"Are you sure this is going to work?" Dean Sayers asked Dom, uncertainty clearly evident in his voice.

Dom chuckled. "Are you doubting me?" he asked in a cold voice.

"No, it's just…" Dean hesitated.

"Just what? Are you having second thoughts?" Dom asked.

"I'm just worried about getting caught," Dean said. "If I get arrested again, they're going to ship me off to prison."

"Then don't get caught," Dom said, slightly annoyed. He couldn't believe it. This kid really was doubting him! "Haven't you learned to take risks every once in a while? If you spend your life tip-toeing around because you're afraid of getting caught, then you're going lead a very dull life, Dean."

"I do want to take risks. Just tell me how I can do it without getting caught," Dean said, almost pleading with him.

"I can't tell you how to do everything," Dom said. "Tell me now, Dean—can I count on you or not?"

"No, no. I'll do it," Dean said quickly, eager to please the man he barely knew.

"Good," Dom said, smiling.

Just then the buzzer sounded indicating someone was coming into the holding area. Two officers, one chubby with thinning hair and the other tall and lean with bright red hair, entered. As they passed Dom's cell, they gave him a mock salute.

"Don't tell me you're here for me, Officers," Dom said, feigning surprise.

"In you dreams, Shepard," the chubby one said, chuckling.

"You might as well make yourself comfortable," said Officer Beanpole. "You're in for the long haul."

Dom pushed away from the bars, amused. He sat down on the cot and let the officers go about their business.

"Come on, Sayers. You've overstayed your welcome," Officer Chubby said. He unlocked the door and Dean Sayers walked out, giving Dom the first look of his protégé.

And what he saw kind of surprised him. In front of him stood the All-American Boy: tall and muscular, with close-cropped blonde hair and hazel eyes. He was even sure this guy had been the star quarterback and the guy all the girls wanted. How can this guy be afraid of a tiny risk like being caught? Dom thought. Why would he even agree to help me?

"Dom looked at the officers. "Well, now who am I supposed to talk to?"

"I'm sure the voices in your head will keep you company," Officer Beanpole said and he and Officer Chubby started laughing.

"Hmmm…" Dom said, nodding his head. He watched as the officers led Dean out of the holding area and then lay down on his cot.

While he didn't have complete trust and faith in Dean, a part of him knew that he wouldn't let him down. He wasn't sure if that was out of fear or admiration but he would take anything that he could get.

And the worst thing that would happen to Dean would be a minor stint in prison. That was, of course, if Nancy didn't hurt him. Maybe he should have warned Dean that Nancy was a fighter. But then again, that would have spoiled the fun for him. He couldn't tell the kid how to do everything. After all, no one warned him about Nancy…

The buzzer to the holding area sounded again and Dom sat up. Footsteps ceased in front of his cell and he saw that Officer Chubby was back.

"I knew you wouldn't leave me alone for long, Officer," Dom said. "So, what can I do for you now?"

"The Doc's here to see you," he said, unlocking the cell door. "You need a professional to tell you you're a nut job, Shepard? Hell, I could have done it for free."

"I sure you could have, Officer," Dom said walking towards the officer. "But I'm afraid your opinion wouldn't have held up in court."

Officer Chubby just shook his head and fastened a pair of handcuffs on Dom's wrists. He then grabbed him by the arm and led him to the visitation area where a woman with short, spiky red hair and green eyes, wearing a white lab coat and glasses, was waiting. She looked up as the officer sat Dom in front of a chair in front of her. The doctor waited until the officer left before she began.

"Mr. Shepard, I'm Doctor Sullivan. Mr. Drew called me and would like me to evaluate you," she said.

Dom grinned at her. "Well, Dr. Sullivan, it is very nice to meet you," he said. "But I have a feeling we're going to become really good friends, so, please, call me Dom."

"Dom it is, then," she said with a smile.

Dom smiled his most disarming smile while he studied her. She wasn't beautiful but she wasn't bad to look at either. But he wasn't worried about that. He already had a woman in his heart and he didn't want to jeopardize that. All he needed was for the nice doctor to think he was crazy so he could be with that certain woman.

"So, what do you want to know?" Dom asked.

"Before we begin, do you mind if I record this?' she asked, pulling out a small black tape recorder out of her bag.

"By all means, please do," Dom said.

