Chapter 1

His pale legs extending below the mid-calf length black robe decorated with jungle flora and brightly colored parrots, the red head leaned against the wall. He didn't know how long he had been staring at the black night watching the tropical storm driving rain drops against his livingroom's sliding glass door with the fanaticism of terrorists bent on committing as much destructive damage as possible in their deaths. The lightning was distracting and the crackling thunder had signaled the brunt of the storm was directly over his condo. He didn't pay too much attention. He was lost in his thoughts of Tim Speedle, now dead for about six months.

Though it was Calleigh Duquesne who was the first member of the forensics team, Speed joined shortly afterwards.

Actually, it had been Alexx Woods who had pushed the six foot redhead police detective into forensics. As Medical Examiner, she was the only person trained in the science in Miami. She was good but she only saw the bodies briefly in the field. After that they were hauled to her examining room for autopsy. Then the police detectives did what they could to find evidence with no training in forensic sciences. There was a need for the science and Horatio Caine picked up the gauntlet thrown by the black woman.

Where Calleigh was a blond, green eyed chirping little bird who loved firearms of any kind, Speed was a dark, curly haired laconic expert in almost anything else. Only forward women upset him but never for very long.

After Speed, Horatio found Eric Delko who had a naturally keen eye and quick mind and was driving a tow truck doing nothing with his education in computers. When Eric joined the team, Speed and he became the comedy team of the lab, constantly jibing at each other.

And then, suddenly, Speed was dead, killed on the job. They were investigating a jewelry store, talking with the owner. Two men tried to crawl to the door. When they were spotted they began to fire. Speed had a clear shot at the escaping gunman, he fired and his gun clicked once and again. He looked at his weapon and, at that moment, the gunman shot him in the heart. He went down onto his back, blood coming out from the hole in his back where the bullet had exited and from his mouth. Horatio had rushed to his side, knowing the worst had happened to this dear friend and not wanting to believe it. He called for help and then watched Speed try to speak and then die.

He didn't know how long he kneeled by the body only that the only thing that made him move was hearing Alexx' voice say, "Let me have him now, Horatio."

He had gotten uselessly angry with the jewelry store owner who he wanted to blame. Yes, it was his men who had fired the shot but it was Speed's gun that had misfired. Speed was notorious for not cleaning his pistol after every firing at the least, every month on average and every week if he cared about his protection. Horatio had even given Speed a gun cleaning kit as a birthday present.

Since then, Horatio hadn't slept well. Not that he needed much sleep. Lately, at night, he had been aware of every wave that hit the beach below his condo, every screaming siren sound that wound through the high rise buildings along the beach, every police warning to loud partyers around a fire pit.

This time, he blamed his being up at three in the morning on possibly being hungry so he had heated a cup of , forcing a yawn, he put the cup down of soup he had hardly tasted and walked slowly to bed.

# # #

The six A.M. call to go to the canal came much too early the next morning. Now, the storm had passed and nothing of it remained but the thunderheads marching far to the west, still venting what energy was left on the main body of Florida. It would be nothing but a few puffs of clouds by the time it hit the Florida west coast and Gulf of Mexico. Here, the air felt slightly more muggy than usual as the ground steamed under the warming sun. Horatio knew that the humidity would rise as the day wore on. But then, it always did. He never paid attention to the oppressiveness.

"What have we got Calleigh?"

Calleigh turned from her position of taking another photo. "Oh, good morning Horatio." Her southern accent wound around his name like the sweet smell of honeysuckle. "Unidentified naked male body found in the canal. Alexx just arrived."

Horatio nodded as he took note of the drag marks in the damp ground where the body had been pulled from the canal. He also saw bubbles in the water showing a diver's presence below the water's surface. Moments later a familiar face behind a dive mask, with lips distorted by the breathing apparatus, appeared.

The figure took the wide mouth gear out and slid the mask back. "Nothing else down there H. I don't even think he was killed here. None of the ground by the bank shows any disturbance and there's no trace of clothing down there. My guess is he was dumped from a boat or maybe floated here. The storm runoff could have pushed him this far before he rose to the surface."

