Rated: PG-13
1999
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Chapter 2
Lauderdale By The Sea, Florida
9am
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"So how are things going between you and the doctor?" Tom asked as he stretched out in the passenger seat. They were stuck in traffic on Highway 95 due to an accident and it didn't look like they would be getting to Lauderdale-by-the-Sea anytime soon. So much for deciding to tackle the further case first. The best he could do now was distract his annoyed partner for as long as he could before she remembered that it had been his idea.

"Well," Cassy cast Tom a sideways smile. "Not as well as between you and Virginia apparently."

"I was wondering how long it would be before you pointed that out," Tom sighed, he knew it had taken superhuman effort for Cassy to resist chiding him for getting engaged so quickly.

"When you know you know, I wasn't passing judgment," Cassy patted Tom's knee affectionately before returning it to the steering wheel. Her grin, however, belied her words. She clearly thought Tom was nuts.

"You've got to be kidding," Tom rolled his eyes at the idea of Cassy not passing judgment on his romantic nature. "So you believe in love at first sight and all that? Did that ever happen to you?"

"I was young once. And I guess taking all those years didn't exactly work for us anyway. So I guess you might as well go for it right," Cassy shrugged and looked away.

"And would you? Do you plan to?" Tom finally prompted her, knowing she wasn't going to volunteer any further information.

"This was a brilliant idea!" Cassy slammed her palm on the steering wheel as she looked out at the line of cars in front of and next to them on the highway.

'Oops, wrong diversion,' Tom grimaced. 'Lesson number two from ten years ago, making Cassy talk about herself is not the way to distract her from pointing out when you were wrong!'

"What?" Cassy looked at her partner.

"Nothing, I didn't say anything," Tom told her, wondering if he had spoken out loud or just thought strongly. He didn't bother to point out that she had avoided his question about Doctor.

Cassy's face broke into a satisfied smile as Tom looked away in surrender.

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"I'm not surprised to find out there are more women like this. Our ME wasn't able to find anything that led anywhere. With other bodies on the beach despite the sand and salt water, if they haven't been out there too long, there's something. Not with this guy," Detective David Sykes was explaining to Tom and Cassy as he rummaged through a tall filing cabinet for the until-then dormant case file. "I had it out after Cassy called me, but put back in here so it wouldn't get lost in the pile on my desk. It's catch up on paperwork week."

"Tom can relate to that," Cassy elbowed her partner playfully while the other officer wasn't looking. There was plenty of files to close out sitting on their desks too.

"Here they are," the older officer pulled out the two files out triumphantly and slammed the drawer shut. "One of these days I'll adopt that system my partner is always nagging me about."

"The alphabet?" Cassy asked with a strange expression on her face.

"Yeah, that one!" Sykes looked at Cassy appreciatively and then winked before turning to lead the partners into an interview room. "Both bodies are already buried otherwise I'd let you have a look at it, the pictures will have to do. Our ME's have already exchanged their reports. They seem to match from the perspective that there's nothing significant in either case, just naked females found on a beach. Same for the case in Palm Beach. Unfortunately I suspect we're going to have to wait for another body before we find anything."

"Not a great prospect," Tom observed as he took the file and began to pull out the pictures and pass them to his partner. "Do you have copies of these we can take?"

"Yeah, we had another set made when your partner called us and copies of the files, now where are they?" Sykes looked around the room trying to remember where he put them. "Marilee should have them."

Cassy couldn't help but be charmed and yet relieved that this man wasn't her partner.

"We'll get them on the way out. We appreciate your taking the time to talk with us and give us copies of your files," Cassy told him.

Tom was still studying the pictures intently.

"Things like this don't exactly do wonders for the tourism industry, we'll welcome anything that will put this to rest," Sykes admitted.

"We get that a lot ourselves," Cassy nodded in agreement. Crimes on the beach didn't jive with the "Come See Florida" ads put out by the beach towns's chambers of commerce. "We still have to get back to Palm Beach and see what they came up with."

"If you need any questions answered, don't hesitate to call. Or stop by. Anytime," Sykes winked again.

"We won't," Tom said dryly as he herded his amused partner out of the office.

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"I thought you hated sexist cops," Tom commented as Cassy pulled out of their parking spot.

"I do, Sykes was just trying to be...fun. Did you get anything from the pictures? You were studying them pretty closely," she asked.

"Nothing. Usually you can tell if it's a crime of passion or something else. There's just not enough evidence here and the body is too washed out and moved around because of the water," Tom tapped the folder sitting on his knee.

