Chapter 11

Striking the Match

There weren't many qualities about her friends that Calleigh didn't like, through the years they had all formed a virtually unbreakable bond that made them all feel like they were part of one big family. Unfortunately for Calleigh, with care for another came concern, and concern brought questions. She was certain as she approached the crime scene outside a local high school, which consisted of a young girl found stabbed in her car, that her appearance after she missed yesterday was going to have a few questions be raised.

"A student was able to ID our victim as Kendra Carter, she's seventeen-years-old," Frank reported, sadly.

"Tom have any thoughts before he took her to the morgue?" Calleigh asked, opening her kit.

"Stabbing, wounds appear to be from a kitchen knife, maybe a pocket knife," Natalia explained, adjusting the camera strap around her neck. "We haven't found the murder weapon yet."

Calleigh nodded and pulled on a pair of gloves before opening the driver's side door. Right by the brake pedal was a blooded pocketknife; the blood couldn't have been more than few hours old.

"We do now," Calleigh said to Natalia. "There's a pocketknife, we maybe able to get some DNA or prints from our killer."

Horatio approached the vehicle, seeing Natalia, Eric and Calleigh processing the crime scene. Horatio had had a very uneasy feeling about Calleigh's absence the day before, Eric had said she wasn't feeling well and Horatio didn't believe it for a second. Calleigh never missed work and it had become a recurring pattern as of late. The unusual behavior caused Horatio worry, very rarely were the Delkos this secretive.

"Feeling better?" Horatio asked Calleigh as she took a snapshot of the pocketknife.

"Yeah, much," Calleigh smiled up at him, though the smile didn't meet her eyes. Horatio nodded, not sure if he completely believed her and that fact that he didn't trust her almost hurt.

"I've got a wallet," Natalia said, pulling it out of the console and searching through the wallet's contents; Natalia's eyebrows furrowed. "That's weird. ".

"What?" Eric asked as he pulled out a schoolbag from the back seat.

"The drivers license in here isn't Kendra's," Natalia shook her head. "It belongs to a Michelle Dawn."

"We'll have to bring her in, she could be our best witness," Calleigh said as she put the knife in an envelope. "Or our best suspect."

"Hey!"

The group of CSIs turned toward the sound of the voice, a voice that could have belonged to any of the male faces in the crowd and they couldn't identify where the cry had resonated.

"Hey!" The voice shouted again and a teenage boy ran under the crime scene tape and towards the car, patrolmen holding him back. His eyes were worried and hit voice panicked. "Let me go!" he screamed at one of the patrolmen.

"Gentlemen," Horatio said, taking off his sunglasses and stepping towards the boy as the patrolmen took their hands off of him. "What's your name, son?"

"Liam. Liam Carter," the teenage boy said.

"Carter? Do you know a Kendra Carter?" he asked.

"Yeah, she's my baby sister," Liam nodded. "Are the rumors true? Is she the one who's…?"

Horatio nodded, sadly.

"I'm afraid so," he sighed.

Tears filled his eyes and he shook his head, as though he was trying to clear it.

"Liam, did your sister have any enemies?" Horatio asked, softly.

"No…I mean, I don't think so…I mean-," Liam stuttered, frame shaking; it was apparent that he wasn't in the frame of mind to discuss anything.

"You know what," Horatio cut across him, voice gentle. "Why don't you go with this officer and I'll talk to you later. Okay?"

Liam nodded as one of the officers came by, gently placing a hand on Liam's shoulder and escorting him to the car.


"Why was your wallet found inside Kendra Carter's car Michelle?" Natalia questioned the young woman across from her and Eric. Michelle appeared extremely nervous, constantly fiddling with the sleeve of her sweater.

"I don't know," she shook her head. "It went missing from my gym locker yesterday. Maybe she took it."

"Why would she do that?"

Michelle shrugged, looking between the two officers.

"Did you know Kendra well?" Eric asked.

"No, I only knew her through Liam."

"Liam Carter?" Natalia clarified. "What is your relationship with him?"

"We've been seeing each other for over a year. Kendra and I hardly spoke, she wasn't one to get involved in her brother's love life, I guess," Michelle laughed, nervously.

"When did you two last speak?"

She hesitated at the question and looked down at the table, biting her lip.

"Michelle?" Eric coaxed.

"Last night," she sighed, reluctantly. "We got into an argument over the phone."

"Can you prove that?" Natalia asked.

Michelle nodded and pulled out her iPhone, bringing up her recent calls and slid it over towards the CSIs. Natalia picked up the phone, raising her eyebrows at the call time before handing it to Eric.

"What were you arguing about?" Eric demanded.

"Nothing."

"You argued over nothing for two hours and forty-two minutes?" Natalia asked, incredulously.

