The Executioner #2 ** story completed

[sundancer]

O.K., thanks you all for being patient! 'Cause we've reached the ninth page I've opened the next thread. So, let's make a little summary before we start with the next chapter: Calleigh's found something which seemed to be difficult to cope with, Horatio still seems to know more than he's willing to tell his team resp. Calleigh... and there's a sniper who wants to "shift his position"... remember?


Chapter 24

In the rooms of the precinct an interrogating detective got quite annoyed about some scum and his attorney. If this interrogation would last only five minutes longer without getting this guy by the short hairs, he would need to let him go. And this was what the attorney actually was working at. Two months of hard investigation would be blown in the wind!

The detective tried his best to use the evidence the CSI-boss and his team had been able to offer him, but it was also the same boss who had warned the detective about too high expectations.

‘This part with the finger-prints should be your best trick, man. If this doesn’t work, we’ve only few incidences left, but nothing to persuade a jury.’
The investigating detective had these words of the boss of the CSI-dayshift still ringing in his ears…

Five minutes later the scum and his attorney left the precinct.

***

Horatio had explained the connection of his family to the Jarhead-gang. He just put it into the same words he had used to inform Calleigh, why he wanted to go to New York.
“When this case was over, I changed to the special crime unit, SCU, which was also founded by Rudy Giuliani, but I never got into contact with gang-crime again. In 2001 I left for Miami.”

The office kept quiet for a short time. Those stories like Horatio's happened in a big city like New York quite often, but it was always a kind of depressing to listen to them. Stella’s face had got this special sad expression, Lindsay studied the tips of her toes, Mac had crossed his arms over his chest and stared to somewhere else behind Eric’s shoulder and Danny still kept on nodding, because he knew what Horatio was and had been going through by own experience.

Suddenly Sheldon Hawkes entered the office. The black medical examiner and CSI was hardly out of breath. His skinny and small body was pumping all air out of his lungs as if he had run up all the stairs from the morgue instead of taking the elevator.
“Hey guys…” four breath-takes needed… “… there’s a new case…” now only two breaths… “there’s a new case of…” Still he did not manage to finish the sentence properly, but suddenly all the pagers of the team called them in.

“Sheldon, it’s alright. What do you wanna say?” Stella tried to calm him.

“There’s a new sniper-case,” Mac said suddenly, as he stared at his pager.

Lindsay and Danny wheeled around and run for their crime-scene equipment.

Horatio looked up quite shocked, grabbed his cell-phone, but was stopped by Mac again.
“I’ll have to ring up Calleigh Duquesne, because she’s the best to find the bullet and the weapon,” Horatio argued.

“Certainly she is, Horatio,” Mac tried to calm his colleague from Miami. “But this attack happened here - in New York City!”

TBC

[sanne]

So he DID shift position..........Now who's the victim?

Sandra

[margaret1234]

I guessed he would shift position.........he wants Horatio to know he will follow wherever he goes. Cannot make a guess at the victim though, this will be interesting. Loved the way Horatio immediately thought of Calleigh.......forgot he was in New York for a moment.
Nice recommencement of story sundancer.

Margaret

[Dr. Anna McBreadle]

i had a feeling this would happen, trouble following Horatio!
lets hope they can get this sniper before Honeymaker finds out about the new case and tries to blame Horatio again!
great chap sundancer!
luv
sam
x

[gonsy]

Hey Sundancer! This is a mysterious chapter! We need to know more!

Gonsy

[sundancer]

;D ;D It seems to be a usual circumstance that trouble is always sticking at Horatio's heels. And just remind the start of the last chapter: a scum gets over his punishment (again) and this time it happened in New York...


Chapter 25

This time it had been quite dangerous. He had heard about this scum sitting in the precinct only four hours ago, and how he would get out of this case quite easily and all this happened with the help of a good attorney. So he had to decide very quickly. Unfortunately he had not been able to shoot a doublet, though this ‘black robe’ would have earned a bullet, too.
‘Next time, my friend,’ he calmed himself. ‘Just set him on your list.’

It had also been quite dangerous to get down from this roof-top of this building back on the crowded street. But then he had realized that this lot of people could also be his best advantage, because nobody was noticing him. He was just another man who had left one of those buildings and disappeared in the entrance of the next subway-station.

***

Normally a crime-scene only needed two to three members of the CSI-team. But due to the similarity to the other cases in Miami, Mac had ordered his whole team to appear at 7^th Broadway. The area of the murder had already been secured by the officers and the yellow tape, so the traces would not get compromised. Mac’s team developed a calm and goal-taking atmosphere as soon as they arrived at the crime-scene.

“Did you already have worked on a sniper-case?” Eric asked Danny and assisted him while taking photos of the crime-scene and some suspicious objects.

“Three years ago we’ve worked on a case, where a mounted police-officer got shot in Central Park. The sniper had taken his position in the Aldington Building. It was a former sharp-shooter of the army,” Danny answered.

Eric hissed through his teeth and shook his head. Then he explained: “The story’s always repeating itself. We’ve had a sniper who’d been a Marine. This happened round about three years ago, too.”

