A/N: This is a collaborated story with my fellow mate HCFan. Find her on . She's an awesome writer. I hope you enjoy this story as much as we enjoyed writing this. Thanks for giving it at chance :)

rtIt was around half past three in the afternoon in a very hot and humid Miami, when Horatio Caine pulled up in his hummer to a crime scene. The first crime scene for that day.

"Afternoon, Frank." He greeted in that smooth, cool voice of his.

" Horatio." Frank replied with a nod.

"What have we got here?" Horatio asked, taking off his sunglasses and steadily looking around.

"Call out came about half an hour ago, female victim. License says she's 28 years old and live in Coconut Grove, here at this address."

"Name?"

"That would be a Mrs. Gloria Duncan."

"Married?" he said looking at the house. "Where's the husband."

"Don't know, Horatio. We've been calling him, but there's no answer."

"Mmm. Okay, Frank." He said and left to look at the body.

The victim looks like she may have been killed outside, on the front lawn. There were no blood or evidence that suggested that she may have been dragged outside. Horatio kept looking around, with his well-trained eyes, searching for pieces of evidence, just about when Eric also arrived.

"Hey H! " Eric said looking around at the body.

"Eric" he nodded.

"Is this a secondary crime scene?" Eric asked.

"No. I was wondering the same thing. It seems too clean, somehow."

"Yeah." Eric agreed.

At that moment, Frank interrupted. "Horatio." He yelled.

"Yeah"

"We found the husband."

"Where, Frank?"

"Patrol picked him up, at his workplace. Covered in blood."

"Well, now that won't be a coincidence."

"Yeah, he's at the station and I bet he's got something to do with it."

"Frank, I'll see you at the station." He said, turning to Eric. "Eric, please process this scene and the house thoroughly please. Call Ryan as well."

"Will do, H." Eric replied, picking up his phone and dialling Ryan's number.

"Hey Eric, What's up?" came a voice.

"Hey Ryan, H said you should come down here, helping me with a scene."

"You guys busy?"

"Yes, got a lot of stuff to process."

"Alright, send me the address and I'll see you there."

"Thanks, man." Eric said, putting the phone down and started with processing.

Meanwhile, Horatio had just arrived at the crime lab to speak to the suspect. He casually walked into the building, taking his sunglasses off and entered the interrogation room.

"Mr. Duncan." Frank joined.

"What are you doing, covered in blood?" Frank asked.

Horatio just glared at him.

"I…I..I d-don't k-know…." He stuttered.

"Give it up, Mr. Duncan. We know you are guilty." Frank said annoyed.

"W-what are y-you talking about?"

"Your wife is laying dead, on your front lawn. And you're covered in blood from head to toe. We already connected the dots, Mr. Duncan." Frank blurted out.

"Frank." Horatio intervened, making sure that Frank stay calm.

"Mr, Duncan, we are going to process you and your clothes and test them for any evidence. " Horatio said calmly.

"What's g-g-going to happen to me?" the suspect asked?

"For now, you'll stay in lock-up." Horatio replied and nodded to the officers to take Mr. Duncan to a holding cell.

"He's guilty, right." Frank asked looking at Horatio for affirmation.

"Until proven otherwise." He replied, coolly, looking out of the window and into the beautiful Miami sunset.

Back in the lab, Ryan and Eric was checking their processed evidence, while Calleigh helped them doing Mr. Duncan's clothes and evidence found on him.

"You know this guy looks very guilty by the minute." She said.

"How come? Did you get any results?" Ryan asked.

"Yes. Natalia finished the DNA recovered from his clothes. And it's a match to the victim." Calleigh replied.

"Yeah, and this knife we found in the kitchen, tested positive for blood. The victim's blood. And the fingerprint I recovered, matched Mr. Duncan's." Eric said.

"So, he's guilty then." Horatio said in a deep voice, making all three of them jump.

"Yeah, H. I guess the reason it felt like a secondary crime scene was that he tried to clean up the blood from the lawn. He washed it away with a hose pipe and clean the body with tissue paper. We found it at the back" Ryan concluded.

"Good. Eric, talk to Frank. Finish up on the paperwork and go home, team." Horatio said and left to see Alexx, in the morgue.

"Geez, he nearly gave me a heart attack" Calleigh said clutching her chest when Horatio left.

"Yeah, why does he appear and disappear like that?" Ryan asked and all three of them burst out laughing and admiring their boss.

"Hey, Alexx." Horatio greeted while entering the morgue.

"Hey Horatio. There's no bodies here for you to see." She replied

"I know. I'm just here about tomorrow's trial."

"Oh, the trial. Yes, when I'm done, I'm quickly going over the files and evidence I gathered from the four victims." She said. "How come it's just you and me who have to testify?"

"I guess, Mr. Lorenzo's lawyer wants to drag this case until it gets exempted. Luckily, the justice system does not work that way." He said.

"Mmm. maybe you should go home, Horatio. You look a bit tired. Busy day?"

"Always." He replied with a smile. "Night Alexx." He said exiting at the door.

Alexx just shook her head watching him leave.

TBC.. R&R?