Chapter Twenty-six: Safest Place to Hide
As he worked through the pile of evidence waiting for analysis he tried not to think about the conversation that took place the night before. He couldn't let his work suffer because of his personal life. The two had to remain separate or he would slowly start to unravel. But it wasn't as easy as it sounded. Every time he saw Delko, even if it was just a glimpse of him walking down the hallway, he recalled the last thing he said, the way he looked, the touch of his hand. And then he would have to fight to find his way back to the lab, back to the job at hand. He thought of telling Delko to just knock it off so that he could do what the city paid him to do, especially with Hagen still missing. Locked away within the Trace Lab he popped on his headphones to drown out the sounds of the world. It also allowed him to concentrate better. The hours slowly passed. He never once ventured from the room with the exception of going to the bathroom. He spoke to no one, his thoughts a muddled jumble of work and private life. At least he'd been able to get his work done, not messing up on any of the tests.
That was, until an hour after lunch. He mixed one of the liquids, placing it in the wrong vial and degrading a piece of evidence from a case. He took off his headphones, placing them on the table. All he wanted to do was kick or punch something in frustration but he couldn't. For one, it wasn't professional and second, it wouldn't accomplish anything. He did bite down on his lower lip until he drew blood. How could he have been so stupid? Going through the evidence bag he tried to find another sample. There was nothing. The sample in the vial was all that they had. He closed his eyes, trying not to think of the case he potentially just fucked up.
"Speed?"
Opening his eyes he looked at his boss. "Hey, H."
"Something you want to talk about?"
"I fucked up a piece of evidence from a case," he stated simply. There was no point in lying to his boss since sooner or later Horatio would find out anyway. Nothing happened in the lab without him knowing. He liked it that way, said it was a safety precaution. "And unfortunately, there is no way to remedy the situation."
"What case?" Horatio asked. He didn't sound, or look, upset. That was another thing about his boss that he'd come to love. Always about the evidence and catching the person responsible but understanding that mistakes happened.
Speed picked up the evidence bag that contained the case number. He racked his brain until he remembered which one it was. "Robbery at a gas station. The clerk was shot and last I heard still in the hospital."
"The evidence?"
"We'll never know now," he replied. He wanted to kick himself.
Horatio put his hands on his hips, his eyes focusing on a spot on the floor. "Gas stations have security cameras, Speed. Check with Cooper for the footage. Maybe we'll get lucky and that piece of evidence won't be important."
"All the evidence is important. That's what you've told me."
"True. But some is more important than others."
--
He wasn't able to slip away until his shift was nearly over. He'd set up all the tests that he could to run through the night. Closing the door he headed down the hall toward the AV Room so that he could have a word with Cooper about the footage at the gas station. He found the other man still busily typing away at his computer, inputting data from something. He knocked on the door frame before walking in so that he didn't catch his fellow investigator off guard. Nobody liked to be snuck up on especially in the lab.
Cooper swung to face him. "Hey, what can I do for you?"
"I just wanted to know if you had any footage on the robbery at the gas station," he said, crossing his arms over his chest. "I fucked up a piece of evidence…"
"Sure, no problem." Cooper wheeled his chair to a table where he picked through a pile of video tapes. After a moment he held up two of them. "If I remember correctly the place only had these two tapes and would tape over footage every other day. Let's hope that we got something. Do you need these right now?" he asked, checking his watch.
Speed shook his head. "No, I just wanted to know if you had any. I know a lot of places that have security cameras that are just a front. That is until they get robbed or something and realize that having actual footage can solve a case. Get to them first thing tomorrow, please?"
"No problem."
"All right. Don't stay here too long. Go out and enjoy your time off. Before too long you'll be going crazy within these glass walls."
He left the AV tech with a smile on his face and typing away at his computer. Heading down the hallway he tried to make a plan on how to spend his evening. He could rent a movie, have some popcorn and hope to fall asleep without too much trouble. Or he could order out, read a book and be awake until the predawn hours. There were so many possibilities. He should really take Mite on a walk but he was a little apprehensive after his last encounter in the dark. The dog would try to protect him. However, one well placed bullet would put an end to the dog's life. He wasn't going to let that happen. Turning the corner Speed began to wonder if he was becoming some sort of hermit. He went from the lab to his apartment and back again. He didn't go out at night and he wasn't working in the field. Staying locked away within a building nearly every hour of the day couldn't be good for him mentally. He could always ask the department psych what she thought but…Horatio would find out and he'd be worried.
Time for a new plan.
As he neared the reception area he heard a commotion. A lot of people were standing in the area, most of them lab techs or other workers in the building. With shift ending he wasn't surprised to see them. Somehow this felt wrong, though. There was more to this gathering than the simple excuse of people getting ready to leave work. He saw Alexx standing with Ryan and Jake. Calleigh and Delko were a little further away from the crowd, peering out the windows. He opted to see what they were doing. Maybe they could explain what was happening.
Delko saw him coming. "Hope you weren't making any plans for the night."
"Why?"
Delko gestured to the window. "We're kind of stuck in here."
Speed looked outside. Around the base of the building, mixing in the parking lot with cars was a swarm of people. He couldn't tell from here what the signs said but he knew that they had something to do with the militia group they were trying to find. Speed closed his eyes, wondering how long before something happened and all hell broke loose.
"Any idea how long we're going to be stuck here?"
"Not a clue," Calleigh said.
"Fine," Speed turned on his heel, heading back down the hall. "I have more work I could be getting done." It sounded like a reasonable excuse. Truth be told he just felt safer being deeper in the lab and away from the windows.