FF: Phantasm: Part 2
Disclaimer: See prologue.
Part II:- The Moor.
My phone rings, "Willows." I answer it as I drop the trace evidence that me and Warrick have found with Hodges.
"Catherine." It's Brass, "Might have a connection." He tells me, "O'Riley mentioned about Gil's scene."
I pause, "How so?" I ask.
"Same set up, two cars parked in a underground car park, two male bodies, posed, missing all the important parts. The cars weren't cheap cars. They were found by a janitor, after he finished loosing his lunch phoned 911."
I smile, "Thanks Jim, I'll see if I can catch up with Gil. Looks like Vegas wasn't so original tonight. Tell O'Riley thanks for the head's up." I say.
"Will do." Brass says.
I say my goodbyes and hang up. Looks like it'll be 3 heads are better than one. Or 3 CSIs are better than one. I muse, as I head off in search of our fearless leader. I ring Warrick to tell him that we might have a cross over with Gil's case.
I catch up Gil as I head toward the lab where Warrick and me have set up shop. "Gil." I call.
He turns lifting his head up out of his file, "Catherine."
"I heard about your vics. Car park, bodies, missing face, hands and genitals. O'Riley was talking to Brass about it, he told me." I tell him. "Really nice cars, expensive."
He stops for a second and turns to me, "Yes..."
"Snap." I tell him, "Want to compare notes?" I ask him.
"Of course." He says.
We talk about the crime scenes, comparing the things we have found. Gil mentions that there was a piece of paper. I confirm that we also had a sip of paper. " 'I pray you in your letters, when you shall these unlucky deeds relate, speak of me as I am. Nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice. Then must you speak of one that loved not wisely, but too well. Of one not easily jealous, but, being wrought, perplexed in the extreme; of one whose hand, like the base Judean, threw a pearl away, richer than all his tribe.' " I quote to him which gets an raised eyebrows look.
"Othello." Gil tells me. "Shakespeare's great study into the nature of human jealousy. It's actually considered quite funny, it's not a pure tragedy as most people would probably suggest." He notes.
"Iago, Othello and Desmonda right?" I ask, "Iago starts his whispering campaign because he's passed up and he's jealous. Doesn't Othello end up killing Desmonda and then committing suicide?" I ask as we reach the lab.
Gil nods.
"Hey." Warrick greets us both, "Set up the photos, talked to Doc Robbins. It looks like we might have the same killer. Although he hasn't got around to confirming COD."
We both sit down, "Do think that someone killed them because of a woman?" I ask the two men.
They both consider this. "Could be." Warrick notes, "How many times have we processed scenes because someone got jealous?" He asks us.
I smile, "Jealousy is a powerful motivator." I note. "Imagined affairs, actually affairs, bad break ups..." I shrug, "The list goes on."
"The face that launched a thousand ships. Or in some texts the launching of the thousand ships." Gil notes as we look over the crime scene photos.
"Helen of Troy right?" I ask. "She was the reason for the Trojan horse." I smirk at Gil, "Trojans are not just a brand."
Gil nods, "I think someone's upset." He notes, "Look at the way they are killed." He adds, "It's brutal. No one in their right mind would go so many lengths. So we can say that it is also premeditated."
"Eyes, hands, tongue..." Warrick notes.
"Genitals. Face." Gil notes.
"Not face, lips. If we're thinking on the same lines." I say, "Someone didn't like someone else touching."
"Every form of connection." Gil notes softly.
"Kiss, hand holding, looking into each others eyes, sex." Warrick notes.
"Intimacy." I add, smiling, "People connect on different levels. Removing the obvious attributes could signal anger at who ever they were touching. Like they weren't allowed to be the ones." I pause, "Or cleansing, removing all that they used to touch. After all as the theory of evidence goes, we always leave someone behind, even if we don't take anything away."
