Chapter 11
Misdemeanor or Felony
Jake caught up to Jesse and Calleigh as they approached a meat locker where a body had been found earlier that day, the M.E had already cleared it. Calleigh turned to look at him and her eyes full of rage, he could see he hadn't been forgiven and had angered her more than he ever thought possible.
They entered the meat locker, which was bigger than any of them expected; it was around half the size of a football field with multiple oversized meat packages hanging from the ceiling and smaller packages on the shelves. Calleigh had pulled out her flashlight and made her way along the wall, searching for a bullet hole; Jesse doing the same on the other side. Jake seized this opportunity to make amends.
"Calleigh-," he started to say.
"This about the case?" she asked, colder than the freezer they were in.
"Um, no. But-."
"Then I'm not interested," she interrupted.
He stood silent for a minute as she moved various meat packages to search for the evidence.
"Did you get my gift yesterday?"
"You really think a coffee machine was going to make me forgive you?" she asked, spitefully.
"No, but it's a step."
"Mission failed."
"Could you please hear me out?"
"Um, let me think, no," Calleigh snapped.
"Okay," Jake sighed. "I deserved that."
"Jesse," Calleigh called over to him. "I don't think that the bullet entered the wall."
"What are you thinking?" Jesse wondered, walking over to them.
"Well, the vic was standing in the aisle between the meat. So…"
"The bullet could have entered one of the animals," Jesse nodded, catching on.
"Any idea which one?" Jake asked.
"Any sacks around the pool of blood is our best bet," Calleigh said.
"That's still a lot of meat," Jake sighed.
"There's an extra flashlight in my kit, make yourself useful," Calleigh said, icily.
Jesse raised his eyebrows in surprise; very rarely did Calleigh get this aggressive people, let alone a colleague. As Jake went to Calleigh's kit, Calleigh turned to Jesse and saw his expression.
"Don't ask," Calleigh sighed.
"Funny, your husband always says the same thing when he's around," Jesse chuckled, remembering when he had walked in to see Jake and Eric fighting all those weeks ago.
Calleigh rolled her eyes and smiled.
"Come on, let's find that bullet," Calleigh said as they walked over to the blood pool and began to examine the meat hanging on either side of red puddle.
Jake came over, extra flashlight in hand, and began to help search for the bullet. To Calleigh's dismay, he was looking on the side she was looking.
"Are you and Delko still mad at each other?" Jake asked, keeping his voice low so Jesse wouldn't overhear.
"I don't see how that is any of your business," Calleigh retorted, just as quietly.
"I caused the mess, I have a right to know."
"Is that the famous Berkeley logic that never makes any sense?" Calleigh scoffed.
"It used to make sense to you," Jake pointed out.
"Back in college you think everything makes sense to you."
"It was enough to make you love me."
The heavy truth crushed upon Calleigh, hating to admit that he was right. His mind, his wit and his courage had been enough to tell him those three powerful words. Unfortunately, the characteristics of a great cop can't always compensate for the characteristics of a good partner in life.
"That was over ten years ago, Jake," Calleigh sighed, a bit remorseful.
"Really, two thousand and seven didn't seem that long ago…if I'm not mistaken that's when you said you loved me too."
Calleigh went silent; hating to admit it but that she had told him she loved him, thinking things had changed since college. Calleigh and Jake did change, they grew, but with that change brought new conflicts and new conflicts had disaster in their shadows.
"I thought you were trying to buy back onto my good side," Calleigh sneered.
"Calleigh, listen," Jake tried to get her to understand. "I know I've been…a bastard lately."
"I didn't notice," Calleigh rolled her eyes.
Jake remembered when Calleigh use to use passive-aggressiveness when she was angry, this was a whole new level of anger on Calleigh that he wasn't accustomed to.
"Listen, I'm sorry," he said, honestly. "I should have talked to you instead of going to interrogate Delko."
"No, what you should have done is butted out," Calleigh corrected.
"Or that. But Calleigh you know who I am, you know I'm not happy about you and Delko and you knew that this wasn't going to be easy on any of us," Jake sighed.
"It could have been," Calleigh shrugged.
"Calleigh, I don't think there's a bullet here," Jesse called from his side.
"Neither do I," Calleigh shook her head, switching her mind from her personal life to the case, hating that she had to combine the two. "This doesn't make any sense."
