Two days after the conversation with Rowan, I took it upon myself to call Rose, knowing that Abby wouldn't do it herself. The fact that she'd been here for nearly two weeks without doing it had told me as much. I didn't really expect anyone to pick up the phone, considering that it was a Thursday, and eleven o'clock in the morning, but after it rang a few times, someone did.
"You know, I really ought to come up there and kill you," Rose said dryly, pretending to be annoyed. "Is it really that hard to pick up a phone?"
"Excuse me for being in the middle of a red-ball," I replied. "Do you have a minute?"
"Obviously, I do or I would have hung up on you already," said Rose. "What do you want?"
"Well, for one, to tell you to stop worrying, because Abby's fine and I am, too." I said. "And I need to ask you something."
"I'm assuming that this has something to do with the case that you're caught up in," Rose said slowly, more of a question than a statement. I nodded, and then remembered that she couldn't see me.
"Yeah," I said, "It does. Are you planning on leaving Baltimore anytime soon?" Rose sighed.
"I was going to if I hadn't heard from you or Abby by tonight," she admitted, "But I'm not anymore. What's up?"
"I need to know if it's at all possible for Rowan to come and stay with you for a while." I said.
"I can't believe you still think you have to ask me that. Of course she can, God only knows I've got the room for her, and Kai's going to want to see her..." Rose continued, but I was no longer really listening: relief had completely taken over me before she'd even given a real answer.
"...and besides that, I haven't really seen either one of you since you got married. When exactly did you want her to come down here?" Rose asked finally, and suddenly, I was paying attention again.
"Tomorrow," I said, and Rose sighed again.
"You do realize that it's February, right?" she asked. "There are three more months until school lets out."
"I know that," I said, "We've talked about it, and we decided that it's probably not the best idea for her to stay in New York right now."
"You're sure about this, then?" Rose asked. "You really want her to come down here?"
"Yes," I said, "I do. It's..." I paused there, for a moment, and the only sounds I could hear were that of Rose's breathing and my own. "It's the only way I know that she'll be safe."
"What aren't you telling me?" Rose demanded, just as I'd expected she would. "Is someone threatening you?"
"It hardly matters if someone's threatening me, I'm a cop and I could care less," I said dryly. "It's Rowan I'm worried about, and honestly, I'd rather send her to you than take the chance that something will happen here."
"And people wondered why you couldn't seem to hold onto a relationship," said Rose. "I tell you what, though, you had better damn well not forget to call her once she's down here."
"Fine," I said, "I won't. Just...make sure someone's there when she shows up, all right?"
"You know I will. Is Abby with you now or am I going to have to try her cell phone again?"
"She's with me, hold on." Abby had just appeared beside me from out of nowhere; she glanced at my cell phone and made a face.
"That's Rose, isn't it?" she asked.
"Yes," I said, "It is, and you are going to talk to her this time. You can't put her off forever, Abby."
"Fine. Give me the damn phone already." She took the phone from my hand and walked off; her voice drifted towards me as Kay reappeared, looking thoroughly disgruntled about something.
"What?" I asked slowly. She shook her head, sighing.
"We've got another murder," she said. "Collins got a hold of Tim's cell phone number somehow...called from another pay phone."
"He tell you where this sixth body is?" I asked, and Kay nodded, running a frustrated hand through her hair.
"Another park," she replied. I sighed.
"Figures," I said. "He tell you which one?" Kay nodded, just as Tim appeared, in time to hear the question.
"We should get there now," he said, after telling me exactly which park had been designated for this sixth crime scene. "Where's Abby?"
"Talking to her sister," I replied, "She should be back here in a...never mind" Abby had reappeared, having finished her conversation with Rose, and when she stopped in front of us, she looked at us and frowned.
"There's been another murder, hasn't there?" she asked slowly, and all three of us nodded.
"What are we waiting for?" she said, turning on her heel and heading towards the hotel's exit. "Let's get the hell out there."
