AN: Omnipresent/close 3rd POV, btw, because there's many characters and its important to switch between them, just like a TV show would. I might need to add that this is 1 season and then finito. Like a mini-series more so than a real one. That said however you won't get new characters' POVs until you meet them in an already established POV. Like you'll be getting Kyle's POV because we've already met him in Serena's. Got it? Good.

AN2: Things start becoming clearer this episode.

Episode 1

–

Serena signed her name on the bottom of her file and placed it in its box along with her partner's report and other evidence. She labeled the box and dated it. Her partner would take it down to the vault, so she set it on his desk and started in on the several other case files that were open and on her desk.

He came into the room and groaned. "How do you always manage to do this to me? I go out for a snack and you've wrapped up another case. The perp just walk in again and confess everything to you?"

Serena laughed and spun around in her chair to look at the movie-star looking blond. He wasn't the worst to look at partners, though personally she thought Kyle and his rugged looks was better, but he was downstairs still doing traffic reports. "We called in his description, remember? A few officers brought him in while you were out. Sorry."

He grumbled and looked through the contents to make sure everything was there. He was a few years older than Serena and had been promoted to D2 six months before she had been. It had been risky setting up two technically rookies together but they'd managed to close a case a week together for the last six months. Apparently the fresh look at things helped. He added his own final thoughts and a signature at the bottom. "Even printed perfectly." He closed the box and held out his hand for the next case. "At least let me stew on it while I bring this one down. I'm going to transfer to a different partner just so you have to make the walk and give someone else a chance to complete a case."

"It was all there, we were just waiting on the pick up. You were just unlucky enough to be out."

Jared took her current report and looked through the case file. "That's pretty cut and dry isn't it? The son shot the father when the father was going for the gun. It was poorly handled and a sad ending but it can be signed off on as well. He's even in custody already."

"The son is young." Serena looked at it again, the file had landed on her desk earlier that morning, it had happened just as the day switched. "It doesn't seem right to me."

"Do you ever just look at a case and think its how your juniors said it happened? The mother was there and saw it all before calling 911."

"I just think there's more. I'm going to go talk to the boy. He's bound to be pretty traumatized and at the very least shouldn't be sitting in a jail with adults. Even if they are in separate cells."

"That's true enough. Wonder what the ADA has to say about it. Surprised she hasn't just released him into his mother's custody. They have the gun so it can't happen again." He indicated the box. "I'll meet you down there if you want to talk to them.

Serena agreed and took her coffee with her down to the holding. She wasn't allowed to talk to the boy without a parent present and they had to call the mom to come back. While she waited she looked at the gun in evidence. She also called up the responding officer. "Did you check it for prints?"

"Well its going to have the kid's on it."

"Did you check it though?" Jared asked coming into the room and instantly having Serena's back.

"No. It seemed straight forward enough to us not to bother."

"Check it." Jared ordered and the gun was taken to be processed again. "What are you thinking, Serena?"

"Well it should have the boy's and the father's, at least in theory right?"

"If the gun was managed to be taken by him before he passed, yes. Or even the mother's if she touched it to get it away from the boy." Jared's eyes narrowed. "You're thinking that the boy's prints won't be on it."

"I'm thinking they will be." Serena countered softly. "And both parents'."

"Then why the game?" He asked his eyes flicking over Serena's face, it seemed he was often learning from her.

"The gun's too big for his hand. He would have to use both hands to pull that trigger and that would be two sets of prints and won't be in very specific locations, like when someone is intending to use it. It'd explain the gunpowder on his hand, and it will also show if the woman slid it out of the way or gripped it. Or even helped to hold the gun and squeezed his finger for him."

"I can't believe you think the mother killed the man and then blamed it on the boy." Jared shook his head in amazement.

"I didn't meet the mother so I might be wrong. But it makes sense. A child of his age would get off without anything other than psych visits to ensure he didn't go off the rails and help him deal with his 'accident'. I don't want to think so negatively but I don't think I'm wrong. She had powder on her hand too. She would be thrown in jail for life. She might be desperate enough to place the blame on her child's shoulders. His name will be hidden from public record."

"At least it will be done before we have to accuse that poor woman of any wrong doing. It's enough that her son is being held until we sign off on his release along with the ADA. Wherever she is."

Serena rolled her eyes at Jared. "Whatever Detective Mathieu." Then she smiled. "Want to place bets? Whoever loses has to do all the paperwork."

"Deal." Jared shook her hand but he probably knew even as he did it that he'd lose, he always lost.

Sure enough the findings were there long before the wife. In fact with the length of time it took for the wife to come in, the more they realized that she was trying to skip town without her son. They put an emergency BOLO out for her.

Jared was off doing paperwork by the time she got dragged into the building and up to their floor to be questioned and booked. "Write down your confession." He handed the woman a pen after handcuffing her to the chair by his desk and kept an eye on her while he finished up his end of the bargain. Serena went to go get celebratory coffee for all of those involved.

She was downstairs giving the arresting officer his drink when her boss came up to Jared. "Two in one day? How have you done it?"

