Walter placed the metal case containing his kit down on the carpeted surface of Juan Fuentes modest room, "This guy isn't exactly a neat freak," he mused aloud as his eyes scanned the room.
The room had been furnished with a single bed, a chest of drawers and a small television set. The walls were painted a dour off-white colour whilst the burgundy carpet was worn and stained, adorning the walls were posters of scantily clad women in nothing more than tiny, brightly coloured thongs. Searching the chest of drawers Frank sighed loudly as he pulled out a handful of copies of Hustler magazine, using his handkerchief as a shield and raised them up to show his colleague.
"Uh, I'd be careful you don't pick up any tissues you find if I were you," Walter teased as he started taking photos of the room. Placing his camera down on the bed he bent down from his considerable height and peered under the piece of furniture.
"Bingo!" he said as he pulled a blue sports bag out, opening it up he found that it was full of cash. "There must be nearly twenty grand in here, someone certainly had a big payday."
Further inspection of the room resulted in the discovery of several small bags of cocaine as well as spare wiring and components that could be used to make incendiary devices, providing cast-iron evidence that the man they had in custody was responsible for the explosion outside the crime lab.
"I'm going to bag and tag all of this stuff and take it back to the lab, maybe we can trace the money back to the Malucci's," Walter suggested as he bent over his field kit.
Frank nodded his head in agreement, hoping that they wouldn't be too late to save Horatio.
Calleigh stood quietly in Horatio's office watching Kyle sleep, she had returned to the room to find Kyle stretched out on the leather sofa, a worried frown marring his youthful features. Tucking the errant locks of hair that had fallen across his forehead brought back a painful reminder of the redhead and the way she had swept the hair off of his face the night before.
She heard Kyle mumble in his sleep and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder to quiet him, it seemed to have the desired effect as he turned slightly before breathing out the word, "Dad."
He's so young, she thought to herself as she knelt by the couch watching him, He's only just found his father, what will happen to Kyle if he loses him? No, she admonished herself, that's not going to happen.
Rising slowly and adjusting the blanket covering the young man she gave him one final glance before leaving the room and shutting the door quietly behind her. Making her way to the break room she was stopped by Eric and Andy.
"Hey, Cal. How's Kyle holding up?"
"He's exhausted; he's sleeping in Horatio's office at the moment. I didn't have the heart to tell him to go home."
"He wouldn't have anywhere to go anyway; Horatio's house is still a crime scene."
"That's true," she replied as she noticed the puzzled look that Andy was giving her. Changing the subject she asked, "Did Tom pull that slug from one of the officers?"
Eric looked down at the clear plastic container and realised with some embarrassment that he had forgot he was still holding it. "Yeah, sorry," he replied as he handed it to her, "Tom's waiting for the M.E from the weekend shift to help him process the rest of the bodies, this one's from Officer Bell."
She lifted the bullet casing up to her eye level to inspect it, "Looks like a .22, I'll take it back to the ballistics lab and see if we get any matches in IBIS. Are Walter and Frank on their way back from the Fuentes search?"
"Yeah, I got a call about ten minutes ago, they should be back soon."
"Good, get hold of the whole team and tell them I want to meet me in Interrogation One in an hour."
The team had gathered as requested in the interrogation room, a room that by day was well-lit by the ferocious Miami sun beating through the glass walls but by night was dark and eerily cool. It had always been Horatio's favoured room to question suspects in; there were times when he would deliberately cut the air conditioning to the room to intensify the discomfort of the person put before him. The heat from the sun cascading through the windows combined with Horatio's fierce quest for justice would have most criminals rolling over and confessing their sins in an effort just to get away from the two unmovable forces of nature and mankind.
Natalia, Ryan and Walter were present as were Eric, Frank, Tom Loman and Andy, yet to Calleigh the room still felt strangely empty, void of the imposing presence of Lieutenant Horatio Caine. Without him the meeting just felt wrong, he should have been the one here guiding his team and leading them from the front, not her.
