Sorry about not updating for a couple days, had to play with this a little more and now I'm somewhat happy with it. Then I got distracted by the epic premier last night! :)
Sleep, once upon a time Lassiter actually got some. Once upon a time, he didn't have three murders in three days and knew eventually someone he called a friend was the target. Not that he'd admit he considered Spencer a friend.
"Mcnab!"
"He's not in yet sir." He heard a voice that he vaguely recognized and assumed it was one of the officers on duty.
Lassiter let out a sigh. "Get me a coffee."
"Right away Detective."
He went back to the pictures from the crime scene they had found way to early this morning. This one he wanted to keep from Sydney as long as possible especially after her breakdown last night. But this was like the last two, no connection, no witnesses, odd thing was there was no one around to hear last words, but nothing they could use.
"Here you are Detective Lassiter." Lassiter looked up to take the coffee and did a double take.
"Sydney?"
"Took you long enough." She peeled off the blonde wig she'd been wearing and sat down beside his desk.
He glanced at her and realized she was dressed just like an officer. "How long have you been here?"
"Since the call went out about the body."
"You were there?"
"The whole time, you yelled at me for mishandling an evidence bag." She air quoted mishandling.
"You were!" Lassiter recalled the evidence and realized he never saw the officer's face. Well, he mentally could scratch off chewing out that officer off his to-do list.
"I was getting a look at the body, I could have cared less about the bag. By the way, he slipped up." She walked over to the board, leaving the wig sitting on his desk.
"What?" He pushed it to the side and came over to stand beside her.
"He created a pattern." She grabbed a couple of thumbtacks. "After my breakdown last night, I had a pow wow in lake me. Then I got a vibe at the crime scene and sure enough."
She grabbed a box of pushpins and started putting them into the map in various places. "We stake out this location tonight and we catch Peters."
"Lassie, do I want to know? Actually, I'm may be scared to ask for once." He turned to see Shawn standing by his desk holding the wig with one hand.
"Be gentle with that, its my favorite." Sydney turned from where she was rearranging his evidence board.
"Be careful with that, for once I actually put it together."
"My case, it goes in my order." She gave him a cocky grin that reminded him of her father.
Speaking of, said father walked into the station, Guster close behind. "Sydney? Is it Halloween and we didn't get the memo?"
"Nah, I just find one can get a lot of info if you know how to dress." She pulled her hair out of it's ponytail and shook it out.
"Miss Collins, I don't remember receiving the memo that your joined the force." Chief Vick walked out of her office, eyebrow raised. Lassiter could see her holding in a smile.
"I don't remember receiving a memo about a body being found this morning so I guess Lassie and I are even." She smiled before disappearing down the hallway.
"Detective?"
"Well after yesterday…" He couldn't really defend his actions, he had just wanted to protect her. But from what? She'd seen worse.
"Go easy on him Chief." Sydney came back into view wearing civvies. "He was worried about me."
"What's this?" She nodded to the board.
"Our game plan, he's going to hit on the south side, isn't that old amusement park down there?"
Lassiter looked at the map. "Spencer isn't that the one that Scare Fest used to be held in."
"Man, we haven't been down there since we closed the Johnny Rickets case." Spencer came up and studied the board. "Sydney, you came up with this?"
"Yeah."
"Any idea who the victim is?" Guster chimed in, joining them at the board.
"Wait, I have to divine everything? When do you guys start chipping in."
Lassiter was hit with a sense of déjà vu.
"What I have to find that guy? I'm confused. When do you start chipping in."
"Lassie?" Sydney snapped him out of it. "Everything ok?"
"Yeah, a little déjà vu." He shook the scene away.
"Let's get going!" Like aways, Spencer was already half way out the door. Guster let out a sigh before following him. "Gus, pick up the pace don't be the tortoise!"
"The tortoise won in the end!"
"Spencer we need…" Lassiter took off after them.
"Dad!" Sydney passed him. "How about a plan?"
Spencer sulked in a minute later followed closely by Sydney. They appeared to be in an argument and from the look on Spencer's face Sydney was winning.
"Where were we?" Lassiter held in the laugh that wanted to surface as Sydney sat Spencer down. Ohara came over and took over guard duty.
"We have the where, we have the how, we just need two pieces."
"The who and the when." Guster stated to obvious. But for once no one pointed it out as everyone, Lassiter included, sorted through their own thoughts.
For a little while at least, Lassiter would get to enjoy his peace and quiet.
10 months ago
Eventually, Sydney would actually come to a theme park for fun. She'd get to ride the rides, eat junk food til she was sick, and spend the day acting like she didn't have a care in the world.
Sadly, today was not that day.
