Post by lucymalta on Aug 26, 2009 3:34:54 GMT -10
Time for today's epi... just a warning, I have a busy couple of days, so I might not be able to post for a little while...
Enjoy
Lucy
Chapter 38
Frank sighed. A recent request from Horatio had initially seemed innocent enough, but the result was a pile of files on his desk that needed to be checked out very carefully. Each was a gang related, drug or prostitute related murder over the last six months and all were unsolved murders, it had taken over a week to go through them and he was glad it was a Friday.
Slowly he began to build a picture of the murders, the main thing the three recent bodies in Alexx’s morgue had in common was the MO, so Frank looked for similar cases, and found three others. Checking photographs, he noted that of the three, two were different, but the third – and most recent - was almost identical.
The other thing that the murders had in common was lack of evidence at the crime scene – especially a missing murder weapon. Cross checking, he found eight more. Of those eight, five had been given a TOD of between midnight and 5am on a Saturday or Sunday night.
Further checking revealed that the victims belonged to four different gangs, all of whom had overlapping territories. Digging a little deeper he found two more possibilities, but didn’t think they were connected – for one thing these victims were from different gangs – well away from the other four.
Making a quick call, he went to the layout room where he could show the results of his search to Horatio.
&&
“What do you have for me Frank?”
The tall Texan looked up his expression giving away his slight frustration. “I’ve found six other similar cases for you Horatio, the oldest is from about two months back. All nine victims were members of four gangs operating in a particular area. All had almost no evidence at the crime scene, though the MO’s are slightly different.”
“As I dug deeper, I found they had more in common. All are known to be in the middle or upper echelons of their particular gang, and all have done time for drugs. The fact that they have been taken off the streets has had quite an impact on drug sales in those areas.”
Horatio frowned, his mind processing the information. Just at that moment Calleigh walked in carrying two small tubes, both of which held a bullet.
“I checked the cases that you asked about Frank… Unfortunately, the three members shot with the nine mil were through and throughs – we never were able to identify the weapon used - the bullets were too badly damaged and the casings not found, but the two .303 bullets were also in the lock up – and they match each other.”
Glancing at the layout table, Calleigh’s eyes opened wide, “You only asked me about five cases Frank – not nine!”
Horatio explained what Frank had been looking for and the blonde CSI became more thoughtful. Quickly she began to glance through the files on the table, re-organising them by location. The three most recent victims had all been members of the same gang, killed only a few blocks from each other.
The fourth knife victim – that Frank had found – was also nearby, but from the tattoo on his left shoulder blade was identified as being from a different gang. However two of the nine mil victims also had the same tattoo and a similar location.
The other nine mil victim and one of the .303 victims were also from a gang working in a third location. The final .303 victim was from the fourth gang – and Russian. Moving to the A/V lab, the three of them began to plot out the locations around the city.
Adding the dates of the murders showed that the Russian had been killed first, followed by the other .303 murder, then the nine mil killings and finally the knife victims and with Frank’s knowledge of the gangs they were also able to plot out the gang territories.
When they were done Frank’s eyes narrowed and he turned to Horatio. “This looks a little familiar.”
Calleigh pulled a face, “Each of these killings is linked together – either by the MO, or the gang membership, the killer also seems to be escalating.”
H looked closely at the map and nodded, “Something else they have in common - these four gangs moved in and took over areas that formerly belonged to the Mala Noche.”
Calleigh pulled a face, “I thought we got rid of them?”
Her boss spoke quietly, “We did Calleigh, every last one of them, now what is happening here is either someone is trying to create a turf war and stirring up trouble – or – there is someone new in town that wants the whole area for themselves and is paying someone to get rid of key people in each gang to do so.”
Frank sighed, “I can think of a third Horatio… Remember that case we had a couple of years ago… When some CIA agent came down and took out the top people in Ramon Cruz’s organisation… We never did solve that one before we got told to butt out…”
Calleigh flashed a startled glance towards Horatio. “Well you know how the Agency is Frank… Listen, do you have any contacts down there who might be able to give us some more information?”