"It wasn't all me sir." Jared gave credit where it was due as the woman was hauled out again and put into the cell her son had once occupied. He was going into a shelter for the night and then in the morning he'd go home with a relative. Serena stopped by to talk to the boy before he left and brought him upstairs to wait with them. She had plenty of coloring books and crayons for the kids, she'd even created a section for them when the parents couldn't find a babysitter.

"Detective Williams is certainly making some changes around here." The chief commented and Jared could only nod. "Keep up the good work."

–

Serena was razzed the next day by others in the squad. "You need to slow it down. You're giving the rest of us a bad wrap. Our cases aren't as easy as yours are."

"It's that woman's touch." Detective Miraz commented with a wink. She was a pretty solid veteran and Serena shrugged,with a smile of thanks briefly shot at the woman.

"Can't help it. I'm just good at my job. If you want, I'll give you all our easy cases and we'll see who closes more."

"You'll take my harder ones then?"

"No, I want to have a cleared desk every night." Serena's grin was wide and the man giving her trouble laughed.

"Touche." He shook his head and went back to work. "Thanks for the coffee by the way." He lifted it in cheers but didn't look up.

"I'm expecting one when you come back after your break later today!" She called out to him as she sagged into her chair. "What do we have today?" Her latest question was to her partner already hard at work.

He looked at her with censure. "Not sure you'll want to be on this one."

She sighed knowing it was going to be rough and motioned for him to pass it over. A dead blond woman was clipped to the report. "This is a cold case."

"We just got a call to check in with the uniforms at this address. I was handed this file and was patched through to this officer by the boss himself. Thinks we're the best team to handle it. I was waiting for you before we go. ME is already on route to the scene."

"Then we better go." Serena pushed to her feet again and clipped in her gun, her badge swung from around her neck.

When she reached for her keys, Jared shook his head. "I'm driving. This might be more than you can handle."

She didn't bother correcting him and telling him that every case they personally responded to was more than she could handle. She had nightmares she couldn't shake, each victim playing in her head over and over again in a loop, only getting relief from it when another one entered into the occasion so there were more victims seen but the same ones were further apart.

As they drove she got acquainted with the report. The woman had been stabbed seven times. The killer had never been found. The victim's location was- she checked the gps, a block away from this new victim's body. It happened a year ago exactly. "A yearly killer?"

"Let's hope that's all it is." Jared's hands clenched the wheel as they drove. He was usually very laid back and joking all the time. It was rare that Serena saw him tense up like this. "I was training for homicide when the last victim appeared. My trainers never caught the guy and never had any leads. I don't want to go through the same thing twice. This case haunted me. I was never able to tell that poor girl's family anything. They still call, but the officers assigned to the case have retired. We took their places."

Serena looked over Jared's profile with understanding eyes. "Are you sure this case won't be too much for you?"

"We'll see who has a harder time with it. You can drive back if its me."

It wasn't a competition but Serena didn't point that out. She knew it would be hard on her, she wouldn't be human if she wasn't. "You're not supposed to take cases personally or get emotionally involved." She commented but they both knew that would be impossible to do completely.

"You get personally involved with every case we have if it involves a child in some way." Jared pointed out. "Though I have a hard time with those cases too. I thank god every day that I wasn't assigned to special victims."

"You and me both." Serena gave a shudder as sometimes their paths did overlap, like the child from yesterday but that was supposed to be routine. "Speaking of which, did the ADA finally show up? It's not like her to not be in the building unless she's in court."

"Apparently she got promoted to DA and had been taking a vacation with her husband to celebrate. We've got a new ADA but he's still learning the ropes. When he did show up he gave me the new number we can reach him."

"Did he seem competent otherwise?"

"Competent enough, he handled the case well, even brought a stuffed animal for the boy." Jared saw her eyes perk up and he gave her a rueful grin. "Sorry Cherie, not your type. Or maybe I should say it the other way around." He gave a small shrug. "Actually both fit."

"Blonde?"

"Blonde." He echoed.

Serena sighed and continued up the walk towards the abandoned store the girl was in. "I can't believe how many blonds there are down here. Totally ridiculous."

"You're ridiculous." Jared held the door with a hand above her head after she had already done the hard part in opening it. "Just give in to the light and stop with your foolish fantasies." When she turned her head to glare mockingly at him he winked back. "At least now you'll have your pick in eye color."

"And what color eye do you think I should pick?"

"Brown." Since she wasn't looking at him, it sounded as if he was saying it in all seriousness. Yet she didn't have time to question him on it because they had arrived at their scene and there wasn't any joking to be had.

"She wasn't killed here." Serena said and wished she could take back the words that just escaped before she could hold them back.

The ME lifted his head from examining the body. He was an older man and had been on the payroll for several years. He might benefit from some newer techniques and help but they didn't have the budget for either. "What makes you say that Detective Williams?"

"There's not enough blood?" She asked weakly and knowing she'd be made fun of for weeks because of that comment but she couldn't think of anything else fast enough. In fact there was a lot of blood here, perhaps too much blood from someone so slight. That thought actually pulled her away from her embarrassment and turned to the rest of the CSI crew. "Make sure you swab all of the blood samples and compare them to the body.

"Seven stabs again?" Jared pulled the ME's disbelieving eyes from Serena as she canvased the scene with the CSIs.

