Rookie cop Nick Carter sat in the passanger seat of the squad car with his well seasoned partner, Brian Littrell. He'd been on the force for five years and he had seen a lot in his time. He was also able to learn quickly enough to preform his job with an expertise that guys who had been on the force for almost twenty years were just learning. Nick considered himself lucky to be partnered up with such a good cop. He would be able to learn a lot of things from him and it's like they say, you learn from experience.

"So kid," Brian said to Nick, "what made you want to be a cop?"

"At first it was 'cause of the fact that I watched entirely too much tv and thought it would be as dramatic as it was on tv in real life but then when I went to training and everything, I really understood for the first time what it was really all about, helping people," Nick answered.

"That's something good to learn early on. TV makes everything so over dramatic that people like yourself get involved for the wrong reasons and then end up not really enjoying their jobs, but I'm glad that you can see that even minor things can help people."

"Yeah, I just wanted to do something ya know? Leave my mark on something. So that when people look back at me, they have something worth looking back on. They'd know that I had a good life doing the right thing. Even if it was only writing parking tickets, at least it would be honest."

"Tell me about it. There are so many people out there that just don't care about society and just want to help themselves make a couple of bucks that they'll do anything that they have to to get what they want. It's ashame really. I've seen some people that otherwise would have had a good road ahead of them go down. Sometimes you just want to reach out and help them, but you can't. Either because they've gone so far into the negative that you just can't save them or they just don't want to be helped and you can't do anything about that."

"Do you ever think about them? The people that you couldn't help I mean," Nick asked.

"Yeah, all the time. There've been a bunch of kids killed and for awhile I thought that if I had just done something a little different, then that kid would still be alive, but I did what I could. I always do."

"You ever killed anyone?" Brian glanced over at Nick and laughed.

"That's not what this is all about kid," he replied.

"I know, but I was just asking. That's all."

"No, I haven't personally killed anyone but I've seen a lot of people killed," he answered.

"Does it hurt to see it?"

"Yeah it just gets you right here," he said putting his hand on his heart, "its even worse when that person didn't have to die. Some jerk was pissed off at the world and decided to take down everyone, understand?"

"Yeah. So this is a stressful job huh?"

"Very."

"You think I'm in over my head?"

"No, as long as this is what you really want then I think that you'll learn to deal with it, but if it does get to be too much, then I think that you shouldn't stay because someone might get hurt because you're too stressed out to think about anything."

"So what made you want to be a cop?" Nick asked.

"It's sort of the family legacy. My father was a cop, so was my grandfather. My cousin's a detective so law enforcement is something that I grew up with so I always wanted to do it and to tell you the truth, it's a great job."

"Were you forced into it cause it was like a family job?"

"No, the decision was mine to make. My father had told me that he would have been alright with the idea of me not wanting to become a cop because it was what made me happy. He's really supportive about me in that way.

"My mother wasn't really crazy about me doing this. She keeps thinking that something really bad is going to happen to me and there isn't anything that I can say to make her change her mind about it. My dad, well, he really doesn't care. I never was close to him really."

"Your mom's just looking out for you," Brian replied.

"I know, I just wish she would let me do what I want. This is what I want to do. Ya know, so she should be behind me. I mean I understand her being nervous but she doesn't have to let it get to her."

"Attention all cars," came the voice from the radio, Brian turned his attention to the radio as he continued to drive, "all officers in the area of Pelhm Parkway should immediatly respond to the site."

"Here you go kid, some action," Brian said as he turned the sirens on and they drove off into the direction of Pelhm Parkway, which was only meire moments away. Nick keep his eyes on the road in front of him, trying to see if he could see what had happened. It was took dark that he couldn't see anything. Though it didn't matter because they were there seconds later. Both Brian and Nick stepped out of the sqaud car and walked over into the scene.

"What happened here?" Brian asked one of the detectives.

"We have a white female, with a gun shot to the head. The gun was at a close range to her body. We've ruled out robbery because nothing was taken from her apartment but rape might have been the intention," he answered.
"Was there any sign of forced entry?"

"None so we're assuming that the victim knew who this man was."

"What have we got so far?"

"Nothing really. None of the neighbors heard or saw anything that might be able to help us. We have the body going off to forensics for testing and we have the super of the building get us survaillence of the building. That's assuming that the cameras cought this guy."

"Aren't there cameras in the main lobby?"

"Yes, but one of the nighbors said that the victim liked to keep her windows open just a crack, but she never locked them so the guy could have come up through the fire escape."

"Do you think anyone saw him coming up?"

"It's a possibility. We've already talked to the residents in the apartments below our victims and they didn't see or hear anything strange going on outside."

"Are they sure?"

"Yes, we've had people talking to them since we first arrived on the scene."

"Is there any press around? Do they know about this yet?"

"No. So far we've been able to keep this quiet. I doubt we'll be able to do that for much longer so we have to get moving," he responded.

"Alright, I guess you should go talk to them and tell them that we're still gathering information and not much is known at this point," Brian replied.

"That's what I intended on doing," he answered, "you and your partner should go check out the scene upstairs since I have the feeling that you are going to be highly involved in this case," he told him.

"Alright, thats a good idea. And by the way, officer Carter, this is detective Richardson, my cousin," Brian introduced.
"Nice meeting you detective," Nick answered as he shook his hand.

"You've got a good partner working with you," he replied.

"So they tell me."

"You two should head upstairs now and take a look around and see what the scene is like," he said as he walked off to the side.

"Alright you heard him Kid," Brian said as he walked towards the apartment building with Nick following closely behind him.

Nick and Brian rode up to the seventh floor on the elevator. Service to the residents had been put on a momentary halt so the police could conduct there investigation. The elevator soon stopped on the seventh floor and Brian and Nick stepped off. Nicks eyes roamed over the area. He really wasn't sure what to expect. He had never been on a real crime scene before and this made him totally oblivious towards what he should expect.

Officers were walking in and out of the apartment where the crime had taken place. Nick quickly glanced over at Brian who was walking towards the apartment without so much of a slight bit of nervousness on his face. He'd obviously been to scenes like this one before Nick told himself. Brian walked straight into the apartment with Nick right behind him.

Nick let his eyes scan over the apartment. It was kind of small, but not to small for one or maybe two people to live in. Everything seemed untouched and in its proper place. Pictures were hung on the walls of the living room. Nick forced himself not to look at them. He wasn't sure if he would become upset if he looked at the people who had lost someone important to them so he kept walking, keeping a close distance behind him.

Brian stepped into the bedroom with Nick behind him. His eyes immediatly went to the body of the young woman. She couldn't have been much older than Nick, which would make her somewhere in her mid-twenties. Which in Nicks mind made her too young to die. He tried to remain calm even with the overwhelming smell of blood filling the room. The sheets of the bed were covered in blood. Her t-shirt was stained a dark red and she was naked from the waist down.

There was no way that things could get much more violent than this. Whoever did this was some sicko and Nick had a sinking feeling that he would strike again. Don't they always? It was only when they were caught that they stopped. That wasn't so in all cases. Nicks mind wandered to the decades old unsolved case of Jack the Ripper. He was never caught but his murders ended suddenly and no one was ever able to figure out why or who this guy actually was.

A modern day Jack the Ripper, that can't be possible, Nick told himself. The world had advanced so much since that time that whoever this guy was, he'd be caught. At least Nick thought so anyway. Though he couldn't think of any other notrious killer that was never caught, he was still somehow frightened by the murder. It's scary to think just how brutal some people are and how heartless and angry that they must have been to do anything like this.

"Definatly a rape," Brian said to Nick, "see, she has nothing on below her waist, that's a dead give away. Other times, its not so obvious. Either this guy was in a hurry to get out or he thought this would be somehow amusing to leave her like this."

"Who do you think did it? I mean does it fit the style of other cases?"

"No, this one is completely new. None of our other rape victims had anything in common with this case other than the obvious fact that they were rapped. I think we have a new rapist on our hands."

"Do you think this guy has a record?"

"Who knows? We could try and run DNA samples but they don't always work because if this guys was smart, he wore a condom so that we couldn't trace it back to him."

"And if we didn't we might have something, that is if he as a record."

"Exactly. It's all a guessing game at this point until we get some results back from the lab to see if this guy left any trace behind on the body and then we have to work from there."

"Officer Littrell," a voice came as an officer came walking into the room with urgency in his voice, "Detective Richardson said that you were in charge of this case so I thought that you might want to see this," he said handing Brian a piece of paper. Brian took the paper and opened it up.

