It was a cold, rainy day in Wilmington, North Carolina and not many people were out and about. It was days like this that gave the Wilmington Forensics Unit a nice break and the team was enjoying the peace and quiet by just lounging around the lab. But of course nothing lasts forever and soon they received a case at a nearby hotel. After receiving the location and their assignments the team headed out. The day shift supervisor, Daniel Simpson, was the first of his six man team to arrive. After talking to the police officer he made his way into the hotel room to check out the crime scene. He had been standing there for a good ten minutes when the rest of his team arrived. “What do we have Boss?” His youngest and newest CSI, James Cook, asked. “Male DB, approximately thirty years of age, an ID has yet to be found.” He answered as he bent down to get a closer look at the body. “Who was checked into the room?” That voice belonged to his other new CSI, Cassidy Monroe. “According to the hotel owner a, Mr. Thomas Gary and his wife Lisa were the checked into the room for the weekend.” The officer answered from the doorway. “Any idea where Mrs. Gary is?” James asked as he pulled his gloves on and knelt down next to his boss. “According to the cleaning lady she left late last night after she fought with her husband.” He closed his statement book and looked up at Daniel. “No one’s seen her since.” “Okay, we’ll put a report out on Mrs. Gary and see if she turns up anywhere.” Daniel replied before making his way to the bathroom. “Cass get in here! I found blood.” Cassidy did as he requested, taking her metal kit with her. When she got into the bathroom she saw that the shower walls were covered with blood. She then looked around the rest of the small room and saw another blood drop on the bathroom counter. Pulling a swab out her kit she turned to her boss. “I found another blood drop, but it doesn’t look like it belongs to our DB.” She said as she swabbed the blood before sealing it and putting it in the evidence envelope. “Could be our killers.” “Could be.” Flipping the lid of his kit closed Daniel turned his attention to the young brunette. “I’m thinking the killing took place here.” He pointed to the shower. “Mr. Gary was taking a shower when he was attacked. The killer stabbed him repeatedly before turning the water off. He then dragged or carried the body into the main room and left him there to die. Maybe nicking his finger on the way out.” “Sounds plausible to me.” She looked around the room once again before turning to leave. “I’ll get this too Xavier and see if he can a match.” “Good, I’ll stay and process the room with James; you take Charlie and talk to the cleaning lady.” She shook her head okay and headed out to the hallway outside the hotel room. Once outside she looked around for Charlie, a Wilmington police officer who had just been transferred from the New York City Police Department. She found the tall, blonde standing at the end of the hall talking to a short gray haired woman who she assumed was the cleaning lady. She slowly made her way to where the two stood and stopped, placing her kit on the floor next to her. “Ms. Johnson, this is Ms. Monroe, she’s from the crime lab.” Charlie said as he turned to the older woman before looking at Cassidy. “She needs to ask you a few questions regarding Mr. Gary.” “Of course.” The older woman said with a sigh. “Although my story has yet to have changed since ten minutes ago.” “I know that, I just need to make sure we get everything covered.” Cassidy smiled at the older woman and she returned it. “Now what exactly happened last night between Mr. and Mrs. Gary?” “They were fighting, or so I assume they were fighting.” She ran a hand through her curly hand before continuing. “I heard the voices while I was cleaning in one of the other rooms and I came down to make sure everything was fine, but before I could get to their room the door flew open and Mrs. Gary came out. She slammed the door shut and left, never saw her after that.” “Do you have any idea what the fight was about?” “I have no idea, could have been anything, money, sex, work, I really didn’t hear them say anything specific.” “Okay, and you found the body is that correct?” “Yes ma’am, I came down to drop off clean sheets and the door was open so I went in. I called out to see if anyone answered and when I didn’t hear anything I pushed it open. I saw the body and called 911 right away.” “You don’t seem very disturbed by what you saw Ms. Johnson, and there was a lot of blood in that room.” “Look, Ms. Monroe, I’ve seen some pretty gruesome things in my lifetime, that didn’t startle me one bit.” “But you never touched a thing?” “Just the phone and the door knob.” “Okay, thank you.” She pulled a business card out of her pocket and handing it to her. “Call us if you remember anything else.” “Sure.” After placing the card in her pocket she turned to Charlie. “May I leave now? I have work to get done.” “Yes Ms. Johnson you can go.” The older woman smiled at the two before turning and walking towards the elevator. “Sweet old woman.” “You’re such a girl Charles.” Cassidy teased before walking back to the room. Just as she got to the room Daniel and James walked out, kits and evidence bags in hand. “Find out anything?” Daniel asked as the three started towards the stairs that led to the back exit. “Just that Mr. Gary seemed to have a very heated argument with Mrs. Gary last night.” “She say what the happy couple was fighting about?” James reached out and held the door open for the two before following them inside the stairwell. “Nope. She didn’t hear them say anything about the cause of the argument.” She said as she unlocked the car. “But she said that it got pretty loud.” “Well until we find Mrs. Gary I guess we won’t know what they were fighting