Disclaimer: I only own Anna and TJ.
She pulled up in front of the two story house. Her mind was already working the scene. It was familiar. Middle class suburbian neighborhood, neighbors keeping their distance from the house, staring at it in disgust. Thinking he got what was coming to him. She flashed her badge to the uniform on the door and entered the house. Colby was there examining the body.
"Same as the others?" she asked. He glanced up at her and shook his head.
"Messier," he said. "And it didn't stop with the kidneys this time." The corpse had been torn open and hallowed out.
"Geeze," she said grimly. "Looks like they took everything."
"We won't know till the autopsy the total of what got taken," Colby said.
"I don't need an autopsy to tell me what isn't there," Anna said. Don entered at that moment.
"You're late," he said but his tone said he wasn't mad.
"What can I say?" she said. "Your nephew takes after you." He squeezed her shoulder lightly and she knew all was forgiven. David entered at that moment.
"Victim's name is John O'donnell. Registered sex offender, moved into the neighborhood two weeks ago."
"Neighbors tell you anything?" Don asked.
"Only that "pervert got what he deserved," David said. "Direct quote."
"What was he on the list for?" Anna asked. David consulted his notes.
"Statutory rape," he said. Anna pressed her lips together. Their killer was escalating. Seven victims so far. All registered sex offenders. The first one had been down for exposing himself to a minor. The seriousness of the offenses these men had committed had gotten more serious as the bodies stacked up. Child pornography, soliciting a minor, and now statutory rape.
"The crimes are getting more severe," Colby voiced her thoughts.
"So are the punishments," Anna said.
Don peered into the conference room where his sister stood staring at the photos of their eight victims. He'd come to know that stance very well. Arms crossed over her chest, spine straight, legs slightly apart. Her lips were pursed tightly together. She was in profiler mode. One thing he had learned very early on since they began the boss/employee relationship; you did not interrupt her when she was in profiler mode. Two years ago when she'd come home to LA he'd have never thought having her work for him would be anything but a disaster. It hadn't been easy. Having both his siblings working for him had been a challenge, particularly when Charlie's number theories conflicted with Anna's profile. Those two butted heads so much it was a wonder they didn't have permanent dents in their foreheads. But they made it work and his team was stronger for it. She was damn good at what she did. When she'd packed her bags for Quantico two days after high school graduation the whole family had been stunned. Dad had blamed him, Mom had cried, Charlie had gone all math talk, but Don had just felt stone cold fear. He'd seen what the job was, what it could do to a person. He hadn't wanted that for his baby sister. But somehow she'd managed not only to do the job and not let it harden her, but she'd managed to raise a kid by herself and keep her work separate from her home life. Whatever hard feelings Anna's career choice had put between her and Dad, all had been forgiven when she came home for the old man's birthday with a six month old grandson for him. He'd never tell her, but he loved having Anna and TJ living so close. He had missed her like crazy all those years she'd been in D.C. and New York. And he was nuts about that boy. The whole team had semi-adopted TJ and he knew anyone of them would lay their life down to keep him safe. With no father in the picture he, Charlie, Colby, and David had done what they could to fill that void. Megan and Amita were surrogate moms when Anna couldn't be there. That kid would never want for love and attention as long as they drew breath. The father was a big mystery that not even Charlie's math could solve. 'A guy I hooked up with in D.C.' was all they could get out of her. She had unclenched her arms and was pointing from one picture to the next. That was the sign it was safe to speak.
"What's the word baby girl?" he asked. She glared at him. She hated the nickname he'd been calling her since she was six.
"It's the escalation," she said tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "There's something off about it. Look." She pointed to a picture of the first murder.
"The first murder," she said. "Surgical precision. Clean, neat, goes in removes just a kidney. Stitches the guy up, shoots him up with antibiotics. Our killer's gone from surgery to butchery."
"So?" Don said. "Like you said he's escalating."
"We've pretty much agreed that our killer has medical training right?"
"Yeah," Don said. Anna put her hands over her mouth and focused on the photos.
