A/N: Sorry for the long wait for an update. Private life got downhill for a while and I wasn't entirely sure if people wanted to continue reading this particular story. Anyway, since I got wonderful and encouraging reviews today, I thought I'd post a new chapter. Have fun and enjoy.

Chapter 8

Four days later, Horatio and Calleigh were sitting alone in the lab's break room and were enjoying a good cup of coffee. The whole morning had been quiet and while the boys had gotten lost somewhere in the lab, the couple had decided to meet in the break room.

Now, Calleigh was busy reading one of her lifestyle magazines or as Horatio called it "gossip-magazines" and nibbled with relish on one of her self-made chocolate cookies. She had offered Horatio to eat some as well and he had taken one, but after that he had declined another one. He was "happy with his coffee" he had said and with a shrug, Calleigh had accepted it. This only meant that there was more for her anyway.

Horatio meanwhile, was trying to read a newspaper article, but it got harder and harder. Every time he heard her biting of a piece of a cookie or even worse a small moan of approval, his appetite for another cookie got bigger and now he was annoyed by himself, because he had told her that one was enough. Why had he done that anyway? He didn't want her to believe that he was greedy and in fact he didn't need such food at all, but the cookies were really delicious and now he needed to get out of this predicament.

With a side glance he eyed Calleigh and carefully leaned forward as if he would reach for his coffee, but instead he quickly grabbed a smaller cookie and stuffed it into his mouth. Boy, did they taste good. With a quiet hum, he sat back again and chewed as inconspicuous as possible. He unfolded his newspaper again and tried to hide behind it.

Calleigh of course, had seen everything and could only wonder about his behavior. If he liked the cookies, then she would share them with him. "Men…" she thought to herself and with a grin she grabbed the box and placed it next to her on the sofa. "Let's see if he does it again…"

Horatio, who hadn't noticed her actions, carefully peeked around his newspaper and noticed with a smile that Calleigh seemed to be absorbed in her magazine. "Good," he thought to himself and quickly reached for the box again but felt nothing but air. "What the..?" he furrowed his brows and looked to the now empty space where the box had been just seconds before. "Hmm…" he pulled a face and then saw out of the corner of his eye that Cal was eating another cookie. Turning his head slightly, he noticed the object of his desire. Now he just needed a good moment to steal another cookie again.

Calleigh bit back a smile when she saw how he casually let his hand rest in the near of the box and how he slowly made his way to the treasure. The moment he grabbed a cookie, she grabbed his hand so he couldn't get away. "Drop it!"

Horatio just winced and did as he was told.

"Mhm, it seems to me that I caught you in the act, didn't I, Handsome?" she drawled and smiled at him.

"It wasn't for me," Horatio did his best impression of a puppy dog face. "I actually wanted to…uhm feed you with it," he added and gave her his best smile.

"Sure," she nodded, not believing a single word. "I rather think that you wanted it for yourself… Cookie-thief."

Horatio knew that he was caught, so he just looked down and sighed. "Guilty as charged, Detective," he admitted in defeat. "Do you think you could share them with me?" he looked up again and tilted his head while doing so.

"Oh I don't know, as far as I know you're happy with your coffee so," she started but got interrupted by Frank.

"Sorry to interrupt your two lovebirds, but we have a case," he stuck his head in at the door. "I already told the others, the address is Collins Avenue, Lincoln Road. Two victims, I'll see you there."

Horatio just nodded and waited until Frank left again, before he looked at Calleigh again. "Well I guess we need to postpone my punishment," he joked.

Calleigh didn't feel like joking though at this very moment. Frank had called them lovebirds, so did that mean that he knew about their relationship? "Does he know about us?"

"Who? Frank? No, he doesn't." No one knew about their relationship for now. "He just assumes, but then again, he had already assumed it months ago, so don't think about it Cal," he reassured her. "And don't worry about it, he'd be more than okay with it anyway."

"Okay," she nodded slowly. It wasn't that she was embarrassed about being with him, but she wasn't sure how the others would react about it.

"So let's get going, before Frank gets ideas," Horatio laughed and quickly stole another cookie. At her glare he just shrugged. "Provisions for the journey."

