Authors Note: A shorter chapter here but it was originally part of the previous chapter. More development with the case and a couple of shippy moments sneaking in. Extra special thanks to; Runner043, afrozenheart412 and lily moonlight for the reviews.

Chapter 8

Joey Finn hadn't know anything, he'd been devastated to find out Ashley was dead and even more so to think that his party might have had something to do with it. Jess had been quick to assure him that it wasn't his fault, that they couldn't even be sure it had something to do with his party, they were just following potential leads. Jess had come to the lab then to see if any progress had been made on this end and Don had gone to make a few phone calls.

"Still, it seems a likely possibility," Lindsay stated as she and Jess sat in her office at the lab. "Joey's apartment is only around the corner from where Claire Bell lived, the killer could easily have been in the area at the time and spotted Ashley."

"Which would explain where he came across her but it doesn't explain why he chose her, she's still the complete opposite of the other victims, she lives a completely different life. Then there's the fact that he grabbed her from the street, assaulted her and killed her right there, that's not consistent. He... they," she corrected herself remembering that they were likely dealing with more than one person, "usually kidnap these women and hold them for a couple of days. Why the drastic change?"

"I don't know..." Lindsay said, throwing her hands up in the air. "Nothing about Ashley Hail's murder makes sense."

Jess started going through everything they knew in their head, every theory they'd thrown out there, every witness they'd spoken to. She tried to make connections, to figure out which huge piece of the puzzle they were missing that would explain Ashley Hail being killed, why there would be such a drastic change in a well established pattern, one that had obviously been working for the killers.

"We have wto guys right, brothers?" Jess questioned and Lindsay nodded.

"That's what DNA says, DNA from the semen on Ashley Hail was a familial match to the hair found on Maria Thorpe," Lindsay explained and Jess could see in her friend's face that she was trying to catch on to Jess's train of thought.

"So we have two people and two distinctly different personalities in the crime, the brutal, messy killer and the meticulous cleanup..." Jess trailed off and Lindsay looked at her expectantly.

"I'm waiting for the revelation here Jess," she stated, getting inpatient.

"Maybe one of them... was acting alone when he killed Ashley Hail," Jess suggested.

"The meticulous brother must be keeping control, making sure they don't get caught, the other one must have gotten off his leash and attacked Ashley," Lindsay said, catching on. "It makes sense; it would explain a lot of things."

"It's just a theory though, and I'm not sure where it actually gets us, if it gets us anywhere," Jess stated, realising that the revelation didn't get them any closer to actually catching the killers.

"It's a piece of the puzzle," Lindsay shrugged just as Don stuck his head in the room.

"Hey, I just got handed a report of a woman who claims she was almost kidnapped," he told them. "Lauren Towney, she's a prostitute so her claim apparently wasn't taken all that seriously until now. She says some guy in a hoodie tried to grab her off the street, it was the same night that Maria Thorpe was kidnapped."

"That could have been one of our guys," Lindsay said as she stood up. "I'll call Mac and Danny, they'll want to know."

"And we need to head down to the precinct, she's being brought in now," Don told Jess who nodded and dragged herself up from the chair she'd been getting rather comfortable in. She filled Don in on her theory as they made their way to the precinct and Lauren Towney was already sitting behind a desk in front of a one way mirror when they arrived. She was nineteen, about the same age as the victims, similar in size and build; she could definitely be connected to their case.

"Oh look, it's the cops coming crawling back for information, your friends didn't want to hear a word of what I said before so tell me why I should co-operate with you now?" she questioned distastefully as she looked them both over. She gave Don a wink and Jess tried not to roll her eyes as Lauren turned brown eyes on her.

"We believe the man who attacked you might be connected to a series of murders we're investigating," Jess stated and the woman shrugged.

"Why should I care?" she questioned. "No one cared about me, why should I care about others?"

"Because you might know something that can stop anyone else from being killed," Jess stated and the woman looked at her for a moment and shrugged again.

"I'm still not hearing a reason," she replied and then cocked her to the side smugly. "Is the pretty little detective getting irritated with me, you won't show it but I know you are. I've dealt with you female cops before; you think you're all that and you look down your noses at me cos I sell my body to make some cash. You all sit there; high and mighty while the men you pride yourselves on working with fantasise about all the things they could with me. You're around them every day, with your make up on and your hair down but I walk in here and it's me they fantasise about, you're forgotten and I'm the one in their heads. Isn't that right?" she turned to Don.

"Look, Miss Towney, I apologise that you're incident was not taken seriously before now, that's not our department and be assured, there will be questions asked as to why this wasn't followed up. We're here now though and we need your help, anything you could tell us about that night would be appreciated," Jess told her, keeping her outward reaction neutral but polite. Don was wisely remaining quiet, she was pretty sure this interview would be going in a different direction if Lauren's attention was on him more.

