they met back in the evidence room to go over what they had between the two of them. “What did you find?” Natalia asked Eric, wanting him to go first. She wasn’t sure how he’d react or how anyone would to what she found on the bed sheets. Of course, she was sure they had a good idea…
“The prints were Calleigh’s…the bloody ones,” Eric went on. “The prints that were lifted off the door were a match to Jake and Calleigh’s…” He sighed, “And it looks like Calleigh did leave that trail of blood for us…her fingerprint was the only one on the razor blade.”
“Along with her own blood…all the blood was Calleigh’s…” Natalia tied in quickly.
Eric turned a report to her, “The white powdery substance. It’s lysergic acid diethylamide. LSD. Calleigh might not even be doing this purposefully if she’s using LSD… That stuff is a hallucinogen… It’s probably one of the reasons Calleigh isn’t trying to escape…at least that we know of.”
“Didn’t Frank say that the night lobby workers saw them?”
“Yeah,” Eric said a bit uneasy. “Calleigh didn’t act upset or panicked… They said she was calm and that she didn’t say anything to them. Jake apparently told them that she sleepwalks…”
Natalia frowned; “You’re not going to like what I have to say…” she warned and held the reports against her chest.
“I can guess what it says…” Eric said motioning for her to go on.
“The semen contributions matched the DNA sample we have from Jake in the database, and there were also vaginal contributions and blood that matched Calleigh.” Natalia knew that none of it sounded good, but it was something that they needed to know. “When we find her, we should probably make sure that we have an ambulance there to get her to the hospital…”
“They’re going to need an ambulance to take Jake to the hospital,” Eric mumbled angrily as he hit the table in frustration. “I shouldn’t have left her at the scene! I should have stayed with her until she was finished!” he shouted upset at himself.
Natalia shook her head, “Eric...that wouldn’t have stopped Jake… I mean, look at what lengths he’s gone to in order to get Calleigh and keep her… You can’t blame yourself. You just need to concentrate on finding Calleigh.” She reached out and gently laid her hand on his arm, “And then maybe you and Horatio can discuss having five minutes alone with him…”
*~*~*
TBC…
Author’s Notes: Okay, so my annoyance at Jake has grown since the season finale, so I’ve been kicked on this SDRR kick… It was that or the yummy chocolate I was eating at like midnight…ehehehe I heart chocolate, it helps with my writing skills… Of course, I think this is just spoiling you all…LOL...
*~*~*
Upon entering the hotel, they were stopped quickly once they entered the lobby by the hotel manager who wanted to offer any assistance he could. “Has anyone been injured in the lobby lately?” Horatio asked as he watched the entrance door open and close with each guest that entered the lobby from the outside.
“No, Lieutenant, why?”
“You’ve got a blood smear on your front door,” Horatio said and moved towards it. He had brought his kit along, so that if there happened to be any evidence that couldn’t wait for Eric and Natalia, that it would still be collected. Taking a minute to photograph the area of glass on the door, Horatio then collected a sample of the blood with a swab. He wasn’t sure if he was stretching things thinking that it was from Calleigh…he just wanted a link…something to help them find her.
“When are your doors normally cleaned?” Frank questioned the manager.
“Our night staff does it, around two or three in the morning.”
“When there’s no traffic down here…so this was done sometime after,” Frank said aloud. “We’ll need the key to the room.”
“Of course.”
Frank turned back to Horatio, to see him studying the glass. “That’s not a lot of blood, Horatio…”
“I know,” Horatio responded. “But she’s still out there…somewhere…”
After a minute, the manager handed Frank a keycard to the room and gave him the room number. “Why don’t we head upstairs? See what evidence is in that room?”
Horatio nodded before getting up, he reached down with his glove enveloped hand and picked up his kit and followed Frank to the elevator. He felt like he was losing Calleigh. Even though they were getting closer to her, she felt so far away… It had felt like sometime since he’d even seen Calleigh… He felt like she was fading…it was getting harder for him to picture her in her full color. He couldn’t remember the exact shade of her eyes anymore…it was like his brain was turning her slowly into a black and white image in his mind.
Frank went to press the button for the eighth floor, when he noticed the stained button. “Horatio? Is that blood?”
Pulled from his thoughts, Horatio turned his attention quickly to the silver metal buttons on the panel of the elevator. Crouching down, he set his kit down and started to take pictures of it. After that was done, it took a swab from his kit and started to collect a blood sample.
