THE FINEST OF LINES: CHAPTER 2

AN: So here it is! Chapter 2.. Thank you to all those who have read the first chapter and are following the story. Also if my writing style seems a bit weird its because I'm a script writer and we have a certain way of writing.. It can be frustrating to some so please bear with me while I try to find a happy medium.. But without further a do… the adventure continues. Let me know what you think!

I OWN NOTHING.

Carrie steadied herself before pushing open the double swing doors to the morgue. As she entered, she could see Jo elbow deep in their victims chest. Jo looked up at her as she made her way over to the table. She smiled somewhat more gleefully than she should have considering her current activity. Carrie placed the water bottle in her hands down on a spare patch of bench and fished out the bottle of aspirin that was rattling around in her jacket pocket. She popped the lid and shook a handful out, throwing them in her mouth, followed by a generous guzzle of the water before her.

With the pills safely on their way to try and help shift her headache, Carrie turned her attention to Jo and the dead man on the table.

"Hey Jo, what's the go this guy?"

Pulling a number of internal organs out of the man's stomach and placing them in a metal bowl, Jo began her report to Carrie.

"Well as I said at the scene, what this man went through was not pleasant and judging by some older, more healed injuries its not the first time something like this has happened to him. Here look.."

Jo shone her light on the victims upper thighs. Carrie could now notice the pre- existing trauma; burn scars, cuts and a bullet hole. She frowned and rubbed her forehead, willing the painkillers to kick in already.

"Okay, any leads on who he is? Have we got DNA or fingerprints back?"

Jo smiled again and moved around to the side of the table Carrie was on.

"I thought you'd never ask."

She picked up the victims hand and held a magnifying glass over his finger tips. Carrie squinted at them through the glass.

"Jo?.. He doesn't have any fingerprints…"

Jo nodded and then grabbed a pair of tweezers of a tray beside her.

"I noticed it when I was doing nail scrapings to see i four unlucky friend here had any DNA from his killer under them. I, then also notice this…"

With the tweezers Jo pulled at the victims thumb; a large length of skin came off. Carrie frowned; she had no idea what was happening. This case just seemed to be one weird thing after another. Jo noticed her confusion.

"Only some of the fingers didn't have ridges.. when I took a closer look I realised that he had a silica type substance on some of them. I scanned them into the system…. Jay is looking them up now. Carrie nodded absentmindedly, staring off into the distance. Jo frowned; Carrie really wasn't her normal self.

"Are you okay Carrie?"

The question snapped her back into reality. Jo was the 2nd person today to ask and that didn't include Al's second crack at it. She sighed heavily and sank down onto the stool behind her.

"I guess I haven't been sleeping very well lately…. and this headache is something I'd like to forget."

Jo stepped up to her and checked her over. As blasé as she was, Jo hated seeing Carrie off her game.

"Is this since you came back from Syracuse?"

Carrie rubbed at her neck and shrugged.

"Maybe… I suppose… why?"

Jo grabbed the bottle of aspirin Carrie had opened earlier and examined it.

"That was some pretty heavy stuff you went through. Being back there… thinking you had finally gotten the bastard that killed Rachel and then that is ripped away… Your only lead dying.."

She paused a moment, contemplating her next statement.

"Al…."

At hearing his name slip from Jo's lips, Carrie eyed her suspiciously; what did she know about Al?

"What do you know Jo?"

Jo sucked her teeth and folded her arms across her chest.

"I know Al is worried about you… and that you haven't quite seemed yourself… These headaches for one… and why aren't you sleeping?"

Carrie took a deep breath and grabbed the bottle of aspirin that Jo was handing back to her. She got up.

"Ill be fine Jo… You know me… nothing a cup of coffee won't fix. Let me know if you get anything else off our vic."

Before Jo could utter another word, Carrie was out the door. Jo frowned and sucked at her teeth again. She would just have to trust that if it all got to be too much, Carrie would either talk to herself or to Al.

