Disclaimer: very graphic depictions of violence/mutilation. Read at your own discretion!


They both looked around the room they were standing in. It was obviously the living room, with a couch placed a couple of feet away from the TV hanging from the wall. Behind it stood a large table with a few chairs around, none of which matched, and further behind a small, open kitchen. There were a few doors going off to several rooms. The place looked clean enough, there was just a dirty plate on the coffee table in front of the couch, and a few coats strewn about. Elsa noted a stain in one of the corners that looked suspiciously like mold. 'Why hello there substandard student apartment.'

Anna was nervously playing with the hem of her sweater. "So, what brings you guys to my humble dwelling?"

Elsa spoke up. "We thought we might look around a bit, maybe find some clues as to where Nicole could be. Is that okay with you?"

Anna nodded quickly. "Yes! Anything to bring her home."

Elsa smiled reassuringly. "Good. First, we'd like to take a look at her room. Oh, and I hope you don't mind the dog going in there."

"Well, Nicole's allergic, but if it helps finding her...Her room is this one." She pointed at a door on the far side of the room, next to the kitchen.

They all went over there and took a look around. Anna was clearly nervous. "Uh, I think I'll let you guys snoop around in peace. Want some coffee? Sure, you're cops, what cop doesn't like coffee. Not that I want to imply that you're like boring or anything, god no, but you know the stereotype. I might have some doughnuts lying around. Wow, another stereotype, great work Anna."

Elsa laughed and interrupted her rambling. "Coffee would be fine, thank you."

Anna, blushing furiously, left the room for the kitchen.

Kristoff huffed. "The room's spotless. Seriously, you could eat off that desk. Nothing really seems out of place. And Sven hasn't picked up anything drug-related either. Looks like you were right."

Elsa sighed. "Sure looks like it. Well, let's continue. Maybe there's something in here that can give us a clue. Look under the bed and in the closet, I'll check the desk and the shelves."

They both went about their work, but both came up empty. "I got nothing" Elsa said, looking out the window. A small cactus was standing on the windowsill, with a bottle of sleeping pills next to it. 'Having trouble sleeping as well, huh?'

"Me neither" Kristoff replied, "but you gotta hand it to her, there's not a single speck of dust in here. I would wife her just for that."

Elsa rolled her eyes. "God, Kristoff. You're impossible! Sometimes I really wonder why you're my friend."

"Because you're stuck with me, and you just grin and bear it." Kristoff shot back with a smirk.

Anna leaned in from the door. "Coffee's ready, just letting you know."

Both detectives left Nicole's room and went over to the kitchen where Anna was just in the process of pouring delicious-smelling coffee into three mugs. "You guys want milk or sugar?" she asked.

"I'll take some milk, please," Kristoff said, "and a metric ton of sugar for her."

Elsa sighed. "I can speak for myself, thank you very much. But yeah, some sugar would be nice."

Anna rummaged through a few cupboards, but came up empty.

"Where did I put...oh right, my room. Be right back."

She darted to the door that was apparently her room's and went inside. A second after she'd opened it, Sven started sniffing the air, before bolting into Anna's room and starting to bark like the world was about to end.

"Uh guys, help? Is this normal?" she asked with a small voice, obviously scared by the dog's erratic behavior.

Elsa and Kristoff both went into her room, which was in stark contrast to Nicole's. Dirty clothes were lying about everywhere, used plates and cutlery were stacked precariously on a desk that had a laptop sitting on it. Anna was clearly embarrassed about it.

Meanwhile, Sven was still barking at the top drawer of a dresser, occasionally turning his head to look what the hell was keeping his masters from opening the damn thing. Elsa quickly did so, and fished out a small plastic bag filled with weed. Anna's face, now completely devoid of color, was locked in a horrified expression.

"Ha! Told you so." Elsa said, holding out her other hand towards her parnter. "Cough up."

Kristoff frowned and fished five dollars out of his pocket. "Curse you and your gut, woman!"

Elsa, still holding the bag, turned to Anna, who was looking like she was seriously considering jumping out of the window.

"Your underwear drawer, Anna? You gotta do better than that. I keep mine in a Tupperware box, wrapped up in five different plastic bags. Won't fool a K9, but your panties won't smell like weed."