"Maybe the killer shot her outside and threw her in here," Jake suggested as they came out of the rows of meat to around the blood pool.
"No, there would have been a trail of blood," Jesse said, walking over and shining his light to the deep red puddle on the floor.
"Maybe he cleaned up," Jake shrugged.
"I don't think so," Calleigh disagreed, something wasn't sitting right with her. "Why clean a trail and not attempt to clean the blood pool?"
"Check this out," Jesse said, squatting down by the blood, shining the beam of light to a certain section of the blood. The other two knelt down next to it to see what Jesse was referring to. In the blood were multiple red crystal-like structures, they were small but there were many.
"What are those?" Calleigh asked.
"I think its frozen blood," Jesse said.
"That doesn't fit," Calleigh sighed.
"Why not, we're in a freezer?" Jake asked.
"Yeah, but blood freezes at approximately twenty-three to twenty-four point eight degrees Fahrenheit, it's not that cold in here. I'd say probably only forty, maybe thirty," Calleigh explained.
"So the blood is thawing," Jake nodded in understanding.
"Meaning it was placed," Jesse said. "Why?"
Calleigh's cell phone began to ring.
"Delko?" she answered.
Jake's jaw clenched at the use of the surname.
"Calleigh, it's Ryan. You aren't going to believe this," he sighed.
"Try me," Calleigh dared.
"Natalia just ran the blood in the meat locker, DNA isn't a match to our vic," he said. "In fact the chromosomes were XY, it's male."
"What?" Calleigh asked, taken aback.
"That's what I said," Ryan chuckled, though it wasn't out of amusement. "The blood didn't come up in CODIS."
"Well, the blood was placed here frozen, so maybe it came from a hospital warehouse or something," Calleigh suggested.
"Could be, but that's not the best part," Ryan sighed.
"I'm all ears."
"Our vic, Margo Walsh, died last year from Leukemia. Tom ran her name and this is the same girl. Someone dug her up from the cemetery, placed her and the blood in that locker," Ryan said.
"This murder is staged," Calleigh realized before hitting 'end' on her phone.
"The murder is staged?" Jesse asked. "What are you talking about?"
"This blood doesn't belong to our vic, she died and was buried last year," Calleigh explained. "This murder isn't a murder, it's a decoy."
"We've been set up," Jake sighed as the truth became clear.
"By who?" Jesse wondered aloud.
"That's what we need to find out," Calleigh sighed with a one armed shrug.
The sound of a heavy metal door closing became noticed in the room. The three looked over to see a figure move behind the meat hanging from the ceiling. All of them pulled out their guns and raised them, senses on red-alert.
"MDPD!" Jesse cautioned. "Put your hands up and show yourself!"
But the elusive figure didn't follow the orders given by the officer. However the trio did hear a metallic sliding and a soft click, any law enforcement officer would recognize the sound…the sound of a gun slide. Their guns steady, the three took a step forward in an attempt to surround this phantom. But from behind the bags of animal flesh they heard hurried footsteps; the suspect was running, foiling their plans for cornering him.
Jesse and Calleigh exchanged a look, a look Jake clearly understood. Jesse walked horizontally down the row; Calleigh walked in the opposite direction with Jake covering her as they attempted to trap the suspect on either side.
"I'm going to say this one more time!" Jesse warned. "Come-!"
But the sound of gunfire rang out, a bullet hitting Jesse square in the chest, cutting him off as he fell to the ground.
"Jesse!" Calleigh cried as she and Jake whirled around in time to see Jesse fall. She took a step towards his convulsing body, hoping to give him some medical help; he was gagging on his own blood. But before Calleigh could get within a four yards of her colleague, the suspect revealed himself.
The face was that of an angry man, probably not even twenty-five, his face was purple with rage and his lips pressed in a hard line.
Calleigh squeezed her trigger, firing a round at the assailant. She heard a blast of another gunshot from beside her, Jake now shooting.
The man dodged Calleigh's and narrowly missed Jake's, his bullet grazing the shooter's arm. The gunshot wound made the man holler in anger and pain, making him fire off another round in spite just before Calleigh was about to pull the trigger a second time.
This bullet hit Calleigh in her stomach, knocking her to the ground, her gun slipping numbly from her fingers as blood poured out of her abdomen.
