AUTHORS NOTE: Here I am with a short authors note and a whole new chapter. I do hope you enjoy :)

***

Stuart climbed out of the car and headed into the small cafe where he had arranged to meet the second victim's brother. He scanned the room casually before allowing his eyes to rest on someone that was sat alone, his hands fidgeting and his body froze as he watched Stuart walk into the small cafe. Even when you're not under arrest, you still panic when you know the police are coming to talk to you. It's just conditioned into you that when the police are involved it's not good.

"Mr Jenkins?" Stuart asked as he moved over to the table. The man had picked a far corner, away from the rest of the cafe but near enough to dive into the toilets if it got too much. This guy had obviously something to hide or had watched too many crummy detective programmes on the television. Stuart suspected it was the latter option.

"Who is asking?" Stuart couldn't help but laugh at how difficult the man was being as he produced his badge and flashed it to the guy before taking a seat. "Are you the detective who spoke to me on the phone then?"

"That's right. I am."

"Odd. I assumed you'd be a lot older." Stuart looked over at the man and smiled before realising that Mr Jenkins was a lot older than his sister and he took out his notepad as he looked over at the guy.

"You look older than your sister, Mr Jenkins."

"That's correct. There are twenty years between us. Her mother married my father when I was twenty and the young girl had just been born by her father who had been murdered by some drug dealer." The guy waved his hands in the air as if trying to bat away the comment. "That's not important though. Even with the age difference, Maria and I were close especially when she hit the late teens but that was probably because her parents died and I'm the one that kind of raised her."

"What could you tell us about her fiancé?"

"Maria fell in love very easily. I've lost count of how many times she's came in and told me that she'd met the one then this one time she walked in and said he was the one she was going to marry . She showed me this large, expensive diamond ring on her wedding finger. I've never been so scared for my sister in my life!" He took a swig of his coffee and looked down at his hands; Stuart took his time to take a look. There was no cuts or scrapes on the knuckles. "My wife had helped her organise the wedding. She had everything sorted and then the night before it was all supposed to take place, she went home and found a simple letter resting on the hall table. She'd been left a dear john simply explaining that he loved his secretary and he was sorry for hurting her. I could have killed Damien at that moment."

Stuart ignored the angry comment and looked at Mr Jenkins, "This was three months ago but she still insists on wearing the engagement ring?"

"I don't think Maria was ready to accept that it was over because she really did love him."

"Do you know where he and his secretary went to?"

"I'm sure they just moved to a smaller village somewhere but I have his number because I know she deleted it so that she wouldn't have the temptation to ring him again."

"Thank you." Stuart commented watching as the man handed over his phone so that Stuart could record the number as he went to close down to the main menu, he smiled at the two girls on the screen. "Are they your daughters?"

"They're my step daughters. My wife is a widow. It was weird. He went to Iraq in 1990 and survived, came home and caught the flu and it simply finished him off." He looked down at the photo and smiled with fatherly love as he pointed to one of the girls. "The oldest one is about twenty one and the second one is seventeen, I think." He laughed at his absentmindedness before turning to look at Stuart. "I'm proud of them as if they were my own and they always treated Maria more like a friend than an auntie because she was too young and cool to be an auntie they all said." There was a fond note in his voice as he stood up and shook Stuart's hand.

"Thank you for meeting me. I'm sure if we find anything out, we'll ring you." Stuart went through his pockets and handed him a card. "If you think of anything useful then please ring me on this number."

"I shall." Mr Jenkins said pocketing the card and was about to leave when Stuart took hold of his arm.

"I have one more question for you."

"Well ask away, detective."

"Did you know a Melissa Underwood?"

There was a moment of pause so that the man could search through his memory but then eventually he smiled and nodded. "She's in the same year as my youngest. Carina says she is really going to be something one day with her running. She's apparently going for the Olympics."

"Was your daughter friends with Melissa?"

"No. She always said that Melissa only ever had time for running and her trainer." He looked over at Stuart. "Carina says her trainer is rather hot." He rolled his eyes before chuckling. "The simple mind of teenage daughters, aye?"

Stuart just agreed but decided that the trainer definitely needed talking to. "Thank you, Mr Jenkins." He said before leaving and taking out his mobile to ring Burke.

