Two Weeks Prior
Kyle's shift wouldn't begin in another four hours, so he decided to visit the new restaurant by work. Having heard much praise about its menu, he had to see what all the fuss was about. Happily, he strolled in ready to be an amateur food critic - yelp would earn another post tonight - when he saw his dad sitting alone. He smiled, now would be a great time as any to thank him. With a refreshed step to his walk, he strolled towards him, but stopped when he surprisingly saw a woman in a tight black evening dress sit across his dad. She was drop dead gorgeous. No way was he not going to join in, now.
"Hey, hi dad." Said Kyle. He had expected a warm welcoming smile but was greeted with a shocked expression instead.
"Kyle?" His dad looked up at him through squinted eyes.
"Hey, dad. Who's your friend?" He asked intrigued, coming to a halt before his father and the lady in black.
"Um, a friend." Horatio abruptly stood and, playing with his dark shades, he looked down at the woman.
"I know, who is she?" Kyle smiled, feeling out of sync. He didn't understand why his dad was acting off balance. He never put out a vibe of discomfort and unease in front of anyone. If anything he reaked of over confidence.
The lady in black extended her hand in welcome.
"Names Heather, I'm an old school friend." She said in a cold pretentious tone "I knew your father back in college, I gave him a call after my firm relocated me here. You know, some what of a guide. Says he knows the place pretty well. Isn't that right, Horatio?" Reaching up, she massaged his dad's knuckles playfully, yet seductively.
He felt off kilter. He knew his dad was a man, and as any male he, too, would seek a woman's touch, but still, looking at her unhindered display made him queezy.
"Honey, why don't you sit down." Heather told him as she called over for a waiter to bring a spare chair.
As he sat down, along with his dad, he felt the thick fog of his dad's unease claim him. He didn't know what it was, but he felt a stirring of dread in his gut.
Heather turned towards his dad expectantly.
Staring at Heather, his dad opened his mouth. "Son, Heather and I." he turned his focus on him and swallowed "Heather and I...Well, we're more than just friends."
"Really?" Kyle asked, for his dad's own sake "You two are going out?"
"Kyle, I understand that you like to go bike riding, am I right?"
Kyle's attention turned to Heather, who was grinning from ear to ear. Her right hand was wrapped around the stem of her wine. Now he was beginning to understand why his dad had kept her away from him. There was this eeriness around her. Her smile made his skin crawl.
"I do." He told her but sensing his dad wasn't quite done, he refocused on him. "Dad, whats going on?"
"Son, Heather and I are moving in together." Horatio said without elation.
With another smile, she excused herself. "Baby, I'm going to the lady's. I'll be back in a bit."
Leaving the two men to chat, Kyle quickly leaned in and, glancing over his shoulder for any sign of Heather, he revealed to his dad his new found gut feeling "Dad, I get an eerie vibe from her. There's something you're not telling me and I need to know what it is." He said flat out.
Looking down, his dad shook his head. "Kyle, there's nothing going on."
"I don't believe you." Kyle sighed. "Dad, didn't you see the way she looked at me? It's like she wanted to strangle me alive."
Staring back up at him, his tried again."She had that effect on me when I met her. Crazy, ha?"
No, despite what his dad claimed, he knew a feeling when it pop up. That's what living in the system did to you. It heightened your senses.
Though still in whisper, his pitch rose "She's crazy, dad. She's carries this, this thing around..."
Before Kyle could finish Heather returned, rubbing her hands together. Water droplets evident on her slim, long fingers.
"So, you like biking, me too. Said Heather, sitting down besides Horatio
"Oh." Kyle nodded.
"Well, I have this bike just laying around the house and I..."
"Honey." Horatio smiled "Honey, the boy does not want to ride around with us. Especially with an old timer."
"Horatio, let your son answer." She sternly stared at him.
"I'd love to." Kyle glanced at Heather who held hope in her eyes "But I can't, sorry."
"Why not?" She sounded more disappointed than he'd liked to hear in her gentle voice.
"Don't have a bike."
"Oh, that's no problem. I'll take you out tomorrow to buy one. How about that?"
"Work."
"When are you free?" She asked, her desire seemingly growing with his every rejection.
Obvious she wouldn't take no for an answer., he finally relented "Saturday?"
"Than Saturday it is."
From that point onward everything was smooth sailing between the group.
"Yeah, I was relaxing, just chilling when I got called away." Kyle chuckled to the distant memory, mouthing another forkful of Cesare salad. "She wasn't really happy about that."
"I can relate. This man, your father, never has time for me. Always out on cases." She held onto Horatio's arm. "Isn't that right, baby?"
For the duration of their dinner, Kyle had oddly watched his dad sneakily drink away Heather's wine. And he drunk again as he cleared his throat and winked at Heather with a nod.
Wiping at his mouth, his dad said. "I'm sorry, what were you saying?"
"That you don't have much time for me anymore."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll find the time, sometime." Replied his dad.
Laying her hand gently on Horatio's she looked into his eyes. "I hope it's soon, too." She stared over at Kyle, who sat across from her, with a small smile.
Smiling at him , his dad said. "Yeah, I'll see what I can do."
"So, um-mm, what's new with the case?" Kyle asked, staring back at his father. Doubt slowly building that something was out of place. From the moment Heather poured herself a glass his father had managed to down most of the liquid and if that wasn't bad enough he was hardly present in mind.
"Which?" Asked his dad.
"The Sarnoff case?" He replied.
"Slow. The courts still have to hear the case." His dad said. "But in the mean time, in jail he'll be."
