Little Horatio – I'm glad you're enjoying it – I'll try to update every day providing I get chance!
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Horatio awoke early the next morning to the sound of his cell phone emitting its ring-tone at what seemed to be an unnecessarily loud volume. He shook his head in an attempt to remove the vestiges of sleep that were still fogging his brain and cleared his throat, endeavouring to sound vaguely human when he answered the phone. Grabbing the offending article he flipped open the phone's cover and pulled it under the bed sheet to meet his ear.
"Caine."
The cheery voice on the other end of the connection made him groan a little.
"Calleigh, I swear it should be illegal to be that chirpy at…" he flipped the covers off his head so he could glance at the glowing display of the clock that sat beside the bed, "…half past three in the morning."
"What can I say, I'm a morning person."
"Actually does three-thirty even qualify as morning?"
"Hmm…good point. Well, morning or not we've got a call out to a floater at Bayfront Park. Night-shift are still up to their necks dealing with a multiple homicide, looks gang-related. So we get to take a look at how our squidgy, waterlogged friend ended his days. Security guard found him on one of his routine patrols, he called the police and notified the park manager who is particularly distressed as some of Miami's more affluent residents were due to meet at the Challenger Memorial first thing in the morning and the smell is apparently very off-putting." She spoke with a sarcastic tone to her voice.
"How inconsiderate of a body to wash up and spoil their day, you'd think people would learn to decay in less obtrusive places. Ok Calleigh, I'm on my way." He heard her chuckle as he snapped the phone shut, ending the call.
Horatio forced himself out of bed and made a slight detour into the kitchen to flick on the power switch to the coffee machine before heading into the bathroom to stand under a powerful jet of steaming hot water. The effect of the scalding water was remarkable and he emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later feeling invigorated and much more human than he had when he'd gone in. From there it only took him a couple of minutes to pull on some clothes, one of the skills you picked up when you worked with law enforcement was always to have an 'emergency suit' ready for sudden callouts like this one. The emergency suit was a set of clothes that was washed and pressed and put together so they could be pulled on without wasting precious minutes scrabbling around finding a pair of pants, shoes and a shirt that actually looked alright together. This was Miami after all, fashion mattered. And in a profession where minutes could mean the difference between life and death, any time-saving method was a useful one. Horatio headed through to the kitchen where the pot of freshly brewed coffee was sending out an enticing aroma into the air. He quickly dumped the contents of the pot into a thermos mug, flicked the power switch to the coffee machine off and turned towards the door. He grabbed his keys from the table and pulled the door shut as he exited. Checking his watch, three-forty, he nodded satisfied that the whole process from being woken up to going out of the door had only taken ten minutes.
There wasn't much traffic to contend with on the roads at this time in the morning, a few taxis whizzed in the opposite direction probably ferrying a few semi-die-hard party-goers home after an evening of fun, although Horatio knew that the serious partiers would have found their ways to the few clubs that would remain open right through until seven or eight am, Miami really was a city that never slept. When Horatio pulled the Hummer into one of the parking spaces in front of Bayfront Park he took a look around at the county vehicles already present at the scene. In the space next to his own was another grey Hummvee also bearing the crime lab's insignia, beyond that sat a marked patrol car and the last space was occupied by the coroner's van. Horatio took a final swig from the his mug and drained the last remnants of the coffee before replacing the mug back into the holder on the dashboard, shutting the drivers door and pushing the button on his keychain that engaged the central locking system.
It didn't take him long to locate the crime scene, as he approached Horatio saw the movement of flashlight beams and identified the members of his team combing the area for any evidence that may prove pertinent to the investigation. Near to the waterline he could see a hunched figure who he assumed was Alexx Woods, Miami-Dade's finest coroner. Nearing the scene the flashlights headed in his direction and the members of his team appeared out of the pre-dawn murk. It was Eric that reached him first.
"Hey H."
"What've we got Eric?"
"Security guard found the body floating in the water just over an hour ago. They've had some problems with vandals around the park over the past few weeks so the city's bought in a private firm to handle the security of the site, guard has to complete a set patrol throughout the night. We've been over the area, there's no sign of a disturbance, looks like the body could've just drifted in with the tide."
Horatio nodded to acknowledge the CSI's input.
