Chapter Text
“Speed”, Timothy ‘Speed’ Speedle’s gruff voice said pulling a smile from Eric ‘Delektorsky’ Delko despite the miserable day he had had
“It’s me”. The predictable pause had his smile widening. “Yes I’m fine. Yes I know I sound like crap”
“Not helping Delko”, Speed grumbled and he chuckled
“Just a lousy day Tim”
“Need me to come pick you up?”
That earned him a chuckle. “On that death machine of yours. No thanks”
“Yeah ok”.
That wasn’t predictable. Now he was the one worried. “Wha…”
“Just a lousy day”, Speed interrupted and Eric could imagine the smirk. A voice calling for his friend had Speed frowning. “I take it your shift doesn’t end anytime soon”
A distracted Eric yelled “One minute. What did you say Speed?”
“Nothin’. Sounds like you got your hands full”
“DB in the Glades. Nothing new there. But it is my third. I swear the heat’s making this state crazy”
“Just make sure you…” Eric knew what was coming. A lecture on how the Everglades was nothing more than a cesspool of death by bacteria and how he should avoid infections. As far he was concerned he’d listened to this speech enough to last him several lifetimes
“Can’t hear you”, he interrupted in a singsong voice. “Gotta go. Call you later”. He hung up with a laugh
Back in the Crime Lab, Megan Donner the head of the day-shift looked on at the disbelieving but fond smile her trace expert sported. Intrigued at who or what apart from Alexx had her subordinate and friend going all sentimental she walked into his domain and of course he noticed. “The soil we found on the boot is marl”, he said without shifting his focus from the scope
“So common to half the Everglades. Great, three murders in two weeks and we’ve got nothing”
“Well, I still need to take a look at the clothes so… What?”, he asked sounding his usual charming self.
“Who was that on the phone?”
“Seriously?”
“What I’m curious”, she said and he smirked. “You were smiling”
“Jealous?”, he quipped and she acknowledged that she’d walked into that one. “Go home Speed. You’re exhausted”
‘No shit Sherlock’, Speed thought. “That the clothes from… Megan”, he protested but Megan wasn’t going to give in that easily
“Go. Home. These can wait till tomorrow”, she said holding the evidence bags away from him.
“I’m fine. I can still…”
“You haven’t been home in almost 48 hours. What, I saw the couch in the breakroom, I can do the math”
“How do you know…?”
“Oh please. There’s a reason I’m your boss Speed. I know Calleigh went home close to midnight”. She ignored his, “Cos you chased her off”. But her glared told him to not interrupt her again. “And Horatio prefers his desk. And yes I just ordered him off too”
“Ten bucks says he’s back before long”
“Yeah well, front desk knows not to let him in”
Speed whistled impressed. Horatio Caine or H as he was called fondly did not admit defeat that easily. Then his mind went back to their latest body and his amusement vanished. “You said it yourself Megan. Three bodies in 2 weeks and we’ve got nothing. We need a break”
“You’re right. We do need one”, she admitted. “But you’re not going to be of any use to us if you’re exhausted. You know as well as I do that we cannot afford to slip up and if you’re too exhausted to see straight…”
“I’d only be helping this guy get away with it”, he finished for her. “What about you boss? Gonna take your own advice”
The answer came from the sergeant at the door. “You ready to head out Megs. Oh hey Tim”, Sergeant Sean Donner of the Robbery Homicide Squad said on spotting him. “You look like crap”. Speed sighed. “That good huh? You working this boy too hard, Megs”
“Yeah well don’t look at me hotshot. Not all of us have the good sense to take a break when we need it”, she teased feeling the tension from the day dissipating at the sight of the man she loved.
“That from your Glades victim?”
‘Ok almost dissipating’, she thought when Speed stiffened and his eyes fell on the clothes again.
Sean Donner knowing he had blown it did the only thing he could think of to dig himself out of his hole. “C’mon”, he said kissing his wife gently. Speed laughed turning his head away from the private moment.
At least that’s what he told himself but he knew the kiss was only exacerbating thoughts he hadn’t been able to avoid as easily these last few weeks, especially since the night out two weeks ago when he had almost…
“Earth to Tim”. He jumped and the brown eyes vanished.
“Dammit Sean”, he grumbled as he righted the test-tubes he had almost knocked off the table, not sure if he was upset because his daydream had been interrupted or because Sean’s PDA was the reason for the daydream in the first place.
“What?”, Sean asked less innocent and more playful. “Sorry Tim, I ain’t kissing that glare away”
“Ha, ha. Remind me to laugh if your jokes actually became funny”
“All right boys. How about we all act like the mature adults we are. Tim”, Megan warned and he stopped in the act of pulling the casefile towards him
“What you were heading out and I just thought I’d put this away, you know along with…”. He held up his own paperwork innocently
“Nice try but why don’t you let me do that? You look dead on your feet”
“Fine”, Speed conceded not having the energy to protest anymore.
