This is kind of spur of the moment, but I hope it suffices. I totally welcome reviews! They would be very helpful, especially since this is a crossover. Thank you to Snowgirl01 who has been asking me for more chapters. It's nice to know you're reading my story.
"Hello? Oh, hey, Steve." Mark answered his phone.
"Well, Dad, we showed your mysterious John Doe around to the neighbors of the victims." Steve said. "None of them have ever seen him around before, no one's ever talked to him, much less know where he came from."
Mark frowned and scrunched up his nose. "Aah!" He gritted his teeth. "Well, we tried."
"Yeah." Steve muttered. "It was a good hunch, Dad. And I am very curious about what he's doing repeatedly hanging around the televises."
"Good idea. Any news yet from the FBI on those snapshots?"
"Not yet." Steve replied. "I really hope they can give us some answers and solid leads tomorrow when we meet with them."
"Oh, let's hope so!" Mark agreed.
"Sloan?" Sergeant Barnes grabbed Steve's attention.
"Uh, excuse me, Dad. Hold on a minute," Steve spoke into the phone, then held it from his ear. "What's up, Drew?"
"We need you over at Jasmine Sun Hotel, on 68th Street, over by the Winfield Park." Sgt. Barnes replied solemnly.
"What is it?" Steve asked uneasily.
"They found Missy Frazier." Barnes sighed.
Steve's eyes widened. The woman who's been missing the passed two days, he thought dismally.
"She's dead." Barnes stated. "With the black rose and the note of regret."
Steve winced and grunted loudly. "Okay, I'll be right there." He sighed. Barnes walked away and Steve pulled the phone back to his ear. "Look, Dad. I've got to go."
"I heard, son." Mark replied solemnly. "I'm sorry."
"Yeah."
"Hey, take the snapshots with you."
"Good idea." Steve groaned. "I'll talk to you later, Dad."
"Okay."
As Amanda was walking back to the vehicles with the body bag and the orderlies, a band of folks with cameras, microphones, and notepads marched to him and his partners. Steve sighed heavily and shook his head. The press could be so pesky. "Lt. Sloan, is this killing related to the other female murders that have been happening? Are you any closer to finding the killer? Do you think anymore women may turn up missing?" The bombarding questions only annoyed Steve.
"First of all, this is a murder investigation," he spoke up. "We're doing our best to find the killer. We're expecting some expert assistance from the FBI, which should help us wrap up this case. As for if this homicide is associated with the others we've been finding, we won't know that until we get an autopsy. Now that's all I have to say." And he tried to walk away, but the reporters were at his heels 'til Captain Newman spoke up and diverted their attention. Steve walked over to Amanda to get some peace and quiet. He stood there with his hands on his hips.
"I think you answered their questions very well, without slipping anything you didn't want them to know." Amanda said encouragingly.
"It's just...this whole thing." Steve shook his head and rubbed his face. "It's an ugly mess, and it's got to be thwarted! Blast, if we just knew who the dirt bag was!" Amanda stared at him sympathetically and touched his arm.
"Look, Steve, I know you feel responsible, but this is not your fault." Amanda said softly. Steve gazed sadly into her eyes. "Hey, we've got well-trained agents willing to help on the way here, and hopefully they'll be able to help us identify this thug and stop him sooner than we all expect."
"Hopefully." Steve grunted. His experience with FBI agents had had rocky starts, and he greatly hoped that just once they'd throw aside any thoughts as blue flamers, and just get on the job, like he did. He wasn't going to stand for any nonsense or take any guff from the approaching agents arriving from the nation's capitol. He glanced back over towards the crowd when something caught his eye. He squinted intently at a subtle movement a couple yards away from the crowd, but nevertheless, close enough to hear.
"What is it, Steve?" Amanda asked, looking at him curiously.
"Excuse me. John Doe." Steve said and started to walk away, but Amanda trotted alongside him.
"What? Is it the guy?" She asked excitedly. "What are you gonna do?"
"Uh, Amanda. Look, why don't you go to the hospital and work your magic, and just let me do my job. Okay?" Steve grinned, trying to step closer.
"What? I don't get to go with you?" Amanda asked in disappointment, eagerness clear on her face.
"Look, Amanda. I've got work to do, and so do you. I'll let you know how it comes out." Steve said casually. Amanda frowned and pursed her lips then started to walk away.
"You know, I once thought things would be different," she said sarcastically as she stepped backwards, "but they're not. You're just like good old Jack Stewart! Pushing me aside, leaving me out of the fun, underestimating my abilities as a woman..." she continued to tease him and vent.
