Left Undone
Chapter 9 Looking for answers
A/N: Thanks guys for your fab reviews, I'm glad that you all like this story. It has taken a life of its own now, and I'm powerless to stop it!
Calleigh stood near the door, peering at the hole that the bullet left. She mentally calculated the size of the hole as she shined her torch at it.
" Well, I can tell you that the door was closed when the bullet was shot. He must've been standing in front of it," Calleigh said as she looked from the outside then back to the inside. " Bullet hole looks like a big caliber. Possibly from a revolver."
"So no shells?" Horatio asked as he surveyed the room. With the exception of the blood pool, the room was intact, telling him that robbery was not a motive.
" No shells. Our only luck will be to find the bullet. If it's still here. I'll go look around."
Horatio nodded as he then turned his attention to Delko who was printing the room. The young Cuban squinted his eyes as yet another surface came up clean for prints.
"H, there's something not right here. This is way too clean," Delko said as he put down his tools in frustration. " I mean , the computer is on, so obviously, he was working on something, yet I can't get any prints."
" Which means that this man wasn't alone in the house. Take the computer, maybe we can find something on it to help us figure out what went down here," Horatio said as he put his hands on his hips. He glanced down at the floor and saw a piece of paper. Crouching down, he picked up the paper with a gloved hand and opened it. Horatio closed his eyes then opened them again, to make sure that he wasn't seeing things. It was a clipping from a newspaper, with a picture of Speed and the vic smiling , it seemed, at the action going on around them.
Wolfe noticed Horatio staring at the paper, and walked up to him, holding the camera to the side, " Horatio, what do you have there?"
" Um, it seems that Speed knew the vic," he answered softly. It was known that CSIs regularly got too involved with a case, and they would keep tabs on the vics , to make sure that their lives had gotten back on track. Horatio admired them for their passion, but he didn't condone it. He had been on the job for too long, seeing too many families torn apart by senseless acts of violence to take each and every case to heart. He figured that time would give his young CSIs the experience that they needed to look at each case objectively.
" He what?" Calleigh asked as she heard his name.
" He apparently knew the intended vic. I have a newspaper clipping with him pictured with the victim, Malcolm Highsmith. It looks pretty old."
Calleigh thought about the name and immediately knew, " He met him on a B&E case some years back. He said that he just wanted to make sure that he was doing well. Malcolm owns a antique music shop, Tim brought Timothy's drum set from him. But that's all that I know about it."
" This picture looks like it was taken during a festival of some kind," Wolfe said as he peered over Horatio's shoulder. " You sure that 's all he did with this guy?"
" I said that's all I know , didn't I Ryan?" Calleigh asked with fury building up in her voice. She was hurt by Tim's posthumous deception. She knew nothing more of Malcolm Highsmith than she did at that moment.
" Alright, I was just asking. Do you think Cynthia can get a date off of the picture?" Wolfe asked as Horatio stood.
" We will have to see. Wolfe, continue to canvas the living room. Eric, go upstairs and print the room. Something's going on here, and I want to know what," Horatio said as he walked out. He had to get to the hospital. Riley could be in danger.
TSJ
Riley paced outside the emergency room bay, tears streaming down her face. She couldn't bear to lose her father, he was the only thing she had left. Timothy watched her from a distance, letting her have her space. If there was anything he knew, it was that at a moment like this, no one wanted to be crowded.
" Timothy, do you want to see him?" Calleigh asked tearfully as they stood outside the autopsy theater. Alexx had let them have sometime before she began to perform the autopsy, and Calleigh had already been in to say her final goodbyes.
Timothy eyed the doors as if they were going to jump out and eat him up. He couldn't move, he couldn't speak, he fought to remain breathing. Behind those doors, his father lain on the cold slab, dead. He started to shake his head then closed his eyes and moved to the door. Pushing it open, he instantly felt the chill of the room as the faint smell of antiseptic wafted through, assaulting his nostrils and threatening to overturn his stomach contents. He felt his mother behind him, guiding him with a light hand positioned on his shoulder.
"Are you sure about this, Junior?" Calleigh said tearfully.
