Chapter 3: Barbie Doll – Amy

It was horrible. Really, really horrible. Amy couldn't think of another word to describe it. It was just horrible.

The scene was very much the same to the others, but where the first two victims had vacant expressions, this one had a smile. The victim had been fashioned into a Barbie doll and a metal piece had been put in her mouth to make her smile. Her eyelids were even propped open to replicate the Barbie countenance as much as possible. Amy wasn't made squeamish easily, but something about her eyes and smile made all this hard for her to stomach.

"Jesus" Jake mumbled beside her.

"I know" she replied and let out a breath she'd been holding.

"It must have taken him months to make that" Jake said, referring to the large Dream House behind the victim. The killer had spared no expense with the scenery. The Dream House was two stories high and big enough for children to play in. In front of the house was a lawn with perfectly trimmed bushes in two straight lines. There were back drops that had been put up around the scene with suburban settings full of trees, more Dream Houses, and the occasional blue bird. Right in the center was Barbie herself with a big, hair-sprayed wig, a pink and white polka dot summer dress, and matching white heels. Not to mention, a smile.

Amy shook her head.

"It would have taken him months to make that rotating device for the ballerina too. I bet he's been building the set pieces for a while and when he finds someone who meets his criteria, that's when he displays"

"I guess that would sort of explain the sporadic timeline. Seriously, our first victim was a month before the second and we found her yesterday. I don't get it, why wait so long for the second victim?" Jake asked.

"Well, Preston Vice was shot and the ME mentioned how he thought it was 'too messy' for the killer. Kelly Fieldson was poisoned and from the looks of it, so was Barbie. Maybe he needed a month to find a better method? Plus, if he finds the right person and the set's all made, there's no need for him to wait"

"Which means we could have another victim tomorrow. Where is he finding the victims?" Jake asked, more to himself than Amy.

"He's gathering info on them somehow. All of the victims have matched their toy counterparts in more ways than one. It's not a coincidence"

"No, it's not" Jake said, his brow furrowed, "Maybe he has a way of interviewing them"

"What do you mean?" Amy asked.

"Okay, so he has to know what their job is, right? It's not enough just to look the part. They need to be like the toy. So, maybe he's come into contact with all these people before in a non-threatening situation. Like, in a store"

Amy understood now. All of these people seemed completely unrelated to each other, but maybe they all went to the same store where a worker struck up polite conversation. It wouldn't be too hard to get somebody's occupation out of them. Amy had an idea.

"Like, in a toy store?" Amy suggested. Jake looked at her grinned.

"My thoughts exactly, Santiago"

"But what's his end game? Does he have a set of toys he needs to remake? Or does he just make them as them come?" Jake asked. Amy could see the cogs in his brain working overtime, which worried her slightly since he was driving. The case was starting to get a hold of him and Amy doubted he'd get any sleep until it was solved. Hell, she doubted she would.

"Maybe he had an actual toy box and he's trying to recreate it" Amy offered.

"Yeah, maybe they were his only friends growing up or something so he wants to make them real"

"It's possible. Or…" Amy said as the rest of her sentence lost in her throat.

"'Or' what?"

"…Or he'll just keep killing until he's caught. The guy has to think he's an artist. I mean, look at all the effort he puts into each murder. They're intricate, filled with care. If he thinks he's an artist, he's going to do what artist's do and create. These murders aren't just murders, they're installations" Amy said. This made Jake quiet and Amy saw scenarios dance in his chocolate eyes.

"Y'know, I think that makes more sense"

"Really? I was thinking-" Amy said, but was interrupted by the pinging of her phone.

"That better not be another victim" Jake said.

"You know, I don't normally get too many calls from murdered people at this time of day" she shot back.

"Oh, real cleaver-"

"Santiago speaking" Amy said into her phone.

"Hey. It's me" Rosa said.

"Hey! What's up?"

"We just got a phone call from a girlfriend of one of your vics, Vice. She was trying to report him as a missing person. Transferred her to me instead. She cried. It was gross"

"Did you tell her he was dead?!" Amy asked.

"No. I told her you losers were coming over to ask her some questions. I just texted you the address" Rosa said and then promptly hung up. Amy sighed.

"What?" Jake asked, worried.

