In Hot Pursuit (Nydanna & MST3K 4ever)

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

[fieldbox= Cynthia, teal]Cynthia wanted to roll her eyes when Kevin started talking about his vehicle, the female barely understanding what all the fuss was about, not even when he brought his family into it. She had only been close to her parents, both only children and had one grandparent still alive, a woman who Cynthia could live the rest of her life without seeing and feel no remorse over. Just the thought of the woman made Cynthia's knees begin to ache from the hours spent kneeling at pews saying countless prayers for sins she had thought of committing. She could still recall the months spent scrubbing the church's walls as punishment for an essay she wrote on Darwinism and the evolution of man through the ages. Her science teacher at her school had been impressed and called to compliment her work; the only reason her grandmother learned about the report. The old woman had fumed for weeks afterwards, threatening to throw away all of Cynthia's books and allow her only to read the bible for the rest of her teenage years. Thankfully only a few short months later, her parents' attorney had gotten her enrolled in Bradshaw's school for the gifted, a relatively unknown school from the outside, but for people with IQ's like Cynthia's, it was their safe haven. Cynthia still thought fondly on her days there, the only place she had truly felt at ease.

Cynthia snapped from her reverie by the time they arrived at West's apartment, her brow quirking upward at the random words spoken. It wasn't until she slid into the room behind Kevin that she realized who Roxanne was, and why her partner was acting strangely. The detective cocked her head at the dog as if it was the first time she'd ever laid eyes on one, the animal's behavior only piquing her curiosity rather than settling it. She hadn't really took West for an animal lover, but then again, they hadn't been partners for more than a few days either. She herself wasn't a pet type of person, only because she knew she didn't have the time to devote to taking care of anyone or anything other than herself. She'd considered getting a cat once, but felt too guilty over the thought of bringing an animal into her home only to have it spend most of its time all alone.

Cynthia didn't sit down, nor did she move too far from the spot where she stood. The woman wasn't afraid of the dog that was watching her just as curiously as she was watching it, but she certainly didn't plan on intruding into her home any more than she had. The detective assumed that the animal had smelled trace amounts of her scent from Kevin, but that did not make her familiar.

"Talk to the dog?" Cynthia asked strangely, lifting a brow at the animal as if she would bark in response. She got nothing but an odd sniff and a blink before shrugging her shoulders. She certainly wouldn't talk to the dog, but she held out her hand to allow her to sniff at it and get a sense of her. When she was growing up she had always wanted a dog, her father promising that when she turned thirteen and could be responsible for its care they could adopt one. Her thirteenth birthday came and went, but the dog they were going to adopt never did.

She was beginning to realize the side effect of having a partner and that was having to deal with the human side of her personality. She preferred the 'Robocop' reputation. It was nice not having to show emotions to others unless the situation required it. Having to work closely with someone, Cynthia couldn't pretend that she was apathetic and cared nothing at all about anything other than her job and catching the bad guys. Now, West was getting glimpses of her that she normally wouldn't be given to anyone else, and she wasn't sure how she felt about it.

She observed as West talked to Roxanne, following along behind him as he made his way out of the apartment. There was really nothing she could say, the whole thing was a new experience to her. The silence followed her out to West's truck, the unfamiliar vehicle still not quite comfortable enough for her, especially when West began to mention music. She tended not to listen to anything but classical during her off hours, and she highly doubted her partner would share the same taste. Her head shook in refusal, her hand waving to show she wasn't worried about what he listened to. "You can play whatever you want. I'm going to book the rooms and do a little research on the camp site while you're driving."

The hotel rooms were easy enough to get, although she knew that the price was certainly going to earn the two of them a look. Their traveling expenses were covered by the department, but that didn't necessarily mean that there wouldn't be questions. They were going to the Keys, a known vacation spot. If she was anyone else she was certain there would be an investigation into the matter, but being who she was, Cynthia wouldn't be questioned.

A few minutes later she was looking over the campground's website. There was quite a lot of ground to cover, even if they knew exactly where Tyler was staying, there was a chance that evidence had been scattered everywhere. "I'm not sure where the site Tyler reserved is, but it looks like we're going to have a lot of digging around to do. The campground is off the water, which means there's the beach as well as the woods to look over. Both are going to make finding things next to impossible." Setting her phone down in her lap, Cynthia sighed heavily and turned to look out the window as the darkened sky overhead. "Hope you've got your running shoes on, because we're going to be looking for needles in a haystack."[/fieldbox]

 

[MST3K 4ever]

Kevin drove on and had the Springsteen channel on. Usually he preferred the hard rocking Bruce to the acoustical introspection Bruce, but in this case it seemed to work. If they were celebrating something then Kevin would've been okay with it, but inspite of seeing some of the layers get peeled back from Cynthia there was still a job to do. He wasn't here to make a new friend Kevin was a cop with a job he was called to carry out, but that didn't mean he had to be a jerk and anti-social. Kevin was also aware of the fact that if they found anything at all the Killer's lawyers could argue about evidence being compromised, but they needed something to go on because there was a fourth victim already dead and Kevin was convinced that time was running out for the fifth victim. If there was a fifth victim then he knew the media would start digging around, and that could seriously screw things up.

When Cynthia told him about the camp site Kevin shook his head and said, "Sounds more like we're looking for a needle in a field of needles. As long as there isn't a guy wearing coveralls, carrying a machete, with a Hockey mask we should be relatively safe." Kevin looked out onto the road and said, "The thing that concerns me is like you said these guys at the park sound like they like to throw their weight around as it were. Face it Cynthia they're only going to help us as far as they want to help us. Not saying they will alter evidence or anything of that nature, but I don't expect them to go overboard in helping us out." He shrugged his shoulders and said, "If nothing else it'll give us a chance to get back to nature and all that. I just feel like this is all a set up. Our killer is toying with us Cynthia, and I know we have to play on his terms for now, but sooner or later he's gonna make his one wrong step."

Kevin decided that not every second of the ride needed to be filled with idle chatter, so he decided it was time to enjoy some quiet time. He looked over at Cynthia and said, "If you want to catch some Z's go ahead. I won't take it personal."

He then turned his attention back to the road and as he did the image of his slashed tire weighed on his mind. Yes it was only a motorcycle and it wasn't a living and breathing entity, but the fact that his personal space was violated and that the killer was right outside his apartment was annoying Kevin. As annoyed as he was though he couldn't imagine what the families were going through at this time. Kevin was expecting a phone call at some point when they got back from the lab telling them that Gary Robbins was in the morgue. He was grateful that Carl seemed easy to work with and willing to be the buffer between the Department and his wife.

Kevin was consciously trying to fight the urge to play spit ball theory with Cynthia. One because they pretty much had gotten as far as they could for the time being. Two there was no place to write things down or compare it with previous material, and lastly no tennis racket, baseball bat, or place to pace around. Not even a Golf club to swing around at this point. Besides if they kept up with it much longer they would eventually just start looping back around, and that would lead to circular logic. The only Kevin knew for sure was that at the end of this road trip there would probably once again be more questions than answers.

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

[fieldbox= Cynthia, teal] Cynthia's eyes rolled at Kevin's attempt at humor insinuating that the campground would be hazardous in any way other than to their mental health. She didn't get the reference about a machete wielding, masking wearing guy either. "Why would there be a man dressed like that there? Is that how you picture the killer?" Shaking off the question, she jumped back to the original point that she did have to agree with. "They're not going to be helpful at all. In fact, I already know they're going to be more of a hindrance than anything else, and of course we'll have to notify the local station that we're on their turf. Fortunately, since Tyler was a resident of Miami and his body was found there, they can't try to claim jurisdiction, although if they did they'd have an uphill battle on their hands."

Sleep was the last thing on Cynthia's already busy mind, although she knew she was going to need it for the search. She wouldn't sleep yet, not until she considered how to tackle the task of searching for evidence at the campground. It was a lot of area to cover, and there was only the two of them. The detective didn't think they'd find the body there, but they would find traces of the woman who had either been with Tyler, or been used to lure him away. She was positive that it was the latter, and that whoever the woman was, whatever her story was, she would most likely not be the type of person their killer would have taken an interest in.

