Chapter three: Erica Sykes, Poker And Another Fire
Still December 26th, 2007. 11:30
"Please, whoever has my daughter. Please bring her back to me. She's all I have. Please.
That was Ms. Williams who's daughter Jane Williams went missing two days ago. I'm Erica Sykes…"
Ryan sighed and turned the video off. He had just watched the tape with Sykes's interview with Danielle Williams, their victim. He couldn't understand why the arsonist had chosen Ms. Williams house. Why that particular house? Why her? And he didn't believe that it was a coincidence that Ms. Williams's daughter was kidnapped nine days before she got murdered.
"Ryan, what's on your mind?" Eric asked as he joined Ryan in the AV lab.
"I think that whoever kidnapped Jane Williams, also put the house on fire."
"So our arsonist is a child abductor too." Eric said, "Could be true."
"I feel a but coming."
"Yeah, Natalia found DNA at the porch. Blood to be more specific." Eric said, "And it's female."
"So?" Ryan asked.
"We also found DNA on this picture, male DNA." Eric said and showed Ryan a photo of a young brunette girl. She was crying and tied to chair.
"Is that Jane?" Ryan asked.
"Yeah, we found letters in Danielle's kitchen, all mailed one day after each other, starting nine days ago. On the 17th December." Eric said, "And on this particular photo, our kidnapper cut himself."
"That doesn't mean that he's not working together with the arsonist."
"True. But until we get evidence that suggest that they are working together, H wants us to handle this as two cases." Eric said, "I wonder if Danielle told the police that her daughter was missing."
"Let's check." Ryan said and typed Danielle's name into the computer. Both he and Eric were surprised when nothing showed up on the screen.
"Why would she go out in the media and tell everyone about her missing daughter, and then not tell the police?" Ryan asked.
"Maybe the kidnapper didn't want her to." Eric said, "Let's have Cooper check her answering machine."
"Are we working on the arsonist case or the kidnapping case?"
"The kidnapping case." Eric said, "H, Cal and Nat are on the other one."
-I-
Horatio was testing what liquid that had started the fire. He had the Captain breathing down his neck all the time. Not literally, but Captain Jackson, did call Horatio every fifteen minutes. He wanted results and he wanted it fast. And Horatio patiently told him that evidence couldn't be processed in five minutes, and that if there weren't enough evidence they wouldn't find the killer. It was as simple as that. Of course Jackson did not like that at all.
Horatio groaned as his phone rang again, he picked it up and almost squeezed it to death. He thought seriously about throwing it at the wall.
"The Captain again?" Natalia asked as she entered Horatio's lab.
"Yeah. You know I love this phone, but now I'm seriously thinking about…"
"Throwing it at the wall?"
"Or beating it with a hammer." Horatio sighed, "He's never been in the lab, never seen how a crime scene is processed. Yet he tells me that I'm not doing my job fast enough."
"He's probably under pressure from the mayor too. But he should take a course anyway." Natalia grinned, "The mayor just spoke on TV. She says we'll catch the guy within a week."
Horatio sighed. Why would the mayor always make promises like that? She didn't know how things worked.
"She hasn't promised the citizens anything over the last two years, until now." Horatio said, "Because it happens to an arsonist."
"Yeah, well we haven't had an arsonist in this city for a while." Natalia said, "She's just trying to keep people calm."
"And when the week is over and we haven't caught our killer, then we'll get the blame."
Natalia nodded in agreement. That was the worst thing. That the lab would be blamed for an unsolved case. Not the mayor, but the lab. And especially the team. And since Horatio was the leader, he'll be the one to take all the complaints, he'd be the one to tell the mayor that he and his team had done their best.
"Why don't one of us tell the media that we are doing our best and sometimes it takes longer then a week to solve a crime?" Natalia asked.
"Good idea. You want to do it?"
"I can?"
"Sure, if you want to. I won't stop you." Horatio smiled.
Natalia nodded. She sure wanted to let people know that this job was damn hard, and no else could do it better then the people in the lab.
"Did you find anything except the DNA?" Horatio asked.
