Title: Ripped 4/?
Disclaimer: (To the tune of "You Don't Own Me," by Leslie Gore) I don't own it, I'm not trying to claim it in any way. I don't own it, don't hunt me down cause I'll never pay!
Rating: R (Just icky stuff in this part, no fun stuff. Bummer.)
Pairings: Eric/Maria (OC), Tim/Calleigh
Feedback: Your feedback = my inspiration = more frequent updates.
Dedication: To Yana, thanks for persuading me to post this despite being unsure about it. Now, could ya try to persuade a few other folks to write a review? ;-)
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"What in the hell is the point of having a cell phone if you never answer it?" Calleigh asked Maria.
"I didn't have it with me." Maria answered calmly.
"I know that, I found it in the breakroom." Calleigh said. "What about your pager? I suppose you turned that off."
"Eric and I were busy." Maria tried to keep her cool, praying silently that she wasn't blushing. "We were..."
"Maria, don't bother. You know you don't need to make excuses with me." Calleigh reminded her. Only Calleigh and Tim knew about Eric and Maria's occasional trysts at the lab, and they were willing to cover for their friends, within reason. "However, I would like to know what the hell you two were doing in the gun vault last week."
Maria turned bright red. "Tim is so friggin' dead." She hissed. When Tim had caught her and Eric sneaking out of the vault, they had sworn him to secrecy. She'd had a feeling that Calleigh wouldn't be too amused, and it seemed she'd been right. "Let's change the subject, okay? Alexx done with the post yet?"
"No, probably not for a while." Calleigh said. "There's a whole lot of different pieces for her to go over."
"Then why'd you page me?" Maria asked.
"Come on." Calleigh pulled her friend toward the breakroom.
Maria gasped when Calleigh opened the door. There, sitting on the couch, drinking coffee, and talking to Eric and Tim, were Anton and Estefan. "Oh my God." She groaned. "Guys, I don't know what they've been telling you, but I swear, I don't know them, I've never seen them before in my life, and they are definitely not my brothers."
"Aw, come on, Amtrak." Anton chuckled, getting up from the couch and enveloping his sister in a hug. "We're not that embarrassing, are we?"
"No, not at all." Maria said, rolling her eyes. "You just show up where I work, bother my coworkers, and call me obnoxious nicknames in front of them. Why would that embarrass me? What are you guys doing here?"
"We need to talk to you." Anton explained. "Well, I do. Estefan's just been following me around all day."
"Can it wait?" Maria asked.
"It really can't." Anton said.
"I'm afraid it's going to have to." Hagen cut in, entering the room. "Maria, I'm sorry to interrupt, but we've got another one."
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"Hey, Salas." Maria greeted the other Hispanic woman. "Jesus Christ, they've sucked you in, too?"
"Not just me. Sevilla and Bernstein are working on the first scene with the crime lab graveyard shift, and vice is getting in on it, too. If your 'Jack the Rip-off' theory pans out, don't be surprised if the entire police department is working on this case by tomorrow." Yelina replied. "Can you imagine the media frenzy?"
"'Jack the Rip-off,' that's catchy. Let's hope the press doesn't catch it." Maria laughed wryly. "So, do we have an I.D?"
"She's another prostitute, one of the other girls just confirmed that her name is Melissa Black." Yelina explained, gesturing off to one side, where a dark haired young woman was sobbing hysterically as two officers tried to get her under control. "Melissa was thirty-two, she was last seen alive at around eleven last night."
"So that could put her time of death around the same as the first victim." Maria observed. "We're only about a mile from the marina."
"Oh, shit." Yelina sighed, looking at the street outside the alleyway, where a news van had just pulled up. "We've got company."
Maria rolled her eyes. "I'm surprised it took them so long. Can you handle them?" Yelina nodded. "Okay, good. Calleigh and Tim are covering the scene, John's taking a statement from her friend, so I guess that leaves-"
"Us on the body." Eric finished for her.
She turned to him and smiled weakly. "Lucky us." As they approached the back of the alley, she continued. "Brace yourself, if she's anything like the first one..." She trailed off when she saw the body. "Oh God. Much, much worse."
Eric stumbled back. "Look, are we absolutely sure this wasn't some kind of animal?
"You know of any animal that could have wrapped the intestines around the torso like that?" Maria asked. "Jesus, this is exactly the same as one of the Ripper's victims."
"You weren't kidding when you said you'd studied the case obsessively." Eric observed.
"Long story." Maria replied. "Okay, guys, listen up, I need a fifty foot perimeter around the body, no one without a badge gets through, and no one talks to the press, that clear?" She looked back at the body and shuddered. "This is going to be a very, very long day."
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"Hey, Eric, wait up." Anton said, just seconds after Eric walked into the lab.
"Anton, what's up?" Eric asked, trying to appear casual. Truth was, Maria's brothers made him more than a little nervous, despite the fact that he had introduced himself as a friend of their sister, and neither one of them had challenged that.
"Is Maria back yet?"
"Yeah, she's back, but I don't think she's going to be able to talk to you for a little while."
"Yeah, I saw that on the news." Anton said. "Pretty messed up."