There was one thing that bothered her though, one thing about the phone call she had earlier with who she assumed was their killer. He had asked about her parents' case, which wasn't much of a surprise, but he hadn't been interested in what details she could give about them personally. He had been interested in their case, their murder, and whether or not she was looking into it. Why? Why did it matter if she ever did anything digging around on the case? Why had he wanted to know what she had learned of the case on her own? He was far more concerned with her and her role as a detective than he was with anything about her parents, who were the actual victims. Most people had asked about her parents themselves and a little of if her reasons for becoming a cop were because of their deaths. No one dug any further than that, and Cynthia wouldn't have responded even if they had.

Looking over at West, she frowned faintly. The killer had done damage to his vehicle, yet he had made direct contact with her. He already had his favorite, and she was it. He would be trying to form some type of relationship with her, making constant contact to show her that he was watching her. It was a dangerous game if she decided to respond to him in anyway, but eventually she would.

What would happen to West though? The killer was certainly not going to let up on her partner either, although she had a feeling that he was going to get the worse end of the deal. She wanted to warn him, but she had a feeling that he already knew he was going to have to keep his eyes open. He didn't need a warning, but she would make it a point to keep in contact with her partner a bit better.

"No sleep. I can wait until we get to the hotel to grab a few hours." Cynthia settled back in her seat, her eyes casting a sidelong glance at West. "I'm going to have to hit the phone early to get everything sent over. Maybe see if there's a forensics team that can come down to help if we find anything." Cynthia was running out of steam, but they would have a few hours to relax and catch up on some sleep before they were forced to deal with the heat and humidity of southern Florida. "We might want to change too. I'm not sure if you brought hiking boots, but I'd suggest getting some if not."[/fieldbox]

 

[MST3K 4ever]

Kevin looked over at Cynthia when she didn't pick up on the "Friday the 13th​" reference. If it was anyone else he might have rolled his eyes at them, but considering who he was dealing with there was a part of him that wasn't exactly surprised. He said, "It's a reference to a movie about a psycho who attacked people at a summer camp. Sorry bad taste, but yeah I agree with you about the local park officials. I think they'd make life difficult for us just to feel like they stood up to the big city Police." Kevin rolled his eyes at that said, "Whatever."

Kevin thought about the areas they were probably going to be searching over and said, "There is a way to cut down our search area a bit possibly." Kevin thought for a little more and said, "Okay if I was going to kill someone would I want to do it where there are a lot of people camping?" He shook his head and said, "No, away from everyone else. Now would I want to attack them in a wooded area where the trace evidence has a better chance of staying around for a bit longer, or would I want to attack them near the water where things could get washed out to sea or further away from the actual crime scene?" Kevin shrugged his shoulders and said, "Just a thought or two to consider."

When Cynthia mentioned hiking Kevin replied, "I actually have a pair I keep in here in the back." Kevin was about to reveal a bit more of his personal life to Cynthia, and it was something he wasn't too comfortable sharing with anyone that included his family. However if anyone could get him to not see the emotional attachment and just get over it as it were he knew Cynthia. He said, "You see I know this area a little bit. The campground we're going to there's another one about 20 miles west of it. I go there a couple of times a month. No one else knows about it except Larry and Carrie. I told him because I was placed on admin leave 6 weeks after the North Star case." Kevin had no idea how Cynthia was going to react next, but she had a right to know. He said, "I suffered a nervous breakdown. Larry went with me for a few days, because he was concerned I was going to kill myself. He was right to go with me I was suicidal I blamed myself for her death. Larry and his wife Helen helped me through that." Kevin gathered himself and then continued, "I keep going there quiet because it's my private place where I can get away from everyone and everything. Get my focus and regroup kind of thing." Kevin looked over and said, "Yes that's also where Carrie and I went when we wanted to be alone. Anyway, I go there now not because it reminds me of her or anything like that, but because it's peaceful it's calm. Plus I always take Roxy with me, and see her run and play in the stream…" Kevin smiled and said, "It's a lot of fun seeing her just be a playful dog. Not having to say these absurd commands and all that, but just be a normal dog like you'd find in the 'burbs."

As they got close to the motel Kevin looked around and the sun was just starting to peak over the horizon. He said, "Well good morning one and all. While you're hitting up the phone I'm going to give a call over to the campgrounds let them know we're in the neighborhood. Try and get a feel for how they may deal with us." He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Who knows we might get lucky and have a couple of decent park rangers." Kevin looked over at Cynthia and said, "I know I know wishful thinking on my part, but let me have my fantasy please."

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

[fieldbox= Cynthia, #053e54] Taste in movies notwithstanding, Kevin had a valid point about the search area. The problem was, there was also a great deal of water nearby that they'd have to worry about, and it wasn't as if they could trudge the entire ocean in search for a body. The detective wanted to believe that their killer hadn't bothered cutting the poor woman up and tossing her out as shark bait, but there was a chance that it was possible. She knew he had gone out of his comfort zone with this body, and that meant all bets were off. They weren't going to find her in some trash filled building, or even in an alley. But that left Cynthia in the dark. Where else could he possibly dump it? And why go through all the trouble if he hadn't planned on killing her anyway? Did he feel remorse over killing the woman? She scratched that idea right out of her head. If he felt remorse, there was no way in hell he'd have cut her uterus out of her body and mailed it off like a gift.

Cynthia stayed quiet during West's personal story, not wanting to touch the subject of nervous breakdowns or suicide; neither one of them were a possibility for her. When your life went to shit early on, you kind of expected the future to continue the pattern, and that was the outlook Cynthia had. What was the worst life could throw at her? It had already taken away the only people she cared about and left her with nothing left to lose. That was also her take on relationships and why she stayed clear of them. If she let herself get close to anyone, they held value to her. If they held value, she'd feel something if they were lost, and she didn't want to feel the same way she'd felt at thirteen.

Cynthia's quirked a brow at West's o behavior, shaking her head and continuing with the silence. She wondered if he his doubts on how the employees of the campsite would respond to him, or if he thought he'd have better luck because he was a man. Either way, it didn't matter too much to Cynthia, she had her own phone calls to make, starting with one to the DA's office to get a copy of the warrant faxed over before they even thought of driving over there and wasting their time. "Good luck. I'm going to go check in and see if….." She was cut off by the sound of her phone ringing, Cynthia quickly picking it up after a quick glance at the screen. "Hey Doc, what do you have for me?" West was left to do as he wished while Cynthia got out of the truck with her bag and headed toward the hotel. Samson spoke to her in a rush, the information that he gave made her stomach churn and her face grow pale. "You're kidding? How long ago?" She listened in, her face lined with worry and concern. "Alright. Hopefully that means there's a missing person's report out there for her and we can at least get an ID soon. Thanks for the head's up."

Ending the call, the detective heaved out another hard sigh, reaching up with her free hand to rub at her temple. After a thorough examination of the uterus that had been sent to her, the doctor concluded that the female killed had been pregnant within the past week, meaning there was a newborn out there without a mother, or the woman had an abortion or miscarriage. Without the rest of the reproductive organs, it was impossible to tell. Either way, the good news was that the killer hadn't been responsible for any death to the baby, at least according to the doctor. But who knew? He could have been keeping it quiet while over the phone.

Shaking her head, Cynthia dug through her bag and pulled out her wallet for her ID as she approached the desk. The woman behind the counter gave her a look, and quickly began a tirade of how check in time wasn't until eleven A.M and that she would have to come back later. Cynthia hadn't really wanted to pull out her badge, but she was hardly in the mood for dealing with the uptight female in her current mood. Flashing her shield, the detective scowled at the woman. "Look lady, I'm here for an investigation, not to fucking party. Give me my damn room key so I can get some sleep before I have to go out in ninety degree weather in search for evidence." The receptionist paled, but stood firm on her stance until Cynthia snapped and requested to speak to the manager.