"Figures." Warrick tells us, "It also makes IDing them a little harder, no hands, no features, nothing to compare. So revenge and practicality."
"All wrapped in this sick little package." I add.
"When have serial killers ever been normal?" Warrick asks me.
We all consider that statement. While we're considering this, the door opens and Greg comes in, "Uh guys you wanna hear something really weird?" He asks, his hands fidget holding the paper. I'm vaguely worried that he might rip the paper. Which won't help for anyone.
Me, Warrick and Gil all regard him, he shifts nervously, "It's blast from the past time." He hands me the dental records.
My eyes widen as the first two names. Howard Tripton. Vincent Lurie. Then it's two names I don't know. "Oh shit."
That gets attention, "I think I know our Helen." I look up from the paper. "Debbie Marlin." I say.
That gets me two goggled eyed stares. It can't be that simple can it? Or it can't be that straight forward can it?
"What?" Gil says.
I hand him the paper. "Debbie's our Helen. Look who's the first two victims, mine and Warrick's."
Gil reads down the page. I see his eye twitch as he reads the names, then he hands the folder to Warrick.
Warrick reads the page. Then he looks up us, "Wasn't Lurie...?"
"Prime suspect and killer of Debbie Marlin and Michael Clarke." Gil tells him. "We had him. Lawyered up pretty quickly as well."
"We couldn't pin it on him." I add, "Guilty as sin, but the evidence was shaky at best." I look at Gil.
He just nods, "So we assume that the killer knew each victim." He pauses, "And they probably knew Debbie as well."
Then our pagers all go. We all pull out our pagers. It's Doc Robbins. Looks like we might get some more answers soon.
***
"Your killer was smart." Doc Robbins notes, I see David buzzing around in the back ground, I think he's staying well away from this. "COD was strangulation." He notes pointing to the ligature marks on the necks. "Killer was probably behind them. Once the rope was around their neck, the killer moved pretty fast, it was probably only a few minutes before death happened."
In the minds the killer is approaching the victims. There's no sounds. The victim is fumbling with his keys too preoccupied to notice that some one is approaching them. Then it's too late. A noose is flung around their neck. With ease the killer tightens the noose, the victim's hands flies to try and pull the noose away from their neck. But the killer just tightens the noose, simply increasing the pressure as the blood is slowly cut off. Soon the victim is out cold and the noose goes tighter soon the victim is dead.
"What about the...?" Warrick asks.
Doc Robbins smiles, "Your butcher is a doctor. I recognise the workmanship." He notes, "Probably not someone who operates to heal. There's a little more delicate touch. The work seems to be as unnoticeable as possible. He seems to be right handed based on the way the cuts line up." He points out the face, "Notice the way the face has been taken?"
"Like Debbie's killer was a surgeon." I say.
"Our killer could be a plastic surgeon?" Gil asks. He moves to the side, pointing out the faces, "Because don't plastic surgeons take care so that their work is regarded as delicate." He adds.
Doc Robbins nods, "The way the flesh was taken away." He notes, he points to the second victim, "He suffered." He tells us, "Death was slow, probably drugged, or maybe instead yoking the victim, he was slowly suffocated. The ligature marks suggest that he was attacked in the same way, but it's not the cause of death. I send his blood up stairs. Still waiting on the tox screen."
I move to toe tag, "Vincent Lurie." I note, "What's the reckoning that the killer is one of Debbie Marlin's gentlemen callers?"
The men in the room all look at me. "What?" I ask. "It makes perfect sense." I add, "Look at it. Debbie was murdered, but she wasn't the focus of the rage. Michael was. That's why his death was slow. Debbie was killed with a slit throat, then posed. Michael came in, he was killed then cut up. Made into a human jigsaw, and the blame was pinned on him. A jealous man killed two people. What's the reckoning that a jealous man killed four people?"
"I wouldn't rule it out." Grissom notes. "But we can't rule out other causes."
"Who would take the time?" I ask. "If it was some random psycho they wouldn't of cared." I reply, "And it's not a mob hit."
Grissom gives me a funny look. I apologise for being so quick to jump to a theory. Assume nothing, but my gut is telling me that this is connected to Debbie's death. The way they were both staged.
Debbie in situ on the bathroom floor, her face tilted toward the door. The spray arched in the shower's glass. Waiting for someone to discover her. Michael in pieces waiting for garbage day, a phantasm in the wind. We were hunting a ghost.
Howard Tripton, Vincent Lurie, Henry Nichols, Xaiver Klose. All posed sitting up in their cars... Missing pieces of themselves.
"They were staged." I continue, "Look where they were found."
Gil nods, "They were waiting to be found."
"Someone wanted them to be found." Warrick adds.
"Someone wanted to gloat. Someone wanted revenge. And they wanted everyone to see it." I shake my head, "I hope there's some CCTV to back up the whole left behind thing." I say, before I walk from the room. I need to find Sara. I don't give a damn. I have to see her. I need to see her.
"Hey Nick have you seen Sara?" I catch up with Nick in the corridor.
Nick looks at me and blinks, "Yeah, she's in the garage."
"Thanks." I say.
"Catherine." I turn around, it's Warrick.
"Hey, I'm sorry about that." I wave my hand.
Warrick give me a look, "Off to see Sara?" He asks me.
"Am I that shallow?" I ask.
"Not really." Warrick replies, "Having flash backs?"
I look at him, "Kind of." I look towards the garage. "The Marlin case was seriously messed up." I shrug, "Now this case is seriously messed up." I wave my hand, "How can I not?"
Warrick just nods. I sigh then rub my temples. Then the sound of a pager going off. It's Warrick's, he picks it up, "Looks like tox has managed to find something."
I look at him, then reply, "Why don't you go see what they want, I'll meet you back in the layout room?"
Warrick just smiles, "OK, I'll go find Gris as well."
"See you in a few." I reply.
***
End Of Part 2
Part II:- The Moor.
My phone rings, "Willows." I answer it as I drop the trace evidence that me and Warrick have found with Hodges.
"Catherine." It's Brass, "Might have a connection." He tells me, "O'Riley mentioned about Gil's scene."
I pause, "How so?" I ask.
"Same set up, two cars parked in a underground car park, two male bodies, posed, missing all the important parts. The cars weren't cheap cars. They were found by a janitor, after he finished loosing his lunch phoned 911."
I smile, "Thanks Jim, I'll see if I can catch up with Gil. Looks like Vegas wasn't so original tonight. Tell O'Riley thanks for the head's up." I say.
"Will do." Brass says.
I say my goodbyes and hang up. Looks like it'll be 3 heads are better than one. Or 3 CSIs are better than one. I muse, as I head off in search of our fearless leader. I ring Warrick to tell him that we might have a cross over with Gil's case.
I catch up Gil as I head toward the lab where Warrick and me have set up shop. "Gil." I call.
He turns lifting his head up out of his file, "Catherine."
"I heard about your vics. Car park, bodies, missing face, hands and genitals. O'Riley was talking to Brass about it, he told me." I tell him. "Really nice cars, expensive."
He stops for a second and turns to me, "Yes..."
"Snap." I tell him, "Want to compare notes?" I ask him.
"Of course." He says.
We talk about the crime scenes, comparing the things we have found. Gil mentions that there was a piece of paper. I confirm that we also had a sip of paper. " 'I pray you in your letters, when you shall these unlucky deeds relate, speak of me as I am. Nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice. Then must you speak of one that loved not wisely, but too well. Of one not easily jealous, but, being wrought, perplexed in the extreme; of one whose hand, like the base Judean, threw a pearl away, richer than all his tribe.' " I quote to him which gets an raised eyebrows look.
"Othello." Gil tells me. "Shakespeare's great study into the nature of human jealousy. It's actually considered quite funny, it's not a pure tragedy as most people would probably suggest." He notes.