The DNA that Natalia had found had been blood. Their female arsonist had been hurt herself.
"No, I'm afraid not." Natalia said, "So many things were destroyed in the fire. Almost every room except the kitchen."
"Yes, and the answering machine and the pictures survived. But that's for Eric and Ryan's case."
"Do you believe Ryan's theory that our killer and their kidnapper is connected?"
"Maybe. Anything is possible." Horatio said.
Horatio started walking towards the door, "You want some coffee?" He asked.
"Sure." Natalia smiled, "Are you limping?"
Horatio froze. She had noticed, damn. He didn't think anyone had noticed that he was limping. No one had said anything. Eric and Horatio had spent the entire Christmas Day having… fun. And well, Horatio was a bit sore.
"Um… I am?" Horatio asked. He felt like slapping himself for being so stupid. Of course Natalia would understand that he was well aware of the fact that he was limping.
"Yeah." Natalia said. Horatio knew she was grinning, "Rough night huh?" She asked.
"Something like that." Horatio said and quickly left the lab, heading for the break room.
He got two cups of coffee and went back to the lab. Natalia grinned at him, but didn't say anything. Horatio noticed that she was looking at him after several minutes.
"Something wrong?" He asked as he took a sip of his coffee.
"Does it hurt?"
Horatio almost choked on his coffee and coughed slightly.
"Does it hurt when you… make love?" Natalia asked, "I mean you're limping, so I just thought that maybe, or it's none of my business, but I was just concern, or well call maybe curious, but I just thought I'd go ahead and…"
"Natalia." Horatio interrupted, "It does not hurt."
Natalia nodded. She blushed, as did Horatio.
"Alright, back to the case." Horatio chuckled, "Why this particular house?"
"Ryan gave me tape of Sykes's interview with Ms. Williams before I came here, so I thought maybe we could watch it." Natalia said.
Horatio nodded and Natalia put on the tape. Once it was done. She sighed.
"I couldn't see anything." She said.
"I could." Horatio said and rewinded the tape, "Look at this, you see her house behind her."
"You're right. That's how our arsonist picked the house."
"Doesn't help us narrow down the suspect list though, a lot of women watched this interview." Horatio sighed.
-I-
12:15
Horatio, Eric, Ryan and Jason were having lunch together at a diner, not far from the department. Eric and Horatio were eating from each other's plate for no particular reason.
"So are you and Frank still competing against each other?" Jason asked Ryan
"Yeah, but we had a break during Christmas, though now that we're back at work, we'll continue." Ryan said.
"Frank is coming home tomorrow, right?" Jason asked.
"Actually he is already flying back. He managed to get on an early flight." Horatio said, "He said we had to play poker tonight."
"On the same day that he gets back?" Jason asked.
"Yeah, according Frank we haven't played in a long time and he's starting to loose his mind because of it." Horatio chuckled.
"Frank breaths, drinks and eats poker." Eric grinned, "And he is convinced that Horatio cheats."
"Which I don't."
"Can I join you?" Jason asked.
"Of course." Eric said, "Ryan are you in?"
"Sure." Ryan smiled.
After a while the women joined them. Alexx, Valera, Calleigh and Natalia. Horatio told them that they would play poker with Frank later at the evening. They would play at Eric and Horatio's house.
--
One the same time as the team were having lunch. Frank was sitting on a plane back to Miami. He had gotten a seat next to an old lady, who snored worse then Frank himself. It was in the back of the plane too. And Frank hated sitting so far back. He sighed as the women leaned closer to Frank.
"Oh is this your wife?" A young stewardess asked Frank.
"Nope, and thank God for that." Frank joked.
However the stewardess didn't seem to see the fun in Frank's comment. She just snorted and walked away. Frank sighed. What had happened to his humor? His sister hadn't found Frank's jokes funny at all. And she usually laughed her butt off. Maybe the people around him were getting more mature and Frank was getting more immature.
That means I'm heading for a 50th crisis!, Frank thought.
-I-
14:30
Horatio and Natalia had been called to another crime scene. A small house had burnt down, and the fire had started on the porch.
