*Warning: Scene may be a bit disturbing to read. Okay…you've been warned.

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Chapter Three

Don Flack rubbed his tired eyes as he continued to stare at his computer screen. For the past several hours he had been doing research on the sorority, Tau Kappa Omicron, to find out if these girls had been involved in any other previous criminal activity. Hazing crimes, noise complaints, and a dozen other violations that come with being a Greek House, appeared on his screen as he halfheartedly scrolled through the police reports.

It wasn't until he came across an unsolved case some ten years prior that grabbed his attention. The body of a twenty-one year old victim by the name of Margret Clark was found hanging in an abandon building in the Bronx severely mutilated. The autopsy report revealed that COD was due to asphyxiation caused by strangulation of an unknown object. But what was a bit frightening was the fact that her throat was severed by two long surgical cuts and her abdomen was entirely cut opened with her uterus missing.

Flack scrolled through the reports until he saw a link at the bottom of the page that took him to two additional unsolved murders. Both victims were from the same sorority, taken the same night, and had died in similar ways. The second victim's throat was also slashed, and her kidneys and uterus were also missing when the autopsy was performed.

The third victim was found a couple of days later and was by far the most gruesome. She was found in an abandon motel with her head cut almost completely severed. All of her abdominal and reproductive organs were missing, along with her heart. But what was even more interesting was the fact that all three murders coincided with that years annual Mock Rock.

After the third victim the murders seemed to have ended. Only one suspect, a Robert Nichols, was arrested and tired, but a jury found him not guilty due to evidence leading towards a suspect who was left handed. The suspect in questioned had lost his left hand in an accident some years prior and was not able to hold the knife properly. Since then the case hit a dead end and was filed as an unsolved cold case.

Flack let out a deep sigh as he finished reading the reports. He knew that the cases back then and now seemed very similar. Deep down he hoped that they weren't dealing with a copy cat or that the original killer had come out of retirement. With any luck it would be just an isolated incident and the killer would be found quickly. Unfortunately his gut was telling him that they would be in for a long haul.

To cover his bases, Flack found the name of the detective that was in charge of the TKO killings and gave him a call to get some personal background information.

"Homicide. Detective McKean speaking," said a deep voice on the other line.

"Detective McKean, this is Detective Flack over in Manhattan," said Flack trying to keep the conversation somewhat light.

"What can I do for you Detective?" he asked with curiosity laced with every syllable.

"I've got a case here that I believe to be similar to one you worked on awhile back."

Flack heard McKean chuckle on the other end of the line. "I've worked on a lot of cases. Care to be a bit more specific?"

"Triple homicide dealing with a competition among an NYU sorority about ten years ago?" Flack replied.

"The TKO killings?" said McKean in an astonished tone. "Yeah I worked on the case. You said you got a similar case?"

"Yes."

"Can you meet me in about fifteen minutes?" asked McKean in a low tone.

"Uh…yeah sure I can do that," said Flack. He wondered why the detective on the other end was a bit eager to meet with him.

"You know where Jacks and Pauli's Diner is?"

"Yeah I know the place."

"See you there in a bit. Oh…and bring the case file if you can," said McKean before hanging up on Flack.

Don stared at his phone for a minute and the detective's slightly odd behavior. As he put on his coat, he chalked it up eagerness on a potential break on a cold case. Flack knew that if the roles were reversed, he'd be just as excited to finally close a brutal case.

Don walked into the diner about twenty minutes later and scanned the place looking for someone that could potentially be McKean.

There was only one man sitting in a booth as he added some sugar to his coffee. The man was about in his late forties with dark hair that had flecks of silver along the sides. He was pretty well built guy wearing a dark grey suit.

"Detective Flack?" he asked when Don approached the table.

"Don," said Flack as he held out his hand. McKean stood up and shook his hand firmly. It was then that Don noticed that they were about the same height.

"Kris," said McKean as the two men took a seat. "Now what's this about the TKO girls?"

Don filled him in on few details about the case, and on what he found of McKean's work. Kris shook his head as he took in Flack's words.

"Not a day goes by when I don't think about those girls," said McKean grimly. "They deserved better than that. Now another one? How old was the vic?"

"Twenty-one," said Don as he took a sip of his own coffee.

McKean shook his head, "Babies. The whole world in front of them, and they end up like that." He paused for a moment before continuing. "Everything you've said thus far seems the same. You are right about that. Except for how the body was found. The first victim was hanging upside down. Not hangman's style."

"The report said you had a couple of suspects for the first murder," said Don, hoping that there may be something from back then that would be relevant now.

McKean chuckled darkly as the waitress poured the two men another cup of coffee. "Had being the right word. All those damn kids at the time had their asses covered well, I'll give them that. One was bookworm studying at the library. Another was getting high with her 'rock star' boyfriend. Third one said she was doing laundry, when she was actually dancing on a table topless for a frat house."

"Bet mommy and daddy loved hearing that," said Flack.

"Oh yeah," chuckled McKean.

"So…no one really stood out?"

McKean thought for a moment about the first TKO murder. "Not really. There was one though later…a girl from the house. She had an alibi for the first murder, but her story didn't add up when the second and third girl went missing."

McKean laughed lightly upon remembering the girl back then. "She was real wise ass. Pre-law or something like that. She was a real piece of work."

"How so? What was wrong with her story?" inquired Flack.

"She said she was nowhere near the house when the victims were last seen. Supposedly she went back to her apartment, and then went to the library to work on a class project, then to her cousin's place."

"What's wrong with that?"

"She never went back to her apartment that night. Building security camera's didn't capture her coming back to her place until the next day. Plus she said she went to the library in the afternoon when the camera's actually had her going in about an hour and half before the building closed at five. Grand total of about ten hours unaccounted for."

"What did she say then? Or didn't you bring it up?" asked Flack.

"Oh no. I did. She said she must have gotten the time wrong. Her watch was slow or some bull like that. Plus, she said that she had come in through the back way of her building, which of course did not have a camera on it," said McKean as he finished off his drink.

"But you didn't by it?" asked Flack.

"Nope. Unfortunately we didn't have any hard evidence and no motive," said McKean.

"Do you remember her name?" asked Flack just in case to make sure this woman had a alibi now.

McKean thought for a moment about the woman and tried to recall her name. "Umm…give me a moment. It'll come to me. Thomas? Turner? Taylor! Alexis Taylor."

Dun dun dun. Oh no! Whatever will happen now?

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