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The next day, Kevin found himself in Rob’s office listening to the details of the two recent murders the office was called in on, both brutal and pre-meditated. The pictures he was shown were beyond cruel. Two people, a husband and wife lay side by side, both bound and blind folded, gunshot wounds were put in the back of both of their heads.



“According to the coroner, they were tortured for hours before they were finally killed.” Rob said as he passed even more gruesome pictures along the line.



Kevin watched his little brother carefully as those pictures made their way to his eyes. Brian only looked at them for a few seconds before handing them to Howie. When he noticed his big brother watching him he quickly looked away.



“Why do you feel this is a serial case?” Howie asked, finally handing the pictures back to his boss.



“Because about two weeks ago, a very similar crimes scene was reported, in that case it was a woman and her son. Same thing happened; on both cases they were tortured and then shot in the back of the head.”



“Why weren’t we notified about that one sooner?”



Rob looked over at Kevin and answered as he handed his second in command photos of the earlier victims. “Because the police considered it a gang related hit. Apparently the kid had a history of violence so they thought nothing of it.”



The pictures once again showed both victims lying in a pool of their own blood, “Is there any evidence that they know each other? A common link between both families?”



“That’s what you need to find out. I’m putting you in charge of this one Kevin. You can use Howie as your second in command.” The agent nodded and sighed. He had taken an extended break from working on gruesome cases such as this one and even turned down a promotion when he was approached about two years earlier, because it would have meant constantly dealing with murderers.



Instead he chose to work on cases that were more benign in nature, until finally Rob convinced him he needed a big case again. “The first huge one I get I’m handing over to you.” He had said and now that time had come.



“Kevin, another thing, I want Brian on this case as well. He needs to be in the field to see how these things work and I know if anyone can teach him, it’s you.”



He looked over at his boss, ready to object, but on second thought he only nodded. Rob was right, if Brian was going to be a great agent, he had to learn everything.



“So better get to work and let me know how it goes.” With that being said, Rob exited the room leaving Kevin in charge.



“All right, well you heard him; we need to find out if these two families have anything in common. Brian you need to try to get a handle on anyone who came in contact with the victims within the last two months leading up to their deaths.”



“Okay.”



“Howie, see if you can track down the next of kin, maybe they can give us some insight.”



“Fine.”



He continued down the line, giving commands and sending his team to various places. When he was finished he walked into his office and closed the door, rubbing at his temples he sat down where he was met with a framed picture of his family. It was from the last Christmas they had with their mother. All of them were sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace, Nicky lying across all his brothers and his mother, beaming with pride hugging her eldest son while holding a glass of eggnog.



Kevin senior had found this picture lying at the bottom of a box of photos as he was packing up the old house, ready to escape to the new one. He decided to give it to his eldest son as a way of holding onto his mother. It was that photo he grasped in his hand and held tight, looking at how innocent and happy everyone was. “I miss you mom.” He said, his eyes slowly focusing on his youngest brother as he did.



~*~*~*~*~*~




Nick sighed as he walked to his locker, barely able to lug his backpack, the weight of its contents almost making him fall over. He hated school and couldn’t wait until he was 16. He planned on quitting on his 16th birthday and wasn’t about to give a damn what anyone thought about it either. “Screw them all,” He said out loud just as he opened the locker and had more books and junk spill out onto the floor.



“Richardson,” He turned his head when he heard his name being screamed from down the hall and frowned when he saw the source, Charlie Branson, the kid who everyone wished they could be friends with except for him.



For whatever reason, Charlie made it his mission in life to make Nick’s life as hard as possible. Tripping him when he had a little too much in his hands or making comments at the back of the class, just out of reach of any teacher’s ears but loud enough for all the students to hear and laugh with delight.



The taunting started as soon as Charlie entered the picture towards the end of their 8th grade year. He was already talked about as a legend because he had been kicked out of two prior schools before entering this one and had been left back twice already. His claim to fame he joked was that he was going to be the oldest graduating senior in his high school class, even though everyone knew that he would end up in jail long before that was going to happen.



Immediately, Charlie tried to latch onto Nick, because he seemed like someone everyone liked but once he found out how goody goody the Richardson family was, the boy decided to make Nick a target of his ridicule. Of course it didn’t help that the youngest Richardson barely if ever fought back, deciding it was best to just ignore the kid as if he was a pesky fly.



“Hey didn’t you hear my call you blondie? Or are you deaf as well as dumb?” Nick just closed his locker and headed for the exit, wanting to get the hell out of that place as soon as possible.



