“Right behind you,” he croaked. He hoped no permanent damage had been done, because at the moment, his voice sounded distressingly like a rusty gate.
What made it okay was the truth contained in the old after-fight saying: You think this is bad, you should have seen the other guy.
Epilogue
“HOW’S YOUR THROAT?” Frank asked. Calleigh had brought Horatio back to the lab while Eric and Ryan processed the hotel room at the Fair Coast. The Sandmoor House was still too hot to go inside, but tomorrow that scene would consume the whole day, and maybe more. Frank had caught up with them at the lab.
Horatio swallowed. “I’ll be fine,” he said. His voice was coming back, but he was still hoarse, and he couldn’t get much volume. He sounded like someone at the tail end of laryngitis.
“Hasn’t been your best day, has it, Horatio?”
“No complaints, Frank. Any day we put away a bad guy is a good day.”
“I had some detectives toss Asher’s hotel room,” Frank said. “The one we knew about, not that one at the Fair Coast. They found two pairs of Wrangler jeans in his stuff.”
“Get them to the lab, so we can match the fibers from the Bicentennial Park scene.”
“They’re on the way now. It’s gettin’ late, Horatio, and you’ve been through the wringer. Why don’t you go home? Think about takin’ tomorrow off, too. This weekend I’m gonna throw some porterhouses on the grill and put some beers on ice, so if you want to come over…”
“Thanks, Frank.”
Frank pushed the elevator’s down button and the doors slid open. “I mean it, Horatio. I don’t want to see you around here tomorrow.”
He stepped into the car and disappeared.
Horatio would consider his advice, if his voice hadn’t improved by morning. But he didn’t think he’d take it. He rarely missed a day of work, and a couple of close calls wouldn’t change that.
He was on his way to his office when Calleigh called his name. He turned and saw that Nina Cullen was with her, both emerging from Calleigh’s gun lab.
“Calleigh told me what happened, Horatio,” Nina said. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Thanks, Nina.” He brought a hand to his throat again, as if to apologize for the rasp. “I’m good. How has your trip been?”
“Great, but too short. Calleigh’s taking me back to the airport now. I’m on the last flight out.”
“I wish I’d had more time to spend with you,” Calleigh said. “It’s been a crazy couple of days.”
“That’s okay, Calleigh. You are so awesome. Doing everything that you do here, all this important work, helping people, and still managing to have a life and a nice place to live—it’s really been an inspiration.”
“Well, thank you, Nina.” Color flooded Calleigh’s cheeks. “I’m glad you think that.”
“Well, it’s true. I don’t think there’s anything you can’t do if you put your mind to it. And it’s helped me make up my own mind.”
“It has? In what way?”
She glanced at Horatio, then stuck her hands in her pockets, suddenly shy. “Well, it’s not what Mom wants me to do, probably, but I figure if you’re going to be my role model, and you can do anything, then I should be able to as well.”
“So you’re having the baby?” Calleigh’s smile brightened the whole lab.
“Yeah, I think it’s the right thing to do. I think I’ve got it worked out where I can take a semester off school, then go back and graduate. It’ll slow me down a little, but I can handle that. And I know the trade-offs I’ll have to make will be worth it in the long run.”
“I’m sure they will, Nina,” Horatio said. He’d had a hard time with family, himself—his mother murdered by his father, his wife Marisol killed right after their wedding, his brother Ray presumed dead and then having to go into hiding with Yelina and Ray Jr.—but in spite of all the troubles (maybe because of them, he thought), he still considered family the most important thing in life. The true pleasure of his job, beyond simply the application of science to police work in order to solve crimes, was the joy of bringing answers and order to families in the midst of their worst nightmares. “If anyone can pull it off, it’ll be you.”
Nina tugged her right hand free of her pocket and rubbed her belly, as if she could already feel the life growing inside. Calleigh watched her with evident admiration. “I’m glad you think so. Your opinion means a lot to me.” She smiled at Calleigh. “Both of you.”
Horatio couldn’t help feeling a twinge of envy. He had hoped to have children of his own someday. He had been willing to put away that dream, to be with Marisol, unless her cancer stayed in remission and allowed her the full life they had both wanted for her. But maybe he would bring the dream out of its box again one day. One never knew what tomorrow might bring, after all.
“We’d better get to the airport,” Calleigh said, pushing the elevator button. “Traffic shouldn’t be too bad this time of the evening, but you never know for sure.”
Horatio smiled at her inadvertent echoing of what he had just thought. “You never know, Calleigh.” He and Nina came together and he held her tightly in his arms, squeezing her close. “You take care, Nina, all right? Be well, do what’s best for the baby, and keep in touch.”
“I will, Horatio.”
He released her, and she started toward the elevator. The doors opened up and Calleigh stepped inside, moving from dark to light. Nina followed, beaming.
“And pictures,” Horatio added. “I want pictures.”
“I promise!”
“That’s good.” Maybe he would find another wife someday. Maybe children would call him Daddy after all, if not this year then next, or the one after that. He was in no particular hurry.
In the meantime, he had his crime lab family to look after.
Hands on his hips, head cocked toward his right shoulder, Horatio watched the elevator doors slide together. Life goes on, he thought. In spite of all the terrible things people do to one another, there’s always a new life on the way, new hope. A future.
He offered a weary smile to the empty atrium, turned, and headed toward his office. Warm light glowed through the glass walls, a beacon against the night. When Horatio passed through the door, he felt like he had come home.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jeff Mariotte has written more than thirty novels, including supernatural thriller Missing White Girl (as Jeffrey J. Mariotte), original horror epic The Slab, and Stoker Award–nominated teen-horror series Witch Season, as well as books set in the universes of Las Vegas, Supernatural, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Conan, 30 Days of Night, Charmed, Star Trek, and Andromeda. Two of his tie-in novels won a first-annual Scribe Award presented by the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers. He is also the author of many comic books, including the original Western/horror series Desperadoes, some of which have been nominated for Stoker and International Horror Guild Awards. With his wife, Maryelizabeth Hart, and partner, Terry Gilman, he co-owns Mysterious Galaxy, a bookstore specializing in science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and horror. He lives with his family and pets on the Flying M Ranch in the American southwest, a place filled with books, music, toys, and other products of American pop culture. More information than you would ever want to know about him is at www.jeffmariotte.com.
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