Chapter Eight

"Whaddya mean Iris didn't show up for assignments! She's always front and center and here before anyone else! Did she call in? Have car trouble? Has Angie heard from her?" Jeri was incredulous and fired off the questions at the rest of the graveyard crew.

Angie miserably shook her head no and for her not to hear from Iris was next to unheard of, especially if something was going to keep her from work.

A sergeant from the police department suddenly stepped in and asked to speak to Jeri in the hallway. The rest of the CSI team watched worriedly as Jeri's face went paper white. She struggled to compose herself before stepping back into the assignment room.

"We've got news and it's not good. Iris's Jeep was found abandoned a few miles from here by a DPD patrolman. The back of it looked like she had been rear-ended. A note was found on the steering wheel that appears to be from the FTD killer. He specifically names having Iris which is a departure from the letters regarding the previous victims and says we have less than 24 hours to find her." Jeri finished in a voice thick with grief.

"Gotta be a copycat!" Richard, one of the other graveyard CSI's, insisted angrily.

"Rich, I wish it were, but white iris petals were found scattered on the seat of the Jeep. It was never made public knowledge that the FTD killer did this as part of his MO." Jeri countered sadly.

Richard responded with an angry torrent of epithets.

"We don't have the first clue of where to look...Iris is gonna…" Angie couldn't finish and covered her face with her hands.

"Stop it!" Jeri sharply interrupted. "That sort of talk will not help Iris. Rich, I want you both to comb over what we have starting now. Angie, call into the DPD to find out if there were any suspicious calls for earlier this evening where Iris's Jeep was found. Don and Marie are on-call and I will get them going. I'm calling Max to let him know as well."

Iris's head pounded unmercifully as she came to and tried put her left hand to her forehead. It was tried at the wrist, as was the right. She pulled frantically at the soft silken cords that held her fast, horrified to discover her ankles were bound the same way and that she was nude. She was in a four-poster bed that was covered with white iris petals. Candles were ablaze throughout the room. Iris heard a phone ringing in another room and a male voice answering. She remained groggy as she heard the door to the room opening.

He came to stand by the bed before laying himself beside her, moving to pin her with his own body that was unclothed as well. She twisted mightily at the silken cords that restricted her from moving away from him. His masculine arousal brushed her thigh. A small cry escaped Iris as her captor gripped her chin and forced her to look into his eyes that expressed undisguised malice.

"The others were dead by now, Iris, but I'm keeping you special. We will have our fun though before the end comes. I promise you will enjoy being with me. This room has been soundproofed. Scream all you like. The others did and to no avail." He said with a menacing chuckle.

"Max…why?" Iris finally gasped.

"I told you, love, that I would be the only man in your life. Why did you reject me? I only wanted to make you happy, Iris. I loved you more than you could know. This side of me I could have kept secret from you. You would only have known the best of me. Now, you're no different than the rest of them. Good only for a short span of pleasure, the way a blossoming flower wilts and dies. You have questions to be sure. What drives me to do this, a servant of the people I've sworn to serve and protect. Alas, love, you'll never know the outcome." Max slowly stroked her skin as he bent to kiss her forehead, cheek and finally her lips. She turned her head in disgust as he again chuckled.

"Let me go, Max. You can't continue this way!" Iris tried in vain to reason.

"No way, love. You had the best chance I could give you to willingly be mine. I'm sorry, truly. I am not going to hurt you and you will not suffer. We will make love and then you will simply go to sleep. Your body will be found in pristine condition, a departure for the FTD killer, but the exception will be this is a murder of a law enforcement officer and that the killer can strike even the ranks of the DPD. Everything is prepared and in order. I even purchased a plot in Restland Cemetery for your resting place. I will seem to be the grieving lover you never made known publicly to the rest of the world. How gallant the other CSI's will see me. Note the candles and the silken cords? I didn't do that for the others. You weren't on my list, love, until you rejected me. That hurt me a great deal, Iris. Still, you will see that I am being magnanimous in spite of the circumstances." Max continued to kiss her neck and shoulders, stroking her soft skin and wanting to join with her.

"Max, before we make love, can I please go to the bathroom first?" Iris asked softly and without fear.

"You want to make love? Iris, I have so longed to hear that from your sweet lips! You'll forgive me for having to follow you to the bathroom to make sure you will do as you say. Let me also show you my handiwork while I can!" Max nearly sounded giddy as he swiftly undid the silken cords.

Iris gasped as the blood circulation returned to her hands and feet, like the feeling of hundreds of needles pricking the skin. Max put a robe about her and himself as he led her from the room to another bedroom. He proudly turned on the overhead light. It was all Iris could do to keep from screaming at the scene she beheld.

Seven female mannequins were posed throughout the room representing each victim. In place of the face was found the flower representing the victim's name and each mannequin wore the clothing of the respective victim. Max had kept every article of clothing down to the purse and shoes to dress the mannequin of each victim. Iris's clothes were on the seventh mannequin along with her purse and shoes. Max proudly went to each mannequin to tell Iris what he remembered distinctly about the victim, what it was like to capture her and bring her here, the thrill of the sexual acts being forced upon each one and sometimes causing the victim to begin to pass out from the suffocation or strangulation to only bring them back. The gorge rose in Iris's throat again as she struggled to not throw up. Several more undressed female mannequins were neatly stacked in one corner of the room…future victims?

"Please, Max, I really need to go now." Iris begged with adoring eyes that Max headily took in.

"This way, love," said Max as he showed her to the bathroom.

Once inside, Iris took a cup of water and slowly poured it into the toilet to feign activity as she desperately looked for a way to defend herself. A large umbrella was propped in a corner to dry after the rain from yesterday. She looked at the door.

"Iris, are you ready? I can barely restrain myself!" Max said through the closed door.

"Here I come, love!" Iris replied.