The formating is a little screwy for the second half of the story; I loaded it left-aligned, but no matter what I do, it won't. Stop. Centering. And I'm too tired to argue with the site anymore. So hopefully, it wouldn't be too much of a problem for you all.
Calleigh and Speed stepped into the AV lab. Tyler was waiting for them, sitting at the computer. His hair was back to the ruffled style he had when he started working at the lab.
Gadgets and papers were scattered everywhere. The Crime Lab had recently gotten new software and a new computer console, but hadn't moved the old one out yet. Apparently the Budgeting Committee was still deciding one of the lower profile counties to 'give' the old technology to.
It was just another reminder that they needed a newer, more advanced lab, a lab the county was going to begin building until the beginning of next year.
"You got something for us?" Calleigh asked as she pulled up a chair. Speed took the other chair, so the CSIs were on both sides of the AV tech.
"Security finally got around to giving me the footage and card swipe data from last night at the Le Descreux building," Tyler answered, bringing up the window. "Now, the card system isn't all that sophisticated. Every card has the same routing number that is encoded in the swipe of the card. You simply need to present it on the electronic lock to have it opened. Which is why security doesn't keep record of which card was used, because to the computer, they are virtually all the same."
"So the swipe cards aren't going to help us," Speed stated.
"There's more," Tyler explained. "The cards themselves are the same, but each cardholder has their own personal PIN number they have to enter to get into the employee authorized areas of the building. Security gave me a list of PIN numbers and who they belong to."
Tyler brought up the records from last night. "Outside of PINs used by the security officers, none of which entered the suit assigned to Keaner, Claymore Practice, there was one PIN. It was entered twice. Once at 7:15, and then at 7:21."
Calleigh read the name. "Claymore."
"That's the fourth time his name has come up," Speed said.
"It means someone used his PIN, but it doesn't necessarily mean it was him," Calleigh sighed.
"In any case, I thought it was important," Tyler said.
"What about the video footage?" Calleigh inquired.
"Cameras are stationed on all the parking levels. Guests and employees are on one camera feed, employer parking on another feed, "Tyler revealed. "Security gave me the footage from the first, but says the later system has been down for the past week. So while I can't tell you who went into that parking deck, I can tell you no one entered the other two."
"We definitely need to talk to Claymore again," Calleigh concluded. "Thank you, Tyler. You might have just given us a break."
"That's what they pay me for," he said as the CSIs left.
"Do you remember what the statement he gave to Horatio said about where he was last night?" Calleigh asked, not having been in the room.
"Fifth anniversary dinner with his wife," Speed recollected. "Left early and accidently left the door to his office open."
"Convenient."
"Yeah. We need to confirm his alibi and find out who else would have his PIN number."
"Well, it's five o'clock," Calleigh sighed again. "We could invite Dr. Claymore to have a chat with us, but with Valera backed up in DNA, we can't possibly know if we've already found our killer until tomorrow."
"I say we call Yelina and get her to check out Claymore's alibi and use the rest of the day to finish the paperwork," Speed suggested. "I know I've still got to write up the trace results from your B&E."
"Right," Calleigh agreed. "I'll call Yelina, ask her how the B & E's going since she let go of Keaner, and get her to pull Olivia's phone records, just to be sure we haven't missed anything. And we'll just have to come in bright and early to see what's what."
CSIMIAMICSIMIAMICSIMIAMI
Speed slipped on his headphones and the next hour seemed to fly by. There was still no sign of his lover. He hadn't popped in Speed's lab once, or found him in the halls and waved. It was suspicious.
The scruffy CSI finally broke down at the end of the day and asked Calleigh and Eric if they had seen their boss. Neither had, but Calleigh mentioned him calling her and sounding distracted. A little distracted was one thing. They all often got a little distracted on a case, absorbed in a potential lead that they wouldn't notice anyone come into their lab or miss a meal.
This was different. It was more than immeasurable 'gut' instinct that H and the detectives used that told him so. He had known H for six years. Granted, five of those years were as coworkers, friends and, at the risk of sounding like a teenage girl, as his secret crush. But he knew H, knew that only one of his cold cases or a family matter managed to keep him away. It was just a question of which one.
With that in mind, he went to hunt down his lover.
You wouldn't think someone could hide in a place full of glass walls, but it was possible. The black marble and navy enamel created shadows. Looking through the glass was sometimes as fruitless as gazing into murky water; you wouldn't see the shark until it was about to bite you.
A faint glimpse of red hair had him entering one of the older layout rooms. As suspected, his lover was tensely hunched over one of the tables, an evidence box on one side of him. He had pictures arranged on his left with a note pad to jolt notes down and what looked like an e-mail print out; on the right, a series of evidence bags.
"Hey," Speed called softly after he walked in. Blue eyes sparkled when they met his, a slight, tired smile on H's face.
