Sorry guys, had a bit of a block.
Chapter 7
Kylie and Danielle walked into the lair and directly to the kitchen since they didn't get to eat anything. Most of the adults were hanging around in there. Xavier was sitting at the table, his bandaged head resting on the table.
"You guys are back early." Raph said while eating his breakfast. "I thought you'd be there all day."
"Yeah, something came up. We had to leave a little early."
"What happened?" Melanie asked.
"It seems the city's serial killer got to Amber's friend." Danielle explained.
Their facial features seemed to change up to a look of concern when they heard that and Xavier picked his head up off the table. "What?" Don asked.
"Yeah, apparently she let the guy into her house late at night. Then the next morning she turned up dead."
There was a silence in the room that was only broken when Melanie spoke up. "Can you guys give us a second?" she asked. That was the kids cue to leave. As the three teens made their way out of the kitchen a voice stopped them.
"Guys." all three turned to see RJ standing off to the side. He was leaning up against the wall with his muscular arms crossed. One would wonder if he knew how much he looked like Raphael in that moment.
"Sup RJ." Kylie answered her older brother.
"How is she?" he asked simply. It didn't take long for her to figure out what he meant by that. He must have overheard what was said and was worried about Amber.
"About as well as one would expect." she sighed.
RJ uncrossed his arms and headed for the door, the girls quickly went to step in front of him. "Wait. Where are you going?" Danielle asked holding her arms out in front of her, stopping him in his tracks.
"Where does it look like I'm going? I'm going to go see her." he pushed his way passed them and continued out to the sewers. Both of the girls kept up with him, nearly colliding with Takashi as he was making his way back home.
"Listen RJ, now is probably not the best time to see her." Kylie grabbed hold of his arm, stopping him again. "She's probably still being questioned right now and even if she wasn't I don't think she really wants to talk to anyone right now." RJ pulled his arm out of her grip. "You need to give her a little time, okay."
"Fine." RJ growled and headed back toward home.
"What was that about?" Takashi asked. "And who is being questioned?"
Danielle wrapped an arm around her brother's shoulders and began leading him back home. "Come on, we'll tell you on the way back.
Sierra sat at a table outside of a fairly new cafe called 'Tasty Delights' as she waited for Vanessa to get there. She looked around the patio area. Only a few tables were dotted with customers. That would change soon when the lunch rush comes in. I'm glad I got here early. She thought. This particular cafe was very popular, with a wide array of people all over the city because, apparently, the staff was very personable. Business was doing pretty well despite only opening a few months ago. Sierra leaned back in the chair and let the sunshine wash over her, just as a waiter appeared next to her, ready to take her order.
"Hey, are you ready to order?" the waiter asked happily.
Sierra looked up at the young man's happy face. His short, brown, almost messy looking hair and round, blue eyes made him look very young. He looked no older than Kylie. "Um... no, not quite yet. I'm waiting for someone."
"Alright, well I'll just bring out some water for you, okay."
"That would be great, thank you." As soon as he left, Vanessa came walking up. She plopped down in her seat with a heavy sigh. "Rough day at the hospital?" Sierra asked with a small smile.
"Oh yeah, I don't think I've ever wanted to get out of there so badly." Vanessa said. She went on to explain what has been going on."There's this one patient that is being particularly difficult today, but I guess it's not entirely his fault. He's been very uncomfortable so he's kind of cranky." the waiter came back with two glasses of water. "I care about him, despite all the problems he's giving me." she rubbed her temples "I don't know what I'm going to do about him."
"Hey, are we ready?" the waiter returned and placed glasses of water in front of both women. The ladies ordered what they wanted and he stepped away.
"So did you hear?" Vanessa brought her voice down to a whisper. "Someone else got killed."
"No, I didn't. What happened?" Sierra whispered back now fully invested in what she was saying.
"According to Don, Amber's friend was killed in her home."
"Oh no, are you serious?" Sierra asked. "So this guy is aiming for high school students as well?"
"Yes, and that's terrifying."
