"So, what have we got?" Gil asked us as Edrisa rushed passed us into the crime scene roughly an hour later.
"He's just a kid." I sighed laying my hand on my stomach.
"It's not Carol Blake?" He asked looking into the home.
"No. I'd guess he's no older than twenty. Do we know if she had any children?" I answered.
"What the hell are you people doing here? You can't be in my house without a warrant!" A woman's voice screamed from behind the crime scene tape cutting off any response Gil may have given me.
I turned and saw a woman in her mid to late forties pushing against the uniformed officers we'd set to hold back the press and onlookers who'd gathered around.
"I'll handle it." I sighed.
"Dani?" I looked at her.
"I've got you." She nodded and followed me down the stairs.
"Are you Carol Blake?" I asked trying to usher her from the crowd of hungry reporters.
"Who's asking?" She shot at me.
"I'm Dr. Lilian Bright with the FBI. We've been investigating the murder of John Dougal. You were the court reporter in his preliminary hearing. That's why my partner and I were here. Your front door was open when we got here." I explained.
"Oh my... Phillip!" She screamed out.
"Ms. Blake? Is Phillip your son?" I asked careful to not use the past tense.
We didn't have a confirmed identification on the body.
"Was he in there? Is he okay? Phillip!" She called again.
"Ms. Blake. I need you to go with Detective Powell and give a full statement, okay?" I urged gently.
I watched Dani lead Carol Blake to her car.
"Victim could be Phillip Blake." I told Gil quietly walking back into the mobile home.
"Her son?" He asked.
I nodded.
"It can't be a coincidence that she's the court reporter for the John Dougal trial and now possibly the mother of our second victim." JT said.
"I'd bet not. So far she's our link." I nodded.
"What do you see Malcolm?" I asked walking towards him.
"Take a look at this." He said pointing to the victim's forehead.
"Gluttony." I sighed.
"Does that line up?" Gil asked.
"It does. Gluttony is the sixth terrace of Purgatory underneath Lust." I answered.
"The problem is we don't know exactly what he's looking for in a victim. Except for his perception of the sin." Malcolm looked at me.
"Edrisa?" I asked looking over at her.
"He was likely poisoned. I'll have to take him to the morgue for a full autopsy to know for sure. The symbol was carved perimortem just like the last time." She confirmed.
"Go ahead and get him to autopsy." Gil said.
Once Edrisa and her team removed the body Malcolm and I looked around the room once more.
"Oh my God." I muttered looking in one of the pots on the stove.
Then the smell hit me.
I gagged hard throwing myself away from the stove.
"Lily?" Malcolm rushed to my side.
"I need to get out. Get me out." I muttered to him.
Outside he got me around back before I collapsed to the ground.
I couldn't stop coughing until I finally threw up.
"Ammonia and bleach." I coughed again.
"We need to get you to the hospital." Malcolm insisted.
I nodded.
"Gil!" Malcolm called out.
Together they put me in the passenger seat of Gil's car so he could drive me to the closest hospital.
An hour later I lay in the hospital bed with IV fluids to flush my system and thus our baby's while they set up the ultrasound monitor and waited for my blood work to come back.
I could feel her moving but when dealing with chemicals that strong and dangerous we couldn't be too careful.
The now familiar sound of our daughter's whooshing heartbeat, strong, fast and steady, instantly calmed any and all anxiety I felt.
I could feel Malcolm's relief next to me.
They preformed tests on our daughter and she passed each one with flying colors.
"There's likely not going to be any lasting damage for for you or your daughter. I'd like to wait for the blood work to come back. We'll do one more ultrasound just to be safe then we'll release you. You already have a twenty week appointment with your OB/GYN?" Dr. Elliot Davis asked.
"I do, yeah. Next Tuesday." I answered.
"Good. That'll be fine. Just keep an eye on her movements. If she slows down come back in." He nodded.
"Thank you, Doctor." I nodded then leaned back against the pillow.
"We really gotta get you out of the field." Malcolm sighed.
"We tried." I chuckled uneasily.
