"Missing Persons I.D. our bodies?" Detective Will Jeffries asked Stillman as the lieutenant walked in the squad, files in hand.

"All three of them." Stillman said, handing out the files, each with pictures of a victim attached. "Charlie Keefe, twenty-five, missing since April '99. Victor Rodriguez, forty-one, missing since April '03. Laurie Carter, thirty, missing since April '07."

"All in April?" Scotty said, looking over Laurie's file. "What's that about?"

"Different ages, ethnicities." Lilly said.

"Charlie Keefe was a freelance journalist, mostly technical stuff. No family" Vera said, reading his file.

"No family for Victor Rodriguez either. Worked as a data analyst at an insurance company." Detective Kat Miller said.

"Laurie Carter was a filing clerk at a research lab." Scotty added. "Had a husband, Ben Carter. No connections here."

"They're all kinda loner jobs." Kat said, shrugging.

"I could see somebody wantin' to torch an insurance guy, but that doesn't explain the other two." Vera said.

Stillman shook his head. "These guys always have a type. These three have something in common. We just haven't found it yet." He looked at the detectives solemnly. "In the mean time, we better inform Ben Carter we found his wife."

The detectives stood up and headed off in various directions. Lilly paused as she noticed Kat still looking over the files. Kat sighed and shook her head.

"Been here almost four years. I still can't wrap my head around what can make someone wanna do this, then do it again and again."

Lilly shrugged. "Why does someone want to bury people alive in graves, or hunt women in the woods, take their heads as trophies? I'm just glad whatever they have, we don't."

***

Sitting on a couch in the living room of his Chestnut Hill home, Ben Carter breathed a heavy sigh. "Are- are you sure? I mean, is it possible there was a mistake?"

Lilly shook her head solemnly. "We very sorry for your loss."

"Mr. Carter, can you think of anyone who might've wanted to hurt your wife?" Scotty asked gently. "Any enemies?"

Ben shook his head with confusion. "She didn't really have any friends, much less enemies. She worked in the basement of that lab by herself. I worked long hours, so most of our time was just on the phone." He swallowed hard. "I still remember the last phone call we had."

"Something happen?" Lilly asked.

Ben shook his head. "No. We were just..." He shrugged sadly. "Talking..."

***

("You Get Me" - Michelle Branch)

Laurie smiled as she leaned back in her chair. "So what were you thinking for dinner tonight?"

In his office, Ben scratched the back of his head and groaned. "Oh, I'm probably gonna be here late again. Client's still not happy with the ad campaign, gonna drag this out forever, no matter what we say. You probably shouldn't wait up for me."

Laurie sighed, trying to project her pouting face through her cell phone. "I hardly see you anymore."

Ben lowered his head and nodded. "I know, I know. Look, maybe we could go away soon. Take a little trip? Go up to that B&B you've been talking about?"

Laurie's smile returned. "Yeah, sure. We could do that."

"There you go."

"How about this weekend? I could call them today, see if I could get a reservation?"

An uneasy look crept over Ben. "Oh, I... I can't this weekend. I got a business dinner on Friday. It's probably gonna be late too."

The disappointment returned to Laurie's face. "Another one?"

"I'm sorry. You know how these guys are."

Laurie just looked into the phone, slightly hurt, and said nothing.

"I tell you what," Ben said. "Next weekend, we'll go up there, we'll rent a boat. We'll have the beautiful open water all to ourselves. How does that sound?"

Laurie let her mouth widen into a slight smile. "That sounds great."

"Okay." Ben said with a hint of a laugh, before looking down at the forms on his desk. "Well, listen, I gotta get back to work on this if I ever wanna get out of here."

"Okay." Laurie said gently. "I love you."

"I love you too."

***

A look of disbelief passed over Ben's face.. "You never imagine that's the last conversation you're gonna have with someone. I just kept talking about working late."

Lilly and Scotty nodded solemnly.

"You know most people didn't get a chance to see it, but she had sides that could really surprise you."

Lilly smiled. "Yeah?"

"A few months earlier, she'd actually saved a kid from drowning. The most amazing thing I ever saw."

The two detectives listened intently.

"A bunch of people from her work were at a hotel for this convention, and this little kid had wandered off from his parents and ended up falling into the pool. Laurie was the first one to see it. Without even hesitating, she dove in, pulled him out, did mouth to mouth until he started breathing again." Ben looked far away for a moment. "I just couldn't believe it."

***

Philadelphia Technical College wasn't one of the city's larger colleges. Still, Lilly and Kat had some hunting to do to find Amelia Fuentes' classroom just as she was leaving.

"Aeronautical engineering?" Kat asked, after they'd introduced themselves.

Amelia shrugged. "I wanted something with some applications when I finally went back to school. You know, better late than never. It seemed like something interesting and it's not like they're gonna stop building planes, right?" She said with a smile.

"Amelia, you worked at the Germantown Grill ten years ago." Kat started.