"You're incorrigible," Cal rolled her eyes and quickly followed him.

When they arrived at the crime scene about twenty minutes later, police officers had already secured the scene and did their best to keep the bystanders at bay. Without rushing, Horatio parked the Hummer and stopped the engine. Through the windshield he observed the area and let his eyes roam over the houses and people around. It was a typical normal neighborhood with, what he assumed, rather young families or pensioners who wanted nothing more than to have a quiet life. And this meant nothing more than this case would be gruesome. Of course, every crime was gruesome in his eyes, but there were still differences.

"It looks utterly similar to our case where the father had murdered his whole family, doesn't it?" Calleigh interrupted his inner musings and sighed. She only hoped that there was no child involved. These cases were always the hardest.

"True," he acknowledged and motioned her to leave the car. "Let's hope its no repeating."

"Yeah," she agreed and graciously slipped out of the Hummer, walking around the car to the rear door where Horatio was already waiting for her. "There's Frank," she pointed towards the big Texan when she grabbed for her silver case and made herself ready for whatever horrible scene would be waiting for them.

"Well, let's see what he has to tell us," Horatio commented and together they walked up to him. "Frank, what do you have for us?"

"Two victims, elderly people," Frank was quick to reply. "Alexx has only arrived a few minutes before so don't ask me about the COD," he shrugged in his typical way. Doctors always had the vein to talk to him in their foreign language and he hated that. Though he had to admit that Alexx wasn't one of them.

"Okay, any witnesses or signs for burglary?" Horatio asked and wrote his signature on the log book.

"Positive, I just wanted to talk to the witnesses and the rest of your team is already in the house," Frank answered. "I'll tell you in case I find something."

"You do that, Frank. Thank you," Horatio nodded and looked at Calleigh. "You ready?"

"Just lead the way, Horatio," she smiled up at him and, just like he, did her best to remain absolutely professional. There was no reason to float around their relationship, especially not at a crime scene where they had more important things to do anyway.

Inside the house, they quickly found the rest of the team including Alexx in the living room. Immediately Horatio picked up the smell of blood and inwardly pulled a face when he saw the two victims. "It wasn't our serial killer, was it?" he asked into the room.

"No Honey, it wasn't. But this one isn't better," Alexx answered the question and waited for the temperature results.

"Well at least these two didn't go without a fight," Speed commented and carefully picked up a hair with tweezers. "If this hair doesn't belong to our victims, we have our first lead," he concluded.

"Let's hope so," Horatio nodded. "Do you already have the cause of death, Alexx?"

"Yes, they were both stabbed in their stomachs and bled out," she shook her head. "That's also a reason why I'm sure that it wasn't our guy."

"Doesn't make it better, does it?" Horatio asked rather rhetorically and looked at Eric. "Eric, go to the kitchen and have a look at the knives. Maybe we're lucky and the perp used one from here." It had happened so often that a burglary gone wrong ended in a murder and often the murder weapon had belonged to the victim. "Calleigh and I will search the second floor to see if something's missing."

"Got it, H," the Cuban quickly nodded and made his way to the kitchen.

"Just holler when you found something interesting," Horatio told the others and followed Calleigh upstairs. "You take the left side, me the right?"

"Sounds perfect," she nodded and opened the first door.

Horatio did the same and entered the bathroom. Nothing seemed out of order here and a quick view into the several cabinets told him that it didn't seem like someone had rummaged through them. And since Alexx had told them that the victims had been stabbed, he highly doubted that this had happened with a razor blade. So he decided to leave the bath and enter the room next door.

"Jackpot," he smiled when he found himself in the master bedroom. Grabbing his flashlight and turning it on, he began to 'comb' the room thoroughly. He couldn't tell how long he'd done that until he finally reached the bed drawer; what he found there surprised him though. Very carefully he grabbed the framed photo of two people who were smiling into the camera.

"Hmm, interesting," he mumbled to himself, because these two people couldn't be older than 35 and this certainly didn't match to the two victims they'd found in the living room. "This doesn't make any sense," he said and quickly put the photo back to where he'd found it and made his way to the big wardrobe. Opening it and having a closer look at the clothes inside, his suspicions that something was seriously wrong here got affirmed.

