Author's Note: So, good news for you lovely, patient readers. Last night I wrote the last regular chapter of ROTK. It was Ch 11, but I plan to do an EPOV outtake and an EPI before it's all done. I'm going to spread these out a bit over the next week or two for you and then there will probably be a lull in fanfic updates from me while I focus on writing Induction for a while. I'm only about 5k into it, and once I get closer with MOB and this, I think I'll be a little freer to rock out on it...or at least that's my hope. Things are going to keep getting more and more intense from here on out...just to warn you. If you haven't figured it out already, this story is definitely not wusspurv friendly. Hope you enjoy!

There is a bit of Italian that I used Google Translate to get. I also have been researching all of this stuff about Baltimore online. Hope it's not too far off…if so, blame google.

Big thanks to my beta AgoodWITCH and my WC ladies for their suggestions and great work!

Chapter 8

An hour later, we had more or less commandeered the room as our work area as agent teams streamed in and out of the room. I was pleased to see a single whiteboard in the room large enough for Edward and me to outline the info as it came in.

The family flooring store had records going back fifty years. The agents were still neck deep in the old records, searching for specific sales. They already had a thousand local homes with the carpeting. I sent in two more teams to back them up, skimming the more recent electronic records to cross reference any houses which had replaced the older carpeting so we could eliminate them from the list of possible locations.

Emmett was trying to find more information on Sam and Dean Winchester. They had spotty records at best for the first nineteen or so years of their lives and then a few years ago they both completely disappeared off the grid. When Bree first came up missing, investigators were leaning strongly toward the brothers being responsible, but there had been no proof in either direction to sway them.

The Winchester boys were a dead lead, which pissed Emmett off and brought out the pacing beast again. I felt so bad for Emmett, but his extreme investment was making it hard to justify keeping him on in Baltimore. The only thing that really stopped me from relieving him of duty was fearing that he might go rogue and chase Caulfield himself. I was afraid he might get himself killed, or worse, if I didn't keep him in check.

The background analysis on Victoria Rae Kingsley came back an hour later. I frowned as I looked it over, sliding it to Edward who took a double take at the records. He looked up at me with tight eyes…we were on the same page. Without a word, we both stood up and rushed out of the room, running to the stairs leading to the fourth floor. We had left a guard outside her door and two on perimeter duty while we worked in the activity room.

When we reached the fourth floor, the guard still stood sentry outside her door. He shrugged as we approached. "No sign of her our here, Agent Swan….just that awful thrash metal for the past hour."

I knocked on the door…no reply. I knocked harder. After the fourth time, I tried to knob to find the door unlocked. I stepped into the empty room, my stomach boiling as I glanced toward the open window. Nothing had been touched or appeared to be taken in the ransacked room, but there was one new sealed envelope left behind, "Agent Swan" written on the outside in that familiar script that had been left on Bree's body.

I grabbed gloves out of my pocket and donned them quickly before carefully opening the letter as Edward called for the agent outside to bring a bag before calling to send agents to check on the perimeter guards. Edward reached forward with the storage bag that materialized and allowed me to slip the envelope inside as I unfolded the white page that was within.

"Too little, too late, team. Not gonna find little Vicky again, she's with me now, for the time being at least. I suspect the ugly green monster will come out soon and then she'll have to be eliminated, but until then this should get fun. I'm disappointed Agent Swan. If you're reading this, then you didn't catch on to my pretty little plant as I had hoped you would. He told me that you were better than this. Guess you aren't the world's greatest after all. Too bad…I so wanted us to meet face to face. Better hurry if you want to find The Rose alive or else you'll have to find her buried with the orchids and other beautiful little flowers. Tick Tock, La Bella Donna, La sua stagione di crescita sta raggiungendo è fine."

I was shaking as I read his words, not knowing Italian to translate the last line, but knowing it was a threat to me. Edward picked it up and sucked in a breath before looking at me with worried eyes. "Not only is he saying Rose's 'growing season is reaching its end,' but I think he might be threatening you. We need to get back to the conference room. I want to look something over really quickly, but I think I'm seeing a pattern, and maybe a lead."

As we made our way back to the main floor, my knees feeling as instable as jello, we got a call about the perimeter guards, both found unconscious. A metal ladder leaned against the wall of the dorm leading to Victoria's window was the only other sign anyone had been there at all. Caulfield had been here, on campus, and helped her escape right under our noses. A chill went up my spine when I realized that we had found not only an equal to Royce in intelligence and cunning, but possibly even a superior. It also made me wonder if we didn't have it wrong all along…if King was the submissive in the relationship while Caulfield was the dominant.

I trembled as we entered the room, falling into my seat and staring blindly at the wall. Why was I failing left and right? What was I not seeing? I was missing something big right under my nose, and he was laughing at me and my mental block.

Edward rushed to his computer across the room, scanning the screen before speaking up. "It's a known pattern that King abducted women with a flower in their names. ROSEalie LILLIAN Hale, Felicia LILLIAN Ross, DAISY Lynn West, VIOLET Ann Rosings, HOLLY Denise Michaels, IRIS Sharee Rosenbloom, Bailey JASMINE Ellis, and IVY Grace Rossdale were his victims before you captured him. I just did a search for other flower names that have recently joined the missing person's list. Among them is Breanna ROSE Winchester, OLIVIA ROSE Ashton, and LAUREL ROSE Manning all taken from the Baltimore area since King's incarceration, and the other two before Bree. We may have more than one victim here. Can I see that note again?"

Emmett passed it with a shaking hand, his eyes darting to me and my heart fell as I saw the condemnation there. He was blaming me for missing this and I couldn't hardly blame him. I Blamed Me!

Edward read it over again with a hum before opening his computer to search again. "He makes specific mention of being buried with the Orchids along with the other beautiful flowers. Nobody with the name Orchid has disappeared, but Baltimore has a conservatory in Clifton Park known for its Orchid display. I suspect it might be a hint."

Emmett looked at me with wide eyes a second before I jumped up and ran for my phone, making calls to the teams telling them to narrow the search for places near Clifton Park. When the call was finished, I found myself running over to Edward to hug around his shoulders and kiss his cheek. It broke all semblances of professionalism but I really didn't care…I was just grateful that he had the distance to see what the rest of us could not. I knew I was too close to the case to be as beneficial as usual, but I was getting so frustrated with my mental blocks. All I could think of was Rose in Caulfield's hands, and it was clouding everything.

Edward blushed and smiled at me as Emmett and the others in the room pretended not to notice. I looked down at him with grateful eyes. "Thank you for being so amazing at your job. Thank you for staying objective when the rest of us can't."

He smiled sadly with a shrug. "I've only been with the team a few months and haven't had much interaction with Rosalie, so it's easier for me. Trust me; we're going to get this guy, especially since I noticed one more thing just now."

I cocked my head with a frown as he nibbled his lip and looked worried.

"He referred to you as La Bella Donna. In Italian, that means The Beautiful Woman, but Belladonna is also a flower also known as deadly nightshade. He has convoluted your name into a flower name as well, Bella. I believe you may also be a target now…either that or he has identified you as his biggest threat. Either way, I fear you are in more danger than we suspected."

I sucked in a breath as the trembling returned in the same moment that my phone began to ring. I picked it up and listened closely, my already cold blood freezing completely in my veins as my heart skipped several beats.

"Hello, Belladonna. The time has come for us to talk."