Hey, thanks a million to every one that read and reviewed. Hope you all enjoyed Chapter One. Song Lyrics in this chapter are from Robert Johnston 'Crossroad Blues'
Chapter Two
24th December, 0630
"Not exactly the way I'd planned to spend my Christmas Eve."
"I'm sure it wasn't the way she'd planned to spend hers either, Sid." Her words came out sharper than she had intended and Stella crossed her arms, shivering in the chill atmosphere of the morgue. This shouldn't be happening, not now. They'd already caught the guy that did this. Lindsay had caught him
At least, they thought they had.
Sid looked at her, his expression momentarily pained. "No. I'm sure it wasn't." He stood up, connecting his glasses across his face, hiding behind the thick lenses. He stared down at her, brushing her pale cheek gently with a gloved hand. "Poor girl."
"Sid." Stella shook her head, her curly hair hanging limp about her shoulders. "This isn't the time. We need to figure out who is doing this. What have you got?"
"Not much." Sid cleared his throat gruffly, moving away from the table. "She bled to death from numerous knife wounds. I counted about eight, none of them particularly deep, but all deep enough to make her bleed out." He disconnected his glasses, looking at his feet, worrying his forehead with his long fingers. "He raped her before she died."
"Just like the others." She heard how cold her voice sounded and hated herself for it. But it was the only way she could keep her focus. "You get anything from the body?"
"Nothing much." He reached onto the tray and tossed her a small, sealed evidence bag. "Just that."
"Nothing much." She held it carefully, staring at it. "Where did you get that?"
"Inner thigh." He leaned back against the tray, smiling sadly. "I don't think it's hers."
"At least we got something to work with. Thanks Sid."
"Go get him, Detective."
XxxXXXxxx
"You get anything from the guy that found her, Ali?"
Ali Convery, Flack's partner since the end of the summer shook her head. "Only that he smokes like a train when he's nervous." She shook her head. "I thought we got this sick bastard, Don. I thought we had him."
The Reiner Case had been her first in Homicide
"So did I." Flack stepped back, out of the conversation as Danny walked into the precinct house. He looked worn out and cold, just like the rest of them. "Hey, Danny. Where's Lindsay?"
"Didn't you hear? She went to see Reiners."
"She went to see Reiners? Why?"
"Bastard asked to see her."
"Sonofabitch." Flack clenched his fists, his eyes dark, fighting to control his temper. "Why did Mac let her go? Doesn't he know what he put her through the last time?" He took a deep breath, his voice low and shaking. "We should go over there, Danny. You and me. See how he likes getting fucked with."
"You, me and that piece of shit in a locked room." Danny smiled grimly. "Sounds like a good idea to me."
"No!" Ali shook her head. "We cant do that, Don. We cant play him like that. We got to do this right."
"You saw what she was like last time, Ali. You know how he got under her skin, what he put her through. We cant put her through that again. It'll break her."
"Yeah, I know. But we go over there, tune him up, and he slips through cos of that?" Ali shook her head. "We cant put her through that. We just got to see what way this plays out."
XxxXXXxxx
Reikers Island
"Do you sleep at night, Lindsay?"
She saw herself, reflected in his eyes, small and insignificant, drowning in the fire and darkness she saw there.
"I sleep just fine."
XxxXXXxxx
October 3rd
"You were a fighter, anyway."
There was no one else in the lab, but Lindsay spoke aloud, the sound of her own voice comforting her. Keeping the ghosts that haunted her away.
"No one else has put a fight yet. We think he caught them all by surprise. Or maybe he knew them. But you, you put up a fight. You hurt him. You got us something, something we can use to catch him."
Carefully, Lindsay lifted the samples out of the evidence bag, scanning them into the computer. She turned away while it worked, stripping off the protective gloves, rubbing at her dry, burning eyes, weariness settling across her slender shoulders.
She hadn't had a full night's sleep since the second victim had been found. Poor girl had cut grooves into her wrists trying to break the lock.
That was the first night she had dreamed. Absently she rubbed at her wrist, her thumb brushing across the small cut on the inside of her wrist. The cut she had made, trying to claw herself free from the chains.
She needed to catch this guy.
XxxXXXxxx
24th December, 0630
Reikers Island
"I sleep just fine."
Her voice came out, breathless and small, weak.
"Really?" He leaned forward, and before she could stop herself, she moved back, her breath quickening. "All that time, all that effort, all that it cost you to put me away. All those nightmares. Did you stop the killings?"
She shook her head, caught and held by his burning eyes.
"Did you stop the nightmares?"
XxxXXXxxx
'Standing at the crossroad, babe
Rising sun is going down
Standing at the crossroad, babe
Rising sun is going down
I believe to my soul now,
Poor Bob is sinking down'
xxxXXXxxx
"We get anything from the witness."
"Nothing, Mac."
He made a mark on the whiteboard. "What about from the scene?"
"It matches the MO of the previous killings." Danny took a mouthful of coffee, grateful for its warmth. "Other than that, as much as we got from the previous ones."
"In other words, nothing."
Danny shook his head. "Not a thing."
"Okay." Mac thought for a second. "Flack, you and Ali talk to Lucy Carlson's friends. Maybe someone had been hanging around her recently, or an old boyfriend. We need a break, see if you can get it."
"You got it, Mac."
"Danny, you and Hawkes work with Stella. Work through the evidence from this scene, cross reference it with the previous victims." He sighed heavily. "Any questions? Then get to work."
XxxXXXxxxx
Reikers Island
"No."
He lit another cigarette, blowing a smoke ring out towards her, watching it hang in the stale air between them. "You still dream about it, don't you?"
"No."
"Ah come on Lindsay." Aaron chuckled darkly. "We know each other too well for that sort of shit." He leaned forward, pinning her in place with his burning gaze. Trapping her in her seat.
Chaining her there.
Her wrist throbbed.
"Am I still in there, Lindsay? Do you still wake up in the middle of the night, screaming?"
End of Chapter Two