2020-08-08 - F is for Forensics

Esme was finding it hard to trust most anyone in the precinct with the current state of affairs going on, but this forensics stuf was over her head. So, she had reviewed the files of all the forensic team and decided Cecil would be the best option. She checked the gas can from Control Pad out of Evidence and hand delivered it to the forensics lab when she knew Cecil was on duty. Thus, she found herself carrying the thing with a gloved hand while knocking lightly on the door as she entered to announce her presence. "Are you around Mr. Harvey?"

Cecil is back at work after a few days off. Rumor has it he got caught up in an investigation a little too closely. Whatever happened, it wasn't bad enough he's no longer working, so it must not have been too bad. He sits at his desk, shirt sleeves rolled to his elbows, his hair disheveled, and he's typing away on his computer. He looks up at stops, offering Esme a small smile. "I am. What's up?" He's got a soft voice, and that English accent is ever so polite.

"Glad to see you're back at things." Esme'z been keeping an extra ear out for awhile and she'd heard the rumors when looking into him. "I was hoping you could look into something for me, related to the Control Pad fire." It was no secret that she had gone out to the crime scene with a rookie cop Hallisey and came back with him in cuffs. She lifted the gas can a bit. "Found this at the scene and was hoping you could possibly ID some prints off it." You. Him specifically even though surely he wasn't the only one on duty today.

Cecil closes his laptop and rises to his feet. "Of course," he says. "Has it been dusted?" His expertise is in entomology, but he knows how to dust for prints. He's kind of a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to forensic procedure. He gestures for her to come in and put the can on his desk. "How is that investigation going, by the way?" Of course he's curious about what happened with Hallisey, but to come out and ask outright is a little too brazen for him.

"Thank you, really."Esme nods as she sets the can on his desk - closing the door to the room for the moment. "It has been dusted - but I just need help with getting an ID on them." She thinks for a moment and then gives a touch of a wry smile. "Not as smoothly as I would like it to, but I feel like I'm getting closer to something usable." Her smile turns more genuine. "I believe this fire is simply the tip of a potentially larger iceberg."

"There's a lot of shady stuff going on in this town," Cecil says in a low tone, and he looks the can over curiously. "Were the prints not in the database? I could compare them to the ones I lifted from the Harbor as part of the casino shooting case, if you think they might be related?" He leans against his desk and folds his arms over his stomach. "I'm afraid I don't know much about the fire. What can you tell me?"

"You're tellin me." She agreed in an equally quiet sort of tone. She hesitates and then shakes her head. "Honestly?...With the way things are going I don't trust anyone right now. Well. Except for the chief, and now? You. I want to minimize any chance of this getting messed up by the people trying to take us down. So I haven't had them run yet." She sighs. "All I know so far is two officers tried to shake down the owner of Control Pad for credit card info on some guy I have yet to ID. Though I'm working on some leads. The fire was definitely arson and Hallisey was acting like a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar. He isn't talking yet though."

"Of course, I'll help," Cecil says. "You have reason to believe, then, that the GHPD has a corruption problem? I trust the chief, naturally. He helped me out of a tight spot recently, and I feel that the very least I owe him is my fealty." He considers the gas can thoughtfully. "It's funny, I operate from the point of view that we're the good guys. It's perhaps naive of me to be surprised there might be wolves in our midst. Anyone in particular I should avoid?"

"I hate to say it, but all police departments have a corruption problem." Esme gave a wry smile, though it faded. "But yes, there is a corruption problem. More than one, but the current focus is removing one problem at a time." Esme pushed her non-gloved hand through her hair before taking the glove off her other hand. "I still believe that most of us our the good guys at the very least." She glances around out of habit even though she knows they're alone. Still, it's hard to say if someone still might be listening. Maybe she's a tiny bit paranoid. Her voice lowers just a little further. "Be wary of Liu anyone that seems close to him."

The office is sparse and unassuming, and fortunately there isn't a lot in it for anyone to hide behind or place a handy bug. Cecil seems confident with its security, given how he leans his hip against his desk in a fairly relaxed position. He keeps his voice low, though, as he replies, "All right. I haven't had much cause to interact with Liu, but I'll keep it in mind. I've made it a habit to run just about everything past the chief, mostly because of his authority but also I trust him. I'll keep using him as my point of contact."

"I haven't interacted with him much either...but he's definitely a part of this." Esme nodded towards Cecil's mention of continuing to run things by Ruiz. "Good plan. I know there are more moving pieces, but as far as I'm concerned him and you are the only ones I'm fully trusting to keep things going. Anything else that comes up forensic wise, I'll be bringing to you. Whether you want to involve any of your co-workers...that's up to you. If you think that you can trust them and trust they aren't in anyone's pocket."

Still keeping his voice low, Cecil says, "This is just between you, me, and the chief, but someone has tried tampering with evidence in the casino shooting case. Adding elements, removing some, damaging others. I might not even have a decent case to put before the DA at this rate, but that's why the chief's got a guard on the evidence locker. I'm keeping things pretty close to the chest right now, as far as coworkers go. I may be naive, but I'm not entirely clueless." He smiles a little. "But I'll run anything by you that might be of interest. As for Liu and that lot, I can feign dumb when I need to."

Esme's brow furrowed as she listened to him speak about the casino shooting. "I don't know how far this whole thing goes but whoever is orchestrating all this...they have some idea of what they're doing." She nodded. "I hope you can salvage enough to put together. And I do appreciate a heads up on anything that you might come across. " Esme thinks for a moment and then adds, " Also, I know it's a slim chance. But let me know too if you happen to come across anything pertaining to a Maurice Reyes. I think he might be a key player in what's going on. Or know who is." She smiles a bit then. "I knew I had a good feeling about you, Cecil. I hope that we can get all this squared away."

Cecil perks up. "Reyes, yes!" He snaps his fingers. "I know that name." Then he looks somewhat abashed. "Last weekend, I was taking samples from a shipping crate down by the dock, and I was accosted by three ruffians." He says the word 'ruffian' without irony. He sounds like he's stepped out of a BBC drama. "They mentioned a Reyes, like he was their leader. They said he was going to be angry about me being there. They locked me inside, but the chief was able to get me out before they could do any harm to me."

Esme's eyes narrowed at that. "Oh really?...Alexander Clayton didn't happen to be with you did he? Do you have any kind of description of the men?" Esme pulled her phone out, bringing up her note taking app so she could add a few new notes to it. "Because he was jumped as well as if it's the same people or different, it would be useful to know."

Cecil shakes his head and says, "I don't know anyone by that name, no. I went by myself. It was just a routine search. I wasn't expecting trouble." He gives a vague description of all three of the thugs. "The chief has one of them in custody. The other two got away. We took all sorts of evidence from the scene, and it's been under guard, so I don't think anyone has had a chance to tamper with it. I've given a statement and described the men then, too."

"I'll pull the report then. See if I can cross reference." Esme smiled again. "This has been extremely informative. Thank you Cecil. Just let me know once you've got some information on those prints. I'm hoping it'll give me something that will make Hallisey talk."

Cecil says amiably, "I'll run those right away. I was about done for the day, but I don't mind staying after. I mostly just go home to my cats anyway." He smiles wryly and ducks his head. "Anyway, I'll see what I can do. You'll hear from me soon, one way or another."

"I appreciate it, and I look forward to it. Tell your cats I said sorry for keeping you." Esme mused before leaving him to his business.

Though, true to her word. Just a couple days later she'd show up with a gun case containing a handful of AKs, unloaded of course, and clips for him to run forensics on. She doesn't elaborate much on how she received them if he asks. Just that someone decided to leave her a present.