"You have no idea." Eric told him.
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"Yo, Amtrak."
Maria rolled her eyes as she turned around. "Estefan, call me that once more, and I'm going to have to start calling you Tiny. In front of girls."
Estefan gulped. "Noted."
"Atta boy." Maria smirked. Her brothers were huge, tough, annoyingly macho men. But they still cringed when their mother or one of their sisters gave them that look.
"Uh, so, pretty sick case you guys have got." Estefan said.
"I can't talk about it, you know." Maria told him.
"Yeah, I figured as much." Estefan nodded. "I was just thinking, it's kinda ironic, you know? You working on a case like that. I mean, it is a Jack the Ripper copycat, right?"
"We're not going to confirm or deny anything at this point." Maria replied curtly. "Listen, do you have any idea what Anton wants to talk to me about?"
"I know exactly what it is." Estefan replied. "But, uh, it's something you should really hear from him."
Maria felt a pang of fear seize her heart. "Estefan, what is it?"
"Look, talk to him, okay?" Estefan said. "I gotta go. You gonna be at Mom and Dad's place for dinner tomorrow night?"
"We'll see, this case could get a lot worse before it gets better." Maria sighed. She hugged him. "See ya, baby brother."
"Watch it." Estefan cautioned her, ruffling her hair affectionately.
Maria just smiled as he walked away. Estefan was a full foot taller than her, and probably outweighed her by a hundred pounds of solid muscle, but he was five years younger than she was, and besides, the irony of calling him her 'baby' brother was too good to pass up.
"By the way." Estefan said casually, turning back. "Your shirt is inside out."
"Fuck!"
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"Got another one for you, Alexx." Calleigh sighed. "Worse than the last one, I'm afraid."
"Oh, my...you're right about that." Even the normally unflappable M.E looked shaken by the condition the second victim was in. "Well, darlin', I hope you didn't feel too much of this."
"How did you do with the first one?" Calleigh asked.
"Cause of death was the cut to her throat." Alexx replied. "All of the other mutilation was post-mortem. No signs of sexual assault, minimal defensive wounds. She never had a chance to fight back."
Calleigh shuddered. "Have you ever seen anything like this?"
"Nothing this extreme, thankfully." Alexx said. "Listen, how's Maria handling this? She spent a lot of time undercover when she was in vice, didn't she?"
"Yeah, I was worried about that, too." Calleigh replied. "But she's fine. At least about the case."
"And how about you?" Alexx asked.
"Well, aside from feeling like I'll never be able to close my eyes for even a second without seeing these girls, I'm all right." Calleigh said with a disgusted air to her voice. "I hate it, you know? I just hate that there are people capable of this kind of thing in the world."
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"Maria, wait up." Tim called.
"Hey Speed." Maria said. "What have you got for me?"
"Broken glass with a very strong smelling green liquor on it." Tim replied, handing her an evidence container. "I'm thinking absinthe. That's one thing the Ripper used to lure his victims and dull their senses, right?"
"Tim, I'm impressed." Maria told him. "You know your stuff...you saw that movie, didn't you?"
"I happened to have kind of a thing for Heather Graham at the time." Tim replied.
"Yeah, speaking of 'things,'" Maria leaned closer. "What's the deal with you and a certain roommate of mine? Are guys, like, a couple now or what?"
"Why don't I get this down to the lab and get back to you as soon as I've got the results, okay?" Tim asked, ignoring her question.
Maria pouted playfully. "Fine."
"Hey, as long as we're prying into each other's personal lives." Tim said. "The Ripper case. You said you studied it for years. I mean, I know there are people who devote their lives to trying to solve it, but you don't seem like the obsessive type. What was it about the case that you were so into?"
"It's a long story." Maria said. "And we don't have time for those right now. All signs point to this freak copying Jack the Ripper's M.O, which means he's planning to kill again. I refuse to let that happen."
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"All right, so picture it, Francesca is completely hammered, she fucking steals a Humvee, starts doin' donuts in front of the officer's club, right?" Anton was saying. "So a whole bunch of brass come pouring out of there to see what the hell the noise is. And she speeds off, giving them a 'New York salute,' crashes into the mess hall, steps out of it without a scratch, and passes out. I'm telling you, when Dad heard about that one, he damn near went Hulk on us."
Eric laughed. He felt a little less uncomfortable around Anton, but he was still unsure of how to act around the brother of the woman he'd had sex with twice that morning. "Shit, you gotta be kidding me. And she didn't get discharged and locked up for that?"
"Well, Yolanda was already in the Senate at the time, so she helped her out. I mean, usually she wouldn't pull strings for us like that, but Cesca'd never done any shit like that before, so she stepped in." Anton explained.
"Senate?" Eric repeated, disbelieving. "As in, the United States Senate?"
"That's the one." Anton said. "Yeah, Maria didn't tell you our stepmom is Senator Yolanda Santiago?"
"Well, she mentioned her name." Eric said. "But, it's not like that's an uncommon name in this city, you know? I just never put two and two together."
"Yeah, well, she doesn't really like to tell a lot of people about it. She doesn't want to be treated any differently because of what her name is." Anton explained. "So, how long have you been sleeping with her?"
