Skin against skin blood and bone
You're all by yourself but you're not alone
You wanted in now you're here
Driven by hate consumed by fear
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Drowning Pool – Bodies
The two of us were sitting in the break room, at the table across from each other. Tim's spoon was clenched tightly in his hand as he jabbed at the yogurt pot furiously. His gaze never broke from mine. My hands were wrapped around my coffee cup, the heat soothing against the cold look in his eyes.
"You can't tell me what to do Kate." Tim snapped, his dark eyebrows furrowing in anger.
"Then you should stop being so god damned selfish." I snapped.
Tim narrowed his eyes, the yogurt pot crunched under the clenching of his fist.
"Go take the PCR DNA test now." I demanded.
"No, it's a waste of time and money. They can give out false results..." I cut him off.
"Which is why Alexx is going to do it. You're supposed to do it under a doctor's supervision. She is a doctor." I stated.
Tim fell silent, his attention wavering to scooping out the final dregs of his organic vanilla yogurt.
"You're scared." I pointed out.
Tim snorted.
"You're scared that it's going to say yes because you have no idea what the hell you're going to do." I continued.
"Fuck you Kate. Go to hell with your know it all attitude and all your fucking pushing."
Tim was on his feet and slamming the door to the break room shut behind him. The glass panel in the door shook as I stared after him and sighed, before turning my attention to the rumpled yogurt pot unfurling in the centre of the table and the bent metal spoon.
Maybe I had pushed him a little too far. Tim didn't react well to fear and me pressing all of his buttons at once, well, that was bound to end badly.
The fact was I was pissed at him and angrier than I'd ever been at him. Horatio had had the PCR DNA test for over a week now and Tim had still failed to take it. Horatio had said let him do it in his own time, it took a lot of emotional preparation to work up the nerve to find out something so life altering, but his procrastination was driving me insane.
The sooner we knew the results the sooner we could find a way to deal with it. Only Tim apparently didn't see it that way. He saw it as the sooner he knew the sooner his life was over and he couldn't hide the fact he'd been checking out real estate in Nevada. Despite what he said if the results came back positive he was going to leave. I knew the signs, I'd done it myself and I also knew that I couldn't face that possibility.
I was rapping my fingertips on the circumference of the mug trying to work out the next step when the call out came through.
"We have a 39, escape in progress. Suspects are A&D, requesting back up!"
I was on my feet in an instant; my cell phone was already ringing. I answered it listening to Dispatch's directions before returning to the locker room to grab my gun.
A prison escape in progress.
My day had just got a whole lot worse.
The cell was a regular six by six, maximum security cell, stainless steel bars were part of a sliding door mechanism. Three concrete walls with no window, three bunks that barely fit into the confined space, along with a porcelain toilet.
Three men in such a small cell, how demeaning, Speed thought. Then again, you do the crime you do the time.
He crouched down in front of his kit and flicked the buckles open, checking his watch and wondering where the hell Delko was. The callout had come in over forty five minutes ago and there was no sign of the young Cuban. Speedle was getting edgy; he didn't want Calleigh or Kate taking the other man's place.
The cell mates were vicious especially in the sex offender's wing. He'd seen the hunger in their eyes as he walked past each cell, keeping his footsteps even, never daring to quicken his pace because that would show fear, and they could sense that. The jeers had rung in his ears but he heard none of them, because hearing them was giving in, and Tim Speedle would never give them the satisfaction.
Horatio was still working on tracing the bracelets, but it was proving to be a long and enduring task. The convicts were smart, he had to hand them that. Switching bracelets in a module that held fifteen hundred prisoners was a stroke of genius, as much as he hated to admit it, and it made their job a hell of a lot harder to do.
The inmates were screeching and rattling the bars again now, he could hear their cat calls as footsteps descended down the corridor and towards him. Speed glanced up, taking in the lone figure striding towards him; his eyes lingered on the black boots as her heels clicked across the tiles.
He could feel the breath leave his chest as his eyes roved upwards, taking in her fitted black suit trousers and the leather, steel studded belt. Her badge hung off it giving her a dangerous edge as she strode towards him. The long sleeved forest green, v-neck matched her eyes and clung to her body in all the right places. Her ebony brown hair fell across her face in layers and past her shoulders. She kept her eyes on the prize, chin up, shoulders back, she never broke her stride under the onslaught. The expression on her face was fierce, as she carried her crime kit along with her, the metal glinting in the harsh halogen light.
"Speedle, what have you got?" Kate questioned as she stepped through the doorway, finally allowing a glance at the kid in a guards uniform stationed by the door.
"No Delko?" Speed asked, yanking his latex gloves on.
"I wouldn't be here otherwise." Kate pointed out, tugging open her own latex gloves.
Speed rose to his feet as Kate faced him, hands on her hips, one eyebrow raised.
"You want top or bottom?" she spoke with a small smile tugging at her lips.
"I got here on time." He reminded her.
Kate tilted her head at him, pursing her lips together.
"Your gonna make me do the toilet aren't you?"
Speedle smirked as he took out his Crime Light.
"I hate it when you have seniority." He heard her mutter under her breath as she crouched down in front of the porcelain bowl and scowled.
He glanced at her over his shoulder as she took a deep breath, hand poised over the bowl as she rolled up her sleeve.
"Suck it up, your playing with the big boys now." He told her before returning to his own search at the sound of the water sloshing in the toilet.
"You have no idea how disgusting this is." She informed him.
He turned his face so she couldn't see him chuckling; his shoulders quaked a little as caught sight of her reaching right into the u-bend.
"I swear to God Speedle if you are laughing I am gonna be flicking this toilet water in your direction." She told him through gritted teeth.
"Your thoroughness is commendable." He stated as Kate withdrew from the offending item and stripped off her gloves to apply a fresh pair.
"You're real funny." She sniped, grasping her own Crime Light and casting it around the base of the toilet.
There was a silence between them, an awkward one. The words from their argument still chimed in his head. He hated the way he'd reacted, and he hated the fact she knew him so well to know what his anger was masking.
"You were right I am scared, I'm scared we can't be together if I have it." He admitted quietly as his light skimmed the top bunk.
"It's ok to be scared. It would be unhealthy if you weren't. I know what your going to do Tim, you wouldn't like the desert." She mentioned causally.
"Yea well, I couldn't be around you, not like that." He confessed.
He didn't have to see her face to know what she was thinking. It was an impossible situation, one she couldn't win.
"Found a sparkplug," she said suddenly, bending down to bag and tag.
Kate's fingers grasped the spark plug before she peered closely at the base of the toilet. It was surrounded by a fine line of dust, she followed the trail of intends really that it completely outlined the porcelain implement.
"Tim give me a hand with this." She said, stepping out the way so he could gain access enough to grasp the toilet and pull it away from the wall.
The two of them stared at the gaping black hole in front of them, before Kate took a tentative step forward and ducked into the hole to get a better look in the dim light.
"It's a maintenance tunnel." She called out, before slipping back into the cell.
"At least we know how they got out." Speed muttered, picking up his camera before snapping off shots of the hole.
He placed his camera down before looking at Kate expectantly, arms folded over his chest. Kate stared back at him, narrowing her eyes.
"You want me to go in there don't you?" she sighed.
"I'll go get the equipment." He said, feeling a little uneasy.
"They can't jump out their cells and get me." She offered reassuringly.
Tim bowed his head, smiling at her attitude.
"Besides I could just close the door and duck out the hole on the freak chance of that happening." She added brightly.
Tim Speedle shook his head as he stepped out of the cell, and kept his eyes forward.
He was really going to miss Kate.