"Hey."
"You ready to go home?"
Horatio's eyes darted to the clock. Seeing the time, he chuckled mirthlessly. "The day seems to have slipped away from me." He shook his head. "I've got to stay and see if there's anything else I missed."
This time, Speed shook his head. "Even you need to look at evidence with fresh eyes. Whatever it is, it can wait until tomorrow. You can come in bright and early with the rest of us, if you want."
Amused, "You ordering me home?"
"Only if you need me to."
Horatio chuckled again, and this time it was a real laugh. "Your place or mine?"
"Yours. I've still got clothes there and it's a quicker drive."
"You do already own the kitchen."
"Besides, it might throw off suspicion." Eyebrows suddenly rose. "I'll explain later. After dinner. Which, I'm thinking, is going to be chicken stir-fry."
"Sounds good. Let me get this packed up and we'll head out, okay?"
CSIMIAMICSIMIAMICSIMIAMI
When the night shift's DNA analyst arrived an hour before her shift actually started, Eric and Valera decided to pass the rest of lab processing off to her. They did pretty well, if Eric didn't say so himself. They had just five samples left to run compared to the fifteen they started with.
As much as Eric loved to bag the bad guys on the first day, he was happy to be clocking out. If he had to create one more vial, he might have lost it. Sure, most of the time he didn't mind the work or what he did in toxicology; it was putting his chemistry degree to go use. He was just glad he didn't have to do it everyday. Fingerprinting definitely wasn't as tedious.
Maybe some of it was nervous energy, too. He had planned on telling Speed about him and Calleigh weeks ago, and not in the hallway of the MDPD crime lab, either. But his best friend was a hard man to get a hold of—outside of work, of course. Speed was coming in early and leaving later than usual. Unless the CSI was on call, Eric couldn't reach his cell or his home phone. If the Cuban-Russian didn't know better, he would have thought Speed had a girlfriend.
When the conclusion was drawn, Eric first felt a surge of relief. And Speed, for all appearances, seemed okay with it. Which was good, because there was a time that Eric felt Speed and Calleigh could have gotten together, and while Calleigh had reassured him that there wasn't anyway, Eric wasn't too sure. He knew his friend had his eyes on somebody at the lab for the longest time, and by process of elimination, it had to have been Calleigh.
But then, the anxiety had trickled in. He really wasn't that worried about what H would say, because they had already discussed the situation in hypotheticals and H had no problems with two coworkers having a relationship, as long as they separated work from their personal lives. Speed's opinion, however strange, mattered.
Maybe it was because Speed was close friends with both of Eric and Calleigh. Eric didn't want him to feel like a third wheel with them or that he was going to have to choose sides. Eric had been in that position often enough to know it sucked.
So the plan was to have dinner, have a few drinks, try to explain that Eric was over the moon for Calleigh—that she fit perfectly into this piece of Eric's life that he had been missing, that know else got his heart racing just by looking at him, that he's found someone he doesn't have to hold back things from—okay, maybe that wasn't going to be as difficult as he thought.
In turn, he'd find out what was going on with Speed and H. Maybe they were working an old case and weren't willing to tell the team yet. Or maybe Speed was just being Speed—evasive about his private life—and they would find out something about a new girl.
However, he knew his plan wasn't going to happen when he saw Speed and H heading to the locker room.
"You running out of me?" Eric joked. Speed seemed to remember his early promise and swore.
"Hey, I'm going to have to take a rain check," Speed said once he saw Eric down the hall. "Something's come up and I can't do it. Tomorrow, alright?"
"I'm holding you to tomorrow, though," Eric cautioned. "I can't remember the last time all three of us went out."
Speed nodded before exiting. Eric sighed a second later. The competitive streak in him wasn't generally fond of anyone knowing more than he did about a subject, and the growing up in a big family had taught him that he liked to be included in, well, just about everything. So to say the situation was bugging him would have been an understatement.
"What?" Calleigh asked, coming up beside him.
"There's something going on with those two," Eric said, knowing that she would know who he was referring two. "I just don't know what it is."
Calleigh smiled mischievously. "Oh, you'll be surprised that's for sure."
"You know?!" He exclaimed with a scowl.
Her grin just got wider. "Yes, and I would tell you, but a secret's a secret, and it's not mine to tell. But…when you think you know what it is, you can ask me and I'll let you know how hot or cold you are."
Eric grinned back. "Deal. But now that Speed's canceled on us, what are we going to do?"
"Well, Dr. Claymore and his wife apparently spent a nice evening at Fleur de Lis last night, and I know for a fact they have some of the best deserts in town," Calleigh explained sweetly. "I was thinking, we stop by and ask the staff about them, grab a slice of Devil's Food cake, and take the party back to my place."
"I like how you think."
