Chapter 4

It was almost 1:00 pm when they arrived back at the Miami Dade Crime Lab, and as they made their way to Horatio's office, he and the two Feds grabbed drinks from the coffee machine and on entering his office they shut the door behind them.

Eric and Frank had both observed their arrival, and Frank said, "What is that all about? We haven't seen Feds around here for some considerable time. Thank goodness."

"Don't know Frank." Eric replied. "Horatio left here about two hours ago saying he had to go out, but didn't know when he would be back, and didn't say where he was going, but he did sound tense so my guess is something is very wrong. I expect we will know soon enough if it affects us."

Horatio sat down behind his desk and Dennis and Glen sat in the same chairs they had occupied earlier, they relaxed for five minutes sipping their coffees, and Horatio placed his cell phone on the desk, ready to listen to the recording of their chat with Suzie if needed, and then withdrew a memo pad and pen out of his desk drawer ready to make notes if need be. Then he leaned back in his chair, and asked, "Shall I start?"

"Just one question first Horatio. Is Madison really your brother's daughter?" Dennis asked.

"Yes, she is, and thus my niece. It is a very long story, but best you know, so you can understand where I fit into all this. I will keep it as short as possible."

"First, how much do you know about my late brother?"

"Not a lot Horatio, I've never had any reason to research him," Dennis responded.

"Neither have I," said Glen.

"Well my brother, Raymond Caine, was an undercover detective with the narcotics division, and he first used drugs to gain the trust of the dealers, however he apparently became hooked on methamphetamine himself, this was in his system when he allegedly died."

Dennis queried, "Allegedly?"

"Yes Dennis, it will become clear as I proceed.""

"His partner was the late John Hagen who knew Raymond was on the road to destruction and put in for a transfer. Then only one week after that Raymond was reported murdered. Despite an investigation, no arrests were made and the case went cold. But I found out later that he was not in fact dead."

Dennis and Glen looked at him with startled expressions.

Horatio paused for a moment and then continued. "Yes, I was surprised too, when I discovered the Federal Government found out he had crossed the line and was dirty, and apparently forced him to fake his own death and work for them even deeper undercover, more about that in a minute."

Horatio paused for a few seconds and then continued. "I only discovered the first hint of him being alive when one of our cases led us to search for a murder suspect by the name of Chez; and catching up with him he apparently knew me and told me he knew all about Raymond Caine and said he was a dirty cop and a meth head. Anyway, we arrested him, but before we left the area we came across Suzie, in a dog house nearby, and down a hole that had been concealed. I went to have a closer look at the dog house as there were no dogs around and I thought it a bit odd. It turned out that Chez had thrown her in there as she saw him murder our victim, so now we had a witness to the crime we were investigating. She was in a state and as I was questioning her she suddenly said, "You look like Tin Man" which sent some alarm bells ringing through my head although at this point I still thought my brother was dead. Tin Man, as you know, is Tweaker talk for a meth head. Anyway, the case after some hitches was finally resolved and despite the fact Suzie could not testify because of some loophole, we found bomb making equipment so we got him on that instead."

"Suzie had been guilty of selling drugs but she got off light with my help, she was a victim here after all, and she returned to Indiana on probation. I saw her off, telling her to take care, and gave her a warning that her addiction to meth would kill her if she didn't stop. I hoped she was listening and gave her my card in case she needed to contact me any time, and that was the last I saw of her for quite a while."

At this point, Dennis asked, "So when did you learn about Madison?"