Amelia nodded. "Still do sometimes. Tom lets me pick up a shift or two when I'm a little short."

"You remember a regular there around that time, Charlie Keefe?" Lilly asked, handing her a photo of Charlie.

Amelia looked at the photo for a moment, her smile fading, then looked at the detectives uneasily. "Yeah? Why, what's this about?"

"His remains have been found." Lilly said

Amelia looked at Lilly for a moment, then back down at the photo. She put the back of her hand to her quivering lips as her eyes started welling up.

"You two were close?" Kat asked after giving her a moment.

"He was always the first customer of the day." Amelia whispered. "He'd just sit there, typing away at his computer, hardly said anything to anyone. I thought he was just shy or focused on his writing." She looked at the detectives again. "Then one day, he did something I'll never forget..."

***

"Tom?" Amelia called into the empty diner, hanging up her jacket. "Sorry I'm late! Tom?" She scanned around the diner until she finally saw the note stuck to the entrance to the kitchen. "Out of O.J." Amelia said, rolling her eyes as she read the note. "Getting some from the 24-hour store, be back in ten, Tom." Amelia shook her head and sighed. "Great."

She headed back towards the front door to lock it, when it swung open violently. In an inhumanly fast motion, a fist soared through the door and connected with her cheek, knocking her down. A second later, the dark-haired man was through the door, kicking it shut behind him.

Amelia immediately broke into a run towards the back, knocking over chairs as she ran towards the back, but as quickly as before, a hand was on her shoulder, spinning her around, before it clamped down over her mouth, while the other hand held a metal object to her throat.

"Shut up! Shut up!" The man hissed, pushing her towards the kitchen, then forcing her to the floor. "Do not scream, or I'll cut your throat!"

"There's... there's money in the register!" She whispered between rapid breaths when he finally released his hands from her mouth. "Just... just take it!"

The dark-haired man glanced up at the register a few feet away for a second, then back down at her. The look of hunger growing on his face terrified her.

He wasn't here for money.

As this realization sunk in, she summoned whatever strength she had to get back up to her feet, before running to the back door, picking up a large pan on the counter along the way, and hurling it at the man, who simply deflected it away.

Again, however, the inhuman speed caught up with her, pulling her to the floor and pinning her.

"Please! Please!" Amelia whispered as the knife again found her throat.

"This is gonna happen!" The dark-haired man hissed into her ear, with a hint of a growl. "You try to struggle or scream, it's just gonna be worse."

Amelia winced as the man reached down to his belt to start unfastening it.

She finally opened her eyes to see the sadistic look of pleasure growing on his face. "Always wanted a little Philly."

Neither of them had heard the movement behind the dark-haired man. Amelia finally noticed it when she saw the empty coffee pot raised above the man, before it swung down on his head. The pot shattered, a rain of glass falling all around the man, whose eyes were rolling into the back of his head before closing, then finally slumping to one side.

It was only after she squirmed her way out from under the unconscious man that she looked up to see Charlie, his hand still gripping the coffee pot's plastic handle with only a few shards still clinging to it, a mixed look of shock and concern on his face.

"Are you all right?" He asked simply after a few moments.

She nodded rapidly, before stepping over her assailant to crush Charlie in a hug. It was a few more moments before his arms finally found their way around her...

***

"The cops linked him to a rape in Pittsburgh and two more in New York." Amelia said with a far away look as she pulled her arms around herself. "All three of them got cut up pretty bad."

"Lucky he showed up." Kat said solemnly.

"Yeah, I was." Amelia answered curtly.

"Can you think of anyone who might've wanted to hurt Charlie?" Lilly asked.

"No!" Amelia said. "Like I said, he was just there with his laptop everyday, never hurt anyone, hardly said a word. I'm sorry, I don't know anything."

The detective nodded as Lilly handed her a card. "If you think of anything else..."

Amelia nodded, closed her eyes and sighed, before looking back up at them, disappointment in her eyes now . "He saved my life, and this is the hand life dealt him. If you ask me, it really sucks."

As Amelia walked off, Lilly looked away for a few seconds, before Kat folded her arms and looked at her. "You gonna tell me what you're thinkin'?" She asked.

Lilly started walked. "I'm thinking I gotta check out something about Victor Rodriguez."

***

Lilly knocked on the door to Stillman's office before being waved in, Vera behind her. "We got it." She announced.

Vera glanced at the document he was carrying. "Victor Rodriguez helped a guy who'd fallen on the subway tracks back in December of '02, pushed him out of the way before a train hit him."

"December '02, that's just a few months before he went missing." Stillman said, leaning back.

"It was a few months before for all three of them." Lilly said, nodded. "That's what they have in common. They all saved someone's life."

"So this guy's picking heroes." Vera said. "Why? What's he got against them?"

Lilly looked at Vera, then Stillman. "Now that we know who he's going after, maybe we can find out."