Our daughter moved happily in my womb the entire time we waited.
The labs and second ultrasound also came back normal.
Malcolm and I returned to the precinct after six in the evening.
"Lily?" Dani rushed up to me.
"We're both okay." I nodded with a small smile.
"Note to my pregnant friend: DO NOT SMELL RANDOM PANS IN A CRIME SCENE." She shook me playfully.
"Yes, ma'am." I nodded.
It hadn't exactly been my plan to smell the concoction but I definitely shouldn't have been so close to it in the first place.
"Ms. Blake is still in the interview room, Edrisa's ready with the autopsy results and as expected another package came for you." Gil said as Malcolm, Dani, and I walked into the conference room.
My head spun slightly and I stumbled.
"Lily?" Malcolm said worriedly helping to hold me up.
"Sorry, uh... Too much stimulation, too fast. Okay, uh... let me read the letter first." I stuttered trying to regain my bearings.
"Here." Gil handed me the envelope and helped Malcolm lead me to a chair in the room.
It was clear at that point that Malcolm and I were not his targets. At least not yet. He was nowhere near finished with his 'masterpiece' and we were his audience.
Inside were three items, the video, the letter, and a Polaroid picture of Malcolm and I in the dirt behind the mobile home.
I handed Malcolm the picture and opened the letter.
"I do hope you know, Dr. Bright, that I never intended to hurt you or the young life inside you and sincerely hope you are both well. However, you and your husband surprised me. I didn't have time to clean up after myself this time. I should have suspected you'd catch up to me, but I'm not finished yet. Oh, no. I desperately need you both to fully understand my calling. Be careful, Dr. Bright. There's so much more to see.
MD"
I read aloud.
"He stayed that long?" Gil asked.
"If we showed up before he was able to clean up we need CSU to test every inch of that home." I sighed.
"Let's watch the video." Malcolm sighed sitting down next to me.
"I'm going to go with JT and CSU back to the scene." Dani said immediately rushing from the room.
I shook my head with a slight smile.
Malcolm reached forward and pressed play.
This video began with our killer, who has chosen twice to identify himself as MD, knocking on the front door of the mobile home.
"Hello?" MD's voice called.
"My mom says I can't open the door for strangers!" A male voice seemingly too young for the body we found called back.
My immediate thought was severe autism or some other developmental disorder.
"I understand but your mom and I are very good friends, she helped me out with something and I'm just trying to return the favor. Can you help me?" MD called back.
"Okay!" Our victim called back happily.
My heart ached knowing what was to come.
Just before the door opened MD's hand came into view, holding that taser.
I forced myself to keep my eyes open as Phillip Blake's face distorted in pain as the taser jabbed into his neck and he fell to the floor.
The video faded out then back in again.
Phillip Blake sat unconscious and tied to a chair. I could hear MD in the kitchen area and my stomach turned.
MD expertly kept his face hidden as he brought the first pan to the table.
MD slapped at Phillip's face until he began to wake.
Phillip immediately started crying.
"Oh, do not cry. You have sinned, my boy, and now you must atone."
His wording didn't escape me and it didn't escape Malcolm either.
"Your mother has complained to me time and time again about your obsessive eating, so now we are going to play a game." MD continued grabbing ahold of Phillip's head to carve the symbol into his forehead.
"You like to eat. Now, we will see just how much."
The pain evident in Phillip's face as MD forced spoonfuls of the burning, deadly liquid down his throat.
Then he vomited, bright red, almost completely blood from the damage the bleach and ammonia wreaked on his esophagus.
"Is that all you have?" MD asked mockingly.
He kicked over the chair he'd tied Phillip to when he didn't answer him.
It was clear to me that Phillip had already died.
Even a completely healthy person with no kind of disability wouldn't survive ingesting even just that much of that concoction before succumbing.
The video then ended.
"What are you thinking?" Gil asked Malcolm and I.
"He's not going to stop. Not until we stop him." I sighed leaning back in the chair.
"We should go check with Edrisa. I want all the information before I sit down with Ms. Blake."
