A/N: Sorry for the long delay. This case has a lot of detail and I don't want to make any mistakes. Thanks for reading!
Kono's phone rang on the way into the Federal Building. "Kono... Yes..." She snapped her fingers at Danny and motioned for pen and paper. "Blue Tag Auto Parts... Ocean Industry Properties... Got it, thanks Matt."
The team looked at her expectantly. "That was Matt Yumi at HPD. The warehouse was rented by Blue Tag Auto Parts, an internet wholesale company. They had the warehouse for three years, but recently went out of business, three months ago, to be exact. The warehouse is owned by an industrial properties leasing company. They have an office here in town."
"Alright, you two check it out. See if you can find out who ran the auto parts company and get an employee list. Let me know what you come up with."
"Will do." Chin and Kono headed back toward the front door. "Oh, hey Boss!"
Steve turned to see a grinning Kono walking backwards next Chin. "Tell Lori I said 'hello,'"
Steve frowned, surprised by the wink that Kono shot him before she disappeared through the front door. He glanced at Danny who bounced on his toes with a very goofy grin splashed across his face.
"Shut up," Steve quipped and walked quickly toward the elevator.
Up on the eighth floor, Steve and Danny found Lori's office door closed with a note taped to it. "Conference Room C and an arrow pointing to the left.
Conference Room C was set up much like FiveO. There was a large smart board on one side of the room and multiple flat screens adorning the wall above it. On the other side of the room, the set up was a bit more old fashioned. There was a large rectangular table lined with stacks of folders and case files neatly organized in piles. That's where they found Lori. She had her back to the door and didn't hear the two men enter the room. She was leaning on one hip, studying a fully crammed dry erase board, arms crossed over her chest. She tucked her chin to stretch her neck and then rolled her head first to the left and then to the right. She sighed deeply.
"Rough morning?" Steve asked.
Lori jumped at the intrusion. Turning, she found Steve and froze. For the briefest of moments, tension blanketed the air. Unlike a year and a half ago, however, Lori willed herself to hold his gaze. His eyes flicked to her lips and back. Ignoring the flutter in her gut, she blinked and reminded herself not to travel down that road again. "Sorry, I didn't hear you guys come in. Did you find it okay?"
"Yes," Danny said, amused by what he had just witnessed. "I like your set up here."
"You should," she smiled. "It's modeled after FiveO. This section over here is all Agent Amari's doing. He's a bit old school, but it's growing on me."
"What can you tell us about our perp," Steve asked, all business.
"Well, I'll tell you what I know. Best we can tell, this all started a little over two years ago in northern Pennsylvania. Six women were killed over a six month period. Same MO," she said as she tossed twelve photographs from the smart board to the monitors. There was a before photo and a crime scene photo for each victim. "Authorities found absolutely no connection between the girls, no trace evidence, nothing. Then, the murders abruptly stopped. Six months later, the same MO turned up in central Kentucky. Again, six women murdered over six months. Two of the victims knew each other, but that was the only connection. The third batch occurred in central Texas. So basically he's moved in a straight shot down and across the map toward Hawaii. That's why the Bureau sent us the heads up four months ago. He seems to... prepare for six months and then strike over the following six months."
"What about the victims?"
"All females ranging in age from twenty-four to twenty-nine. They're all thin, athletic, and blond. We find them dead in evening attire, wearing heavy makeup and cheap jewelry. Every one of the victims exhibits the same pattern of torture. He starts at the feet and works his way up. He leaves a small cactus brand burned into the hairline on the right side. I have no idea what that's about. I do know he's patient and meticulous. He tortures them for ten to fourteen days. That's a long time. No sexual assault. Their bodies are wiped clean with bleach and dumped in an area of high traffic. In every case, the cause of death was manual strangulation. They've all been found on the second Saturday of the month."
"Do you have a working profile?"
"They didn't send me much, the usual really. He's probably not a guy that gets noticed... quiet, observant. He's extremely organized, to the point of being obsessive / compulsive. Nothing unusual in the profile that I received. What's weird is that he doesn't seem to keep any trophies... unless, of course, they're subtle and we've missed them." She drifted into thought, surveying the photos in front of her, pondering her developing profile.
"That's it?" Steve asked.
Lori spun towards him, temper flaring. "I said they didn't send me much. But, I've been working on this nonstop for two months now. I have a few ideas of my own."
"Let's hear 'em," Steve challenged.
"Please," Danny added.
Lori paused, eyebrow arched and surveyed the two men in front of her. "I need to grab something from my office. I'll be right back."
Danny stepped back giving Lori plenty of room to pass. Steve on the other hand, leaned back on planted feet, forcing Lori to squeeze past. He watched her intently as she moved around him.
"What was that?" Danny asked incredulously.
"What?" Steve barked.
"That," Danny answered as he waved his hand wildly in the air.
"No idea what you're talking about."
Danny squinted, an idea forming in his head. "Oh, I get it. I see what that was about."
"Do tell."
"She didn't melt when she saw you. You know, fall all over you like most women do. You're afraid you've lost your mojo."
"That's the stupidest thing you've ever said, and that's saying a lot if you get my meaning"
Danny grinned, amused by Steve's diversion.
"Okay, so maybe you haven't lost your mojo, but clearly she pushed you're buttons. She admitted she had a thing for you before, so you expected, what? Her to go all googly eyed when she saw you?"
