Katherine winced as her cell phone vibrated on her desk. "Ted?"

"It's him," Williams said.

"It's him?" asked Katherine with furrowed brows.

"With Baldwin's arrest, the killing end."

"Could it be that everything hasn't been updated yet?"

"Kate," Williams said. "That was almost seven years ago. Also, VICAP has been thoroughly overhauled, and since then, sex offenses have been in there, too. Anyway - we don't have anything from a copycat killer."

"Baldwin is a serial killer. A guy like that doesn't stop."

"Only if he gets caught. We caught Baldwin, and the killings stopped."

"Maybe he had a partner?!"

Williams was silent for a moment and took a deep breath. "You're one of the smartest people I've ever met, Kate. You would have to know that after Baldwin's arrest, the partner would have gone on killing to sow doubt about Baldwin's guilt. Maybe even influence the trial to the point where it would have amounted to a mistrial because the actual killer was still at large."

Katherine nodded slowly and pressed her lips together for a second. "I see --" she murmured. For a moment, she didn't know what to say. In this case, her sister thought the word 'understand' was out of place.

"Listen," Williams said after a few seconds. 'I'm calling Detective Brooks in New York; he followed the Angel of Death from Los Angeles to New York. He was on the case in Los Angeles and New York when Baldwin was raging there. Do you remember Brooks?"

Katherine closed her eyes for a moment. Another name from her past that she would have preferred to erase from her memory. "Yeah, he was Nate's partner back then."

"I know; I'll tell him what happened. And as for Boston --"

"Yes?"

"Well, maybe it's an isolated incident unrelated to Baldwin. But if something similar happens again, a murder with a similar modus operandi, with those cuts, the heart cut out, whatever, you let me know immediately. Okay?"

Katherine took a deep breath and nodded slowly as she ran her hands over her face. "Agreed. an you send us the DNA from the L.A. case? The ones from back then, from the crime scene?"

"Let's see. I'll try to get the appropriate DNA samples."

"That would be great, Ted."

"We started this back then; we need to finish it too, Kate. We have to finish it, even if it means Baldwin is either innocent behind bars or his accomplice has been lurking out there for years, continuing Baldwin's work in Boston."

"Thanks, Ted," Katherine murmured with furrowed brows, "we'll be in touch when we know anything new."

"And I'll call Brooks tomorrow; I still have him on speed dial," Williams replied. "You'll hear from me."

Elizabeth leaned back in her desk chair and took a long, hard look at her sister, not missing the fact that the doctor was stirred up inside. "You should let Nick know you won't be coming home tonight, you're in no shape to drive."

"I --" the doctor began, pausing with a deeply furrowed brow and gritting her teeth for the second time that evening. She shook her head and sighed, "Let's go downstairs; I'm going to send Nick a text that I won't be coming home tonight."

Elizabeth nodded in relief and rose from her desk chair.

xxx

The night had been short, far too short. On top of that, she had drunk too much once again.

Elizabeth sat at her desk at her laptop the following day, clicking through several websites, unmotivated and tired.

Cannibalism, she had typed into one of the search engines. Now she was seeing images from art history. Paintings by Rubens and Goya, Kronos eating his children. All but one, Zeus, who then destroyed Kronos.

Nick came into the bullpen and slowed his steps. "Kate looks just as shitty as you do."

Elizabeth leaned back in her chair and smiled a little. "Good morning to you, too."

"Nothing at Interpol," Nick reported. His wife had sent him some information during the morning. "And as for the FBI, you seem to have the best contact yourselves."

"Yes," Elizabeth replied, scratching her head while making a face. "It's just a question of whether Ted Williams is useful to us. I doubt it." She rubbed her eyes. "You know what I wonder?"

Nick sat down at his desk, guessing her question. "What that psycho has been doing all this time, right?"

Elizabeth nodded slowly. "Exactly. After all, it's been almost ten years since Baldwin went to jail. And that's when his potential partner just dropped out of the picture?"

"Maybe some time off," Nick commented with the corners of his mouth pulled down as he sat down at his desk. "Take a break from the stressful job of being a serial killer. Leave everything behind. Meditation, snorkeling in Thailand, writing a book, sailing around the world --"

Elizabeth had to laugh against her will. "You're a jerk; you know that?"

He grinned broadly and raised his shoulders as his gaze wandered to the entrance of the bullpen.

"Good morning," Katherine said, a file under her arm. "I'm midway here and thought we'd reconcile. Do we know any more details about the DNA yet?"

Elizabeth looked at her sister closely. "Maggie was going to be in touch later this morning, and I'm expecting her call at any time. Where are you headed?"

Katherine took a deep breath. "I'm going to Medic Research."

Nick's eyebrows drew together. "The pharmaceutical company?"

"Yes, they invite me often when they have new surgical instruments."

"A pharmaceutical company?" repeated Nick his question. "They've got the big bucks, don't they? Do they have appetizers and stuff?"

Katherine looked at her husband admonishingly. "Yeah, kind of a second breakfast."

"Speaking of breakfast." Elizabeth pointed to her monitor, "I looked into cannibalism some more, but somehow we're stuck there. Most cannibals are looking for some... well, unity with their victim." She pointed to the pictures, including the one that showed a close-up of Steven Foreman's fractured skull. "But that doesn't apply to this brute."

Katherine nodded slowly. "That's why it would be good to have Williams here, and he's an expert on the subject."

"An expert on cannibalism?" asked Nick skeptically.

"Yes. Not from personal experience, though, before you make another silly joke now. The only question is whether the FBI will cover the airfare because the cheapskates at our place certainly won't contribute to the cost, even if Williams can help us take a firebrand killer from the streets. But what's important right now is that they send us the DNA sample from Kenneth Baldwin."