—

Al watched as the bank of screens in front of him changed at lightening speed. With every keystroke Jay made, the more and more information that came to life before him; pictures, records and financial data. So far nothing was adding up. He ran an exhausted hand through his hair and closed his eyes, stealing a moment to himself. Everything seemed to come to a standstill and he soaked it in. After a few moments he realised Jay had stopped typing. His eyes shot open and he came face to face with a smiling Jay; by the pleased look on his face Al knew he had something.

"You just gonna continue to stare at me?"

Jay smiled at him.

"I just didn't want to interrupt your moment."

Al looked back at him deadpan.

"Jay… what have you got?"

He spun back around in his chair and brought up an image of a young man; late 20's. Al studied the image. Jay hit a few more keys and a few more images came to life on the screen.

"This is our victim, one Alec Rusnikov. The finger prints that Jo scanned in for us popped. Carrie should be back soon with the full rundown on what left him missing half his face."

As if on cue, Carrie came strolling through the heavy metal door of the command centre. Al offered her a soft smile, which she returned as she came over. She looked at the monitors and frowned.

"Is that the victim?"

Al nodded.

"Yeah Jay was able to ID him off the finger prints Jo gave us."

Carrie shook her head and put her back towards the screens; closing the distance between herself and Al, not wanting Jay to think that he hadn't done his job right.

"Well we have 2 problems… 1, Jo said he had no fingerprints; I even saw his fingers… nothing. The hit your getting is from some sort of silica prosthetics."

Al frowned at her.

"Okay.. so we will now check with DNA and facial Rec…. What's the 2nd problem?"

Carrie bit her lip… apprehensive to continue.

"Ive seen him before.."

At this rate Al felt he was going to have enough lines in his face to put him into early retirement with the amount of frowning he was doing.

"When..?"

She looked at her shoes.

"Today.."

Al ran a hand over his weary face.

"Window watcher guy?"

Carrie shook her head.

"No. It was in the apartment building when you were talking to the building manager…. I saw this guy exit an apartment down the hall… apartment 403."

Al hated questioning her memory but she was definitely off her game.

"I hate to ask again but are you sure?" If you are that means we are back at square one. No ID… and no clue as to who murdered him."

Carrie fiddled with her rings, recalling the memory once again.

"You were talking to the building manager. I was looking down the left hand side of the hallway. Then he came out of apartment 403. I noticed he glanced over in our direction and then he went the other way. Probably went down the service stairs. He was wearing motorcycle leathers and had a helmet in his hand."

Recalling this fact, triggered another memory from earlier that day. Carrie let the memory play out.

CRIME SCENE- EARLIER THAT SAME DAY ( Carrie Wells memory)

They both got out of Al's car and walked towards a uniformed officer who was holding up the tape for them. Carrie's gaze flicked to the left. There! A black and white Yamaha R25 sat next to a service door at the side of the building.

MAJOR CRIMES - PRESENT

The memory ended and Carrie turned around to Jay.

"Jay can you run a motorcycle plate number.. It's JT- 815."

Jay tapped away at the keyboard, retrieving the information. Al stepped up beside her.

"What are we looking for Carrie?"

She cocked her head to the side as the record came up Jay frowned and looked at the pair.

"That!… is what we are looking for."

The bike was registered to Alec Rusnikov.

"Okay now.. Jay can you cross reference that with cameras around the crime scene from this morning."

Jay chuckled, looking to see if Carrie was serious.

"Why would I need to cross reference the info of our dead guy?"

Al looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Just humour us okay?"

Jay shrugged and did as he was asked. Carrie couldn't help but nudge Al when the footage she expected to see came up.

"Ha!.. See… All day you've been questioning my judgement and memory… Not sure if I should be offended or what considering my memory and judgement are the only solid things about this case."

Al smiled softly and offered an apologetic look her way. Jay however was still perplexed.

"Okay so if Alec Rusnikov is still alive who has Jo got on her table and why does he have Rusnikov's prints?"

Al and Carrie had still been staring at each other cheekily. The stare off was broken by Elliot who came bounding out of his office.

"What in the good lord's name did you guys do?"

Both Al and Carrie looked at him innocently. Elliot looked at the screens behind them.

"You've got to be kidding me…."

AHHH so there it is.. Hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think :)