"Yes. I'll know more about our victim's plight when I get her back to autopsy. It might just be circumstantial or someone wants us to think its the same killer to get away with what they've done. Excuse me. What is Detective Williams doing?" He interrupted his quick debrief as Serena was all the way across the room.

Serena looked back at the two men near the body at the question, having heard all he said. "I'm asking about blood trajectory. Do you have an ID on the body at least? Who is she? What's her name?"

He seemed unwilling to answer as he looked reluctantly back down at the victim's hands. "They, along with the teeth are gone."

"So there's only one way to identify her?" Serena asked while pointing something out to the CSI agent she was talking to.

"Which is?" Jared asked as a 'learning' question, see if she knew the answer. Though he might just have been missing the point she was getting at.

"Face match of course." Then her lips twisted in disgust at the entire situation."Though it might be hard without the teeth." She came back to stand next to Jared. "Any surgeries? Any missing bones or anything else?"

"Not that I've seen. Like I said, I have to do a full autopsy."

"See if she's had anything replaced. Every part has a serial number on it and we might be able to track it back to a name that way too." She turned back towards the door. "Coming Detective Matheiu?"

"Right away." Jared gave the ME a nod of thanks then chased after his partner. She hadn't gone towards the car though, ducking around the side and started breathing heavily, getting the 'clean' air back into her lungs. He stooped next to her and put a hand on her back. "Slow it down. Pull it in then let it out slowly. That's it."

Her breathing became calmer. She took another deep breath. "Thanks."

"It's hard to see dead bodies. I would start to worry when you become desensitized." She gave him a look as she continued to get her breathing under control. "We all deal with it in our own ways."

"I'd like to find a better way of dealing with it." Serena admitted, pushing herself up straight. "I'm good, we can go. Am I driving?" She held out her hand but he held the keys aloft.

"No way. A deal's a deal. You don't see me reneging on that paperwork I had to do."

Serena breathed heavily through her nose. "Can we go to the scene of the last victim?"

Jared turned on his heel and started to lead the way towards the other crime scene, one that was a year old. He was tense as they walked and didn't say much. It was only about a block away and before they went in he glanced out of the corner of his eye at her. "You really think she was moved?"

"I do. I'm not sure why but the blood splatters seemed wrong to me."

"There was entirely too much blood on the walls and ground." Jared agreed. "We'll have to see if tech can figure out the blood spatters. Why did you want them to check all the blood?"

"She couldn't possibly have had that much blood with seven stab wounds to the abdomen. I wonder if they'll find something else mixed in." Serena looked at the new scene and frowned as she took in the beauty salon that replaced it. "They do know there was a gruesome murder victim found here, right?"

"After all the tape was cleared away and they gutted the place, it was really cheap renting. Cheaper than when it was foreclosed even."

Serena fought back the shiver as she pushed her way in. The front desk woman was on the phone but glanced at them with a smile. It didn't take long before she was done and they showed their badges. "Well officers I'd like to help but we haven't called you in for anything."

"We'd just like a look around the place. We won't bother anyone." Jared gave her his most charming smile and Serena already started to slip off and look around. Jared would be better at telling her where the body was found but she didn't think she needed the help.

She closed her eyes and opened herself up to it a fraction. She walked further into the salon around all the customers and workers and towards the back. Unraveling and rewinding the clock. The killer had come in the back door and left the body in the middle of the abandoned shop wanting someone to see it but thinking nobody would, or at the very least it would take awhile. It was true for the first victim but the area had gotten developed again in the last several months and people started replacing businesses that once laid forgotten.

She stopped suddenly at a door inside the mens' room and opened her eyes. Jared came up behind her when she was still standing there and looked to see what had her so absorbed. "Six?" But it wasn't a real question because he was frowning as something came to him too, but he was unable to place it right away.

"It's out of place and not in the same style as the others."

Sure enough the four toilet stalls had small numbers above the handles so the cleaners could reference back to them in a more concise way. Neither the number nor the location made any sense.

"Let's go." Jared put a hand against the center of her back and pushed her towards the door to the hallway. He took out his phone and snapped a few photographs, just in case.

Serena lead the way back to their car and once inside it again, Jared looked for the file she'd had earlier. He flipped through it and landed at the bathroom with broken stall doors. This hadn't been important at the time but the numbers were written the same.

"I just thought they'd been marked for demolition." He turned the file to Serena and on those doors were two numbers split apart, a one and a two. "Do you think this is the countdown?"

"Twelve and six?" Serena bit her lip. "What can we get from that? It's halved?"

"It was a year ago." Jared started the car as he thought but didn't put it into gear as his thoughts clicked into position. "A year is twelve. He's speeding up his killings. We only have six months now to find the killer."

"Why would he do that? Why would he shorten the length between kills? Why would he tell us in such a way?"

"He wants us to find him. He wants us to catch him. It's a game to him." Jared put the car into reverse to back out of the diagonal stalls. "Did you find anything there? I know the scene's been changed but you're really good at spacial reconstructing."

"Nothing really." Serena hesitated, but he was her partner. "He wore a mask."

