Thanks for all of the reviews! Here's chapter 25, I'm sorry it took so long!
The next day Calleigh turned up to work early determined to find a way to get someone for the murders. Although they had confessed to what they had done to Eric it still hurt her to know that somewhere there was another family suffering because of what these guys had done, Eric had been hurt but at least he was still alive, he'd move on eventually and their lives would get back to some sort of normality. The other victims families were left with nothing other than the fact that there sons, brothers, husbands, friends were gone forever. Calleigh was determined that someone would be punished for this, justice would be served, someone would pay for the lives they had destroyed.
She had been at work for over an hour when Horatio walked into lab where she had been staring at pictures and reading reports from the crime scenes.
"Calleigh," Horatio said, walking over to the desk, "what are you doing here so early?"
"I thought I'd come in early to see if I could get anything on the case, we must have missed something, I just have to find it."
"Ok," Horatio replied, knowing that there was nothing he could to try to stop her, "do you want some help?"
"That'd be great!"
They spent the majority of the morning sorting through the evidence, taking one piece at a time and reviewing everything they had determined from it, trying to figure out if it could be linked to one of their suspects, or anyone else.
"Want some coffee?" Horatio asked.
"Please," Calleigh replied.
"I'll go get some, I'll see you in the break room in a minute.
"Thanks," Calleigh replied, she was beginning to give up hope, in the past she had always believed that every crime was solvable, that there was always evidence to prove who had done it, that criminals would always be caught, but now she wasn't sure what to do. She placed another piece of evidence back down on the table and looked up as Alexx walked in.
"Hey Alexx."
"Hi Calleigh, how's it going? You found the evidence yet to put them away yet?" Alexx asked.
"Um, no, not yet," Calleigh replied, " I don't know what to do Alexx, I can't find anything and they're going to get away with it."
"I might be able to help you, Paul Rogers, or second victim, I found something."
"I thought you already posted him?" Calleigh said.
"I did," Alexx replied, "but when I saw how much you were struggling, I thought I'd take a second look before I released his body."
"So what did you find?"
"There was an imprint of his cheek, I must have missed it the first time because it happened just before died and hadn't bruised, but when I went back to the body I found it straight away, I have a picture." Alexx handed the photo over to Calleigh.
"It looks like it could be a ring imprint," Calleigh showed Alexx the picture again.
"Yeah, you might be right," Alexx replied, "does your suspect wear a ring?"
"I'm not sure, but there's one way to find out, we removed all of their jewellery and belongings when we put them in lock up, I guess I'll have to go and find them, thanks Alexx!"
"You're welcome honey." Alexx replied, watching Calleigh walk off down the hallway. Alexx wanted this to be over for Calleigh and Eric, they had been through too much for this go on any longer, this was supposed to be one of the best times of their lives.
Calleigh had retrieved the belongings of Tom and Peter and was going through them in the layout room when Horatio walked in.
"I hear there has been a discovery," Horatio said.
"Yes," Calleigh replied, "Alexx found a ring imprint on our victim, I'm just looking to see if one of our suspects has a ring like that." Calleigh continued to search through the belongings one at a time, she pulled open Tom's wallet and emptied out everything that was inside it before turning the wallet upside down and shaking it, she looked down as a ring fell our of the wallet and onto the table. "I got something!"
"What?" Horatio asked, walking over to her side of the table.
"A ring," Calleigh replied, holding up the ring, "if this matches the imprint that Alexx found then we have him."
"Let me know if it matches," Horatio said making his way out of the lab.
Calleigh got to work trying to match the ring to the imprint, this could be the break she was looking for. If this matched, this could be over, Calleigh was trying not to get too excited, she didn't want to be disappointed if it didn't match.
An hour later Horatio walked back towards the lab, Calleigh had paged him and he hoped more than anything that she had something, that she had found a match, this case needed to be over and these guys needed to be punished for what they had done to his team. Although it had been Eric that attacked this had affected Calleigh as well, not to mention the rest of the team, even those that didn't know what was going on knew something was going on and were affected by the fact that the whole team wasn't functioning as well as it usually did. Horatio stepped into the lab and was greeted by a smiling Calleigh.
"I've got it! It's a match!" Calleigh said, so excited that she had finally found the piece of evidence that linked him to the crime, she had got him, it could all be over soon.
"Fantastic," Horatio said, "let's get him."
"Is he still in holding?"
"Yes," Horatio replied, "I'll have him brought up."
"I can't believe it," Calleigh said, "it's going to be over."
"Well done Calleigh, you worked well on this," Horatio said, knowing how hard this had been on her, not only the investigation, but going home everyday to help Eric deal with what had happened, she'd been through hell.
"Let's go and get this bastard," Calleigh said, before making her way out of the lab, Horatio followed.
Calleigh stormed into the interview room, slamming the comparison of the imprint to the ring she had found on the table.
"You did this," she said placing down pictures of the two dead victims.
"No…..no I didn't it was Peter."
"Cut the crap! I know you did it, you were wearing this ring," she placed the photo of the ring on the table, "and you left an imprint on Paul Rogers cheek. You did this, admit it."
"No…I….I…I…"
"Just admit it, I know you did this, make it easier for yourself."
"OK," Tom started, "after the first time, I was on a high, I never knew anything could feel that good…"
Calleigh felt sick to think that this guy was seriously talking about what he had done to Eric as if it had been a good thing.
"I wanted more," Tom continued, "the high disappeared and I wanted it again. I didn't plan any of this, it just happened, those men were there and I just wanted that feeling again, I realised I'd gone too far when he died but it felt so so good and I needed it again."
"Get him out of here," Calleigh said to the patrol standing by the door, "I can't stand the sight of him."
Horatio walked up to Calleigh and placed his hand on Calleigh's shoulder, "well done Cal, I know this wasn't easy, but it's over now."
Calleigh nodded, trying to blink back the tears, she knew it was over now, but it didn't feel like it, it was as if the enormity of the situation was just beginning to dawn on her, she only just let herself stop and think about what had actually happened to the man she loved and their relationship because of what this one man had done.
"I want you to go home Calleigh," Horatio said, "take some time off, plan your wedding. Come back when you are ready, don't worry about this place for a while it's not good for you or the baby. OK?"
"Horatio…" Calleigh tried to argue.
"Don't argue with me Calleigh, this place will be OK without you for a while, just take some time. Besides, you need to go and tell Eric the good news."
Calleigh turned to Horatio, "thanks Horatio, I mean it."
"Go, I'll see you soon."
Calleigh turned and walked out of the lab, excited at the prospect at being able to tell Eric that it was finally over.
TBC…
Thanks for reading! And if you did please review, I would really appreciate it.
There's not much more of this to go now, just a couple more chapters! I'm already working on an idea for my next story, in which I become even more evil!
I'll update as soon as possible!