Ok finally here is chapter 3!!!!
Once again major major props to my girl Val, who without her help this chapter and fic wouldn't be happening!!
As soon as they had come back from the morgue Special Agent Lansen had consciously pinned the diagrams showing the wounds of the male victims on a board. He was now standing next to Calleigh taking notes now and then in silence. The young CSI stared at them with a frown on her face. The similarity of the wounds from one victim to the other was astounding. The killer had methodologically inflicted the same torture on every man. That level of precision sent a shiver down her spine but it also made her resolve to catch the serial killer at any cost.
A snapping sound at the other end of the layout room told Calleigh that Stellers was finished with his phone call. As soon as they came back from Alexx's, he had called his office and discussed their findings with the part of the team that had remained in Quantico. She nervously smiled at him.
"I told Karen we would send her our last findings within the hour." He turned towards Lansen with a concerned look. "Will you be ready by then, Thomas?"
"I think I have everything down to the tiniest detail." A deep frown marred his face, matching his colleague's concern. "I can't say I like what I see."
"Neither do I. And that's why I called her right away." Seeing Calleigh's puzzled look he added for her benefit. "She is our best profiler. Too bad she couldn't join us here, but she is seven months pregnant..."
"The wounds on Elkin are consistent with our serial, but several things are missing." Lansen walked towards the diagram and pointed at different points. "See his ribs? There are usually six parallel cuts, three on each side. Here there are only four; two are missing."
"The UPS guy probably interrupted him before he was finished." Calleigh noted with a nod.
"Most definitely." Lansen confirmed. "The throat showed only bruises, no gapping wound. He didn't have the time to complete his ritual. This was a first for our serial."
"Doesn't he normally take the men's ears as a trophy?" Calleigh wondered remembering the autopsy reports she had read earlier that day.
"Yes, we think it's part of his statement to the world." The younger agent nodded. "The men don't listen, the women won't see. It's probably very personal, a reminder of something that happened to him when he was younger. He might go on punishing people who remind him of past abuse he endured."
"For someone as meticulous as our killer, Elkin's death before he was ready to let him go was probably a major set-back." Stellers said absentmindedly tapping his cell phone against his chin. "Karen thinks he might consider the cycle was broken and his last two victims were unworthy of him and his message. He could be looking for a new female victim very soon."
"That's what I feared." Lansen said in breath. "I'll send everything over right away. The sooner Karen gets the data, the better it will be."
"Do you think that he will strike in Miami again or will he move to another location? He usually moves once he has done his deed." Calleigh wondered.
"He isn't finished with this city just yet." Stellers said as he took Elkin's diagram from the board and gave it to the young woman. "This is something he sees as a major mistake. And I doubt he can live with such a failure. He'll start afresh and this time we'll catch him."
"I wish I were as confident as you."
"I am because our man is becoming careless. He almost got caught because he took too much time. This could be a sign that he is slipping deeper into his dementia and more likely to make mistakes again." Stellers passionately insisted. "We know that he looks for specific kind of people. Just check the pictures of his victims, male or female. They all look alike. The men were all slightly overweight, with light-brown hair and blue eyes. The women were all slender, with long blond hair. This is no coincidence. We have to use that knowledge."
"But Miami is a big city and a lot of people fit this profile."
"This is where we need your help." Stellers' voice had dropped an octave when he spoke. His eyes were intent on the young CSI gauging her reaction now that he had played his cards.
"I fit the profile too." She conceded in a whisper. "You want me to be bait?"
"Yes." Stellers admitted. "We'd like to have your picture in the local newspapers in hopes he will see it and act accordingly. I discussed this idea with your Chief and as long as you agree and receive proper protection, he won't stand in our way."
"We can't be sure he will go for me, especially if he knows I am a cop." Stellers' smile broadened as her main concern was the fear of not being good enough bait.
"You're going to be a temptation he won't be able to resist, cop or no cop. So soon after failing miserably, you'll seem heaven sent. He will zero in on you."
"Then let's do it. I suppose you already have an appropriate article to go with the picture?" Calleigh wondered.
"You'll love it, I wrote it myself." Stellers winked at her.
