Chapter 1
It's Time
It was 6AM when the call came in. No one had been able to get more than a few hours of sleep before the next crime.
"We'll be right there, H!"
Ryan let out a heavy sigh, got up and went to wake up Kian who slept on the couch in the living room. Kian was Ryan's little brother who just moved to Miami to work for the MDPD. And since he hadn't found an apartment yet, he was allowed to stay a few weeks with his big brother, until he found something for himself.
"Kian, wake up!" Ryan whispered.
"Hmm?" Kian turned his head towards Ryan.
"You have to get up," Ryan said with a stressed voice. "Horatio just called. We have ….."
Kian jumped down from the couch before Ryan finished talking, threw a set of clean clothes on and ran into the bathroom to get ready. It was his first day in the field and he didn't want to come too late!
"…We have a new Crime Scene!" Ryan finished.
Both were ready after only 10 minutes and headed to Ryan's Hummer.
The crime scene was half an hour away. Kian was very excited and tried to start a conversation with Ryan
"Did Horatio say, what the case is about?" Kian asked while he yawned.
"Yeah, he...ehhh…he…" Ryan tried to concentrate on what he wanted to say. But Kian noticed that Ryan's thoughts were somewhere else!
"Are you ok?" Kian asked.
"Yeah I'm fine," Ryan looked over to Kian, "Why?"
"No.. I…I'm just asking, Kian started," You know, y…you look like you're upset or something"
"I'm totally fine, Buddy…I swear!" Ryan smiled.
Kian didn't know if he should believe in him or not. He knew there was something wrong with Ryan because he was acting different and Kian wanted to figure it out!
"So, did Horatio say, what the case is about?" Kian asked again.
"A little girl's found murdered in a parking structure in Bal Harbour. H thinks it has something to do with the 2 other murders we had of little girls in the Everglades and South Beach the last 2 days." Ryan said. It was hard for him to talk about murders of kids. Especially since he had a son in the same age, as the kids they had found in the last days. Conner is 8 years old, and lives with his mother Jaylyn in Coral Springs. Ryan hadn´t seen him for the last 2 years. Jaylyn hadn´t allowed him to have contact with the boy, since he had had gambling problems.
Ryan pulled into Collins Ave and stopped in front of the parking structure. Eric just arrived and got out of his Hummer. On his way in, he saw Ryan and Kian. He stopped and was waiting for them so that they could go upstairs together.
"Hey guys," Eric greeted. "Ready for your first day, Kid?" He asked Kian. The rest of the team called him for Kid, since he was the youngest and of course the newest in the team. And of course Eric thought that it was very fun to joke with new ones.
"Yeah, I guess so.." Kian nodded and smiled to them.
They took the elevator up to the 6th floor where Horatio Caine was waiting for them.
"Good morning, H" they said as they walked toward him.
"Good morning, Eric, Mr. Wolfe, Kian!" Horatio greeted them as he took off his sunglasses. "Ready for your first case, son?" he asked while they were on their way to the body.
"Yeah!" Kian nodded. "But I could have wished for a different start!"
"Alexx, what can you tell us?" Horatio asked. Alexx was the ME in the team.
"Do we know, who the little girl is?" Eric asked.
"She has bruises on her neck and is bleeding from her nose…She was strangled" She looked at Horatio. "And to your question, Eric…. on the bracelet she's wearing, the name Maddi is engraved."
"She looks familiar" Ryan took a closer look at her.
"The same as the other girls" Horatio looked down.
"Any signs of sexual abuse?" Ryan asked.
"We have to wait until I get her to the morgue" Alexx answered softly.
"And what can you tell us about the TOD?" Kian added while he was staring at the body.
"Judging by the temperature, it has been almost 2 hours of death" She said while she was getting up from the ground.
"So she was killed around 4AM." Kian noticed. "I just can't understand how people can do things like that!" shaking his head.
Alexx kneeled down to the little body again "Sweetie…tell us...who did this to you" stroking over the girls cheek.
"We have to get this bastard!" Ryan said angrily turning towards Eric.
Eric picked up his phone and called Natalia "Hey Natalia! Could you do me a favor and see if you can find something about a missing girl, named Maddi?...Okay I'll wait!" He turned toward Kian and whispered "You have something to write down?"
"Yeah Natalia, I'm here! Maddi Johnson… Age 8…Parents are Jesse and Sofie Johnson… 9824 Northwest 28th Court….Coral Springs…Thanks Natalia!"
"Mr. Wolfe? We're going to the parents' house! Eric? Kian? You stay here to see if you can find any other evidence." Horatio gave instructions.
"Okay Boss" both nodded at the same time. Ryan threw his keys to his little brother.
Horatio and Ryan headed to Horatio's Hummer. "H, I remember where I know this little girl from!" Ryan looked over the car towards Horatio. "You want to tell me?" He asked while they were getting in the car. "You know…I never told anyone in the team about it," Ryan let out a heavy sigh. "But…I have a little boy…Conner, who lives with his mother in Coral Springs…and Maddi is the girl from the neighborhood!"
"Do you think he could know anything about what happened to Maddi?" Horatio started the car. "I don't know…I haven't seen him for 2 years now…" Sadness came over in his voice.
"Ryan, do you know what? Now it's the right time to see him again!" Horatio gave Ryan a smile.