He knew that some elderly people were still up to date with their clothes, but he seriously doubted that the woman would wear a string bikini and that the man would wear that kind of T-Shirts and jeans. This was most definitely the wardrobe of young people. So who were the two victims and what were they doing here? Or..weren't they the victims?

"Horatio?" Calleigh called from the door to get his attention. "There's something you need to have a look at."

"What is it, Cal?" he asked intrigued and walked up to her.

"Just follow me," she said and was sure he would do so. "The first room I examined seemed to be the guest bedroom," she told him while they were walking down the corridor. "It's the second room that has my interest." With that she smoothly opened the door and let him take the lead.

Curiously, Horatio stepped into the room and stood in the middle of a typical girly room. Pink wallpapers, Barbie dolls were lying all around and the bed was crowded with stuffed animals. On the wall, next to the bed, a name was written down in huge letters. "Molly," Horatio read it out loud and turned to Calleigh. "A child's room?"

Calleigh just nodded and looked at him. "This doesn't make any sense."

"Mhm," Horatio mused and let his eyes rest on the small bed. "It's unmade. Funny, the master bedroom's bed was made," said and furrowed his brows. "The only thing that doesn't make any sense in here, are the victims."

"Why?" Calleigh asked intrigued.

"Because here.. we have a child's room and across the hallway, we have a master bedroom of mid-thirties," he pointed out. "Child," he waved his hand, "and parents," he pointed a finger behind him.

"So…what you're saying is, that our victims don't belong in here? They haven't lived here? But if they didn't, then where's the family?" she asked and could see where his theory came from.

"That Cal.. that is what we're going to find out."

Downstairs, Delko made his way back to the living room and had a huge smile on his face. "Look at what I've found," he said and held up a plastic back with a butcher's knife. "Do you think this could be our murder weapon, Alexx?"

Looking up from her work, Alexx eyed the knife carefully. "It could be, yes. But I can't say for sure until I've done the autopsy."

"Alexx, what would you say about the victims ages?" Horatio interrupted them and entered the room with Calleigh.

"Uhm, I'd say early sixties, maybe late fifties. Why?"

"And when was the time of death?" he asked and didn't react to her question.

"Time of Death was.. I'd say approximately midnight. And again I ask why?"

Looking at Calleigh, Horatio lifted an eyebrow before he finally answered Alexx' question. "Well the thing is, that upstairs we have a made master bedroom, a made guest bedroom but an unmade child's room."

"I seriously doubt that our victims were parents of a young child," Alexx interjected.

"Right and that's the question. If they," he pointed at the victims, "aren't our homeowners, which they obviously aren',t then what are they doing here and where's our family?"

"I think I can answer that," Speed said and walked to the fireplace. "I've already wondered who those people are," he said and grabbed a photo and handed it to Horatio. "Well at least we can answer who our victims are," he shrugged.

Looking at the picture, Horatio knew what Speed meant. "Grandparents," he whispered to himself and took a deep breath. "Assuming that…these are our grandparents," he turned to the group which was listening carefully, "and we have an unmade child's room…and no parents in sight…."

"This could probably mean that the grandparents have been babysitting the child," Speed continued the thought.

"And someone thought the house would be empty…," Eric continued and looked at Calleigh.

"The perp has probably surprised the grandparents and killed them. A typical burglary gone wrong…"

Horatio just nodded. "But where… is our child?" he asked no one in particular and immediately had a bad feeling about it.

A pointed silence hung between them, everyone being in their own thoughts.

"Horatio, I don't know if this will help you, but.. there's so much blood here.. the perp.. must have been bloody too. His cloths must be.. full of blood," Alexx broke the silence.

Horatio nodded in understanding. "I'll see what Frank can tell us and you're going to comb this house," he then said and swiftly made his way outside, leaving a stunned and worried team behind him.

"Frank," he called the detective from a few meters away, where he was busy talking to a man.

"Horatio," Frank acknowledged and wrote down some notes.

"We have a problem Frank. Do you know the name of the house owners?"

"Why do you-" Frank started but was interrupted by this small guy next to him.

"Oh that's easy," the man said. "It's Kevin and Judy Bolt's house."

Turning his attention to the guy, Horatio raised his eyebrows.

