Rick stood outside Interview Room Two studying the dark haired man who sat at the table. He was dressed in a garish blue and white Hawaiian shirt and dark slacks. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of what Rick presumed were knockoff designer sunglasses.
He appeared the epitome of cool, calm and collected.
Rick checked the file in his hand. It was for a Colin McGuire and he was a confidential informant who had been picked up in that night's drug sting because his cover was about to be blown.
Narcotics believed him to be of some value, but all their officers were busy going through that night's haul and had asked for help. Rick's boss had jumped on the chance to show the department that Internal Affairs was more than the iRat Squad/i.
Rick pushed that thought out of his mind and walked into the room. He had an interrogation to perform before he went back to his sterile office to write up another meaningless report, and then go home to a cold and silent condo.
The man looked up from tracing the grain of the table with his index finger. The sunglasses had slid down his nose, but he pushed them back up before Rick could get a look at his eyes.
This annoyed Rick and he ordered the man to remove them.
"The light hurts my eyes," the man softly replied.
"Life's full of pain, so take them off," Rick snapped.
The man shrugged. "Anything you say, chief," he purred before lifting his cuffed hands and removing the glasses.
Rick watched him toss the glasses onto the table with a hint of casual indifference. It was something his ex-lover would do when annoyed, and it was a painful reminder of what Rick had lost.
It had been over a year since his ex-lover had disappeared during an undercover assignment. The department had written him off, but Rick hadn't because he thought he knew Horatio Caine.
But crystal blue eyes boring into his brown ones, proved him wrong.
"Horatio?" Rick asked incredulous.
"I should be hurt that you didn't recognize me," Horatio calmly replied.
"You disappear for a year and you're hurt?"
"I was doing my job."
"You were running away."
"From what exactly?"
"The lab, your team, Speed's death, me," Rick rattled off.
"I was recruited."
"Bullshit." Rick shook his head and frown. "You asked for the assignment, but what I want to know is why."
"To protect you."
"Breaking up what I assumed was a good relationship and disappearing to God alone knows where, is your idea of protecting me?!" Rick exclaimed.
"Now, Rick," Horatio tried to raise his hands in a calming gesture, but the cuffs clinked and ruined the effect. "No need to get bent out of shape."
Rick stepped back toward the table and leaned into Horatio's face. "Be thankful there is an officer in here and another one at the door or I would show you bent out of shape."
"You don't have it in you," Horatio countered.
"Things have changed, Horatio." Rick walked away and leaned against the wall next to the two-way mirror. "I've changed."
TBC…