Chapter 3

"Hey there beautiful. You free for lunch?" A voice said in her ear, nearly making her bump her head on the drawer that was open above her. She felt her husband's hand on the top of her head, thankful his reflexes were still fast enough to keep her from maiming herself.

Seena turned around and found him grimacing and rubbing the top of his hand where it had hit the drawer bottom. Taking his injured hand in both hers, she leaned down to kiss it and gently rubbed the remaining sting out.

"Damn drawer ruined my move." He pouted, smiling when she laughed.

"Aw. Honey you don't need moves with me. Now your other girlfriends you might…" He silenced her with a kiss and they broke apart when someone cleared a throat from behind them.

"Obath, if you're going to maul my aide could you at least do it in a supply closet or something. Not in the middle of the aide's office. Some people are eating lunch." Jade joked from where she was leaning against her doorframe. Jared made a face at her and she returned the gesture.

"I swear you two are never going to grow up." Seena mumbled, shaking her head.

"How's Micah?" Jade asked as the two moved over towards her, following her into the office.

"Much better today, but he still didn't go to classes. I think he's going to go back tomorrow whether we want him to or not. He's going stir crazy." Jared offered, sitting on the couch. Seena walked over to Jade's desk to set down some data cards her friend had asked for and missed the other two still making faces at each other. Or so they thought.

"Stop it." She mumbled, smiling without looking up.

"He started it." Jade retorted as she sat down to start working again. Jared started to respond, when a knock sounded at the door. Glancing at the two women, who both gave him shrugs, he walked over and palmed the door open. One of the other senatorial aides was standing outside the door, the color drained out of her face.

"They found another one." She whispered.

\__/

They rode in silence to the scene. Ajani drove, while Myri watched the city pass by outside the speeder window. It only took them a few minutes to get there and her stomach was in knots by the time they did. She didn't wait for him to come around and open her door. Myri was all business now, as she walked over towards the team, Ajani following quietly behind her.

Her gaze came up to scan the surrounding area and she sighed. It was a small courtyard at a building complex. She realized it was one of the lower rent ones in this district and she knew they weren't going to find any cameras. Trying not to let her disappointment get the better of her, she looked back over and saw the victim as the crime techs moved around doing their work. Ajani saw her shoulders sag slightly as she looked over to see the media was
already out in full force. No one else would have noticed her movement though, so he kept walking knowing that she would probably kick his butt if he acknowledged it.

Stopping next to the small group, she wasn't surprised by what she saw. A petite, brown haired woman, who had probably been stunningly beautiful at one time, lay on the grass, her head a few feet away and face now etched in permanent horror. Myri knew she would be having nightmares tonight. She always did after they found a body. The blank unseeing eyes would bother her for about a week, then her mind would finally say enough and push it into a corner where she had to consciously access it.

Accepting a pair of gloves from one of the techs, she took in the scene as she pulled them on.

"I had hoped he was done." Ajani whispered from next to her, causing her to jump a little. She turned and saw the apologetic glance he gave her and nodded.

"Me too." She replied, crouching down to get a different view. They stood at the top of the woman's body and she saw that the neck wound was the same as always. Whatever the killer had used, it had been hot enough to cauterize the wound and the victims bled very little. They hadn't been able to decisively figure out what weapon was being used and she knew that was a big obstacle right now. If they could find that out, they might be able to progress in the case.

\__/

Cutter swept the broom back and forth, not really cleaning. He was just taking comfort in the action. They had found this one rather fast and that wasn't good. Either he was getting sloppy or they had gotten lucky. He preferred to think it was the latter.

"Hey. Kid." Grinding his teeth, he looked up to glare at the old man he worked with at the military academy. If this cover hadn't been perfect for his ultimate goal, he would have killed the pain in the ass already. But he kept a lid on his anger, somehow managing not to impale the geezer on his broom.

"Some kid threw up in the simulators. Get down there and clean it up." He left soon after barking his orders and Cutter felt the noise in his head die down. It was like static filled his brain when the anger surfaced and sometimes he had difficulty remembering what had happened when he got like that. Over the years he had gotten better at controlling it, but sometimes he slipped.

Huffing, he set his broom down and walked over to get a service droid to help him down in the SIM room. He hated this, but kept reminding himself it was necessary. He would get his revenge one way or another.

\__/

An hour later, Myri was ready to tear her hair out.

"Why don't you let me take you back to your office." He told her quietly, surprised when she agreed. Usually she stayed at the scene for a couple of hours while things were being collected. Not because she didn't trust her team, but because she liked to be involved.

The speeder was enveloped in silence again, with Myri leaning her head back again the headrest and her eyes closed this time.

"When was the last time you had a day off?" He asked, smiling when she sighed.

"Too long. You know I can't take a day off right now. Not with this going on."

