CHAPTER 5

Welcome back! I'm sorry it's taken me so many days to write the new chapter but I had trouble making it look like I wanted to. I have a little surprise for you guys in this chapter that I really hope you like!

- Hey Boss – Kono gritted him when he got out of his office – any word from Danny or Annabeth?

- Hey. Not yet. I'm picking her up now and then we'll gather again here around three to go over their findings – he responded and then asked a question himself – any progress on the background check? – Kono typed a few things on the smart table and then slid her hand over it to send the information to the big screen.

- I've been working on finding a motive for the murders. Thinking it could have something to do with money, I ran a background check on the kid's parents and then extended the search to their adjacent family. Nothing stands out. If anything, Charlie Robin's parents hold good jobs and a decent paycheck each, but the other two are just hardworking families trying to get their children through college. If the motive was economical, one would think at least there was a significant amount of money to gain from all this. There are also no unusual transactions from any of the accounts – she finished.

- Yeah, I don't think the usual motives apply on this case. But we need to cover them anyway. Keep working on that and we'll continue on it once we're all back here. I gotta run now, don't wanna be late picking Annabeth up – Steve said, already heading out the door.

- Better run boss, you know how she gets... – Kono said with an amused smile on her face before focusing again on the smart table and digging her way into the victim's life.

Steve pulled out his phone from his pocket before starting the engine and sent a text to Annabeth, letting her know he was on his way. She was supposed to have classes only until right past midday and so the team had decided to share that morning's progress after lunch. Danny would join them as well after he used the extra time between the first period of classes and the second to talk to other professors about the murders with the excuse of providing "counsel" not just for the students but for the teachers as well.

Steve seriously hoped they had managed to gather enough new information to be able to establish a connection between the victims. Information that wasn't on any file or police investigation. Things like what they usually did between classes, who they hung out with, what they ate, even how many times they used to go to the bathroom between breaks. At this point he would take anything if it meant finding the right connection between them. He refused to accept that this murders were random and he was worried because, random or not, the time between each murder hadn't been longer than a week; which meant that either they found their killer soon, or they would be adding another young face to this case's file.

His phone beeped with a reply telling him that she was done and he relaxed because he was only five minutes away now.

When Annabeth put her phone away after texting Steve her reply, she stood there contemplating how bizarre this scenario was in her life: waiting for someone to pick her up from a day in college. She had never even considered the idea of attending one given how she had led her life since she was barely a teenager, not even managing to graduate from high school.

This job, if it could even be considered a job at the time she was approached by the agency, had consumed every aspect of her life, giving her no time to think about her future or if she wanted to do something else with her life. Some time after Alex had been killed and she was let go from the agency, she had trouble moving on or finding something else to do because how do you settle into a normal job after everything you've seen... After everything you've done... Getting a spot on the task force had been almost like a blessing (even if she was a little reluctant to accept it at first) because it provided her with the opportunity to continue to help make the world a safer place but without being forced to do it under such extreme circumstances as she did before.

She was beginning to picture how life would be like as a normal college student when she saw Steve's truck rounding the corner and getting closer.

- Nice timing – she said when she got in and then together they headed back to the office.

After lunch and a couple of more hours digging through every piece of information they had, they still weren't closer than they were that morning from finding their killer.

- This is ridiculous – complained Danny – if I didn't know any better I'd say this killer has finally managed to commit the perfect crime.

- Come on Danny, you know there's no such thing – said Chin, having to take one step away from the blond detective because his frustrated hand gestures were starting to get out of control.

- We gotta be missing something – commented Kono while her eyes never left the white board.

This wasn't something they usually did, decorate a white board with all the information from a case, but since this one was proving to be so difficult to solve, they had decided to use every technique available if it meant getting results. Sadly, although the board was supposed to help give them some perspective, they still had nothing: no true suspects, no motive, no connection... Nothing. Steve was also contemplating the board and staring at the young faces of the victims when he finally decided.

- I think we need some help with this one.

- What do you mean? – Annabeth asked him.