By the time we got to the crime scene, CSU was already there. The body had already gone, but there was no doubt in any of our minds that there had been a charm glued to this child's lips as well.
"Any ID?" Kay asked the technician closest to her, once we'd crossed the tape. He looked up at her, startled, more than likely because he hadn't expected her to ask, and shook his head. She sighed and turned to face me.
"Figures," she said. "There probably isn't anything, just like usual. I'm starting to wonder why CSU even bothers coming anymore."
"So am I," said Tim. He raised his hand to shield his eyes from the sun and looked towards the old merry-go-round at the far side of the park. "I think we've got another one."
"Are you trying to broadcast that we've been hiding these notes or what?" Abby asked in an undertone, careful to make sure that none of the CSU techs could hear her. Tim glanced at her and shook his head, already starting to walk.
"No," he said, "I'm just pointing it out. Come on." He turned back so that he could see where he was going, and the rest of us followed him. When we reached the merry-go-round, Kay reached out and took the bright pink envelope before he could move, pulling it open and drawing out our seventh note.
"Detective Munch, Detective Howard, it was nice talking to you the other day. I must say, it was quite pleasant to hear your voices again, even though the three of us are on quite different sides of the law. This sixth victim's name is Gabrielle Robinson. She's thirteen. I know, I know, that number is considered by some, including me, to be quite unlucky, but there you have it. There isn't any physical evidence. As you pointed out, there is no record of me in the New York systems. At least, not yet. So I'm quite sure that you have your work cut out for you. I can hear Manhattan clamoring for answers even now. They're starting to lose their faith in the two of you, much like Baltimore did all those years ago. Both cities are wanting justice for their daughters...can you give it to them? Or will you let them down again? Only time will be able to tell you that, dear detectives, as much as I want to do that myself, I cannot. Hopefully, ASA Williams has managed to become competent enough to do her job properly, and the same goes for you, Detective Bayliss. It has been fourteen years since your first case, and you still have not closed it. People know you for that, in case you haven't already figured that out. Maybe with this case, you will be able to redeem yourself, and people will know you for something else. Now, Detectives, since my hand is becoming quite tired, and I am quite sure that the length of this note is starting to annoy you, I shall cut myself off, and say nothing more, other than to tell you to wait for my next call."
Kay's voice was shaking by the time she was done. I couldn't blame her for it. She folded the note with shaking hands and stowed it into her pocket before looking at us.
"Wait for his next call, he says," she said. "It's like he's doing this to spite us, keeping us on our toes like this, making us think something's going to happen..." She trailed off and then directed her attentions towards me. "Did you talk to Rowan last night?"
"Yes," I said, "I did. I told her I didn't think it was a good idea for her to stay in the city while this is going on, and she's going to Baltimore in the morning."
"I'll bet that went over well," Abby muttered dryly, "She gave you hell about it, didn't she?"
"Would you expect anything less?" I asked in reply, and she shook her head, a humorless smile crossing her face.
"No," she said, "I don't think I would. She's staying with Rose, then?" I nodded, sighing as I looked back towards where CSU was.
"I wouldn't trust her with anyone else, and besides, Kai's there," I said. "Was there an address in that note or not?"
Kay shook her head. "None," she said. "We're going to have to go about this one the hard way."
In a way, I was almost relieved that there hadn't been an address. With the previous five victims, we'd been able to go straight to the families to let them know what had happened. And each time, we'd had to watch as lives were completely torn apart by the knowledge that a loved one had been lost. It was something that all of us, that is to say, Kay, Tim, and I had gone through many times before, but it still bothered us.
"You know, sometimes I think that way's actually easier," I remarked finally. She gave a half-hearted smile at this remark and sighed.
"So do I," she said. "But seven is an odd number. We should probably start looking for another note."
"Already did," said Tim, appearing out of nowhere with a blue envelope in hand. "CSU had it."
"They didn't open it, did they?" I demanded, and he shook his head.
