Hey, yall! Here's another chapter! Thanx 4 all the reviews! They are my muses!
Spoilers: Rampage, Rio
Calleigh, Eric, and Ryan returned to the lab a few hours later and met up with Natalia Boa Vista, the newest member of the team. Because of another case, she hadn't been able to go with them to the crime scene. But that case was now closed, and she was more than happy to join in their investigation.
The four were walking through the main lobby, comparing notes, when they noticed their boss standing near the receptionist's desk talking with someone they had never seen before. Horatio had seen them too and smiled as they came over.
"Hey, H. What's up?" Eric greeted, glancing suspiciously at the stranger.
"I'd like you all to meet, Dr. Gil Grissom," the lieutenant explained, introducing his guest. "He's from the Las Vegas Crime lab."
Learning that the visitor was a fellow CSI, everyone seemed to visibly relax. Horatio proudly introduced his team to his new friend then all conversation turned back to serious business.
"So, what brings you to Miami?" Eric asked, turning to their guest.
"One of my CSIs has been kidnapped," Grissom answered. "She's been missing for over three days. And we have reason to believe that her kidnapper may have brought her out here."
"How do you figure?" Ryan asked.
"Her kidnapper left us a video message which our A/V lab traced back here. Not to mention, he left this behind at Catherine's house."
Grissom reached into his breast pocket to pull out the other piece of evidence that had led him to Miami. But before he could show it to them, a commotion by the front entrance caught their attention. All their heads turned simultaneously to see what all the noise was about.
"What's going on here?" Horatio demanded, approaching the two officers who had just entered the building.
A man in his thirties stood between them, struggling against the handcuffs and the hold the officers had on him. The man's dark hair was disheveled, his clothes wrinkled, and his shoes speckled with mud.
"I was on my in when I caught this guy snooping around outside," Frank explained, coming up behind the group. "Stinks of alcohol. And apparently, when he's drunk, he can't talk. Wouldn't give us a name."
The man gave the detective a dirty look but did not say a word.
"I don't understand. Why did you arrest him?" Horatio asked, confused.
Frank gave the lieutenant a look and came to stand in front of their captive. The man began to struggle again knowing what the detective was about to do. The officers held on tightly as Frank lifted up the man's t-shirt.
Everyone's eyes widened, recognizing the pitchfork tattoo. The guy was a Mala Noche.
Horatio narrowed his eyes at him. He'd dealt with that gang many times and it had cost him dearly. He'd lost both his wife and his brother to the wrath of those gangsters.
The rest of his team suddenly remembered the case they had been working on before they'd met the CSI from Las Vegas.
"One of the DBs we found at our crime scene today was a Mala Noche," Calleigh quickly explained.
"You wanna tell me what happened to your friend?" Frank asked, glaring at the man.
The gangster smirked a little, but said nothing.
"Take him in," the detective ordered, obviously frustrated with the man's behavior. "Maybe some time in a jail cell will get him talking."
Calleigh and Ryan sat in the layout room carefully studying what little evidence they had collected earlier. All the items were arranged neatly on the worktable: Cortez' broken watch, the numerous footprints Ryan had collected at the scene, and their victims' clothes and personal effects. Calleigh volunteered to analyze the footprints, leaving Ryan with their victims' things.
Eric was sitting at the computer, his face troubled as he studied the screen. He was reviewing the digital photographs they had taken at the pier.
Natalia looked over his shoulder at the screen. "Wait a minute...go back."
"What?" Eric came to the end of the pictures then immediately began scrolling back. "What is it?"
She had him stop at a wide photograph of the entire structure. "There!" She clicked and enlarged one of the farther railings. "Calleigh, come here. Take a look at this."
"What's up?" the blonde CSI said, coming up behind her.
"You see what I see?"
Calleigh studied the picture for a moment then suddenly noticed what the younger CSI had gotten so excited about. Right there, sitting just below the railing, was a tiny metallic object glinting in the sunlight. Because the crime scene was below the pier they hadn't really checked that area.
Her brow furrowed. "We missed something...I'm going back there."
Calleigh was out of the room before anyone could protest.
"Alexx?" Horatio stepped into the morgue and found the ME standing in front of an autopsy table staring at a male corpse, his insides completely exposed. She didn't seem to notice the lieutenant's entry.
