Setting: Sunday, January 1, 2006: Miami
Maxine Valera turned at the insistent beeping from the DNA results printer. Grinning, she headed over, reaching for the colorful chart of numbers along with the secondary page of matching relatives. She glanced over the results and frowned, her eyes immediately seeking out the readouts on the attached screen, as if the paper copy was somehow in error. Worried, the DNA technician reviewed the samples she'd used, comparing them to the evidence log. Short of re-running the entire batch, for which she needed higher authorization, Maxi had to accept the displayed readouts. 'Am I gonna be in trouble for messing things up again? I swear I didn't take any shortcuts this time!'
Nervously, Maxi rechecked the screen against the print out then sighed, reluctantly accepting the results as accurate. She glanced from the DNA lab to the supervisor's office on the level above, catching her top lip between her teeth and nibbling. She didn't like bringing this to Speed; it would have been easier dealing with Horatio. While Horatio demanded excellence, somehow Speed's attitude suggested the need for absolute perfection: a record Maxine Valera had never met and seriously doubted she could ever aspire to. And with these particular results, she was almost certain Tim Speedle would be upset. 'Maybe I should ask Natalia to run it?' Maxi shook her head, dismissing the thought. Natalia Boa Vista was the cold case DNA tech and wasn't permitted to run regular DNA or live cases. This was most certainly a live case.
Suddenly Maxi wished she hadn't agreed to work overtime on the accident case.
Looking back up at the office, Maxi sighed and left the perceived security of the DNA lab. She walked up the steps, one hand on the rail, never taking her eyes from her goal. If she looked away, Maxi was afraid she'd lose her nerve. Upon arrival at the door she took a deep breath and knocked, unintentionally holding the air in as she waited for Speed to respond. Instead of calling out to her, Speed got up and walked to the door, opening it and backing up; she let out her breath but didn't step forward.
"Did you get a hit on the boy or the driver?" he asked. Speed knew Maxi was running the DNA on both of the motorcycle victims from the mass accident.
In answer the DNA tech offered the print out. "The boy." She cleared her throat as the dark-haired man took the pages and looked through them. "He's a paternal match for . . ."
"Me?" Speed's voice reflected shock as did his serious brown eyes. Disbelief crossed his face chased by anger, darkening his eyes to near black. His next word came out a near indistinguishable whisper. "TJ."
Maxi backed down a step, swallowing rapidly. "I rechecked the results, but I could run them again. Who took the samples? Maybe some contamination got . . ."
"No," Speed shook his head, voice tight, eyes still dark with anger. "I believe the results."
It was Maxi's turn to be surprised. "You do?" She tilted her head, short brown hair brushing one shoulder as she studied the six foot tall man. "I didn't know you had kids, Speed." She straightened her head and took her hand off the rail.
Looking up from the papers, he shrugged, hunching slightly as if in self-defense. "I have an infant daughter. My brother's the father of this boy." His voice smoothed into a neutral tone, but he still looked angry. "Cleaning up Tom's mess again." He frowned and shook his head, deep in thought.
Flushing in embarrassment at having to correct the assistant supervisor, Maxi pointed out, "the match is too close for an uncle, Speed. It has to be a father."
"Tom was my identical twin," he clarified. "Mirror."
Surprised, Maxi said, "Oh. So, uh, which of you has their organs on the opposite side?" Often mirror twins mirrored more than external looks, including similar yet different illnesses and one twin having the internal organs on the opposite side of the body.
Speed shrugged again. "Neither. We were rare even for mirror twins."
Recalling what she'd been told about the fate of the motorcycle driver, Maxi frowned and held up a hand in a helpless gesture. "Sorry about your brother, Speed."
He looked up, dark eyes studying her intently, as if searching for something. Finally, he said "Tom died a year and a half ago. I'm not sure who was driving the motorcycle." His frown turned absolutely fierce. "Considering the amount of drugs in the boy's system, it's possible the kid was kidnapped." He strode to the desk, laying the DNA report on top of the toxicology report.
Maxi shook her head, brown hair bobbing. She followed Speed into the office. "You don't know? But if he's your nephew . . ."
Speed shrugged one shoulder again. "I hadn't heard from Tom since we were seventeen. We didn't get along. I had no idea he had a son."
For several long minutes the pair stood; neither moved nor spoke, both lost in their thoughts. Finally Speed sighed and looked at Maxi. "I'll have to put Calleigh in charge. Where is she?"
Confused Maxi tilted her head once more. "Why do you need to put Calleigh in charge?"
"I'm related to a victim," he said simply. Handing the paperwork to Maxi, he added "I don't want Stetler thinking I'm compromising this case. That guy's got a vendetta against me for some reason."
