A/N Sorry it took so long to write this I ended up jumping ahead and writing a couple of chapters ahead of this one as they just popped into my head making it so much harder for me to come back to this one (stupid brain). I also don't have a beta so all of the mistakes belong to me. Thanks for the reviews they've made me try harder.
She'd only found herself twice more on the floor before she finished cleaning the guns. The second time the brutish thug had managed to split her lip and bruise some ribs. As she finished the last gun Mark walked back through the door, he'd been back a couple of times to check on her and at one stage he had taken a Polaroid picture of her but on the whole had been absent for the gun cleaning exercise which she was grateful for.
"I see you're finished" he stated as he looked over one of the final pieces checking the barrel. "These will do, now it's time for you and I to have a little fun" Mark commented as he produced a small needle from his pocket. Calleigh struggled against her bonds at the thought of what was to happen next.
"Now that's no way to act honey" Mark walked towards Calleigh needle in hand grabbing her arm forcibly he inserted the needle into her arm. She closed her eyes as she felt the cold liquid enter her bloodstream. "We'll just give that a couple of minutes for that to act shall we" Mark walked across the room to a waiting bottle of scotch and poured himself a drink. Drink in hand he proceeded back to the table and sat down in a vacant chair placing his worn shoes on the table.
"You know I was angry when I got transferred to nights, do you know how hard I had worked to get where I was. If it hadn't been for Horatio and his snooping I would have been fine. Then I saw you in my place, I thought Horatio had hired you for your looks, god knows that man needs a girlfriend even if it is just in his mind, but then I realized you were good at your job too. I thought you and I could have made the lab the best ballistics lab in the country and maybe even been together we have a lot in common." Mark sighed at the memory
"I tried to approach you about it, but you always gave me the cold shoulder and then Horatio interrupted again always seemed to be close to where you were like a damn territorial dog" anger flared in his eyes "That's why I have to teach him a lesson, take away all he takes for granted, he's been working with you for three years and still hasn't made a move, well one mans mistake is another mans blessing" he looked up at this last statement.
"How are you feeling, still able to move your limbs?" Mark asked in a lighter tone
"You expect me to feel sorry for you? I would have never been interested in you" Calleigh replied in a slurred heavy southern accent
"I take that as a no" Mark replied as he stood, producing a key out of his pocket, unlocking the cuffs around her wrists. Gently lifting her into his arms he headed towards a room in the back of the house.
"Just remember, I'm only taking what should have been mine" he whispered as he placed her on the double bed in the center of the room. He stroked her face as he got up and proceeded back to the door and slowly shut and locked it with a smile on his face.
Horatio looked over the maintenance log. Two weeks ago the cameras had been serviced, but what he wanted to know was who put in the call, as it was unlikely they had been stopping phone traffic, so it had to be whoever put in the original call that was in on it. He finally found the document he was looking for the request for maintenance work. He scanned the page until he found a signature.
"John Edwards" Horatio muttered to himself as he grabbed his jacket off the back of the chair. "Time to pay you a visit"
After talking with his supervisor he realized that John had in fact not turned up for work today and as he had the last two days off everybody had just thought he was taking an extra day. Horatio had gotten his address off his supervisor and was on his way out the door when he was stopped by Eric.
"H, I thought you might want to see this" Eric puffed as he gathered his breath
Horatio took the evidence bag out of Eric's hand.
"It's some kind of seed" Horatio stated as he examined the bag
"I found it under the hood of the car down by the windscreen wipers at first I thought maybe it was just blown under from the wind but then I looked at the rest of the car and I found one inside under the driver's seat. I'm running it through the database at the moment to get the exact tree" Eric took the evidence bag from Horatio
"Good work Eric, keep me posted" Horatio commented "You can reach me on my cell I'm off to pay a maintenance man a visit"
When Tripp and Horatio arrived at the house it looked like no one was home.
"You think maybe he's gone on holiday? Maybe knew we'd come looking for him decided to skip town" Tripp commented as they knocked on his door
"I don't think our man even left town" Horatio replied as he tilted his head looking towards the garage door which was slightly ajar
As they lifted the garage door they were confronted with a body lying flat on the concrete
"I believe we've just found Mr Edwards" Horatio commented as he stepped closer to the body noticing the bullet entry wound to the forehead. Crouching down and using a glove he reached for Mr Edwards body grabbing a photo that was sticking out of his shirts pocket.
"Son of a bitch" Horatio swore as he looked at the photo.
"What is it?" Tripp asked
Horatio handed him the glove and photo as he exited outside to call Alex and to get his temper under control.
There starring up at Tripp from the Polaroid was the one and only Calleigh Duquesne.