Chapter 6
Disclaimer: Same as before. Mild language and violence.
Summary: Case is back in full swing as the CSI's get closer to finding Calleigh, but will they be too late?...
Chapter 6
Walking. Feeling a sense of dread as he passed the old model Ford, he proceeded to step onto the porch. The door was left open and he could see the partial view of the foyer, blood stains were everywhere. He stepped around the bloodstains, careful not to disturb the crime scene. He looked back to see if anyone else was coming, he could've sworn that Eric had ridden with him here. He then took a right turn into the living room. It was filled with antique furniture and smelled of moth balls. He scanned the room quickly deducting that noone had lived here in years. He walked on , coming to a door. He opened the door slowly to see a body covered in a sheet, the sheet was covered in blood. He lifted the sheet to reveal her face. Her eyes that were once sparkling, were now empty. Her long blond hair that he had caressed so many nights ago was cut drastically short. Tears rose in his eyes, as he knelt to hold her. He had found her, but he was too late.
S/C
Speed awoke with a start, causing the dull pounding in his head to burst forth full blast, the memories of the dream playing on his conscience. He felt moisture on his cheek. He had been crying. He winced in pain as he turned his head to see Alexx sitting next to the bed , looking at the television, but not actually watching it. Alexx heard Speed as he sat up in the bed.
" Timmy! You're awake. You gave us a scare there for a minute," Alexx said putting a comforting hand on his leg.
" What happened?" Speed asked still wincing. His head hurt like hell.
" What do you remember?"
" I got a package, we went to ballistics to open. It gets foggy after that," Speed said .
" You fainted. You had a deep laceration to the back of your head, which required you to get stitches - thirty five to be exact," Alexx explained in her professional tone.
" Fainted? Was the package biological?"
Alex didn't want to get him upset , but she felt like he should know, " No, not in the sense you are talking about. There was hair and blood. A lot of both. Horatio called two hours ago to give me an update. The hair had been cut with scissors so there wasn't any way to get a DNA sample. But the blood was a match to Calleigh. They were able to compare to her medical records. The blood had just began to coagulate so that means that she could still be alive. There was another sample found as well, perp cut himself in the process. They were still running it in CODIS and AFIS."
Speed took in the information quietly. Someone felt the need to let them know that Calleigh was still alive . He sat in thought for a moment , not lifting his eyes off of the white sheet. Without notice, he threw the sheet off of him and moved to get up.
" Speed, where do you think you are going? You need to take it easy. You have a head injury."
"Alexx, I can't just sit here while some maniac has Calleigh. He's talking to me. I'm going to talk back," Speed replied gingerly standing up. He stumbled slightly as his head swam. " Where are my clothes?"
" You are staying here. The doctor wants to observe you overnight," Alexx returned , shooting him a steely look.
Speed held his head as he attempted to walk forward. Normally he wouldn't defy Alexx, but this wasn't a normal situation. He put a foot out then lost his balance. Alexx got up quickly and helped him back into bed.
" Men. So stubborn. I told you to take it easy. Tomorrow , you can return back to the lab. For now , rest. You are going to need your strength , if you want to find her," Alexx replied softly. "It's important that you do that."
Speed glanced at Alexx, seeing her demeanor change. " There's something you are not telling me. What is it?"
" Speed..."
"Alexx! What is it?"
" The blood showed high concentrations of folic acid..."
" She's pregnant?" Speed asked his voice choked with despair.
" Yes. So now you know why you should take it easy and get right. She's going to need you. Rest. I will stay with you."
" Thanks , Alexx," Speed said softly. He retreated into his thoughts. A baby. Calleigh was pregnant with his child. The situation just turned worse.
S/C
Horatio peered into the microscope, focusing on the hair that laid under it. The blood had came back as Calleigh's and it also yielded more information, she was pregnant. The case had been put on the front burner again and Horatio delegated his team to look further into the details of the case. He noticed a fine dust on the hair. He took to piece of hair and cut a section off. As he was doing this, Eric walked in.
" H, I got Calleigh's phone records. I'm surprised at what we missed."
" Which was?" Horatio asked quietly. He didn't want to admit it, but the ball had been dropped in this case, which he attributed to the fact that they were so close to her.
" There are several calls, one hundred and fifty to be exact, from one number to Calliegh's home. They didn't last more than five minutes, which is why it didn't send up a red flag."
" Sounds like a stalker. Got a location?"
" Yeah, a restaurant called the Bistro. It's on Collins. Speed and I went there for lunch."
" Good. Take Tripp and ask around. Someone at the Bistro had eyes for Calleigh."
" I'm all over it, H. Also, the hair that was recovered from the tail pipe matched the sample of blood that was found among Calleigh's. Whoever called her from the restaurant, followed her to her house," Eric replied sighing heavily.
" Alright, here's what we do. You and Frank go talk to the manager and the employees. Make sure to take notice if someone has quit or gotten fired within the last six weeks. I'm going to talk to a witness," Horatio said as he got up from the microscope. He called in a trace technician to take over for him on the hair samples, then left the CSI building, heading for the hospital.
S/C
"Mr. Sampas, can you tell me if you have fired anyone within the last six weeks?" Eric asked as they sat in a small office in the rear of the restaurant.
" It's a restaurant. People get fired all the time. Mainly for stupid reasons."
