September 3rd 2015
Hours later and the entire building was buzzing with activity, even more so than it had been that morning. Lab techs were rushing tests and retesting them. Medical Examiners were repeating autopsies to double check for more evidence and clues as to where their boss might be.
The Crime Scene Unit had processed the scene in the parking garage and the evidence was found to only have traces of Kate on them and none of the killer. All fingerprints were accounted for as they were mostly Kate's although a few in the passenger's side were that of Megan Hunt and Lacey Fleming.
*FLASHBACK*
Megan smiled softly at Kate from where she sat in the passenger's seat of the blonde's car, "Thank you for the ride", she said politely.
Kate nodded, glancing towards the Medical Examiner before returning her full attention to the car, "No Problem Megan", she said with a smile. "I couldn't leave you stranded", she said with a smirk.
The redhead's car had broken down not far from the Medical Examiner's office, "Yes", she said with amusement in her voice, "You could have done". Her eyes were focused on the blonde indicating the level of attention she was paying to what the woman was saying to her, "But… thank you".
Doctor Murphy smiled brightly, "Okay, I'll reword that… ", she stated with a glance towards the beautiful woman beside her, "I didn't want to leave you stranded".
She pulled the car up outside Megan's apartment building and the redheaded Medical Examiner opened the car door, placing one high heel on the concrete surface outside of it and turned her body to look at Kate, "Would you like to come in for a drink?", she offered, "I have wine".
Kate nodded, "I'd love to", she replied with a bright smile before she turned off the engine. Megan couldn't help but grin to herself as she got out of the vehicle as Kate got out of the driver's side whilst paying attention to the traffic that was travelling by.
Megan turned to check that Kate had safely exited the car and smiled towards her as the blonde approached. Doctor Hunt walked towards the door with Kate trailing slightly behind her with a perfect view of the woman's skirt tightly encased behind. The redhead smirked to herself whilst purposely swinging her hips slightly more than normal which was a regular occurrence in her boss' presence.
The redheaded Medical Examiner stepped into her apartment with her boss behind her and made her way into the kitchen in order to grab two bottles of wine from the top shelf and two glasses from the cupboard nearby, "Red or White?", she asked looking at the blonde who had just closed the door and now stood only a few feet from her.
She thought for a moment before replying, "Red", she said with a smile knowing that it would have to 'breathe' before they drank it and that meant she would have to stay longer with the one she secretly loved.
They had sat for nearly four hours before they realised the time; 01:25. Kate stood and with a smile said softly to the red headed woman she had been previously sat beside on the sofa with netflix playing in the background despite the fact that neither women took any notice of it, "I should make my way home. It's getting late and we have work in the morning".
Megan reached her hand out and tugged the woman to sit back down on the sofa, "No Kate", she said simply, "You're staying". It wasn't a question nor a demand where Kate could protest but simply a statement that gave no room for debate, "We've both had too much to drink and there is no way I am letting you drive home in this state", she explained with nothing but care and concern.
The blonde woman couldn't help but smile and she didn't even attempt to argue with her colleague as she knew that it would be pointless and she would end up doing what the other woman said in the end.
Doctor Hunt smiled before she stood up, leaving the glasses and wine bottles on the table, she signalled for the blonde to follow her into the bedroom and she went into her closet to pull out something for herself and for Kate to wear. "Here", she said softly, "You can wear this". She held out the nightwear to the blonde woman who took it with a smile and thanked her.
Once they were both in their nightwear they climbed under the covers of Megan's bed to sleep after setting the alarm to wake them for work the next morning.
*END OF FLASHBACK*
There were very little clues as to where the victims were held before their deaths but they had discovered that it was an opportunistic killer who after killing his victim went in search for another within 24 hours of dumping the body on the highway.
