Chapter Two

(A/N:  Oo!  I think I got almost the whole thing planned out!  This finally has a plot! I am so excited!  R/R/E!!)

Disclaimer:  Abel Belasarius belongs to me, too.  The nameless victims are mine.  Umm…the previous disclaimer… disclaims the rest of them.

            "He doesn't have a record, at least," Tracy said, trying to cheer Nick up.

            He glared morosely at his desk.  Kane Belasarius apparently did not exist.  No record, no registry in the DMV.  No social securituy.  Nothing.  And there were another three bodies already, from the same bar.  Nick had gone back and got a list of all the regulars who stopped coming.  This was driving him crazy.

            "We don't know that because it's obviously a fake name," he snapped.

            "Don't snap at me.  It's not my fault.  It's probably spelled wrong, or something.  They're running different spellings right now."

            "I'm sorry, Trace."  Nick dropped his head into his hands.  They had already gone through everything, searched for clues, and there was nothing.  It had been a weeks since they had found the first body.  The Commissioner was getting antsy.  They had already run the different spellings, done everything.

            He suddenly jerked up.  "Wait a sec!  How are they running it?  Specifics, or just last name?"

            "Specifics.  Why?"

            "Did they try spelling Kane differently?"

            Tracy's eyes widened.  "Oh my God, we're all idiots!"

            "Can't see the forest for the trees," Nick agreed.  "So go check."

            Tracy was back within five minutes, waving a paper in the air.  "Got it!  Address, picture, everything!  Let's go!"

            They were at the house within twenty minutes.  It was a little white house, in a nice neighborhood.  Not the home of a suspected serial killer.  So far, due to lack of evidence, he was still their only suspect.  Of course, they had almost nothing on him.  Nick knocked on the door, glad that it was still early in the night and they could do this.

            The door opened immediately.  "How can I help you?" a man asked.  He was relatively young, with close-cropped black hair.  Bright blue eyes looked out from a boyish face, set on top of a lithe, wiry body.  He was a relatively short man, shorter than Tracy, but taller than Natalie.

            Nick flashed his badge.  "Detective Nick Knight and Tracy Vetter, Metro Police.  Are you Kane Belasarius?"

            "No, I'm his brother Abel.  Why?"

            Tracy's eyes widened slightly as she fought down a grin.  "We need to talk to him.  Does he live here?"

            "Yeah."  Abel closed the door slightly to take off the chain and open it.  "Come on in.  He'll be back in a couple minutes."  He glanced back as they followed him in, smiling brightly.  "Go ahead and laugh about the names now, before he gets home.  Our parents were a bit…religious."

            Nick allowed his eyes to sparkle, while Tracy laughed outright.  "I'm sorry.  It's not funny, but it is.  Are you the younger one, too?"

            "Of course!  If you're going to bite the fruit, why not eat the whole thing, right?  Hopefully, I'll escape the fate of the original Abel, though."  White teeth sparkled from his smiling mouth before fading away.  "Is my brother in trouble?  What has he done?"

            "Nothing," Nick assured him.  "We just need to ask him a couple questions.  Hopefully he can be of some assistance to us."

            "Do you want coffee or something while you wait?"

            Both shook their heads no thank you.  Seconds later, the other brother walked through the door.  He looked exactly like the younger one, only taller - a couple inches taller than Nick.

            "Is supper done yet, brother?"  He noticed the two people.  "Who are they?"

            "Kane Belasarius?" Nick asked, flashing his badge again.  "Detective Nick Knight, Metro PD, and my partner, Tracy Vetter."

            "What's the problem, Detectives?"  Kane took off his black overcoat and handed it to his brother, who disappeared to put it away.

            "Do you recognize her?"  Tracy held out a picture of Sydney.

            Kane took it, studying it for a brief moment before handing it back.  "Sure.  That's one of the girls at a club I go to.  Why?"  Nick could detect a slight increase in his heart rate.

            "Do you know these?" Tracy asked, giving him the pictures.  His response was affirmative to all of them.

            Abel came in with a cup of coffee, handing it to Kane.  "Would you like a cup?" he asked of Nick and Tracy as Kane took a sip.

            As they replied no, Kane shoved the cup back at Abel.  "There's not enough sugar.  How many times does it take to get it right?" he asked crossly.

            Abel took the cup and retreated from the room, his eyes down.  "Sorry, Kane."

            Tracy and Nick shared a glance.  Nick took out his pad with a list of the exact dates that the women had disappeared.

            "Okay.  I'm going to need to know where you were on these dates."  Nick read them off, hoping this would be easy and Kane wouldn't want a lawyer.

            He could hear the man getting slightly more nervous.  This was almost positively who had done it.

            "I was here all day on each of them.  Abel can verify that."  He called out to his brother.  "Abel!  Get in here!  And where's my coffee?  Why do you need to know?"