Michelle pulled on the cuff of her sweater again, making a mental note not to say another word to the CSIs.


"She's back," Valera smiled in a singsong voice as Calleigh entered DNA. The pocketknife had nothing but smudges, the lack of ridge detail making it impossible to run, their next best shot was DNA from epithelials and blood. "How are you doing?"

"Better, it was just a twenty-four hour thing," Calleigh lied with a shrug.

"When Eric told us you weren't coming in yesterday, I was certain the Bubonic Plague had returned," Valera joked, placing a few samples into the centrifuge.

"Is that the DNA from my pocketknife?" Calleigh asked, changing the subject to something unrelated to her absence.

"No, I already got your results. I ran the epithelials concealed in the knife through CODIS and got nothing. So I compared them to the elimination samples from the case, the victim's and Liam Carter's. Liam was a perfect match," Valera explained, handing the printed out results to her.

"Well, that doesn't prove too much. Liam was her brother, it could have been his knife," Calleigh sighed. "The question is if he was the one who put in the car."

"That's what I was thinking, so I ran the blood on the blade and in the hilt. There was blood that wasn't Kendra's," Valera said, handing Calleigh another printout. "There wasn't a match in any database, but the chromosomes were XX."

Calleigh nodded as she looked at the results, they were looking for a female stabber.

"Thanks, Maxine," Calleigh smiled as she exited DNA in time to Eric and Natalia unloading from the elevator. "How did it go downstairs?"

"That girl is defiantly hinky," Natalia sighed. "We are getting her prints and DNA now."

"Good, we may get lucky. Valera found a foreign female blood sample from the pocketknife, could be Michelle's. Did she appear to have any motive to kill Kendra though?" Calleigh asked.

"Well, they got into a fight over the phone for almost three hours," Eric shrugged as they headed towards the Layout Room.

"About what?"

"She wouldn't say," Eric sighed as he pulled open the door for the two women to walk into before him. "But if we find out we can pinpoint her motive."

"You guys want motive?" Ryan asked, looking through the crime scene photo's and evidence as the others pulled on their lab coats. "I may have found it."

"What've you got?"

"A business card I found inside Michelle's wallet," Ryan said, holding it up. "It's the number for an abortion clinic, with today's date written on the back."

Eric's ears perked up at the words and his eyes automatically flew to Calleigh, who didn't appear to taken aback by the newfound evidence, though Eric was certain she had pressed her lips into a harder line. Figures when she came back that the case would involve something related to the only thing she wanted to escape.

"Abortion clinic?" Natalia asked. "Well, a teenager only has one of two reasons: either she wants an abortion or she's friend's with someone who wants an abortion."

"If it was Michelle wanting it and Kendra found out, that could show Michelle motive to kill her," Eric pointed out, still glancing at Calleigh occasionally.

"If Kendra was going to stop her, that could explain the argument last night," Ryan nodded. "You okay, Calleigh?"

Calleigh looked up from the ground, not realizing she had zoned out, but her mind had traveled to the same dark cavern she had been she had been trapped in all of the previous day. Now she looked at the faces looking at her, Eric was the only one that seemed to understand while the others looked at her concerned and confused.

"Yeah," Calleigh reassured them. "I was just thinking maybe one of us should head over to the clinic to see if it was Michelle scheduled an appointment today or if it was someone she knew."

"We'll probably need a warrant," Natalia sighed.

"I'll find Frank," Calleigh grinned, removing her lab coat before heading out of the lab. Eric's eyes followed Calleigh out the door and towards the elevator, where she ran a pair of frustrated hands through her hair as she waited for the elevator to arrive.


Eric saw Calleigh sitting alone in the silent break room, pushing the fork in her hand into the lettuce and tomato of the salad she had brought to eat for her lunch. Just observing her through the glass sent a wave of concern through him, as well as a certain sadness. It didn't feel so long ago when he would see her at work and a warm feeling would spread through his veins, a sensation he felt just by remembering he was in love with one of the strongest, intelligent and most amazing women he had ever been privileged to meet. He looked at her now, the same love still existed and she still had the same qualities he had fallen in love with, only now she was hurting behind the pillars of strength.

Eric knew that the diagnosis was going to hurt her on a level he, being a male, could never fully comprehend. He knew it was going to take time for her to heal, but was certain things would get easier as time progressed. But here they were almost a month after the fact and things hadn't improved, almost as though the dark cloud that had been growing in Calleigh even before the endometriosis diagnosis had intensified as well as darkened. The same mass wasn't allowing any of the cheer Calleigh used to have to escape; Eric realized that he couldn't remember the last time he saw a full, genuine, smile on Calleigh's lips.

