Chapter 1

Kaila hurt all over. She had not been given any food in perhaps three days. Her only drink had been from the decaying faucet in the bathroom. Then ten foot drop from the second floor window had not helped.

Propped against the rough stucco wall, she lay in a heap, trying to catch her breath. She wanted to move so that her back, at least, was against the wall, not her bare arm, but she just did not have the strength. The effort of lifting that bathroom window, of hiking herself to the ledge and then lowering herself down as far as the grasp on the ledge would allow before letting go had taken her every last bit energy. It was just that she couldn't wait any longer! Yeah, they would have brought food eventually. They had to if they wanted her alive and she knew they did. But then, the same thing as before would have happened and that was worse than starving.

It had taken her a month of pushing at the window over and over to loosen the several layers of paint around the casing. It had cracked easiest at the bottom but the sides had taken hours every day of push, push, push.

The one other girl in the room had paid no attention to what she did. She spent most of the time lying on the thin mattress in the corner, facing the wall. Occasionally she would pick her nose and lay the bloody gooey bits on the wall. Sometimes she stirred to get a drink of water and relieve herself in the toilet, always forgetting or perhaps just neglecting to flush. If she noticed what Kaila was doing, she showed no signs.

Kaila wondered if she looked as bad as this girl did. Since she never spoke or answered any questions, Kaila did not know if the girl had yet been through the same suffering. If her appearance was any sign, she had been through worse. The silence, at least, served to keep her activities at the window secret. For sure, once she had the window open, the girl showed no interest in the sound.

Once Kaila had raised the sash window, the fresh air seemed to invigorate her. She knew it was now or never. After taking a quick look down, it seemed to take very little exertion to hike her leg up through the small opening. She was so thin now, she was able to fold herself and, holding onto the ledge of the window, pull her other leg down until she hung on the outside of the building. She had taken a ragged breath and let herself drop. Now, in the dark, she felt like a rag doll with most of the stuffing gone.

If it had not been for the enticing odor on the stray breeze coming down the alley, she would have fallen asleep. The odor was that of food and it was coming from that dumpster barely twenty feet away. Yes, mixed with stuff she did not want to think about now but the main thing was that the main part was real food!

As if riding the enticing waft, she rose and almost ran to the rusted, smelly bin. Five minutes later the thin girl in a sleeveless chemise that barely came down to the middle of her thighs was kneeling on the ground trying to swallow the fourth mouthful of the egg salad sandwich and potato chips combined. Thank goodness it had been enclosed in a Styrofoam box so bugs had not gotten into it yet. She knew it was old and the passing thought that she might get sick from the old food came and went. Maybe by the time she had thrown up this food, she would have found more.

Suddenly, a light and a shout from above alarmed her. The second most important thought in her head now took precedence. Still holding the last quarter bit of sandwich, she ran to the end of the alley and down the deserted sidewalk. She had no idea what time it was, only that every building was dark, that there were no cars driving down the streets. Where was anybody? She had been so sure that if she could get out she would find help.

She couldn't stop and knock. They would get her if she had to wait for someone to open a door. All there was now were the slapping sounds of her bare feet on the cement and a distance drumming of heavier feet that seemed to be getting louder. All she could think of to do was to run!

At some point Kaila became conscious of a sort of roaring that drowned out the other sounds. She could feel her legs pumping, her feet slapping but she could not hear them because of the hollow, deep reverberation in her head. The sound seemed to bring a sense of being dizzy as well. Was she about to faint? She had never fainted before. If she did, she knew for sure she was doomed! Worse, she was aware that whoever was chasing her was still back there but she did not hear how close.

Then her head began to swim and the straight path she was running began to waiver. Suddenly, the sidewalk rose up and slammed into her face. Just then, she felt rough hands pulling her up and swing her around. Briefly she saw the man who most often brought food. The next thing she saw was the butt end of a fist which drove her backwards and onto the cement. Again, she was pulled up.

"You bitch! You think you can run away?"

The fist hit her again.

"There's only one way you leave us."

Another face wavered into Kaila's waning vision.

"Won't Tia Reba want us to bring her back? She's probably still good."

"Nah, she told me that once they try to get away, they're going to keep trying. She says we can always get more. You hold her for me. She's mine now."

Kaila felt her arms forced behind her and held tightly.

"Ain't you gonna goose her? Can I?"