The manager, a man about Cynthia's age with rancid breath and roaming eyes came out to talk to her, the detective no more pleasant to him than she had been to his employee. "I swear to god, if you don't just give me my damn key and stop undressing me with your eyes I'm going to go through this entire hotel to find every single health code violation I can to have this place shut down!" She was a bit cranky given her lack of sleep and the sickening feeling over the news she'd just heard, but even if her mood was better, Cynthia would have reacted the same way. Her patience with other people outside of work was minimal at best, and it seemed like everyone was trying to test it that morning. All she wanted to do was get up to her room, take a power nap and get the show on the road so she could make it home by Sunday. Why did it feel like the rest of the world wanted the complete opposite?[/fieldbox]

 

[MST3K 4ever]

Kevin started to gather his luggage from the back of the truck as Cynthia took a phone call. If it had something to do with the case as far as he was concerned it would keep. At this moment he had one thing and that was climbing into bed for some needed rest. The drive down wasn't that bad and Cynthia was actually a pretty good traveling companion. She listened patiently and was willing to talk about the case without going overboard. However the last couple of days were starting to bear down on Kevin, and his body was saying it had enough for a while.

He walked into the lobby of the hotel and could tell that Cynthia was having issues with the staff. They were early with their check in, and apparently the staff wanted to be difficult. Kevin shook his head slowly as he stood next to his partner. Kevin pulled out his shield and showed. He said, "Whatever she said I will back her up as well. Now our room keys or I swear life as you all know it will become the worst kind of Hell you could ever imagine." With that the manager blinked twice and then looked at the clerk. He said, "Do it." He turned and walked away as Kevin put away his shield and said, "Thank you." The clerk asked for their names and Kevin came her his. She slid his key across the desk and looked at Kevin with scorn and Kevin again smiled as he said, "Thank you." Kevin turned to Cynthia and said, "I got room 208. Whoever wakes up first calls the other, and we'll go from there. Good night and good luck."

With that Kevin turned and walked away to room 208. The room had the basics of a non-chain hotel that tried to look nicer that it was. Kevin looked around as he closed the door and asked, "Why do I get the feeling this room was once featured as someone's last known appearance?" He shook his head as he dropped his bag and took his shoes off. Kevin then laid out his clothes next to him on the bed, got undressed, grabbed a quick shower and a shave, and then put on a pair of running shorts as he climbed into bed. The sheets and covers were tucked in tight and Kevin felt like he needed to be as strong as Hercules to pull them up as he began to settle in for a nap.

Just then he remembered he told Cynthia he would call the Park to talk to one of the Rangers. Kevin opened his eyes and said, "Oh why do I have to be so dependable sometimes? It's my cross to bear." Kevin picked up the phone and dialed the number for the campground.

After three rings a male voice on the other said, "The Crystal River Campground Ranger Darren Peterson, can I help you?"

At first Kevin wanted to say it was too early in the morning to be this happy, but he tied his current frame of mind in with lack of sleep and dealing with the staff. He replied, "Yes Ranger my name is Detective Kevin West my partner Cynthia Matthers and I are investigated a murder. Our victim stayed at your establishment, and we will be there later today. I was calling to give you the heads up."

Peterson replied, "Yes our manager Ranger Bruce notified us you would be here today. He said we are to give you as much help as possible. We have the information on the person you called about. We will just need to see the paperwork authorizing you to look at our forms."

Kevin nodded and replied, "Thank you Ranger Darren we'll have our paperwork in order, and we'll call before we leave. We are currently staying at the Riverside Inn about 5 miles from you all. Thank you for your time and see you later today."

Peterson replied, "We look forward to helping you all out as much as we can. Have a good day Detective."

Kevin replied, "You too." He hung up and thought for a moment that maybe they should go now while they had a decent and willing helper. Then as soon as that thought entered his head another one came in to replace it. The thought that neither him nor Cynthia were exactly at their best for at the moment, and Kevin didn't want to inflict the Grumpy Detectives on the poor unsuspecting Ranger. Not to mention in their current state the killer could be standing wearing a t-shirt that said, "I am the killer" and they might miss it.

As Kevin started to roll over his phone rang and then came the time honored debate of answer it or voice mail. He shook his head and said, "The universe hates letting me sleep." Kevin rolled over and answered the phone saying, "Yeah West."

A voice on the other end said, "Detective West this is Jordan at the lab. I have the results for the Robbins' family DNA."

Kevin replied, "Let me guess a spot-on match."

Jordan said, "Yes it is. We now have the identity of your first victim."

Kevin replied, "For the time being keep it to yourself until you hear from either Detective Matthers or I. We need to discuss a couple of things before we contact the family."

Jordan said, "I'll delay my report until 5pm hours. After that I have to do my job."

Kevin replied, "Understood we'll be in touch by 2 at the latest."

Kevin then hung up and laid there for a moment. He hated telling Carl over the phone, but he knew Carl would want to know. This was something he would mention to Cynthia before doing, because at this moment his empathy and people skills were gone.

Kevin stared at the ceiling for a moment and then faded off to sleep.

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

[fieldbox= Cynthia, #053e54]Cynthia sighed in relief when Kevin turned up to back her stance, flashing him a tired, grateful look once the manager finally consented to let them check in early. She was exhausted, and after the piece of information she'd just learned, she needed a moment to reflect on what it meant. Was there a newborn out there without a mother? Cynthia didn't want to believe that any mother would go out to meet their lover while leaving their newborn behind. That would mean that the woman had possibly been pregnant with Tyler's child and had lost or terminated the pregnancy. If that was the case, it gave come credence to the possibility that the woman was married or in a committed relationship. That might make it easier to find the missing woman, but it certainly wouldn't make it any easier to break the news.

Shuffling behind Kevin, she stopped at the room across the hall from his. "Yeah, good luck. I doubt I'll get much sleep, but I'm absolutely exhausted. I have news to share once we're both up and functional. Better to let you sleep before breaking it. I think one of us falling asleep with it in mind is enough." No, she certainly didn't want to tell Kevin there was a chance that there could be an infant out there missing their mother. He had already admitted to taking cases personal, and she was certain that news would only make the problem worse. "Anyway, good night. See you whenever." She was at the point of grumbling, wondering how she'd managed to stay up for over twenty four hours without doing anything to keep herself busy. It was easy to stay awake when she was on the go, but when she was sitting around, not so much.

Cynthia entered her room and nearly collapsed on the bed, trying desperately not to think about how many other people had slept on it, or what had occurred over the years it had been there. It was easier to think about other things, such as the case and what their next step was. Most of it depended on the evidence that they gathered at the scene. If they had a lead on the missing fourth victim, Cynthia doubted that she would serve as any connection between the three other victims. The missing woman was simply a murder of convenience and to cover up the killer's tracks. She wasn't planned, not the way the others were.

It didn't take long for the detective to fall asleep. Fifteen minutes passed and Cynthia was knocked out cold, one arm hanging off the edge of the bed and her face buried in the pillow. She slept for an hour and a half when the buzzing of her phone went off, waking her from a dead sleep. Fumbling blindly for the phone she reached it just as it stopped buzzing, her eyes blinking wearily to try and see who had called. Surprisingly, the number was blocked, something that should not be possible on her work phone. Shaking her head she tossed the phone back onto the bed and tried to fall back asleep, only to have it begin buzzing again, this time with a voice mail. She ignored it, assuming that it was some telemarketer with the wrong number, but abandoned all hope on returning back to sleep. She was awake, and there was no way in the world she'd be able to drift back off again, not with her phone.

