Chapter Twenty-Five
Pete was over visiting his friend Kyle and his family again. Single this time. He didn't want to be a dad anytime soon but seeing the bond between Kyle and his siblings was a different side of his buddy. The two were hanging out in Kyle's apartment watching a horror movie. Pete's eyes glanced at one of the walls. A section of it had a line of three framed photos, all of Kyle shirtless holding a newborn baby to his chest.
"That's the kiddos," Kyle told him. "It's called skin-to-skin. Helps with bonding. I got to do it with each of them in the delivery room after dad did."
"It looks like you had been crying."
"That's because I was. A big, ugly cry. With Hunter I got to see him take his first breath and cut his cord. One of the coolest moments of my life."
Kyle didn't go out as much as his friends wanted him to. He was far from a hermit. Outside of work and bowling with his uncle and grandfather, he played basketball a few times a week and treated himself to a game of pool once in a while since he could now get into bars. But he did enjoy time with his family.
"Are you looking forward to school? You know you could got in earlier in Jacksonville."
Kyle was looking forward to school and did know he could have gone to Jacksonville. But moving away wasn't something he was ready to do. Jacksonville was too far away to watch his siblings grow up. If Pete wanted a more practical reason, living at home was cheaper since he would have to quit working at the animal shelter to attend classes for four years. He was saving up all he could now to maintain his car and pay for insurance.
"What are you going to do for rent and stuff when you start school?"
"My landlords are being particularly accommodating. All I have to pay for is my car and insurance."
"So that's why you're being so cheap the last few months."
Horatio was officially off this case.
Conflict of interest.
The urologist who had botched his vasectomy had been found dead. His genitals chopped clean off,,,and missing. He had bleed to death. Horatio was cleared as a suspect because he was in court all day on the day the doctor was killed. Horatio did offer that the doctor was being sued and why.
"I declined to be a part of it. You can check," he gave Frank the name of the law firm that contacted him days before. Besides being in court all day on the day of the murder, Alexx said the doctor's genitals had been removed "with surgical precision," further ruling Horatio out.
The case solved by the end of the day. The doctor's girlfriend, a surgical nurse, had found she wasn't the only girlfriend—it was all around the hospital, had stolen a scalpel and attacked her cheating boyfriend. The missing appendage was found in her freezer. Because she had drugged and left the man to die, along with stealing the murder weapon, proof she planned the whole thing the charge was first degree murder. The team found the scalpel with the victim's blood still on it in a garbage can across the street.
With Valentine's Day approaching Horatio stopped by the pharmacy thinking condoms just might be a good idea so he and Aimee wouldn't get a Valentine's souvenir.