“Hey! I’m talking to you, look the baby is walking away, probably going to go run and tell his policeman daddy and brothers on me.”



That made Nick pause for a second, he wanted nothing more than to punch this annoying kid in the face but he knew how kids like this worked and if he attacked, the taunting would only intensify so he just continued to walk out the door.



Not like he was overly excited to go anywhere in particular, his father insisted he come home directly after school because he was grounded, but Nick just hated it there. That was another thing he planned on doing on his 16th birthday, moving out of his house. Even though it wouldn’t be legal for him to do so until he was 18, the thought of living with that man for another 2 and a half years made him sick to his stomach.



He hated his father with a passion and did ever since he was the reason his mother was killed. Yes everyone said it was a heart attack, no one’s fault but still Nick knew differently, but no matter how many times he brought that notion up to his family members he was always brushed off.



“Hey jerkass…I was talking to you!” Nick was hoping that once he had left the building, Charlie would have just dropped him and gone onto someone else to bully, but no such luck. So finally, Nick turned around and confronted the nuisance.



“What?”



“Oh so you did hear me? You know it’s not nice to just ignore people. Didn’t your parents ever teach you that Richardson?”



“What do you want?”



“I need a favor.”



Nick rolled his eyes, which usually meant money or having to do his homework or something because even though he hated school he still excelled in it. “And what would that be?”



“I need your skateboard.” Just hearing that made Nick’s grip on his board tighten. It was his one treasure, he went nowhere without it. If he could he would be on that thing morning, noon and night. “See, mine had a little accident and I am going to the skate park with my friends here so I need yours.”



Nick turned around and started walking away, “Buy your own.”



“Excuse me?” Charlie asked, with a hiss.



“I have somewhere to be.” With that being said Nick started walking away once more towards his house.



“Maybe I’ll ask my mom for money, at least I have one which is more than I can say for you!” He let out a mean laugh which stopped Nick cold in his tracks.



He pivoted and headed straight towards Charlie and before the bully knew what hit him, he was met with a fist in the face. The boy fell backwards and quickly placed his hand on his mouth, “You son of a bitch Richardson, I’m going to kill you for that!” He managed to say before spitting out blood.



As a crowd started to gather around both boys, Nick got on his skateboard and darted away, in the opposite direction of his house. “Did you hear me? I’m going to kill you for doing that!” Nick just ignored him and zoomed away, towards the firehouse.



~*~*~*~*~*~




AJ sat with his feet up on the table, reading a magazine and waiting for the next shift to come in. He was tired and needed his rest; they had battled quite a blaze first thing in the morning which made him think back to the fire that almost claimed his mother’s life. It was so funny how pretty much everything he did, reminded him of his mother.



As he was in the middle of his thoughts, he didn’t see his girlfriend walk in. She came over and smiled at him, knowing he was daydreaming, “Hey there…what’s on your mind?”



He looked up at her and pulled her onto his lap, “Nothing…just thinking.”



“About your mom?” He smiled, Stacey knew him so well it scared him sometimes.



“Yeah, about my mom.”



“I wish I got a chance to meet her.”



“She would have really loved you.” He said with certainty. Stacey had all the qualities his mother liked in a woman. She was strong, independent but yet could be deeply sensitive when needed. They met while training and both fell madly in love with each other.



“Are you off soon?” He nodded at her so she continued, “Good, so I can take you home with me then right?”



“If you want me, you got me baby.” She smiled and leaned in for a kiss which was interrupted by an *ahem*. When they both looked up they saw Joe, another fireman at the station with his hand on Nick’s shoulder.



“I found this when I was sweeping outside.” He joked, patting Nick’s head as he led him to his brother.



“Hey Nick, what are you doing here? I thought you had to go right home after school?” Stacey climbed off of her boyfriend’s lap and smiled at the teenager, “I’m going to go use the bathroom.” She said blowing her love a kiss as she left.



“Sorry, I didn’t mean to…well…”



“It’s not a problem bonehead, but you better get home or dad will make that punishment last even…what the hell happened to your hand?” AJ asked when he noticed the blood on his little brother’s knuckles. Up until right then, the teenager was protectively holding his hand out of view.



“I hit someone.”



“You what?” AJ grabbed Nick’s hand and walked him over to the sink, “Here put it under there…now what the hell happened?”



“This kid…he just…he made me mad.”



“So you HIT him?” AJ was screaming at his little brother not meaning to, but too caught up in the moment to realize he was doing it.



