Fic: Bought and Paid For, Chapter 2 (CSI Miami, Ryan Wolfe / Eric Delko)
Title: Bought and Paid For, Chapter 2
Fandom: CSI Miami
Pair: Ryan Wolfe / Eric Delko
Disclaimer: Not mine, etc.
Feedback: Always welcome.
CSI Miami Main List
Chapter 1
Summary: Ryan Wolfe is a CSI working on a murder case. Eric Delko is a man of different vocation. A dead man brings them together.
PS: Despite the title, this is NOT a slave fic or anything similar. The meaning of the title becomes clear during the story, but it’s not what it sounds like.
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“We’ll come and take a look. Thank you.” Calleigh hung up and pocketed her phone. “They checked the address you found, the landlady let them in. According to them, the tenant had left in the hurry. He was last seen this morning.” She gave Ryan a suspicious glance. “Are you going to tell me what this guy has to do with our case?”
“Remember that gigolo-slash-diving instructor?”
“What about him?”
“He confirmed that Camden was one of his regular clients. He’s also had a lot of threatening calls within the last two weeks from this man.” Ryan pulled out a printed datasheet. “Pete Garden, I tracked him down based on the phone records. The calls were made from his landline.”
“What else did you find about him?”
“History of mental problems, been in and out of pricey sanitoriums. He was supposed to meet his parole officer yesterday, but didn’t show up. He served six months for aggravated assault and stalking.”
“What’s the connection to the rent boy?”
“He had heard about him from one of the clients, showed up at his door, but he turned him down.”
“And then started harassing him with phone calls?”
“Yeah, and he’s been following him out on the street at least once.” Ryan’s cellphone interrupted him. He checked the screen and frowned. “Unknown caller.” He clicked the line open. “Wolfe.”
“Hey, it’s Eric.” The man in the other end waited, and then continued. “Delko. We met today and-”
“It was about six hours ago, I remember it well. I just didn’t think you’d call so soon. Or at all.” Ryan shooed Calleigh out of the hearing distance. “Did something happen?”
“I don’t know. Maybe I’m overreacting, but after Richard it’s kinda hard to think rationally.”
“What happened?”
“One of my regulars didn’t show up. He was supposed to pick me up three hours ago, and he’s not answering his phone.”
“Maybe he’s just busy.”
“I called his secretary, he left an hour before he was supposed to be here.”
“He could have had an accident.”
“I know that!” Delko exclaimed. “I hope he had a flat tire or something, but he’s always on time. Always.”
“Have you had any more calls?”
“Not after the one this morning.”
“I haven’t heard of any new homicides, but I can check. What’s his name?”
“Harry Culhane, he works in some bank.”
“You got his home address?”
“Yeah, I went there once…” Delko`s voice turned slightly embarrassed. “Can you handle this carefully? I mean… discreetly?”
“I see.” Ryan nodded. “You mean he doesn’t live there alone?”
“He was alone when went there.” The man took a deep breath. “His wife and kids were out of town.”
“I… I’ll take a look at it.” Ryan stated. “Gimme the address.”
Delko read the address slowly and Ryan scrawled it on the marginal of his notepad.
“Anything else?”
“No, I just… I can’t help thinking about it. Why he didn’t come.”
“I’ll let you know how it turned out.”
“Thanks.” Delko`s slightly shaky breathing was obvious even through the phone line. “He came to me. Just so you know. I didn’t take him away or anything. They don’t know about him.”
“I didn’t ask, and you don’t need to tell.” Ryan looked at Calleigh, who seemed quite annoyed at being left out of the loop. “I’ll let you know.”
“I… Yeah, thanks.”
“Did you have something you wanted to say?”
“No, I… Can I call you again? I mean if something happens or… something?”
“You got my number.” Ryan said. His hand that was holding the phone had started to get sweaty, and he took a tighter grip at the phone. “Bye.”
“More tips from the same source?” Calleigh interpreted. “What’s going on?”
“I need to call patrol, they’ll have to check a house just in case.”
“In what case?”
“In case something happened to the owner." He started dialling. "Hopefully it’s just a false alarm, but if it’s not we could have another murder in our hands.”
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“Stabbed sixteen times.” Alexx crouched down to examine the body more closely. “Short, wide blade.”
“Any idea of the time of death?” Calleigh circled around the body on the floor. Her heels kept tapping nervously as she waited for Alexx to finish.
“Educated guess… he’s been dead about four or five hours.”
“Method fits. Is the weapon similar to the other one?”
“Yeah. Probably the same one.”
“Calleigh?” Ryan walked into the bedroom and gave the ME a warm smile. “They found the maid. She was leaving when the vic came home. Said he was in a hurry and was just gonna change clothes and go out again.”
“Did the maid leave him here alone?”
“Yeah. She had the afternoon off, and her room is on the other side of the house, so when she came back she didn’t use the main door.”
“And didn’t see the blood trail going out of here.”
“When guys from patrol rang the doorbell she went to open the door, spotted the blood and found the body.”
“So then killer could have been already in the house when she left. The vic got out of his clothes, but only had time to take new ones from the closet before the first strike. He was in a hurry, so that’s a pretty narrow time frame.”
“If he was in the house, the guy just waited for the maid to leave.” Ryan nodded and eyed the body. “Or he could have sneaked in through the back gate after she left. She said she always left it open, because no one really uses the path behind the house except the closest neighbours.”
“It’s all possible…” Calleigh sighed and flipped her hair back. “So what is he like?”
“Why are you asking me?” Ryan looked down at the forty-something man laying on the floor in a pool of blood. “He’s… dead. Stabbed to death.”
“The scuba diving instructor. What was he like?”
“I don’t know. Couldn’t really figure out the guy.”
“He must be something if at least two rich men wanted to pay for his services. And one wanted them enough to kill the competitors.”
“If we don’t find Garden soon there might be more murders on the way.”
“How many customers does he have?”
“I don’t know, but I hope the others are bachelors.” Ryan pointed at the window. A car had rolled into the driveway and a readheaded woman was wobbling towards the house on stilettoheels. “Looks like the grieving widow just arrived. Who the hell wears a fur coat in Miami?”
“Someone who knew about her husband`s leanings, but kept her mouth shut?” Calleigh suggested. “I got a feeling she won’t be too upset.”
Chapter 3