CSI:Hellevoetsluis; Photograph

[scorpii]

Sammie's story inspired me... enjoy the newest Hellevoetsluis story!

CSI:Hellevoetsluis 1.04 Photograph
(Hellevoetsluis/Miami Cross-over)
‘Beep beep beep’ Julia grabbed her alarm clock and got up. 9:30 a.m. Okay, maybe it was time to get up. Suddenly she remembered why shad had set her alarm clock the previous night. She had to call her mum. And since she lived on the other side of the ocean, there was a huge time difference of seven hours. That would make it 4:30 pm there. And at 5, her mum would probably have some time for herself. So that would make it the right time. She went to the shower and fifteen minutes later, she found herself in the kitchen where she was eating breakfast. The reason she had to call mum was something very, very important. Her dad was thrilled when she had told him. ‘Just like your mother’ he had said. Julia smiled again. She was so happy; she just couldn’t stop smiling. She checked the clock again. 10 a.m. here, so it was 5 pm there. So it was a great time to call mum.
‘So I really don’t know what to do, but he… and I…’
Amy only listened half to what Lisa was saying. Okay, she was her best friend and stuff, but sometimes she could be so boring… Suddenly, she was saved by an exotic sound coming from her cell.
‘Luisant’
‘Hi mum, it’s Julia! You never know what I have to tell you!’
Amy was very surprised her daughter called her. She told Lisa to ‘shut up ‘cause I have to take this call’. Lisa nodded and walked out. Amy returned to Julia.
‘Oh really Julie? Tell me, I’m curious!’
Julia knew. ‘Should I?’ she was just teasing her mum, knowing she really was curious as hell.
‘Okay Julia, just tell me please.’
‘Nah, I don’t think I will’ Julia kept teasing her.
‘Julia Luisant, you tell me now or else…’
‘Or what? No, just kidding mum. I will tell you, on the condition that…’
‘Yes?’
‘Please don’t freak out’
‘Okay.’
‘Mum… recently I’ve told you I’d applied for a job. But I wanted it to be a surprise for you, especially because I, of course, didn’t even know myself if I’d get the job or not. But I’ve got it and I’m about to tell you what kind of job’
‘Okay. Hope it’s not to dangerous.’
‘Mum! I’m living here for what, six years now? The city’s hardly more dangerous the Rotterdam and Amsterdam! I know what I’m doing.’
‘What are you doing then?’
‘I’m a CSI with the Miami-Dade Crime Lab’
‘You’re a what? Honey, please be careful! What does Matt say about it?’
‘Dad says it’s okay. He was so happy for me, I hoped you would be too…’
‘I am, Julia, I am. But I just want you to be save. Please…’
“Beep - beep - beep” Julia had broken the connection. Amy stared to her cell. Oh Julia, she thought, why were you doing this?
At the other side of the Atlantic, Julia was also staring at her phone. She had expected her mum to be more enthusiastic, since she was a CSI herself. Maybe she shouldn’t had broken the connection, but she had done it in the spur of the moment. Because mum wasn’t as happy as she had imagined she would be. Okay, maybe mum’s city Hellevoetsluis wasn’t by far as big as Miami, but still, why couldn’t she just be happy?
It was a hot day, the next day, when Julia stepped out of her car into the early Miami sun. She walked into the orange building and walked to the front desk, where she waited for her new employer. It only took a few minutes before the red-haired man showed up. Julia had met him before, for her job interview, but she couldn’t remember his name. She could remember his surname though.
‘Lieutenant Caine, how are you?’ she tried to make a good impression. He would be her employer for at least a few years.
Ah. Now she remembered his name again. Horatio Caine.
Horatio showed her around the lab. Julia was impressed. It looked that state-of-the-art. He told her the lab just had been redecorated. He had introduced her to the rest of the team; Calleigh Duquesne, Julia had to ask her to write it down so she would know how to write it. Calleigh had smiled and had written it down for her. Ryan Wolfe, somewhere he was quite charming. And Eric Delko. Julia thought she liked them all. Her mum’s, or actually Lisa’s team was so different. She always had liked Tom, and Tom probably knew. She was a good friend with Sam, and her mum of course, and then Lisa. But she knew she would like it here too. At the end of the day, she walked out to her car. It had been a very nice day. Happily she drove home, to eat something and watch some TV. She parked her car at home and walked to the door. Suddenly, she heard footsteps behind her back. She tried to turn around, but before she could, someone smothered her. She passed out.
Amy just sat absently minded. She was thinking. Yesterday she had received the call of Julia and since then, Julia hadn’t even called her. She grabbed her cell phone and called Julia’s cell. No answer. She kept calling ‘til she got voicemail. Julia probably didn’t want to speak to her. Why did she so desperately wanted to become a CSI? Okay, of course she, Amy, had been a role model for her, but still, why then in such a big city as Miami? Maybe she was just overreacting. Maybe she didn’t have to worry, since Julia was twenty-three. And Matt was there too. Yeah, just overreacting. Miami might be a big city, but big cities usually also have big police forces. She didn’t have to worry. And then something else, who would ever want to hurt Julia? At the same time, the phone on the desk to her rang. Her heart jumped as she was hoping it would be Julia. She picked it up.