"We've got six months. He went back to his old crime scene to leave another message, he dropped the new body off a block away and he wears a mask." Jared turned around and was back to the salon. "Give me two minutes." He jogged inside and came out a minute later with something in hand. "It's security footage from the night in question. She didn't think it would help, the cameras aren't state of the art or even angled well." He handed it to Serena who carefully bagged it and kept it from direct sunlight as they drove. Any small thing would break a case wide open.

–

Kyle had become one of her best friends. Though they often worked odd shifts and barely saw each other on the case and off, when they did get together they always enjoyed it. Often times they were just sitting and having a beer on his rooftop. Jared sometimes joined them.

Tonight it was just Serena and Kyle and he handed her a 1554, popping the top off for her beforehand. His fingers brushed the back of her hand as he pulled away and a frown crossed his features. "Something bothering you?"

"Beyond the usual?" She asked leaning back into the plastic striped folding chair and taking a sip of that full-bodied drink.

"You know you can't get much past me." He raised his own to his lips in a mild salute.

She looked down at her hands and into the neck of the bottle, thinking. "I'm not sure how to go about this one."

"You found the man, didn't you?"

Serena's eyes flickered over to him, her case wasn't a secret apparently. "The problem is there's no proof and another victim is coming up in a few months."

"Sometimes working as we do is hard. There's nothing you can use to get a warrant?" At the shake of her head he knew that the guy probably wouldn't even get on the lookout list because he hadn't done anything to warrant it. Their boss would want to know why they assigned that guy a tail. "Don't do something stupid." Kyle hissed suddenly leaning forward.

"You can't read my emotions that far away." She grinned, trying to make light of the situation. "How do you know my thoughts went down stupid? What is stupid, anyway?"

"Stupid is you tailing him yourself. You fit the profile perfectly. He might not hesitate to kill you and move up his timetable. He wouldn't care that his careful planning and controlled situation has gone down hill. He'll just find some way to explain it away if he ever gets caught."

"I can't just let him kill another woman." Serena grumbled, her fingers turning white around the bottle. "I hate this job."

"Just another six months and you can transfer." He soothed. "Stick it out and you'll be in the home stretch."

"I'm only able to transfer if there's a position open for me." She took another swallow. "With my luck I'll be given special victims or something else I don't want to handle. At least with this job some things are straight forward."

"Another six months." He repeated firmly. "If it makes you feel better I'll tag team with Jared and we'll watch the guy. You're going to steer clear of it, got me?"

"I am a cop too you know." She felt a little defensive but knew it wasn't strictly because she was a woman and sometimes there was no getting around that fact.

"Right, you're a cop with the exact generals that the perp is targeting." His voice was dry and she slid her eyes his way. "How long exactly before the next victim is supposed to show up?"

"Three months." It had taken that long to figure out who he was and where he came from. Just because Serena knew his face didn't mean that everything was already figured out. "We're pretty sure motive is self-explanatory though there are other details we need to look into beyond what we've already figured out. We've narrowed down the weapon he used, we just need it in hand along with the victims. Opportunity will fall into place. The cameras at the salon have given us very little to go by except a partial plate and that lead nowhere. The plate was a fake."

"You didn't get plates from your little helper?"

"It doesn't work that way." She sounded long suffering as if she'd explained it a million times. "It was a black van but do you know how many there are of those in the state alone? A lot. The plates didn't kill the girl."

"All right, all right. I'm sorry I asked so much from the help." Kyle held up his hands in surrender.

"You're not as charming as Jared." She teased. "He can get away with the mockery."

"With you though he doesn't seem to employ that tactic. He's always so serious when you get involved."

Serena waved him off. "He's just hyper aware and looking for any clues I might miss. He's my superior officer. His ass is on the line if I mess up."

"That's funny because you usually seem to be the one picking up his droppings." Kyle shook his head. "Don't underestimate this though, he worries about you."

She gave a shrug. "Perhaps as a little sister."

Kyle laughed. "Maybe he likes the challenge you present him and if he finds another woman to take his attention away from you that might become true."

"Don't think I'm going to fall for my partner anytime soon?"

"With some of the high risk situations you've had with him and it not happening, no, I think you've firmly placed him in the friends zone."

Serena's legs kicked up onto the cooler. "Good, that's where he belongs. I don't mix personal and professional life. Not to mention that he's a serial one-night-er."

Kyle gave a nod but his thoughts were already elsewhere. "Zack's not helping you out at all?"

That produced a loud laugh that sounded good from the girl who had gotten more serious in the time he'd known her. "I'm not exactly the person he responds to the best for favors. Now if you or Jared asked him, perhaps he'd be a little more receptive to the idea."

"Doesn't like females? I guess I never picked up on that. I always figured he'd treat both fairly and none of this gender-biased workplace thing would get in the way. Females have just as much right being cops as males do."

A smirk crossed Serena's lips but she didn't say anything, just went back to her drink. A few minutes later she introduced a different topic altogether. Something based on pop-culture that neither really had time for but still managed to hear about.

As the night drew to a close, Serena stood up and stretched. "A jog tomorrow morning?"

"You mean in a few hours or after a two decent sleeps and a work regiment in the middle?"

