Things Kept Hidden
EEEEEERRRRRRNNNN
"Caine," the voice answered the phone before it began to vibrate again.
"Horatio," a Latino voice replied in greeting.
"Yelina, hey, what's up?" Horatio inquired.
"I'm calling to ask you for a favor," Yelina stated.
"Anything," he replied almost too eagerly.
"Ray Jr. is hanging out with some friends at a dance studio and I need someone to pick him up. I would do it, only this case I'm working on is taking longer to wrap up than I thought originally and I couldn't get a hold of my mother, so I thought of you," Yelina said almost embarrassingly.
"What's the name of the dance studio?" Horatio asked.
"Thank you so much, Horatio. The name of the dance studio is called Jalani's Studio of Dance," Yelina answered.
"I'm there," Horatio replied before he hung up.
Horatio exited his office and walked out into the parking lot. He hopped in the hummer and headed off towards the dance studio. Within ten minutes he arrived and walked in through the front doors. He stopped and looked around. The building had a reception desk in the lobby with doors off to the side leading into the big dance studios. Nodding his head towards the receptionist, he walked through, looking into each of the door windows until he spotted Ray Jr.
"Ray," Horatio called out to a boy who was talking to group of about seven kids.
The fourteen year old boy turned around, and, spotting his uncle, he waved Horatio over. Horatio observed there was group intermittently mixed of both boys and girls, all around Ray Jr.'s age.
"Hey Ray. Your mom sent me to come pick you up," Horatio told his nephew.
"Cool, I'm almost ready to go" the teenage boy replied.
"Ok, I'll wait," he replied. One of the girls told the rest of her group that they were done and went and turned the music off. She walked over to Ray Jr. and apparently restarted the conversation they had before Horatio arrived.
"Anyway, Ray, you really should consider dancing with us. The moves you showed me today were really good. We've been looking for a partner for Camala forever," she stressed to Ray Jr.
"I don't know Kat, I'd have to ask my mom," Ray replied.
"Well, my family is having a get together with all of our parents at my house. Tell your mom you and she are invited to come, maybe it will persuade her to let you join. It's at five on Sunday. I hope both of you can make it," Kat told Ray.
"I'll tell her," Ray replied. Just then, Horatio's cell phone vibrated again.
"Hold on a sec, Ray," he told his nephew. "Caine," Horatio responded.
"Horatio, we got a DB over at 315 West Palm Drive in the Grove," Frank Tripp's voice rang over the line.
"Ok, 315 West Palm Drive, Coconut Grove. I'll be there in ten minutes," H replied. "Ray, we need to leave. I have to go to a crime scene," he told his nephew. They turned to leave, but the girl, Kat, interrupted them.
"Excuse me, did you say 315 West Palm Drive?" she asked.
"Yes, why?" H responded suspiciously.
"That's my house address," the girl stated quietly. The whole room became uncomfortably quiet.
Horatio nodded his head, unable to speak.
"Db stands for a dead body, right?" she inquired.
"Yes," Horatio replied regrettably, finding his voice. The girl moved closer to Ray and his uncle.
Horatio to studied her features as she came closer. She had dark blonde hair, and had a long scar trailing down her left cheek, near her eye to her mouth. But her most striking characteristic was her cobalt blue eyes.
"I'm assuming that you have to take me with you because my house is now your crime scene," she muttered to H, gathering her stuff.
"Yes. Do you have any relatives you can call to meet you at your house?" he replied.
"Yes. I'll call them when on the way," Kat replied. Horatio nodded and turned to Ray.
"Ray, I'm assuming you want to come too, so you should call your mom and tell her," he told his nephew.
"Ok," Ray Jr. replied.
"Let's go then," H said.
Kat and Ray awkwardly waved good-bye to their friends and followed Horatio out.
Ten minutes later, Horatio pulled up to Kat's house. In front of it, there was a large crowd of people behind yellow tape. All of a sudden, Kat sprinted under the yellow tape and into the house.
"Stay here Ray," H warned his nephew as the nephew's face fell. Horatio ran in after Kat into the house.
"Kat, you have get back behind the yellow tape. You'll contaminate the evidence if you don't," Horatio replied angrily. He was about to say more, but he stopped short. The living room of the house was covered in blood. In the middle of the living room, there lay the dead body of a woman covered in blood. Alexx was examining the body. She looked up and saw Kat and Horatio standing there.
"You shouldn't see this, baby girl. Horatio, get her out of here," Alexx told him angrily.
"The woman's name is Janet Theresa Gordon Taylor. She's my mother," Kat said in a low and surprisingly calm voice.