Calleigh listened to Eric and blinked slowly. "That was a fairly heavy storm last night, Eric. I can't imagine a boat being out in that weather.

"Are you looking for a weapon?" Horatio called out.

A shrug of shoulders and a flash of white teeth in a quick smile, "I didn't see any wounds so I don't know what I'm looking for. You better talk to Alexx on that one."

"Then keep looking for clothing down there. They have more of a tendency to drop in water but a good rain could wash them away."

Another quick grin was covered by the SCUBA mouthpiece followed by the mask over the eyes. The head disappeared.

Calleigh returned to taking photographs.

Scrutinizing the ground Horatio walked slowly to where Alexx Woods was squatting on her heels by a body. "Alexx, what have we got here?"

Without raising her head, the medical examiner chuckled. "Horatio, if I wasn't so good at sensing your presence I'd have jumped a mile when you spoke. You walk quiet even on gritty dirt."

"How are you this morning?" Horatio asked as he looked at the cuticles of his fingernails on his right hand.

"Oh, you know I'm always fine. It's the poor babies like this that haven't fared so well. Oh, Love, what did you do to get yourself into this fix?" She directed this last remark to the victim as she turned it over.

Her gasp brought Horatio's head up. "Oh my God, Horatio, look."

The red headed detective walked to within a foot of the victim and looked down in silence. Not yet bloated by time in the water, the features were stunningly close to Tim Speedle's. To see him lying dead again set his breathing on shallow.

Alexx was obviously having a hard time at seeing this as well. She had a close relationship with all of the CSI team members but somehow, Tim had always seemed special to her. The greatest joy had been that day when he showed her he actually listened to her medical explanations, could repeat them back in different words. The hardest moments in her life had been when she performed his autopsy, when she had dug the bullet out from his heart.

After swallowing, he asked quietly, "Time of death?"

His words brought Alexx back from those dark memories. No, this wasn't Tim, she could see it now. She took a deep breath to center herself. "Well, for sure, he wasn't in the water for very long. His fingers are a bit wrinkled but that's all. The water temp had to have slowed the decomposition. He was found right at the canal edge in shallow water otherwise he would be underwater and not have been found until decomp gases forced him to the surface after a couple of days. So, liver temp may be off somewhat from the warm rain flooding the canal but I'm guessing TOD is between ten P.M. and midnight last night if that late. The report was made at five thirty this morning by a crew that was inspecting the canal for any storm damage."

"Eric said there are no marks on the back. I don't think he looked at the face."

Dr. Woods looked up and smiled. Her dark skin glowed in the morning sun's light. "If that means marks enough to cause death like wounds, he's right. More, there is no foam in the mouth. This is a good indication that he didn't drown. However, there are a few black and blue marks, old and new. I'll be able to make judgment on what those marks mean when I get him back to my table."

Horatio knew better than to ask about the COD in the field from his old friend. Alexx was meticulous to a fault, never making guesses before doing a complete autopsy. A licensed physician, skilled in post mortem forensics, she was very comfortable with helping the dead speak about their demise.

Stripping off her gloves and picking up the camera she had used to photograph every angle of the body, she stood and signaled the two men standing by the parked van. They approached, respectfully lifted the body into a black bag and put it onto a collapsed gurney. Lifting the bed up, they zipped the bag and took it to the van. Once the back was closed, the two climbed in front and drove off.

Watching the van head down the dirt road and turn onto the street that would take it to the morgue, the woman sighed. "I wish I could see a good side to this form of job security Horatio."

"As do I Alexx."

"I'll see you when you get to the lab." She headed to her car.

"Indeed you will."

There was actually no reason to assure each other of meeting again but they did it anyway. Horatio knew approximately how much time Alexx would need to do an autopsy and she knew he'd be there looking for information when she was finished. He had known her for over six years and had gotten so he could pin the time it took her to finish an autopsy within an hour or so. The exchange was simply a friendly habit.

Noticing Calleigh wasn't looking at the ground so much as up and down the canal, Horatio walked over to her. "Do you see something?"

