Chapter Two: The Case
Months had gone by since the Yomura's kidnapping. Horatio had testified in court, and then pretty much forgotten about it. His caseload was always heavy, and for once there had been no deaths. He did wonder every once in awhile if Bethany had ever moved to Miami, but always had something come up to distract him from finding out. The answer came one day in the form of a case. There was a body found in an apartment. H went with Alexx, Delko and Speed to investigate. Arriving on the scene, he saw Bethany outside in the hallway, looking pale and talking to an officer. It was her apartment. Alexx, Delco and Speed started working while Horatio stopped outside to speak to her.
She recognized him, and managed an ever so small smile. "One of these days, Lt. Caine, I would love to meet you under nicer conditions."
As she turned to face him he noticed that she had been hit. Her left eye was blackened and there was a bruise on the side of her mouth. They looked to be a couple of days old.
Horatio asked "Do the body have anything to do with those bruises you have?"
Bethany looked confused for a moment, then her face cleared. "No, the bruises are from a competition I was in 2 days ago. I actually forgot about them in all the drama that's going on right now. The body, now, I don't know what the hell is up with that."
"So what's happening in your apartment?"
"I came home from work today, and found a body in the fridge."
Horatio looked at her for a second, but what can you say to that? He went inside to talk to his team. As he had been told, there was indeed a male body, fully clothed, wedged into the refrigerator. The food had been taken out and placed into an ice chest near the kitchen. The shelves had been removed and neatly stacked, leaning next to the fridge. Alexx couldn't perform any kind of investigation on the body until it had been moved, so she was waiting for the photographers to finish. As soon as they were done, she had the boys pull the corpse out. Her initial investigation showed several deep cuts, including one to the jugular artery in the neck. That was probably the killing cut, but definite conclusions would have to wait until she did a full post-mortem. Delko was taking evidence, and Speed was dealing with the pictures. When he got to the bedroom he found a French maid's costume lying on the bed. He took pictures and then looked closer. There seemed to be some kind of fluid on the costume, and he could guess what it was. The next question is: did it belong to Bethany James, or did the killer bring it in? What the semen from a boyfriend, or had the bad guy left them a gift?
Coming home was supposed to be safe. Home is a sanctuary, and Bethany's had been invaded. She was shaky to begin with. When Speed asked her if she had a French maid's outfit first she looked at him like he was crazy, then told him that no, she didn't. He told her "I found the maid's outfit on the bed, with" here he hesitated "some kind of biological substance on it."
Bethany asked him, "Does 'biological substance' mean what I think it means?"
Speed said, "Well, I can't be sure without testing, but I think it's semen."
As soon as Speed said that, Bethany asked him if he was done processing the bathroom. When he said yes she ran past him, into her apartment, and started throwing up into the toilet. Alexx followed her in, held back her hair and was telling her little things to make her feel better, like a mother would tell a child.
"It's okay, honey, this will all be over soon. We're going to get this guy, no problem. It may seem backwards to you, but that little bit of himself that he left is the best thing that could have happened. That DNA will help us to nail him. I know you're upset, that's normal. I'd be worried about you if you weren't upset."
Alexx came out while Bethany brushed her teeth. When Bethany came out, she still looked pale, with her black eye in stark contrast, but seemed less shaky.
"Do you think that was left to scare me? Intimidate me? What?" she asked, calmly.
Delko responded, "It's hard to tell what this guy was thinking. We'll ask when we catch him."
Horatio spoke up, "You won't be able to sleep here tonight. Do you want someone to drive you to your brother's house?"
"There's no way I'm going anywhere near my family until this sicko is in custody. I can't chance that he'll find them. I'll stay at my office. I already have clothes there, I sleep there all the time. Plus it has a state of the art security system. Oh, and if you need the mattress for any fluids, you can have it. I'll be getting a new one."
The police took Bethany downtown to the station there. They showed her pictures of the man she had found in the refrigerator. Bethany had never seen the man in the fridge before, either alive or dead. Detective Yelena Salas got around to asking what she did for a living.