- I mean, we don't really have that much experience working with serial killers and... Yes, I'm starting to believe we might be dealing with one here. The no connection thing, the lack of motive for each of the victims. When a serial killer is involved, normally the usual motives don't fit the crimes and since we have no suspect... – he left the sentence unsaid.

- So what? You think it's time to have a more psychological approach? Get the bureau involved? – intervened Danny.

- I think that a profiler might be able to see what we're missing here and I think I know just who to call – Steve answered with a smile and grabbed his phone. He searched through his list of contacts and hit the call button, dropping his phone on the smart table so everyone else could hear the conversation. A few rings later, Lori Weston answered the phone.

- Steve? – she said, surprised to get a call from him – it's been a while. Is everything alright?

- Hi Lori, sorry to bother you right now. I'm with the guys here – everyone said a collective greeting for her to hear – and we were wondering if you could help us out with a tough case we got.

- Sure, anything I can do to help – she answered after greeting everyone back – what do you have?

Steve then proceeded to give her a kind of condensed version of the case they were currently working on, asking for her opinion and advice as a profiler.

- Well, it does sound like the work of a serial killer. You say you don't have any other connection between the victims but the fact that they all went to the same college right?

- That's right – confirmed Danny.

- Well maybe that's all the connection you need. Try cross-referencing that fact with every member of the families for now. If the usual motives aren't working with the victim's cases, then maybe it has more to do with the killer. In that case, you need to concentrate on the elements of the murders that relate to him and not the victims.

- Like what? How do we know which elements correspond to the victim and which correspond to the killer? – asked Kono.

- The timing of the murders, for example. That has more to do with the killer and his reasons for killing than with the victims. The places where the murders took place, the position the bodies were found in. All of that creates a direct line to the killer. All of that can help you determine a profile and if any of your suspects fits it, then that's your killer right there.

- Do you think you can create a profile for us? – Steve asked her.

- Sure. Send me the file with as much detail as you can and I'll have a profile ready for you tomorrow. I'm sorry it can't be sooner than that but I'm kind of in the middle of a case too – she apologized.

- Hey, no worries. We appreciate you taking the time to do this and we're sorry to dump this on you all of the sudden – Danny said.

- Yeah, Lori. Mahalo sister – Kono thanked her with a smile on her face although Lori couldn't see it.

- I'll send you the file right away. Thanks Lori.

- Sure thing Steve. Guys…

- Bye Lori! – they all said in unison before she hang up.

- Now, that my friend, was a smart move – Danny complimented Steve while patting him on the shoulder.

- By the way, I found out a group of students is gonna host some sort of memorial honoring the students who died. Neither of the victims belonged to one but the ceremony will be held at one of the fraternity houses. I was thinking I should go and see if I notice anything strange – Annabeth said, remembering some of the chattering she heard during the day.

- Great. When is the ceremony taking place?

- Tonight.

- Alright then. Until Lori gets back to us with the profile we can't move forward in the investigation. Annabeth, you'll go to the fraternity house and see what you can find out, I can drive and wait for you a couple of blocks from the house. As for the rest, I think you can all head home and we'll continue to work tomorrow, hopefully with more information.

Everyone agreed and soon they all headed home. Annabeth and Steve went to his house so she could get changed and then headed towards the place where the ceremony would be held. If she wanted to find more personal information of the victims, what better place to do it but a house full of heartbroken friends and alcohol? Because there definitely would be alcohol. After all, what was a fraternity house without it?

I know… crappy ending. I'll try to do better next time.

What did you think about Lori's little appearance back there? I thought it would be a nice touch to add her to the story even if it was just through a phone call and given the fact that she is a profiler, I thought it fit perfectly with the case they are trying to solve.

Now, we are getting closer and closer to the moment of truth. I think maybe two or three more chapters and then BOOM the big truth is revealed! Care to adventure on how it will be done? I would love to see what you think will happen! Also, I hope the thing with the dialogue that I'm trying for this story isn't boring you much… I find it really interesting to tell the story using a lot of dialogue between characters; let me know what you think about that too!

Well… I'll keep working on it now so… until next chapter!