Eric choked. "Uh...what?"
"You heard me, how long have you been sleeping with my sister?" Anton asked.
"Uh...what?" Eric stammered again.
"Good cover." Anton joked. "Chill, man, I'm not going to get all overprotective or anything. I figured out a long time ago that Maria's going to do whatever, and whoever she wants to, and I'm better off if I just keep my mouth shut."
"We've been seeing each other for two months." Eric said, relieved that Anton wasn't going to kill him, at least not just yet.
"Well, at least you're not another one of her losers of the week." Anton observed. "You know, she mentioned you once, right after she started working here. She said there was a guy here who had the same background as us, Russian and Cuban. She seemed so happy about that."
"Yeah, she's said that you guys had a hard time when you were growing up, not looking like the rest of your family." Like Maria, Anton had fair skin with a slight suntan. His hair, what little hadn't been shaved off, was a shade or two darker than his sister's, but he had the same green eyes.
"It was tough." Anton confirmed. "I think it may have been harder on her than it was on me, but we stuck together. I'm glad she met you, though. Just keep in mind, in SEAL training, I learned about fifty ways to kill a guy and make it look like an accident."
Eric chuckled "Don't worry, man, I get it. I've got three older sisters." Even though he was the baby in his family, he had been protective of his sisters as a teenager. All three of them were pretty and flirtatious, and even though they were all adults now, he still sometimes worried that one of them would get hurt in some way.
"Three? You poor bastard. Does Maria get along with them?" Anton asked.
"She's never met them, actually." Eric replied.
Anton raised an eyebrow. "You've been with her for two months, you had no idea her stepmom's a Senator, and she hasn't met your family? Ah, I get it. You guys have a sort of 'casual' relationship."
That was it, Eric was sure. He was a dead man.
"Jesus, relax, man!" Anton laughed out loud. "As long as you're both cool with that arrangement, I could give a shit. It's Maria's life, like I said, I try to stay out of it. Just be careful, you know? That's an easy way for someone to get hurt."
"I care about her." Eric assured him. "I would never hurt her in any way."
"That's good to know, but I wasn't just talking about Maria." Anton said. "I probably shouldn't even talk about this, but you seem like a decent guy, so you deserve to know what you're getting into. And Lord knows, Maria's never going to tell you."
"Tell me what?" Eric asked.
"Look, Maria's my baby sister, and I love her to death." Anton stated. "But she's a hard girl to get to know. She's been through some shit, and she's built up a lot of walls. There's a lot she probably hasn't told you, to be honest. You might want to think about that before you do something crazy like falling in love with her." He paused and glanced at Eric. "Then again, I get the feeling it might be a little late for that."
Eric scoffed. "No way, man, I care about Maria, sure. But there's no way I'm..." A sudden realization hit him. "Ah, shit."
"Yeah, you're a goner." Anton told him.
"Hey!" Maria burst into the breakroom at that moment, followed by Tim. "Anton, you behaving yourself?"
"Who, me?" Anton gave her a smirk, which she returned. "Of course I'm being good, just telling Eric here about the time Francesca snapped. And what a fat ass you were as a kid.
"Lies! Blasphemy!" Maria laughed, playfully swatting her brother across the chest. "Eric, trust me, that's bullshit." She turned back to Anton. "Okay, whatever it is you need to talk to me about, let's talk. You gotta get the hell out of here and let me work."
"All right, is there somewhere a little less public we can go?" Anton asked.
"Try downstairs, storage room C." Tim spoke up. Eric and Maria gave him the same look, and he shrugged. "What?"
"Come on, bro, we can talk outside." Maria said, pushing Anton out the door. As she followed him, she turned around. "You suck." She whispered to Tim.
"From what I've heard, not nearly as much as you do." Tim responded with a wink. Maria gasped indignantly and slammed the door behind herself. "She's gonna kill you for telling me about that, isn't she?"
"Maybe." Eric shrugged. "Hey, did you know that Maria's stepmother is a Senator?"
"Yeah, Yolanda Santiago." Tim said. "What, don't tell me you've been screwing Maria for two months and you didn't know that? Man, do you two ever talk or do you just, you know, grunt?"
"Fuck you." Eric muttered.
"Isn't that what you have Maria for?"
Eric rolled his eyes. "What's with you today? How can you be in such a good mood when we've got a case like this? Did you get laid or something?
"Not quite." Tim admitted. "I did kiss Calleigh."
"And?" Eric said, looking at him blankly.
"And that doesn't surprise you?" Tim asked.
"It surprises me that it took you so fucking long, yeah." Eric chuckled. "Come on, you two have been making eyes at each other for months. God, you're slow. And I thought it was bad that it took me two months to figure out that I'm in love with Maria."
"Please, everyone already knows that." Tim informed him. "Except for Maria, and if I were you, I wouldn't tell her."
"Why not?" Eric asked.
"Because her idea of a 'deeper commitment' is waiting an more hour after you've fucked her before she leaves your apartment." Tim reminded him. "Jesus, remember last week, when you suggested that the two of you go away for the weekend, and she started hyperventilating? Trust me, for now at least, keep it to yourself."