"Well hey there." Horatio smiled as he heard Calleigh's cheery Southern tones. Ryan approached behind her, giving Horatio a wave. Horatio inclined his head in greeting and paused as he saw Ryan, there was something not quite right about the young CSI, and he watched him for a second, he was a little jittery, fidgeting with the flashlight in his hands and unable to stand still, his eyes leaping from one focal point to the next, never really settling on one thing long enough to properly see it. Horatio decided not to make a big thing out of it.
"You two find anything on your sweep of the scene?"
"Nope."
"Nothing at all. Clean as, um, as a… erm…something that's very clean." Horatio heard Calleigh snigger quietly at Ryan's rambling response.
"Ok, so I guess we'll just have to wait for Alexx to finish her initial examination and then we can transport the body back to the lab and lift any trace off it, hopefully it'll give us a couple of leads. I'll see you all back at the lab." Horatio turned towards Calleigh. "Calleigh, can I have a quick word?"
"Sure."
Eric and Ryan picked up their kits and started their walk back towards the vehicles.
"Do I want to know why Mr Wolfe is twitchier than a rabbit on meth?" He asked, a wry smile creeping onto his face.
Calleigh grinned.
"Um, apparently Ryan isn't a morning person either. Before I got into the lab Eric had already given him four cups of Café Cubano, I was just in time to stop him drinking a fifth." She grinned. "I think he's on a pretty major caffeine high at the moment."
Horatio couldn't stop himself from laughing.
"Ok, I'm going to have a quick chat with Alexx about our mystery body, I'll see you back at the lab. Whatever you do don't let Eric give Ryan any more coffee or he'll be twitching for days."
"No problem." Her face broke into a wide grin as she turned to leave. "Later, H."
"Later."
Horatio stood alone in the gradually lightening, pre-sunrise atmosphere of dusk; watching Calleigh following the distant figures of Eric and Ryan who were walking back towards the second Hummer that Horatio had seen when he'd parked. He turned a hundred and eighty degrees to face the opposite direction looking instead towards where Alexx was still attending to her charge.
"Anything interesting Alexx?"
"It's always interesting sugar, and sometimes a little sad too." Her eyes roved over the body again before raising up to meet Horatio's. "Just take a look at this guy's clothes Horatio, they're all designer brands, and we're not talking knock-offs, these are the real deal."
Horatio took a closer look, recognising the brands off each of the items.
"Ouch, the price of that jacket alone is enough to kill him."
"Uh-huh, I can't even afford to daydream about these kinda clothes. Someone has got to be missing this boy Horatio."
"You got any ID on the body?"
"Nope, didn't find a wallet, but I'll get a ten card and run his prints when we get back to the lab."
"Any idea about a time of death?"
"Well, rigor's passed." She lifted one of the victim's arms to illustrate her point. "And there's a good degree of skin sloughing, initially the body sinks to the bottom, then the gases that are produced when the body's bacteria starts digesting itself causes the corpse to rise to the surface, that's probably when the current moved it from it's original dump site and bought it down here for us to find. I'd guesstimate he's been dead for four to five days, any longer and the marine life would have started to eat him up, releasing the gas and causing the body to sink again, but I'll have a more accurate TOD when I've completed the autopsy."
"Ok Alexx. I guess I'll see you and your new friend back at the lab then. You need a hand with moving the body?"
"Nah, that's what I brought ma' boys along for." Alexx pursed her lips and gave a piercing whistle, which summoned two men, both dressed in overalls bearing the city crest on their chests, who had been standing a few meters away instantly to her side. "Ok guys let's give our John Doe here a lift back to the lab, but first…" Alexx withdrew a thin metal tube with a sharp point at one end and a valve at the other from her M.E.s kit, "Honey, I wouldn't stand there if I were you." She glanced in Horatio's direction as she spoke, and the CSI supervisor took a few steps to the side. With a short, sharp jab Alexx thrust the medical instrument through the tough layer of flesh and instantly a squirt of foul smelling liquid erupted from the newly created hole in the victim's gut, landing with a satisfying splat on the grass where Horatio had been standing a few moments before. It was a testament to just how many gruesome scenes the crime lab had dealt with that not one of the small group flinched or cringed.
"Just had the van cleaned Alexx?" Horatio asked with a smirk on his face.
"Uh-huh. And Mr squidgy here is not going to cover it in primordial soup the first time we go over a speed bump." She turned to the two county body haulers, "Ok guys, he's all yours."