Jake fought against every instinct he had and all the training he received by doing what he did next. He fired off one round at the man, not sticking around to see where he had hit him, before dropping to his knees at Calleigh's side while the shooter dropped to the ground. Jake quickly replaced Calleigh's hands for his over the bullet hole, applying pressure to stop the blood.
Calleigh took a gasping breath, her lips beginning to hold an ivory color that turned Jake's stomach, but passed the sound of his heart pounding in his years and the ragged breaths of the woman he was looking upon, he still heard Jesse's jagged breathing. It was slowly lessening in deepness and evenness. Jake looked up to see Jesse's hands twitching, blood flowing out of his chest and from behind his back; the bullet had been a through-and-through. This was the prime example of death as a cop, two of them but only one of him, but Jake knew if his hands left Calleigh's stomach that would be the end of her.
But what about Jesse? his mind argued over the ringing in his ears. You're just going to let him die? Doesn't he deserve to live?
Of course he does! But if I go she dies! he protested.
Just as he thought the words, Calleigh swallowed an uneasy breath of air.
"Calleigh, hold on, babe. Please, hold on," Jake almost begged her, pushing down harder to keep the blood within her.
Babe? the voice screeched. Would you get a grip and have some freakin' dignity! She doesn't love you anymore! This won't change that!
I know that! I don't care!
Don't you?
Wishing the voices would cease, Jake went to pull out his phone, calling this in would be the only move that could very well save both of them.
But before Jake could even get a hold on his phone, he felt a pair of hands grabbing his shirt from behind. He looked up before he was flung to the ground, the suspect was moving to another phase of action.
Jake's head collided with the icy ground before the rest of him, he was almost certain he had cracked his skull and spots began to cloud his vision. He blinked his eyes, repetitively, as he turned around to see the shooter standing over Calleigh, favoring his left leg. Jake connected the dots and realized the bullet he had fired came in contact with his leg.
The shooter had his gun pointed right at Calleigh's heart, Jake saw her fingers of one hand on the ground twitching in the direction of her gun feet away from her. Her eyes held pain, fear and the knowledge of knowing she was about to be massacred. But Jake had other plans, despite the black spots blinking around and blocking his vision.
Jake raised his gun, instinctively, and fired a round that hit the shooter's shoulder blade, though Jake had been trying to aim at the back of his head. The shooter wheeled around, looking at Jake with stunned eyes, Jake instantly squeezing the trigger to shoot the man right in the throat.
He swayed, blood pouring down his shirt and spluttering his cheeks with every breath he took, before at last falling forward…he was dead.
Most of Jake's view was covered by dots of darkness and it now seemed to be surrounding everything. But Jake could see Calleigh clearly; she was still dying. Using the little strength he had left, Jake tried to stand to get over to her. But as he tried to elevate himself, the darkness took him under.
Jake's body him the ground with a dull thump. As he lost consciousness, he heard the hollering of sirens in the distance.
Horatio and Eric drove furiously down the road, almost to the point the Hummer would become airborne as they went down a hill if they drove up it at the right momentum. Horatio made a sharp turn on the road as they rushed to the crime scene.
Horatio had gotten the call from dispatch reporting shots fired at the residence where his CSIs were investigating. Calleigh, Jesse, nor Jake had called to tell him about the shootings, making his mind instantly jump to the worst conclusion. He automatically made his way toward the elevator, feeling the need to rush straight to his team, running into Eric on the way through the lobby.
"H?" Eric had asked, concerned about the disturbed look on Horatio's face.
"Shots were fired at the scene, Eric," Horatio explained, rushing his words slightly as he continued toward the doors. "No one has responded."
Horatio had heard Eric's breath catch in shock, distress and fear filling his eyes.
"Calleigh's at the scene," Eric stated in utter worry, his whole body going numb and his voice wavering. Nevertheless, Eric matched Horatio's pace and they made their way towards the Hummer.
Now they sped, hearts racing and hitting their ribcages so hard it felt like their breastbones were about to shatter. Horatio heard another whaling of sirens, different from the pattern of their law enforcement vehicles. He glanced in his review, seeing a few ambulances behind them; the Caine instinct took over him and he knew that the teams of EMT's on their bumper were rushing to aid ones that were injured at their crime scene. Horatio let them pass, wanting them to get help as soon as possible.
