Chapter 8
Calleigh went to reception, her mind reeling with the prospect of being in charge of the lab for 10 weeks… Could she cope? She had stood in for Horatio before, a few days when he was in Rio, a couple of weeks when he was out of action from the bullet in his knee. But then he had been on the end of a phone line, so if she was really stuck she could call him, this time was not the case. She truly would be on her own.
Part of her was already looking forward to the challenge, was she good enough to step into Horatio's shoes? The thought made her go cold, but why? Picking up the envelope from Paula, she was about to head over to join Natalia when a thought hit her… Instead she headed for Horatio's office.
Tapping on the door, she walked in, H turned from where he had been thoughtfully looking out of the window. "Can I ask you something Horatio?"
H smiled, he had been waiting for Calleigh to put two and two together. "What is it Calleigh?"
"What's going on? I mean, why have you suddenly been asked to go on this exchange, why have I been asked to run the team, there are two other CSI's on the other shifts with more seniority than I."
Motioning to her to close the door, H told her that a request had come in for the exchange, and he had been asked to go so Calleigh would have an opportunity to prove her abilities. "I have every confidence in you Calleigh, I know you can lead this team. It's about time you were given the chance"
"That only answers part of my question Horatio." H sighed, he and Calleigh were close, he always thought of her as a kid sister – and she knew him better than most, even Eric didn't know him so well. "Are you leaving us Horatio, is that why I'm being tested?"
H gave her a tired smile, "Calleigh, I can't stay forever, but I'm not leaving just yet, I still have a year."
Calleigh dropped her head, "It's going to be strange not having you around, what will you do?"
H couldn't help but show his uncertainty, "To be completely honest, I really don't know. The obvious options are up to Chief, or out on retirement."
Calleigh pulled a face, "I can't see you doing either, you hate politics, and Mich would go crazy having you under her feet all the time. You could join a private consultancy I guess."
H chuckled, "and how would you lot feel if I had to come in and investigate the evidence you had collected?"
Calleigh shrugged her shoulders, "You do it now, it's not a problem."
"But now we are on the same side. If I work for a private firm, I would be put up against you. At the beginning, the team wouldn't worry, but soon you would come to resent my presence. I don't have many friends Calleigh, and within this lab is the only family I've had for over ten years, I'm not going to jeopardize that for anything."
Calleigh became silent, she knew that what H said was true, and she knew how much he valued the relationship he had with all of them. Last Christmas, he and Mich had invited them all over for Christmas dinner, it had been a great day and H had said he would like to continue the tradition on other occasions – that would not be able to happen if he worked for a consultancy, it would be considered a conflict of interest for both sides.
H's voice broke into her thoughts, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't say anything to the rest of the team, they'll work it out soon enough…"
Calleigh nodded and excused herself, but she could not get the information out of her head. There had to be something H could do, she was also concerned, H had recently begun to distance himself from the team, working in his office rather than coming around the labs. She had spotted him taking tablets from time to time, and noticed the pain in his eyes. The doubt in his voice had surprised her, a lack of confidence that she had never expected to see. She wondered if Mich had noticed anything…
&&&&
Looking at the information, Natalia smiled, the shoes were not much help, they were sold by a company called IKEA, a Europe-wide chain of stores, similar to Wall-Mart, and could have been purchased anywhere in the UK. She thanked the Lord that the Brits had kept to their imperial measurements; the European metric sizes would have caused her to have a much larger area to search.
"Superintendent Foster's people found that this particular size and style was sold in almost all of their large city stores. Without more information, we wouldn't have a clue where to start."
Calleigh agreed, "But at least we have information on our vic. Theresa Kalinina, aged 26, originally believed to come from the Ukraine, though the British authorities are not completely sure, she could be from any of the former western Russian republics. Last recorded movement out of the UK was six months ago when she went to France – apparently for a holiday."
Natalia nodded, "It's not a lot to go on Calleigh, they were unable to find out if she had any next of kin."
Calleigh nodded, "I have a feeling that her next of kin are probably still in her home town."
Natalia raised an eyebrow, "Do you think she's an illegal?"
Calleigh shrugged her shoulders, "I'm not sure, Derek Foster has sent a copy of her prints to Interpol to see if they have anything we can use. We should have a response in a day or two."
&&
Eric and Ryan grinned at each other, after running the prints that Ryan had found; they had come up empty handed, until Eric had suggested that they take the Range Rover apart.
"If there was a fight going on between two men, maybe our mystery person put his hand under one of the seats during the struggle…" Ryan agreed, and the two of them had headed for the garage.
Ryan had found the dark coloured hair caught on the underside of the rear passenger seat, and Eric had found another partial print on the underside of the drivers chair. The other prints hadn't had enough reference points for identification purposes, but he thought that this one might.
Both items had brought up evidence – the print had matched with a name on AFIS, and there had also been a DNA match on CODIS. The name, Mitch Walker…
Ryan stared at the AFIS screen, "I recognise that name from somewhere."
