HOSTAGE

Chapter 2

Eric glanced at his watch and frowned. He turned to Ryan. "You seen Horatio this morning?"

Ryan barely looked up from the microscope. "Nope. Haven't looked, mind."

"No, but it's half past nine… He always walks round the labs before this…"

"Perhaps he's got court."

Eric went to find Calleigh. As Horatio's second-in-command, she would know… "Has Horatio got court or something?"

"Not that I'm aware. Do you need him? Anything I can do?"

"No." Eric shook his head. "Just… wondered where he was…"

Calleigh smiled sympathetically. "You're like a mother hen with that man. He's probably just held up somewhere."

"Probably."

"Give him a call, if you're worried."

"I'm not." Not true, Eric… He had an odd feeling that he could neither name nor rationalize. Out of sight of Calleigh, he quickly rang his boss's cell. Voicemail… He didn't leave a message.

During the morning, Eric tried the number half a dozen times, getting no answer. At nearly midday, he went back to Calleigh. This time, she seemed to share his concern. "You're right, it's very unlike him…"

"Can you spare me for half an hour? I'm going to drive round to his place…"

Calleigh nodded, frowning. "Let me know…"

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Spurning the elevator, currently at the penthouse, Eric sprinted up the six flights of stairs, to the door of Horatio's condo, and knocked loudly. He hadn't expected a reply, and didn't get one. He rang Horatio's number again - no answer, and he couldn't hear a phone ringing inside the apartment. He hesitated only briefly, then used a key to open the door. Horatio had given it to him months before, when his boss had been laid up with some virus, and Eric had been insistent on checking in on him… Horatio hadn't asked for the key back, and Eric had forgotten about it. Now he was supremely grateful.

He wasn't sure what he expected, but the place seemed completely normal. He checked the bedroom first - the bed was made, the room tidy but for a shirt on the bed. Eric picked it up - worn, not fresh… From memory, the one Horatio had been wearing the day before, but he couldn't be certain. He checked the other rooms. Nothing. The kitchen - normal… No part-eaten food, nothing to suggest a hasty or unscheduled exit.

Puzzled, Eric went out, locking the door carefully. The elevator was on the next floor this time, so he summoned it and rode down to the parking garage. He felt a deep surge of unease as he saw the Lexus in situ. He walked up to it, but it, like the apartment, looked untouched and normal. Its anti-theft device was flashing its little red light on the dashboard, and the doors were locked. Eric was loath to set off the alarm. He walked round to the trunk, examined it carefully, but saw no sign of tampering. Feeling self-conscious, he called Horatio's name, but everything was silent.

He walked up to street level and stood for a moment, looking across the narrow strip of parkland to the beach beyond. Then he called Calleigh.

"Well, he's not here. But his car is… I've been inside, and the place is untouched. No sign that anything happened, but something's not right, Cal."

"I agree. What do you want to do?"

"I don't really know… Calleigh, can you get someone to see when his phone was last used? What time he left work yesterday? That sort of thing? Phone me back. I'm going to have another look round here…"

Eric found it hard to think logically - he was too worried - and had to force himself into an investigative frame of mind. He stood outside the building, pondering. If Horatio had gone, but without his car, it meant either he'd been on foot, or he'd gone in another car. But without letting anyone know? It seemed so unlikely…

Eric's first thought was an accident, but news of a traffic accident, even if it had involved a pedestrian, would have got back to them. So an attack? He had visions of Horatio lying in an alley somewhere… but it wasn't really that sort of area… Deep in thought, he walked over towards the beach.

His cell beeped. It was Calleigh. "Right… he last used his phone at six-oh-eight yesterday evening. It's been switched off since eight-fifty-two."

"He never switches it off…"

"Dave assures me it was. And is. He left work at about seven-thirty. Have you found anything?"

"Nothing. I don't even know what I'm looking for…"

"I'm going to do the usual missing person stuff - call the hospitals and so on… Keep me posted."

"Of course. You too."

Eric thought over what he knew. His boss had left work, late, driven home - safely, he assumed, since the car was there. He'd been indoors, changed his clothes - the shirt on the bed…. So what next? He knew Horatio often went for a run on the beach after work, even though, if he had, it would have been getting towards sunset. But he would assume he had. Eric walked onto the sand.

It was conceivable there had been an accident on the beach… But unlikely… Usually, there were plenty of people around. There had been no reports. Even if Horatio had ventured into the water, for some unknown reason… The man was a strong swimmer, and, again, there had been no reports of anything untoward. He double-checked, calling the police department, and the nearest lifeguard station. Nothing.

Eric walked slowly along the beach. There was nothing to see, but it helped him think. What he did realise, once he had thought about it, was that if something had happened here, it was about the only time Horatio would be unarmed. Even off-duty, he was authorised to carry a concealed weapon, and, Eric knew, he regularly wore a small Beretta in an ankle holster. But not if he was out running…

If he going to search the beach for signs of a struggle, he was going to need half the police department… It was a huge area, and he didn't even know if Horatio had been there.

As he walked back, Calleigh rang again. "Nothing, Eric. Not in a hospital… Or worse." He knew she would have checked the city morgue.

"I suppose that's good news. I'm coming back. There's nothing here." He stood on the patch of parkland, staring at the apartment block, searching for inspiration. He looked up and down the street, looking for CCTV cameras. There was one nearby, but he suspected it didn't cover the area immediately outside the entrance. But he'd check…

As he walked slowly back to the Hummer, something caught his eye, in the grass. He bent and picked up a bunch of keys. Instinct made him compare the key he had just used with the ones on the ring. A match. Stunned, he realised he was holding Horatio's keys. It had to be a message. No way would he have dropped them accidentally.

"Horatio…" He murmured aloud. "What are you telling me? What happened?"

He put the keys in his pocket, and quickly scanned the ground for anything else. He drew a blank, sprinted back to the car and drove back to the lab.