"Good-bye, Amanda." Steve grinned smugly, and walked nonchalantly to the group of people gathering around Captain Newman. He shifted his eyes to the tall figure lingering nearby, shuffling his feet in the grass. Steve slightly slipped the photos out of his jacket, and glanced from them to the anonymous man he was intending to follow. "It's him." Steve whispered in satisfaction. As soon as the reporters left, Newman walked over to Steve.
"I know it's ugly, Sloan." He sighed. "We need to get back to the station."
"You go ahead. I'll be along." Steve answered, keeping his eyes peeled on the fellow walking onto the sidewalk parallel with the hotel. "Excuse me." He started trotting after the guy.
"You onto something, Sloan?" Newman asked.
"I don't know yet!" Steve answered, heading back to his car but never letting his eyes peel away from that suspicious character.
Jessie and Mark glanced at Amanda as she walked up to them in the hallway. "Same cause of death, honey?" Mark asked.
Amanda nodded with a sigh as she handed him the folder. "Yes. A dash of chloroform in her champagne, and then a vicious beating after death."
"So, we can count this tied to those other murders." Jessie stated. "Seven victims now."
"Maybe Steve will have something on our mysterious John Doe." Mark said encouragingly.
"You know, I'm still upset he didn't let me go with him." Amanda crossed her arms. "It could've been a very interesting field trip."
"Yeah. Why is he always trying to cut us out of the fun stuff?" Jessie added.
"Don't worry, guys. He's done that to me too." Mark shrugged. Then his phone rang. "Well, guess who. Hello, son." He answered with the ear to his phone.
"Hey, Dad. I followed our John Doe over by the park." Steve replied.
"Oh, good! Did you find out where he lives?"
"No." Steve growled. "I got stuck at a red light and he got away. I looked around the area, but I lost him."
"Aw, at least you tried."
"Well, that doesn't help his next victim, whoever she is. I've put out an APB on him, but so far nothing."
"All we can do is keep trying." Mark said wistfully.
The Next Morning
Sue stared thoughtfully outside the window of the airplane. The blue dawn was becoming pink and golden. This was the farthest West she'd ever traveled in the United States. Levi was sleeping on her feet. She glanced over to Lucy, who was snoozing with her head against the wall next to the window, her face cushioned with a blue pillow. "This is quite an excursion, huh, Levi?" Sue asked down to her dog. Levi just glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes.
Sue glanced over at the seats across the aisle from them. Bobby was in the window seat, rubbing his eyes from sleepiness. Tara, however, was sitting up straight with her laptop perched on her legs. She was wearing earphones, and her capable, curious fingers were fiddling around on her keyboard. Sue grinned as she read the computer geek's lips. Tara was engrossed in a computer strategy game to pass the time 'til their plane landed, and she was talking to the screen. "No, you don't." Tara whispered. "I've got you in my sights, pal. Nothing gets by us! Give it up. Sigh...okay, but you can't say I didn't warn you! You're going down. Ooo. Youch! That hurts. Ooo, so vicious. Gotcha, ha, ha. Gotcha again! Oh, no. You're so mean. There! Mission accomplished! You were saying? Want to try it again?" Sue chuckled at her friend.
Then Sue noticed Bobby staring up at the ceiling, and Levi lifted up his head, then a dear, familiar hand touched Sue's shoulder. She turned her head to see Jack leaning close to her. "We're landing in 5 minutes." He said. "Better get ready." Sue nodded.
"And you'd better get back in your seat." She grinned with wide eyes. "We wouldn't want our hosts to say that this agent can't stand on his own two feet." She teased. Jack pursed his lips.
"Contrary to what you've probably heard, I don't suffer from jet lag." He whispered sarcastically, then took his seat beside Myles, which was behind Sue and Lucy.
"Hey, Princess Leia," Bobby nudged Tara's arm. Tara grunted and rolled her eyes.
"Ooof! You made me lose." She complained to the Aussie.
"We're about to land in the Valley of the Sun." Bobby replied. "So, you'll have to tell your animated opponents that they'll have to stand in line." Tara sighed and removed her earphones.
"Too bad." She said simply. "I was just about to earn an achievement award for upping my skills as a master participant." She closed her computer.
"Well, this will give you plenty of time to sharpen your no longer amateur tactics." Myles added. "No one is ever too good for improvement." The others all raised their eyebrows.
"Well said, Myles." Jack smirked, looking away from the smart alek. "Of course, I believe no one means everyone, so I guess we won't leave you out of that category."
"After all, it's like you said." Dimitrius spoke up. "No one is ever too good for improvement."
"Except in Myles' case, I'm not sure if too good even applies. He sounds to me more like he belongs in the not good enough class." Myles shook his head.
"Luce? Luce?" Sue gently shook her friend.
"Hmm? What? Did I miss any action?" Lucy asked, fluttering her eyes.