She smiled and tossed the bag to Anna, who didn't even seem to register she was spoken to. Suffice it to say, the bag bounced off her chest and tumbled to the floor. Sven was panting and looking at Kristoff expectantly.

"I got no treats with me, sorry buddy." Sven whined at his words.

Finally, Anna seemed to come back to her senses. "You're...You're not arresting me?" she asked, barely a whisper.

Elsa laughed. "For what, half an ounce of ganja? That's nowhere near worth the hassle. It's not like you're cooking meth in here or anything. Besides, we're homicide and not narcotics, so I care even less about that."

Anna's eyes went wide "Homicide?" she asked. "What...why are you looking for Nicole then? Do you think she's..." She didn't manage to finish the sentence, lip trembling. Elsa mentally kicked herself for slipping up.

"No, we don't believe she's dead." Elsa said, trying to sound reassuring. She sighed, and turned to Kristoff. "Would you wait outside, please? Maybe look around a bit in the living room." The blonde merely nodded and left the room.

"Why don't we sit down?" Elsa said, gently nudging Anna towards her bed, sitting down next to her.

She sighed again. "I didn't want to tell you this, since you're already worrying enough, but I won't lie to you. I'm sure you've heard of the Iceman?" 'What a fucking stupid nickname.'

Anna frowned. "You mean that freak going around mutilating girls and..." She gasped, her eyes widened with understanding ans shock. "You believe it's him, don't you? The man she brought home." Her trembling voice barely a whisper.

Elsa nodded. "I do, yes. My partner isn't convinced, he thinks it could just be a coincidence. But it all fits his pattern. Nicole is a good-looking girl just out of college, blonde hair, blue eyes, pale skin. His...peculiar behavior when they weren't alone... To me, that's more than a coincidence."

Anna was visibly shaken, shivering slightly.

"Now I don't want to scare you." Elsa quickly said. "There could still be a different explanation for her going missing. She might have lost her purse in an accident, and now she's unconscious in a hospital with no way to identify her."

The redhead scoffed, eyes wet. "You don't believe that."

Elsa sighed once again. "No, I don't. But it's possible. Still, even if she's with him, there is a good chance we'll find her before anything bad happens. Judging from his usual way of going about, we still have four or five days left to get him. And now that we know what he looks like, and roughly where he lives, he'll be in custody in no time." She smiled and grabbed Anna's hand, trying to calm the girl.

Anna took a shaky breath, looking Elsa straight in the eyes for the first time. "I believe you. I trust you that you'll catch this bastard, and bring Nicole home."

"I will." Elsa said, determination in her voice. "And he's going to pay, I promise you that."

Anna eyed with a curious look. "You know, you fit as well."

"Fit?" Elsa asked, surprised.

"The pattern. Blonde, blue eyes, pale skin, beautiful." Anna blushed, scratching the back of her neck. "I mean...you know what I mean."

Elsa blushed, too, and noticed she was still holding Anna's hand. She let it go and brushed an errand strand of hair behind her ear. "Thank you." she said. "But I'd like to see him try to come onto me. Quite a few crackheads were surprised when their own knife was suddenly against their throat."

Anna had wide eyes. "You can do that? How?"

"Krav Maga." Elsa replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. She laughed when Anna simply said "Gesundheit."

"Krav Maga is the official self-defense technique of the Israeli Armed forces. No fancy bullsh...nonsense like in those eastern styles."

"Wow. I'd like to see you do that."

"Well, you can drop by some time when I'm training if you'd like." 'What are you doing Elsa, stop this right now. She's a witness for crying out loud!"

An awkward silence settled over them, neither knowing how to continue. Elsa just glanced about the room, when she suddenly spotted a Norwegian dictionary on one of the shelves.

"You know Norwegian?" she said, quite surprised.

"Uh, a little bit." Anna replied. "I have an aunt living in Norway, and I think it's a beautiful language. Why?"

"I know a little, too. As a kid I was enamored with Iceland and was dead-set on learning the language. But it's batshit retar...difficult to learn, so I settled for the next-best thing which was Norwegian. It is a beautiful language, though."

"Well, takk for besøket." Anna said with a thick accent.

"Du er velkommen" Elsa replied, her accent just as bad.

Silence again.

"Well." Elsa said after a while, getting up. "I guess we should head back to the station. Thank you for having us."