"Is that the John Doe from my team's case?"
No response. The woman was clearly focused.
Horatio approached and finally noticed the troubled look on his friend's face. "What is it?"
"I was wrong," Alexx said without looking over. "This poor baby died of blunt force trauma. Hitting his head on the rocks is what killed him."
"But Calleigh told me that both victims were shot through the chest."
"They were, but—there's nothing."
Horatio stared at her, confused. She wasn't making any sense. "What do you mean nothing?"
"Nothing."
"Show me."
The ME complied and pointed, with gloved hands, at the man's chest. "The bullet entered here, between the seventh and eighth ribs. No break."
"That's unusual?"
"It happens sometimes. Depends on the entry angle."
She pointed to the area where the man's heart had been. "Missed the heart and lungs by a hair. There was some minor bleeding, but it was probably from the surface wound."
"Hmm…now that is unusual."
She nodded in agreement, turning the body so they could see his back. "The bullet exited here, between the fifth and sixth vertebrae."
"No breaks in the spinal column?"
"No." Alexx put her hands on her hips and stared at the body. "Horatio, I've never seen anything like this. The bullet entered his torso in one of the only places it could have to miss all the internal organs and exit without so much as breaking a bone."
Horatio wasn't listening anymore. A long forgotten memory flashed in his mind. He knew of only one person who could make that shot. But that person had gone missing almost thirty years ago.
"Anything else, Alexx?" the lieutenant asked, hiding what he'd just remembered.
"There is one more thing." Alexx pointed to the tattoo on the back of the man's shoulder. "Do you know anything about this?"
Horatio cocked any eyebrow. "No, but I think I know someone who might."
Calleigh arrived at the familiar beach several minutes later and hopped out of the Hummer, field kit in hand. She headed toward the pier. It looked a little odd without all the usual beachgoers around. She made her way onto the structure looking out over the water, momentarily mesmerized by the crashing waves and the sun already beginning to set. She sighed contentedly and went back to work, heading straight for the far railing. She crouched down and found the object almost immediately. It was a necklace.
She pulled on a pair of gloves and carefully scooped up the silver chain for a closer look. The pendant hanging from the end had a figure she did not recognize carved into it. She was in the process of bagging the new evidence when something else caught her attention.
Her eyes moved down to the sand beneath the pier. Something was lying there, half-buried, the water spraying it every few seconds. Her eyes widened with recognition. It was a gun. No, not just a gun. A rifle.
Horatio returned to the lab a few minutes later, a million thoughts running through his mind. There was something very wrong with this case. He knew who made that shot. But it just wasn't possible. The man had disappeared thirty years ago. And besides, he would never do something like this. The guy was a cop. A good cop. Why would—
A thought suddenly struck the lieutenant as odd. He couldn't remember the man's name. Why couldn't he remember his name?
As he walked toward his office, he spotted someone standing by the door, waiting. It was Grissom. Horatio mentally slapped himself. He'd completely forgotten about their visitor.
"Mr. Grissom, come in. What can I do for you?"
They stepped inside his office and Grissom looked up at him, obviously bothered by something.
"I didn't get to finish earlier," Grissom explained, pulling something out of his pocket. "There's something you need to see."
Horatio studied the familiar evidence bag in the man's hand. A small gun was inside. A .38.
"My guys found it at Catherine's house. Her kidnapper left it behind. It's one of the things that led us here."
"I don't understand."
"According to IBIS, this gun was used in a robbery a few months ago in South Beach. The case was unsolved. Do you remember that case?"
Horatio blinked. "Of course. But why are you telling me all this?"
"The weasel who kidnapped Catherine warned us that someone else would disappear in three days if we didn't give him what he wanted." Grissom looked the lieutenant straight in the eye. "I think one of your CSIs is in trouble."
The lieutenant's head suddenly shot up, alarmed.
"Who was the lead investigator in that case?"
Horatio's eyes widened. No… He pulled out his cell phone and pressed the speed dial. The other line rang and rang, but there was no answer. He slipped the cell phone back into his belt clip and rushed out of the room.
"Lieutenant?" Grissom followed Horatio out the door. The man was clearly upset.
Horatio turned to face him, his eyes now hidden behind dark sunglasses.
"It's Calleigh."
Uh oh…Calleigh's in trouble. Will they get to her in time? Review to find out…