Chapter 10

"Forgive me for being nosy but I was wondering about the relationships among your team."

"Excuse me?"

The two sat in a corner booth surrounded by the lunch crowd din of a popular Peruvian restaurant. With the noise in back of him, Horatio had heard Anita's question perfectly well but wasn't sure about the meaning.

"I was just wondering about, you know, who is with whom, who the pairs are? Or is there some kind of rule here that forbids relationships at work?"

"No, no rule, exactly. Personal relationships among team members are frowned upon." He had thought to answer 'you don't mince words, do you?' but refrained.

"I can tell from the way you are dancing around the subject that those rules have no real meaning."

"May I ask why you ask?"

Anita looked at her salad of cold corn, potato and sweet pepper with quinoa over greens, for a moment. Then, she challenged, "Aren't you ever off duty? I know I breath, sleep and eat police work at home, but I do take some time off every once in a while. You already know about my personal recent history and I can tell you about Puenza's wife and three mistresses if that will turn your tongue loose."

Horatio leveled his gaze at his companion. "I'm just not comfortable with the discussing the private lives of my team."

"Alright, I'll ask and you just nod your head if I'm right. Are Calleigh and Ryan involved personally? I mean is the baby his?"

Horatio had tensed up during the first part of the question, his brows lowering over his eyes. Hearing the last of the question he eased back, a slight crinkle around his eyes appearing. "That one I can answer. Calleigh is married to our MDPD officer, Detective Sergeant Frank Tripp. The kidnapped child is theirs."

Anita's eyes opened wide in acceptance of what she heard. "Oh! I thought because of their similar heights, Ryan and Calleigh were a good match. Well, that shows how mistaken I can be. This man Tripp is a small man, yes?"

Horatio looked at the woman silently, nodding his head to one side. It wasn't that he didn't want to answer; it was more that he wasn't sure what to say. Finally he remembered a detail. "I think you saw Detective Tripp talking to me while you were making your calls. Bald, in a light brown suit with a bright yellow tie?"

Her eyebrows shot up for a second at the unexpected bit of news and then absorbed the last comment. At the same time she thought, 'Good, I have Horatio a bit muddled; now I can start the real conversation'. "Alright, you don't want to talk about the team, I understand protecting the family. Then, let me ask you about the woman who sent you on holiday to Mexico; you said she called you on something you did. Did the team know about it?"

Horatio was taken up short by the turn in questioning. His first impulse was to answer immediately and truthfully, but then he decided to deflect for as long as he could. So this is what it was like being on the other side of the interrogation table with an expert doing a casual job on you.

"To some degree they knew who she was, knew something happened between us. How could you tell?"

"From the way you were greeted when you walked into your lab. These people were not at all sure you were ever coming back. Did you know that?"

Horatio shoved his half eaten dish of sanochado aside and leaned forward on his forearms. "I wasn't too sure myself."

"You must have received a terrible blow to your heart."

Horatio nodded his head in a roundabout fashion ending with it to one side looking up into Anita's face. "I guess you could say so."

"She meant that much to you?"

"She meant a great deal to me. I was looking forward to a future with her."

"Did something happen to her?"

Horatio's face went darker than Anita had ever seen it in her short acquaintance with him.

"Yeah, me."

"You didn't…I mean, she isn't…" Anita didn't want to think about the possibility. However, the job did do strange things to some cops.

"You mean did I go rogue and kill the girlfriend? No, it was worse. I had strong feelings for her and even thoughts of marriage. After a great deal of hesitation, she decided to let me into her bed. No sooner had she done this, I let business get in the way. I destroyed the one thing a police officer should stand for, trust."

Anita leaned back. "She couldn't accept you were on duty twenty-four, seven?"

"I guess the whole thing was too new to her. Maybe she wasn't thinking on those lines."

His face flushed with his emotions, Horatio leaned back and put his head against the back of the padded booth, closing his eyes to shut out the memories for a moment. "It was bad timing and then a major mistake on my part."

"What became of her?"

"She was so hurt, she 'got out of Dodge' as she put it. I called her and she said it was over and to leave her alone."

"Ay! I can see why that injured you. So you went to Mexico. You wanted to think, as I recall?"

Horatio opened his eyes and he spread his lips thinly. "Then I got interrupted, as I recall."

