Issues
By: Kuroi Neko-kun
Summary: One of their CSIs return to day-shift and since Speed's death, everyone notice that she has changed.
Disclaimer: I don't own CSI: Miami. Though the severely depressed character, Alena Richardson, in the story is mine. And the story itself.
Warning: Um… there's an OC? Oh, spoilers to Lost Son. And I haven't watched it yet. My country's still stuck in season 2. I'm not complaining though. Though I apologize for Ryan's OOC (if any). I don't know him yet.
A/N: My first CSI OC fic ever! This just came to my head. I wonder why?
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Chapter 2: First Day
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Horatio left late that night. After submitting the last of the papers for Alena's transfer, he checked up on any cases that he had not been checking upon during this process. He had not even told the team about the transfer yet as he thought that they needed to concentrate on the case. He was slightly disturbed with Ryan though. The new CSI came up to him and said, "I know, H." Horatio waited for him to explain which he did.
"I know about Detective Richardson… or at least I know what I should know."
"I see…" H said," Then you should understand your position then."
"What?"
"You'll know what I mean when the time comes, Ryan." He left it as that for the time being. H knew there was some animosity between Ryan and the crime lab at a point. He took the man's job two weeks after his death. It was enough reason to infuriate the team. Some of this frustration was slapped onto Horatio who approved the replacement. He had wondered once or twice whether this was a good idea. He still does. As he walked to his Hummer, his cell phone rang. He sighed as he took out the phone.
"Dr. Gerald. How nice of you to call at this hour," H said.
"I apologize of the timing, Lieutenant, but since you informed me of your plan, I've been getting second thoughts about it." The doctor's voice was of worry and Horatio understood the reason. The plan was risky.
"It could be the only way to let her accept things for the way they are now, doctor."
"I understand that but what if the opposite happens, Lieutenant? How do we prevent that?"
"Scientists take risks, doctor."
"Yes, we do. It's just that Alena is the only patient I had that is not showing any signs of improvement. Her body is suffering from her state of mind. Since the incident, she has been avoiding sleep like a plague."
"Six months without sleep…" Horatio muttered.
"You've seen her collapse from her severe fatigue before. Don't forget the state she was in before you personally sent her to me." Horatio couldn't forget about that incident. It was a week after Speed's funeral when one of the night shift team told H that Alena never came to work. H had asked whether she called for leave but the person said no. That alerted Horatio as he knew that Alena never left work without a cause. He called Calleigh to search her house while he headed to Speed's former apartment. He found her lying unconscious in his bedroom, dressed in a white wedding gown. Beside her was a half empty bottle of scotch, an empty bottle of sleeping pills and a suicide note. He got to her in time before the pills and alcohol took effect, managing to get her to throw up some of the mixture. After that, she was on medical leave for six months.
"I remember."
"I just hope that you'll be there for her when she needs help, Lieutenant." The doctor hung up after, leaving Horatio to contemplate on situations and memories.
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She looked at the slip of notice she was given and looked at the person who gave it to him. The brunette scanned the paper again. The paper contained her slip of transfer, a finalized version from the two supervisors. She looked up to her current supervisor again.
"I'm to be transferred to day-shift?" she asked.
"Horatio… requested your transfer. In retrospect of your medical condition, the doctor had given his insights of the matter," he said.
"Dick… this is…" She looked at him. "Thanks. This is the first time you did anything nice for me."
"Horatio threatened me. I was doing it for my own welfare."
"You always do," she said before getting up. Dick touched her shoulder.
"At least, you'll be happier, Al. You deserve it." Alena turned to her boss and nodded.
"Thanks."
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As she entered the locker room Monday morning, she was greeted with a pair of arms and a smiling face. The cheery blonde CSI now had reason to be more… cheery.
"Al! I've been waiting for this day to come!" she said, hugging her friend. Alena hugged back not able to hold back the fact that she was as elated as her friend.
"Well, I hope this helps me with the stress syndrome."
"You know it will. You're surrounded with friends now," she said before adding," Since you're in day shift now, we can finally get that 'girl time' we've been talking about."
"Something tells me I want to know." The ladies turned to see a grinning Eric. "Hey Alena." The brunette hugged the Cuban and pecked him on the cheek.
"Delko, it's been a long time…" she said.
"And you are still as beautiful as ever," he said, smiling. Alena smiled back.
"Thank you." She sighed. "Never thought Dick would agree for my transfer though. Horatio tried like a dozen times…"
"Five," Calleigh corrected," The first was when Megan resigned. He knew that you'd be a great addition. The second, third and fourth was pushed in succession when you and Johnson dated—"
"Calleigh, I know what happened there," she mumbled before sighing," Timmy found out that he was beating me up." She looked at them with sad eyes. "God… I miss him."
"Al…" the blonde whispered, holding her friend in her arms. A small silence ensued and was broken when the door opened again with a slam.