Ignoring the voicemail, she rolled out of bed and decided to take a shower and change before going across the hall to wake West up. He got an extra half hour of sleep before she turned up at the door to his hotel room dressed in a pair of khaki shorts, a tank top and hiking boots. Her hair was pulled up in a ponytail, and with the knowledge that she was going to be spending the majority of her day outside, she'd applied a healthy amount of sunblock on as well. There was no sense in not being prepared for hours of the great outdoors, and she certainly had no plans to call it quits for even a moment once she got started. She hoped West was prepared as well, or else she might have to get on him about it.

Knocking on the door heavily, Cynthia called out against the wood. "Hey West, wake up. Let's get a move on before we both end up sleeping the day away."[/fieldbox]

 

[MST3K 4ever]

Kevin was in that sleep state where one is asleep, but still fully aware of their surroundings. Basically he laid there with his eyes shut as his conscience began to let him get most of the way to sleep, and then it would wake him up to a degree. The thing that kept bothering him was that his conscience was telling him to contact Carl right then and there, but he kept using the rationale of "needing to get some kind of rest" and "need to tell Cynthia first." Then his conscience told him Cynthia would probably call, and secondly the Robbins' family needed to know. Finally Kevin opened his eyes all the way and looked up at the ceiling. He said, "All right if it will get me 15 minutes of sleep fine."

Kevin rolled over and slid the screen on his phone open. He programed Carl's numbers into his phone and took a guess that Carl would want to keep up appearances at least if normalcy. Kevin called his office number and on the second ring a female voice said, "Director Robbins' office this is Susan how may I help you?"

Kevin replied, "Good…" Kevin looked over at his clock and saw it was about 10:30 so technically it was still morning. He continued "Morning Susan this is Detective Kevin West I need to speak to Director Robbins."

Susan replied, "Yes Detective Director Robbins told me that you might be calling this morning. I will patch you through in a moment he is in a meeting, but told me to interrupt if I had to. One moment please."

With that the line went to pre-programmed music filled his cell phone ear piece. Kevin felt like he was going to lose his mind as he heard Van Halen's "Jump" set to musiak. Just then in very direct but non-anxious voice broke in and said, "Yes Detective West this is Carl what can I do for you?"

Kevin took a deep breath and said, "Director Robbins I need to ask you two questions." He exhaled as he got out of bed and began to pace the room. Kevin asked, "First off sir, are you by yourself at this time?"

Robbins replied, "I am Detective."

Kevin closed his eyes for a moment knowing that what he said next was going to break Robbins, but he had to do this. Kevin asked, "Are you sitting down at this time sir?"

Carl let out a shaken deep breath and he struggled to maintain his composure as he said, "My boy is that first murder victim. Isn't he Detective?"

Kevin replied, "Yes sir. I'm afraid he is. I am so sorry for your loss Mr. Robbins. I wish could be there to have delivered this to you in person, but Detective Matthers and I are pursuing a lead that is out of the city at this time. However I felt you would want to know right away."

Robbins was silent for a moment, and when he spoke Kevin could feel the pain in his voice as he said, "Thank you for calling me Detective. I will contact my family if you please. Would you please contact the Coroner and have them contact me as soon as possible so we can begin the planning process."

Kevin replied, "Of course Director Robbins. If we find out any new information I will contact you."

Robbins said, "No matter what time it is day or night please keep me in the loop. If you or Detective Matthers need anything from me or City Hall please call me, and I will move Heaven and Earth to make it happen for you two. Just get the son of a bitch who killed my boy."

West nodded and replied, "Yes sir. I will be in touch along the way and get the Coroner to contact you within the next few moments."

Robbins replied, "Thank you…" He choked a bit and said, "Detective. Goodbye." The line went dead, and Kevin stood there for a moment just letting his mind wander a bit.

Kevin called Jordan and gave him Carl's number and told him to get started on the paperwork. Once that was over he climbed back into bed, and began to drift back off to sleep. Just then Cynthia knocked on the door. Kevin looked at the ceiling and said under his breath, "You the thought of me going to sleep." Kevin rolled over and saw on his clock that it had been exactly 15 minutes. He shook his head and said, "Next time I'll ask for seven hours."

Kevin got out of bed and under his breath said, "Coming mother." He slipped on a dark red t-shirt, a pair of dark sweat pants, followed by his Nike hiking boots. He quickly sprayed some sun spray on himself and rubbed it in. Once that was over he unzipped the pockets on his pants and in one pocket he put his keys, and wallet in one, in the other he put his cell-phone and his regular glasses. Kevin then put on his ankle holster with a 38 in it and covered it up with a pants leg. He had a chain with his badge on it which he put on underneath his shirt. Grabbing his red Washington Capitals hat, and his prescription sunglasses and putting them on he opened the door. There stood Cynthia looking like she was ready for a day on the outdoors. Kevin thought she actually pulled off the ponytail look very nicely, but gave no indication of that.

Kevin stepped outside and closed the door. He said as they started towards his Durango, "Okay then. Two things one the lab called that is Gary Robbins in our morgue. I called Carl and he thanked us and told us if we needed anything call him. Two, I spoke to the Rangers and they seem eager to help."

Kevin got in the driver's seat and once he saw Cynthia was settled in he drove on, and said, "You had something to tell me…" Kevin shook his head and asked, "I know I'm gonna regret asking this, but what is it?"

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

[fieldbox= Cynthia, #053e54]A slender brow rose when Kevin finally stumbled out of his hotel room, Cynthia smirking faintly at his less than fully functional demeanor. "A stop to get coffee beforehand? My treat." She felt a touch of sympathy for the man, but it could not be helped. They needed to get working while they had sunlight to work with. Patting the man on the back as they started down the hallway to the elevators, Matthers managed a small smile. "Think of it this way. You'll sleep really well tonight." As the elevator doors opened and Cynthia stepped inside she turned back to her partner with a playful wink. "Didn't they warn you when you were assigned to me that sleep is optional? I guess they left that part out, along with the horrible working conditions."

Cynthia thought it best to let West wake up a bit more before she shared her news with him. It was difficult enough to digest wide awake, let alone half asleep and after breaking the bad news to a family who was most likely devastated by the loss of their son. One thing she knew for sure though, her partner would be dealing with the Robbins. The wife would most likely spit in her face rather than offer any assistance at this point, and Cynthia didn't really blame her for it. 'I didn't even put her through the wringer. Hate to see how she'd feel about me if I went full out detective on her.' Matthers had to remind herself that she wasn't a cop to win popularity contests, although with West's demeanor dealing with victims, it was hard not to focus on the huge flaws in her personality. It wasn't that she didn't feel sympathy for the victims and their family; she simply didn't show it

She waited for West to lead the way out to his vehicle, letting him drive toward wherever he wanted to get a coffee while mulling over the fourth victim. The victim was unintentional, but it also made a huge statement about the killer; no one was going to get in his way. He had a list of victims, and one by one they were going to die in the manner that he had planned for them. It didn't matter who was with them, they would die as well.

"We both know that our guy isn't done." Cynthia finally said, turning toward her partner with a look of concentration. "And I'm pretty sure our fourth victim wasn't planned. I also don't think she was killed for no reason at all. He easily could have waited to get Tyler alone and taken him, but he killed the woman who obviously had some kind of relationship with Tyler. What if that becomes a new part of his M.O?" Cynthia had already assumed that there was some sort of psychological torture going on once the killer had his victim. After all, who would willingly eat crushed glass with a bleach chaser? "What if he's realized that by taking someone that the victim cares for in some way, he can manipulate his victims into……shit, I don't even know. We have no clue what he does with them when he has them. The only thing we do know is he can get them to ingest things that will kill them in the most painful way imaginable."

Shaking her head, she looked pointedly at West. "But look at Tyler's death. Not only did he have glass in his stomach, but he ingested acid. Maybe, because he had the woman, that was the reason for it. He could have tortured her in front of Tyler, or threatened to kill her if Mark didn't drink the acid. Then when Tyler was dead, he couldn't leave a witness behind, so he kills her anyway. It's a two for one deal. He gets to torture his victim even more, and kill another person." She honestly didn't want to wait until the next victim came around to find out if her theory was accurate, instead decided to start focusing on the old M.O and wait to see if there was a change in the killer's pattern.

