The days went on in Rome Wisconsin, and over the next few weeks no new bodies showed up. The media frenzy surrounding the small town had begun to fade, and the townspeople began to breathe easier again. It was much simpler to move on when the images stopped being flashed on the television, and you weren't forced to read about a new body in the newspaper.
"He's still out there," Max said, and just because the public was calmer didn't mean they still weren't going to stop trying to track down Danny Shreve.
"He could've got scared and left. We did id him," Kenny argued.
Max shot him a look of disbelief, and knew he didn't believe that anymore than she did. Flipping the case folder closed, she leaned back at her desk and stretched. They were the only two left in the office, and they had been over the same evidence and thoughts for the past three hours. She could almost feel Danny watching her, and she had been toying with an idea for a few days. One that she knew that Kenny would try to talk her out of. Danny wanted her, and Max knew that she was the only one that would ever get him to come out of hiding. Far from stupid, she also knew that he would probably kill her after he had his way with her. All the patrol cars driving by her place wouldn't stop that. Feeling Kenny's arms around her every night provide so much comfort, but Max knew that this wasn't over yet.
"Kenny," she began, faltering. "He's here for me..."
"No," he said, sitting on the edge of her desk. "Don't even think about it."
Annoyance boiled up inside her. "Then what am I supposed to do? Just sit here and wait?"
"Max, we're going to get him," Kenny said, trying too not to lose his cool with her like this. "You're not running off half cocked after him!"
"I'm not going off half cocked," Max snapped back at him. "He's slaughtering women Kenny! Do you really want to wait until he does it again?"
"No," he snapped back. "I don't want him to do it to you! I almost lost you once to some nut with a gun, and I'm not about to let some crazy ex of yours…. I don't want to sit by your hospital bed again Max. Waiting for you to wake up. This is coming as your partner and boyfriend."
Max felt her heart breaking in her chest as she listened to him and after taking a deep breath. "I don't want that either. I just can't live with myself… If this was the other way around, one of your old girlfriends doing this, what would you do?"
Kenny held her gaze. "I would want you to try and stop me, and I wouldn't go alone."
"And you wouldn't listen to me," Max countered.
"Whatever you're planning, Max I'm begging you don't do it," Kenny said quietly. "And if you do, and I know you, I'm going with you."
Max nodded, as the night shift came in. "Okay."
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"Go!" Max said a few days later. "Kenny!"
He watched her exasperated expression, and fought the urge to laugh. Looking away, so she wouldn't see his suppressed grin. Despite the grimness of the situation Kenny could see that she was getting pissed at him. Fighting with Max, he thought, it's usually fun. And a turn on to see her all heated up like that.
"You promise me you won't do anything," Kenny said, trying to sound stern. "Max, I mean it."
"Call me every hour if you want to," she cried, placing her hand on his chest. "Laurie and Carla are coming over, and we're going to sit here and just try to be normal for one night. Trust me, I'm not going to go and chase down Danny myself. You have my word! Go bowling, drink beer, and do whatever you guys do every Thursday! I don't need a baby-sitter!"
Kenny pulled her into his arms, and gazed down at her beautiful face. She tilted her chin up and stared right back at him, trying to stay mad, but not able to. Feeling the fight go out of herself, Max leaned into him. "I know you don't need a baby-sitter," he retorted. "As you pointed out, Danny's still around."
"I know that. I just want you to have a good time. We've been together every night for two months, I think you've earned a night out with the boys," Max replied. "And I need some girl talk time."
Max stood up on her toes, and kissed him softly. Kenny tightened his arms around her, and she leaned back to deepen to the kiss. Pulling away, reluctantly, they both grinned at each other. Kenny tucked her hair back before kissing her again. "I'm coming back over to take you to bed."
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After Kenny left, Max quickly began picking up the mess in her apartment. God, she thought, after dumping a load of clothes in the washer, when was the last time I actually cleaned? She quickly piled the books on the shelf, and loaded the dishwasher. Tying off the last bag of garbage, she looked out at the gathering twilight.