The office phone rang and Speed gave it a glare before picking up the receiver. "Speedle, Crime Lab." He listened then said "okay," and hung up. He moved past Maxi, taking the steps slowly; he did many things slowly since returning to full time duty.
Taking a bullet through the heart had slowed down the man called 'Speed.'
Not questioning the phone call, Maxi none-the-less followed the supervisor from the office. She drifted past him into the DNA lab as the man headed towards Ballistics presumably on his search for Calleigh. As Maxi stepped into her lab, Natalia Boa Vista called out, "you have a hit on the DNA you're running."
"I know," Maxi smiled. "I took it to . . ."
"No," Natalia interrupted. "It came in while you were up in the office. I called Speed to let him know."
"A hit on the driver?" Maxi felt excitement rise. If they could identify the man who'd had Speed's nephew, they might be able to figure out where he'd been kidnapped from.
Natalia shook her head, confusing Maxi. "On the kid."
"But I already had a hit on the kid, Natalia." She walked over to the machine and pulled the sheet out, comparing it automatically to the screen. "Uh . . ." her voice barely registered, shock seemed to roar to life and drown everything. "This is, uh, not good."
Maxi ignored Natalia's look of avid curiosity, instead sprinting from the DNA lab and not stopping until she caught up to Speed just down the hall from the Service Desk near the elevators. Wanting to tell him what she'd found, but unable to since he was going to pull himself off the case, she merely accompanied him towards the desk, where a small knot of people seemed to be in discussion. Maxi felt sure someone somewhere had it in for her.
"Ford Ranger four by four," Sam Belmontes read, reviewing the positive match results; Ryan had left half an hour previously placing the Chemical Analysis Technician in control of the samples. He pulled the print out from the paint comparison machine and headed for the investigation desks. Rain, Ryan, and Frank would be there going over the case reports and searches.
Arriving next to the trio of people, Sam produced the print out with a small smile, handing it to Ryan. "The mystery paint comes from a Ford Ranger four by four," Sam recited. "Now we can narrow that down and find the damaged one."
"It's a good beginning," Rain remarked stoically. She produced a plastic evidence bag, still sealed, and looked directly at Sam. "We were just going to Tyler with the museum front gate footage."
Sam nodded and turned back towards the labs, his voice hopeful as he said "so we might have a plate to go with the paint match? Let's go."
Frank rolled his eyes at Sam's enthusiasm, but he didn't attempt to tamp it down. With such a serious accident and several people dead, one a child, and others hospitalized, especially children of friends, the case had everyone hoping for a quick ending. All night Frank had been fighting the urge to call his children, and he'd deliberately been avoiding Rain's eyes; the woman instinctively knew he was trying not to call Marisol Delko and check up on his kids.
By now Alexx would have returned home, but Frank knew the Delko sisters enough to know that all three would have stayed to help Alexx. Since Carmen Delko had her baby there, as well as eldest sister Marguerite De Lajuara's two children, and Frank's three, Alexx pretty much had a full house to deal with while trying to process her own grief and support her own two children. Frank felt he'd do more for Alexx, the children, and the waiting Delko sisters if he got this case solved quickly. So he'd avoided letting his emotions in, avoided talking to his kids, and kept plugging away.
He knew Rain would have something pointed to say about his coping methods, but, as they were at work, he deliberately tried to avoid thinking about what Rain would or wouldn't agree with. He might have to work with the woman, but he could certainly keep their personal relationship out of the office gossip mill. Thus, instead of interrupting the enthusiastic Sam, Frank merely followed the others to the Audio-Visual Lab to watch the security video.
Before they could get to the lab, though, a woman with her left arm in a sling stepped over from the service desk. She had dark brown hair and friendly eyes. "Is Detective Caine here, please?"
The group stopped and the woman behind the counter spoke up, "I was just about to tell her that Lieutenant Caine is on family leave."
Turning back to her, the woman smiled at the administrator, not seeing Lieutenant Stetler approaching from down the hall. Rather, the woman seemed determined to talk to someone important as she let her voice, a very pleasant alto, carry. "I think I have some accident footage the lab might need."
Rick stepped forward eagerly, "I can . . ."
But the administrator knew her job and fielded the woman's offer. "I can call the acting supervisor, Detective Speedle."
The woman froze, the color draining from her face. She began to shake, first her hands, then her shoulders, and suddenly, violently, her head. "I," her voice broke on the words and she had to clear her throat in an awkward gurgling cough. She tried again, though the distress made her almost whisper. "Detective Caine told me a year ago that Detective Speedle had been killed in the line of duty."
"Actually, it's a complicated case. Speedle was wounded severely and transferred to another district. Due to the high profile case, he was put in witness protection and no one was permitted to reveal that he had survived."
