Attn: I don't own John or Natalie or any other OLTL character. I do own everyone else though.

Chapter 6

It had been days since Carlo had demanded Griffin to stop his murders. That meant that the big brute of a man was around a lot more. His salacious looks at Natalie made her skin crawl. The man lusted after her and didn't try to hide that fact. The only thing that kept him from taking what he wanted was his fear of Carlo, for that Natalie was reluctantly grateful.

She still didn't know why Carlo had taken her but she did know a bit more about what was going on. It seemed that there really HAD been a serial killer, something she had been intimately aware of, and that he was now dead, again something she already knew. But she had thought that the man had been working for Carlo and that wasn't the case. From what she gathered by listening in to their conversations when they thought she was asleep it appeared that Carlo had been following her and had merely stepped in when she had been kidnapped. A stroke of luck for him really and he had taken full advantage of it.

Her heart ached for her family who thought she was dead. She couldn't imagine what they must be feeling. Rex... poor Rex. He was her brother, more so than the Buchanan's really. He must be going out of his mind right now. She had to get out of this mess. She had to! But there was no way out of this dank little room. She had been over the walls multiple times and she couldn't find a week spot. The window was sealed tightly and she couldn't remove the bars, she had tried but to no avail.

So she sat limply on the bed; dejected. She was glad that she hadn't been abused too much. Carlo liked to slap and hit but be never did any serious harm. She knew he was planning something, something big but even after all these days she didn't know what it was. And by now she knew that he wasn't going to reveal his plan until it would do the most damage.

She sighed again and lay back down on the bed. She was so tired... After a few minutes she fell asleep.

Carlo watched as Natalie drifted into a drugged slumber. It was time to begin his revenge. Years of careful planning and preparation had led to this moment. He took out the syringe and stuck it into a unlabeled vial of clear liquid, pulling the plunger back the syringe filled up and he pulled it out of the vial. Pushing the plunger slightly and tapping on the syringe he expelled any air bubbles that might be in there. With an evil grin he carefully unlocked the door and pushed it open.

As he walked over to Natalie his grin twisted into an expression that unlike any he had ever shown before. Pure satisfaction radiated from him as he pushed the needle into Natalie's arm and pushed down the plunger. She woke slightly and sat up, dazed. The powerful drug already at work in her system.

"Come Natalie. Stand up." Carlo said in a soothing voice.

Natalie stood automatically. Her brain not functioning properly. It was as if her body was awake but her brain still sleeping. She stood there looking at Carlo with out any expression on her face at all. Her eyes were equally blank, devoid of all expression or emotion.

"Follow me." Carlo commanded, again his voice low and soothing.

With out a word she followed him out of the room she had been held in and to the small room he had set up for this exercise. In the room was a metal chair in the middle. That was it. Carlo walked over to it and said, "Sit down here." He pulled out some leather straps and waited for her to sit. Once she did he tied her wrists to the arms of the chair and her ankles to the legs.

After this was done he slipped a pair of cordless earphones onto Natalie's ears and left the room. He stopped outside the door and locked it. Reaching over he slipped a cd in the player and pressed play and hit repeat. Satisfied that all was going according to plan he left the building and got in his car. It was time to check out his old friends... After all couldn't have a party with out the guests of honor.

John was puzzled, baffled really. The killings had stopped. Not tapered down, not petered out but stopped, cold. This was not the usual MO of a serial killer. Again his gut was telling him something was off. He sat at his desk and looked over his notes on the murders, trying to find what he had previously missed.

There was a knock at the door and Bo stuck his head in. "You busy?" Bo asked him and he shook his head no. Bo came in and sat down across from him.

Bo looked at John and saw the other man was troubled. "Need some help?" he offered. John had decided to move to Llanview early because the last 2 murders were centered in Llanview and had already began taking over some of the duties of Chief of Detectives. It wasn't uncommon for John to bounce ideas or theories off Bo, for he had done it several times in the last few days. Bo thought it was more to hear it out loud, to talk it thru then any real help he could offer the younger man.

John looked at Bo distractedly and began speaking, "it doesn't add up. When a killer stops killing its usually because their objective had been completed. This guy he was actually pretty random, it was as if he didn't have a specific target in mind, just a specific type. It makes no sense. With that type of kill its not likely they will ever accomplish their goal, if they have one." John looked at the board on his wall with all the victims on it not saying anything for a moment. His brain trying to work out the problem.

After a moment he started again, "Its almost as if the killer gained some sort of mission or cause in the middle of his spree." He shook his head, that theory not sitting well, " no, its feels like there is TWO killers. The ones before Natalie, they had a different feel. A clear rage, intent. The ones after... they look almost perfunctory. As if they were an after thought or not important. Not the same at all."

"So you think there are two killers?" Bo asked.

"Yeah, there has to be. Nothing else makes sense."

Bo also got up and studied the board before asking, "If the first 4 were done by one guy and the last three by someone else, Which one killed Natalie? And what happened to the first guy?"

John paced back and forth as he worked it out in his head. "I think that Natalie was done by the first or at least partially. I think the second guy came in at that point and took over." He voiced his thoughts unemotionally yet with care. He knew this case was hard on Bo because his niece AND his assistant had been victims.

Bo was filled with confusion and rage but held it in check. He had to be objective no matter how much this ate at him. For Natalie's sake and for Marcy's; it was the only way he could get them justice. That's what Natalie would have wanted.

Continuing on his train of thought, "In fact the last three murders strike me as staged." He paused then said, "I think who ever did it was trying to hide something, to cover it up. In fact I would almost stake my life that the fist guy is dead!" The idea come to him out of nothing yet it felt true. In his gut it felt like the absolute truth. "We need to track down any John Does in at least a 50 Mile radius!"

As John grabbed up the phone to start making calls Bo said, "Whoa! Whoa! How can you be sure? That's a huge leap don't you think?"

John shook his head and said, "I just know. I can feel it. We are on to something here! Trust me. I'm right about this."

Bo didn't understand but he did trust John. He was the best in the business when it came to tracking killers and now wasn't the time to be second guessing him. "Fine. I'll have the men start making calls. What are we looking for?"

John frowned, he really didn't know what it was that he was looking for yet he knew this was the key. He thought a minute before saying, "John Doe's or unclaimed males ranging from 35-50 years of age. White, death by violent means. I know that will give us a lot of possibilities but it's the best we can do for now."

Bo nodded and went to inform the troops.

TBC...