Eric agreed, looking at the details his eyes opened wide, "We know this guy, he used to work for John Buchannon. Remember the bank robberies about five years ago? He was the one H caught briefing a group of illegals for the next robbery."
Ryan nodded and smiled, "Wasn't it at one of those robberies where H first met Mich?"
Eric chuckled, "Yeah… but now Walker's out on parole – has been for six months – they couldn't tie him to anything more severe than a couple of conspiracy charges, but he must be doing something on his own now."
Ryan became thoughtful, "I overheard Paula telling Calleigh that they have info on the Jane Doe. How about we go and compare evidence with the girls, let's see if we can work out the bigger picture."
As the four team-mates conferred, it became apparent that they need a vital piece of information. What was the link between Mitch Walker and Theresa Kalinina…?
"With the DNA evidence, we can get Walker in here for questioning and a warrant to search both his home and business premises for his clothes." Ryan pointed out, "If we can find any trace of blood, we have him."
Calleigh did not look convinced, "Walker is an old hand, as soon as he saw the blood; he would have dumped the clothes… fast… Probably he burned them, and we would have nothing, we need to be careful here. The print and hair lead us to the fact that he was in the car – but he could claim that he was helping her out. There is no print on the murder weapon that we can use."
"How about we get in touch using Theresa…?" Eric suggested, "We could tell him that we found his print inside the car – without giving away too much information – and just ask if he knows who she is. If she knows where she lives for example… If we make it look like we're just collecting information, he might say something of importance that could help us out."
Calleigh nodded, "It sounds like a good idea. Let's fill in the holes before going for a warrant."
Ryan chuckled, "Then I vote that you and Natalia go and speak to him, two beautiful women are more likely to be successful than Eric and I."
Natalia gave Ryan a curious look, "Now why would you say something like that?"
Eric grinned, "Because he knows that Mitch Walker is a bit of a player and two ladies are far less threatening than two guys. He'll think he can charm you away from the truth, but Ryan and I know different, you'll get more out of him than we ever could…"
Natalia narrowed her eyes, trying to work out if Eric was being sincere, or spinning her a line, but Calleigh chuckled, "Ok, we'll go, but that means you two get to work the evidence on our vic this morning."
Ryan readily agreed, as did Eric, and chuckling the girls left, "Do they know that our vic this morning was a five day old bloater…?" asked Natalia, Calleigh shook her head, and began to giggle.
&&&&
Arriving at Walker's club, Calleigh and Natalia were surprised to see that it consisted of four storeys. Talking to the doorman, he showed them to Mitch Walker's office, where his boss was discussing the price of a new security system with a contractor…
"I don't care if the system is difficult to install, I want the security here to be completely upgraded – I cannot afford to lose merchandise like last week." After a few more words, he put the phone down and smiled at the two CSI's..
"Well I do declare Law Enforcement is getting prettier every day. What can I do for you ladies?" Calleigh told him, frowning, Walker shook his head, "The name doesn't ring a bell, do you have a picture?"
Passing over the copy of the photograph which had been sent from the UK, Walkers eyes went wide, "This is one of my dancers, where is she?"
Calleigh smiled at Natalia, who left the office to talk to some of the girls she'd seen taking in the bar, with Walker's permission, while Calleigh herself remained to talk to Walker…
An hour later…
Calleigh was fuming. Walker had led her a merry dance but had been very careful with his answers, admitting to being with 'Tess' on the morning of the accident – they had had lunch together and then had gone their separate ways, that evening was her day off, and he hadn't expected to see her until the night before.
When she hadn't turned up, he thought that maybe she was sick – as a couple of the girls were already down with the flu. "Usually the girls call in – or tell a friend, Tess kept to herself, didn't mix a lot. If she wouldn't have turned up tonight, I would have started asking questions, she's one of the favourites here."
"You said she was a dancer…?" Walker nodded, "Yeah... works the cage in the main club, and the pole on the inside."
"Excuse me…?" Walker grinned, and stood up, indicating that Calleigh should lead the way.
"This is the main club, where we cater for everyone who wants to have normal fun… drinks, good music, a place to hang out with their friends." Leading the way, he showed Calleigh to a side door which was guarded by a familiar looking face, who nodded at Calleigh as she passed by. After going up a flight of stairs, Walker led her into a much smaller room.
"This is our 'men only' club, half the size of the club downstairs, we cater for a much more… 'specific' clientele." Calleigh raised her eyebrows; she didn't really need to be told the 'specifics' in this case.
"How do people get in here?"
"Only through the main bar, there are fire escapes of course, as per rules and regs, but the only way in is past Tim. You also need to be a member – or to be 'invited' in by a friend."
Going behind one of the bars, he pressed a small button, and walked through the next door, "Occupying this half of the floor is the 'Ladies only' section, for the girls it's much easier, they come and go as they please – they don't cause trouble. Their entrance is on the opposite side of the main bar.
As if to illustrate a point, Walker led Calleigh to the other set of stairs, just as she was about to go down, she spotted another door.
"What's through there…?"
