Chapter 5

Yelena was waiting for Horatio when he arrived at her house later that morning. The car was painfully quiet until his sister-in-law's voice penetrated the horrible silence that had consumed the Hummer as they drove to the funeral home.

"IAB questioned me yesterday." Horatio nearly slammed on the breaks.

"What?" He said in completely disbelief. Rick Steler was bottom feeder, but Horatio never thought he'd stoop this low.

"They wanted to know what I knew about what Ray was doing." Horatio gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles. Ray wasn't even cold in the ground yet and IAB was already looking for dirt. He shook his head in disgust. There was going to be hell to pay. "I think they think he is….was dirty."

A sick feeling began to develop in Horatio's stomach. He knew that Ray knew more and did more than he ever led on to, it was only a matter of time before people started to make the connection between the two brothers.

"Why can't they just let him die with honor?" Yelena choked out as her tears began to overwhelm her. "Why do they have to disgrace him when he can't defend himself?" Horatio reached over and took her hand.

"That's where it's up to us to defend for him." Yelena nodded and squeezed his hand, feeling a little bit better as she heard the sincerity in her brother-in-law's voice. "How's Ray Jr. holding up?"

"He's completely heart broken. Ray is…was a hero in his eyes. I want it to stay that way." It was Horatio's turn to nod and squeeze her hand.

"I promise that nothing is going to change Ray Jr.'s perception of his father. I promise"

br

Calleigh had stayed behind after Horatio left to clean the place up a little bit before heading back to their apartment. After showering and redressing in a black sleeveless square neck top and black pant, she headed into work feeling and looking better then when she left.

She knew what was waiting for her in the lab and she needed to process it before the case ran cold. Speed was already at work going over Ray's clothes when she arrived.

"Hey Cal. How's Horatio doing?" He asked as he lifted his head up. She just smiled bravely.

"He's hanging in there." Speed nodded, not pushing for anything more. He could tell by the massive worry lines on her faces that things were worse than she was ever going to let on to anyone else.

Calleigh had just put her gloves on when a knock on the door caused her to turn around. She had expected it to be Horatio or Eric but instead found the devil himself, Rick Steler. The top IAB asshole was standing in the doorway to the trace lab with a frown on his face.

"Calleigh, can I talk to you?" She glanced at Tim, who shrugged and then sighed.

"Sure." Rick gave a quick little smile and then headed off towards the conference room. Calleigh followed, taking her time, know full well what was about to happen. She entered the glass walled room and took a seat at the table. Rick stayed standing.

"Tsk, tsk Calleigh. I thought you would know better than to handle evidence in this case." Calleigh narrowed her eyes as she looked at him.

"I'm a CSI. It's what I do." She replied coldly.

"Not when the case is that of your Lieutenant's dead brother." Calleigh turned away from him and stared straight ahead.

"I had no personal connection with Raymond Caine."

"But you do have a personal connection to his brother, Horatio Caine. In fact, you're his fiancée, isn't that right?" Calleigh stiffened. She and Horatio didn't hide their relationship, but they didn't want it to be used against them when it came to their work.

"Yes, Horatio and I are engaged. But our relationship doesn't cloud my judgment in anyway." She defended. He held up a finger.

"Ah, yes. But it does create a conflict of interest. You have a personal bias. You want Raymond Caine to be clean because your fiancé does, isn't that right?" Calleigh whipped her head around.

"I don't want anything except for his widow and son to have good memories to hang onto that aren't tarnished by your accusations." She snapped. Rick finally came over and sat down in front of her.

"Look Calleigh, I don't want to be the bad guy here, but something has to be done. Someone has to find the truth, and I mean the real truth. Not just what Lt. Caine decides the truth is. Now, I'm here to ask for your help. I need you to help me figure out who Caine was and what he was really up to." Calleigh shook her head.

"You are one cold son of a bitch. You want me to be a mole and rat out Horatio for you. Well, you must be as dumb as you look because I'm not doing it. I love Horatio and I want him to have peace of mind. All you want is someone to blame and I will not let you make Horatio take the fall for this. He's done nothing but be a supportive big brother, so stay away from him, stay away from Yelena and stay the hell away from me." Calleigh stood and walked out of the room, never once looking back to see the pissed expression on the IAB agent's face.