"Oh sorry, I'm Jack Miller. I live in the neighborhood," the man smiled and tried to put on a nonchalant front.

A front Horatio didn't buy. "I see," he nodded and couldn't help but feel the nervous vibes, coming from him. Of course, most people were nervous while talking to the police, especially when a murder had happened, but this was another type of nervousness, he just couldn't put a finger on it. "So since you're a neighbor, do you know where the Bolts are?"

"Sure I do", he nodded. Before he continued he put his hands in his pockets, trying to act normal. "They are on vacation. Somewhere up north, I'm not sure where exactly, but I've heard they wanted to visit the Grandparents." He remained silent, waited for more questions, since he wanted to help as much as possible.

Horatio just nodded and wanted to go into it, when a teenage boy interrupted him unintentionally.

"That's not true," the boy shook his head. "The Bolts aren't on vacation. They attend some conference in Chicago. And while that, the grandparents look out for their daughter, Molly."

"And you are?" Frank asked and had a hard time to write down all the different facts on his notebook, especially since he hadn't heard about a child, a probably missing child, at all.

"I'm Brian Connor. I'm the paper boy here," he stated and grinned at the two police men.

"Interesting," Horatio murmured and looked at Miller again. This was suspicious. "Vacation, hm?"

"Yeah", he replied even though he told himself to be more carefully. "That's what they said to me. Maybe...they are visiting the Grandparents and then attend the conference?" he suggested. While he was talking, he unconsciously shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

"Without the grandchild?" Frank asked incredulously. "I bet they'd like that a lot."

Horatio bit back a smile and turned his attention to the boy again. "Thank you Brian. Why don't you go to this officer there and tell him again what you told us?" he asked him and pointed to an officer a few meters away.

"Okay, Sir," the boy nodded and got a bit more serious again. "Are the Bolts alright? I mean Molly and her grandparents?"

"That's what we're trying to find out, son", Horatio replied and gave him a small reassuring smile.

"Okay, good. I like them a lot, they always give me a good tip", he smirked and then walked to the other officer.

Horatio just shook his head at that and cleared his throat. "So Mr. Miller, where have you been last night?"

Jack's eyes went wide. "W-what do you mean? I was...at home," he stuttered because he had a feeling that something was going wrong. "Just like every evening. Why...are you asking me that?"

"That's the normal procedure", Frank just shrugged. "Do you have witnesses for that?"

"My pal Nick was with me," he said, avoiding eye contact with Horatio. His senses told him that this man meant danger. "You can ask him." He wanted to show confidence, but the slight tremor in his voice gave him away. Suddenly, he looked at his watch. "Are you finished? I have an appointment, you know?"

They were nowhere but finished. Not when the man acted like this. Horatio gave Frank a quick glance and after all those years together, the Texan knew what was going on.

"Does that Nick have a last name?" Frank asked in his typical tone and ignored the man's questions. "And maybe even a telephone number?"

Horatio just stayed silent, while Frank fired his questions and watched Miller's gestures. There was something going on, he just knew it. Unnoticed by the others, he took a deep breath and stopped dead in his tracks. He knew that smell all too well. Furrowing his brows, he eyed Miller and took a few steps back. Inhaling again, he tilted his head and walked the few steps back again. The closer he got to the man, the stronger the smell became. "Did you cut your finger today? Or something similar?" he asked out of nowhere.

"Why do you want to know THAT?" Jack deadpanned. "Listen," he tried again. "I really want to help, but there's nothing more I can tell you. Oh, and the name's Carter, okay? 555-8384-881." He desperately needed to get in touch with his buddy and tried to end this conversation. "I really need to go."

"Well yeah, but you need to stay here until we called your friend so he can confirm your alibi," Frank told him seriously and looked at his friend, who looked a bit odd. "You'll wait here and this nice officer is having an eye on you," he smirked and waved at one of his colleagues, "while I make the call."

Horatio didn't believe Miller at all. His instincts had never betrayed him and the smell was so obvious, there was no other way. "Frank? You got a minute?"

Frank raised an eyebrow, but decided to play along. "Sure," he nodded and followed Horatio who walked a few steps to the side. "What's up?"

