Frankie walked over to the table and spread the photographs out again. She'd long ago lost her shoes in favor of walking bare-foot on the floor and her suit jacket. She stood in a pair of black slacks and a white tank top, the one gun holstered in the small of her back.

As Jake left for the night, she'd asked him to bring her a change of clothing and shoes when he returned in the morning.  All along she'd had the intention of staying and pulling an all-nighter; for some odd reason she thought better and processed information better on sleep deprivation.

"Cody..."

"Yeah Frankie?"

"Where were the other two murders found?"

"LeighAnne was here in Chicago as well. Nessa was in Valparaiso, Florida."

"Nothing in the women's backgrounds themselves?"

"A Beauty Queen and Nurse. No priors on either one."

"Nothing in common with a cop."

Frankie's eyebrow lifted slightly as she turned back to the photos.   "How did Frank react to the news of the murder of Nessa Skinner?" Her voice was quiet as she leaned over the photos again.

"Shock. He knew the name, definitely."

"Hmm."

"Frankie..."

"Yeah Cody?"

"What's on that mind of yours?"

Frankie stood up and gathered up the photos.  "Frank.  So far he is the only link...IF he knew Nessa Skinner...or dated her, I should say."  She walked over to the wall and picked up three map tacks. One by one, she put them up on the wall side by side in chronological order. "Nessa Skinner, Valparaiso Florida." and she tacked it up. "LeighAnne Carruthers, Chicago Illinois... Darinda... Bl-" she stopped in mid stab with a soft choked sob. After a second, she cleared her throat and shook her hair back. "Darinda Blake, Chicago Illinois."

Cody stood up and came over next to her. "All three found in a motel room that was not the murder site. All three posed the same modest fashion. Do you see anything Shay didn't?"

"Yeah."

"What?"

"Whoever did this loved his victims."

"Get out!" He peered at the photographs. "What else?"

"A trip to Valparaiso Florida. Get some sleep Cody. I'm going to be here a while reading the reports on the scenes of discovery."

************

His eyes glazed over and she knew he wasn't seeing her any longer.  He was no longer with her mentally.  She cried out when he grasped her wrists with an intensity she had never known from him and trapped them above her head.  She felt more like his prisoner than his partner.  The more she struggled against his grip, the more secure his hold became.  She sobbed his name, hoping to get his attention and draw him back to reality, but he seemed not to hear.

His thrusts had become animalistic.  No longer did she feel the passion within him, only the pain he wished to inflict.  She was crying now, sobbing uncontrollably with each punishing thrust.  She longed to scream but could only keep silent.  If she screamed, the children who slept peacefully down the hall would be woken.  She would take his punishment, if only for the children's sakes.

His lips clamped down on her breast and she squirmed trying to buck him off her.  This was not her husband, but some madman who had possessed his body.  He bit down hard on her nipple and she did cry out in pain just as he stiffened and moaned as he met his release.

Spent and exhausted his vision cleared and he found his beautiful wife sobbing and looking frightened underneath him.  Confused, he realized he was the reason she was in such a state.  He released her wrists and was shocked when she brought her knees up underneath him, planted her feet on his chest and kicked him off her.  He hit the bedpost with a loud thud.

"Do—Don't you ever touch me again," she said, sobbing and rolling onto her side.  She curled up into a fetal position, the sobs wracking her body so hard the bed shook.

"What...I don't..."

"How could you?  How could you hurt me like that?" she asked softly.

He had no idea what had happened.  He pulled the blanket over her and spooned in behind her.  Sliding an arm underneath her and the other over her, he held her comfortingly.  She did not push him away and for that he was grateful.  Their lovemaking had turned violent and he was the reason; he had lost control when the ugly truth he had been keeping from her had invaded his thoughts.  Flashes of photographs and messages played through his mind and he had forgotten his wife, forgotten everything except the vileness that played in his mind.  For his eyes only.

************

Stretching the sleep from his body, he felt the pain in his back radiate up and down his spine.  He was pretty sure he knocked a couple discs out of place when he crashed against the bedpost the night before.  The memories of the previous night crashed through the thin, hazy veil that hung between sleep and consciousness.  What had he done?  He reached for the soft comfort of his wife's body and found he was alone. 

Pulling on a pair of sweats, he went in search of her.  He had to explain.  Explain what? The little voice in his head asked.  You can't tell her those things, it told him.

He found her in the kitchen, bent over the sink.  She had already dressed in a tan skirt and long-sleeved white blouse; the sleeves were pushed up to her elbows and her hands were plunged into the water.  When she heard him she turned quickly and hid her dripping wet hands behind her back.  He quirked a brow and moved closer and looked over her shoulder.  The sink was full of ice water.   Her eyes questioned him softly as he cupped her face and kissed her gently.  He trailed his hands down her shoulder and arms until he prodded her to unclasp her hands behind her back. 

He saw it, what she was hiding, the moment she moved her arms in front of her.  Deep, dark bruises formed a ring around her wrists.  He could see the impression of a thumb on the underside, in the soft fleshy area where the vein was most evident.  His eyes filled with tears and they flowed unchecked down his face. 

She shushed him softly and placed her hands on his cheeks.  "Tiger, you once told me 'no more lies'," she whispered softly as she pulled him into her arms.  "Now, I'm holding you to that.  You're hiding something from me and, whatever it is, it is eating you alive."

************