‘Hellevoetsluis Crime Lab’
But who answered was definitely not Julia. A man’s voice answered her.
‘Amy Luisant?’
‘Speaking with’
‘Good afternoon ma’am, this is Horatio Caine of the Miami-Dade Crime Lab. I am afraid I have to tell you something’
‘Is it about Julia? She has got a job with you guys, hasn’t she? Has she done something wrong?’
‘It is about Julia. No ma’am, she hasn’t done anything wrong. I am afraid your daughter Julia has been kidnapped.’
Amy dropped the mouthpiece and it kept dangling on it rope back- and forwards, and it would have looked funny if this situation wasn’t this bad. Amy realised she had dropped it and picked it up again.
‘Are you - are you sure?’ she asked carefully, but she already knew the answer.
‘I am sure. Matthew Luisant came here and said he had found a ransom note. He told us he had checked if Julia was at home. He had seen her car, but she wasn’t at home. He asked us if we would call you’
‘Why did you have to call me, not Matt?’
‘I don’t really know, but he seemed rather shocked.’
‘I bet he is. Whatever he wants to do, please keep him from it. I’m coming to Miami’
‘I will. Hang in there’
Amy hung up and looked into nothing. Her baby had been kidnapped… she hoped nothing really bad would happen to her. Why would someone kidnap Julia? Oh, of course, Matt’s company. He had money enough, she knew. So they had taken her kid for money… a tear rolled down Amy’s cheek and fell on the ground. No, she mustn’t cry. Julia needed her. She had to go to Miami. She got up, walked out and searched for Lisa. She found her in the layout room, where she and Tom were going through some unsolved cases.
‘Lisa…’ she said, unable to stop her tears from flowing now ‘Julia has been kidnapped. I’m going to Miami. I thought you ought to know’
Both looked at her, shocked.
‘Julia is what?!’ Lisa said. ‘Oh Amy, how awful for you! I’m going with you’
Amy swiped some tears away and looked at Lisa.
‘Oh Lisa, how sweet of you! Thank you…’
‘Hey, you’re my best friend, remember? Tommy, you take my place when we’re away.’
Tom nodded. ‘I’ll arrange the stuff with the sheriff.’
Lisa nodded thankfully and guided Amy home. There, they filled a travelling bag, and after that, they went to Lisa’s apartment.
Two hours later, they were at Amsterdam International Airport Schiphol, where Lisa walked to one of the desks and asked if there were two tickets left for Miami. They were lucky, there were a few left for a plane to Miami that would leave in half an hour. Amy paid and they checked in.
An hour later, they were up in the air and both women calmed down a little. They had been in a rush but both were clever enough to know they couldn’t speed up the plane.
It was crazy, Amy thought, three and a half hour ago, she was still worried about Julia not talking to her. And now she was worried because Julia was kidnapped. And she was on her way to Miami. She had been there before, many times even, but this time the reason wasn’t as happy as it always had been. This would be a long eight hours…
Julia woke up and looked around. It was totally dark. Where was she? Suddenly, she noticed she was cuffed. Was she kidnapped? For what? Matt’s money? Or because she was with CSI now? No, she thought, then she would have been killed instantly instead of being kidnapped. She looked around again. Her eyes were a bit better adjusted to the darkness now, and she could distinguish the things in the room. Against one wall, boxes were stacked on top of each other, covering the whole wall so it wasn’t visible. Against another wall stood a scaffolding and in the same wall was a door. She didn’t even try if it was open; it was probably locked anyway. She lied back down on the ground, the cold, hard, stone ground. It was dirty as hell. Oh damn, she though, her new clothes she had put on for her first day on the job. What a stupid thought in such a serious situation. She tried to un-cuff herself. That was surprisingly easy. She looked at her hands. She still had her watch and rings and she felt her wallet in one of her pockets. Was money really the motif? Her watch said it was 2 p.m. Was she here already almost a day? Or longer? Would dad have already notice she was gone? Her employer, Horatio Caine, he would have noticed she hadn’t shown up. Would he be angry with her? Or disappointed? Or, if Matt had noticed she was gone, Horatio would know it too. Were they worried? If dad knew, mum would know it too by now. Oh, mum! She had warned her to be careful. She had told her Miami could be dangerous. But on the other hand, Amy had warned her for the dangers of the job, not for the people who were after Matt’s company. Suddenly, the lamp on the ceiling flashed on. Julia blinked. The light hurt her eyes. Someone kicked open the door and a small, fat man walked in.
‘Ah, you awake’ he said. Julia looked at him.
‘What do you want?’ she asked coldly. The man had an evil grin and looked back at her.
‘Your daddy is quite a rich man. And he’s also a competitor of mine. I don’t need his money, but with the money I ask of him, he has to take it from his agency, that will fall apart if he does…’
Julia only looked. So that was the motif for kidnapping her…
‘But you’ the man walked to Julia ‘are very pretty. I don’t mind you’d stay here for a bit longer’
Julia crawled over to a corner and the man laughed.
‘Pretty girl, why so scared?’