The labs were buzzing with techs working in every direction in order to process every ounce of our evidence and file them into useable reports so we could act immediately. The contents of the prison cell had been boxed up and shifted to the layout room and was under the scrutiny of Speedle. I'd been pulled in on the AV side of things; Tyler had picked the worst time ever to go on vacation, and I knew when he got back he'd be kicking himself for not being able to help out on one of the biggest cases this year.
Sad but true, cases were part of a status symbol in the law enforcement world. You get noticed for the ones you solve and that helped if you were trying to advance up the ladder or move into onto a different pathway. I was too busy trying to get my shit together than to consider even the possibility of advancing at the minute. For me promotion was not even an option.
Yelina and Horatio were stationed behind me, their eyes on the videos as I tried every trick in the book to clear up the visual on the screen to get a clue of who we were looking for.
"Ok car runs red light and boom, we get a picture." I stated, as I used the computer to zoom in on the Car Jacker.
"That's Hank Kerner right there." Horatio murmured over my shoulder.
"Yea and that's the other guy behind him, but his head's turned away." Yelina said out loud, behind me I knew she was shaking her head.
The case was wearing us all down, the convicts had been out around two hours now and we had only one name, we didn't know how much worse this could get. We knew from the helicopter shooting alone that Kerner was a seasoned killer and that's if you weren't looking at his previous trial. But the other guy so far was an unknown and in some ways that was a lot scarier then a cold blooded killer like Kerner. Kerner provided predictability, where as the other guy, well, there was no pattern.
"Now luckily speed cameras take two shots, one when it's triggered and one a few seconds later don't they Kate?" Horatio reminded me.
I brought the other picture onto the screen.
"Ah a bit more luck, his face is turned towards us." I could hear the jubilance in Yelena's voice.
Maybe we'd caught a break after all.
I used the zoom function, tapping away at the key board until I'd pulled up a grainy looking close up of the individual. My breath caught in my throat as I glanced up at the face; there was silence from the three of us as the shock set in. There was numbness coursing through my body now with the sickness I'd endured through out the case and the drive that had forced me to function.
"That's Stewart Otis." Horatio's voice expressed at the emotions that we were all feeling and the confirmation made the nausea climbing stomach worse.
"Convicted child molester and child killer." I muttered, feeling like this was utterly surreal.
I'd been transported back to the place I was over six months ago. Back to the sleepless nights, the long hours, the fear, the constant nagging fear that Otis would strike again before we caught him. I saw each body as we dug them up. Each one having a milk carton for a gravestone propped up in the window of the abandoned shack. I felt the pain of every parent when we'd had to tell them that their child had been killed by this monster. And finally I saw the doll, clasped tightly in that little's girl's hand, her only sense of security as Alexx apologized as she took it away.
I was on my feet and out the room in an instant. The chair hit the back of the wall behind me, making a clattering sound as it went. I couldn't breathe again, the air wasn't getting to my lungs like it was supposed to and I kept seeing their faces, every single one. On the milk cartons sand then dead in the ground. I'd been there at their unveiling as Alexx had pulled each and everyone of them out of the ground. I'd cried tears for them, and we'd taken an oath, we'd made a promise to their parents that he would never hurt another child again.
Vacant dead eyes were staring up at me, as the flesh stretched across the cheek bone taunt and dirty. Her lips were apart, arms out beckoning.
I threw open the door to the fire escape so hard it smashed against the exterior of the building with an almighty crash. I was clutching the railing in front of me so hard my knuckles were white as I tried to shove everything away. I bowed my head, hair falling across my face, trying to breathe, but I found I still couldn't.
That doll...Those eyes.
"Take long deep breathes. You're having a panic attack." A hand was on my back gently and soothing, bringing me back to where I was and what I was doing.
I pursed my lips together doing as I was told as Yelina's calming voice penetrated my ears.
"Just take deep breaths." She advised.
I could see her shoes in her field of vision and I focused on the instead of the memories of dead children. My heart was hammering in my chest, but it was slowing down, returning to normal. I let my head rest upon the cool metal bar for a minute. It was refreshing against the heat that was coursing through my body.
"This happen often?" Yelina asked quietly.
"Not as often as it used to, I've been under a lot of stress recently." I muttered, jerking away from the bar and righting myself.
"You need to pull yourself together for the sake of this case." Yelina told me.
I bit my lip, and exhaled deeply trying to control my temper.
"You didn't see what he did those children." I reminded her, wrapping my arms around myself.
"Horatio told me you were there helping Alexx as they helped pull out the bodies."
"There were twelve..." the words escaped me; I swallowed hard forcing back the images. "Otis is a monster, your right; I need to pull myself together."
I looked away rubbing at my eyes wearily.
"It's ok to feel like this you know, it can be hard to balance sometimes. I know Ray found I hard slipping back into this sort of life after being UC." She confided.
"I take it he told you...about me?"
"He...mentioned you. There's things I doubt he told anyone."
I nodded, before taking the cigarette packet out of my back pocket. I'd been smoking a lot more recently. I offered one to Yelina, she took it, before I handed her the tiny match book I also carried.
"You were at his funeral. I saw you with Horatio..."
There was a question in that statement. We were still taking about Ray and my connection to Ray.
"He was my mentor; he trained me before I went undercover in The Family."
"You were his success story.
"No, I was his downfall. I was injured one night; the FBI blamed him, bumped him back down to Narcotics." I said missing out a few key pieces of information but she didn't need to know them.
"That would explain his secrecy towards the end; he didn't tell me why he ended up working for Narcotics again. I think he blamed himself for what happened. He was subdued before he was killed."
There could be another reason he was subdued, but I kept that to myself.
"Is Horatio mad because I ran out like that?" I asked her curiously.
"Mad?" she asked incredulously, before shaking her head with a reassuring smile. "I think he knows you were in a bad place last time, and memories, they don't fade away so easy."
I tilted my head back before blowing the smoke out of my mouth.
"You got that right."
So you and Speedle..."
"Hm?"
"It's an odd match but it seems to work well. You two seem happy."
"We are...sort of."
"Sort of?"
"We're kind of fighting... A little."
"About what?"
"I'm sorry I don't usually talk about this kind of thing. Or anything really for that matter."
"Don't you think that part of accepting this life is opening up?"
I stared at her for a second, taking in her words.
"He won't take an HIV test, and Horatio spent all this money on it and he won't take it, and even if he does take it and he does have HIV he's leaving to go to Nevada or that's one of the places he's thinking about going, I don't really know since I only managed to get a look at his laptop for two minutes."
I wasn't proud about snooping and the truth was I needed to talk.
"Do you think maybe he's scared about this test?"
"I know he's scared, I just...It's not fair. You know what I mean. I get back, I finally sort all my shit out and I'm happy, I mean literally for three months before this I was happy and now God has just decided that he wants to fuck it all up again. I mean didn't I do enough, by giving him up the first time around? You know I'm pretty sure that this is punishment for leaving him." I whined.
"I doubt God is punishing either of you. Do you think maybe the pressure of you knowing maybe effects his decision? Speedle is in love with you, and I know for a fact that he doesn't want you to get hurt anymore. Going away is the only way out he sees. And I'm pretty sure you've been pushing him like hell to get the test done haven't you?" Yelina questioned.
I bowed my head.
"I can understand why but I think you need to give Speedle a little space. Maybe he needs a little time to figure out what he wants and how he can live with the results." She offered.
"I've been making this about me haven't I?" I pulled a face at my own behaviour.
"A little, but it's understandable it had been all about you up until six months ago. You deal with things now the way you did then and maybe its time to change that. There's not you anymore, there's Speedle. He needs support as someone who cares about him, not as a girl friend wanting to know the next step." Yelina said, dropping the cigarette on the ground and stamping on it.
"You wanna go see if Horatio's got anything for us?"
"The quicker Otis is behind bars the better; we promised Ruthie Creighton's mom that he wouldn't hurt another child."