“Go on. I’ve got this”, Megan encouraged when she realized her trace expert must be feeling worse off than he had let on. Otherwise he’d have never let her get away with touching his reports before he was done with them. After all as he had always told her…
“Don’t mess up my system”, he said pulling a smile from her as he closed the door with a wink
Almost an hour and two bus trips later – Megan it turned out had a sixth sense for when he was going to be reckless and had sent Sean to confiscate the keys to his bike making sure he couldn’t ride it and he had childishly refused her offer of a ride home at that – Speed found himself staring at the almost bare cupboards of his pantry in overwhelming irritation and not a little disbelief. Despite what he knew Alexx and well almost the entire lab truth be told believed he did not live off of thin air and had been known to enjoy a good meal; especially if Delko was the one doing the cooking. Which left him worriedly wondering about the last time his housemate had been home. Delko after all was even more insistent on finding the time to eat a sit-down dinner once in a while; the result of his upbringing in a large but close-knit family
Tired, hungry and thoroughly depressed with the way the case was going it was only natural that he hadn’t really been paying any attention at all to his surroundings. The open window at the back, giving off enough breeze to turn the humid day, somewhat pleasant should’ve spiked his curiosity, the soft but muffled footsteps should’ve had his hand go to his gun in concern. But all he noticed was the blow to the back of his head – at least until he was knocked out cold
“Morning”, Horatio ‘H’ Caine, recently moved CSI, and just as much a pain in the ass as her second-in-command Tim Speedle said as Megan entered the trace lab
“I’m going to check your ID for time of entry, you do know that right?”
“Good morning to you too”, her ballistics expert said from her hiding spot behind the equipment and Megan almost jumped; almost.
“For heaven’s sake. Who did I piss off up there to deserve all of you? Ok that was uncalled for”, she said calming down the slightest bit at the stares.
“We got our rest”, Calleigh said with an innocent wide-eyed look that didn’t fool her one bit. “And of course we have another one”, she said when her pager beeped along with Horatio’s
Megan hung up with dispatch. “Shooting on the Grove. What? You guys can deal with a fresh one this time. Tim and I took the last one”, she added when Horatio and Calleigh exchanged a glance
“All right. But you might want to have Speedle take a look at our victim’s shirt. I found something on the cuff, but I haven’t had a chance to run it through the mass spec yet.
“I’ll take care of it”, Megan said. “You guys seen him yet”
“No, I thought you sent him home”, Horatio said frowning
“Yeah I did. Never thought the day’d come when he actually listened”, she added with a pointed look that produced no reaction whatsoever. But then again Horatio was thick skinned when he needed to be. He left her to it with a smirk. Ignoring him Megan dialed her trace expert
‘Leave a message’. The voice mail had her frown and not because of the short and curt words that never told anyone who they were calling. It wasn’t like Speed to be this late, especially when they had an unsolved
More than a little worried now, she wondered if he had just overslept, even if she knew the chances of it happening were slim to none. Speed from what she knew was an insomniac
Not that she knew him that well, she conceded. If there was someone more private than the young New Yorker she was yet to meet them. In five years of working relationship/ friendship, all she had gotten out of him was one past tragedy and the fact that his parents had never given a damn.
She knew where he lived true, but she had never been to his place at least not inside; and he had never been to hers, he barely socialized with anyone in the lab apart from Alexx, and she had no clue if he was involved with anyone
Speaking of Dr. Alexx Woods… “Where’s Timmy?”
The nickname which only her Medical Examiner was allowed to use had her smile automatically. “I was hoping you could tell me”, she said her amusement vanishing. “He hasn’t come in yet”
“That’s odd”
“Hey Megan, you seen Speedle this morning”, Detective Frank Tripp of the Robbery Homicide asked poking his head into the lab and Megan’s gut – something she claimed she never made use of in an investigation - churned louder.
Megan ignored her gut. “No, he’s not in yet. Why do you want him?”
“What do you mean he’s not in yet?”, Tripp asked flabbergasted. “It’s almost nine”
“I know what time it is Frank”, she said more curtly than she intended and his frown deepened. “You know what, you’re right, something’s up. He should’ve been here by now”, she conceded. “Can you…”
“I’ll check to see if there are any traffic incidents…”
“Don’t bother, his bike’s here. And I have the keys”, Megan said holding them out.
Alexx just as worried as the other two called Speed’s landline. “No answer”, she said putting her phone away. “I don’t like this Megan”
“I can swing by his place”, Tripp offered
Megan barely needed time to make her decision. “Get Stetler on the clothes Alexx. I’m going with Frank”, she said taking her lab coat off.
