"Is this all I have?" she screamed at Megan, "When I leave my house, I worry if I'll make it home. When I leave school, I'm looking over my back constantly. I don't want to live in fear!"

"You don't have to be afraid, Rebecca, and you do not have to die today." Megan tried to convince the high school senior from killing herself.

The alarm went off.

Turn it off. Get up. Turn on computer, check cell phone. No messages, no missed calls. I have to pee, but I'd rather check my emails first.

5 new emails.

One junk email from a magazine I used to subscribe to- Robotics Monthly. It has nothing against the weekly Robotics Newsletter from Canadian Robotics Online. Take that Robotics Monthly.

A forwarded 'you will die in 5 days if you don't do this' email from Ed. Deleted. I know what I'll be doing in five days- I'll be playing Black Ops II on PS3.

An email from my mom in Italy- turns out she knows how to turn that laptop on. If only she knew to turn capslock off. Not much new in Italy. Mom made some scones yesterday and some guy with a moustache down the road made a pizza.

An email from Brad with the subject "Check this out"- it's a picture he snapped at the bar last night of two girls kissing. Grow up Brad. They were probably just doing it for the attention.

And finally- a custom email reminder. 6 months. 6 months ago, my friend and colleague, Perra was shot.

I suppose I don't need the email reminder.

Let's slide on over to Facebook.

3 notifications and a message.

Notifications first.

First one- friend request from Sara Otterman. 1 friend in common- Megan Perrasmith. Hmmm- sure, why not. She seems cute. Maybe Megan could hook us up.

A Farmville update from Ed Lane. No Ed, I will not buy your pig.

Finally- Kevin Wordsworth commented on my status, "I've lived in Toronto for 15 years, and I'm going to the Hockey Hall of Fame for the first time tomorrow." Wordy's comment was "A little less computer and more hockey Scarlatti."

And now the message- from Sam Braddock. 'Hey Spike. I just re-activated my Facebook account a few days ago. What's up with all these goofy games now? Anyways- my parole officer says I have to get a job soon or I'm going back to jail. I tried getting back into TPS, but they won't let me back in unless Megan descends the restraining order and accepts my apology. So I think I'm going to apply to a security job at the MSQ Centre. Just thought I'd keep you updated, since you're still a character reference on my resume.'

Done checking Facebook. I should check twitter. Wait no- I should get ready for work. Hold on a second- didn't I say I had to go to the washroom?

Yeah, I better go before I piss myself.

I pulled into work, just behind Ed. I parked right beside him, and we got out of our vehicles at the same time.

"You know, Spike, I think they make newer cars than a 1992 Pontiac Sunfire." Ed jested.

"Laugh all you want Ed," I said, as we walked up to the doors, "But my baby has never let me down. Tell me- when was the last time your Ford was in the shop?"

"Last week, when I needed to get another dent fixed that Clark put in it."

"Something mechanical."

"Uhhh, needed a new timing belt about a month ago."

"Yeah?" I asked, as I opened my locker, and started getting dressed, "Serpentine belt in my car- never been replaced. Same AC Delco belt that it had when it came out of the factory."

"Spike, that's not a good thing." Ed said.

"What's not a good thing?" Brad asked, as he came and opened his locker and started getting dressed too.

"Spike's car." Ed commented.

"You get that picture I sent you?" Brad asked.

"Yeah, I did." I replied, "Grow up Brad."

"He sent you a picture?" Of what?" Ed asked.

"Two girls kissing at the bar last night." Brad said.

"How come I'm not on your email list?" Ed asked jokingly.

"Ed," I said, "You're married, and have two kids, do you really want an immature dofus emailing you pictures of drunk chicks making out?"

"Good point Spike." Ed thanked.

"Decent?" came a woman's voice.

I looked at myself, Brad and Ed- both of which nodded yes.

"Yeah, we're good." I yelled out.

Megan walked in and sat on the bench.

"Howdy boys." Megan said with a smile, "Ed."

"What I'm not a boy?" Ed asked with a smile.

"Ed, you were a boy about 30 years ago."
"I'm not that old."

"Not yet anyways." Megan commented.

That made me laugh.

"The boss in yet?" Brad asked.

"Yeah," Megan said, "He's in his office. Why?"

"Just wondering." Brad said, as he finished getting dressed, and sat down to put on his boots.

"Ok then," Megan spoke, "I will see you guys in the gym. I made a bet with Winnie- I bet two bucks that we'll get a call related to the Goddess killer today, and she thinks we won't. Anybody else in?"

When nobody replied to her, she left.

"That's one girl I'd like to see making out with another." Brad suggested.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I'd like to see Megan making out with a…."