Bethany replied, "I'm sort of an odd-job worker. A fixer, I guess you could call it. Sometimes I'm a bodyguard, sometimes I'm a private detective, sometimes I'm just a shoulder to cry on. Sometimes I help when the law can't."
Yelena tensed at this "So, you're a vigilant."
Bethany said, "That's not how I think of myself, but I can see how you would come to that conclusion. I always work with law enforcement. I always will. Call Austin and talk to the detectives there. They will be happy to tell you I'm one of the good guys."
Yelena didn't seem all that mollified, and looked to Horatio, but Horatio was looking at Bethany.
He asked, "So you help people for a living?"
Bethany shrugged, "I try to. One a good day I help people. A lot of the time I'm like you...I clean up other people's messes."
Horatio stared at her. "And does that make you any enemies?"
Bethany gave another shrug, "Lots, and I make more just about every day. But this really doesn't seem to be the style of the kind of person I piss off."
"Oh?"
Bethany said, "Yeah, the kind of person I normally would have after me would have either killed me directly, or in this case, would have killed someone I know, and above all would have made sure I knew who it was who did it." Bethany's face got shadowed for a moment. "The fact that I have no idea who's done this bothers me, I think more than finding the body. It means I've missed something, overlooked somebody. That means I'm slipping, and usually that means I'm dead."
Horatio said, "You're not dead, and we're going to make sure you stay that way."
"That's nice of you to say, Lt., but it's me that needs to make sure I stay that way."
Horatio gave one of his small smiles: "Do you mind if we help?"
"Oh, I insist."
In the hall Yelena asked what that was all about.
Horatio looked at her a moment, then said, "I don't know yet." He put on his sunglasses, and walked away.
They found out the dead man was a Miami grocer. Digging a little deeper they also found that he had a couple of domestic abuse complaints phoned in against him. The wife really wasn't all that broken up about her dead husband, as most wives would be, even if they have been abused. She just didn't care one way or the other. When Horatio and Yelena were done talking to her she went off to work, just like any other day. They left the apartment complex, and as they headed toward their cars Horatio saw Bethany in a diner across the street, in a window seat, drinking coffee and reading a book. He waved Yelena to leave, and went across the street to talk to Bethany. She looked up from her book and was surprised to see him.
Horatio started asked questions. "Did you ever shop at the grocery story 'The Corner Store'?"
"No, I shop at the grocery store up the street from my apartment. The one you're talking about is right up the street from here, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"I've never been to it."
"Do you eat here often?" Horatio continued.
"Yes, it's my favorite breakfast place. The coffee is good, the staff is friendly, and they have a Western omelet that is absolutely amazing."
"The man whose body you found lives right across the street from here."
"Lt. Caine, please sit down. What more can you tell me?"
He sat across from her. The waitress asked him if he wanted anything. He got a cup of coffee. He then updated Bethany on the man, the wife, the abuse calls.
Bethany broke in, "Do you think the wife did it?"
"I don't think so. That would require more emotion than she's got, more energy than she's got, and more life." H asked her if the name of the wife or the man rang any bells.
She thought a moment, then, "No. Not my bells anyway. We do get a lot of domestic cases, and I'm not the only one who works them. I'll ask at work, and let you know if anything comes up."
"I think I'll come by your office later, if that's alright with you, and talk to some of your co-workers."
"Oh yeah, that'll be fine. I've actually had to stop them from tailing me throughout the day, so I'm pretty sure they'll be happy to talk to you."
"Why'd you stop them? I would think it would make you feel safer, to have someone you trust around while a bad guy is focusing on you."
"A lot of my job is selling myself. These people have got to believe in me if I'm going to help them. I can't do that with a muscle man trying to act inconspicuous hanging around." Bethany said.
"You don't think a muscle man would help the deal?" Horatio asked.
"You'd think so, wouldn't you? It really doesn't, not in the early stages. I bring in the muscle, or the additional brains, as needed, after I've sized up the client and the situation."
Bethany's breakfast arrived, and was the omelet she had talked about earlier.
"Would you like some breakfast?" she asked
"No, thank you."