about.” “That’s why we need to find Mrs. Gary.” Daniel said as he climbed behind the wheel of his car. “You two head over to the lab and drop that stuff off with Xavier. I’ll head over to the morgue and see what Dr. Houtz can find for us.” “Sounds good. See you later Boss.” James then climbed into the passenger seat of the Explorer. Cassidy started the car and they headed out the parking lot and towards the crime lab. Three hours later the team was all assembled in the layout room going over the evidence. Daniel was the first to speak, picking up one of the pictures of the dead Thomas Gary. “Okay, we have positively identified our DB as Mr. Thomas Gray of Fort Meade, Maryland.” He tacked the picture up on the cork board before grabbing another picture. “This is his wife, Mrs. Lisa Gary, who is still MIA’d.” He tacked the driver’s license picture up on the board as well. “We know that the two had a heated argument last night that ended around midnight. The cleaning lady, Ms. Johnson, said that she heard the fight while she was working in a room down the hall.” Cassidy spoke up next. “Ms. Johnson also found the body. She said that she went to drop off clean sheets and found the door open. She called out Mr. Gary’s name, but when she got no answer she went inside, that’s when she found the body.” “Well according to Dr. Houtz Mr. Gary was stabbed twelve times in the back and once in the chest.” He picked up a picture of Mr. Gary’s back and tacked it up next. “Dr. Houtz also said that Mr. Gary would have survived if he hadn’t been stabbed in the chest.” “You mean the other twelve stabs didn’t kill him?” “Nope, although he would have died eventually if he had not received care, the stab to his chest killed him.” Saying this he turned his attention to the doorway of the room where the DNA tech, Xavier Gordon, stood holding a piece of paper. “You got something important to say Xavier or are you just here to bother us?” “Nope, I’ve got something important to say.” He smiled a toothy grin and Daniel motioned for the young man to continue. “There were two samples of blood found in the hotel room. One is your vic’s and the other is unknown.” “We know that already Xavier.” “Yes, but I bet you didn’t know that your unknown blood source has the TB virus?” “No we didn’t know that. Thank you for sharing.” Daniel added as he saw the smile on the younger man’s face. “No problem.” Xavier replied before walking back out into the hallway. “Oh, and no hits on AVIS or CODIS yet.” He popped his head back into the room and said with a sigh. “But I’m still looking.” “Okay, thank you Xav, let us know.” “Will do.” “Okay, so shouldn’t this make our search a lot easier?” James asked from the back of the room. “We just need to find someone with the TB virus.” “Right, and chances are that this person didn’t go too far after they killed Mr. Gary.” Cassidy added. “So we need to go back and check the hotel for anyone with TB.” Daniel looked down at his watch. “James, Cassidy, why don’t you go find Jamie and Tyler and start searching the hotel, I’ll meet you there after I talk to Detective Kilman.” “Sounds good.” James said as he turned to Cassidy. “You ready?” “Sure thing.” She grabbed her jacket off the back of her chair and followed him out into the hallway. They found their colleagues, Jamie Franklin and Tyler Hilser, sitting in the break room drinking coffee. “Come on you two, Daniel wants us to search the hotel and try and find a tenant with TB.” “Well we just wrapped up our case so I guess we could.” Jamie replied as she threw he cup away. “You up for it Tyler?” “Of course.” He smiled before throwing his cup in right along with Jamie’s. “What’s your case about?” “We have a dead body found in a hotel. There was an unknown blood sample found and Xavier discovered that the person has the TV virus.” James replied. “So we’re looking for a tenant with the TB virus and a gash on his arm.” Cassidy said as the four made their way to the parking garage. Two hours later the team had already searched the hotel and only had two rooms left. So far no one that they had talked to was sick or knew of anyone in the hotel who was. They made their way to the second to last room and James knocked loudly. “Crime lab, open up.” There was no answer and James knocked again. When there was still no answer he jiggled the door knob and it caused the door to open. “Anyone in here?” There was again no answer so he drew his gun and motioned for Cassidy to do the same. He pushed the door open even farther and walked inside, seeing the body laying on the bed he moved around the suitcase in the middle of the floor and made his way to the bed. After clearing the area to make sure the man had no weapons in reach he shook his shoulder. “Sir, we’re with the crime lab we need you to wake up.” The body groaned loudly and rolled over. “What the hell do you want?” He asked. “We’re with the crime lab and we need to ask you some questions.” “About?” “Sir, why don’t you sit up and wake up a little bit before answering anything?” “Yeah, whatever.” The man sat up and blinked a few more times. “James! I got something you should see.” Cassidy called from the bathroom. “Coming.” He replied before turning to Tyler and handing him his gun. “Watch him.” “Trust me, he’s not going anywhere.” Tyler said as he pointed the gun at the man. “Are you?” The man just glared at Tyler and ran a hand through his hair before turning to watch James enter the bathroom. “What do you have?” He asked as Cassidy held up a medicine bottle. “Got a prescription for TB, and bloody rags.” She stated as she pointed to the trashcan. “Looks like we found our guy.” He replied as she closed the medicine cabinet. “Bag and tag all of it, Tyler and I will handle this guy.” “Got it.” James exited and made his way over to the guy, grabbing his left arm in his