"Still, we'll get um. I mean, you'll get um."
"Yes, you're right. We'll get him." His dad agreed. "There's isn't any doubt. Just wish we put him away in the first place."
"Oh, baby, what are we saying?" Heather cut in. "I mean yes, the man was holding fights, but it wasn't illegal."
"Honey, the man killed a girl." Said his dad.
"No, you think he killed her, but you don't have proof he did."
"No, you're right, but he-" His dad didn't finished before Heather retorted.
"He was a man holding cock fights, not death matches." She stated.
"He was a low life mob boss who thought could get away with whatever he wanted." Kyle interjected. "The only reason he wasn't arrested and being gang raped sooner is simply because of his little macho men, that's all." He sipped at his sprite, arrogant pride showing, or more appropriately shining, through his very short saying.
Kyle could see from his fathers lowered gaze that a small grin had spread, his eyes even managed to smile a bit. "Yes, but we know better don't we, son." His dad said, head still ducked low, playing with his glasses.
"No, no, you think you know." Heather whined "Come on, do you really think he would?"
"Yes." Both father and son uttered in unison.
Popping his head up, his dad turned to Heather. "Honey, look at it this way. If you were being accused of 'murder' and you actually killed said someone, would you protect yourself?"
"How dare you." She screamed in anger, throwing her half empty wine at his dad. "How dare you assume I would do such a thing."
Kyle had thought his dad would do something, anything, but he didn't. He simply sat and cleaned himself up. Spectators had been there when Heather grew in temper and lashed out. She looked like a spoiled little brat who demanded to be given whatever she desired. His dad's only misstep was when he asked "would you protect yourself?"
"Calm down, honey, calm down." He said in a hushed whisper only audible to both persons present.
"Exactly what do you expect me to do, Horatio? Lie down and allow you to walk all over me?" Heather retorted.
"Honey, I was just saying."
"I know what you were saying."
"Can we take this somewhere else?" his dad looked embarrassed to say the least. "People are beginning to stare, Heather."
"No, let them look. For I all I care let them join."
"Heather, honey."
"Don't honey me, you bastard." She yelled as his dad tried consoling her.
Horatio stood up and walked out without saying another word. Kyle found this to be quite different. He had never seen his dad surrender so easily. Heather shouted at Kyle when he decided to join his father outside.
"Sit - sit down, Kyle." Heather demanded. "I said sit!"
"My dad needs me, Heather." Kyle voiced between gritted teeth. "Look, I have no clue of your problems between my father, but I am his son and I am on his side." He said with clarity. He didn't want to repeat himself if it were to occur, again.
"Sorry, I don't know what came over me. Please sit.
Kyle glanced at his watch than at Heather for if he dared stare at her he knew he'd burst out and insult her. He'd grown to hate her in one simple sitting. He didn't grasp what made him despise her more than death, he just knew he didn't like her.
"Heather, I can't. I have someone to visit." Kyle turned to leave, but stopped when Heather spoke.
"Your mom?"
"Yea, how-" Scrunching his brows in question, Kyle directed his full attention onto Heather. Staring at her he could point out a glint of mischief buried deep within her crystal blue gaze.
"Your dad, we do talk."
"Is that so." Placing his hands on his hips, he said.
"It is." Rolling the sentence from her tongue she ran a finger on the rim of her drink. The air mysteriously thicken and thinned at precisely the same time, or that's how it felt to Kyle.
If that was a lie for Kyle to hate his dad than it wasn't going to work. He knew the lady in black was bad news. Bidding his goodbye, he proceeded outside and found his dad leaning against the hood of his car. His arms were crossed against his chest, feet crisscrossed at the ankle and his head ducked, but saddest of all, he looked contemplative.
"Dad, she, she's crazy. You have to dump her."
"I wish it was that easy." Muttering under his breath Horatio took off his shades and fiddled with them as his blue hues squint under the bright sunlight.
Mimicking his father Kyle leaned against the hood and stuffed his hands deep in his pockets.
"Kyle, there's something that I can't quite explain...I love her." His dad said with a straight face as he put his shades on, pushed his body off the Hummer and turned towards him.
"After what she did to you in there? In front of all those people?" Kyle pointed to the building to hit his meaning home.
"Yea. Kyle, promise me you'll welcome her with open arms."
"I can't, not after that." Kyle glanced back from where he'd recently exited.
"Kyle, she didn't mean to."
"Your defending her?" Kyle asked, surprised.
His dad sought and locked his crystal blues with his own pair. He didn't want to stare back at him - it was too painful knowing what his dad was willingly going through - but he couldn't look away.
"Look, son, I don't expect you to love her, or accept her as your mother. Son, I'm only asking that you don't undermine her."
"Dad, I can't...I just can't." He said.
"You love your father, right?" His dad said, a cheap blow.
"Of course, dad. You know I do."
"Then please don't go against my plea."
"Alright, but if she asks me to run away with her I won't." He joked, poking fun at Heather's seductive persona.
"Now, you mind yourself, Kyle."
"I won't say she isn't hot because she is." Kyle smiled.
"She is beautiful, isn't she?"
"Yeah, but crazy."
"I'm ready to go." Ambling towards them with a sway, Heather stared at his dad and he swore if he didn't die by her icy glare than surely he would recieve punishment at home.
Opening her door his dad helped Heather into her seat then closed the metal slab shut. Staring at him, his dad nodded his head before strolling to his side and driving off. As the slow moving vehicle gradually vanished into the horizon, Kyle begun wondering who the woman in black truly was.