"Would you like some of mine?"
"No, thank you."
"Then do you mind if I eat in front of you?"
He smiled and said, "Go ahead."
While she ate they continued to discuss the case, both brainstorming, just throwing ideas out as they came to them. While they were talking a different waitress brought extra jalapenos for Bethany, without her having asked for them. Bethany gave Horatio a "just a minute" gesture and started talking to the waitress.
"Sue, how's your grandson doing? Are things going better with him and his mom?"
"Oh, yeah, thank you for asking. They took a little trip together to Key Largo to do some fishing. It went okay."
Bethany grinned at the older woman. "That's so great to hear. You know, sometimes little steps are the way to go."
The woman smiled at Bethany and told her "Yeah, I think it's going to work out." Sue smiled again and walked away.
Horatio looked at Bethany, "One of your clients?"
"Nah, I eat here just about every morning. Sue seemed kind of down one day and we got to talking. She's a really nice lady, and sometimes just having someone to talk to can help. So I try to let her know she can talk to me."
"That's nice of you," he said
Bethany shrugged. "It really isn't much. People like to talk to me; it comes in handy when I'm trying to do a job. It's nice to be able to use it for things a little less life-shattering once in a while."
Horatio got up, and stated to put some money on the table.
Bethany protested, "Hey, I invited you to sit down, I've got your coffee."
He wouldn't have it. "I pay for my own coffee, that way there's no hint of professional conflict."
"You really think people would think I could corrupt you with a cup of coffee?"
"Let's not find out."
He put his money on the table and told her he would see her later when he went to her office. He walked out and went to his car. When he looked back Bethany was reading her book, eating at the same time. He got in his car and drove away.
When he was at her office he asked her for a list of places other than the breakfast place she spends a lot of time. Horatio talked to the other people in the office, all of who seemed friendly, competent and were mostly men. Two were huge, bodybuilders one significantly older than the other. The older one was grizzled with a wry sense of humor and was white. The younger one was intense, very serous, very clean-cut and was a light skinned black man. Both were upset that Bethany wouldn't let them go with her out in the field, but realized they are hardly the "blend in" type. The had worked hard to not be able to blend in, and it's amused the older one that it had come to bite him on the ass.
"Of course," he said, "it's really the sicko I'm trying to look out for. If I'm there they guy would just get hurt, maybe killed. But Bethany can be MEAN."
The young guy started to protest when the older one calmed him down.
"Don't worry Jr. The cop knows I'm kidding."
There was a blonde man there who smiled a lot, a prerequisite computer nerd, and apparently two more men are out on duty, one as a bodyguard, and one as a security consultant. Then Horatio met Kelly, a breath-taking brunette whose job, it seemed, was to make men stupid. Bethany later said of Kelly, "She can distract a whole room better than a bomb scare."
Kelly gave H a full on "come hither" smile, and seemed disappointed when he failed to even look twice. She went off to check her face in the mirror, and pouted prettily at him for the rest of the time he was there. No one has heard of the victim, or of his wife. All are very concerned about Bethany. The last thing he saw as he left the office was the second place martial arts trophy Bethany had won at the competition that had given her the black eye. Horatio reminded himself to never jump to conclusions, especially about Bethany.
A few days later the CSI team had started drawing blanks. Horatio went to visit Bethany at the breakfast place again, and got there before she did. Sue talked to him about how nice Bethany was, and how glad Sue was that she had finally met a nice man. She told him about the time the crazy man was in there and started scaring people, and it was Bethany who was the one who got between him and the old couple who had pissed him off by telling him to be quiet. She told how Bethany had fought the guy and knocked him out. It turned out the guy was off his meds, and was really dangerous.
Horatio turned this over in his mind, then asked, "Are there any other regulars in here now? What I mean is people who are usually in here when Bethany is?"
Sue pointed out a couple of people to him, but told him it varies. Not even Bethany can make it in every single morning. There's a flow to the regulars, just like anything else.
When Bethany walked in and saw Horatio she got a huge smile on her face, like seeing him has made her day. When she walked up to him Horatio saw that one of the regulars Sue had pointed out was following every move Bethany made, barely blinking the whole time she was in the room. Later he found out from Sue that the guy was there the day the crazy man was. Horatio got the guy's name off of the credit card receipt, Thomas Wallen, and had it run, trusting his gut that there was something a little off about this guy.
When he found out Wallen lived in the same building as the victim, Horatio pulled him into the station. At first the guy was covering himself really well, but Horatio had arranged for Bethany to walk across the hallway, in line of sight to the man being questioned. Yelena, who was in the hall to observe the interrogation through the one-way glass, told Bethany she should have a chat with Calleigh. The two women had kept in touch after the Yomura kidnapping, so it was easy for them to fall into conversation. They talked where the suspect could see them, but not hear. Once again, Wallen riveted his eyes onto her. Horatio asked if the had been impressed with the way she handled that guy in the diner that day.
"You should have seen it, it was amazing. She was amazing. It kind of made me feel ashamed, though. I should have been the one who stopped that guy." Thomas said, never taking his eyes off Bethany, who was still standing across the hall.
He had to prove to her that he was tough enough, as tough as she was. He had heard the guy upstairs beating on his wife and knew this was the perfect opportunity to show Bethany what kind of man he was.
Horatio asked, "How did you know where she lives?"
"Oh, I hacked into the Florida DMV records. It wasn't that hard, really. Not when finding out is this important."
Horatio continued to gently steer the man into a full confession. "How did you get the body upstairs?"
"The building is practically deserted during the day. I wrapped the body in a carpet and carried it up. I wore a painter's smock. I don't think anyone saw me, but if they did they would think I was replacing a carpet I had removed during painting. I was prepared, too. Some people would have just left the body on the couch or something, but I didn't want it to leak. I took all the shelves and food out of the fridge. That way it wouldn't leak onto fabric, and it wouldn't start to smell, either."
Horatio looked at him. "That was smart thinking. What did you do with all that food?"
"Oh, I put it all into an ice chest that I found. That was really lucky, because otherwise the food may have gotten bad before she got back. You know, the way I found that ice chest in her bedroom closet, it was almost like she knew what I was going to do, and she was trying to help me."
"One thing I don't understand, Thomas, is how was she supposed to know it was you?" Horatio asked him.
"Oh, soon she'll just realize it on her own. She'll walk up to me in the diner, and when we get home she'll wear the French maid's outfit I gave her." Wallen actually grinned sheepishly, "I really like thinking of her in that outfit."
"Yes, we know you do." Horatio walked over to the window and closed the blinds, cutting Wallen off from the sight of Bethany.
Wallen blinked, almost like coming out of a dream. He looked at Horatio and said, "Will you tell her? Tell her what I did for her? She has to know I'm a real man. Man enough for her."
"Don't worry, Thomas. I'll make sure Bethany knows exactly what kind of man you are."
Horatio and Yelena went to the break room, where Calleigh and Bethany were still talking. They told Bethany they had the guilty man in custody. Horatio was the one who told Bethany that the body wasn't meant as a threat or a warning, but as a present.
Bethany started to rant to the world at large. "Why doesn't anyone EVER think to get me flowers? I know some women don't like getting flowers. They're too expensive, they're too cliché, but I love flowers. I would love to get flowers; no one ever gets them for me. The closest thing I get to a romantic gift is a corpse."
Calleigh looked at her, then asked, "So are you happy we caught the guy?"
Bethany actually started to laugh. "Yes, I am. Thank you all. Please ignore any emotional outbursts from the highly stressed woman before you. I should be better now you've got the guy. Now I'm going to get some ice cream and chocolate."
A few days later Horatio met her again at the breakfast place. He was sitting down when she came in.
She said, "Hey! What're you doing here?"
"I really wanted to try that Western Omelet I've heard so much about," he said.
Bethany smiled at him, and smiled even bigger when he handed her a bouquet of her favorite flower, irises.
Horatio and Bethany started to have breakfast together several times a week after that. Sometimes they would read, him a newspaper and she one of her books. Most of the time, though, they would eat and talk.
