CSI Carter (under major editing)

CSI Down

Russell's POV

The line goes dead. I take off running to AV, hoping Archie is still in there. I page Nick, Sara and Fin to AV. I run into AV lab, where Archie is sitting at the computer. I say, "I need you to pull up Amber's location now" he looks at me funny but starts to trace the phone for the location. Nick, Sara and Fin all walk into AV. Fin asks DB what's going on?."

I look over at the three of them and say, " Amber just called me. All I know is she's been stabbed". The computer beeps, and Archie takes a sticky note and writes down Amber's Location. I whip around towards Nick, Sara and Fin, who is standing by the door. I hand Sara a paper with her mother's address on it then say, "Fin, Sara, and I will go to the crime scene. Nick, I need you to coordinate with EMS and give Brass a call." we all rush out of the lab and run to our cars to hopefully get to Amber in time. Sara put the adders into the GPS. We have the sirens blaring. I look out the rearview mirror to see Nick's SUV and an ambulance behind me. Brass pulls up beside me. I roll down the window and yell, " follow me" I press my foot all the way to the floor.

10 minutes later, we roll up to the house; at first glance, It looks old and runs down like it's been neglected for years; there Christmas light that looks like it's been up for a decade or more. Brass, Fin and I walk up to the house with our guns drawn. The doors kicked in, Brass and officer Akers cleared the house. Once we stepped inside, we saw Amber and her sister Allison on the floor and a lot of blood everywhere. There an older woman also lying on the ground, which I can assume is her mother. I run over to amber and check her pulse. I yell, " she's alive" I look over to Fin, who is checking on her sister Fin looks over at me " she's alive to barley though," the Brass yells, " all clear from another room" The paramedics come running into the house Fin help them get Allison into the stretcher then they come for Amber after the ambulances speed off to the hospital with a full police escort.

Nick and Sara wait and watch outside, waiting for the paramedics to be finished. Nick and Sara look around and shake their heads at all the blood and carnage left behind. I turn towards the pair and say, "Nick take the main room, and Sara, you get the kitchen." Fin walks back into the house. Based on the look on her face tells me she needed a miniature before coming back into work. They all go to work. Brass yells for me to come out. I walk out to where Brass and Ecklie are standing; Ecklie looks confused and pissed off.

Ecklie says, " what the hell happened here, DB, and I hear over the scanners that one of your CSI's shot someone then got stabbed. You should have called me." I roll my eyes " well, sorry, I had more important things to worry about than calling you" Ecklie moves his hands to his hips, " well, what the hell happened?." I answer, " Amber called me and said that she shot someone and her sister needed medical attention, and then the line went dead. When I got here, I found Amber on the ground bleeding out."

Brass looks between the both of us and yells, " Alright, Alright, that's enough, Amber and her sister are in the hospital, and her mother, who she shot and killed, is lying on the floor dead, so will you two knock if we can get back to work." Ecklie storms off, "keep me informed." I walk back into the house. I see that nick and Sara have started to process the sense, but they seemed to have just stopped and looked around and then at each other. I know this can be hard to deal with " are you two alright I know it can be hard, but we need to process the scene. Can you two do it? They just look between each other " no, we're fine, it's just we have been here before, processing another friend's crime scene."

Nick turns towards back to the main blood pool in the room. I ask, "what have we get" Nick looks around the room " well, there three main blood pools, then there some high velocity spatter where Amber shot Mrs.Carter, now over by the wall going into the hallway, there are some gravitational blood drops from Allison and just in front of where Mrs.Carter was shot there are some more gravitational blood drops from Amber laying on the ground," I ask"did you find the knife yet ?." Nick shakes his head "no yet."

I walk out of the main room to see in the kitchen to see what progress Sara's made. I see that Sara is holding a bottle of Jack Daniels taking fingerprints. I ask, " how's it going in here" she holds up the bottle and turns towards me " I found a bottle of Jack Daniels, I dusted it for prints got a couple of useable ones," noticing a while powered on the counter, I ask her "what's the white powder in the baggies and on the counter?" Sara picks up a rapid chemical test "did a rapid chem test, and it appears to be cocaine, but the lab will be able to confirm?" After I am done talking with Sara, I walk upstairs to see what progress Fin is making. As I walk up, I notice how all the pictures on the are hung nut have been knocked crooked, the frames are old and damaged on the side as if they have been knocked off the wall and put back up multiple times. My foot lands on a loose board, stumbles against the wall, a frame falls off, and hits the ground. I was expecting glass to shatter, but there is no glass in the frame. Mac had told me that Amber's childhood was less than ideal, but seeing this house, I can see why she's so guarded yet comes off so happy all the time.

I walk into the bedroom, which I can assume is Allison's room, which is quite bare and empty for 14 years, thinking back to when my own children were that age. There is a bed in the corner, a dresser, a lamp that looks like it's been smashed and put back together. I notice Fin is reading what looks like a journal of some sort. She looks up at her jaw is clenched, and she's slow to turn the page. Fin reads aloud, " October 14, 2013 today was ok school, was good, but when I got home mom was passed out on the floor when I tried to help her up, she slapped me across the face. It's getting harder and harder not to say anything to Amber cause I know she would be on the first flight home, but whenever I talk to her, she's enjoying it out in New York City, so for mom is my problem, Amber spent most of her teens taking care of us, I guess it my turn now."

Fin and I exchange looks; then she reads another entry " May 26, 2014, well today was really bad. I had a panic attack in class and got sent home! When I got home, I took my meds then took a nap. I woke up and was going to clean up cause god forbid my mother do anything in the house. I was doing the dishes when She stumbles around drunk and probably high, and she goes off the deep end. Amber had always told me about this look that mom gets in her eye and that if I saw, I should run. I never really saw it when I was a kid. Amber took the brunt of it and always protected me when mom was on a rampage. She's yelling at me, calling me names and getting violent. I just took off. Frankly, I'm scared she's going to kill me if she keeps using."

Fin and I both look at each other in complete shock. All she had ever said was that her mother was not doing well and had to step in to take care of her sister. I wish she would have told me what was going on. Amber masks what she's going through really well; I knew that something was up, but I never thought it was this bad.

Needing to get some air, I walk back downstairs. The body is gone, so David must have been here and gone already. My phone goes off. It's a text from Brass saying that Amber is awake. I walk to my SUV and drive to Desert Palm Hospital.