Black's eyes darted around the empty room, as if confirming no one was hearing Grissom's accusations.
"Now," the CSI said, "let's get back to how and when the bodies could have been switched."
"I…I still don't see how…"
"The visitation is usually the night before the service-was that the case with Rita Bennett's funeral?"
"Yes."
"You're sure."
"Positive."
"That means her body spent the night in here…with no one watching over it."
Black shrugged dismissively. "That's a question of semantics-yes, no one was in the building; but Home Sure Security was on the job every second. Besides, in Rita's case, a second, shorter visitation took place an hour before the service."
Grissom frowned in thought. "The coffin was open?"
"Yes."
"Do you close the coffin before or after the service?"
"Generally, before."
"Specifically," Grissom said, "in Rita's case…before or after?"
Obviously struggling to control his temper, Black said, "Before."
"Good. All right-what happens after you close the coffin?"
"I need to back up a step…."
"Please."
The mortician folded his hands in a dignified manner over his slight paunch. "Behind the curtain, the family has one last opportunity to privately say goodbye to their loved one before the coffin is closed. The family is escorted to their seats and we then shut and lock the coffin, and open the curtain to begin the service."
Brass asked, "You were personally with Rita's body during that entire time?"
Impatience edging his voice, the mortician asked, "Why don't you follow me to the chapel? I can show you in detail."
"Please."
The trio walked across the preparation room and out the double doors, which took them to a short, dark corridor. A few steps more led them to another set of double doors, one of which Black opened, and bid Grissom and Brass to pass through, which they did.
Brass found himself facing the pews of the chapel, as if he were officiating the service. He was standing near where the coffin would have been.
Grissom and Black flanked the detective.
"That," the mortician said, gesturing, "is my station during most services…and I was here for Rita's."
Brass said, "But you could see Rita the whole time until the coffin was closed."
"Yes."
"How did it proceed from there?"
"The family left after the service to gather in a receiving line. While that took place, we wheeled the casket out the back, through the doors we just entered…to the hearse."
The detective frowned. "Who's we?"
"Myself, Jimmy Doyle…you met him…and the new guy, Mark Grunick."
Brass jotted down the names. "And the three of you loaded the coffin into the hearse?"
"Yes, then Jimmy drove the hearse and I chauffeured the limousine, conveying the family to the cemetery."
"No stops along the way?"
Black shook his head. "Short of a flat tire or some other emergency, that's just not done. One does not make a detour from a funeral procession into a 7-11 for a package of gum."
"Everything, as you remember it, went off without a hitch?"
"Yes."
"And yet, somehow, some way…Rita Bennett's body was not in that casket."
Black held out his hands, palms up. "There's always the cemetery, you know. All I can say is, I spent the whole day with Rita-she was in the casket from the time we got her into it."
Brass turned to Grissom. "Any thoughts?"
After considering for a moment, Grissom said, "Not now. We just keep gathering information, which will lead us to more evidence and eventually we'll find Rita Bennett."
Black said, "She deserves a proper burial. To rest in peace."
"Mr. Black," Grissom said, "we also have a murdered woman who took Rita Bennett's place in your casket-and she deserves to rest in peace, too…with her killer tracked down, and punished."
Any sign of anger or irritation banished behind his calm facade, Black said, "I wish you gentlemen nothing but good luck in your endeavors. I only wish I could be of more help."
Grissom smiled. "Oh, Mr. Black-you will be."
As Brass and Grissom found their way out, the detective could almost feel the mortician's uneasy eyes on them.
Sara and Nick were in the breakroom, huddling over a file folder, when Brass and Grissom strode glumly in.
The usual exchange of "hey's" was foregone as Brass poured himself some coffee and Grissom went to the refrigerator for a bottle of water.
"I'm not feeling a good vibe," Sara said. "No lucky streak in Vegas this morning?"
Grissom was in the middle of a long pull on the bottle and Brass, stirring in creamer, answered her question. "Nothing at the cemetery-less at the mortuary."
"Come on," Nick said. "Somebody has to know something."
Brass offered up half a smirk. "They knew all kinds of things, both places-just nothing useful."
Grissom said, "We don't know enough yet to make that call-something important might be right in front of us, and we don't have the context yet to make sense of it."
Brass said, "It would be nice to at least know who our girl in the box is."
"I can brighten your day, then," Sara said. She showed them a photograph. "Meet Kathy Dean-before she stowed away in Rita Bennett's coffin."
Grissom and Brass came over to view the snapshot of a smiling, pretty teenage girl.
"Came in just a few minutes ago," Sara said.
"Fingerprints do it?" Grissom asked.
Nick said, "Naw-AFIS was no help. Missing Persons matched our morgue photo of her with this one."
"So who is Kathy Dean, exactly?" Brass asked, the young woman's photograph in one hand.
"A nineteen-year-old, just out of high school, getting ready for college."
"And never made it."
"No. Disappeared about three months ago."
Grissom's eyes widened. "Around the time of Rita Bennett's funeral?"
Sara smiled without humor. "Actually? Within twenty-four hours of Rita Bennett's funeral."
Grissom asked, "Disappeared from where?"
Sara glanced down at the report before answering. "She came home from a babysitting job, talked to her parents for a few minutes…they both said she seemed fine, normal, so on…then she went up to bed. Her parents woke up the next morning, her bed was empty, what she'd been wearing in her hamper, and her nightgown on her bed…and no Kathy."
"When we found her," Grissom said, "she was fully clothed…. Did she change clothes and sneak out, or was she forced to get dressed, and abducted?"
Sara lifted an eyebrow. "The parents say they didn't hear anything unusual during the night."
"And what does the evidence say?"
"We've just started going over the reports in detail, but what it looks like? She sneaked out. Bedroom window showed no signs of forced entry…and the only sign that anyone other than the family was in that house was a semen stain in her bed."
Grissom found that interesting. "Fresh?"
"No. Predating the disappearance."
Brass asked, "So there was a boyfriend?"
Nick shrugged. "Hard to say."
Brass's eyebrows rose. "There was semen in her bed but it's hard to say if she had a boyfriend?"
"The parents don't think she had a regular boyfriend. Matter of fact, they thought their daughter was still a virgin."
Sara picked it up. "According to these reports? Mom and Dad had no idea who Baby Bunting was seeing, or for how long."
Nick was nodding sagely. "These are parents who kept their daughter on a pretty tight leash."