Frank shrugged his shoulders, “Not sure, but I can dig around a little…” The Texan turned and walked away to his desk, not noticing the look of despair on Horatio’s face.
Enjoy
Lucy
Chapter 38
Frank sighed. A recent request from Horatio had initially seemed innocent enough, but the result was a pile of files on his desk that needed to be checked out very carefully. Each was a gang related, drug or prostitute related murder over the last six months and all were unsolved murders, it had taken over a week to go through them and he was glad it was a Friday.
Slowly he began to build a picture of the murders, the main thing the three recent bodies in Alexx’s morgue had in common was the MO, so Frank looked for similar cases, and found three others. Checking photographs, he noted that of the three, two were different, but the third – and most recent - was almost identical.
The other thing that the murders had in common was lack of evidence at the crime scene – especially a missing murder weapon. Cross checking, he found eight more. Of those eight, five had been given a TOD of between midnight and 5am on a Saturday or Sunday night.
Further checking revealed that the victims belonged to four different gangs, all of whom had overlapping territories. Digging a little deeper he found two more possibilities, but didn’t think they were connected – for one thing these victims were from different gangs – well away from the other four.
Making a quick call, he went to the layout room where he could show the results of his search to Horatio.
&&
“What do you have for me Frank?”
The tall Texan looked up his expression giving away his slight frustration. “I’ve found six other similar cases for you Horatio, the oldest is from about two months back. All nine victims were members of four gangs operating in a particular area. All had almost no evidence at the crime scene, though the MO’s are slightly different.”
“As I dug deeper, I found they had more in common. All are known to be in the middle or upper echelons of their particular gang, and all have done time for drugs. The fact that they have been taken off the streets has had quite an impact on drug sales in those areas.”
Horatio frowned, his mind processing the information. Just at that moment Calleigh walked in carrying two small tubes, both of which held a bullet.
“I checked the cases that you asked about Frank… Unfortunately, the three members shot with the nine mil were through and throughs – we never were able to identify the weapon used - the bullets were too badly damaged and the casings not found, but the two .303 bullets were also in the lock up – and they match each other.”
Glancing at the layout table, Calleigh’s eyes opened wide, “You only asked me about five cases Frank – not nine!”
Horatio explained what Frank had been looking for and the blonde CSI became more thoughtful. Quickly she began to glance through the files on the table, re-organising them by location. The three most recent victims had all been members of the same gang, killed only a few blocks from each other.
The fourth knife victim – that Frank had found – was also nearby, but from the tattoo on his left shoulder blade was identified as being from a different gang. However two of the nine mil victims also had the same tattoo and a similar location.
The other nine mil victim and one of the .303 victims were also from a gang working in a third location. The final .303 victim was from the fourth gang – and Russian. Moving to the A/V lab, the three of them began to plot out the locations around the city.
Adding the dates of the murders showed that the Russian had been killed first, followed by the other .303 murder, then the nine mil killings and finally the knife victims and with Frank’s knowledge of the gangs they were also able to plot out the gang territories.
When they were done Frank’s eyes narrowed and he turned to Horatio. “This looks a little familiar.”
Calleigh pulled a face, “Each of these killings is linked together – either by the MO, or the gang membership, the killer also seems to be escalating.”
H looked closely at the map and nodded, “Something else they have in common - these four gangs moved in and took over areas that formerly belonged to the Mala Noche.”
Calleigh pulled a face, “I thought we got rid of them?”
Her boss spoke quietly, “We did Calleigh, every last one of them, now what is happening here is either someone is trying to create a turf war and stirring up trouble – or – there is someone new in town that wants the whole area for themselves and is paying someone to get rid of key people in each gang to do so.”
Frank sighed, “I can think of a third Horatio… Remember that case we had a couple of years ago… When some CIA agent came down and took out the top people in Ramon Cruz’s organisation… We never did solve that one before we got told to butt out…”
Calleigh flashed a startled glance towards Horatio. “Well you know how the Agency is Frank… Listen, do you have any contacts down there who might be able to give us some more information?”
Frank shrugged his shoulders, “Not sure, but I can dig around a little…” The Texan turned and walked away to his desk, not noticing the look of despair on Horatio’s face.