"It was four years, before I met Suzie again. She had been pulled over by a patrol car as her brake light wasn't working and on popping the trunk of the car guess what? They found drugs and arrested her for possession, but she asked for me saying I would vouch for her, and the late Officer Jessop gave me the card that I had given her. So I spoke to her and found out she had finished her probation and had returned to Miami several months previously. I asked her if she was using again and she said she was clean and didn't know how the drugs got into the car, at which point the officer told me the car was not registered to her, but registered to a Robert Keaton, so I asked her how she knew him and she told me he was her husband and that they had been on and off for a while and they were off when she met Raymond. We tested her and she was in fact clean, but Bob Keaton obviously needed to be questioned so I and a couple of officers escorted her home, and when we arrived he was there and got mad at Suzie right in front of us and it was clear from what he was muttering that he knew about the drugs, which were no way for his personal use as Suzie had implied, and we brought him in for questioning. Just before he left though, I got a shock, a little girl came walking into the room crying and calling Bob Keaton daddy - she had a cut on her knee and I immediately recognised some resemblance to my brother. As soon as Bob was taken away I took the precaution of getting a blood sample by placing my clean handkerchief on the child's cut, and then asked Suzie whose child she was and she went defensive straight away and said she wasn't Raymond's...She was Bob's. But then she slipped up when I asked her if Raymond knew and she said he died before she could tell him she was pregnant. I didn't believe the girl was Keaton's so I organised a DNA test to be done. I had learned during this time that Madison was four years old, so timing was about right."

Horatio paused again to take a sip of his now cold coffee, shuddering as he did so. Glen Cole smiled he hated cold coffee as well, and asked,"Do you want another coffee Horatio?"

Horatio nodded his head. "Yes please Glen." When Glen returned with two coffees, one for him and one for Horatio, Dennis didn't want one Horatio continued..."While I was waiting for the DNA results, I accessed Raymond's closed file in the archives, and found evidence that he had been undercover as a narcotics dealer to stop production of methamphetamine and under the cover name Tin Man, cause of death by an unknown assailant, which I knew anyway, but was just checking to see if anything else stood out. While I was looking at the file, the child's DNA result was brought to me and proved positive to Raymond's DNA result on his file. Madison was without any doubt my brother's daughter, and therefore my niece. "

"Anyway Bob Keaton made bail, so I dug a bit deeper and when, with pressure from me Suzie took me to Bob Keaton's work shop, which was in a pet shop where he worked, I found a barrel that matched the bullet killing my brother, or so we believed at the time, and the meth in his car also matched the same bulk found with my brother on his death. We also found the gun, and the meth he sold my brother the day he was supposedly shot."

"So my brother's case was re-opened and Bob Keaton was sent down for life. Or so I thought."

"Then Suzie left Miami with Madison, having been placed in a management programme. I saw them off, and promised I would send them some money every month. Remember even at this point I, his wife Yelina Salas and her son, thought he was still dead, and I never told Yelina that Raymond had left a daughter behind...she didn't need to know, and Suzie felt the same way, she had never meant to hurt Yelina at all. It was just one of those unfortunate things that happen when people in need are thrown together, although I cursed my brother."

"Not long after that she had finished her period in the home management programme and she was looking good, and I set them up in a two bedroom apartment, and popped in now and again to make sure they were okay. All seemed to be going well when she turned up here needing some help with paperwork to claim some of Raymond's pension. I was appalled and immediately reminded her I had agreed with her I would handle all the financial responsibilities. She then told me that she was sorry but she needed the money because Madison was seriously ill with acute myeloid leukaemia and needed a bone marrow transplant, and she couldn't afford the medical costs. I told her not to worry and that I would pay all costs incurred. She then told me she was not a match for the transplant, so I got myself tested and I wasn't either. It was going to be best if a family member could be the donor though, so that only left one course open to me and that was to approach Yelina Salas, to see if Ray Junior was a match. It was tricky. She was angry with me for not telling her before and at first said no, as her son should not have to pay for his father's mistakes. I returned to Suzie at Madison's bedside to tell her we had to try and think of other options when Yelina and my nephew turned up, having had a change of heart. Luckily my nephew was a match and was willing to help. Madison made a full recovery and she and Suzie moved back to their apartment. I saw them a few times but Suzie from that point on did not bother me for anything, and one day two payments I made to her were returned by the bank and Suzie had moved out. From then on as I told her at the hospital I trusted to fate that she would contact me if in trouble."