“Gentlemen?” Horatio had stepped silently besides them. Danny and Eric had not had the chance to recognize him at all.

Danny startled and made a short step aside in surprise, while Eric only grinned from one ear to the other as he saw the reaction of his colleague.
“You shouldn’t sneak up on people, Horatio. We’re in New York. They’re not used to it.”

Though the case was quite serious Horatio could not help but grinned back. “Sorry,” he said into Danny’s direction. Then he turned back to Eric: “And?”

“The bullet went through and through and hit the ground at this mark,” Danny explained instead of Eric and pointed to the mark which documented the place. “Stella and Lindsay are working to figure out the shooting-angle.”

“Strange place for a sniper-attack,” Horatio said thoughtfully and looked up and down the lively street.

Mac heard Horatio’s last sentence and had to agree at once: “There is only one place possible where all circumstances work for him: this 60-floor-building two blocks away.”

“Why especially this one?” Eric wanted to know.

“You have a long street with only few possibilities to make a long-distance shot: Up or down the street,” Mac explained.

Then Horatio added: “And this building over there is the only one which is really high enough to overlook this place.”

Lindsay approached the group. “Hey guy, just have a look at the angle Stella and I’ve found out.”

The work with the dummy and the laser-pointer had already become a more or less daily business for Eric and Horatio. So nobody asked about the method, but everybody stared into the direction and the building Mac and Horatio already had estimated as to be the high-stand of the sniper this time.

“It seems as if you’ve brought your problems to New York, Horatio,” Mac stated.


TBC

[Dr. Anna McBreadle]

Mac seems to have a point. he obviously doesn't know the half of it when it comes to Horatio and trouble!

i like the little bit of rivalry between Danny and Eric, that is going to be quite funny.

so what will they find on the top of the building?? we will have to wait and see!
great chap sundancer!
luv
sam
x

[pinkyster]

Nice chapter Sundancer, this story is really getting good. So the sniper has moved from Miami to New York. But why to draw out Horatio or does this sniper have another motive?

Jen

[margaret1234]

Nice chapter sundancer. Yes Mac, Horatio has brought his problems to New York. I loved the little scene where Danny was so surprised that Horatio crept up on him and Eric, without him realising he was even there before he spoke, and also loved the end where it was obvious Horatio & Mac had already worked out where the sniper must have made his shot from, before the girls were able to tell them.

Margaret

[sanne]

Great chap, Sundancer. highly doubt they're going to find someting on that roof....he usually cleans up his mess

Sandra

[sundancer]

*hihi* Sandra got the point. This sniper is quite used to leave no traces at all. It seems as if the lab will have something to do... in New York and in Miami as well. Just have a look...

Chapter 26

Stella still was a bit upset when they got back to the crime-lab. She had not said a word since the moment they had found out the place where the sniper had been estimated to take the position for his last shot. Lindsay and Danny had taken over to search for the floor and further traces, while Stella and Hawkes had carried all other evidences back to the lab. Mac had promised to join them as soon as he had brought Horatio and Eric to a hotel, which was situated not too far from the New York Police Department.

Hawkes could not help, but noticed that something was working on Stella. “Bad hair day?” he asked carefully.

Stella wheeled around and stared at Sheldon: “What?”

“You’re looking a bit…” Sheldon hesitated a bit before he ended his sentence with a careful “… besides yourself.”

Normally Stella had her emotions under control, but now she really longed for somebody to talk to. But this special ‘somebody’ she had in mind in such cases, today would be the very last one she would like to talk to. How could he be so…!? So she did not answer to Sheldon’s well-meant question.

“Don’t put too much meaning into Mac’s words.” Sheldon sent out a guess coming out of the blue, but it hit.

“Why the heck does everybody think that I’m interested in Horatio Caine?” Stella asked impatiently. “I’m not! I never was! I’m just thinking that he’s a very nice colleague.” She laid the emphasis on the last word of her sentence.

“They’re just teasing, Stella. – It was very nice how you’ve treated Horatio during his last visit. And as it was set that he was going to visit us again, well… you reacted very empathically.”

“But that’s nothing special!” Stella snapped. “Or did anybody else of our unit complain about me not being friendly enough?!”

That was a point Sheldon was not willing to answer honestly, because actually Stella made differences in treating them all. Well, concerning the difference how she treated Danny, Lindsay and himself compared to Mac. But she was never unfriendly or unfair and strange things would have come to happen before she got rude to a colleague.

But Stella had not finished yet.
“And Mac’s teasing is most annoying. – He’d just started it after one of the first phone-calls he had had with Horatio.”

Now Sheldon smiled one of those little smiles he was known for.
“Hmmm, well… he would be the one who would loose most, Stella.” And with an “I’m downstairs at the morgue” he left the room and headed for the elevator.

***

Calleigh’s talk to Ryan and Natalia was short, the meaning simple and it contained only few orders: “Keep an eye on this case. Continue the proceedings which are still going on. – And keep away from the fed!”

It had taken Calleigh only a few minutes to talk to the chief in charge about the new evidences which the New Yorker team had sent over only a few minutes before and just another few minutes to book a flight to New York. To introduce her colleagues what to do next was the shortest thing to do at least.

