A/N: Thank you all for the wonderful reviews in the last chapter!! I'm glad that this fic is keeping you guys' interest, lol. Just a warning; if you're looking for some E/C romance, then this isn't going to be the chapter for you. BUT I do promise it'll be the only chapter with no E/C interaction... I did try to make it up with some interesting visuals, however. Hehe... Enjoy!

"No visible signs of struggle, or bruising." Tara listed as she gave Horatio the preliminary results of the body that she was examining, poking lightly at the three holes in the victim's chest. "It's too early to tell, but I'd say one of these gunshots was the cause of death."

"Exit wounds?"

"Um…" Tara tugged on the dead man's arm as carefully as she could to rolled him onto his side so that she could grab a glance at his back. "Looks like all but one were a through and through."

"What about the time of death, doctor?" He enquired, looking over to the side at where his two other CSIs were currently scoping the scene for evidence.

"Well, taking into consideration the fact that he was probably out here all night and the water, I'd put it at somewhere between 8pm and midnight last night, according to liver temp." She answered, glancing up at him. The sun shone from directly behind him, causing her to squint as she did so. "I'll know more when I get him back to the morgue."

"Ok. Thank you, Dr. Price." Horatio simply replied with a nod of his head. Taking a few steps back, he allowed the M.E. the space that she would need to begin securing the victim's body in order transport it back to the morgue before turning and walking over to where the others were working. Pausing a few feet away from them, the Lieutenant removed his sunglasses from his eyes before addressing them. "Gentlemen, what have we found?"

Both men stopped what they were doing to look at their boss. Ryan, the closest to him, stood up from where he had been squatting down to photograph and collect something that he had found.

"I've got three casings. They look like a 9mm, which is consistent with gunshot wounds on the victim." He informed him before returning to the stance he had been in a moment beforehand. "Also, I've found these footprints. They're not deep enough to make a cast, but this one here is very clear."

"And what is that substance in the footprint, Mr. Wolfe?" Horatio asked him, leaning down on the other side of the image that was pressed into the ground, allowing the sunlight to filter between them and reflect off of the material that was located at the heel of the print.

"I don't know…" Ryan murmured, snapping a few more pictures before pulling out a clear sheet of sticky-back plastic to help retrieve the particles.

"Speaking of footprints," The other CSI's voice travelled to them, causing the two of them to look over at him. Eric stood near to the bank of the water; so close, in fact, that if he were to take a couple more steps backwards, he'd be in it. "There are a few more here."

"They're different." Ryan commented as they approached him, taking a quick look at the footprints. Even from the distance of standing, he could tell they weren't the same. "And these look like they're pointing inwards."

"Could be the victim's." Eric suggested with a small shrug. "He could have been standing here with his back to the water. The prints are pretty deep; probably due to some faltering as he was shot."

"That would mean that the other footprint that I found would belong to the shooter." Ryan added, facts quickly clicking together as they began to piece it together in their minds.

"That would also mean, however, that there are two bullets in the water." Horatio informed them, resting his hands on his hips after replacing his glasses back on to scan the still waters. "And perhaps even the murder weapon."

"Unless the killer took it with them." Ryan argued half-heartedly, knowing already that he was going to be spending a lot more time out in the heat and humidity than he had first thought.

"If he left the casings, chances are, he left the gun too." Eric countered, tongue darting out to lick his lips as he did his best to stifle his smile at the thought of doing what he loved to do the best; diving and underwater recovery. "The water's the best place to look if we haven't found it yet."

"Then let's do that." Horatio confirmed, moving away slightly to disperse the group the three of them had formed around the foot prints. "You know what to do, Eric."

Not bothering to hide it anymore, Eric smirked as he pulled off his gloves and retrieved his phone from his pocket. There was an audible sigh from next to him as Ryan turned away to get back to where he had been processing the scene. He knew that the water wasn't the most favourite place to be for the other man, and for a reason that he put down to a lack of sufficient sleep and an early start, the sadist part of him couldn't wait to get him out there and see him try to suck it up.

...

Taking deliberate steps to ensure an even distribution between the heel and flat surface of her shoes, Calleigh made her way over to the sectioned off crime scene with a simple ease. She had learned long ago that the soft sand wasn't the best surface for high heels, and wobbling in front of her colleagues of both CSIs and police officers was not an option for her if she wanted to be taken seriously in her work.