"Let's shut this conversation down, gentlemen," Ed said, as he finished suiting up and went to leave, "Gym in 120 seconds, or you'll be cleaning the windows."

"What's his problem?" Brad asked.

"Don't know, don't care," I replied, "I just don't want to clean any windows."

We all assembled in the gym where Ed promptly decided to hit the bench press. Brad decided to spot him.

Megan came out of the women's locker room and sat beside me.

"How you doing?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked me.

"Your dad- six months to the day."

"I'm ok, Spike, thanks."

"I'm here if you ever need to talk, ok?"

She looked into my eyes. "You're a good guy Spike."

"Good enough for you to hook me up with Sara Otterman?" I asked.

Megan seemed startled when I mentioned the name, "How do you know her?"

"She sent me a friend request on Facebook."

"Oh," Megan said, "Yeah, Spike, she's not your type."

I stood up, as Greg entered the gym. Megan followed suit.

"What is my type?" I asked.

"Geeky, glasses, and knows her way around an Xbox360 CPU."

"So, essentially nobody." I said.

"Don't worry Spike, you'll meet someone soon enough."

"At least we're single together."

"I'm not single anymore Spike." Megan mentioned.

"Megan Perrasmith off the market? Who's the lucky guy?" I questioned.

"You'll meet her soon enough." Megan said, as Greg called us in for our morning debriefing.

"Her?" I questioned.

Without so much of a glance, Megan answered, "It's a euphemism- the sex is that good."

"Ok team," Greg debriefed, "Today we're on station detail."

"Station detail?" I asked.

"Yeah Spike- we're assigned to stay at the station unless there is a code red 911 or dispatch call. Were you even paying attention at the SRU debriefing the other day?" Megan explained.

"Uhm…"

"Don't answer that." Ed suggested.

"Boss," Winnie yelled over to Greg from the dispatcher's desk, "I got a suicide call…"

"Team six is on patrol."

"The commander wants a team on patrol at all times, and my orders are to keep it that way."

"Alright," Greg said, "Send the info to our PDAs."

"Winnie- make that a hot call!" Ed yelled out, as we jogged to the garage.

I jumped into the passenger's seat of one SUV, while Megan jumped in as my driver. Greg drove the command truck, while Ed and Brad were in the other SUV.

"Suicidal young woman at Eastbrook High School, uniforms are maintaining a perimeter."

"Let's get a full evac of Eastbrook, Winnie." Ed demanded over the radio.

"Copy that, sending the order to the uniforms."

"We got a name Winnie?" I asked, as I pulled out a laptop, "I can get started on our profile."

"Coming to you in five minutes."

"Copy that." Greg informed, "SRU is 3 minutes out."

Once on scene, I followed Megan, Greg, and Ed into the command truck, while Brad assisted the uniforms in the evacuation.

"Talked to the staff, the girl's name is Rebecca Berger." Greg said, "Tac plan, Eddie?"

"We're talking her down-" Ed said, "Brad- how's the evac going?"

"Beautiful." Brad summarized over the radio, "Uniforms are doing their final sweep."

"Great stuff." Ed said, "Me and Brad are spotters from below."

"Megan will start the suicide intervention, and I'll second her. We got a location yet Spike?"

I clicked away on the keyboards and brought up a copy of the floor plans of the school- "She's on the flat roof garden off of 3rd floor- she'll see you if you come the same way she did, so go up to fourth floor and take the external fire escape ladder onto the flat roof- that'll bring you within 20 feet."

"Anyway of getting closer?" Greg asked me.

"Only other way would be to climb up from the second floor teacher's lounge balcony to the third floor flat roof."

"Fire escape ladder it is then." Greg said, as he led the way out of the truck, with Megan in tow, "Blueprints to the PDAs, Spike."

"Copy that, sending now."

"You start the profiling yet?" Ed asked.

"Starting it now-" I said, as I did a general google search of Rebecca's name and started an IP location tag search to her home address.

"I got a Facebook, twitter, Mypsace, and fanfiction accounts." I informed.

"FanFiction, what's that?" Ed asked.

"You take the characters and plots from movies, TV shows, or other popular media and you write your own stories."

"Sounds interesting."

"Any online suicide notes?" Greg asked over the radio.

"Nothing yet, boss, still looking. I'm going into the school's database to get her home address- I'll send a cruiser for her parents, to see why she might be doing this."

"Good job, Spike." Greg applauded, "You continue profiling and talk to the parents, ok?"

"Got it." I replied.

Brad came into the truck. "Evacuation is finished Ed."

"Alright, let's go spot Megan and the boss." Ed replied, as they left.

I continued searching through Rebecca's internet pages, and finally I got clearance from the IP location tag search to go through her computer's internet browsing history remotely.

"Ok, Megan, I got something."

"Go ahead Spike." She said, "We're 10 seconds out from contact, so make it quick."

"Got it- she's been reading a lot of online articles and blogs about the Goddess killer, and she's even posted on some forums about it."

Based on the fact that Megan didn't reply, I could only assume that she had started talking to Rebecca. Problem being is that she forgot to turn on ambient mode, so I can't pick up what both Megan and Rebecca are saying.

"Boss, Megan forgot to engage ambient." I radioed to Greg.

"Copy that, Spike- anything else?"

"Rebecca's mom just got here- I'll talk to her."

"Copy that."

The door of the truck opened, and a woman entered, I proceeded to show her to a chair. Before I started talking, I made sure my radio was on ambient mode.

"Mrs. Berger-" I started.

"Please, call me Diane."

"Diane- do you know why you're here right now?"

"The officer told me that my daughter is threatening to kill herself."

"Ok. Is there anything we should know- is your daughter taking any medications, specifically medications for depression, anxiety, or any other mental illness?"

"No, nothing. She's a straight A kid."

"Smart kid?" I asked, trying to bond with Diane.

"More than smart- brilliant."

"That's good to know, Diane." I continued, "Has she been under any stress lately? Has she met anyone new?"

"She's a quiet kid- she has a few friends, but not very many."

"Ok, that's good." I said, as I turned off ambient and radioed in, "Megan- she's a smart kid, so she'll be able to tell if you're lying to her. Might be socially isolated, pours her attention into her studies."

"That's a good thing." Diane pointed out.

"Yes, I know Diane." I encouraged, "What has she been studying or reading lately?"

"Everything and anything- she loves to learn. She's been talking a lot about those killings lately though."

"Are you aware of her internet usage, and what she posts on the internet?"

"I know she has a Facebook, page and that's about it." She admitted.

"Ok- are you aware that she has strong opinions on the serial killer? I'm reading several posts she made on an online forum in discussion of the killer, one post says, and I quote, 'it is things like this who make young people like me afraid to leave my house.' You catch that boss?"

"Got it," Greg said, "She's a smart, socially isolated teenager, and when the world around her becomes scary enough, she doesn't want to go outside anymore."

"She's projecting." I summarized.

"That's exactly right." Greg radioed back, "She doesn't want to go outside, or even go to school anymore, because there's the risk she could be murdered. School and learning is a lot to her, so when she thinks that's no longer an option, she turns to death."

Suddenly, I could hear Megan and Rebecca talking. Megan must've finally realized her radio wasn't in ambient mode.

"Is this all I have?" Rebecca screamed, "When I leave my house, I worry if I'll make it home. When I leave school, I'm looking over my back constantly. I don't want to live in fear!"

"You don't have to be afraid, Rebecca, and you do not have to die today." Megan said convincingly.

"You don't get it!" Rebecca replied.

"Yes, I do Rebecca!"

"We got a jumper!" Brad exclaimed over the radio.

I stared at the screens.

"Brad- 10-5 your last." I requested.

"She jumped-" Brad said, "Hit pavement doing over 50 kilometers an hour."

"Copy that."

I looked over to Diane. "Diane, you have to strong, ok?"

"Why? What's going on?" she asked.

"Your daughter just killed herself. I'm sorry for your loss."

"12:29, paramedics on scene pronounced Rebecca Berger dead on scene." Greg said, as he read out the log book, "You ok Megan?"

"Yeah," Megan said, who looked flustered, "I guess I just didn't connect in the right way."

"It's ok. We all have our moments." Greg replied.

"So what, this killer has personally killed five kids, and drove another one to suicide? How long is going to go on?" Ed asked.

"We need to change our style." Brad suggested, "Police needs to put out a city wide warrant for this guy's arrest."

"You don't think they haven't thought of that?" Ed asked.

"It's my fault she died." Megan stated.

No one spoke, as if to tell her it wasn't her fault. I felt the need to say something.

"No, it's mine."

"Spike- what are you saying?" Greg asked.

"I was the one building the profile- I was stuck on a social engineering standpoint, when it really was an emotional dilemma because of her fear and…"

"It's no one's fault." Ed finalized, "She was suicidal. She was the one who finally jumped. If she wouldn't have jumped today, she would've swallowed pills tomorrow, or put a bullet in her spine the next day. She had the thought and the desire to die, and despite our best efforts, we could not help her by overriding those thoughts and desires."

"It's no one's fault." Greg parroted.

"Five murders, and one suicide- all orchestrated by the same person-"Megan said, "The same person."

Megan got up and grabbed the envelope and signed the seal. "There's somewhere- no, someone I need to see."