"The first one," she said. "It's deliberate, specific, careful. These later ones are chaotic, disorganized. It's like he started with a purpose and it's just escalated to pure rage."
"You think these guys are getting their organs taken as a punishment?"
"Think about it," she said. "All these guys, sex offenders, no brand of criminal is more hated in this world. Most people feel they don't deserve to live."
"They don't…"Don said hesitantly. "But maybe our guy thinks someone else does."
"Our first guy, Quentin Fish," she said yanking the photo down. "We need to check hospitals, see if anyone on the waiting list for a kidney suddenly received one around the time he was murdered. "
"We've got Fish's DNA on file," Don said. "So we can narrow it down to receivers who'd be a match. That's good."
After four hours and several pots of coffee they were no closer to catching their killer.
"Okay," Don said running a hand through his hair. "We've got twenty potential matches to Fish's DNA but no record of anyone receiving a kidney transplant."
"Okay," Anna said. David, Megan and Colby exchanged a look as Anna ran a hand through her hair identical to the way Don just had. It was fun being on Team Eppes.
"Let's go back to the actual murder. We've got a guy who society considers lower than dirt, and somewhere out there we've got a patient in need of a kidney."
"Not just any kidney," David said. "A kidney that matches Fish's DNA."
"So we've got a doctor, in need of a specific kidney," Colby said. "So the receiver of this kidney was probably a friend, or a relative."
"Or maybe…" Anna said slowly looking at the list of patients. "A patient." All three men looked at her.
"Think about it," she said. "You're a doctor, you have a very sick patient. Probably one you've been treating a long time. You try everything you can to keep them alive but bottom line is they need a new kidney and their just are not that many available."
"Right," Don said. "Doctor's are supposed to remained detached but you treat a patient long enough you start to feel for them."
"Especially if the patient is a child," she said holding up the list. "Tim Hardwicke, twelve years old been on dialysis since he was eight. According to this he'd been in the hospital for the last month awaiting a transplant. Was discharged from the hospital four days after Fish's murder but there's no record of him having surgery. A kid that sick, they wouldn't just send him home."
"If you've got an organ you just stole from a body you're not gonna want people asking where you found it," Megan said.
"Or risk someone else getting it. Tim Hardwicke had three people in front of him on the transplant list."
"Who was Tim's surgeon?" Don asked.
"Dr. Philip Lipton," she said.
"All right," Don said. "David, Colby I want to talk to this Doctor Lipton. See what he knows about his patient's miraculous recovery."
"On it," Colby said.
Anna stared through the one way window at Philip Lipton. The man was in his late forties and starting to go bald. He had sat calmly while David questioned him. When they'd gotten to the subject of Tim Hardwicke the man had broken down and confessed to stealing Fish's kidney. He'd known Fish was a match because the man had been given a blood transfusion at the hospital where Lipton worked after being shanked by a fellow inmate in prison.
"Four years, I treated Tim," Lipton said running his hands over his eyes. "I watched that sweet beautiful kid get sicker and sicker. No child should have to go through that. He should be playing soccer, and running around with his friends. Fish was a sick twisted human being. Why should he live with two perfect healthy kidney's when Tim can't even get out of bed."
"So you drugged Fish, you took out his kidney, put it in a cooler, patched Fish up. Then you took the kidney to the hospital and did the transplant. I'm guessing that Tim's parents didn't ask any questions."
"They were just so happy when I told them I had a kidney for Tim," Lipton said. "I didn't keep a record. I knew there'd be too many questions."
"So you saved Tim," David said. "And then you think to yourself, why stop here. So many people on that transplant list that need healthy organs. So many out there who don't deserve healthy organs. So you do it again, only this time you don't just take a kidney, you take both kidneys, a liver, a lung, a heart. Eventually you stop caring how much damage you're doing to the criminals whose organs you're stealing and you just slice em up and leave em."