Horatio could see, out of the corner of his eye, Eric's hand on the door handle. There wasn't a single doubt in his mind that the second that they pulled up to the scene would Eric bolt out of the Hummer. Horatio had seen the look of sheer determination on many a person, including himself and the man he sat next to; the sense of urgency and the eyes of fear were just as clear to Horatio as the scene coming into view, making him press on the gas harder.
The ambulance's screeched to a halt in front of the meat locker, Horatio and Eric on their coattails. The CSIs all but jumped out of the car, pulling their guns from their holsters as they approached the locker. The paramedic's were rushing to unload the stretchers from each ambulance, a few which cut Eric off as they bustled, giving Horatio a few feet ahead of Eric as he approached the steel door. Horatio wrenched the door open, quickly scanning the room for any sign of peril with his gun raised.
"Clear!" Horatio clarified, lowering his gun and sprinting over to Calleigh, who was closest to him, hardly noticing the anonymous corpse a few feet from her.
Calleigh's face was turning pale, her emerald eyes glinted with pain, her breathing was ragged and her hands were folded over her stomach, blood seeping through the crevices her fingers.
Horatio shrugged off his jacket and wadded it up; he gently moved her hands and placed it over her bullet wound, applying pressure.
"Calleigh, sweetheart, stay with us," Horatio told her. "Eric!" he called over his shoulder, knowing he was the one who needed to be here, the one she needed here. The situation now seemed to be a reincarnation from years ago; suddenly, Horatio was where Eric had been. A wife, one almost like a sister to him, was shot in the abdomen and the man who loved her soon to be rushing to be by her. In the back of his mind, this wasn't just Eric and Calleigh, but Marisol and himself; Horatio hoped to God that this tale didn't end the same way.
Eric rushed over from outside at the sound of Horatio's voice, seeing Calleigh on the ground.
"Calleigh," Eric gasped in fear, dropping to his knees to be by her side.
"Stay with her, Eric," Horatio said, heading toward one of the other injured officers. Eric tried to stop the blood flow from her stomach, the fabric becoming drenched with her warm blood.
Calleigh was struggling to stay alive, each breath getting harder.
"Eric," she choked out.
"Shh," Eric whispered. "I've got you, just hold tight."
Calleigh struggled on an uneasy breath, her head rolling slightly to the side, almost as though defeat had found her. But Eric reached up with one of his hands to make her look up at him.
"No, no, no," Eric told her, firmly. "Don't quit on me now."
In the distance Eric heard Horatio talking to either Jesse or Jake, he wasn't sure which one, he didn't exactly take the time to look around when he saw Calleigh on the floor.
"Son, stay with me," he said, urgently. But there was an unpleasant sound from the same spot Horatio's voice was resonating; almost though someone were gurgling blood.
"T-that's…J-," Calleigh tried to say, her words incoherent due to her ragged breathing.
"Cal, don't try to talk, just hold on," Eric whispered, comfortingly, but all the while he was thinking, Where the hell are the paramedics?
His question was answered by three different teams, pushing three separate stretchers, rushed inside. One, to Eric's relief, stopped at Calleigh as they lowered the stretcher down to ground level. They instructed Eric to give them space to work over Calleigh, Eric obeyed, but still stayed within her line of sight; never once did his pair of eyes leave hers. He stayed by her head as they lifted her onto the stretcher, Calleigh wincing a bit as they did so, making Eric wanting to shout at them for causing her more pain.
"She's ready for transport," one of the men reported to the rest of the squad after placing an oxygen mask over her nose and mouth. The stretcher was raised to its original height and started to roll out of the door.
Eric gently took Calleigh's hand as they rolled her to the ambulance with haste, her palm cold and her blood transferred onto his hand. But it was the grip of her hand that scared Eric, her fingers holding his hand feebly, indicating just how weak she really was becoming.
The medics loaded Calleigh, making their hands slip away from the others grasp for a moment until Eric was able to climb into the vehicle by her side, taking her hand in his once again.
"We'll be at the hospital soon, Calleigh," he promised her. "Just hold on a little bit longer."
