"Take her," Jimmy called an hour later, as the Carla carted off another massacred body to the morgue. He watched as his deputies taped off of the crime scene, and question the people that found the body. How was he going to tell Jill, Jimmy thought as the morgue van pulled away. She better hear it from him, than anyone else. Three murders in less then two weeks and the press were beginning to have a field day. More death in Rome, Wisconsin. The town where mayors combust, cows give birth, and priests collect shoes. He watched as Kenny bent over a bush by where the body lay, and waved him over.
"Jimmy, come take a look at this," he called, as the crime scene photographer snapped a picture. Jimmy walked briskly over to the young deputy, and saw immediately what had caught Kenny's attention. A medical alert bracelet was tangled in the limbs of the bush, and it looked like it had been torn off by shear force. Blood had splattered across the numbers and name, but it gave them their first tangible piece of evidence to finding out who the killer was. The two men carefully removed it from the brush, and sealed it up.
Max had finished up interviewing the two hikers that had found the body, and they had heard nor seen nothing when they stumbled upon this rotting corpse. Burying her feelings about this one, she gently prodded answers out of them. Skeeter and she had helped them back into their car, took their information, and promised them that they would be in touch soon.
Kenny beckoned her over, as they climbed back up the path. Gratefully, she moved over to his side, and looking up at him she could tell that something was finally going right in this investigation.
"Well?" she asked, wanting him to wrap his arms around her, but knowing that this wasn't the time or place, as Jimmy and Skeeter joined them,
"They're going to clean up the bracelet in the morgue," Jimmy said, as he got off his radio and nodded at Kenny. "I'm going to go tell Jill, fill these two in and check out any hospital releases in the last month."
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"No," Jill whispered, as Jimmy filled her in on the last murder. His tone was flat and expressionless, hoping to blot out some of the pain that this was bound to come, but knowing that it wouldn't do any good. "Are you sure? They have no faces…."
Jimmy nodded sadly. "Her car was in the parking lot, and we found her purse in the woods."
Jill sat down on the edge of her desk, as her husband just stood in front of her, not knowing what to say. He reached out, and just held her. Sometimes words just weren't enough.
"We fought so much," Jill trailed off. "But she could make me laugh. Such raw energy…. She had her own style."
Jimmy nodded, as Jill fell quiet again.
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"Bracelet is back," Carla said, clutching the bag as she sauntered into Jimmy's office. "The name is faded, but still readable. Same with the id number. Does it look familiar to you?"
Jimmy took the bag gingerly from her, and paled considerably by what he saw. Muttering a curse, he looked out at Max, and at Kenny, and knew what he had to tell them both would be devastating.
"Keep this quiet," he ordered Carla. "I mean that."
"Of course," she agreed,. "Tell Jill how sorry I am about Joey, I know they were good friends."
Jimmy nodded, still studying his two deputies, as Carla went back to the morgue to finish Joey's autopsy. Max, still somewhat too thin from the hospital, with that mop of strawberry blond hair. Her head tucked, as she made notes about a witness coming in the next day. He sighed, she was like a daughter to him, and he didn't want anything else to hurt her, she had been through enough recently. He shifted his gaze to Kenny, who he knew would protect Max at the expense of anything. Jimmy knew if anything happened to her, Kenny wouldn't be the same. He saw the burgeoning relationship between them, and he'd seen it for years. Almost sadly, he called them into his office. He watched them settle into the chairs in front of his desk, and studied them one last time before he spoke. The contentment in their eyes, despite the murders in town. How he was thrilled that they were finding some joy with each other. He knew that this would blow things apart for them, and he hoped that they could hold it together for their own sake.
"We got a name off of the bracelet, and I called the hospital where it came from," he began, as they both sat up slightly. "It came from a psychiatric hospital in Milwaukee, called Cornerstones. I called them, and they confirmed that this man had escaped several weeks ago."
"And he came here?" Kenny said, as Jimmy paused again.
"Yes," Jimmy agreed. "They just faxed his picture over. We know him."
"We do?" asked Max, feeling her stomach flutter. This can't be good, she thought, the shit is about to hit the fan.
"Yes," Jimmy said again. "The bracelet belongs to a Danny Shreve."