Months had gone by since the Yomura's kidnapping. Horatio had testified in court, and then pretty much forgotten about it. His caseload was always heavy, and for once there had been no deaths. He did wonder every once in awhile if Bethany had ever moved to Miami, but always had something come up to distract him from finding out. The answer came one day in the form of a case. There was a body found in an apartment. H went with Alexx, Delko and Speed to investigate. Arriving on the scene, he saw Bethany outside in the hallway, looking pale and talking to an officer. It was her apartment. Alexx, Delco and Speed started working while Horatio stopped outside to speak to her.
She recognized him, and managed an ever so small smile. "One of these days, Lt. Caine, I would love to meet you under nicer conditions."
As she turned to face him he noticed that she had been hit. Her left eye was blackened and there was a bruise on the side of her mouth. They looked to be a couple of days old.
Horatio asked "Do the body have anything to do with those bruises you have?"
Bethany looked confused for a moment, then her face cleared. "No, the bruises are from a competition I was in 2 days ago. I actually forgot about them in all the drama that's going on right now. The body, now, I don't know what the hell is up with that."
"So what's happening in your apartment?"
"I came home from work today, and found a body in the fridge."
Horatio looked at her for a second, but what can you say to that? He went inside to talk to his team. As he had been told, there was indeed a male body, fully clothed, wedged into the refrigerator. The food had been taken out and placed into an ice chest near the kitchen. The shelves had been removed and neatly stacked, leaning next to the fridge. Alexx couldn't perform any kind of investigation on the body until it had been moved, so she was waiting for the photographers to finish. As soon as they were done, she had the boys pull the corpse out. Her initial investigation showed several deep cuts, including one to the jugular artery in the neck. That was probably the killing cut, but definite conclusions would have to wait until she did a full post-mortem. Delko was taking evidence, and Speed was dealing with the pictures. When he got to the bedroom he found a French maid's costume lying on the bed. He took pictures and then looked closer. There seemed to be some kind of fluid on the costume, and he could guess what it was. The next question is: did it belong to Bethany James, or did the killer bring it in? What the semen from a boyfriend, or had the bad guy left them a gift?
Coming home was supposed to be safe. Home is a sanctuary, and Bethany's had been invaded. She was shaky to begin with. When Speed asked her if she had a French maid's outfit first she looked at him like he was crazy, then told him that no, she didn't. He told her "I found the maid's outfit on the bed, with" here he hesitated "some kind of biological substance on it."
Bethany asked him, "Does 'biological substance' mean what I think it means?"
Speed said, "Well, I can't be sure without testing, but I think it's semen."
As soon as Speed said that, Bethany asked him if he was done processing the bathroom. When he said yes she ran past him, into her apartment, and started throwing up into the toilet. Alexx followed her in, held back her hair and was telling her little things to make her feel better, like a mother would tell a child.
"It's okay, honey, this will all be over soon. We're going to get this guy, no problem. It may seem backwards to you, but that little bit of himself that he left is the best thing that could have happened. That DNA will help us to nail him. I know you're upset, that's normal. I'd be worried about you if you weren't upset."
Alexx came out while Bethany brushed her teeth. When Bethany came out, she still looked pale, with her black eye in stark contrast, but seemed less shaky.
"Do you think that was left to scare me? Intimidate me? What?" she asked, calmly.
Delko responded, "It's hard to tell what this guy was thinking. We'll ask when we catch him."
Horatio spoke up, "You won't be able to sleep here tonight. Do you want someone to drive you to your brother's house?"
"There's no way I'm going anywhere near my family until this sicko is in custody. I can't chance that he'll find them. I'll stay at my office. I already have clothes there, I sleep there all the time. Plus it has a state of the art security system. Oh, and if you need the mattress for any fluids, you can have it. I'll be getting a new one."
The police took Bethany downtown to the station there. They showed her pictures of the man she had found in the refrigerator. Bethany had never seen the man in the fridge before, either alive or dead. Detective Yelena Salas got around to asking what she did for a living.