"'Catch me if you can,
'Cause this game has just began
But can you figure it out before its too late
And another woman suffers the same fate
The futures in your hands
But can you handle it?'" Brian read aloud.

"So our rapist is a poet?" Nick asked not impressed by the rapists work.

"Or at least he's trying to be," Brian replied. Nick looked at him and nodded. At least they had one clue. It was more than what they had just seconds ago. "Where did you find this?" Brian asked.

"It was in the living room," he answered, "sitting on the coffee table."

"Was it there when you guys first came in?" Brian asked.

"I don't know sir," he answered, "we came straight to the bedroom to see if the victim was savable. We just started a complete comb of the apartment."

"Alright, get back to work," Brian replied looking back down at the piece of paper in his hand. Nick looked over at him, a little stunned about the letter.

"So what are we going to do about that?" Nick asked nodding his head towards the letter.

"Hold it as evidence. This guy thinks that this is all some sort of game," Brian told him as he folded the paper back up and placed it in his pocket. Nick stepped to the side at the parametics stepped into the room to remove the body. Nicks eyes remained on the form until it was completely removed from the room. He still couldn't believe what he had just seen. Nick had been positive that they weren't going to let him get out on the field right away and let him get involved with cases like this. I guess they figured that since he was with Brian that he would be able to handle it.

"What do we do now?" Nick asked as he turned his attention back to Brian and shook the thoughts of the lifeless body that he had just seen.

"We wait for the lab results," he said as he walked out of the bedroom. Nick quickly left the room. The smell of the blood was becoming way too much for him to take. When he stepped out of the room, he surpressed the urge to take a deep breath of the air that was around him. The walked down this time.

Nick was relieved to feel the cool night air on his skin when he stepped out of the building. It hurt him to see that girl dead. Killed in her own home. It made him think about his sisters and girlfriend. They could be hurt if they were ever home alone. He would never be able to forgive himself if anything happened to them.
"Carter," Brian said, snapping Nick from his thoughts, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said suddenly stepping back into reality.

"Come on, I could see by the look on your face that something was up," Brian told him, "I'm a cop, I'm supposed to know these things."

"I was just thinking about my sisters and girlfriend," he confessed.

"I understand," Brian replied, "I have a wife and it kills me to see this. You keep thinking that she could be next. I know what that's like. That's what went through my mind the first couple of times that I saw this, but nothing is going to happen to them. From time to time, I even have a car drive by my house just to make sure that everything's alright."

"There's never been a problem?" Nick asked.

"Nope. She's always been safe," he told him.

"I just don't want to see anything happen to them," he told Brian.

"And nothing will. A car can drive by there if you want them too just to be on the safe side you know," Brian replied, "but there's really nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, I'm sure you're right, I'm just a little paranoid."

"Hey it's alright man," he assured, "it just shows that you care."

"That and I'm over reacting," he replied.

"You'll learn how to deal with it don't worry."

"Yeah," Nick said softly, "so what are we going to do about this guy? I think he wants us to play his game."

"It's going to be a lot harder than that," he replied, "we're going to have to stay one step ahead of this guy at all times and that's really not possible since we don't know how this man is going to strike. Meaning we don't know what, if any, relationship there is between the victims or if he just choses them randomly."

"So what are we supposed to do to catch this guy?"

"Like I said, we have to wait for the lab results and if that doesn't give us anything then we're just going to have to wait until this guy makes some sort of mistake."

"Like what?"

"Like any number of things. We just have to wait for more clues. If the guys find any more at the scene, we'll be the first to know about it, don't worry about that. This is our case kid," he told Nick.

"I just can't believe that they're letting me work on a case like this," he confessed.

"Why not? I was able to take a look at you while you were in training, you looked like you knew what you were doing and was pretty damn good at it. I guess the big guy thought that you could handle it. I think you can."

"Yeah, I'm just going to keep an extra watch on my sisters and girlfriend I mean rather be safe than sorry right?"

"Exactly," Brian replied, "so here you go," Brian said stopping outside of Nicks house. Nick looked over at him really quick.

"Thanks for the ride," Nick said.

"Hey, it's no problem. I don't live too far from here myself," he replied.

"Alright so I'll see you in the morning alright?"

"Bright and early," he responded as Nick shut the door and started walking to the front door of his house. His girlfriend, Angela's, car was still in the driveway and the light was on. He smiled to himself, glad that she was alright. He knew that he was just letting things get to him, but still, a man has the right to worry.

"Hey baby," Nick said as he walked into the house.

"Hey how are you? How was your first day at work?" she asked giving him a peck on the cheek as he walked into the living room.

"It was okay I guess. I mean they gave me a big case already, my partner's kinda a big shot so he usually gets a lot of good cases," he told her.

"Well that's good, he probably has a lot to teach you," she replied.

"Yeah, he's a good guy."

"That's nice. So what's this 'big case' that you have huh?"

"It's a murder/rape victim. The guy left a note at the scene. It was kind of freaky," he told her as he looked up into her eyes. He was so glad that she was alright.

"Wow, was it really bad?"

"Yeah, she was shot. There was so much blood all over. The worst thing is, I kept thinking that something like that might happen to you. I was so nervous the whole time."

"Baby," she said putting her arms around him, "I'll be alright you don't have to worry about me. I'm a fighter remember, I always come back."

"I know, but I worry 'cause I love you," he replied.

"I know and I love you too," she answered.

Chapter 3

Nick yawned when he heard the alarm go off. He looked over at the clock which read 6AM. He was still a little tired but he knew that he had to get up for work. Slowly, he arose from the bed and walked into the bathroom and turned on the water in the shower. He looked over towards the bed to see Angela sleeping peacefully. After his shower, he was a little bit more relaxed but still worried about Angela.

Nick finished putting on his uniform when he felt a pair of arms coming around his waist. He smiled as he felt this. He knew it was Angela, she always did that if she was awake when he left. They rarely had the chance to say good-bye to each other in the morning without at least one of them having to run out quickly.

"I love you," she mumbled as her grip on his losened. A soft laugh escaped his lips because he knew that she was falling back to sleep. Not that he blamed her, he would love the chance to sleep just a little bit longer.

"Love you too babe," he replied and gentally kissed her cheek. She smiled with her eyes shut. He smiled back at her as she drifted back to sleep. Carefully he stood up from the bed so that he wouldn't wake her again. Nick yawned as he streched his arms. He was still a little tired. He hadn't gotten much sleep the night before because he kept thinking about the woman that they had found. Also being haunted with the thoughts that this might happen to someone that he loved wasn't helping either.

Nick walked through the small house that he and his girlfriend shared. It was a beautiful house despite its size. They had agreed that they didn't need a large house since it was just the two of them. Nick looked around the living room. His eyes moving from picture to picture. Many were of him and Angela, as well as his family and friends and her family and friends. Neither of their parents were thrilled by the fact that they had brought a house together but that bothered neither of them. They knew that their parents would soon realize that they were adults and there was no need to baby them.

Nicks eyes stopped when he came across a picture of him and Angela right before their high school prom. He was wearing the traditional black tux and she was wearing a long white dress with flowers made of glitter on it. He smiled remembering that night. It was great, they had so much fun. Angela and Nick were the definition of high school sweethearts. They started dating freshman year and they remained a couple through out high school and the entire time that she was in college and he decided to be come a cop.

Nick placed his hat on his head and sighed. He walked to the front door of the house. The sun was shinning brightly as he opened the door. As soon as he stepped outside, Brian was pulling up into his driveway.

"Morning," Nick called as he walked up to the squad car. Brian smiled and waved at him.

"Morning Kid," he replied as Nick opened the passanger side door.

"So is there anything new?" Nick asked as he put on his seat bealt.

"I had a guy I know speed up the process at the lab, they weren't able to find any DNA but they did back up our rape story. We also had guys out there all night doing questioning. We had some people undercover to see if we could get something that way but we got nothing," he replied.

"What do we do from here?" Nick asked as he looked over at Brian who had begun pulling the car out of the driveway.

"I don't know. Nothing else has come up and we don't have enough to find this guy. Oh, I also had that note that was found checked for prints. Only ones they found were mine and the other officers."

"Do you think this guy has a type? I mean do you think that he's going to strike only certain girls?" Nick asked.

"I don't know, but I hate to say it but I think we're going to have to wait to see if there is another rape before we can do anything. We could use the new information to help us get some kind of idea, but other than that, there's really nothing else that we can do."

"Maybe we over looked something," Nick thought, not wanting to see another girl become another statistic. He didn't want there to be another rape.