" Like , for say, making personal phone calls while on the clock?" Tripp asked.
" No. Noone's done that recently."
" Mr.Sampas, we've traced over one hundred and fifty calls from this number to a missing detective. It's hard to believe that you miss someone making that amount of phone calls," Eric replied.
" I said noone's done that recently. About a month or so ago, I caught one of our bus boys using the phone. He said he was calling to check up on a family member. I just told him to make his calls off the clock. We provide a pay phone out back by the smoking area."
" What's the name of the bus boy?" Tripp asked cooly.
" Therrin. Therrin Mackinzie. Surely you're not thinkin' he had anything to do with this detective's disapperance . Therrin's harmless. He couldn't harm a fly."
" The investigation is on going. You think that we could take a look at his locker?" Eric asked. Something was telling him he had just caught a break.
" I-I don't know. Don't you have to have his permission or something?"Sampas replied uneasily.
Eric looked at Tripp who was flipping his cell phone up. He then asked, " Is Therrin working today?"
" Yeah, but he is on break right now. The break room is around the corner."
" Thanks, Mr.Sampas. You've been a real help," Tripp added as he hung up the phone. He then turned to Eric saying, " A warrant is on the way. Let's go talk to Mr. Mackinzie."
"Let's", Eric replied with a slight smile on his face.
S/C
Horatio opened the door to the room to see Alexx resting her head next to Speed as he slept. He knew that Alexx and Speed had a special relationship, and he smiled at the scene. Mother protecting her child. He walked softly and touched Alexx lightly on her shoulder, waking her gently.
"Horatio?"
" How's he doing?" Horatio asked watching his chest fall and rise with each breath.
" He's ok. He tried to leave earlier ,but he thought better about it. I told him about the blood test. He didn't take it too well. The doctor gave him some valium to calm him down."
" How long has he been out?"
"About three hours. Why?"
" We got several leads in the case. I need to talk to him about one of them," Horatio said . His eyes fell on Speed once again. He saw as Speed began to open his eyes.
" Horatio?" Speed asked quietly. " What's going on?"
" Developments. Blood from the unknown sample matched the hair found on Calleigh's jeep. And her phone records maintain that she was getting phone calls , one hundred fifty of them, from a restraunt called the Bistro. I sent Eric and Tripp to go talk to the manager and employees But I want to see if you remember anything ."
Speed thought for a minute then spoke, " There was this bus boy, Therrin. He was always around when we came in. He paid Calleigh special attention and ignored me as if I wasn't even there. Calleigh was nice to him. She saw sadness in him."
" Did you notice any change in him after Calleigh disappeared?" Horatio asked.
" I stopped going. But , I took Eric there yesterday, and he seemed to be on cloud nine. Are you thinking that Therrin could've taken her?"
"I don't know Speed. This is all circumstantial right now. We'll have to see what Eric and Tripp turn up," Horatio replied. He realized that time was ticking and the chances of finding Calleigh were diminishing each moment.
S/C
Eric walked into the locker room behind Sampas holding the warrant that had just been delivered. When Sampas stopped at the locker, Eric handed him the warrant.
" If you'll excuse me, Mr. Sampas. I'll need you to step back while I excute the warrant," Eric said dropping his field kit.He noticed the combination lock on the locker. " You have the combination?"
" No . It's Therrin's personal lock."
" Well, we are going to have to cut it open. Can you tell me why he is the only one who has a lock on his locker?"
" No idea. We have zero tolerance for theft. Most of the employees trust each other."
" Well, let's just see what Mr. Mackinzie has to hide," Eric replied pulling out the bolt cutters. In seconds he had the lock off. He opened the door . He looked at Sampas then back at the locker.
"Mr.Sampas, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Eric said pulling out his mag light. He watched as Sampas left shaking his head. Eric then began to sort through the items. He found several pictures of Calleigh doing her daily living; grocery shopping , washing her car, walking in the park with Speed. He also had pictures of Calleigh at crime scenes. He also found strands of light hair that had blood stains on it. He bagged the hair, then kept looking. He found several notebooks with dates on them. He flipped through a notebook, his eyes catching an entry. It was dated almost two months ago.
23march03
Today, she came in wearing my favorite blouse. She wore her hair in a ponytail, I like it better down. She didn't talk to me much today. Could be because that prick of a boyfriend has her attention. He touched her on her hands. He smiled at her. I've got to do something. Calleigh Duquense loves me ,not him. Not him.
Eric continued to flip further into the journal. This entry was dated last night.
24 may 03
I hated that I had to cut her long beautiful hair, but I had to. I had to throw that prick off. He saw the necklace that I got from Calliegh as she slept. I didn't mean to cut her, but I got so mad when I thought about him. She got sick on the bed. I left her in it. I was so disgusted at her. It took me all night to wrap the package. I didn't go to sleep until late. There was so much blood in the bed. I hope she's okay when I get home.
" Delko!" Frank said from behind him.
"Huh?"
" Our boy Therrin's in the wind. He bounced out of here like a jack rabbit, after he talked to the manager. What did you find?"
"The jackpot. Therrin Mackinzie is definitely our kidnapper. I got to get all of this evidence bagged. Can you call Horatio and let him know what's going on?" Eric asked as he closed the journal. " We need to find Therrin, and quick. Calleigh's life depends on it."
TBC...