"Yeah, maybe you're right." Eric agreed. He thought for a minute. "Did you seriously know that I was in love with her?"
"Like I said, everyone did." Tim said with a slight shrug. "Did you seriously know how Calleigh and I felt about each other?"
"Everyone did." Eric replied. "We've got some communication issues around here, huh?"
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"Maria?" Horatio couldn't help but notice the young woman's shoulders trembling as she bent over a microscope. "Is everything all right?"
"Fine." Maria said, her voice too high pitched and too tight for anything to be fine. She turned to her boss and smiled weakly. "Everything's fine."
"No, it's not." Horatio said. "If it were, you wouldn't look like you've been crying."
Maria sighed and wiped a few telltale black streaks off of her face with the back of her hand. "Goddamn cheap mascara." She muttered under her breath. A fresh tear slid down her cheek. "It's my brother, Anton. He's being deployed. In two days."
Horatio lay his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry to hear that. Do you know where he's going?"
"Not exactly." Maria sighed. "I know what part of the world he'll be in, but not what country or anything like that. He's a SEAL, his family's on a need-to-know basis, and there's not much we need to know this time."
"I'm sorry." Horatio repeated. He knew enough about Special Forces like Navy SEALs to know that if the more classified the location of a deployment was, the more dangerous it probably was.
"I grew up with this, you know?" Maria sighed. "My dad was a Ranger, for fuck's sake. He saw combat and ambushes all over the world while we were all waiting at home, practically having a heart attack every time the doorbell rang. My whole family lives with all of this shit every day of our lives, but it never gets any easier. I mean, I know that he enlisted by choice, and it's his job, but..."
"That doesn't mean you have to like it." Horatio finished her sentence for her. She nodded, covering her eyes with one hand and letting out a choked sob. "Maria, if you want to be taken off this case so you can spend time with your brother before he leaves-"
"No." Maria interrupted, shaking her head frantically as she dried her eyes. "He'd kill me if I did that. No, I just need to do my job and catch this guy before Tuesday."
"Well, if you're sure." Horatio patted her back gently. "At least take a break, okay? Even if it's just for half an hour, just give yourself some time to breathe and cool down a little."
"Okay." Maria sighed. "Thanks."
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"Get anything off of that glass?" Calleigh asked.
Tim looked up from the photos of the second scene that were spread out in front of him. "It's definitely absinthe. It's illegal to sell it here in the states, which means our guy special ordered it from a liquor store that imports it, probably from Europe."
"Well, that's a start, anyway." Calleigh said. The lack of physical evidence at the scenes was infuriating.
"Where's Maria?" Tim asked. "I tried paging her, but she's got it turned off again."
"Horatio let her take some time off." Calleigh explained. "She just found out that Anton's going to be deployed on Tuesday."
Tim knew that was bad news. "Is she okay?"
"She will be." Calleigh said. A pause hung between them for a minute before Calleigh broke it. "Uh, listen, I know we got interrupted earlier..."
"We've got a psychopath on the loose who's aping the most infamous serial killer in history, and you want to talk about us?" Tim teased her gently.
"That all depends." Calleigh said, moving closer to him. "Are we an 'us?'"
"I think we could be." Tim replied, taking her hand and drawing her a little closer. "I mean, I know 'office romances' are risky, but I'm willing to take a chance if you are."
Calleigh smiled and stepped forward, closing the gap between them. "I am."
Before their lips could meet, the door opened behind them. "Whoa, don't let me interrupt." Maria said, backing up. "Again."
"No, it's okay, Maria." Calleigh said, reluctantly taking a step away from Tim. "Are you feeling any better."
Maria took a deep breath and smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll be fine. Speed, were we right about the glass?"
"We were." Tim confirmed, handing her the printout of the results. "And that's pretty much all we have so far."
"It's a start." Maria sighed. "We can check stores that import it around here."
"We got anything?" Horatio asked, leaning into the room.
"Absinthe." Maria said. "And that's it." She tapped her fingers on the table impatiently.
"We need more. We need to find witnesses, establish a motive." Horatio stated. "Keep me posted."
"Well, my theory for a motive is that he's completely and totally fucked in the head." Maria said with a slight grin after Horatio left.
"I think we'll need to be a little more specific than that." Tim said. "We could be dealing with an obsessive Ripper fanatic. He's clearly studied the case."
"We keep saying 'he.'" Calleigh pointed out. "But we haven't seen any solid proof that it's a man. Wasn't there a 'Jill the Ripper' theory with the original case?"
"Yeah, there was a lot of speculation that it was a woman, possibly an abortionist." Maria said. "There were also suggestions that it was a man disguised as a woman."
"But haven't those theories been more or less discredited?" Tim asked.
Maria shook her head. "That's the kicker about the Ripper case. It was so long ago, and there are so many different suspects and scenarios that have been passed around for so many years, there are very few that can be one hundred percent disproved. I don't suppose we'll ever know, beyond any reasonable doubt, who it really was."
"We'll know who this one was." Calleigh assured her.
"I hope so." Maria said, unconvinced.