Sadly today was also setting record highs and for Orlando, that wasn't' a fun thing. Being in Orlando in record heat and having to act like a princess when all you wanted to do was not, yeah not Sydney's idea of fun.
Sydney couldn't help but laugh at the thought of how many little girls dreamed of doing what she was doing right now. Didn't every little girl want to be Cinderella, Belle, or Sleeping Beauty (sleeping for 100 years sounded like a lot of fun to Sydney right now)? Personally, Sydney had always preferred Mulan, and the sad thing is no one really counted her. And for the record, Belle's dress itched like crazy. At least her hair was up and out of the way, and it looked pretty sweet if she did say so herself.
Posing for yet another picture, Sydney finally found what she was looking for. A deserted part of the park, yellow tape hidden off to the side, crime scene, it was about time.
She made her way over and ducked under the tape. Inside the saloon park and local police were already at work processing the crime scene. "Who's in charge?"
"Woah there Belle, aren't you lost a little." One of the officer's snickered.
"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that." She glared at him and sure enough he quickly went back to what he was doing. "Do I need to repeat myself?"
"Who do you think you are?" A man towards the back of the room glared in her direction. "And what do you think your doing at my crime scene.
Sydney walked over there, seeing the body and knowing this was her guy, again slipping under her radar and making the body total to eight. She probably had the only Belle gown with pockets and pulled her badge out.
"I think I'm the one in charge of this investigation. So you have all of two seconds to change your tune or I will be forced to have you removed from my crime scene."
Cue blabbering.
Cue odd looks from the rest of the officers.
Cue a monumental waste of her time.
"Isn't this place loaded with security cameras? Surely something got something I can use?" Sydney traded her satin gloves for her crime scene pair and bent down over the body, careful not to let the dress bump her.
Crumpled in the victims hand was a note, hmm that was new. She pulled it out and opened it.
Thought you had caught up to me this time Agent. Too bad you couldn't save her. I guess that means its Me: 8 You:0 Better luck next time.
It was one of those notes made from magazine cut outs. "I need an evidence bag." The pockets in this gown were only but so big.
Luckily the officers in the room had gotten their acts together and someone handed her a bag. She dropped the note in before putting the bag back into her pocket.
"Miss…" She whirled around as she felt a hand on her shoulder. One of the officers from the park was the owner of the hand.
"May I help you?"
"We think we found something on the camera."
"Why are we still here then?" And for once Sydney let a rare smile show at a crime scene.
"Right this way." She followed him out, pausing to take pictures with kids as they made their way through Magic Kingdom.
"Remind me before I leave, I have a date with a few rides."
"Will do." The officer led her to a door and she stepped into the underground tunnel system. After a stop by the locker room, Sydney found herself in the security room.
"Who has something for me?"
"Right here." One of the men waved her over. She stood behind his chair. "We'd shut down this part of the park for some maintenance."
"Water damage after last week's flooding?" Sydney remembered seeing it on the news the other night.
He look surprised that she knew that. "Yeah, but anyways we found this."
A push of the button and Sydney was staring at an empty screen. After about a minute, a shadow appeared on the screen followed by a person. The person looked lost and Sydney recognized her as the victim. Must have gotten turned around.
Another shadow appeared and the girl turned and Sydney watched her eyes grow wide. A man charged on the screen and Sydney watched and for the first time caught a glimpse into the Last Words Killer's methods. The rest of the room turned away but Sydney kept watching, not wanting to miss a detail.
Finally, he looked straight into the camera and Sydney paused the video. "Oh grow up people, he's done."
Hesitantly they looked at the screen but most looked away again when they saw the state of the body. LWK (Sydney was shortening it now, eight murders was a lot for a killer with such a long name) was breaking pattern.
"About five minutes later, one of the maintenance men found her right before she died."
Or maybe not.
"How do I get a copy of this footage?"
The man in front of the screen turned around long enough to push a few buttons. A minute later, Sydney was tucking a disk into her bag. Finally, she had a lead.
"You can take that off the screen now, I have what I need." Sydney turned to walk out the door. "One last question."
"What can we help you with?"
"Which door would I take if I wanted to come out by Space Mountain?"
A laugh sounded from the room as a girl got up. "Follow me."
She led her down a series of hallways; Sydney pulled out her phone and was surprised to have a signal. "I have a visual."
"On the suspect?" The commander sounded surprised.
"Well footage of the suspect. He slipped up and took care of this last victim on camera."
"Get it here ASAP."
"Will do."
"You're riding Space Mountain first aren't you?"
"I am in the Magic Kingdom in Disney World. What do you think?"
Her commander didn't even bother to hold in a laugh.
Every so often, she has to do something that reminds me that she is Shawn's daughter. That's it for now, a little action next time. Thanks for reading!