Suddenly Kaila felt a blow to her stomach.

"You got a girlfriend and so do I. We don't need no dirty little skinny bitch. We leave them to the stable studs."

The next blow hit the girl on the side of her head. No one noticed the bit of bread and egg salad dropping from her clutches onto the walkway.

As her vision and hearing faded into oblivion, the dying girl saw the streetlight brighten to blinding white and then go dark. The voice behind the blows sounded more and more satisfied until she could hear no more.

When Horatio Caine climbed out of the Crime Scene Investigation silver Humvee, he paused. To anyone's eye, he seemed to be observing the scene's activities; a uniformed officer wrapping tape around the leaning fence poles to block access to the empty lot, another officer on the other side of the area filling with waist high weeds pulled tape across the access from the alley, outside of the tape, on the sidewalk outside of the battered fence, a department detective talking with two boys. What looked to be their nervous mothers were standing behind the boys.

The phone call first thing in the morning announcing a dead body and an address had aroused him from a pleasant dream. Now he couldn't remember much about it except that he and Solange were walking across a desert. He was carrying an umbrella to shade her and she kept pushing it towards him. He wanted them to walk more closely together and share the shade but she had told him no. They were both laughing at the incongruity of the situation.

Now, while standing under the warming sun, Horatio was allowing his mind to go through the same grind it always did on first arrival at a new crime scene; how much he loved the constant challenge of finding the puzzle pieces in a crime and putting them together. Finding enough evidence to find the murderer, making sure it was not one of those crimes that got lost in the shuffle of priorities, and after finding the killer, making sure there was enough evidence in the eyes of the law to convict. Or was this constant challenge, perhaps a just a reassurance he would never be out of a job, that crime in the Miami-Dade area was a form of job security?

Settling his mind to the matter at hand, the head of Miami Dade's CSI team allowed his eyes to take over. The gold glints in his red hair flashed as he turned his head from side to side. The position of the tape showed that the body was somewhere in the empty lot. He looked along the narrow dirt trail in the weeds that stretched from the cracked sidewalk into the weeds. He bet it broke into two about midway to head either direction into the alley. The sun's heat already was giving rise to the dry smell of dead vegetation combined with the decaying smell of fresher growth that was now dying off after a week of no rain. In between the small silences of the working officers, an occasional high pitched buzz could be heard. Already, the blow flies were finding their favorite place to lay eggs; a dead body.

"Waiting for me, H?"

Horatio's head dropped for a second before he looked through his dark glasses over at Eric Delko. His gaze caught a small welt on the younger man's neck. "I hope you gave as good as you got there."

The CSI team member, smiled self-consciously and pulled at his collar in an attempt to cover the mark. "None of the shirts I have at Valera's place would cover it. I've told her to quit."

"Not to worry, I understand, brother." Horatio's voice was light and very quiet. "How long have you two been together now?"

"A little over a year."

"You thinking of making it permanent?"

"You mean, like, marriage? I don't know. I'd hate to ruin a good thing."

"Do you think things would change between you if you got married?"

"Don't they?"

"Talk it over with her. Find out what she thinks marriage should be."

"I don't know if I want to go there, yet. We're doing fine as we are."

Horatio nodded and kept quiet. He wondered if Eric had yet considered how Valera felt.

Finally he said, "You start your approach to the body. I'll see what the detective is finding out."

"Sure. Where's Tripp?"

"He took a day off after ten straight days of duty. Calleigh pulled double shift for the last five days so she's taking a day off too. Walter should be here any moment."

Horatio approached the huddle of the young boys and adults and introduced himself.

A dark haired man almost as tall as Horatio turned. "Nice to meet you Lieutenant. I'm Detective Ward Fargo. These boys found the body. This is Mark Soto"

The taller of the two boys, the whites of his eyes showing plainly around the dark irises and against the near black skin was still excited, spoke eagerly. "We was just cuttin' across the lot to get to school, like we always do."

The shorter one, freckled with green eyes peeking from behind a veil of brown hair added, "We was walkin' the bikes because the path is too rough to ride. I mean on a school day."

"You mean you wouldn't want to risk falling and getting your school uniforms dirty."

The black lad replied, "Yeah, Sister Theresa-Ann stands at the door and sends anyone with dirty clothes back home to change and then marks us tardy." His tone of voice showed no approval of the discipline.