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TBC…
Disclaimer: (To the tune of "You Don't Own Me," by Leslie Gore) I don't own it, I'm not trying to claim it in any way. I don't own it, don't hunt me down cause I'll never pay!
Rating: R (Just icky stuff in this part, no fun stuff. Bummer.)
Pairings: Eric/Maria (OC), Tim/Calleigh
Feedback: Your feedback = my inspiration = more frequent updates.
Dedication: To Yana, thanks for persuading me to post this despite being unsure about it. Now, could ya try to persuade a few other folks to write a review? ;-)
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"What in the hell is the point of having a cell phone if you never answer it?" Calleigh asked Maria.
"I didn't have it with me." Maria answered calmly.
"I know that, I found it in the breakroom." Calleigh said. "What about your pager? I suppose you turned that off."
"Eric and I were busy." Maria tried to keep her cool, praying silently that she wasn't blushing. "We were..."
"Maria, don't bother. You know you don't need to make excuses with me." Calleigh reminded her. Only Calleigh and Tim knew about Eric and Maria's occasional trysts at the lab, and they were willing to cover for their friends, within reason. "However, I would like to know what the hell you two were doing in the gun vault last week."
Maria turned bright red. "Tim is so friggin' dead." She hissed. When Tim had caught her and Eric sneaking out of the vault, they had sworn him to secrecy. She'd had a feeling that Calleigh wouldn't be too amused, and it seemed she'd been right. "Let's change the subject, okay? Alexx done with the post yet?"
"No, probably not for a while." Calleigh said. "There's a whole lot of different pieces for her to go over."
"Then why'd you page me?" Maria asked.
"Come on." Calleigh pulled her friend toward the breakroom.
Maria gasped when Calleigh opened the door. There, sitting on the couch, drinking coffee, and talking to Eric and Tim, were Anton and Estefan. "Oh my God." She groaned. "Guys, I don't know what they've been telling you, but I swear, I don't know them, I've never seen them before in my life, and they are definitely not my brothers."
"Aw, come on, Amtrak." Anton chuckled, getting up from the couch and enveloping his sister in a hug. "We're not that embarrassing, are we?"
"No, not at all." Maria said, rolling her eyes. "You just show up where I work, bother my coworkers, and call me obnoxious nicknames in front of them. Why would that embarrass me? What are you guys doing here?"
"We need to talk to you." Anton explained. "Well, I do. Estefan's just been following me around all day."
"Can it wait?" Maria asked.
"It really can't." Anton said.
"I'm afraid it's going to have to." Hagen cut in, entering the room. "Maria, I'm sorry to interrupt, but we've got another one."
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"Hey, Salas." Maria greeted the other Hispanic woman. "Jesus Christ, they've sucked you in, too?"
"Not just me. Sevilla and Bernstein are working on the first scene with the crime lab graveyard shift, and vice is getting in on it, too. If your 'Jack the Rip-off' theory pans out, don't be surprised if the entire police department is working on this case by tomorrow." Yelina replied. "Can you imagine the media frenzy?"
"'Jack the Rip-off,' that's catchy. Let's hope the press doesn't catch it." Maria laughed wryly. "So, do we have an I.D?"
"She's another prostitute, one of the other girls just confirmed that her name is Melissa Black." Yelina explained, gesturing off to one side, where a dark haired young woman was sobbing hysterically as two officers tried to get her under control. "Melissa was thirty-two, she was last seen alive at around eleven last night."
"So that could put her time of death around the same as the first victim." Maria observed. "We're only about a mile from the marina."
"Oh, shit." Yelina sighed, looking at the street outside the alleyway, where a news van had just pulled up. "We've got company."
Maria rolled her eyes. "I'm surprised it took them so long. Can you handle them?" Yelina nodded. "Okay, good. Calleigh and Tim are covering the scene, John's taking a statement from her friend, so I guess that leaves-"
"Us on the body." Eric finished for her.
She turned to him and smiled weakly. "Lucky us." As they approached the back of the alley, she continued. "Brace yourself, if she's anything like the first one..." She trailed off when she saw the body. "Oh God. Much, much worse."
Eric stumbled back. "Look, are we absolutely sure this wasn't some kind of animal?
"You know of any animal that could have wrapped the intestines around the torso like that?" Maria asked. "Jesus, this is exactly the same as one of the Ripper's victims."
"You weren't kidding when you said you'd studied the case obsessively." Eric observed.
"Long story." Maria replied. "Okay, guys, listen up, I need a fifty foot perimeter around the body, no one without a badge gets through, and no one talks to the press, that clear?" She looked back at the body and shuddered. "This is going to be a very, very long day."
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"Hey, Eric, wait up." Anton said, just seconds after Eric walked into the lab.
"Anton, what's up?" Eric asked, trying to appear casual. Truth was, Maria's brothers made him more than a little nervous, despite the fact that he had introduced himself as a friend of their sister, and neither one of them had challenged that.
"Is Maria back yet?"
"Yeah, she's back, but I don't think she's going to be able to talk to you for a little while."
"Yeah, I saw that on the news." Anton said. "Pretty messed up."