Serena reached for her toes and then crossed sideways reaching for the opposite before standing back up again, stretching. "In a few hours and in a day's time."

"I'll take you up for the day from now but I'm going to go plop onto my bed and sleep for hours."

"Missing out." She picked up her two bottles and dumped them into the recycling can he had up there. "See you in a day then." She jogged down the steps, taking two at a time and towards her waiting car. The line had shut down a few hours ago and they both knew it would last this late.

"Bye." He said to the empty air as he repeated her actions with his own several empty bottles and did as he said he would.

–

Kyle took a swig out of his coke.

"That stuff will kill you man." Jared commented as he looked out his window at the vehicle parked down the side-street. It was a month after Serena had come clean to him about her problems with the case and tonight they were getting closer. They just needed to catch the man opening the back door. They needed to catch him soon as Serena was getting restless as she had everything she needed to wrap the case up nicely except for the major proof. She even had the connection to the farm, albeit it was a stretch. She knew it was there, she just didn't have a warrant to make it legal and stick. Nobody wanted this to go sideways.

Together they bought one of the old Pizzeria's trucks for cheap and parked it in front of the restaurant and pretended that they were waiting for a delivery. It meant that every once in awhile a man had to come out with an order and they had to go around back and then leave the scene but usually that was to switch off shifts between their regular jobs and sleep. They were both lucky that they didn't have families wondering where they were all the time.

Kyle leaned back into his seat, resting his eyes and responding to Jared's comment. "You're an idiot."

"What makes you say that?" His voice sounded distracted and Kyle lifted one lid lazily.

"You believe all that medical mumble-jumble."

"Mumble-jumble?" Jared asked with disbelief. "You were once on the fast track to becoming a doctor. You should be well-versed in all of that jargon yourself."

The older of the two sighed, it was true but he learned quickly that it wasn't for him, but not before he'd spent years studying medicine. It was only discovered when he had to actually interact with the patients. "None of it is based in scientific fact. It's all conjecture. A real doctor wouldn't tell you what the news tells people is often regurgitated so it looks nothing like the original form as they can't understand the findings or it is in direct opposition to what they said a week before."

"I still stand by the fact that coke will kill you long before other caffeinated substances."

"I can't believe it took me so long to realize that you're one of those health-nuts. Emphasis on the nuts." Kyle closed his eyes again. "All these fads your following won't make you live any longer."

"Just healthier and feel better." Jared returned.

Kyle snorted. "Because coffee is so good for you."

Jared ignored Kyle when he saw a man go around the back of the van and paused there. "Think he looks like Serena's drawing?"

He opened his eyes and peered out the window. "It's hard to tell." It was dark and the man was wearing a hat and a high-collared jacket. "What's he waiting for?"

"You think he's spotted us?" They had purposefully parked down the road a little so they could still see the van but not be as obvious as sitting directly in the intersection. Yet the real issue was that they had to be visible slightly if they were going to be able to get a glimpse at what was inside the van.

"No, we're just doing what we've been doing for the last month. Nothing out of the ordinary." Except that the truck hadn't sat there before a month ago and if this guy lived in the area as long as it seemed, he would know that. He had the owners tell the staff that their was a new system they were trying out for a few months but only time would tell if the guy bought that.

Thing was, they were out of jurisdiction. Gretna might be a suburb but they had little authority here. So if they did catch the guy in the act they had to move fast.

Something felt off to Kyle and he couldn't place his finger on it. The girls had both been identified and they were both from out of state. "Why cross the river to dump the bodies?" Where did he find the girls? His job had very little to do with tourists, if at all.

The man at the van had decided not to open the back after all and had started walking in their opposite direction. He didn't even look back towards them.

"Why do anything?" Jared asked and Kyle could feel the unease radiating off of the other man. Sometimes it was a wonder how the easy-going man got promoted to D2, much less why he got placed in homicide. It didn't seem a good fit, at all. He should have been on beach patrol or a lifeguard instead. "It's smart though, dumping the bodies somewhere away from where you sleep. Yet still its close enough to get in and out without being caught. With the cover of night, things get missed." Jared patted the door. "Might as well go make a 'delivery'."

Kyle put the truck into drive and swung around the corner and waited another minute before pulling back onto the road and following the man's direction. "We're never going to catch him opening that door, he knows its too big of a risk to be caught. We need to follow him to his picking field where he doesn't feel as exposed."

"He dumps the bodies in a location with cameras. I don't think he's too worried." Jared rubbed the back of his neck. "Unless Serena's wrong."

"Has she been?" Kyle tried to go as slow as he could without appearing like they were tailing the guy but soon they had to pass him and pull into a side road. Jared got out with a cardboard box and ran up the steps and into a building while Kyle kept watch of the alleyway for the man. Jared didn't have an answer for him because so far she hadn't been.

Jared jogged back down to the truck and slid in. "Anything?"

"No, he must have gone down a different street." Kyle drove the truck back to their spot but when they drove by the street the black van usually sat at, it was gone. "She's not going to like this." It was the first time the van had been moved other than street cleaning in the last month.

"How did he get back to the van so quickly?" Jared questioned, sure that it would take too long to walk back by the time they drove that same distance.