Max inhaled sharply at the name, and the room seemed to spin. Danny, she thought. Danny? An image of his angry, twisted face came to mind, and the sound of his name was enough to feel the worst about herself. What I let him do to me, she thought. She was aware of Kenny and Jimmy's presence in the room, but her mind flew back to two years before. When she pushed all of her friends away, and the way she had treated them.
"I don't need you rushing in to save me," she had snapped at Kenny. "I don't need your protection."
"Max?" Kenny asked cautiously, watching the emotions chase across her face. He reached out for her because he had known how this jerk treated her. Protocol be damned, he thought. What he had did to them both, driving a wedge between them.
"Friendship? A partner she has kissed? One who thinks about her while masturbating," Danny said with a malicious grin. "Someone who just wants to make her another conquest?"
"What did you just say?" Kenny said, his voice dripping with venom. Max, I can't believe you would tell him that.
"Maybe you need a session on my couch," Danny continued. "Don't forget to bring the twins along."
"Um, are you sure?" Max asked lamely, trying to find her footing again. "Could it be a coincidence?"
"You want me to quit my job?" she asked Danny incredulously. "These people are like my family."
"That is the problem Max," he said soothingly. "Jimmy Brock treating you like a daughter. Protecting you, doesn't allow you to grow."
Taking a deep breath Max met his eyes. "Danny, maybe we should take a break. I need a little space."
"No," he said forcefully, laying his hand on her shoulder. "That would be the worst thing for your mental health."
"I thought you weren't my doctor anymore?" she whispered, wanting to flee from him.
"I can't ignore what I see," he responded, moving closer to her chair.
Swallowing, Max stood up. "Good bye, Danny."
"I'm sure," Jimmy said quietly, watching her trying to control her emotions.
Nodding, she said. "Let's get him then."
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"You have to eat," Kenny said later that night, worried about the way the nervous way she paced around her apartment, and he didn't like the wild look in her eyes.
She shot him a dark look. "I'm not hungry."
He walked across the room to her, but she shied away from being touched. He could see in her face that she was haunted by memories of Danny, and he knew that wasn't good. All the doubt about herself that Danny had put into her mind was coming back full force. The way that she looked at him just then, and the way that she was holding herself, made Kenny want to smack the guy again.
"Max," he tried again, not really sure what to say to her. "Don't do this to yourself."
"Do what?" she snapped, spinning around to face him.
He saw the fear in her eyes, and when he looked closer guilt. She wrapped her arms around herself, and sunk into a chair.
"This isn't your fault," Kenny said, kneeling in front of her, careful not to touch her. "You have to know that?"
Max shook her head. "He wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me. Hell, he wouldn't have been in that hospital…. Rebecca, Sue, Joey, they should still be here."
"You didn't kill them," Kenny said softly. "He did, and he's sick, Honey. He was sick before he even met you. Don't let him do this to you again."
"He's still out there," she replied lowly. "And he has to know that we know, he'll notice that he's missing his bracelet. He'll be getting desperate."
"He'll make a mistake then," Kenny replied carefully. "We'll get him, Max. He's not going to hurt anyone else."
Max nodded, and let Kenny pull her into his arms, and whispered. "I love you."
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Max lay in her bed, and listened to Kenny snore beside her. She knew that he was still worried about her, and she was worried too. Max turned over on her side, and studied the man that she loved. Strong, kind, protective, honest, caring, loyal, she listed off, and incredibly sexy and handsome. Max knew that he would support her in anything she chose to do, even if he didn't agree with it. Arguing has been a staple in this relationship she thought. Rolling out of bed, restless, she made her way into the kitchen in search of something chocolate.
Happy, with a bowl of rocky road, Max flipped aimlessly through the stations on the television. I know Kenny means well, she thought to herself, her thoughts drifting back to their earlier conversation, but I do blame myself. Yeah, Danny has some problems, but he wouldn't be killing people in my life if it weren't for me. I wish I had seen what everyone had been telling me earlier. Maybe then this wouldn't be happening.
"I just want to talk to you," Danny pleaded, as she leapt from her seat in the coffee room. "Please, Max. Just listen to me."
"I think you should go," Max replied quickly, watching for any sign of life out there. Help, she thought, help. Kenny, I do need you to rush into save me now. I'm an idiot.
"No, you need me!" he cried, moving closer, and pushing her against the file cabinets. "I need you!"
Max's shoulders ached from being held that tightly and the wild desperation in his eyes scared her more than the physical contact. Slowly she moved her hand down towards her holster. Anything to get him away from her.
