Disclaimer: I do not own CSI Miami…or Ryan…or Eric…Or Ryan sighs sadly

"Horatio?" Frank called as he walked over to the red haired man. Horatio was looking through the window of the small room silently. Inside was Landon who sat nervously keeping his head down. "That the witness?"

"Yes it is, Frank. There may be a chance he might need protection." Horatio turned towards him.

"I'll have a few of my guys on standby." Frank nodded his head in understanding.

"Thank you, Frank." With that Horatio walked into the room where Landon finally looked up from the table. He gave him a half smiled before pulling on the ends of his long sleeves.

Ryan ran from the car, camera and kit in hand. After pushing through crowds of people he dove under the long yellow tape before sprinting through the open spaces of the parking garage.

"Sorry I'm late." Ryan apologized as he brought a hand up to wipe the sweat off of his forehead.

"Hey Ryan" Alexx looked up at him. The boy had finally started to grow on her after she was sure he wasn't trying to better than Speedle. Not that he had done that intentionally but Alexx could definitly see how he used every bit of his effort to not be compared to Speedle.

Ryan froze slightly to see Eric write something done with a scowl. It was a safe bet to say Eric was ticked…More than usual. He dropped his kit down before pulling on a pair of gloves.

"Nice of you to show up." Eric grumbled.

"Sorry I got stuck in traffic." Calleigh must have been with the witness. Great.

"No worries, she's only dead. I'm sure she didn't mind waiting for you to come find her killer." He sarcastically mumbled under his breath. Ryan noted how much the resentment was in his voice. It was odd how he wouldn't look at the body. But he was too blinded by the sudden annoyance to realize that it wasn't completely directed at him.

"What do you want from me Delko?! I said I was sorry." Ryan spat slamming his kit shut.

"Yeah well sorry isn't good enough. While you're shining your shoes or whatever it is you do her killer is out having a drink with his buddies before he probably goes out killing some other woman." Eric yelled. "But you obviously can't seem to wrap your head around that idea."

Ryan glared at him as Alexx stepped up from the body. "I'm here to do my job not to bring myself up to your expectations. I said I was sorry and I meant it."

"Eric, do you know this girl?" Alexx spoke up. But instead of answering he just snapped. Eric grabbed Ryan by the collar causing him to jump back a bit. He shoved him on the hood of another car before two firm hands and voice pushed them apart. The flashes of lights of cameras from people watching finally alerted them of the scene they were creating.

"That's enough." Alexx stepped in between as if they were her two sons. She saw Eric begin to go at Ryan again but stopped him with two simple words. "The evidence."

With one last glare the two turned their backs on each other. Each was as far away from each other in the small space of the parking ramp. Ryan snapped the pictures in silence. His ears tensed in case Eric decided to murder him right then and there. Eric breathed deeply to keep his stress-induced asthma under control and at the moment his stress levels were off the charts like the temperature of the day.

Alexx looked in between them. With an annoyed sigh she put her fisted hands on her hips.

"Well isn't someone curious about this girl's death?" Eric and Ryan practically jumped to her but Eric made it there first. His eyes almost made the growl of a lion audible. Ryan stepped back a bit before turning on his heel and walking away to snap some more pictures. Alexx muttered something about it being just like Lion King 2 before bending back down to the girl.

"Lever temperature is 87.3. She probably died around midnight. Poor baby didn't have a chance. The bullet entered through her shoulder here." Alexx pointed to the smal hole. "It's a through and through. The other one is lodged in her chest. I'll know more back at autopsy. She was dead before she even had a chance to hit the ground."

Ryan listened silently as he bent down to the ground. Taking another picture he pulled out a pair of tweezers and lifted the small piece of the ground. He stared at it slightly. Maybe it was a paint chip. Opening a small evidence envelope he placed the small white piece into it.

"The bullet hole's clean… Means she was probably shot close range." Eric commented still not looking at the body and more at the ground. Alexx looked up at him.

"Eric do you know her?" She asked him. Eric kept his voice low as he looked down at the ground.

"What should it matter if I did? I can do my job." Eric voice spoke bitterly. Then he looked at Alexx. "Sorry."

Her eyes narrowed at the response and was about to press on when suddenly a voice came out reminding them that the younger CSI was there.

"The security camera is pointed towards the car." Ryan pointed out. Eric looked up at where he was pointing and looked back at the shattered window shield of Victoria's silver Jaguar. He looked down at the ground at the tire treads. The witness already said that the car was a black Hummer. Moving over so that he was in between the treads he looked back up at the camera.

"If the vehicle was here then it would block the camera's view." He spoke more to himself than to Ryan.

"But if her window shield wasn't broken before... it might have caught a reflection of our killer."

"Um…here." Landon pulled something out of his pocket placing it on the table "I know I probably shouldn't have taken it but they were picking them up."

Calleigh quickly pulled on a glove before she delicately lifted up the bullet casing with her index finger and thumb.

"It's a .22." She looked up at Horatio. The blonde pulled an evidence jar from her kit. "I'll get this to ballistics." With that she got up and left.

"Ok, Landon why don't you tell me what happened." Horatio calmly spoke. Again Landon began to tug on his sleeves.

"It was late. The lady walked by and smiled at me."

Landon walked slowly down the small ramp in the parking garage. He played with his car keys flipping them back and forth in between his fingers. A tall woman with long strawberry blonde hair smiled at him before she moved over to a car. He barely noticed the screeches of tires before it sped past him and suddenly stopped. Two men jumped out of the car towards the woman. In there hands were two black guns.

Landon scrambled behind a large BMW. His shoe squeaked slightly on the concrete. One of them said something to the woman before his head turned in the direction of Landon who pressed himself against the car. As he did so the woman screamed out and soon fell to the ground after three gun shots rang out. Glass shattered and Landon covered his ears until he saw the woman's body hit the ground with a thud. Gasping he looked down startled at the small object that rolled by his leg. A small bullet casing began rolling down the cement ramp, under cars. He stuck his head out to see the men scramble into the car and his eyes widened as he saw the Hummer pull a U turn and come back down the ramp. Landon grabbed the casing before pushing himself under a car. His long hair blew as the tires sped past his head.

"I looked back and the lady was bleeding all over the place…I kind of freaked. So I took off." Landon shrugged. Horatio nodded his head in understanding.

"Ok, Landon, I need you to think, did anyone of those men see you?" Landon shook his head.

"No, I don't think so."

"Alright." Landon seemed to hesitate for a moment before he looked at Horatio.

"Am I in trouble?"

"No, Landon. You just might help me find this woman's killer." Horatio spoke before walking out of the room quickly.

a/n: Again still trying to master the characters. I know my case is pretty weak at the moment too but im hoping it will grow as the story will progress. Let's see why was Eric so ticked. Maybe he knew this well known reporter shrugs Review me