Calleigh could only blink in response, tear ducts watering in pain and her green eyes scorching. Eric gave her hand a tender, reassuring squeeze as the doors to the ambulance closed and it began to travel with remarkable speed. Calleigh tried to keep her eyes on Eric, despite the phenomenal pain in her stomach as the paramedics worked over her in the speeding ambulance. She tried to focus on his warm hand as he held hers, she tried to hold his comforting gaze and focus on the feel of his other hand as he smoothed back the hair atop her head. He was the only thing keeping her alive; the only thing keeping her tied to this world.
Eric wasn't at all surprised when a team of ER nurses had to stop him when Calleigh arrived at the hospital, he would never be able to break the rule of stopping outside the Emergency Room. He felt Calleigh's fingers slip from his grasp and the doors to the ER close, leaving him standing in the hall in their dust; she had vanished.
Now that he couldn't see her, now that he wasn't leaning over her dying body, could he grasp how horrific the situation was. He could feel his hands shaking. He turned his quivering palms over to see the dark skin had been smothered in a scarlet substance, the blood of his wife. Eric sat down on one of the nearby chair, feeling as though his knees were about to fail supporting him. He propped his elbows on his knees, the palms of his hands looking at him, the red gore almost mocking him as if they were saying that she wasn't going to make it. Eric dared his hands to stop shaking, telling himself that if he did then Calleigh would walk out of here; but his hands didn't stop and, for some irrational reason, it angered him. Unthinkingly, he balled his hands into fits, which made the blood that had yet to dry ooze between the fissures of his fingers.
He watched the ER doors in baited breath, anxiety rushing through him to the extent he thought his heart would abruptly stop in mid-beat. God only knew the exact details of what was happening on the other side of the double doors, but Eric was knowledgeable of one thing; the doctors were either saving Calleigh or they were losing her, that was the only certainty Eric found in this.
His mind was slowly being engulfed by the fear of his own mind. How many times must this happen? How many times did they have to fear for the others life until this baleful routine would stop? Even worse, how much longer could one soul fight? When would it be the final curtain call, when would someone's luck finally fail them, when would the snake eyes be rolled?
The sound of aluminum doors being pushed open jerked Eric out of his cynical reverie. He saw a distressed doctor, dressed in pale blue scrubs and his mask pulled so it was worn loosely around his neck, walk away from the ER. Eric stood up, bracing himself for any news the doctor was about to give, and made his way towards the doctor.
"I'm Dr. Reagan, I'm assuming your Mr. Delko?" the doctor asked, doing his identifying protocol.
"Yes, um…" Eric took a deep breath to steady himself. "How's…how's my wife?"
Dr. Reagan rolled his lips before looking Eric dead in the eye.
"She is in a very delicate condition," he sighed. "The bullet wound caused massive damage to her internal organs, especially in the upper abdominal cavity. In addition, she lost a lot of blood, it's a miracle she made it this far."
Eric swallowed the lump in his throat, fear so strong it was physically hurting him; he was almost nauseated.
"Can you do anything?" Eric asked.
"We had to rush her to surgery to repair her organs. Depending on how everything plays out in surgery will determine her recovery," Dr. Reagan explained, his voice sympathetic.
"How long will the surgery last?" Eric questioned.
"Hard to be exact, it depends on the amount of damage we see once we cut her open." Eric winced at these words; the idea of someone running an apical scalpel made him want to hit something…hard. "I think it's safe to say it'll be a good few hours," Dr. Reagan sighed.
Eric looked at the ground and took a cleansing breath as he fought to keep a stable mind.
At least she's got a chance, Delko, he tried to convince himself, his attempts flaccid.
Eric nodded, his way of telling the physician that he understood the venture of Calleigh's condition; Eric was hardly aware of the sound of flat-footed shoes walking away from him as they touched the marble floor.
His hands were clean, he wished he could say the same thing for his mind and heart. They were overtaken by fear, anger, anguish and fear again. The only way any of his fears could be diluted was to see Calleigh's eyes, open with something that wasn't pain, and hearing her heartbeat in a steady rhythm; only then would he exhale.
Sitting gave his mind too much time to roam thoughts he would rather not process, making him restless. He got up and paced, counting the tiles on the ground to preoccupy his mind. One…two…three…four…five, about face. One…two…three…four…five…
The routine would only partially distract him for a few minutes, maybe even less and standing in the same hallway wasn't helping matters. In most cases when Calleigh was in the hospital he had been able to sit by her bedside a mere few moments after talking to a doctor. This time he was left alone in an empty hallway, which had no intent of filling back up again. The only thing this corridor was full of was Eric's torment and woe. The day had began normally, her head resting against his bare chest as she awoke from her slumber, his arm wrapped around her naked waist and their legs and fingers intertwined; he would give anything to get moment back.