"I don't know what the hell you're talking about," Lipton said. "I couldn't do that. I couldn't kill someone. I did everything I could to render no permanent damage to Fish, but I'm not a murderer." Anna was staring at the man hard. She turned away from the window and went back to the evidence room. Something didn't quite fit.
"Hey," Don said as she passed him. "What's going on?"
"How many surgeons does it take to screw in a lightbulb?" she said.
"What?" Don looked at her like she was crazy.
"He didn't kill the others," Anna said.
"Whoah," Don said. "What are you talking about? You're the one who pointed us to this guy."
"Oh he killed the first guy, no doubt about it. But remember what I said about escalation. How it's gone from surgery to pure rage." She stepped into the evidence room. As horrid as these pictures were they helped her tune in to the killer.
"Lipton did everything in his power not to do more harm to Fish than necessary. To him Fish was a sick twisted bastard but he was still a human. The man in that room with David, he cares about human life. He showed remorse. Whoever did this," she pointed to the more recent photos. "They don't give a crap about the human being."
"You think we're looking at a copycat?" Don asked. Anna shook her head.
"Not just any copycat," she said. "Look at the timing of the first two attacks. Just days apart."
"So if Fish didn't do the second killing…" She stared at him hard.
"Original question," she said.
"How many surgeons does it take to screw in a lightbulb?"
"One surgeon," Anna said. "And at least one nurse."
Don watched as 35 year old Lisa Howard, Lipton's scrub nurse for the last five years, was loaded into the back of the FBI vehicle. Howard had assisted Lipton in the black market surgery, and decided that her boss had the right idea. When they'd confronted her with guns drawn, her newest victim had been cuffed to the bed and she hadn't even bothered to knock him out this time. She'd had the scalpel poised and ready. It didn't look like there was gonna be any choice but the take her down. Don glanced over where Anna leaned against the hood of her car. She had blown his mind in there. Her voice steady and calm she'd slowly approached the bed. He'd never forget the look on everyone's face as Anna calmly reminded Howard that this was not the man who raped her.
"How'd you know?" he asked her as sat beside her. She smiled a little.
"The way she said 'he deserves it'. She wasn't talking about the guy on the bed. It was personal for her."
"You got all that from one word?" he said incredulously. She shrugged.
"That and I got lucky," she said. He laughed and bumped her shoulder.
"You keep this up and our bullets are gonna get rusty from lack of use."
"Aw, don't feel bad Donnie," she said with a smile. "There's still plenty of crazies out there who can't be talked down." She frowned a bit and rubbed her side. He'd never asked her about the long scar that ran from her hip to under her arm. He could only assume that it was from a 'crazy who couldn't be talked down.'
"Listen, why don't you take tomorrow off," he said. She tilted her head.
"I thought we agreed no special treatment," she said.
"It's not special treatment," he said. "You earned it. Spend some time with your son." She smiled. He knew that would get her.
"Hello!" Anna called as she entered her childhood home which now belonged to her brother.
"Hi Mom," TJ waved from the couch. She went over to where her son and her father sat and plopped down in the big easy chair. She smiled when she saw the chess board.
"Who's winning?" she asked as she slipped off her shoes.
"My grandson is beating the pants off me," Alan said. "I swear he's been getting lessons from Charlie." TJ shook his head.
"Uncle Charlie never taught me chess. He's too afraid I'll get good and whomp him." Anna laughed and ruffled his hair.
"How'd basketball practice go?" she asked. He shrugged.
"Coach says I need to work on my layup," he said. "Check."
"Well maybe we'll go to the park tomorrow," she said. "Work on it together."
"Don't you have to work?"
"Because I was so nice to your Uncle Don today, solving his big case for him, he let me have tomorrow off."
"Sweet!" TJ pumped his fist in the air. "Checkmate!" Alan groaned as TJ high fived his mother and did a victory strut.
"Ah!" Alan said. "Defeated by my own grandson." TJ laughed.
"We need to get going, pal," Anna said. "Grab your stuff."
"Okay mom," TJ said scampering upstairs. Once he was out of earshot she shot her father a look.
"What?" he said feigning innocence.
