Once Frankie had left most of her family at the Agramonte Hotel, she rushed back to the lab. Her father had offered to drive her, and she took the opportunity to have a short talk with him about Horatio.
"You didn't mean what you said about blaming Horatio for me getting shot, did you Dad?"
Mark frowned through the windshield as he navigated his way through the busy Miami streets. "He should have been protecting you."
"We weren't actually dating at the time," she reminded him gently, not wanting to go into detail about what not dating had really involved. Her dad rolled his eyes. "Please, Dad, don't say anything to Horatio about this! I mean it," she added when he made no reply.
"Why not?" he asked stubbornly.
"He blames himself as it is," she said quietly, "and I don't want him thinking anyone else blames him as well." Mark looked across at his daughter and was alarmed to see the depth of emotion in her eyes. Perhaps this man would be the one to take her away. He'd certainly never seen her look so in love before.
"Promise me you won't say anything," Frankie said.
Mark gave in when he recognised the stubborn look in her eyes. It was the same look he knew he wore when he had made his mind up. He sighed. "All right I promise not to blame Horatio for letting you get shot." That still left him plenty of leeway to explain in graphic detail what would happen to anyone who upset his daughter.
"Dad," Frankie began, but was distracted when they pulled up outside CSI. "OK, well, I've got to go now, so I'll see you later? And please, Dad, behave!" She pecked him lightly on the cheek and ran into the building.
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She was desperately relieved to be greeted by Eric and Horatio in the trace lab. Thank God for that, she thought briefly, before turning her attention to the large package on the table. Wrapped in brown paper, it was addressed to Ms Kathryn Warner, and looked perfectly innocuous. Apart from the small hole that went all the way through the package, that is.
"Everything go all right?" she asked as lightly as she could manage.
"Yep, we disarmed it with a high pressure water cannon that blasted the detonator out of the way," Horatio said with some satisfaction. Frankie couldn't stop herself from reaching out and touching him though, just to reassure herself that he was all right.
"So it is the same bomber?"
"We'll soon find out. Chess, can you do a full background check on Kathryn Warner, to see why the package might be addressed to her. If there's nothing there, start on the rest of the staff."
"No problem," she replied, reaching up to kiss him on the cheek. Eric snorted with laughter, and she turned to glare at him. "One more peep out of you Eric Delko, and I'll tell everyone what I saw you and Calleigh doing in the garage three days ago!" Eric turned an interesting shade of crimson and practically ran out of the room.
Horatio chuckled and kissed her forehead lightly. "And I had almost forgotten that vindictive streak of yours! Do I even want to know what they were doing?"
"Dancing," she grinned. "Eric was waltzing around the garage to a silly pop song with Calleigh. So nothing to reprimand them over."
"If I had to reprimand them every time, don't you think I would have had to fire myself by now?" His eyes sparkled as he kissed her again, this time not so lightly.
"Since neither of us can afford to lose our jobs, and I hear the boss can be a really grumpy bastard sometimes, I'd better get to work," Frankie laughed as she disentangled herself from his arms, his laughter following her out of the room.
She started to run checks on Kathryn Warner, and at first found it easy to trace her. Warner lived alone in Coral Gables, in a rented apartment, and was an insurance adjustor for Sunshine State Insurance. She had been working for them for four years, and before that had done some temporary placements for a secretarial agency based in Key Biscayne. She had no criminal record except two parking violations and a speeding ticket.
Frankie paused for a second. That had sounded familiar. Then she remembered: David Barker, the Centre manager, had had exactly the same record. Odd. Coincidences do happen though. She carried on researching Kathryn Warner only to come up against another problem. She had moved to Miami six years ago, and there was no record of her living or working anywhere in the state of Florida before that. Frowning, Frankie extended her search to the whole country. Still nothing.
Calleigh and Alexx walked in to find her staring at photos of Kathryn Warner and David Barker. "That's woman who had the package sent to her isn't it?" Calleigh asked.
"Ooh, was she lucky!" Alexx said. "Pretty lady – I'm glad she doesn't have an appointment with me today."
"She might before this is over," Frankie said cryptically. At her friends' worried looks, she added, "She's been targeted by the bomber specifically, I'm sure of it. She and David Barker are the reasons behind this. I just don't know what they've done to deserve this."
"Well, while we go find Horatio to tell him, why don't you update us on the parent situation?" Alexx asked, linking arms with both other women as she led them out of the office.