"We're going to have to break it to Preston Vice's girlfriend that he's been dead for a month"

"Oh, great"

Jake was the one to break the news. He was way better at that stuff than Amy. Amy couldn't properly break up with someone without hurting them, so there was no way she was sensitive enough to tell someone their lover was dead.

"Anna, I'm really sorry for your loss" Jake said as he sat on the couch adjacent from the pretty red-headed lady crying in her arm chair. She actually wasn't as bad off as Amy would have thought. Only a few tears streamed down her face.

"It's okay, um, we-we had only gone on a few dates, but I-I don't know," she said as she wiped her face and took a big breath in, "I kind of had this feeling that he was going to be the 'one', y'know? I normally don't believe in stuff like that, but Preston...Preston was different"

"Of course. Is it okay if I ask you some questions?" Jake asked, his voice calm and kind. Amy looked at him from where she was standing and a warm feeling seeped into her veins like honey. His eyes were soft with understanding and he nodded politely to let her know he was listening. Amy realized she had forgotten about this side of him. She forgot about that inexplicable compassion that he couldn't seem to run away from, even if it would make everything easier. It would be easier for her, at least.

"Sure, whatever I can do to help" Anna said, wiping away another tear.

"When was the last time you saw Preston?" Jake asked and Amy had her pen and notepad ready.

"Um, about a month ago. We went to dinner at Luigi's, which was such a nice place and he brought me flowers. We walked in the park a little and he came up to my apartment afterwards. He left the next morning after we had breakfast and then we had a date planned that night, but he never showed"

"Why didn't you report it right away?" Amy asked, perhaps a little too harshly because Anna winced.

"Well, for a while I thought he just didn't want to see me anymore, but yesterday, I bumped into one of Preston's friends at a coffee shop. He and my friend, Alicia, are friends and they were the ones who set Preston and I up. So, we started talking and I asked him how Preston was and he looked at me all weird, then he said 'I haven't talked to him in a while, I was going to ask you how he was'. I told him how I haven't heard from him in a month and he just never called me back, and skipped our date. Then he texted a few people asking if they've heard from Preston at all and everyone said 'no', then we both started worrying that something was wrong. That's when I decided to call the police" Anna said, her tears coming more often now.

Jake continued to gently ask her questions, but at the end of it all, Amy looked down at her notepad and realized they had nothing. They both thanked Anna for her time and headed to the car. Amy could tell Jake was getting frustrated because he was mumbling his grievances under his breath. Once they were in the car, Jake exploded.

"UGH! That gave us nothing! This case is standing still"

"Whoa, hold on crazy. It's not standing still. We still have to check out the toy stores and we don't even have all of the autopsy reports backs yet" she said.

"I feel like they're just going to lead to more dead ends"

"Hey, what's your deal? You picked an odd time to get all negative Nancy on me"

"I'm not! I just-" Jake started, holding something back.

"You just what?" Amy asked.

"I just want this case to be over" he said.

"Yeah, we both do. There's a crazy serial killer out there"

"Amy…"

"What?"

"There was something Anna was saying earlier…about Preston"

"Did you think of something?" Amy asked, believing he had realized something she hadn't. Jake turned his head to look at her and his expression that Amy couldn't read, even if a book existed that would allow her to study the subject of Jake's faces. He stared right into her soul and after a while she had to break eye contact.

"Jake, what's going on? You're kinda scaring me" Amy said, and that seemed to break the spell over him.

"Sorry, sorry. I think I need coffee or rest, but probably just coffee. Want to pick some up on the way to the precinct?" he asked, his usual light tone coming back.

"Yeah, that sounds good" Amy said and Jake smiled. He started the car and as they drove, Amy would steal side glances at him.

"What the hell was that about?" she thought, completely confused by the odd conversation. She couldn't make heads or tails of it, but, for some reason, her heart was still racing.

The car drive back to the precinct took far too long because it let Amy think far too much. She kept wondering what Jake was thinking and why it affected her as much as it did. She thought about how easily he affected her in general. She thought about the soft way he looked at Anna and Amy wished he would look at her softly too, but then she'd quickly tell herself how stupid she was. Her mind wandered to the very first time they kissed: how it was brought on by a pushy identity thief, underneath a sky full of stars with the wind blowing in her hair, how everyone was watching, but most of all, she thought of the way Jake's lips felt: Soft, hot, and wet. She thought of the way he looked at her after they kissed, like she was the sky full of stars. Amy didn't think she'd ever been so overwhelmed by a look before. It was so full of…something. She didn't know what it was, but it scared her and she wanted more of it.

