Righty – Short chapter this time. I'll be updating with a chapter a day til I've posted it all (as long as my computer doesn't have a funny turn and is working ok).
I'm glad you're liking it so far!
----------------------------------------------------------
Horatio stood with his back braced against the wall to one side of the door, his gun raised, the barrel pointing upwards. He looked over at the uniformed officer that mirrored his posture to the other side of the door, a nodded response gave him the 'good to go' signal. He leant around and with his left hand balled into a fist hammered on the door.
"MDPD. Mr Heith, open the door." He shouted. When there was no response he turned again to the officer giving an order, "Break it down."
It took just one brutal kick in the right place, and an almighty crash, harmonised by the sound of splintering wood, heralded their entrance into the house. Horatio entered first; gun pointing directly in front of him, the officer following him through the newly created aperture, standing back to back with Horatio his gun covering the corners of the room that the Lieutenant's couldn't.
"Clear." The officer spoke clearly, giving the signal for more uniformed police to enter the room ready to sweep the house. Heavy footsteps from police issue boots pounded throughout the house.
"Clear." The kitchen.
"Clear." The bathroom.
"Clear…clear…clear." The bedrooms.
The final 'clear' from the lounge was followed by "Uh, Lieutenant, you should see this. I've got two bodies in here."
"Dispatch, I need a rescue unit at our location, asap. Two vics." Horatio said into the police radio.
"Understood Lieutenant, rescue unit on its way." Came the crackly response from the radio speaker.
As soon as Horatio entered the room the stink of death saturated his olfactory senses, the metallic smell of blood lingered, heavy in the air. He sighed as he recognised the lifeless forms of Jack and Linda Heith, Sharon's parents. Horatio studied the positions of the bodies; Linda's was slumped in a seated position in an easy chair, a violent gunshot wound in her chest had now ceased leaking the dark red blood, which had pooled in her lap and soaked into the chair's upholstery. In comparison, the male victim lay several metres away, face down on the floor, apparently shot in the back of the head. The officer who had been set the task of clearing this room, circled around to the other side of the male victim's body.
"Gun." He called to Horatio, and kicked the weapon he had seen gently away from Jack Heith's limp hand.
Horatio understood the reason for his caution. They hadn't yet checked for vital signs, so they didn't yet know for certain that both victims were dead. Just a few months ago a perp who had been playing dead had gunned down three cops. Horatio bent down and placed two fingers on Linda's neck, and shook his head. The officer copied his actions, checking Jack for signs of life. As he stood again, he too shook his head, and Horatio lifted the radio to his lips again.
"Dispatch, cancel the rescue unit, vics are DOA. We need the M.E."
"Copy that Lieutenant. I'll page the on-call M.E."
As he left the room, he found the rest of the assault team who had cleared the house waiting in the hallway.
"Gentlemen, thank-you for your help on this one, but right now this is a crime scene. I need you to wait outside, one of my team will need to take some reference samples of boot prints and fingerprints so we can eliminate you from any evidence we gather."
There were nods from the officers as they trooped out of the house to await the arrival of the CSIs. They'd encountered enough crime scenes to know the drill by now.
Horatio pulled his cellphone out of his jacket pocket, and punched a series of numbers. The call was answered after a couple of rings.
"Calleigh? I'm sorry to call you after shift, but I need the best team on a case that's come up… You ready to pull a double shift? Hang on, I'll give you the address…"
sorry it's so short – I promise the next chapter's longer.
