DEADLY DESIRE

Ryan Wolfe woke up groggy in Erica Sikes' bed, dressed in only his boxers. He looked around and she was nowhere to be found. He looked at the clock, it read 10:00 AM. Lucky for him it was his day off, as far as he knew anyway. He wasn't sure how much time he lost, or what exactly transpired that led him to be out of his clothes and in Erica's bed.

He remembered agreeing to meet her for dinner at her place, and he thought that it was an actual date. She was annoying, downright frustrating at times, but she was pretty, and for some strange reason he felt himself attracted to her. But midway through dinner it became clear she was using him once again to get information for a story. He was set to leave when suddenly he felt dizzy. He vaguely remembered Erica leading him to her bedroom, removing his jacket, shoes, and belt to make him more comfortable as he lay down. The rest of what happened he swore was a strange dream–images of Erica removing the rest of his clothing, kissing and touching him, doing things to him he'd never imagine her doing. Maybe it wasn't a dream, and the evening had in fact taken a strange and twisted turn. "I can't believe she slipped me a mickey just to get me into bed. It would be a whole lot easier if she'd just asked, and didn't try to pump me for information first," he thought.

He splashed some water on his face, got dressed, and headed downstairs, determined to confront Erica. He called her name but got no response. "Maybe she's gone into work," he said to himself. He tried to reach her at the station and on her cell, but got her voicemail on both attempts. As he shuffled into the kitchen, shaking his head to clear any remaining cobwebs, a small red pool on the floor caught his attention and caused his stomach to drop. He reached for his cell phone. "H, it's Wolfe. I've got a problem."

Calleigh and Delko arrived to process the scene. Ryan was both relieved and embarrassed to see them. Delko searched around the perimeter for clues that would shed light on Erica's disappearance–footprints, broken glass–nothing would be found. Calleigh processed the inside of the house, which included processing Ryan himself. She took samples from under his fingernails, took a blood sample to run a tox screen, then handed him a swab. "You said she might have...taken advantage of you while you were out. There might be trace on you–lipstick, saliva. Go in to the restroom, leave the door open a crack. I promise I won't peek, okay? Nothing will be said," she whispered, touching his shoulder. He sighed, lowered his gaze, his face flushing. Tears of humiliation began to well in his green eyes. Calleigh lightly touched his cheek. "Go on now," she said gently. He nodded and made his way to the restroom. A couple minutes he returned with the swab. "There was lipstick, plain as day," he said haltingly. "I'd really like to go home and take a shower".

"We're almost done here. Why don't you go outside and talk to Tripp and Horatio, answer any questions they might have. I'm sure once you've done that they'll let you go home," she said, patting his shoulder again.

"Yeah, I'll do that," he said. He turned to head out the door, but stopped and turned back towards Calleigh. He kept his gaze on the floor, his humiliation preventing him from meeting her compassionate gaze.

"Thanks, Cal," he whispered.

"Hang in there, Ryan. We'll find out what happened," she said reassuringly.

Ryan walked out, passing Delko who was coming in. He looked at Calleigh, trying not to smirk.

"Knock it off, Delko," Calleigh said, "he's a co-worker."

"And right now he's a suspect, and it's not looking good. Found this outside." He said, handing Calleigh a plastic bag. Inside the bag was a knife with blood on the blade and a bloody fingerprint on the handle.

"Ryan had no cuts on his hands. We know that fingerprints can be lifted and transferred,"Calleigh said.

"You're awful quick to defend him. C'mon, Cal. Anyone of us would be glad to get rid of that reporter chick. I just didn't think Ryan would be capable of this."

"We're nowhere near making that conclusion yet. Don't forget how calculating and manipulative Erica is. She assaulted him. Plus there's not enough blood here to indicate she was murdered. Until we find her dead body, there's no evidence that a murder even took place," Calleigh said firmly.

Calleigh packed up the evidence and her kit and headed out to her vehicle. Horatio strolled over to her, removed his sunglasses, and lowered his head to meet her gaze.

"Ma'am, what have you got?" He asked.

"It doesn't look good. I've got possible trace evidence that sexual activity took place, against Ryan's will. I'm sending blood and wine samples back to the lab to run a tox screen. Delko found a weapon with blood and a print on it. We'll run it through the system."

"Well, move fast, because if Ryan is arrested, we'll lose a good CSI," Horatio said, putting back on his sunglasses and walking away.

Horatio managed to persuade Stetler to give the lab 24 hours to eliminate Ryan as a suspect before an arrest would be made. Ryan went home, took a shower, placed the clothes he had worn the night before into a paper bag to give to Calleigh for evidence. He passed the DNA lab on the way to find Calleigh. Valera had the results from Calleigh's processing–nothing under Ryan's fingernails, but positive DNA from Erica's saliva and a mixture of saliva and seminal fluid from the bed sheets.