            The younger man appeared almost instantly, coffee in hand.  "Here you are, brother," he said nervously.

            "All of those women are dead, and we're investigating their murder.  Where was Kane on these dates?"  Nick read them off again.

            "At home," Abel said after a moment of thought.  "Why?  Is he a suspect?"

            "There's not enough evidence for him to be a suspect," Tracy said.

            Kane nodded, and Abel retreated again.  Nick and Tracy asked a few more questions, before thanking the two men and leaving.  Tracy waited for Nick to start the Caddy and begin driving before speaking.

            "Did you see all the SM stuff in the other room?"

            "That doesn't automatically make someone a criminal, Trace."

            "No, but the victims were tortured.  So Mr. Kane Belasarius does have ready access to the tools needed.  Of course, so does his brother.  Abel was the more nervous of the two."

            Nick glanced at her.  "Yes, but I would guess he was afraid of his brother.  Did you notice the change in attitude when Kane returned?"

            "Mm.  Abel seemed to like people more than his brother…"

            "I'd say too timid to achieve the brutality needed for the marks on the victims.  I wouldn't put it past Kane, though…"

            Tracy shuddered.  "I bet he uses some of that stuff on his brother.  But why would anyone…"

            Nick shrugged.  "Some people like it.  I did catch some fading bruises."

            Tracy shuddered again.  "I don't like this case.  I hope we find enough evidence that it was him, or find someone else, so this all stops."

            "So do I, Trace.  So do I."

~~~~{@

            The buzzing of the alarm woke Natalie from her deep sleep.  She slapped it off and sat up, gently removing Nick's arm from across her stomach.  She finally felt better enough to go back to work.  Moving carefully, so as not to wake Nick, she got clothes from the closet and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

            The droning of the water woke Nick up.  He knew better than to start an argument with Natalie over whether she should stay home for another day or not. She usually went in even if she was sick, so this was a miracle that she had taken a week of sick leave.  He got out of bed and padded downstairs to start her some coffee.

            When Natalie left the bathroom, the smell of coffee assailed her nostrils.  She smiled, knowing Nick had gone down and started her some.  She was glad she wasn't going to have to fight him on going back to the morgue.  He tended to be over-protective and treat every illness of hers as life threatening.  At times, it was sweet, but today it would have driven her crazy.

            When Natalie came down the stairs, Nick was leaning against the counter, sipping from his own mug.  She stood up on tiptoe, kissing his cheek.

            "Thanks for making the coffee, Nick."

            "You're welcome, Nat."  Nick watched as she moved around the kitchen, making breakfast.  Some days, it was hard to believe that she was living in the loft with him, that she was sleeping in his bed with him, that they were pretty much married in all but name.  He kept expecting something to interrupt their idyllic existence.  Lacroix had been unusually quiet, not seeming to have noticed that Natalie was living with Nick.  But the Crusader knew that he must know, and was beginning to worry about the odd silence.

            As Nick moved to sit down so he was out of Natalie's way, his mind was once more drawn to the thought of marriage.  Guilt and fear had held his tongue on the matter.  He knew, he had known for a while, that he didn't ever want to live without Natalie.  Even though, when taking her blood, he knew that she felt the same, he didn't really believe it.  But now, as Nick watched her eat her toast, he wondered if maybe he should look around for an engagement ring.  It would be nice to have one, if he ever got up the guts to ask her.

            As Natalie put her plate and mug in the sink, she smiled at Nick.  He was off in another world again.  She kissed him softly on his cold lips.  "I have to go.  Will I see you some time during your shift?"

            He snapped out of it quickly, returning the kiss.  "Most likely.  Love you."

            Natalie smiled.  "Love you too."

            She hummed as she drove to the Coroner's Building.  She hated being sick with a passion.  Ever since that incident with the black market organs… Now that she was feeling better, she was happy.  The shadows were growing long as she pulled into the parking lot.  She was probably one of the few people who truly enjoyed going to work 99% of the time, and loved the night shift.

            She stepped out of her car, happy to be getting her hands back in a dead body after a week of sick leave.  A sharp pains struck the back of her head, and she could feel warm liquid trickling down the back of her neck.  As the world went black, the last thought she had was that if she got blood in her car, it was going to be hell to get out.

(A/N:  Da Da Dum.  Uh-oh pasghettios.  What's going to happen to our favorite coroner?  Tune in next week, same time, same place, for the next chapter.  Yeah.  Right.  More like in a couple days.  It's Christmas vacation, so I have lots of time to write.  Well, the whole damn story has already run through my head six or seven times, which means I'm getting sick of it and just want it to end…uh-oh.  Hopefully this isn't going to have the same fate as 'Drow'.  But I wouldn't ever be that cruel (or nice, depending on your POV) again.  All right, I'm done babbling.  Thanks for reading, please review, and I pray you enjoyed.)