The Foolish Corner
8
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Chapter 8 –
Explanations and Investigations
Nick was on his way to Rachel’s condo. She had reluctantly agreed to talk to
him. He made a stop along the way; he had wanted to give her something vespecspecial anyway and now seemed like the perfect time.
Finding a parking spot near her door, Nick pulled into it.
He carefully picked up the small gift bag that was perched on the shot-gun
seat, and he locked the vehicle. He strode up to Rachel’s door and rang the
bell. She answered it right aw/p>
/p>
“Hello, Nick. Please come in.” She stepped aside to allow
him entry, and locked the door again once he was inside. Seeing the gift bag in
his hand, she inquired, “What’s that?”
He held it out for her to take, “Oh, it’s just a little
something-something I want you to have.”
With some hesitation, she took it and invited him to sit
down in the living room. Once there, she set the gift on the coffee table.
“Rachel, please open it. I promise you, it’s nothing bad.” Her distant coolness
had him very worried.
“Not yet, Nicky. First, let’s have that little talk you
wanted. You go first.” She looked down at her hands as she spoke; since his
arrival, she hadn’t once looked him in the eye.
happened. You were so right, calling me a first-class jerk. That’s really
putting it mildly. But, I need to ask you to explain something.”
cautiously.
that day, I thought I heard something. I mean, I wasn’t trying to listen in,
I d I don’t know French, but I thought I understood part of what you said.
Maybe I didn’t understand. What did you tell him?”
do that. I don’t remember all the exact words anymore. Besides, part of it was
private family stuff.” There was a note of hostility in her voice.
part where you said ... no, where you used a word that sounded like ... sounded
like ... adore.” He had managed to say it, now it hung in the air between them.
about?” She looked at him with a strange expression. He said nothing; he merely
sat there, feeling humiliated under her gaze.
uncomfortable silence, “Okay, alright, I’ll tell you. What you heard was
probably something like “Je l’adore”. It means, “I love him.” Her voice was
anxious and impatient.
continued, “Oh, boy. Well, honestly, I was actually talking about you. I had
just emailed Jeremy to tell him about you, and when he read it he called to
congratulate me. I told him I love you. That’s what you heard. So, tell me; why
did you blowaskeasket over it?”
stumbled over his words, “But, you said adore. I don’t get it. ‘Je t’aime’ is
‘I love you’, I know that much French. Adore is something else. Isn’t it?”
“Nicky, French grammar can be pretty complicated. There are two verbs for love
in French. Aimer, that’s the infinitive, means ‘to love’, is is more commonly
used, but it can also mean ‘to like’. The other one is Adorer, again the
infinitive. It means ‘to love’ or ‘to adore’. It’s not so common, and it’s the
stronger verb. So, yeah, I basically told Jeremy that I adore you. What did you
think I said?”
pretty damn silly now, but here it is.” He tried to look at her, but found he
couldn’t. “I thought you said you adored him. You know, Jeremy. And, remember,
I didn’t know who you were talking to.”
impact of Nick’s confession to sink in. Then, Rachel’s eyes grew big, and she
sputtered, “Oh my goodness. You heard ... You thought ... No, never ... I
wouldn’t.”
close to her and put his arms around her. “It’s okay. I know now. It’s all my
fault. I never should have jumped to that conclusion.”
Suddenly giggling, Rachel hugged Nick. “Oh, Nicky, you
sweet, sweet man. All that because I told my cousin I love you. I mean, I
haven’t really told you, well, not yet. But, here’s the good partur
ur
reaction means you love me, too. Right?” She kissed him playfully.
“Rachel, I just have to make sure we’re on the same page
here. That I’m hearing you right this time, you’re actually saying you love
me?” Nick desperately wanted it to be true.
“Oh yes, Nick. I do love you. Well, actually, I adore you.”
She kissed him again, he had no objection to that.
Breaking away from her delicious mouth, he breathlessly told
her, “Rachel, darlin’, I adore you, too.” Then, feeling a little mischievous,
he added, “So, what’s that in French? Je adore ...?”
“Je t’adore. Or, Je t’adore beaucoup. I love you very much.”
She smiled happily as she gazed into his eyes.
“Let me try that. Je t’adore beaucoup ... um, too?” He
silently determined to start taking French lessons.
“Aussi. Je t’adore beaucoup aussi.”
“Je t’adore beaucoup aussi.” The words were French, and the
accent Texan, but the feeling was pure love.
~~~~~
lab, it was the second shift of Nick’s suspension. As he signed in at the front
desk, he heard his name.
It’s been inspectehoulhould be safe to open.” Judy, the receptionist pointed at
a big cardboard box sitting on the floor near the desk.
it up. He headed for the layout room, keeping an eye out for Sara as he went.
He found her near the locker room. “Hey, Sara. This just came, I think it’s
that tire we needed. Wanna help?”
precautions in opening the box. True, it had been inspected in the police
department mailroom prior to being dropped off at the lab; but in the post-
9/11 world, law enforcement personnel could not be too careful.
contents revealed. It was a complete front tire and wheel assembly from a Honda
ATC 110.
big grins and high five’s, elated that they could move ahead in their
investigation. Clearing it with Grissom, who didn’t have any new cases for
them, they did so, spending the next few hours making careful, precise
exemplars of the tire tread, which they then compared to the casts taken at
Mount Charleston.
allowing for slight differences in tire wear, it’s close enough. It confirms
that the tracks we found were from one of these Hondas.” Warrick announced.
but right now all we really have is Honda tracks in the desert. We still need
to find the specific Honda used in the crimes and link it to a suspect - and to
one of the crime scenes.” Sara added.
airtight.”
although not everybody bothers to get proper registration and licensing for
off-road cycles.”
start.” Warrick gave her an encouraging pat on the shoulder.