"You don't have to call this friend, it's a lie," Horatio started and positioned himself in such a way, so he could easily watch Miller without being too obvious. "First he lies about the whereabouts of the family and then he lied about this friend. He's acting too nervous to be a normal concerned neighbour. It's either he knows something about the murder, or he's our perp." Not to forget the lie about the non-existing cut. If there was no cut, then there had to be blood on his clothes, there was no other way. And if there was blood on his clothes, then there was the question why.

"You sure about that?" Frank asked with his broad Texan accent, although he never doubted Horatio's skills. But still he had to work the protocol. "And now? If we push Miller too far, he might ask for an attorney." And that meant they had no chance to gather more facts. On the other hand they couldn't let him go either. "Any ideas?"

"Actually I don't Frank," he sighed, because he knew all too well that Frank was right about pushing Miller too far. "We need to get it out of him by accident. And yes, I know that he lied to me. I just know it." Biting his lip, he tried to make up a plan. "We could tell him that we didn't reach his friend, so he feels safe", he suggested.

"And then?" Frank asked and wondered where this was going.

"Oh, we just have to make him believe that we don't suspect him," Horatio grinned and made his way back to Miller.

There was a big question mark blinking over Frank's head. "Darn Redheads and their secretiveness," he mumbled to himself and followed his colleague a few moments later.

Miller didn't even dare to ask, if they'd reached Nick or not, because he was sure that if they did, he wouldn't like the outcome.

"Thank you Officer," Horatio dismissed the younger man and just eyed Miller who looked like a bundle of nerves.

"Well we didn't reach your friend, so for now you're allowed to leave, Mr. Miller," Frank said and waited for a reaction.

And the reaction followed immediately. Miller's formerly dropped shoulders straightened up instantly and a smile appeared on his face. "Oh that's good, because I really need to-"

"I have one question though," Horatio silenced him. "Have you ever been in the Bolts' house?"

"I.. uhm..of course I've been there," Miller stuttered. "I'm their neighbour."

"Good," Horatio nodded. "Then I need you to come with me for a bit, so I can take your fingerprints."

Frank did his very best to hide his smirk, because he knew exactly what the fingerprints were needed for.

In contrast to Miller of course, who was suddenly quite white in his face. "W-why?"

Horatio put on his best polite smile and gestured Miller to follow him to the Hummer. "To rule you out. You know, we'll search for fingerprints in the house and if we find some, then we can compare them to yours."

"Oh…okay," this sounded pretty good. "I set up the whole entertainment system a few days back," he explained and followed Horatio.

"Really? That's great. I always need to call some expert for that," Horatio continued the small talk.

"Well I am the expert," Jack stated proudly and stopped at the backdoor of the huge vehicle.

"Lucky you, I confused two plugs once and all I heard was a loud bang when I turned on the speakers. Since that day, I always call someone, so I can blame him," Horatio chuckled and got out the mobile fingerprint scan, which was linked with the small computer in the Hummer, so he could send the prints directly to the lab. "Could you hold that for me, Frank?"

"Sure thing, H", the Texan nodded.

"Just put your hands on it, please," Horatio instructed Miller and turned the computer's monitor into his direction, so no one else could have a look at it.

"Oh, no black ink?" Jack asked curiously.

"Nope, we're quite modern here," Horatio shook his head and typed in his password to get access to AFIS. After a few seconds, the computer made some beeping noises and the search came back with a positive match, which confirmed Horatio's suspicion.

"What was that?" Jack asked worried.

"Nothing. That was the sign that you can take your hand off now," Frank answered the question and handed the gadget back to Horatio, who carefully tilted his head towards the monitor. Getting the hint, Frank did the same and made a step to the side, so he and Horatio could switch places. "Now that's a nice match," Frank thought to himself. "Jack Miller, accused of burglary when he was 18. And accused of child abuse, but wasn't found guilty due to lack of evidence. What a coincidence Mr. Miller," he smirked to himself.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Miller. It means a lot to us," Horatio said and gave the man a small smile.

"Well, I'm glad I could help you. Can I go now?" Jack replied and couldn't help but think that he was one of a lucky guy.