He continued to watch her eat, lowering her fork to spear some vegetables before bringing them back to her mouth. Every move was robotic, the movement of her arm followed the exact pattern each time and her chewing was mechanical. The same fear struck Eric as he watched, it was the same and worst fear he had had since he realized that he loved her; the fear he was losing her. He prayed these thoughts were just his over protective instincts taking effect and that he wasn't losing Calleigh to a force outside his power, losing her was something he wouldn't get through. The news of the infertility had been hard on him, but he still had Calleigh and that was enough to make him survive that pain; he just hoped Calleigh felt the same way as he pushed the door open.

She looked up when she heard Eric enter the room, a warm grin gently touching his face when he saw her. Calleigh tried to return with a smile, but it felt wrong on her face so she let it fall as Eric came over to her.

"H and Frank just got back from the clinic."

"What did they find?" Calleigh asked as she took a sip of her Pepsi.

"Michelle had an abortion just moments after Kendra's body was found," Eric explained.

"That can't be a coincidence," Calleigh sighed, taking the last bite of her salad. "All the evidence is pointing to her."

"All we need is Valera to confirm if the foreign blood on the knife is hers," he nodded as Calleigh's cell phone began to ring, she picked it up from the table and looked at the caller ID.

"Speak of the devil," Calleigh sighed, pressing the button to accept her call. "You get something?"

"I did," Valera reassured her. "I ran the DNA from Michelle Dawn against the blood on the knife. Not only is the blood a perfect match, but the blood contained HCG."

"The hormone found during pregnancy," Calleigh nodded. "This defiantly puts Michelle down as the killer. Thanks," she added before ending the call and turning to Eric. "We've got our girl."


"Kendra was going to tell Liam you were pregnant, wasn't she?" Eric asked Michelle in Interrogation.

Michelle looked at the table, eyes filling with tears.

"I'm not pregnant," she whispered.

"No, not anymore," Calleigh amended, sliding across a picture of her name on the clinic sheet. "You had an abortion, an half hour after Kendra was murdered, that's why you weren't at the scene when the cops arrived."

Michelle took a shuddering breath. "In Gym, I was in the locker room and I dropped my wallet. She saw the card and…we went to class and the next time I went to my gym bag it was gone…I called her last night to…to ask her not to tell Liam," Michelle sighed.

"Because you knew that he wouldn't agree?" Eric assumed.

Michelle nodded. "I'm not ready to be a mom and the kids at school wouldn't…wouldn't understand if I carried until it was born and put it up for adoption."

Calleigh gritted her teeth at the term "it."

"So you found out abortion was legal in Florida?" Calleigh asked.

Michelle nodded, again.

"Well, also in Florida, we call all this motive," Calleigh said.

"We found your blood on Liam's knife, the one you took from him and used to kill his sister," Eric explained, sliding the picture of the bloody knife over. "People who commit murder by stabbing usually cut themselves in the process."

"Roll up your sleeves, Michelle," Calleigh ordered.

Michelle glared at them before reluctantly rolling up her sleeve to reveal a cut on her wrist.

"You wore gloves while you stabbed her so your prints weren't on the knife, but you didn't count on cutting yourself, did you?" Calleigh raised her eyebrows.

Michelle bit her lip and pulled her cuff back over. "I knew the second she told Liam he would give me the same lecture as she did. All she would talk about on the phone was how every life is sacred and how tons of women would love to be me so they could have a baby," Michelle began to vent. Eric glanced over at Calleigh, knowing they were approaching dangerous territory. Her face seemed well orchestrated, but her hand was balling up into a fist under the table. "But I didn't want to hear it…maybe if I were one of those women who couldn't have a child, none of this would never have happened."

"Guess we'll never know," Calleigh shook her head, gathering the pictures on the table before looking up at Michelle. "And you may not realize it now, but you are lucky to be one of those women who can have children."

Michelle gave her a confused look at her statement.

"Get her out of here," Calleigh said to the officer, though she never looked away from Michelle. The officer escorted Michelle out of the room, Calleigh's eyes following her until she was out of sight; Eric's eyes, however, stayed on Calleigh. He was certain that was Michelle's last statement that really did it in for Calleigh and the rebuttal Calleigh offered had been the first time Calleigh had said anything about her sterility in weeks, even if it wasn't a direct statement.

"Are you okay?" Eric asked as Calleigh put the pictures in the manila folder.

"Mm-hmm," she mumbled, nodding her head but not making eye contact.

"That wasn't right of her to say," Eric sighed. "She doesn't know what she's talking about."

"I know, she's a kid who hasn't been alive long enough to understand how lucky she is," Calleigh said, a bit heatedly, as she rose from her chair and left the interrogation room, her hand once again clenching into a fist.

Eric got to his feet to catch up with Calleigh as she headed down the hall.