Everyone turned in surprise to Rick Stetler. It was rare for the lab to hear the Internal Affairs officer come to their defense and aid; more often he tried to find some internal dirt on the lab or the staff. At times like this one, Rick surprised his fellow police officers by proving that he really was a hard-working, dedicated officer of the law.
The woman cleared her throat again and asked, "but that case is over? Tim Speedle is okay and back now?"
Rick's voice tightened, as if he disliked what he said, when he replied "and has been promoted, yes. I'm Lieutenant Rick Stetler. What accident footage are you talking about?" He tried to take over once again.
Rain successfully intervened by slipping smoothly up to the woman and placing a steady hand on her arm. "I'm Rain McGuire, one of the crime lab investigators. You are?" She didn't normally engage in small talk, but the conventions were a sign that she was to be trusted. Her ploy, in its simplicity, worked and the woman turned to her, looking relieved and beginning to smile.
"I'm . . ."
"Sarah Piper," Speed's steady voice supplied the name. He walked slowly over, side by side with Maxine Valera from DNA.
He'd been shot shortly after she'd been a material witness in a murder case he'd investigated. During that investigation, some college guys had started to harass Miss Piper but Speed had intervened and threatened to arrest them. She'd later asked him on a date, but as he'd been seriously, if quietly, in a long-term relationship, Speed had refused. Sarah had mistaken his refusal for a rejection of her for her profession as an adult movie actress, but Speed had never gotten to explain to her that he was already committed: he had no problem with her chosen life unless she did. With his own background, Speed could hardly play judge and jury over someone else trying to make an honest, if socially ambiguous, living.
"Tim Speedle?" Sarah Piper's voice was again a bare whisper, but this time from the shock of his appearance rather than the confusion of his supposed death. The officer she recalled had been extremely healthy if dressed a bit relaxed and scruffy. The man before her was still scruffy looking but noticeably thinner and paler, unconsciously trying to catch his breath from his exertions. Even after a year and a half, his shooting took a toll on the assistant supervisor.
"Yeah. You need help?" It made sense that she would need something if she had come to the crime lab, unless she'd made a good friend among the cops and technicians.
She offered him a miniature video-camera. "I was filming my fiance over at the science museum last night when a huge accident happened. I think I caught some of it on film and wasn't sure if you'd need it."
Speed nodded. "Rain can take your evidence. I'm not working the accident." He turned his dark eyes on the surprised Rick Stetler. "Calleigh's in charge of that case." As the current supervisor, Speed had the right to assign cases as he would, but the supervisor still had jurisdiction over every case, so to head off Rick's questions, Speed added, "my nephew was one of the victims." Speed watched the IAB man's reaction: had he known about TJ's kid?
Apparently not. Rick fought surprise and confusion before settling on a frown as he straightened his back. "I wasn't aware your brothers had children." Rick stressed the plural, indicating he still hadn't forgiven Speed for hiding the fact that he'd had more than one sibling.
With a shrug, Speed turned away from Rick, back to Sarah. "Rain'll ask you some questions and take your evidence."
The woman nodded and turned back to the red-headed investigator, holding out the camera. "I remember," she said, and her comment was for Speed.
Looking over the group, Speed finally turned towards the elevators. He'd caught his breath after the unexpected, but not infrequent, chest spasm he'd had on the way down the office steps. Now he moved at a faster pace, his body held in an easier posture, reminiscent of his old attitude.
Maxi looked at the others and smiled nervously then ran after Speed, still silent about the secondary DNA match she'd gotten. She doubted he'd want the information public before Calleigh determined what to do with it.
Rain turned back to Sarah and gestured with one hand towards the interrogation rooms. "Your turn, Miss Piper." Rain walked practically beside Sarah as the two headed off.
Ryan looked from Rick to Frank to Sam to the Service Desk administrator. Finally he looked back at Rick. "Sorry, sir, we have evidence to review." With that, he tugged Sam's lab coat sleeve and the pair moved off to the Audio Visual Lab. They could wait for Rain and the security video, as well as the new evidence, there. Ryan hoped Delko and Tyler wouldn't mind their presence: the pair was still working on the grisly job of reconstructing the accident on video.
Frank crossed his arms, standing solidly in front of Rick. The tall Texan never spoke, but his frown showed his disapproval as clearly as any words would have.
Nervously, Rick cleared his throat then walked away, heading towards the elevators. He wanted to find out more about this unlisted nephew Speed mentioned. And Frank made him uncomfortable.
Once the IAB investigator was out of sight, Frank let out a soft grunt, nodded to the administrator, then headed towards Audio-Visual to wait for Rain and the evidence she carried. A small smile played about Frank's mouth as he recalled the disgruntled look on Rick's face.