I could feel Malcolm's anxiety as we rode the elevator down to the morgue.
Then he reached out and hit the emergency stop button.
"We need to stop." Malcolm said turning to look at me.
"We can't just stop. You know people like this, Malcolm. We are in less danger hunting him than if we stop. Right now, we are his audience. He doesn't intend to hurt us." I told him.
"But..."
"Malcolm, what happened at the mobile home was my fault. I knew better than to look around like that, especially after Edrisa said she suspected poison." I cut him off.
"We really need to be careful, Lily. For her." He pleaded with me.
"I know, baby. I screwed up. I'm sorry I scared you. She's okay. I'm okay." I promised stepping towards him and laying my hand on his chest.
"Can you feel her?" He asked.
"All the time. Especially, right now. She's very unhappy I haven't eaten since lunch." I smiled at him.
"If I felt like she was in danger, I would stop. You know that."
"I know. I'm just scared, Lily. We wanted to wait until she came to come back." He sighed.
"I know. What is it you told me that Christmas morning?" I asked.
"That didn't end well for us." He glared at me.
"No. You said, 'Murder doesn't take a holiday.'" I teased.
"Okay. Okay. Do you remember why that didn't end well for us?" I asked as he continued to glare at me.
"We split up." He muttered.
"That's right. This time we'll stay together. Glued at the hip if necessary." I promised.
He sighed after a moment.
"Let's catch this son of a bitch." He smiled slightly at me.
I smiled back and set the elevator into motion again.
"What happened? Did the elevator get stuck?" Gil asked when we walked in.
"Something like that." Malcolm sighed.
"What have we got?" I asked.
"Well, he's been positively identified through a picture by his mom." Gil said sadly.
"One thing I can tell you is that our two victim's likely died almost exactly twenty-four hours apart." Edrisa said.
"What's the estimated time of death?" I asked.
"Noon." She answered.
"Maybe that gives us a window to find his next target." Gil asked.
"It's definitely possible." Malcolm agreed.
"That takes a lot of control and planning." I mused.
"Clearly Phillip's sin was Gluttony. Have you found anything that supports why our killer targeted him other than the obvious?" I asked.
"Oh, absolutely. Phillip had pica." She nodded.
"Pica?" Gil asked.
"It's a sensory disorder normally found in children. It's basically a need or desire to eat things that have no nutritional value, ice, hair, dirt, for example." Malcolm explained.
"Is it normal to find it in an adult?" He asked.
"Not typically but given Phillip's lack of mental development as shown in the video it's not surprising. Especially if there were any nutritional deficiencies. Stress can be a major factor as well." I answered.
"Both of your victim's suffered a great deal before their deaths." Edrisa looked sadly at Phillip as he lay on her exam table.
"In our killer's mind the suffering is God's will and the only acceptable punishment for what he's decided is unforgivable." I sighed.
"It's time to sit down with Ms. Blake." Malcolm touched my shoulder.
I sighed standing outside the interview room.
"You ready?" Malcolm asked gently.
"Yes. I think so." I nodded.
I turned the doorknob and walked into the room with Malcolm close behind me.
"It's about fucking time." Carol spat at me.
"Is it not bad enough that my son is dead?"
"My name is Dr. Lilian Bright. I'm the Chief of the FBI's New York Field Office. This is my husband Malcolm. We found your son's body this afternoon and we have some questions for you." I said choosing to ignore her previous statements.
"Questions? All I've done is answer questions for hours!"
"I understand that. My team wanted to give me a chance to talk to you myself. Unfortunately, I had to take a hospital detour for the sake of my daughter. I'm sure you can understand that." I looked up at her laying my hand on my stomach.
She didn't respond.
"We have evidence that the person who killed John Dougal is also the one who killed Phillip. Is there anyone you talked to about John's case and your son?" I asked.
"The trial judge issued a gag order." She answered sharply.
"I'm aware of that. This killer has sent myself and my husband videos of his murders. In Phillip's case he tells your son that you complained about his quote 'obsessive eating' end quote. Is there anyone you've told that too?" I pushed.