"You shouldn't have continued this case," Eric whispered.

"I was and still am fine," Calleigh shrugged.

"You know you can't fool me, Calleigh," Eric said, gently pulling her to the side of the hall, hoping they wouldn't attract attention. "I saw the way you were looking at her."

"We all give suspects and criminals looks like that every now and then," Calleigh pointed out.

"That was the most lethal one from you I've seen in awhile."

"Yeah, because you've never wanted to lunge at a suspect," Calleigh scoffed, sarcastically.

"And who tells me to back off when I do?"

"One lethal look doesn't mean I can't handle my job," Calleigh reminded him, putting her hands on her hips.

"Just this case."

"It was either stick through this case or go and explain to Horatio why I couldn't work through it. I didn't have a whole lot of options," Calleigh snapped, she wasn't about to explain to her boss slash close friend that she had to stop working on a case because of her emotions and the cause of them. Horatio was already suspecting something and she really didn't want to put a neon light that could have alerted any problems he thought they were having.

"Calleigh, this isn't like you-."

"I'm going to get Valera's report for the DNA, I'll see you later," Calleigh cut him off before turning on her heel and walking away from him, leaving a frustrated Eric behind her.

The two didn't know Horatio was across the hall seeing the two exchanging words that didn't seem very much in character for either of them. He wasn't close enough to read their lips, but close enough to know that they were talking about something personal before Calleigh had walked away, Eric walking in the opposite direction moments later.

Horatio looked at the now vacant spaces in the hall. He hung his head and put his hands on his hips, deep in thought. Something wasn't right, that famous Caine instinct got a hold of him and was going to constantly remind him of that until it was resolved.


Eric made his way towards DNA the following day, though the newest piece of evidence wasn't what he wanted to dedicate his mind to. He had been on edge for a good hour or so and he couldn't put his finger on why until he passed Firearms. Just looking at the door that led into the lab where his wife spent a good portion of her day reminded him that he hadn't seen Calleigh since she got the call-out to the scene in the Gables. He looked in Firearms, QD, Toxicology and any other place else Eric thought she could be. Eric had thought about calling her, but if she answered while busy in the lab and he didn't have any newfound evidence to report that she would take it as him "checking up on her" and he would be on very thin ice. Thus, he was left worrying about her for no logical reason other than he didn't know where she was.

"Hey, Eric," Valera smiled up at him as he entered her lab. "CODIS is still processing that blood you collected, shouldn't take much longer."

"Okay," Eric nodded. "Valera, have you seen Calleigh anywhere?"

"No," Valera shook her head. "I haven't seen her all day. What about you, Natalia?" she asked Natalia as she came into DNA, pulling on her lab coat.

"What about me?" she questioned, adjusting the coat on her shoulders.

"Have you seen Calleigh since the crime scene?" Eric asked.

"Yeah, didn't she tell you. She went home. I think she said that she wasn't feeling so good," Natalia recollected.

"Well, knowing Calleigh she must be feeling pretty bad to go to the extend of going home early. I bet she's getting that nasty flu that's been going around. Poor thing," Valera sighed before turning to Eric. "Has she been okay lately?"

Eric seemed to have gone deep into thought.

"Depends on your definition of okay," Eric sighed, mostly talking to himself, before turning around and heading out of the lab.

"Eric, don't you want your-." But Eric was already out of hearing range. "DNA," Valera sighed, lowering her voice. "Am I missing something here?"

"I don't know. They've just been acting very odd lately," Natalia shook her head.

"Odd how?" Valera asked.

"Well, I went to Firearms a few weeks ago…there were bullets in the target," Natalia sighed.

"Natalia, it is Firearms," Valera pointed out.

"I know, so I ran them. Maxine, they were a match to Calleigh's gun," Natalia explained, frowning. "She and Eric weren't at work that day."

"That's weird," she nodded in agreement. "But what does that have to do with anything? Is Calleigh a suspect in a murder?" Her eyes went wide at this statement as she jumped to the first logical conclusion she could think of.

"No, that's the thing, she was there for a few moments, but Horatio said that Eric had called and said there was a family emergency-."

"Well, that seems reasonable. If that's the case, Calleigh may have been here to take out aggression," Valera shrugged.

"I don't know," Natalia shook her head, doubtfully. "Something is just not right."


The next few chapters are when we get to the really angsty parts of the story, you have been warned :). Before I go, I just wanted to say something about Calleigh's age in this fic. When I first started typing this, a website said that Calleigh would be 38 in 2010, making the age of 43 appropriate for 5 years later. That website has recently been updated and her birth date changed leaving me with an incorrect age that I'm too lazy to go back and change.

BTW: Happy 2011! (Hopefully I'll actually keep my resolution this year. lol)