Thanks to everyone who reviewed. As usual, please R+R!
Sorry it took me so long to write this chapter, it was horrendously difficult. I hope I've kept everyone in character.
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"Speed?"
"Yeah?"
"Have you seen Horatio at all? He left a few hours ago,"
"No. Have you tried calling him?"
"No answer,"
"I'll try calling from here,"
"Okay. Thanks,"
"Bye Calleigh,"
Speed flicked through the numbers on his phone until he got to Horatio's.
Beep beep…
Beep beep…
"Yeah?" A voice. Male, but definitely not Horatio.
"Who are you?"
"Who're you?" Laughter. Speed could almost smell the beer.
"How did you get this phone?"
"You must be friends with the guy I've got locked in my basement. Well I've got news f'r you, he's not goin' anywhere. 'Cept maybe six feet under," More laughter. Speed tried to keep his voice steady.
"What do you want? Why did you take him?"
"Hey wait! How do I know you're not trackin' this call?"
"I'm-" Beep. They had hung up.
Speed tried calling again, but Horatio's phone had been switched off. He dialled in another number.
"Crime lab,"
"Calleigh. We've got a problem…"
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It was dark. His head hurt.
Horatio sat up carefully. Nothing broken. Hopefully he wasn't bleeding either, but it was hard to tell in the pitch black.
"You're awake,"
A statement, not a question. Someone who had had nothing better to do than wait.
"Who are you?" he asked. The floor seemed to be concrete. He felt around until his fingers brushed against brick.
"Christine,"
"Christine Hamlyn?" He shouldn't be surprised, really. Who else would be hanging around the crime scene than Mr Ralph Garroway?
"How did you know that?"
"I'm investigating your disappearance," Horatio laughed. Ironic really.
"What's so funny?"
"I told your daughter I'd find you," he might have said more, but was interrupted by a sudden barrage of questions from Christine.
"You've seen Lily? Is she alive? Is she safe? Who's looking after her? Has Ralph hurt her?
"She's fine. She's got a foster mother at the moment,"
Silence. Then, after a moment,
"Thankyou,"
"You're welcome,"
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"What do you mean, Horatio's gone missing?"
"I tried his phone. Some random guy answered, said he had Horatio locked in his basement,"
Calleigh went slightly green.
"Any idea where the call came from?"
"No, not yet," Speed glanced up as Eric came in. he had been back to the crime scene.
"Anything new?"
"Nothing. It's like he just vanished,"
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"Lily, someone at the door!"
Lily came downstairs. It was probably one of the CSIs (Mr Caine had told her that was what they were called). She hoped it was him.
It was Calleigh. She looked very upset.
"Hi Lily,"
"What's wrong?" Lily was getting nervous. What if something had happened to her Mommy? They might have found her body or something!
"Horatio- Mr Caine… He's gone missing. We think he might have met the people who took your mom,"
"Wh- why?" Lily was trying not to cry in front of Calleigh, but it wasn't working too well.
"I don't know,"
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It looked exactly as it had when he'd left it last week.
Click. Click. All things he had multiple shots of already, but there was no new evidence at all. Nothing to show that one of Miami's best CSIs had disappeared here, only a few hours ago.
Speed went over the whole house again, finding nothing new, taking photos of things he'd already seen. They had about as much chance of finding Christine Hamlyn as they did of finding Horatio. If he was right and they were both being held by the same man, it was about the same.
"Found anything?"
It was Hagen. Speed watched as he picked his way over the markers littering the hallway and crouched in front of the handprint on the wall.
"This is really tragic. If there's anything I can do…."
"Look,"
Hagen bent down next to him.
"The woman must have fallen," Hagen started to get up again. Speed stretched out his hand and put it over the print. They were nearly the same size, the print only a tiny bit smaller.
"Close… This is too big to be Christine's hand,"
"How do you know?" Hagen bent down again. He looked like a jack-in-the-box in a suit.
"Lily's definitely small for her age, so Christine's probably not that big either. This print was made either by a tall woman or a short man. And if the suspect is Christine's brother…"
"Get the fingerprints off that then,"
"Yes sir,"
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"And the last time I saw her, she said she might go back to school soon. She might even have gone today," Horatio's voice was getting hoarse from talking. Christine had asked him every single detail about her daughter from when he'd met her in the car park to the last time he'd visited her, about two days ago, maybe less. It was impossible to tell what time it was in the darkness of the basement.
"That was the last time you saw her?" Christine asked, even though she knew the answer. Without Lily, there was nothing they could talk about to fill the vast, echoing silence.
"Yes. Sorry,"
"No, it's not your fault,"
The lock clicked. Christine jumped. Light flooded the basement.
"Getting cosy are we?" a voice called from the upper level. Christine turned, and realised she had been sitting so close to Horatio they were almost touching. He must have noticed as well, and leaned back slightly.
"Who is it?" she asked loudly.
"I'm surprised at you, Mary," said the voice, drawing out the name. "Don't even remember your own flesh and blood,"
The penny dropped.
"Allie,"
Allie laughed. "Still remember your little nicknames, I see. Most people call me Alexander now. See what happens when you don't keep in touch?" He leaned over, and Christine could see her brother's face. He had barely changed. Alex peered hard at Horatio, who was sitting against the wall and staring back.
"You're quiet, cop,"
"I didn't want to interrupt," Alex scowled. He had always hated it when people were smarter than him, which was a pity. It meant he didn't get on with most of the world.
"Both of you, you've gotta come with me. Boss's orders,"
"And who are we to argue with the boss," muttered Horatio. Christine tried to suppress a giggle and stood up shakily. She hadn't done much walking around.
"So, where are we going?"
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Lily closed the flap on her bag and swung it carefully over her shoulder. She'd had to leave most of her clothes and take some food from the fridge, as well as forty dollars from Uncle Rob's wallet. She only had two dollars of her own and se knew that wouldn't last very long, even though she only had the haziest idea of how much things cost. Hopefully the food she had packed would last a couple of days.
She crept out of her bedroom and out onto the stairs. She had checked them on the way up when she went to bed, and was sure none of them creaked.
Even if she hadn't been planning to run away, Lily wouldn't have slept that night. She was trying to work out who would be next. First her Mommy was shot and kidnapped, than the policeman who had tried to help her… It might be Calleigh or Eric or Speed or even Alexx, or maybe Aunty Annie. She'd wake up in the morning and they'd be gone, or shot, or killed.
And it would be her fault.
She opened the front door and stepped out into the garden. The lawn was neat, as always, the car parked in the drive. It almost never was in the daytime.
Lily wasn't quite sure where she was going to go, as long as it was as far away from other people she liked as possible. She didn't want to hurt them anymore.
Lily walked down the street in the dark.