All right, I know that some time ago I said I would continue this story soon. Well, it's not exactly soon, but it's now. I won't say anything anymore especially as I'm starting my new job Friday and I don't know how much time I'm going to have after that!

So, enjoy and please let me know what you think! Thanks!

Chapter 4.

The team's plans were interrupted by George who called and had news about another case. This meant that in the next three hours they were involved in a conference-call with Atlanta and New Jersey. By the time they finished everybody was exhausted and Bailey sent the team back to the hotel to sleep and they decided to make their little trip the next day.

When next afternoon they arrived at the house - as if waiting for them - Valerie Barker sat on the porch. She looked even more dishevelled than the day before.

"She seems quite out of it" John said turning to Sam.

"Yes. Did you find out anything about her medical condition?" Sam asked.

"Yes, I did. I talked to the social worker who's on her case. She told me that Valerie has a severe case of paranoid schizophrenia. She had more relapses in the past years and was treated in different institutes for longer periods. Her uncle isn't much help either."

"It seems to me that her symptoms worsened…" Sam told studying to young woman. She was pacing back and forth on the porch, mumbling under her nose and gesticulating feverishly and she was throwing tearful glances at the front door. "Bailey, I think you should call an ambulance… and stay in the car because you could scare her away at this stage. John, you come with me."

"Really?" the younger agent asked surprised and looked at Bailey for confirmation, their boss just shrugged.

"Sam's the expert."

"She already knows you" the psychologist pointed out.

"If you think so" John said somewhat sceptically.

When they got out of the car Valerie looked up but didn't seem to notice them. She continued her pacing and with her right hand she was rubbing her forehead as if she had a bad headache.

Sam went closer and carefully started to speak to the girl. During her studies she spent some time in psychiatric institutes and though she wasn't a professional in the area she had some idea about handling psychotic patients.

"Valerie? What are you doing here?" she asked.

"He's back…"

"Who's back?"

"He's back" she repeated and this time she looked up but her eyes were distant and confused. "He said that you would come here…"

"Did you take your medication, Valerie?"

Valerie suddenly became more agitated.

"Stay away!" she cried out and Sam stepped backwards. "You can't go into the house!"

"Why? Did something happen in there, Valerie?" John stepped forward and asked worriedly because he could see that there were dark stains on the girl's shirt and jeans. "Are you injured?"

"John, is that blood on her?" Sam asked quietly.

"Yes, I think so" he whispered back.

"He told me not to go in…" she stopped on the top-stair. Now she was slowly rocking back and forth and was still rubbing her temples.

"Were you in the house?"

"No! No! You can't stay here! You will be killed! Can't you understand!" she said desperately.

"Valerie! Please, listen to me, we can help you…" Sam started again.

"Please, please! Why won't you listen… he will kill you… he will rip out your heart… you can't go in there…you can't!"

"We won't go in right now!" John spoke quietly. "Listen… we are from the FBI, do you remember? Tell us what's wrong and we can help you."

"You have to see… you have to listen! Everything goes wrong … he wants you to go in because he needs your blood… you can't give him your blood… please listen to me … please listen…" she was stuttering.

She started pacing back and forth again.

"Spider told me… not to go into the house… I didn't know which house he meant until we moved here… but he knew… he knows everything… please you have to listen to me… you have to listen…"

"Shh… Valerie, it's okay. Everything will be all right. Just come here, and let's talk about it…" Sam tried.

"No… no… Spider told me and he knows…"

"Who's Spider, Valerie? Who are you talking about?" John asked this time and Valerie seemed to react to him, at least she looked him in the eyes.

"He was there… one day … he was sitting on my bed… waiting for me… and he told me the truth… he told me not to come here but I wasn't always like this… no, I wasn't … I forgot it… it was in the kitchen before but I couldn't find them… why couldn't I find them… Doctor Stevenson told me not to forget them…" she wasn't making much sense.

"Are you talking about your medicine, Valerie?" John guessed. "Did you lose your medicine somewhere?"

"They were in the kitchen… but I couldn't find them…Spider told it yes, he did… yes, you did…" she glanced at the ground and it seemed as if she were listening to something. "I know… I know… please let me alone… I'm trying, can't you see?"

"Valerie, who are you talking to?" Sam asked. "Can you see somebody there?"

"It's Spider, it's always him… he's talking to me… all the time… I went home from school and he was there… on my bed… I was scared and he talked to me and told me not to come here but what else could I do? And he became angry at me and didn't come back for a while but he wants to help… because spiders are everywhere they know everything they can see much more with their many eyes… I'm scared of them but they want to help… or not, I'm not sure but they hate the ghosts they hate the spirits and they don't go into the house … they are everywhere and they see everything…"

"Valerie, please stop for a moment, okay? Come with me! Come and we take you to a hospital" Sam said.

"No! I can't go to the hospital… I don't want to go there… he hates me… I don't want to go to him… where can they be, they were in the kitchen… Why couldn't I find them?" she continued desperately.