"We'd better get going then." She moved towards the door as I said her name, her head tilting back towards me.
"Thanks...Talking to you helped."
"Not a problem Kate. Sometimes I think if Ray opened up, that things would be different." She told me looking down at her hands.
"It wasn't your fault he didn't. Ray... The only person he realised on was himself. I guess it must have been easier for him." I told her, shaking my head.
"Did he ever talk about me?" she asked suddenly.
I froze for a second before answering.
"Once...we didn't talk about our personal lives, it was a distraction from what we were struggling to achieve at the time. But he showed me a picture, of you and Ray." I dodged around the specifics.
She looked at me surprised.
"Come on let's find H." I murmured before guiding her back inside the lab.
The layout room was in full use as Horatio and Speed stood alongside each other, staring up at the pictures of each escapee.
"A carjacker, a kid killer and a stock broker. The one thing they have in common is a burning desire to get out of jail." Speed muttered, hand running over stubble of his cheeks thoughtfully.
"Speed." Horatio's voice was quiet and soothing, surprising Tim out of his thoughts. "Why haven't you taken the test yet?"
Speed crossed his arms over his chest and bowed his head.
"All the stuff from the cell is here on the desk..."
"Speed." Horatio implored.
Tim bit his bottom lip, before putting his hands on the desk in front of him and staring at the speed camera picture.
"I don't want to leave her H." The words tumbled out as Speed focused on the desk. "If it turns out I have it I can't stick around here, and I'm not ready to let her go."
Horatio slipped gracefully onto the stool next to the younger man, taking in the tension in his body before shaking his head.
"Speed, no one expects you to leave..."
"You don't get it, I'll have to leave, otherwise she'll stay here with me and I can't let her catch it. I can't watch her get sick because of me. No matter how safe you are, you can never be safe enough with HIV, and I know I will slip..." he squeezed his eyes shut and tilted his head back ignoring the tears burning behind his eyes. "It's not fair. She just came back and we...we were happy."
Horatio rested a hand upon the other man's shoulder.
"You can still be happy Speed; you need to get this weight off your chest. It's crushing you. You sound positive you have the disease, we won't know until you've done the test, then you can make all the hard decisions if it turns out you do, but I will always be beside you, always ready to help or talk." He paused, watching as Speed nodded.
"Now I think it may be time to set aside those fears don't you? You owe it to yourself and to Kate to do the right thing, and the right thing is taking the test, and I...I Speed will be right with you along the way."
Horatio's hand on his shoulder was reassuring and Tim was on his feet, sighing as H led him from the Trace Lab and towards the morgue so Alexx could withdraw his blood sample for the PCR DNA test.
I was breathless again, my lungs were burning and my chest was tight, yet I was in a state of perfect clarity as we reviewed the scene.
"You need to work out more Callahan." Delko remarked, standing next to me.
"I do work out; I just don't run as many miles as you. Got better things to do." I panted, wiping the sweat form my brow.
"Looks like we have a dead end ladies and gentleman." Horatio murmured as we all stood staring at the sight behind the dumpster.
The scent dog was whining and pacing restlessly behind us.
There were clothes behind the dumpster, I crouched down and fingered them gently though latex gloves. Emma's school uniform. Scattered around the blue blazer and grey skirt were locks of light brown hair. It felt fine between my finger tips; each lock was long, meaning Stuart had cut close to her head.
Seven years old...
"Put an APB out, he's travelling with a little boy." Horatio spoke in morose tones to Eric.
I sighed, biting my bottom lip and shaking my head.
I had to hand it to him Stewart was smart, and he also had another little girl.
The Ballistics Lab was silent; he could see Calleigh bent over the microscope as he leaned n the doorway watching her. His eyes roved over her body, taking in the curves before settling on her face.
Calleigh was a typical Southern Belle. She was beautiful, strong and flawless. He admired that in women, yet this case with Kerner, it made him protective. He was always protective, he was raised to believe that girls always needed a knight in shining armour, and all John ever wanted was to be somebody's hero.
He'd tried to be Kate's hero a long time ago. She was meant to give him a name, help him take down that dealer so he could take down the entire Narcotics structure in the mob, weaken them a little so he could get that promotion he'd wanted. So what he'd had to lean on Ray a little. The two of them were the same, they both wanted to be heroes and Ray, for a long time he was Kate's. No matter what came up he was there to handle it for her, and she trusted him unconditionally, until she found the Meth.
That's when she'd come to him and he was glad for it because he knew, in her own way, she was giving him a chance, a chance to do the right thing and be that person that she could rely on. She'd been asking for help last night, he remembered her emerald eyes wide and pleading, her hands shaking as she held the Meth out to him, asking him to help Ray, tell him to stop. He was his partner he would listen to John.
He knew he'd betrayed her; faith could never be redeemed once it was lost and it had been lost. Kate could barely look at him these days, no matter how much he apologised. It played in his mind over and over again; those precious seconds of hearing her beg and plead with him to help.
He regretted his decision, but at the time he'd just bought a new car and he really need that promotion, still that didn't change the fact he'd nearly got Kate killed. He hadn't known why Ray had got taken off Kate's case, but he gathered from the whispers that lingered and followed the other man that it was something serious. Hagen had gotten his promotion without Kate which was how, in turn him and Ray ended up as partners again in Narcotics.
He remembered her face at Ray's funeral. He hadn't expected her to be there. She was still undercover, but she'd managed to get away for this. Ray had meant a lot to her, to both of them, and they were both standing on opposite sides of his grave. John with Ray's widow on one side, and Kate with Ray's brother on the other. Kate never once looked up from that grave side, she hadn't even noticed that John was there; his eyes on her, watching her brush the tears away from her pale cheeks with the back of her hand. She didn't sob like Yelina, and he saw a quiet, graceful dignity in that.
He never approached her at the funeral, he couldn't. Horatio was there as always hovering and comforting her and John knew that of all the people at the funeral, it should have been him instead of Horatio. He never got a chance to talk to her at the wake because she wasn't there. He guessed she'd gone to New York, and back to her other life.
"You just gonna stand and stare Detective Hagen? Or is there something you're here for? Calleigh's voice penetrated his thoughts.
A slow smile crept across his face as he straightened himself in the doorway, before stepping inside.
"How's it going?" he asked, nodding at the microscope.
"You know bits and pieces." Calleigh returned, before glancing at the enlarged picture of the bullet she had laid out in front of her.
John opened his mouth to say more but was cut off by his cell phone suddenly erupting to life. He slipped it out of his pocket answering it gruffly, as Calleigh returned her focus back to the microscope.
"Yea, I'll be right there." He muttered, before hanging up and shoving his phone in his pocket.
He turned towards the door and halted upon feeling Calleigh's tiny hand on his arm. There was strength in her grip, enough to stop him in his tracks. He tilted his head toward her, they're eyes meeting as her hand withdrew.
"Is this about Hank Kerner?"
"Calleigh." His hands rested lightly on her shoulders.
Calleigh took a step back away form him. Hagen's hands came to rest back at his sides again.
"You can't protect everyone John." She stated, crossing her arms over his chest.
"You and Kerner have a history." He attempted.
"This was never about me; this was about how you couldn't protect Kate."
Her words hit him like a blow to the head, he stared at her stunned, his mouth moving but no sound was leaving his throat. Calleigh's eyes were fixed on him, her mouth set in a firm line.
"You see John; you may have not seen the importance of telling me about you and Kate having a past. But Kate did, she didn't want it to come between our friendship."
"I didn't see what relevance it had to our relationship. It was three years ago, and it wasn't up to Kate to tell you anything. That part of me died when Ray did. Anything to do with UC was gone." He tried to explain. "You didn't need to know, that's darker side of me that I do not want to delve into. You won't understand Calleigh what it's like..."