"I can't wait to see it then." She added with a chuckle. "And now that this is settled, let's discuss what is expected of me."
"I hope you didn't have anything planned for tonight, this may take quite some time." As he spoke he sat at the table inviting her to take the seat next to him. He saw a shadow, maybe regret, pass on her face as she remembered something. But quickly she regained her composure and another smile formed on her lips.
"This is my priority right now." She confirmed with a strong voice as she sat down next to him.
The Next Morning
With a sneer of disgust the man looked up at the sky when he walked out to get his morning paper. This day like many others here was way too bright to his liking. That was one of the things he hated most about Miami. The bright colors, the half-naked people wandering everywhere, the dampness… And now because of his recklessness the torture had to go on a little longer than planned. Cursing himself under his breath, he walked down the narrow path to the street while looking around in search for the newspaper.
When he finally located it, a burning rage engulfed him. The damn paperboy had to be doing it on purpose. This morning like so many others the newspaper had landed in the only puddle of water the sprinkler system created on the otherwise perfect patch of green in front of the house. If he could put his hand on the little bastard he would teach him how to take care of other people's belongings. At the thought a wicked smile appeared on his lips. Oh yes, all the things he could do…
With a groan he picked the paper up and hoped for the twit's survival that the water hadn't soaked the pages until they were unreadable. He quickly looked around to see if the offender was still nearby but to no avail. With a shrug he made his way back to the house he had been renting for the last 6 months now. When the door closed on him a genuine smile appeared on his face. With all its shades lowered the house offered the darkness and calm he favored. He was a private man and kept his dealings with other people to a minimum.
He slowly made his way to the breakfast table and threw the newspaper minus its protective shell on it. He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat heavily down. In half an hour he had to make his way to the construction site he had been working on for the last few months. Stupid job with moronic colleagues who were always trying to get him to meet them after work; like he wanted anything to do with those losers. Yesterday his foreman had almost kissed him when he had told him he would be around for longer than originally planned. Then he had had to listen to him ranting about how hard it was to find good workers in a city that only had the sky as a limit as far as construction work was concerned. At least the whole ordeal had gotten him a little pay raise. With his impending move to another city, additional money was always welcome.
Heartily biting in his blueberry pop-tart he opened the newspaper with a disgusted grunt at the wet spots that had formed on the lower part of the paper. At least it was still readable and he didn't have to wait until after his shift like it had been the case in the past. Maybe he wouldn't kill the obnoxious kid, only maim him a little. His eyes ran over the titles on the main page. Those were always the same lately, the war in Iraq, political tensions between Democrats and Republicans, some celebrity gossip…
He rolled his eyes wondering why he still bothered buying this useless sheet of nonsense. He turned the page and there it was. A half smile appeared on his face, but he quickly tutored his features. There was nothing to laugh about.
He had failed miserably and because of his lack of control he had to start everything from the beginning. And she had been so perfect with her long blond hair and slender shape. It had cut him to the bone to discard the wonderful reminder of their encounter. Throwing those green orbs away had hurt him more than many blows his father had inflicted upon him. But he couldn't keep them, he reminded himself shaking his head. They were tainted.
Now he needed to start a new cycle in Miami. Elkin had probably been too perfect. His likeness with his old man had startled him when he had first seen him many weeks before. He had had the same bulky figure with a small beer pouch, a bovine look and an everlasting sneer on his face. What a useless piece of crap! He had moaned and pleaded and even cried while he worked his magic on him. And of course he had enjoyed it too much and lost track of time.
When a face had appeared at his victim's window, panic had for the first time in years flared high in him. He had been lucky that the delivery guy had run away to his truck and not rushed inside the house and he had been able to escape through the backdoor.
With reluctance he checked the article about his little dealings to look if the police had leaked any interesting details. Like usual there wasn't much. The man had died and that wasn't a real surprise considering their little discussion. The FBI had probably arrived in town by now. They were never far and now he needed to be twice as cautious. Maybe he should change city right away he pondered again for what seemed the hundredth time. He resolutely shook his head; he wasn't a man to run away. He had made a mistake and now he had to play his cards as they were, FBI or not. The second time around he would succeed.
