Your assumptions are correct. I have returned to write you a few more segments of Crash. Someone recently wrote me, expressing interest in its completion and I felt quite bad about not continuing with it... the same as I feel about not finishing my West Wing fic. So, sit back in your computer chair, grab a highly caffeinated drink and enjoy yourselves.
I lean back with an uncharacteristic sigh. My chair which normally is soft and comforting on my back, is making me twist and turn every thirty seconds. It feels as if I've been sitting in this seat all my life and cannot for the life of me find a way to sit still. The turbulence of the past few weeks has been more of a blow on my team than me... at least that's what they believe. I keep my thoughts about Speed to myself and lock the dark self-blame and what-if's in a basement deep inside myself. They don't know how I'm ready to tear my own hair out of my head. They don't recognize my animosity towards that particular event. They see it as new anger, new determination. They don't believe I can be stagnant.
But I can.
I can't move on.
Something buried in my guts tells me that there's something more to his death. Something wasn't right about that jewelry store robbery. Almost as if it was a distraction from the case we were originally working. Those men in there were up to something else. Something that I should have kept on about. But I failed to keep after it. I was too distracted... I usually never let that happen.
The glass door across the room pushes open with force. My blue eyes snap up to meet a pair of the same color. But these eyes are full of unwanted sadness. Calleigh stands in front of my desk almost in an obligatory manner. There is a burden pressing on her, something that she doesn't want to tell me. Something that she thinks she can take care of on her own. No one else has shown up yet. Perhaps I can dig it out of her.
"Is there something wrong?"
"No." she answers automatically, the Southern flair and joy back in her tone. Covering it up... she's trying her hardest not to let me in. This isn't the first time she's done this.
"You don't have to tell me now if you don't want to. But let me know if you need to talk."
She's silent at this. After a second, she lets it pass without so much as a blink of the eyes. "What did you call me up for?"
"I called everybody up." I say carefully, my fingers fidgeting with my sunglasses beneath my desk where she can't see them. "I found something out about our vic."
Calleigh nods and slumps in a chair opposite me, a huff of breath escaping her. Her gaze avoids mine; probably worried about giving something away to me. Eric opens the door before I can get a second word in about her odd behavior.
"What's going on, H?" he asks non-chalantly, standing just behind Calleigh. Something about him isn't right either. Maybe its just me. Maybe I need a vacation.
"I found something out about Mr. Gendron. I'm waiting on Alexx and Detective Salas."
As soon as their names leave my mouth, both of them come through my door, first Yelina and then Alexx, looking... off. What is the matter with everybody here? Am I just not with it today? Or is there something going on that I don't know about? Are they all still upset over Speed... as much as I am?
Alexx settled into the other seat next to Calleigh, while Yelina leaned on a filing cabinet to my right.
"Alright. I'm glad your all here. I found new evidence pertaining to our vic. It appears that Mr. Gendron had a very uncivilized hobby."
"Such as?" Yelina spoke up.
"Legal speed."
"You mean Mini Thin? The asthma drug?" Erik said.
"Exactly. Seems like he was pretty infatuated with it. He has a prescription for it dated a week ago. The bottle is already empty."
"You think he might be peddling it?"
"Perhaps. But I think right now we should be focusing on the doctor that set up this prescription. The name on the bottle is a Dr. Benjamin Wilcox. I've already taken the liberty to search his name with practices in Miami. Dr. Wilcox has been out of practice for almost a four weeks now."
"So, what do you think? He hires the doc to give him the prescription, maybe he gives him a cut of what he makes from the deals. Could be a partner." Calleigh suggested.
"Could be." I repeat. "In the mean time, I've asked Frank to track down Dr. Wilcox's address. I want you and Yelina to check it out."
Both women leave without another word. Erik shifts his weight onto his other leg and stares at me as if I've forgotten all about him. Alexx is staring at the rug solemnly. "Erik, what did you find out about the bullet?"
"Well, the bullet was shot at a perfect ninety degree angle, coming out the top of the guys head. Means that we're only liable to find cartridge casings at the scene. Might be worth another look."
I hum thinking the information over. No bullet. But a casing would give us the caliber of the gun and our murder weapon. "Okay. You and I will go back to the surfer shack and take a closer look. I'll meet you down in the lobby."
Erik understood the dismissal. Perhaps he could see something in Alexx's demeanor as well. He left letting the glass door close itself slowly behind him.
"Alexx, is there anything wrong?" I address her, squinting my eyes a little. Call me crazy, but she seems... spooked.
"I... don't know. Something strange happened in the theater." she divulges hesitantly.
"Like what?"
"I found this note on Mr. Gendron's body when I turned away for a moment. There was no body else in the theater, Horatio." She produced a piece of lined notebook paper folded into quarters. On it was written a very peculiar message.
"'Shakespeare knows who did it?'" I read with a hint of skepticism. "Well, Alexx, if you didn't put it there, someone had to have. Was Erik there with you?"
"He'd left by then." She answers, sub-consciously rubbing her arms. "There was something else..." she adds cryptically, as if she's not sure she wants to share it.
"What else?" I ask in a hard voice. Someone... maybe even Erik had tampered with evidence. Maybe that was why he'd looked so strange earlier...
She seals her mouth, looking away.
"Alexx, what else?" I question more softly.
"I thought I heard Tim."
The five words puncture me like a sharp object. For moments, I can't think of anything to say and labor to get the air back in my lungs. "That is not funny, Alexx."
"I'm not trying to play a joke, Horatio!" Alexx pleads. Her eyes look as if they might begin to brim. My anger subsides, but not all at once. "I'm telling you something strange is going on. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to take this."
My eyes slide to the desk in front of me, and the note in my cold grasp. "I'll keep my eyes open for anything out of the ordinary concerning this. In the mean time, don't tell anyone about it. I'll mention it to Erik and Calleigh later."
Nodding, Alexx rises from her seat and heads to the door, more slowly than normal.
"Alexx?"
"Yes?" She turns around and I know for sure that she's telling the truth just by the look in her big brown gaze.
"I miss him too." I reveal.
Alexx gives a weak smile and continues out the door, leaving me with a new dilemma in the center of a whole new mystery.
Chapter 7 will follow at some point during the week. Maybe Sunday if I can get time before the Super Bowl. Until then, I'll be brainstorming.