Sam didn't know how to calm her down because despite all her efforts the girl seemed to get more and more agitated: her words came out in a slur and tears gathered in her eyes.

"I don't know, where they are, Valerie but we can get new ones. You don't have to go to Doctor Stevenson. I'm sure we can find somebody else if you want!" John said.

In that moment the ambulance arrived and Valerie threw a fearful glance at it. John used her wavering attention and edged closer, so that he was standing on the porch too.

"No! You can't go in there!" she cried out and fortuitously she jumped at John.

The attack surprised the agent and he lost his balance which caused both of them to fall down the few steps and they landed in a heap in the front yard. Sam yelped in surprise and from the corner of her eyes he could see Bailey jumping out of the car. The two EMT's were also getting out of the ambulance and started to run in their direction.

Meanwhile John tried to get free of Valerie who seemingly had more strength than Sam would have presumed. It didn't help either that John clearly didn't want to hurt her. But this wish wasn't mutual. Valerie was punching John more times in the chest and when Sam tried to go closer to help John she lashed out backwards and hit Sam quite hard under the left eye. In the meantime the two paramedics and Bailey arrived and together they managed to drag the frantic young woman away. But it wasn't an easy task as she was fighting like a fury, was trashing around in their grasp and was screaming incoherently.

"Go and ask permission from the hospital!" one of the paramedics shouted to the other. "We need to sedate her! Ouch!" he cried out when Valerie managed to kick him on the knee. "Help me keep her immobile!" he called out to Bailey.

John also stood up and tried to help but Sam could see that he had a cut on his forehead and his left hand was covered in blood. The other EMT came running back with a syringe. In the end all three men were needed so that the fourth could inject the sedative in the girl's arm. It took a few moments until the sedative took affect but when Valerie calmed down enough the paramedics put her on a gurney and loaded her into the ambulance.

"Where are you taking her?" John asked before they could get away.

"To St. Helena, it's the closest. I advise you to go there as well."

"Thanks."

With that they hurried away and Sam turned to John.

"I think he was right" she said.

"What?"

"Your hand is bleeding quite strongly."

"Yeah. There are some shards of glass on the ground and I cut my hand" he turned and started to walk to the car but instead of getting in, he opened the boot and after some rummaging he took out a first aid kit.

"What are you doing?" asked Sam.

"I'm looking for some bandages."

"I can see that much, but…"

"I promise you that I'm going to the hospital but before that we have to search the house and we can't let Bailey go in there alone" with his uninjured hand he indicated at their boss who was standing on the porch.

"Can't we call reinforcement?" Sam asked innocently which earned her only a frown. She rolled her eyes but kept the sigh 'Men!' to herself.

After John put some gaze dressing on his hand they both followed Bailey into the house. The creepy feeling Sam felt during her first visit here, came back with twice as much force. Fortunately though they didn't have to look for long. The bloody corpse of a middle aged man lied stretched out on the ground in the middle of the hall. His chest was ripped open as if something had burst out of his inside. A movie came to Sam's mind that Angel made her watch: Alien.

"I'll call the locals" John said simply but the sudden voice sent a shiver down Sam's spine.

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After talking to a doctor and to Grace who was already in the morgue with the new victim, Sam found John in one of the examination rooms, sitting on a gurney. A nurse was cleaning the cut on his forehead. His left hand was already bandaged properly.

"Hey!" she greeted him. "How are you doing?"

"I'm okay. It's not that bad."

"His hand needed five stitches" the nurse piped up.

"Thanks" John said dryly with a frown. "And how's Valerie?"

"She was admitted to the psychiatry. She calmed down after a dose of Haldol. Doctor Stevenson thinks that she stopped taking her medicine about two days ago."

"Could you speak to her?"

"Not really. She's quite out of it. Maybe tomorrow. By the way, you did very well with her out there."

"Thanks. You know, I'm really sorry for her. She's a clever young girl and I bet that she would be very attractive. And then such a terrible illness ruins her life. She will never be able to lead a decent life, won't she?"

"I guess you're right, unfortunately. You know while I was studying I had to spend some time at a mental institute. I saw many schizophrenic patients there and they are often very talented people. It's very sad because after the illness attacks them they lose everything... even the most important thing, namely themselves. It must be terrific."

"Do you think that she has something to do with the murders?"

"She was there…"

"Yeah, and there was blood on her clothes."

"But you don't think that she did it" Sam said.

"No, I don't. Do you?"

"I'm not sure yet what to think. But in my opinion you should be the one to talk to her."

John shot a sceptical look at her.

"Really, John. I think you can strike the right cord with her."

"Yeah, sure. I managed to make her want to pun me into the ground!"

"I would have never thought that such a petite woman could scare you away."

John laughed out.

"You know that I'm not so easy to manipulate… but I do it anyway. Although, if I get a black eye similar to yours, you will have to play a nurse for me."

Sam smiled and shook her head.

"You are impossible… but I think I can do that much for a good case!"

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