Tim Speedle or better known by 'Speed,' made his way to his office, the Trace Lab at the Miami-Dade Crime Lab. He held key evidence to a murder investigation; a bloody blue shirt with a mountain of trace evidence waiting to be processed. He wasn't supposed to be working. Speed was supposed to be on vacation, but duty called. He smiled slightly when he saw who was in the trace lab, Lauren Ashley Wolfe.
She was the newest member of the team. Lauren had been a part of the Miami-Dade Police Department for a year and a half now. Lauren had gotten along with everyone, and the team soon became like family to her, Speed especially. The two had become close over the past year and everyone could see sparks flying even if the two of them couldn't.
"Hey Lauren," Speed said pushing the door open.
"Hey Speedo! How's it going?" Lauren asked with a smile. She had been finishing up some paperwork for her case.
Speed sighed. "It would be better if I wasn't working on my week off. Are you busy at the moment?"
"I'm sorry," Lauren said placing her hand on the middle of Speed's back. "And nope, I'm just finishing up some last minute paperwork from that case yesterday. You need help with something?"
"Yeah, this shirt needs to be processed as soon as you can. It's got a lot of trace evidence on it. There's more evidence coming in soon. Calleigh's logging it as we speak."
"Yeah sure! So, we still on for tonight? Dinner then a movie." She couldn't help but smile.
Speed laughed his Speedle laugh and said, "We're going out for dinner and a movie tonight?" Lauren looked at him and scrunched up her nose. "I'm just kidding. I wouldn't miss it for anything." Lauren playfully pushed his shoulder as he set the brown evidence bag on the table.
"Open that sucker up and let's see what you got." Speed half laughed, and did as he was told.
Immediately a putrid smell filled the Trace Lab. Gagging Lauren said, "Oh my God! I think I'm going to puke. How long has this person been dead?" Lauren covered her nose with her hand, and started to breathe out of her mouth.
"Seventy-two hours," he said. Speed looked at Lauren, and started hysterically laughing. She could always make him laugh. "Come on, the faster we do this the faster we can get out of here."
"Just give me a minute. I need to head to the ladies room. I think I'm really going to have to puke this time," Lauren said taking off her lab coat and running down to the restrooms.
When she came back, Lauren noticed Speed was on the phone. He was hanging up his lab coat.
"All right H, I'll be right there." He ended the call and turned to Lauren. "Hey, I got to go. Boating accident on the causeway. I'm sorry."
"What? You're going to leave me here? To do this by myself?" Lauren asked putting her hands on her hips.
"Duty calls I got to go," Speed said smirking as he left the Trace Lab.
"You are so dead Speed!" Lauren shouted back.
Speed arrived back at CSI four hours later. He saw Lauren walking down the hallway, and caught up with her.
"Save it Speed!" Lauren said glaring at him.
"How was it?" he asked joking.
"It was shitty! I puked like three times before I could actually finish processing the shirt!" Speed started to say something, but was stopped. "Don't even go there, Speedle."
"You're amazing you know that," Speed said hugging her. Lauren didn't object.
"Here are your results," she said handing him the file. "I'm headed out to get some lunch. You want to join me?"
"I would, but Delko and I have some jewelry to process."
Lauren raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?
"Yeah. Really. Thanks again. You're an angel," Speed said as he headed down to the layout room.
"We're still on for tonight right?" Lauren asked. Speed turned around, and winked at her before disappearing as he turned the corner.
Dr. Alexx Woods was just putting the final two staples in their boating victim, Reed Williams when Calleigh Duquesne walked in. She was ready to her Alexx's findings.
"Hey Alexx you have anything for me?" Calleigh asked in her polite southern accent.
"You came at the right time, baby. I just finished the post on the Williams man," Alexx said with a smile. "Cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head as we all suspected. Other than that he's a healthy man. I collected DNA samples from him, but no trace. I sent them up to DNA for you."
Calleigh sighed. "Okay. Thanks Alexx."
"No problem, baby. If you need anything come find me." Just then Alexx's pager went off. The message said she was needed at McCauley Jewelers. "Looks like a shootout at McCauley Jewelers. Apparently there were casualties."
Calleigh stopped dead in her tracks. "What did you say, Alexx?" Her heart began to race. Horatio was headed over there with Speed.
"There was a shootout at McCauley Jewelers. I'm needed and I'm sure you'll be too." Alexx noticed the terrified look on Calleigh's face. "Calleigh what's wrong?"
Calleigh struggled to find her words. "H-Horatio and T-Tim were going over there. They got a lead off the jewelry recovered from the scene." The two women looked at one another, and immediately rushed the hummer. They both hopped into the truck, and sped off to the scene praying like they have never prayed before.
A crossed town, Lauren was headed back to work after grabbing some lunch at the little deli shop downtown. As she got in her car, she got an uneasy feeling in her stomach. It felt like butterflies fluttering around. Shaking the feeling off, she started her car and backed out of her parking spot.
After driving for a little while Lauren hit a traffic jam. "Ugh, are you serious?" Lauren said along with a few other choice words.
She decided to call Horatio, and let him know she would be a little late. It rang until the voicemail picked up. "Horatio, it's Lauren. I'm stuck in traffic. I'll be there as soon as I can." Lauren hung up and thought it was weird he didn't answer, but made the conclusion he was busy with the case. She figured Speed was with him so she picked up her cell again and tried calling him. Once again she got voicemail. "That's odd. Usually one of them would pick up."
Sirens sounded from behind her. They kept getting louder by the minute. Lauren looked in her rearview mirror, and saw the all too familiar silver hummer. As the vehicle past noticed a blonde hair woman and a dark haired and dark skinned woman. "Calleigh and Alexx," she said aloud.
The cars ahead of her moved forward about twenty feet. Lauren was beginning to see what was holding everyone up. The butterflies in her stomach retuned, and the feeling wasn't good. Lauren willed the cars in front of her to move up just enough so she could park her car in the small public parking lot just ahead. It took five minutes before she was able to park her car.
She quickly grabbed her badge, firearm, and cell phone, got out of her car, and headed north. Lauren dialed Calleigh's number, but no answer. "Dammit Calleigh! Pick up." She got her voicemail.
Just ten feet up ahead she spotted two men talking about what they had seen. "Excuse me… excuse me… Miami-Dade Police." Lauren flashed her badge. "Can you tell me what's going on?" she asked hoping they could tell her something.
"All we know officer is there was a shootout," the man said.
Lauren shut her eyes to calm herself. "Did you see anything?"
The other man spoke up, "Yeah, there was a red haired man, who walked in and a darker haired man walking next to him. The dark haired man had a blue dress shirt on. They looked like cops, but I couldn't tell from this distance."
Lauren felt sick to her stomach. "Thank you gentlemen." They watched Lauren walk slowly up the street.
Looking ahead, she saw Horatio walk out of the jewelry store. She searched the crowd for Speed, but he was nowhere to be found. She picked up her pace to a jog. Then her jogging turned into running. "HORATIO!" she yelled.
Horatio Caine's head turned sharply in Lauren's direction. A look of complete devastation was all over his face.
Lauren flashed her badge just as she reached the yellow crime scene tape; the officer let her under. "Horatio, what's going on? Where's Speed?" Her voice was frantic. "H, where is he? I saw Calleigh and Alexx drive by in the hummer."
That's when she noticed the bloodstains on her boss's shirt. Lauren looked passed Horatio. What she saw made the world around her stop. Her world was falling apart all over again.