Timothy just nodded his head and walked forward slowly. Coming to the slab, he saw his father, his face pale and splattered with blood, eyes closed. It looked to Timothy's fourteen year old eyes that his father was merely sleeping, but seeing the splotches of red that covered his father's blue shirt, he knew that he was far from a peaceful sleep. Timothy's eyes hung on the ragged tearing of where the bullet had penetrated his father's chest. He adverted his eyes long enough for the tears to burst forward, then set his gaze on his father's still face. When he couldn't take anymore, he turned and fled , pushing through the doors. His mother followed and hovered over him in the corridor. All he wanted was to be alone, he didn't want her to be here suffocating him. All he wanted was to be left alone...
The doors to the emergency bay opened loudly and a young doctor came through with a haggard look on his face. Timothy went to Riley's side as he saw the doctor turn to her. His heart plunged as he saw the expression that the doctor wore and he grasped at Riley's hand as she held on to Timothy's waist.
" Doctor, how is..."
" He's unresponsive. We were able to stabilize him long enough to get the bullet out of his chest without doing any harm, but he lost a lot of blood. He required a transfusion to replenish what was lost. We now have to wait and see what happens. He will be taken to a room within an hour," the doctor reported as he flipped the chart down.
"Unresponsive? What does that mean? Timothy..." Riley said as she clutched at his waist more. Her voice cracked under the stress.
" It means, Ms.Highsmith, that your father is in a coma," the doctor stated in a soft tone. " He may come out of it today or weeks even months from now. We just don't know."
" Is there anything else you can do?" Timothy asked as he put a comforting arm around her shoulders. She had turned her head into his chest and wept softly.
" Nothing at this time. He has been through a serious trauma, and most likely, we won't see a response for a while, but like I said, we have to wait and see."
Timothy nodded and spoke, " Thanks doc."
The doctor took his leave as Timothy turned to Riley. He lifted her chin up and gazed into her light blue eyes, seeing the devastation that was taking root there. He couldn't let her go down that path, the one he himself had traveled. It was a lonely path, and she didn't deserve to go through it.
"Riley, he's going to be okay," Timothy said as he smiled lightly.
" I want to think that , Timothy, but I know that he probably won't wake up. He's gone," Riley said as she dropped her head.
"Don't say that, you don't know..."
" I've seen this before," Riley interrupted. There was something that she was keeping from him and as she focused on his warm brown eyes, she knew that it would tear him apart to know her secret. But the time had presented itself and she had to deal with it. " Walk with me, Timothy."
Timothy felt the heaviness of the moment and obliged quickly. When they got to a secluded spot, she sat down on a bench and motioned for him to sit as well.
" There are things that I have to tell you Timothy. Things that you might not like..."
TSJ
Horatio sat at the light deep in thought. There was something about the placement of the clipping that just wasn't right. Why was it that Calleigh didn't know about Malcolm? He pondered on that more as he heard the phone at his side ring. Without hesitation, he picked it up and spoke into it, "Caine."
" H, you'd never guess what we've found," Eric said with a hint of surprise in his voice.
" Well?"
" I dusted the upstairs room and study for prints, getting a good amount. Then I came to a room with a piano in it. Found one set on the keys."
"Okay, so you found fingerprints. Most likely Malcolm's."
" This is where it gets tricky. I scanned the prints from the bedroom and ran them through AFIS. Everyone of them came back with a fed number."
" They what?"
" They came back with a fed number. H, this family was in the witness protection program. And there's more. The prints on the piano,... Came from a police officer."
"Police officer? That's odd," Horatio said as the light turned green.
" It's Speed's."
Horatio almost ran into the back of a minivan when he heard his name. How could this be possible?
" Speed's... But how?"
" I don't know, but I haven't told Calleigh anything, she's downstairs still processing the door,"Eric returned as he let the air rush out of his lungs. He had been unaware that he was even holding his breath, feeling a sense of relief then anger as Tim's photo popped up on the screen of his computer.
" Okay, Eric , this is what we have to do. First , you delete the files that you pulled up, then you get that evidence back to the lab, and lastly keep it quiet. Don't even tell Wolfe. There's something amiss here."
" You got it H," Eric said as he hung up the phone. Horatio took a moment to gather himself. Could it be that Speed was alive?
TSJ
" Several years ago, I was living in New Jersey with my mom. One night, I went to the store for her and I just happened to pass by this corner where the hoodlums hang , and I was stopped by one of them. He harassed me, and I managed to keep going. As I looked back, I saw a man step up to him and shoot him point blank. I didn't know if he saw me, but I ran. The next day, the police come to my door, or so I thought, and just started to ransack the place. I could hear my mother as she screamed at them. She had put me in the kitchen, telling the 'police' that I was out, but I pushed the door opened some and I saw them when they... Shot her."