She pointed the gun at him. "You're under arrest."
"You need me," he moaned sinking to the ground. "You need me."
"What was I thinking?" she asked aloud to herself, staring up at the ceiling. She pulled the blanket up to her chin, and curled up in the darkness of the living room.
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The doctors at Cornerstones weren't very helpful, and they refused to turn over any of Danny's records. They believed in the doctor patient confidentiality agreement, and stubbornly dug their feet in. Max tried to bury her feelings of guilt and concentrate on her job, but thoughts of what if were always on the fringes of her thoughts. Consciously, she knew that no one blamed her for this, and that Danny had problems way before they had ever gotten involved. Giving herself a mental shake, she turned back to the information that they had. Which wasn't very much.
"Max," Jimmy called, beckoning her into his office. Watching his young deputy, he noted that she looked tired and stressed, but was doing a valiant effort to hide it. "Have a seat."
Jimmy settled behind his desk, and paused before continuing. "First off, this isn't your fault. You know that as well as anybody else."
"I know," Max replied. "But."
"No, buts," Jimmy interrupted. "I'll pull you from this investigation if you keep thinking that way."
Her head snapped up at that, and he could see some of that familiar fire return to her eyes. Jimmy silently patted himself on the back for saying that right thing just then.
"That said," he continued. "You know more about Danny Shreve than the rest of us."
"I'm not sure what I could tell you," Max began slowly. "He's controlling, and most people don't see that at first. I didn't. He can charm his way in, he says the right things, and he can get into your head. He can pick up on your worst fears, and turn you against yourself. I can see him running into one of these women, and convincing them to give him a ride, or have dinner. He's angry, he had it buried deep within him two years ago. When his wife died, he said he didn't think he could handle losing anyone else again."
"And he lost you," Jimmy replied softly, as she paused to catch her breath.
"Yeah. Women in general have hurt and left him," Max continued, trying to separate herself from her memories of Danny and be objective. "Cutting off their faces and raping them, he's trying to control them. Show how strong he is."
"Pretend that they're someone else," Jimmy finished for her. Max nodded, although she really didn't want too. "Where would he go?"
"He has to be somewhere close," Max replied, turning the evidence over in her mind. "All the bodies were found so far apart. Millers Road, the Carpenter House, the park. We checked all of the hotels around, newly leased apartments, abandoned farms, even the old logger cabins haven't been used since last winter."
Jimmy came around his desk, and laid a fatherly hand on her shoulder. "You don't want to hear this, but I'm going to say it anyway, be careful."
Max nodded, and for once not feeling resentful of his concern. "I will be."
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"Carter?" Kenny said, surprised, that night when he opened his door. "How you doing?"
Carter in a rumpled shirt and pair of pants shook his head. "I've been better. Is Max here? I want to talk to her."
"She's in the shower," Kenny replied seeing the mad light in Carter's eyes. "Have you been drinking?"
"Why shouldn't I?" he slurred. "I'm going to die alone!"
"Carter," he began, not sure where to go with this as Carter stumbled over to his couch. "Sit down. You're not going to die alone."
"Oh yeah? That bastard stole away Sue! She was the only one who loved me."
Kenny glanced up, and saw Max in one of his old tee-shirts and hair slicked back from her face. Hot, he thought, very hot. She met his gaze, and turned to the mess that was Carter Pike. He looked up then, and he glared at her. Max gulped, she had never seen Carter look so pissed, or be so drunk. He leaped up from the couch, and lunged at her. Max jumped back and Kenny grabbed him, as he stumbled over a table.
"Danny Shreve!" Carter hissed. "He did this?"
"We think so," Max said softly. "Carter, I'm so sorry. I don't know what to say or do for you. Or for Rebecca and Joey's families."
Carter stared at his longtime friend for a minute, and saw the heavy burden weighing in her face. He felt his anger fade, as he saw the same hurt and confusion in his friends that he felt. The loss of Sue left him with an empty void in his heart, but he didn't want to push two of his only friends away. Taking a deep breath, he sunk back on the sofa, his anger fading. Max and Kenny sat on either side of him, as he gathered himself together.
"This makes you feel like shit," Carter said finally.
"Yeah," Max agreed, wallowing in her guilt. "I would do anything to fix this."
That's what worries me, Kenny thought.