Chapter 4
Horatio's text simply contained an address, which Calleigh knew meant "Get here." She grabbed her kit and threw her jacket over one arm. She took the elevator up and was almost out the door to her Hummer when Eric stopped her.
"Hey, Cal!" he called from across the lobby. He was holding a paper in his hand and gestured with it in the air.
"Eric, what's up?"
"You on your way to see H?" he asked.
Calleigh nodded. "Yep. Need something?"
Her partner nodded, in turn. "He asked me to swing by the Betancourt place, but I don't have any updates yet."
Eric handed Cal the printout in his hand. "We're looking for something along these lines. Our two possibles don't match up. Speed and I are still searching the catalogs."
"That's it?" Calleigh cocked her head and gave him a quizzical grin. "You want me to give H a picture of a gold ingot that didn't kill our vic?"
Eric chuckled. "I told you, he wanted something. That's all I got."
They stood there for a half-second with their eyes locked, grinning at each other, until Cal's phone rang.
She held up her hand indicating she wanted Eric to stay put, and she flipped her phone open.
"Duquesne."
Alexx's voice sounded on the other end. "When are you going to be here, missy? Our best lead just got blown to little shreds. The poor guy."
Calleigh's jaw dropped momentarily, although nothing really surprised her at this point in her career. "What happened? Wait, never mind, I'm on my way; you can tell me when I get there."
The CSI flipped the phone shut and turned to her partner again. As she did, the sun caught her shoulder and she heard Eric gasp.
"I gotta go, that was Alexx—" she'd begun.
Eric interrupted her. "Cal, what the hell? Look at your shoulder."
Calleigh knew her shoulder was sore, but she hadn't looked at it in the mirror yet. As best she could, she twisted her head down to look at the nasty contusion peeking out from underneath the shoulder of her tank top. Eric had already taken her arm in his left hand and was moving the shirt's fabric aside to assess the fresh bruise with his right.
Something in Calleigh's stomach fluttered for a moment as Eric's gentle fingers traced the angry red and purple growing on her skin. Instead of shifting away, she let herself enjoy it, only slightly guilty that she'd just shrugged John off down in the lab when he did the same.
Eric's touch was soft. Almost a whisper of a touch, Cal decided. As her partner, he was concerned in a different way that didn't seem to bother her. Why?
All this was rushing through Calleigh's head so quickly, the question didn't linger long in her mind. She needed to get to the Betancourt place ASAP and Eric was distracting her from leaving.
"Now who's mothering?" she said playfully.
"Cal…"
"Okay fine. I took a hit from the butt of a spear gun. It's no big deal," Calleigh insisted, averting her eyes then locking them with Eric's once again. "I'm fine, Delko."
He didn't appear to be convinced. But he did let go of her arm and take a tiny step backward. Two things happened simultaneously: Calleigh felt a fleeting sense of loss at the removal of his touch on her arm, and she also noticed him sway slightly as he half-stepped back. She said nothing about the unsteadiness she witnessed but she mentally filed it away, watching him rub one hand over his eyes and shake his head tiredly.
Was he tired, or just exasperated at her?
"Whatever, Bullet Girl. You and your guns…just make sure to ice it, will ya?" Eric said. He knew how stubborn she was; there was no chance he could convince her to have Alexx look at it. At the very least, maybe she would listen to him about the ice.
Calleigh replied with full sarcasm and a roll of her eyes. "Yes, sir."
Eric rolled his own eyes in response and they both laughed. "Get outta here, Duquesne."
The two CSIs went in opposite directions, Eric back to the lab and Calleigh to the Hummer, finally on her way.
"Damnit," Calleigh groaned in annoyance. She felt something hard in her back pocket as she settled in the driver's seat of the truck. Reaching back, she pulled her cell phone out of her slacks. She noticed an unread message, and thinking it may be H with further instructions, she checked the text before she hit the road.
It wasn't her LT. It was Tim. "Cal, you may be on to something re Delko. Not himself…"
"Damnit," Calleigh muttered again, this time out of worry.
Speed was almost as close to Eric as she was, definitely enough to recognize when something was wrong with their friend. Eric was 'off.'
That thought held residence her mind all the way to the Betancourt house.