"I don't have to answer that." She spat.
"No, you don't but as head of New York's FBI office I have the right to hold you for 72 hours without pressing charges and you are the only link between our two victims." I shrugged.
"I didn't kill anyone and I certainly didn't kill my own son!" She yelled at me.
I felt Malcolm move behind me but lifted my hand to stop him.
"You certainly aren't being forthcoming either. If it were my child I'd do absolutely everything in my power to make sure he paid for what he did." I told her calmly.
"Maybe a night in holding will change your mind." I sighed standing up when she didn't say anything.
Malcolm followed me back out then into the conference room.
"She's clearly hiding something." Malcolm sighed.
"Let's think about what we know." Gil suggested.
"Killer is definitely male, roughly forty to fifty years old. He's highly organized and maintains a great deal of control over not only his victims but also himself." Malcolm started.
"He subdued both victims with a taser which could point to a perceived lack of strength or just a fear of failure. If he views these victims as irreplaceable then leaving the abduction to chance would be out of the question." I added.
"Nothing about his voice on the tape stuck out to me but he used a Polaroid camera which speaks to his old fashioned values or perhaps a parent's values?" I continued.
"He also has a seemingly strict timeline. Odds are he's already chosen his next target."
"What can you tell us about the sins he's chosen so far?" Dani asked.
"Lust in scripture is defined as a disordered desire for sexual pleasure, where sexual pleasure is "sought for itself, isolated from its procreative and unitive purposes". The reason it's the least offensive sin in Catholicism is because sexual desire in itself is good, and is considered part of God's plan for humanity." I explained.
"So, why John?" JT asked.
"Our killer said it in the video. Rape and sodomy are considered the worst lustful offenses and to commit those acts upon a child would make the sin inexcusable and John irredeemable." Malcolm said.
"That brings us to Phillip. Wouldn't Phillip, being developmentally disabled fall into the innocents category?" Gil pushed.
"Theoretically, yes. However, mental disorders of all kinds used to be and in some cases still are viewed as a demonic possession or some kind of witchcraft to the heavily religious. It's very possible that he heard words like autism and pica and twisted that into Phillip being a gluttonous possessed demon as opposed to being a mentally ill and disabled man." Malcolm answered.
"I want to go back to the mobile home." I sighed looking at the picture of Malcolm and I sent with Phillip's murder video.
"What? Why?" Malcolm asked.
"I want to see where he took this from. This picture gives us his vantage point. I want to see what he saw." I answered him.
"Fine, but we all go." He conceded.
Dani rode with Malcolm and I while Gil and JT took a different car back to the Blake house.
I hadn't been in any condition to take a good look at what I guess would constitute a back yard the last time we'd been back there.
The closest thing to a fence was the tight tree line less than ten yards from us on three sides, almost as if the street had been built into the forest.
"So, what are we looking for?" Dani asked walking with Malcolm and I over to where I'd collapsed that afternoon.
"Where was our killer when he took this picture of Malcolm and I?"
I showed her the picture again.
"Looks like he was in those trees." She pointed straight out from where we stood.
"That's what I thought too." I sighed.
"What do you think we'll find back there?" She asked as we made the small trek across the 'yard' to the trees.
"It's possible that we won't find anything but if we surprised him then maybe he left something here too when he took this picture." I answered.
"Or a clue he wanted us to find." Malcolm added.
Just beyond the treeline a patch of grass lay matted down as if a man lay on his stomach for a long period of time.
"Dani, can you have Gil send CSU out here?" I asked gently.
"Of course." She nodded and left us standing alone.
"What do you see?" Malcolm asked.
"Nothing, not really. Just more questions." I sighed.
"Bounce them off me." He said.
"He left the scene briefly before we arrived. Why?" I asked.
"Are we sure he didn't leave when we arrived?" Malcolm asked.
"Yes. There's only one door in and out of the mobile home and with the layout of the house he wouldn't have been able to see us until we had the front door in sight." I said.