"Hm but Kate can." It was a statement more than a snipe.
She was assessing the argument from all angles, and she was being logical. This was nothing more than another puzzle to work out.
"Kate..." he sighed. "Kate was there, she knows things, she knew me. There are things that only the two of us could ever understand."
"You have a crush on her."
"Calleigh I don't."
"Come on John I can see it a mile away. Kate has her own life now. She's happy with Tim, stop chasing after her, and move on with your own life."
"I thought I was moving on with it, me and you..."
Calleigh stuck a hand up to silence him.
"You don't trust me with your personal life John, and trust is important to me. I can't be with someone that doesn't respect that. I'm sorry but you kept something from me and I... I feel like you're not in this a hundred percent. I see the way you look at Kate and I can't help but feel like I'm second best."
"Calleigh. Janet's dead."
It was the expression of horror on her face that made him realize that he'd actually said those words out loud. He swallowed hard, wishing he could take them back. Calleigh's eyes went glass as she rested against the desk for a second, her whole body deflating. She looked almost like a child.
"Janet... Janet's dead." Calleigh repeated slowly.
In her time of need John reached out for her, only to find that Calleigh was drawing away from him again.
"We need to get to the scene..." Calleigh began, shrugging off her lab coat.
"Calleigh, I think you need to take some time off, let the shock pass and..."
Calleigh cut him off.
"I am going to that scene with you John." Her voice was stubborn and firm, her expression fierce.
Hagen knew at that very moment that this was a fight that he was never going to win.
Simon Bishop's bungalow had the same single man's lay out as Tim's did, minus the science magazines and journals.
It probably belonged to the same real estate agent, I thought as I slipped on to our suspect's couch. Yelina took a chair across from Simon, her eyes on him as he seated himself in his chair across from the coffee table.
Trying to get some distance, I thought.
Horatio stood next to the mantle piece, well within in Simon's personal boundaries. I had to stop myself from smirking at the action.
"Where's the RV?" Horatio started, his back to Simon, as he looked over each photograph on the mantelpiece.
"What RV?"
There was sweat beginning to bead on his forehead, and we weren't even playing hard ball yet.
"I lent it to a friend." He said abruptly.
I threw the creased picture across the table towards him. Simon didn't touch it at all, he merely glanced.
"This friend?" I asked tilting my head.
"Stuart Odet, I met him online." Simon nodded as he spoke.
I leaned forward rested my elbows on my knees.
"So what? Perverts Anonymous have a website now?" I questioned.
"I don't know what you're suggesting..."
"Stuart Otis is a convicted child molester and child killer, did you know that?" I asked.
"He was about to be sentenced to death, when he broke out of prison." Yelina added, looking quite relaxed.
"He is also travelling..." Horatio paused, crouching down to retrieve something from the bin. "With a little girl disguised as a boy."
Simon was frowning now, unable to see what had caught Horatio's interest from the position in his own chair, His fingers laced together as he tried to peer around the chair that as obstructing is view.
"He was alone. He asked me to lend the RV and then he said he..." Simon's lie was cut off by Horatio rising to his feet, a discarded Happy Meal box in his latex covered hands.
"Since when does Chinese Food come with a kid's meal? Try again." Horatio's voice was low and I could hear the threatening tone in it.
Simon's expression was a picture, he squirmed in his sat a look of resignation passing over him, he was giving us something to hide something. Now that was interesting.
"He said her name used to be Emma but he didn't tell me her new name. I haven't seen them since; I don't know where they went."
I bit my bottom lip to stop myself from uttering the word liar under my breath. I had no patience with perverts.
"So you short eyes don't do each other favours?" Horatio murmured, his eyes on Simon the whole time.
Short eyes was a popular nickname for Paedophiles.
"Short eyes? I don't molest children." Simon protested half heartedly.
I rolled my eyes, as I sighed. Horatio was going to break him, whether Simon didn't realise that or he was stalling. He'd backtracked enough to look suspicious at least.
"Simon..." I drew his attention back to me, forcing a small smile as I spoke. "What did he want for the use of the RV? It's ok you can tell me, I'm not judgemental."
My own words were making me feel nauseous, but it was a facade, one that I hoped would get him to crack.
"Nothing." He mumbled, looking away.
"Nothing..." I repeated, bowing my head before raising it suddenly, letting all the rage feed into my body so he could see it in my eyes.
"Nothing? You're insulting me." I snarled.
Simon snapped, he was on his feet in an instant, eyes blazing, fists clenched tightly. I rose to my feet. I wasn't anywhere near his height but I had just as much anger and a hell of a way to use it.
"You're the one insulting me. Emotional intimacy doesn't come with a pre-determined age. We only challenge the accepted view children are not sexual." Simon spat.
"Same old excuses for what you perverts do right? Part of the great debate. What you seem to be forgetting is the world wide accepted view that exploiting a child in any way is a felony." I growled, hands on my hips, looking him straight in the eyes.
Simon had just given us something to use against himself and from the way he dropped back into his seat, and rubbed his face he knew it too.
"What have you got Simon? Come on let's go." Horatio prompted.
His voice was a welcome calm to my raised one; I slipped back onto the sofa taking a deep breath so not to lash out again. Paedophile cases were always the ones that made me angry. The victims were children, little people who couldn't speak for themselves and suffered years of abuse without saying a word. The fact Simon was admitting to helping Otis disgusted me, the fact he was one himself, well let's just say one more step out of line and I was going to go She-Hulk on his ass.
"Photographs." He muttered.
I stared at him indignant.
"Where?" Horatio pushed.
Simon reached down the side of the chair, down past the cushions and pulled out a stack of Polaroid's before setting them on the table. The pile slipped and splayed across the table, I could see Emma's face all over them at different angels and in varying states of undress. My stomach turned, I could feel the bile at the back of my throat, before I forced myself to look away and focus on something simple, like the lamp behind Simon's head.
"He said he took them in their first few hours together." He added, with a shrug.
Yelina was on her feet before I was, she'd been curled up like a cat on the comfy chair, waiting.
"Simon Bishop you are under arrest for the possession of child pornography."
We were all on our feet, Yelina's cuffs were out and she restraining Simon easily but he was arguing. Like always they had to get the last word.
"But they're not even mine, she's not even my type!" he shouted, trying to fight Yelina's grasp.
I took a step forward towards him, his eyes fell on me surprised and enraged.
"You like the little boys right? The one's you coach on your soccer team, and in basketball." I was inches away, my body not touching him but close enough so I could feel his breath on my face.
"Well let me tell you a little something, I personally am going to make sure every single child off of those teams is interviewed and if I find that you so much as touched one of them, the only children you are ever going to see are going to be in your head while some convict makes you his bitch." I whispered with a fury I felt so hard, it was a struggle not to hit him.
"You can't do that...I mean seriously you can't do that." Simon yelled as Yelina shoved him towards the living room door way.
"The badge says I can." I called after him.
I pivoted at the sound of Horatio chuckling next to me, his eyes on the sunglasses in his hands.
"I can do that right?" I questioned curiously.
Horatio nodded.
"Get someone on it. I want his crimes to go punished." Horatio stated, gathering up the photographs off of the coffee table.
I pulled out my cell phone and began to dial; we were on our way to making a few children's lives just that little bit better.
Little did we know at that point, that Simon's computer would help us find the small Paedophile ring that Simon and Otis were both part of and that Vice would eventually rescue over twenty children from both sexual and physical abuse.
Tim was studying the sheet in front of him, his eyes running over the results over and over again. He couldn't believe it, he just absolutely refused to believe it but there it was on a sheet of paper in his hand the results of his HIV test.
