The crime scene techs left the house almost two hours after their arrival.

Killian had guided Emma through to the other lounge he'd seen earlier that evening, on his way to the kitchen, to allow their team to go through each of the boxes thoroughly. The techs had taken their time removing every item one-by-one to photograph from each possible angle, before forensically securing them for transportation back to the lab. One of the technicians had been tasked with taking some pictures of the general layout of the ground floor of the house, and in particular, the way in which mail made its way onto the property. Others spent their time dusting for prints at the front gate and around Emma's doorway, in the vague hopes that something might come up when they run them through the system.

Their final task for the evening had been taking Emma's own prints, to rule them out of whatever may have been found. Killian had been sure that it would be the breaking point for the young popstar, but he watched as Emma swallowed back her tears just long enough to give them what was needed, before she escaped to the sanctuary of one of the bathrooms in her home.

"Miss Swan," he called out softly, as his knuckles rapped on the door she'd disappeared behind. "I know this is difficult for you, but my partner and I just need to go over a few more things before we can leave."

He heard what sounded like someone blowing their nose, followed by the distinct flush of the toilet, before the lock on the door clicked open a few moments later. Emma's eyes were ringed in red, betraying the tears that had fallen in private, but Killian decided not to mention them unless she chose to bring them up.

"Emma."

"Pardon me?" he asked, a little confused by that one word statement.

"My name. It's Emma. You don't have to keep calling me, 'Miss Swan.'"

"Thank you, Emma. I'll try and keep that in mind." Killian smiled softly down at her before letting her lead the way back to the lounge. David was already there waiting for the two of them, and had parked himself in one of the chairs around the small table which stood in the corner of the room.

"I'm sorry about this, Miss Swan," he offered, standing to gesture for her to take a seat in one of the free chairs. "We just need to be as thorough as we possibly can be. We don't want to miss anything that could help us catch this guy before he hurts someone else."

Emma nodded her understanding as she lowered her body to sit stiffly in one of the leather-padded seats. She pulled down on the sleeves on her sweater, almost as if the physical shield of the cotton would help keep her safe. She looked so young and innocent in that moment, that Killian's heart broke a little for her.

"How old are you, Emma?" he asked, before he could think the question through. David cocked a brow in his direction, but Killian played it off as no big deal by pulling out his own pad and pen, ready to take some notes.

"Twenty-four," she replied easily. She didn't even look startled by the oddness of the question, although he assumed that was because she'd never been questioned by the authorities before.

Killian scribbled the number at the top of his page, circling it a few times for added effect, before he dived straight in with the questions he knew he should be asking. "Okay. I'll need you to start at the beginning for me. Before the first package arrived, had you ever received any other parcels or letters written in a similar hand? Or anything professing the same kind of love for you?"

Emma snorted a laugh and for a brief moment, Killian was worried that she had cracked completely under the stress of recent events. "I get letters like that every day, Agent Jones. As for the handwriting… I don't know. I don't tend to spend my time analyzing it, I'm afraid."

"Anything in particular that struck you as strange?" David pressed.

"Having men twice your age describe to you in a letter exactly how they wanna fuck you is everyone's definition of strange. I stopped reading a lot of it a long time ago."

"What happens to all of your fan mail?" Killian wondered. He knew that many celebrities kept the less crazy stuff they received, and he'd kind of assumed that Emma Swan would be the same. At least, he hoped that she was, given that Ellie had written to her favorite popstar a few times over the last couple of years. While she'd always gotten a letter and a signed picture back, Killian knew that his niece would be crushed if she thought her own letters simply ended up in the trash before ever reaching the hands of their intended recipient.

"It's sorted by the security people that work here, before it comes to me. I only see the good stuff like the pictures kids draw for me, or the letters thanking me for helping them through difficult times." Emma fidgeted a little more and Killian reached for the second bottle of water he'd brought through to the room with him, to give her something to keep her hands occupied with.

"Do you think your team would have kept the bad?" he asked gently.

"I honestly don't know," she sighed. "You can ask them. But I just…. I can't help you there. I'm sorry."

"No, no," David assured her, "You're already helping us."

When Emma cocked a brow in disbelief, Killian jumped in to supply an explanation. "You've just told us that all of your mail is sorted before you get it. Which means whoever sent those boxes has been watching you long enough to know that. And they also know how to get around the issue too. So that's something to start with."

Emma shivered a little at the thought of some stranger knowing the inner workings of her home so well, but once again, Special Agent Jones seemed to know exactly where her thoughts had gone.

"David's going to place a quick call back to our office," he told her. He risked a glance over to his partner, who already had his phone out to bring up the number, before turning his full attention back to the scared, young woman sat opposite him. "We're gonna ask for a protective detail to be put on your home. Hopefully that way, we'll see whoever it is that's watching the house."

Emma nodded her understanding but she didn't look overly reassured. As David excused himself to call in the request, Killian leaned over the small table to rest his hand comfortingly on her arm. "You'll be safe here, Emma. We know that at the moment, this person doesn't want to hurt you. It's unlikely that they'll try and get into the house anytime soon. Most of these kinds of perpetrators prefer to watch the object of their affection from a distance. They do these awful things to get your attention, because they're too shy to confront you about how they feel. They get their kicks from voyeurism, because it seems like some kind of grand romantic gesture to them. The detail outside will be there to watch, but they will also be armed, just in case you need them. Okay?"

"Okay," she agreed softly. "What um… what about when I need to leave the house? I have a tour starting in less than forty days. I can't let those fans down."

"I'm confident that by the time your tour starts, we'll have this guy in custody and ready to face trial," he promised. "You coming forward the way you have, has really helped us to connect some dots with this case."

They sat in a slightly awkward silence for a moment longer, before David made his way back into the room to confirm that the security detail were already on their way, and would be in place by the time the two senior agents left that evening.

Unfortunately, there were still many more questions that needed to be answered before either David or Killian could even think of leaving the luxury home they had been called out to.

Thanks for reading and all of your wonderful reviews and comments on this story so far.