Nick pulled his hand away from the faucet and turned to leave the firehouse, “I knew you wouldn’t understand…nobody understands.”


“Come back here and stop being a baby…how can I understand if you don’t tell me anything?”



“He was making fun of mom okay? I just lost it!” The teen was close to tears and kicked the wall, embarrassed by his emotions.





That calmed AJ down as he approached his little brother, “Nick, hey…it’s okay. I’m sorry that happened, what kind of a loser would do something like that?”



“Just this kid…I didn’t mean to hit him, I did everything in my power to NOT hit him, but then he brought up mom and I couldn’t help myself.”



“Did this happen at school?”



“No, we were outside and I left before any teachers came out but…I’m sure someone will report it. God, I’m always fucking up!”



He winced at his little brother’s choice of vocabulary but it wasn’t like he had any right to correct him on that one since most likely his cursing was directly influenced by the fireman himself.



“You know, even if you get in trouble for this, no one can blame you. I know if it were me, I’d have done the same thing.”



“I can be suspended for fighting AJ, if I am dad will kill me and then after he kills me, Kevin will kill me all over again.”



AJ walked towards his baby brother and placed a loving arm around him, “Not this time Nicky, I think in this case they’ll understand.”



“I doubt it AJ…” The older brother grabbed the younger one into a hug as he shook his head. Seemed like these days, Nick just found trouble wherever he went. He wanted to press further about the kind of kid that would say something so heartless but decided against it. Kids could be so cruel to each other.



Stacey came walking back in and smiled at the brothers. When Nick saw this he let go of his brother, “Well, I guess I should get home before dad kills me.”



“Put ice on that hand kiddo, otherwise it’s going to swell.”



Nick nodded, “And AJ if the school does call…”



“I’ll talk to dad about it, but if they don’t your secret is safe with me okay squirt?” Nick smiled and nodded at his big brother.



“Thanks.”



“No problem, now scram!” On command, Nick placed his skateboard down and pushed himself off, waving at his brother and Stacey as he left the firehouse.



“What was that all about?” Stacey asked her boyfriend, grabbing him in a hug.



“Just kid stuff.”



“Well, are you ready to go and do some adult stuff?”



That made AJ smirk, “Yeah baby, I’m ready for that!” he said as he pulled her close and finished what they started before being interrupted.



~*~*~*~*~*~






Sitting down at his desk, Kevin went over the information Howie showed up with. “Turns out that the Jacksons were pillars of society, they donated half of their income to charity, the wife was always bringing meals to the local shut ins and the husband would do pro bono work on the side for people less fortunate.”



“So he was a lawyer?” Kevin asked, once again browsing through Howie’s notes.



“Yeah, a pretty good one too according to his brother who also worked at the same law firm.”



“Was he working on any kind of case that would illicit an act of violence?”



“No, actually he was working for a family suing a doctor for malpractice. Pretty standard case, nothing out of the ordinary.”



“What about the wife?”



“She was a housewife. Didn’t work but often volunteered at the local food bank.”



“So basically we have two goodie two shoes.”



“Yes, but the interesting thing is the other family. They are like night and day.”



“How so?”



“Well apparently the kid was heavily into drugs and was even suspected of selling them to local kids. The mom was also a heroine addict. She made her money on prostitution.”



“Night and day.”



“Yeah, I talked to a cousin who told me that before this happened, they had a huge fight, the mother and son, and the cops were called.”



“Did you check into that?”

“Of course I did. Apparently they had to take the son away in handcuffs, they charged him with battery and possession of narcotics.”



“Interesting.”



“Yes and even more interesting, guess who took the case on as a pro bono?”



“Let me guess, our lawyer?” Howie nodded.



“So there’s a connection.”



“Yup, but not sure how both ended up dead.”



“I guess that is the mystery.”



“Yeah.”



“I have even more to add to the mystery then…” They both turned towards Brian as he entered his brother’s office. “You’ll never guess whose name came up as a common link to both victims.”



“Who?”



Brian handed the file over to his brother and watched as his eyes grew big, “There’s a name I thought I’d never see again.”



“Me too.”



Kevin handed the file over to his best friend, “John Nicosia?”



He nodded as he took the file back and stared at the name in disbelief, “I never thought I’d ever have to see or hear that name again.”



“How are they linked?” He finally asked, not really ready to go through all the notes his brother took.



“Anita.”



Kevin nodded, knowing he’d be the one to have to speak to the woman he last saw on the day his mother died.

TGIF! lol hope you enjoy! You all rock for the reviews :O)