His father had taught him many things, but the most important one was that he could only rely and trust himself. At the end of the day that was all that mattered. Once he had trusted other people, his science teacher in high school for one. The guy had been able to secure him a coveted scholarship in a good college. He had promised he would talk to his parents and convinced them to let him go and become the first college graduate in the family. But the talk had not gone as expected. He could still hear his father laugh at the mere concept of his useless son going to a fancy college. He had boldly thrown Mr. Anders out of their house, screaming at him not to waste his time on his son and threatening actions of the violent kind if he continued to put stupid ideas in his head.
The message had reached his recipient beyond his father's expectancy. His teacher never talked to him again about scholarship and college. Actually he never talked to him again at all… And he was left there with no ally. His mother had never been a support of any kind. She had always conveniently looked the other way, ignoring the abuse his father had put him through. She hadn't even cared enough. All that had ever mattered to her was her husband, the almighty God of her small world. He himself was beyond her notice.
After graduation he had had enough and ran away joining the Marines to go to Iraq for the first war there. He worked on himself at every possible opportunity. He steeled his resolve and beefed up his diminutive frame, becoming one of the best marines in his squadron. He was known for his control and cold-bloodedness. When they had needed to get information out of a prisoner, he had always been the first choice of his captain and he had never failed his mission.
More than once he had caught some of the other marines look at him with a mix of fear and contempt. But he had never cared. He had always known he was better than any of them.
It was during one of his special missions that the idea had started to take root in his brain. If any beings was deserving of his attentions it was definitely his old folks. From that day on, he had meticulously schemed and planned how things were supposed to happen until he had every single detail mapped out to perfection. When he had gone home, it had been a nasty blow to discover than once more his old man had bested him and taken from him his most deserved prize.
In a drunken stupor his father had driven the family car into a tree and killed himself and his beloved wife, escaping his son's well prepared revenge. The news had hit him like lightning. For a whole week he had been unable to snap out of it. The concerned neighbors had taken his stupor at the missed opportunity for grief and had showered him with less than required and welcome attention. Then he had simply sold everything his parents had ever owned and left his hometown for a big city nearby. Many years he had simply wandered around and lived from the money his parents had left him so very unwilling.
After a while he had decided that time had come to have a real job. He then had thought about joining the force as he had liked his years as a soldier. He even went through the basic training in one of the cities he had lived in. But he soon realized that his future colleagues were expecting a chattiness and closeness from him he was totally unwilling to give.
Out of boredom he finally settled for construction work. It gave him the opportunity to move from one city to another when he felt like it. His freedom was his greatest gift, one he wasn't ready to give up at any price. In addition he realized soon that a few dark glares at his colleagues made him the probably most disliked worker ever but it granted him the peace he cherished. Sure they complained about his attitude and lack of companionship, but he was also a quick and very efficient worker and his foremen usually loved him.
He had been drinking with colleagues at Fresno one night. He hadn't felt like it, but for the first time ever he gave in to their pleas and joined them at a sports bar near the construction site. And there she had walked in. Remembering that very moment still sent shivers down his spine. For a split second he had thought he was facing a younger version of his mother. Her hair was long, blond, her eyes sparkling and green. Sure her voice had been different and so had been her slutty manners. Without thinking he had followed her home and watched as she invited a random guy to spend the night with her in her rundown house.
Many days he had tried to expel that picture from his mind, throwing himself in his work to drown the madness that was rising in his head but to no avail. Two weeks later he found himself in front of her house and what happened there delivered him from his frustrations. Suddenly his mother's betrayal, her lack of interest in him was forgotten as the woman impersonating her bled to death. That night brought him release of the best kind: peace at last.
After that soothing moment, his rage came back to haunt him, asking for a release for his father's abuse. And that's when he had started looking for another victim. And he had found him… And dealt with him accordingly…
This little power play had now been going on for the last two years. And it just felt too good to stop it he pondered with a broad smile on his face. When his eyes rested once more on the newspaper, he was brought back from his musings and sobered instantly. A frown marked his brow as he realized he needed to find another fitting 'couple' soon.
