Cold Cases, Chapter 6

Emily walked into the first church, Miami-Dade Baptist. It was a huge church that boasted 4,500 members, and was the home church of the first two victims.

The victims hadn't known each other, but with a church this size it wasn't a surprise to Emily.

Her family attended this church, and her parents were very involved, especially her Mom.

She made her way to the counseling offices in the massive building.

"Hi," she greeted the smiling secretary at the counseling desk. "I'm here to speak to whoever's in charge of counseling here. I'm with the Crime Lab." She flashed her badge.

"Of course," said the Secretary. "Right this way."

The secretary led her down a hallway past many closed doors, each with a plaque that had the name of a counselor. Emily could hear hushed voices, and from a few of the doors that were open, she could see people busy at work, filling out paper work, reading or working on the computer.

At the end was a larger door. The plaque read: 'Reverend James Pierce' in large bold letters and underneath in smaller letters were the words 'Pastor of Counseling'.

The secretary knocked twice. A deep voice inside spoke gently. "Come in."

The secretary entered, Emily following close behind. Emily looked around the office, which was spacious. Straight in front of Emily was the Pastor, seated behind a large desk. Behind and to either side of the desk were shelves, which housed various books devoted to many different topics such as counseling, marriage, spiritual health, and other things expected in a Pastor's office. To Emily's left was an area with a couch and two chairs, separated by a coffee table.

Emily was pulled from her observations by the voice of the Secretary speaking. "Pastor Pierce, this is the officer from Miami-Dade Police."

"CSI," Emily corrected.

The Pastor smiled warmly. "Ah, yes. You called earlier. Please have a seat."

Emily took a seat in a comfortable chair across from the desk. The Pastor motioned for the Secretary to leave. Once he was gone he turned to her and smiled warmly.

"Now what is it you wanted to talk about?" He asked.

Emily observed the Pastor for a moment. He was an older man; many lines and wrinkles were etched into his face from the years. His hair was gray and spread sparsely across his balding head. What Emily immediately noted, however, was the Pastor's eyes. They were not unlike Horatio's eyes in their expressive sparkle and the warmth that seemed to be present.

She took her gaze off of the Pastor and reached into her bag, pulling out the picture of Michael she had saved.

She handed to him. "Do you recognize this man?"

The Pastor stared at the picture for a moment, his brows furrowed, before his eyes seemed to brighten with recognition.

"That's Michael," he said, carefully handing the picture back to Emily.

Emily tucked the picture back into the folder. "What can you tell me about him?"

The Pastor leaned back and carefully clasped his hands together.

"He was a counselor here for over two years. Good man. He had a very high success rate, especially in marriage counseling."

Emily nodded. "You said he 'was' a counselor. Did he leave?"

"Yes," said the Pastor gravely. "I'm sure you're asking about him in regards to the women that showed up murdered."

Emily looked up, slightly surprised by the Pastor's response.

"He was very disturbed when the first woman, Mrs. Mendell, was killed, and asked for leave. I gave it to him; quite understandably he was distressed. After the second murder, he quit. He was very close to both couples and he was hit hard by both murders."

Emily nodded. "I understand. Do you know where I can find him?"

"I have no idea," the pastor said quietly. "I lost all contact with him after he left. It's a shame really, he was a good counselor."

Emily rose and reached out to shake the Pastor's hand.

"Thanks for your time, Pastor."

Emily's head was spinning as she walked out of the office. Jumbled thoughts competed against one another in her head, each trying to surface of the other.

Emily returned to the lab, really turned on to her suspect now. Her thoughts were all consumed by one main thought that reigned over the others. Find this 'Michael', and bring these women the justice they deserved.

She sighed as she went back to the computer lab and ran facial recognition software for the umpteenth time, hoping anyone booked within the past few days may come up.

She let that run for a little while as she pursued other evidence in the case.

She went back to Mrs. Mendell's photographs, which were the hardest pieces of evidence she had right now.

Pulling up all recent photographs from the confiscated digital cameras, she began going through each one, careful to look for anything out of place.

Then she saw it.

It was a photograph of Mr. Mendell and his daughter in the park. She appeared to be laughing while being thrown up in the air by her father. The backdrop was beautiful, consisting of trees, grass, and a blue sky, but there was one thing out of place.

She zoomed in a tree to the left of Mr. Mendell, and there he was. Michael.

