Chain of Command

Chapter 7

"They're here," Walter informed the rest of the team as he suddenly entered the lab's break room. Frank was bringing the newlyweds and Kyle up under the auspices of the Director wanted a word with them, just so Horatio wouldn't back out on him.

Calleigh entered first, followed by Horatio and Kyle. "CONGRATULATIONS!" Everyone shouted at the couple as the group began clapping, intermingled with a few whoops and whistles of excitement. The room was decorated with balloons and a banner depicting Horatio and Calleigh in caricature fully attired in wedding clothes walking down the aisle, with the current date printed on an add-on piece of vinyl below the picture. Horatio and Calleigh were swamped with hugs and pats on the back for Horatio and Kyle as well. Much to Frank's surprise, the Director, Mark Fulham was among the well-wishers.

After congratulations were finished, Horatio said, "Thank you, all of you, for our warm reception and thank you for the best wedding present ever – arranging for my son to be with us," smiling at Kyle as he spoke.

"Hey H, you and Calleigh need to cut the cake," Eric instructed, laughing as he motioned for Horatio and Calleigh to make their way to a table where a large white, double tiered cake decorated with white and pale yellow roses, sat waiting. Kyle was encouraging them too saying he was hungry, laughing at the way his father cut his eyes toward him. Natalia gave Calleigh the knife and she placed it on top of the bottom layer, as if she was cutting and Horatio placed his hand on top of hers. A camera could be heard clicking and whirring while flashes of light danced off of the couple when they looked up and smiled, and also when they turned and smiled at each other.

Calleigh looked up at Horatio grinning when they had cut two pieces and told him, "Now I need to feed you your piece and you feed me mine so we can keep this traditional."

"You're not going to cram it in my face are you?" Horatio asked firmly, letting her know that was not an option.

"Of course not. Open up…" she grinned. Laughter resounded as Horatio leaned in and took the entire piece from her fingers instead of just a bite. Icing was completely surrounding his mouth and made it appear as if he suddenly had a white mustache and goatee, then he gave Calleigh a big kiss, sharing his icing with her so they would match. The group roared with laughter at their boss's antics. A look of shock registered on Calleigh's face and her expression caused Horatio to laugh at the sight.

"I don't ever remember seeing H playful like this. He must be real happy," Ryan commented.

"Yeah, and he deserves to be happy," Frank replied.

After a while Horatio spoke up, "Thank you again for everything, Calleigh and I appreciate everything you've done, but now, we all need to get back to work, ladies and gentlemen." After speaking briefly to the Director, Horatio walked over to Kyle asking what he was planning to do for the week he was home.

"Eric said I could stay with him for a couple of nights, that'll be cool and it'll give you and Calleigh some privacy. The rest of the time, I haven't decided."

"Plan on staying with us."

"You're sure? Calleigh won't mind?"

"No Son, she and I want you to. In fact, the evening will be about the only time I'll have to be with you, considering our current case."

"Yeah, Frank told me about it on the ride from the airport. Are you feeling ok?"

"I'm fine Kyle. We'll see you in a couple of days." Horatio hugged him and then turned toward Eric and Walter.

"Eric, Calleigh and I are going to change into our work clothes and get back to examining the evidence. Have you discovered anything while we were gone?"

"Yeah H and you're going to want to see it. I brought up Jerry Latham's picture and he was here yesterday. He's grown a beard since the ID, but it was him." Horatio looked at Eric with a puzzled expression.

"Here? What was he doing?"

"Delivering lunch."

"We need to find out what's going on. Tell Frank to pick him up for questioning. I'll be down in a while." Horatio walked over to Calleigh, and then they both left for the locker room, as they walked, he brought her up to date about what Eric had told him.

Once in the locker room, Horatio pulled Calleigh into his arms saying apologetically, "I'm sorry we have to go to work instead of having time alone, but I'll make it up to you soon and I'll begin tonight."

Calleigh softly let her fingers drift down the side of his cheek ending at his chin before standing on her toes and kissing him lightly. "Hmm, tonight sounds like a good start." Horatio deepened the kiss causing them both to be swept away into the grips of passion, forgetting their obligations for a few moments until Horatio broke the kiss and with a rough voice said,

"Sweetheart…if we don't stop now…I won't be able to." Calleigh's response was to take his hand in hers and lead him to the last enclosed shower room, furthest across the large room from the entrance and pulled him in behind her.

"Let me help you get out of that suit, Handsome." She slipped his coat off and started on the buttons of his vest.

"Calleigh…"

"We've got a few minutes Horatio…let's make the most of it." With those words, he reached around to the zipper on the back of Calleigh's dress and hurriedly unzipped the dress, and slipped the straps off her shoulders letting the dress fall in a heap at her feet and then started on her panties. After Calleigh had helped Horatio out of his clothes, he scooped her up into his arms as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

A few minutes later, Horatio became aware of the cool tile pressed against his forehead as he was attempting to cool down from their heated celebration of their wedding. He barely had the strength to mumble,

"Your suggestion, while I thoroughly loved it, may get us into a world of trouble. You're a bad influence on me, Mrs. Caine," slowly raising his head to look into her eyes, he added, "but I love you anyway."

