"It was a small kaliber, a 2,23. I think either a Winchester 70 or a Remington 700." Calleigh was filling Horatio in about her latest analysis on the bullet that had killed the little kid.
"But you said you had some bad news for me as well." He stemmed his hands on his hips and eyed her over his sunglasses which he hadn´t taken off yet.
"Yes, unfortunately the bullet must have been covered with a plastic coating, and therefore the barrel left no striations on it for me to trace the weapon."
"Okay...so we´re dealing with a pro."
"Not exactly. Although the guy is smart enough to use untraceable bullets, Eric and me traced the flight of the bullet and ended up with a window exactly opposite the restaurant. Right up that hotel that´s being renovatedaccross the crime scene. Eventhough he wasen´t so far away from his target, the shooter must have still been someone that trains a lot, to be able to fire a shot like that, but he was not a pro in that matter. A pro would concider that too easy a shot."
"But he might be someone who´s learing." Calleigh nodded in agreement. "Good. Thanx Calleigh, good job."
„Hi Horatio! It´s good that you´re calling, I needed to speak to you anyway about tonight."
"Cathrine, about tonight...I, I think I can´t make it."
"Oh, why not?"
"I think I need some time for myself."
"That bad, eh?"
"Well, yeah."
"Hm...ok, how about we don´t go out for dinner then. I mean, I am a bit dissappointed you know...cuz it was my turn to take you out tonight. You know what I had planned?"
"Don´t tell me, otherwise I´ll feel evenmore guilty Cathrine."
"Good, so I´m gonna tell you...I wanted to take you to this restaurant that serves their customers directly at the beach, and then I planned to take you on a nice little walk along the beach afterward, like at the first time we met."
"Cathrine..."
"But you know...that´s okay. I have another idea, one that won´t need you do anything for it."
"Cathrine, I really don´t know if I´m up for that."
"Trust me. You won´t have to do anything."
It was past 7 p.m., and Horatio was waiting for Cathrine to arrive. On the outside he seemed his usual calm self, but on the inside he was nervous like a little child on it´s first school day, that was hoping that it would make some friends right at the beginning. He hadn´t had anyone over for a long, long time. Not even Ray Jr. and Yelina, let alone a woman. He wondered how Cathrine would like his home, the orderly house it was. His ex-wife hadn´t wanted it after their divorce, and they hadn´t been living in it that long for any special memories to occur in it, so there wasen´t anything left that reminded Horatio of that time in his life.
Cathrine hadn´t told him anything about her plans for that night, just told him to expect her around 7. The case was just driving him nuts and he needed some time to relax and not concentrate on anything. Just be fed with information he didn´t need to respond to, so he hoped that Cathrine knew what she was doing. Otherwise he was going to blame the pressure he would have the next days, on her.
His doorbell rang, and he went over to it to let her in.
"Hello there, tired mind." She stood up on her tiptoes and gave Horatio a peck on his cheek.
"What was that for?"
"For looking gorgeous." Cathrine thought she wasen´t seeing right, but she caught a hint of a blush.
´Pull yourself together!´Horatio thought to himself. Calleigh called him ´´Handsome´´ all the time. ´But Cathrine is not Calleigh´.
"So, here I am, and I made Persian Rice with Cranberries, and Chicken with pepper-cream sauce. I hope you´ll like it. Where´s your kitchen?" Horatio pointed towards his right. "Thank you." She carried the food to the kitchen counter and started tofind her way around the kitchen. He came over to give her a hand, but she took him by the arm and pulled him into the livingroom.
"No no, no helping tonight mister. You just sit here," she pushed him onto his couch and handed him the remote that was lying on the table. "And watch the news, while I serve the food." That said, she walked back to the kitchen, and Horatio heard her rummaging around in it for another 10 minutes, until she returned with two plates of steaming dinner.
"Should we go sit at the table?" He asked.
"You wanted to be lazy tonight, so we´ll be lazy." Cathrine handed him his plate and some silverware, and then took her own meal onto her lap. Horatio followed all her movements with a stare of awe, an then started laughing so hard, he had to put his plate back on the table so he wouldn´t spill the food all over the floor. Cathrine looked at him dumbstruck. "WHAT!"
He shook his head from side to side, "I didn´t know you could be so demanding Cathrine."
She broke into a laugh as well, "I didn´t know that either til now. There´re quite a lot of things I found out about myself since I met you." He looked at her, trying to figure out what she meant. But before he could capture one clear thought, she went back to her plate, reminding him that he hadn´t started his meal yet. They ate quietly together while watching the evening news, and after she had finished her dinner last, Cathrine took the two empty plates and brought them into the kitchen. She came back with a video tape in her hand.
"Oh, so what are we watching?" he asked.
"Since you´ve hinted to me on the phone, that you didn´t want anything too demanding tonight, besides me i guess, I thought that, may be, we could watch ´The Fellowship of the Ring´ together. You´ve seen it already?"
"No."
"Good. It´s one of my favorite."
When the credits played, and Horatio was about to get up to turn on the lights, he realized that Cathrine had fallen asleep on his shoulder. He didn´t know what to do, how to react. She looked so peacefull, with her hair covering half of her face, her mouth slightly agape. Her lips shimmered a deep red in the dim ligth of the TV, and Hortio was earnestly concidering to kiss Cathrine right then and there. But he didn´t. He was a man of control, and he didn´t want to lose it in a situation like that. And he also didn´t want to face the consequenses of an unthoughtful act like this one. So instead, he took hold of her arm, and gently shook her.
Cathrine slowly openen her eyes and took a look around the room.
"Oh, I´m sorry. Did I fall asleep?"
"Yes you did."
"Sorry."
"No need to excuse yourself."
She smiled at him and got up from her seat. "I guess it must be late then."
"You´re right. It´s 12:30."
"Oh, I didn´t mean to keep you awake that long. The movie was too long, eh?"
"A little, but that´s okay. I liked it."
"Really? Good. I´ll be going then." Cathrine walked over to the kitchen to get her stuff, and then was accompanied to the door by Horatio.
"Thank you for coming over. I thought tonight really relaxing."
"Yes? Good...Sorry."
"For what?"
"For saying ´good´all the time."
"No, that´s...good."
She laughed, causing her lips to part slightly, and Horatio couldn´t resist any longer and kissed her full on the mouth.