"This is stupid," she said aloud. "I'm perfectly capable of taking the trash out. No one is waiting out there to kill me."
Throwing open her door, Max paused once more. I'm sure Rebecca, Sue, and Joey thought that too. Safe Rome Wisconsin. Walking briskly, she tossed the bag in the dumpster. And with a shudder, she turned and walked intentionally slower back inside. Locking the door behind her, Max tried to catch her breath. "See, nothing to be afraid of."
As she leaned back against the locked door, the phone screeched causing her to jump.
"Hello?" she said breathlessly, grabbing it.
"So you stayed put?" Kenny replied, trying to keep his voice light.
"Told you I would," Max replied, finding his protectiveness endearing and irritating at the same time. "Aren't you supposed to be bowling?"
"Can't help it if I want to talk to my gorgeous girlfriend," Kenny replied slowly.
"Oh, so I'm your girlfriend?" Max replied, dropping her voice an octave.
"Yeah, you got a problem with that?"
"No, none at all," Max replied, grinning into the phone. "Kenny, go bowling. I'll be naked when you come back."
"Love you,Honey."
"I love you too," Max said, as the words flowed easily out of her mouth. "I'll see you soon."
Tossing the cordless phone onto the couch, she shook her head. Usually she would be shoving for her space, but with Kenny he could crowd her and it just felt good, right, to be with him. The phone rang again, and she rolled her eyes as she grabbed it.
"Are you trying to drive me crazy?" she drawled into the phone in way of a greeting.
"Uh, Max?" Jimmy asked. "Is that you?"
"Jimmy? Hi, sorry. I thought you were someone else. What's going on?"
Jimmy paused, not knowing how to break it to her because he knew she already felt somewhat responsible for what was happening in Rome. "Max, another body showed up."
Max shuddered involuntarily before responding. "Do you know who it is?"
"Not yet. Carla's working on her," he replied. "Agent Morell is here, and they want to ask you some questions about Danny. Can you come down?"
"I'm on my way," she replied, trying to get back on an even keel. Grabbing her purse, Max rushed out into the darkening day.
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Agent Morell paced in Jimmy's office, empty besides the two of them. All of the deputies were out at the crime scene, and Jimmy was keeping in touch via radio.
"This town," Morell murmured. "Every time I come here…"
Jimmy stood stoically by the window, and watched for Max. The body that Skeeter and Kneelson had found by the hockey pond had been even more cut up than the previous three. The face was carved down to the bone, with the flesh hanging off in chunks. Deep gash marks cut through the torso, and her genitals had been attacked. Even more strange was the fact that he had cut off the tips of her fingers and toes, so that making an id would be that much more difficult. Jimmy saw Max's jeep screech into the parking lot, and he had to wonder exactly how fast she had been driving to get here. He knew if she wasn't a cop, she would probably have more speeding tickets than anyone he ever knew.
Max sat in her car for a minute, and tried to collect herself before going into the office. Looking down at her worn and holey jeans and thin gray tee shirt, she realized she should have at least changed into something that looked a little better. Turning off the engine and throwing open her door, she thought about how much she wanted a cigarette. A disgusting habit she had given up in college. Slamming the door behind her, Max wandered into the building, as she felt the tension begin to build in the back of her neck.
Jimmy waved her into his office, and closed the door to the empty office behind them. Agent Morell eyed the young woman, noting that she looked thinner than the last time they had worked together, but also seeing the burning intensity in her eyes. She was pissed at this killer, and if he was indeed her ex-boyfriend, she no doubt felt responsible to get him.
"I read over Sheriff Brock's notes about what you said about Danny Shreve earlier," Morell started. "What else is there? He has a clean record, no signs of being a serial killer, but we all know that isn't always a determining factor."