"Listen, I know it's scary since we have teenagers of our own, but we won't have to worry as much. They're smart kids."
"I know, but imagine if this girl was your daughter. We can't just not care because you think we're not in danger." Vanessa explained.
"Alright, alright. So what do you suggest we do?"
"We can only do what we can with the info we've been given by Michael. We can look for anything else that the police can't look into."
"Right. Well what do we know so far?"
"Only that it seems that each of the victims let the killer into their home. There were no signs of a struggle and they were all killed in their own beds after he had sex with them." Vanessa told her all the info they had. "Oh and they've given him a name. He is now known simply as the Lady Killer."
Sierra snorted a laugh "Well, that's original, but I like the double meaning that they've got going there. My question is, why these particular women? It doesn't seem like any of them had any connection to each other. Also do we know what the murder weapon is?"
"Nope, but according to Michael, it's something long and thin. Not a knife." Vanessa said "I was told that the bodies looked like their were tiny holes punctured in the chest and stomach. So what kind of sharp object would leave marks like that."
Sierra began listing off various items that could fit the description. "Some sort of nail, an ice pick, a spike."
"Okay, not gonna respond to the fact that you answered so easily." Vanessa shook that off. "And instead, I'm just going to try to figure something out when we get home."
Sierra looked around the cafe as it continually got more crowded as the lunch rush officially started. "Yeah, it's probably a safe bet."
"I don't know Casey, I'm worried about him." Mason said. He, Erica and Casey, who had come to visit his granddaughter, were standing in the kitchen, talking. "He hasn't left home since she left." Mason was referring to Dirk. Dirk was currently sitting on the couch, watching TV. Skylar, Mya and baby Izzy were playing with their toys on the floor in front of him. He wasn't watching what they were doing and it looked like what was on TV wasn't keeping his attention. He seemed a little out of it.
"Well it's only natural for you to worry about him, he is your brother." Casey said.
"I guess, but come on, look at him." Erica gestured toward her brother, who seemed to be unaware of the conversation they were having. "It can't be healthy to be inside this long."
"He's got a broken heart, that'll happen. You can't just force him to do what he doesn't want to do." Casey explained. "I know what that feels like." Casey had to deal with a pretty bad divorce with April years ago when he found out that she had fallen in love with someone else, that someone else being Donatello. Casey had found out a lot about her back then, including the fact that she was actively trying to sabotage Donnie and Vanessa's marriage for no real good reason. Casey hasn't seen April since the divorce. Finding out that not only was April unfaithful, but May as well had him feeling guilty since she is his daughter.
"Do you think you could try to talk to him?" Mason suggested.
Casey sighed and ran his hand through his graying hair. "Alright, I'll talk to him, but I can't promise you anything." he made his way over to the couch and sat down next to him. "Hey..."
Dirk looked over to him for a second then back at the TV. "What is it?" he asked with a tinge of annoyance in his voice.
"Just wanna know how you're doing." he reached down to pick up Izzy off the floor and placed her on his lap. Her bright, blue eyes looked up to meet his and she smiled.
"I'm fine..." he sounded as if he wanted to say more, but seemed to decide against it at the last second. "Just fine."
"Really? Cause it sure doesn't look like it."
Dirk sighed heavily "Will you just leave me alone, Case."
Casey shook his head defiantly "Not gonna happen. Listen, I know how you feel. You're heartbroken, but that doesn't mean that you should shut people out."
"Who's shutting people out? It's not like it's a secret, everyone knows what happened." Dirk snapped. "May ran off because... I was too much for her, I guess. She got bored, or she just didn't want to live underground with me anymore."
Casey placed a comforting hand on his shoulder "I don't know what her reason was, but what I learned is that you can't focus so much on what she might be doing." he placed Izzy on her father's lap. "All you can do is focus on your kid, just be there for her and be a good father." he paused to see if Dirk would respond in any way. When he didn't, he continued. "For what it's worth, I think you're doing great in that department."
Dirk smirked and looked down at his daughter. "I guess you're right. Thanks Casey."
"No problem."
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