Disclaimer: I do not own CSI:Miami or CSI:NY in any shape or form – I will put them back after borrowing them for a while.

a/n: This will be a one shot – I don't usually write these types of stories and warning: mentions of torture – if you don't like reading about torture – don't read.

VENGEANCE

A silver Hummer braked to a stop outside a small mansion on Dodge Island, and a tall, red haired man stepped out of the Hummer.

"Detective Berkeley, what do we have here?"

"Lt. Caine, are you by yourself?"

"Delko and Miss Boa Vista are on the way. What is the situation here?" asked Lt. Horatio Caine, standing sideways with his hands on his hips.

"It looks like a home invasion gone bad, the owner may have surprised them. I've already called the M.E.'s office."

"Who is the victim?"

"He has been tentatively identified as Jeffrey Douglas."

"Excuse me," Horatio removing his sunglasses as he stepped inside the luxurious house. "Who found Mr. Douglas?"

"Uh, the housekeeper, Mrs. Lopez, Sgt. Tripp has her in the kitchen."

"Where is the body?"

"He's in the master bedroom," Jake Berkeley gestured towards the back of the house.

"Sorry for being late, H. We got delayed at the bridge," Eric Delko, a handsome Cuban said as he and Natalia walked into the house.

"The scene is in the master bedroom, but the house needs to be checked for any signs of forced entry, thank you," Horatio nodded at his CSIs.

In the bedroom Eric and Natalia started processing the scene, as Horatio looked at the overall picture, noting that the victim was tied to the bed, face down and appeared to have been stabbed several times.

"Any sign of the murder weapon Eric?" Horatio asked.

"I haven't found it yet."

"This gentleman didn't go easy," Alexx commented as she walked into the bedroom.

"Not a very good start to your day Alexx."

"Oh you've got that right, Horatio," Alexx smiled at her friend, before getting down to the business of examining the body.

"Horatio, I found a letter on the dresser," said Natalia, snapping pictures before sliding the paper into a clear evidence bag, and passing it to Horatio to read.

"Miami-Dade Police Department. I confess to killing Lisa Marie Valdez on October 21, 2002, signed Jeffrey Douglas," Horatio read out loud.

"I remember that case, H." said Eric. "We liked Mr. Douglas for Lisa's murder, but we couldn't find any concrete evidence."

"Yes, and someone forced our victim to write that confession."

"What is that?" Natalia pointed to a metal tube approx. 2 ½ feet in length, 2 inches in diameter. Two metal prongs were on one end and the other end had a rubber grip.

"That is an electric shock prod," replied Horatio. "Alexx, are the stab wounds the cause of death?"

"Yes, but I will know more at post."

"TOD?"

"He died around midnight."

"That's a hard way to go, I wonder if any of his neighbours's heard him screaming?" Eric mused.

"I've got uniforms talking to his neighbours," replied Jake Berkeley.

24 Hours Previous:

Lt. Horatio Caine stepped out of the elevator car in front of the MDPD CSI's reception desk.

"Lt. Caine, you have a visitor," Paula said, catching the tall, red haired detective's attention.

"Did this person give you a name?" Horatio tilted his head.

"She gave the name Izelda Valdez and she wants to find out the status of a murder investigation."

"I'll talk to her, where is she?"

Paula indicated the small waiting area down the hall. Walking down the hallway Horatio saw a woman with short grey hair sitting on the padded bench.

"Miss Valdez, I'm Lt. Horatio Caine. I was told that you wished to speak to me." The woman turned her head when Horatio spoke, and he noticed that she was younger then he had previously estimated, and that she was wearing extremely dark, wrap around sunglasses.

"Lt. Caine," the woman spoke in a low, husky voice.

"Yes, how may I help you?"

"I wanted to find out the status of my sister's case."

"Let's go to my office where we can talk freely."

"Thank you," Izelda said, as she reached for a cane which had been lying on the bench on her opposite side and struggled to stand up from the low bench. "Damn, I knew that it would be too low for me," as she sank back down on the bench. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to need your help to stand up."

"Not a problem," Horatio gently grasped her elbows, easily lifted the woman to her feet. "Okay now Miss Valdez?"

"Yes thank you."

"My office is just down the hall, the last door on the left."

In his office, Horatio indicated to Izelda that she was to take his office chair which was higher than the other chairs in his office. Horatio sat on one of the visitor's chairs facing his visitor.

"Thank you, it is hard to get up from low chairs with bad hips."

"You wanted to discuss your sister's case?"

"Yes, Lisa Marie Valdez, she was killed on October 21, 2002."

"What did you want to know about the case?"

"Do you have any suspects? Will there be an arrest in the future?"

"We do have a person of interest, but I'm sorry to say that we don't have enough evidence to file charges."

"My parents died recently, and as I was going thru their stuff, I found some letters that Lisa had written to me when I was overseas."

"I'm sorry to hear about your parents. What about Lisa's letters?"

"I had never read them because I was a P.O.W. in Iraq, then in rehab for a number of years," explained Izelda. "Lisa talked about meeting a man here in Miami."