"Googly eyed? What does that even mean?"
"There it is."
"What?"
"Aneurysm face."
"Do you know why I make this face, Danny? I make this face because I'm annoyed. You're the only one that knows this face, because you're the only one that annoys me this much."
"You're annoyed because you know I'm right."
"No, I'm..."
"Sorry about that," Lori said as she came around the corner. They both turned to face her and she stopped, frowning. "What's wrong? Why the aneurysm face?"
Danny snorted, unable to contain his laughter. He covered his mouth with his fist, trying very hard to stifle his amusement.
"You two plan that?" Steve asked, face a little flushed. "Could we get back to what's important here?"
Confused, Lori let it go and crossed the room, tablet in hand, and stationed herself at the smart board. "This is what I've come up with so far". She pointed to the pictures on the monitor. "These six were killed in Scranton, Pennsylvania, population 76,000. Two of the six were waitresses, one was a bartender, one was a full time nursing student, worked part-time at a diner, and the other two were in retail. No apparent connection. They didn't run in the same circles nor did they frequent the same places. I pulled credit card receipts dating back six months before the murders began. One thing popped. They all had their cars serviced at the same place within three months of each other. It was one of those quick lube places, so employee turnover is a problem; I have ninety employees to run down over that six month period"
"The warehouse here was run by an Internet auto parts company," Steve commented, intrigued.
"I know. It fits with what I found on the Kentucky murders, too". She paused and threw six new pictures up onto the monitor.
"Wait, you know about the warehouse," Steve spat.
"What?"
"I said it was owned by an Internet auto parts company, and you said you knew."
"Agent Jenkins told me, right before you got here," she said wondering why Steve was so upset.
"Were you going to share that information," Steve asked, accusingly.
"I just did," she said temper rising to match his, wondering where Steve's attitude was coming from. "May I continue?"
"Please do," Danny offered in a friendly tone. He cut his eyes at Steve, warning him to settle down.
"These six victims were found in Louisville, Kentucky, population 500,000, same MO, no connection outside of their deaths. On a hunch, I ran credit cards looking specifically for auto related bills and found one. Rebecca Lynch had her Ford Taurus worked on at a local Ford dealership. From there, I ran Ford credit histories. Three hits". She pointed to three of the photos on the monitor, one at a time. "This one, this one, and this one all purchased used, high mileage, low cost Fords over a four month period from the same dealership. It's the last two victims that I can't connect."
"Did you get a list of employees," Steve asked in a much nicer tone.
"Yes, but I haven't had time to compare the lists."
"What about the last six?"
"These six," she said and threw six new photos onto the monitor. "These six were killed in San Antonio. I just got their credit card histories, so far no connections, nothing obvious anyway. I'll get you copies if you like."
"So what's your take on this guy," Danny asked.
"Well," she began, just as Steve's phone rang.
"It's Chin," he said. "Yeah, Chin... I'll take care of it. Listen, Lori's gonna' send you a list of names". He cut his eyes her way; she nodded and started typing away on the smart board. "I need to put faces with those names. See if names or faces cross in any way. Let me know... Thanks Chin". Steve pocketed his phone and crossed his arms over his chest. "You're friend Jenkins is an ass."
Lori looked up from the board. "You have no idea." Something unreadable flashed in her expression. It was there in her voice too. She knew Steve saw it, even if he didn't understand it. "What did he do this time?"
"He played the fed card and refused to let Chin and Kono near the warehouse rental company."
"I'll talk to Agent Amari... And I'll make sure you get whatever information they garnered... Oh, I almost forgot. The dress our vic from this morning was wearing was made by a local designer, "Puanani Designs". The island rich and famous wear her dresses to local charity events. Maybe you can do something with that."
"We'll check it out." Steve offered and smacked Danny on the arm. "Ready?"
Danny nodded. "Thanks, Lori"
She smiled at Danny fondly and nodded.
She watched them head toward the conference room door. Before she could stop herself, she called to Steve. "Steve, could I talk to you for a minute?"
He looked at Danny. "I'll meet you in the car." Wordlessly he waited for Lori to continue.
"What's bothering you? And don't say 'nothing' because I know you better than that."
Steve hesitated and drew in a deep breath. "I don't like sharing my investigations. I need to know that I've got full cooperation from the Bureau."
"Well, I've shared everything that I know with you so far," she said very matter-of-factly. "And, I can promise you that when I learn something new, I'll let you know ASAP."
"I trust you, Lori. It's the rest of your team that I have a problem with."
"Agent Amari is a good man. I can assure you that his sole objective is catching this guy. Like you, getting credit for the snag is the last thing on his mind. He'll take all the help he can get on this."
"And Jenkins?"
"Agent Jenkins is a jerk, no argument there, but he's a good agent. Amari keeps him on a short leash. I don't think he'll be a problem."
Steve surveyed Lori. She had visibly tensed at the mention of Jenkins's name. He wondered again what the story was there. "You'll be here later?" Steve asked.
"Likely," she answered, smiling warily. He returned her smile and again held her eyes a moment longer than was strictly necessary. She felt the heat rise in her cheeks and prayed he didn't notice.
Steve cleared his throat. "We'll run down this lead and I'll let you know what we find."
A/N: So not a lot of action, yet. Just setting the stage. Thanks for reading! Leave a review on the way out if you don't mind. I've never written a fic so heavy on the "case" before. Would love to know what you think.
Ren