Part 17

Speed and Erik were waiting for them when Calleigh and Jamie got back to the lab with their hands full of evidence bags. The four of them walked down the hall together, updating each other on their findings until they reached the lab. Horatio watched them from his office at the upper level and smiled slightly to himself. He could see them in the lab through the glass walls, they operated like a well oiled machine – Calleigh was taking evidence items out of the bags and handing them over to Erik who logged them in his clipboard and handed them over to Speed and Jamie who then placed them under the microscope.

When all the evidence was properly logged and ready for analysis the four of them broke off into groups and individuals – each taking a piece of the work. Calleigh and Jamie were hunched over the computer, Speed was still busy next to his microscope, Erik was over at the other side of the lab dusting something for fingerprints.

"Speed, what am I doing back here?" Calleigh took off her sunglasses and sent him a stern look of disapproval

"We're taking another look..." Speed shrugged at her and continued to walk around the house "We have nothing so far, I figured it couldn't do any harm"

"We should be back at the lab Speed!" Calleigh called out to him as she tried keeping up with his constant moving "This guy goes out on bail in about 2 hours and we have no way of knowing what happens then!"

She followed him through the living room and the bedroom, into the kitchen and the out trough the back door into the small garden in the back of the house "Did you hear me? Are you even listening to me Speed?"

"Yes and No" he smiled at her with a mischievous grin "I hear you, but I rarely listen!"

She gave him a good smack on the arm for that, but had to chuckle at his antics. He walked off the wooden deck and onto the well kept grass, walking a few steps and crouching next to something. A few minutes passed as he checked something she couldn't quite see because his body was blocking her view.

"Speed? Seriously, we should get back..."

"I think I have something here..." his voice sounded thoughtful, as if he was still considering something so she quickly crossed the distance between them and joined him.

There were a few items laying on the grass next to where he was crouched but she couldn't see what was so important about them.

"Look at this..." he indicated. He lifted a bucket that was tossed on its side and pointed to the grass underneath it, then picked up a tire swing that was just under his feet and pointed at the grass underneath it too "The grass under the bucket is yellow and dead - which means that the bucket must have been lying here for a while, maybe even weeks."

"And the grass underneath the tire is still green, which means the grass under it didn't have a chance to die from lack of exposure to the sun yet" Calleigh completed his train of thought "But what does that give us?"

Speed suddenly rose to his feet and pulled out the phone from his belt pressing his speed dial "Hey, Erik? Did Jamie finish with the album yet? ...Good. Get H and Jamie and The feds and meet us in front of the lab in 15 minutes ok? I think I know where the kid is?"

Horatio, Jamie, Erik and Bailey were standing on the sidewalk when Speed screeched to a halt in front of them and quickly jumped out of the hummer. Horatio sent a questioning look at Calleigh but she simply shrugged back to indicate that she had no idea what all the fuss was about.

Speed on the other hand grabbed the album Erik was holding and quickly placed it on the hood of the car, flipping the pages impatiently.

"This is it!!!!" he finally exclaimed, pointing to a picture of their suspect standing in front of a house along with an older woman who seemed to be his mother. "In the background here... you see the swing?"

Calleigh was the only one who finally realized where he was going with this and she grabbed the album from him hungrily, examining the picture closely.

"We found the same tire-swing in the back yard of Foster's house..." Speed continued to explain for the benefit of those still trying to catch up.

"Speed I know what you're thinking but that swing could have been moved weeks ago..." Horatio tried to let him down easily

"No! you see this?" Speed took out a test tube from his pocket and swung it in front of Horatio's face "It's grass I took from under the tire, it's still green, it isn't dead from lack of exposure to sun yet. I had Alexx make a call to a friend of hers - he said that the grass would be showing signs of rotting as soon as 48 hours after you withhold sunlight... it means the swing has only been there for a couple of days... 3 days at the most, other wise it would have been showing first signs of decay"

"3 days..." Erik took the test tube from Speed and looked at the grass in it "It puts him there in our timeframe"

For a split second they were all quiet and looking at Horatio as he weighed in his possibilities.

"It's as good a lead as anything we have so far. Foster gets out on bail in one hour, the minute he walks out of here he'll probably get rid of the kid.... We might as well give it a shot..."

In a matter of second the whole group sprung into action, with out even waiting for Horatio's instructions. Bailey was on the phone arranging his team of FBI agents, Calleigh was on the phone with John Hagen giving him an update on the plans. Erik was arranging for a SWAT team to meet them at the location and Speed and Jamie were arranging for vehicles and police backup.

20 minutes later Horatio stood outside of an old house in one of the bad neighborhoods in Miami and watched as the SWAT team and the police officers prepare to storm the house. Beside him Erik was explaining something to the rest of the team, but Horatio's attention was elsewhere and he only heard bits and pieces.

"This was Foster's home... before he got shipped to foster care and juvenile hall... his mother still lived here for...put on the market last year..."

When the SWAT team leader finally gave the signal and the team members broke down the door, the entire team seemed to be holding their breath.

Time seemed to spread on and on forever. A crowd of neighbors and curious onlookers began to build behind the police barricade. The FBI agents went in and preformed a sweep of the house, Bailey came out a few minutes later and shook his head - for a moment everyone sighed in disappointment.

"Agent Evens! Over here!"

The entire crowd turned his attention to the far end of the yard where a young SWAT member indicated at a pair of doors leading to an old bomb shelter that was typical for old houses of this kind. A swarm of agents and police officers ran over, forgetting protocol and procedure. This time, the entire crowd seemed to be holding his breath.

Finally Bailey came out carrying a bundle wrapped in a blanket, with a blond head visibly peaking from it.

"Hey Kyle..." Horatio smiled at the little boy as Bailey brought him by on the way over to the ambulance "It's ok Buddy, it's ok... you're going home...."