"You need a day off." Ajani countered. "You're going to crash soon Myri." She didn't say anything so he concentrated on driving and left her to her thoughts. They made it to Intelligence headquarters and still not saying anything, he followed her up to her office. Myri walked in and threw her coat and purse over onto a couch and sat in her seat behind her desk. Ajani brushed his jacket back to put his hands on his hips while he watched, waiting for her to crack. He knew it was coming and had been for a while.

"Don't you have work to do?" She asked him icily. Here we go. He thought.

"Damn it, Myri. Don't do this."

"Do what, Detective."

"Don't close up like this. You're gonna go crazy if you don't release some of that frustration you're keeping bottled up."

"I'm fine."

Ajani laughed dryly, turning to stare out the window before he spoke next.

"You know, I may never have been married but I know that 'I'm fine' doesn't mean I'm fine. It means anything but." He frowned a minute later when he didn't get a retort and turned around to find her leaning over her desk with her head in her hands.

"Myr…" Her shoulders started to shake and he found himself moving in her direction. Without words, he moved over to sit on her desk and grabbed her upper arms to pull her into his embrace. She didn't fight him, if anything she sobbed harder. Resting his chin on her head, he rubbed a hand up and down her back soaking up the feel of her against him. Myri didn't show weakness to just anyone and he knew she was hurting if she was showing it to him.

"I can't do this, Ajani." She whispered and he smiled.

"Yes you can. If anyone can do this job it's you. Just stop holding it in. I know you remember that from training." He joked and felt her chuckle against his chest. She didn't seem in any hurry to get away from him, so he was quite content to stand there with her. Then her comm went off.

He heard her groan, and felt like groaning himself, when she moved out of his arms to go and answer the call. Myri talked in hushed tones at the comm console, not that she was afraid he would hear. They both knew everything about this case there was to know. Ajani heard her sigh and turn back around to face him.

"That was Li. He wants us to come down to his 'office'." He laughed when she made quotation marks in the air. Roten Li was the lead coroner for the NRI, so referring to his office meant the morgue.

"Lovely. After lunch and everything." He said as he followed her out the door.

\__/

Ajani always hated coming to the morgue. It wasn't that he was afraid of death, it just gave him the creeps. He always assumed it was all of those horror films his older sister had made him watch when he was a kid. Silently, he followed Myri through the labyrinth of hallways beneath the local medcenter that Li had his main office out of. They arrived and she didn't hesitate to walk in, knowing that they were expected.

Roten Li was the Chief Coroner on Coruscant and was extremely good at his job. Myri thought it was probably because he was a Duros and they seemed to excel at most things they did. Roten was bent over their latest victim when they both walked into the room. He straightened up and nodded when he saw them, motioning for them to step closer.

"Did you find something?" Myri asked quietly, trying not to get her hopes up. Roten nodded and pointed to the girl's neck wound. She pursed her lips not finding anything significant, when Ajani spoke.

"That's not as neat as usual."

"Correct, Detective." Roten said, pointing a gloved finger back towards the body. "When he beheaded the girl, he was more violent than usual. More out of control."

"He's usually precise. This…"Ajani said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "This leads me to think this one didn't go quite as smoothly as he would have liked."

"Was she alive?" Myri asked, knowing she didn't have to elaborate for the doctor.

"Yes. The same as the others. The neck muscles were retracted as usual, indicating that the person was alive, but not like the other ones. I would guess, and it's just a guess, that she was unconscious when he killed her."

"The angle slants up towards the back of her neck. Could he have done it while she was in a sitting position?" She asked, not seeing Ajani smile from behind her. You couldn't get much past Myri.

"That would be my opinion, yes. Unless he laid her on the ground, and then sat her up to finish the job. But again, not knowing what he used to take the head off with, I can't tell you for sure." Roten replied.

"And it would be so much easier to use her own weight to finish the cut. I don't see him doing it by lying her down. We didn't see any marks on the ground." The detective said thoughtfully and Myri nodded.

She sighed and stripped the gloves off, moving to throw them in the trash. "So not really that much new to go on." Niether man spoke and she sighed again.

"You really need to stop doing that." Ajani commented, mirroring her actions as Roten just watched them. He would swear the Duros was smiling, if they could smile.

"Thank you, Dr. Li. Let me know if you come up with anything else." Myri said, not waiting for the man's acknowledgement to leave the room.

They walked a few meters down the hall before she spoke.

"I want you to get your team together and go over this again. There's got to be something we're missing."

"Yes ma'am." He answered.

\__/

"You know, you don't have to help me watch the kids this weekend?" Karissa told Jarik quietly, breaking the silence in the lift.

He turned his head to look at her, confusion shining in his eyes.

"You told Mya you were busy this weekend. I can watch the kids on my own."

Jarik chuckled and pulled on her ponytail lightly. "I told you I would. Besides, the twins listen to me more than you."

"I know, I just don't want you to think that you have to." She added, quietly making him frown.

"Do you not want me to?"

"No. That's not what I meant. I just…I don't know. I don't want you to think you have to help me."

Jarik wrapped an arm around her shoulders and smiled. "I'll have more fun with you." Karissa didn't answer, just responded with a small smile.