Unprocessed Evidence

1x07 - Breathless

by Bookwormdragon

Disclaimer: Neither the CSI: Miami Universe nor any of the Characters in the CSI: Miami Universe belongs to me. No profit is made from this story on my part. No copyright infringement is intended.


Staring at Noel's body as Alexx prepared it for release to the family, Horatio felt tired. Tired of the endless cruelties of humanity, of their unlimited ability to harm and kill each other. Humans could treat each other with such callousness, such thoughtless disregard - it was a wonder that they still survived as a species.

Noel's death had been so unnecessary, so meaningless. And what a horrible way to die, intentionally murdered by your lover while sharing an intimate moment.

"At least he gave me a new thrill."

A new thrill. The death of a human being had been reduced to nothing more than a source of adrenalin.

Melissa may have thought that she was reclaiming her sexuality, reasserting power over her own life, but she had completely missed the point. Exercising power over others wasn't the same thing as actually having power. In fact, the more powerful one proclaimed to be, the less power one actually had. The truly powerful had no need to flaunt it, no need to humiliate others with it. For them, power needed no validation.

And no one, not even Melissa, had the right to exercise the power of Life and Death. In doing so, she had crossed a line that should never have been crossed, and there was no coming back from it.

Looking into her eyes earlier today had been profoundly disturbing. She had felt no sorrow for her actions, no remorse for taking a life, no compassion for her victim. Whatever sorrow she did feel was only for herself, not for others.

And the most frightening part was that she had almost gotten away with it. She had almost committed the perfect murder. Who knows how many more men she would have gone on to kill before she slipped up and got caught? She had all the earmarks of a serial killer in the making, and once she had gotten a taste of the ultimate thrill - taking a life and getting away with it - it was unlikely that she would have been able to resist trying it again. And again.

Perhaps Noel's death hadn't been totally meaningless after all. Still senseless and tragic, but not meaningless.