Kyle groaned and dropped his head onto the steering wheel. "We've been played."

"He knows that we're onto him."

He slid his phone out of his pocket to call Serena when Jared's hand on his wrist stopped him. Anger slid up his arm and he knew it wasn't his own feeling because he was already feeling that with a host of other emotions towards the newest situation. "What is it?" He tried to shake Jared off. He hated feeling others' feelings but sometimes it was necessary and sometimes it was unavoidable. In both his chosen fields it was a help but it was also a hindrance.

"You're not pulling her out of bed with this news. We lost him, we'll find him."

"Serena will do it a lot faster than we will." Kyle argued. "She can come here and-"

Jared shook his head. "You want to put her in the scope?" It was a repeat of what Kyle had said a month ago but that was against Serena staking a place out. This was different, this meant her skills could be harnessed rather than a direct involvement.

"A BOLO?" Kyle finally dropped his hand, Jared was right. Sometimes Jared proved he was right for the job after-all. Serena was off duty and so were they but a call to dispatch wouldn't hurt anyone.

"I'll do it. In the meantime, I think it's time we look into some of his other haunts."

"The farm?" Kyle questioned putting the truck into gear, they had to swing a few blocks over to park in their stall. Rent here was fairly inexpensive and it would look like they lived in an apartment in the area without having to actually chip away at their expenses. The Sedan was a few streets further in a slightly nicer block and they'd have to walk to it from the pizza truck's owner's lot. It was just in case the man happened to see the truck parked there while they were at their real jobs and didn't associate the sedan with it. Not that it was needed anymore, the guy had figured them out.

"It's where he's bound to go eventually." Jared agreed after putting in the BOLO. They at least had plates now and if a local officer pulled him over they might look into the back if it was suspicious. That at least fit the chain of evidence nicely. As they drove the half hour drive, Jared mulled over his thoughts. Kyle only knew what he was thinking when he spoke again. "He might not have made us. We might have just been following someone who was curious about the van and then gave it a pass."

"You mean like a hijacker who decided against it?"

"Exactly." Though both knew that was a long shot.

Someone radioed in a short while later. "We found your van."

"That was quick." Kyle pulled over to the side of the road so they didn't have to backtrack further. "Where do we need to go?"

"Found him on the old bridge not too far from where you started." The voice responded. "Except the man doesn't fit the description and when officers had him step out of the vehicle there were no keys."

Jared cracked up. "You mean there was a hijacker after all, just after we left instead of before?"

Kyle's eyes slid to him to shut him up. "Take the van into the police impound lot. We'll want to go through it for evidence before calling round to the owner. He hasn't called has he?"

"Not yet." The man had been going for a walk, he might still be on it and hadn't had a chance to find his ride missing yet. "Want us to call him?"

"No, that's all right, we're going to swing around and pick him up. He'll be pleased to know we found his van." Jared's lips twitched as he spoke and hung up with the caller. "This is great."

Kyle couldn't believe it either. The hijacker gave them a perfect excuse to go through the van with the owner to make sure nothing of value had been stolen. The man wouldn't be able to refuse coming with them as they had his van and it would be suspicious if he didn't come. In the meantime he couldn't mess with the evidence because he'd be sitting in an office full of cops.

"Serena's going to be pi-is-sed." Jared sang, pleased he'd finally broke a case while she was out.

"You seem to be in a lot better spirits." Kyle commented as he drove back to the man's residence, he didn't work too far away so usually walked there. In fact it was the lightest he'd ever seen the man and he was usually pretty annoying and chipper.

Jared lifted both eyebrows in mild surprise. "Of course I am. This is one case I've been working on for nearly a year and a half. I'm just glad to see it at the cusp of being solved and done with. At least on my end." He'd have to review it all again at trial just in case he got called to the stand but it would be out of his hands in the meantime.

That was something Kyle could understand. His phone peeled off before he parked and he finished parking before answering the phone. It was Serena. "It's all right, we're just going in now to pick him up."

"Really?" Serena's voice was crisp on her end of the line. "Then why is it I see him at this very moment getting out of an airport taxi in Holy Cross?"

Kyle swore. "Just stay where ever you are and don't go near him. We'll be right there." He hung up and got out of the car.

Jared was waiting for him outside of the car, already resigned to know what Serena had called about. They could question her about why she was down there later. "What did she want?"

"We need to go, now."

"No." Jared nodded towards the apartment complex behind him, he already knew the room number. "We're going to pick him up first." There was no way he was going to slip through their fingers again.

"She spotted him in Holy Cross."

"We know he's been here, there's no way he could get from here to there in that amount of time." Jared started up the steps without Kyle and he hit the top of the car before joining the prettier of the two men.

"You're being reckless. We need to back up Serena."

"I'm being thorough." Jared denied.

Kyle grumbled. "We can't even know for sure that he's been here the whole time. He might have snuck out earlier or wasn't here at all. We weren't here the entire morning."

"You weren't here the entire morning," Jared disagreed. "I was. We'll just check in with him, put him in the car and on the way make a detour over to Holy Cross. He'll understand. In the meantime the vehicle will be processed and so will the hijacker. It'll be fine."

