Abrupt Crime Scene

[psychette]

The once quiet neighborhood is bustling with activity now. At first, it was an ambulance. Now there are a few police cars showing up. An officer is taping off the crime scene.

It's the courtyard of a hotel in Miami, one of those that was built to simulate being in Mexico. The courtyard is lined with brown flagstones, a decorative fountain in the middle. The hotel curves around the courtyard with a few staircases leading up to the various levels of rooms.

There's a man's silk tie on the ground near the body. He appears to be a janitor for this estate according to his name tag. There's two bullet holes in his side and one in his foot. A few shell cases on the ground as well near the wall.

The paramedics are working on getting a stretcher with Jackie on it into the ambulance.

ooc: if anyone else joins in csi-ish, horatio gets to take point on this case.

Comments

[lt-horatiocaine.livejournal.com]

His neck was still sore from being strangled and he wasn't too sure of his voice at the moment. It wasn't like he needed to tell anyone how to do their jobs, at least not yet. They knew what they were doing.

Technically, Horatio couldn't touch the shooting since he was directly involved. IAB would handle that angle. He could, however, investigate Jackie's attempted murder. Reaching in his suit jacket, he took out a pair of latex gloves and put them on. He crouched near the body but the tie caught his attention. There was a blood smear on it. The janitor wasn't holding it when he was shot, and it wasn't Horatio's blood. It probably wasn't Jackie's blood either; H had looked her over before and she wasn't bleeding that he could see.

Horatio called over a uniform and ordered for the rest of the hotel to be checked. There was more to this.

He stood up straight when the sirens of the ambulance sounded and watched it drive away. "What did you see, Jackie," he said, more to himself than anyone else, "that made this man want to kill you?"

[psychette10.livejournal.com]

The uniforms were starting to go door to door, some going upstairs and some working the ground floor. The hotel manager wasn't too happy with all of the bustle going around, but he was grudgingly cooperative.

The janitor's name turns out to be Gus, worked at the hotel for a couple of years, quiet and never gave his employer cause for complaint. What he did outside of work, well, the manager said that wasn't any of his business now was it?

The body doesn't have much besides his name tag and janitor's keys to the janitor's closet and all of the rooms around the hotel. His hands appear to be clean...but there is a slight stain to the cuffs of his shirt that suggest he's been in contact with blood very recently.

[lt-horatiocaine.livejournal.com]

In the flurry of the hotel search, Horatio had retrieved his kit. he kept a mental checklist of the evidence he needed to collect since he refused to touch anything before he spoke to IAB. The evidence was not going to be questioned by anyone, Horatio would make sure of that.

After a lovely brief conversation with IAB, H began processing the scene. The tie and shell casings were bagged and tagged by the time an officer interrupted the lieutenant. "You may want to take a look at this, sir."

Intrigued, Horatio followed the officer to a room on the ground floor.

[psychette10.livejournal.com]

The room was like all the other rooms in the hotel in the way of decor and such. One of those fake paintings of a garden on the wall over the bolted down television.
The only difference was this room was supposed to be vacant, at least according to the manager. And there was a neat pile of suitcases and belongs in the middle of the floor...all of them piled around a suspiciously large trunk.

There are a few signs of a struggle in the room, but it looks like most of them were cleaned up. The lamp was moved from it's usual spot like it had been replaced there. There's no bulb in it, but there are a few fragments on the carpeting.

Two tickets to Europe are laid on the bed as if forgotten there. One is for the janitor Gus, the other for a woman named Janet Trencher.

[lt-horatiocaine.livejournal.com]

Horatio examined the tickets before bagging them. "Gentlemen," Horatio addressed the officers in the room, "let's find Miss Janet Trencher, please." They left to do just that as Horatio approached the suspiciously large trunk. After breaking the lock off the trunk, he slowly lifted the lid.

And promptly closed it, the smell of decomp rushing his nose. Bracing himself, he lifted the lid entirely. A man in a suit had been stuffed into the trunk, his body oddly positioned.

The MEs hauled the bodies away and Horatio dropped the evidence off at the lab. He got right back in his Hummer and headed towards the hospital, wanting to see with his own eyes that Jackie was alright.

[psychette10.livejournal.com]

Ward 10 of Miami-Dade local hospital:

There's a doctor in with Jackie, inspecting her neck and looking down her throat with a popscicle stick. "You're very lucky, only minor trauma and nothing broken. You could have had your windpipe crushed and been in surgery right now." Jackie smiles, happy for some good news.

Her smile lights up a bit more as she notices Horatio standing in the doorway of the hospital room and waggles her fingers in a small wave. She doesn't trust her voice just yet.

[lt-horatiocaine.livejournal.com]

He returns the smile but doesn't approach her until after the doctor leaves. Fingering his sunglasses, Horatio stood in front of her and canted his head to the side. "You're okay?"