Peter entered Kate's office where Megan was pacing in front of the blonde woman's desk having been banned from the case completely. She had at first protested but was under the watchful eye of the FBI team who were working on the case and had been threatened with arrest for 'interfering with an investigation' because they had realised she was much more involved in the case than originally thought. Her reaction to Kate's kidnapping had been a much more emotional one rather than if it were simply her boss.
Megan turned hastily towards Peter Dunlop, "Have you found her?", she demanded as soon as he stepped into the room, her facial expressions were painted with pure worry and concern.
He sighed and looked down, suddenly finding himself feeling guilty that he hadn't found the blonde woman yet, "Not yet Megan", he said gently, "We've gone over the footage from the parking garage..".
Megan cut him off before he could finish the sentence, "I need to see it", she said hastily and stepped towards the door.
"No", he replied quickly and stepped in front of her to prevent her exit, "You really shouldn't watch it Megan". He looked nervous and tried to distract her, "CSU found a handkerchief not far from the scene", he revealed, "It was laced with chloroform and had DNA traces of the other victims in a mix of saliva marks where it was held over their mouths".
He watched as she stood with her arms crossed in a protective motion but with one hand in her hair and she was biting her lip firmly, "There was a monogram on the material, the letters 'I' and 'F' in a blue embroidery", he said with a sigh, "They also found traces of what seems to be three other victims".
The body count was rising and the blonde was still missing whilst the redhead was struggling to keep a check on her emotions but the tears brimming in her eyes were a huge giveaway. "Do we have ID's on any of the other victims?", she asked after hesitating for a moment.
Peter nodded, "Just the one", he said gently as he was being careful not to set her off as she had already blown up at seven different staff members including the lead agent of the FBI.
*FLASHBACK*
Casey walked into the offices almost an hour after Megan had alerted everyone to Kate's abduction and she spun around with pure anger in her eyes, "Do you even know how to do your job?!", she yelled at him furiously.
The man stood in shock and found himself unable to do anything other than stare at the fiery woman, "If you were capable of doing your job then you would have found the killer and Kate would still be here!".
FBI agents along with Megan's colleagues simply stood in shock as they watched the scene unfold, "This?", she screamed as she waved an arm around, "This is YOUR fault". Her finger forcefully pushed against the man's chest, "I swear that if anything happens to her then you better run", she threatened before storming off, her heels hitting the floor rather violently.
*END OF FLASHBACK*
"One of the victim's DNA matched a missing woman whose name was 'Dana Ryan'. She was a 32 year old mother of three who vanished from a camping site on March 1st 2015 whilst on vacation with her wife and children. Mrs Ryan had been having trouble sleeping so she was up early in the morning. When her wife woke she noticed her wife was gone and the only sign were what seemed to be male footprints and spilt coffee mug on the ground near the fire which was starting to go out.", he explained as he flipped through the tattered notebook in his hand that was covered with various coloured ink scrawl that he considered to be 'writing'.
"What about the other two?", the Medical Examiner enquired with a curious look on her face, "Any ideas?".
He shook his head in a negative manner, "No", he said with a heavy sigh, "The FBI are running DNA against missing women in the area and they've got a list of missing women that match our victim profile".
Megan nodded, "How many?", she asked referring to the number of women on the missing register that matched the victim profile and could be possible victims of the Highway Killer.
Peter hesitated but revealed with a sigh, "16", he said and instantly regretted the decision when he saw the woman's face drop and she turned away to face the other side of the room.
She ran her hand through her hair and glanced at the blonde's desk, "Has anyone questioned the families of any of the missing yet? or the people who reported them missing? or those who had last contact with them?", she was reeling off questions without giving him a chance to answer.
He waited for her to finish knowing that it would be useless to interrupt her because it would simply annoy her more and she was already extremely agitated, "We're working on it Megan", he said simply.
"Go", she said quickly, "Go work on it… Go… Find her", she tried to make it sound authoritative and to be a demand but it came out more like a desperate plea as her face was painted with pure worry and concern.
He nodded briefly before he exited the room and left the redheaded woman to pace around the office in a highly agitated state.