"Tim, can I ask a favour?" Calleigh ducked into the Trace Lab, in her hands a small vial of black oil.
Speedle cleared his throat gruffly as he slide the sheet of paper underneath a folder.
"Yea sure, I was just..."
"Doesn't someone look guilty, what were you doing?" she teased.
Speedle fixed her with a dark look.
"You favour?" he reminded her.
"Oh yeah, can you run this sample through the Mass Spec?" she asked brightly pushing the sample towards him over the desk.
"Sure." He took it from her and rose to his feet.
Calleigh was still lingering by the desk, looking lost.
"Are you ok?" he asked, glancing at her sidelong.
Calleigh hesitated before the words rambled out of her mouth while she looked down at the pictures on the desk.
"John thinks I should stay at yours tonight."
Tim looked away, concentrating on the vial for a second as he placed it in the Mass Spec.
"You could do but I won't be there." He paused for a second. "Why would he suggest that anyway? I mean its fine but it's weird."
He looked to Calleigh, as he shut the door on the Mass Spec, frowning.
"Don't you think?"
"I think he's being over protective." Calleigh stated her arms crossing over her chest.
"Guys usually are with their girls." Tim pointed out.
"It's overbearing." Calleigh commented.
"Are you trying to tell me something?" Speedle asked, thoughtfully taking in her words.
"I broke up with John because of something Kate told me. I think he may say something to her." Calleigh revealed quietly.
"I'm sure Kate can deal with him talking to her." Tim responded.
"The problem is he has a temper and Kate riles him." Calleigh said softly.
Tim turned to face her; Calleigh's arms were wrapped around herself as she tried to look nonchalant.
"Calleigh did he...has he hit you?" Tim asked lightly, his eyes taking in her stance and he found himself thinking he'd never seen Calleigh like this.
"So are you taking off for a few days? I heard you asked for some leave." Calleigh changed the whole subject, leaving Speedle silent for a second.
"Yea for a little while. We... I need to figure some stuff out." He told her looking down at his hands.
"Does Kate know?"
Tim turned his face away.
"She's hung up on the Otis case right now, so no she doesn't know, not yet." He ran a hand through his hair. "Look if you need to stay at my place, I can give you the key."
Calleigh shook her head with a small smile.
"Thanks, I just... I need to be at my place tonight."
Tim bowed his head crossing his arms over his chest.
"I'm sorry about Janet." He murmured.
"We spent so much time protecting other people that we forgot that we might actually be in danger. I forgot that she; she wasn't as untouchable as I think I am." Calleigh murmured.
She sniffed a little. Calleigh never sniffed, at lest she never sniffed in front of him. Maybe it was the time he had been spending with Kate or maybe it was because finally he didn't feel like he was the only one going through a tough time, but Tim Speedle found himself wrapping his arms around Calleigh Duquesne and hugging her. Calleigh's body went rigid for a second, he knew she was shocked, but then it relaxed. Her hands were holding onto his shirt tightly, balled up into fists, her knuckles scraping his skin as he felt he front of his shirt go wet as sobs escaped her.
Speedle had never seen Calleigh cry before; he'd never been the one to comfort her when something went wrong because she never showed it. They were alike that way, but he knew it wasn't healthy. He knew she needed someone, so he'd stepped up and he was there, holding her in the middle of the Trace Lab as she cried into his chest.
"I'm sorry Cal. I'm sorry that Janet died."
He rested his chin on the top of her head, as he rubbed her shoulder.
"I am so sorry."
The parking lot of the Orange Bowl was completely empty upon our arrival; there wasn't a car in sight, let alone an RV. I was not impressed with the fact Simon had lied to us and had consistently tried to mislead us and it showed.
"Will you stop her manhandling me?" he whined to Horatio was I yanked him forward towards a parking spot.
"If you told us the truth I would stop being physical with you." I retorted, dragging him until we were in front of a puddle of green liquid. "I don't see an RV Simon."
"I'm telling you this was it!"
"Well it's not here now is it?"
I was resisting the urge to smack him on the back of the head.
"But I'm telling you this is it, will you stop being so physical?!" he snarked at me.
"You know for someone who's damaged as many lives as you, you better be glad this is all I'm doing." I commented.
Simon's eyes were on me, a smirk crossing his rat -like features.
"Your one of those, you have a special type of hate for our kind, what did he do to you?"
"Who?" I questioned moderately confused.
"The guy that touched you... Was it you or someone close to you? A sister? A best friend? A niece? Did he sneak into your bedroom at night and cover your mouth while his hand slipped up your night gown. Or was it at school in the janitor's closet? Every time you smell that brand of bleach do you still break into a cold sweat?" Simon sneered.
My fingers dug into his arm as I yanked him to halt, using enough pressure to almost rip his arm from his socket.
"It was seeing Ruthie Creighton's body, splayed out like a rag doll across a bathroom floor in a kid's fun park. It was helping the coroner lift every single body of all the children your friend Stewart raped and murdered out of the ground. It was seeing a little girl clutching a doll to her because she was terrified, and the fact he buried her with it."
I was shaking, I was so furious, my breathing was ragged and my nostrils flared as I saw body after body patrolled in front of me. A line of corpses one by one, holding up each little report Alexx had wrote detailing her findings. I was going to have to do something with this rage after this case or I was going to kill someone, very likely Simon here.
The impact to my chest was instantaneous; I choked, winded as Simon rammed his shoulder into my thorax and took off running across the parking lot.
"You stupid little shit." I snarled, recovering quickly.
I was utterly fuelled with fury now, and despite the fact I was running in heels, Simon Bishop had the disadvantage of running in hand cuffs. I caught up with him after a sprint almost a quarter way around the parking lot, my hand hit him smack in the back, shoving him forward so he overbalanced and hit the gravel face first.
I was on him in seconds my knee driving into the centre of his back, as I grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked his hair back to lift his face from the ground leaning in so I could speak to close to his ear.
"You ever run away from me again and I'm not even gonna bother chasing you, I'm gonna pull my gun out and shoot you just the way you deserve to be put down." I spat.
Yelina was standing next to me; I could feel her eyes taking in the situation as my whole body panted trying to catch my breath.
"I'll take it from here Kate." Yelina uttered, her hand clasping my shoulder, a calming influence.
I nodded before rising to my feet and brushing the sweat off my brow with the back of my hand. Yelina was hauling Simon up by the hand cuffs as he yowled in pain, he turned his head towards me and I could see the grazes all over his face and smirked in satisfaction, especially when I caught sight of the blood dripping from his nose.
"I guess it was the janitor's closet after all." He sneered.
I withdrew away from him, shaking my head and wrapping my arms around myself against the sudden coldness. My loathing for him was evident across my face as Yelina pulled him away, I couldn't help but get one last dig in.
"Let me give you a little tip for lock up." Simon twisted his head towards me, as I winked. "Don't drop the soap."
I was riding with Yelina. Eric was up front in the Hummer with Horatio as we followed the chemical pattern along the streets and eventually into the Everglades. I'd kicked off my shoes in the passenger seat of Yelina's car because the running in them had hurt my feet. There was silence between us; I was staring out the window hand pressed to my mouth when she started talking.
"It was true wasn't it? What he said." She murmured, her accent making her voice seem softer.
I glanced down at my pink and black striped socks, my fingertips running over my lips as I spoke.
"I don't know how he knew about the janitor's closet; it must be a pervert thing." I murmured. "I was seven when it happened, taking the attendance sheet to the school office. One kid always used to do that out of our class and on Thursdays it was me. I remember I was wearing a green dress, it had this bow at the back, I used to love that dress it made me feel like a Princess because of that bow and it was frilly at the bottom."
I was lost now, lost in the memories of that day as I recounted it to myself and then to Yelina.