‘I’m not scared of you, but how my mum and dad will damage their reputation if they find you’
‘Ah silly girl, your mum’s not even here… she has a little job in a tiny country called Holland’
Julia tried to smile.
‘Everyone makes the same mistake. It’s the Netherlands, not Holland. Holland exists of only two of the twelve provinces, North- and South- Holland. And my mum doesn’t have a little job, she’s a CSI.’
‘Whatever, she’s still six thousand miles from here’
‘Actually, it’s more like four thousand three hundred and fifty miles from here, and I bet you she’s already on a plane’
She shouldn’t have said that.
‘Ah, a little miss know-it-all! No one will save you!’
And he hit her in the face. Julia understood it was best to do nothing and just wait. The man walked out and slammed the door shut.
Up in the sky, Amy woke up. Someone was poking her. It was just as annoying as a mosquito.
She hit the hand that was poking her.
‘Ouch!’
Oops. The poker was Lisa.
‘Sorry Lisa. Why were you poking me?’
‘Because we’re about to land. See?’
Amy looked out of the window and saw the very familiar skyline of a big city. But it was not until she saw the building with the blue, pink and yellow lights that she was sure she was in Miami.
‘You think Matt’ll be there to pick us up?’ Lisa asked. Amy nodded.
‘I know so. I’ve sent him a SMS right before we boarded the plane.’
‘Okay’
Finally, the plane landed. It had been a long eleven hours since Amy had found out Julia was kidnapped. It had been a long day and the day was about to get much longer. It had been their luck they had slept in the plane. Both felt much stronger now. They found back their bags, walked on and Amy saw Matthew.
‘Matthew!’ she shouted, dropped her bags and ran towards him. Matt looked up and hugged Amy. Both cried.
‘Oh Matt…’ Amy said sadly ‘our baby has been kidnapped! What should we do, what should we do…’
Lisa picked up the bag Amy dropped and with both bags she walked over to them.
‘Hi Matt’ she said, carefully avoiding the question “how are you”, something of which she already knew the answer.
‘Hey Lisa’ He said, but he looked at Amy.
Amy smiled but wasn’t happy. ‘If there’s one way to get my daughter back, then that’s the way we have to walk. The more people, the bigger our chances’
Matt nodded. ‘Okay. Amy, Lisa, I want you to meet lieutenant Caine. He and his team is trying to find Julia’
Both women shook hands with the lieutenant.
‘So you’re… were… Julia’s new employer. Have you got any clues where se might be?’ Amy’s attitude transferred to business-like, hiding her worries about Julia.
‘Not really, but we’re doing everything we can’
Amy nodded. ‘Okay. Do you mind if we help with searching her?’
Lieutenant Caine smiled. ‘Not at all’
Julia got up and walked around a bit. The kidnappers hadn’t noticed yet she had un-cuffed herself, that was a point of light. The scaffolding was empty. She walked to the boxes and opened some of them. Empty. Ooo-kay. Why would someone stack empty boxes against a wall? The scaffolding was empty, which could be because they could have emptied it to keep her here. But empty boxes? If you’d empty a room, you would just take out all boxes. She grabbed more boxes from the top of the stack and threw them through the room. Whatever if they got dirty. Suddenly, a beam of orange light fell into the dark room. Julia checked her watch. 8:30 p.m. Sunset. She removed all boxes until she had cleared the little window. It was just a small window high in the wall, so Julia had to stand on tiptoes to look outside. She saw a street and people passing by and trees and the sun near the horizon. The outside world. The door was kicked open again and the same fat man walked in. He grinned when he saw she had cleared the window.
‘Ah, our miss know-it-all has found out that she can see the outside world through that little window. Doesn’t matter, no one will hear you. It’ll just make your stay here more annoying.’ He walked into the scaffolding before he walked out. Julia laughed and the man slammed the door shut again. Julia stared to the scaffolding and to the window and the scaffolding again. A plan was developing inside her head.
The Miami Crime Lab surprised Lisa. There was a lot of glass used, and everything looked tight and clean and stuff, but it didn’t look cold. She wished their lab would look this state-of-the-art. Her thoughts were disturbed but Amy who was tapping her on the shoulder.
‘Lisa?’
‘Huh?’
‘Beautiful lab ey?’
‘Yeah. Ours should look like this too.’
‘Your unpleasant job to discuss it with John. But would you please come?’
Lisa nodded and she, Amy and Matt followed Horatio Caine to his office. There, he showed Amy and Lisa the ransom note. Amy’s happy façade fell off and she broke down in tears. Lisa read the note.
“Hello mr Luisant,
How are you? I hope fine, because I will ruin your day. We have kidnapped you daughter Julia. Pretty girl she is. If you want to see her alive, put 2 million dollars in the following account before the following Friday;…”
Lisa looked up. Amy was still crying and Matt was comforting her.
‘Have you checked that account?’ she asked Horatio.
‘Yes, we have. It belongs to a Charles Franklin’
Matt looked up. ‘Charles Franklin?’ he echoed.
Horatio looked at him. ‘Yes. You know him?’
Matt nodded. ‘He’s one of many competitors. I’ve met him’
Amy looked up with a face filled with tears. ‘Have you got an address?’