"Anything to please my Lieutenant," she smiled as she pushed his hair back out of his face.

Ten minutes later, after a cold shower, Horatio met Eric in the hallway, and as they walked, asked if Latham's fingerprints had been found at the Burton's and Eric told him they hadn't. Horatio thought, no evidence yet of his involvement, but he was clearly nervous yesterday when he saw me. There must be a connection.

Horatio approached interrogation room #2 and noticed Frank standing and Jerry Latham sitting at the table looking extremely anxious. Horatio walked in and sat down across from Latham.

"Jerry, you know who I am, don't you."

The young man looked up from the table where he'd kept his attention while Horatio walked into the room.

He answered, "Yes Sir. Lieutenant Caine." Horatio responded by tightening his lips and dipping his head.

"Jerry, we know your mother was married to Jack Wagner. Could you tell me about your relationship with Wagner?" Horatio stared into the man's eyes as he asked the question and noticed a brief flicker of anger.

"He…he wasn't my favorite person."

"Why is that?"

The anger in his eyes increased and he looked away from Horatio's intent stare, wondering why the police wanted to know about his step-father.

"Bottom line…he was a son-of-a-bitch." Horatio raised his eyebrows at the man's response.

"He uh…he beat my mother. He couldn't hold a job. Claimed he was injured emotionally from the Vietnam War more than physically. He was angry, bitter about everything that had happened to him and he took it out on my mother…instead of Burton; instead of you."

Horatio was taken aback by that statement. It suddenly brought back to his mind about his own parents. "Did he ever say why he'd like to confront me?"

"He always blamed you and Burton for his miserable life. He would tell us how he suffered after the both of you stopped him from escaping a prisoner of war camp. He always blamed his brain tumor on the beatings and torture he received after your captors discovered two men were gone and they found the tunnel. He wanted to kill both of you."

"OK um, Jerry, may I ask why you left Atlanta and the position of accountant for a major corporation to come to work at a deli in Miami?"

"To kill you and Burton for what Jack did to my mother." That declaration caused Horatio to sit up and take notice, willing his eyes not to even blink in order to hide his shock. Frank, snapped his head toward Horatio, wondering how the redhead would react to that news. "For years since her death, I've wanted someone to pay for the misery she endured. But, I didn't kill Tom Burton or his family. When I heard on the news what had happened, I felt sick to my stomach, it snapped me back to reality and I realized I would have made a terrible mistake if I had carried out my plans."

We don't have any evidence against Jerry, but just the same, that statement can't be ignored. "Jerry," Horatio began as he gave the man an icy stare, "if we find any evidence that places you at the Burton home…."

"I wasn't there, please believe me," Jerry desperately pleaded. "I wanted to kill him, but I'd have never harmed anyone in his family. I…I'm not going to kill anyone, ever. I feel so ashamed just thinking about what I intended to do," his statement trailing off as he hung his head.

Horatio stood and took his usual sideways pose with hands on his hips, and ordered the patrolman at the door to take the man to a holding cell, knowing he could keep him for 24 hours without officially charging him. Relying on his uncanny ability for reading people that hardly every failed, he believed the young man's confession of a change of heart, but he still had intended to kill Chief Burton and the chief was dead.

Horatio was standing in the hallway taking stock of what they had so far as evidence in this case and realized they had nothing concrete actually, and that caused his head to hurt. Then his cell buzzed.

"Caine."

"H, I've got a DNA match from a hair found on Denise's clothing." Could this be the breakthrough they'd been searching for?

"I'll be right there Miss Boa Vista."

Horatio entered the DNA lab and swiftly walked over to the computer where Natalia was standing.

"Who've we got?" He asked before turning his attention to the computer screen.

"Hai Quang Phan, a man with a long list of violent priors." Horatio stared at the screen as a young Vietnamese man stared back at him. First the Vietnamese writing on the bullet casings, now this man. Where is this leading?

"Known associates…the list is fairly long."

"It is H, and I bet most of the names listed are tied to gangs considering this guy's history."

"You're probably right, but I don't think the chief's murder had to do with gangs. I still feel it has something to do with our past. Perhaps this young man can enlighten us." Horatio turned and walked out while calling Frank to have patrol pick this man up and bring him in for questioning. In the meantime, Horatio walked to the ballistics lab to check on how Calleigh was doing analyzing the bullets recovered from the drive-by.

Horatio smiled as he entered her realm. "Mrs. Caine," how nice that sounds, he thought to himself,"have you found anything interesting concerning the bullets?"

Calleigh smiled as she heard Horatio call to her. "I've found out what model assault rifle was used in the drive-by. It was a Colt AR-15 model 6731, capable of firing 30 rounds in under a minute."

"I can testify to that," Horatio quipped.

"I also pulled a partial print off one of the casings and I'm running it through IAFIS now."

Calleigh smiled and said as they waited, "I can't wait for tonight!"

Horatio looked down for a moment and chuckled, "I'm working on building my stamina back after our…" BEEP, the computer signaled a match.

"Hmm, this is interesting…" Calleigh said as she studied the computer screen. Horatio moved beside her to look and was suddenly speechless.

Calleigh read off the name beside the picture of a Vietnamese man, "Hai Quang Phan."

TBC…