12. BACK TO SCHOOL.

Frank Tripp and his men spent the whole night out in the open at Chekika campsite. It got chilly during the night, and the men kept themselves awake by drinking lots of coffee. They had set up their stake-outs in a wide circle around the Sante's cabin and the location where Horatio Caine had been found.

As Frank had predicted, however, none of the students showed up. The detective waited until six in the morning, then called it a night. They all went home, in order to get a few hours of quality sleep.

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"Morning," Eric Delko greeted his colleagues the next morning.

Alexx and Tim Speed were already in, sipping their coffee. "Morning," they said in unison.

"Have you been to the hospital yet?" Eric asked Alexx while he sat down at the same table.

The coroner shook her head. "I'm pretty sure Calleigh is going. I still have this autopsy to finish, so I figured I would stop by later today."

"Yeah, me too," Speed agreed. "So... how was he, really, Alexx?"

"Well... the good news is that he survived this ordeal. That's the most important step. With all of his injuries, it's now going to be a long road to recovery. But so far, it's looking good."

"He'll get cranky," Eric muttered, remembering another time, another place where things didn't quite go as planned.

"Me, too," Speed added. "The bureau is sending Lieutenant Willis as head of the crime lab for the time being. I don't know about you, but I prefer H above anything."

Alexx smiled. "Oh, we'll manage." She was going to say something else, but the phone interrupted her.

Speed answered it. "You are kidding?" he asked, mock surprise evident in his voice. "No, don't tell them anything. We'll talk this through here and then we'll probably come over." He paused, listening intently, then finished. "Okay. Thank you, sir."

"What was that?" Alexx wondered.

"That was Dean Hernandez," Speed said, a frown still etched on his face. "He called to inform us that Professor Metzger's class is back at the University, attending their next course that was scheduled for this morning. They're all there, minus Ned Sante, who has been called in sick. As we all know."

Eric's eyes spat fire. "Wanna go and pick the whole bunch up?"

"I'd love to," agreed Speed. "But that wouldn't be a smart move. Let's wait for Frank and decide what to do then."

"Good choice," nodded Alexx. "The poor man is probably still asleep. Didn't he spend the whole night at Chekika campsite? I bet the students didn't show up there."

"Nah," Eric said. "He wasn't really expecting them to. Okay, Speed. Let's finish that other murder case, it's nearly wrapped up. Then, when Frank comes in, we can concentrate on this one."

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Calleigh walked into the ICU early that morning. She'd slept for a couple of hours, then taken a quick shower and decided to go and see Horatio first before going to work.

When she entered his room, she found him awake, grimacing as he tried to shift into another position. He quickly replaced the grimace with a weak smile when he spotted her.

"Well, good morning to you," Calleigh brightly greeted him. "You're looking better than yesterday."

"I am?" he asked in a raspy voice.

Calleigh grinned. Studying him, she thought he looked like death warmed over, but, compared to yesterday, he was responsive, some color had returned to his cheeks, his breathing didn't make that awful wet noise anymore and the oxygen mask had been replaced by a nasal cannula.

She sat down on the same chair she'd spent many hours on the other day. "So... How are you feeling?"

"Honestly?" He barely managed to throw a look at her before his eyelids drooped shut, his eyes rolling slightly beneath them.

Calleigh bent forward, trying to determine if he'd drifted off, but then she heard him answering quietly. "Could be better."

"Hmmm," she chuckled, while grabbing his hand. "It could have been worse. You did come very close to dying, you know." She squeezed his hand, and noticed that he didn't return the gesture.

"I did, didn't I?" he asked softly. He stared at the long fingers that were clasping his hand.

"Yeah. Alexx said you're a real fighter," Calleigh responded. She gently stroked her thumb over the back of his hand. "Do you remember anything?"

"Only of..." Horatio didn't finish that sentence. "Other than that... only vague images... you found me."

"Actually, Alexx and Speed did. It was Speed's idea, they were following a wild guess that turned out to be the right choice."

"Good job." Concentrating on the conversation was difficult and he was already getting tired. He tried to respond to Calleigh's gesture by squeezing her hand back, but couldn't manage. It frustrated him, and he closed his eyes.

She felt a slight twinge of his fingers and suddenly remembered Dr. Stevenson and Alexx explaining yesterday about some possible nerve and muscle damage. "Oh, I completely forgot!" she blurted out, startling him. "I'm sorry, do you need anything? Can I get you some water?"

Without waiting for a response she simply grabbed the glass from the night stand and held it close to his mouth, pushing the straw between his lips.

He sipped, and licked his still dry lips. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Do you..." she hesitated, not sure if now was a good time to ask him. "Do you know who assaulted you?"

"They wore robes," Horatio said softly. He opened his eyes briefly and looked at her. "Their faces were covered."

"But it was the students, right?" Calleigh asked.

"I'd say so, but that isn't enough, is it?"

Calleigh bit her lip, then forced herself to smile at him. "No, but you always say that the evidence will tell the truth. We'll get them."

She sat, watching his eyes close once more. He was exhausted, and she could tell this brief conversation had completely worn him out. "You know, I still have lots to do in the lab. Why don't you go back to sleep for a while, and we will visit you in the afternoon, okay?"

He didn't answer. He was fast asleep again.

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Frank Tripp arrived somewhere around ten A.M., his eyes slightly swollen and dark circles under them from the lack of sleep. He took the cup of coffee, handed to him by Eric, with a thankful nod. "I needed that."

"Long night, huh?" Eric stated in sympathy.