“Maybe Calleigh purposely did this,” Frank mused. “Like…breadcrumbs…”
“As long as these breadcrumbs don’t lead to a large pool of blood,” Horatio told Frank as he straightened up with his kit. The more he found, the more he worried…
“Horatio, Calleigh’s going to be fine…once we get her to a hospital,” Frank said slowly and started out of the metallic elevator once the doors opened.
Horatio took the keycard from Frank and pushed him back into the elevator gently, “You wait for Natalia and Eric… Eric should print the elevator…”
*~*~*
Red.
Horatio’s mind spun the first second he saw it. In the sink was a razor blade with blood on it…not much, but still… He knew that had been the thing that had started the bleeding…the small piece of metal had been responsible for the drops of blood throughout the hotel. Those droplets that were vital to sustaining life…that was how he saw them…at least at the moment… Horatio brought up his hand and hit the mirror in anger and then his eyes locked on something.
Through the mirror’s reflection, more red had been reveled to him. A red heart was drawn on the tile wall behind him, and through the mirror he had a perfect line of sight. Horatio spun around and closed the distance between the sink and the far wall. He examined it and could see that it, like the other stains, had been made in blood. “Calleigh…” he whispered as his hand floated over the top of it. He didn’t dare touch it, but he knew Calleigh had placed it there…she knew that they’d eventually find that room…she knew that he’d know that it was her…
“H!” Eric called from the doorway of the hotel room, which had been left propped open, but had crime scene taped along it to keep people out.
“In here,” he called quietly.
Natalia looked at Eric worriedly and then took in the surroundings. The bedroom had definitely been tossed about, especially the bed. “H, we got two workable fingerprints from the elevator and the door…”
“Good.” Horatio pulled himself from the heart on the bathroom wall and finally turned his attention to the case at hand. Gathering the evidence was going to help them get Calleigh back, he reminded himself. He turned over the swabs he had taken before and handed over his camera, so that they’d have an extra to get the work done faster. He couldn’t be in that room any longer. “Process the room. Call me with the results as soon as you have them.”
“Alright,” Eric said and watched concerned as Horatio made a quick exit. He turned to Natalia and sighed, “Let’s start processing…”
*~*~*
Once things had been photographed, bagged, tagged, and packed into evidence boxes Eric and Natalia had headed back to the lab for processing. Eric had gone off to process the fingerprint evidence, while Natalia had headed off to process the biologicals they had found on the bed sheets along with the swabs they had collected that contained blood.
A while later they met back in the evidence room to go over what they had between the two of them. “What did you find?” Natalia asked Eric, wanting him to go first. She wasn’t sure how he’d react or how anyone would to what she found on the bed sheets. Of course, she was sure they had a good idea…
“The prints were Calleigh’s…the bloody ones,” Eric went on. “The prints that were lifted off the door were a match to Jake and Calleigh’s…” He sighed, “And it looks like Calleigh did leave that trail of blood for us…her fingerprint was the only one on the razor blade.”
“Along with her own blood…all the blood was Calleigh’s…” Natalia tied in quickly.
Eric turned a report to her, “The white powdery substance. It’s lysergic acid diethylamide. LSD. Calleigh might not even be doing this purposefully if she’s using LSD… That stuff is a hallucinogen… It’s probably one of the reasons Calleigh isn’t trying to escape…at least that we know of.”
“Didn’t Frank say that the night lobby workers saw them?”
“Yeah,” Eric said a bit uneasy. “Calleigh didn’t act upset or panicked… They said she was calm and that she didn’t say anything to them. Jake apparently told them that she sleepwalks…”
Natalia frowned; “You’re not going to like what I have to say…” she warned and held the reports against her chest.
“I can guess what it says…” Eric said motioning for her to go on.
“The semen contributions matched the DNA sample we have from Jake in the database, and there were also vaginal contributions and blood that matched Calleigh.” Natalia knew that none of it sounded good, but it was something that they needed to know. “When we find her, we should probably make sure that we have an ambulance there to get her to the hospital…”
“They’re going to need an ambulance to take Jake to the hospital,” Eric mumbled angrily as he hit the table in frustration. “I shouldn’t have left her at the scene! I should have stayed with her until she was finished!” he shouted upset at himself.
Natalia shook her head, “Eric...that wouldn’t have stopped Jake… I mean, look at what lengths he’s gone to in order to get Calleigh and keep her… You can’t blame yourself. You just need to concentrate on finding Calleigh.” She reached out and gently laid her hand on his arm, “And then maybe you and Horatio can discuss having five minutes alone with him…”
*~*~*
TBC…