A headache was forming at the base of his skill. He didn't have to touch Jared to know tension was radiating off of him in waves. Jared wanted to gun the car towards Serena, he was too good of a partner to leave her hanging like this but he also wanted to cover all the bases on their end. "At least send another member of the squad to her."

Jared had his phone out with that suggestion and was ringing up another member of their team. Most cases were between the two partners but in some situations other members on homicide lent a hand. In this case it had extended to the others to help follow down leads. "Boone, I need you in the Cross. Call Serena when you get close and she'll give you directions." Jared listened and gave a faint nod. "I'm too far away to get there first. Good." He hung up the phone and slid it back into his pocket.

They were in the stairwell and had just found the landing the man lived on. It didn't take too much longer before they were at the door and the man who matched the drawing Serena had created opened the door. "Mr. Leblanc? NOPD." Kyle flashed his ID quickly.

"Yes? What's this all about?" The man was in pajamas. How long had he been home and getting ready for bed? Maybe neither of the men they saw on the street tonight was him. It was possible. His height was average as was his weight. Nothing about him was really standout.

"Earlier this evening your van was stolen. We'd like for you to come down to the precinct and identify it."

"Oh. Yes. Yes of course. This is just a shock to me. I saw it only an hour ago. Stolen you say? That is so strange because I needed to take it in for a tuneup later this month." He rubbed a hand on his forehead. "I'll just take a moment to get dressed." He started to close the door but Jared shot a hand out to keep it open.

"Actually, if you wouldn't mind coming right now, we're in a bit of a hurry." There was no way this man was getting the jump on them and fleeing the scene.

"A jacket's fine. You'd be surprised at the clothing some people wear at a police station." Kyle tried to soothe over Jared's agitation. He wasn't even trying to use his charm and usual persuasion. He frowned at him but Jared wasn't letting his eyes off of Leblanc.

"Right, right." The man was nervous and his actions were jagged as he pulled on a jacket and stuffed his wallet into his pocket. At least he had the presence of mind to do that, so he'd have identification on him to get the van back.

Kyle's eyes narrowed as they lead him down the stairs to the car sitting at the curb. There was a screen between the rows so they didn't handcuff him, not wanting him to get suspicious. Jared opened the door, unsure if he would behave himself if he was in reach of touching the man. He got in and it wasn't until they were across the river and heading towards 9th that it occurred to him what was wrong.

He had his phone up to his ear before he realized he was calling her. The man had never gone around to the back in the entire time they'd been watching him. "Where exactly are you?" He was relieved to hear her voice.

He put the car into a higher gear after she told him and they were speeding through the streets. When the streets narrowed he had to slow but he still squealed into a parking spot when they reached the area Serena had said she and Boone were at.

"Stay in the car." He ordered Serena when she attempted to get out, Jared was right behind him as they forced their way into the house Serena was canvasing. She didn't listen and she was steps behind them, having to wait while Jared had trapped her with his open door. Boone stayed behind with the man in Kyle's sedan.

Jared held a hand out and pushed Serena behind him, her weapon was drawn but she was not dressed for this. She was in shorts and a tank top that couldn't conceal even the lightest vest. She didn't fuss about the position, she probably knew better than to go in first.

They heard shots fired behind them and Serena was the first out the door, her gun discharging before she even cleared the house. A shout and a man was down on the ground bleeding out through a new hole in his thigh. Jared grabbed Serena by the waist and shoved her behind him again as Kyle ran to the man, putting a knee in his back and cuffing him.

When he dragged the man onto his feet, he stilled as he was looking at the perfect double to the man in his car.

Serena went to check on Boone who was ducking under the console while Jared bagged the gun the other man was firing. Thankfully Serena had bulletproof windows installed into her car and Boone was sitting with her while they waited rather than in his own. Once he was taken care of she opened the front passenger seat of Kyle's car.

Kyle had almost forgotten about the pajama wearing man with his double held in his hand. They weren't dressed alike at all. He could hear her as he dragged the man with him to Boone's back seat. There was no way he was going to put him behind Serena. She could drive herself to the station.

"Are you all right?" She asked and could visibly see her freeze as she took in the similarities as well. "Woah."

"Let me out of here." The man was grasping for a way out and trying to push the door open but there weren't any handles inside and were child-locked.

"Pipe down. You're under arrest." Jared snapped sliding into the driver's seat.

They were a couple inches different in height but their differences were in the proportions and Kyle called Jared out before the seat or mirrors could be screwed up. "You're not driving."

Boone was already behind the wheel of his car and its motor was already purring, ready to leave. They couldn't really leave just yet, it needed to be called in. "Go. I'll take care of things here." Serena pushed slightly against Kyle's back and he gave a nod, getting into the seat now vacated by Jared. Jared squeezed Serena's upper arm before climbing into the passenger seat. Then the three men drove off with the identical suspects.

Her phone was already in hand and she was sliding into her seat as they lost sight of her. Kyle wasn't too worried, she knew to lock the door once inside. The radio spoke as they drove back, and he relaxed further into his seat. He shouldn't have been so worried about leaving a fellow officer behind, even a female one. "Available CSI please report to 5486 Juniper Lane, Holy Cross." She'd be joined soon by a horde of officers.