"The janitor's closet was on the way to the office on the left side of the hall, I heard the door open, he tugged my bow, pulled me in by it. The closet wasn't even that big really, but he was standing in front of the door. I remember there was a shelf behind me, digging into my back. He was on his knees...and he touched my face. He said I was a pretty girl, a very pretty girl and that this would be our little secret, he said it was the dress that made him pick me. It made me look like a princess."
The words tasted bitter in my mouth as my voice lowered, my eyes on the window. I could taste the drain cleaner that he smelt like in the back of my throat just like I had then.
"Then he lifted my dress up and slipped his hand into my panties...and it hurt." My eyes were burning now as I hid them behind my hand. "It hurt so much; he was dong something with his other hand to himself. I didn't know what but he was muttering and whispering to himself, telling himself it felt good and I froze I couldn't move, I just let him."
I wiped the tears away with the palm of my hand feeling angry at myself, angry and ashamed.
"Everything after that feels like it was a blur, I just went back to class and sat down, never spoke a word. Not to anyone, my mom noticed I wouldn't eat and she thought I was sick. I was off school for two days and that's when... That's when my dad told me. He'd been arrested for touching some other little girl, a teacher had opened the closet door because she heard crying and that's what she'd found..." I was looking down at my hand now, my fist clenched, nails digging into my palm, pulling myself away from the event as I swallowed hard.
"My dad... I think my dad realized not long after. He was using the same brand of drain cleaner to clean the drains and he went to hug me...I guess I freaked out, screaming and scratching. I locked myself in the bathroom, and it took him over an hour to talk to me out. After that he changed brands, he took me to kids therapy a few times, I hated it...I hated reliving it over and over again but dad made it better. Afterwards he took me out for ice cream or bought me a new book for sticking with it. After awhile, it started to get better; I didn't have nightmares I could walk past the janitor's closet without breaking a sweat. I didn't think about it much when I was growing up until... well, until I ended up in the back of a car with a boy."
Yelina was silent but I could tell she was listening from the way she cocked her head and clenched her jaw.
"I hated sex." I admitted in a small voice. "But I was seventeen and I loved my boyfriend so I just kept doing it. Everyone else I knew was doing it.
"The second guy, Chris O'Malley, I met him in college after mom and dad died. I was having some sort of wild child rebellion, you know the whole nine yards, lashing out, smoking pot, drinking and dying my hair. I did things that I would never ever do again; I don't even remember half the things I did because I was so drunk. I could make it to lectures and absorb the information but after them I was right back in Chris's basement smoking pot and getting pissed. It was a coping mechanism. I was so mad at mom and dad for getting killed..."
I shook head, fist pressed to my mouth now, Yelina had opened the flood gates and I couldn't stop. I felt it was important that she should know this, she should know me.
"One day it was like I was waking up, it was crunch time. Everyone was telling us how important this was, the final stretch and all that. That was it. So I woke up, quit the drink, and weaned myself off the pot. I stopped returning Chris's calls, talked to my professor and managed to get on the Master's programme and that's how I met Tim. I knew the first time he kissed me he was different. It was like we were two lost souls clinging to each other. He knew what it was like to be...damaged, in a way we'd both been running from things in our past and we bumped, right into each other. Two people that were never more perfect for each other."
I smiled at the memory; it had been a turning point, when things had started to go good again.
"Tim knew...the first time we were making out and it got heavy. It was like he could sense it, I never worked out how he knew but he did and he stopped because he didn't want me to be afraid of him. He cared about me a lot, and I just told him, I told him everything. He was the first person I told about the...about what happened. After that..." I glanced at Yelina.
"I felt like I was free again. Like all that pain and darkness I'd been holding onto had just gone away and there was this space right here." I put my hand over my heart. "And in the end he filled it. There was no one else after Tim; no one could have filled that space again. After the Ruthie Creighton case I was haunted by everything, I was distraught and even though we were barely talking, he stayed with me. He knew what I needed."
"You're lucky to have found a man like that, not many people do. You should hold onto him." Yelina said quietly, we were on the dirt tracks now, and in the outskirts of the city.
"I'm sorry you didn't need to hear about my crappy life." I said, rubbing the bridge of my nose with two fingers as I soothed away the tension.
"I'm just glad you trusted me enough to tell me and that you managed to restrain yourself back there with Simon. I doubt I would have been able to control myself." Yelina said with a small smile.
"I couldn't show he was getting to me otherwise he's won. I do trust you; it's just hard, because there's Ray sitting between us. He's been gone three years now and he's still sitting right here between us. I'll tell you what, for listening to be ramble, you get to ask me anything you want and I will tell you the truth."
Yelina let out a dull sigh as her hands clenched the steering wheel tightly.
"I know what Ray was like Kate...You don't have to tell me anything. I don't hold you accountable. I know what it's like to be in that position and I know good Ray was talking his way around people. So I have no questions, just promise me you won't throw away this thing with Speedle. He makes you happy and I know you make him happy. I want to see someone around here happy, for once."
I bowed my head, before pushing a stray strand of hair behind my ear.
"I'll try...I promise I really will try." I murmured, looking up as Yelina began to slow down.
"Have we found them?" I queried, trying to peer through the darkness outside and around the Hummer as it came to a halt.
"It looks like it." Yelina said, switching of the engine.
"Are you ready for this?" she asked, turning in her seat to face me as I slipped my shoes back on.
"Ready as I'll ever be."
It was early morning by the time we made it back to the Lab. I'd been working along side the graveyard shift to document and collect from the RV and the scene. After Horatio's discovery of Emma, we'd had her rushed to Angel of Mercy, where he'd stayed with her every step of the way through everything. We'd arrived back at the lab at the same time. Emma looked a little more refreshed now after her ordeal but she still seemed irresponsive.
I gripped the metal travel mug tightly in my hand as I paced through the glass corridors of the lab, sipping the well earned coffee from it. Tim looked up from the paperwork he was sifting through as I stepped into the Trace Lab, taking a long warm sip of coffee. I'd stopped off in the locker room before retrieving my beverage from the break room. In the drama of last night I'd spent hours kneeling down, caked in mud, surveying the scene for anything else Stewart may have dumped there. Thankfully we'd found nothing.
I slipped onto the stool across from him, setting my travel mug on the desk and resting my chin on my hand as I leaned on the table. He raised his eyes to me as he stopped scribbling on the paper in front of him.
"Hey." He greeted, setting down his pen.
I gave him a small hand wave before peering at his paper. He was writing up the reports so far. Dotting the I's and crossing the T's he called it.
"I heard you guys found the girl." He said, his eyes slipping back to the paper.
"Yea, luckily she was alive, Otis tried to strangle her and then buried her out in the Everglades. He was careless though, he didn't do a very good job. Horatio's just brought her back from the hospital; he's going to have a talk with her see what she can tell us." I informed him, setting my arms on the table and resting my cheek on them and closing my eyes.
"You ok?" he asked, his voice was closer now.
I felt his warm presence next to me before he combed his fingers gently through my hair.
"Hm. Just tired, I've been up over twenty fours and this case is both emotionally and physically challenging." I murmured as his hand cupped my cheek.
I rubbed my face against his rough skin gently, enjoying the comfort.
"Yelina..." he cleared his throat before starting again. "Yelina mentioned what the Simon Bishop said to you."
I raised my head off the desk and fixed my gaze on him a small smile playing across my lips.
"Did she also mention that the bastard tried to make a break for it so I chased him these little high heel boots and took him down?" I asked lightly.
Tim bowed his head smirking, withdrawing his hand from my face and staring at his knotted fingers.
"I guess you can take care of yourself huh?" he said quietly.
I reached out and took his hands in mine. He looked up meeting my eyes, before studying my face.