"You let him win," she said. He father looked incredulous.
"Me?" She rolled her eyes.
"Dad, come on," she said. "My boy has many talents, chess aint' one of 'em."
"All right," Alan admitted. "So I let him win. Do you know how long it's been since I've gotten to let my chess opponent win." Anna laughed.
"So you got your guy huh?" he asked clearing up the chess board.
"Woman actually," she said.
"Really?" Alan said. "A woman."
"A very angry woman," she said. "We were able to bring her in."
"No bullets?" She nodded.
"Nope," she said. "When's Charlie coming back from that conference?"
"Day after tomorrow, why?"
"Just want to know how long I have to wait before I can brag that we solved this one without any of his wacky algorithms." She said stretching her arms above her head.
"You know as crazy as Charlie's math may sound it does actually work," Alan said dryly.
"I'm not saying it hasn't helped us catch criminals," Anna said. "But he acts like it's the end all be all of life. Despite what Charlie believes everything is NOT numbers."
"It's nice to know some things never change," Alan said. "You remember when you were sixteen and you were dating that kid Jeffrey Logan?"
"Yeah," Anna said scoffing. "And after meeting him one time Charlie showed me a formula predicted that he was gonna dump me. I was so ticked off that I punched him in the eye."
"And then when it actually happened you punched him in the other eye," Alan said.
"You'd think he'd learn to duck," Anna said with a laugh. "But of course he never thought he'd get hit again because there was only a 22 percent probability of my taking my anger at being dumped out on him."
"You know I had a lot of objections when Charlie started helping out Don."
"I did hear something of that nature," Anna said.
"But after the first couple cases I realized that working together was what made them brothers again. I was just hoping that when you came back and started working for Don that it might have the same effect."
"Oh, come on Dad," Anna said waving off her father's concerns. "Charlie and I are doing fine. I may not agree with his method's but he and I are closer than we ever were. I mean we talk!" Alan laughed.
"Yeah, yeah," Alan said soberly. "You know, leaving you here in LA and going to Princeton with Charlie, it was a hard decision for your mom."
"Yeah I know that."
"We thought that staying where you'd grown up, where all your friends were, we thought it was what's best for you." Anna stared at the floor. She would never admit how hard it was not having her mother around during her teenage years. She'd harbored a lot of resentment toward her parents and Charlie for a long time.
"Why can't I come with you?"
"Annabelle we talked about this. Your father and I decided that the best thing is for me to go with Charlie to Princeton and for you to stay here."
"Everything is always about Charlie! Charlie is so special. Charlie is so smart. 'Sorry we missed your ballet recital Anna but we had to have meeting with Charlie's teacher.' Charlie's the only kid you care about! Why didn't you just stop having kids after he was born?"
God, it was one of the hardest times in her life. She was used to her genius older brother getting all the attention, but when she was younger she'd at least had Don to look out for her. But Don was going off to college. She'd had Dad but he was always busy at work. Those years she'd learned how to be independent. To stand on her own and be dependent on no one but herself. As an adult she wasn't much different. That was why she hadn't told her parents or Don and Charlie when she got pregnant. They would have wanted her to come home, so they could help her and she did not want or need their help. Lord, how shocked had they been the first time they met TJ. Dad had just been happy to have a grandchild but Mom…the look she'd given Anna when she'd introduced her to her grandson had been one of sadness. Not that Anna had a child, but that the distance between them had become so great that Anna hadn't told her. The truth was that TJ had done more to bridge the gap between Anna and her mother than anyone. Having a child had helped her understand what it meant to be a parent and have to make tough decisions.
"I know you and Mom did what you thought was best, Dad," Anna said. "I guess it took being a mom to understand. God, I wonder every day if I'm making the right decisions for my son."
"You're doing a great job, Anna," Alan said. "You are a wonderful mother and you are raising one hell of a great kid." Anna smiled.
"Thanks Dad," she said. TJ came back at that moment.
"Ready," he said.
"Give your Grampa a hug," she told him. TJ went to the couch and threw his arms around Alan.