Once they stopped for coffee and headed back toward the truck, Cynthia decided that it was time to break the news to West. "Our fourth victim was pregnant within a week of her death. Doc said he couldn't tell if she'd had an abortion or given birth, but there were traces of amniotic cells in the uterus. If we're going with the idea that Mark was having an affair with a married woman, we can assume that the baby could possibly be his. Best case scenario, the woman had an abortion and that's why she and Mark were meeting up this weekend. Worst case scenario……I don't think I need to tell you that.." Cynthia had tried not to let herself believe the killer might have been the one to give the woman her abortion, but with her new perspective on his methods, she believed that was very likely the truth. It disgusted her to know how little regard their killer held human life, but throw in the murder of an unborn child and she considered the man ideal for target practice.

"I don't think we're going to find the body here. We might be able to find some traces of her identity to at least track down her family. Our guy might not have been expecting Tyler to have company, and maybe he slipped and didn't clean up after himself as thoroughly as he normally did." It was a long shot, but one that Cynthia had some faith in. If they could at least find out who the woman was and her connection to Tyler, they might be able to prevent someone in the future from meeting the same fate.[/fieldbox]

 

[MST3K 4ever]

[fieldbox="Kevin, seagreen, solid"]


Cynthia's commentary about sleeping well that evening, and optional sleeping made Kevin shake his head at her as they began to drive on. He said, "Well sleeping well tonight just might have to do for a payoff today. Besides it was my call that we bypass sleeping at home and go on through, so I'm to blame for this one." He looked over at her and smiled as he said, "This time. A cup of coffee sounds great though thanks." Kevin pulled into a nearby Panera Bread with a drive thru and ordered himself a chai-latte with a bagel sandwich. He also took Cynthia's order and after she paid for it all Kevin said, "Thanks dinner's on me. Whenever that happens to be."

As they drove on he listened and processed what Cynthia was saying. For the most part he couldn't find too many flaws with what she was saying. Kevin said in-between bites, "I know for a fact that he isn't done. Not a chance his making contact with you and slashing my tires that's his way of gradually upping this to another level. I'm still convinced that you're the endgame Cynthia. Whether you're his last victim or he's doing this to get your attention. No way he's going to harm you at this point. His contacting you is the start of it all and I gotta feeling when we get back there's going to be something on your voice mail from him, or something in the mail." Kevin then realized if Cynthia was getting contacted again then he would probably be having something waiting for him too. Kevin pushed the thought away as he took a couple more bites.

Once the sandwich was gone Dylan took a sip of chai-latte and said, "Victim number four no doubt was off script for him, but he's smart enough to know how to graft it into his methods and whatever is driving him." When he heard about the victim being pregnant Kevin was now wanting to see this son of a bitch hung in the town square. He said, "If we get this guy alive and he ends up in prison he won't last long. There's an unwritten code among inmates that you can do whatever to whoever, but children that is pretty much your death sentence." Kevin took another drink as he saw a sign that showed they were 1.5 miles away.
Through all of this there was that pencil thin thread theory of miscarriage of justice that brought all these cases together that Cynthia pointed out. Kevin was operating under that hypothesis as well, however if that was true then now the question became; what was Cynthia's miscarriage? To Kevin that was easy it was her parent's murder, however was there more to the murder that even Cynthia didn't know about? For all Kevin knew Cynthia's parents were a mob hit, or just wrong place wrong time. Kevin though felt it was best that he didn't pry into this situation with Cynthia. The wounds were still healing after all this time, and if Cynthia needed help or someone to talk to then Kevin would be there as her partner.

The gates for the campground were wide open and Kevin did the mandatory 15 mph as he approached the Ranger's station. He parked the car and made sure they had all the proper paperwork, because while Ranger Darren was pleasant earlier this morning who knew if that had changed between now and then. Kevin said, "Okay we are dealing with Ranger Darren at the moment, and he seemed rather eager to help us out so let's see what happens next." Kevin got out of the car and stretched out for a moment. He then threw away his coffee and the bag from Panera as he walked up to the station. Kevin asked, "Do you want to go check the scene over first or review the files indoors? I say we try to check the scene over first but that's just my opinion." Entering the office it was an office that looked like a combination natural museum and reception area. Kevin's first thought was it reminded him a little too much of the lobby from the movie "Psycho." As he approached the desk Kevin pulled out his badge so it was obvious and saw a semi-stocky blonder haired male in his mid to late 30's reviewing some paper work. Kevin said, "Excuse me." The Ranger looked up and with a smile said, "Well howdy folks and welcome to…" The Ranger saw Kevin's badge and said, "Ah yes Detectives West and Matthers. Been expecting you I'm Ranger Darren and I have everything you asked for right here." He pulled out a stack of folders and said, "I just need to see the paperwork." Kevin replied, "No problem." Kevin gave him the paper work, and in the time he took to read it Kevin could've given him a cable guide it Darren would've said it was fine. As he handed the paperwork back to Kevin and pushed the files forward somewhat Darren said, "Okay Detectives here you go." Kevin took the files and said, "Thank you." He looked at Cynthia and said, "Okay your call on the next move."

[/fieldbox]

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

[fieldbox= Cynthia, teal] Cynthia opted out of eating, getting herself a cup of black coffee without even glancing at the menu. She was exhausted, and wanted nothing more than to return to the hotel to go to sleep. She was used to crazy hours, but being an introvert and having to deal with Kevin and even more people wore her out quickly. Wearing her down. She needed a full weekend off, some time to recharge her batteries and get her bearings. She doubted her partner would understand it, he was more of a people person than she was. At that moment though, Cynthia felt off kilter, and it had little to do with the fact that she'd only gotten a few hours of sleep, and was currently sitting nearly six hours from her apartment waiting to sit through the wilderness for clues. Expressing her every idea to someone else, regardless of his agreement with her, was thoroughly exhausting, and she wished she could have more time to herself to actually relax and soak in some silence.

She frowned deeply at West suggestion that she might be the final victim on the list, the detective passing it off as a bit of paranoia on her partner's part. Instead she focused on the unknown fourth victim, and exactly what she meant for the future. Cynthia didn't want to believe that their killer was willing to stray off his list of victims that easily, hoping that she might find some way to narrow the chances down in her mind that more innocent people outside of those guilty in the murderer's mind would end up dead. She simply couldn't do it though. Their killer was on an insane mission, and Cynthia knew that there was nothing that was going to stand in his way of crossing names off his list, a list they were no closer to figuring out than the killer's identity.

"He won't end up going to trial." Cynthia added quietly, turning her head to look out the window after the words were spoken. She didn't want to give her opinion on what she thought the killer would do at the end, but suicide by cop felt like the most likely outcome to her; more specifically, suicide by her. West was certain that the killer wanted her dead, but she had a feeling he wanted to die by her hands. What better way was there to become a permanent part of her life than by forcing her to kill him? Cynthia might have downplayed West's assumption that the killer wanted her attention, but she knew it was the truth. What she didn't know was why, and exactly how far he was willing to go to get under her skin.

She followed behind West as he got out of the truck and headed into the building, her eyes scanning over the scene with a steady feeling of dread. The detective had a hunch that they'd just skipped what little sleep they could get and driven for hours for nothing at all. Not only was the ground wet from rain the previous day, but by the looks of the many cars and RVs, there had been a great deal of traffic since Tyler was last at the site. She could not imagine any possible scenario where they walked away with a single piece of evidence. If the killer hadn't cleaned after himself, than the weather, and most likely petty thefts has taken care of it for him. They wouldn't find the identity of the mysterious woman here, and they certainly weren't going to find any traces of her where Tyler was staying.