hand. “How did you cut yourself?” “Work.” He spat back. “You got a name scumbag?” “Yeah, Alex Taylor, and I’m not a scumbag.” He said as he tried to yank his arm out of the CSI’s hand. “And let go of me.” “We’re going to need you to come with us Mr. Taylor.” James said as he pulled the man up off the bed. “We need to talk.” “Whatever, I didn’t do anything wrong.” Charlie entered the room behind Tyler and pulled his handcuffs out. He walked over to James and looked Alex up and down. “You going to come with us willingly? Or will I have to use these?” He asked as he swung the cuffs in front of his face. “I’ll come, I’ve done nothing wrong.” “Good.” Charlie took hold of his arm forcefully and pulled him away from the bed. “Let’s go.” Thirty minutes later James was sitting across from Alex in the interrogation room. Neither had spoken since they brought Alex in twenty minutes ago, and frankly, James didn’t care. The DNA would tell them everything they needed to know. His only problem now would be to get the guy to give them one. “You have any idea why you’re here Mr. Taylor?” He asked as he leaned back in his chair. “Because you guys think I killed someone right? Which I didn’t.” Alex said. “Okay, well if you didn’t kill someone then you won’t mind giving up a blood sample.” “Sure, whatever it’ll take to clear me.” James turned to the door and motioned for Cassidy to come in. She opened the door and shut it behind her quietly. She pulled a swab out of her pocket and walked over to Alex. “Open up.” He did as he was told and she swabbed his mouth before pulling the swab out and closing it. “I’ll be back when I know something.” She said to James before she walked out. “She’s a hottie isn’t she?” Alex said as he nodded in the direction that Cassidy just went. “You shouldn’t be worried about that right now.” James spat back as he leaned forward and put his hands on the table. “Keep an eye on him.” He said to the guard before standing and heading out the room and into the hallway. He slowly made his way to the break room and grabbed a cup of coffee. He had been standing there for about fifteen minutes when Charlie walked in. “Xav has something he thinks you should see.” He said before heading out into the hallway. “Coming.” James threw his coffee cup in the trash and followed Charlie down the hall and to the DNA lab. “What you got that’s so important Xav?” “I ran the blood from our dude in the hotel room to the blood sample that you gave me from Mr. Gary’s apartment.” The young lab tech said as he looked up from his microscope. “And?” Daniel asked from the doorway. “The sample from Mr. Taylor has alleles in common with Mr. Gary.” “Brothers?” Charlie asked, running a hand over his face. “Father and son.” “What?” Cassidy asked exasperated. “Alex killed his own father?” “That’s what it looks like.” “So I guess we need to talk to Mr. Taylor and find out why.” Daniel said as he turned to face James. “Go back in there and make him talk. He was in that room and he cut himself, he’s lying to you.” “I already knew that.” James said with a smile before pushing past Daniel to head to the interrogation rooms. “I’ll let you know.” Once in the room James sat down and stared at Alex. “So, did my DNA match?” The younger man asked. “Actually, yeah it did.” Alex swallowed hard and James smiled. “I didn’t know that Mr. Gary was your father.” “Yeah well, he never was a very good one.” “Why did you do Alex?” “He was going to take all of my money.” He sighed and leaned forward. “I worked all my life and all he did was sit around. He’s been stealing money from me since I was a kid, anything to get a drink. And now he was using my money to pay for girls, and trips, so I told him to stop. “And your mother?” “Was defending me.” “Where is she Alex?” “Like I know. She’s been saying for years that she was going to leave him, maybe she finally did.” “Tell me what happened.” “I followed them here from Ohio. I told my mom that I was tired of his behavior and that I was going to get him arrested. She told me that she would talk to him; I didn’t believe her so I followed her up to their room. I heard them argue and he still wouldn’t agree to stop so I waited for her to leave. Then I knocked on the door, saying that I was with room service. He told me just bring it on in and so I just walked in. He was in the shower and I couldn’t think of anything else to do so I stabbed him. When he fell out of the shower, still breathing I panicked and went to stab him again. He tried to fight me and we struggled through the bathroom and into the main room. He got a hold of the knife long enough to cut my arm. I got angry and stabbed him in the chest, he fell to the floor and I just ran out of there as fast as I could.” He was in tears now and James noted that he had a hint of regret in his voice. “I didn’t mean to kill him. I just wanted him to let me have a life and leave me alone. I only have but so long to live according to the doctors.” “The TB?” “No, the cancer.” “Cancer?” “I had TB. A while ago, doctors said that it wasn’t out of my system yet, probably wouldn’t be for a while now.” “So you’re going to die soon either way?” “Yes. I just wanted him to let go, let me do whatever I wanted with my money for once. But he couldn’t stand to depend on himself, if only he had known, maybe he would have changed his mind.” “But you’ll never know now.” James closed the file folder and stood up, motioning for Charlie to handcuff him. After Alex was handcuffed and in police custody James left the room and headed into the hallway. “Well that was interesting.” Cassidy said as Daniel followed Charlie to lockup. “Yeah. All because his dad wouldn’t let him live his own life.” “Sad.” She said quietly before turning to look at him. “Yeah.” He smiled slightly and turned to face her. “Some people just never learn do they?”