Smiling brightly and offering a curt thank you to an officer who politely held up the tape to let her pass under, she paused briefly at the edge of the currently sealed off area to take it in.. First thoughts were always important, and as she raked her eyes over the beautiful golden sand, disturbed only by a few footsteps before glancing upwards, a feeling of dread and sadness seeped through her

The body was hanging from the edge of the pier, tied to one of the wooden posts with a common thick, white rope. He looked around middle age, and going by the smart suit that he was dressed in, she could assume that he had been some sort of businessman. With his body a good 6 feet off the ground and nothing nearby to step up onto, she was fairly sure that the suicide was in fact staged.

"Hey." Calleigh turned to her side to see her fellow partner and friend duck under the same yellow tape that she had just done only moments before and come stand next to her. "What do you think?"

"I think that the suit and the place is a giveaway for a set up." She replied, squinting slightly in the sunlight. "Have you been here long?"

"Long enough to know that it's not nearly possible for a tall man like him to squeeze under that low bar to hang himself." Natalia informed her, neither one budging from their position for a moment. "All footprints in the sand can be matched to the runner who found him, the first officer on the scene and his backup. I mean, I've already taken pictures and gotten prints from their shoes too to confirm, but I'm fairly certain that the sand was immaculate before they came along. If this is a set up, the killer knew what they were doing."

"Public place; prints around here are going to hinder us more than help us. The only other thing left is trace." Calleigh sighed. Even the cool breeze from the sea wasn't helping with the new found discovery that their killer had thought this through. "I guess we can be grateful that the victim's not too close to the tide. If anything, he'll have some evidence on him."

"True." The response came with a heavy sigh, earning herself a curious glance from the blonde next to her. "There's no way anyone is that perfect. There's got to be something."

"We're just going to have to look a bit deeper and further to find it, then." She replied in a no nonsense tone that was strictly business. Turning to face in the other direction, Calleigh swept her eyes over the distance between where they stood and the footpath at the other end of the pier. A few people had gathered around, but most had been urged to keep away by the police who tried their best to keep as much of the area undisturbed as possible as they processed it. "If you were going to dump a body here, how would you do it?"

"Me, personally?" Natalia shrugged, seeming to weigh up her options as she did so. "Tie the rope to the post and then bring the body over. Probably by a car. Doubt I'd be able to carry someone this far by myself."

"I agree. Dragging someone this far out by oneself would have been too hard, but not impossible. Hmm…" Calleigh nodded before turning to look back towards where the beach led to the roadside near to where she had park her own car. "The quickest and shortest way to get here is from that footpath over there. And even that is quite far."

"Not by car it isn't." She added with a hint of hope to her tone that they were getting somewhere in the case now. "And if it were a car, then it would have had to have travelled over the footpath from the road to the beach. Which means tire tracks. Unless he cleaned them up too."

"I doubt he'd have gotten everything. Concrete's harder to erase from than sand, and think about the effort it would have taken."

"You think he missed something because it's a lot of ground to cover?" Natalia questioned, voicing her train of thoughts.

"I think he missed something because he's human." She informed her with a knowing smile, making the other woman mirror the action.

"I'll get started on that then. See if we have anything that'll tell us where this body came from." A roll of the eyes accompanied her light words. "You alright to process around the victim? I've done what I could, but a fresh set of eyes is always welcome."

"Sure. When's the M.E. getting here?" Calleigh enquired as she finally moved closer to the body, carefully surveying the ground in front of her before taking each step in hope to avoid destroying anything important.

"Tara said she was heading over right now. Maybe an hour or so." Natalia answered, following her friend with the same slow movements as she made her way over to where her kit was placed in the shade of the pier just to the side of where their victim hung. "I'd add that there's another case at the Everglades, but I think you'd already know that."

The blonde threw a modest look over her shoulder at her; the smile that graced her features could only be described as a mix of coy and sly, without adding a word to either confirm or deny the blatant insinuation that Natalia's words had carried with them.

"So, how was your weekend, then?" She asked instead, changing the subject as they approached their destination.