"Can't believe the traffic out there!!" Eric and Calleigh looked at each other, recognizing the voice. But before they could contemplate on anything, Ryan made his appearance to where they were.
"Damn, Horatio is so going to kill…" he trailed off, noticing the solemn surrounding and the lady Calleigh was holding in her arms. Alena looked at him, her eyes showing no emotion.
"Hi?" Ryan said in confusion.
"Ryan Wolfe?" Alena asked. Ryan nodded, not able to say anything. "Alena Richardson," she introduced herself.
"Pleased to meet you," he finally said, offering his hand for a shake. She looked at the hand, then at him.
"Can't say the same," she mumbled before walking past him.
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"She said that?" Horatio asked as the two slowly walked to the crime scene they were called to. Calleigh approached him when she came on the call. She was having a hectic and jumpy day as she became the one that had been preventing another confrontation of Ryan and Alena. And now, Horatio had called all of them to the crime scene. They had three dead bodies and a mansion to meticulously process.
"Al's not going to accept him in any way, H. She's stubborn."
"Doctor Gerald can agree with you on that one," H darkly mused. "We can't separate them for long. One time, I'm going to need them to work together." Calleigh gave him a look.
"You're already planning that, aren't you?"
"Calleigh, I thought you are a lawyer's daughter," Horatio said with a small smile before he headed out to the scene.
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At H's instructions, Alena took the master bedroom and began processing the scene. One of the bodies was found in the hallway, heading to the room. She had silently deduced that there was either something important in the room or the victim was looking for a safe spot. She swept her light at the floor, finding a few prints. She opened her kit and took out the electrostatic dust lifter. As she was collecting the prints, someone came into the room.
"Found something?" was the hopeful question from Ryan's voice.
"Didn't H give you a specific room to do?" she asked.
"He actually told me to work with you." Alena silently cursed at her new supervisor.
"Well, I'm fine. I'll deal with this room and you can grab a soda or something," she muttered. Ryan sighed.
"I'm just trying to help."
"Well, help me by disappearing," she shot at him. He blinked.
"Can't. I have a job to do," he said as he walked pass here, careful not to tamper with the floor, and found the walk-in closet. "You checked here?"
"I just got here," she muttered, looking at the closet. Before they could continue their unfriendly banter, they heard the distinct sound of a shuffle from the closet. Alena looked at Ryan, her hand on her gun holster. Ryan unbuttoned his holster, gripped his gun and nodded at her. He opened the closet, finding a scared little girl backing up in the closet. Ryan blinked before bending down.
"Hey," he said in a soft voice. The girl just backed up some more. "Don't be scared. I'm with the police." He took out his badge and showed it to her. "Come out from there." He offered his hand. Alena had stood up and watched as the girl took his hand and came out from the closet. When she spotted Alena, she hid behind Ryan.
"It's okay," Ryan said, looking at the girl," she's a friend." The girl moved away. Ryan squatted and smiled at her. "My name is Ryan. That's Alena. What's you're name?" After a long silence, she finally spoke.
"Kate."
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"Kate McCallum," Alena said as she stepped out of the mansion," Daughter of Andrew and Helen McCallum. The deceased couple." Ryan looked at her as he finished gathering evidence from the little girl who had trusted only him. "What was she doing in her parents' room?"
"She had a nightmare," Ryan stated, "and when little girls have nightmares, they run to mommy and daddy."
"Next time she has a nightmare, that's not going to happen," Alena said," And next time, don't lie to little girls." Ryan blinked.
"And how did I do that?"
"I'm not your friend." She walked off, leaving Ryan to watch her leave, a look of disbelief on his face. He sighed.
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She had asked for all the shoe and foot prints they collected from the scene. After she spent two hours sorting them out, she began comparing the shoeprints to the shoes in the market. An hour later, she was still looking through the long, long list.
"Come on… Everybody buys their shoes from somewhere…" she muttered.
"Alena." She turned to face Ryan again.
"Do you always have to make my day worse?" The CSI let her remark slide and faced her.
"The McCallum mansion prints that I ran through AFIS got a hit," he handed her the file. "Dylan Harrison or once known as the Barefoot Killer." Alena looked at the file then at Ryan.
"He was accused of that but it was never proven."
"You can," he pointed to the assorted footprints.
"With a rep like that, we're sure to have his footprint in the system," she said, coming with a good idea. She walked pass him and headed out of the lab. Ryan visibly slacked, slightly disappointed.
"Wolfe?" Alena said, popping her head at the entrance of the lab, smiling at him. Ryan perked up a bit. "Thanks. Can you go through the shoe prints for me?" Glad that they were getting somewhere, the CSI nodded.
"Sure," he said before turning to the pile of prints. "I'm such a sucker."
