Chapter 1
Sleep had been a precious thing in the last few days, so every member of the Miami Dade Crime Lab did their best to get as much of it as possible. A continuous heat wave had the whole city in its relentless grip and people were practically going mad. Discussions developed into heated arguments; heated arguments developed into fights; fights developed into jobs for the local CSIs'.
With a grunt, Horatio turned around in his bed and fumbled for his chirping cell. He didn't even bother to open his eyes, not that he was capable of doing so anyway, and just pressed randomly on a button in hope to hit the right one. But then again, he wouldn't mind if it was the wrong one, because this meant a few more minutes of rest.
"Horatio?" he grumbled into the phone, which he pressed against his left ear.
"H, it's Frank. Sorry to wake you up so early, but we've got a case," the dark Texan voice told him and made him realize that this meant the end of his wonderful sleep.
"What time is it Frank?" Horatio asked and tried to free himself out of his tangled bed sheets.
"Quarter past six," the Texan answered and chuckled dryly when he heard a muted noise that sounded like a curse. "You always tell me you're an early riser, so quarter past six can't be too early for you," he teased the Lieutenant and enjoyed himself immensely.
"Easy for you to say, you were on vacation for the last two weeks," Horatio growled and finally freed himself. "Where's the scene?"
"South Beach, so you better hurry up before all the vultures get there and our tourists will have a very special memory of their holiday," Frank replied and while doing so, observed the scene in front of him. "Or better make it more vultures than are already here," he said annoyed and instructed one of his officers to expand the crime scene area.
"I'll be there in 30," Horatio answered and quit the call. He walked straight into the bathroom and stepped under his cold shower which hopefully wake him up a bit more. Crime Scenes on the beach were always very tricky, because evidences could be taken away by almost everyone, not to forget the sea. Searching for traces was a bitch and he already knew that Speed wouldn't be amused by the combination of getting up so early and spending the day at the beach. Eric would complain of why he can't dive in the ocean and Calleigh would try to get a nice taint. Hopefully everyone remembered to put on some sun cream, or they would look like lobsters in a heart beat.
True to his words, Horatio arrived at the Crime Scene about 30 minutes later and stepped out of his Hummer with a large cup of coffee from his favorite brand in his hand. Frank had been right, he was an early riser normally and nights with only four or five hours of sleep didn't bother him at all, but one double shift after the other did also tire out the great Horatio Caine.
"What have we got, Frank?" he asked in his typical manner, when the detective approached him.
"One victim, female. Name is Tamara Princeton. Seems like she'd been on vacation here, her drivers license was made out in Chicago."
"Any witnesses or preferably culprits?" Horatio asked while they made their way to the yellow barrier tape.
"Nope, this guy there," he pointed to a young man with a dog, "found her whilst he was taking his dog for a walk. He literally stumbled over her, got the shock of his life and called us."
Horatio just nodded and scribbled his name onto the protocol sheet. "Well let's see what Alexx can tell us."
"I hope you didn't have breakfast yet, H. It looks nasty. One of my guys puked out his guts when he saw her."
"That bad, huh?" Horatio raised an eyebrow and couldn't help but notice the distinctive smell of blood in the air.
"Most definitely, who ever the perp is, it's an animal."
"An animal we're going to catch, Frank."
Their paths parted and while Frank walked to the officer who was busy talking with the man who found the victim, Horatio made his way to their favorite M.E.
"Alexx, what can you tell me about our victim?" he asked and crouched down next to her.
"Horatio, this is the most gruesome thing I've seen in my life," Alexx greeted him and it was plain to see that the normally cheerful woman was deeply disturbed by what she'd seen.
"I know what you mean, Alexx. Are you okay? Do you need a minute or so?" Horatio asked gently and let his eyes roam over the, what must once have been a beautiful young woman.
"No it's okay, I can manage it," she stubbornly shook her head and reached for the thermometer to find out the liver temperature. "You've been far too young to lie here baby," she stroked over the victims blonde hair after she'd inserted the instrument.
"Frank said she's from Chicago, probably just wanted to spend some days on the beach," Horatio commented. "COD?"
"The cause of death is pretty obvious, Horatio. This animal has slid her throat from the left to right, so deeply that he not only hit the Aorta but also the Trachea."
"There must have been a lot of rage in this," Horatio said. "Have you found any defensive wounds?"
"Believe it or not, I didn't find any," Alexx looked at him.
"Weird," Horatio furrowed his brows. "Normally when someone is attacking you with a knife, you'll do your best to defend yourself," he explained. "And she must have been alive, when he did that to her," he continued and pointed to the blood splatters around the body. "One…two…three and four…her heart must have beaten four times after he had done this to her," he pointed to the different splatters and shook his head.