"You have no idea." Eric told him.
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"Yo, Amtrak."
Maria rolled her eyes as she turned around. "Estefan, call me that once more, and I'm going to have to start calling you Tiny. In front of girls."
Estefan gulped. "Noted."
"Atta boy." Maria smirked. Her brothers were huge, tough, annoyingly macho men. But they still cringed when their mother or one of their sisters gave them that look.
"Uh, so, pretty sick case you guys have got." Estefan said.
"I can't talk about it, you know." Maria told him.
"Yeah, I figured as much." Estefan nodded. "I was just thinking, it's kinda ironic, you know? You working on a case like that. I mean, it is a Jack the Ripper copycat, right?"
"We're not going to confirm or deny anything at this point." Maria replied curtly. "Listen, do you have any idea what Anton wants to talk to me about?"
"I know exactly what it is." Estefan replied. "But, uh, it's something you should really hear from him."
Maria felt a pang of fear seize her heart. "Estefan, what is it?"
"Look, talk to him, okay?" Estefan said. "I gotta go. You gonna be at Mom and Dad's place for dinner tomorrow night?"
"We'll see, this case could get a lot worse before it gets better." Maria sighed. She hugged him. "See ya, baby brother."
"Watch it." Estefan cautioned her, ruffling her hair affectionately.
Maria just smiled as he walked away. Estefan was a full foot taller than her, and probably outweighed her by a hundred pounds of solid muscle, but he was five years younger than she was, and besides, the irony of calling him her 'baby' brother was too good to pass up.
"By the way." Estefan said casually, turning back. "Your shirt is inside out."
"Fuck!"
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"Got another one for you, Alexx." Calleigh sighed. "Worse than the last one, I'm afraid."
"Oh, my...you're right about that." Even the normally unflappable M.E looked shaken by the condition the second victim was in. "Well, darlin', I hope you didn't feel too much of this."
"How did you do with the first one?" Calleigh asked.
"Cause of death was the cut to her throat." Alexx replied. "All of the other mutilation was post-mortem. No signs of sexual assault, minimal defensive wounds. She never had a chance to fight back."
Calleigh shuddered. "Have you ever seen anything like this?"
"Nothing this extreme, thankfully." Alexx said. "Listen, how's Maria handling this? She spent a lot of time undercover when she was in vice, didn't she?"
"Yeah, I was worried about that, too." Calleigh replied. "But she's fine. At least about the case."
"And how about you?" Alexx asked.
"Well, aside from feeling like I'll never be able to close my eyes for even a second without seeing these girls, I'm all right." Calleigh said with a disgusted air to her voice. "I hate it, you know? I just hate that there are people capable of this kind of thing in the world."
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"Maria, wait up." Tim called.
"Hey Speed." Maria said. "What have you got for me?"
"Broken glass with a very strong smelling green liquor on it." Tim replied, handing her an evidence container. "I'm thinking absinthe. That's one thing the Ripper used to lure his victims and dull their senses, right?"
"Tim, I'm impressed." Maria told him. "You know your stuff...you saw that movie, didn't you?"
"I happened to have kind of a thing for Heather Graham at the time." Tim replied.
"Yeah, speaking of 'things,'" Maria leaned closer. "What's the deal with you and a certain roommate of mine? Are guys, like, a couple now or what?"
"Why don't I get this down to the lab and get back to you as soon as I've got the results, okay?" Tim asked, ignoring her question.
Maria pouted playfully. "Fine."
"Hey, as long as we're prying into each other's personal lives." Tim said. "The Ripper case. You said you studied it for years. I mean, I know there are people who devote their lives to trying to solve it, but you don't seem like the obsessive type. What was it about the case that you were so into?"
"It's a long story." Maria said. "And we don't have time for those right now. All signs point to this freak copying Jack the Ripper's M.O, which means he's planning to kill again. I refuse to let that happen."
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"All right, so picture it, Francesca is completely hammered, she fucking steals a Humvee, starts doin' donuts in front of the officer's club, right?" Anton was saying. "So a whole bunch of brass come pouring out of there to see what the hell the noise is. And she speeds off, giving them a 'New York salute,' crashes into the mess hall, steps out of it without a scratch, and passes out. I'm telling you, when Dad heard about that one, he damn near went Hulk on us."
Eric laughed. He felt a little less uncomfortable around Anton, but he was still unsure of how to act around the brother of the woman he'd had sex with twice that morning. "Shit, you gotta be kidding me. And she didn't get discharged and locked up for that?"
"Well, Yolanda was already in the Senate at the time, so she helped her out. I mean, usually she wouldn't pull strings for us like that, but Cesca'd never done any shit like that before, so she stepped in." Anton explained.
"Senate?" Eric repeated, disbelieving. "As in, the United States Senate?"
"That's the one." Anton said. "Yeah, Maria didn't tell you our stepmom is Senator Yolanda Santiago?"
"Well, she mentioned her name." Eric said. "But, it's not like that's an uncommon name in this city, you know? I just never put two and two together."
"Yeah, well, she doesn't really like to tell a lot of people about it. She doesn't want to be treated any differently because of what her name is." Anton explained. "So, how long have you been sleeping with her?"