"We're about to land." Sue said. Lucy yawned and straightened her sitting position.
"Mmm. California at last." She said wistfully. "I've always wanted to come here in person. I wonder if we'll run into Adam Kinsey again."
"Ahem. Ahem." Jack grunted behind them.
"Please, let's not make this mission an epic disaster before we've even gotten started." Myles blurted in exasperation.
"Well, let's look at the bright side." Bobby chimed in. "We're in his nick of the woods now, so if he starts getting nosy, we can just shove him back to his movie set."
3 minutes later, the plane had halted on the runway and was fully parked. The team along with the other passengers shuffled in line to exit. Dimitrius led his coworkers out the door and down the stairs. The sky was bright with the California morning sun. As the travelers emerged out onto the parking lot, Chief Masters and Captain Newman walked up to the FBI agents. "Excuse me, I'm looking for special agent Jack Hudson, of the FBI?" Masters asked.
"I'm Agent Hudson." Jack spoke up. "And you are?"
"Charles Masters. Chief of the Metropolitan Police of Los Angeles. You'll be working within our jurisdiction while you're here. This is Captain Walter Newman, also from the Metro Police." Captain Newman shook hands with Jack.
"Agent Hudson, it's good to see you and your task force." Captain Newman sighed. "We really appreciate you coming all this way to assist us in our investigation. I certainly hope that we can work together without any misunderstandings."
"Yes, we hope so too." Jack nodded in agreement. "Anything we can do to help."
"If you'll all just follow us, we'll show you your accommodations." Chief Masters spoke up again. On the drive to the hotel, introductions were made and questions were asked about the progress of the case. "Another young lady, Missy Frazier was found murdered yesterday. Dr. Livingston from Community General Hospital performed an autopsy, and she has confirmed that Miss Frazier's death is exactly the same as the others we've been finding. That makes seven victims now."
"Have any other women been reported missing since then?" Dimitrius asked.
"Not yet." Captain Newman said dryly. "How did you know?"
"It's the killer's pattern." Myles chimed in. "Random females go missing, and then turn up dead in just a few days."
"That's right." Newman nodded. "Oh, by the way, Agent Hudson, do any of you recognize this guy? Would you be able to tell us who he is?" He pulled a photo out of a manila envelope and held it up for everyone to see. Jack and the rest all gaped with wide eyes.
"I don't believe it." Dimitrius said.
"Oh my word." Lucy stated.
"What? Do you know who that fellow is?" Captain Newman repeated himself.
"It's Jeff White!" Jack exclaimed.
"That's him!" Sue declared excitedly.
"And who is Jeff White?" Chief Masters inquired.
"Your serial killer." Bobby answered. "Jeff White, the mastermind behind the Rose Man Murders, at least that's what we call them."
"After the black rose he leaves next to the victims." Masters finished.
"Exactly." Tara stated. "Excellent work, Captain. This is the guy!"
"For curiosity's sake, where did you get these snapshots?" Myles asked.
"From Detective Lieutenant Steve Sloan of our homicide division." Masters replied. "He'll be the lead man you'll be working with, since he's the officer in charge of the investigation. Chief Masters will be introducing you all to each other at noon, if you'll care to join him for lunch."
"Sounds do-able." Jack said, glancing to his friends.
"I can't think of a better time to converse over a joint partnership mystery." Bobby shrugged. "Personally, I don't discuss new info too well on an empty stomach."
"Good. Then we'll have it arranged." Masters nodded.
"Not to appear suspicious, but what led Detective Sloan onto White?" Sue asked curiously. "How did he know who to follow? From the chatter we got back in Washington, we were told that you had no clue who the killer was!"
"We didn't!" Newman exclaimed. "And neither did he, really."
"Then how..." Lucy began.
"These pictures were from the press conferences at the crime scenes. This guy was seen at every one of them, standing outside of the group of people, but just close enough to hear what information was being released. None of the neighbors of the areas have seen him before." Newman explained.
"But who singled White out?" Lucy asked.
"Dr. Mark Sloan, Lt. Sloan's father." Newman responded. "He was the one to notice White's behavior on the conference tapes' footage."
"Mmm." Jack pursed his lips, nodding, and glanced at Sue who smiled. "I have a feeling we're gonna want to get to know this Dr. Sloan."
"Could prove very interesting." Dimitrius agreed.
"Right oh. You think you could arrange it so that Dr. Sloan could also join us at noontime?" Bobby asked.
"I don't see any problems." Newman said, after exchanging a glance with Chief Masters.
"Good." Sue smiled. "Perhaps he could be useful to us in flushing out Jeff White."
"Ohhh," Myles cringed and rolled his eyes, remembering their experience when movie star Adam Kinsey had been invited to shadow them on the field. "I can see where this is going!"