"Okay. So, when he returned we were already here. So, he lays here in the grass and watches at least until taking that picture." Malcolm nodded.
"We arrived at roughly two thirty but the team didn't arrive for another hour. How long did he wait here, just watching us?" I mused.
"We arrived at the hospital at five forty five. So, three hours or less." Malcolm answered.
"Assuming he left when we did, which we don't know for sure. He said in his letter that we arrived before he could clean up after himself. What did he want to clean up? The bleach and ammonia concoctions?" I asked.
"That would make sense. We didn't find the knife from John's penectomy at the first scene." Malcolm nodded.
"So, he wants to take the murder weapons with him. Why? Is there some significance or does he think leaving them would make it too easy on us?"
"Significance." Malcolm said surely.
"Right, because when he took the knife from the Lust scene we weren't yet involved." I nodded as Gil, Dani, JT, and CSU walked up towards us.
Within the half hour CSU concluded their search and left for the lab.
I stepped into the center of the matted grass and turned to look towards the house.
"What are you doing?" Dani asked.
"I want to see if maybe we caught our killer on video but it doesn't seem like it." I sighed.
Slowly and carefully I crouched down and sat on my knees. It wasn't recommended to lay on my stomach to protect our baby but I could still lower my face to nearly level with my knees.
"Was Ainsley here?" I asked my husband.
"There's a serial killer loose on New York killing sinners... yeah, she was here." He sighed.
"I wanna talk to her."
My stomach growled loudly as my unborn daughter kicked at it.
"After we get you something to eat." Malcolm glared at me.
"Gil? Can we break long enough to get food for Lily?" Malcolm asked.
I smiled gratefully at him.
"Have you not eaten since lunch?" Gil asked me.
"I forgot." I admitted.
"I have a friend in the pizza business. I'll get him to whip us up something." He glared at me as he walked away.
Malcolm and I returned to the precinct with Dani and JT while Gil detoured to pick up the pizza.
"Hey. I just got the DNA back from the first letter and video." Edrisa announced walking into the conference room right behind us.
"What'd you find?" I asked.
"The DNA profile didn't match either of your victims so I ran it through the database and got a hit." She answered handing me a file.
Gil walked into the room just before I opened the file.
"Ah! Thank you!" I gushed opening the top box after he set them down on the table.
Sitting down with my first slice of pizza I opened the file Edrisa handed me.
"Rachel Griffin. Charged with the arson of a catholic church in 2018 and the assault of a priest in 2019." I read looking through her file.
"But the killer is a man?" JT asked.
"Yes. Rachel is an anti-religon activist. She's one of his victims and she's been missing since May of 2020." I answered.
"Do you think she's already dead? A year is a long time to hold someone?" Dani asked.
"It is but it's not unheard of. He wants us to know he has her or he wouldn't have sent them smeared with her blood. Nothing he's done so far is by chance." Malcolm said.
"Was the blood fresh?" I asked Edrisa.
"Yeah. There was little to no degradation in the sample at all." She answered.
I nodded thoughtfully for a moment.
"I'd say she's alive and she won't be the next victim we find." I sighed.
"Why do you think that?" Gil asked.
"Rachel's sin would be Sloth but it's not the next Terrace of Purgatory. Greed is." I answered rubbing at the back of my neck.
"Sloth? Isn't that like, laziness?" Dani asked.
"Yes and no. Laziness wouldn't be enough to enrage our killer. Rachel's sin is about her view on faith. As an atheist she not only would be lazy in her faith but also blasphemous." Malcolm answered.
"Okay, but that doesn't tell us where he would keep her for a whole year." Gil reminded us.
"The church she burned down? Is there anything left of it?" I asked.
"No. They bulldozed the remnants of it within a week and built a high rise." He answered.
"Office or apartment building?"
"Office building. Nearly all of New York's democratic campaigns are run out of the building." Gil said.
I thought on that for a few moments then looked at the clock.
"It's after midnight. We'll need to check it out in the morning." I sighed.
"If he doesn't drop another body before then." JT sighed.