"You nervous about tomorrow?" George asked as they all hung out in Chris' room. Apparently, it's the first place George wanted to go after he was allowed out of bed and it's where he walks to every day.
"There's no reason for her to be," Chris said.
"Of course not. I'll just be in charge of the jail and patrol and investigations and administering oaths and servings summons and assigning bailiffs and sixty-four other things as outlined by state law and then some for the next year if there's a special election or three years if there isn't. All of that on top of a murder investigation," Jim chuckled. "I'm seriously wondering if it's too late to back out."
"Don't do that," Leonard told her, his hands on her shoulders as he stood behind her. "You got this, darlin'."
"You say that now. Wait until I'm stumbling through your door at two in the morning, covered in crap I can't identify before I have to leave for a shift less than four hours later," Jim sighed. They all looked at her.
"It happened. My third week as sheriff. We ended up sleeping on my living room floor so we didn't track it all over the house. Had to burn those uniforms… after we grilled a couple steaks on my back patio in the snow," Chris laughed. "The good old days, huh, kiddo?"
"No kidding," Jim chuckled. "I can't believe that was just January."
"Change is a hell of a thing, Jimmy," the sheriff sighed. "Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not but usually, it's just what you need."
"How philosophical of you, Chris," George chuckled.
"I have my moments, son," Chris smiled and ruffled the younger man's hair.
"Aren't they just adorable?" Arlene asked with a chuckle. "They've been bonding."
"Well, Chris got Kirk DNA in his system now," Jim giggled.
"He's Kirked too," Arlene laughed.
"I think I've been Kirked a lot longer than all of you, save Winona," Chris smiled before he pointed at Jim. "That one gave me all these gray hairs."
"I did not," Jim chuckled. "Pining over Erin gave you gray hair."
"Oooo," George, Arlene and -surprisingly- Winona said at the same time.
"Erin?" Leonard looked around the room.
"Captain Robbins," Spock answered.
Jim nodded, "They were partners for like twelve years and he's been in love with her for all of them. At least, as far as I can remember. He still is."
"I am not," Chris said.
"Your nose is growing. He's so in love with her, it's annoying. Like more annoying than we are. It's part of why she ended up getting divorced," Jim said with a small smile. "The feels, Bonesy, the feels."
"Watch it, kiddo. I may not be able to walk over there but that doesn't mean I can't roll over your ass with a wheelchair," the sheriff chuckled.
"You couldn't hurt me if your life depended on it, old man," Jim smiled.
"Well, you are my partner in crime," Chris chuckled. Jim looked at Spock. "What?"
"Oh, my God. You think…" Jim sighed.
"That would be logical," Spock said.
Leonard doesn't know how but he understood what they weren't saying, "You might be right."
"You guys wanna fill the rest of us in on your half-conversation?" George asked.
"We've been looking at this like it's one killer but I think we're wrong," Jim said. "When we looked at the crime scenes, we assumed that we were dealing with someone who was a mix of both organized and unorganized traits. However, it's more plausible that it's two different people. A team; one dominant who's organized and one submissive who isn't. No, that's… that's crazy."
"It's not crazy," Winona said. Jim looked at her mother. "You're on to something, Jimmy, keep going."
Jim nodded, "When we talked to Finney, we assumed that he was scared of his brother, what if he's not scared at all?"
"You think it was an act?" Chris asked, sitting up a little.
"Bones thinks that Garth is a psychopath but what if they both are? I thought that the stabbing was overkill but I'm thinking that one of them gets off on it. The rape is for the other one," Jim said.
"So, a pair of psychopathic sexual sadists," Chris said. "I'd buy that. They blitz their victims, strangling them to the point of compliance, tie them up, rape them, kill them and then mutilate them."
"That's just wrong," Arlene sighed. "Who would do something like that?"
"One of the subjects is most likely an anger-excitation rapist," Spock said. "They are sexually aroused and motivated by the suffering of their victims."
"It's all about power," Chris nodded. "It's not enough to hold these women hostage and hurt them, one or both of them gets his sexual arousal from that pain. I think it's Finney."
"Why?" Winona asked.
"Because Finney is a crafty S.O.B. He went on a date with the county's second highest law enforcement officer, me, after he killed my cousin. That's not a coincidence. I know that I was within arm's length of him more than once and there's nothing I can do about it. He got into my head and, though it's not physical pain, it's gonna bother the fuck outta me," Jim sighed. "The way he lied to us today… It's a game. He's playing a game and he's one step ahead."
"So, he's the dominant. Why would Garth follow his little brother?" George looked at them.
"The same reason you'd jump off a bridge if Jim told you to," Chris pointed out.