Timothy sat and watched Riley as she confronted her past, seeing the relief of finally being able to let it out. He grasped her hands and held on to them to show his support ,and she smiled at him through her tears.
" I got out through the fire escape and I ran. I didn't know where to go. My mother had been murdered in front of my face and my father had died years earlier. The only thought that I had was to call his brother."
" Malcolm."
" Yes, Malcolm. He's an FBI agent. I told him about what was happening, and he came and got me, and took me home. Apparently, I had witnessed a mob hit and now they were looking for me. Malcolm kept me hidden, sending me to Syracuse to live with a family ."
When she said Syracuse, Timothy's eyes went wide as silver dollars. He had a feeling that even though he was clueless, he already knew what was going on.
" Mrs. Speedle worked for child protective services and she knew Malcolm from when he worked in New York, so it was the perfect place. I stayed there for almost a year, before the trial came around. While I stayed there, I met your father, and your uncle. They were both so nice to me, especially your father. He and Malcolm had also known each other, they went to the same highschool."
"Small world," Timothy said quietly, trying to take all of this in. She was a connection to his father.
" Yeah, tell me about it. So, after the trial, which resulted in the conviction of the guy who put the hit out, I was put into witness protection. Malcolm was assigned to me, and I assumed a new name, and a new life here in Miami, courtesy of your father."
" He brought you down here?"
" Well, not necessarily. He had been working with the Feds about my case and requested that they send me here where he could keep a better eye on me. I guess he felt like I was his little sister or something."
" He always said that grandma's job provided him with many brothers and sisters," Timothy said as he looked up at her. His eyes misted over at the thought of him.
" He looked after both me and Malcolm, even when the shop was broken into. That's when things started to go south. A few days after the break in, he came into the store to buy a drum set. That was the day that we found out that the mob guy had ties to Miami. Tim couldn't tell us who, but he said that it was probably someone closer to my age. So he just told us to be on the look out. He also told us that his family was being watched as well. Time passed then September 2013 happened. The day before he told us that he was going away for a while, to throw suspicion away from his family. He didn't tell us how it was going to happen , just that it was going to. He didn't come back , and I never knew about what had happened until you told me. That's why I was so emotional when you first told me about it. Remember?"
Timothy nodded as he remembered telling her for the first time how he had lost his father. He sat back and closed his eyes, unable to soak all of this in. His father died protecting him and his mother from an unseen enemy ,one that they never knew existed.
" He came to see me."
" He what?" Timothy asked as he sat up sharply.
" He came to see me. That day after Cooper came at me from behind. He told me that he had heard some rumblings about a hit going down. For us to be safe. That's when I told him about us," Riley said as she looked into his eyes. Understanding eyes had evaporated into eyes of confusion.
" Are you trying to tell me that my... my father's alive?" Timothy asked , himself now on the verge of tears.
" Yes, Timothy... Your father is alive..."
Timothy was about to say something when he heard the squealing of tires. Seeing the black car, his instincts took over and he grabbed Riley and pulled her behind the bench as a hail of gunshots filled the air. Timothy covered Riley with his body as he heard the shells fall to the ground, instantly recognizing the sound of the gun. It was a semi-automatic nine mm. He knew this because of the countless times he sat in his mother's office while she tested her guns. He continued to shield her until he heard the shots stop. In an instant, he heard the squealing of the tires again as the car pulled off. He tried to get up , but something was hindering him from doing so. He put his hands on a hot spot on his leg, and pulled it away to see that it was indeed blood. Struggling to move, he saw Riley as she closed her eyes, slowly.
" Riley! Riley," Timothy said as he finally was able to get off of her. He moved her to see a red spot quickly forming at her side. As the security guards and doctors filed out of the emergency room, Timothy felt a rough pair of hands on him. He looked up to see who it was, but he couldn't keep his eyes open. " Ri... Riley's hurt."
" She's going to be fine ,son. So are you," a familiar voice said.
Timothy tried to hold on to that voice, but he felt himself slipping into darkness.
TBC...
A/N: What happened? You 'll have to wait and see dontcha:)