"Iago, Othello and Desmonda right?" I ask, "Iago starts his whispering campaign because he's passed up and he's jealous. Doesn't Othello end up killing Desmonda and then committing suicide?" I ask as we reach the lab.
Gil nods.
"Hey." Warrick greets us both, "Set up the photos, talked to Doc Robbins. It looks like we might have the same killer. Although he hasn't got around to confirming COD."
We both sit down, "Do think that someone killed them because of a woman?" I ask the two men.
They both consider this. "Could be." Warrick notes, "How many times have we processed scenes because someone got jealous?" He asks us.
I smile, "Jealousy is a powerful motivator." I note. "Imagined affairs, actually affairs, bad break ups..." I shrug, "The list goes on."
"The face that launched a thousand ships. Or in some texts the launching of the thousand ships." Gil notes as we look over the crime scene photos.
"Helen of Troy right?" I ask. "She was the reason for the Trojan horse." I smirk at Gil, "Trojans are not just a brand."
Gil nods, "I think someone's upset." He notes, "Look at the way they are killed." He adds, "It's brutal. No one in their right mind would go so many lengths. So we can say that it is also premeditated."
"Eyes, hands, tongue..." Warrick notes.
"Genitals. Face." Gil notes.
"Not face, lips. If we're thinking on the same lines." I say, "Someone didn't like someone else touching."
"Every form of connection." Gil notes softly.
"Kiss, hand holding, looking into each others eyes, sex." Warrick notes.
"Intimacy." I add, smiling, "People connect on different levels. Removing the obvious attributes could signal anger at who ever they were touching. Like they weren't allowed to be the ones." I pause, "Or cleansing, removing all that they used to touch. After all as the theory of evidence goes, we always leave someone behind, even if we don't take anything away."
"Figures." Warrick tells us, "It also makes IDing them a little harder, no hands, no features, nothing to compare. So revenge and practicality."
"All wrapped in this sick little package." I add.
"When have serial killers ever been normal?" Warrick asks me.
We all consider that statement. While we're considering this, the door opens and Greg comes in, "Uh guys you wanna hear something really weird?" He asks, his hands fidget holding the paper. I'm vaguely worried that he might rip the paper. Which won't help for anyone.
Me, Warrick and Gil all regard him, he shifts nervously, "It's blast from the past time." He hands me the dental records.
My eyes widen as the first two names. Howard Tripton. Vincent Lurie. Then it's two names I don't know. "Oh shit."
That gets attention, "I think I know our Helen." I look up from the paper. "Debbie Marlin." I say.
That gets me two goggled eyed stares. It can't be that simple can it? Or it can't be that straight forward can it?
"What?" Gil says.
I hand him the paper. "Debbie's our Helen. Look who's the first two victims, mine and Warrick's."
Gil reads down the page. I see his eye twitch as he reads the names, then he hands the folder to Warrick.
Warrick reads the page. Then he looks up us, "Wasn't Lurie...?"
"Prime suspect and killer of Debbie Marlin and Michael Clarke." Gil tells him. "We had him. Lawyered up pretty quickly as well."
"We couldn't pin it on him." I add, "Guilty as sin, but the evidence was shaky at best." I look at Gil.
He just nods, "So we assume that the killer knew each victim." He pauses, "And they probably knew Debbie as well."
Then our pagers all go. We all pull out our pagers. It's Doc Robbins. Looks like we might get some more answers soon.
***
"Your killer was smart." Doc Robbins notes, I see David buzzing around in the back ground, I think he's staying well away from this. "COD was strangulation." He notes pointing to the ligature marks on the necks. "Killer was probably behind them. Once the rope was around their neck, the killer moved pretty fast, it was probably only a few minutes before death happened."
