Chapter 1

"Welcome to the ten o'clock news report. The top story of the night is the discovery of another woman's body in a dumpster. The medical examiner has confirmed she had recently given birth, although, the newborn was not found. There were no obvious signs of violence and the medical examiner's office is waiting on her toxicology report to identify the exact cause of death.

This is the eighth woman found in the last three months. All the women had been pregnant and recently given birth, however, none of the infants have been found to date. It is unknown if the infants survived birth or not.

The DC Police are asking for your help to identify the latest victim. She has a distinctive tattoo on her wrist, in the shape of a heart with an infinity symbol behind it. If you, or anyone you know, can identify this victim, please, contact the DC Police immediately at 202-555-1212."

Wednesday morning, Billy stood in the conference room and scanned the faces of the agents gathered around the table. "All right, people. Now, you've all heard the latest news report regarding the murders of the pregnant women over the last few months," he began.

"Yeah, they just announced they found another one last night," Francine inserted.

"You are correct, Ms. Desmond," Billy affirmed.

Francine continued, "The news report stated they needed help identifying the latest victim based on a tattoo, I think."

Billy nodded again, "Correct, however, victim number six has been identified."

"Billy, I don't understand. Murder and unsolved cases typically aren't agency business," Francine asked. The other agents around her nodded and muttered agreements amongst each other.

"True, but that was until now. As I was saying, victim number six has been identified as the nineteen-year-old daughter of Grecian Diplomat, Basil Katsaros. His daughter's name was Damaris Katsaros," Billy explained.

"Katsaros…wasn't he involved in the controversial vote that happened last month over Foreign Affairs? Something about putting a block on international adoptions, after it was discovered that some of the so-called 'source countries' were encouraging families to give up infants in exchange for money," Francine added.

Billy pressed his lips together and nodded, "Yes, which is why when his unmarried pregnant daughter was murdered and her infant was found to be missing, he came to us for help. He doesn't know if this is personal or not." The agents in the room began muttering and chattering at once, their words all blending together until Billy raised his hand to silence them. "All right people, settle down. Francine, you seem to be pretty up-to-date on both Katsaros and what's been happening, so I'm assigning this case to you. Find someone to work with you…someone that may be just as knowledgeable as you are, preferably."

"Yes, sir," Francine accepted the file Billy handed her. "I'll start with the local PD and see if they have any info on the cause of death and go from there, I guess." She looked around the room but everyone present avoided eye contact.

"All right, people. Go. I want updates on everything you're working on by five o'clock today. No one goes home without turning in a report. And that's an order," Billy informed the group.

Francine waited until most of the other agents left the room before she approached Billy. "So, who do you think I should grab for this one? Ferguson is still on leave, as is McIntire and Stephens. I'm not sure who else is available for a case like this," she informed him.

"Well, I'm sure you'll find someone. What about one of the newbies? Sawyer…or that other new kid, what's her name again?" Billy snapped his fingers trying to remember.

"Farrah? Oh no, I'm not taking that barbie doll with me," Francine stated firmly. "And Sawyer? Have you seen him? He looks like he's barely out of diapers."

Billy smoothed his tie as he smiled and said, "I don't care who you find, Francine, just find someone and fast. The longer we stand here talking about it, the longer it's going to take to get an answer for Katsaros."

Francine looked out into the bullpen and noticed Tom Edwards walking by heading into the hallway, his limp barely noticeable. "What about Edwards? Another trip out into the field?"

"I suppose it couldn't hurt, although, I heard he has turned into quite the wizard on the computer in Research," Billy agreed.

"I heard that too, but I also know getting out of the concrete maze of this building can do wonders for the mind," Francine smiled.

"Fine, take Edwards with you. I can't see this being all that dangerous if he's worried about that," Billy held the door open for Francine. "Have you seen Lee or Amanda this morning?"

Francine shook her head, "No, Lee has his annual visit with Stanley and Amanda wasn't expected in until eleven, now that she's been told to cut back her hours. I know Lee mentioned something about her working with Leatherneck on the applications for the new Station One class. If you ask me, I'd say he's trying to keep her out of trouble."

Billy chuckled, "You do know you're still talking about Amanda, right?"

"Boy don't I know it. Did I tell you what happened the other day? She was carrying a stack of files when she bumped into Beamon and dropped everything. It would have been fine, except she couldn't bend down to pick it all up. She got about half of them brushed into a pile with her foot, before Beamon finally reached down to help her, only she leaned over and ended up bumping him in the head with her belly, knocking him completely off his feet. I don't know who was more horrified, Amanda or Beamon," Francine laughed.

Billy laughed loudly, "I could see that." He glanced around the room and spotted Edwards heading in their direction. "Well, look at that. Today must be your lucky day. Here comes Edwards now."

Francine followed Billy's line of sight and called out, "Edwards! You are just the man I was looking for. What are you working on?"

Edwards looked around, slightly confused before he said, "Um, right now, nothing. I just finished up on the Gibraltar Three Project. You know, Operation Flavius. The bombing in Ireland on March 6th that killed Sean Savage, Daniel McCann, and Máiréad Farrell, all members of the Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade."

Francine nodded her head, "Wow, that's pretty impressive. What did you find?"

"Well, the SAS claims it was a justified shooting but after all the violence at their funerals a few weeks back, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a full inquest by the end of the summer," Edwards informed her.

"Soooo, if you've just wrapped that up, that means you're free, right?" Francine asked with a smile.

Edwards looked around the room, confused. "I guess that means I am," he replied tentatively.

Francine linked her arm into his and began pulling him deeper into the bullpen, "Well, I have a new assignment and I think you deserve a second chance. The last time you and I actually worked together… well, we won't even talk about that. But I do need a partner, so what do you say? Are you interested?"

Edwards stopped and blinked several times, "What's the assignment?"

"You've heard about the recent string of murders lately. You know…a pregnant mother goes missing, the body is found a week or so later, the baby missing," she summarized.

"Yeah. Didn't they just find another one last night?" he asked.

Francine flashed a smile at him, "They did. Only one of the murdered women was the nineteen-year-old daughter of a Grecian Diplomat. He's all up in arms, thinking it's revenge against his vote on international adoptions a few weeks back."

"Is that why the Agency is getting involved?" Edwards asked.

"Well, we are going to talk to the locals, see what they're willing to share with us. If it looks like we can help out, then we will, otherwise, we go back to Katsaros and tell him it's out of our hands," Francine explained.

Edwards sighed, "We don't really know if we can help this guy then, do we?"

"No," Francine admitted, "But we have to at least show that we're looking into it. So, what do you think? You interested?"

Edward grinned, "Sure, let me get my coat."