"Not too bad." Calleigh supplied briefly, placing down her own kit as Natalia made her way to hers on the other side of the deceased man. "Had an easy open and shut case on Saturday, and Eric was working yesterday so I managed to do some stuff I had been putting off for a while. Nothing really exciting. How about you?"

"My weekend was…" Natalia began slowly, as if she were choosing her words so not to say the wrong thing. At her pause, Calleigh glanced over at her from where she was pulling on a pair of gloves, camera ready in her hands in case she found something that the other had missed. "It was good. Really good."

"Oh, I totally forgot!" She suddenly exclaimed as the memory of a conversation that the two woman had had on the previous Friday came back to her mind. "I take it that the date went well then."

"That's one way of putting it." Natalia sighed happily, causing Calleigh to shake her head lightly in amusement at the clearly love struck girl. It were the little moments like these, where they were close friends as well as colleagues, that made her love her work so much, even at 7 in the morning. She was pretty sure that no-one else could say that the people that they worked with had become more like family than anything else like it had with her.

"I'm glad." Calleigh nodded, laughing lightly and silently. "Do we get to meet this…?"

"Aaron." She supplied quickly before shaking her head. "And no. Not soon, anyway. It's only been one date!"

"Alright. I was just curious but I guess I can wait." The blonde insisted cheerfully before raising the camera up and taking a snap at the victim's leg. "Look what I found." She said as she picked up the evidence from the trouser leg with a pair of tweezers to show the other CSI.

"Hair. Blonde." Natalia commented before glancing up at the top of the dead body. "Victim's got dark hair."

"First step to getting something."

"Sure is." She replied, watching as it was tucked away into a little evidence envelope. Snapping herself out of it, Natalia turned back around and grabbed what she had originally came for; her kit. "I'll get started on the footpath. See if I can find where our killer might have came from to dump the body."

"Alright. Let me know if you find anything." Calleigh replied as she averted her gaze to the nearby area surrounding both her and body to see if she could find anything useful. The shadow cast by the pier began to play tricks on her eyes as she changed focus between the light and the dark. Finding trace in a massive pit of tiny sand particles was nearly impossible, but it was her job and it wasn't gong to deter her. She had done things in the past that were much more difficult, and done it successfully.

...

It was close 9am by the time that they were on the boat and on the water. As he finished getting changed into his diving gear, Eric pushed away the thought that if he hadn't been on call, he would have just been starting his work day. However, with the boat coming to a still in the middle of the water, he realised that the extra couple of hours stolen from his sleep was going to be made up with the fact that he would be in the said water within a few minutes. He knew that it shouldn't get him too happy; he only had to do his job when someone had lost their life. The only consolation was that a skill that he was good at, and loved to do, would help bring justice, and that he could certainly be happy about.

"Alright. So, from the rough trajectory of the bullets and the possible areas the gun could have been thrown, this is the best place to begin our search." Ryan explained dejectedly as Eric stepped up next to him to see the space he was pointing at. "Good luck."

"I think you're the one who's going to be needing the luck." Eric laughed in response, earning himself a small glare as the other man crossed his arms as he often did when annoyed. "I'll try and be as quick as I can to get you off the water."

"Just don't miss anything. It's a big search area and bullets are small." He replied, brushing off the teasing as he unbuttoned the cuffs to his shirt and pushed up his sleeves. The jacket had already been tossed aside only a few minutes onto the scene, and with the sun getting higher up in the sky, the temperature was rising rapidly.

"Which is why I'm the one who's going under, being the underwater recovery specialist, and you're not." Eric joked as he prepared to ascend into the water.

"Yeah, yeah." Ryan merely rebuked. "Mind the 'gators. Wouldn't want you getting hurt."

"Is that concern I detect there?" He asked in mock scepticism, raising an eyebrow at his partner.

"No." The work was spoken with such seriousness, that if Eric hadn't known him better, he'd have taken it at face value. "I'd rather not have to clean up the mess if you contaminate anything."

"Sure, sure." He laughed and shook his head before finally making his way into the cool water of the Everglades. Fixing his mouth piece in place and making sure that it would hold, Eric submerged underneath. With the help of the sunlight filtering through, his eyes adjusted immediately, enabling him to get started with what he had been tasked to do.

...