"We have a good team, they did what they could. They took everything into consideration, they couldn't find a thing," Brian assured him.

"So what are we doing today?"

"I had someone get me some adresses of this girls family. Maybe they might have some thing that could help us," he told Nick, "like maybe they noticed someone following her or something."

"So we have an ID on the girl?" Nick asked.

"Yeah, her name was Doreen Spellmen. She was twenty-three."

"Wow, a year older than Angela..." Nick mumbled to himself.

"Who?" Brian asked.

"My girlfriend," he replied, "her name's Angela. She's twenty-two, I just got a little nervous thats all."

"She'll be fine," Brian promised, "nothings going to happen to her. I called to have a squad car drive by your house from time to time."

"You didn't have to do that," Nick told him.

"I know but I thought it would make you feel a little better about leaving her there alone. I still send cars over to check on my wife," Brian confessed, "I told you that last night. You just want to make sure that the innocent are safe and that's okay."

"Did your wife like the idea?" Nick asked.

"Not really. She was like B, I'm fine you don't need to get all crazy about it but I felt the need to. I thought that there was a chance that I might have busted someone that wanted to have revenge and would go after her," Brian explained, "she thought I was crazy but still, I made sure that she was safe. Our baby was just born so I started to send cars over there again, just to be safe."

"Boy or girl?"

"Boy," Brian answered, smiling.

"Think he'll be a cop too?"

"Who knows, but whatever he wants, I'll support him and that's all that matters," Brian explained as he quickly glanced over to look at Nick.

"Yeah, but it's almost like I can see you being cheif of police or something and you have your son there with you. I don't know why, but thats what I think," Nick told him.

"Hey, whatever happens, happens."

"Yeah, but doesn't part of you want him to be a cop?"

"Of course, but if that's not what he wants then I'm not going to force it on him. I mean would you like it if your parents forced a lifestyle on to you? Of course not, you know what's best for you so you made your decision."

"So," Nick said changing the subject, "who are we going to see?"

"First we gotta get punched in kid then we're goin to talk to some people. Her parents, relatives and some friends and see if we can find anything."

Chapter 4

Nick felt his heart begin to drop as they pulled into the driveway of the victims parents house. They'd already been informed of their daughters death, but Nick still wasn't prepared to talk to them. To see the sadness brought upon then to suddenly by all of this. He just kept thinking that something like this was going to happen to someone that he loved. He could imagine his parents saddened by their loss. His mother would have been a complete wreck. Tears would be streaming rapidly. His father would be completely angered and ready to go out and take his own vengence on the death of his daughter.

Nick shook the thoughts from his head as he stepped out of the car. He was going to have to learn to not bring his personal life into his work life. Eventually, it was going to cause a serious affect on how well he does his job. Also, he didn't want his personal information released to people that he didn't know out of fear that someone might want to use it to hurt someone that he loves.

Taking his mind off of everything that he was thinking, he followed Brian to the front door of the house. Pushing all of his thoughts from his mind, he began thinking about the task before him. They were trying to catch a murderer before it was too late and another innocent life was lost. No one should have to suffer like these people have. Brian rang the bell and quickly glanced over at Nick as if to see if he was ready for what was about to happen. Nick nodded to show that he was.

Moments later, the victims devistated mother arrived at the door. It took everything that Nick had to remain calm and collected. Maintaining a level of profesionalism was an important aspect of being a cop and he wasn't about to lose any respect that he had on his second day on the job.

"Good morning, ma'am," Brian greeted, "we're sorry to bother you in your time of grieving, but we would like to as you a few questions about your daughter."

"Yes, come in," she answered using a tissue to brush away her tears.

"We know your pain is still fresh, but we need to ask you some things to help find the guy that did this to your daughter," Brian explained as he and Nick took a seat in the living room with the grieving mother openly sobbing.

"Would you gentalman like anything?" she asked polietly.

"No thank you," Brian replied, "by the way, I'm officer Littrell and this is my partner, officer Carter, we're incharge of your daughters case. Did you notice anything strange about your daughters behavor? Was she doing anything out of the ordinary?"

"No, as far as I could tell, everything was just fine," she answered after stopping to think about it for a moment.

"Was there anyone new in her life? Or did her taste in friends begin to change? Was she hanging out with a different crowd?" Brian asked.

"No she has the same best friend she had since she was younger. They just got together a few days ago."

"Were there any angry ex-boyfriends or someone like that who might want to hurt your daughter?"

"No, she never got involved with guys like that. She was a very good judge of character," he mother explained, visibly trying to remain calm and to carefully think through her answers. Nick really admired her courage to speak to them like she was. He would be a complete mess if the police came knocking at his door and asking him questions like this.

"Thank you ma'am," Brian replied as he stood up, "we're doing everything that we can to catch the man that did this to your daughter."

"Thank you officer," she answered as she shook Brians hand and then Nicks.

"We're sorry for your loss," Nick said for the first time. She closed her eyes tightly and nodded her head. Nick and Brian walked towards the front door, not knowing much more than they did when they arrived. The victims mother saw them to the door and said nothing more than good-bye.

"We should go talk to the best friend," Brian told Nick as they entered the car, "she might know more than Doreens mother did. Kids don't always tell their parents everything."

"Yeah," Nick replied as he buckled his seatbelt.

"Nick are you alright? Can you handle this case or do you think I should talk to someone about you being reassigned?" Brian asked slightly concerned.

"I'm fine," Nick replied, "I just wasn't sure what to expect. This is all kinda new to me."

"Aright but are you sure you're going to be able to work on this case? I need to know that."

"Yeah, I just need to learn how to deal with everything alright? Jive give me some time."

"Okay, just don't take too much time. It might end up hurting you and the case as well," Brian warned as he backed the car out of the driveway. Nick leaned his head back against the seat and closed his eyes.

"How do you do this day in and day out without getting upset over everything?" Nick asked, keeping his eyes closed.

"You learn quickly not to let your emotions get involved. There've been several times where I just wanted to reach out and just cry right along with them, but you just can't," Brian answered, "it's hard sometimes, I know, but you'll learn how to handle things, trust me."

"I just keep thinking that I'm really going to mess things up bad," Nick confesssed.

"Don't worry, you won't. You're always going to have someone with you who can help you, you know? This really isn't a job that can or have to do on your own," Brian explained.

"Yeah I know," Nick answered as he looked over at Brian, "I just have to learn."

"And you will. I remember going through exactly what you are," Brian told Nick, "so many things were going on at once, it was hard. First you have to see the bodies and you just can't help but to be a little scared. It's a normal reaction. Then you have all this pressure on your shoulders to find the person that did it. The first time is always the hardest."

"I can't see you struggling," Nick replied, "you know how to handle everything."

"It comes with experience," Brian explained, "this is very hard job and everyone at some time struggles over something. It comes with the territory."

"We're going to get this guy right?"

"Haven't missed one yet," Brian answered.

"What was it like when you caught your first criminal? Were you scared or anything?"

"It's a good feeling knowing that you captured someone that hurt someone else. It's like you know justice is being served accordingly. You'll see when we find this guy. Everything that you're worring about will be put to rest because you know you've done something to stop this from happening to anyone else," Brian explained to Nick. Nick nodded, understanding everything that Brian was telling him. It made a lot of sence. Everything he said did, but it was like he said, he knew all of this from experience. He'd been there done that. Nick knew he was in good hands.

Chapter 5

It was only a few minute ride to April's, Doreens best friend, family house. Thought this time around, Nick was more confident. His talk with Brian really helped him. It was reassuring to know that someone who was so good at his job had the some problems that he did. He knew that he was going to get through this, though he knew through the eyes of the victims family, it was him who had the easier job. He just walked into someones life and it was just as easy from him to walk out of it. There were no emotional attachments or even memories. That's what made it easy for him, he didn't know the victim.

Brian parked the squad car across the street from the house. The two of them stepped out of the car and began to walk across the street. The sun was shinning brightly and everything was going on as business as usual. It amazed Nick to watch everyone at like nothing happened. The mentality of New Yorkers was unlike everyone else out there. They'd seen so much that there was hardly anything left that would shock them.

Brian rang the door bell and they waited. They didn't know what they were going to find, but they hoped that it would help them with their investigation. Seconds later, the door opened and Brian and Nick were greeted by a man.

"Can I help you guys?" he asked politely.

"We'd like to talk to April if you don't mind," Brian told him.

"Alright come in and I'll get her."

"Thank you," Brian answered as they walked into the house. April came down, with the man who opened the door behind her.

"Morning April. Do you mind answering a few questions?" Brian asked kindly.