"They were about to," he said, "Abby grabbed it before they could and we took off."
"Great," I said, "Now they're going to think something's up. I wouldn't be surprised if my unit's already said something to IAB."
"I wouldn't put it past that detective you were talking to the other day," said Kay. "If anyone's said anything to your Internal Affairs division it was probably him."
The remark was enough to make me laugh, and I did, which made Kay and Abby both stare at me like I'd suddenly lost it.
"What are you laughing at?" Abby demanded, sounding annoyed. "The last thing we need right now is for any sort of investigation to be started on us..." I cut her off.
"Abby, my own unit probably wants to investigate you, and Kay, and Tim," I said. "If it turns out they've said something to IAB, then so be it. We have nothing to hide."
"Exactly," said Tim, "We don't. So if they know that, then why would they have said anything in the first place?"
"Because they don't like the fact that I'm working with you," I said. "Two of them, anyway. My partner really doesn't give a damn either way, it's the other two that do."
"Don't tell me they're having a fit because they're not in on this case," Kay started, but I cut her off like I'd done to Abby.
"You could put it that way," I said. "That's pretty much why I was arguing with the one you 'met' yesterday."
"Screw that," Abby muttered, "We have more important things to worry about than some unit's having a problem with our being here."
She was right, and I took that comment to mean that the conversation was over, so I didn't continue. Rather, I glanced to where CSU had told us the body was and sighed.
"Six bodies," I said. "Eighteen girls are dead, and all Collins tells us is to wait for his next call."
"We could always try to trace him," Abby pointed out, but Tim shook his head.
"He's been calling from different pay phones around the city," he said, "Even if we tried that, it'd only narrow it down to an area, not an exact location."
"So, either way we look at it, we're screwed," I muttered. "That's great. He's running circles around us and there isn't a damn thing we can do about it."
"At least he's given us something," said Kay. "We know he's going to call again, that there might be another victim and that we need to keep an eye on ourselves."
"And what good is that supposed to do us?" Abby asked sarcastically. "All that's doing is making us more freaked out about this than we already are."
"It's supposed to let us know that we're getting somewhere," Kay shot back. "He didn't call us last time. He waited until we had him to say anything, and then we lost it all because..." She trailed off, glancing towards me almost nervously, but I said nothing. It wouldn't really have made a difference even if I had. A figure moving in the shadows cast by the afternoon sun caught my attention and I turned, raising a hand to shield my eyes from the light.
"Someone's following us," I said, "Look over there." Kay, Tim and Abby turned, looking towards where I'd pointed, and Kay frowned.
"That's the same guy who was watching us outside the coffee shop," she said. "What are the odds that he's been following us ever since then?"
"Better than I'd like to think about," said Tim. "You think he might be how Collins got our cell phone numbers?"
"I wouldn't doubt it," said Abby. She glanced towards Kay, a frown crossing her face as well. "You told me Collins said something about an accomplice?"
"He might be the one." Kay's eyes had narrowed; she continued to watch the figure, who was now staring dead at her. "I doubt he'd be here, otherwise."
"You know, he could just be one of those reporters that's probably going to come over here and bother us for information once we cross the tape again," I pointed out, but Kay shook her head.
"No," she said, "He's not. You can tell just by looking at him...he's up to something."
"Of course he is," Abby muttered, "Why the hell else would he be taking pictures of us?"
I looked back towards the figure I'd pointed out, and sure enough, he was taking pictures. The camera was kind of hard to miss, and I wondered how I'd done so before.
"I'm starting to think that I should make Rowan head down to Baltimore tonight instead of tomorrow morning," I remarked. Kay glanced at me, still frowning.
"What for?" she asked. "There hasn't been anything to suggest something's going to happen to her."
Not that they knew about, anyway. I decided it was better to just keep what I had found the night we'd first noticed the guy to myself; the last thing any of us needed was to get more upset than we already were, least of all with each other.
"I know," I said vaguely, without looking her in the eye, "I just don't like the idea of her staying here any longer than she has to."
