CHAPTER FOUR: ELIJAH PRICE
The next day when Horatio arrived at the lab Eric approached him.
"I found some fingerprints, H." Eric said.
"Good, go you got a match?" Horatio asked.
"Yeah, they belong to an Elijah Price; he owns an art exhibition hall and has several times been convicted for stalking." Eric said.
"Stalking?" Horatio asked.
"Yeah, apparently he gets attached to someone because he believes they are special and he has difficulty letting them go." Eric said.
"How many convictions?" Horatio asked.
"Eight." Eric answered, "He must think you're special now H, you should get protection."
"No, I don't think it's necessary. I'll go talk to him." Horatio said.
"But that might be risky H, that way you show him interest and then he might start stalking you." Eric worried.
Horatio shrugged, "I just want to see what he's like." He said.
"I don't think it's a good idea H." Eric said, "And I am pretty sure that Calleigh would agree."
"Yes, but I think that she would also understand if I want to go see him." Horatio said, "Don't worry Eric." He said and patted Eric on the shoulder.
Eric sighed as he watched Horatio walk to his office.
The he got an idea and hurried after him.
"H wait up!" Eric said.
Horatio stopped.
"I have an idea." Eric said.
"Alright, what is it?" Horatio asked.
"Can I go with you?" Eric asked, "I think it would be best, in case something would happen."
Horatio thought for a second.
"Okay, sure. Be ready to leave at lunch." Horatio said.
Eric nodded and left. If anything would happened he knew it was best if Horatio wasn't alone with this Elijah Price guy.
-I-
Horatio stood by his car with a worried Calleigh in front of him. Telling him all sorts of things that could go wrong.
"Calleigh sweetie." Horatio said, "I don't think that Mr. Price is going to kill me, alright?"
"Maybe not, but the man is a stalker and the last thing we need is a stalker, think of our baby." Calleigh said.
"Calleigh, if I notice that Mr. Price starts to become too, let's say, friendly, I will make sure that you get protection and I will make it perfectly clear to him that he will not bother my family, okay?" Horatio said.
Calleigh sighed.
"Honey, I'm just going to see what he has to say, alright?" Horatio said.
"Okay." Calleigh sighed, "But I want to know everything about it later."
Horatio smiled and kissed her, "I will tell you everything. I promise." He said.
The heard the elevator door open and saw Eric come out of the elevator to join Horatio in his meeting with Elijah Price.
"Eric, make sure that Horatio doesn't do anything stupid." Calleigh said.
"Yeah, Cal I promise." Eric smiled.
Calleigh smiled and kissed Horatio, and then Horatio got into the car with Eric and drove away.
The ride to the exhibition hall that Mr. Price owned took only a few minutes.
The exhibition hall seemed small from the outside, but once you stepped inside you saw it full size. There were paintings everywhere and some statues too.
The walls were white and there wasn't a person in sight.
"I wonder if business is going very well." Eric said.
Horatio nodded.
"Hello, may I help you two?" A tall dark man asked. He was walking around with a stick and limping severely on his left foot.
"We are looking for Elijah Price." Horatio said.
"I'm him." The man said.
"I got a note from here." Horatio said.
"Congratulations, you and so many others have got notes from here by loved ones." Elijah said, "It either means that you are here to buy something or to just look at all the art that I have here."
"Actually this note said: How many days in your life have you been sick?" Horatio said.
Elijah froze.
"You are Lt. Horatio Caine." Elijah said, "I've been waiting for you."
"Waiting for how long?" Eric asked.
"Years." Elijah answered, "Please, come with me to my office."
Elijah led the way and showed Horatio and Eric in to a small section of the exhibition hall, there were almost four computers there and several drawings.
"Have you ever read a comic magazine, Mr. Caine?" Elijah asked.
"Yes." Horatio said.
"Many?" Elijah asked.
"No."
"How many?"
"Two or three. They don't interest me very much."
"Well, they might start interesting you more after what I'm going to tell you today." Elijah smiled.
"What are you going to tell me?" Horatio asked.
"In comic magazines, there is always a bad and good guy. Spiderman vs. The green Goblin, Superman vs. Lex Luthor and so on." Elijah said, "The good guy always has one weakness, but he rarely, if ever, gets hurt. The bad guy however, he gets hurt all the time. And he always loses. It's like they are the same person on the same curve, but on the opposite ends." Elijah said, "You and I are the same."
"And why is that?" Horatio asked.
"You noticed I am limping, yes?" Elijah asked.
Horatio nodded.
"I have brittle-bone disease. There a four types, type one, two, three and four. I have type one, the mildest one. Type fours don't live very long." Elijah said, "In my life so far I've had 54 fractures. Do you see my point?"
"Not really." Horatio said.
"What about you young man?" Elijah asked Eric.
"No." Eric said.
"My bones break very easily, yours don't." Elijah said. "Like a superhero."