‘No’ Horatio answered. ‘Address unknown’
Julia walked to the scaffolding and tried to move it. No movement. She checked it again. Damn, it was screwed to the wall. She grabbed her wallet from her pocket and opened it. She never carried much money, but she always carried her lucky coin, a five-eurocents coin she once got from her mother. Where was it? She searched all pockets, and she found it, where else, in the last one. With the coin, she loosened all screws until she could move the scaffolding. While kicking some boxes away, she moved it under the window. She checked her watch and looked outside. No one passing. But she had to go. She kicked out her stilettos and with one, she tried to break the glass. It did. She figured someone must’ve heard that and hurried. She climbed up the scaffolding and dropped herself from the other side of the wall. It was dark outside. The light flashed on inside. Julia stepped in a piece of glass. Damn, her foot. She dropped one of her rings near the wall. Maybe she could leave a trail of objects without meaning to everyone else except her parents. She heard the fat man scream: ‘She’s gone!’ and began running, she ran, and ran, as fast as she could. But after only a few meters, a man levelled with her. She swore. She had never been a good runner, especially not with glass in her foot. The man grabbed her arm, but she managed to pull herself away and kick him where it hurts. The man fell on his knees and Julia ran away. Soon enough, the man levelled again, grabbed her arm again and pushed her against the wall. Julia spat him in the face and tried to wriggle herself loose, but the man didn’t care and showed her a knife. Julia petrified. The man held the knife against her throat.
‘So little girl, now it’s you against me. You move, you’re dead. You scream, you’re dead. Just cooperate, then you’ll live.’
Julia let him take her. But halfway back, she felt the man loosen his grip for a moment and decided the moment was hers. She wriggled loose, turned around and felt the man’s fingertips against her arm. She tried to run, felt the whole hand around her arm. Then, something sharp and pointy was pushed against her back. The knife. She felt the cold blade slice through her layers of clothe, and it slice through her skin. Julia felt pain. The blade slice further. She felt a warm and thick substance flowing out of the wound. The blood would ruin her clothes. She realised she would never see her parents again, unless she would be saved now. And she wouldn’t, she knew. She fell down on her knees. She couldn’t breathe anymore. She felt blood flowing into her mouth. She realised the knife had punctured her lung. She spat some blood on the wall and sidewalk. People had to see something had happened there. She closed her eyes and saw sparkling. No one was here to save her. She would just die here. That didn’t hurt her. It hurt her the most she would never see her parents again. And she would never do the job she had always wanted to do. The sparkling died and Julia saw nothing but darkness. She had never made up with Amy. All sorts of thoughts of things she had never done but had wanted to do. Her life would be over now… She felt her heart had stopped beating. And then, she felt nothing…
Amy saw the clock pointing 0:30 a.m. She looked at Matthew and realised they wouldn’t sleep until Julia was found. They were talking about the time they had spent together before Matt had moved to Miami. Amy remembered how they had liked their first holiday here in Miami. Julia was fifteen at that time, and Amy remembered how she had bragged about going here to her classmates. Most of them had never been out of Europe. Only a few, and only one had been to the US before. He had been to Los Angeles. But Julia had seen a lot of the world and Amy knew how she loved travelling. They had visited most of the European countries. They had been to Egypt when Julia was ten, and to Toronto when she was twelve. Amy remembered how the beauty of such a big city enchanted Julia, and Amy and Matt had promised her she could pick a city herself to go on holiday when she had turned fifteen. And Julia had picked Miami. Julia loved sun, warmth, and the atmosphere of a big city. She would have gone to New York though, if she had been convinced that it could also be warm there. But it’s hard to convince a fifteen-year-old that a city which was almost always cloudy in television series that it could also be sunny there. Matt had been happy Julia had picked Miami, Amy had known it was a wish of him to go there once to find out if it would be a good place to expand his company, a modelling agency, to. It turned out it was. Amy was never worried Matt would take off with one of his models. She knew him, he wouldn’t. His agency wasn’t that big yet, but promising. Matt always had hoped Julia would become one of his models when she had grown up, but she always showed much more interest in the work her mum did. She always thought the models were airheads. Amy smiled. She knew some of them were actually pretty smart. She had hoped Julia would make it far. She had the business-instincts of her father, the brains of her mother and the good looks of herself.
‘Remember the first time we met?’ Matt asked suddenly. Amy looked up.
‘Sure I do’
Yeah, first time they’d met. Their love was one of those high school-loves that lasted. Amy had been sixteen and Matthew seventeen when they met at the Christmas gala at their school. They immediately fell in love. When Amy went to university, she found out she went to the same as Matt went. Happy coincidence. They got married, had a baby they called Julia and all lived happily ever after. It was like a fairy tale marriage, until had rudely been interrupted by this kidnapping. Amy closed her eyes. Her eyes were tired, but she told herself her mind wasn’t.
Matthew smiled at Amy. He saw she was sleeping. It had been a long and tiring day for her. But not only for her, it had been tiring for him too. He set the alarm of his cell at 7:00 a.m. and closed his eyes too. Both fell asleep with their heads on the kitchen table in Matt’s house, their selves filled with dreams and thoughts that would lighten up their minds for a few hours.