"You do realize that she'll kill you herself if you make her go tonight," said Abby, smirking in my direction. I gave her a look.
"That's beside the point," I said, but as I moved to continue, Kay grabbed my arm and pulled be along with her, so that we were walking to somewhere out of our so-called stalker's line of sight. Tim followed suit, taking Abby and walking off in the other direction. I watched them go and then looked down at Kay.
"What the hell are we doing?" I asked. Kay looked up at me, still frowning slightly as she motioned with her free hand towards the figure. He was still standing a good distance away, just watching us.
"Do you remember that night in the Box, when you and Meldrick beat the hell out of Collins?" she asked. I rolled my eyes; that particular night wasn't exactly one I would be forgetting anytime soon.
"Of course I remember, it's been bothering me for years," I replied. "Why are you asking?"
"Because I recognize that guy," Kay admitted, reluctantly. "I...I didn't say anything until now because I wasn't sure, but now I am. He's the one who shot you and Meldrick."
"And you're only just telling me this now?" I asked. "You should have said something the minute you suspected it was him!"
"I know," said Kay, glaring up at me, "But I didn't want to until I was sure, and now I am."
"So, what exactly is this walking around going to do for us?" I asked. "We can't even see him anymore; he's probably gone."
"He's not gone," said Kay. "Odds are he's waiting to see what we'll do. He's not going to go anywhere.
"And what exactly are we going to do?" I asked, starting to grow slightly nervous. She looked up at me again, smirking faintly.
"We're going to nail him," she said. "If we can't get him for trying to kill you and Meldrick, we'll get him as an accomplice to first-degree murder."
"You really think these are pre-meditated?" I asked. "I was always under the impression that Collins did it just to get himself off."
"He does," said Kay. "We already know that much. But look at all the cases we've had. Each one is, for lack of a better term, a 'perfect crime'. There's nothing that can tie Collins to any of these murders."
"Unless we get someone to give him up." Suddenly, Kay's reasoning was that much clearer. We continued walking, and after a while, I could see the playground again. The figure that had been watching us was still where he had been, looking in the direction that Tim and Abby had gone, and looking supremely unconcerned with my and Kay's disappearance. She let go of my arm upon noticing this, and looked at me.
"You go that way," she said, motioning, and I realized then that we were behind him. He couldn't see us even if he wanted to; Kay had managed to move us so that we were in the right position to grab him without him even seeing that we were coming. I moved in the direction that she'd pointed, and stopped when she motioned for me to. She moved forward then, quickly, drawing a pair of handcuffs from her belt.
"Been a while, hasn't it?" she asked loudly. The figure jumped and when he turned to see who was behind him, he froze, and then smirked.
"Detective Howard," he said coldly. "Nice to see you again." Kay shook her head in disgust, forcing him up against the tree behind them and searching him for any sort of weapons. When she didn't find any, she cuffed him, and motioned for me to come over, so I did.
"You want to, or should I?" she asked. I didn't say anything. She looked at me for a long moment and shook her head again before turning back to our new suspect.
"Kyle Walker, under arrest for the attempted murder of two Baltimore City police officers," she said icily. "You have the right to remain silent; anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law..."
She continued on, but I was no longer listening...in fact, I hadn't really been listening since she'd declared him under arrest for attempted murder. I wondered vaguely as Tim and Abby reappeared whether or not she was actually allowed to arrest him for something like that, considering we weren't exactly in Baltimore, but I figured that she knew what she was doing, so I left well enough alone.
"You know, I'm thinking Collins was right," Kyle spat at me as Kay yanked him backwards so that we could leave. "I should've finished you and Detective Lewis off when I had the chance."
"I don't want to hear another word out of you," Kay snapped, keeping a firm grip on him as we walked. Tim and Abby walked on either side of us, to make sure that he couldn't get anywhere. Once we reached the parking lot, she shoved him into the back of one of the cars and slammed the door.