‘Week from hell’, or at least that’s what he was labelling it, Eric thought opening the gate to the three bedroom house he shared with Speed at around eight in the morning. Staring at the newspaper decorating his front door step unhappily, he cursed. So his roommate hadn’t bothered coming home; again. “Three nights in a row Tim”, he muttered. “What the hell are you thinking man”
Well Speed was a big boy and Eric was exhausted.
Stopping at the couch, he took one longing look at the doorway leading to the bedrooms, but slowly toed off his shoes and collapsed on said piece of furniture feeling thankful for once that the old monstrosity was big enough to support his lanky frame and fell asleep almost instantly.
A loud bang startled him awake a hour and a half later and he instinctively reached for his bedside drawer and gun only to overbalance and hit his face on the coffee table. He’d stupidly forgotten that he’d slept on the damn couch. Swearing nastily in three languages to make even a sailor blush, Eric sat up long enough to realise two things; one his cheek was gonna be stinging for a while and two someone was literally pounding on his door. For a moment he entertained the thought it could be Speed. At least until the loud yell asking for his roommate
Heart pounding – he’d recognized the voice as Speed’s boss Lt. Megan Donner of CSI – he almost tore the door off its hinges in worry; and to get Donner to stop knocking.
The comical look of surprise threw him back just the slightest bit and he wondered what the hell Speed had told his colleagues about his living arrangements; definitely colleagues in plural because Donner was with a detective from Robbery Homicide if he remembered right.
His nervousness made his, “Can I help you?”, sound curt and Donner’s lips pursed
“Who the hell are you?”, she asked and he bristled. She was at his home after all. Swallowing a response that would’ve had his mom box his ears off he added a bit more bite to his tone and repeated his question
“What the badge doesn’t clue you in?”, the tall Texan – Tripp his mind supplied helpfully – grumbled
“Gee do these badges carry your name?” Eric retorted sarcastic himself not feeling generous enough to filter his response. “I’ll ask again, what the hell do you guys want?”
Donner seemed to study him from the inside out before she introduced herself and the muscle. “We’re looking for Tim Speedle”, she said and Eric’s worry spiked to unknown proportions
“What do you mean looking for him? Isn’t he in the lab?”. Becoming aware of the fact that his voice was rising with each word he managed to tone it down. “He never came home last night”, he said not knowing that, that one statement would have him spend time in holding for the kidnapping of his best friend
“Are you sure Mr. …?” Megan let the question trail off and Eric realized he hadn’t even introduced himself
“Oh, sorry, Delko. My name’s Eric Delko. Me and Tim, we share this house”
“I see”, Donner said her scepticism evident and he bristled again. One thing was for sure, when he saw Tim he was going to… the ‘if’ intruded and he almost zoned out. Speed had to be fine and this had to be…
“May we come in Mr. Delko?” The question had Eric automatically move aside. Donner was talking to him again, asking him about the last time he’d seen Speed.
‘Before you guys found your latest body’, he thought but his brain had woken up sufficiently enough to let him know to stop blurting out whatever was in his head. “Three days ago, … I think”, he said at last, unsure as the last few days seemed simply to blend into themselves
“Thought you said you lived here Mr. Delko”. Eric closed his eyes and prayed for patience, even as he recognized the Texan’s strategy. Anger loosened tongues more than civility after all.
“I’ve been busy”
“Doing what?” Tripp asked as he stepped closer getting in Eric’s personal space.
“Mind if I take a look around?” Donner’s question broke the staring contest and Eric blinked before grunting out what sounded like an agreement, at least she seemed to take it as such
“Busy with what?”, Tripp asked again and he struggled to place the question in context.
The detective was interrupted by a frantic Megan. “Where’s Tim?” she asked him all pretense of civility gone.
“I don’t… I don’t know…” he said feeling the effects of the almost two long sleepless days and the alcohol he had so recklessly consumed the previous night in an effort to help him forget. “Wait is he really missing?”
“What the hell happened to your face?”
“I… I hit it on the coffee table”, he stammered
“Right the coffee table”
And Eric for the first time realized he was a suspect at the ‘How stupid do you think I am’ look from Tripp
Taking a deep breath, he fought to organize his thoughts in some semblance of an order as Donner put her phone away. “Look I don’t know what the hell you guys think happened here, but I haven’t seen Tim in two days all right. The last time I saw him was when he went to work two days ago. He never came home two nights ago, and I crashed at a colleague’s last night”
“Which colleague would that be?”
“A member of my dive team at Underwater Recovery” Eric said knowing exactly what the reaction would be
“You’re a cop?”
He definitely wasn’t disappointed. “Yes”, he responded shortly.
“You mind if a CSI team comes in to take a look at this place?” Donner phrased it like a request however Eric knew it was anything but
“Why?”, he asked her his expressive eyes giving away his worry
“There’s blood in the kitchen. And it looks fresh”