AUTHORS NOTE: So it's ironic that I need to write a 50000 word novel this month and yet I've finally found a love for this story... Damn! It's cool though, I'm sure I'll be able to do both. It just means I'll be allowed no life at all which is always good by me! Oh and I had to bring our favourite profiler into this story!

DISCLAIMER: I only own the OC's

[The Message]

The next morning, Ellie woke up first and found herself aching. This is what happened when three girls decided they could curl up in uncomfortable positions all night! There was a shooting pain in her neck and she couldn't even feel her legs thanks to how tightly they were wrapped around Ellanna's. She sighed as she tried to untangle herself, desperate for the toilet, without disturbing the two sleeping girls. Finally coming free, she tiptoed to the toilet massaging her neck with her hand.

She didn't take long in the toilet but now that she was awake, she knew there was no way she would be able to go back to sleep. She decided that the wise choice was just to go into her bedroom and read a book or something. She couldn't go back to Ellanna's room or she would disturb them and they had all had a rough night sleep.

Jumping onto her bed, she settled down and got comfy before looking around the room for her book. That was when she saw it. It was a circle drawn in blood around what seemed to be two photographs. She could find herself thinking that she didn't want to see what was in the photo but all the same she found herself kicking her legs off her bed, her hand tightening into fists as she moved slowly towards the wall. When she got there, she screamed as her hands moved up to hide her face. It wasn't long before both Ellanna and Leigh were in the bedroom standing beside her.

The photograph was Ellie and Leigh pretending to be sisters in the park, their faces radiated by the laughter that they were sharing but covering Ellie's face was a smudge and it was very clear what that meant. Both girls took hold of Ellie's hands, their hearts racing as they saw what the second photo was. It was a Polaroid of the three of them sleeping last night. Their stomachs retched as they realised that he'd been watching them sleep.

"It's okay. We're safe here..." Ellanna tried to say but stopped as she realised that he'd managed to get in. She looked at the girls in horror. What had happened to the young cop that had been assigned to watch them? She felt her eyes close. The girls had liked him, he'd been a giggle when he'd come in just before lights out for a cup of tea because they'd demanded him too. "Oh no," she thought moving over to the window and peering through the gap in the curtains. The patrol car was still just around the corner, not moving and she found herself turning back to the girls.

"Do you think we should ring the Detectives?" Leigh asked softly and Ellanna looked back out the window.

"Either that or we go investigate?" The three girls decided that they'd seen enough death over the week so they did ring the detectives.

Robbie's hands were tucked into his coat pockets as he stood beside the patrol car. The young copper was indeed in his car with the right hand side of his face now pierced with a bullet. He closed his eyes. He was getting stronger now. He wasn't fumbling along on Sheila's directions, he was just doing as he pleased and it seemed he would do anything now to get to the girls. He was going to strangle Burke.

"You're young officer wouldn't have even known what was happening. From the angle of the shot, I'd say he came up from behind and obviously the officer's gaze would be on the house making sure that no one was trying to get through the doors. It was instant and from the burning around the hole, it happened really close to his skull. He'd have only known it was happening when the gun was pressed against his head. There was no struggle meaning no threat. The suspect literally just pulled the trigger with no remorse."

"Are you not meant to tell me all this back at autopsy?" Robbie teased and the M.E. just chuckled as he shook his head.

"That's my prelim findings, detective. I will still need to see you in my domain later this afternoon but first, I suspect, you should go check the girls aren't shook up by this." Robbie found himself smiling. The whole team had fallen for the charms of the three girls over the week that they'd been running about the place and everyone had literally wanted to race to the scene when Leigh had patched that desperate call in that morning. Robbie said goodbye to the M.E and headed up to the house where he could see Stuart and Jackie sat in the kitchen with the girls.

"I take it Burke is talking to forensics?" He said accepting the mug of coffee that Leigh handed to him. It was six am and he'd literally jumped out of his bed when the phone call had come through. He was thankful for this small cup because normally it took him several to feel up to anything in a morning.

"Yeah," Jackie said hearing his footsteps upstairs. "Is..." Robbie shook his head and the three girls all sighed as they looked down at their glasses. This was starting to lose its thrill now. To know that someone read their fanfiction and took it too far was fantastic but now that innocent people were dying.

"Can't we do anything?" Ellanna asked and Robbie looked at her, his shoulders shrugging.

"The guy is an avid fan of your work, why don't we see if we can get him to hand himself in through writing again?" Stuart supplied and Ellie shook her head this time.

"We tried that and it ended up with Sheila dead," she pointed out and from the smudge on her face at the photo upstairs she knew what would happen if they tried another face-to-face with this guy again.

"This time it should be different," Ellanna pointed out. "The guy was doing what Sheila was telling him when we didn't. However there is no Sheila this time?" She looked at the detectives to see what they thought and everyone found themselves staring at Robbie's face.

"That would work but the guy is getting stronger," he found himself telling them what the M.E's prelim had said and all three girls punched the desk. He couldn't help but smile at how similar they were in their characteristics despite being completely different in everything else.

"Do we have to stay here? I honestly think we'd be safer at home. He doesn't know where we live." Ellie pointed out suddenly feeling like she needed her family around her even though she'd loved being with the girls.

"He could be watching us though and know where we take you," Ellie started to cry at that and both girls moved to wrap their arms around her. It was obvious that the stress was starting to get to them. "We will find somewhere else for you to stay though."

"Are you kidding? You said this place was safe and he killed Steve and managed to tack a photo of us sleeping up in my room!" Ellie shouted angrily. "You're not protecting us, you're using us for..." she stopped shouting as she remembered that they'd agreed to do that. "I know we said we were okay with that but this guy isn't some fumbling idiot anymore. He's a psychopath and he wants us dead thanks to Sheila and that..." she stopped talking through her tears and left the room. The two girls followed her.

"Something tells me that this will either make or break their friendship," Stuart said watching after them and the other two detectives nodded in agreement.

"Would you say that's his blood?" Burke asked looking at the perfect ring of blood circling the photos. The CSM looked over at him and sighed.

"If only, your perp is a very clever psychopath, Burke. He's made you think the whole way through this case think you're dealing with an idiot and now that you've let the girls alone he's come out as a guy that knows what he's doing." He pointed out honestly and took photos before putting the evidence into the evidence bags. "I would also say that he took two of these photos," he said motioning to the one of them sleeping.

"Why?"

"Your guy is obsessive and let's just say he's found his new obsession."

"How do you know he's obsessive?" He found himself asking.

"You can see from how perfect the circle is and there are cleaning marks around the side where he's used something to clean it off. He needs everything perfect and that's what the girls are. They're his perfect girls. They're writers, they're strong and they know how to cope. They're everything a stalker would fantasise about."

"Have you been talking to that profiler girl again?"

"I let Jenny look at the notes and she gave me her honest feedback. I just thought I'd make you think I was clever." He teased before looking at Burke. "I'll ring you when I find out more," he promised allowing Burke to leave. He stopped at the stairs when he saw the three girls curled up on Ellanna's bed. He shouldn't have listened to his boss about using them as bait because this was going to kill them.

TO BE CONTINUED...