Case #1: Romeo
Chapter 4
Atlanta,
Georgia
7:22
AM
“I
got a partial off of the vic!” Jason
Arquette replied as he lifted the print from the dead woman.
He placed his finding in a cellophane evidence bag and continued to comb
over the body with precision.
With
a gloved hand Logan carefully lifted the rose from the pool of blood. He examined it closely.
“Son of a Bitch left his calling card!”
“Have
you found anything else on the body?” Toni
asked moving over towards Jason.
“I
found this white fiber under her fingernail.”
He held up the tweezers with the fiber grasped in its hold and showed it
to Toni before he dropped it into a smaller evidence bag.
“I’m going to take some of these things to lab and see what Clint and
Miranda can get for us.”
“Take
her with you and introduce her to the crime lab personnel,” Logan said looking
up long enough to motion towards Toni before returning to his work. “And phone my cell when they find something…and run that
partial through AFIS
and see if we can get a match.”
“Gotcha.”
Jason replied as he and Toni exited the crime scene.
“Is
he always like this?” Toni asked
sarcastically when they were safely out of Logan’s hearing range.
“Like
what? A total workaholic?”
“Not
exactly the words I was going for…but yeah.”
Jason
smiled as he rubbed his face and realized that he was in bad need of a shave.
The
Golden Arms Hotel
Atlanta,
Georgia
Sunday,
October 6, 2002
7:30
AM
Hope
glared at him. What was he doing
back? She had specifically told him
not to come back when he left the night before.
“Get OUT!” Her voice was
low and methodic indicating her frame of mind.
He
stepped inside of the hotel room and shut the door behind him.
“What
part of get out did you not identify with?”
She asked sarcastically. “Let
me rephrase it then so you can comprehend it better.
Get the HELL OUT!” She got
up from her position on the bed and walked over to him.
He was a big man, she knew, but she still tried to push him back towards
the door.
“I’m
not going anywhere Hope!” He
informed her. “We need to
talk.”
“What
good is a little chat going to do? You
left me here alone knowing that I was scared to death!”
“I
know baby,” He said reaching out to touch her, but she slapped his hand away.
“Don’t
touch me!” She backed away from
him.
He
held both of his hands up as if surrendering.
“I screwed up, I know. I’m
a dumb ass. I should have never
left you here alone. Especially
under these circumstances.”
“But
you did!”
He
started to speak, but the ringing of Hope’s Cellular Phone interrupted him.
Hope
located her phone and picked it up, but before she answered it she took a deep
breath and exhaled to calm to nerves. “Hello?”
“It’s
me,” Logan North replied. He was
direct and straight to the point. A
quality that Hope admired in him. “We
got another one!”
“Oh God! Have you ID’d her yet?”
“Does
the name Annie Donaldson mean anything to you?”
Hope
thought about it for a few moments. “No.
Not that I know of.”
“We
found a few fibers and a partial print. If
this is Romeo’s work he’s getting careless.”
Chris
started to unfasten a button on the cuff of his shirtsleeve.
“Hold
on just a second Logan,” she said abruptly, putting down the phone. “What do you think you’re doing?
I told you to get out!” Hope
said grabbing Chris by the wrist.
“I’m not going anywhere.” He jerked his wrist out of Hope’s grasp and that’s when she saw it, the blood, on his sleeve.
Terms used in this Chapter
AFIS (Automated Finger Print Identification System): A Computer network that scans crime scene fingerprints and compares them with millions of other prints collected by law enforcement agencies around the state region, country, and world. A print is traced by a fingerprint expert. The tracking is then scanned by a computer, which assigns values to various features of the print. Those values are compared to other prints already in the database. The computer provides potential matches by listing a handful; and providing a match percentage. Any match made by the computer is verified by a fingerprint expert who compares the inked exemplar to the print.