Feeling seven pairs of eyes on her she cleared her throat and began, "Thank you for all meeting me here, I know your shift finished hours ago. I brought you here so that we could discuss what we've found so far, who wants to go first?" She looked round the room expectantly.
Natalia was the first to speak, "The only DNA found on the rope and the rag found at the scene this morning came from Horatio and Mr Sipowicz, I found traces of some kind of fuel and motor oil on the rag so I sent it to Travers for analysis."
"Travers said the type of oil we found is most commonly used in diesel engine vehicles which would explain why we found diesel fuel on the rag too," Eric added.
"We searched Fuentes place and found the money along with a couple of bags of coke, I've logged it into evidence until I can analyse it."
"Thanks Walter," she responded before turning her attention to the medical examiner. "What have you found so far, Dr Loman?"
"Not much more than I already surmised at the scene, I take it you have the bullet I recovered from Officer Bell?"
"Yes, I'm going to work on it when we've finished here. How long before all of the autopsies are completed?"
Insulted by what he perceived as a criticism, Tom felt the need to defend himself, "You'll have to forgive me, Miss Duquesne, I've had an unexpected influx of visitors to the morgue today. My colleague Miss Smith is performing the second autopsy as we speak, as soon as we know anything I'll let you know."
Calleigh resisted the urge to answer him back and instead looked to Eric to supply any new information he had come across. "We need to go back to Calleigh's house in the morning, we're missing a bullet casing, seems we missed it the first time round." Six sets of eyes fell on the bulky Cuban and he suddenly felt uncomfortable, "I know it's a gravel drive but we should try to check for tyre tracks and footprints too."
"We've had nothing come back on the BOLO we put out for the SUV that followed you the other day, Calleigh, but my guys are still keeping an eye out for it. And the Honda Fuentes mentioned too." Frank added as he sat on the table and crossed his arms over his chest, "I've got officers working day and night, I also put out a BOLO based on the description that Fuentes and Horatio's old partner gave us," he said as he gave Andy a wary look.
It wasn't a lot but at least they had something to work with. "Okay, everyone go home and get some rest. I want you back here early in the morning and working at 100%, I'm going to stay just in case anything happens during the night."
"If you stay, we stay," Ryan said, speaking for the group as they all nodded in agreement.
"No," she replied firmly, "I don't want us to miss anything just because we're tired, you all need to come back with fresh minds and eyes tomorrow. The only way we can help Horatio is if we are at our best." All eyes landed on her once more, "That's an order, go home."
One by one the team reluctantly filed from the room, grumbling to each other as they did so. Andy kept in step with Eric until they were clear of the others, "I've got a question for you," he began.
Eric ran a weary hand across his face and head, "Sure, what is it?"
The burly man stopped and stood in front of Eric, preventing him from moving. "Who's Kyle?"
Sensation returned to his body slowly and the more coherent he became the less he welcomed its presence. With great effort he attempted to open his eyes but found nothing but blackness before him. For one shocking moment he thought that Gianni had succeeded in removing his eyes from their sockets, shocked by the though his head shot up quickly. It was then that he felt the touch of the hood against his face and he breathed a sigh of relief.
Shifting on the metal chair he attempted to find a more comfortable position for his already cramped legs, the movement caused pain to flare in his abdomen and so he abandoned his futile attempts to free himself of his confines. He rolled his head from side to side in an effort to relieve the stiffness in the muscles of his neck and shoulders but to no avail, the motion causing his stomach to roil uncontrollably.
His head shot to the right as he heard the creaking noise of the door being opened, robbed of his vision he attempted to use his other sense to ward off any attacks as best he could. Hearing footsteps coming towards him he braced himself for the impending beating that he knew was to come. He could feel the presence of someone by his side and prayed that whatever his captor was planning to do that it would be quick.
It caught him off-guard when the mystery figure moved away; he heard the sound of a chair being scraped across the floor and suddenly felt a warm breath in his face.
"Mr Kelly," a disembodied voice spoke softly to him, "I'm here to help you if you'll let me."