***

Jackie stepped up to the front door and took a deep breath, hoping to pick up the nerve to knock on the front door. This was definitely a moment of her job she hated. She hated telling parents that their child was dead but could you imagine telling the parents their child was dead with an unborn child that they probably didn't know about? It was hell and you always found that the parents took their anger out on the detective telling them. Jackie had opted herself because she was a lot more patient and calmer than her three peers. She took one final deep breath before raising her fist and knocking on the door.

She was taken aback when a guy answered the door but she also recognised him from the photos that had been on the wall. His brown hair flopped into his piercing blue eyes, his smile missed laughter lines and his clothes looked expensive but not pretty. The guy stood in front of her was Melissa's father. His eyes were puffy from tears and she simply held out her badge. "I'm Detective Reid. I'm one of the detectives working on your daughter's case."

"You'll be here for Miranda then?"

"No. I'm happy to talk to the both of you. Is Miranda in?" The man simply nodded before opening the door wider so that she could come in and he lead her through to the living room. She smiled sympathetically at Miranda, who finally looked as if she'd let emotion to take over, before sitting down in one of the chairs and watching as Marvin Underwood sat down next to his ex-wife and took hold of her hands.

"What do you want, Detective?" Miranda whispered, her voice hoarse from how many tears she'd spent.

"Did Melissa have a boyfriend?" She asked knowing that being blunt wasn't going to help matters here so she'd gently seduce them into her understanding.

"No." The parents both said at the same time with the same angry force. They looked at each other before Miranda sighed and turned to look at Jackie. She continued alone, "Melissa didn't have time for boyfriends. She had her running to concentrate on and we've already mentioned that she struggled to have a social life with the heavy training pattern she had but she never complained because being a champion was something she wanted too." The way Miranda made it appear to Jackie as if it was off a script, as if she'd said it many times to other people who must have said that it wasn't the right kind of life for a young sixteen year old girl.

"Does your daughter keep a diary?" She asked them and Miranda nodded.

"She's always scribbling in it but she mainly keeps it for writing what she has eaten and how many miles she's eaten." Jackie bit back the urge to laugh at the fact they thought Melissa was living the happy life of a teenager but simply looked down at her notebook.

"If it is okay with you, I'd need the diary for me or one of the other detectives to read through and see if it can give us a lead?" Miranda nodded before smiling at the detective. "Why are you asking if Melissa had a boyfriend, detective? Did you think it could have been a boyfriend or someone who did this to our little girl?"

Jackie looked over at the woman and took another deep breath before nodding. "Our forensic report has shown us that Melissa was several weeks pregnant and we were..."

"I beg your pardon?" Marvin suddenly voiced up making Jackie jump because he'd been quiet the whole way through the interview apart from their moment of unison at the beginning.

"Your daughter was pregnant but our forensic scientist doubts it was long enough to actually be able to call paternity on."

"Your forensic scientist is wrong. Our daughter couldn't have been pregnant. She never had time to see anyone but us and her trainer. You should ask for a re-test or something."

"Mr Underwood, there is no point because we have a second victim and she too was in the early stages of being pregnant. The coincidence is too much to miss." Jackie explained before standing up and pulling out a card before handing it over to them. "I understand this isn't something you wanted to hear or expected but if there is anything you could tell us that would be useful."

Miranda stood up and looked over at Jackie, "I can't see why she didn't tell us, Detective. I wouldn't have been angry. Hell, I was young when I had her but if she'd have talked to me, we could have probably fixed this." Jackie guessed she knew what 'fixing it' meant and she didn't want to comment because she knew her opinion would cloud rationality.

"Your daughter might not have known." Jackie's tone was convincing and it seemed to make Miranda's mind settle because Miranda allowed a small smile through her tears before nodding her head.

"I'll go upstairs and get her diary."

"Thank you." Jackie suddenly remembered the most important question. "Wait." She called watching as Miranda stopped at the door and turned to look back at her. "Do you know a Maria Jenkins?"

Miranda smiled, "She's a lovely woman. We're a part of the same book group."

"Book group?" Jackie asked looking over at her and then Miranda nodded.