"You called me," Anita reminded.

"I did, didn't I?"

"And then you so nicely volunteered to help me. The life of the dedicated policeman. I won't apologize for interrupting your vacation either."

"No need. I am what I am." Horatio decided to turn the table. "You are too. Were you married before Geraldo?"

Anita leaned back while she stared steadily at the various colors laid out on her dish. A part of her brain was picking out the bright patterns while the other was dealing with the complications of her personal life. "You mean, did I ever try to do the family thing?" She slowly shook her head from side to side. "A moving target is hard to hit. You, as a man, could pause and go talk to a señorita, no? That is what is done. As a working woman, I never had the time to pause long enough for a man to decide to ask me out on even one date before I was transferred to some other estación."

Horatio continued for her. "And then, as a Sheriff, you didn't have many equals which is why Geraldo took you by surprise."

Dark brown eyes rose to the ones staring at her. "I didn't even have time to contemplate getting pregnant."

"Considering he was Mala Noche, that was a good thing. Now you have nothing they want."

She quietly said, "Except maybe revenge."

Horatio looked up and out the window. "A cross most of us have to bear, Anita."

Leaning forward now, Anita's voice gained in intensity. "For how long, Horatio? I am thirty-nine years old and I can see the time when I'll be tired of police work. How long have you been policía?"

Horatio's eyes wandered to the sky outside of the window as he considered the years since he started as a rookie in New York, became the youngest man to make Detective in that city and then went on to his nearly thirteen years with the Crime Lab here in Miami. With a smile, he answered, "Let's just say that you were in perhaps the third grade when I started."

"And how long are you going to remain?"

Before he could answer, his pocket chimed.

"Yes Eric?"

The voice on the phone said, "H, Vince finally cracked the last encryption on the computer. I think you should see this for yourself."

"I'll be right there."

Anita shoved three more bites of food into her mouth while Horatio talked. She was too much of a pro to believe she had any more time to eat.

"Wait for me, Horatio. I can still make more phone calls."

"Malovasic broke his files into sections and then put them onto different drive sectors with a different encryption for each. After he did all that, he didn't use much imagination. So, I just assembled each document together under the name of the client. We now have it all." Vince leaned back in his chair.

Clapping Vince on the shoulder, Horatio said, "Good work. Thank you for the effort."

Without being asked, Vince raised his hand that held the thumb drive.

Without reply, Horatio took the drive and left the AV lab.

Eric noted the 'being on the trail' look in Horatio's eyes. He followed the boss into an unoccupied lab space. Inwardly, Eric was hoping this would put the missing spark back into his brother-in-law. As far as he knew, Horatio had never taken time off except when he was badly injured. Even then, the Lieutenant came back earlier than anyone Eric ever knew. H was as close to a super hero as he could imagine any person could be without being an animated character. Now, he was back, but that completeness he had always associated with the man, had always aspired to, was missing in some way. What had gone on between Solange and him?

Horatio put the drive into one of the computers on the desk and watched what the screen brought up. It was all a simple Wordpad document with no frills. It was labeled Braillsson and read like any dull report written by any government employee. The initial contact date had taken place about eight months previously. The man wanted Malovasic to get him a child and promised a payment of a million dollars. 'When I explained that there would be consequences and complications, he said he would pay me whatever it took to clear the way.' He had agreed to take on the project and they set up a meeting for the following day.

Horatio voiced his thinking. "I'd say he took notes during the call and then started the file."

The file dryly described the meeting and what Braillsson said he wanted; a blond child of no less than four months and no older than a year. He wanted it within a month. For this, Malovasic was to be paid a hundred and fifty thousand dollars to start with plus expenses. The rest would be paid when the child was handed over.

'I reminded him of the possible complications that would have to be taken care of. He said he would pay for anything as long as he, his wife and their new child were safe from jail. For that extra service I added extra charges to which he did not object. I took notes during the conversation and showed them to him. When we agreed on everything that was to be done, I set up one more meeting where I would bring the written contract.'

"To say the least, H, both of these guys had balls."

"One has enough to pay the price and the other has the knowledge to carry out the operation plus the desire for the funds."

The report continued with the firewalls Malovasic set up to protect his clients. Once the child (Calleigh's) was secured, his duties included being on guard when the Braillssons went to pay the money for the Parrot Grove Apartment and, later, appear to move in. As soon as that part of the charade had been complete, he sent them to another location entirely.