"Yeah. We stayed until six this morning. Nothing happened." Tripp looked around. "So who's going to replace H?"

"Willis," Eric said. "He's coming tomorrow. We're to finish the other case we were on and then concentrate on this one." He motioned with his hand. "Come on. Let's get to the others."

Together, they entered the lab where both Calleigh and Speed were busy. They looked up, almost saying "good morning" at the same time.

"Hmm," commented Tripp, who hadn't decided yet how good the morning really was. "So, what's new?"

"I went to see Horatio this morning," Calleigh started with the most important news. "He was awake for a while, but talking was still too much effort. His breathing has much improved, however, so that's good news."

"I'm glad to hear that," Tripp said, throwing her a thankful smile.

"The bad news is that Horatio didn't see who attacked him. He said they wore robes, covering their faces."

"That's not good," Tripp's face showed frustration. "Did he tell you with how many they were?"

Calleigh shook her head. "He was already worn out by the conversation so I didn't ask. He drifted off to sleep. But Horatio's cell phone had the fingerprints of Jenny Connors on it. She's one of the students. That's something."

"Plus we've got Ned Sante's testimony," Speed added.

"Yes, but that's not enough," Tripp answered. "First, we found the cell phone somewhere else, so this lady could easily come up with an excuse. And Ned Sante... Liability, you know? The kid is falling apart under our noses. Imagine what would happen in court. I've sent him home."

"You did what?" Speedle couldn't believe what he just heard.

"I can't hold him, Speed. Was he really there? Was he there willingly, or did the others force him to watch? Who were the others? We only have his statement," Tripp explained.

"So we need more," Eric joined in. "The evidence will reveal the truth."

"Let's hope so," Frank agreed. "I'm pretty confident Ned Sante won't run."

"I've been working on those prints and hairs. The red hairs, as we expected, were H's. Some others matched Ned Sante, and his family. Then we still have some unidentified ones. The same goes for the prints from the cabin. What we need is a DNA sample and prints from the students," Speed told.

"Then we have some foot prints, so I guess we better go and start looking for matching boots," Eric continued. "And guess what? The kids are back at the University, attending the next class."

"What?" Tripp looked up, surprised.

Speed gave an affirmative nod. "Yeah, really. Dean Hernandez called us this morning to tell us. You wanna go and bring them in?"

"What we need, and will do, is bring them in," Tripp agreed, then shook his head briefly, his eyes shooting fire. "What I want is another matter."

"Oh," Calleigh called out as she suddenly remembered something. "And I've got this piece of evidence." She held out the small plastic bag with a tiny piece of dark red material in it. "This is what we got from the hospital. Apparently, this was embedded in Horatio's back."

"Okay. Find out what it is," Tripp ordered. "Speed, can you finish that murder case by yourself this morning? We don't want to piss off Willis on his first day..." He waited for Speed's nod, then turned to Eric. "You and I are going to Cabrerra University and pick up some students. We won't tell them that we found Horatio, let alone that he survived. Shall we?"

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The first student in the interrogation room was Mitchell Robins. He was seated on one side of the table, while Eric sat opposite to him. Frank Tripp remained standing.

"So, Mister Robins. Why did you miss class yesterday?" Eric started the conversation.

"We... we were camping. We all agreed the class planned for that day wasn't appealing enough for us to return, so we stayed another day."

"We? Who is we?" Eric asked.

"Well, me and the other students from our class."

"You mean all students from Professor Metzger's class?"

"Yes."

"Including Ned Sante? I understood he called in sick?"

"Yes. He was also with us. Why? Is skipping class a crime?" The younger man shot a challenging look across the table.

"No. And we'll ask the questions," Tripp interrupted sharply.

Mitch shrugged.

"Where's this campsite?" Eric continued his questioning.

"Larry and Thompson campground."

"Can anybody confirm your presence?" Tripp wanted to know.

Mitch leaned back in his chair, as if thinking for a second. "Well, yeah. The campsite's owner... We did have to pay him, you know."

"When did you arrive there?"

"Err... we left straight after class on Tuesday... around four or five in the afternoon."

"And you stayed there until...?" Eric questioned.

"We drove back to the University early this morning. Yesterday night we had a big barbeque party, with a volleyball game. We stayed up kinda late. Why?"

"Have you left the campsite at any time?" Eric ignored the younger man's question and continued with his own.

"No. Well, yes. We, that's Ginny and I, we went grocery shopping yesterday morning. There's this local supermarket close-by... we picked up some stuff for the barbeque," Mitch explained.

"Do you also camp at other areas?" Frank again joined in, changing the subject.

"Well, yeah."

"Well?" Tripp looked at the suspect. "What areas?"

"Err... We did camp at Chekika campground. You know, Ned, one of the other students... his parents have a cabin there and they let us use it. But that area is closed now, due to the high water."

"When was the last time you went there?" Eric demanded.

"Before the heavy rain fall, I guess. Must have been two weeks ago. Then there's the Long Pine Key campground, we've been there as well. Look, can you at least tell me why I'm being questioned like this?"

"We have a missing police officer, and we have reason to believe that you and your friends have something to do with his disappearance," Frank explained without revealing too much.

"What?" Mitch asked, the surprise in his voice sounding legitimate. "I'm sorry to hear that, Detective. But I've got nothing to do with anybody's disappearance."

"Good," Tripp said briskly. "In that case you won't mind that we take a DNA sample from you, plus some fingerprints and we're also going to need a print of your shoes."

"Err... if that's what it takes to rule me out as a suspect," Mitch said, hesitation in his voice. "Sure."

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