"She comes along with her brother. This month we're reading books my Karin Slaughter because she's the best grizzly writer of America and that's one thing we all have in common in the group. We're not big classic fans." Miranda said before staring up the stairs again and Jackie quickly scribbled that down in her notebook.

***

Robbie typed the name 'Damien Lewis' into their database and sat with his hand under his chin as he waited for the software to show up his name. His eyes widened as he read what came up and realised that the young man had been lying to his fiancée all along. He quickly rang Burke to fill him in before leaving the office.

He showed his badge to the guard at the gate and moved into the small cell. He leant against the wall and looked at the handsome man that sat before him. He had to admit he could see Maria Jenkins and him together. "You told your partner that you had run away with your secretary."

"I didn't want her to know that I was being locked away for a couple of years because of a very serious drug offence." Robbie went to ask a question and as if sensing what his question was, Damien shook his head. "Maria didn't read papers and my case wasn't big enough for my name to ever be in the news or printed in paper and besides, I have money to make sure that didn't happen."

Robbie leant his elbows on the table as he looked over at the guy, "Maria is expecting your baby."

"Oh god, what am I going to do?"

"You can't do anything now." Robbie simply commented and stared at the man's confusion before nodding. "She was murdered in the early hours of this morning. We'd have come to tell you earlier but you see you were hard to find."

"You can't really think I did it, can you?"

Robbie's look was droll as his lips pursed; the temptation to smack this guy about was getting higher every minute. "No. I'm afraid you have a strong alibi but how many enemies do you have in the world?"

"I don't have many due to the fact I pay my dealers there and then and I'm not one to shout about that I take drugs. It's more a leisure thing for me."

"Did your fiancée have any enemies?"

"Oh hell no, Maria was too caring and quiet to have enemies. Her life consisted around me, work and the book club that she ran with her brother."

"She ran a book club?"

"Yes. It was aimed at people who prefer horror and crime thrillers than the everyday classic. I always said that she should settle with Jane Eyre or something but Maria had a real fascination with the crime books. She was actually working on her own crime thriller."

"Did she ever let you read it?"

"No but she did tell me about what she'd written." Damien said and then relaised that Robbie actually meant he was to tell him. "The killer would take well known scenes from famous books and re-enact them but make them either murder or just the same."

Robbie's jaw dropped, "Like the scene in Carrie?"

"That was her first scene, yes. I told her she'd have to get permission first but she just laughed because she knew that it would enver leave the study and she'd have no need to publish it because she didn't think she could write."

"Who knew about this book?"

"Me, her and most of the book club because together they helped her write it and they selected scenes from the books that they'd read."

Robbie considered the information that he'd just learnt and looked over at Damien, "Your fiancée was murdered in the style of a Karin Slaughter book. Was that in her book?"

"That was murder two."

"How many murders did your fiancée write?"

"She wanted it to be nitty so she wrote several. I think the last time I recalled her telling me the murders there was seven." Robbie cursed under his breath before standing up and looking over at him.

"Last question, did you know a Melissa Underwood?"

"Not personally but I am friends with her trainer, Jeremy Flint. Why?"

"Her murder was like Carrie's opening scene."

***

The four detectives gathered back in the office and sighed as they looked at each other. It was weird that they all knew each other either personally or through someone else. They looked at the web they'd drawn on a spare whiteboard and Burke turned to look at Robbie, "Lewis said there were several murders written?"

"Yes but I can't see how these victims are being killed because it appears that Melissa and Maria never actually met only the family members did." He sighed as he sat on the corner of Jackie's desk, his hand rubbing at his unshaven chin.

"We need to check all the members of the book club out. See if anymore are pregnant. Okay?"

"They're meeting is tomorrow." Jackie filled in. "Miranda assured me that they wouldn't stop just because Maria had been killed. It just means someone else has to take over writing their book."

"Wow and they say empathy is dead." Stuart commented before looking at the board. "So we still have no lead?"

"No lead." Burke agreed and looked at them. "It's late. Go home and have a few hours but back here for seven and we'll have another look on fresh minds."

"Yes boss." They all chorused before grabbing their coats and leaving.