Disclaimer: I do not own CSI:Miami in any shape or form – so I am not making any money from this. I will put them back gently after I am finished playing with the characters. As before anything appearing in Italics means that the character is using American Sign Language.
a/n: I really appreciate the reviews that I have received for the first two chapters – thanks everyone. And the comment about Mari trying to save her hearing aids from getting wet – that's what I would do because they are too darn expensive (over $700 per hearing aid in Canada – digital hearing aids are over $1200 per aid and insurance does not cover hearing aids).
Chapter 3 – Don't Shoot the ATM
At the CSI garage Horatio checked on how Eric and Ryan were doing with Mari's car. "Did you two get any sleep last night?"
"We caught a few winks in the breakroom," replied Eric.
"How is Mari doing?" asked Ryan.
"She has a concussion, which means a pounding headache," answered Horatio. "So any leads on the other vehicle?"
"There is silver paint transfer, which is used on Honda cars," reported Eric.
"Horatio," Frank walked into the garage. "Patrol found a silver Honda abandoned in the public parking lot at Miami International Airport. It's banged up and it has paint transfer which matches Mari's car."
"I want that car to be brought into the garage and no one is to touch it until Ryan gets there," ordered Horatio.
"Let's go, Ryan," Frank and Ryan left the garage.
Eventually Ryan came back to the garage with the silver Honda on a flat bed truck wrapped in shrink wrap to preserve any evidence.
"Did you find anything?" questioned Horatio, walking into the garage with Natalia.
"Paint transfer from Mari's car, but no fingerprints yet. It looks like the car has been wiped down. So I decided to shrink wrap it and transport it back here," Ryan replied, watching the car being unloaded.
"Who is the registered owner?" asked Natalia, pulling latex gloves on her hands.
"The car was reported stolen from the airport employee parking lot," said Frank, walking inside the garage. "Airport security is pulling the footage from the security cameras now. They will send them here to the A.V. lab."
"So the registered owner works at the airport?" questioned Horatio.
"Yeah, he reported to work at nine pm and got off work at six am and that's when he found out that his car was stolen," reported Frank, reading from his notebook.
"The car was definitely stolen," said Natalia, as she was taking pictures inside the car. "They left the screwdriver that they used to pop the ignition."
"Get back to me with any evidence that you find," requested Horatio, before leaving the garage.
In the A.V. lab Calleigh and Cooper were going over the security tapes from the airport parking lot. "Anything yet?" Horatio walked into the A.V. lab.
"The owner drove into the lot and parked his vehicle. Half hour later someone walked up to the vehicle, got into the car and drove out of the lot," reported Calleigh.
"The thief was wearing jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, with the hood pulled up. No way to identify the guy," said Cooper, as he was watching the security tapes. "And the guy drove out of the lot thru the gates, which means that the parking electronic pass card was left in the car by the owner."
"Most employees would leave the card in the vehicle. Probably thought that it would be safe," said Calleigh. "Also it looks like the owner left his car unlocked."
"Good work," said Horatio. "Let me know if you can identify the thief." Horatio said before leaving the lab.
Horatio was doing some paperwork, when an officer escorted Dean to his office. "Hi Dean, how is Mari doing?" Horatio looked up from his paperwork.
"Still has the headache, and the hospital released her this afternoon. My mom is staying with Mari until I get there," replied Dean. "Any leads?"
"We found the car and we are still looking for evidence. Dean, could this be related to your court case? Have you received any threats?"
"Not related to this case, but my office has received threats in the past. I can get my office to send the file to your lab if you want."
"That would be good, maybe it is from a past case," agreed Horatio, leaning back in his chair. "What about your past? Old girlfriends?"
"The only girlfriend in my past was a girl when I was in law school," Dean explained about Cleo.
"So you haven't heard from Cleo since she left school?"
"No, someone told me that she had went back home to New York," replied Dean. "You don't think that it is Cleo after all these years?"
"I'm going to check on her whereabouts. I believe in checking every possible lead."
"I'll forward all the information that I have on Cleo, along with a picture to you," Dean looked at his watch, and stood up. "I have to leave, Mari is expecting me." Dean left Horatio's office.