[scorpii]

Amy woke up from some weird song she slightly recognized. She looked around. Where was she? Suddenly everything came back to her. She was in Matthew’s house, in Miami, because Julia had been kidnapped. She checked the clock. 7:00 a.m. At the other side of the table, Matt was lifting his head from the kitchen table. He looked at Amy.
‘Morning sunshine.’ he said. Amy smiled at him.
‘C’mon’ he said ‘I’ll make you some breakfast.’
Not very much later, Amy had finished her breakfast and looked at Matt, who was going through drawers filled with papers. He had never been an organisation talent.
‘Matt, what are you doing?’ she asked.
‘I just realised I must still have Charles Franklin’s business card.’
Amy nodded and walked over to one of the bedroom doors. The one Matt had lent to Lisa so she didn’t have to go to a hotel. She knocked on the door.
‘Lisa? Are you there?’
No answer. She knocked again.
‘Lisa?’
No answer. She opened the door. Instead of what she had expected, the sun, not a light or else total darkness, illuminated the room. And Lisa wasn’t there. Amy walked back to Matt.
‘Matt? Do you know where Lisa is?’
Matt shook his head. ‘Is she gone then?’
Amy nodded. ‘Is there a bus stop nearby?’
Matt only pointed out of the window. Amy saw a bus stop across the street. She turned back to Matt.
‘Did she leave a note?’
‘I don’t know. Check the side table near the front door, maybe there’s a note’
Amy did and found one.
“Dear Amy and Matt,
I hope you don’t mind, but I went to the crime lab early, I had a thought yesterday evening and wanted to do that immediately. It is about the kidnapping of Julia. Meet me there when you’re awake and stuff.
Lisa.”
‘She’s gone to the lab’ Amy yelled at Matt.
‘I can hear you too when you’re just talking’ he said calmly.
‘Whatever. Have you found that card?’
‘Yes’
‘Then let’s go’
Both stepped into Matt’s car and drove off to the Crime Lab. There, they found Lisa and the Miami team. Matt threw the card on the table. Lisa picked it up. She looked to him, to Amy, and back to the card.
‘The address of Charles Franklin’s agency!’
Matt nodded. Horatio got up and said;
‘We should visit mr Franklin, I think’
Amy nodded. ‘Matt…’ she didn’t really know what to say. ‘Maybe you should go home. It’s just… you know what I mean…’
Matt nodded at her. He kissed her on the cheek and took off. Amy, Lisa and Horatio went with the Crime Lab Hummer to the address written on the business card.
It didn’t take long to get there, and Amy was impressed by the look of the agency. The walls were painted in a bright lime green colour that lightened up the whole room. They walked to the front desk. The receptionist looked at them.
‘Hello’ she said. Amy smiled and Horatio answered.
‘Hello. I want to speak to mr Franklin’
‘Do you have an appointment?’
‘No, just crashing the party’ Lisa said.
‘Who can I say is here?’
‘Say him Amy Luisant is here, then he’ll let us in’ Amy said.
The receptionist did and a few moments later, they could go to Charles Franklin’s office. The man got up when the three people walked in. Everybody shook hands and introduced themselves to each other.
The man smiled, but Amy saw something cold in his look. But they couldn’t arrest him for looking cold.
‘Ah, Mrs Luisant. I was looking forward to meet you. I always thought the wife of Matthew Luisant must be a special woman’
Amy rolled her eyes. ‘Yeah. Just call me Amy please. Mrs Luisant makes me feel that old’
The man smiled again. ‘What can I mean for you, Amy?’
Horatio took over the word.
‘The daughter of Mr and Mrs Luisant, Julia, has been kidnapped and there was an account on the ransom note that lead us to you’
The man acted like he was very sorry. ‘I am very, very sorry to hear that. I’ve met her I think. She’s quite pretty.’
Amy smiled. ‘Thank you. But since your account number was on the note, you’ll have to explain to us what you have to do with it’
Charles looked at her. Amy felt uncomfortable. It was like the coldness in his look had grown since they walked in just a minute ago.
‘I have nothing to do with stuff like kidnapping. I am an honest man with an honest business. Are you sure you’ve read the number right?‘
‘We are.’
‘I hope you’ll find her’
All three nodded and walked out.
‘Well, that was much’ Lisa said when they were outside.
‘It wasn’t all wasted’ Horatio said.
‘Why not?’
‘He knows us now’
‘And that would help us, how?’
‘He may feel sorry now’ Amy said before Horatio could answer.
‘Yeah, right’ Lisa said. ‘Whatever. I want to know more about that Franklin guy’
‘Wolfe is after it’ Horatio said.
‘Okay. Has he found anything?’ Amy asked. At the same moment, Horatio’s cell phone rang.
‘Caine. Okay. Where? I’m on it’
He looked at Amy and Lisa. ‘Someone has reported blood spatter on a sidewalk. You want to come?’
Both women nodded and they took off.
A bit later, they arrived at the scene of the spatter. Amy had a face filled with disgust when she saw it.
‘Wow’ Lisa said ‘Someone has lost a lot of blood.’