"Of course you can," Horatio nodded and reached into his inside pocket. "If anything comes into your mind about last night, no matter how small or how unimportant it may seem to you, don't hesitate to call. Every hint could lead to the one who did that."

Accepting the card, Miller shoved it into his back pocket. "Will do; and you can call me if you want to set up a new entertainment system," he grinned, turned around and walked away; leaving the two police men alone.

"So we just let him go?" Frank inquired.

"Nothing else we can do, Frank. Just because he's in the system, doesn't mean he has something to do with this crime," Horatio sighed and turned to his friend.

"But you don't believe him," Frank stated. "You're sure he's the one we're looking for."

"That I am, Frank. But we have nothing that indicates that he murdered the grandparents and abducted the child."

"What child are you talking about anyway? There were only two victims, weren't there?"

"There are two dead victims in the living-room, yes. But we also have a child's room in the house, with an unmade bed which tells me that we have a lost child. Plus, the paperboy told us about the child and that the parents are attending a conference at the moment, so… I wonder where the girl is."

"Hmm," Frank sighed and shook his head inwardly. Cases involving children were always hard, especially when the police was too late. "So I'd better make a phone call to inform the Bolts about their missing child and the other crime."

"I don't think that we have any other option here, Frank." Though Horatio had to admit that informing them via telephone wasn't the nicest of all possible ways. It was hard enough to tell people from face to face, but calling them? This was even harder.

"Maybe they have some ideas who could do something like that..," Frank suggested, but honestly didn't believe that for a second.

"Maybe they do Frank, maybe they do," Horatio murmured to himself and turned his head towards the departing Mr. Miller. Suddenly, something caught his eyes. "Frank," he said and pointed towards the man, who was just about to leave the cordoned off area. "Frank, have a look at his shoes."

Confused, Frank followed his gaze. "Shoe—damn," he swore, when he realized what Horatio was getting at. "There's blood on his soles."

"Right," Horatio just snarled and quickly began to move. "Mr. Miller!" he shouted and sprinted after him, his eyes glued on the man's shoes. "Stay where you are!"

Miller just turned around, noticed the look on Horatio's face and did the only thing he could think of – run.

"Damn it," Horatio cursed and shouted at one of the other police officers, who looked rather surprised and confused at him. "Get him!" Sometimes he really had to wonder, if the guys were actually thinking at all.

"Yes, Sir," the man quickly replied and only seconds later, he and another colleague were chasing the fleeing man. It was a pretty good thing that Miller didn't seem to have a lot of endurance, because after a couple of meters, they tackled him down with a typical police move and cuffed his hands.

"Let me go," Miller cried out and tried his best to get out of their hard grip, but didn't stand a chance. "I didn't do anything."

"You sure about that? Then why are you running?" Horatio asked sarcastically when he stopped at the small group and crouched down next to Miller's shoes. "You know," he started and reached for one of the cotton swabs he always carried along with him. "Next time, you run through blood, you should better change your shoes," he continued and run the swab over the red liquid. "Or at least don't wear a pair with white soles." With that he stood up and sealed the evidence.

"Lift him up," he ordered and waited until Miller was looking at him. "Jack Miller, you're under suspicion of murder and kidnapping. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used again you in a court of law…" he told him and continued the Miranda warning, until he nodded at the police officers, who pushed Miller towards one of the police cars.

"So we got him?" Frank asked with a small smile.

"That's what the DNA evidence will be telling us in the lab," Horatio replied and walked towards the house, to inform his team about the news. "Oh and Frank?" he turned his head, but continued walking.

"Yeah?"

"Why don't you throw him into cell 7, hm? You know.. the one with the nice guys?"

"This sounds like a perfect idea to me," Frank just grinned. Cell number seven was known as the cell where all the tough guys were waiting for either an interview or being transferred to jail. Miller would have some fun in there. "I think I make a call then."

"And I think that you should do that;" Horatio winked and entered the house. So his senses had indeed been right. He had smelled the blood underneath Miller's shoes, he just hadn't been able to see it. Thank God that this guy didn't seem to be so smart. Now they just had to hope that Molly was still alive and that Miller would tell them where she was. Because if she wasn't alive any longer, Horatio had no idea if he could stay calm and not rip Miller's head off.

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