"Night Gramps," he said.
"Night Mr. Wizard," Alan said rustling TJ's hair. "You take good care of your Mom you hear." TJ grinned and Anna shook her head. Her boy was nine years old and already trying to be man of the house. He required no encouragement from his granddad and uncles. She gave her dad a kiss on the cheek, thanked him for taking care of TJ and they headed to the car. Once they got home she gave TJ a bath and tucked him into bed.
"You have a good time with Grandpa?" she asked as she tucked the blankets around him.
"Yeah," TJ said. "He got a real kick out of helping me with my math homework." Anna grinned.
"That's cause your Uncle Charlie never needed his help with math."
"What about you?" Anna grinned.
"Your old mom never needed help. She knows everything don't you know that." TJ gave her a look.
"Yeah right," he said. "Uncle Don says you were so stubborn as a kid you wouldn't even ask for help if your leg was chopped off." Note to self, smack Don upside the head.
"Yeah, well your Uncle Don was worse," she said. TJ giggled.
"So other than needing to work on your layup," she said. "How's everything going with you?" TJ shrugged.
"Don't give me that shrug," she said tickling him. "I invented that shrug. What's up?" TJ looked down at this covers.
"TJ," Anna said tipping his chin up.
"Troy Deebus said I'll never be as good a basketball player as him cause I don't have a dad to teach me how to do it right." Anna clenched her fist in the boys blankets. It wasn't the first time the issue had come up. Mrs. Gracin had gotten a very angry phone call from her the day TJ came home in tears because her son Bobby had told TJ he was a bastard because he didn't have a dad.
"I wanted to hit him, but I didn't." TJ continued. "I told him I had four uncles to teach me, but I didn't even need them cause my mom could wipe the floor with him any day of the week." He smiled proudly at the declaration. Anna smiled.
"That was good baby," she said. "You should never resolve your problems with violence. What am I always telling your Uncle Don?"
"Physical force should always be a last resort," TJ said.
"That's right," she said. "Glad to know you listen better than your uncle." TJ grinned. Anna felt something twinge inside her. That grin. Though she loved seeing it, it was always slightly painful.
"All these kids that got two parents," TJ said. "I think I'm luckier than them." Anna's eyes raised.
"How do you figure that?"
"Well," he said freeing his hands from the covers. "They got two people that love them." He held up two fingers to illustrate.
"But I have you, Grandpa, Uncle Don, Uncle Charlie, Aunt Amita, Uncle Colby, Uncle David, Uncle Larry, and Aunt Megan that love me. That's nine people." He held up his nine fingers. " That's like four times as many as most kids got. As least that's what Uncle Charlie says." Note to self, do not pick on Charlie about his numbers for a week.
"Well," Anna said her voice a little choked. "If Uncle Charlie's says so it must be true. Now it's time to go to sleep." She gave him a kiss on top of the head, switched off the lamp, and turned on the nightlight.
"Good night my love," she said from the door.
"Night mom," the sleepy voice said back. She closed the door and hurried down the hall to her room. She collapsed on the bed and buried her face in her hands. The words of both her father and her son were spinning in her head. After a minute she glanced at the clock. 9:00. It would be midnight in D.C. He would be awake. He never went down before 3 am and that's when he wasn't on a case. She sighed. How many times had she stared at the phone over the last nine years just trying to gather enough courage to make the call. Once she'd even gone as far as to dial his number, but she'd hung up before the call could connect. She was being silly. What could possibly be gained after all these years? She got undressed and hopped into the shower. The warm water soothed her aching muscles as it ran over her body. She let the water go till it ran cold and then got out. After drying her hair and brushing her teeth she changed into a pair of gray cotton pjs. She set the alarm and turned off all the lights in the apartment. Before going to bed she checked on her son one more time. He was sound asleep, on his belly with one leg dangling over the side of the bed. She sighed. They were okay. They had everything they needed. There was no sense dwelling on the 'what might have beens.'
MORE TO COME!