–

She thought it was sweet that her old partner and her new partner were so worried about her. A little irritating at times, but sweet. They were good friends and good cops and it turned out their worry was unnecessary as she met them at the station about an hour after they got there. She'd probably worry over them if they were in any danger, too.

Kyle was sitting in her chair when she walked in and when he saw her he got out of it quickly to move to one of the hardbacks next to her and Jared's desks. She sank into her plush chair with a smile. "I'd say you look good behind a desk, but since you're already D1, you already have it down to an art." Then she turned her attention to Jared. "What'd I miss on this end?"

"He confessed." Jared announced. "Piles of evidence against him and the van to top it off gave just the right push to have him boasting about his kills."

She held his eyes, waiting. "Which one?"

He seemed uneasy. "You were right about your lead. I'm sorry it took us so long to get there. He could have shot at you before hand and you would have had no backup." Not to mention everything else.

She flipped her hair over her shoulder unconcerned. "He did shoot at my car, you were there, and it held up. Besides, the man you brought was identical."

Kyle nodded. "They are twin brothers. They were adopted when they were young and met up again about two years ago and the one that killed those women had been adopted by a drug-addled, abusive blonde.

"We didn't find any drugs in their system." Serena turned her head sharply at the news. How had she missed this?

"The same way you know he was trying to obscure their identities. He didn't want them to be known just like he wasn't. I think in a way he was trying to clean their systems."

"By mixing their blood with pig's blood?" That had rolled her stomach the moment she learned what had been in that room with the woman. "Was it only the two victims?" This was what she needed to know the most.

"Yes." Jared's mouth was hard. "He met them on the plane ride and knew what the security guards had missed, apparently he was a drug and substance abuse counselor in his home state of Maryland. He figured if he did the killings here, where he had no records then he'd get away with it. He was also trying to taunt us. The twelve wasn't just a month, it was how many he was going to kill next. One the first year, two the second, six the third."

Serena frowned. "That sounds like a large jump."

A shrug was her response from Jared.

"His brother knew there was something off about the car and he'd given his brother directions to the farm but he never looked in back. He said that when they first met that his brother seemed well adjusted, and was a better communicator than he was. He just got warned off from looking while it was in his care. Which explains why it never got moved in the last month that we watched. He wasn't the one with the keys. Big surprise when the hijacker got caught and he saw what was in back. You're right, the bodies got moved after the fact."

"The seven stab wounds are rage or the seven sins. He wouldn't say." Jared frowned. "Why the district?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Serena asked closing her eyes as she sat back in her chair. "For a man who had no roots or home to really call his own, it makes sense that he would go back to the same areas. They were comfortable. However when his first dumping ground because a store he had to find someplace where he could be uninterrupted and moved to the next block over."

"The house in HC?" Kyle asked, resting his hand over Serena's, trying to lessen the pain coursing through her. That might work temporarily but the memory wouldn't go anywhere.

"After you left I went in with CSI. It's where he hooked up the transfusions. There were bats of that stuff." She bit her bottom lip as it assaulted her again. "The women were still alive and conscious when he changed their blood. That's what killed them." She shook and gripped Kyle's hand hard and then breathed through it and opened her eyes. "I think his brother has more to do with the killings than he has said."

"They'll both be going away for a long time." Jared vowed and looked over her shoulder. "Won't he, Zack?"

ADA Zack Abram gave his firm agreement, his green eyes cold. It wasn't the first time Serena saw him and shivered, and he was just a laywer. "For a very long time. The three of you have brought me three new cases. Hopefully I can get at least one of them to sign an agreement before court."

"Do you have everything neatly organized like you usually do, Detective Mathieu?"

"That's partly Serena's specialty." Jared slid the box over to him. "All that's missing is our final reports from tonight."

"All right but for the near future it is best if you take point as lead detective, as you have more experience with cases and files. This way it won't seem as if a rookie is doing your job."

"Wait a second, you can't put her down like that, she solves a lot of cases." Kyle jumped to her defense and Zack turned his attention onto Kyle.

Something flared in his eyes as he looked down at the man. "Seeing as how you're not even a homicide detective, perhaps you better walk away from this case all together, Detective Ramsey." He took the hand raising a finger at him and moved it away and something akin to surprise appeared in Kyle's eyes. "Regardless it will look better for the case if it appears that Jared had lead on it. I don't care if she is a better detective, he has more time in the position."

"All right." Something had happened there between the two of them that suppressed Kyle's mood. "Just back off the female bashing."

"I think females are beautiful creatures in their own right and excel in certain facilities. Serena is a rare one in the police force and they are under utilized in other male dominated arenas."

"Touching." Serena cut in before this could get out of hand. Or at least even further out of hand. "Back to the case gentlemen."

"Like I was saying, please wrap up last thoughts." Zack lifted a file and headed towards the cells, probably to talk to the hijacker. At least that one was easy.

Kyle stared at the man's back flabbergasted, probably never seeing Zack that way before. Serena had no idea how often those two interacted but she had to interact with the other man a lot. Her eyes flickered over to Jared's amused pair and the two of them busted out laughing.