A/N: Thank you for taking time to read this, it means a lot...really! If you would like to review this, please do, any criticism or advice is welcome.
Smoke billows into the sky, thick and relentless as the fire crackles beneath it. The Florida Fire Department had been alerted to the house fire about half an hour ago, and now tackle the blaze. No-one had been in or around the property, as they have still to assess the ongoing damage. The medical examiner had been called, although not because they had found a body, his intern arriving just a few moments later. They now stand before the blaze, their shock felt through their silence. Jim Longworth is in there.
The Fire Chief joins them, his face dirty with smoke residue.
"We haven't found anyone yet, Dr Sanchez," he updates the pair, making them grow with worry. He turns to his troops, who are still tackling the blaze, "Get two hoses around the back!" he shouts at them.
Their reply is muffled by a small explosion in the front room, two men address it immediately.
"You think they'll find him?" Daniel asks, when the Chief leaves.
"I hope so," Carlos replies, but his tone is doubtful.
They had been there only a matter of minutes before Carlos had called Jim's fiancée, Callie. She was still in Atlanta, finishing medical school and would be moving back to Palm Glade as soon as she could. Jim had been counting down the days, even the hours, until she returned. When she found out about the fire, she had insisted that she would be there in an hour or so. She had to be there.
Two minutes later, Captain Colleen Manus arrives at the crime scene, she is surprisingly concerned for Jim's welfare, despite her well known despise of him.
"Have they found him yet?" is her first question.
"No, not yet," Carlos shifts subtly.
"Does his fiancée know?"
"Yes," Daniel adds, before the three subside back into silence.
Manus walks off, determined to find the Fire Chief, although her search is short lived.
"Excuse me Chief, but couldn't you get some of your men in there?" she asks.
"Pardon?" he almost double takes, "I don't think so miss, the structure is unstable, I could lose my men."
"One of my men may be in there," Manus counters, "and it's Captain," she adds for good measure.
"I'm sorry Captain, but the answer is still no, I can't risk it." He turns his back to her and continues to fire orders at his troops.
Manus shakes her head, and begins to walk back to Carlos and Daniel, when there is a call from the rear of the house.
"We have a body!"
Colleen, Carlos and Daniel race around the side of the house, to find a carbonised body in a pool of blood.
Carlos immediately gets to work assessing the human form, a few of the fire officers who had followed offered their torches, shining their beams onto the carcass.
"I don't know…" Carlos shakes his head, wiping sweat off his brow with his sleeve, "I…"
Manus puts her hand on his shoulder, "It's okay, we'll get the precinct down here." She nods to Daniel, who immediately pulls out his phone.
Suddenly, a scream cuts across the crackling of the fire. Carlos rises and runs back around the front to see Callie being held back by two firemen.
"Carlos!" She shouts when she sees him.
"It's okay, let her in," he tells the men.
They release her, and she runs to the medical examiner, hugging him.
"Have you…found…him?" she asks between sobs.
"No," Carlos steadily replies, "but we will."
She moves away, not liking his tone, "What is it?" she asks, steadier than before.
He doesn't reply.
"Carlos…" she begins.
"We've found a body."
It was enough to send her into hysterics, falling to her knees, sobbing.
"We don't know if it's him," the medical examiner tries to calm her down, "Callie please…"
She subsides as Daniel races towards them, out of breath; he tries to regain his composure.
"They're asking your permission to move the body, is it okay?" He pants.
Gently, Carlos nods, but before the intern leaves, he stops him. "Tell them to be careful and to take photos and samples before the body's moved."
Daniel nods before beckoning the ambulance crew to follow him.
"Come with me," Carlos tells Callie, "You don't need to see this."
"Where are we going?" she asks.
"The best place for you right now is the precinct," he replies, placing his arm around her.
He leads her to his car and leaves her in the passenger seat before returning to the house, where the fire had significantly subsided. The gurney is rolled away from the property to an ambulance.
"Hey!" Carlos calls to a paramedic, "Can you take those to the police station?"
"Sure," she replies respectfully.
"Thanks."
At the precinct, Callie sits in Jim's chair, his desk a total mess. Through the door, she could see the whole homicide department in disarray. She still clutches the cup of coffee Carlos gave her, the beverage had long since gone cold and remained un-sipped, she didn't know what to do. What would she do without him? How would she cope with…? Never mind, as Carlos had told her on the car journey to the station, it still has not been confirmed that the body is Jim's, it can't be him. Any moment now, he's going to walk through the front door…
The door opens, and Daniel walks in, he gives her a faint, sympathetic smile before carrying on to find Carlos.
The carbonised body lies on the stainless steel table, Carlos standing in the corner, his arms crossed.
"I'm going to get analysing these samples," he tells Carlos, holding up two evidence bags, "the lab have got blood and grass samples, so they're running tests on those now."
Carlos nods silently, as if he had only heard half of a conversation. The intern carries on, trying not to disturb him. Manus also enters the room, trying not to look too concerned.
"Right, who out of you two saw Jim last?" She asks.
Carlos points to Daniel, still staring at the body. Simultaneously, Daniel raises his hand.