Cynthia's first instinct was to tell West they should split up, but where could she tell him to go? She wanted to get a firsthand look at where Tyler had been staying herself, but she had no idea where to begin searching after that. "One second, I need to make a phone call." Cynthia excused herself away from her partner, taking a step outside away from the building they were standing in before pulling out her phone. The day was already proving to be hot and humid, and by the feel of the air she knew they were going to end up being stuck in the rain at some point during the morning. Shaking her head she pushed the thought aside and quickly dialed the number for the D.A's office, deciding to get what she needed out of the way before she'd think of anything else.

The phone call was brief, the detective giving the secretary on the other end of the line a list of what she needed subpoenas and warrants for. The warrant to search the campsite would be faxed over first thing, and subpoenas to Tyler's phone company as well as his credit card companies were in the works. Once she was finished arranging everything, Cynthia returned to West with a stern expression on her face, not quite looking forward to the task at hand. "Let's go check out his campsite first. I doubt we'll find anything there that will point us in any direction." After asking the ranger for directions, she led the way out to the area, stopping short before she could get too close to the tent that Tyler had set up in the spot. "I wish we'd requested as CSI team to come out with us. Hopefully we can take down the tent without disturbing anything that they might be able to use."

From her pockets she pulled out a pair of latex gloves, securing them on her hands before unzipping the tent and stepping inside. If Tyler had been expecting company, it sure as hell didn't look like it from where Cynthia was standing. There was a single rolled out sleeping bag, off to the left of the tent, to the right was a large backpack full of clothing and other necessities that she dismissed as unimportant after a quick search through them. There was a cooler now filled with water, a few cans of beer and various food wrapped up in aluminum foil floating around in it, not nearly enough for two people for an entire weekend. There were a few things that seemed off to Cynthia, the biggest one was the lack of diving gear. "His brother said that he came down to dive. There's no gear here, unless he kept it in his truck and it was stolen along with the vehicle. I'm also not seeing any signs that he was expecting someone else. That means that the killer either couldn't think of a way to get Tyler out of here without being seen and resorted to kidnapping the fourth victim, or maybe she was staying at another site nearby."

Looking over her shoulder at West, she shrugged her shoulders. "Go back and ask the ranger if there's any other sites that have been abandoned. Maybe we'll catch a break there. I doubt it though. If the woman was married, she's not going to use her name to sneak off to meet her lover. Most likely she was staying at a hotel nearby, or the killer was aware of who she was, kidnapped her, and forced her to lure Tyler out. Either way, we're not going to find any traces of her here, but it's better to be safe than sorry."[/fieldbox]

 

[MST3K 4ever]

[fieldbox= Kevin, blue]

As they made their way to the campsite Kevin kept an eye out for anything along the way that might prove to be helpful. If he could learn to talk to the chipmunks and the squirrels they were in business, but since he doubted he would learn to do that anytime soon they were off the list of potential witnesses. Once they arrived on scene Kevin took out his latex gloves and began looking around as well. Kevin was actually somewhat impressed that for a crime scene this much out in the open that it was this well preserved. Much like Cynthia he doubted they would find anything out here, but it worth a shot. As he looked around Kevin was realizing that there was no way they were going to find the killer through the usual methods that they used. The killer knew their playbook backwards and forwards they were playing his game, but what could they do draw him out a bit more? So far they were playing a lot of defense and Kevin wanted to change the game, but at the moment there was nothing he could think of that could counter what the killer was doing.

Cynthia asked him to go and talk to the ranger about any other sites, and he nodded and replied, "Sounds good to me I'll be back as soon as possible." Kevin trekked back to the Ranger Station and along the way he noticed that the clouds were beginning to roll in. He knew that their day in the woods was about to come to an abrupt end. If they were lucky they had maybe one hour left, and even then they were still stuck down here because the clouds didn't just look like rain clouds. The color and the humidity in the air told Kevin a thunderstorm was on its way. He looked up as he walked and said, "Hey how about holding off the flood for another hour? You owe at least that I gave up my trip and any reasonable sleep this morning. Thank you." Arriving at the Ranger's station Ranger Darren was still going over work. He noticed Kevin as soon as he walked in working at his desk on his desktop computer.

Darren asked, "What can I do for you Detective?"

Kevin replied, "Just a couple of questions? First the area where Tyler was staying did you all clean up any sites that had been deserted."

Darren typed in on his computer and said, "Just one it was a site about one hundred yards east from Tyler's site on the shoreline area. The camper checked in a week before Tyler and we cleaned it up the day before Tyler showed up. We went by it two or three times a day it was pretty active but about four days before Tyler showed up we noticed nothing was changing and we took it all down the day before."

Kevin asked, "Do you have any records or anything that might ID them?" Kevin wasn't about to ask about the gear left behind. Once the Rangers gathered it up it was contaminated and wouldn't serve any good purpose to them. Any evidence had been tainted, and even if it got them to a good lead because the source was tainted it would be thrown out of court.

Darren nodded and replied, "Sure let me go ahead and pull it up for you. I'll print you out a copy if you like."

Kevin said, "That would be great. Second question was there anyone staying near Tyler at the time?"

Darren shook his head and said, "Now that I can tell you for a fact right now Detective that the sites on either side of Tyler weren't used at the time. We had a cancellation about 24 hours prior to Tyler showing up. The family said they had just won an all-expense paid trip to Disney and face it we can't exactly compete with that."

Kevin nodded and knew right away that the family winning the trip was no coincidence. He said "Can I have their names as well? It's just for the records."

Darren replied, "Sure thing Detective I'll print out their information as well."

After about two minutes of waiting Darren brought Kevin everything he asked for. Kevin thanked the Ranger and was on his way back to Cynthia with the paperwork. Along the way Kevin was going to read up on the deserted site to see if he might get anything from it. Just then he read the name that was enough for him to realize that the killer had been here. The weariness from the heat and humidity was fading fast for Kevin, because of what he saw on that sheet.

He arrived back to Cynthia with everything in hand and told her everything about the deserted site, and the family that cancelled 24 hours prior to their arrival because of the Disney trip. Kevin said, "Cynthia our killer was here." Handing her the folder about the deserted site and let her open it hoping she was seeing the name first as he said, "That name says it all." The name was Richard Matthers and Kevin said, "The first name of our Captain and your last name. If you call that coincidence I will weep openly."

[/fieldbox]

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

[fieldbox= Cynthia, #367b85, 10, dashed, Georgia] Cynthia didn't really have much that she could do with the campsite, and she was certain if there was any evidence it wouldn't be permitted in court the chain of custody could not be verified. Silently she was cursing herself for not heading to the camp site soon, but there was little that could be done to change that now. They weren't going to get far here, and it felt like a wasted effort since there wasn't any clues that led them to their fourth victim, or even that the woman had been with Tyler before her death. They were back at square one, and not getting any closer with the way they were going, but Cynthia certainly wasn't about to give up, not until she had her killer behind bars for the rest of his life without even the chance of being free.

Glancing up at West's excitement, the detective frowned at her partner, shaking her head. She saw what he was getting at, and understood his excitement, but there was one point he had skipped over. "Kevin, I think you may need a bit more sleep. If that was our killer, he wouldn't have used the captain's name, he would have used my father's name so I'd know it was him." No, the captain was her supervisor, someone she didn't exactly have a close personal relationship with. "If he was really trying to send me a message, he would have used anything related to my parents. My father's name and mother's maiden name, the last name O'Connor. He could have used the name of the person I've always suspected was responsible if he knows me well enough. I don't know how he would get that information though. I've never mentioned it to any reporter that has interviewed me over the years….I haven't even discussed it with anyone at all." Cynthia wasn't about to fully dismiss West's theory, but she couldn't quite fathom that they're killer would put himself out there like that.

"We'll look it up once we get back to the hotel, but I have a feeling that it's just a regular guy who had a reason for not turning up." The trip was a waste, more time consumed trialing dead leads than they could really afford. She wasn't going to call it a complete time drain yet, not until she began to search the wooded area to dismiss any possible traces. "We'll come back for the tent. Any evidence found won't be able to be used in court, but it might help lead us somewhere. If we can at least get a hit that could put us on a path toward the killer, that's all we really need."