In the minds the killer is approaching the victims. There's no sounds. The victim is fumbling with his keys too preoccupied to notice that some one is approaching them. Then it's too late. A noose is flung around their neck. With ease the killer tightens the noose, the victim's hands flies to try and pull the noose away from their neck. But the killer just tightens the noose, simply increasing the pressure as the blood is slowly cut off. Soon the victim is out cold and the noose goes tighter soon the victim is dead.
"What about the...?" Warrick asks.
Doc Robbins smiles, "Your butcher is a doctor. I recognise the workmanship." He notes, "Probably not someone who operates to heal. There's a little more delicate touch. The work seems to be as unnoticeable as possible. He seems to be right handed based on the way the cuts line up." He points out the face, "Notice the way the face has been taken?"
"Like Debbie's killer was a surgeon." I say.
"Our killer could be a plastic surgeon?" Gil asks. He moves to the side, pointing out the faces, "Because don't plastic surgeons take care so that their work is regarded as delicate." He adds.
Doc Robbins nods, "The way the flesh was taken away." He notes, he points to the second victim, "He suffered." He tells us, "Death was slow, probably drugged, or maybe instead yoking the victim, he was slowly suffocated. The ligature marks suggest that he was attacked in the same way, but it's not the cause of death. I send his blood up stairs. Still waiting on the tox screen."
I move to toe tag, "Vincent Lurie." I note, "What's the reckoning that the killer is one of Debbie Marlin's gentlemen callers?"
The men in the room all look at me. "What?" I ask. "It makes perfect sense." I add, "Look at it. Debbie was murdered, but she wasn't the focus of the rage. Michael was. That's why his death was slow. Debbie was killed with a slit throat, then posed. Michael came in, he was killed then cut up. Made into a human jigsaw, and the blame was pinned on him. A jealous man killed two people. What's the reckoning that a jealous man killed four people?"
"I wouldn't rule it out." Grissom notes. "But we can't rule out other causes."
"Who would take the time?" I ask. "If it was some random psycho they wouldn't of cared." I reply, "And it's not a mob hit."
Grissom gives me a funny look. I apologise for being so quick to jump to a theory. Assume nothing, but my gut is telling me that this is connected to Debbie's death. The way they were both staged.
Debbie in situ on the bathroom floor, her face tilted toward the door. The spray arched in the shower's glass. Waiting for someone to discover her. Michael in pieces waiting for garbage day, a phantasm in the wind. We were hunting a ghost.
Howard Tripton, Vincent Lurie, Henry Nichols, Xaiver Klose. All posed sitting up in their cars... Missing pieces of themselves.
"They were staged." I continue, "Look where they were found."
Gil nods, "They were waiting to be found."
"Someone wanted them to be found." Warrick adds.
"Someone wanted to gloat. Someone wanted revenge. And they wanted everyone to see it." I shake my head, "I hope there's some CCTV to back up the whole left behind thing." I say, before I walk from the room. I need to find Sara. I don't give a damn. I have to see her. I need to see her.
"Hey Nick have you seen Sara?" I catch up with Nick in the corridor.
Nick looks at me and blinks, "Yeah, she's in the garage."
"Thanks." I say.
"Catherine." I turn around, it's Warrick.
"Hey, I'm sorry about that." I wave my hand.
Warrick give me a look, "Off to see Sara?" He asks me.
"Am I that shallow?" I ask.
"Not really." Warrick replies, "Having flash backs?"
I look at him, "Kind of." I look towards the garage. "The Marlin case was seriously messed up." I shrug, "Now this case is seriously messed up." I wave my hand, "How can I not?"
Warrick just nods. I sigh then rub my temples. Then the sound of a pager going off. It's Warrick's, he picks it up, "Looks like tox has managed to find something."
I look at him, then reply, "Why don't you go see what they want, I'll meet you back in the layout room?"
Warrick just smiles, "OK, I'll go find Gris as well."
"See you in a few." I reply.
***
End Of Part 2