Disclaimer: I'm only saying this once so pay attention: I DO NOT OWN NUMB3RS OR ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS. I would, however, like to meet David however you spell his last name. He was so cute in The Santa Clause 1&2. I do own Rose and the cult…….not that said cult actually exists, its pure fiction……really. Heh heh.

12 Murders

12 Messages

0 Leads

0 Clues.

Agent Don Eppes viewed the massacre that was his crime scene. He'd seen the same exact thing eleven times before but it never made it better. The body of a girl, maybe nineteen or so, lay naked in spread-eagle position, her wrists and throat split but no trace of blood anywhere save the strange markings on the wall that never varied. The thing that really got to him, the thing that he knew would haunt his dreams until this case was finally solved was how each girl's face was paralyzed in an eternal scream, as if they died screaming.

"Don….Don!"

"Wha…..Yeah?" Don was pulled from his thoughts by his partner, Terry. The female cop led him away from the gruesome scene.

"Don that's twelve now. Is Charlie any closer to cracking that message?"

"I don't know. Lets go see if he's made a dent in it."

Charlie Eppes sat in the same position he been in all day, leaned against his desk with a look of complete concentration on his face. For weeks now he'd been working on this puzzle. The first three lines were symbols unrelated to any well none language, the last line, however, was a series of numbers separated as if to create words, or dates, or something. But the thing was he couldn't crack it. He just knew that if he under stood the first lines that it would help him solve the rest, but how could he solve what did not exist?

"Hey Charlie."

Charlie turned to see his brother Don and Don's partner Terry in the door way. They looked hassled and worn out, like they hadn't slept since the case started almost four weeks ago. They probably hadn't. But their eyes held that look, something had happened.

"What's up?"

"There's been another murder Charlie. We were wondering if you've made any progress."

Charlie turned back towards the board, but Don knew he wasn't really looking at the problem. Don walked to his younger brother. Even from a young age he'd always doted on Charlie, sheltered him from the world. He knew letting him help solve the cases would be shoving some of the worst things that human kind could do into Charlie's face. He knew he couldn't protect Charlie forever, especially since their mother's death, but he could damn well try.

"Charlie?"

"I think it's meaningless. I can't figure it out. I've run it against the alphabet, both forward and back. It just doesn't make since. There's no pattern, no problem, no nothing. Maybe if I new what these symbols meant then I might be able to do something but I can't right now. There's just not enough data."

"Charlie maybe we could put this problem aside for a while and you could help us with something else. The attacks are speeding up. If I give you the case files could you predict his next kill?"

Charlie looked to his brother. He knew this ploy. Don hoped that in his distraction, Charlie might realize the answer to the original problem as well as solving the second. The proverbial killing two birds with one stone as Larry would say. Thing was Charlie new it wouldn't work this time. But seeing as finding the killer would prove this problem pointless…

"Alright Don."

"Okay lets," Don was cut off by his cell, "Eppes. Yeah? That's great. We'll be right there." He pocketed his phone and turned towards his partner, "That was Sinclair, he said some professor in Montana recognized the symbols in the message, he's sent his assistant to help us, she'll be arriving within the hour."

"From Montana?"

"Yeah apparently it took him a while to call. Let's go." He turned to his sibling, "You too Charlie, this could really help you."

The three left. Two of them were hoping that this was the break they had so desperately needed, one however, Charlie, couldn't help but feel that this case, was more than they bargained for.