Horatio looked at his watch and realised that it was not as late as he thought, he felt like he had been speaking for ages, but it had only been twenty minutes. Then sitting up straight and resting his arms on his desk top he said, "Look, I have now told you all you need to know to get the connection between Suzie and myself, so can we move on a bit now?"

Dennis Sackheim asked, "When did you find out your brother was alive? Earlier on you referred to him as your late brother before you started talking. Then you hinted he was alive. So I am a bit confused."

"Thanks for reminding me Dennis - he is dead now, but that is an entirely different story, and one that has no connection to Suzie whatsoever, so no need for me to go over what was a painful time in my own life."

Then Horatio changed his mind and continued, "But, I will at least tell you seeing as you asked, that not long after Suzie and Madison had gone home from the hospital, I was at a crime scene downtown when looking up at the surrounding buildings I spotted a face that made me go cold. It was Bob Keaton staring down at us; he backed away quickly when he saw me look up. A few minutes later I caught him getting on a motor cycle and approaching him he said he wasn't sure I had recognised him...but I never forget a face. Then of course I asked him what he was doing on the streets, and he replied that his paperwork said he was out on parole. When I questioned him further he admitted he was working undercover for the DEA, (The Drug Enforcement Administration) just like my brother. So I asked him whether my brother was alive and if he shot him...he confirmed he was alive and admitted he had shot him as they had to make it look good. Then we both agreed that we had not seen each other."

"Later on during another case we discovered Bob Keaton had been murdered, and around the same time my brother did make contact with me, he was in trouble, but as I just said anything else is not related."

"That's it gentleman that is all I am saying on the subject now. Nothing else has any relevance to what we are dealing with right now."

"Thank you for being so upfront with us Horatio," said Dennis. "It looks like we have two different reasons for continuing investigation into what has happened. The drug situation clearly and the murder of Malcolm, but because of what Suzie told us, her side of the problem is clearly yours, and yet they obviously overlap."

Then glancing at Glen he said, "The drugs issue is at a dead end for now so far as this episode goes, so as we discussed earlier I suggest Horatio and his team now take over investigation for the murder of Malcolm as well as the beating of Suzie Barnum but keeping us in the loop, and while we follow up on the other leads Malcolm gave us concerning dealers who bought the drugs from Viktor Abramov's set up here in Miami."

Glenn nodded his head in agreement, and said "By the way Horatio, James Burton knows we were going to ask for assistance from you and he had no objections as long as you were happy to help."

"Okay, so I take it we can get going to Little Havana now and make this sweep? Despite Suzie has told us who killed Malcolm and near on beat the life out of her, I still think a sweep is necessary."

"Yes, we will join you for a few minutes in case you need to ask us any questions once there, and then we will leave it to you." Glen replied.

Horatio immediately picked his cell phone up, noting it was now 2:00 pm as he rang Eric.

"Eric, are you working on anything urgent right now?"

"Not anything that can't wait for a while Horatio."

"Right, I want you, and Stephen to grab your kits now and get to the old derelict buildings on the East Side of Little Havana. You will find one of them taped off as a crime scene. I will meet you there along with Dennis Sackheim and Glen Cole. I will explain later."

Closing his cell phone and looking at the agents he asked, "Where is the cell phone you found Saturday night?"

"We brought it with us Horatio in the event you agreed to take this on," said Dennis as he removed an evidence bag from a case he had been carrying around with him all the time.

"Here you are, together with a few pictures we took at the scene as well."

Horatio placed the evidence bag in his desk drawer as a temporary measure, but held on to the large envelope with the pictures in to take with him to the crime scene.

Just as they were about to leave Dennis received a call from one of the agents at the hospital. Dennis answering asked, "Is something wrong - is Suzie Barnum worse?" A minute later he closed his phone and turning to face Horatio said, "Suzie has remembered something. She says that at some stage, presumably where she was found, she must have come to for a few seconds as she felt someone place a finger on her neck, and say, "Hang in there – help will be here soon."

"Mmm...Whoever that was may have switched Malcolm's phone on?" said Horatio.

"Anyway, come on let's get going, we have work to do."

TBC