"Sure," she said taking Brian and Nick into the living room.

"I'm officer Littrell and this is my partner officer Carter."

"Hi," she said softly, "this is my brother Howie."

"What did Doreen and you talk about the last time you two spoke?" Brian asked.

"Nothing really. Samethings we always talk about," she responded, "movies, music, you know, stuff like that."

"Was she acting strange?" Nick asked. Brian glanced over at Nick, surprised that he was beginning to ask questions, but glad that he was.

"No, she was her regular self."

"Did she ever mention that she may have been followed or something?"

"No. Nothing was wrong. Doreen and I used to tell each other everything. She would have told me if she thought something may have been wrong," April explained.

"So there was absoluetly nothing wrong? At least that you knew of anyway? Brian asked.

"Nope, I would have told you," she answered.

"What do you guys know about what happened?" Howie asked.

"We can't say," Brian answered.

"Why not? That little girl was like a sister to me," Howie protested.

"As of right now, no information has been released and I am not at liberty to release any information deemed classified," Brian explained.

"What if it helps someone remember something?"

"What if that information brings a false confession?" Brian countered, "we only want the man who did this to come foward."

"Why would someone confess to something they didn't do?"

"To gain the 'fame' that came along with it. People would know who he was. There are a lot of sick minds out there."

"So we just wait until you can actually do something?" Howie asked, only becoming slightly angered.

"We're doing all that we can sir," Nick replied.

"You're right, I'm sorry," Howie responded, "I just get so mad when I think about this. I just want this guy in jail."

"As do we, but we have to follow procedure and somethings don't work as planned or many other things," Brian explained.

"I just want to help."

"We know you do sir, so we'd appreicate if you gave us a call if either of you remember anything," Brian told April and Howie as he handed each of them a card, "you can call me at any time if you feel the need to."

"We sure will," Howie informed.

"Yeah," April replied meekly. Brian nodded towards April who had begun to look more upset than she had when the two of them arrived

"Thank you both for taking the time to speak to us," Nick said, "you guys have a good day and remember to give us a call just incase something comes up."


"Alright, good-bye officers," Howie said as he walked Nick and Brian to the door, "and stay safe guys."

"We will," Brian responded as they walked through the door. Nick sighed when he heard the door shut.

"You're learning quick," Brian said to Nick as they began to cross the street, "I think you're going to do just fine."

"Thanks," Nick answered, "gotta get it right eventually, why not beat it before it becomes a problem."

"Good," Brian said as he and Nick entered the car, "it's better to get a grip on this stuff now. It will make you a better cop in the end."

"That's what I was going for," Nick replied, "where do we go now?"

"Back to the station for now. Maybe someone found something," Brian answered as he pulled the car into the street.

"So this was just some random rape/homiside?" Nick questioned.

"Looks like it."

"So we have to wait until someone else is killed before we can actually do anything?"

"Unfortianately, but it's the only way we're going to get more information about the guy," Brian answered almost apologeticly.

"We're being followed," Nick said suddenly.

"What?"

"That car's been behind us since just after we left April's house," Nick informed Brian.

"Shit," Brian mumbled.

"So what do we do?"

"We try and shake 'em off," Brian answered as he made a sudden turn. Catching the other car off guard but he quickly caught up to them again. A look of agrivation came over Brians face when he saw the car again.

"Who ever this guys is, he isn't going to let us lose him without a fight," Nick commented.

"And he's a damn moron for following a marked car."

"Lets just go back to the station, he won't try anything there," Nick replied, surprised at Brians reaction to the car behind them.

"Yeah," Brian answered.

"You've never been followed before huh?"

"No," he told him, "but I shouldn't be worried right? He wouldn't knowingly attack a cop. He probably just wants to ask us something but we'll wait till we get back to the station before we talk to him." Nick looked over at Brian. His fingers were nervously tapping at the steering wheel as he drove. Nick was more than considerably shocked by this. He had always thought of Brian who would know how to handle every situation. Then again, he's never been in this spot, so like Nick, he didn't completely know how to handle the situation.

"Maybe we should have showed April the note, maybe she would have recignized the hand writing," Nick commented.

"I don't have it with me," Brian anwered, "but I don't think that it would have done too much good because the writing could be forged. If he was as smart as he wants us to think he is, then he would have typed it."

"Yeah, we'd have less that way."

"I think this guy wants to be caught. I mean leaving these taunting letters is usually a sign that the perp is only doing this for the sheer thrill of it. Because he thinks it's a fucking game."

"Don't you think he would have left more at the scene if he wanted to be caught?" Nick asked.

"No, he doesn't want to be caught after only one crime. He wants to pull it off for as long as he can. So that he can almost strike fear into women. Besides, the longer the aludes us, the more infamous he's going to become."

"Well I guess we should do the best we can to get this guy now before too many people are killed," Nick commented, almost sickened by the thought that this guy was only doing this for fun. What humor could he possibly see in all of this? Someone was dead and many people were grieving over the death of the victim.

"That's what we're going to do Nick," Brian responded as he looked into the rearview mirror to see if the car was still following them. He sighed when he seen that it was.

"Do you just want to pull over and ask that guy what he wants?" Nick asked.

"I don't think so."

"I could cover for you just incase anything happens you know? At least if it's just a simple problem, he'll go away once you talk to him."

"Fine," Brian said as he began to pull the squad car to the side of the road. The car which was following them did the same. Brian opened the door to the car, as Nick remained inside, ready to radio for help if it was needed. Nick turned to look through the back window, where Brian was walking. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. Slowly, the door to the other car opened and the driver stepped out. Nick and Brian both let out a sigh of relief when they saw Howie, April's brother step out and walk towards Brian.


"Why were you following us?" Brian asked calmly and relieved. He was glad that it was someone that was no threat to them.

"I'm sorry, I know that I shouldn't have, but I just wanted to do something to help," Howie answered apologeticly.

"Like we said, just give us a call and that would be a lot of help. Any information would."

"I don't know any more than you guys do, but I thought that since I wasn't a cop or anything I could help cause they wouldn't think that I'm a cop because I'm not ya know?"

"I'm sorry but we can't put you in that kind of danger," Brian replied.

"Come on," he pleaded, "I knew most of the people that Doreen hung out with 'cause she was always with my sister. I got to know a lot of her friends and there's a bunch of them that I could spot right away. So please let me help." Brian waved towards the car to let Nick know that he should come and join them.

"What's going on?" Nick asked as he walked towards the two men.

"He wants to help us," Brian answered, "he says he knows a lot of Doreen's friends."

"What trouble could I be? I would only be telling you the people that knew her and stuff. It might help you."

"Alright, but you're just going to help us get in contact with people," Brian answered reluctantly, "we're not going to put you in any sort of situation that might put you in any kind of danger."

"Yeah, that's all I want to do," he said, "I'll feel better knowing that I did something."

"Get in the back of the car," Brian said as the three of them started walking towards the squad car. Nick was shocked that Brian had allowed Howie to come along with them. Maybe that's what made him a good cop; he was willing to try anything to catch whoever it was that he may be after.

Chapter 6

Nick glanced back at Howie who had been silent for the entire ride. He was looking straight foward, out through the front window. Turning his attention back to the window before him, Nick began to think about what was going to happen from this point. Maybe this could have been the break that they've been looking for. Someone that Howie lead them to could have been the killer and they would be able to arrest the guy and put this entire nightmare to rest.

Soon they arrived back at the station, though Nick wasn't sure why they had come back there right now. They had Howie to help them, why would they have to go to the station? Brian knew what he was doing, that Nick was sure of. Though he was unsure of what was going to happen once they went inside the building.

"Come with us," Brian said as he opened his door and reached to open the back door which couldn't be opened from the inside. Howie stepped out, still not saying a word. He was probably just as unsure of what was going to happen as Nick was.

Once they were inside the station, they walked quickly to Brians office. They were only stopped when detective Richardson questioned them about Howie. Brian said that he had been brought in for questioning but was not a suspect. Detective Richardson was a little unsure of Brians explaination, but accepted it nonetheless.

It only took about a matter of two minutes before they were safely in Brians office. Brian shut the door and looked over at the two men that were in his office. They were so different from each other. Nick was very tall, blond blue eyes and a light complection. While Howie was quiet short, about Brian's height, brown eyes and hair and a medium complection. They were a far cry from each other, but they were both there to help and that's what mattered.

"Here's the thing," Brian said stepping fully into his office, "I don't want to put you in any danger. I made that clear from the get go. But there are somethings that I need to talk to you about. If your leads do bring us to the killer then we might have some problems."