Doctor Sullivan pushed the Record button and spoke into it. "This is Doctor Madison Sullivan in session with case number 4281930—Dominic Shepard. Today is April 12, 2006 and the time is 3:15 pm. Mr. Shepard has consented to this session being recorded."

Doctor Sullivan looked at Dom. "Well, Dom—I guess we'll start with the most obvious question: Why did you kill those women?'

Dom shrugged. "I had to," he said matter-of-factly.

"Do you care to elaborate?' she asked.

"I killed them because the book told me to," Dom said.

"'The book told you to'," she repeated. "Which book told you to do this?"

"Never Again," Dom said. "It was almost as if it was a guide for me."

"Explain that to me," she said.

"The author, Ann Granger, she wrote about a serial killer. It was as if she was writing about me. It was as if she had gotten into my head and wrote about everything I was thinking," Dom explained.

"So you think she wrote the book for you?' Doctor Sullivan asked.

"Yeah," Dom said, quietly. Then he looked up at her with eyes that chilled her blood. "But she got it all wrong."

"How do you mean?" she asked, slightly startled.

Dom let out a long sigh. "Did you read the book?"

Doctor Sullivan nodded her head. "I think everyone read that book."

"At the end of the book, Katie doesn't die," Dom said, bitterly.

"And you didn't agree with that," she said.

Dom shook his head vehemently. "Ann needed to know that. She had to be punished for the mistake that she made."

"And you couldn't just write her and tell her that?" Doctor Sullivan asked.

"No," Dom said.

"So by killing her, you were punishing her?' she asked. She pulled off her glasses and looked at Dom. "What about the others?"

"You know what they say, Doc—you can't just kill one," he said, laughing at his morbid joke. "But seriously, those were for Katie."

She looked down at the small tablet that was sitting in her lap. "This Katie—that would be Nancy Drew, correct?"

Dom chuckled again. "That's what everyone calls her, but she was my Katie."

"Why do you say the other attacks were for Katie?" Doctor Sullivan asked.

"The second girl, Brenda, she would upset Katie for no reason at all. I didn't like that so she had to be stopped," Dom said. "After that, it was Katie that I wanted. For some reason she refused to fear me and it was if she was waving that in front of my face. She was supposed to die, even if the book didn't agree with me. I didn't want to hurt her that first time, but she wouldn't stop fighting me." Dom started to shake with anger. "She can make me so angry!"

Doctor Sullivan put a comforting hand on his arm and he stopped. "But the second time—you wanted to kill her?" she asked.

"I had to, don't you see?" he asked, desperate for her to agree with him. "These voices in my head wouldn't stop jeering me. It was as if she was in my head constantly and the only way to get her out was to kill her. Killing her would have made everything better."

"But you didn't succeed," she said. "So, are the voices still bothering you?"

"All the time," he admitted.

Doctor Sullivan clicked off the recorder. "I think we'll stop there for today."

"So am I crazy, Doc?" he asked.

"Do you think you are?" she asked, studying him.

Dom shrugged. "That's for you to tell me. That's why you get paid the big bucks."

"I haven't made my decision yet," she said, packing up her bag. "I would like to meet with you again, if that's okay."

"Sure," Dom said. "There's nothing else to do in this hellhole."

Doctor Sullivan finished packing and knocked on the door to let the officer know she was ready to leave. The officer came in and grabbed Dom's arm as the doctor left the room.

"So what's the verdict, Shepard?" he asked.

"Doctor-patient confidentiality," Dom said in a sing-sing voice. "You ought to know that, Officer."

Dom smiled with mild satisfaction as Officer Chubby escorted him back to his cell. The session did go well. He had seen the fear in the Doc's eyes as he was talking. He had to admit that he amazed himself in his ability to get people to believe anything he wanted.

He whistled a jolly tune as the officer closed the door and walked away.

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Sorry for the lull in the update, but I had a lot of things to do for school. I hate to tell you there will be another slight lull before another update, but the semester is almost over meaning I will have more time to write. YAY!

Sidenote: Pay attention to the case number because it does have some importance attatched to it. You won't win anything if you guess, but it will just be fun to see if you know what it is. As always, I ask that you let me know what you think, good or bad (I can take it...I'm a big girl).

Oh, and a big thanks to my betas...You girls sure know how to keep me in line!