"All I know is that this guy is a freak and dangerous." She glanced at her thermometer and counted the hours. "Time of death must have been between one or two this morning. She's practically still warm."
"Good, this probably gives us a chance to find enough evidence to work with," Horatio nodded and held up a hand towards his team, before they could enter the crime scene. "I better tell them first what's waiting for them," he told Alexx who'd been looking at him questioningly.
"Well you don't look that good either," Alexx pointed out.
"Lack of sleep and not enough to eat," he barely shrugged and stood up.
"Horatio Caine," Alexx used her motherly warning tone, he knew all too well. "You need to listen to your body and get some rest, furthermore you know as well as I do that you need to eat."
Horatio was glad that he was wearing his sunglasses so she couldn't see him roll his eyes. "I know, Alexx," he sighed.
"And don't you roll your eyes at me," she glared at him. "If you don't have anything to eat at home, you know that you can always come to me."
"I appreciate that, but that won't be necessary," he shook his head and without waiting for a reply, he made his way to his team. "Good morning Cal, gentlemen," he greeted them and looked over his shoulder towards the victim. "It's nasty," he came straight to the point. "The body is still warm so we have a good chance to find something. Speed you and Calleigh will comb the sand for anything which might belong to our victim or the perp. Eric, you will take photos from the victim and the crime scene."
"You got it, H," Eric nodded and quickly made his way to Alexx.
"Do we know if this is the original crime scene?" Speed asked and pulled a face when he saw the numerous number of foot prints here. They would never get a match, thanks to the sand.
"It definitely is where he killed her, yes," Horatio nodded. "There are blood splatters everywhere and the sand is sucked in blood."
"Do we already know the weapon he used?" Calleigh chimed in and looked at H expectantly.
"Something sharp, probably a razor blade, a scalpel…I don't know. We'll have to wait for the autopsy to know for certain."
Speed and Calleigh nodded in unison and made their way to the actual crime scene.
"Now this is going to be a wonderful day," Speed grumbled and crouched down to open his case.
"You're just mad because it's early in the morning and we're on the beach," Calleigh smiled and tied her hair into a bun.
"Well yeah and I have every right to be mad," Speed snorted. "That's definitely a reason why I hate going to the beach," he pulled a face and started to 'comb' the sand.
"Maybe Horatio will give you something from his coffee," Calleigh teased him and followed his example.
"Cal, please believe me when I say that not even 2 liters of coffee could get me awake at this time of day," Speed replied and rolled his eyes when he found a condom in the sand. "Oh… Jackpot."
Curiously Calleigh looked up from her task and grinned at her colleague. "Maybe it's from the prep, we can at least give it a shot."
"Well at least someone already had a shot," Speed commented on the used condom and bit back a remark when he heard Calleigh laughing. "You", he pointed his finger at her, "are much too cheerful for this time of day."
"Sue me," she bantered back and started with her work again.
Speed just shook his head and smiled at her. Not even getting up at six in the morning could make Calleigh Duquesne grumpy. She was definitely not from this world. "Maybe I should sue our Lieutenant, since he's the reason for your cheerfulness," he teased her.
For a second, Calleigh stopped dead in her tracks, and then continued her task, like nothing had happened. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she claimed.
"Uh huh, sure you don't," Speed snickered and put the condom into one of the brown envelopes.
"That's not funny, Tim," Calleigh growled slightly and quickly looked around to make sure that no one was listening to them.
"Oh yeah it is," Speed countered and put on a satisfied grin. He didn't do it often, but once in a while he needed to tease Calleigh a bit. They were close friends, so they trusted each other and he would never betray Calleigh's confidence in him.
"I'll never go out with you again and drink more shots than I should," Calleigh sighed, but couldn't hide a small smile. It was highly unfair that Speed had Irish blood in his veins and could tolerate much more alcohol than she did. The fact that she became quite talkative when she was tipsy had lead into the fact that she had told him about her little crush on their Lieutenant and therefore given him something to tease her with.
Not that she thought for a second that he would tell anyone else, since he was discreet, but still he was able to tease her now. On the other hand though, it was good to know that he didn't care about who she had a crush on and didn't hold it against her. Funny what a last minute 'date' between two friends could bring out.
"That's fine with me, we had agreed for strip poker anyway," Speed joked and laughed lightly when he saw her shocked face. "I'm only joking, Cal. No strip poker, no shots…no nothing. Just know that my door is always open for you, as long as it's not in the middle of the night or early in the morning."
"I'll remember that," she nodded. "But let's concentrate on the case now, or our Lieutenant won't be amused, because you were gossiping about my love life," she drawled and like most of the time, had the last word.
Tbc?