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"Not a match," Ryan groaned as he tapped at the last set of prints," I've got Versace, Adidas and market flip-flops but I can't match one stinking shoe!!" As he let out his exasperation, Eric stepped into the lab.
"Frustrated?" Ryan looked at him with an expression that said 'you think?' Eric smiled. "When you can't match the shoe to a U.S. market, go international."
"I did international. I'm thinking custom made shoes." Eric snorted. "What?"
"I used to know someone who had custom made shoes, said that it's a lot more comfortable than buying."
"Him?" Eric nodded slowly. "Wait, did he tell you where he made his shoes?"
"Where are you going with this?"
"A hunch." Eric looked through his wallet, remembering that he was given a card. He found it and handed it to Ryan.
"LaPoligia's. I'm heading there." He pressed 'print' on the computer and got the print that he wanted.
"Why?" The Cuban asked, curious with his theory.
"Custom made shoes usually means that the buyer decides what goes to his shoe… Like a car."
"So that's a unique shoe. But there are a lot of shoemakers out there."
"Well, all I need is this contact to find the others. Six degrees of separation," he said, smirking.
"One contact to know the world," Eric continued. Ryan nodded.
"Are you coming?"
"Nah… I've got a set of prints to run through AFIS."
"Okay, your loss."
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Horatio was about to head to ballistics when he bumped into Alena, who had a grin on her face. He knew from experience that this was good news.
"Dylan Harrison is your prime suspect."
"The Barefoot Killer?"
"Yes… He left his print that not only tied him to this case but all the other cases," the brunette said, still smiling.
"I'm tempted to say 'cool'," Horatio mused.
"Say it then."
"Cool." Alena laughed.
"That sounds weird from your mouth," she pointed out," Well, you've got a suspect. I've got to tell Wolfe that he's right."
"You talked to Ryan?"
"He pointed out the barefoot theory. I guess I owe him something," she said, smiling.
"Are you warming up to him?"
"Not really, H. But I can't hate him without knowing who he is first."
"It's only your first day, Al," Horatio reminded her. Alena gave him a look, not getting him.
"What's that got to do with anything?"
"Nothing. I have a suspect." With that, he left Alena with confusion etched on her face.
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"A nine mil and two forty-fives…" Calleigh muttered as she looked at the bullets from the two bodies. She had been waiting for Alexx to extract the bullets from all three bodies.
"Does it make sense to you?" Alexx asked as she continued with her autopsy.
"Not really… considering the McCallums got the forty-fives from the guy who had the nine mil," she sighed," And that I have one forty-five caliber gun with me and no nine mil."
"What about the husband and wife? Did you find a gun on them or near them?" Alexx asked, trying to help out.
"No… no gun in sight and we checked every part of that house. It doesn't make sense."
"Well, maybe finding out the other guy's identity would help. I passed his ten-card to Eric," Alexx sighed," He doesn't make sense either."
"Eric?" Calleigh asked in an amused lilt.
"Our third victim," Alexx said, walking to the next table," The marks on his feet indicate that he walked barefoot. And he didn't bring anything else but the clothes on his back…"
"…and a forty five," Calleigh continued," Maybe AFIS can get us something." There was a small silence before Alexx looked at the southerner again.
"I haven't seen her all day."
"Alena? Well, if you find a bug in your bodies, you will. You know how much she hates morgues," Calleigh pointed out. Alexx sighed.
"I want to see her. You don't know how much I miss her."
"I'm betting not as much as me," Calleigh said, smiling.
"We used to make fun of her a lot like little girls," Alexx said, reminiscing," And when we teased her about Timmy."
"Yeah…" Calleigh said, sighing," I can't imagine what's going through her mind. She really loved him."
"And he too." They settled into a small silence again. This time in their own reflections.
"Well, I better get back to work."
"Tell Alena to swing by," Alexx called out. Calleigh nodded.
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Horatio frowned at Eric's findings. Apparently, his suspect got a nine millimeter bullet wound and is lying in the autopsy room with Alexx. He sighed as he gathered his CSIs in the layout room.
"Let's begin from the start."
"Andrew and Helen McCallum were shot with a forty five caliber gun," Calleigh started.
"Which belonged to our third victim, Dylan Harrison," Eric said.
"Who was shot with an unknown nine mil that doesn't belong to our first two victims," Calleigh concluded.
"I can't find Wolfe anywhere," Alena said as she enters the layout room.
"He went on to Lapoligia's," Eric said offhandedly. Alena creased her eyebrows.
"Speed used to go there to make his shoes," she said," Why is Wolfe going there?"
"On a hunch. One of the shoe prints didn't match to any of the industrial footwear available on the market, so he guessed it's a custom," Eric explained.
"It could belong to our mysterious suspect," Calleigh pointed out. The brunette raised one of her eyebrows.
"We have another suspect?" Calleigh took the chance of explaining to her friend and colleague their findings. Alena frowned at most of it.