"So, you had time to observe the lot as you walked your bikes."

"Yeah, she's right by the path. We hightailed it to my house to tell my mom when we saw her."

"Where do you live?"

Both of the boys pointed down the sidewalk. The two women standing behind either boy nodded in unison.

"And what school do you go to?"

"Saint Bart's over off of St. Le Jeune Avenue. We cut through the lot here, go down the alley to the back of the grocery store, through the lot, down Flagler and take the street in back of the school where we can park our bikes."

The shorter boy broke in, "We're already late. Can you give us a written excuse about why we're late? Father Luke won't believe us for a second."

"Not to worry. So, you went home and told your mothers?"

The slender black woman standing in back of her son spoke up. "They got to my place first. I live closest to the street. I called Tony's mother and then I called 911. We came here and waited."

She turned her head to the lot. "That poor thing."

"So, you went into the lot?"

"Just to be sure the boys weren't telling tales. You know how boys can be."

Horatio smiled briefly. "Indeed I do ma'am."

Fargo interjected, "I already asked if they had touched anything."

The shorter boy's mother fairly leaped at the remark. "I made sure none of us did anything like that. I watch a lot of crime shows. Only Shawna here went to look and I told her to try to follow her own foot prints out too."

Horatio decided not to mention that the boys' shuffling down the path with their bikes and then running back had already destroyed any evidence on the path in that direction. "Thank you Mrs…?"

"Braverton, Ruth Braverton. And this is Shawna Soto. My son here is Tony and he's Mark. We live down the block in the Sun Palms Gardens apartments. I live two units in back of hers. She's on the street."

The two men looked at each other. In private they would have rolled their eyes at the amount of information being fed them. Sure, most of the information was useful but only when asked for and in somewhat more detail. As it was, long experience had taught both of the officers that waiting for chatters to wind down was easier and, in the end, got them more information when they needed it.

The abundantly figured Mrs. Braverton went on, "Do you know who she is? Shawna says she didn't recognize her."

Horatio turned to look at the lot. "You'll have to excuse me for now. Detective Fargo needs to get more information from you. I'll see what I can do about a note for Father Luke."

As if on cue, another silver Hummer pulled up in the street and Walter Simmons pulled himself out much like disengaging himself from a tight shoe.

Nodding to Fargo, Horatio walked over to greet the six and a half foot team member.

"Sorry I'm late, H. Someone forgot to gas up this thing. Do you know how long it takes to put in almost twenty-three gallons of fuel?"

"No worries. The medical examiner hasn't arrived yet. I'm not sure that Eric has finished clearing the path either."

Walter walked to the bright yellow police tape and peered at the enclosed area. "The exit to the alley is pretty wide so I'm betting the path splits to head in either direction. It looks like Delko has the one side covered so I'll go around and take the other."

"Go in from this side. It was already disturbed by the witnesses." Horatio nodded to the where the boys were standing.

Walter nodded. "I know the story already. I went to a Catholic school in Louisiana. They were walking careful so's not to get clothes dirty, saw the body, ran home. Tomorrow they're going to be heroes and no blame for missing a day at school. Sweet."

The large black man paused before ducking under the tape. "You get a look at the body yet?"

"Not yet. I'm going to follow you in and wait for the M.E."

Walter raised the tape and ducked under then kept it elevated for his superior. Six foot even, Horatio hardly had to bow his head the tape was held so high.

As Walter swung his steps down the path, Horatio again paused surveying the scene. He was hardly aware of the spa like heat and humidity outside of his black jacket and striped shirt having long ago learned to accept the tropical conditions.

The lot was a mass of both dead and green vegetation. He suspected that somewhere in there was something left of a building. This area between West Little Havana and East Little Havana had been long settled, built and devastated as storms and economy destroyed and made room. In Florida, any place left to its own devices for very long was fair game for wild growth and often covered over in a matter of a few months.

Even knowing that any evidence of footprints had been walked on already, Horatio placed his feet carefully as he set his gaze onto the weeds on either side of the path. He was looking for any part of a print, anything out of place, any bit that hadn't seen more than a few hours of weather.

The body of the girl was about two feet short of Walter's predicted split in the trail. The positioning of her body made it obvious that it was a hasty dump. Someone had carried her in and tossed her like so much unwanted trash.