"He left around 6-ish, said he was going home to call Callie and catch up on some reports, but he didn't tell me what," he pauses for breath, "he seemed very happy, not at all like he was going to set fire to his own house."
Colleen is amazed by the intern's attention to detail.
"Do you want my alibi?" Daniel smiles.
In any 'normal' case, both the captain and Carlos would have joined in, but with Jim potentially on their examination table, they remain silent.
Daniel began to run diagnostics on the chemicals found in the remains of the house that had been given to him by the Chief. He took the swab and put it into the machine.
"I'm calling a precinct meeting in 5, make sure that you two get there," Colleen breaks the uncomfortable silence.
Again, Carlos nods absently.
"Should we put a missing person's report out on Detective Longworth?" Daniel asks, seemingly reluctant to ask the concentrating medical examiner.
Carlos remains stationary, but the intern goes ahead anyway, busily typing away on the computer.
Five minutes later, Colleen, Carlos, Daniel and the rest of the on-duty detectives had gathered in the conference room. Many are sat down, but the others remain standing, ready in waiting for their next order.
"As far as we know, the body in the morgue is not Detective Longworth," Manus begins, "he was last seen here around 6, and was supposedly going home to catch up on 'paperwork'. However, we all know what Jim is like, so a team is already at his hou…, well what is left of it anyway, canvassing. I want a team also canvassing local bars, Carlos and Daniel; I want you to talk to Callie, see if he phoned her or not, she knows you two, it'll male it easier for her." She pauses in thought, "tell you what, Daniel, can you see if you can get a GPS signal from his phone, we may just get lucky. Carlos, when you've finished, go back to the morgue, get working on the body, any lead is a good lead at this point. Okay, you're all dismissed."
All at once, the officers left the room, squeezing thorough the single doorway.
"Carlos," Manus stops him before he leaves, "I know that Jim is a friend of yours, and if that is him in the morgue, I'm sorry, but we all need you on this case, to find whoever is responsible," she is unusually compassionate towards him.
He nods, mumbles an apology and makes his way to Jim's office. Daniel returns to his computer to check on the diagnostics, and begins to search for Jim's GPS.
"Hey, Callie," Carlos greets her, trying to sound hopeful.
"Have you found him?" She fires back.
He shakes his head, wanting to tell her they had and that he's safe.
"Jim told Daniel that he was going to call you when he got home, did he ever call you around 6?"
"He did, and he said he couldn't talk for long, he said that he had paperwork or something. I was going to surprise him, and come home for this weekend."
Carlos smiles, knowing that Jim would have been over the moon to see her.
"Please Carlos, you have to find him," a tear falls down her cheek.
"I know…and we will," he replies, "come on, I'll take you to the break room, you'll be more comfortable there."
"I'm okay here, thanks Carlos," she grips the armrests of Jim's chair.
"Okay," with that he leaves, knowing how headstrong she is.
By orders of the captain, Carlos reluctantly returns to the morgue, he was too proud to admit that he was scared. What if the body was Jim's? Who would replace him? Thoughts race through his mind, but the longer he put it off, the harder it would be. It's his job to deal with the dead, and if he can't do this autopsy, then isn't fit enough to work in the FDLE. With that in mind, he quickens his pace, determined to get it over and done with. As soon as he walks in, he is met by Daniel.
"Hi," he greets shortly, "I've ran a trace on Jim's phone with no such luck, it's either switched off or…"
"Burned?" Carlos interjects.
"Yeah…" Daniel agrees.
He clears his thoughts, "okay, I need to do this autopsy," he tells the intern, his tone neutral.
Carlos begins to arrange the autopsy tray, placing various instruments on the metal tray, each one having its place. He remembers Jim asking him why he does that, and he replies if he asked him one more time, he would find a scalpel somewhere where the sun don't shine. Carlos laughs at the memoir, wondering if he'll ever share such banter with him again. He hopes so, if not for his sake, for Callie's.
He began by documenting the height and weight of the victim, 6ft 2" and 14st 9lbs. Both are a match to Jim. Coincidence, Carlos tells himself.
"Hey Daniel, can run a missing persons search for a 6ft 2", 14st 9lbs person?" He summons the intern.
"Sure thing," he replies.
Carlos begins to take samples from the body; the hair is singed at the edges and difficult to manoeuvre around. He took several strands of hair, all close to the roots, hoping that they could extract some DNA. He works in silence, methodically taking each element of the autopsy at a time.
The minutes pass slowly, until Daniel shatters the silence.
"Because the height and weight are so specific, I was able to find only one missing persons report," he says, "and… it's Jim."
It's too much for Carlos to take in, he shakes his head, "It can't be…" he repeats over and over, "no, I don't believe it."
"I'm sorry Carlos, I triple checked…" Daniel subsides into silence, he too not wanting to believe it, "but who's going to break it to Callie?"
"There's still a chance that it's not him, we need to get these samples to the lab, maybe this person hasn't been reported yet, it's only been a couple of hours since the fire." Carlos reminds him, "let's get to work."