Chapter 3

Anthony headed to a new crime scene as soon as the 911 call came in. The caller had remained anonymous, but Anthony had this sinking feeling…

As he arrived at the scene, his suspicions were confirmed as he saw Tobias leaning against a cop car while an EMT tried to examine his head. He kept pushing her away and trying to watch what was going on with the investigation. Tobias jumped as he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"You can imagine that this won't look too good for us."

"Anthony! Hey, it's not what it look like! I tried to help her, tried to stop this from happening… I don't even have a knife!" Tobias finally fought his way free of the EMT and hurried towards Anthony, who took one look at the trickle of blood running down his forehead and ushered him back into the EMT's grasp.

Anthony sighed. "Just calm down. I'm not accusing you of anything. Did you see anything?"

Tobias shook his head as best he could with the EMT holding his head still while she tried to position a butterfly bandage. "I just saw someone coming, then it was POW lights out."

Anthony glanced over to where Josephine was examining the body, then nodded slightly. "I probably should have done this before… you're on forced vacation until further notice. As soon as you've been checked out, I want you to go home and just… stay there. Okay?"

Tobias nodded, and after receiving a shooing motion from the EMT, he headed across the street to where he had left his car. Anthony watched him go, and when he had driven off, he walked over to Josephine.

"So, what've we got?"

She pointed to the victim's purse. "There's probably an ID in there. Time of death was less than an hour ago. Cause of death was exsanguination, from the severing of the carotid artery."

Anthony surveyed the area. "From the arterial spray, it looks like she was facing her killer, who is going to have some serious laundry to do." He knelt down by her purse, and carefully poked through it until he found a wallet. He picked it up and opened it. California driver's license. Renee MacNamara, age 37.

As soon as Tobias reached his apartment, he had the feeling that he should be somewhere else, but he didn't know where. He started pacing his living room, for a lack of anything better to do. As he turned for another lap around the coffee table, he found himself face-to-face with Darien Hayward.

"Gah! Can you not do that! Why don't you fade in subtly and give me some heads-up!"

"Sorry," Darien said, but didn't look all that sorry.

"What do you want? I tried to save the girl, and that didn't work out too well, now did it?"

"There will be more," Darien said, suddenly and cryptically.

"Huh? More? Who, when?"

"I don't have details, but I have a feeling that this is far from over."

Tobias looked at him skeptically. "You've got a feeling? And I'm supposed to go by that… why?"

Darien regarded him for a moment. "I'm dead. I shouldn't be having feelings at all, of any kind."

Tobias turned and headed for the kitchen. "I can't help you anymore. I'm on forced vacation."

"Are you really going let that stop you from doing the right thing?"

Tobias spun around to face him, pointing an accusing finger angrily. He took a deep breath, ready to give this apparition what-for. Then he dropped his hand. "No."

Back at the lab, everyone who was available was working to piece together the two murders. They seemed to have nothing in common, except for the fact that Tobias had been at both scenes. The MO's were different, the victims had never met each other, they didn't have any mutual friends or enemies, and they lived in completely different parts of the city.

Vivian had been contacting their families and friends for the past several hours to try to find a connection. Rebekah and Anthony were going through all the evidence again, hoping to find some kind of clue that would lead them to the killer. As it was, they had only one suspect, but neither wanted to say it.

Finally, Rebekah couldn't stand it any longer. "Hey Anthony," she began, thoughtfully. "There's no way Tobias could have done it, right?"

"Evidentially speaking, it's possible. He was on a break getting dinner around Hayward's time of death, right before we were called to the robbery scene, and he was admittedly at the second scene at the time of the murder. But, knowing Tobias like I do… No, there's no way he could have done it."

"But that won't hold up in court, will it?" Rebekah asked, fully knowing the answer.

"No, it won't."

Two days later, no progress had been made on the case, and Tobias was getting really tired of playing computer solitaire. He decided to head a few blocks over to grab a late lunch. He was just about to walk into the little diner when he was distracted by a blur of motion beside him.

There was Darien, looking as out-of-breath as possible for someone who wasn't breathing. "Come on… now… quick." Then he continued running down the street, much as he had when they had first met.

"Dude, what the hell!" Tobias yelled apparently at no one, earning him a few strange looks from passersby. Then he took off after Darien, who turned once again down an alley.

In his haste, Tobias ran smack into a middle-aged man in a sweater and tie, who looked like he might be a professor, or maybe a therapist.

"Hold on there, son, where's the fire?" he asked calmly as he held Tobias by the shoulders, holding him in place. "You need to calm down, there."

"Uh, sir, don't… I have to…" Tobias stuttered as he tried to extricate himself from Dr. Tranquillity's grip. He took a breath and started over. "I'm sorry, sir, I'm kind of in a hurry." With that, he made his escape and headed down the alley, where Darien stood, pointing around the back of one of the buildings.

He skittered around the corner in time to see a figure dressed in black deliver a final blow with a crowbar to a man who lay twitching on the ground. The killer, whose back was to Tobias, turned and looked over his shoulder as he heard the approaching footsteps. Then he turned and ran in the opposite direction. Tobias ran after him, until he turned down another side street and disappeared. Tobias headed back to the newest victim. He searched for a pulse in vain, but that was to be expected from someone who had several deep dents in their skull.

Tobias stood up with the intention of calling the police when his thoughts were interrupted by a scream. He looked up at the horrified woman who had wandered past the end of the alley, then back down at his blood covered hands.