Dexter could feel his heart nearly stop. There, in the visitor net on the ice, was a body. Bone dry and wrapped up like christmas. Just like-

"It's just like Rudy, I mean fuck, Brian, fuck, your brother whatever," Deb was standing off to the side, obviously in an uncomfortable state.

"Deb," he started, but she held up a hand, cutting him off as she walked away. He stepped out onto the ice, feeling pulled toward the corpse. The victim appeared to be a white male in his thirties, not exactly Brother Brian's modus operandi.

"Dexter," Angel said in a hushed voice as he approached the scene. The man on the ice was arranged and wrapped identically to how Sherry Taylor had been arranged years ago, except this time there was what looked to be a cassette tape jammed into the victims mouth. "What the fuck are we dealing with here?"

"Dealing with again, you mean?" he said as he squatted down to get a better look. The sergeant gave him a long look then turned his gaze back to the body.

"What the fuck," Angel mumbled under his breath as he pulled out the tape and put it into the evidence back. "How much you wanna bet the same person who chopped up that trail corpse is responsible for this shit too?"

"To easy," Dexter replied still, enraptured by the neat, dry pieces on the cold ice.

"Did our perp know ITK?" Angel asked, drawing his attention back up.

"We never released the crime scene photos to the press, to know how to make the parts exactly the same like this, you'd have to have done it before. No doubt."

"Well shit, who could it have been?" He asked genuinely.

"I have no idea," Dexter replied, not entirely ingenious. "But whoever it was, is trying to send some kind of message."

"Message? To who?" The poor sergeant was looking at confused as Dexter was feeling.

"Unfortunately I'm drawing a blank… Unless." he could feel the wheels of his brain cranking and the quiet chuckle of the Passenger.

"Well spit it out," Quinn said as he walked up to the other men.

"Unless this is a gift-wrapped package FOR Bri- I mean ITK, but that doesn't make sense unless they don't know he's dead."

"So you think someone's out there trying to rekindle a long lost friendship with the guy? Like they haven't been to Miami since oh-six and are the same kind of sick fuck he is and he's tryna send messages through bodies? Holy Fuck." It was then that there was the great, bright light bulb in Dexter's head went off.

"Yeah I guess so," he said as he stood up and looked out toward the door where he could see Sam curiously peering in at the scene.

"Where you going?" Quinn oh so eloquently spat as Dexter started to walk away.

"No blood, no work, no Dex," he said as he took off his gloves, "Ask Batista and Masuka about it, they loved it last time." He could hear them chatting behind him as he approached the doors.

"Done so soon?" Sam asked as he rushed out of the doors with a dangerous look in his eyes.

"We need to talk," he said as he grabbed her arm not so gently and led her back to her car. "Passenger seat, I'll be driving." he said in The Voice, but then it wasn't really him driving was it? She scoffed at him but went to the other side of the car and got in, grumbling while she was at it.

"Look just take us back to the station and you can get your car and I'll go home," she said in a huffy voice.

"What was the name of this friend you're looking for?" he asked, but in reality it was more of a strong suggestion that she told the truth Or Else.

"Depends," she said, looking at him With A Look In Her Eyes.

"On what," he growled as they weaved through the traffic of the busy city.

"Which mask best fit the purpose," she said nonchalantly, looking off.

"The mask that was Miami?"

"Rudy Cooper."

Sam studied Dexter's face as his knuckles turned white at the steering wheel and his jaw muscles tightened and knotted. "Why, did you know him?" she asked, feeling a thickness in throat.

"When exactly did you leave Miami?" he asked in a too serious tone.

"I had to leave because he had decided on this crazy notion that he was gonna… marry some police lady he'd been toying with for a while on the side, but I mean I had been planning on it for awhile but when he showed me the ring I figured I'd better make myself scarce, I mean I never met the lady but whatever."

"Did you know his real name?" he asked her in a hushed voice.

"Of course, we were best friends, partners in crime as the saying goes, I even lived at his childhood house for a while."

"And?"

"Moser, Brian Moser." she said with a soft smile at the mention of the curly haired man.

What are you going to do Dexter? Harry said as the pulse in Dexter's forehead started to throb and his breath hitched.

"Huh you must've not been that close then," he said and looked over at her slightly shocked face. Careful Dex.

"Why do you say so?" she asked In The Voice.

"You didn't recognize me." Think about what you're doing. "And I'm his brother." Her eyes snapped to his and gave him a deep searching look as their Passengers snarled at each other.

"Aha you?" she snorted. "I mean I guess you're mysterious, fake, and you've got Something Inside, by golly it is you! Then that makes your dopey detective sister… the cop he, I guess was, gonna butcher."

"You've been leaving messages for him haven't you?" he said darkly and she studied him with careful eyes.

"I have," she said in a calculated voice, "But of course I'm not as skilled as him, or you." With that he reached into his pocket and pulled out a syringe full of M99 and poked her neck with it. He swerved to avoid hitting a slow car and started to drive back to the apartments.

"Shit shit shit," he yelled and hit the steering wheel. Dexter took a deep breath and looked at his watch, it was still to early to be done with work for the day and it was too late to rethink his decision. He looked back over to her and groaned.

Not exactly tactful, Harry muttered from the back seat.

"Oh I'm sorry I'm just here doing my job sedating dangerous criminals," he snapped back. He slapped the steering wheel again and pulled into the parking lot of the apartments. He carried her princess style up to her apartment and put her on the couch, handcuffing her left wrist to keep her there. Dexter opened up the fridge and grabbed a water bottle, he opened it and injected a half amount of M99 into the water and placed it next to Sam on the couch.

He moved to open the door and a flash of white from the corner of his eye caused him to tense and turn around. On the counter was a large white bird. It fluffed up the feathers on the top of it's head and started to screech loudly at him. Dexter growled deep in his chest and left, the screaming still following.

When he got back to the station, by cab, they team was filing back into the briefing room to listen to the new tape.

"As a kid I never got fire alarms," the scratchy voice said, "If I'm going to die a horrific death it might as well be to something pleasant. So tell me, what's a pleasant sound to you?" a low crude laugh followed and all eyes had a nervous gleam.

"Am I going to die?" a second voice cried out.

"Yes. And horribly so tell your favorite song." the voice was getting impatient. Sam sure was a hothead when she was busy.

"I uh, uh-duh, I d-don't know! Please let me go!"

"I searched all this time for you and you can't even answer a simple question!" the first voice screeched. "That's alright" it said, suddenly calm. "I suppose the radio will do." From there the real screaming began, nearly drowned out by rock music playing in the background.

Deb walked over and turned it off and gave the crowd of detectives a stern look. The look on her face said that she was starting to believe that maybe Dex wasn't the one leaving the corpses around, and it scared her. "We need to find this music playing bastard," she said, a slight warble to her voice. "We need to stop him before he does anything else." There was a murmur of consensus around the room and Dexter sighed.

"Let's get to it people."

Heck guys here I am again, it's been a minute but I'm back, with another shorter chapter but college is hard and time is short. Anyway, leaves reviews if you feel so inclined, I'd appreciate it. Sorry if theres any problems with it. Much love. -L