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🕑 Added 2025-04-05 15:58:10 +0000 UTCAnatomy of a Killer
Chapter 46 - Pond, Part 13
A few hours later, at the Miami Metropolitan Police Department.
"The captain lost it. He blamed us for everything the media is now publishing, and if we don't solve this case soon, we might be removed from it."
After returning with all the evidence and the new female corpse found in the freezer, everyone was too tense to relax.
Larry wore a serious expression. As he pushed the door open and stepped inside the center, he didn’t even notice the good-looking man approaching him from the opposite side.
"Captain, I thought you'd be at a press conference. What are you still doing here?" Ángel, who was following closely behind Larry, spoke loudly so everyone would notice.
"We were just on our way to request authorization to use any means at our disposal to investigate this case. I assume you're already informed since you just came out of Lieutenant LaGuerta’s office."
Larry belatedly noticed the captain's figure and gave him a slight nod, along with the man standing beside him. He seemed like a lawyer, but Larry wasn’t sure.
Max, not daring to be as aloof as Larry, quickly greeted him properly. “Hello, Captain Thomas Matthews!”
Today, Captain Matthews’ hair was carefully combed, and his tie was tightly and meticulously knotted, which made people feel even more intimidated in his presence.
Thomas stepped forward, glanced at who the man beside him was focused on, and said, "The man next to me is Horatio Caine, CSI supervisor. He’s also a Miami police lieutenant and head of the Miami-Dade Crime Lab."
“What’s with all these pointless introductions when our department is in a state of crisis?” Larry knew the forensic investigator Caine standing before him. After all, he had analyzed several of the cases Larry had solved.
He couldn’t say bad things about him—but neither could he say anything good.
“Dr. Larry Luk, I initially fought to have you transferred to my department, but I failed. Now I’m here to ask if you’d be interested in forming a new CSI team in this department. Of course, you would all be trained in our methods of analysis.”
The famous advanced techniques were really just mental exercises meant to sharpen the thinking process of young forensic scientists and pathology department members.
It was a social circle of criminal probers who couldn’t manage on their own in the hectic field where Larry now found himself.
“What do you think?” Caine stepped closer to Larry—he wanted him on his personal team, given Larry’s quick thinking when solving cases.
“I don’t know...” Larry replied absentmindedly—he definitely wasn’t paying attention to what these two older men were saying.
“I thought as much. Tom will fill you in on the details.” Caine walked close to Larry, prompting Larry to raise his hand, still wearing a latex glove.
It was, in fact, a diplomatic refusal. At that moment, Larry’s mind was consumed by the image of the female corpse in the freezer—he wasn’t in the mood for pleasantries.
However, Caine didn’t stop. Instead, he stepped forward and hugged Larry tightly.
This startled both Ángel and Max, who stepped back slightly—they didn’t want to get involved in whatever reaction Larry might have next.
A man hugging another man?
Common for many—but not for Larry, for whom the closest thing to physical contact was clinking beer mugs.
Larry’s face immediately turned cold. He raised his hand to push away the man greeting him so warmly—but Caine had already let go.
At that moment, Larry looked him in the eye and said, “You’re doing pretty well, but you can’t fake it with me. Right now, I’m very busy with my work—the truth is, I always am. So whether I join your department or go directly to the FBI, where they guarantee me a more relevant position, I’ll think about it.”
Larry’s words left everyone cold—no one could say a word.
“If you're good, I like that. I hope to have you on my team.”
“I’m good enough for your team, but you’re not the kind of boss I’d want to have.”
To many, Larry was rude—but no one really knew Horatio Caine.
Horatio was someone who could be described in countless ways, both positive and negative, making it hard to summarize his personality in just a few words. This also meant people either appreciated or disliked him after encountering him.
This man had a rather withdrawn personality and, despite the occasional smile, usually acted with impartiality—unless he empathized with victims or his team, in which case he showed them compassion. That made it hard to know what he was really thinking.
But now, as he spoke with Larry, he was clearly pretending. Perhaps he wanted to see Larry’s reaction, study his personality—but he got nothing in return.
"Come on, we have work to do," Larry said as he walked away.
“Hey, Larry, do you know him?” Ángel asked, knowing Larry had worked in many places, so the possibility existed.
“He’s a forensic guy locked in his own mind. Not someone you can relate to under normal circumstances right now.” Larry wouldn’t have acted that way if Caine had approached him naturally—but instead, he chose the wrong moment to test him.
