Waking up to the harsh light of a single bulb that dangled above Dexter's eyes. When he attempted to sit up he realizes that he can move, the feeling of nakedness across and he relaxed a little, he remembered this dream. The same thing happened when the whole situation with Brian and Deb was going on. He was helpless to watch Deb dressed in hooker wear cutting his own cheek and taking his blood. He had felt so helpless, trapped by the situation, scared as she raised the knife and slammed it home. However dreams normally ended when you realized they were dreams so Dexter called out weakly but found he couldn't he was numb all over. Suddenly a figure stepped over him and looked down, the shadows covering the figure.

"Deb?"

The figure laughed as the light moved to reveal a man wearing surgical gear including the mouth mask, his brown eyes watched with intensity that Dexter knew so well.

"Hello Dexter Morgan, or should I say the Bay Harbor Butcher?"

Everything froze, who was this man, how did he know? Seeing his bewilderment the man in charge smiled and lifted his hand to remove the mask turning to the left to show off his cheek. A cheek that had a medium sized cut down it.

"Now we're even, you know me and I know you so how about we start over? You know why I do what I do, otherwise you wouldn't have let me go but I knew nothing about you and that wasn't fair so I watched and waiting and pounced." he continued walking out of view from Dexter for a moment. Dexter looked against his peripherals to try to find the man but couldn't until he felt the searing pain of his cheek being cut. He watched as the man took his blood and put it on a slide. "If I die, this goes to the police and you will be found out. I will leave you alone but not yet I have something I need to take care of here in Miami. At your prescient so we will definitely be seeing more of each other."

Walking over to the side of Dexter he took out a knife and cut free Dexter's arm before pushing it into his limp fingers.

"Ten more minutes, then you should be able to move again. See you at work Dexter"

Ten minutes would seem like an eternity so Dexter thought back to how this whole mess even started.

Travis Marshall lay on his killing table the knife sticking out of his chest as the blood pooled neatly within the plastic sheeting. The life slowly fading out of his eyes and that perfect moment lasted for only a second as her heard a very audible gasp from across the room.

"Oh God," spilled out of Dexer's lips before he could do anything. Letting go off the knife, leaving it in Travis he walked around the table towards his sister until he saw that she had drawn her gun, the safety on and pointed at the ground her arm going still and holding it out and away as if she herself was afraid of the gun. As he got closer however the gun leapt up and was now pointed at the spot where his heart would have been if he believed he had one. Stopping he slowly raised both hands in front of him.

"Deb I can explain", he started slowly but she interrupted him.

"Jesus Fucking Fuck what happened he tripped and you fell?," Deb wasn't stupid and she was a very good cop so when she saw how Travis was bound she knew it wasn't an accident, Dexter wasn't just defending himself, this was ritualistic, this was sick this was.. The realization of whose MO this was caused her to turn and vomit onto the floor besides her.

"Fuck you're the Bay Harbor Butcher."

"I always hated that name."

"I didn't want to think that your brother infected you before we got you Dex," she said more to herself then to him. This statement caught Dexter off guard.

"What are you talking about Deb?"

"Brian the Fucking Ice Truck Killer Moser, your bio brother idiot"

"I know who Brian is, what are you talking about?"

"I figured that he came after me, because of you but only to see if his brother had become just like he had. I know both he and you watched your mother," she gagged a little then spit to the other side, "get killed. He became a monster and I wished you hadn't too, I guess I was wrong."

"You're wrong and right Deb, I am nothing like Brian, I am a monster who kills only other monsters."

"You've never killed someone who didn't deserve it?"

Shaking his head no Dexter thought back on Jonathan Farrow, the photographer but figured it wouldn't be a good time to bring that one incident up.

"Where do we go from here Dex? I'm the lieutenant for fuck's sake I should call this in."

"And I wont stop you, no matter how much of a monster I am I will never hurt you."

"Too late for that Dex."

"Physically hurt you, I wish I could take this all back."

"Not kill Travis?"

Silent for a moment Dexter decided honesty was the best policy right now.

"No, I shouldn't have done this here I wasn't thinking, he almost killed Harrison Deb, the alter on top of the building was for him."

"Later Dex, I don't think I could take any more confessions."

"We're in the right place," he said gently trying to inject humor into the situation as was happy when he got a small smile.

"What are you going to do about him?"

"Go back to the apartment and take over for Jamie, I'll take over things from here. I have done this before, give me an hour tops I promise no more lies."

Slowly holstering the gun Deb took a step back, her eyes still on Dexter lingering for a moment before turning and leaving.

Fingers closing around the knife Dexter went to work freeing himself. Once he was out he sat up and saw his clothes, neatly folded on a nearby table. Getting dressed he still felt a little weak and sunk down in a chair, from the looks of things he was inside a house that was set up for sale. Looking down at the short end table next to him he saw the fictional book Iced by Raymond Reed. Picking it up he opened the book and turned to the back flap where he saw the author smiling up at him. Short yet messy hair and a big smile he looked just like he had when Dexter first saw him in PD shaking Deb's hand arriving to shadow the homicide team to get into their heads for his new book "Burned" both books were about a good cop who worked with internal affairs to take down dirty cops. Flipping it over to the front he wasn't surprised to see that it was signed.

