Chapter 4
Derek answered Horatio's third knock with an amiable smile. He was drying his hair with a towel and motioned Horatio inside the room. "You must be Horatio Caine," he said in a deep British accent, smile still in place. "Kyle spoke of you often. What can I do for you?"
"I need to ask you about his death," said Horatio. "If you don't mind."
Derek tossed the towel on the bed and went to the mini-bar, where he poured himself a drink. The smile faded. "Ask away," he said gruffly.
"Why did Kyle call you 'Shane' on the video recording you made of him?" asked Horatio.
"I like American Westerns," replied Derek, downing his brandy in one swallow. "Shane is on of my favorites and Kyle acted on it."
"Bethany mentioned that you're quite the hunter," said Horatio, his eyes falling on the rifle propped up beside the bed. "Is that your rifle there, Derek?"
"It is. Want to look at it?"
Horatio nodded and Derek handed him the rifle, almost reluctantly. "This is a bolt-action repeating rifle," he observed.
"You know your guns, Horatio."
"I also know that Wing Commander Shannon was shot down," said Horatio, looking up at Derek now. "My bullistics expert has just extracted a bullet from the fuel tank of the Wings of War. I'm just wondering…"
Derek shook his head violently. "Now hold on, just one bloody minute," he said a bit too loudly. "If you think that for one moment that I'd shoot Kyle Shannon down, Horatio, you are very much mistaken. Kyle was my best mate; I'd never do that to him and his wife."
Horatio looked at him calmly. "You sure about that, Derek?" he asked. "You won't mind coming with me to M.D.P.D. for further questioning?"
Derek's eyes flashed with anger. "As a matter of fact, I sure as hell do mind, Horatio," he snapped. "I'm not putting Beth under any more stress than you already have. I'll just wait for her to come back here."
"Don't even think about going back home just yet," returned Horatio with a cold tone of voice.
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"What did Derek say?" asked Bethany as she eased herself beside Horatio on the bench. "Was he helpful?"
"Only if you count having a bad temper helpful then he was more than," said Horatio with a soft smile. She smiled back and patted her stomach. Horatio eyed her movement.
"Boy or girl?" he asked.
"We don't know yet," replied Bethany. "We're hoping for a boy."
"How about the name?"
"Well, we were thinking about naming him Ricky," said Bethany before she gave a sudden lurch forward with a soft cry. Horatio caught her before she collapsed on the floor.
"Beth, are you OK?" he asked nervously.
"I-I don't know," she managed to say in a strained voice. "My stomach hurts real bad…I think the baby's coming, Horatio."
"OK, sweetheart," said Horatio helping her to her feet. "I'll take you to the hospital. Come on." He held her for support as they made a slow progress toward the elevator, but they stopped when Horatio saw and felt a warm liquid trickle down to the floor from under Bethany's blue dress.
She began to panic. "Oh God," she whimpered, "my water broke. The baby's coming!" She bent over in sudden pain, letting out a piercing cry of pain that silenced the whole lab. Horatio eased her to the floor.
"The baby's coming," he called out. "We need help here!"
The whole lab crowded around them, handing Horatio anything that would substitute for birthing supplies. Bethany was crying softly from the pain and was gripping Horatio's hand in a vise-like clasp, her eyes wide and tearful.
"All right, Beth," said Horatio, "you have to push for us, OK? It's going to hurt but I want you to squeeze my hand. Mr. Wolfe, get over here!"
Ryan Wolfe immediately came foreword, white as a sheet, but he positioned himself ready to catch the baby.
"Push, Bethany, push!" said Horatio.
She did what she was told, screaming at the top of her lungs as she did so for a couple of seconds then relaxed. Wolfe, however, did not look so unperturbed.
"God I hope that's a head I'm looking at!" he cried.
Horatio ignored him and focused all on Bethany. He could tell another contraction was on the way. "Push again, sweetheart," he said. "Hard."
Bethany pushed, literally crushing Horatio's hand as she did, eyes squeezed shut, teeth bared as she screamed and labored. Everyone was silent throughout the whole labor, never minding the smell, worried for the new mother and the baby.
The silence was broken by a newborn baby's screams.
"I got it," cried Wolfe, a funny smile on his face as he wrapped the baby girl up in a blanket and passed her gingerly to Horatio, who handed her to Bethany. Everyone cheered.
"Frank," called Horatio, "call the paramedics."
Bethany looked up at him from his lap, the baby girl resting in her arms, still crying.
"If only Kyle was here," she said and Horatio smiled at her.
"Oh, he was," he replied.