Horatio nodded. ‘Yeah. I’ll swab it and send it to the lab. Would one of you please check the perimeter?’
Amy did. She found some broken glass on the sidewalk, just a few meters away. She looked up and discovered a little window quite high in the wall. It was broken, so the shattered glass would come from there. Although she thought it had nothing to do with the spatter, she bagged it. Carefully to not rip her latex glove on the glass, she picked it up. The sun reflected on the glass and it sparkled. She saw a different kind of sparkling in between the glass shatters. She picked it up and looked better at it. She froze up. She fell with her knees into the glass while she kept looking at the little thing. Lisa and Horatio were done swabbing the blood and walked over to Amy.
‘Amy? What have you got there?’ Lisa asked. Amy didn’t react.
Both took a better look at what Amy was holding.
‘It’s a ring’ Horatio concluded.
Lisa rolled her eyes and resisted the tension to say ‘duh’.
‘It not just a ring’ Amy said. Her voice trembled. She turned to Horatio and Lisa with tears in her eyes.
‘It’s the ring Matt and I gave to Julia for her eighteenth birthday.’
Lisa stood on tiptoes to look through the broken window. She saw a dirty, small room, with a scaffolding under the window and boxes thrown around inside. Someone had to clean it there.
Horatio was talking to Amy.
‘Amy, you think that blood is Julia’s?’
Amy nodded. ‘Yeah, I do. Take a sample of Matt and me and compare it to the blood. And hand me a swab.’
Horatio did. Amy swabbed the ring and gave back the swab.
‘If this is Julia’s ring, this swab now contains her epithelial cells. They can compare it too to the samples.’
She asked for another swab, swabbed herself and gave back the swab.
‘That’s one of the samples. I think Matt won’t mind it too’
A confused Horatio took the swab back.
‘I’ll give them to Valera’ he said. Amy nodded and poked Lisa.
‘Hey, now you’re the poker!’ she said. Amy smiled at her.
‘Yeah, great Lisa. C’mon, we’re going back to the lab.’
All went back to the lab and delivered the swabs to Valera. Then, they searched for Ryan Wolfe.
It took a while before they found him, but he had loads of info for them.
‘Hey’ he said.
‘Hi Ryan’ Lisa said.
‘Have you found anything?’ Horatio asked. Ryan nodded.
‘Yes, I have. It turns out Franklin’s got an apartment downtown, but he also has got a house on…’
And Ryan called a street Amy couldn’t hear. Horatio had heard it and nodded.
‘We’ve just been there. So… blood on the sidewalk, broken glass, a ring…’
Lisa filled in the rest. ‘The room with the broken window was dirty, with boxes all thrown around and a scaffolding underneath the window…’
‘She tried to escape’ Horatio concluded ‘but they caught her again. And with that amount of blood she has lost…’
Amy understood. She wasn’t weak usually, but she felt weak now. And again, she cried. ‘Oh my god… oh my god… Julie…’ she cried. Lisa patted her on the back and clumsily tried to comfort her.
‘Oh Amy… how awful…’
Horatio also comforted her. ‘Amy. I promise we will find whoever did this to you and Matt and Julia’
Amy looked up. ‘Thank you’ she whispered.
Matt sat in front of the TV when the phone rang. Hoping it was Amy or someone from the lab, he picked it up.
‘Matthew Luisant’
‘Hello Matthew. How’s your day?’
Matthew petrified. He knew the voice.
‘What do you think?’ he asked.
‘You haven’t paid yet. And it is Friday today…’
Matthew breath got stuck in his throat.
‘What do you mean?’ he asked, acting like he was stupid.
‘Say goodbye to Julia…’ the voice said, and someone hung up on the other side of the line. But Matthew had recognized it.
Horatio got a call.
‘Caine’ he answered. ‘Okay. Yes. Thank you’
He looked at Amy. ‘You were right’ he said. ‘The ring did belong to Julia. And the blood did too. I’m sorry’
But Amy didn’t cry this time. She looked at the floor and said, very quiet;
‘I’m gonna kill the one responsible’
‘I don’t think that will be the best’ Lisa said.
‘You know what I mean’ Amy looked angry at her. Lisa stepped back a little.
The sudden tension in the room was broken by a call Amy received.
‘Amy Luisant’
‘Good day ma’am. You’re speaking with doctor Gregory Davis. I have someone here who claims she’s Julia Luisant and she has asked me to call you. Could you please come?’
Amy’s heart jumped. Julia maybe was still alive!
‘Thank you doctor! I will be right there!’
She hung up and called Matthew to tell him the good news, and by speaking loud enough for the others to hear, she wouldn’t have to explain it later.
‘Matthew Luisant’ she heard.
‘Matt! We have some progress!’ she said enthusiastic.
‘Amy! What is it? Have you found Julia?’
‘Something like it. I’ve just been called by one of the doctors of the hospital who said he had a patient that claimed to be Julia Luisant!’
‘Oh that’s great! I’ll be right there!’
Both hung up. Amy, Lisa and Horatio went to the hospital, where they met Matthew again. All walked to the front desk. Amy spoke.
‘Hi there’
An uninterested looking young girl looked at her.
‘What?’