Cynthia motioned for West to follow her, knowing that they could cover more ground if they split up, but feeling it would be best if they searched the grounds together. There was over a hundred acres to cover, but she was only interested in the areas that weren't out in the open. Stepping through the treeline, she moved slowly, her eyes focused on the ground for anything that might stand out to her. There was plenty of litter, condom wrappers, and empty cans, nothing at all that caught her attention. The further she moved into the woods, the less trash she began to find, which was why she came to a halt the moment a flash of white caught her eye, her gaze locking onto the broken, used syringe that lay discarded on the ground. "This might be something." Cynthia proclaimed, carefully bending down to pick up the needle and motioning to West for an evidence bag. "The lab should be able to find traces of what was in it, maybe even some DNA. If we're lucky, this could be what he used to get a hold of the fourth victim."

Once the needle was secured in a bag, Cynthia continue on, finding less and less evidence that anyone had traveled this far into the thick of the woods. She was about to turn around and suggest they call the station here to request a CSI team to join them when something else caught her eye. It took Cynthia a few seconds to track down where she had spotted the item, but once she did, she darted forward to grab a hold of it. Laying on the ground with no match in sight was a single, broken black and pink Nike flip flop. Holding it up for West to see, she sighed softly and shook her head. "I don't know if this is going to be the last of…." As she spoke thunder clapped overhead, the detective tilting her face up to glare into the sky. Of course it would threaten to begin raining during their search; that was how this investigation was going so far. "Looks like we might have to turn back. We still need to get Tyler's tent taken down and all the items inside gathered up for the lab. After that, we might as well head back to the hotel and get some sleep before we start back on the road. Whatever's left behind is going to be washed away by the rain. Better to take what we have now before that gets lost too."[/fieldbox]

 

[MST3K 4ever]

[fieldbox= Kevin, blue]

For all her great talents one thing that Cynthia had which was starting to drive Kevin absolutely nuts was her single minded focus for the here and now. She was good at seeing what was in front of her, but the problem in this case they were seeing what the killer wanted them to see. They were playing his game, and to a point Kevin recognized that they would have to play his game lest they do something to upset him, and they run the risk of him having a psychotic break. All that being said as long as they played his game there was no way they were going to catch him or to be able to figure out what was going on. They had to somehow start thinking outside of the box, and they needed to do it fast before they got into such a state of frenzied exhaustion they would be too tired to deal with him.

As the sky looked like it was about to pour on them Kevin nodded at Cynthia's suggestion and said, "Yeah it sounds about right. We'll do what we can and move on from here." Just as he started to walk away Kevin saw something near a tree root and walked over towards it. He knelt down and moved some of the leaves aside. Kevin raised an eyebrow slightly and said, "Why hello there? I bet you don't belong here." He picked up a gold locket by the chain and studied it for a second. Kevin said, "Cynthia something else." The clasp at the top of the locket told Kevin it was a picture locket as he put it into a bag he noticed something on the locket. Kevin said, "On one side of the locket are the initials RB, and on the other is…" He shook his head and said, "MT. This is something very interesting to say the least." Looking at Cynthia he said, "Well hopefully this will help us along the way. I'll go get the truck I got more than enough bags to take care of the crime scene."

Kevin did a light jog back to the truck and brought it up to Cynthia. He parked it so as to not contaminate the crime scene, but close enough that they didn't have to run too far either. With the rain clouds gathering at a rapid rate Kevin snapped off a rapid succession of pictures. Once he had at least three from every possible angle he said, "Okay let's get to it." With that Kevin was bagging and tagging as quickly as he could. There weren't a lot of times that Kevin did the laser like focus in the open, but when he was bagging and tagging against a deadline like Mother Nature, or an overzealous politician like Miller Kevin was like a dog with a bone. No wise cracks, no show of emotion, not even a light whistling of a Springsteen song Kevin was all business. Within a matter of moments the site was down and bagged just as the first drops began to hit the ground. He looked at Cynthia and finally let out a brief sigh of relief as he shot an imaginary basketball and said, "And the shot is good at the buzzer score one for us." Kevin saw that the gathering clouds were getting more dangerous looking and said, "Come on let's get out of here before the roads get too dangerous. I got a four wheel drive, but mud and dangerous roads don't give a damn about four wheel drive." Kevin secured the back of his truck and locked the tailgate. Anyone walking by wouldn't see the evidence under the bed of the truck, and the only way into that part of the truck was locked.

Kevin climbed into the truck and once he heard Cynthia get in they were gone. He stopped at the Rangers Station and said, "I'm gonna let Ranger Smith know we're out of here. I figure we owe him that much. Be back."

Kevin didn't even cut off the truck and bolted into the station. Ranger Smith was putting on his rain gear and said, "Hello Detective West what can I do for you? I'm just getting ready to check on a couple of campers and let them know the lodge is open for them to take shelter in."

Kevin replied, "Nothing major right now Ranger Smith. Detective Matthers and I are on our way back to our hotel. We've completed as much work here as we can for the time begin. I just wanted to say thank you and we'll be in touch if we need anything else."

Ranger Smith Smiled and said, "My pleasure Detective West."

Kevin nodded and was bolting back out to the truck. Within a matter of seconds the truck was on the way back to the Hotel. Usually Kevin liked to review some of what they found, but in this case concentrating on the road took priority. Once they got back to the hotel Kevin said, "Okay I say we review what we got and all that after we get about 4 hours of rest. Let everything settle, we order something for dinner, and we get on the road by 7 am tomorrow morning getting you home by Saturday afternoon." He looked at Cynthia and said, "You got a better suggestion I'm listening."[/fieldbox]

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

[fieldbox= Cynthia, #367b85, dashed, 10, Georgia] Cynthia's lips pressed together to keep from spewing out any discouraging remarks when Kevin held up the locket. For one thing, she was certain the woman would not be wearing something with Mark's initials if their relationship was being kept secret the way she assumed, and for another the locket was an extremely large piece of evidence that she doubted the killer would leave behind. Still, she didn't want to downright dismiss it as nothing at all. She also did not want to add that she already had a gut feeling she knew exactly who RB was. In fact, she was willing to bet her retirement fund that the person she was thinking of and their fourth victim were one in the same. She didn't want to say that to Kevin though. He was already keyed up on the idea the killer was trying to get her attention specifically.

While he was pulling his truck closer, Cynthia began to gather everything up as neatly as she could, keeping her gloves on and her hair pinned up to spare herself the chance of cross contamination. She had a few moments to think to herself, questioning why it was the killer was focused on her, and why it seemed that things were beginning to escalate around the time of her parents' murder. Was there some hidden connection she hadn't picked up on? If there was, he was making it so that only she could pick up the hints, which was both strange and concerning. He had not outright pointed to any sort of involvement with the case, but she was beginning to feel like there was some link between the two, one that would soon reveal itself the closer they got to a suspect. Eventually she was going to have to talk to Kevin about her thoughts, but she wasn't ready to reveal them just yet, not with the anniversary of her parents' death so close at hand.

Cynthia remained silent as they loaded up the truck, continuing her musing without giving anything away. The initials on the locket still troubled her a great deal, but she was beginning to believe that was the purpose. She needed to go through Tyler's credit card records to see if she could find the locket, where it was purchased, if it had in fact been purchased by him. The woman whose initials were RB did not strike the detective as someone who would be ensnared in an extramarital affair, but it had been nearly seven years since the last time she'd spoken to her. Time changed people and relationships. For now she was going to have to play it by ear and see what she discovered as things progressed. The signs were all pointing to the fact that Cynthia had a direct connection to the fourth victim, but was she really connected to Tyler as well?

