Max sprawled out on the couch after Kenny left, half watching a rerun of The Simpsons, and running the details of the crime scene through her mind. The faceless woman, there was something at the edge of her memory that was teasing her. What, she thought, what am I supposed to be remembering here? The car, concentrate on the car. So it was missing plates, but other then that it seemed was untouched. No footprints, or tire tracks around the scene. It was like she appeared out of no where.

"This is Rome," she said aloud. "I know strange things happen here, this shouldn't see so odd to me. Seriously, I've seen cows give birth to humans here."

Still, the dead woman weighed heavily on her mind, as she went to find something for dinner.

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"Any information on the car?" Jimmy asked Kenny, after he punched it all into the computer.

"Not yet, no plates, registration, and the VIN numbers were filed off. I went through the car theft and missing person reports, but so far nothing that adds up," Kenny said looking up from his paperwork.

"Hmm," Jimmy thought. "Keep looking, we lifted some good prints, but it'll take awhile. Carter's starting a preliminary exam, so he should find something."

Nodding, Kenny went back to the computer. An involuntary shiver shot down his spine, and thought back to what Max said earlier. That this didn't feel right, and he knew that Max's gut feelings were usually right on. The Green Bay Chopper, Cupid, the Snake Lady, she was right on a lot of the time, he acknowledged. Max, don't do anything dumb he thought, because he also knew that she would rush into a situation without totally thinking it through all the way. Kenny flipped through the files, and prayed that he found a logical solution to this. They had a killer out there, one that brutally tore off a woman's face, and left her on the side of the road. He didn't want anyone else to get hurt, and the savage nature of the attack weighed heavily in his chest, as he continued to pore over the files in front of him.

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Max threw her half eaten sandwich in the trash, her appetite ruined by images of the dead woman. Who could eat while thinking about that, she thought humorlessly to herself. Wrapping her hooded black sweatshirt tighter around herself, she flopped back on the couch, and flipped through the channels. Flipping off the light, she fell asleep to the news.

"Look who is back," Howard called, walking towards her. "I saw that you had an interesting day. Do you know who the woman is?"

"Howard," Max said warily, not sure if she was glad to see him or not. "Am I going to see you every time I go to sleep?"

"I miss Rome," he said sadly. "It's nice to talk to someone from there. How is Kevin doing, is my son okay?"

"He's happy," Max said. "I saw him a few months ago, and he seems healthy, but he misses his Dad."

"My mind would have rotted if I hadn't died," Howard said distantly. "And Kevin got my heart. It was the right thing."

Max nodded, as he turned back towards her. "I don't remember any of this when I wake up. Is this just some strange dream?"

"It's what you make of it," Howard replied. "I always liked you, Maxine, you can think of me as your guardian angel if you like. This woman is only the first, and the killer is someone you used to know. He's coming closer, and he's watching. Revenge, that's what he wants. Women have angered him deeply. He's lost the two that he loved. You all know him."

"Tell me who he is," Max cried. "Howard! We can stop him before he kills someone else! No one deserves to die the way that woman did!"

He smiled sadly. "I can't do that because the people in charge don't allow it. Be careful, Maxine, remember the past and embrace the present."

"Howard," she cried again, as he drifted away. "Come back! Please tell me!"

"Max, hey Max," she heard a name being called. "Wake up, you're having a nightmare, Honey."

She bolted upright on the couch, pushing the intruding hands away. Shaking her head, she saw Kenny stumble back. He looked at her with surprise, as he caught himself on the chair.

"Max?" he asked again, taking a tentative step towards her. "You alright?"

"Kenny?" she said, trying to clear the fog out of her mind. "I'm sorry, I was having the strangest dream."

He sat down beside her, and she turned to face him. "About what? You were yelling at someone."

Max struggled to recall the fading images. "Yelling? I remember I was talking to someone, and he was trying to warn me. I don't know about what. It seemed so real, but it's all fading."

"It's just a dream," Kenny said gently, putting his arm around her. "It's been a long day."

"Yeah," she agreed, snuggling closer. "Did you find anything out?"

"Nothing on the car. They're running the prints, and Carter's doing a prelim exam, and he'll autopsy tomorrow."

"Maybe he'll find something," Max said distantly, still trying to recall her dream and knowing that it was important that she did. Something about remembering the past, someone from her past? Someone who was hurt so much they wanted revenge? She glanced up at Kenny. "Who could do that to another person? I think I should be used to it by now, after all these years….some things still catch my by surprise."

"I'd be more concerned if you weren't bothered by it," Kenny replied, dropping a kiss on top of her head. "I know I was. We've both seen so much crap on this job, Max."

"People can be so cruel to each other," she agreed. "This is small town America, these things aren't supposed to happen here, but they do."

"That's why were here, to find out who does them. We do make a difference," Kenny said. "We'll solve this one."

"We always do," Max said, finding comfort in his presence.

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"Semen!" Carter exclaimed, charging into Jimmy's office the next morning. "And vaginal bruising! This woman was raped before she was killed, and I can prove it!"

Jimmy and Kenny glanced at each other, as Carter came in, his face awash with excitement over his findings. "We have his DNA!"