Eric choked. "Uh...what?"
"You heard me, how long have you been sleeping with my sister?" Anton asked.
"Uh...what?" Eric stammered again.
"Good cover." Anton joked. "Chill, man, I'm not going to get all overprotective or anything. I figured out a long time ago that Maria's going to do whatever, and whoever she wants to, and I'm better off if I just keep my mouth shut."
"We've been seeing each other for two months." Eric said, relieved that Anton wasn't going to kill him, at least not just yet.
"Well, at least you're not another one of her losers of the week." Anton observed. "You know, she mentioned you once, right after she started working here. She said there was a guy here who had the same background as us, Russian and Cuban. She seemed so happy about that."
"Yeah, she's said that you guys had a hard time when you were growing up, not looking like the rest of your family." Like Maria, Anton had fair skin with a slight suntan. His hair, what little hadn't been shaved off, was a shade or two darker than his sister's, but he had the same green eyes.
"It was tough." Anton confirmed. "I think it may have been harder on her than it was on me, but we stuck together. I'm glad she met you, though. Just keep in mind, in SEAL training, I learned about fifty ways to kill a guy and make it look like an accident."
Eric chuckled "Don't worry, man, I get it. I've got three older sisters." Even though he was the baby in his family, he had been protective of his sisters as a teenager. All three of them were pretty and flirtatious, and even though they were all adults now, he still sometimes worried that one of them would get hurt in some way.
"Three? You poor bastard. Does Maria get along with them?" Anton asked.
"She's never met them, actually." Eric replied.
Anton raised an eyebrow. "You've been with her for two months, you had no idea her stepmom's a Senator, and she hasn't met your family? Ah, I get it. You guys have a sort of 'casual' relationship."
That was it, Eric was sure. He was a dead man.
"Jesus, relax, man!" Anton laughed out loud. "As long as you're both cool with that arrangement, I could give a shit. It's Maria's life, like I said, I try to stay out of it. Just be careful, you know? That's an easy way for someone to get hurt."
"I care about her." Eric assured him. "I would never hurt her in any way."
"That's good to know, but I wasn't just talking about Maria." Anton said. "I probably shouldn't even talk about this, but you seem like a decent guy, so you deserve to know what you're getting into. And Lord knows, Maria's never going to tell you."
"Tell me what?" Eric asked.
"Look, Maria's my baby sister, and I love her to death." Anton stated. "But she's a hard girl to get to know. She's been through some shit, and she's built up a lot of walls. There's a lot she probably hasn't told you, to be honest. You might want to think about that before you do something crazy like falling in love with her." He paused and glanced at Eric. "Then again, I get the feeling it might be a little late for that."
Eric scoffed. "No way, man, I care about Maria, sure. But there's no way I'm..." A sudden realization hit him. "Ah, shit."
"Yeah, you're a goner." Anton told him.
"Hey!" Maria burst into the breakroom at that moment, followed by Tim. "Anton, you behaving yourself?"
"Who, me?" Anton gave her a smirk, which she returned. "Of course I'm being good, just telling Eric here about the time Francesca snapped. And what a fat ass you were as a kid.
"Lies! Blasphemy!" Maria laughed, playfully swatting her brother across the chest. "Eric, trust me, that's bullshit." She turned back to Anton. "Okay, whatever it is you need to talk to me about, let's talk. You gotta get the hell out of here and let me work."
"All right, is there somewhere a little less public we can go?" Anton asked.
"Try downstairs, storage room C." Tim spoke up. Eric and Maria gave him the same look, and he shrugged. "What?"
"Come on, bro, we can talk outside." Maria said, pushing Anton out the door. As she followed him, she turned around. "You suck." She whispered to Tim.
"From what I've heard, not nearly as much as you do." Tim responded with a wink. Maria gasped indignantly and slammed the door behind herself. "She's gonna kill you for telling me about that, isn't she?"
"Maybe." Eric shrugged. "Hey, did you know that Maria's stepmother is a Senator?"
"Yeah, Yolanda Santiago." Tim said. "What, don't tell me you've been screwing Maria for two months and you didn't know that? Man, do you two ever talk or do you just, you know, grunt?"
"Fuck you." Eric muttered.
"Isn't that what you have Maria for?"
Eric rolled his eyes. "What's with you today? How can you be in such a good mood when we've got a case like this? Did you get laid or something?
"Not quite." Tim admitted. "I did kiss Calleigh."
"And?" Eric said, looking at him blankly.
"And that doesn't surprise you?" Tim asked.
"It surprises me that it took you so fucking long, yeah." Eric chuckled. "Come on, you two have been making eyes at each other for months. God, you're slow. And I thought it was bad that it took me two months to figure out that I'm in love with Maria."
"Please, everyone already knows that." Tim informed him. "Except for Maria, and if I were you, I wouldn't tell her."
"Why not?" Eric asked.
"Because her idea of a 'deeper commitment' is waiting an more hour after you've fucked her before she leaves your apartment." Tim reminded him. "Jesus, remember last week, when you suggested that the two of you go away for the weekend, and she started hyperventilating? Trust me, for now at least, keep it to yourself."
