Ink and Intrigue

Chapter 5: Cold Case

☽Season 1, Episode 5☽

Avery follows her very excited dad to greet the detectives, "Dad, this is a crime scene, you should not be this excited!" 

"Oh! Finally, you are here," Richard greets Beckett, waving his daughter off, "You are gonna love this."

They head into the construction site where Kevin is trying to get the workers to leave, "Okay, folks! Active crime scene! Please leave, we appreciate your cooperation."

"Awesome, right?" Richard asks as Beckett stares up at the frozen woman on top of some scaffolding, "My first cold case," Beckett glares at him before he shrugs, "Come on, it's kinda funny."

"Not so much funny as true," Lanie comments from her spot next to the body, "She's frozen solid."

"What was the temperature last night?"

"Mid-40s, no where close enough to freeze a turkey let alone a human body," Avery says, "Besides, the sites active. The guys said there was no way she was here last night."

Beckett steps up to get a closer look at the scene, "She's melting."

"Maybe we should be looking for ruby slippers," Richard jokes, causing Avery groan with annoyance.

"Yeah, while you're at it, why don't you look for some flying monkeys? Maybe they left her here," Beckett then turns to Lanie, "So what do you got for me?"

Lanie makes a note before gesturing to the body, "There are pieces of plastic on her body from the garment bag."

"So she was inside the bag."

"Other than that, it's gonna take a while for her to thaw. I can tell you she hasn't been here long. Maybe a couple of hours."

Beckett turns to the boys, "What about security?" 

Avery holds up one end of the chains, "Chainlink. Pair of bolt cutters took care of it. From the looks of it, he was hoping she'd disappear into the concrete pour."

Esposito nods, "Few more feet, and she would've."

Richard steps up to help Beckett step down, "It's kind of odd, taking the trouble to freeze a body and then dumping it? We got two personality types working here. A killer who freezes a body is a keeper-he wants a souvenir. But a guy who dumps a body?"

"Doesn't want to be reminded of the crime. All right, I'm gonna go check out the fence. Get a close up on her face. I wanna run her through missing persons."

Avery and the guys groan as Richard and Beckett walk away, "I hate going through missing persons."

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Each of the cops carry a stack of folders into the conference room, "By hand?" Richard asks, "That's like life before TiVo."

"Maybe you could download an app on that phone of yours. You could just-" Richard cuts Esposito off with a fake laugh. 

"There are a lot of missing people."

Beckett nods, "One way or another, we eventually find them. Some end up dead, some turn up in a double-wide with a stripper named Trixie outside Atlantic City."

Esposito holds up a file, handing it to Richard, "And some just don't turn up."

"Dana Sullivan."

Avery's head pokes up, "Oh, I remember that one. We talked about it at the Academy. Uh, her and her boyfriend left a club. He's a couple steps behind her because of a call on his phone. She turns a corner a few seconds before him. When he goes around, she's gone. Street is totally empty, no traffic, nothing. In a matter of three feet, she disappeared."