[psychette10.livejournal.com]

you mean besides killing the mun ded with that sunglasses line? \o/

She nods, leaning back onto the pillows. The mark is still quite noticable around her neck.
"...you?" her voice is raspy but she was worried about him too.

[lt-horatiocaine.livejournal.com]

good thing the mun didn't use the ridiculously appropriate icon

Horatio frowns briefly at the damage to her neck but manages to give her a small smile at her concern. "Better now." He sits in the hospital chair and looks down at his feet. "Um...you can write it down if you'd like but I need to know what happened."

[psychette10.livejournal.com]

She nods a bit slower, realizing she has to make a statement and gets the pen and paper from the side table and writes.

I was visiting a friend at the hotel and was leaving when someone jumped me and started choking me. I tried to fight him off but he was a bit bigger and I couldn't call for help.

[lt-horatiocaine.livejournal.com]

Horatio's frown deepened as he read. "Okay." he said thoughtfully. "How about when you first arrived at the hotel. Do you remember anything or anyone that seemed out of place?"

[psychette10.livejournal.com]

Jackie took a moment, as if she was a bit scared to be remembering this close encounter.

I passed that janitor on the stairs on the way in. Him and his girlfriend I think. They were carrying a big trunk.

*squeaky voice* ...he's...dead...isn't he?

[lt-horatiocaine.livejournal.com]

"Yes, he is." Horatio said slowly. "But you're alright, and that's what matters. Okay?"

[psychette10.livejournal.com]

She nods slowly.

"I've...never seen..." Her voice is too quiet to continue so she scribbles next to her statement.

First time I've seen someone get shot before that wasn't in a movie.

I'm glad you're alright though.

[lt-horatiocaine.livejournal.com]

"I apologize if I scared you, Jackie." Horatio said sincerely. "But I'm fine, don't worry about me."

[psychette10.livejournal.com]

She takes a drink of water and gets out fairly clearly, "I'm better now...I have to stay overnight."

Suddenly, she's looking over Horatio's shoulder into the corridor with a surprised look. She points, her voice starting to fail again, "The...lady with...the janitor..."

Out by the nurses desk is a young lady asking which room Jackie is in.

[lt-horatiocaine.livejournal.com]

Horatio turned in time to catch the woman looking in their direction. "I'll be right back." he said quietly to Jackie, before standing to his feet. Slowly, he headed towards the nurses station.


(ooc: sorry, the internet has been acting funky)

No worries :)

[psychette10.livejournal.com]

Jackie nodded, watching him go, a bit worried.

At the nurses station, the lady was saying, "...was hurt today and I drove all the way down here to see her. She's my sister after all, I mean, you'd do the same, right?" The nurse was nodding sympathetically but looked grateful when Horatio was coming towards them, she wasn't sure what to tell this woman.

[lt-horatiocaine.livejournal.com]

Horatio approached, and gave a quick nod to the nurse. This woman wasn't Jackie's sister, and while he could have confronted her about it, Horatio rather enjoyed catching people in their lies.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" he said, addressing the woman. "I'm Horatio Caine. You're looking for Jackie?"

[psychette10.livejournal.com]

Ah, someone who might know more than this unhelpful nurse. "Yes, I am, do you know where she is? Nobody's been able to point me to her room..." she says with a hand on her hip and a slight scowl.

[lt-horatiocaine.livejournal.com]

He regarded her scowl with a tight smile. "Yes, well I can see how that could be a problem for you." He paused a moment to put his hands on his hips, exposing his gun and badge in the process. "But we're in the middle of an investigation. Giving out that kind of information could cause problems. You understand, don't you?"

[psychette10.livejournal.com]

The woman caught sight of the badge and proceeded to turn ten shades of pale. But she tried to cover it up by smoothing a lock of her hair away from her face. "Ah I see...yes I understand. Perhaps it would be better if I came back another time when she's feeling better...sorry to have troubled you." She grabbed her purse off the counter, turning to go to the elevators a bit hurriedly.

[lt-horatiocaine.livejournal.com]

As soon as the elevator doors closed, Horatio used the nurse's desk phone to reach the patrol car he knew was outside. He gave them her description, asked them to keep an eye on her and hung up.

Returning to Jackie's room, Horatio sat down in the chair again. "Um... I want to put an officer at the door until you can be discharged, okay?"

[psychette10.livejournal.com]

Jackie nodded, more than a little creeped out that she'd been followed to the hospital of all places. In a raspy voice, she asked, "Wonder why...she wanted me...?"

[lt-horatiocaine.livejournal.com]

Horatio frowned, not really wanting to say what he was about to. "For the same reason you were strangled today. They might have thought you saw something you weren't supposed to see."

"Tell me, what is your friend's name that you were visiting at the hotel?"