BHB,

I too hate the media for these dumb nicknames

DCK

It was the next day when that case officially broke and the Cop Killer was created. Mulling over the D for a moment he remembered when he had caught CK and the correction to the name.

Deb was surprisingly okay with everything especially after Dexter promised to bring the leads to her instead of stalking and killing them. Dexter would keep that promise for a while though and would let her know when the desires started to become too much. Pretending was always a skill that Dexter was good at, bringing doughnuts into work and greeting his co-workers including Vince Masuka's daily joke about cream filled. Sitting at his desk in front of the computer he picked up the few blood splatter reports he had to finish for the day and went to work, it was only out of the corner of his eye did he see the thirty something author enter.

"Lieutenant Morgan there's a Mr Reed here to see you," said Officer Bradley to an obviously out of it Deb who just nodded and waved him in. Entering with his hand thrust out he shook Deb's hand when she rose to meet him before they both sat down.

"Thank you so much for this opportunity Lieutenant Morgan, Iced held very high regards with readers but the overwhelming comments stated that I had no real idea how police work well works."

"I've read your book in preparation for your visit Mister Reed and I would have to agree but when homicide why not IA?"

"Ray, Mister Reed was my father's name," Ray said with a smile at his joke, "But yes IA is one of my stops but Burned has to do with a pair of homicide detectives one who starts to make the wrong choices and the other who goes to IA and is enlisted to help."

"No one wants to be known as the stool pigeon Ray," Deb said smiling herself and thinking back to Yuki asking her to investigate Joey Quinn.

"I'll make it work, by the way do you know what happened to Deputy Chief Matthews? He was the one my agent set things up with last year yet he doesn't seem to be the Deputy Chief."

"He retired by choice," she explained.

"Oh that's...good for him, Anyways I guess I'll be started in two days? I still need to move into a condo here but wanted to come in and meet you."

"As long as you don't do anything to impede my investigations that'll be fine."

Once again voicing his thanks Ray gathered his stuff and left. In the parking lot he climbed into his rental and opened his briefcase removing his iPad and doing a local search for Thomas Matthews. After finding his address Ray drove off. Sitting outside Matthews' house after five hours of surveillance using police equipment he acquired during his tour for Iced Ray was certain that Matthews was in a depression. No one came to the house except for deliveries and women who were probably prostitutes and after the last one left and Ray was certain no one else was coming he got out of his car and causally walked up to the house. Ringing the doorbell he slipped around the corner hiding from Matthews who opened the door in his robe. Seeing no one he cursed the stupid neighborhood kids and left the door to swing slowly close. Reaching out and catching the door he slipped inside after Matthews staying out of sight as he went upstairs. Taking out some painter's shoes and slipping them on as well as some gloves before creeping upstairs behind Matthews.

Moving quietly he came up to the bedroom and saw Matthews sitting in a chair with his back to him. He was holding a picture of a woman and crying to himself, a bottle of whiskey on the table beside him as well as an opened bottle of pills. Anger flashed through Ray's eyes, this was not how Matthews was going to die. Ray had been hunting men like Matthews for a long time now just like the main character of his book only to the extreme, instead of apprehending the dirty cops Ray killed them. Slipping his hand into his back pocket and withdrawing a coil of wire he pulled it tight and came up upon the older man. Matthews was about to reach for the bottle when in a flash a glint of metal went before his eyes and he felt the wire tighten around his neck. Gasping his fingers when up to the wire but was unable to get under it so he raised his hands up and began to strike at the one attacking him. Grunting and pulling tighter Ray leaned in close to the man;s ear.

"July 8th 1984 my father Officer Brandon Reed was betrayed by his partner, Isaac Green who made a deal with a gangster. My dad tried to talk Isaac down, to turn himself in, instead he shot his partner of five years in the heart. From that day on something evil grew inside me, I finally got revenge two years ago before my book broke, I killed Isaac Green and it felt so good to be normal again, I promised myself I would rid the world of dirty monsters such as you."

The last of his speech fell on deaf ears, Matthews had stopped struggling moments ago. Letting go Ray went into the bathroom and returned with cleaning supplies setting them down before opening the closet and taking out the former Deputy Chief's old uniform. It took a bit to get him redressed in the uniform but it got done. Pushing the chair over to the window overlooking the backyard Ray got a length of metal cord he also brought and wrapped it around the dead man's neck. Next step was the sign, a sign with the words "My name is Thomas Matthews and I am a dirty cop." was attached to the body as well. Almost done Ray began to clean the area making sure all traces of himself were gone.

After his first twenty four hours in Miami Ray had killed a man, cleaned everything up and was now contemplating where to get some food. He was now downstairs in Matthews' office looking over old files on the police officers of homicide, he needed to know if there were any other cops that needed to be set straight. There were a pair of beat cops who Matthews kept a close eye on because they were letting a local drug cartel due business after they received a cut so he would need to look at that and now he was looking at the others. The first file was the most interesting, Captain Maria LaGuerta didn't like to play nice, a side note mentioning the blackmail she had done to Matthews to get her position. The rest had nothing too bad with the exception of detective Joey Quinn whose own partner had put in a request for his transfer which somehow got denied. Picking up these four files he got up to see Matthews one last time before a name caught his eye and he snatched up one last folder.

