Revelations

Chapter 10

After obtaining a visitor's pass for the older woman at the reception desk, Natalia escorted her to the lab and on into an interview room, promising to return after a few minutes.

Finding Ryan in the trace lab, Natalia pushed through the door and excitedly called out,

"Ryan…we have an eye-witness that places Ricardo in the neighborhood prior to the killings."

Smiling as he looked up from his work he responded, "Good job Nat that will definitely seal the deal, along with the physical evidence we gathered."

"Of all the 'don't want to get involved' answers I received, her neighbor across the street is willing to testify to seeing three men lingering down the street just before dark. One of the descriptions fits Ricardo."

"H is down in the morgue right now, he'll want to do the interview."

Natalia stared at Ryan dumbfounded as she asked, "You're kidding." Noticing Ryan's serious expression Natalia realized he wasn't. She added, "H needs to still be in the hospital after what happened."

Ryan chuckled softly as he smiled at the shocked brunette, "You know how he is. Checked himself out this morning and came straight to the lab. Calleigh's not too happy about it. By the way, have you…noticed something going on there?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know…um, romantically. She stayed in his room at the hospital…it's just…" he noticed Natalia was becoming agitated.

"Just what Ryan?"

"Hey, if there is…I don't have a problem with it. It's just IAB will."

"Well, we'll just keep it between the team so they won't find out about them, IF in fact there is something going on." Natalia smiled warmly as she continued, "I think it would be great for both of them…a relationship budding besides their professional one. They both deserve some happiness in life," she smiled as she punched the button on her phone that would connect her to Horatio.

"Horatio, Ms. Harrison was not only raped, ah…" Tom Lohman, the department's medical examiner paused, and then pulled in a deep breath before continuing, "By the normal way, if you could describe it as normal at all, but with this as well."

The doctor held up a medium-sized toy truck. "I think the use of this may have had a dual meaning. It was still in place at the time of her death."

Horatio looked away in frustration as he blinked back the anger that welled from deep inside of him.

Calleigh asked, "Was the rape pre or post-mortem?"

Tom winced as he replied, "Unfortunately, pre."

"COD for both doctor?" Horatio asked the man in a curt tone desiring for him to get to the point.

"Asphyxiation was COD for Ms. Harrison. She struggled. It took a couple of minutes before…death. At least her sister's was instantaneous…broken neck."

Horatio stood, he'd heard enough. "I'll be waiting for your completed report," he softly said before turning and walking toward the door. As he approached the door, his cell phone signaled an incoming call. Natalia's name appeared on the screen.

"Ms. Boa Vista…." He listened as Natalia explained about the neighbor waiting in the interview room and responded, "I'm on my way."

Turning his head toward Calleigh as she stopped beside him he begin explaining where he was going,

"Natalia was able to convince one of Shante's neighbors to come in. I'm going to interview her, and then I'll be in my office."

"I'll go get started on the bullets waiting in my lab. See you later," Calleigh replied as she squeezed his arm.

Calleigh tried to smile, but she noticed Horatio was already looking tired. At least he'll sit down to do the interview.

After speaking to Ms. Hobbs, Horatio walked down the hall and began to slowly climb the stairs leading to his office. He continued to mentally go over the evidence and concluded that with an eye-witness placing Ricardo in the vicinity; they had more than enough to get a conviction, now the problem was finding him.

Lara watched the Lieutenant walk toward his office, her smile devious. She pulled off her lab coat and hung it on the rack against the wall of the DNA lab, before walking into trace to tell Ryan she was leaving.

She opened the door and stuck her head inside the room where Walter and Ryan were working.

"Hey Ryan, I completed the fingerprints except for one set that's running in the international database. I need a couple of hours to take care of a personal matter, and by then I should have results from the search."

"Ok, see you later," Ryan answered, barely looking up from his work.

Walter glanced over at Ryan as he commented, "Lara's a good addition to the team. She's smart."

"Yeah, I agree. H sure knows how to pick'em."

Lara's first stop was to the employee locker room. Once there, she walked to her locker and spun the combination lock on the door and then opened it. Reaching up to the shelf, she pulled out a folder. Taking a quick look at the contents she then closed the file, shut and locked the door back, then turned and walked out carrying the folder in her hand. Here we go…time to set my plan in motion.

The elevator door opened on the sixth floor and she strode out, exuding confidence on the outside, but internally, her nerves were on edge. This is a big step, but I won't be intimidated. I'm doing this for Marisol..

