The sunset shone lazily through the window and was reflected in a tear falling from Horatio Caine's eye. He felt so useless. As head of the CSI department at the Miami Dade P.D., tonight had been the first time in five years he had been barred from working a case. It was understandable: any CSI who had a relationship with either victim or suspect was automatically taken off the job to avoid any suspicion when the case went to court. Sitting down on the sofa, he carefully wiped away the tear with the sleeve of his jacket. He was vaguely aware of people around him but he wasn't paying any attention to what they were saying. Tripp had given him strict instructions that he was not to move beyond the yellow tape blocking the back door until Alexx and Calleigh had finished processing and the wait was making him irritable. Finally, Tripp appeared in the doorway and motioned to him to come closer. The detective was sweating slightly in the evening heat and he was avoiding making eye contact with Horatio at all costs as he got up from the sofa and joined him.

"How're you holding up, H?" The tone of his voice suggested he was genuinely concerned for his friend and Horatio could tell he was being very careful about what he said.

"I'm gonna be fine, Frank. Given time." Tripp shifted position and chose to stare at a lamp in the corner of the room for a while.

"It's- it's just- Calleigh's finished processing now. She says that if you wanna go out there yourself, you can but you can't touch a thing. You know that."

"I do know that Frank." There was a pause in which the two of them waited for the other to say something and eventually Frank sighed and stood back to allow Horatio through the door to the back garden.

"I've gotta warn you buddy, it's not pretty out there. Are you sure you wanna see them like that? You could always wait until Alexx has taken them back to the lab and cleaned them up a bit..."

"No." Horatio's face was set and determined. "I have to see this for myself."

It looked like any typical family garden, until you noticed the two dead bodies on the floor. One, a tall dark woman in a bloodstained cream suit had been tied to the fence with twine and beaten until her face was almost unrecognisable with bruises and swelling. Her body hung limply forward with her black, curly hair dragging in the mixture of blood and mud in front of her knees. The second body was flung just a few feet away with one arm outstretched towards the first, as though the man's last action was to try and reach his wife. Horatio couldn't see this man's face, but he didn't need to. Without being told, he would have instantly recognised the mop of flame-red hair (the exact same colour as his) anywhere. Raymond.

Horatio's younger brother had always been a liability who had relied on his sibling to get him out of whichever sticky situation he had been in. Many times, Horatio had lent him money to get him out of debt without his wife Yelina's knowledge. He had also become the unofficial chauffeur whenever Ray had had one too many at his local bar but all those troubling memories had been forgotten the moment he heard Tripp's voice on the phone two hours ago.

"It's your brother, H. He's been murdered."

Now, as he regarded his brother's lifeless body, he would have given anything to be able to go back in time, to protect him. He wanted to find who had done this to him and why they had felt it so necessary to take Yelina's life at the same time. He had only been told of her death when he arrived at their house, surrounded by uniforms and yellow crime scene tape. Since then, he had been racking his brains, trying to think of anyone who could commit such a crime against the Narcotics detective but the most important question that held his attention now was the whereabouts of their young daughter, Lauren.

As if he was reading his mind, Tripp stepped backward and spoke into his radio, asking for any updates in the search for the couple's seven year old girl. As he waited for a reply, Horatio circled the bodies of his brother and sister-in-law in order to get a better perspective. Why wasn't she here? Where could my niece possibly be? He knelt down one knee, removed his sunglasses and began twirling them between his fingers, thinking carefully. If I were a seven year old girl, where would I hide?

"Frank?"

"Yeah?"

"Did the first officer on the scene clear both the house and the garden?"

"He'll face hell if he didn't."

"What about the shed?"

Frank looked sideways at the shed in the corner of the garden. It would certainly be a good hiding place for both criminal and girl and he had asked Officer Tomlinson if it had been searched when he thought of it. According to him, it was locked but a look through the window had only showed a small area, filled with garden tools and rotting cardboard boxes. He told this to Horatio who stood up slowly and pocketed his sunglasses before rounding on the shed and tip-toeing to see through the window for himself. It was very cramped inside and the setting sun revealed the tools and boxes Frank had previously mentioned. Boxes big enough for a small child to hide in.

"Frank we need to open this shed NOW!"

"I've got someone looking for the keys..."

Horatio didn't want to wait that long. Not when his own niece, his only remaining family could still be alive inside that shed. He darted back a few yards from the door before sprinting at it and slamming into it with his shoulder. The wood creaked and a few cracks appeared but the door itself was still standing. Gasping with pain from his shoulder, he tried again, this time with his other shoulder but the door still wouldn't open.

"H, stand back, stand back! I can get this down no problem."

Horatio massaged his throbbing shoulder as Tripp took a deep breath before landing a powerful kick on the lock. It splintered under the force and the door finally bent backwards into the shed. A little scream...

"LAUREN!"

Horatio pushed past Tripp into the shed where he lifted the flap of the nearest cardboard box. He could have passed out from the relief as he saw those bloodshot blue eyes staring up at him like orbs in the darkness.

"Lauren... sweetheart it's me. It's Uncle H. They've gone now. They're not going to hurt you."

He held out his hand to the tiny child who gingerly took it and allowed herself to be lifted out of the box and into her loving uncle's arms. Horatio wept silently as he held his precious niece close to him and stroked her hair as she buried her face into his neck. I'll never let you go. My beloved Lollipop.