"Yeah, maybe you're right." Eric agreed. He thought for a minute. "Did you seriously know that I was in love with her?"
"Like I said, everyone did." Tim said with a slight shrug. "Did you seriously know how Calleigh and I felt about each other?"
"Everyone did." Eric replied. "We've got some communication issues around here, huh?"
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"Maria?" Horatio couldn't help but notice the young woman's shoulders trembling as she bent over a microscope. "Is everything all right?"
"Fine." Maria said, her voice too high pitched and too tight for anything to be fine. She turned to her boss and smiled weakly. "Everything's fine."
"No, it's not." Horatio said. "If it were, you wouldn't look like you've been crying."
Maria sighed and wiped a few telltale black streaks off of her face with the back of her hand. "Goddamn cheap mascara." She muttered under her breath. A fresh tear slid down her cheek. "It's my brother, Anton. He's being deployed. In two days."
Horatio lay his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry to hear that. Do you know where he's going?"
"Not exactly." Maria sighed. "I know what part of the world he'll be in, but not what country or anything like that. He's a SEAL, his family's on a need-to-know basis, and there's not much we need to know this time."
"I'm sorry." Horatio repeated. He knew enough about Special Forces like Navy SEALs to know that if the more classified the location of a deployment was, the more dangerous it probably was.
"I grew up with this, you know?" Maria sighed. "My dad was a Ranger, for fuck's sake. He saw combat and ambushes all over the world while we were all waiting at home, practically having a heart attack every time the doorbell rang. My whole family lives with all of this shit every day of our lives, but it never gets any easier. I mean, I know that he enlisted by choice, and it's his job, but..."
"That doesn't mean you have to like it." Horatio finished her sentence for her. She nodded, covering her eyes with one hand and letting out a choked sob. "Maria, if you want to be taken off this case so you can spend time with your brother before he leaves-"
"No." Maria interrupted, shaking her head frantically as she dried her eyes. "He'd kill me if I did that. No, I just need to do my job and catch this guy before Tuesday."
"Well, if you're sure." Horatio patted her back gently. "At least take a break, okay? Even if it's just for half an hour, just give yourself some time to breathe and cool down a little."
"Okay." Maria sighed. "Thanks."
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"Get anything off of that glass?" Calleigh asked.
Tim looked up from the photos of the second scene that were spread out in front of him. "It's definitely absinthe. It's illegal to sell it here in the states, which means our guy special ordered it from a liquor store that imports it, probably from Europe."
"Well, that's a start, anyway." Calleigh said. The lack of physical evidence at the scenes was infuriating.
"Where's Maria?" Tim asked. "I tried paging her, but she's got it turned off again."
"Horatio let her take some time off." Calleigh explained. "She just found out that Anton's going to be deployed on Tuesday."
Tim knew that was bad news. "Is she okay?"
"She will be." Calleigh said. A pause hung between them for a minute before Calleigh broke it. "Uh, listen, I know we got interrupted earlier..."
"We've got a psychopath on the loose who's aping the most infamous serial killer in history, and you want to talk about us?" Tim teased her gently.
"That all depends." Calleigh said, moving closer to him. "Are we an 'us?'"
"I think we could be." Tim replied, taking her hand and drawing her a little closer. "I mean, I know 'office romances' are risky, but I'm willing to take a chance if you are."
Calleigh smiled and stepped forward, closing the gap between them. "I am."
Before their lips could meet, the door opened behind them. "Whoa, don't let me interrupt." Maria said, backing up. "Again."
"No, it's okay, Maria." Calleigh said, reluctantly taking a step away from Tim. "Are you feeling any better."
Maria took a deep breath and smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll be fine. Speed, were we right about the glass?"
"We were." Tim confirmed, handing her the printout of the results. "And that's pretty much all we have so far."
"It's a start." Maria sighed. "We can check stores that import it around here."
"We got anything?" Horatio asked, leaning into the room.
"Absinthe." Maria said. "And that's it." She tapped her fingers on the table impatiently.
"We need more. We need to find witnesses, establish a motive." Horatio stated. "Keep me posted."
"Well, my theory for a motive is that he's completely and totally fucked in the head." Maria said with a slight grin after Horatio left.
"I think we'll need to be a little more specific than that." Tim said. "We could be dealing with an obsessive Ripper fanatic. He's clearly studied the case."
"We keep saying 'he.'" Calleigh pointed out. "But we haven't seen any solid proof that it's a man. Wasn't there a 'Jill the Ripper' theory with the original case?"
"Yeah, there was a lot of speculation that it was a woman, possibly an abortionist." Maria said. "There were also suggestions that it was a man disguised as a woman."
"But haven't those theories been more or less discredited?" Tim asked.
Maria shook her head. "That's the kicker about the Ripper case. It was so long ago, and there are so many different suspects and scenarios that have been passed around for so many years, there are very few that can be one hundred percent disproved. I don't suppose we'll ever know, beyond any reasonable doubt, who it really was."
"We'll know who this one was." Calleigh assured her.
"I hope so." Maria said, unconvinced.
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TBC…