"Ryan," Valera called out. Ryan froze, he hoped she wouldn't ask him about what happened. He ducked his head into the lab.

"Hi, Max," he said.

"I've got the DNA results..."

"Great, I'm just heading over to see Calleigh now, I can take them to her," he interrupted, not wanting to discuss the results.

"Are you okay? I mean, it's kinda disturbing." she whispered.

"Thanks for asking, but I'd rather not talk about it. See you later." He replied, ducking out of the lab and quickly making his way to find Calleigh.

"Hey, Ryan," Calleigh said, giving him a faint smile. "Thanks for bringing this in. Oh, you've got the DNA results too. Good, saves me a trip."

"Yeah, Valera handed them to me as I was walking down the hall, I didn't look at it though."

"It just shows that sexual activity went on, nothing more."

"As if that weren't enough..."

"Ryan..."

"Hey, did anyone check to see if they could run G.P.S. on her vehicle or see if she's used her cell phone lately?" Ryan asked, changing the subject.

"Delko's running that now. We should have results soon."

"Good, good," Ryan said softly. "I need to go see H. about something. I'll check back a little later."

"Okay Ryan, keep your chin up."

Ryan actually managed to look at Calleigh and give her a slight grin. He made his way to Horatio's office.

"Mr. Wolfe. Seems like you've had an interesting night."

"More interesting than I'd like to admit. I guess you'd better hang on to these for a while," Ryan said, handing his badge and gun to his boss.

"Thank you Mr. Wolfe. I trust I won't need to keep these permanently."

"I didn't hurt her, H. You gotta believe me."

"Son, I know from experience that things are not always what they seem. We'll find out the truth about what happened to Miss Sikes. In the meantime, just lay low and let us get to work, okay?"

Ryan nodded and he and Horatio headed over to Calleigh and Delko.

"Eric, what have you got for me?" Horatio asked.

"I located Erica's vehicle traveling north on I-95. I called dispatch to send a couple units in that direction."

"Let's go," Horatio said.

Erica Sikes was brought into police custody and was sitting in the interrogation room. Horatio and Ryan entered. Erica looked at Ryan with a smug look of contempt. Ryan just shook his head in disbelief at her.

"Miss Sikes," Horatio began, "you've been quite busy–assaulting an officer, faking your own death and attempting to implicate Mr. Wolfe in your disappearance."

"That's quite a charge," Erica replied.

"What did you do to your hand, miss?" Horatio asked.

"Cut it on a broken glass."

"Try again, we found no broken glass at the scene," Ryan fumed.

"Easy, Mr. Wolfe, easy. Here's my theory. You invited Mr. Wolfe to your residence for dinner under the guise that it was a social occasion. When he refused to give you the information you needed for your story, you spiked his drink with GhB, sexually assaulted him, leaving DNA evidence on the bed sheets. Then, you took a knife from the kitchen and sliced your own hand with it. You lifted Ryan's fingerprint from the wine glass and planted it on the knife. Then when you were sure that Ryan was unconscious you left the scene, planting the knife outside where Officer Delko would find it. Am I close?" Horatio asked.

"Try proving it in court,"

"We have your fingerprints on the knife and the wine glass."

"It's my house, my prints are everywhere."

"We also know that you were privy to details from the Walter Dresden case, and used that information to lift Ryan's prints from the wine glass and place them on the knife," Horatio said.

Erica lowered her head.

"Why? How could you do this to me? Were you so ticked that I wouldn't give you your breaking news story that you felt it necessary to not only humiliate me, but possibly send me to jail? Run the risk of me losing my job? What did I do to you to make you want to

ruin my life?" Ryan asked furiously.

"You needed to learn that when I want something, I'll stop at nothing to get it. I got you, and now I'll get my big news story," Erica smiled menacingly.

Ryan started to tremble.

"Mr Wolfe..."

"H, I need to get out of here."

"No need, Mr. Wolfe. She's outta here. Officers, arrest this woman." Horatio said. Once Erica had been led away, Horatio put his hand on Ryan's shoulder and handed him back his badge.

"I told you I wouldn't need this for long," he said. "Take the day off tomorrow, get some rest."

"Thanks, H." Ryan said. Ryan walked out of the interrogation room and found Calleigh. "It's over," he said. "They've arrested Erica. I still can't believe what she did."

Tears welled up in his green eyes again. Calleigh walked over to him and reached for him. He hesitated at first, not sure he wanted anyone to touch him. But instinct told him Calleigh wouldn't hurt him the way Erica had. He stepped toward her and allowed her to wrap her arms around him. He buried his face in her soft blond hair and sobbed as she rocked him slowly.

"I'm so sorry, baby," she whispered. "That woman will never hurt you again."