"Meaning?" Howie asked questioningly.

"Meaning that this person might come after you as a sort of revenge so Witness Protection Programs are open to you. I'm not saying that you're going to need it, I highly doubt it personally, but I just want to make sure you're aware of the choices that you have if anything was to happen. Officer Carter and I will be keeping in touch with you through the course of this investigation. You may or may not be subject to top secret information, but incase you are, you are not to discuss it with anyone. Not April, no one," Brian explained, "understand?"

"Yeah," Howie answered after a moment.

"Are you sure that you still want to be involved in this investigation?" Brian asked.

"Yes, I want to do something to help," he answered.

"So why don't you become a cop or something?" Nick suggested.

"I've wanted to, but my family is really afraid by the idea so I just decided that my family is the most important to me and I wouldn't do it," he responded.

"Oh."

"Well this is your chance to safely help us. Now we're going to hit the road again in a little while. I want you to come up with the names and as many addresses as you can and we'll go to see those people," Brian told Howie, "I'm going to leave you here for a few minutes to think about it."

"Okay," Howie answered as Brian walked out of the door and through the halls until he reached his cousins office. He knocked at the door and he was soon greeted by his cousin.

"Kev," Brian said, "I just want to talk to you about that guy that you saw me bring in.."

"It's your investigation Brian," he answered as Brian walked in and he shut the door behind him. Brian turned to face Kevin and sighed.

"He's the victims best friends sister and he knew a lot of the people who were in contact with Doreen, he's in my office right now, writing out addresses."

"I know you know what you're doing and that's why I trust you. Do anything that you can to catch this guy. If that means getting help, there's nothing wrong with that. Who know's this guy might even lead you and Nick right to the killer," Kevin explained.

"When we came in you looked at us a little uneasy. I just wanted to let you know what we were doing so that you wouldn't have to worry about it or think that we made an arrest."

"What's gotten into you Brian? You've never behaved like this before?"

"Nothing, I just some of Nicks worries are rubbing off on me, but don't worry, it won't get in the way of the investigation," Brian assured him.

"So how's it going with Nick? How's he doing?"

"Good, he really seems to have a grip on things already," Brian answered, "he's a good kid."

"Yeah he is. I knew that he was assigned a good partner so I wasn't worried about him that much. So what do you think of his chances?"

"I think he has a real good shot. He really seems dedicated to the job and he learns quickly. He's going to do fine around here."

"Good," Kevin replied, "I ask because I heard about the cars asked to check on his house every so oftern."

"Oh," Brian said, "that was my doing. He was kind of nervous that something might happen and I just wanted him to feel sure that nothing was actually going to. I didn't ask anyone to go out of there way. Just to look if they drove by."

"I know, it's alright. So how's the baby?"

"Great. He's been keeping us up, though. That's why I'm acting differently if that's what you're thinking."

"Just looking after you cuz."

"I know you are. I'm going to go back to my office now and see if we came up with anything useful," Brian informed him.

"Alright, see you later Bri." Brian walked out of Kevins office and walked back towards his own. He'd just been tired for the past few days, that's all it was. That's why his nerves were all worked up like they were. It was from being to tired. He'd be fine once he had some rest.

"So what do we have?" Brian asked as he opened the door to his office. Nick and Howie looked up at him as he stepped in.

"Well, a friend of mine actually. He and Doreen dated for a while, but they broke up. They stayed friends though," Howie explained.

"What's his name?" Brian asked.

"AJ," he answered.

"Alright, let's go see this guy," Brian announced. Nick nodded and he and Brian walked out of the office, leaving Howie.
"Hey, what about me?" he asked, stopping Nick and Brian.

"Stay here and come up with some more names," Brian told him, "we'll be back in a few minutes. Stay out of trouble." Howie nodded and Brian and Nick started to walk out of the station once again. Nick sighed as he and Brian entered the squard car again. He wasn't sure why Howie couldn't come. They weren't going to make an arrest, there was just no way. This guy would have to had confessed to it and proved that he did it which seemed highly unlikey of the killer that they were searching for.

"So what do you think we're going to get off of this guy?" Nick asked as they took off towards the house indicated on the paper.

"I have no idea, but lets hope that it's something." It only took them a few minutes to arrive at the mans house. He didn't live too far away from the station. Brian and Nick stepped out of their car and walked towards the door and rang the bell. Nick looked over at Brian, he looked extremely tired. Probably from stress.

"Can I help you fellows?" the man asked as he opened his door.

"Are you AJ?" Brian asked.

"Yes I am. What can I do for you?" he replied. Brian looked at him. Covered in tattoos and his hair was dyed a bright blue. Far from the type of person Brian thought that Doreen would hang out. She seemed to appear that she had different taste in people.

"We'd like to ask you a few questions," Nick told him. Brian nodded and AJ looked at the two of them.

"Sure, but about what?" he asked.

"The death of Doreen Spellman," Brian informed him. AJ stood there as he appeared to be shocked by what he had just told him.

"What happened to her? I just talked to her the other day, we were going to go hang out," he said to them.

"Do you know of anything strange that was going on in her life?" Brian asked, jumping to the point of the reason that they had come.

"No, she seemed fine the last time I talked to her," he answered coolly, "she was her same happy self. She didn't seem to be worried about a damn thing."

"Why don't you tell me about your relationship with the victim?" Nick asked, taking a quick glance at Brian from the corner of his eye.

"We dated for a while, but we broke up and decided to stay friends," he explained.

"What caused the break up?"

"Her parents weren't too crazy about me. She and her mother had a couple arguements about me some time ago. So I decided that I didn't want to break up their relationship."

"Why did you stay friends then?"

"We had a good friendship. She was a really nice girl. I liked her a lot, it's ashame what happened to her," AJ answered.

"You didn't answer my question, why did you stay friends?" Nick asked again hoping that this time AJ would give him a better answer.

"Because there wasn't anything bad between the two of us. We got along real good. There was a real nice relationship there," he answered, "there was no reason for us to hate each other and not be friends."

"So there wasn't any hate between the two of you?"

"Nope none. We both have moved on from that relationship," AJ answered, "we've seen other people and stuff like that."

"Do you have any idea of who she might have gone out with?"

"No, I may be her friend but that doesn't mean I keep constant tabs on the girl. She's her own woman, she can do her own thing."

"She never mentioned anything to you about any of her relationships?"

"No, we always kept that stuff on a don't ask don't tell kinda deal so I just never asked so she never told me anything," he explained.

"Alright, thank you for talking with us, we will be keeping in touch," Nick replied as he and Brian turned back to the squad car. AJ shut the door as they walked away from his house. Nick looked over at Brian.

"Something's up here," Nick commented.

"I don't know but we'll still keep an eye on him," Brian responded as they opened the doors to the car and entered it. Another murder was going to occur soon, they could both feel it, but they just weren't sure when and where it was going to happen.

Chapter 7

Howie sat in one of the chairs in Brians office. He'd told them about everyone that he could think of. None of the people that he knew were murderers though. They were just too good of people. There was no way that they would be capable of taking the life of another human. On the other hand, Howie just hoped that talking to these people would help lead them to the killer. Through process of elimination or something. These people might have clues and not even know it, at least that's what he wanted.

He wasn't sure what was taking the two of them so long. They probably just wanted to conduct this investigavtion in the best way that they could. They were going to get all the information they could out of everyone. That was probably it. For some reason, Howie felt weird sitting in the police station like this. It was like he was there for some reason other than to help.

"Hello," a sudden voice came from the door. Howie looked up to see the officer that had stopped the other two officers when they had first arrived.

"Hello," Howie replied. He was hoping that he didn't think that he was arrested in connection with Doreens death or anything like that.

"I'm Dectective Kevin Richardson," he replied, extending his arm.

"Howie Dorough," he answered, also extending his arm for a friendly handshake.

"I hear that you want to help my cousin out in this case," Kevin said.

"Yeah, I just want to do what I can. I figured I could try by giving them some addresses of people that they could talk to," Howie responded. Kevin nodded.

"We've always appriciated participation from the public," he told Howie, "I'm glad that you want to do something. That you're willing to step up and do something right."

"I can't see why people want to hurt other people," Howie said, "I've always been a nice person and I just can't understand what thoughts these crazy people had before they did these things that they did."

"And you'll never know. These are some sick people," Kevin answered, "I tired to understand how their minds work when I first started, but after a while, and seeing that I wasn't getting anywhere, I figured that it was time to move on." Kevin looked over at Howie. He wasn't really sure why he was in there checking on him. He trusted Brian because he knew what he was doing. Curisioty probably took over him and that's why he decided to come and talk to Howie.