"But the McCallums' murder is solved," she said.
"On the 'who' part anyway," Eric pointed out," Not the 'why'."
"Strange," H mumbled as he looked through the case files.
"Yeah, I know, H," Eric said. The supervisor shook his head.
"No, it's strange because this isn't the Barefoot Killer's usual MO. Alena, you remember the case. What was his MO?"
"The Barefoot Killer's? Well, he chooses his victims by dividing the victim's age with their house number. If it's an odd number, he kills them."
"Right, what are the McCallums' ages?"
"Helen is twenty-seven. Andrew is thirty-four," Calleigh provided, looking at the file in front of her. Alena looked at their house number.
"Eight-two…" A quick mental calculation slapped her with realization. "None of them are perfect odd numbers!"
"This isn't part of his serial killing," Horatio said.
"What could it be?"
"A hit?" Eric suggested.
"But the McCallums aren't even that rich," Calleigh offered as insight.
"His MO wasn't even for rich," Alena pointed out," It's the thrill of a kill."
"So why did he kill the McCallums?" Eric asked.
"Maybe we should ask our only witness," H said, looking at Alena.
"Kate?" she said," If you want to interrogate Kate, don't look at me."
"Alright, I'll call Ryan," Horatio said," Is there anything else?"
"I'm still running the prints from the guest rooms through AFIS," Eric pointed out.
"Anything else?"
"Until I get a nine mil, H, I can tell you something," Calleigh pointed out.
"I'll run full background on Dylan Harrison," Alena offered.
"Guys, this is good work," H said," so far."
"Thanks, H," Alena replied. They dispersed a moment later with their respective work to be done.
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Horatio's call got him back as fast as he could. He wasn't making any progress at the shoemaker's as they didn't keep many records of their customers. They only recognized them by face. He wasn't that shocked but he managed to get a list of shoemakers available in the Miami-Dade area. He kept the list and headed back to the crime lab. Horatio waited for him with Kate in his office. Calleigh passed him a glass of milk on the way. As he entered, Kate McCallum sat up.
"Ryan!" she exclaimed. Ryan smiled at her before placing the cup of milk on the table.
"Hello, Kate," he greeted, sitting beside her at Horatio's desk.
"Mr. Caine said you'd come back. He also said you might want to ask me questions," the girl said. Ryan nodded.
"Yeah, I do want to ask you questions," he said," So let's get started. Kate, was there anybody staying at your house the day before I found you?" Kate thought for awhile before nodding.
"Do you remember who it was?"
"It was a man. Mommy called him Jerry."
"Kate, did you see what Jerry looked like?" The girl nodded again. "Can you remember?"
"I can't remember," she finally answered. Ryan looked at her before smiling.
"It's okay, Kate," he said, placing his hand on her head," Would you like to go for some ice-cream? My treat." The girl grinned. "Okay, wait outside. I need to talk to Mr. Caine for awhile." Obliging, she left the office, leaving Ryan with Horatio.
"She's taking a liking to you," Horatio noted.
"Is she staying with family?" Ryan asked.
"Her aunt and uncle are taking care of her in the Keys." Ryan took it in, sighing again.
"I couldn't find anything at Lapoligia's," he said," But they gave me a list of shoemakers."
"That will come in handy," the supervisor pointed out.
"Horatio… I don't really know whether this could lead anywhere. We're stuck. We didn't miss anything and still…"
"We need this Jerry's face. Maybe Eric's prints could lead somewhere."
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"Sorry, H," the Cuban apologized," Not a single Jerry in the list. The guest rooms had ten prints each minimum and nothing out of the ordinary from each print that hit AFIS." Horatio looked at the each catalogued result and sighed. Ryan was right. This case was hitting a dead end.
"What now, H?" Eric asked.
"We're at a dead end. There's nothing else we can do."
"So whoever killed Dylan Harrison is still out there?"
"We'll get him… just not now."
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Alena sat down in the break room, coffee mug in her hand. She took a sip of it before getting up. She walked down the hall and stopped at the one place she dreaded to go. Taking a breath, she pushed the morgue's door and entered. Alexx was cleaning the autopsy table when she entered.
"I was wondering when you were coming here," she mused. The brunette gave a small smile.
"The last time I was here, I ended up in a coma for three days," she said, sadness in her voice. Alexx turned to her. "Missed the funeral."
"Honey, it's not your fault."
"Alexx, how many times have you thought about how you could prevent it?" The ME sighed before touching Alena's hand.
"I never thought of it at all."
"What?" Alena asked, confused.
"In my mind, he's still here."
"So is mine," Alena mumbled before hugging Alexx. "Missed you, mama hen."
"Now, sugar. Why don't we catch up with each other during dinner?"
"Peter doesn't mind?"
"He'll understand," Alexx said.
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To Be Continued
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