"He wasn't very social after his wife died," Max said slowly. "When I met him, it was about five years later, and I don't think he had any other relationships, with anyone. He kept to himself, and in the whole time I knew him, I never met any of his friends."
"He had a relationship with you though," Morell said. "You were his patient, right? Did he date any of his other patients?"
Max shook her head. "He said no, but he could have. They were the only people he really saw."
"Do we know how his wife died?" Jimmy asked.
The room fell silent then, and Max realized that he never told her that. Strange, she thought, but he never volunteered anything about it. He was always talking to me, telling me what to do and how to act. Who I should talk to.
"All I knew about her was her name was Karen Shreve," Max said, breaking the silence. "You don't think he… killed her too?"
"Why not? He's killed four people in the past six weeks," Morell replied eyeing her. "And I want to know what he is planning to do with you."
Max swallowed at his bluntness, knowing it was a subject that people were skirting around. She knew that patrol cars drove by her place, and Kenny was practically glued to her side.
"The thought of seeing him again," Max trailed off. "He can get inside my head, and manipulate every thought, twist it just so. I know he's out there waiting, and he's someone I tried so hard to forget."
"No sign of an accomplice?" Morell said changing the subject.
"No," Jimmy agreed. "No physical evidence, and if he's as antisocial as Max says, he wouldn't have one anyway."
"Lets get him then," Morell replied, turning back to Max. "Could you handle seeing him again, Deputy?"
Max nodded, knowing what was coming. Kenny's going to kill me, she thought. Even after he gets my message, I know he doesn't want me to do this.
"I'm the bait," she replied softly.
"Max," Jimmy said carefully glaring at Morell for picking at her emotions like that, "I don't want to put you in a situation like that. Danny's nuts and we don't know what he is going to do."
This is just like the conversation Kenny and I had earlier Max thought. "I know he's crazy, I know that better than anyone."
"We're going to find out all we can about Karen Shreve first," Jimmy replied staring down Morell. "Talk to her family, find out about her relationship with her husband. We can't get his patient records, we've tried. Max, you're not doing anything until we finish that. Understand?"
Relief mixed with resentment of his concern for her, filled her mind, and Max wondered if he and Kenny had possibly talked about this very thing. "Okay."
"No argument," Jimmy asked surprised at her easy agreement. He knew that Max would usually dig her heels in at stuff like this, and not roll over.
"I want him stopped," she said evenly. "What he's doing is appalling, and the fact that he's doing this because of his relationship with me… I do feel responsible. He made me hate myself two years ago, and I know he blamed me for him being sent to Cornerstones. The idea of facing him, even with back up, yeah, it does scare me. I know I could handle it if it happened, but it's not something I'm looking forward too."
"Until tomorrow then," Morell said. "I'm going to get some sleep, and call back to Branch and have them dig up everything on a Karen Shreve."
"Walk you out?" Jimmy asked, as Max stood up. The sky had deepened to a velvet black, and the faint glow of stars was visible through the office windows.
"Sure," she agreed, not really wanting to be out there alone.
"Where's Kenny tonight?" he asked as they made their way out to the parking lot, knowing that they were together every night they were not working. "I thought you two were joined at the hip of late."
Max smiled into the darkness. "Bowling, I made him go. It's the first game of the season, and I practically had to push him out of my apartment. I was looking forward to a girl's night, but with Carla in the morgue and Laurie handling the press… I know he worries about me."
Jimmy didn't want to pry into their personal live, and he knew that Max was strung pretty tight these days, so he chose his next words carefully. "You've had a tough few months, and with Danny being back, Kenny isn't the only one worrying about you."
She glanced up at him then, but before she could respond, he crumpled to the ground.
"Jimmy!" she cried, falling to her knees. Her brain kicking into cop mode, she checked for any injuries, and she saw a dart sticking out of his shoulder. Max groped for his pulse, and found it nice and strong. Breathing, but unconscious she grabbed his radio.
"Hello Max," a voice growled behind her. "I've been waiting for you."