"Well," she said, sounding slightly cheerful, "Maybe we'll actually get somewhere now."
"I ought to call one of the other State's Attorneys who was around the first time," Abby remarked, casting a disgusted look at Kyle, "They'll want to extradite."
"There's Baltimore for you," said Tim. "They would want blood." Kay glanced at him and shook her head.
"For two cops who were nearly murdered?" she asked. "I would think so. Give me the keys." She held her hand out to me; I handed her the keyring that I'd drawn out of my pocket without noticing. She got into the car on the driver's side, and Abby glanced at me for a long moment before speaking.
"You all right?" she asked. I nodded wordlessly, somehow unable to explain the sudden relief that had settled over me. But it still didn't change the fact that tomorrow, Rowan was going to Baltimore, whether I had to drag her down there myself or not. Collins was still out there...there was still a chance that something could happen to her. And if something happened to any one of the four of us, that is to say, me, Kay, Tim and Abby...I didn't want her around to know about it, as selfish as it sounded.
Kay motioned for me to get in the car, and so I did, careful to ignore Kyle, sitting in the backseat, for fear of what I'd do if I didn't. He said nothing, glaring at me via the rearview mirror as we left, Tim and Abby following behind us. It was when the light turned red that Kay decided she could drive with one hand, and reached out with her newly-freed one to take one of mine.
"Hey," she said in an undertone, so that Kyle wouldn't be able to hear. "Don't worry about this, all right? All you have to think about is that we're this much closer to nailing Collins this time around."
She had a point, and I knew it, so I squeezed her hand, offering up a half-hearted smile before turning to face the road ahead of us as the light turned green, even though I wasn't the one driving. I closed my eyes, and when they opened again, we were in the parking lot at the back of the precinct. Kay was yanking Kyle out of the car and shoving him towards the back entrance. I got out and followed them.
We stopped just short of the squad room. Kyle glanced between us, still wearing a self-satisfied smirk that I would have given anything to be able to wipe off his face, and I would have...if Elliot, Olivia and Fin hadn't been in the squad room, looking dead at me.
"You all right?" Kay asked, and as tempted as I was to be annoyed with her, having heard that question more than I cared to remember in the days that had gone by since this had begun, I wasn't, and I nodded. She offered up the same half-hearted smile I had a while before and shoved Kyle into the squad room.
"Who the hell is that?" Olivia asked, glancing at me, rather than at Kay, who rolled her eyes, choosing to ignore it as she answered, noticing that I, for some reason, was unable to speak.
"A suspect," she said bluntly. "We don't really have anywhere else to go, so I'd appreciate it if we could use your interrogation room."
Elliot and Olivia exchanged glances before looking back at us, both of them half-ready to retort, but Fin spoke before they could.
"I don't see why you can't," he said, "Not like any of us are in there right now." He rose to his feet and motioned for Kay to follow him; she did, and they disappeared from view right as Tim and Abby appeared behind me.
"Where's Kay going?" Tim asked. I motioned in the direction that she and Fin had just walked.
"Interrogation room," I said, finally regaining my voice. "I think...I think it'd be best if you went in there with her."
"You sure?" Tim asked, and I nodded, not trusting myself to say anything more than I already had. He walked off in the direction that I'd just pointed as Fin appeared again, sitting at his desk without saying anything to me, not that I cared.
Abby put a hand on my shoulder and I jumped, having forgotten that she was there.
"You want to go?" she asked. I shook my head and walked forward, ignoring my colleagues' stares as I led her back towards the interrogation rooms. It was obvious which one Kay and Tim were in, even without the intercom system on. I came to a halt beside the one-way mirror and stared in, surprised to feel my spirits lifting.
Kay was right. I didn't need to think about this as catching the man who'd once tried to kill me...I needed to think about it as getting one step closer to nailing the one we were really after. So I did.
With this in mind, I reached out to turn the intercom system on, and as three voices came flooding towards me, I listened, feeling better than I had in weeks.