Seeing Red – Part 5

A/N: Thanks for all of the encouragement! And, as ever, thanks Jackie for the assist! This one's for you – esp. since it's your story.

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She had planned to go back to Llanfair that night since John would be working to all hours of the night, in fact he probably wouldn't come home at all, but after putting her shopping in the car she didn't feel like it. So here she was at the Angel Square Hotel. Instead of going upstairs to John's room she walked over to the lobby couch and sat down and finally let loose the feeling of unease she had suppressed all day. The feeling that had come over when she first saw those crime scene photos. Goosebumps broke out over her arms again and with it a nagging feeling that she was missing something.

"Hey, Kiddo. Come by to see your Roxy?" Roxy sauntered in from the back and walked around the counter and dropped down onto the couch next to Natalie.

"I guess so." Natalie turned to Roxy and pasted on a smile.

"I saw those photos your lover boy sent over. That was my work all right, I should get that pattern patented, that's what I told that hubba hunka cop. Recognized her right away, Mara Kimmel. Came in regularly for her nails. She worked over at that bar."

"I know, Roxy. Thanks for helping."

Roxy narrowed her eyes and put her face right in front of Natalie's. "What's bothering you, Kiddo?"

"I guess I'm just creeped out by what happened to that poor girl." She gently pushed Roxy away and rescued her personal space.

"Yeah. I heard she was cut bad. But with you working over at fuzz central you'd better get used to it. Besides, it's not like you haven't seen that before back in AC."

"What do you mean?" Natalie frowned.

"When you were a kid. When you found that body. It was behind that dump we were living in at the time. I think it was the one on Baltic."

"I don't remember that."

"Phew, how could you forget?" Roxy shook her head. "You were about eleven or twelve or something. You were playing with your little hoodlum friends outside and saw the guy run out of the alley. You nailed the guy. I was so proud of you. Boy, did we have a celebration with the reward money. I got you that curling iron you wanted."

"I remember the curling iron, but not anything else." Natalie wrapped her arms around herself.

"Well. I remember. It was a weird, even for that neighborhood. The guy was using some other woman's scissors to kill working girls. I'd better get that." Roxy got up to answer the ringing phone.

"Why don't I remember? Scissors?"

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There was blood everywhere.

Not just spreading out under the body, but splattered all over. Dripping down the dumpster next to the woman's head; on the brick wall of the building; on the litter nearby and on Natalie's hands.

With a groan Natalie shifted restlessly in bed.

Behind her she could hear a girl's scream. Where was it coming from? It couldn't be from the girl in front of her. Her face wasn't even discernible and her throat sliced. There was even blood coating her red hair.

No, wait. It was blond. Blond hair glowing in the semi-darkness of the alley. The red bright enough to burn her eyes. Burn through her hands.

With a gasp Natalie sat up in bed and held her hands in front of her eyes, then wiped the moisture off her head and looked at them again.

"No blood," she gasped and as she wiped her trembling hands on the blanket. She glanced over at the clock and saw that it was still a couple of hours before she needed to get up, but she wasn't going to take the risk of going back to sleep and have another of those dreams. Not even being in John's bed and sleeping on the pillow that held his scent had been enough to stop them from plaguing her all night.

At the thought of John she looked around and confirmed that he had never come home that night. Feeling wrung out Natalie pushed the tangled sheet and blanket aside and headed for the shower.

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"I come bearing gifts," Natalie announced as she walked through the open door into John's office. "Well. You look like crap." John looked up, dark circles under his eyes and his hair far from its usual neatness, which told Natalie that he was really frustrated. If there was one thing John was vain about it was his hair.

"Gee, good morning to you. Actually." John tilted his head and studied his girlfriend over the piping hot cup of coffee she had handed him. "You're not looking so refreshed yourself and you're early. Rough night?"

Natalie shrugged and put the bag of bagels down on the desk.

"What you saw yesterday was rough, nightmares would be expected."

"I brought you a change of clothes." She evaded his comment and dropped the overnight bag she had slung over her shoulder next to his chair and leaned down and they exchanged a slow kiss. "Find anything new?" She sat down on the edge of the desk and dove into her own coffee.

"Well, you were right about the nail design, Roxy identified her, but apparently she's alone in this town. We're still trying to trace some family and we're out interviewing for friends. She doesn't have a work history either."

"Roxy said she worked at some bar. She brought it up and you know you can't stop her," Natalie defended in response to John's frown.

"If she did work at that bar it was under the table," John said.

Natalie frowned and took another sip of coffee. What was it Roxy had said last night she searched her memory.

"What's up?" John put his hand on Natalie's thigh. Before she could answer an officer came walking in.

"Lieutenant, we found someone…oh, Natalie. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt." The Officer flushed and shifted nervously.

Natalie smiled at the rookie and got up from her perch. "We're done, James. Let me grab my breakfast and I'm outta here." Natalie reached in and grabbed a wrapped bagel and cream cheese from the bag. Natalie shot John a grin before closing the door behind him and heading for her desk.

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A few hours later Natalie knocked on the door to Bo's office and walked in, a pile of reports and print outs in her hands.

She handed one set to John and another to Bo. She turned to leave when Bo asked her to hang back and close the door.

"I need for you take this up to the ME after I read it." Bo and John bent their heads to the files.

"This shouldn't be too hard to track," Bo said, looking up at John for his opinion.

"I don't know. This may come out of private collections, but at least it's not a mass manufactured knife. We should be able to put together a profile on a guy who would use sixteenth century women's scissors and check out other crimes using the same weapon. They're bound to pop up."

"A what?" Natalie asked, goose bumps breaking out over her arms and neck.

John looked over, as if he had forgotten she was still there until she spoke.

"It's called a bodice dagger. They're scissors and a dagger that women used to use to sew and, well, I don't know what," Bo explained reading the notes he had taken from the ME's report.

"Another woman's scissors," Natalie whispered, her face whitening.

"Hey." John stood up and pushed Natalie down on the couch and kneeled before her. He put his hands on her cold cheeks. "What's up?"

Natalie closed her eyes and shook her head. John stroked her hair off her cheek and waited.

"Something Roxy said last night." Natalie opened her eyes and looked at John. "Roxy said that I found a body in an alley when I was a kid. That I identified the guy who had killed her, he went to prison. She was knifed. It was a woman's scissors. Like you just said."

John swore under his breath and put his hands on her shoulder. "Is that why the photos yesterday freaked you out so much?" he asked.

"I don't even remember that. I had these dreams last night, but I don't know if they were because of what Roxy said. The girl, in the dream, she was blond. There was so much blood." All of a sudden Natalie jumped up and ran out of the office.