The CSI team is once again gathered in the evidence room, well that is everyone except for Nick.
“Has anyone seen Nick lately?” Catherine inquires.
“I haven’t seen him since the beginning of the shift,” Sara responds.
Warrick just shakes his head.
Nick picks that moment to show up, “Sorry, I was talking to Greg.”
Everyone just stares at him.
“About the Playstation game Mr. Wells claims he was playing at the same time he was committing a crime.”
“Had Greg heard of it?” Sara asks.
“More or less. It’s a very graphic game, but the opponents shoot each other, not innocent by standards.”
“That means that he’s lying,” Warrick states.
“Or that he was so high that he mixed all the details up,” Sara throws a wrench in to the observation.
“Either way the evidence still points to Mr. Wells,” Catherine interrupts, attempting to pull them into more productive reasoning, “Warrick, did you get the background check on the woman who rents that apartment and her boyfriend?”
“Yeah, they’re clean. Employee drug tests are always negative. They’re boss couldn’t praise them more.”
“One more possibility eliminated,” Catherine sighs.
“I ran the fiber analysis on the samples we collected from the gun shop and that apartment,” Sara starts, “You know those one size fits all gloves that you can buy cheap at like Wal*Mart. Well, that’s what our perp was wearing. The fiber from the apartment is from a cotton t-shirt. Unless we can find the gloves and the t-shirt, they’re a dead-end.”
“My luck wasn’t much better,” Nick huff, “That shoe print I found belongs to Nike’s most popular seller last year. Half of Vegas must own a pair.”
“Actually, man, I think I do,” Warrick laughs.
“Well guys were stumped because CODIS displayed a big “no match” on my blood sample.”
“I guess that makes me a hero,” Brass gruffs as he comes into the evidence room, “Mr. Wells and his court appointed lawyer have decided to cooperate. I have a list of his friends and permission to search his residence. He still thinks he has nothing to hide. However, the criminals of Las Vegas have come out again. Woman shoots a burglar with his own gun and a guy tried to rob that little coffee shop down the street. Take a guess at how many cops were there?”
“Thanks Brass,” Catherine smiles.
“Sure,” He turns to leave, “Do you want me to round up those suspects?”
“In the morning. See if you can get me a warrant for their DNA.”
Brass nods and actually leaves this time.
“Sara, justifiable homicide, Warrick take the coffee shop, Nick you’re with me. Let’s check this guy’s apartment out.”
***
John Wells’s apartment isn’t in much better shape then his personal grooming habits. Pizza boxes litter the coffee table and who knows when the last time anyone washed the dishes.
Catherine groans as she scans the room with her flashlight, “What is the younger generation coming to?”
“I don’t know. I can assure you my apartment never looked like this.”
Catherine eyes him, not sure if she should believe him.
“What exactly are we looking for?” Nick continues.
“Guns, that t-shirt, gloves, maybe even your shoes.”
“I doubt we’re going to find any shoes here. He claims he owns only one pair.”
“And you believe him?”
“Do you see any shoes?”
“No, I guess not. I’ll take the bathroom and the bedroom. You can take the kitchen and the living area.”
Nick nods and they split up.
They don’t have to search long before Catherine finds something interesting. She brings the bagged t-shirt out into the living area to show Nick, “Hey, Isn’t this interesting. Same color and a hole in the front.”
“Catherine, this just doesn’t add up. Why would he let us search the place with that laying around?”
“I don’t know Nick, but for once I think we should take Grissom’s advice and just follow the evidence.”
Catherine turns to go back into the bedroom, but Nick stops her, “Hey Cath, look at this.”
Nick has opened what must be the coat closet. Inside are a few work shirts and a black coat with leather gloves sticking out of the pocket.”
“Bag it. We’ll see what we can find on it in the lab.”
“If he had gloves, why wasn’t he wearing them while he was firing?”
“Huh” is all Catherine can say.
“I found GSR on his hands, but no finger prints on the window. Why take them off to fire?”
“Maybe, he doesn’t like the feel, but it does mean that we should find his prints on the guns when we find them.”
“Yeah, Let’s get this finished. I can tell you don’t like it here. Too much mold,” Nick smirks.
Catherine gives him a look, but returns to the bedroom. The rest of the apartment doesn’t yield anything useful.
***
Sara stands looking into the interrogation room through the one-way mirror when Catherine comes in to join her. One of the seven new suspects is inside with Nick, Warrick, and Brass. These suspects appear to respond to Nick and Warrick. Somehow they still manage to slip into the world of the youth. Brass is in there to keep the suspects on edge. His gruffness could frighten those who do not know him.
“Look at his hand,” Catherine says pointing at the man’s left hand.
Sara focuses in on it. The bruises are quite obvious and so is a ragged cut that is infected, “I think he’s our guy form the gun shop.”
“Greg will confirm it when he gets around to running the tests. Even the criminals are afraid to go out at night. Days has the lab backed up into the middle of next week.”
“We’ve almost got this nailed despite the fact that they all appear to believe they were playing video games all night.”
“How long have you been in here?”
“For most of it. I can’t do anything else with my case until the autopsy is performed to confirm my findings. That t-shirt you brought me was an easy match to the fibers found in the apartment.”
“I’ve been stuck with paperwork all night long and most of morning.”
Sara chuckles.
“Fill me in on what’s happened.”
“We’ve almost got them. All of them still have GSR on their hands. I don’t think any of them ever wash their hands. I think it’s the second suspect who is wearing Nick’s shoes. He looked like a little kid at Christmas when the prints finally matched.”
“All their prints are going to be on those firearms once we find them.”
“And they would still stick to that video game story. I don’t understand how they haven’t cracked yet. I mean their average age is nineteen, they’re on drugs, and don’t seem to know how to bath themselves. How can they act so well?”
“I think that is the key to solving this case.”
TBC