"Did she mention his name?"

"Yes, a Jeffrey Douglas, in her letters, she said that she had accepted his proposal of marriage."

"Mm-hmm," Horatio murmured.

"Lisa mentioned that the only problem between them was the fact that she wanted children and that he didn't. She thought that she would be able to change his mind, the last letter that she wrote was dated the day that she died. And she wrote that she had found out that she was pregnant, and she said that she was going to keep the baby against his wishes."

"Did he know about Lisa's pregnancy?"

"Yes, she had told him the day before and he demanded that she was to get an abortion."

"Do you have the letter with you?"

"Yes, I do," Izelda retrieved a much folded letter from her purse, passing it to Horatio, who quickly read the pages silently.

"This does confirm our suspicions, but it is not definite proof, I'm sorry to say."

"So that's it?"

"Yes unless we find some more evidence," agreed Horatio.

"Okay, well thanks for your time," Izelda said, slowly standing up.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't give you some good news," Horatio stood up as well. "How can I contact you if we need to reach you?"

"I am staying at the Hilton."

"You don't live in here in Miami?"

"No, I'm on vacation, Lisa always wanted me to visit, but I wasn't able to get leave. Then I got into difficulties in Iraq."

At the front door, Horatio asked. "Do you need to call for a taxi?"

"No, I have a car and driver waiting," Izelda shielded her eyes with her hand despite the dark sunglasses that she was wearing.

"Take care Izelda," Horatio watched as Izelda carefully walked down the steps, heading for a grey van.

Present Day:

"Alexx, what do you have for me?" Horatio asked, walking into the autopsy room.

Alexx frowned and shook her head. "I know that I said it already, but I repeat this poor man did not die easily."

"What do you mean Alexx?"

"Mr. Douglas here couldn't call out for help. His larynx was crushed, most likely from a punch to the throat. And also he was tortured, probably from that electric prod." Alexx lifting the sheet, indicating the region of torture. "I found burn marks south of the border and he was also repeatly sodomized by a foreign object before he was stabbed to death."

"Which was the fatal stab wound?"

"This one at the base of the skull, it severed the vertebrate and the spinal cord – this was the killing strike. The other stab wounds caused extensive bleeding, but missed the vital areas."

"Lucky strikes or a knowledge of anatomy," Horatio nodded.

"Perhaps," Alexx agreed. "And here you can see where he was punctured with something small, a needle perhaps. I've send his blood up to toxins for analysis."

"Did you find any trace evidence of his attacker?"

"No, just fibers from some type of material, I've already send them to the trace lab."

"Good, thank you Alexx."

Upstairs in the lab, Eric met Horatio in the hallway. "H, I ran the trace on the fibers that Alexx found on the body."

"Yes?"

"They match the fibers that I found at the scene and they trace back to heavy black cotton, burlap material. Which is most commonly used for burkas."

"Which are worn primarily by Muslim females," Horatio mused. "And where is Natalia?"

"She's in the DNA lab checking that prod for DNA."

"Thank you," Horatio walked down the hall towards DNA. "Miss Boa Vista, did you have any success with the electric prod?"

"I did," Natalia looking up at Horatio smiling. "But I only found DNA from the victim. The attacker must have worn gloves."

"No fingerprints anywhere?"

"Nothing, it was wiped clean."

"Did you check the batteries? Sometimes they forget to wear gloves when inserting batteries."

"I did, and nothing. I even checked where these things are sold. It seems that anyone can walk into a veterinary supply store and buy them or order them on-line."

"Okay, thank you."

"So what now?"

"We check Mr. Douglas's background for family and friends for possible motives."

"I'll start checking the victim's family and friends, maybe that will lead to possible enemies."

"And I am going to talk with Lisa Marie's family."

Horatio got out of the big silver Hummer parked in the driveway of the Hilton Hotel, inside the lobby, Horatio stopped at the front desk, where a tall, African American man asked. "Good afternoon sir, how may I help you?"

"I am Lt. Caine of the MDPD Crime Lab, I need Miss Izelda Valdez's room number."

"Let's see," the clerk typed a few keys on his keyboard and read the computer monitor. "I'm sorry, Ms. Valdez checked out this morning."

"What was her check out time?"

"8:00 am."

"Did she leave any forwarding address?"

"No sir, no address or phone number."

"How did she pay her hotel bill?"

"Cash, she paid cash for everything."

"Did she take a taxi when she left the hotel?"

"She arranged to be picked up the airport shuttle bus to Miami International."

"Has the room been cleaned by housekeeping yet?"

"Yes it has."
"Could I get a copy of her room service bills?"

The clerk scanned the hotel bill and replied. "Ms. Valdez did not order from room service during her stay. She ate her meals in the hotel's coffee shop."

"Hmm, I see, thank you."

Izelda's trail went cold at Miami International, after checking passenger manifests – Izelda's name did not appear on any flights, and Horatio's team followed all possible leads in Jeffrey Douglas's murder which all led to dead ends. Finally Horatio was forced to declare the case cold and move on to more urgent cases, much to his disgust.

TBC…..