"So were you close to the victim?" Kevin asked.

"She was my younger sisters best friend, she was like a little sister to me," Howie explained, "I knew her just about her entire life."

"How's your sister taking it?"

"I'm not really sure. She hides it from everyone. She trys to make it look like she's strong and that she's okay with all of this but it's hurting her. I can see it in her eyes."

"Have you tried talking to her?"

"Yeah, she won't tell me anything though. I just figure give her some time to take everything in and then maybe she'll want to talk."

"Maybe, but don't let her hold in anything too long because then she may never talk about it and that's what she needs to do right now. Trust me, I've seen this happen again and again. People bottle up their emotions and then they just become so powerful that they just can't hold on any more and the break."

"My sister is a strong woman, I think she'll pull through."

"I'm not saying that she isn't. Just sometimes this a the hard effect on even the strongest and toughest. Just keep an eye on her."

"Always do," Howie answered.

"So how long are you going to be helping my cousin?" Kevin asked.

"For as long as he wants me to or as long as I can be helpful. I don't want to get in the way," Howie replied, "I don't want to mess anything up."

"I'm sure you won't do anything wrong and I'm sure that Bri..... Officer Littrell won't mind having you around."

"I just want to do the right thing," Howie replied. Kevin smiled and nodded.

"And you are. Not a lot of people are willing to talk to the police even if what they're telling them isn't serious. They think that they might get hurt but what they don't realize is that we take care of the people who help us. We look after them."
"That's good to know," Howie answered.

"I have to get back to work," Kevin said, "have a good day."

"You too," Howie replied as Kevin walked out of the office. Howie started to look around the office again. He was bored and didn't know what else to do. He hoped that officer Carter and Littrell had found something that they could use in the case. He didn't want to end up being a waste of time. Howie stood up and walked over to the window and watched as the city functioned as it always had. Nothing was ever able to stop New York and there wasn't anything that could pull a New Yorker down.

"Mr. Dorough," officer Littrell said as he opened the door to his office and saw Howie staring through the window, "we checked out that guy you told us about and something tells me that he knows more than he's telling us."

"AJ?" Howie asked.

"Yeah," Nick answered, "there was just something about him. He's not a suspect because we don't have anything to hold him by. Besides, it's probably just nothing."

"I always thought he seemed okay," Howie informed them, "he didn't seem like a bad guy."

"That's the thing, sometimes killers aren't considered to be that 'type' if you know what I mean," Brian explained, "they appear to everyone as if they were just a regular person. I'm not saying that this guy did it. I'm just saying, don't always think that just because someone may seem to be nice or quiet, that doesn't mean that they aren't capable of doing this sort of thing."

"So what's going to happen now?" Howie asked.

"I really don't know. There's no evidence that we can use, there are no witnesses and nobody saw anything. I'd hate to say it but I think that we're going to have to wait for this guy to stike again before we can do anything," Brian answered reluctantly.

Chapter 8

Nick walked slowly into the living room where Angela had fallen asleep the night before. He didn't have the heart to wake her to move her into the bed room. He smiled when he saw that she was still peacefully sleeping on the couch. It had been just over a week since the rape/homiside had occured and he and Brian had no information as to who had killed Doreen. Though they were slightly relieved that another murder hadn't occured, it made them uneasy because they knew that this guy was planing his next attack.

Without making a sound Nick opened the front door and saw Brian sitting in the squad car in the driveway. He walked up to the car without saying anything. When Nick opened the car door, Brian looked over at him with some sadness in his eyes that Nick couldn't understand the reason. Nick buckeled his seat belt and Brian looked back over at Nick.
"There was another murder last night," Brian informed him.

"I figured that by the way that you were acting," Nick told him, "we knew it was going to happen sooner or later right?"
"We're going to head right over to the scene and check things out. Maybe this time we can find something that we can use," Brian replied as he quickly pulled the car out of Nicks drive way and towards the latest victims house. Nothing more was said between the two of them. There just wasn't anything that could be said. It was only a matter of moments before Nick and Brian arrived at the scene.

The two officers stepped out of their car and started walking towards the building where they had found the latest victim. They walked past the crowd of people that had gathered outside of the building to see what happened. Hoping to maybe have the chance to be on television. Brian and Nick continued to walk until they were far enough away from the crowd so that they could talk with the officers that had been there before them and not have any information leak out.

"What do we have?" Brian asked as he approached a few of his fellow officers.

"Another young woman raped then murdered," he answered.

"Do you think it was the same guy from before?"

"Most likely. We have some guys checking the place out. They should have something soon."

"Was there any forced entry?"

"None. Either the victim knew him or was just trying to be a good citizen."

"My partner and I are going to take a look upstairs," Brian informed the officer who nodded in responce. Brian and Nick took off towards the building, hoping this time to find something that would help them put this guy behind bars. They entered the building to see their colleagues working quickly in order to catch the prepetrator. They walked towards the apartment door that was open and swarming with police activity.

"So what do we have?" Brian asked as he walked into the apartment.

"A female who appears to be in her early twenties, raped and then shot from a close range," the officer informed Brian.

"No one saw or heard anything?"

"Apparently not. The guy might have used a silencer on his gun. There doesn't appear to have been a struggle which leads me to believe that the victim might have known her killer. Or it might have just been a surprise attack. Any number of things could have happened to her."

"Excuse me officers, but we found this," another officer said as he walked up to the three of them, holding a piece of paper in his hands.

"Officer Littrell, since your incharge," the other officer said to Brian. He reached his hand out and looked at the paper which read:
"The Game is getting deeper
The stakes are higher
We've reached a new level
I'm still in control
It's your move now
What are you going to do?"

"It's another one of those poems, like the one that was found at the first murder," Brian announced after he'd read through it, "these murders are connected because we didn't release any information about the letter or even that one existed."

"At least we know that we're looking for the same guy," the other officer mentioned.

"Yeah but we need to figure out who this guy is," Nick replied, "maybe we'll find something here that we didn't at the other scene."

"Maybe," Brian answered, "but if this guy knows what he's doing, which I believe that he does, he'll cover his tracks for as long as he wants to before deciding that he wants to leave us something."

"So that means he'll actually want to be caught?" Nick asked confussed.

"Yes, it's happened before and it's going to happen again."

"Is there an ID on the victim?" Nick asked changing the subject.

"We're working on that right now. We should know soon, there's most likely some sort of ID in the house. We'll let you guys know as soon as we find something."

"Alright, we're just going to have a look around," Brian replied.

"Okay officer," he answered as he stepped away from Brian and Nick. Nick looked over at Brian and he glanced back at him.

"What are we going to look for?" Nick asked.

"I don't know but I have a feeling that we'll know as soon as we find it," Brian explained. Nick nodded and they walked futher into the house. Nick froze at the familiar scene that lay before him. The life-less, half naked, body of a young woman was laying on the floor surrounded by a pool of her own blood. Nicks eyes remaind fixed on the body. He couldn't help but wonder what this guy was like. He was probably some old balding guy who met these women on the internet. For some reason, that was the idea that played in his mind. It seemed to be the most likely reason. After meeting the women and being turned down by them, he became angry and attacked.

"Carter," Brian said as he walked into the room and behind Nick.

"Yeah," Nick replied, never taking his eyes off of the body.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah I was just thinking. Maybe these women met these guys on the internet. That seems like a lodgical explaination, at least I think so. This guy probably came to see these women but was rejected so he killed them," Nick said, retelling his thoughts, "or maybe murder and rape was his intention."

"Sounds like a good idea to me. I'll have someone check into it," Brian replied as he walked away from Nick. Nick took a deep breath and turned away from the body. It broke his heart to see these beautiful young women dead, murdered.

"Officer, we have an ID on the victim," one of the other officers said to Nick.

"Okay, who was she?"

"Her name was Cheryl Adams, she was twenty-four," he answered.

"Alright, inform officer Littrell," Nick replied.

"Yes sir," he said as he walked off towards the direction that Brian had gone. Nicks eyes once again found themselves on the body of the woman that lay face down on the floor. It was then that he made a promise to himself. He promised that he would not rest until this guy was arrested.

Chapter 9

Brian walked into his office where Nick was sitting waiting for him. He looked at his younger partner, well aware of the fact that he was thinking of everything that had just happened. Maybe letting him think was a good idea. Someone was already working there way onto Cheryl's computer to see if they could find anything useful. It was Nick's idea after all.

"We should have results of the check in a few minutes," Brian said to Nick who looked up at him, "then we can go and talk to the people she worked with, family, friends, people like that."