Bethany replied, "I'm sort of an odd-job worker. A fixer, I guess you could call it. Sometimes I'm a bodyguard, sometimes I'm a private detective, sometimes I'm just a shoulder to cry on. Sometimes I help when the law can't."
Yelena tensed at this "So, you're a vigilant."
Bethany said, "That's not how I think of myself, but I can see how you would come to that conclusion. I always work with law enforcement. I always will. Call Austin and talk to the detectives there. They will be happy to tell you I'm one of the good guys."
Yelena didn't seem all that mollified, and looked to Horatio, but Horatio was looking at Bethany.
He asked, "So you help people for a living?"
Bethany shrugged, "I try to. One a good day I help people. A lot of the time I'm like you...I clean up other people's messes."
Horatio stared at her. "And does that make you any enemies?"
Bethany gave another shrug, "Lots, and I make more just about every day. But this really doesn't seem to be the style of the kind of person I piss off."
"Oh?"
Bethany said, "Yeah, the kind of person I normally would have after me would have either killed me directly, or in this case, would have killed someone I know, and above all would have made sure I knew who it was who did it." Bethany's face got shadowed for a moment. "The fact that I have no idea who's done this bothers me, I think more than finding the body. It means I've missed something, overlooked somebody. That means I'm slipping, and usually that means I'm dead."
Horatio said, "You're not dead, and we're going to make sure you stay that way."
"That's nice of you to say, Lt., but it's me that needs to make sure I stay that way."
Horatio gave one of his small smiles: "Do you mind if we help?"
"Oh, I insist."
In the hall Yelena asked what that was all about.
Horatio looked at her a moment, then said, "I don't know yet." He put on his sunglasses, and walked away.
They found out the dead man was a Miami grocer. Digging a little deeper they also found that he had a couple of domestic abuse complaints phoned in against him. The wife really wasn't all that broken up about her dead husband, as most wives would be, even if they have been abused. She just didn't care one way or the other. When Horatio and Yelena were done talking to her she went off to work, just like any other day. They left the apartment complex, and as they headed toward their cars Horatio saw Bethany in a diner across the street, in a window seat, drinking coffee and reading a book. He waved Yelena to leave, and went across the street to talk to Bethany. She looked up from her book and was surprised to see him.
Horatio started asked questions. "Did you ever shop at the grocery story 'The Corner Store'?"
"No, I shop at the grocery store up the street from my apartment. The one you're talking about is right up the street from here, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"I've never been to it."
"Do you eat here often?" Horatio continued.
"Yes, it's my favorite breakfast place. The coffee is good, the staff is friendly, and they have a Western omelet that is absolutely amazing."
"The man whose body you found lives right across the street from here."
"Lt. Caine, please sit down. What more can you tell me?"
He sat across from her. The waitress asked him if he wanted anything. He got a cup of coffee. He then updated Bethany on the man, the wife, the abuse calls.
Bethany broke in, "Do you think the wife did it?"
"I don't think so. That would require more emotion than she's got, more energy than she's got, and more life." H asked her if the name of the wife or the man rang any bells.
She thought a moment, then, "No. Not my bells anyway. We do get a lot of domestic cases, and I'm not the only one who works them. I'll ask at work, and let you know if anything comes up."
"I think I'll come by your office later, if that's alright with you, and talk to some of your co-workers."
"Oh yeah, that'll be fine. I've actually had to stop them from tailing me throughout the day, so I'm pretty sure they'll be happy to talk to you."
"Why'd you stop them? I would think it would make you feel safer, to have someone you trust around while a bad guy is focusing on you."
"A lot of my job is selling myself. These people have got to believe in me if I'm going to help them. I can't do that with a muscle man trying to act inconspicuous hanging around." Bethany said.
"You don't think a muscle man would help the deal?" Horatio asked.
"You'd think so, wouldn't you? It really doesn't, not in the early stages. I bring in the muscle, or the additional brains, as needed, after I've sized up the client and the situation."
Bethany's breakfast arrived, and was the omelet she had talked about earlier.
"Would you like some breakfast?" she asked
"No, thank you."
"Would you like some of mine?"