"You gave me that strength." I told him, my thumbs tracing patterns on his palms. "I don't want you to leave me Tim, because I need you. I need you to stay, here with me. I mean if you want to we can just be friends but I can't stand not having you near me. Everything gets to me; it gets so painful sometimes I can't breathe."
"Kate, I'm clean." He leaned in, his face inches from mine, his hands supporting his body on either side of the stool, as my worn out brain stumbled over the words.
"Are we talking you just had a shower clean, or other clean?" I asked cautiously.
My heart was beating in my chest, the blood pounding through my veins as he used his right thumb to caress my cheek as he met my gaze, his expression elated as I sat there in trepidation.
"I'm talking HIV clean. As in I don't have it."
There was a moment of pure silence between us, where Tim stared at me and I stared right back, waiting for the words to feed into my brain.
"Does that mean you're staying?" The words tumbled out of my mouth.
Tim tapped my nose with his fingertip; I stared at the end of my pulling a face as he did it.
"Right here with you." He uttered, before pressing his lips to mine.
His lips felt soft, the kiss was tender as I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer. His skin was hot underneath his shirt as my body brushed against him, my fingers running through his thick dark hair. We drew away, getting a sense of place, remembering where we were but we didn't go far. I still hand my fingers laced along the back of his neck, and he was still standing in front of me gaze never wavering.
"I have a proposition for you." He murmured against my skin as his cheek rubbed across mine.
"Hm...I like sound of that." I breathed as his lips traced my throat lightly.
"It's not that kind of proposition, but we can do that on the way there. I have five weeks to make up for."
"Five very long pleasure-less weeks." I reminded him, with a quiet moan as his teeth grazed my neck. "How will you make up for it?"
Tim pulled away, leaving me pouting as he reached into his back pocket taking out two multicoloured strips of something and handing them to me. I frowned, recognizing the airline logo on the front and discovered they were in fact two tickets to Las Vegas.
"First class, for three days, we come back on the third evening."
I looked up at Tim with wide eyes, mouth open unable to formulate a proper sentence.
"Wow... I mean I don't know what to say. I mean wow, this is...." I was on my feet waving the tickets around trying to get a grasp on myself again while Tim stood there grinning.
"So you wanna go to Vegas with me?" he asked, tilting his head and raising his eyebrows.
I flung myself at him, Tim caught me easily. His arms wrapped around me, clasping my body to him, Tim's lips kissed the top of my head. My cheek was resting on his chest, listening to his heart beating as his fingers stroked my hair. I looked up at him, unable to stop smiling as he beamed at me.
"Yes," I rubbed my face across his kitty-cat stubble. "Yes I will go to Vegas with you."
"The flight leaves at seven tonight. I tried to leave enough time for the case to be over." I drew away, still holding one of his hands between mine.
"It sounds perfect. I will pack for warm weather and you get to join the Mile High Club...again."
My cell phone went of suddenly, interrupting the banter between us. I reached down to answer it, taking in all the details Horatio was giving me before snapping it closed again and meeting Tim's interested gaze.
"I gotta go, they think Otis is going after Emma's cousin Robyn, they're on a school trip at the aquarium." I said hurriedly clipping my cell back onto my pants.
"Ground rules, no feeding him to the sharks, or chucking him into a tank ok?" Tim warned with a pointed look.
"We have Vegas in less then twenty four hours!" I punched the air, yelling as I stepped out the door.
I could hear Tim's laughter following me down the corridor as I made my way towards the reception area.
I was in the elevator already, palming the button for the parking garage as the metal doors closed when a hand gripped the door forcing them to open. I raised an eyebrow as the doors opened revealing Hagen standing there, dishevelled, one hand on the door, his head handing to the left looking at me sullen.
"Mind if I ride the elevator with you?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.
I sighed.
"I don't own it and as far as I can tell it's a free country." I replied.
John stepped into the lift; both of us facing the doors, his shoulder brushed mine. As the doors closed I wondered how uncomfortable being in confined space with John Hagen really was going to be.
There was silence between the two us, that was until he reached across me and hit the stop button.
"What the hell to you think your doing?" I snarled, turning my body to face him.
"You told Calleigh about us." His finger was jabbing in my chest painfully; I took a step back and found myself pressed against the elevator wall.
"There was no us John. So I hope it's that scar you're referring to." I snapped back, smacking his finger away from me.
"You didn't need to tell her what happened!"
"Why?" because you..." I used bunny ears before I said the next word. "Love her so much."
"I do love Calleigh, a lot more than Speedle does."
"What the fuck John? Grow the hell up." I shouted, feeling my temper bite, just like it always had around him.
"I saw them together, they were holding each other." He informed me.
I could feel a tension headache coming on; it was gnawing at my temples and in the back of my head.
"Janet just died, her best friend was murdered by Hank Kerner, and Tim, her other friend, was comforting her. Your still a selfish bastard, just like always ain't you Hagen?"
His hands were on my arms now, his grip tight, his fingers digging into my skin. I fought the panic I felt, even as I smelt the alcohol on his breath. Smokey, just like whiskey. The trick was never show your fear. The minute they knew you were scared they had all the power.
"Is this what you did to Calleigh John?" My hands reached out and straightened the labels of his suit jacket, it distracted him. "I saw the bruises on her arms when we were getting changed in the locker room this morning. You don't know you're own strength do you?"
He leaned in close and all I could see were his eyes, his woeful little eyes boring straight into mine. The grip on my arms was relaxing now and for that I was relieved but he was still well within my personal space.
"I tried Kate, I kept trying but she knows how I feel about things...About you. I wanted you back then you know, but Ray had you and I thought when you came to me with the Meth you could go for a guy like me, but then I screwed it up over that damn promotion. I chose the job over you."
I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe because his hand had curved up from my arm, over my shoulder and was now cradling my head. His thumb was tracing the line of my jaw as his eyes wandered. I was frozen, pressed against the cold elevator wall, repulsed. Hagen wasn't a monster but I knew the man needed help; he was sliding down a long slippery slope.
"John." I swallowed hard, feeling bile in the back of my throat. "Horatio is waiting for me downstairs, Otis is at the aquarium, he's planning to snatch a little girl."
Hagen withdrew slightly, his hand glided back down to my arm again as he looked at me blankly.
"I need to go." I confirmed quietly.
Hagen nodded clasping his hands in front of himself. I pushed the button slowly, trying to make any sudden movements.
"You've been drinking again haven't you?" I said almost sadly as the lift started to move again. "You still carry that hip flask he gave you, in your top inside pocket."
"You remember..." he mumbled, his eyes glazed over.
"I remember that Ray gave it to you on your birthday and the little party we had." I remised for a second.
"The cupcake with the candle in was the nicest thing anyone ever did for me. Thank you for that. I never said thanks back then. I never told you how much it meant." His fingers sought out mine; he uncurled my fist and clasped my hand tightly.
"You need to get help John." We were on the floor before the parking garage now so I was sure I was almost safe. "You're hurting the people you love, and I know you're not like that. All the pressure left over from Ray's death. I know it wasn't easy being named and shamed as his partner."
"I didn't get him killed that night." He muttered.
"That doesn't make you stop feeling guilty that he did." I pointed out as the elevator chimed.
"I gotta go." I went to step out of the elevator as the doors opened, taking a fresh breath of freedom before his hand descended on my arm again, yanking me back.
It took all the self restraint I possessed not to hit him and run.
"When this is over, when your case is over, you wanna go grab a drink?" he asked, his eyes taking in my face.
"I have other plans tonight John." I informed him, feeling like I was so close to getting away from him.
"Plans with Speedle? I don't get what you see in him. Me and you we have a whole history. You and Speedle played house a couple of years ago. I know you Kate, I know everything about you." There was a threatening edge to his voice but I felt a sudden burst of courage from the footsteps I heard pacing towards us from behind me.