"Did you get anything from the check on her computer?"

"I have a guy working on it right now. We should know soon, he's really good at hacking into computers, I'm just glad that he's on our side or we might have a lot of shit to worry about," Brian told him.

"You think anything will turn up?" Nick asked.

"Maybe, but if it was like you said, and she met this guy on-line, it will be a major help."

"So what do we do now?"

"We wait for some results to come in. Once something comes in from either one of them, we'll have something more to work with."

"What do we do if this does turn out to be internet related?" Nick asked.

"We get a warning out there for women not to get involved with men that they meet over the computer. Then we can trace where the e-mails were coming from and get this guy."

"What if it's a public computer? Like at a library or something?"

"Then we check the sign-up sheets to see who's been using the computers and then we check them out," Brian explained. Nick said nothing futher, he seemed satisfied knowing that if this guy used a computer to get in contact with this girls that they knew exactly what they needed to do to catch this guy.

"Results are in boys," one of the secratries said as she opened the door to Brians office, "this is a list of where she worked and worked until the time of he murder."

"Thanks Colleen," Brian replied as she handed him a folder containing the information that they needed, "when Carl gets the results on the computer scan tell him to bring it to my office. Carter and I will try and be back as soon as we can."

"Alright can do," she answered as she walked out of the office. Brian looked over at Nick who was staring at him. Brian could feel by the strength of his stare that he wanted to get out there and do something. Quickly Brian flipped open the folder and started to scan through it.

"It says that she works at some strip joint," Brian told Nick as he looked up from the folder.

"She was a stripper? That means that just about anyone could be invovled," Nick replied knowing that sometimes strippers were the hardest to find the murderers to because there seemed so many likely suspects. Jealious co-workers, obsessed 'fans,' just about anyone.

"Yeah but we know that our attacker is male. That can rule out the other female employees. It was most likely a customer," Brian replied.

"Okay, but then why did this guy attack Doreen? I mean we're sure that it's the same guy because of the note right? Then what's the connection between these two?" Nick asked.

"Honestly, I don't know right now. We're going to have to ask some questions to find the answer to that one."

"So what are we waiting for?" Nick said as he stood from the chair quickly, "we have a perp to catch."

"Alright come on," Brian answered as they walked out of the office. Nick had brought up a vaild point. These two women seemed to come from different worlds already. Doreen was the honor student type that never wanted to get into trouble. Where as Cheryl was invovled in a life where trouble came along with the teritorry.

Thanks in part to the sirens on the top of their squad car, they were at the club in under twenty minutes. Casually, Brian and Nick stepped out of the car and began to walk in the direction of the club. Neither of them said anything on the way over. The samething was on both of their minds. They wanted to find this guy and make him serve time.
"Open up, police," Brian yelled as he banged on the door of the club.

"Can I help you guys?" a young female asked as she opened the door.

"Yes, we'd like to speak to the owner," Brian told her.

"Well you're talkin to her," she answered.

"You mind if we ask you a few questions?"

"No, not at all. Why don't you boys come inside," she offered as she stepped aside and let the two of them walk in. The place was quiet and there seemed to be no one else around. "I'm Elena by the way."

"I'm officer Littrell and this is my partner officer Carter," Brian replied, "we're here to talk to you about Cheryl Adams."

"What about her? Is she alright?" Elena asked worried.

"She's dead."

"Oh my god," she gasped, "what happened?"

"We're not completely sure," Nick replied, "that's why we came here."

"I don't know what help I could be to you boys, but I'll do the best I can," she answered.

"Thank you ma'am," Brian responded, "Was there any particular guy that came here a lot and talked to her? Or seemed infatuated with her?"

"The only guy that I can think of is AJ."

"AJ what?"

"McLean. They dated in high school. She got pregnant by him."

"So they have a kid?" Brian asked.

"No, she miscarried," Elena explained, "they stayed close though. They were really close friends."

"Can you tell me what he was like? Was he an angry man? Jealious of other guys?" Brian asked. He knew that this AJ guy was going to come back to haunt him.

"No, he was a really sweet guy, which surprised me. Because the first time I saw him, he was covered in tattoos and I instantly thought that he was a bad guy, but infact he was really kind. He had a lot of respect for others."

"Did his behavior change recently?"

"Nope. He was the same guy that I met two years ago. Nothing was different about him other than a few new tattoo's but that's typical for AJ."

"Was there any other guy that came here who seemed to be overly infatuated with her. Like he was obsessed or something?"

"No," she said with a shake of her head after she had taken a moment to think, "nothing seemed strange. I've been involved in this business for a long time and I would have noticed if there was some guy here that would take things to far."

"Did Cheryl mention anything about being followed or she thought that something seemed wrong?" Nick asked.

"No, she seemed happy as ever."

"Why did she get involved with this business?"

"Each of the girls has their own reason. Some get into it because of the money, others because they like the rush that they get when they're up there," she said as she moved her hand towards the stage.

"Did you know Cheryl's reason?" Brian asked.

"Not really. I never asked. It didn't seem like it was any of my business," she replied.

"How did you aquire the information about her and Mr. McLean?"

"She introduced me to him and told me about it," she told him as she looked at him questiongly, "if you think AJ killed her, I don't think so."

"We never said that he was involved," Nick defended, "we just want to get as much information as possible."

"Still," she continued, becoming slightly inraged, "I know AJ and there is no way that he is capable of murder. No way in hell."

"Ma'am please calm down. We're not putting the blame on anyone. We don't have enough evidence to pin this on anyone. We just wanted to know about their relationship because there might have beem something there that we could have used. We never ment to insult your judgement," Brian explained to her calmly. Her eyes moved from staring at Brian to staring at Nick, she inhaled deeply and began to speak again.

"Sorry about my outburst," she apologised, "I shouldn't have don't that."

"It's alright ma'am," Brian assured her, "if you think of anything that might be of some assisstance to us, please give me a call. This is my card," he continued as he handed her his card.

"Sure officer, I'll call you as soon as something comes to mind that might be useful."

"Thank you, that would help us greatly," Brian answered before he and Nick began to walk out of the club. Silently, they entered the car and Nick looked over at Brian.

"Are we going to officially name McLean a suspect?" Nick asked.

"It's too soon. We need more to tie these two murders together other than the fact that they both knew this guy," Brian replied.

"That's enough for me," Nick said deifantly.

"Me too but we have to play by the rules," he answered, "and if we're right, which I believe that we are, things should start to fall together really soon."

Chapter 10

"Officer Littrell," Colleen said as Brian and Nick walked into the station once again, "Carl's results of the run on the computer are here. They're on you desk and he told me to tell you to take a look at them right away."

"Thank you, I will," Brian answered as he quickened his pace to his office. Nick followed quickly behind him. He wanted to know what kind of information that they had they which would require immediate attention. Swiftly Brian lifted up the file folder that sat on his desk. He opened it and started to look through the papers the folder held.

"So what do we have?" Nick asked egarly.

"You were right," Brian answered Nick, who looked at him in confussion.

"What?"

"Cheryl was planning to meet with some guy that she had met over the computer. They were suposed to meet tonight."

"So are you thinking that this guy showed up early to get a look at this girl?"

"Maybe, I don't know," Brian replied as he lifted the phone from the reciever and dialed a number, "Collen it's Officer Littrell, give Carl a call. Tell him to get in touch with me. Thank you."

"What?" Nick said again as Brian put the phone back down.

"I'm going to have him run a check on Doreen's computer to see what's there. Maybe they were talking to the same guy."

"I don't know...."

"They have a similar taste in men," Brian interupted, "they were both interested in McLean and besides, these internet maniacs don't attack only one person and leave it at that. They keep going until they're caught."

"Okay," Nick said admitting his defeat, "so what exactly do those e-mails say?"

"A lot of sexually suggestive subjects," Brian answered, "at least what I've skimmed through did anyway. Which isn't unsual because this is a sex crime."

"Do we look for the samething on Doreen's computer? She didn't seem like the type of person that did that sort of thing."

"People can do anything that they want on the internet. They can become whoever they want to be and that may have helped Doreen get involved in this. I can't say that for sure yet because I'm going to need a report from Carl so that I can have the facts."

"Then we trace where the e-mails came from," Nick said, causing Brian to nod. Seconds later the telephone rang.
"Carl?" Brian answered, "Look I need you to do a check on Doreen Spellman's computer and see what you can find there. We want to see if there is anything that we can use to connect the cases."

"Sure, I can head over there now," Carl replied.

