Kurt really did need to change his ringtone. He'd been told by more than one person how annoying it was and he had to admit that he agreed with them. But it always seemed so unimportant compared to everything else, so he just never got around to it. "Wallander," his voice cut into the receiver after he picked up the offending device.

"Hey! What's with ditching me this morning?" came the impertinent sound of Magnus from the other end of the line.

"Ah, so sleeping beauty finally woke up," was Kurt's sardonic reply.

"Oh ha ha, you're a riot. Seriously, we're supposed to work together. That ringin' a bell?"

"Well, you just looked so comfy cuddled up in all those blankets, I didn't have the heart to wake you." Kurt used all of his strength not burst into a giant guffaw as Magnus groaned in response to the patronizing comment. The surly detective mentally chided himself for not having the forethought to take a picture. Anne-Brit would have thought Magnus was simply adorable. The kid's embarrassment would have been so sweet.

"Alright fine," Magnus conceded. "So what have you been up to, then? Find anything new?"

Turning his thought back to his incredibly unproductive morning, Kurt grimaced. "Annoyingly, no," he admitted. "This town is locked up tighter than bloody Alcatraz. I was going to head to that Tourneau place again. See what I can dig up."

"Tourneau?" questioned Magnus. "Weren't the local Leos supposed to handle that?"

"Were. Didn't." replied Kurt.

"Figures. Well there wasn't much else to find on him. His parents own the house which he sort of rents. His parents are in France or something like that. Still he's been living there for a few months so he could have left something behind."

"Alright, I'll swing around and pick you up. Make sure you're ready or I'll leave without you." The statement was followed by a swift click as Kurt snapped his phone shut.

WWWWWWWWWWWW

When he reached the inn, Wallander was satisfied to see Magnus leaning up against a wall outside, clad in his habitual trench coat. The tall blond climbed into the passenger's seat and the pair sped away towards the cabin. By the time they pulled into its driveway, it was late in the afternoon and the sun was beginning to set. Gold-orange rays spread across the back of the cabin casting its front in dark intermittent shadows. This time both Kurt and Magnus entered the front of the house. It was unlikely that John had come back, but even if he had he'd still be unlikely to escape two alert detectives.

"So shall I take the bedroom, you can have the living room," suggested Magnus.

Kurt scoffed at the idea. "Oh no," was his retort, "I'm not letting you have another lie down while I do all the work." A grimace flitted across Magnus's face and Kurt realized the poor taste of his joke. He rolled his eyes and attempted a soft smile to which Magnus huffed and grinned back. It was a completely dysfunctional way to say that things were alright and all had been forgiven, but it worked so Kurt wasn't going to complain. In truth the living room was fairly large and the elder man had no desire to sort through that mess. Being senior detective did have its perks from time to time.

Of course the bedroom didn't really look much better. Clothes had been flung everywhere their owner having rifled through them before he left. There was even a dingy, grey shirt hanging from the ceiling fan. That was it though. Nothing but t-shirts and jeans. Some of the pants held loose change in their pockets but nothing of any real importance. There was something strange in the manic chaos of it all that bugged Kurt. It appeared as if John Tourneau hadn't been expecting them. Normally there wouldn't be anything odd about a killer haphazardly running from the cops but here, just like any other small town, news traveled fast. He and Magnus had already been there for about a day before bursting in on John. Tracy had known they were coming so why didn't John? The detective was just beginning to comb through both his idea and the torn apart dresser when a call came from down the hallway.

"Kurt," Magnus was saying. "Kurt!"

Kurt walked up to stand in the entryway joining the living room and the hall. "Alright, keep your trousers on. I'm here." He said.

Holding what appeared to be a crumpled postcard, Magnus approached his partner. "Take a look at this," he said.

No More Hiding.

You'll Be Next.

Casius

"So he wasn't really running from us." Kurt stated as he carefully perused the letter.

"I guess not," replied Magnus. "Who's Casius?"

Kurt stared at the man. He was about to make a snide comment on just how absurd it was to think he could possibly know the answer to that question when he saw his partner's large azure orbs grow wide. There was no time to think as Magnus hurled Kurt to the side and a sudden gunshot rang out from behind the pair. The bullet shrieked past them barely an inch from Kurt's head and shattered the glass of the window ahead of them. In that moment of panic they couldn't avoid the hard but unsteady cherry wood end table that was now in their path. Kurt's hip slammed viciously into its edge, which caused the whole thing to collapse sending the unlucky trio down to the floor in a heap. Kurt was aware enough, however, to see the black clad figure dart past them and into the kitchen.

"I'm fine." He insisted as he caught the worried glance of his junior investigator. "Go after him!" and like an obedient greyhound Magnus shot up and raced after the perp.

Kurt hated getting old. As a cadet, a fall like that would have only stunned him for a moment, but now his hip burned from the impact. Gingerly, he made his way to his feet testing the steadiness of his legs. A moment later he heard another gunshot followed by the sickening thud of flesh smacking tile. Faster than his hip should have allowed he hobbled to the kitchen and flung the swinging door open wide. What he saw froze every inch of him making it impossible to move any further.