"Must be the same arsonist." Horatio said.
"I wonder if this victim also went out to the media." Natalia said, "There are a few pictures here, no child."
"So this woman wasn't missing her child." Horatio said, "Or maybe those pictures were destroyed."
Alexx arrived at the scene to take a look at the body. Jason was of course with her.
"Well, she died in the fire too." Alexx said, "Have you got a name?"
"Chleo Manson." Horatio said, "26 years old."
"She's a mother." Jason said, "She has a three year old daughter."
"How do you know that?" Natalia asked.
"Because she's my friend's cousin." Jason sighed sadly, "She didn't say anything about her daughter missing."
"So maybe she's still at daycare." Horatio said, "Natalia find out where her daughter is."
Natalia nodded.
--
16:00
It was one hour left before the team would go home. Chleo Manson's daughter had not been in daycare or anywhere else. She was missing. But Ms. Manson had not filed a missing persons report. And she had not gone out in the media either.
"I think that our kidnapper is looking for single mothers." Ryan said.
"He sends them photos of their children everyday too." Eric said, "But Chleo's house was empty of photos."
"They could easily have been destroyed in the fire. The whole house was in flames." Ryan said.
Eric nodded in agreement. It was now more obvious that the two cases were connected. The arsonist targeted houses that belonged to single women, who's children had just been kidnapped. However, the team still weren't sure that the arsonist and the kidnapped were working together. But anything was possible.
"I saw that H was limping today." Ryan grinned, "You two might want to take it easy."
"Wolfe!"
"I'm just saying. I don't think I'm the only one who noticed." Ryan chuckled.
"Not one more word Wolfe." Eric said.
Ryan chuckled, and then answered his phone as it rang.
"Wolfe."
"It's Erica, I heard you asked for my tape on the Williams interview."
"I did." Ryan said and then put Erica on speaker. Without telling her.
"Why?"
"It is important to our case."
"So you're not trying to blame me for something and have me thrown in jail?"
"Why would I do that?"
"Because you hate me… And I'm not to fond of you either. It's all business. So tell me, how important is my tape to your case?"
Ryan sighed and hung up. Until the case was solved, Erica Sykes would keep on calling him until she got the answer she wanted.
-I-
19:30
Frank sighed as he looked at his cards. He had asked for a poker game with the guys and now he was sitting on Eric and Horatio's back porch. With bad cards.
"I know what that sigh means." Horatio smirked, "You got bad cards."
"Well, I told you before carrot top. When you shuffle the cards, I loose." Frank said.
"You lost when I shuffled the cards too." Jason grinned and Frank slapped his head.
"I will never admit to being a bad poker player, I am good." Frank said, "It's just the cards that… are bad."
"Is it because I'm here?" Horatio asked.
The last time the boys had played poker, which was before the Dennis case. Frank had said that it was because of Horatio's aura that he lost.
"Yep, that's it." Frank smirked, "You need to leave."
"I'm getting some beers." Horatio said.
He went inside to the kitchen when he heard a joyful shout. It was Frank, who had just picked up a card and it was a good card. Horatio chuckled as he came back out on the porch.
"See as soon as you left, I got a good card." Frank chuckled.
"Well, I have to believe you Frank. I make you loose. Which isn't a problem for me."
"Do you guys always bicker about this?" Jason asked.
"Get used to it." Ryan said, "Frank won't confess that he is a bad poker player, and H won't confess that he intentionally shuffles the cards in such way that Frank gets the bad cards."
"You cheat?" Jason asked.
"No, I don't." Horatio said.
"He just shuffles differently. I figured it out a year ago." Eric smiled, "It's like a magic trick that he learned somewhere. But it isn't cheating."
"But?" Jason asked confused.
"Frank just sits at the wrong place all the time." Ryan whispered in Jason's ear, "If he would sit to the left side of H, he would get good cards, ´cause thats the way H shuffles the cards. But he always sits on the right side, therefore he loses."
Jason smiled. Poor Frank.
TBC…
AN: Please review!