Chapter 4

Jayne looked up to see a Cuban man looking at her. She quickly stood up and dusted the sand off herself.

"Yes you did, and you are?"

"Oh sorry, I'm Eric Delko. This is my girlfriend Suze," Eric gestured towards his girlfriend who was stood just behind him.

"Oh hello, I'm Jayne Horwell. But everyone just calls me Jay. Horatio told me that you'll be shadowing me tomorrow."

"Yeah he told me before I left the lab this afternoon. I look forward to working with you."

Suze stepped forward, "you seemed lost in thoughts just then, is everything okay?"

"Kind of. I had a major bust up with my step sister who I'm living with at the moment. The sooner I get my own place the better."

"I know the feeling, sisters can be a handful sometimes but they mean well," Eric sympathised.

"I know, she's just too pushy for my liking," Jayne looked at her watch, "wow, didn't realise it was so late, I need to get back for an early night. Early start tomorrow and I need my beauty sleep. It was nice to meet you Eric, at least I now know who to look out for in the morning," Jayne looked towards Suze, "it was nice to meet you too Suze. See you both soon."

They said their goodbyes and Jayne left. As she walked away Eric turned to Suze.

"Horatio said that he didn't feel something was right with her, I can't see why. She seems nice enough."

"She seems troubled."

Eric looked at Suze a bit confused, "how did you figure that out?"

"The tone of her voice when talking about her step sister, her body language seemed tense and she didn't seem too talkative."

"Maybe that's just the way she is. Some people are like that permanently, it's their personality."

"If that's the case, you've got to work with that kind of personality."

"Ah, I didn't think of it like that," Eric put his arm round Suze, "but you know what they say, don't judge a book by its cover."

"And you also know what they say about first impressions."

For once, Eric didn't have a reply to shoot back, "anyway, are we going to mine or yours tonight?"

Suze grinned, "nothing like changing the subject," she teased.

"C'mon, let's just go."

They both headed towards Eric's car.

The next day, just before eight o'clock, Horatio was just picking up his messages when Eric came out of the elevator.

"H, can I talk to you in private please?"

"Sure."

They went to Horatio's office and Eric closed the door behind them.

"This may seem stupid but Suze told me to have a word with you or she would."

Horatio was intrigued, "oh, and what do you have to tell me?"

Eric continued to tell Horatio about their meeting with Jayne the night before and about what Suze thought.

"And what do you think Eric?"

"To be honest, I can't see it. She seemed agitated last night but she'd just had an argument with her step sister so I suppose that's to be expected."

Horatio sat at his desk and turned on his computer.

"H, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to look into Jayne's background. I need to know why I can't shift this feeling of her hiding something."

"So invading her privacy is the way forward! Wouldn't it be easier to talk to her?"

"I'd rather know sooner rather than later if we come up against something that links with her past."

"But her past is in England, I hardly think it will come looking for her here in America."

"Stranger things have happened Eric," Horatio defended his decision, "just don't tell Cal that I'm doing this, she seems to think that Jayne will talk when she's good and ready."

"Cal is probably right."

"But what if something happens before she's good and ready to talk? We'd still be none the wiser, wouldn't we?"

Eric was stumped, he saw Horatio's point but disagreed with his methods, "if you find anything, I don't want to know. I don't want to be involved."

Eric left to see if Jayne had arrived and Horatio continued on his computer.