Anna got up as well. "Thank you for dropping by, detec...Elsa. I'll call you if I can think of anything else important."

Elsa smiled. "Please do. And hide your stash better." she added, with a wink.

They went out to a waiting Kristoff, who was just sitting on the couch, petting Sven.

"You girls done?" he simply asked.

Elsa rolled her eyes. "Yeah, we are. We should head out."

They moved to the front door. Once outside, Elsa turned around.

"Thanks again for having us, Anna." She frowned, looking at the door. "You should think about upping your security. Keep your door locked."

Anna nodded. "I will. Thanks for dropping by. And please, find her." she said, urgency in her voice.

"We will." Elsa replied. "Stay safe. Bye."

Kristoff just grunted until Elsa jabbed him in the ribs. "Ow, what's your problem?"

"Don't be rude, say goodbye."

Kristoff rolled his eyes. "'twas a pleasure making your acquaintance, fair maiden. I bid thee farewell." he said with a mock bow.

Anna giggled while Elsa hid her face in her hands. "God, you're impossible."

"Goodbye, Anna. Sorry for dragging that brainless buffoon along."

Anna laughed. "It's quite alright. Goodbye."

Back in the car, Elsa sighed and rubbed her temples. "Still nothing. I don't get it. He must slip up somehow, goddamnit!"

"He didn't, at least not in there. Aside from confirming that your green thumb has a sixth sense, this was totally pointless."

'Not totally pointless' Elsa though while staring up the window that was Anna's.

Kristoff looked a t her. "What?"

Elsa whirled around, eyes wide. 'Did I say that out loud? Shit!' "Um, nothing, I didn't say anything."

Kristoff continued staring at her, until he burst out laughing. "Holy shit, you've got the hots for her!"

Elsa blushed furiously. "No I don't. Where do you always get those ridiculous ideas?!"

"Your face begs to differ" Kristoff simply replied.

Elsa sighed. "Even if, it doesn't matter. She's a witness in an ongoing case."

"You know that's not forbidden per se" Kristoff said.

"Duh, no shit, Sherlock. Still, if we ever catch that guy she'll have to testify, and if word gets out that I had a tumble with her no judge will believe a word she says. I can't compromise our only witness."

"Have it your way, then" Kristoff said, pulling something out of his coat. "Oreo?" he said, handing her a cookie.

"Where did you...don't tell me you got that from her apartment!"

Kristoff laughed. "You gonna take it if I say no?"

Elsa just shook her head in denial, shoving the cookie in her mouth. She turned the key in the ignition, causing Norwegian screaming and distorted guitars to once again burst through the speakers in a deafening volume. Kristoff winced visibly.

"That's what you get for stealing, from a witness no less." Elsa said with a smirk.


Anna watched from behind the curtains as Elsa and her partner got into a black sedan, talking for a bit before finally driving off. She sighed and turned away, stepping onto the plastic bag still lying on the floor. 'Better stash that away.'

When she was satisfied with the new hiding place (in plain sight next to a very dead cactus on a shelf), she went to the front door to make sure it was locked. Suddenly, the weight of the situation came crushing down on her, the implications of her roommate at the mercy of a deranged killer hitting her full force. She slumped down, back against the door, and started sobbing uncontrollably. Hugging her knees to her chest she sat there, ignoring the phone vibrating in her pocket.

After a while she calmed down enough to get up again and wander aimlessly through the apartment. She arrived in the kitchen, an empty and two full coffee mugs sitting on the counter. Now cold, she poured them down the drain and rinsed the cups. Her stomach growled, but she ignored it. Her steps finally carried her to Nicole's room, and she leaned in the doorway, taking the room in. she could immediately spot the few things that had been moved around by her unexpected visitors. Nicole always kept her room impeccable, and the few items out of place stood out like a sore thumb.

She smiled ruefully, lying down in her roommate's bed and hugging her pillow. Tears started welling up again, but she fought them down. 'Don't do that, Anna. You're helping nobody by wallowing in self-pity. Get up! Now! Do something! Study, or whatever.'

She resolutely got up and strode to her room, almost violently mashing the button to turn on her laptop. She waited for it to boot up, and then sat there, unmoving.

'Great! You did something. Now do something again.'

"But what?" she murmured to herself.