"Thanks," Brian said and hung up the phone and looked up at Nick, "he's going to run over and do the check now. We should know who she was talking to soon."

"So what do we do for now?" Nick questioned.

"We go visit Mr. McLean again."

"Alright let's go," Nick replied as they walked out of the office. Quickly they went out to their squad car and entered it. Brian started up the car and soon began to speed down the street. Brian had put on the siren on so that they would be able to avoid traffic. It only took moments before they had arrived at the house once again. Both and Brian Nick stepped out of the car and looked towards the house. Once at the door step, Nick rang the bell. A few moments passed and no one had opened the door. Nick rang the bell again, hoping this time to get a responce.

"Can I help you officers?" a female voice asked.

"Do you know where Mr. McLean is?" Brian questioned.

"He went to go see his grandmother, she's been sick lately," she replied, "why?"

"We need to ask him a few questions that's all," Brian responded.

"Do you know where we might be able to find him?" Nick asked.

"Yeah, sure. Her house is about fifteen minutes away from here. You just go up that street there," she said motioning to the street, "and make a left five blocks up. It's the third house on the right."

"You know Mr. McLean well?" Brian asked curiously.

"Sure, he's lived in that house there for about..," she began pausing to think for a moment, "five years or so. About the same time that I moved in."

"How did you two become friends?"

"We just started talking once. Nothing serious. Then we became friends and I'd gone over to his grandmothers house with him several times because she's been sick in the past recently and she is such a kind woman that I wanted to help."

"Has Mr. McLean been acting strange lately?" Nick asked.

"Not that I noticed. The only thing that I did notice was that he was real upset about the girl that was murdered. I'd met her as well, great person. It's a shame. Is that what you're here to talk to him about? I don't know if he'd be any help because he kinda ignores everything but that's how he copes I've seen him do it before," she explained, "he pushes people away so that he can be home alone to sort things out for himself."

"Thank you ma'am," Brian replied as he extended his arm.

"Sure, anything that I can do to help," she answered as she took his hand. He nodded and then he and Nick headed back towards their car. Nick looked over at Brian who still had the keys in his hands.
"What do you think?"

"I don't know," Brian replied, "either he's genuinely upset or he's a good actor."

"Let's go to the grandmothers house and see what we can figure out there," Nick suggested. Brian nodded as he started up the car and started in the direction that the woman had told them. Like she explained, it was only a few minutes from where McLean lived. Brian pulled the car outside of the house that the woman had explained was his grandmothers and the two officers walked to the door and rang the bell.

"Oh, hello officers," AJ responded as he opened the door seconds later, "what do you need?"

"Cheryl Adams. You knew her?" Brian asked.

"Yes, why?" AJ asked, his voice shaky and nervous.

"She's dead."

"Shit," AJ cursed, "are you serious?"

"Yes and oddly enough, your name came up in our interrogation," Nick replied.

"She and I dated back in high school. We had a lot of the same friends," AJ explained, "a lot of shit happened. She was pregnant and miscarried we dated a little after that but it was too weird to stay together."

"Did you have anything to do with the miscarriage?" Nick asked bluntly.

"No!" AJ answered, obviously offended by what Nick had asked, "Granted that I wasn't ready to be a father but I will never kill a baby. Cheryl and I would have figured out what the right thing to do was, I'm sure of that."

"Was she talking about any new guy in her life? Some one that she just recently met?" Brian asked.

"No. Again, I don't like to get in my ex-girlfriends love lifes. There was nothing that I knew about, sorry."

"Alright, thank you Mr. McLean, we'll be sure to keep in touch," Nick replied as AJ finished his answer to the pervious question.

"Okay, anything I can do to help."

Chapter 11

Brian ran his fingers through his hair as he walked through the station. It was his break, but he couldn't seem to get his mind off of the murders. He knew that McLean was involved in some way, but he just couldn't prove it. Everything that all the witnesses had told them had been good. They told them about how good of a person that he was. As much as Brian wanted to believe that, he couldn't fight off this gut feeling that he was having. Brian sighed as he opened the door to his office.

"Officer Littrell," Howie said as he saw Brian open the door.

"What are you doing here Mr. Dorough?" he questioned.

"I still want to help you guys you know?"

"We don't need your help as of right now," Brian replied.

"Come on, there has to be something that I can do," Howie pleaded.

"Well there isn't," Brian answered, "I'm sorry."

"I heard about the other murder," Howie replied.

"I'm sure you have."

"I've seen that other girl around before."

"Really?" Brian asked curiously.

"Yeah, she was AJ's girl for awhile," Howie explained, "I've seen her talking to my sister. I guess they got talking one day 'cause I know I've seen her before."

"So they had some kind of relationship? Your sister and the victim I mean."

"I guess so. Honestly, I didn't know her as well as I knew Doreen. I've known her for the longest, but I know that my sister at least had a general conversation with this other girl."

"Officer Littrell, the results of Carls scan of Spellmans computer are in," Colleen said as she walked into the Brians office.

"Thanks, I'll take a look at it," he replied as Colleen handed him a folder. She turned and walked out of the room.

"What were you looking for on her computer?"

"That information is classified," Brian answered as he flipped through the pages.

"How am I supposed to help if you aren't telling me anything?"

"You just tell us what you know. That's all that we need."

"Oh come on, you guys said that I could help you out," Howie stated.

"And you've been a big help in the investigation. We'll give you a call if we need to ask you any more questions."

"Officer, I was under the impression that I would be helping you for the entire case."

"Well I'm sorry about that missunderstanding."

"Bullshit, you knew that you were just going to ignore me once you got what you wanted."

"Did you honestly believe that we were going to let you get deeply involved in this case? It's our jobs to find answers and we have to do that any way that we can," Brian answered.

"Even if that means lying to the public?"

"We didn't lie to the public. You said that you wanted to help us, and you have been a big help and we thank you for your services."

"You wouldn't have the information that you have if I hadn't come along!"

"And what information is that?"

"Whatever it is that you're not telling me. You've found something and I think it might be because of what I've told you. Now are you going to tell me what that is or not?" Howie snapped. He never usually lost his temper, but this time was different. He had been lied to by the people that he had always believed that he could trust.

"I'm not authorized to tell you what that is," Brian answered. Howie looked at him, his anger clear, but he was able to restrain it.

"Come on. What do you think that I'm going to go out and tell the whole world everything? 'Cause that's crazy. From the beginning, the only thing that I wanted to do was help. So are you going to let me?"

"You have been a big part in our investigation..." Brian started but was quickly cut off.

"Fuck that! What the hell is wrong with you? You were fine with having me around in the beginning so why change that now? I am totally capable of taking care of myself and I have no intention in putting myself in a situation that I can't handle."

"I know what your intentions are," Brian stated, "but I also know that sometimes, you can't do anything about what's going on around you. I'm not going to willingly put a civilian in that sort of position and I'm sure that you can understand that."

"Yeah I do, but I'm not asking to go out with you guys. I just want to hang around here and help with this case." Brian looked at Howie, he was reluctant with letting him be so intimately involved with this case.

"This is a very dangerous cause. Potenital harm is a great risk."

"We've been over that before officer and I understand what the risks are. I just want to help. Now will you let me do that?"

"Fine."

"Thank you.."

"But let me warn you. If any information is leaked out I will hold you personally responsible and I will have you arrested, is that clear?"

"Crystal and I promise whatever you tell me doesn't leave the station," Howie replied.

"Good," Brian answered, "because trust me, I won't hesitate on pressing charges and having you arrested."

"I understand that completely."

"Good," Brian replied sternly.

"So what do we have?"

"We were looking on the computers to see if these girls were planning on meeting up with someone that they had met online," Brian answered reluctantly.

"You think that if they were talking to the same person that he would have killed them both?" Howie asked, a little confused.

"Yes. There are some people out there that kill for the thrill of it and that might be the kind of murderer that we have on our hands. We can't be too careful."

"Why would he just kill these people? Aren't there usually reasons behind murders?" Howie asked as the stared intently at officer Littrell.

"Thrill killers exist. They kill for the thrill, like I said, it's as simple as that. Then you have those people that have deteriated mentally and do it because they don't know right from wrong or have just lost all sence of reality."
"Have you ever come across anyone like that?"

"Not like this. I've seen some crazy shit. It's cases like these that make me glad that I got into this job so that I can protect the people that are innocent."

"Is there anything that I can do now?" Howie asked.

"No. I have to go over somethings and see if anything looked suspisious and not jump straight into action and scare off this guy."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sence."

"I'll let you know when we need you," Brian replied.