She stood for a moment outside the glass double doors that held the insignia and title of the department. Miami-Dade Police Division of Internal Affairs was the lettering on the doors. She pulled in a deep breath and pushed the door open and stepped inside. Walking to the woman behind the reception desk Lara announced,

"I'm CSI Aislara Mendoza, I have an appointment with Captain Moorehead."

Around one-thirty that afternoon, Calleigh just shook her head as she stood in the doorway watching Horatio so deep in thought while clearing the stacks of paperwork awaiting his signature on top of his desk.

She knocked softly on the door and when he looked up, she smiled as she held up a sack containing a couple of sandwiches and a drink caddy loaded with two cups of hot coffee.

"I bet…you didn't remember lunch?"

Horatio shyly looked down at his desk before quickly looking back up with a smile for the beautiful blonde walking towards him.

"What would I do without you?"

"Well, you'd probably miss lunch and a dose of your medicine," she teased as she flashed her radiant smile at him.

She pulled a chair up to his desk and sat down before peeling back the paper from around the sandwiches, while Horatio took the coffees out and began taking the lids off.

"Sweetheart, I found the uh, elusive folder on my desk."

Calleigh abruptly stopped what she was doing and asked with a stunned expression on her face,

"Where was it?"

"On top of this stack of papers," he patted the spot with his hand.

"Horatio, that folder was not there a couple of days ago. I swear it wasn't. I told you about finding your office unlocked."

Horatio noticed her demeanor immediately turned defensive.

"Calleigh, it's alright. I believe you. Walter may have just forgotten to leave it on my desk and put it here recently. I asked Joan to put a note in his messages for him to come to my office when he returns from lunch. I'm sure we'll find that's all it was and perhaps he just failed to lock my door back."

They both knew how dependable Walter was though and that fact caused concern, despite Horatio's attempt to explain it away. Calleigh couldn't stop the feeling of uneasiness creeping up from the pit of her stomach.

Having finished their lunch, they were drinking the last of the coffee when Walter appeared at Horatio's door.

"H, you need to see me?"

"Yes Walter, come in. A few days ago, after my discussion with Brian, I asked you to put a folder that I had with me at the time, on my desk. Do you remember if you did that?"

"Yeah H, I did. I came straight here and put it down on top of your desk, in the center, where you'd be sure to see it and then locked your office door on my way out because you said you'd be a while getting back."

Horatio looked over at Calleigh, and then returned his eyes to Walter.

"You found it didn't you?"

"Um….yes, yes Walter I found it. It's just Calleigh couldn't find it while I was in the hospital, but when I came in today, it was on top of a stack of paperwork."

Walter blew out a soft breath and looked greatly relieved. I'm glad nothing happened to that folder. It would be a major problem if it got into the wrong hands, especially for H.

After Walter left, Calleigh and Horatio sat in silence for a few minutes.

Finally Calleigh broke the silence. "If anyone else saw those pictures of Brian with Ricardo and the fact they didn't get checked into evidence…"

"Sweetheart, the two people who've seen them besides us, I trust completely."

"Are you going to submit them as evidence?"

Horatio's lips thinned as he replied, "I have to Sweetheart, but not yet."

After leaving Horatio's office and before heading back to ballistics, Calleigh decided to go up to the sixth floor to see a friend who was expecting her first child and worked in MPD's EEOC office adjacent to Internal Affairs.

Exiting the elevator, Calleigh walked past the dreaded IAB door while taking a quick glance inside, she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the familiar brunette smiling and speaking to Captain Moorehead as they stood at his office door. Why is Lara in there speaking with Moorehead? What possible reason…

"Calleigh…" A voice called out from behind her startling her momentarily.

The blonde CSI turned and found her friend had walked up behind her.

Recovering quickly, Calleigh responded, "Oh, hi Angie. I was just coming to see you."

Turning slightly to the side to check on Lara, Calleigh realized the meeting had ended and Lara was about to walk away from the Captain.

"Let's go to your office where we can visit a few minutes." Calleigh steered her friend toward the door leading to her friend's office and had just entered when Lara walked out of IAB.

Angie noticed her friend's troubled expression.

"Calleigh are you alright? You're acting a little nervous."

Hesitating for a few seconds, Calleigh replied, "Um, yeah. Yeah I'm fine," forcing a smile. "How are you doing?"