She moved the cursor to the browser icon and double-clicked. Immediately her social feeds started assaulting her with dozens of notifications and messages. She ignored them, instead browsing to Google. She slowly started typing a few words into the search bar.

'iceman killings new york'

The cursor blinked and her finger hovered over the enter-key.

'You shouldn't do this. Anything but that. You'll regret this. Don't...' her finger pushed the button.

Immediately, links to newspaper articles and official statements appeared. A few images popped up as well, and for once Anna was glad she had safe-search turned on by default. She glanced over the descriptions beneath the linked pages. She halted at a sensational line, obviously designed for the most clicks possible.

'How does the Iceman serve his victims? Find out here at...'

The cursor moved to the link. She hesitated. 'You can still turn back. Don't click it!'

She clicked. And spent the next half hour reading through dozens of articles claiming to know every nasty detail. The words started to blur when her eyes filled with tears again. 'heart carved out...filled with ice...head completely shaven...'

She finally slammed the laptop shut when she couldn't take it anymore. She was sick to the stomach, even with what little the authors of these articles actually knew. She stood up and started pacing around the room, trying to make sense of the maelstrom of thoughts and emotions coursing through her head. She wanted to smash something, someone, but at the same time she wanted to crawl under her covers, fall asleep and, when she woke up again, find that this all had been a nightmare. A horrible, detailed nightmare.

Eventually, the latter won out. She crawled into her bed, not bothering to change out of her clothes, and pulled her knees to her chest. A glance at the clock revealed that it was only 4 PM, but she didn't care. She just wanted to close her eyes and forget. It didn't work. For one, the room was too bright to sleep. More importantly, though, she couldn't shut down the thoughts, the images running wild.

With a heavy sigh she got up again and moved to her shelf, picking up the container she had placed there just a few hours ago. She then opened her closet and got out her bong, still filled with the stale water from last time. She didn't bother to change it. After grinding some of her weed and mixing it with tobacco, she put into the bowl, held a lighter to it and inhaled deeply. She tried to hold the smoke in as long as she could, and continued doing this until nothing was left in the bowl.

She kicked back, feeling her toes and fingertips getting tingly. Any minute now it would start, the pointless musings, the giggling at nothing, the insatiable hunger. But it didn't. Anna just felt empty. Completely devoid of any conscious thought. Not even the ungodly amount of pot she had just smoked got any happy feelings into her. At least the bad ones were gone now, too. She put the bong down, pulled the drapes and vanished under her comforter again, finally being able to sleep.


Elsa plopped down into her chair with a sigh. Kristoff was still happily munching away on oreos, not feeling the slightest bit of shame for having 'procured' them in Anna's apartment.

"Someone's been through my stuff" Elsa suddenly said. Kristoff looked up surprised, and for once demonstrated manners by swallowing his mouthful of cookies before speaking.

"What? How do you know that?"

"Well, for starters the mouse is on the wrong side of the keyboard. I'm left-handed. Also there's some sensitive documents lying about in the open. I always put these out of sight." Elsa sighed, unsure how to proceed.

"Anything specific?" Kristoff asked.

Elsa looked over the documents. "Not really, just various testimonies, autopsy reports...all about the Iceman."

"Makes sense, since it's our only case." her partner replied.

Elsa contemplated for a bit. "But why would anyone go through my stuff? If they wanna help us out or something they just have to ask."

"Maybe it's captain Hitler, looking to dig up some dirt on you. You know Sobel hates it that he has absolutely no leverage over you, should anything happen."

"Maybe...well, nothing we can do about it right now." Elsa said with apprehension, starting to store away the files lying in the open. She didn't like that new development one bit. Something was very wrong.

Kristoff could sense how agitated his partner was. "Listen Els, I'm gonna go and make a few inquiries. Maybe someone has seen a person enter while we were gone."

"Thanks, Kris. But please be discreet."

Kristoff laughed. "I'm always discreet, sugartit."

'Sugartit? Where the fuck does he pick up those ridiculous nicknames?' "Like that one time when someone replaced the regular coffee with decaf and you were literally running through the whole building, trying to find the culprit?"

"Coffee is serious business. This is just an office break-in where somebody got a look at confidential documents. No biggie." he said with a serious voice.