Eric jumped when the shrill ring of his cell phone broke the silence in the hall. After taking a deep breath to restart his heart, Eric pulled out his phone, not bothering to look at the ID.
"This is Delko," he addressed himself, Eric's voice was rough.
"Eric, where are you?" Horatio asked, his tone as solemn as Eric felt.
"H, I'm…" Eric cleared his throat. "I'm outside the ER."
"Calleigh?" Horatio questioned, worriedly.
"She's critical," Eric sighed, the words burned as they escaped his lips.
"I'm sorry…um, could you come to the entrance to the hospital, please?" Horatio asked, tone getting heavier and heavier with every syllable.
"Everything okay?"
"No," Horatio breathed; Eric could almost see him shaking his head.
"I'll be right down," Eric promised before ending the call.
It took Eric all of three seconds to put the dots together, even though Horatio didn't specify what was happening that was so serious he couldn't discuss it over the phone. Eric knew that either Jesse or Jake was injured…or worse.
Eric may not have been Jake's biggest fan, especially in the recent weeks, but he would never wish pain or death upon him. As for Jesse, the two had made progress to becoming friends in the recent months and, though they weren't as close as Eric and Speedle had been, he was still a member of CSI and on his way to becoming an asset.
Eric took a left and he was in the lobby at the front of the hospital, the team standing off to the side. Ryan was hanging his head, Natalia's face tear stained, still being diluted by saltwater. Horatio had a look of anger and sadness in one. Eric approached the trio; automatically knowing he had been right to worry about the conversation about to commence.
"Is Calleigh okay?" Natalia cried when he was close enough, her voice almost hysterical and wavering.
"She's in surgery, if she can pull through that she should be fine," Eric attempted to comfort the team, as well as convince himself there was some hope. "Jake and Cardoza?"
Natalia choked on a sob, Ryan placed a comforting hand on her arm, still looking at his shoes.
"Jake regained consciousness a few minutes ago, he has a mild concussion and should be okay," Horatio said.
"Jesse?"
Horatio hung his head, needing no words to translate his face.
"Guys!" a tenor voice called from the doors. They all looked over to see a heavy framed African-American man, taller than anyone in the room. Walter all but jogged over to them, clearly anxious for answers.
"Walter," Horatio nodded to him, the best greeting he could give.
"I just got out of court and I heard that Jess and Calleigh were in a shootout and brought here. Rumors are that they're both dead," Walter rushed to explain. "Please tell me it's not true."
"Calleigh's in surgery, but she's critical," Ryan sighed, probably guessing that Eric didn't want to repeat the statement again. "But…Walter, Jesse lost too much blood at the scene and died en route to the hospital."
Walter looked as though someone had just striked him across the face, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Well, do we know the jackass that did it?" Walter asked.
"We know he's dead," Horatio explained. "But the investigation into why is ongoing."
"Count me in," Walter stated, wanting to know who wounded and murdered his friends.
"Probably for the best Walter," Horatio nodded. "Because I have the feeling one of us is going to want to stay here." Horatio gave Eric a meaningful look, in which Eric nodded in response.
Horatio, Natalia, Ryan and Walter stood outside the hospital doors, the Miami sun looking down upon them.
"Ms. Boa Vista and Mr. Wolfe, if you would process the scene, please. I want to find out what happened," Horatio instructed, his jaw was rigid due to the anger within him.
The two nodded, they too desperate for answers.
"What do you want me to do, H?" Walter asked, determinedly.
"Walter, we," Horatio said, sliding on his sunglasses. "Are getting some answers."
Sorry Cardoza fans for killing him off, I already know some are not too thrilled some are thrilled about Cardoza leaving in the actual series. I'm in the latter category; I didn't like all his qualities but some of them I did admire. He wasn't my favorite character, but I do like him more so than the new ME (I miss Alexx! I loved her and would have liked Tara more if it weren't for that whole drug fiasco).
I'm just pleased Eric's back!
BTW: I'm not going to lie, I was too lazy to edit this so I apologize for lack of detail and typos.