Natalia sighed as she rubbed her forehead with the back of her wrist. She had been examining the footpath that ran parallel to the beach for over the past hour, and she had yet to find anything relevant to the murder. There were not tire tracks anywhere nearby, and as time went by, she began to doubt her theory of there being a car that had driven onto the beach in the first place.

Inching forwards towards where the boardwalk that stemmed out into the pier that was currently their crime scene only a mere 10 feet away, she paused. Squinting, Natalia leaned down to see if what she had captured her eye was really what she thought it was. A small smile pulled at her lips when she realised that she was, and brought the camera in her hands up to snap some pictures.

Tilting her head to the left, towards the beach, Natalia tried to follow the few, sparse, blood drop trail as well as she could. It didn't go far; ending a little bit before the small brick wall that boarded off the junction between the sand and the path to stop any vehicles onto the beach. Following the trail in the other direction, she stood up straight and walked along side of it until it stopped with a singular drop by a car park space.

Glad that there was something backing up her theory, she began to take pictures of the evidence before swabbing a sample to be taken back to the lab. If it matched the victim, then there would have been no doubt that he had been dragged out from a car and to where he had been tragically hung from. The only thing that played on Natalia's mind was that the trail had seemingly ended suddenly on the footpath.

The sound of an approaching car made her head snap up, ready to stop anyone who was entering their crime scene. It took a few seconds to realise that the car was in fact quite far away, and one of their own. Offering a single wave of the hand to the doctor who stepped out of her Hummer, Natalia began to pack up her kit before making her way back to where the body was.

She followed the blood trail once again, this time pausing and searching with careful eyes at the gold that was the sand in front of her. She knew it was too much to hope for a continuation of the trail on the beach, especially with the killer already having made to have erased all traces of their footprints. But with a rough path to follow from the car park to the victim, Natalia was able to say for certain when she found no blood or even a smidgen of a footprint that whoever it was that had carried the body so far did a good job.

"Now this is something new." Tara greeted her with as she ducked under the police tape once again.

"First hanging?" Natalia questioned.

"Yep." The doctor replied, looking over at her from the body before averting her gaze further up to the pier itself. "Is he ready to be brought down yet?"

"Ready when you are." A voice, distinct due to the Southern accent it carried, replied from where she was processing the scene on the pier.

"Alright." Tara nodded at the officers who were nearby, all ready to help the M.E. and her assistant to carefully bring down the body. "Let's get him down, boys."

With 4 men waiting at the bottom, all having some sort of gentle grip on the body, Natalia nodded to Calleigh that they were ready for her to undo the rope. As the strain was taken off the material used to keep him hanging, the blonde made quick work of the knot that made sure the rope wouldn't slip off anytime soon and allowed for the victim to be laid down onto the ground below for the M.E. to examine.

"Well, I can definitely tell you that his man was dead before he was hung." Tara stated dryly as she tilted his head up and then side to side. "I'll have to do an X-ray to be sure, but he doesn't seem to have a broken neck. And no rope burn."

"I guess we can definitely rule out suicide then." Natalia replied, glad that the evidence was continuing to follow their theory.

"I don't see any defensive injuries. They might be hidden by the clothes though." She carried on, continuing on the body as she stuck a thermometer into the victim's abdomen. Waiting in silence for a minute, it wasn't until Calleigh had joined them once again that Tara spoke up. "Liver temp puts time of death at around 7 last night."

"I doubt he was hung up here soon after that. It would have been too busy." Natalia said in an exasperated tone.

"I've spoken to some people, and from what Frank's gathered, no-one saw anything. I'd say he was hung up a few hours later." Calleigh agreed before turning to her fellow CSI. "Did you mange to find anything?"

"Yeah. Actually, it's kind of weird." She explained. "There's a blood trail, spread out and short, but it seems to end suddenly in the middle of nowhere."

"Do you know where it came from?"

"I'd say a car. The trail starts from the side of a car space." Natalia filled her in. "How about you? Find anything?"

"Nothing useful. I found a speck of blood on the post up there." Calleigh nodded towards where the man had been hanging not 5 minutes earlier. "But it's minimal."

"We can check it out anyway." The other woman shrugged. "You never know; sometimes it's the smallest things that gives us the biggest breaks."