"Carter," Jimmy said calmly. "Have a seat, Kenny close the door."

Carter continued, as he paced around the small room. "Her face was severed with an unusual blade, very jagged edges, and the same knife was used for the stab wounds. This is big, Jimmy, very big. He sliced opened her breasts, ripped into her blindly. Rage was used for these wounds. I've never seen anything like this."

"Her prints came back," Jimmy said evenly, as Carter finished. "It was Rebecca Parker. Laurie's interpreter."

Carter sat there, too stunned to speak.

"Why would someone do that? She was so sweet," Carter trailed off.

"That's what we're going to find out," Jimmy continued.

"She had some new boyfriend that no one had met yet," Kenny said. "We're going to try track him down."

"Laurie doesn't know who he is," Carter asked. "I guess she's been busy with the baby and all."

"We're running all the prints in the car, but it seems clean besides Rebecca's," Kenny said.

"I want this guy before he does this again," Jimmy proclaimed. "Kenny, take a team out to her house. I want it torn apart, anything to track down the boyfriend. I want her friends questioned; I'm going to talk to Laurie. Carter, anything you find one the body I want to know about. We're getting this guy."

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"It turned up nothing," Kenny told Max later that night, "Nothing."

"What about Carter?" she asked, as he wrapped his strong arms around her. "He didn't find anything on the body?"

Kenny looked at her, and debated telling her. She was coming back to work in a few days anyway, so she would find out eventually he reasoned. Plus it was Max, she was a cop, and he knew she would be pissed if he coddled her too much.

"He found stuff," Kenny replied vaguely. "Semen. Some hair, he's trying to find a DNA match."

"Poor girl," Max said sadly, sinking onto the couch next to him. "Why her?"

"Wrong place, wrong time, maybe," Kenny said. "There are a lot of crazies out there. It could be the boyfriend. Laurie said they were meeting at his lake house for the week. Rebecca gave her the address and phone number, but it's just an empty lot."

"Shit," Max said, thinking about the scene again. "How's Laurie taking it?"

"Not good, they were close."

"Hopefully there'll be a DNA match."

"Yeah," he said, pulling her closer and purposefully changing the subject. "Looking forward to coming back?"

"Immensely. I'm bored, and you know I love my work," Max replied. "I know I'll be riding a desk for awhile."

"You can do all my paperwork," Kenny said, just to needle her. "I left a pile of it while you were in the hospital. I've missed you, Partner."

"Really?" she drawled. "Well, we can discuss that later. Right now, I want you to kiss me."

Kenny grinned wickedly at her, and pulled her into his arms.

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Max sat in the nearly empty office a few days later, and stared at the pile of paperwork in front of her. Does anyone fill this out, she thought. True to his word, Kenny had the most. Sighing to herself, and shaking her cramped hand she continued to fill out forms, somewhat resentful of not being out on the streets. She wanted this nut as badly as anyone, especially since she found the body.

They were no closer to finding the killer then they had been the week before, and poor Rebecca was lying in the morgue. No one wanted to release her body yet, and Carter and Jimmy were getting calls from an extremely pissed off family who wanted to bury her. It was somewhat strange being back in the office after six weeks, but she felt at home again. Finishing up another case file, she piled it on top of the others as the phone rang.

"Nine-one-one, what's your emergency?" she asked calmly, as Skeeter began filing the finished reports.

"Oh, God, Oh, God," a woman shrieked into the phone. "Please, you have to send someone quickly, please."

"Maam, I need you to calm down," Max said keeping her voice even. "Can you tell me what is going on? Are you alright?"

The woman gave a strangled sob, as Max noted the name and address of the caller.

"I," the woman sobbed. "I found a dead body in my driveway. Oh, shit. There's so much blood. I reached down to see if I could wake her up, but I couldn't."

Max swallowed, and Skeeter moved closer to listen in. "Stay calm. I have your address Mrs. Carpenter, and I'll send a squad car over now."

"Okay," she sobbed. "Please, hurry."

"I'll stay on the line with you until they arrive," Max said soothingly, as Skeeter hopped on the radio. "I want you to take deep breaths. Is anyone there with you?"

"I sent my children upstairs, I didn't want them to see that," she gasped. "God, she had no face."

Skeeter's head snapped back around at that comment and Max had to fight to keep her composure. "The police are on their way Mrs. Carpenter, keep talking to me."

Max listened to her strangled sobs, and tried to keep her calm until she heard the sirens through the phone.

"The police are here," Mrs. Carpenter gasped, and Max heard the voices in the background. "Thank you for waiting with me."

"Not a problem," Max replied. "They'll take care of everything."

She hung up the phone then, and turned to Skeeter.

"No face?" he asked.

"That's what she said," Max replied slowly.

Max and Skeeter muddled through the paperwork, and listened to the radio transmissions from the Carpenter house. A female, face carved away, and a mutilated body. Presumably dumped here sometime in the night, and there were no footprints or tire tacks again.

"Oh god," Carter's voice exploded through the system, followed by a moaning sob. "It's Sue, can't you see it? Sue!"