"You think I'm a superhero?" Horatio chuckled.
"Did you figure out how many days you've been sick?" Elijah asked.
"Yes." Horatio answered.
"And how many days is it?" Elijah asked.
"None so far." Horatio said.
"Exactly, what you can remember you haven't been sick one day in your life, not even with a cold, am I right?" Elijah asked.
Horatio nodded.
"But usually people could easily answer that they had had a cold or been seriously injured at least once in their life." Elijah said, "Have you ever been injured?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"I was stabbed once. I New York."
"Yes, well I'm not going to lie to you. Even a superhero can get hurt. But only if someone directly hurt them. If someone shots them or stabs them." Elijah said, "But in accidents you don't get hurt. Only if someone attacks you like in New York. How many accidents have you been in where you got hurt?" Elijah asked.
"None." Horatio said quietly.
"Exactly. The explosion is almost proof enough, isn't it?" Elijah said, "Where were you hiding when the bomb went off?" He asked.
"I weren't hiding anywhere."
Elijah smiled.
"There is an opposite to everything in life Mr. Caine. There are heterosexual people and there are homosexual people, and then there are those in the middle, the bisexual people." Elijah said, "There are evil people and there are good people and the rest are in the middle, the both good and bad. There are people like me, who can barely move without breaking any bones, and there are people like you, who can do almost anything without getting a single scratch on them. And the rest of the people are in the middle, they are what everybody calls normal people." Elijah said.
"This is bullshit." Eric said.
"It is not bullshit! Mr. Caine, you lived a violent home as a child, am I right?" Elijah asked.
Horatio stared at Elijah, "Have you been checking up on me?!" He growled.
"Yes, not to mention that my uncle happened to live on the same street as you when you were young." Elijah said, "How many times did you actually break something when your father hit you?"
"None." Horatio said.
"Did you ever get a scratch on you?" Elijah asked.
"No."
Elijah smiled, "See? I think you understand now."
"Eric, we're leaving come on." Horatio said and walked towards the entrance.
Elijah followed them as fast as he could.
"I am not wrong Mr. Caine and you know it!" He yelled after Eric and Horatio as the left.
Once outside Horatio quickly went inside the car and drove off.
"Was he right H?" Eric asked.
"About what?"
"About your violent childhood?"
"I don't want to talk about it Eric."
"I won't tell anyone, you know that."
Horatio sighed, "Yes, my childhood was violent." He said.
Eric nodded and the rest of the drive back to the lab was in silence.
-I-
Calleigh stared at Horatio. It was eight at night and Horatio had just told her everything about his meeting with Elijah.
"He thinks you are superhero?" She asked.
Horatio nodded.
"And he says the proof of it lies in your childhood and all the accidents you've been in without getting hurt?" Calleigh asked.
"Yes." Horatio said.
"Did you ever get hurt by your father?" Calleigh asked.
"Not physically. Calleigh, he threw me down the stairs once and I didn't break one bone, I didn't get a bruise either." Horatio said.
"So you think that this Elijah guy is right?" Calleigh asked.
"I don't know, I need to look more into this. Maybe I got hurt once and I just don't remember it." He said.
"Horatio, please, this is going to drive you crazy if you let it." Calleigh said.
"What do you think I should do?" Horatio asked.
"I think you should leave it alone, don't bother." She said.
Horatio shook his head, "Calleigh I need to know."
Calleigh sighed.
"Alright, but you let me be a part of this." Calleigh said.
"And Eric too." Horatio said.
"Why?"
"Because he's been a part of this ever since I asked him to process the not, I want him in on this." Horatio said.
Calleigh smiled, "Should we tell the others?"
"Not right now, we need to investigate this a little bit more first." Horatio said.
-I-
"So let me get this straight, you want to check old records of yourself to see if Elijah is telling the truth?" Eric asked on the other end of the phone. Horatio had called Eric to tell him about his plan.
"Yes, Eric."
"Remember what Calleigh said about not getting too involved with Elijah Price?" Eric asked, "If she finds out she is going to shoot me first for not stopping you and then she'll shoot you."
"Eric, she knows. I told her everything and she's in on this too." Horatio said.
Eric sighed, "Alright, but H seriously. I didn't think you were the kind of guy who would fall for something like this."
"Eric think about it." Horatio said, "Think about the explosion… I wasn't hiding, I was in the room next to the bomb, but the bomb almost took out the entire house." Horatio said.
"And you weren't protected by a wall or something like that?" Eric asked.
"No, when the paramedics found me I was lying on the floor, no sort of shelter from the blast on me. There is no way that I should have been able to walk out of there without a single scratch." Horatio said.
Eric sighed, "Alright H, what do you want me to do?" He asked.
"I want you to check my hospital records, how many times have I been to the hospital and so on." Horatio said.
"Okay, I'll check first thing in the morning." Eric said.
"Good, oh and Eric?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you." Horatio said and hung up.
TBC…