Chapter 2: Cross Country Killer

"So what do we have?" Don Epps asked, sitting down across from David. A file came sliding across the table.

"Not much, this was delivered from the Detroit office about half an hour ago."

"What is it?" He casually flipped through the pages, "If Detroit wants us to help with their crime rates, they've got another thing coming."

"32 year old Nicholas Davidson murdered last week in a parking garage."

"Isn't Detroit one of the murder capitals of the U.S.?"

"Of the world, actually." Megan entered the conference room, tossing her coat onto a nearby chair.

"Exactly, so what makes this guy special?"

"People get shot in Detroit, they get stabbed in Detroit, drug o.d.'s, you name it, but it's rare to find someone getting decapitated."

Don took a closer look at the file now, after a few moments, he asked his co-workers, "They didn't find his head?"

"No."

Megan gestured with her hand, "Even more rare."

"Yeah, I guess, but I still don't understand why we have a Michigan case."

"I can explain, Agent Epps." A male and a female agent walked into the conference room. The female agent was especially tall and strongly built, and her partner was no less of an imposing figure.

He walked to the view-screen and inserted a disk into the tower while his female counterpart made the introductions.

"I'm Agent Lucille Anderson; this is my partner, Agent Christopher Davidson."

There was the obligatory shaking of hands and the introductions. Agent Granger, who had managed to arrive during this period, was the first to recognize what the agents had just revealed.

"Davidson? Did you know the victim?"

"My older brother, it's part of the reason I took this case." There was a series of condolences from the other agents.

The screen behind them illuminated with a series of photographs. All of the L.A. agents looked at them curiously, as they were all personal photos.

"With all due respect, Agent Epps, I'd like to explain why we're here."

All except Agent Anderson took seats at the table.

"Have any of you heard about the big city murderer?"

"Yeah, it's this guy who only kills people only in cities with large populations."

"Right. We have reason to believe that this is a serial killer situation. The killer always follows the same pattern. He attacks from behind, first bludgeoning the victim with the blunt end of an axe. After the victim is incapacitated, he decapitates them and takes the head, we believe, as a trophy."

Her fingers came to gently rest on the pictures on the screen, "These are the victims we know of so far, including Nick Davidson from Detroit, the latest victim."

Both Megan and Don noticed Agent Davidson's fingers curl into a fist.

"Now, here's what we do know in terms of his patterns. This guy is working off the 2005 estimates of the biggest cities in the United States, but he's not working in any kind of order we can distinguish. He only has one victim per city, and, if there is more than one big city in any state, he'll hit all the cities within a week."

"We know this because he struck five Texas cities over two weeks before heading to Detroit."

Megan commented offhandedly, "I heard about that, the papers called it, "The Texas Axe Massacre."

"How cute." Quipped a sarcastic David.

"By the time he hit Texas, all the cities were on hit alert. But, in cities that big, you can't guard everyone. This guy is extremely good at flying under the radar."

"Where has he struck so far?"

Agent Davidson pulled a list from his front jacket pocket, "Jacksonville, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York City, Memphis, Columbus, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Chicago, and Detroit. In that order."

"He jumped from Indianapolis to Phoenix?"

"We don't know why at this point."

"I thought that he went from Texas to Detroit?"

"That was the original thought, but yesterday we learned that there was a victim in Chicago who had been dead for a few days."

"Once he was in Texas, you notice he hit the cities alphabetically?"

"Yeah."

"I notice that there weren't any California cities on that list." Megan leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms.

Agent Anderson threw her a knowing grin, "So you know why we're here then. Four California cities were in the top 20. San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco – "

"And Los Angeles." Murmured Colby.

"If this guy's gonna strike alphabetically, he'll hit L.A. first."

Agent Davidson turned toward him, "That's assuming he hasn't already."

Don stood up, "Alright, put out a bulletin to all police departments, I want to know if there are any suspicious characters, I want to know if we've found headless bodies, axe-bludgeoning deaths, anything."

All the agents left for the door to carry out their respective tasks, but the two new agents stopped them.

"Check axe purchases."

"Why?"

"We believe that this guy travels by plane and that he buys a new axe in every state. It's one of his little signatures; he leaves the axe behind at every crime scene."

Megan followed David's example, "That's very nice of him."