"Well, it's what I'm not seeing here. Eric and I both walked this side and used binoculars to look at that side for evidence of this being the dump site. There are no recent tread marks, not even traces of footprints or drag marks other than ours. The storm was heavy so that could be too much to hope for anyway. While Eric went into the water, I kept looking but now I'm wondering if there might have been some other way the body got here. I mean, suppose he was dead long enough for decomp gases to float him. Another thought is that the runoff from the storm could have increased the flow of water where it dragged him here to the shallow side. There are houses upstream so he could have been dumped there late at night and then have come down. I looked at the satellite map for this area on the computer in the hummer and there are all kinds of homes with boat slips close to the edge of the water to say nothing of a few empty lots. Horatio, I just don't think we're going to find anything here."

The lieutenant had been listening to the information carefully. As he considered it a moment, he raised his hands to his waist placing them behind his badge on the left side of his hip and behind his I.D. on the right side. Coming to a conclusion he flipped his chin around in a circle and said, "Well, now we know where not to look for the place of death so we'll look for where he did die. I'll go drive by those homes on this side of the canal and see what I can see. Would you mind waiting for Eric to come up?"

Calleigh's smile alone was a force of nature. "Sure. Do you want us to look at the places on the other side?"

"No more than a couple of miles. If he was dumped around piers, his progress to this point would have been slowed and Alexx is pretty sure he hadn't been in the water for that long."

Calleigh nodded thoughtfully. "Actually there's probably a low probability he came to this side from that. Should we even bother?"

"The water flow from drainage could have brought him across. Check empty lots and perhaps homes that have easy access to the water. I think we'll be back here when we find out who he is." He turned and walked away.

Not feeling slighted in the least, knowing this was a sign he was leaving her in charge to finish off the scene before leaving, Calleigh turned to keep a look out for the bubbles that signaled where Eric was. She walked over to the man holding the rifle, ready to fire on any alligators. "Anything?"

"Nope"

"Good. If you see him come up before I do, tell him to come on in. We're done here for now."

Any CSI is never done looking over a scene even after deciding there isn't anything more to find. Besides, Calleigh was ever hopeful just by nature. To her sunny way of thinking, you just never knew what the wind might have brought from the real scene of the crime or perhaps what was brought up when the body was dragged from the side of the canal. She daintily skirted the area still marked in yellow tape, kept her green eyes wide, tilted her head this way and that. Occasionally she raised the large camera she toted and snapped three photos, one at regular focus, one slightly enlarged and the last at full magnification. She knew that about half of all photos taken at any crime scene would be disregarded but one never knew which half.

She heard a splash and turned at about the same time the uni with the rifle was raising his arm to signal Eric. By the time she reached the canal's edge, Eric was pausing to remove his foot flippers. "Where'd H go?"

"Well that's a fine greeting," Calleigh said lightly. "Did you find something?"

"I'm sorry Cal. No, I was just wondering and no, I didn't find anything, not even a washing machine." That was the old joke among divers. It seemed that no matter where you went when diving in Miami, you came across an old washing machine.

The two walked over to the Hummer as they talked.

"It's getting so people want the cash for the scrap metal I guess. Horatio and I decided this just wasn't the crime site. He drove up the road on this side to see what he could find and said we're to check out the other side."

Eric already stripping out of his wetsuit, nodded. "Sounds like a plan."

Calleigh thanked the armed officer for his diligence and told him he could return to the station.

Ten minutes later the two were headed down the highway to a street that would take them over a bridge across the canal to the other side. From there they would drive back toward the body site until they ran out of houses and any possible area where the body could have drifted across to the other side. At one point, they saw Horatio's little red sports car and gave him a honk. He returned the sound twice and then Eric heard his phone.

"You find anything H?"

"Not a thing Eric. It was a long shot but…"

Eric finished the thought, "…we never leave any stone unturned."

After a pause, Eric heard, "Hold on, I have another call coming in."

Eric barely had time to relay the information to Calleigh when Horatio came back on the line.

"Another call just came in. Eric you drop Calleigh off at the lab and then report to 2495 NW 24th. Bring Mr. Wolfe with you please. I'll see you there."

Eric closed his phone and rolled his eyes before starting the car again.