"No clothing to tell what they might have been wearing beforehand and no clothes have turned up in any of the locations either. Presumably the killer is taking the clothes and not dumping them near the body. None of the women seem to have been engaged in anything controversial. We haven't gotten confirmation on our newest case, but Pedron was a secretary. One of the women in Fort Lauderdale was a store clerk and the second was a florist's assistant. Different hair colors. We're going to need to brain storm on this after we get the next file," Cassy's brow was furrowed in thought.

Tom could see her pulling out the mental yellow legal pad. In fact, he couldn't help noticing that her pants suit was almost the same yellow. She really did love those pads.

"Harry said you got a tip on your cell phone?" Tom suddenly remembered.

"I didn't recognize the voice and the call came from a pay phone," Cassy explained.

"Why did they call you? How did they get your phone number or know you working a related case? Did Harry send anyone to check around the pay phone?" he asked.

"First thing. I called him on a land line before I got off the phone. Nothing. Neither of us have been named in the press as on the case yet. Whomever it was had to have been watching," Cassy didn't sound pleased by the prospect.

Tom wasn't either. "Maybe you should stay with me until this is all over," he suggested.

"I bet Virginia would love that!" Cassy laughed as pictured the reaction that suggestion would bring.

"Oh yeah. Maybe you could stay with the Doctor," Tom hadn't thought about Virginia when he had made the offer in his worry about Cass.

"There hasn't been any threats, just a phone call. I'll be fine at my place, but thanks for the concern partner," she shot him a quick grateful glance. "We need to dig deeper into these women's backgrounds. Maybe being naked on a beach at night isn't all that uncommon for them. Just because they have sedate day jobs doesn't mean they don't have night jobs or interesting extracurricular activities."

Tom jerked his thoughts back to the case from his wondering as to whether the Doctor would be spending those "safe" nights with Cassy at her town house.

"And we need a cause of death. This one says possible blunt force trauma," Tom skimmed through the medical reports.

"Morton said that Fort Lauderdale and West Palm were going to re-run the chem panels and see if they could find anything. I wouldn't be surprised to find drugs or Rohypnal involved. Naked makes me think sex," Cassy predicted.

"Yeah, me too," Tom waggled his eyebrows at his partner.

"Keep it in your pants Ryan. Read out loud," Cassy requested as she continued the drive north.

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A few hours later the partners were ensconced at their desks in the Palm Beach homicide bull pen where it seemed they would be for an undefined time to come. Spread across the two desks were numerous files, crime scene photos and yellow legal pads.

"I think we could use the feebees in here to do a profile," Tom tossed his pen onto the desk, grimacing when it bounced off the piles of paper and landed on the floor. He didn't bother bending over to pick it up.

"Normally I would say no, but I don't think we can waste any time here. We have five bodies, potentially more and not much time before the next one. We can establish one pattern, the killings are occurring on successive Monday nights. Maybe it has something to do with Monday night football?" Cassy rubbed her brow, an action Tom knew was indicative that his partner needed some fresh air.

"There's no football in the Spring. Come with me for a walk outside," Tom stood up and held out his hand.

With a frustrated sigh Cassy took his hand and let him lead her out of the building. Still holding hands they crossed the parking lot and headed for the beach walk. Neither partner spoke for a few minutes as they took in the fresh air and sunshine and let it dissipate the darkness of their work.

The silence reigned until Cassy slid her hand out Tom's fingers. Taking the signal Tom began to speak again.

"I like your theory about a drug being involved. It is harder to get clothes off dead weight, but if the women were drugged or otherwise convinced to help the killer get their clothes off it would make his job easier. There was evidence of recent sexual activity in one of the Fort Lauderdale victims and the West Palm woman and our two. Maybe the one died before he could finish the job?" Tom theorized.

"Or his parts failed," Cassy, the woman of the duo, suggested when the man couldn't.

"Or that. Someone who couldn't get women any other way and he's angry about it?" Tom suggested.

"Makes sense and its more than we had to work with five minutes ago. So going on that assumption we need to find out where these women were hanging out on a Monday night, without football. We need to look at the interviews again and see what we need filled in. I'm sure Sykes would be more than happy to cover more ground for us," Cassy winked just as the other cop had earlier.

"For you you mean," Tom grumbled and turned to follow his partner back to the station.

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"Ryan," Tom lifted the phone on his desk as he kept his eyes on the file sitting on the desk in front of him.