Amy closed her eyes and told herself to stop thinking about it. She was only hurting herself. The simple truth of it was, she wanted more Jake kisses and more indulgent gazes, but she was sure their chance had passed. If Jake was able to not look at her for three months, then he must not have been that into her in the first place. She felt a violent stab in her chest.

"It doesn't matter, Amy. It's not a big deal" She thought, but she wasn't convinced.

Amy tried to go back to figuring out why he would bring up something that Anna said and then proceed to look at her for a solid two minutes. He had said something about "just wanting this case to be over". Maybe he was hoping Holt would separate them again after this case. Maybe he wanted it to be over so he didn't have to be around her. An even more violent stab attacked her chest.

"Don't think about it, Amy," she thought, "Don't think"

The precinct bullpen was mercifully less crowded than it had been the last time they made a grand entrance. Amy realized everyone probably went home and the night crew was coming soon. Boyle, who was the last detective left, was at his desk filling out paper work.

"Ah, Charles! Just the man I was looking for!" Jake said, offering Boyle a high-five that he accepted with gusto.

"Jakey! Why were you looking for me?" Boyle asked.

"I need to triangulate a location for a murder case we're working and you're the lucky guy who's gonna help" Jake said with finger guns aimed at Boyle for emphasis.

"Anything for you Jake! Wait, this isn't like the time you wanted me to triangulate where Jenny Gildenhorn lived, is it?" Boyle asked. Amy looked at Jake and felt her face scrunch up.

"You wanted him to what?" Amy asked. Jake looked decidedly nervous.

"Hey, that is not what happened, okay? I just wanted to find a perp who happened to go the same coffee shop, the same book store, and the same office building as Jenny. It was totally normal!" Jake said. Amy was not convinced.

"Right" she said.

"Welp, we've got a lot of triangu-la-ter-at-ing to do so we should go!" Jake said as he pushed Boyle towards a conference room.

Triangulation, while useful, was dull as dirt and took forever. After two hours of Boyle calculating sins and tans, Amy and Jake were both about to explode.

"Boyle! Are you almost done?" Amy asked as she spun around in a wheeled chair.

"Yeah man, this sucks" Jake agreed. Boyle turned away from his map, which was filled with numbers and triangles.

"Well, excuse me. Triangulation is an art and a science. It takes time. Plus, I just finished" Boyle said with triumph on his face.

"Awesome! What do you got for me, buddy?" Jake asked as he stood up and approached the board.

"Okay, so I used the warehouses as our main points, taking into account the residencies of the first two victims. If my calculations are correct, the toy store you're looking for should be in this area" Boyle said as he circled a nickel-sized section in the middle of the map.

"How many toy stores are in this area?" Jake asked.

"Are we talking mom-and-pop shops or corporate toy stores?" Boyle asked.

"Mom-and-pop" Jake answered.

"Oh, well I think only one…," Boyle said as he checked his reference sheet with a list of toy stores in their district, "Yup, just one. It's called 'John-in-the-Box Toys' on 3rd street"

"'John-in-the-Box'? Are we sure this is the right kind of toy store?" Amy asked, her face curled in disgust. She was pretty sure no parents would take their kid to a place named that.

"Yeah, it's real cute. They specialize in toys that are non-electric, like dolls and blocks, that kind of thing. My third favorite empanada place is right across the street"

"Yeah, Amy! Get your head out of the gutter!" Jake snapped at her and she scowled at him.

"Anyway, thank you, Boyle. You really pulled through for us. Now, let's go" Amy said as she headed to the door.

"Uh, Amy, it's nine o' clock. They're closed by now" Boyle said. Amy stopped in her tracks, went back to her seat, and crumpled in it.

"Dammit"

AN: Chapter three is done! I still have no idea how long this will be so I'm just gonna keep going.

John-in-the-Box is def a Dick-in-a-Box joke woops.

I think Boyle and Rosa are the easiest to write for while Jake and Amy are the hardest why

Also, don't worry about that whole weird conversation thing. It'll make sense in the next chapter ;)

Thanks for all the support and the comments! I appreciate them so much!