Chapter One
Disaster
Everything stopped.
Time stopped, as Dr. Daniel Peirce ran through the halls of his house, calling Lewicki's name. Lewicki tiredly came down the stairs. "What's up, doc?" He asked, smiling to himself when he made a Looney Tunes reference.
"Kate's in trouble!" He shouted. "You gotta drive me to her!"
"What? How do you know?" Lewicki asked.
Daniel just shook his head. "I just have this terrible gut feeling, Lewicki, are you going to drive me or am I going to have to walk, which is going to take a lot longer!" Daniel said, frustrated.
"Relax, relax, Dr. Peirce, let me go get my keys." Lewicki said, heading back up the stairs.
….
24 hours earlier…..
Kate Moretti walked into the office of Dr. Daniel Peirce, a man who helped her with most of her cases. Not to mention he was also her college professor back in college. So, nothing strange about that. She entered the office, and Daniel was face deep in a big research book.
"I hope you're not too busy." She said, studying Daniel's expression.
"No, just reviewing my lecture for tomorrow." He said. "What's up today?"
"Henry Phillips," She said, putting his file down on his desk, as Daniel picked it up, and beginning to study it.
"He…is kind of psycho, and is a serial killer, who had kept a low profile," She explained.
"Then, what's wrong?" Daniel asked, still reading.
"He's resurfaced." Kate said. "Two weeks, a kid was found dead going home from a friend's house, a week later a young woman was found at the side of the road at five thirty in the morning."
Daniel nodded, as the door opened.
"Doc, Paul Haley wants to talk with you." Lewicki stated.
"I'm kind of busy right now, Lewicki," Daniel said, focused on the file.
"Doc, he's pushing." He said, not backing down.
"Look, Daniel, I know where you live, how about we continue this later, I don't want to get you fired from your job." She said, getting up from the chair.
Daniel closed the file, irritated. "No, keep it. Study it, and I'll come by and pick it up later." She said, leaving the office, and heading straight back to work.
…
Daniel put the file down, as Paul entered the room.
"Wow, Mr. Popular today aren't we?" He asked.
"Agent Moretti just came in and gave me another case to work on." Daniel explained.
"It's not interfering with your work is it?" Paul asked.
"No." Daniel answered, truthfully.
"Anyway," Paul said. "I need you to work with someone."
"Work with someone?" Daniel asked. "You mean like, co-working?"
"Yes, sort of." Paul answered.
"Nu-uh, no way, I don't work with people." Daniel objected.
"You work with Lewicki just fine…and that FBI agent, a…Agent Moretti, and you get along just fine." Paul said.
"Yes, because I know them and they know me!" Daniel fought.
"Relax, Daniel, the reason why I want you to co-work with this person because I'm trying them out." He said.
"Trying them out?" Daniel asked.
"Yeah, I want to make sure that this person is for real before I actually hire her." He said.
"Her?" Daniel asked.
"She starts next week." Paul said, getting up and leaving Daniel's office, with Daniel speechless.
…
Kate walked through the halls of the FBI building. "Hey, I just got a tip that our guy is at the mall." Roger said, her partner of thirteen years.
Kate frowned, as she continued to walk where she was going. "Our guy is at the mall?" She asked.
"Yeah," Roger answered.
"From what tip?" Kate asked.
"A girl, a really, really young girl." He said.
"And it's probably just her imagination, you can go." She said, as she exited the building. "Where are you going?" He called after her.
"I'm going to go and try to find this guy!" Kate shouted behind her.
….
Daniel was now at home, thinking about Kate's case. A serial killer was on the loose, and he was mentally ill. But, something didn't add up.
Something troubled Daniel, and he didn't know what. He studied the folder over and over again.
"Nothing is what it seems, Daniel."
Daniel's head flipped straight up, as he saw Natalie leaning against the wall.
"What do you mean?" Daniel asked.
"What I think, this killer is not mentally ill, he is an actor." She said.
"Impossible, you can't just…" Daniel paused. "See, I have a point." Natalie said, with a smile.
Daniel swallowed hard. "So, he's not mentally ill, he knows exactly what he's doing!" Daniel said, frantically. "And he's targeting people he knew….but why would he feign mental illness?"
Just then, the phone rang, and Daniel picked the phone up.
"Daniel," Kate's voice said.
"Yeah, I think I have something." Daniel said.
"What is it?" Kate questioned.
"I don't think Henry Phillips is really mentally ill." He said. "Daniel, he's killing people." Kate said. "And he tried to kill himself."
"I think it's all an act!" Daniel said, excitedly.
"Daniel, I think that's kind of far fetched." She said. But, something happened on the other end.
….
Kate lost control of the car. She held the wheel tightly with both hands, as she began to twirl in circles, and phone dropped to the floor of the car.
The car only stopped when it hit the side of a building, and Kate sat unconscious.
No one could hear the audible shouts of one Dr. Daniel Peirce, shouting Kate's name frantically.