‘We’re looking for doctor Gregory Davis. Is he around?’
‘Sit down there, I’ll get him for you’
The uninterested girl got up and walked away. But they didn’t sit down.
Five minutes later (Amy had checked the clock every few seconds) the doctor showed up. The usual hand shaking followed. The doctor gestured they had to follow him. He showed them where the girl that claimed to be Julia lied. Amy and Matthew slowly walked to her.
‘Oh my god…’ Amy whispered and hugged Matthew. Matt hugged her back. Both broke down in tears of joy that Julia had been found. The noise they made woke up Julia. With a hoarse voice she spoke;
‘Mum! Dad! I’m so glad to see you again!’
Amy and Matt looked up. Amy walked to Julia and stroked her over the head. She felt warm. The doctor came closer.
‘She may have a bit of a fever’ he said ‘but that will be over soon enough. A knife has punctured her lung, and she will have to stay here a bit longer, but she will be fine.’ and then there followed a lot of medical talk Amy didn’t get. She only could hug Matt and Julia and she had never felt this happy ever before.
‘Oh Julia, I’m so glad I have you back! The stuff you had to go through… how awful…’
‘Well, you know it, don’t you?’ Julia said smiling ’The winner takes it all’
‘Yeah, but slightly different of what they meant in the song’ Amy said.
Matt turned to the doctor.
‘Thank you so much!’ he said ‘but how did she get here?’
The doctor smiled. ‘There still are good people in this city. Paramedics got an anonymous call of a guy that said he had found Julia and that they had to hurry. It was her luck though. Five minutes later and you wouldn’t be standing here.’
Lisa and Horatio came closer now too.
‘Hey Lisa, lieutenant Caine’ Julia greeted them.
‘Just call me Horatio’ Horatio said. His voice had a happy edge, Amy noticed. ‘Can you tell me who has done this to you?’ he asked. All looked curious to Julia. She tried to smile, but failed.
‘A fat and small man. He spoke to me with things like; silly girl, pretty girl, miss know-it-all and that kind of stuff’
Matt looked angry. ‘Charles’ he said. All looked at him now.
‘I thought I recognized his voice at the other side of the line when I got a call just before Amy called me’ he explained ‘And Charles is fat and small. And he speaks to his secretary with ‘cute girl’.’
‘Charles Franklin?’ Julia asked.
‘Yeah’
All pieces of the puzzle fell together now for her. So Charles Franklin had kidnapped her, a competitor of her fathers… the house was probably his… looking at Amy’s face, it was…
Suddenly, she remembered she had met the small, fat man before, at a meeting her father had attended and he had taken her with him.
Horatio got a call about the ransom note. They all had forgot it, but at the last moment, he had thought of sending it to QD.
‘Caine. Yes. Okay. Thanks.’ he hung up. ‘That was QD. They can compare the ransom note to another handwriting if we’d have something to compare it to.’
Julia sat up straight.
‘Where are you waiting for then? Go to that Charles and ask for a sample of his handwriting!’
Lisa fished the business card, now wrapped in an evidence-bag, out of her pocket. She looked at it and then she looked to Matt.
‘Matt?’
‘Hmm?’
‘Has Franklin signed this card?’
‘Yup’
She gave the card to Horatio.
‘You think they can do something with this?’ she asked, unnecessary. Horatio nodded. Matt and Amy stayed with Julia while Lisa and Horatio went back to the lab and gave the card to QD, where they stayed to see them compare the card to the note. Lisa got a call from Matthew.
‘Lisa Adams.’
‘Hey Lisa, it’s Matt. Me and Amy were curious if you’ve got a match yet.’
Lisa sighed. ‘Come on, Matt. We just got here. You were curious, Amy not. She knows it takes longer than this. Has Julia said anything else?’
‘Yes, she has. She was happy to be alive, and she hopes we can find the one who saved her. You think we can?’
‘It will be hard as hell. But maybe we can’
‘Great. Good luck with the comparison.’
‘Thank you. Bye!’
‘Bye!’
Matt hung up. He looked at Julia, who was sleeping now. He heard the doctors and nurses passing by with their shoes making a soft sound. Suddenly, he heard a new sound. It was not the sound of the nurses, or doctors, but of someone moving fast, standing still, moving fast, and standing still. He looked at Amy who secretly called Lisa again.
‘Lisa! I don’t know for sure, but someone’s here and he or she doesn’t belong here!’ she whispered.
Matt looked around the w.hite curtain and saw someone familiar. Too familiar to him. He turned back to Amy.
‘It’s Franklin!’ he whispered, and Amy whispered it to Lisa. Lisa hung up. Amy hoped they would be here soon enough.
The seconds Franklin came closer ticked away slowly. Every second felt like an hour or more. Amy grabbed Julia’s hand and pinched in it. Julia woke up by that. Amy gestured she had to be silent. Matt moved closer to Julia too. The silence was tingling. There was no silence at all, doctors and nurses were still passing by and people were talking to each other. But for them, there only was silence. They slowly heard Franklin coming closer. Amy knew she had to keep him from doing what he was planning to do, whatever it took. The curtain moved. Amy got on her feet. The silence broke when she heard someone speak very close.