When will you be home?

"Hi Sweetheart. Not early, we have a serial killer on our hands. I may have to work all night," Tom said reluctantly when he recognized Virginia's voice.

Is that why you were just walking on the beach holding your ex wife's hand?

"Holding hands? I don't remember that. If you were here why didn't you come see me?" Tom averted his head from his partner's line of sight and asked.

I didn't want to disturb you. If you aren't going to be home tonight I'm going to go out with the girls and I won't be making any dinner.

"All right. Have a good time. I miss you. I love you Honey," Tom whispered the endearments.

I love you too. See you whenever.

Tom sighed and hung up the phone. As he looked up he realized his partner had left while he was talking with his fiancé. 'Maybe she went to get us some lunch?' he thought hopefully.

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10 pm

Cassy and Tom had long ago stripped down to the bare essentials, jackets and ties and heels had been pushed aside and their work base had been moved to an interrogation room. Now piles of photos, files, medical reports and reference materials were scattered along a much longer table and a couple of white boards and easels with pads of paper had been set up around the room. Another pair of detectives had been assigned to assist them. Two more bodies along the Florida Atlantic coast had been associated with the Palm Beach case. A cooperative effort spearheaded by the Palm Beach team had been established. The FBI was also lending a hand as consultants and their lab was currently rerunning some tests and attempts were being made to have the buried bodies exhumed for further forensic analysis. As of yet, however, no cases outside the State have been found.

"Maybe he has a night job and he's only off on Monday?" Cassy suggested as she stood over Tom who was sitting at the table.

"I dunno," Tom said wearily.

"What about hair dye?" Cassy leaned over Tom's right shoulder to get a closer look at the color photos he had spread out before him of the seven victims.

Tom just sighed.

"Tom?" Cassy put her hand on the back of Tom's neck and said quietly.

"Yeah," he responded in a scratchy voice.

"Do you need a break?" she whispered into his ear so that the other detective in the room wouldn't overhear her solicitous question.

Tom closed his eyes and swallowed before opening his eyes and attempting to answer.

"Yeah, yeah I do," he said shakily and turned his face away from Cassy's too close and too penetrating gaze.

"'kay," Cassy gave Tom's neck a squeeze before sliding her hand over his skin and away. Then she stood up. "We're going to get some fresh air," she informed Detective Engler. Then she slid her hand under Tom's elbow and guided him to a standing position and out of the building.

"It's a nice night," Cassy observed after taking a deep breath of the fresh air. The slight wind was lifting her long hair around her shoulders and head. She reached up absently to smooth it as she watched her partner closely, not bothering to hide her worry as they were alone and in the dark. Something about this case was eating at him and she wasn't sure what it was. She knew better, though, than to ask as he would only deny it. It would take a few more hours before he would get to the point where he would admit a weakness to her.

"Virginia went out with her girlfriends tonight. What's the Doctor doing?" Tom asked.

'So he's upset that he's missing his life and spending time with his fiancé,' Cassy deduced.

"Brett," she stressed his name before continuing, "is on call and staying at the hospital."

"That's good. I mean you're working all night won't bother him," Tom rubbed a hand over the neck Cassy had touched just a few minutes before.

"Virginia upset that you're stuck at work?" Cassy asked.

"Not upset so much, but I don't think she understands sometimes. She takes it personally," Tom admitted.

"I can understand that. It's always hard for people who don't do what we do to understand that you can't go home at five," Cassy definitely understood.

"I guess the Doc...Brett understands," Tom said.

"He does and I understand his work schedule too. It doesn't make it any easier. It's always hard on the relationship when you just can't make the other person a priority," Cassy told him.

"It was easier for us when we were partners and we got to spend all that work time together than when we were married and working with others," Tom remembered.

Cassy shrugged and looked towards the ocean. She just wasn't comfortable comparing their marriage to Tom's impending one. She searched her mind for a change of conversation since she didn't want to discuss the case knowing they had to take a step back even if it was for only ten minutes. "So what sport do people watch on Monday nights in the Spring?" she asked.

"Baseball and basketball, mostly," Tom eased into the new direction without missing a beat. "Until the playoffs, unless there's a big game it not usually a weekly event. I think the job idea is a good one."

"I thought you weren't listening," Cassy smiled.

"Why don't we go back," Tom stopped walking.

'So much for not talking about the case and taking a break,' Cassy nodded and walked back to the department with him.

End of Chapter 2