He quickly checked his watch. He barely had five minutes before he needed to leave. He stood up and absentmindedly flitted through the remaining pages while sipping his coffee. Suddenly his hand stilled as his eyes shot wide open. Impatiently and almost brutally he put the mug down on the table and grabbed the page in front him to give it a better look. A woman was smiling at him and she looked perfect. Her hair was long and blond. Of course the bad quality of the picture prevented him from seeing the color of her eyes, but there was a possibility that those were green. He needed to find out. He checked at the writing below the picture and saw one name, Calleigh Duquesne. So she was a Crime Scene investigator. A slow smile formed on his lips. If that didn't make the chase more interesting… he'd be damned. He carefully put the page down on the table. Now was not the time to deal with this.
But soon… So very soon…
Calleigh rolled her head around her neck for what seemed the umpteenth time to ease the knot that had formed there. With a tired hand she massaged the painful spot and cursed the lack of sleep that seemed to make everything so much harder this morning. She had worked with Stellers until well after eleven o'clock the previous night, but that hadn't been enough. She had felt the urge to take the Elkin's file back home and as a result she had woken up half seated in bed at five o'clock in the morning the papers tightly clutched in her hand. It was no real wonder that her neck hurt like hell.
She was looking at the file on the table while massaging her neck when familiar footsteps made themselves heard. She turned around a bright smile on her face to see Eric enter the layout room.
"What the FEDS working you too hard already?" His dark eyes were sparkling with amusement and he looked good enough to eat with his red shirt and white chinos. Calleigh smiled in good humor forgetting the nagging pain for a moment.
"No, silly. I just stayed in one position too long."
"Dare I ask in which position?" His wink was enough to make her melt. She refrained from laughing out loud and plastered a very fake shocked expression on her face. "Well then I won't ask, but I can offer a massage. I'm good at that."
"I certainly won't doubt your expertise in that field." Calleigh chuckled. "But I think I'll pass. Something tells me that this would get the rumor mill going. And I don't want the little bees here to lose their heads over that. I don't want to get the "inappropriate behavior" speech from Horatio."
Eric laughed at her joke, but couldn't help regretting the missed opportunity to be able to touch her in a more intimate way than usual. Her smile faltered a little as she remembered the reason for her discomfort and her missed evening with their friends.
"Sorry about last night I just got so busy and by the time I finished it was late to come over." Her face showed real regret and somehow Eric felt better knowing that she had really wanted to join them. He had spent most of the evening checking his watch and brooding when it had become obvious that she wouldn't show up. "Did you guys have fun though?"
"Yeah. Well at least Dan did." He recalled with a broad smile. "He uh… definitely had one too many mojitos. He decided to sing karaoke to get this girl's attention and her boyfriend didn't appreciate it. He was lucky we were with him."
"I can only imagine what that might have been like." She chuckled knowing the A/V tech to be a clumsy one in his sentimental pursuits.
"It was interesting to say the least. I'm not sure I'd like to play his knight in shiny armor every time we go out."
Calleigh chortled as she pictured the whole scene in her head. While lost in her thoughts her hand automatically returned to her neck. Eric frowned at her involuntary gesture. She seemed oblivious to her pain but her body language told him that her discomfort had to be considerable. He pondered quickly what the best course of action would be to make her accept his help. He bit his lower lip and went for it.
"You know you'd feel better after a massage." He proposed softly waiting for the rebuff that was bound to come. To his utter surprise Calleigh only flashed him a disbelieving look as he took a step towards her.
"You can't be serious?" She finally said as she sized him up from head to toe to figure out if he meant business. Feeling comforted in his actions by her answer Eric smiled broadly at her. His eyes sparkled mischievously.
"Wanna bet?" He continued to move forward, forcing her to back up. He saw her gulp as their bodies came closer. He could almost feel the heat radiating from her.
"Eric?" Her voice was barely louder than a whisper as she looked up at him. She wasn't wearing one of her highest heeled shoes and she looked tiny compared to him. Their gazes held each other for a minute before he gently turned her and moved her through the open door to a small adjoining office. He felt her body tense a little but she didn't voice her disapproval. For a second her wondered what he would have done if she had resisted. But maybe he had known all along that she wouldn't.