"You don't know my bra size." I winked before tearing my arm away and stalking as fast as I could towards Horatio and the Hummer.
I paused for a moment, glancing back, seeing him linger outside the lift eyes on me even though I was half way thorough the parking lot. So I called out to him.
"Oh by the way John get some help before you're made to."
The aquarium was dark; there were halogen lights towards the left side of the corridor guiding people so they would know where the exits were. The children were in a group huddled near the centre of the tunnel. Their faces were turned up in awe as they watched the shark swim overhead as the speaker talked, letting them know the different facts about the animal.
Otis was here, I could see him with the aquarium logo patched onto his khaki jacket. He was bending down next to a little girl whispering in her ear, that lecherous smile spreading across his features. I felt sick to the very core of my being. I'd seen the after effects of Stuart's conquest but the actual method.
He must have sensed the intensity of my glare as I stood there watching, because he looked up, eyes focusing on my face before sweeping towards me badge. Horatio was somewhere in the crowd, and Stuart's body jerked around looking for him, and that was it. The moment he saw Horatio was the moment he snatched the kid.
His arm snaked around her waist as hauled her up under his arm and took off running in the opposite direction towards a set of stairs. I saw Horatio seconds behind as I burst through the crowd, pushing and shoving my way through until I got to the staircase.
Each step felt like a lifetime and I took them two at a time. I wanted to get Otis so badly, the thought of him hurting another child made me furious. Otis was evil. Pure unadulterated evil in a pathetic little body. When he got the needle this son of a bitch was going straight down to hell.
A door was open, letting sunlight filter through it and into the dark stairwell. I unclipped my gun from the holster before stepping into the dazzling sunlight.
From what I could see we had ourselves a stand off.
Stewart was backed again the white wall of the balcony, his hand was locked around Robyn's throat, her cheeks were flushed and red. Tears were leaking from her eyes as she choked and sobbed into the open air. Horatio was little way away from me, his gun trained on Stuart, his demeanour calm and collected. He was cooler than I was right now, I wouldn't take me more than five seconds to put a bullet in Stuart's brain. It would probably traumatise Robyn even more though, and she was the main concern.
"There's no way out Stuart, let her go." Horatio called out across the balcony, inching closer to the other man and his captive.
"I'll kill her Horatio." Stuart shouted back, his grip tightening on Robyn's throat.
"I'm not going to ask you again Stuart. Let her go!"
"I love them, I can't do without them." Stuart was sweating now, it was pouring off his forehead, as he glanced back over the ledge.
"That's not her fault." Horatio spoke, determined, taking another step forward.
It happened quickly, so quickly I almost blinked and missed it. Stuart suddenly had Robyn in his arms preparing to throw her over the wall. He wrenched in pain as the bullet from Horatio's gun hit him. His hands slipped off the little girl, leaving Robyn planted firmly on the ground as his body buckled and went over the edge.
Horatio was by Robyn's side in an instance, but I stuck standing there unmoving. Was that it? Was it over now?
Horatio was crouched down now, talking to Robyn in hushed tones as he pointed at me. The little girl was still crying as she ran towards me. Tears clung to her long lashes as she held out her hand, sobbing. I took it, grasping it warmly as I spoke.
"Your safe now sweetheart. Come on let's get you home to mommy."
I turned Robyn so she was facing the doorway before I glanced over my shoulder. Horatio apparently was still locked in an epic battle with Stewart, as he tried to haul the other man up and over the side. I have to admit there was a moment where I pondered wouldn't it have just been better for everyone if he'd let the bastard fall.
The three of us were sitting in the break room, sipping Eric's special brand of Cuban coffee. Calleigh was perched next to Eric on the couch across from me, while I curled up in the comfy chair across from them.
"So Otis and Kerner are locked up back where they belong and all of Miami can sleep easy tonight." Eric finished our joint telling of our days.
"Well some of them at least." I tilted my head, on my hand and peered at Calleigh wearily. "You want me to stay? Tim will understand."
Calleigh shook her head, her smile looked watery and her expression pained as she clenched the coffee cup between her hands.
"No you and Tim deserve some time together, especially after his HIV scare and I think it'll be good for you both. Be away from work and just together, I hear he's booked a fantastic suite." Calleigh smirked, hiding a smile behind her coffee.
"Did you help him pick this fantastic accommodation?" I asked pointedly.
"Trust me you'll love it." Calleigh winked.
"I notice your wearing a skirt huh." Eric nodded at my attire, grinning from ear to ear. "You hoping to get some in flight action?"
"I like skirts." I said smoothing the back pencil skirt over my thighs. "They're just hard to run in when you're chasing down perps."
My cheeks were flushing; I hid my smile behind my hand as I thought of the real reason.
"Look she's blushing." Calleigh giggled, pointing at me.
"You two are awful." I told them playfully before turning to more serious matters. "You sure your gonna be ok tonight?"
Calleigh exhaled deeply, before taking a sip of her coffee and nodding.
"I'm going to stay over tonight, keep her company." Eric reassured me, giving Calleigh a quick squeeze.
"No midnight tip toe." I teased.
"You know what he's like." I reminded Calleigh.
"No way. Eric is taking the couch tonight, aren't you?" Calleigh nudged him with her elbow.
"Ouch, Jesus woman yes I am staying on the couch. God you make one mistake..." he mumbled, his hand to the spot where Calleigh had elbowed him.
"Hm Kate." I turned my head, beaming to see Horatio standing there in the doorway, a small smile crossing his features.
"Don't you have somewhere to be?" he asked.
I glanced at my watch before bolting out of my chair and grabbing my suitcase.
"Shit, how did this happen? How can I be this late?" I rambled, checking through my carry on luggage for passport and purse.
Horatio held up the keys, jangling them in my direction.
"Come on. I'll give you a ride."
Miami International was heaving with people. There were so many, they all merged into a blur after a while but that didn't stop him from scanning each and every face, looking for any sign of Kate. There were people hugging and kissing in all different directions, people saying good bye to their loved ones, sons, daughters, fathers...
Speedle ran a hand through his hair, pacing in front of his seat, the black hold all swaying at each turn, as his hands ran over his stubble. She was late, no doubt about it. She was probably going to miss this flight.
No, he corrected himself. They were going to miss this flight.
He knew he should have booked an later one, he knew this case would go one that little bit longer and he should have afforded them both time. He was annoyed at himself, for not foreseeing this. He was never this whimsical, never in the whole thirty years he'd been alive. Yet the HIV test had shown him to be, the minute he'd accepted those results he'd booked this trip because he owed her for what he'd out her through, and because he knew that this case was getting to her just like the other one had. More than anything he knew she deserved this and he, had just blown a chunk of his savings to give it to her.
He checked his watch.
Five minutes.
She wasn't going to make it.
"Tim! Tim!" he could hear his name being called over the noise and he turned to see Kate's head bobbing up and down as she waved her hand frantically at him, fighting through the crowd of people.
He rushed to her as she flung her arms around his neck, hugging him close as his cheek brushed hers. He could feel her breathing ragged and panting as their chests pressed together, her heart beating manically against his.
"I thought you were going to go without me." She said before drawing back, her hands resting on his forearms.
"Never." He grinned, entwining his fingers in hers and guiding her towards the check in counters with long confident steps.
"I'm so sorry I was late, I stopped off at the Crime Lab to make sure Calleigh was ok and then Horatio had to use the lights and the siren to get me here...It was a nightmare." She rambled as she handed the clerk her passport.
Speedle did the same, letting his arm wrap around Kate's waist before he nuzzled her neck.
"All that matters is your here right now."
And with that they were on their way to Vegas.