Chapter 2
Carlton Lassiter slammed the papers on his desk angrily. Four weeks he'd been on this case, and not a single clue about the identity of the killer had come up. All the killings had been the same. Terminal cancer patients stolen from hospitals in the dead of night with no one noticing anything. A few days later the body of the patient would be found: cut open and sewed back up, like someone had tried to perform an autopsy on it. Despite the extensive security that had be established after the first couple of killings, the culprit still managed to get in and out of each patient's room quickly and unobtrusively. No one ever remembered a mysterious figure coming in or out of any of the victims rooms anywhere near the time of the kidnapping. Carlton knew that he would have solve this case soon, or more people would lose their lives and he did not need any distractions.
Just then, Carlton's worst distraction walked through the doors.
"Lassie-face!" cried Shawn Spencer. "There you are! You know, every time Gus and I stopped by here your desk was empty. Naturally, Gus missed you so we checked back every hour."
"I did not want to come back hear every hour Shawn, you know I hate the station unless we are on a case." replied the seemingly always irritated Burton Guster.
Lassiter gave both consultants a look of contempt and replied, "Look, Spencer, under normal circumstances I would threaten to take you down to the shooting range and use you as a target, but right now I'm busy. There's a serial killer on the loose and I need to catch him before he hurts anymore innocent people."
"Serial killer... Is that by any chance the murderer who has been targeting the cancer patients at Santa Barbara Hospital? The one who kills every week?" asked Shawn.
"Yeah, it is exactly who I am talking about. And, if you didn't notice, the week is almost up, so he should be striking anytime soon." replied the irate detective. "Now if you will excuse me, I want to find out who he is before he kills again."
As he spoke, Buzz McNab approached Lassiter.
"Excuse me, Detective Lassiter. I'm afraid I have some bad news. He has killed again. This time a Sally Sparrow age 28 with terminal brain cancer. The same M.O., same marks. The only difference is her wrists and ankles show signs of restraint. Looks like he's ditched the paralytic and only use a general anesthetic after he strapped her down. Then, same as the others, he tried removing the "problem", which was in her case a life-threatening brain tumor. She died the same way all the others did, blood loss."
Carlton whirled around and grabbed the file.
"I don't believe it, it's only been 5 days since the last kill. He should have waited for another 2 days. He must be getting more confident"
The door to the chief's office opened and Chief Vick walked out. She gave Lassiter a meaningful look and motioned for him to follow her into the conference room. He gave Spencer a look that said "I'm going to kill you later" and followed the chief.
When Shawn and Gus attempted to follow Chief Vick stopped them and said, "Stay out. There's something Detective Lassiter, O'Hara and I need to discuss." With those words she shut the door behind her.
"You know what this means, don't you Gus?" said the over-excited psychic. "Something is going on in there. Something we need to find out about."
"Uh, no Shawn. We are not spying on Chief Vick's meeting in the station. You know what happened last time we did it. I like my eyebrows just the way they are"
"Gus, don't be a bedazzled tap shoe." scoffed Shawn. "How will we ever get the case if I can't have a good psychic vision about it?"
"I'm serious Shawn, I stay right here and I'm not moving till Lassiter, Juliet and the Chief come out." Gus replied firmly.
"Fine...if you want to stand outside the door and look like you were listening in on the whole conversation, be my guest. I'm going to go over to that less visible spot by the planter and listen from there."
Not wanting to be caught spying, Guster reluctantly followed Shawn to the rubber plant near the wall to the conference room.
Meanwhile in the room, the chief was lecturing the detectives.
"The government wants to turn this case over to the FBI. They feel too many lives have been lost to allow the current course of action to continue. They have allowed you one more week to solve this case. After that they will be taking over."
"I understand the gravity of the situation. People's lives are at stake right now and something has to be done." said Carlton. "I propose that to discover the identity of the killer, someone needs to go undercover at the Santa Barbara Hospital."
"I assume you already have an idea of the cover that will be assumed?" queried the chief.
"Yes. I will be a terminal lung cancer patient who transferred to Santa Barbara Hospital to receive extra treatment. Hopefully, the serial killer will choose me as the next target and we can apprehend him before he attempts to kill me."
Juliet, who had been quiet the whole meeting, interjected. "I don't think that's a good idea. It's much too dangerous. We can't give you the true protection you need without it being suspicious and by the time we discover the identity of the killer it could be too late and you could already be dead. It would be safer to impersonate a doctor."
"I understand your concern O'Hara, but something must be done. Besides, forging the credentials needed to pull of being a doctor, and having the knowledge of one, is far to complicated. With some simple papers I can easily pass off as a patient. I have just got out of having a bad case of the flu and my still pale skin and sick complexion should be enough to fool anyone who doesn't look to close."
Chief Vick looked at the partners. "Although I agree with O'Hara that this is very dangerous, I do believe that something must be done and right know, Carlton's plan seems to be the most logical course of action. I will call the mayor's office and ask him to get the papers in. Hopefully, you will officially be admitted into the Santa Barbara Hospital tomorrow early morning. We don't want your entrance to be to big of a show. You are dismissed."
"Did you hear that," whispered Shawn from the bushes. "Lassie's going undercover to catch a serial killer. Man, it should be us in there."
"I know what your thinking Shawn, and no, we are not going to get involved in another one of Lassiter's cases." replied Gus.
At that moment, both of the men felt their shirt collar's being pulled and they were dragged from behind the bushes and who else could it be but Detective Carlton Lassiter.
"Now you listen to me very closely. I know you heard everything from that meeting and I have one thing to tell you. Stay out of my way. I catch either of you messing around with my case and I will personally let you know how it feels to have both of your thumbs broken."
"Oh Lassie, threatening us now are you? Isn't that police brutality?" replied the ever-cocky psychic detective.
"I think what he means to say, Head Detective, is that we will stay out of your way completely." said Gus in a nervous voice.
So yeah, tell me what you think. Please review. I realize the first chapter was a little boring but I had to set it up. Hope this chapter was better. Bear with me and let me know what I can do better.