"H, got a minute?" Eric stuck his head in Horatio's office.
"Come on in. What do you have?"
"We found hair in the Honda, it is from African American female, but no hits in CODIS," reported Eric.
"Good, that means that we have DNA evidence to compare with a suspect."
"But we have no suspects," said Eric in a puzzled tone of voice.
"Future suspects," amended Horatio. "Dean is going to send us files from his office with threatening letters, along with some information about a girl that he used to date. We may get some leads on who hit Mari."
Horatio's team followed any possible leads on Mari's attacker over the next few days. But all the leads led to dead ends.
Mari recovered from her concussion and returned to work, and continued making her wedding plans. But the harassment continued, from slashing her tires, smashing her car windows whenever Mari was shopping, visiting Dean or at church. It got so bad that Dean suggested that Mari start using a car service that he paid for, while Mari's car was put into storage. Notes started being left at Mari's house which stated that "Everything was her fault" or that "She should have drowned". Mari turned all the notes over to Horatio for analyzing at the lab. But the notes were printed on various computers at different internet cafés.
"This is so frustrating," Mari said one afternoon in the breakroom - talking with Calleigh and Eric.
"Eventually this person will make a mistake and we will nail them," Calleigh reassured her friend.
"I agree with Calleigh and when they screw up - we will come down hard on this person with both feet," smiled Eric, patting Mari's shoulder.
"I hope that it will be soon, it is so hard finalizing wedding plans, when someone is harassing your every move," sighed Mari. "But I just wanted to say thanks for your continued support – both of you."
After work Mari had her driver stop at the Miami-Dade Trust so she could use the ATM machine. Mari was in the process of using the machine, and no one was standing behind her, when suddenly the glass in front of Mari shattered.
Gasping, Mari dropped to a crouch, looking around for the shooter, seeing no one Mari scuttled over to a huge cement planter. Peeking around the planter, Mari spotted the driver of her car. "Juan stay in the car and call 911," Mari ordered.
Mari still hidden behind the planter, snatched her blackberry out of her purse and quickly texted Horatio, advising him of the situation. Staying hidden until she saw several police cars arrive in front of the bank, along with Detective Tripp.
"Mari, are you okay?" Frank asked, helping Mari to stand up.
"I think so, the bullet missed me," Mari replied in a shaky voice.
"You've got blood on your face," Frank pressed his handkerchief against the cut, to stop the bleeding. "A piece of the shattered plexiglas must have cut your cheek."
Frank and Mari both looked up when Horatio's Hummer roared up and stopped with squealing tires. They watched as Calleigh and Horatio exited the Hummer, Calleigh pulling her evidence kit from the back, along with her camera and started looking for evidence.
"Mari, sweetheart, are you sure that you are okay?" asked Horatio, frowning in concern.
"I'm fine I just got a little cut from the plexiglas," Mari replied.
"Let me see," Horatio gently removed the handkerchief briefly before replacing it on Mari's cheek. "Did you get a look at the shooter?"
"No, it happened so fast. Maybe Juan saw something."
"I have an officer talking to him now," reported Frank. "I'll go find out if he saw anything."
"Calleigh - any leads on the shooter," Horatio looked over to where Calleigh was removing a slug from the bank machine.
"Judging from the trajectory of the bullet, the shooter was on the other side of the car. It looks like a .45 with a right hand twist, I'll take it back to the lab and run it thru IBIS," replied Calleigh, dropping the bullet in an evidence envelope. "I'll get back to you when I find out more."
Horatio nodded and turned back to Mari, as Frank walked over to rejoin them. "Juan says that he didn't see anyone, he ducked when he heard the gunshot," Frank reported. "Oh yeah - Juan gave me a message for you to give to Dean, he says to get a new driver."
"Oh," Mari blinked.
"What I want to know is how did this person know how you were going to be here?" questioned Horatio.
"I'm beginning to wonder myself, this was not a planned stop," mused Mari. "Maybe the car should be checked out."
"Frank arrange to have the car taken to the CSI garage," ordered Horatio.
"Will do," agreed Frank.
"Horatio, I'm wondering if Juan should be questioned further."