Much to the unhappiness of his aging knees, Horatio squatted, to avoid getting his pants dirty. Even dry Florida clay was the devil to get out. Following the practice he had too often performed in his life, he said a silent prayer for the girl's soul before getting down to business.

In spite of the horrible bruising on her body, he saw only a light layer of dirt. Her hair was matted, but basically clean. The emaciation may have been a recent development since there were no accompanying signs that went with chronic starvation such as cracked skin and scars from rash. The too tiny dress that barely covered past her hips was not clean and it was a bit ragged but showed no signs of elements. Her feet were only dirty on the soles, again showing evidence she had been inside until very recently. Strange. More, she had probably been a pretty little girl with a heart shaped face and corn silk blond hair. At least, she had been pretty until someone had brutally rearranged her features.

"Just how long are you going to hold me up, Sweetie?"

Horatio rose with only slight effort at the sound to the familiar voice.

"Alexx, what are you doing here?"

"Got called in as an emergency stand-in. I guess Loman is on vacation and there was a mishap at the oil refinery so the sub medical examiner is up to his arm pits. They called me for this one."

"I won't say I'm sorry."

Dr. Alexx Woods gave Horatio a toothy grin that showed bright against her coffee dark skin. "I can't say I am either." Then she held up a delicately long fingered hand. "Just don't get any ideas. I'm not ready to come back. I'm here for this case and then I'm back to part time work at the E.R. You got it?"

Horatio looked at his longtime friend. "I'll take whatever I can get."

Alexx looked down for the first time and without hesitation kneeled down, putting her kit beside her. "Oh, baby-girl, what happened to you?"

Horatio was glad to see that the former Medical Examiner, who had left forensics to spend more time with her family, quickly revert to her former way of dealing with the dead. She always addressed the dead as if they could sit up and tell her the cause of their demise. She had always said her job was to give voice to the dead and they deserved all the care and concern of the living.

Looking up, she said, "Unless I'm mistaken, this girl was beaten to death. She shows signs of malnourishment but I don't think it was bad enough to kill her. Of course, I'll…"

Horatio finished her sentence before she could, "know more after the autopsy."

Alexx smiled. "This is like putting on an old harness."

"We never really forget our habits. Is there anything else?"

Alexx finished feeling her way through the girl's hair and then felt down her arms to the hands. "Her hands are scratched but I don't think it's a human. It looks like she was hanging on to something. I'll examine it more closely in the morgue. I also see some trace under her fingernails but I don't think its skin."

The doctor turned to her field exam kit and pulled out a plastic bag and a small wooden stick. Using the stick, she scraped under a nail and slid it into the plastic bag. She quickly took a bit of red evidence tape and a marker from another compartment, initialed the tape and then filled in the date, sex of the victim and the location

"Thank you Alexx. Would you please see to it that Valera gets right on this?"

Rising, Alexx stood and motioned to the helpers who were standing by at the edge of the field. "I'll send it to her as soon as I get in. I'll have more for you in a few hours."

"I know you will."

Horatio gladly accepted the warm hug Alexx gave him as she said, "I'm glad to see you again, even under these circumstances."

The two exchanged an extended look of mutual admiration before parting. Their history in the department was long and when Alexx had felt she had to leave, it was hard on both of them.

Even though no one called out, Alexx seemed to know when the body had been loaded into the van. With a parting grin, she turned and walked on. Horatio paused a moment, filled with many thoughts, and then followed.

Before reaching the sidewalk, he turned to the field and mentally catalogued everything from possible evidence to who had said what. He had long given up the policeman's notebook.

"Mister? Are you a policeman?"

The child's voice was by his side. "Yes, I am. I'm sorry but you have to stay outside of the tape." Horatio lifted the tape and walked out with the child.

"What's your name, son?"

"Tovi, Tovi Manuel Engstrom." The dark skinned face was earnest and somehow anxious at the same time.

"Tovi, I'm Horatio Caine and I'm a detective. See that tape? You can't go inside that tape."

"I just wondered if you could walk me home."

"Don't you know the way?"

The boy's bright green eyes flashed as he bobbed his blond frizzy head. "Yeah, sure I do. It's just that…that…"

Horatio's phone rang.

"Yes Frank? What are you doing calling me? Isn't this your day off?"

"Horatio, come down to the Ten Palms Mall. Little Jake's been kidnapped!"

TBC