A tarp snapped violently behind him, making him jump. He nearly dropped his tweezers.

“Great. Perfect. Love that,” he said, voice tight as he steadied himself. “Nothing like a little jump scare to really enhance fine motor precision.”

~

A brutal storm batters a New York alley as Crime Lab Technician Adam Ross fights the weather as much as the crime scene itself. With rain threatening to wash away every clue, Adam scrambles to preserve fibers, soil traces, and a dissolving shoe print—rambling nervously to no one in particular as he works.