Over an hour later she had pulled up three dozen photographs with him somewhere in the background.

She checked the computer. It was still scanning for any new faces. Sighing, she decided to go visit Natalia and retrieve Mrs. Mendell's personal artifacts found on her at the murder scene.

Maybe there was something she had missed.

She took the evidence back to the layout room and spent what seemed like forever cutting up bags and bags of evidence. She was so absorbed in her work that she did not hear her computers 'positive match' beep on the facial recognition software.

Horatio walked out of the Trace lab after talking to Calleigh. They were working a fairly routine homicide, a crime of passion, with enough DNA evidence to convict anyone. Not that any homicide was routine, but this one seemed very straightforward.

He had spoken to Calleigh briefly about some trace under the victim's fingernails and had also asked if Emily had been in today.

"No," Calleigh had answered. "Last time I saw her she was in the layout room, working. Why?"

"It's just unusual. She thinks of this Trace lab as her home away from home, I'm just wondering why she hasn't been in today."

Calleigh shrugged then smiled softly. "You worry too much."

He turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "Oh do I?"

She carefully laid down each one of her tools and slowly pulled off her gloves. She fixed him with a seductive stare and moved closer too him, standing on her tiptoes till she was right in his face.

"Yes," she whispered. "But I think that's very attractive on you."

"Don't do this to me here, Calleigh," Horatio moaned. "I have to work."

She snaked her arms slowly around his neck, her bright green eyes catching his own in a fiery stare.

"I just wanted to give you something to look forward to," she whispered in his ear before kissing him softly.

Against all his professional instincts he deepened the kiss, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer to him.

A distinct cough broke their little moment.

They broke apart and Calleigh slowly disentangled herself from him and turned towards the interrupters.

Ryan and Eric were standing in the doorway, trying to hide their grins.

She glanced over at Horatio, who was looking down at the floor, trying to conceal his rather obvious blush.

"We were just looking for you two," Ryan said, his brown eyes twinkling with merriment.

"Yeah, but we'll leave if you're busy uh… discussing something." Eric added.

Horatio looked up, his professional demeanor recovered. "Actually, Mr. Wolfe, can you do me a favor and go check on Emily?"

Ryan nodded and walked off.

"Eric?" Horatio asked fixing his glare on him.

"Yeah?"

"Go check the DNA results."

"On it."

They left and Horatio turned his gaze to Calleigh, his glare softening somewhat.

"And you…"

Calleigh raised an eyebrow, staring right back.

"Yes?"

"I love you."

Calleigh grinned. "I know handsome."

He smiled and left the room, heading to Autopsy.

Ryan walked into the layout room, intent on following his boss' orders.

He saw Emily there, scribbling furiously onto a piece of paper as she turned a pair of bloodstained pants over in her hands.

"Em?" He called, knocking softly on the doorway.

She didn't respond.

"Emily," he said, approaching the bench.

He was met with silence.

He took a closer look at her. Emily looked exceedingly pale. Dark circles had formed under her eyes, and her shoulders were hunched. Her eyes were glassy and had an almost feverish look to them.

He reached out and touched her shoulder. She yelled and jumped backward looking like a caged animal.

"Emily it's okay. It's just me."

She just stared back, breathing heavily. After a moment she appeared to relax and returned to the pants she had been inspecting.

"I have to work Ryan." She said flatly.

"Emily," Ryan protested. "You need to take a break for a minute. How long have you been here?"

"I don't know," she mumbled.

In truth the interview with the Counseling Pastor had been at 10:00. She had gotten back to the lab at 10:45 and it was now 7:00 PM. she had been working non-stop for nearly eight hours.

He put his hand on her shoulder, and firmly turned her to face him.

"Let's take a break, huh?"

"I can't," she whined, almost feebly.

Her eyes came to rest on the computer.

"I have results," she said and tried to struggle out of Ryan's grasp.

"Results can wait. You need to cool down," Ryan said, fully in big brother mode.

She struggled but it was weaker this time. He noted the way she leaned on him heavily as he steered her to the break room.

"When was the last time you ate?"

"I dunno…" She mumbled.

He stopped and turned her around.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"To eat something."

"Might be good," she said leaning on him even more.

He grunted at the extra weight and continued to support her.

He grinned. "Yeah. It might be."