LAST GIRL ALIVE--CSI Reilly Steel 9 by Casey Hill

Author:Casey Hill
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Casey Hill

31

Lucy moved the specimen around under the microscope in order to view it from another angle. She was certain her hunch was correct.

The evidence retrieved from the ensuite in William Vines’ apartment was crystalline and colourless. Its surface features were hard to determine since the sample was minuscule, but she had tested enough of this in the past to be fairly confident that what she was looking at was glass.

The sample size would restrict her from any thickness analysis, so she examined it closely from a number of angles. The fluorescence indicated it was from a flat surface as opposed to something curved such as a car windscreen or a drinking glass.

‘What have you got?’ Gary asked, walking up beside her and making her jump slightly.

‘Flipping hell, you frightened the shit out of me.’

‘Sorry, it’s just … I recognise that look.' She stood back, indicating the sample and he duly put an eye to it. ‘What is it?’

‘Glass. From Vines’ place. ‘No curvature and under the UV lamp there was fluorescence.’

‘You’ll have to fill me in on what that means …’

‘Well, you know the way Reilly always says the floor beneath broken glass is never truly clean and it’s impossible to fully clear up immediately after; there’s always remnants left behind?’ Lucy leaned back against a desk to take the weight off her tired limbs before continuing. ‘From the outset, I was pretty sure it was glass, but it was the only piece found in Vines’ place.’

‘So you don't think it came from any actual glass breakage in his apartment?’

‘Correct. There was a couple of dirty glasses catalogued but pristine so it obviously didn't come from those. And according to the flatmate, there was a cleaner in the day before he left. So could this have been walked in from outside?’ she pondered. ‘Lack of curvature would indicate it wasn't from a rounded drinking glass. And the fluorescence also indicates the presence of tin.’

‘Tin?’

‘Yes. When the kind of glass used for windows and doors is manufactured, they use a float process, where liquid glass is poured onto molten tin. The surface immediately in contact with the tin during manufacture will fluoresce when exposed to short-wave UV light.'

‘Right, so you mean glass from a broken door or window?'

‘Perhaps, but impossible to get a more detailed profile without using destructive testing.'

‘So it doesn't really give us anything then … what?’ he urged, confused at her wry smile, like she was waiting for the penny to drop.

‘It doesn't give us anything unless we have comparative samples.’

‘Shaughnessy’s door…’ he said, finally catching onto her thought process.

‘Exactly, we never analysed that because we already knew the source. So if we’re operating on the assumption that our doer was at both scenes, we can compare the samples without worrying about destroying them. Which is what I was about to do before you came over, but now that you’re here you can give me a hand.'

She instructed Gary to fetch the equipment and they cleared a space at a different work station with a gas burner.

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