Frankie was leafing through the background to Officer James Anders. There was nothing that stood out, nothing obvious. She sighed. This crime, as all cop killings did, had affected morale around the lab. Everyone was desperate to catch this guy, not least because Horatio's temper was shorter than ever. He seemed to take it personally that someone had attacked one of his colleagues. Her eyes lit upon a small note in one of Anders' school reports. His mother, with blank eyes suffering from too much emotion, had dropped them off along with the rest of the information she had requested. Frankie hadn't asked for them, but now she began to suspect the worse.
'James is very reserved and quiet. The PT instructor has noted several times that James has numerous bruises on his arms. We are concerned this might mean he is being bullied, and are keeping a close eye on him.' That was in a corner of one report, signed by his form teacher.
She opened another report, and a stray leaf of paper fell out. It was a note from the school nurse. 'Mrs Anders, James has a number of worrying cuts on his back. I am very concerned for him, and will be informing Child Services if I see any more evidence like this. I am also recommending that he sees the school psychiatrist.'
Frankie swore under her breath. Mrs Anders knew more than she was telling. Her blank, grief-stricken eyes might have been symptomatic of fear as well. The problem was she hadn't been looking for fear, so it had gone unnoticed. Valera came into the small room Frankie had been given as an office.
"Have you seen Horatio? I have the DNA results from the semen Alexx found." Valera looked shaken, and Frankie knew what the results would be.
She screwed her eyes shut momentarily. "It was his father, wasn't it?" A surprised gasp told her she was right. Opening her eyes, she smiled at the DNA tech. "I'll find him and tell him. I have some news of my own as well." Valera surrendered her results quickly, not wanting to be the one who gave Horatio this news. To be honest, Frankie didn't want to either, but she felt she had a duty to, given what she suspected. Please God, don't let this have happened to Horatio as well, she prayed as she walked through the lab.
She found him running the prints they had found through AFIS. His whole being was concentrated on the screen in front, and she studied him in silence for a moment. This case would be harder on him than anyone else, except perhaps Calleigh. She realised with a start that she had forgotten to ask how last night had gone, and neither Eric nor Calleigh had mentioned it. Still, this was a horrific case.
"Horatio?" He looked round instantly, tensing up when he heard her voice.
"I've had no luck, how about you?"
"You might want to sit down," she said softly. He glared at her and she shrugged. "Your choice. Valera gave me the DNA results."
"CODIS?"
"No. But there are enough common alleles to tell us who it was. It was his own father, Horatio. And, from what I've seen in his school reports, it's been happening a long time."
Horatio went a shade paler than normal. His voice was as steady as ever though. "His school reports?"
"His mother brought them in. She knew what was happening, and I think she's terrified. This bastard raped and murdered his own son." Her anger burned through her façade of professionalism for a moment. "Go get this bastard, Horatio, for the love of God, go get him!"
"Will you sit in on the interview with me?" Frankie was shocked out of her anger by this unexpected request. He had never asked her to sit in before, she had always had to nominate herself,and certainly never in a tone of voice that suggested he wasn't entirely sure he could cope on his own. She took a good, long, hard look at him, and met his gaze. His blue eyes, which were normally so full of confidence, were unsure and nervous for a moment before he blinked a couple of times and looked more like himself. Dear God, what must he be going through?
"Sure thing," she said, as though she had no idea why he would need support.