Recognizing his sign of disgust Calleigh laughed. "Come on Eric, Ryan isn't that bad to work with."

"Mr. Oh-I-know-it-all is a pain."

"He's just new. He wants to show us he can do the job."

"Calleigh, it's not that he's new. I mean, okay, he knows his stuff. It's the better-than-thou attitude of his. I'm trying to ignore it but sometimes he just pushes my buttons."

"You see? It's not just his fault. You need a little give here as well."

Eric fell silent, huddling himself to the wheel as much as the seat belt would allow and concentrated on driving. Calleigh turned her eyes to the passing scenery out the side window. She was only interested in controversy for as long as the other person was. As much a she liked Eric, she knew he had had his say and didn't feel the need to back it up.

On the way in to her part of the lab, Calleigh gave Ryan, the newest member to the CSI team, a heads up so he would be ready with his kit outside the building. She did not say who he would be riding with, only that Horatio had requested his presence at a crime scene. She had to admit that she wished she were a fly in the car on the drive there.

Actually, Calleigh had guessed what would happen fairly accurately. She didn't know Wolfe all that well but Eric had made his feelings about him known a few times. As she expected, when she held the door open and then bade goodbye to Eric, Ryan froze in his tracks.

"You aren't coming?"

"Horatio wants you two. I'll work on what we found at the scene, take care of the photos and all."

Handling his still shiny new field kit gingerly, Ryan eyed Eric briefly before opening the back passenger door and putting it onto the floor in front of the seat. Eric gave Ryan his best 'Speedle blank' stare, waiting for him to get into the car. Then he hardly waited for Ryan to buckle up before rounding the compass star mosaic inlaid in the drive in front of the MDPD and CSI Crime Lab building and speeding off.

Hearing the intake of breath that preceded conversation, Eric said quietly, "H didn't say what he had so don't ask."

Ryan laid his head back and stared out the window allowing fate to take him where it wanted him to be. He didn't like having no control but he had no choice either. Accepting lack of control was an ever ongoing battle for the rookie CSI who had an obsessive compulsive disorder. Putting order into his life gave him a sense of control even though he knew there was no such thing.

Inside the lab, Calleigh knew it was too soon to ask Alexx if she had processed the body. She printed out the crime scene photos as transparencies and laid them out on the light table discarding some, rearranging others. In the end, she had a collection of prints primarily of the dead body and a few of the ground at the edge of the canal. These last were to show the lack of evidence, practically useless in a courtroom but a step in the right direction for an investigation. She also put a few plastic baggies, sealed in red tape by several pictures.

Occasionally, she would hike herself up onto a counter top and gaze at the arrangement. Then, she would jump down and put one picture in a different place or even several, push a baggie here and then there. Each time, there was a longer and longer period between rearrangements.

Suddenly the cell phone in her pocket rang and she nearly jumped out of her skin. Giggling at herself, she answered.

"What's so funny Calleigh?" Alexx's warm voice asked.

Calleigh related how deep in thought she'd been and then reassured the M.E. that she was glad to get her call. "You aren't done with the autopsy already?"

"Oh, sweetheart, I haven't even gotten that far yet. I can tell you, however, who he is. I had to reconstitute a finger to get a proper print. He is Navy Lieutenant-Commander Michael Beeks, stationed at the naval air station at Jacksonville."

"The one that is almost 350 miles from here?"

"Huh, wait 'til you hear the strange part; his address on the driver's license is here in Miami."

"What? Does he do recruiting work?"

"Hey, I'll figure out how he died, you figure out what he did when he was alive."

"Alexx, you have a deal. Thanks."

Calleigh ended the call, pulled Horatio's name from her list and punched the 'call' button.

"Calleigh?"

She heard several voices in the background, all high pitched and in near panic.

"It sounds like you are up to you ass in alligators."

"And no way to drain the swamp."

She could tell he was smiling. "Alexx I.D.'d the canal man. He's a navy lieutenant-commander stationed at Jacksonville."

"A good distance from home."

"His home address is here in Miami so I'll call the base and see if anyone can tell us why he was down here."

"Good. Keep in touch."

"Good luck with the alligators."