"He lives in some kind of fantasy world," she began slowly.

"That's not hard to see," Mel snapped, brushing aside some of her dark red locks from her cheek. Her eyes flickered down to the photos and back up at Rebecca again.

"Continue," Web said, coldly.

"He probably knows the victims somehow, he may have just started killing, and is probably a loner."

"You're not telling us very much about what we don't already know about the habits of serial killers," Web said, staring deeply into her eyes.

"Come on, give her a break," Paul snapped.

"We are in a business to stop these people," Web said, "we don't have the luxury to take breaks."

"If we knew where these girls were, at a party, or a convention or something," Danny said.

"There was a convention in the Anaheim just recently; I think one for fans of Japanese animation," Rebecca said quickly.

"Okay, then we'll start there," Web said, standing to his feet. "Rebecca and Paul, I want the two of you to go to comic book stores and see what you can find out there, the suspect may either work at one of those, or frequent them." He turned to the other agents, "Mel, Danny," he almost chuckled, knowing what their reaction would be, "I want you two do go to one of those conventions, and talk to the staff members, the patrons, whoever you can, there might be a clue there too."

"Oh goody," Mel groaned under her breath, "Do I get to dress up like Sleeping Beauty too?" From the look of Web, he didn't see much humor in the jab. The red headed woman sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine."

It was two o'clock in the afternoon when Rebecca and Paul entered the large library sized building. The name of the store was Altiverse Comix, but claimed to sale not only graphic novels, but also card games and a massive shelf of Anime titles. For a split second, Paul almost felt like a kid again, gawking at hundreds of D.C. comic books, with Batman and Superman titles, but only for a second.

"Might as well call this place Comics R' Us," Rebecca said, looking at rows of multicolored pages.

"Don't forget why we're here," Paul said, walking over to the counter. She followed him, and smiled sweetly at the young man wiping the light brown counter, and stopping as the two of them approached.

He wasn't what Rebecca would have thought when she thought of a comic book guy. He was not neither a zit faced, annoying teenager trying desperately to grow peach fuzz, and get a date, nor was he an overweight, balding forty year old man still living with his mother. The clerk looked nearly thirty, with a thick goatee, strong jaw bone, very muscular shoulders, and shining blue eyes. His black hair was thicker than cream, and just as wavy. He watched them for a moment, and then smiled, eyeing Rebecca as if she were the last Barbie doll that had ever been created.

"Can I help you folks," he said his tone pleasant.

Paul flashed his badge, and looked the other man straight in the eyes. "I really hate to bother you, but we're investigating some murders . . .," he began.

"Those five young women who were killed, wearing their cosplaying costumes?" the other man asked, his smile never drooping.

A shiver ran down her back, and Rebecca could nearly see her own kidnapper, in his eyes for a moment. "Five murders?"

The clerk sighed and shook his head, "I had some police officers from a different county come by here and ask about a murder that took place two months ago, a little while ago. Then another officer came in from San Francisco and asked what I knew about another victim."

I knew about the other two up to that point, all of the men seemed very interested in the fact that there were more."

Paul frowned and gawked at his partner. "Wait, you mean there were other police officers here?" the other man nodded, and he frowned even more. Why had no one at the local police office in Los Angeles told me about it when they asked for help?

"I'm sorry," the clerk, Davis, his nametag read, said. "I know that most police agencies don't like to work that close to the F.B.I., at least not in the more rural areas, which I guess the first two officers were from, but I just assumed that you two knew about the other murders as well."

"How soon ago was it when these officers came?" Rebecca asked. There it was again, that uncomfortable gawking look in his eyes. He was very charming, very handsome, but there was something creepy about him anyway, there was something in his demeanor that just screamed that he did not belong.

Davis shrugged and stroked his chair. "The first two, were about two months ago, like I just said." He frowned, stroking his chin, and went to lean up against his counter, but leapt off just as quick, as if stuck by a tack. He batted his head back and forth, "Sorry I don't remember when the guy from San Francisco was here."

"You don't remember?" Paul frowned and leaned forward, staring at the directions of Davis' eyes as he put his hands on the counter. He removed them, and stood straight. "Sorry."

Davis looked at him with daggers coming from his eyes, and leapt upon the fingerprints, scrubbing them clean. "No, I don't remember," he snapped, never taking his eyes off the counter.

"How can you not remember," the F.B.I. agent snapped. Rebecca put a hand on his chest and watched the other man work.

"I just don't," David growled, his attitude darkening. He looked up, with very dead eyes. "Look, I had a busy day when he came, I had to get ready for the Anime convention in Anaheim, and so I really didn't pay much attention to what happened that day."

"Did you know the women who were murdered?" Rebecca said; her voice calm and soothing. He turned to her, his dead eyes slowly teeming with life, but not by much.

"One of them was a constant patron to my store," he said, his voice becoming bubbly. "Every payday she would always rush through my door and buy the latest anime DVD that I had in stock." He shrugged. "She didn't look like a bad girl, and didn't seem to be the type to make many people pissed off at her." He licked his lips, as if recalling the taste of a fine French entrée.

"Which of the victims did you know?" Rebecca said, forcing herself to stand in place. Paul seemed to sense it, but a wave of her hand told him to forget it, that they had a job to do.

"Chi Taka," he gasped, as if thinking about a chocolate dessert. He noticed their reactions, and blinked for a moment. "Best customer I had," he chuckled, blushing.

"I'll bet she was," Paul said under his breath, without realizing what he had done. Davis spun on his heels, and glared at the other man.

"I don't know anything about the other girls; none of them ever came in here, so if there's anything else you want, I suggest you talk to my lawyer, or buy something. Either way, you've wasted too much of my time, so leave as quickly as possible.

Rebecca took a step forward, but thought better of it, and backed away. Before she did, she glanced a small DVD with the picture of Chi Taka on the cover, dressed in medieval peasant clothes, her bare feet sticking out of a stock.

That's an odd video for a comic store. She quickly memorized the image, and then ushered her partner from the store.

"I've got a strong hunch we've just got our man," the male partner said with a grim smile.

"He's a creep, but he's not the murderer," she said, looking forward, straightening out her hair. Paul turned to her and motioned for her to continue. "I'll tell you later, but right now, let's see if any of the other comic stores know anything."

And now, to my reviewer:

Osage: Thank you so much for the comments. I haven't yet tried to click and search for The Inside fan fictions myself, but I had intended to. Is mine the only one you've found so far? Kinda cool if that's true. Anyway I hope Fox gets back on the ball and get some more episodes on the air. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter.