Disclaimer: Still don't own it
Toby kissed his girlfriend goodbye.
They were in an isolated location of his workplace in order to keep their little display of affection from his fellow officers.
Even after ten years since the end of high school, their relationship was still solid as a rock though a bit complicated at times. Caleb often teased him on his lack of proposing to Spencer after all this time; which he responded that they were taking their time since they were establishing their careers. Veronica had taken a more serious tone but with them still living apart, she kept her distance from getting involved. Other than a few teasing statements though, the rest of the gang were too focused on their own lives.
Truthfully, Toby had been glad that Spencer had taken up law enforcement instead of becoming a lawyer; going against her parents though they eventually gave their support. After so much time of them being at odds when dealing with A, having her on his side of the fence and understanding the system was beneficial so that she would not make the same mistakes. A lot of people suffered, and continue to suffer, keeping the secret of what A was doing to everyone; proving that secrets could hurt people. Like Spencer, he wanted to make sure nothing like that ever happened again.
"So I'll see you in a bit?" Spencer asked as she composed herself and placed her purse over her shoulder.
"Yeah; I'll come over right after Mike and I check with the coroner since she should be calling soon," Toby answered as he looked at his watch.
It had been a few hours since they had arrived at the State Police Headquarters and the three immediately met with Captain Tanner to discuss the situation. Given the way that the body was displayed and the possible taunting because of where it was found, it was suggested that this might be the start of a Serial. Given that there was a lack of manpower at the moment; Toby was given the case along with his partner with Spencer being the support from the FBI. It had been cleared with both their bosses so they had free reign unless things escalated.
"I'll see you then," said his girlfriend and she then headed down the hall to head back to where she worked to give her boss a report. After she had left, he turned to head back to where he left Mike.
Given the number of years that he worked under Tanner, Toby had gotten the benefit of having his own office; which he now shared with his partner. He didn't mind though since it was large enough for the two without being in each other's way; though Mike didn't take up much space since he was used to it after being in the military. Mike had taken a small corner of the office and didn't have much to display unlike Toby who had pictures of the various people in his life on his desk. Though he tried to make his workspace as homely as possible, Mike seemed to do the exact opposite with him being nothing but professional.
When Tanner first assigned Mike to Toby, he had been a little apprehensive given their history as well as the current grudge he had with his girlfriend. Since he had a hand at clearing Mona when she had been wrongfully imprisoned for helping Charles, Mike held no ill will towards Toby which made their partnership a bit easier. Even though they had only worked together for a very short while, they seemed to be getting along and Mike listened to him without objection as well as asked the right questions. It helped that the younger man had experience when he was a MP back in the army.
Toby opened the office door, which had his and Mike's name on it, and found his partner on his laptop typing away. The one thing his partner always made sure to do when he got back to the office was to make sure all of the paperwork he was responsible for was complete. It had both impressed him and Tanner since everyone else was often behind. Walking over to his desk, Toby booted up his own computer though Mike used his own though it had been vetted for work. Since he was still waiting for the call from the medical examiner, he thought he would get some of his own paperwork done.
"So will we see her often or just at the crime scenes?" Mike asked in a neutral tone, still hunched over his laptop. It wasn't a hostile tone of voice but Toby could sense the slight anger in it.
"Yes; is that going to be a problem?" the older man asked, glancing over at Mike with his eyebrows raised.
"No," he simply answered and continued to work in silence. Toby quietly sighed but knew that Mike would be professional when it came to Spencer given his military background.
From what little Toby had gathered about his partner, Mike stayed mostly to himself though he was living with his parents currently. Since he spent most of his time in the office, Mike had very little contact with his family which often worried Toby since he was afraid that Mike might have PTSD of some sorts; though he was never in any conflict. However, he was assured though proper channels that his partner was all there in the head and not a worry; just still holding a grudge because of what happened all of those years ago with Mona.
It was unfortunate that, that was the case since the girls were still paying for what happened back then. The mistake had caused such a rift for years that it was still being felt to this day; with Hanna and Aria refusing to have anything to do with Alison. Emily never ventured to Rosewood unless she absolutely had to and Hanna had long abandoned the town after her mother married Pastor Ted with them moving to Africa to become Missionaries. Aria was the only one who stayed, becoming a teacher and living with Ezra; even having twins. Like he, Caleb hated the rift and often remarked on trying to organize some sort of reconciliation though that would never happen.
"Have you ever investigated something like this before?" Mike asked after a few minutes of silence between the two.
"No; not since the incident with Charles all those years ago," Toby answered as he glanced over at his partner from his computer. While he had dealt with more than a few murders, there had been nothing on this scale; though it was just one victim so far.
"Charles only killed one person though and that was his own mother; that wasn't a Serial like this could be," countered the younger partner, who was there back then as well.
"Charles was a Serial though just not a killer like this person appears to be. Once the medical examiner identifies the body, we'll have somewhere to start," stated the older officer as he looked over at the clock on the wall. Unlike his desk that pictures of family and friends, his walls were barren except for a single clock that had been there when he first moved in.
His cell phone went off and Toby took it off the desk to answer it while Mike continued to type away.
"Coroner is waiting for us," stated the senior officer and they both got up to head downstairs where the morgue was located.
The State Police Headquarters was located in an office building that originally belonged to the ATF. It lay a few miles away from where Spencer worked which made the commute easier for them if they had to coordinate things. The added benefit of being in the building was that it was entirely self-sufficient which meant that anything the State Police needed in regards to doing their jobs was in the building; including an advanced crime lab. Heading straight to the elevator down the hall, they proceeded to the morgue which was located on the bottom floor.
"Did you tell Spencer about my side hobby?" Mike asked suddenly, catching the older man by surprise as they stood in the elevator.
"No and I don't plan to. All I ask is that you work with Spencer and try to get along with her for the sake of the case," Toby pressed and Mike indicated that he understood.
"Thank you," Mike said and Toby nodded though he was curious, deciding to ask Mike about it given that it was the right opportunity.
"Have you had any luck locating her?" inquired the young man since Mike devoted every amount of free time he had to this mission.
When Mike had first been assigned to Toby, he had caught the young man devoting police resources to locating Mona; trying to find her after all of these years. At first, he thought about telling his partner to stop but decided to give him his blessing as long as he kept it quiet; Toby wasn't a stickler for the rules on certain things. Besides, he felt that it was owed to his partner after what had happened with Mona; mostly for his girlfriend, since Spencer still harbored some guilt after what had happened back then. Listening to Alison had cost the group a lot and even the blonde herself was forced into a slight exile because of it.
When the girls had been first freed after escaping the Dollhouse from a week of horror, they had spent some time in therapy as well as focused on dealing with A once and for all. Since Mona had been alive all along, Alison had also been freed from the prison she had been sent to; though also had been changed because of the experience. Charles had used this to convince the Blonde that Mona had been working with him all along; which had been a total lie since she had gone through Hell as his Alison Clone. Alison, not thinking straight and filled with revenge, convinced the others that Mona was the enemy.
At graduation, Mona had been arrested in full view of the town for being an accomplice to A; screaming her protests all the way to the back of the police car. The evidence against her had been so easy to believe that Toby suspected it was faked and nearly lost everything himself to prove that Mona was innocent when Mike, as well as her own mother believed it. Working with her in jail, Toby was able to convince Tanner of the truth which occurred at the same time the girls had uncovered and trapped Charles. After he had been caught and imprisoned for life, Mona had been freed.
Sadly, Mona was in no mood for any apologies and left town after giving a scathing interview to the press about what she had experienced. After realizing that Alison had schemed to get Mona in jail because of own anger, Hanna and Aria cut off all contact with their former friend while the other two girls stuck with Alison out of slight understanding; especially since Spencer believed that Mona had been the villain so easily. Mike, stopped talking to his sister and had to attend therapy because of his rage; which seemed to have been burned out during his time in the military.
"No; she isn't in the system and I don't think she is even in the State anymore," Mike answered and the disappointment was quite evident in his voice.
"Mona had always been good at hiding; just be patient. You have to know though that she might not want to be found and might be with someone now," Toby said which was understandable given that it has been ten years since anyone last saw Mona.
"I know; I just want to tell her that I am sorry for what happened and that I should have believed in her," stated the young man as the elevator beeped and the doors opened.