"If we have another murder with the same modus operandi, they might even come to Boston, right?" asked Elizabeth with furrowed brows.

Katherine sat down in one of the chairs in the bullpen. "I hope so," she said, flipping through the file she had under her arm. "In Los Angeles and New York, this maniac painted the doorsteps to his victims' apartments with blood," she continued. That's why they called Baldwin the Angel of Death. After all, we talked about it yesterday." She looked at Elizabeth and Nick. "Do you know the story?"

"Sort of," Elizabeth replied. "The term comes from the Bible, doesn't it?"

"Yes." Katherine nodded in agreement. "The Egyptians had enslaved the Israelites, and Moses was supposed to free them. To help him, God visited the Egyptians with the seven plagues. At the same time, the angel of death was going around, and he was to slay every firstborn of the Egyptians."

"The angel of death."

"Exactly. To prevent the angel of death from accidentally killing a firstborn of the Israelites, so to speak, they were to paint the blood of a lamb on their door frame. The lamb they had previously eaten at the Pasham meal, the precursor to Easter."

"Thank you for the digression on the death angel of the Israelites based on the biblical source texts." Elizabeth half bowed, and her sister rolled her eyes. "Doesn't help us, though. Can't this Williams guy send us the case records from back then?"

Katherine raised her brows briefly and nodded. "As far as I know, they're already putting something together for us."

"And this Egypt thing? Was Kenneth Baldwin a religious killer?" Nick wanted to know, looking at the two women.

Katherine shook her head a little.

"And what's this weird event at this pharmaceutical company now?"

"You mean at Medic Research?"

Nick nodded.

"That's where a former classmate I remember from med school works. Aaron Wolfsen, we used to call him Aaron West."

"Why is that?"

"There's a short story by H.P. Lovecraft, Herbert West, the Reanimator. It's about a mad doctor who wants to bring the dead back to life. Which works, but not in the way he imagines. West, I mean Wolfsen, was such a weirdo too. Even during his studies. He went on to become a surgeon. Until --"

Elizabeth's eyebrows drew together. "Until?"

"Until they took away his license to practice." Katherine seemed uncomfortable about the matter. "There are some rumors, but I never followed up to see if there was any truth to it."

Elizabeth looked at her sister long and hard. "What rumor?" Inside her, the detective was finally awakening.

Katherine squirmed as if she were uncomfortable with what strange acquaintances she had. Whereas weird acquaintances were expected with Katherine. "He experimented on the mentally disabled and did lobotomies and similar procedures."

Nick made a face. "Lobotomies? That surgery where you poke the brain and cut certain nerves?"

"Yes," Katherine nodded, pinched. "Now he works at Medic Research, and they're testing the new surgical instrument there."

Elizabeth had heard the company's name before in another context. "Wasn't Medic Research itself in the headlines once?"

"Yes, back then, that story about the drug damaging the genetic material," Katherine replied, nodding. "The drug was intended as an antidepressant. Only, unfortunately, they had overlooked the fact that it had a teratogenic effect."

Elizabeth slowly closed her eyes. "English, please."

"Fertility damaging. They didn't know then that there are left-handed molecules and right-handed molecules. One version is harmless. With the other, however, the children are born malformed. The whole thing was all the worse because the drug was originally intended as a remedy for depression. When it is administered today --"

"Is it still legal?"

"Not here in our country, no. But Medic Research is pretty relaxed about it and continues selling drugs outside the United States. When administered in Africa or Asia, it's always along with the birth control pill. Over there, they're still experimenting with the stuff. Whether it works, I don't know. But I don't want to know how many deformed children are still being born today, even with the birth control pill mixed in."

Elizabeth now looked at her brother-in-law. "Medic Research doesn't seem to have learned much from this."

Katherine shrugged. "I'm afraid they don't care. You can do things others won't dare when you're already considered a bogeyman. Besides, hardly anyone today knows that Medic Research had anything to do with the affair surrounding this antidepressant. Not the end customers, anyway. A few journalists are still harping, but the company can get over that. On the other hand, its reputation as a market leader in the development of surgical instruments is impeccable. That's what today is all about, by the way. About testing new surgical instruments on --" She faltered.

Elizabeth furrowed her brows; she could guess what was coming next. "On what?"

"On bodies."

Nick blinked a few times. "So that's your morning occupation now? Breakfast with bodies?"

Katherine raised her brows briefly. "Something like that. It's good to stay up to date on medical research. After all, I'm a medical doctor. And the world of pharmacy is very different from ours, and it can sometimes be inspiring to look at things from a different perspective."

Elizabeth was a little upset that her sister went to this event and left her and Nick sitting with the killer but said nothing.

The doctor rose from her chair and headed toward the exit. "I'll be gone for two hours, okay? Let me know if there's anything. I'll call the minute Williams checks in."

Elizabeth pursed her lips and nodded. "Will do."

Katherine disappeared into the hallway.

At that moment, as the doctor stepped into the elevator, Elizabeth's cell phone rang, it was her wife.

"The DNA comparison is done," Maggie said without further ado.

Elizabeth frowned deeply, suddenly excited as if she were about to find out if she had graduated from high school. It was the same with every one of these calls. "So?"

"The heart tissue came from Steven Foreman," the ME said. "At the same time, we found a different DNA profile."

"A man's?" asked Elizabeth, looking at her brother-in-law wide-eyed.

Maggie was silent for a moment. "Yes."

"Identical to the DNA probes taken at the crime scene?"

"Yes. The DNA in the saliva matches what we found at the crime scene."

"So it's DNA from the killer?"

The redhead took a deep breath. "Everything points to it."

"Then the killer bit into Foreman's heart?" Elizabeth noticed her pulse quickening.

"Looks like it, Liz."