"I feel like I failed her growing up," the older Kirk sibling sighed, glancing at his mother. "So, this Garth doesn't want to kill. His brother is just telling him what to do and he's doing it because he couldn't protect his little brother from their father." Jim, Spock, Chris and Leonard nodded. "That's just sick."
"No kidding," Jim sighed.
"Can you explain that to the rest of us?" Arlene asked. Spock explained the psychopathy to everyone in the room.
"We've been looking at this backwards," Jim said with a groan as she looked at the phone in her hand. "And we just lost Finney, he slipped the detail WPD had on him. He was right there and I fucked it up."
"No, you didn't. You can't arrest him without any evidence and you know it," Chris sighed. "Where do you think they're going?"
"Nowhere," Spock said before Jim could answer. "It would be illogical for Finney to leave the area without completing his task."
"Which is to kill me," Winona sighed.
"Over my dead body," Jim said.
"Preferably not," Spock said.
"So, how do we find them?" George asked.
Leonard sighed, "That's the million-dollar question."
"That's not gonna work," Jim groaned.
"What about baiting them?" Leonard asked.
"The only thing we have is my mother. It's not something I can just do. It would have to be meticulously planned out so she doesn't end up dead," she said.
"Hey," he tugged on the back of her shirt and pulled her onto his lap. "You'll catch them."
"Before or after they kill someone else?"
"This is not your fault. I don't know a whole lot about your job but I do know that you need something more than a profile and your gut to make an arrest. Unless one of them shows up and gives you a confession, you're gonna have to let it play out. They're the assholes, darlin', not you."
"Well, I'm kind of an asshole. I mean, taking up all your time to worry about this stuff and you have a life. I mean, how…"
"If I had a problem, you'd be the first to know it," Leonard whispered against her neck, pressing a soft kiss under her jaw. "I like helping if I can."
"God, you're so fuckin' adorable sometimes," she smiled.
"Just sometimes?" he asked with mock surprise. Jim's smile only brightened.
"Alright, you two," Gaila said as she walked into the room. "Out of the kitchen."
"But, Red, this is his kitchen" Jim pouted.
"True but nobody will actually get to eat while you two are in here making out instead of making dinner. Go away," the redhead ordered.
"Fine. I'm gonna see if Jo wants to play LEGO Avengers with me," Jim said as she jumped up, kissed his cheek and ran off.
"We were having a moment," Leonard sighed.
"Have a moment somewhere else," Gaila smiled.
"It's my house."
"I don't care."
"I, Jamison Tabitha Kirk, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Iowa, and that I will faithfully and impartially, to the best of my ability, discharge all the duties of the office of Sheriff of Washington County, as now or hereafter required by law," Jim said with her left hand on a bible and her right hand raised.
Vice-chairman Barnett smiled and shook her hand, "Congratulations, Sheriff."
Leonard really shouldn't have been surprised at how many people showed up to this thing. Jim was not only the first woman to serve as the Washington County Sheriff, she was, according to Spock, 'at twenty-six years, eleven months, three weeks and two days old,' the youngest sheriff to serve in the state of Iowa and the second youngest sheriff in the country behind a guy in North Carolina.
He doesn't know how he ended up standing with Spock, Scotty and the rest of the guys from the department but nobody seemed to notice or care that he was there. Leonard even tried to bow out when people started taking pictures but nobody would let him. As if she could feel his discomfort, Jim made her way over to the group.
"Deputies and Bones," Jim smiled.
"Sheriff Kirk," Leonard smiled back.
"Don't you two stand here and make eyes at each other," Sulu chuckled.
"Wasn't planning on it but thanks for the faith, Hikaru," she smiled.
"I was planning on it," the southerner said with a smirk. Jim looked up at him from under her eyelashes and he gave her wink.
"Dinnae start that mess, lad," Scotty shook his head just as another photographer came over.
"Sheriff, it's for the school newsletter," the kid said with a bright smile.
"Then, by all means," Jim smiled and situated herself between Leonard and Spock.
"Uh, I don't actually work for the department," Leonard muttered.
"We know," Sulu chuckled. "Nobody cares."
The doctor resigned himself to his fate and wrapped his arm around Jim's waist. The kid took their picture before getting everyone's names and moving to take pictures of other things.
"You better get used to it, your girlfriend's a big deal," Jacobs said with a smirk.
"Are you guys about to give him a bunch of trophy husband jokes?" Jim asked. Everyone but Spock nodded.
"Gee thanks, infants," Leonard smiled.
"Hey, it could be worse," Sulu reminded him. "You idiots could still be pretending you're not totally in love with each other."
Jim smiled, "Now, that would just be a tragedy."