Title: The Twelve Days of Christmas.
Author: Dana-Maru1
Summary: The team investigate a series of murders in the twelve days till Christmas...

Disclaimer: Sue, Jack and anyone else you may recognize are not mine. But thanks Pax for letting us borrow them from time to time...

Thursday morning in the bullpen brought the unwelcome news of a ninth victim. Ted brought the case files to Jack, urging him to

"Find this guy soon, will you?"

"I sure hope we do." Jack replied.

"Yeah it'll be good to finally relax on Christmas!" Bobby threw in, resulting in a sharp look from his supervisor.

Jack chuckled at the slightly scared expression on Bobby's face, and even Myles laughed a little.

"Come on guys, we've got a case to solve and we all want it closed before Christmas!" D told them.

"Okay guys, our ninth victim is Craig Laughlin, aged 22. He was a musician, collecting all sorts of wind instruments, particularly the flute. So, D, Tara, Bobby and Myles, I want you to check out musical instrument stores, see if Marshall's been there lately. Lucy can you get them a list? And then find out anything else that you can about Craig Laughlin?

"Sure." Lucy answered in her usual chirpy way.

"Oh and can you see if there are any Lords visiting or living in the DC area?"

"What for?" She asked, bewildered.

"Just a hunch."

"Okay, sure."

"Thanks. Sue, you and I are going back to college for the day." He laughed at Sue's confused face and explained, "Craig was a student at Columbia."

She gave him a nod in understanding and put on her coat, following him through the door. They drove to the college in Jack's car, and Sue asked him why he wanted the list of Lords.

"Have you ever um, heard of the song 'The Twelve Days of Christmas'?" He asked her, trying his best to face her and watch the road.

"Yeah, what's that got to do with the case?"

"I'm not sure it has anything to do with it. It's just, I heard some carolers the other day and it gave me an idea."

"Oh..." Sue said vaguely

"It's like the song connects every victim. And, if I'm right our eleventh victim will be a Lord. Which might make it easier to catch Kevin Marshall."

"Well, then I hope this hunch is right. The sooner we catch him the better." Sue said.

"I couldn't agree more!" Jack replied as he parked the car outside the college.

"Hi, I'm Special Agent Jack Hudson and this is my partner Sue Thomas, we have an appointment with Professor Janet Paterson." Jack told the receptionist.

"She'll be right with you." She replied, picking up the phone to call the professor.

Lucy and Tara searched hotel bookings, telephone directories, everything they could think of to find out if there was a Lord in town. Nothing came up. This could be a good thing but it was also possibly a bad thing. They weren't sure which. They supposed they'd just have to wait and see if a Lord did appear among their list of victims.

By the time Jack and Sue had finally came back to the bullpen, D had news that they'd finally gotten the search warrant they'd been waiting for.

"About time!" Jack exclaimed, "Alright guys, let's go!"

And the rest of the team followed him out of the bullpen to go to Kevin Marshall's late mother's home. Pulling up in front of the two-story house, they filed out of their cars and stood together.

"Ready?" Myles asked, rhetorically.

He was met with collective nods from Sue, Jack, Tara, D and Bobby. Lucy, being only a rotor, had stayed at the bullpen. They advanced toward the house, and Jack rapped on the door with his knuckles. Receiving only silence in reply, he twisted the doorknob hoping it wasn't locked. It wasn't, and the old oak door creaked open loudly.

"Okay, D, Bobby, Myles; I want you guys to take the top. Tara, Sue and I will take the ground floor."

More nods. And thundering footsteps as the three team members pounded up the dusty stairs. Sue and Tara followed Jack into a large dining area, with an old stained oak table and chairs. The walls were the same stained oak on the lower half, and expensive looking red paper on the upper half. This guy had a lot of money. Or at least his mother had. Nothing else, besides the table and chairs were in the dining room so they advanced to the kitchen. This was where they found signs that Kevin - or at least someone - had been there. In the trash can were empty cartons of milk, assorted chocolate wrappers and a few banana skins. The countertop was littered in bread crumbs and almost completely covered in groceries. The guy, by the looks of it, had recently bought it, which meant he was in the house not long ago. Probably no less than twenty-four hours. Perhaps, he was on the hunt again.