"Well I hope you get that chance; I think a few others would like to say their sorry as well," the older man commented as they walked down the hall to the double doors were.
They ceased their conversation as soon as they passed the double doors into a colder environment than they had just come from. The morgue was always so dark and sterile; giving Mike the creeps given the death that was all around him. It was a large area with numerous metal tables to operate as well as machines to collect and detail evidence. As soon as the two entered the room, there was only a single light on; overlooking the body that was on the metal slab in the center of the room. A single elderly female doctor was working on the corpse; who was thankfully covered in a white sheet so not to display her recently cut open body.
"Hey Margery; how are you?" Toby asked as he and Mike stood there near where she was working. Mike looked squeamish as the corpse's heart was sitting on a scale near where the two were standing.
"Not doing too badly Pretty Eyes; is this your new partner?" asked the woman as she began to sew up the young woman on the slab.
"Uh…yes; Mike, this is Doctor Margery Tompkins. She is our head medical examiner," Toby introduced given that this was his partner's first visit down here.
"Nice to meet you," Mike politely said, almost extending his hand before realizing that there was no way for her to shake it. Though she was covered from head to toe in medical garb, Mike could see that the woman was older than he was, had dark skin, and wore glasses. She was also very short and was standing on top of a step ladder in order to work on the body.
"And you too Hon; quite the story this girl has," the medical examiner stated as she finished her sewing and stretched her body after all that leaning.
"Have you identified her yet?" Toby inquired as he handed Margery the trash to throw her gloves in.
"Yes; Alice Buto, age twenty and a student at the college here in town. No living family and has a roommate who reported her missing after she never arrived back from a trip to Florida," informed the older woman as she moved the monitor to show the two police officers the data about the victim.
"Well I suppose that is a plus," Mike remarked which earned a glare from the medical examiner, with her hands placed on her hips.
"Come again?" asked Dr. Tompkins with anger evident in her voice.
"I've had to break news to parents and family members about the deaths of loved ones back in the military. While it sucks that she doesn't have any family, at least there isn't anyone to mourn her," the younger man simply said which earned a nod from the medical examiner though Toby just sighed at the coldness of the statement.
"I suppose that is one way to look at it; but everyone who sits on my table is mourned by someone so remember that Officer Montgomery," chastened the Doctor and he nodded, properly humbled.
"Did you find out how she died?" Toby asked, getting things back to the matter at hand.
"She was poisoned with some sort of odorless gas; a combination of ammonia and chlorine which was simple but effective. Her hair though was dyed before that and I found trauma in her ear drums which told me that she was subjected to some sort of high leveled noise over a period of time. Other than that, it looks like she was healthy at the time of her death other than a high sugar level though nothing that could be a risk of diabetes," stated the older woman as she took a sip of water from her bottle.
"So maybe she was kept somewhere and forced to do something; possibly playing dress up for some psychopath," suggested Mike and Toby seemed to think about that.
"It makes sense; though was Alice alone or are there others? We have to head to the victim's home to see if there are any clues in the morning," stated the older police officer, looking at the time and realizing that it was too late to do it tonight.
"Because our perpetrator might have been stalking the victim since he or she knew when to grab Alice," Mike said, getting what his partner was saying.
"Exactly; go home and get some rest since we are going to be busy tomorrow," Toby ordered and Mike then left to do just that.
"Are you going to bring your lady friend along for the ride?" Dr. Tompkins inquired as she raised an eyebrow at the younger man.
"I am guessing that the news about that is already out" Toby stated dryly while the older woman chuckled.
"Of course; though I heard your partner isn't fond of her," the older woman stated and Toby just sighed at that.
"Yeah well Mike knows his job and will work with her. I just hope that we can find this person quickly since more bodies might cause a panic," said the officer.
"Well I am sorry to say that killers who display their bodies like the young woman here never stop with just one. I have a bad feeling that she will the first of many unless you put a stop to it," Dr. Tompkins stated, pressing the point.
Toby had a feeling that she was right.
Please Read and Review; also a big thanks to my friend Paraddicted for the pre-read and you should check out her stories as well as those from "the queen of slurking"