The two friends visited for a few minutes and then Calleigh made her way back to the lab. Thoughts about Lara's possible involvement with the dreaded IA raced through her mind as she rode down in the elevator. I need to tell Horatio what I saw, but first, I want to find Lara. I want to know what business she had with Moorehead.

Calleigh saw Lara talking with Natalia in DNA as she approached.

Hearing the door open, the two women looked around and saw Calleigh standing just inside,

"Lara, may I speak with you in the locker room for a minute?"

Lara looked back at Natalia and shrugged her shoulders as Calleigh stepped back out into the hall and waited for the CSI to join her.

As she walked towards the blonde CSI, Lara could feel the daggers being shot her way.

"Calleigh, what did you need to speak to me about?"

"Let's wait until we get to the locker room, shall we?"

Once inside the large room, Calleigh walked to the furthest wall before she spun around and in a low firm voice asked,

"Why were you in Internal Affairs a little while ago?"

The question shook Lara to the core. Trying to come up with an answer, her heart began pounding loudly. Lara decided to play innocent and tried to respond with a calm voice, but she wasn't sure if it actually sounded steady.

"What are you talking about?" Lara shot back.

"Don't try to play the innocent game with me honey; I can assure you it won't work."

Lara's nervousness instantly changed to anger as she lashed out,

"What I do on my personal time, is none of your business." Lara laughed inside as Calleigh's eyes blazed. "Yes, I was on my own time – ask Ryan."

"I don't care if it was personal time; we don't talk to IA unless we are summoned to do so."

"You can't tell me what to do bitch," Lara growled as she stepped close to Calleigh's face.

That's all it took for Calleigh to lose her cool. She shoved Lara into the bank of lockers and the action startled Lara.

"You bet I can tell you what to do. I'm the assistant supervisor of this lab and its staff. I better not ever catch you going to IA again without being summoned. Do you understand?"

Lara shook her head that she did and Calleigh stepped back and then added, "If you tell anyone about our discussion, I'll deny it; and another thing, stay away from Horatio unless it's about police business."

Calleigh slung her long blonde hair around as she turned and briskly walked out, leaving a fuming Lara behind. You may have won this battle Blondie, but let's see how well you fare next time.

The red ball that was the sun had just slipped below the horizon when Horatio and Calleigh arrived at his condo. They had stopped at Horatio's favorite little Italian restaurant for pasta after leaving the lab and they were both tired after a stressful day. Horatio felt as if he'd been drug behind a truck. He could hardly put one foot in front of the other and then stopped once inside the foyer. He immediately turned and looked at Calleigh as he asked,

"Have you given more thought to staying with a tired, hurting old man?"

Calleigh smiled as she stood on her tip-toes and placed a tender kiss on his cheek.

"I'm staying," she answered softly as her arm snaked around his waist.

They walked to the master bedroom with their arms around each other. Horatio headed straight for the bed and eased down. Calleigh helped him out of his suit coat and he slipped his shoes off. She then wondered if he needed help getting out of his shirt and pants.

Horatio sensed her hesitation. "If you'll help me up, I'll undress the rest of the way in the bathroom and get a shower."

Calleigh reached for his arm, but Horatio stopped her.

"I'm too heavy for you Sweetheart. I can manage if you'll just keep me from falling sideways." Horatio eased up and Calleigh walked beside him to the door of the bathroom.

"I'm glad you went on and logged the pictures into evidence before we left. I don't think there'll be any questions asked since you were hospitalized right after obtaining them."

Horatio turned towards Calleigh and responded, "I'm glad I did too. Thank you for encouraging me."

She began to gently caress the side of his face, "Want me to help you get cleaned up?" Her face immediately turned a bright shade of crimson when the realization hit her of how her question sounded. Horatio smiled at her reaction.

"I can manage everything, but getting the dressing off and putting another on. But, one day, hopefully soon…I hope you'll offer again."

Horatio leaned in and brushed his lips over hers then quickly captured her lips in a deep, sensual kiss that she returned.

Later as she listened to Horatio's steady breathing as he slipped into much-needed sleep, while her mind wandered back to the scene of Lara with Captain Moorehead. I just couldn't tell Horatio about it right now…he has so much on his mind and he's exhausted trying to recover from his injury while working too. Maybe it was nothing, but unfortunately I just feel that won't be the case.

TBC…