"No, thank you."
"Then do you mind if I eat in front of you?"
He smiled and said, "Go ahead."
While she ate they continued to discuss the case, both brainstorming, just throwing ideas out as they came to them. While they were talking a different waitress brought extra jalapenos for Bethany, without her having asked for them. Bethany gave Horatio a "just a minute" gesture and started talking to the waitress.
"Sue, how's your grandson doing? Are things going better with him and his mom?"
"Oh, yeah, thank you for asking. They took a little trip together to Key Largo to do some fishing. It went okay."
Bethany grinned at the older woman. "That's so great to hear. You know, sometimes little steps are the way to go."
The woman smiled at Bethany and told her "Yeah, I think it's going to work out." Sue smiled again and walked away.
Horatio looked at Bethany, "One of your clients?"
"Nah, I eat here just about every morning. Sue seemed kind of down one day and we got to talking. She's a really nice lady, and sometimes just having someone to talk to can help. So I try to let her know she can talk to me."
"That's nice of you," he said
Bethany shrugged. "It really isn't much. People like to talk to me; it comes in handy when I'm trying to do a job. It's nice to be able to use it for things a little less life-shattering once in a while."
Horatio got up, and stated to put some money on the table.
Bethany protested, "Hey, I invited you to sit down, I've got your coffee."
He wouldn't have it. "I pay for my own coffee, that way there's no hint of professional conflict."
"You really think people would think I could corrupt you with a cup of coffee?"
"Let's not find out."
He put his money on the table and told her he would see her later when he went to her office. He walked out and went to his car. When he looked back Bethany was reading her book, eating at the same time. He got in his car and drove away.
When he was at her office he asked her for a list of places other than the breakfast place she spends a lot of time. Horatio talked to the other people in the office, all of who seemed friendly, competent and were mostly men. Two were huge, bodybuilders one significantly older than the other. The older one was grizzled with a wry sense of humor and was white. The younger one was intense, very serous, very clean-cut and was a light skinned black man. Both were upset that Bethany wouldn't let them go with her out in the field, but realized they are hardly the "blend in" type. The had worked hard to not be able to blend in, and it's amused the older one that it had come to bite him on the ass.
"Of course," he said, "it's really the sicko I'm trying to look out for. If I'm there they guy would just get hurt, maybe killed. But Bethany can be MEAN."
The young guy started to protest when the older one calmed him down.
"Don't worry Jr. The cop knows I'm kidding."
There was a blonde man there who smiled a lot, a prerequisite computer nerd, and apparently two more men are out on duty, one as a bodyguard, and one as a security consultant. Then Horatio met Kelly, a breath-taking brunette whose job, it seemed, was to make men stupid. Bethany later said of Kelly, "She can distract a whole room better than a bomb scare."
Kelly gave H a full on "come hither" smile, and seemed disappointed when he failed to even look twice. She went off to check her face in the mirror, and pouted prettily at him for the rest of the time he was there. No one has heard of the victim, or of his wife. All are very concerned about Bethany. The last thing he saw as he left the office was the second place martial arts trophy Bethany had won at the competition that had given her the black eye. Horatio reminded himself to never jump to conclusions, especially about Bethany.
A few days later the CSI team had started drawing blanks. Horatio went to visit Bethany at the breakfast place again, and got there before she did. Sue talked to him about how nice Bethany was, and how glad Sue was that she had finally met a nice man. She told him about the time the crazy man was in there and started scaring people, and it was Bethany who was the one who got between him and the old couple who had pissed him off by telling him to be quiet. She told how Bethany had fought the guy and knocked him out. It turned out the guy was off his meds, and was really dangerous.
Horatio turned this over in his mind, then asked, "Are there any other regulars in here now? What I mean is people who are usually in here when Bethany is?"
Sue pointed out a couple of people to him, but told him it varies. Not even Bethany can make it in every single morning. There's a flow to the regulars, just like anything else.