‘Sir, can I ask who you’re looking for?’
A way too familiar voice answered. Julia got scared. She wasn’t the only one. Matt and Amy were also very, very scared.
‘None of your business’ Franklin answered the question of the doctor.
‘Okay sir.’
Franklin turned around the curtain and saw Amy, Matt and Julia.
‘Ah, a little family reunion’ he said. Julia looked scared.
‘Mr Franklin, can’t we talk about it?’ Amy asked.
‘No’
‘Really not? I mean, why have you kidnapped Julia?’ her voice trembled, but her mind was strong.
‘I felt like it, okay?’ he answered.
‘Why do you want to kill us now?’
‘’Cause y’all know too much now. That would damage my reputation even more.’ And he grabbed a gun from his pocket. He pointed it at Amy.
‘You first.’
‘Why me?’ she asked.
‘’Cause you’re too curious’ he said.
Amy nodded. ‘Well, sometimes I am. But was I that curious when I visited you?’
‘No. But you are now.’
‘And you’re killing me for that?’
‘Please lady, shut up. I have better things to do then listen to you.’
‘Why do you want to kill me?’ Matt suddenly asked.
‘’Cause your agency takes all good models. I used to have the best agency in whole Miami. ‘Till you came and started a new one. You know how it ruins a reputation when another agency steals all your best models’
Julia sat up straight.
‘Lower your gun and see how my parents damage their reputation!’ she said angrily. Franklin pointed his gun to her face now. ‘Should I kill our little miss know-it-all first then?’
At the same moment, they heard running of two pairs of shoes. All looked up, so did Franklin. Horatio and Lisa turned around the curtain and Horatio aimed his gun at Franklin.
‘Lower your weapon!’ he shouted. Franklin did. Horatio cuffed Franklin and Lisa put his gun is an evidence-bag. Amy sighed of relief.
‘Thank god…’
All formalities were handled. Charles Franklin was put away for a long time, Horatio and his team handled the rest of the case and the Luisant family? Julia resigned at the crime lab. They were very sorry to lose her, but they understood her reason; she had met her vulnerable side and couldn’t ignore it anymore. She was afraid she would feel the same fear over and over again when she would keep the job. She became one of Matthew’s models, who were very delighted with it. Amy returned to her hometown Hellevoetsluis and took Lisa with her of course. Lisa had liked Miami, although the reason they had been there was not very happy. Tom and Sam were very happy to see them again.
‘You’re back!’ Sam yelled when she walked into the coffee room and saw Lisa and Amy sitting there.
‘Yep’ Lisa said simply.
‘Well? Have you found her back? Solved the case?’
‘Yes and yes’ Amy answered ‘I’ll tell you when Tom gets here. Where is he?’
‘Oh, going through some unsolved cases’ Sam said.
‘He still is? Nothing has happened when we were away?’ Lisa asked.
‘Not really. Disappointed?’
‘Hmm. I don’t like the idea of being redundant’ Lisa smiled.
‘Ah come on Lisa, you’re not. We need everyone we can have. You’ve said that before, haven’t you?’
‘Sounds like me. You’ve had no cases at all?’
‘Oh yes we have. We have done stuff while you were away, don’t doubt that’
‘You can tell me?’
‘I can. But I won’t. Not now.’
‘When then?’
‘When Tom gets here…’
‘When will that be?’ Lisa asked.
‘You’re curious, aren’t you?’
Lisa nodded. Tom walked in the very same moment.
‘Ah Tom, right on time’
‘Hey! Ames and Lisa are back! Right on time for what?’
‘I was going to tell them what kind of sick stuff we had for a case when they were away.’
‘You shouldn’t. We need to have some secrets for them’
Amy and Lisa looked at both the young CSI’s. They didn’t understand where they were talking about.
Lisa got up.
‘Okay. Sam, Tom, I am way too curious, I know. But please tell me what’s up!’
Sam laughed and so did Tom. Both looked at each other and they laughed even more. It took a while before one of them had calmed down enough to explain the whole stuff.
‘We’ve got a stalker’ Tom laughed.
‘What so funny about a stalker?’
‘He kept asking us where you were. We said you went to, what city did you say, Sam?’
‘Canberra’
‘Canberra. And now he’s in Canberra, looking for you.’
‘How do you know he’s in Canberra?’
‘He said; ‘ Oh, Canberra! I’ll catch the first plane!’’
Lisa finally got the humour of it and laughed too. Amy didn’t laugh, but smiled. She had heard not all of it; she had her thoughts somewhere else. She looked to the wall behind Sam, where a photograph of Matt and Julia and her hang. She looked at it.
Memories could be nice… unless they’re about someone not here anymore…
Her grandma used to say it when she was just a small kid, a very long time ago. She was glad to have the photographs of Julia and Matt. She printed in her mind she had to stay in touch more with them. She had Julia’s MSN now… Matt didn’t have MSN but Amy had whispered in Julia ear, just before she and Lisa left, that she had to put MSN on his computer. Amy smiled. She had a great family. And the distance between that photograph and the real ones was not that long if you had the right stuff…

The End

So, what do you think of it?

[scorpii]

Okay, what do you think of it???