~~~~~
A while later, Rachel remembered that she had not yet opened
the gift. Nick, courteous man that he was, fetched it from the living room for
her, and brought it back to the bedroom.
Smiling, Rachel pulled the gift out of the bag. She gasped
when she saw what it was, a set of earrings and matching brooch, in the shape
of lovebirds. “Nicky, their beautiful. Oh, thank you. I love them.”
“I saw them the other day, and I instantly thought of you. I
just had to get them for you. You’re my lovebird now.” He was euphoric, high on
love.
“You know, a gift this special deserves a reward. So, Tex,
y’all better come and get it.” She didn’t have to ask him twice.
reading a forensics journal. Another shift was about to start, and Nick would
be back.
Catherine had just arrived, and was putting her lunch in the fridge.
“Now, Catherine, you know I only read the articles.”
y’all. It’s good to be back”
back.” Catherine smiled at him.
Warrick’s response.
room; Grissom was right behind her. She touched Nick’s arm and smiled at him as
she walked past him and sat down.
began, “Okay, team, here’s what we have tonight.” He gave them their
assignments.
~~~~~
circ’s db. The crime scene was a warehouse in the northwest corner of Vegas.
Sara checked in with Brass, listened to his summary, and ducked under the
yellow tape. Immediately, she was in full CSI-mode; she started systematically
scanning the area, making herself familiar with the scene. The ground around
the warehouse was bare dirt, but she noted a mess of footprints impressed in the
soil. She carefully placed a few markers around the prints, and took the
required photos. Moving on, she muttered, “Bonus!” as her flashlight
illuminated what was very likely a track from a Honda ATC 110. Again, she
marked and photographed.
conclusions.”, she quickly reminded herself. Still, she could not quite
dissuade herself that this scene had some connection to the Mount Charleston
case.
warehouse, David Phillips, the assistant coroner, looked up from where he was
kneeling by a dead man and greeted her with a shy smile. “Hey, Sara.”
smile - after all was was sweet and cute, even if he wasn’t her type - she
replied, “Hey, David. What’ve you got?”
Caucasian, age probably late 20’s, no ID. Liver temp indicates T.O.D. at around
five hours ago. Apparent C.O.D., gunshot wound to the abdomen. He bled out.” He
pointed out a large puddle of blood on the floor.
aside while Sara did her own examination of the body. After having a close
look, she took some tape lifts from the clothing, and snapped off the necessary
photos.
to send all his clothing and personal effects to me ASAP.”
body, Sara got busy with processing the scene. So busy, in fact, that about two
hours later when Grissom entered the warehouse, walked up behind her, and
softly spoke her name, she nearly jumped out of her skin. Uttering an obscenity
and spinning around, she glared at him accusingly. “Don’t EVER do that to me
again! Unless you WANT me to have a heart attack!”
and reassured her, “I’m sorry, Sara. And, of course I don’t want you to
have a heart attack. I thought you heard me coming.”
retort, and instead responded with, “Well, I didn’t. You know how focused I get
at a scene.” She pulled out of his grip, which was becoming entirely too
distracting, “Anyway, what brings you here?”
some help.”
shared a moment of prolonged, intense eye contact, in which their souls
communed, and their hearts rejoiced. Then, they finished processing the scene.
continued her investigation of the warehouse murder. David, true to his word,
had sent her the vic’s clothing and personal effects. Sara had the pieces of
clothing spread out on the table in the layout room, and was systematically
examining them with a magnifying glass. So far, she hadn’t found anything.
and looked up to see Grissom there. “Hey, Griss. Need something?” Her words
sounded a lot more suggestive than she had meant them to be.
for her, and he came further into the room, “Always, Sara, but that’s for
later. Right now, I just wanted to see how you’re doing with this.” He glanced
at the clothing to indicate his meaning.
not finding anything here.”
warehouse, but we already knew he was there. That’s e wee we found him.” She
picked up one he she sneakers. “These shoes match some of the prints we found
at the warehouse, again proving what we already know.”
thoughts into a logical sequence, she began, “Okay, the footprints outside the
warehouse were in a jumbled mess, likely indicating a struggle. Some of those
prints match the vic’s shoes; which tells us that the vic participated in the
struggle. So, we know he was still alive then, and it seems he entered the
warehouse by walking in on his own feet. Then, he was killed inside the
warehouse; he was found lying in his own blood. He wasn’t moved post-mortem.
You and I looked for more footprints inside the warehouse, and we found a few,
but they didn’t show a struggle. Again, some of them match the vic; they showed
hish frh from the door to where he was killed. The other footprints, outside
and inside, probably belong to the killer. Other than that, we have the bullet
that David removed from the vic. Bobby is testing it now. Have I missed
anything.?”
possible tire print?”
<
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style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:normal'>Sara rummaged through the evidence
bags and found the one containing the cast of that print. “It looks just like
the ones found at Mt. Charleston. Is Warrick back yet?”
“accidentally” brushed against Grissom on her way out of the room, leaving him
with a smile on his face, and ideas for what they would be doing after they got
home.
I need to know if this print matches the Honda tracks from Mt. Charleston.”
Sara handed him the evidence bag.
does look like the same track.”
know. It would prove a link between Mt. Charleston and my new case at the
warehouse.”
at her.