When Bethany walked in and saw Horatio she got a huge smile on her face, like seeing him has made her day. When she walked up to him Horatio saw that one of the regulars Sue had pointed out was following every move Bethany made, barely blinking the whole time she was in the room. Later he found out from Sue that the guy was there the day the crazy man was. Horatio got the guy's name off of the credit card receipt, Thomas Wallen, and had it run, trusting his gut that there was something a little off about this guy.
When he found out Wallen lived in the same building as the victim, Horatio pulled him into the station. At first the guy was covering himself really well, but Horatio had arranged for Bethany to walk across the hallway, in line of sight to the man being questioned. Yelena, who was in the hall to observe the interrogation through the one-way glass, told Bethany she should have a chat with Calleigh. The two women had kept in touch after the Yomura kidnapping, so it was easy for them to fall into conversation. They talked where the suspect could see them, but not hear. Once again, Wallen riveted his eyes onto her. Horatio asked if the had been impressed with the way she handled that guy in the diner that day.
"You should have seen it, it was amazing. She was amazing. It kind of made me feel ashamed, though. I should have been the one who stopped that guy." Thomas said, never taking his eyes off Bethany, who was still standing across the hall.
He had to prove to her that he was tough enough, as tough as she was. He had heard the guy upstairs beating on his wife and knew this was the perfect opportunity to show Bethany what kind of man he was.
Horatio asked, "How did you know where she lives?"
"Oh, I hacked into the Florida DMV records. It wasn't that hard, really. Not when finding out is this important."
Horatio continued to gently steer the man into a full confession. "How did you get the body upstairs?"
"The building is practically deserted during the day. I wrapped the body in a carpet and carried it up. I wore a painter's smock. I don't think anyone saw me, but if they did they would think I was replacing a carpet I had removed during painting. I was prepared, too. Some people would have just left the body on the couch or something, but I didn't want it to leak. I took all the shelves and food out of the fridge. That way it wouldn't leak onto fabric, and it wouldn't start to smell, either."
Horatio looked at him. "That was smart thinking. What did you do with all that food?"
"Oh, I put it all into an ice chest that I found. That was really lucky, because otherwise the food may have gotten bad before she got back. You know, the way I found that ice chest in her bedroom closet, it was almost like she knew what I was going to do, and she was trying to help me."
"One thing I don't understand, Thomas, is how was she supposed to know it was you?" Horatio asked him.
"Oh, soon she'll just realize it on her own. She'll walk up to me in the diner, and when we get home she'll wear the French maid's outfit I gave her." Wallen actually grinned sheepishly, "I really like thinking of her in that outfit."
"Yes, we know you do." Horatio walked over to the window and closed the blinds, cutting Wallen off from the sight of Bethany.
Wallen blinked, almost like coming out of a dream. He looked at Horatio and said, "Will you tell her? Tell her what I did for her? She has to know I'm a real man. Man enough for her."
"Don't worry, Thomas. I'll make sure Bethany knows exactly what kind of man you are."
Horatio and Yelena went to the break room, where Calleigh and Bethany were still talking. They told Bethany they had the guilty man in custody. Horatio was the one who told Bethany that the body wasn't meant as a threat or a warning, but as a present.
Bethany started to rant to the world at large. "Why doesn't anyone EVER think to get me flowers? I know some women don't like getting flowers. They're too expensive, they're too cliché, but I love flowers. I would love to get flowers; no one ever gets them for me. The closest thing I get to a romantic gift is a corpse."
Calleigh looked at her, then asked, "So are you happy we caught the guy?"
Bethany actually started to laugh. "Yes, I am. Thank you all. Please ignore any emotional outbursts from the highly stressed woman before you. I should be better now you've got the guy. Now I'm going to get some ice cream and chocolate."
A few days later Horatio met her again at the breakfast place. He was sitting down when she came in.
She said, "Hey! What're you doing here?"
"I really wanted to try that Western Omelet I've heard so much about," he said.
Bethany smiled at him, and smiled even bigger when he handed her a bouquet of her favorite flower, irises.
Horatio and Bethany started to have breakfast together several times a week after that. Sometimes they would read, him a newspaper and she one of her books. Most of the time, though, they would eat and talk.