"We're friends Cal, don't be ridiculous, you're in pain and I can help." He tried to keep his voice level, as he looked at her slender nape. It looked soft and so very inviting; his fingers tingled at the mere idea of touching her skin. He gulped, hoping the frantic beating of his heart wouldn't be too obvious.
She kept her back resolutely turned. When Eric's hands started massaging her sore muscles, she closed her eyes as a shiver ran down her spine. His fingers were strong and warm and so very gentle. She closed her eyes and let the sensations he elicited overtake her. When a soft moan almost escaped her, she snapped back to reality. The office suddenly seemed too small and created an intimacy she couldn't deal with at the moment. Her brain was in overdrive as she tried to regain control over her raging hormones and push to the back of her mind the pictures his hands had created in her head. Eric was a colleague and a friend she rationalized. And as such he was just doing her a favor. Images of naked bodies and intimate embraces were not required.
"So tell me, what exactly did Dan do to warrant your protection?" She marveled at how normal her voice sounded when she felt in such turmoil.
"You mean after he climbed on the table?" Eric let out a soft chuckle.
"He was on the table?"
"When the girl ignored his singing he got up on the table, continued to sing and then belted the girl's name out." He remembered with a fond smile. "It got her attention but that was right about the time her boyfriend showed up."
"I gather the man wasn't happy. What did Dan do?" Her smile broadened. The conversation was safe and at that moment even though she really didn't care about Dan's antics, this diversion was welcome.
"Well he tried to run but he wasn't fast enough because of the mojitos. The guy grabbed him and tried to hit him but Ryan and I stepped in and told him if he didn't want to spend the night in jail, it would be in his best interest to let Dan go."
"Ahh a little male posturing always does the trick." She had barely finished speaking that she felt Eric's breath into her neck as he chuckled against her skin. New shivers traveled down her spine. Her brain suddenly registered his closeness and the effect he was having on her.
"That and Miami Dade Police Badge always helps." He laughed with good humor. His eyes lingered on where his hands were massaging her. He wondered what she would say if his hands were to drift lower on her body. He was so close that he could smell the herbal scent of her shampoo and the discreet perfume she had been sporting for the last two years. This closeness was at the same time thrilling and very frustrating. Getting aroused was not an option he thought as he shook his head to clear his mind. Their little chit-chat was a life-saver.
"I'm sure Dan was eternally grateful for your help." She looked fixedly at the desk in front of her and forced herself to picture the events Eric was depicting. This office was too hot, air conditioning had probably been switched off. That was the only explanation possible. When his hands massaged her nape more forcefully, the tingling feeling went straight down to her womb. Her breath caught in her throat and she pressed her legs tighter together.
"If he was he didn't get the chance to tell us because he passed out soon after and we had to carry him home." He answered her question without thinking. His eyes were glued on her small frame as he tried to read her reactions. Her breathing seemed a little more labored than usual, but maybe he was just imagining things. He wished his blood wouldn't pound in his ears like crazy.
Calleigh let out a small groan when his thumbs climbed from her nape to the base of her skull.
"Sorry I missed it." She finally managed to say after another deep breath. She had to escape this torture, before she would turn around and make a fool of herself. Eric leaned in, his voice heavier than usual.
"Me too." Their change of position had sent him closer to her body and her firm buttocks were too close from a part of his anatomy that didn't need further encouragement.
Calleigh moved away from his hands when she felt his hot breathe on her neck. She turned around quickly and rested a second against the desk she had been staring at for the last ten minutes. Once she had gathered her thoughts and controlled her raging emotions, she flashed him a smile she hoped didn't reveal too much.
"Thanks Eric but I should probably get back to work." On uncertain legs she moved slowly toward the door. He shook his head nervously as he tried to play what had happened between them down.
"Right… I uh got stuff I gotta do too." He finally managed to say.
Calleigh gave him a last look and without another word walked out of the room.
TBC… Ok so that is that for this chapter! Please be sure to review!!