Walker smiled, "Changing rooms for the guys, store rooms, the girls changing room is on the other side – but the entrance is behind one of the bars – only this door and the fire escapes go up to the next two floors. I'm hoping to convert the top floor into a club too, but it may need some structural work first – that floor is completely empty. I don't use it at all."
Calleigh nodded, and followed Walker down the stairs, but the single door bugged her… There was something going on here, but she couldn't tell what. One thing she knew was that she had to get Horatio involved, this was far bigger than the RTA of a few mornings ago.
Leading Calleigh back into the main club, Walker paused, "would you like to see my favourite part of the club…?" Calleigh hesitated, but the man's face was open, hiding nothing and obviously proud of his achievement. She nodded.
Walker led her to a double set of doors, "Sound proofing?" Walker nodded, opening the second set, Calleigh gasped, "My boss would love this, and so would his partner." With a delighted grin Calleigh looked carefully around the art deco style piano bar, "This is beautiful… for your older clients I presume?"
Walker laughed, "Actually it's for everyone. Sometimes the youngsters use it to get away from the noise and relax back a little. The trio that work the piano play clients' choice. Jazz, Blues, Modern… Two guys and a girl, amazing group."
"The Fabulous Baker Boys?" Calleigh smiled remembering the film. Walker nodded and laughed – leading the way out of the door.
&&&
Comparing notes with Natalia, who had got nothing more than confirmation of the girls identity, and that she hadn't been seen for a couple of days, they returned back to the lab, "I tell you one thing Calleigh, though I didn't get a lot of information from the girls, one thing I did get is that they are all terrified, of what, I don't know."
"Let's get back to the lab. There is something going on here, and we need to find out what."
Natalia looked at Calleigh curiously, "How are we going to do that?"
Calleigh chuckled, "When was the last time we all had a night out together?"
Natalia was even more confused, "Cryptic Calleigh? You're getting more like H every day…"
&&
Back at the lab, Horatio pushed the thoughts that had been troubling him to the back of his mind, everyone was gathered in the layout room, and Calleigh was detailing what she had seen. He had carefully trained her up, knowing that she had both the skill and dedication to see a case through to the end, as well as the diplomacy and empathy to work both the political scene and deal with victim's families, his little chick was all grown up and ready to fly.
"So, both you and Natalia feel there is something going on here?"
Natalia stepped in, "Horatio, the girls are open enough, but you can see that they are terrified of something – or someone. From what I can see, they all share one physical characteristic… Slavic features, just like Theresa, who we know is from a former Russian republic."
Horatio thought for a moment, "after the Berlin wall came down and the Russians opened their doors, the Eastern Block residents started moving West. Better jobs, better wages… The Russian Mafia made a killing, Russian prostitutes can be found all over Europe, and most of them are unwilling – forced to work to earn a pittance, most of which goes back home to their families."
Calleigh nodded, "add to that, the layout of the club, the male dancers can come and go as they please – the door to their third floor changing room is on an open landing, but the girls' entrance is from behind one of the bars. There are always at least four men on duty at the club – all day, Walker told me that he lost some 'merchandise' last week, and that he has some extra security in until he gets his new system in."
Eric grinned, "You girls certainly did your homework, the thing is, what do we do now? Theresa is still in hospital in a coma, so she can't help us. We don't have enough to get a warrant. We need more information."
Calleigh grinned, "Well we have an old friend working on the inside who might be able to help us out a little… Tim Slater… But I have an idea that could help too."
Natalia chuckled, 'How do you fancy a team stakeout, we haven't been out together in a while. Call it… an engagement party."
Ryan blushed, but nodded, "Why not… Sounds good to me."
H raised an eyebrow, "Me in a club, come on guys, be serious…"
Natalia frowned, "Lieutenant, are you telling me that you are going to turn down an invitation to my engagement party? I'll phone Mich if I have to…"
H sighed, and started to chuckle, "Well girls, it looks like you're running the show on this one… I'll speak to Paul and see if Tim can help us."
&&
Unfortunately, Tim could not… "We've only just got him in Horatio, after Mich took Ramon out, we had to move Tim out quick, we put him into a corporate situation we had in Tampa and got a good result. He's only been back in Miami for a couple of weeks. Walker took him on because he knows what Tim can do, but he hasn't built up enough trust to let Tim in on the inside yet." Paul sighed, "I wish I could help you on this one."
"Maybe you can… Why did you put Tim in there in the first place?"
Paul became thoughtful, "After Mich took out some of the top Cartel people, the lines were redrawn across the city. The Russians control quite a good section – they went for a small but rich area. We believe they are bankrolling Walker, but we have no proof."
Horatio smiled, "Walker would never work for the Cartels, but he did work with Buchannon for the Mafia in the old days. The Russians run a similar kind of shop, they are well known to be involved in prostitution, and Walker has had connections with illegals before – he knows how to get them in, knows the contacts…"
Paul laughed, "so, you and your team going in undercover?"
H scowled, "I have no choice, Mich is going to love it."
Paul became quiet, "For one simple reason Horatio, she needs to know if she's ready…"