"There's not much I can tell you," Lauren finally said, sitting back in her chair, pushing her chest out. "The guy was wearing jeans and a dark hoodie, it might have been black but it was dark. He was white, tall, had a beard, brown eyes I think but I can't be sure. I was walking down the street, looking for a client and he pulled up in a car, I'm not good with types of cars it was... a green, something, I have no idea. The guy told me to get in but... I don't know, I just had a feeling, so I said no. He got out of the car and told me to get in, I said no again and tried to leave so he grabbed me, tried to force me into the car but I got loose and made a run for it. That's it, can I go now?"

"Not just yet, we need to you write all that down for us," Jess told her handing her a pen and paper and Lauren rolled her eyes. Scribbling down everything she said in as few words as possible before shoving the paper back at her.

"Now can I go?" she questioned.

"We may want to get in touch with you again," Jess stated and Lauren stood up.

"I'm sure you'll find me," she stated and then turned to Don. "You ever want to make some of those fantasies come true; I'll give you a discount."

She left then and Jess turned to Don with a raised eyebrow.

"Every one of my fantasies is about you," he stated and she smiled and shook her head.

The entire team had sat down in the break room, going through all the case files, witness reports, crime scene photos, evidence, everything. Searching for something, any new lead, any connection they'd missed before but so far they'd come up empty. Even Ashley Hail's murder, which had provided them with DNA and fingerprints, had gotten them nowhere. They were no closer to catching this guy than they had been after the first body, not really and they knew it was only a matter of time before they had another body.

"How can we have nothing, they've killed four women, attempted to kidnap a fifth and we have nothing that ties them to any of it," Lindsay sighed as she put down the file she'd been looking through and narrowed her eyes at Danny who was half way through a slice of pizza. "And how can you be eating?"

"I haven't eaten since we had lunch earlier, I'm no good to anybody if I pass out from hunger," Danny defended himself.

"I'm with Messer," Don stated as he reached over to one of the half empty pizza boxes. Jess slid it across to him, grabbing a slice for herself as she did so.

"Just looking at these case files makes me lose my appetite," Lindsay said, looking at them nauseously.

"Are you sure you're not sick, I don't think I've ever seen you off your food before," Stella said as she looked over at her.

"The only thing I'm sick of is this case," Lindsay replied but picked up another case file anyway. As much as she wanted nothing more than to forget the entire case she knew it wasn't going to close itself and the longer it took them to solve it the more women were going to be killed.

"You have to eat though," Hawkes stated. "Danny's right, you're no good to anybody if you starve yourself."

"I suppose we can be glad no one has been reported missing since Ashley was killed," Adam said attempting to look on the bright side.

"But if you think about the type of victim their choosing, they're not really the type that are going to be reported missing, at least not right away. It might be the reason they're choosing their victims," Don said and Adam paled slightly.

"So they could have another girl right now and we wouldn't know it?" he questioned.

"Oh, now I really have lost my appetite," Lindsay stated abandoning her attempt to eat the slice of pizza she'd been picking at, shoving it away from her instead.

"Actually, I think I'm with Lindsay," Jess said, putting the slice of pizza down she'd been half way through eating. "I suddenly don't feel much like eating either."

"Alright, I think that's enough for today," Mac stated. "I want everyone to go home and sleep, tomorrow we start re-visiting everything. I know it's hard but try to get a decent night's sleep, fresher minds might be just what we need."

They packed everything up, tidied it away, Lindsay and Stella throwing out the remaining pizza before Danny and Don could protest. They all left then, even Mac walked out of the lab with the rest of them and Lindsay got in the car with Danny, the two of them heading to his place. As much as she needed the sleep Lindsay wasn't looking forward to curling up in her bed, she knew her dreams would be full of images of the victims. Images of Nicole Peters blinking back to tears and hoping to be able to help put away the man that had killed her friend. Images of a teenager hiding in a bathroom while there were gunshots outside, of a young girl finding the bodies of her friends and wondering why she was the only one that didn't die.

"Are you alright?" Danny questioned and she turned to him, realising they'd arrived at the apartment without her saying a word.

"I will be when we close this case," she replied, getting out the car without waiting for a response. Part of her was glad she'd have Danny with her tonight, that she'd have his warmth to cuddle up to even through her nightmares, that he would be there when the images in her mind woke her up. Part of her wished she would be alone so she could break down, so she could fight off demons she thought she'd laid to rest with the trial but apparently had come back to haunt her for one more day.

TBC