Elsa laughed, despite the situation. "Just go already. And while you're at it, get me some coffee, please?"

Kristoff smiled. "Black, with milk, no sugar?"

"You know it, pretty boy."

A few minutes later he returned with her coffee and took off again to make his ''discreet' inquiries (she could hear his rambunctious laughter through the closed door).

Somewhat calm again after sipping on her coffee, Elsa sat in her chair, once again going over all the evidence they had compiled. It wasn't much. The killer was very careful, and probably had experience with eliminating any trace that could lead to him. They had plenty of DNA on him, but he wasn't in any database they had access to. The girls always looked the same, and where always killed the same, but other than that there was not much of a pattern they could work out.

The victims had no overlapping social circles, didn't live in close proximity nor frequented the same bars and clubs. Only two of them had been at the same university, with very different majors. Their bodies were found in seemingly random locations, a bit off the main streets but close enough so they would be discovered by early-morning commuters, still freezing cold. It was obviously important to the 'Iceman' that the bodies were found with the ice not already molten. They always looked the same: head shaven, eyes gouged out, nose and lips removed. The heart was carved out, and there were several stab wounds on their breasts and lower abdomen, the genitalia was mutilated as well. And everything, the empty eye sockets, the mouth, the chest cavity where the heart used to be, even their vaginas were stuffed with ice.

'It has obviously some deeper meaning for him. He wants to destroy their beauty, and preserve his work with the ice for as long as possible. But what does he want to tell us with the heart?'

Luckily, the press knew very little about that, but even the few bits that had trickled through worked the public into a frenzy. The killer was at large for over a year now, and the commissioner was under heavy pressure to finally get some good news. 'If he finds out we have a facial composite he'll want it in the news ASAP. Not until we've found Nicole. Who knows what he'll do if we freak him out'

Elsa rubbed her temples, feeling the onset of yet another headache. She picked up her phone and dialed the front desk. "Phyllis? Yeah, it's McKay. Do we have any new info, any sightings on Nicole Summers or the Iceman? Okay, make sure to inform me right away if something does come in. Thanks." She groaned and leaned back in her chair, staring at the ceiling. 'There must be something! Anything. Everybody slips up once in a while.' Yet she didn't see it. There was no tangible lead anywhere, and even the picture hadn't gotten them any closer. She grabbed the autopsy reports again, looking for something she might have overlooked the first hundred times she had studied them. She knew them by heart by now, and she knew she wouldn't find anything there, either. Still, she had to busy herself somehow.

The reports were infuriatingly similar. No unusual substances. Traces of zolpidem, ibuprofen, penicilin. Some of the victims had traces of lyergic acid diethylamide and benzoylmethylecgonine, others had tetrahydrocannabinol or 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine in their bodies. The usual party drugs and the occasional blunt, nothing out of the ordinary. Elsa was slowly growing desperate, and every passing minute meant less time to rescue Nicole.

After a while, Kristoff returned to their office. "Hey Els. Studying the autopsies again?"

Elsa sighed and tossed the files on her desk. "Yeah."

"Did anything magically appear that wasn't there the first fifty times you read them?"

"Nope." Elsa replied, rubbing her tired eyes. "Did you come up with any info on our little house guest?"

"Nobody saw or heard anything."

"Figures." Elsa said with a scoff. "It probably was Sobel or one of his lackeys sniffing around."

She glanced at her watch. '2PM already?'

"Let's go grab some late lunch. We won't get anything done in here anyway."

Kristoff just shrugged and followed her outside.


Zolpidem – active ingredient in common sleeping pills, like Ambien

Ibuprofen – active ingredient in cold medicine and painkillers, like Advil

Peniciln – antibiotic

lyergic acid diethylamide – LSD

benzoylmethylecgonine – cocaine

tetrahydrocannabinol – THC, as in weed

3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine – MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy


would you look at that, it's monday already (at least where i live). which means a new chapter for you guys. i hope you like it. special thanks go out to converge for writing the song 'all we love we leave behind' which was kinda an inspiration for this story and is on repeat ever since i started writing this. look it up on youtube.

i'm also still looking for a beta. don't be shy about messaging me folks, for beta-ing or other, completely unrelated stuff. i only bite if you want me to ;)

reviews/suggestions/feddback is, as always, very welcome

peace out