When Calleigh left, Natalia was a bit upset, though. “Now she’s overreacting.”

Ryan turned around and stared her down: “There are new evidences and they might prove Horatio’s innocence AND they have asked Calleigh to join the investigations due to the traces of this special rifle.”

“I thought this Mac Taylor knew about each and everything considering all kind of weapons?” Natalia ignored the dangerous glance which approached Ryan’s eyes. He hated it, when Natalia insisted to know something more about the reason behind a decision.

“Yes, but he asked Horatio to call Calleigh to New York!” Ryan reprimanded her.

“That’s not the only reason why she’s faster than lightning to get out of this place,” Natalia slowly shook her head. And before Ryan was able to set her at her place she added: “I don’t mean our colleagues in New York, but there’s something working on Calleigh’s mind. She was much too introvert the last day. … This has nothing to do with our entire case, I guess, but something else got her hooked and she wants to discuss it with Horatio… without a phone between them.”

Ryan got impatient. “And if you would be right actually – then it’s still a thing between Horatio and Calleigh and isn’t of our interest. Clear?”

“Clear!” Natalia answered, but it still sounded a bit half-hearted.

TBC


Seems as if Calleigh will be the third to join the team in New York...

[Dr. Anna McBreadle]

Sheldon is right, everyone is just winding Stella up and she's taken the bait! calm down Stella, just laugh it off!

i know its a long shot but hopefully the sniper got a bit messy on this hit! there might be a small amount of evidence!

i still have a few theories as to who it might be but i am not saying a word until there is more evidence in!
great chap sundancer!
luv
sam
x

[sanne]

So we have a few people who are a bit "nervous"..........or at least acting like that.

Sandra

[sundancer]

Well, the story will last "a few" chapters more so I don't think that it will become time to let our sniper get messy... *grin* ;D First of all the time wants to find out who was the last victim of the shooter. And then they're all waiting for Calleigh and there's something else to get clear...


Chapter 27

When Mac came back from the hotel he had brought Horatio and Eric to, he went straight to the morgue to talk to Sheldon Hawkes. Normally Dr. Sid Hammerback was the ruler of the underworld of the dead and gone, but his oldest daughter was marrying one of the next days, so Sid and his wife had to arrange everything for the celebration and therefore Sheldon worked as back-up.

“Hey Sheldon. – You’re already missing your old working-place?” Mac used to tease Hawkes about his habit not being able to decide where to work at least; out on the streets or down in the autopsy.

“I’ve already waited for you, Mac. – But…” he turned the heavy corpse a bit to check the exit-wound at the backside. “…there’s not much I could tell you about this body.”

“Then tell me everything you already know so far,” Mac ordered him.

“As already said: the bullet went through and through, hit lung and the upper tip of the heart, before it left the body again. This guy didn’t realize anymore how he hit the ground,” Sheldon summed up very factual.

Mac raised his eyebrows and with a sigh he said: “That’s indeed nothing additional we don’t already know right now. Besides the name: John Stefano.”

“That doesn’t sound like a name of somebody being involved with the Jarheads,” Sheldon stated.

“He isn’t. Danny just checked it while we’d been still proceeding the crime-scene.” Mac tried to wipe the growing tiredness out of his face and suddenly met a glance of Sheldon he could not interpret.
“Do you have something else for me?”

Sheldon hesitated and finally decided to give his boss a hint: “Me not, but maybe you should talk to Stella.”

“Did she find something in the clothing of the victim?” Mac asked interested.

“It would be better you ask her yourself,” was the discrete answer he got back from his M.E.

***

Deep in thoughts and still wondering about the words of Sheldon Hawkes, Mac went to the lab, where Stella was already working on the different samples collected from the clothes. As soon as he entered the room she started to give him feedback about the different tests she had already running and about the information she had got from the police.
“Our man was a state-guest in a case of a big drug-deal for only 48 hours at least. The evidence had been too poor to hook him. Don Flack called me just 10 minutes ago and informed me that Stefano had left Don’s precinct just this morning. His attorney had got him out.”

Mac bended over the file on Stella’s desk and read her remarks carefully.
“Well, this would be another match to one of those typical habits of Horatio’s sniper…”

Only a very short “hm” was Stella’s whole answer.

Mac studied the different tests still running in the different analyzers. It would take some time before the data was compiled.
“Danny and Lindsay will soon be here with the remaining evidence and the photos and all these tests will take time until tomorrow.”

Stella turned around to him with an asking expression on her face. Would Mac recommend closing their work for today? Stella did not dare to ask. On one hand she was very tired, but on the other hand she still felt the anger about him down in her soul, which was keeping her awake.

Mac waited for a more lively answer of Stella and worried a bit about her silent reaction. But then he asked with an inviting smile: “What do you think about checking the apartments you have to choose within the next days? Maybe one of them will become your new home this evening?”

Stella took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second. Different feelings were fighting inside of her. Finally she said: “O.K.”

TBC

[sanne]

Knew he wouldn't leave any traces........And again someone who got away without punishment. Well...you can't blame the sniper for clearing the city's of those guys

So, will Mac and Stella come closer to their feelings?

Sandra