The first thing to assault his gaze was the gun. Magnus's gun. Lying uselessly on the cold floor. A screen door smacked against its frame but Kurt hardly heard it. All of his attention was directed at the floor or now more specifically the somewhat familiar boots that were splayed upon it. His eyes slowly tracked along the length of those boots and caught sight of a dark, well-worn trench coat that Kurt was frighteningly accustomed to. Daring to follow past its fringe, Kurt stared at a pair of limp arms attached to which were pale, unmoving hands. Though there was nothing more that he didn't want to do right now, Kurt forced his eyes to continue. His throat seized and his legs grew weary as his eyes finally rested on the uncharacteristically still face of Magnus.

Bold red blood seeped down into the boy's bronze locks from a gash on his otherwise colorless forehead. The seasoned detective didn't want to think about what that might mean but knew he had to find out. Slowly he approached the normally vibrant computer tech and tentatively knelt by the man's side. With a shaking hand Kurt reached out to touch the wound but he almost jumped back as he felt something grip his arm. A hand had jutted out to grab hold of him. The startled man looked down and found himself in a staring match with a pair of cloudy and terrified blue eyes.

"Geez Magnus," Kurt hissed, abruptly releasing a breath he had known full well that he had been holding. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

The young man's reply came out in a set of quick, breathless gasps. "You!" he cried. "She could have killed me!"

That stopped Kurt for a moment. "She?" he asked.

Magnus let out a low grown and tenderly laid his head back down on the floor. "Yeah, the person I grappled with was definitely a woman." He said as he closed his eyes in an attempt to ward off the nausea climbing through his stomach. "She caught me from behind."

"I heard a gunshot."

"Yeah, that was me. I don't think she realized that the door was on the side of the house instead of the back. I was heading to the door when she jumped on my back, forcing the gun to go off."

"And that lovely gash you're now sporting?"

"Ah yes. She used my surprise to get the upper hand. She knocked my head against the countertop. What kind of 21 year old has solid stone countertops?"

"His parents own the place, remember."

Magnus opened his eyes solely to give Kurt a piercing glare. "I just got the seven bells knocked out of me. Do you honestly think I remember stupid little details like that right now?"

"Sorry," Kurt grinned undermining his apology. He then allowed a small, relieved sigh to exit his mouth. If the kid was still able to deal out snarky comments then he would be just fine, if not a little shook up. "Come on," he said. "Do you think you can stand up?"

"If I have to," Magnus moaned and then proceeded to push himself into a sitting position albeit with Kurt's hand placed firmly on his back to steady him. Once turned the right way up, however, the generally lanky man found himself curled over with his head between his knees. "Mmmnnnn… concussions suck," he mumbled.

Kurt just chuckled goodheartedly. "I imagine it would," he said giving his young charge a gentle pat on the back. They had to stay there for a several minutes until Magnus could once again lift his head. It seemed a bit awkward and Kurt imagined it felt more so to Magnus. Being a father Kurt felt compelled to comfort his injured partner but the only way he could think to do it was pat rough circles on the kids back.

Eventually they were able to make it to their feet and, after another quick bout of dizziness, made their way back to the car. They hooked arms around one another's shoulders and Kurt found it was just as much for his support as it was for Magnus's. His hip was still sore from the fall and now grew stiff as they walked, so much so that he had to start limping when they were about halfway down their path. Even Magnus's addled brain noticed it. "Are you alright?" he had asked at one point but the other man just shrugged it off, stating that it was nothing major.

By the time they reached the station the local doctor, Melvin as Kurt was informed, as well as the police chief and his two officers were anxiously waiting for their arrival. The first thing Kurt did was set Magnus up with the "good doctor" Melvin in a low lit corner of the room, far away from the noise that could be made by the others. That was on purpose. Afterwards he went to town, tearing the formidable mass of the chief into small bits that you'd be lucky to see through a microscope.

"This is supposed to be a respectable town," he was saying. He raged about everything from the ineptitude of the staff to the fact that he and Magnus weren't even supposed to be at that "stupid hell house". If Magnus was honest with himself he would have to admit that Kurt's voice was loud enough to add to the sharp intensity of his headache, but there was no way Magnus was going to stop it. He liked watching the man whose ability for sympathy reminded Magnus of a prickly cactus in a barren desert, stand up for him. He almost laughed aloud when the phone rang and one of the lower officers sprang at the chance to get out of Kurt's firing line.

"Of all the lazy, incompetent things!" shouted the red faced detective. "I hold your entire precinct responsible for this."

As the tirade continued Magnus took note of the officer by the phone. "Detective," called the officer in a cautious manner.

Kurt never heard him. "This should have been handled last night, fire or no!"

"Detective Wallander," the man tried again in vain.

"You had better track down both that woman and that Jonny kid or so help me,"

"Kurt!" the shout came from Magnus this time

"What?" growled the tyrant.

Magnus inclined his head towards the cadet who's face had gone as grey as ash.

"Detective Wallander , sir. There, there has been another murder." The man's words were shaky and he had to swallow a few times as his throat dried up. He may have been a police officer but this was clearly out of his realm of experience. The first murder had sparked his curiosity but the second… the second brought it out into reality.

"Who is it?" an impatient Kurt demanded when the man didn't continue.

"It's, um, it's Jimmy Sorn, sir."

Only one word passed through Kurt's head at that moment. Damn.

So what did you guys think? Sorry for the long wait and can't promise it won't be any shorter for the next time around. We're past halfway through the semester now so I am super busy. Fear not I will finish this.

Thank you all for your reviews! I love them a lot! More are always welcome and strongly encouraged :) You Rock!