"Why do say that, Mari?" Horatio looked at Mari with a curious look.
"When Juan picked me up at work, I asked Juan to stop at the ATM and on the way here - he made a phone call. I don't know who he was talking to," Mari remembered.
Horatio looked at Frank and requested that Juan be taken in for further questioning. Then he escorted Mari to his Hummer and opened the passenger door for her. "I'm going to drive you to emergency in case you need stitches, then I will drive you home."
"You don't need to do that Horatio," protested Mari.
"I insist," replied Horatio.
"No really, Dean will take me. He just pulled up," answered Mari, looking over at Dean getting out of his car.
"Mari sweetheart. What happened?" asked Dean, hugging Mari.
"Someone took a shot at Mari," replied Horatio.
"My God, you're bleeding - did the bullet hit you?" Dean looking at Mari's face.
"I'm fine; a piece of the plexiglas cut me. The bullet missed me and killed the ATM," Mari reassured her fiancé.
"I was going to take Mari to checked out." explained Horatio. "But now that you are here..."
"Thanks, but I'll take her," Dean looked at his friend.
"I figured as much," Horatio chuckled wryly, then turned serious again. "Mari, one condition."
Mari looked questioningly at Horatio. "I want you to wear this kevlar vest everywhere, except at home and at work of course," Horatio stopped Mari's protests. "I know that you don't like wearing it, but do it for us."
Mari shrugged the vest on and Horatio adjusted the velcro straps to ensure a proper fit. "This is your vest Horatio. I don't want you to be going with one yourself," Mari protested.
"I will sign out another vest for my use, don't worry," answered Horatio.
Dean escorted Mari to his car as Horatio watched, as memories of Speed, Raymond, Marisol and other friends played in his mind.
Later that evening, Mari and Dean relaxed at her house after dinner, that Jessi had sent over from Casa Tua. "Tell your mom thanks for the meal, Jessi and Sam are spoiling me, they are so good to me," said Mari, cuddling with Dean on the living room sofa.
"They adore you," replied Dean, gazing at the butterfly bandages on Mari's cheek. "I'm so glad that you weren't killed today. I don't know what I would do without you."
"Don't worry, I plan to be around for a long time - driving you crazy," Mari teased.
"Mari, I've made some arrangements for armed security guards to escort you everywhere until this sicko is caught, as a matter of fact there is a guard on duty outside your house right now."
"I hate this," moaned Mari. "I feel like a prisoner."
"I know, but hopefully it won't be for long."
"Okay, but only for you," Mari looked at Dean. "How is the trial going?"
"It's been a long drawn out process, but I think that we will have closing arguments within a day of two."
"I hate that you have to defend these creeps. That you are on opposite sides of the law, that you have to try to discredit our work."
"I want to talk to you about that."
Mari looked curiously at Dean, silently encouraging him to continue.
"I've been offered a job with the State Attorney's office and I am seriously considering accepting the offer."
"So you would be prosecuting the criminals instead of defending them?"
"That's right. Sometimes I get so tired of the stupidity of some of my clients."
"Well you know the final decision would be yours to make. But I will support you either way. Have you discussed this with your partner?"
"I have, he will buy out my share of the practice if I decide to accept the offer, and he already has a couple of lawyers lined up to join the firm."
"Wow," Mari blinked. "It sounds like you have been putting a lot of thought into this. Why haven't you mentioned it to me before?"
"Well," Dean looked sheepishly at Mari. "I have no excuse other then the trial and the problems that you have been having."
"I forgive you," Mari chucked, hugging Dean. "Have you discussed this with mom and dad?"
"No, not yet. I'll let them know when I make a decision. But I believe that they would prefer me to accept the offer. They don't like most of my clients."
"I can understand that. When do you have to inform the State Attorney's office of your decision?"
"They're agreed to wait until after a verdict comes back for this case," Dean looked at the time. "It's getting late and I have court in the morning. Be careful out there and don't forget to wear the vest."
"I promise and good luck in court." Mari walked Dean to the door where they kissed. Dean left and Mari locked the door behind him, resetting the security alarm. Then gathered up one of her mother's journals and went to bed, prepared to read more about her mother's life.