(A/N: listen toSmooth Criminal by Michael Jackson while reading this. I did while writing it.)
It is a bad night at fast food restaurant Choozy's Chicken: The signature chicken statue crashes through the restaurant's window and Bob Graham, the head manager, is found dead in the kitchen. Nick, Ray and I examine the area.
"So,Abs..." Nick started. I sighed and straightened.
"Go ahead,Nick. I can take it."
"Well, you're marrying my buddy. Are you glad you got called out to this crime scene?"
"You have no idea." I muttered.
"Aww, c'mon sis! Greggo's not that bad!"
"Are you siding with mom? I swear to God I would not be surprised if you were in on it with her!"
"No I'm saying you're going to be married to him for a year at least. So... you should give him a chance."
"Well I'm not mad at him,Nick. It's mom I want to shoot."
"You know she's got the best intentions at heart."
"Someone's been living in the kitchen." Ray noted, turning the attention back to the crime scene. I mouthed thank you to him. He nodded and we processed the scene. We found a blood pattern that indicates a body was dragged outside, suggesting that there is a second victim. We followed the blood to the dumpsters and grease containers, but Langston noted that the container for Choozy's chicken is missing—and has been replaced by one for a Chinese restaurant. Meanwhile, I discover skid marks and a side mirror broken off from a vehicle.
Nick found blood on a "wet floor" sign in the restaurant while Dr. Robbins conducted the autopsy, determining that a strong blow to the head that severed Bob's spinal cord was the cause of death. We got a lead with the side mirror, leading us to a frat boy named Max Stanton, who had a prior for assault against Bob. A former Choozy's Chicken employee, it quickly became evident to the two CSIs and I that the only thing Max is guilty of is theft: He was attempting to make off with the Choozy Chicken in his truck but failed.
The team printed all of the Choozy's Chicken employees, but two were missing: Elizabeth Martin and Gary Comstock. Brass found evidence that "Elizabeth Martin" is an assumed name, while Wendy found Gary, a former drug addict, was in the system—and that his epithelials were in a razor found at the restaurant, indicating he was the one living in the kitchen.
Mandy ran the fingerprints found next to the broiler but did not get a match to Bob or any of the employees. She matched prints on Elizabeth Martin's closing receipt to prints on the "wet floor" sign, but without Elizabeth's prints for a comparison, she couldn't say for sure that they are Elizabeth's. Riley and I found menstrual blood in Bob's office, but no sign a sexual assault or struggle took place.
Ray and I turned to surveillance footage from the nearby Chinese restaurant's camera and saw several people getting out of a van and stealing a grease container. The plates were registered to one Timothy Rand. Langston, Brass and I went to Rand's house in the desert and found him distilling grease into biodiesel fuel. Langston opened up the container from Choozy's and found a male body inside. The man was identified as Gary Comstock, and Dr. Robbins determined the man was asphyxiated in hot chicken grease. Hodges found the remnants of glasses and nine 20-dollar bills in the grease Gary was dumped in.
Langston, Riley, Nick and I returned to the scene and posit that Bob killed Gary and dumped his body, but were baffled by the print next to the broiler, which did not match Bob.I suggested the print was inverted with enough pressure. Nick asked Mandy to run the print again and she did, noticing that time around that it is indeed inverted because of pressure. Once that was factored in, the print proved to be a match for Bob. Brass called Nick: INS had found Elizabeth Martin and determined she was an illegal immigrant. Brass questioned Elizabeth, whose real name is Rosa Gonzales, and she told him she was indeed closing the night Bob was killed. Bob claimed her receipts did not add up and forced her to undress so he could do a strip search. Gary walked in and caught him feeling Rosa up and confronted Bob. Bob went after Gary and Rosa dressed and ran out to find Bob winning the fight. She picked up the "wet floor" sign and struck Bob in the head. Gary told her to run and she did. Brass told her the blow from the "wet floor" sign was not what killed Bob. Langston, Nick, Riley and I ponder the question and I posited that without his glasses (which fell in the chicken grease) and suffering from a blow to the head, Bob's balance may have been off; he likely slipped in the chicken grease and tumbled backwards, hitting his head on the floor hard enough to sever his spinal cord.
"Good job, all of y'all." Nicky said. "Abbs, do ya know what that means?"
"I have to help out Catherine and Greg with their scene." I said sticking another fry in my mouth.
"After all that's happened.. how can you guys eat that?" Ray demanded.
"Power of suggestion." Riley shrugged.
"Because I can't help myself. They're good." Nick replied shoving 4 fries in his piehole at once.
"That's because, they put crack in the fries." Riley put in. Everyone looked at me.
"Cause I'm hungry." I replied finishing my food. I stood up to throw away my trash.
"You're always hungry,Abby." Nick laughed. I faked hurt.
"High metabolism. Plus in the Corps the food sucks, but you're grateful to get what you can to eat." I threw my trash away and walked out. "Later dudes!" I called over my shoulder. I heard Nick laugh. Cath was walking down the hall.
"Oh, Abby glad I caught you!" She filled me in on the case. Her victim overdosed on two tubes of fluoride toothpaste but it wasn't the two empty tubes at the crime scene. I shrugged.
"Did ya check the neighbors' trash?" She looked at me questioningly. "It's what I would do if I were going to die soon." We went to the crime scene and were looking at the fence. Greg came out and was saying something but I didn't really listen. I was lookin at the fence. I climbed over and we looked through the trash. I found the two tubes. The wife framed her husband. Case closed.