Standing behind the dead man, making sure the beam would hold Ray kicked the man off the chair and through the window with a loud smash. Matthews now hung, by the neck, sign in full view for the world to see and with one last look Ray left the house and to his car before driving away into the humid Miami night. Back in his one bedroom condo Ray turning on, at low volume, his police scanner and set the files across one of his desks, the one without the computer on it. Taking a picture off the wall, since this condo came furnished he opened each file and took out a photo of each of the cops. The top was Clay Brooks and Michael Burns, the two beat cops he'd be going after next, below them was LaGuerta and Quinn. Satisfied Ray sat down with some soup he picked up and opened the fifth file, reading up on James Doakes, the Bay Harbor Butcher.

The call came late, just as Deb was getting ready to head home, the call was urgent from a beat cop who knew her and her family, Officer Brooks. Her loose grip on the phone tightened as Brooks read off the address for where this homicide had taken place having visited there before when she was a kid, her and Dexter both. Agreeing that she'd be there as soon as possible she hung up and called together a few people, there was no blood but she figured Dexter would want to be there so she called him in as well as Angel Batista and his partner Joseph Quinn and Vince Masuka and as a last after note sent a voicemail to LaGuerta's box. She contemplated calling in Mike Anderson but after a seven day straight stint she didn't want to bother him on his day off besides this was an old family thing.

"Shit this is just what I need," Deb thought to herself as she walked briskly to the elevator, honestly she was hoping, in a sick way, that it was anyone but Matthews but the report indicated it was a man wearing a police officer's uniform. Blinking away tears throughout the ride down she took a deep breath and was off.

The crime scene was both inside and outside, already there was tape surrounding Matthews house and one going left and right on each side. The EMTs already removed the body stating that he was hanging outside the broken window but aside from removing the body from view they left him the way he was. Batista actually lived close to Matthews and was there first talking to the EMTs as well as the first responder. The first person to call in, a late night walker walking his dog, was sitting on the front steps, his little dog in his lap. She got filled in while Quinn and Masuka pulled up together followed by Dexter who was probably taking care of Harrison when she called this in, probably begged Jamie to stay over again.

Waving over to Dexter who joined the semi-circle around the Medical Examiner who pulled the cloth off the body. Quinn looked visible upset as was Deb but she kept a stone hard face dispite it all. Dexter and Masuka knelt down on each side to examine the man.

"There's a visible sign of strangulation but the marks that are deeper appear to have been made by a wire of some sort, the brusing indicating that he was hung after he was killed," commented Dexter as Vince looked over the sign.

"Dirty cop? That doesn't sound like Matthews."

"You two should go inside and see if you can find anything."

Vince nodded and took his kit inside, Dexter picked up his camera and began taking pictures of Matthews. With everything that was going on with Deb and his dark passenger he was glad in a way for something to work with, maybe catching the person who killed Matthews would help Deb see him in a better light, maybe she would be okay with his type of vengeance especially since it was the man who was like a second father to them, or a first for her.

Later, after taking all the pictures he needed, Dexter made his way into the house, trying to put himself in the killer's steps. Somehow he maybe a she if they caught Matthews off guard, got into the house, went upstairs and killed Matthews. He doubted that Matthews wore his uniform around the house at night so the killer had to redress him before pushing him out the window. Everything appeared in order and Vince had looked around the room enough for both of them and there wasn't any blood at all. Taking this time to look around the house he noticed how unkempt the place was but since he was forced to retire he figured that Matthews was depressed and not bothering to clean. Entering his office Dexter noticed one thing right away, it was close to perfect in there.

Taking a picture of the desk as it was Dexter pulled out the chair and sat down leaning back in the chair. Turning slowly around and looking at the filling cabinets he wondered what someone would be doing here in the office of a so called dirty cop. The first thing Dexter would do if he was this killer would be to see if Matthews had any information on any other dirty cops. Opening a file that was behind the desk he noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Closing it and opening the next it was the same thing however before he closed it he noticed that one of folders had a piece of paper that looked different attached to it. Taking out a pair of tweezers he picked it up and slipped it into an evidence bag and held it up to the light, there wasn't much but if he was looking at what he thought it was then it was a case number, or the first three numbers of one. Looking past the evidence he saw Deb standing in the doorway looking at him.

"Serial Killer sense tingling," she said with a little more harshness that she really wanted to.

"No but this might be something or it may be nothing but I think someone took some files out of this filing cabinet leaving behind this piece which has the beginnings of a case number I think that the killer was looking to see if Matthews was connected to any other dirty cops," he explained setting the bag on the desk and pushing it across to her.

"No do your whole thing, just tell me what you come up with, no running off and taking care of things yourself. Bring him to me first." she said in a firm voice before turning and leaving him to contemplate everything.