Eric's crooked smile joined his eyes in enjoyment. "I wonder how a pair of the richest people in Florida liked living in trailers near the Everglades."

"I guess they didn't. Look at the end of the report."

'Against my advice, the Braillssons have decided to end our relationship. After only five months, they seem to think I have set up enough protection of false ID around them that they are safe from being found. I keep reminding them that the police apparently have some kind of software that truly shows how a baby is aging and that, one day, someone will recognize their child. They disagree, have thanked and paid me a generous bonus. On my insistence, they signed an agreement of satisfaction.'

"The file is dated about two and a half weeks before he was killed. From his point of view, Braillsson had no complaints about him."

"Except perhaps to clean up the trail." Horatio stood straight and looked Eric in the eyes. "I think we have enough information to start the search for Braillsson again. We may kill two birds with one stone."

Another file included on the drive was the contract between the two. It was simple enough with a specific listing of the amount to be paid and when. Horatio shook his head over this one. "I wonder why they went through this routine. It's an illegal contract. The only thing it proves is intent to commit a kidnapping."

"Who knows what was going through their minds? Braillsson wanted a kid so bad he was willing to throw his life away for it and Malovasic was being offered more money than he had ever dreamed about. Maybe each thought a contract would assure that the other couldn't turn states' evidence without self-implication."

The other files were notes on expenses Malovasic had incurred including payment to the kid who had done the kidnapping. The Braillssons couldn't be bothered with the payment to the middleman. The rest were the deposits on the apartment and then later three different trailer homes and so on.

Finally, true to an FBI agent report protocol, Malovasic had finished with his personal summary. 'On my last viewing of the child, he seems healthy enough. I'm not so sure of this couple's ability to parent but that isn't my business. I have a feeling that in a short time they will be back to living at their old standards in a large house with servants enough to care for the child.

'As for myself, I am very happy with my work as well as the outcome. Although I occasionally have pangs of regret about the kidnapping, I'm sure the child is living at least at the standard he had before and, more likely, better. The outcome for me and my family has been beyond my best hopes. When it comes time for the free ride in this house to end I hope to have enough investment returns to maintain a similar lifestyle, perhaps in another location.'

Horatio swallowed hard after he finished reading. Had his summaries of awful crimes read so impersonally? He remembered the times when he worked as an undercover officer and how involved he had become. When he came out, he had to write personal précises. Were they like this, writing off the worst parts as 'pangs of regret'? He couldn't remember.

Eric pretended to go over the files again while he waited for Horatio to snap out of whatever fugue he had entered. The man was just standing there, staring at the monitor. Hoping to break him out of it, he purposefully put his head in the way of the screen pretending to get a better look at something.

As if no time had passed, Horatio shifted his stance. "Eric, I would like you to take Walter out to the Everglades areas and see if you can find where the Braillssons were."

Relieved to get an order for action, Eric acknowledged it and left to find Walter.

Reaching into his pocket, Horatio pulled out his phone. A moment later, Calleigh was by his side.

"I believe you said you had some street contacts that perhaps kept track of new Mala Noche that came in from other places?"

Calleigh's smile was brief and edgy. "I put the word out. I'll check and see if anyone knows anything."

"Calleigh?"

She had turned to leave. Now she paused and looked over her shoulder, the hint of a tear glinting in her eye.

Horatio turned his shoulder towards Calleigh as a way to guard his personal feelings. "I'm sorry."

Calleigh dropped her head for the briefest second and then raised it again. "It's for the best. I wish I could work on getting my son back, but then, he would eventually find out what I did to his kidnappers afterwards. I'd hate for him to have to live with that."

After a bright flash of teeth that was not a smile, Calleigh walked away with a stiff gait.

Horatio nodded after her. "Me too."

Horatio was sorry he had to deny Calleigh any duty. He knew police officers are trained to go after the bad guy and when they can't, they feel like chained, muzzled dogs. Their human brains work overtime to explain the logic to limiting their actions but their instincts fight just as hard to track and take down their prey. Throw in a mother's nature to protect her young on top of that and you have a whole heap of nitroglycerin ready to go at a light tap. Horatio made a note to keep an eye on her.

TBC