Calleigh had finished her work on the taser from yesterdays robbery and decided to check the computer for the file number Eric had lost. First she came up with nothing at all, just a confidential file she did not have clearance for.
However she noticed a reference to Horatio and was worried that maybe H had gotten himself into trouble and Eric was trying to fix things by himself. After all, they had come back from Brazil with some very mad feds on their tail.
Calleigh went to get a cup of coffee. While she walked back to her workstation, she made a decision, one that she had made just once before in her life with Horatio: she decided to use his password to open the file. She'd obtained it ages ago, due to her photographic memory, but had just kept it to be sure to be able to help H should he ever need it.
She took a big gulp of the black liquid and put the cup down. Carefully making sure no one was around, she accessed the file with Horatio's password.
To her great surprise, the system wouldn't budge.
Hmmmmmm. What now. Why was access denied? Horatio must have changed his password without her noticing. Now what?
She had an idea. Since Eric would have had no idea on how to access the file, he must have gone to look for the old fashioned way. Grabbing a chocolate bar and her cup of coffee, Calleigh set off to the archives.
Once arrived, she soon found the beat-up box, and curiously carried it over to a table at the end of the shelf. She sat down and open the box.
"Oh my God!" Calleigh actually said it out loud, at seeing Natalia's beat up face staring back at her from a photo. Natalia's file. But why on earth did Eric want to check it? And how had he dared to break Horatio's seal? That was the first thing Calleigh had noticed. She went through the evidence, carefully not to contaminate anything.
Poor Natalia. Calleigh felt absolutely appalled at what she saw. At the same time she was getting angrier and angrier with Eric. How dared he go snooping around this file, and look at Natalia's photos? What if Natalia found out? She would feel violated, for sure!
She'd have a little talk with him when he came back, that was for sure! Boy was he in trouble!
Suddenly she heard the archive's door opening, and footsteps coming nearer and nearer.
"Damn!", she heard Ryan whispering. Ryan? What was he doing here?
"I'm sure we put it back here!" Eric answered nervously.
"Maybe H was down here and found the broken box?" Ryan sounded really scared now.
Calleigh decided it was time to reveal her presence, and that the "tough love" approach would be appropriate.
She quietly walked up behind the boy and said in a stern voice:
"I have the box you've been looking for."
The boys swung around. If she hadn't been so disappointed with them, the looks on their faces would actually have been hilarious, but as it was, she wasn't amused.
"Please don't tell Horatio!" both the boys said at once.
"Right now, Horatio is the least of your problems! First y'all have to survive the conversation you'll have with me, and then, if, and I repeat IF there is something left of you, I'll see if I'll report you to Horatio before or after reprimanding you!"
Both Eric and Ryan paled. They had never seen Calleigh this angry.
Eric decided that attack is the best defence, and said:
"Cal? I know you're very angry right now, and you have every right to reprimand us and stuff, but would you please just listen first?"
"Oh please do enlighten me as to why you're breaking into evidence boxes that are clearly out of you security clearance, and about a friend and coworker at that!" Calleigh lifted her chin a bit so she could stare him straight in the eyes.
Eric took a deep breath. There was only one way to survive this with announce of pride remaining, and that was telling the entire truth, all the truth, and nothing but the truth. So he did. He told her about what Natalia had said, and that he'd tried accessing the file in the computer, how he got down here and had broken his promise to Natalia, and how Ryan had followed him.
Calleigh was speechless. If what the feds had told Nat was true, someone here had contaminated the evidence, and Nick had gotten out earlier because of it. Calleigh was going to launch her own investigation into the matter, though, before making any accusations.
"Who was the primary officer on the case?" Calleigh asked with an acute sense of foreboding in the pit of her stomach.
Both Eric and Ryan remained silent.
"Well? Do you want me to check for myself, or are you going to tell me?" Calleigh raised her voice just enough to make it an order.
In the end, it was Ryan who answered:
"You know how Natalia told Eric it didn't matter anymore? That she didn't care anymore? That's because actually Tim Speedle was the primary officer and therefore responsible for her evidence."
Calleigh closed her eyes.
Oh, Tim, what did you do, honey? She thought with a pang of pain in her chest. And moreover, what should they do now?