When Kevin paused to tell the ranger they were leaving, she began to search her phone in hopes of finding some news of the possible victim, but found nothing at all. She was going to have to wait till she could get to her laptop to search the database, and until then, simply go on the assumption that she was correct. Either way, she didn't like it, and she wanted to put the entire thing aside for the weekend and forget all about it. Cynthia wasn't worried about what would happen to her, and there weren't very many people that she was close to. No one ever really tried to get close to her, and those that did were generally pushed away. She wasn't worried about anyone's wellbeing, but she didn't really feel like having to watch her back every day till the killer was caught either.

Humming out an acknowledgement to Kevin's suggestion, she remained quiet throughout the entire drive. She wasn't exactly in the mood to talk, and it wasn't as if talking was one of her strong points anyway. Luckily she could blame her silence on a lack of sleep, caffeine, and a road trip first thing in the morning. "That's fine. Might want to sleep a bit longer than four hours though. The drive back is going to be long."

Cynthia was out of the truck and walking to the hotel by the time they arrived, barely giving Kevin a quiet goodnight before rushing to her room. She was far too eager to get to her laptop, but hoped that her partner would read it more as anxiousness to get some rest. If, and when she found out any information she would give it to him, but she wanted to check her facts first before she brought anything up to him. The last thing she wanted was for him to get his mind pinned up on one idea, and she definitely didn't want him reading anything more into the possible connection than she was.[/fieldbox]

 

[MST3K 4ever]

[fieldbox= Kevin, blue]

Taking a shower during a thunderstorm has never been a good idea, but after traipsing through the woods, the mud, and the heat Kevin was willing to live on the edge for about five minutes. Once the shower was done he slipped into a pair of jogging shorts and one of his Springsteen tour shirts from the "Magic" tour. Kevin then called one of the local sub shops that delivered and ordered a Ham & Swiss with a bottled water. While he waited for his feast to arrive he cut on the TV just for some white noise and to let things with the case settle for a bit. The Heat were on the road in New York which made Kevin shake his head. He said, "Great two lottery bound franchises are the only sports on right now." He laid down on the bed and said, "You are living the dream here West."

Kevin's phone began to buzz and he saw he had to text from one of his friends in Bradenton. It was a picture of all of them with Andrew McCutchen the Pirates All-Star outfielder and the NL MVP. Underneath the caption read "Wish you were here!" Kevin shook his head and said, "And the hits just keep on coming." Just then the phone buzzed again and this time it was a video message and Kevin said, "My luck it's a video of the guys getting told they got box-seats for life." Kevin opened the message and was surprised that it was from Andrew himself. He said, "Hey there Kevin. Your guys told why me why you couldn't make it. I just wanted to say on behalf of the Pirates Organization thanks for all the work you're doing in Miami. I talked to the Front Office and the next time you're home in Pittsburgh call the Front Office and ask for Jeanine Atkins tell her Cutch sent you. There's a field pass, a dugout pass, a box seat, and a locker room pass waiting for you and a guest. Thanks again and God Bless." Kevin just stared at the phone and played the message one more time. He then hit save and smiled as he looked up and said, "Thanks." The knock on the door brought Kevin back to Earth. He saw that it was his sub delivery and he gave the driver a ten and told him to keep the change. Kevin was still riding high on his video message but then saw that the basketball game was still on the TV. He cut the TV off and said, "No need in ruining my dinner."

Inspite of the fact that he wanted to let the case go for a bit Kevin could feel it lingering in the back of his mind. Like an itch that he couldn't scratch that was just getting worse. Kevin finally said, "Okay time to get back to work." With that Kevin opened up his lap top and uploaded the pictures he took of the crime scene and then began studying them as he ate and drank his water. The more he studied them the more he began to grow frustrated. Every part of him was looking for an obvious connection with all of them besides the legal system screwing them over or a family member. It all kept coming back to Cynthia for him. As much as she didn't want to see it or talk about Kevin knew that his partner was the lynchpin in all of this. He also knew that if pushed it she would shut him down especially with the anniversary of her parents murder looming on the horizon. Kevin knew he could find out anything he wanted about the murder. A couple of phone calls and a visit to the records room and that was it. For him though Kevin didn't want to just go slogging through an endless stream of paperwork. This was something more here that Cynthia wasn't sharing and whether she liked it or not sooner or later it was going to have to come out.

As Kevin finished about half of his sub he threw out the rest of it. He was already feeling like it was a brick sitting on his stomach, and wasn't in the mood to finish it now. His mind was working and Kevin wanted it as clear as possible as he stood up and began to pace about. Kevin realized that his loved ones weren't endanger because the Killer went after his motorcycle and not any of them. No the Killer was not into collateral damage victims he was too careful and precise. RB was not a case of wrong place/wrong time no she was an intended victim the whole time. The thing was though again what was her connection real connection besides just being with Tyler? There was something going on and Kevin was willing to bet his salary that Cynthia knew a lot more than she was letting on. Her secrets and emotional distancing was going to sooner or later start to impede the case Kevin was sure of it. If his hypothesis of this all being connected to Cynthia was correct, which was starting to feel more and more real for Kevin, Cynthia would eventually have to come clean on everything. He took swigs of his water as he paced and Kevin was trying to figure out other ways of getting answers without stepping on Cynthia's toes. He saw an option on the table, but didn't want to use it unless it was the only one left. One phone call to the Captain and it was all over, but Kevin didn't have much to go on yet and besides if he was wrong his stay at MCU would probably be over. As much as he hated to admit it Kevin knew that he was going to have to go to the records room for answers. Kevin stopped pacing and said, "Lucky for me I don't have any plans this weekend." He shook his head and laid on the bed. Kevin then found a classic rock station and just let the music play on as his body finally signaled him that it was done for the day.[/fieldbox]

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

[fieldbox= Cynthia, #367b85, dashed, 10, Georgia] Cynthia still wasn't ready to reveal her possible connection to the fourth victim just yet. It was far too close to home for her, and considering what time of year it was, she wasn't ready to bring up any further emotional traumas from her past, her own, or someone else's. West knowing the identity of the woman, and her possible connection to Cynthia wasn't going to change the fact that the woman was dead, nor would it lead them any closer to a suspect. She already knew the woman's history, and knew that there would be no one who knew her who would want her dead. Their pasts ran the same course, only Cynthia had managed to survive her tragedy and turn it to her advantage, while the other woman had not been as fortunate.

The ride back home was relatively silent, Cynthia lost in her thoughts of the past and exactly what this weekend really meant. For twenty years someone had gotten away with murder, twenty long years of running free and living a life that her parents would never have. They hadn't been able to watch her graduate at the top of her class at the age of sixteen, then again at the age of eighteen. They didn't get to read the articles she'd written on psychological profiling, or the speeches she'd given to kids who were much like herself, never truly fitting in with others, but finding a place amongst their own kind. They'd never see her get married or have children if that ever happened. But more importantly to her, they had never had the chance to retire from work, to go off and live the leisurely life of traveling and enjoying each other's company.

Cynthia never let it be known how often she really thought of her parents and what their lives would be like now. She had pictures of Sunday dinners with her father making the same joke about her mother's cooking, and her mother pretending to be upset at him, until he ate every bite on his plate. She could see the pictures hanging up on the wall, not of her standing alone in her cap and gown looking dour and resentful on what should have been one of the proudest days of her life, but standing between her mother and father who would have beamed with pride. Her life would have been different. She could have had some sort of relationship that lasted more than a few months, maybe even gotten married and had children. She could have been a teacher the way she wanted to be growing up, instead of peering inside the mind of some of the vilest psychopaths to walk the Earth.

When Kevin finally dropped her off at her apartment, Cynthia told him she'd see him on Monday and quickly made her escape. She spent most of the day flipping through old photographs, and trying to remember the smiling little girl she had been. Her memories were tarnished now, not by the unsolved murder, but by the killer who was finding his way inside her head. Did he know who had killed when he killed her? Had it just been a happy coincidence that she was with Tyler? The detective didn't know, but come Monday morning she was going to make it a point to find out.

The day spent in silent reflection didn't do much to make for a restful night. Despite the little sleep she'd been getting, Cynthia tossed and turned for the greater part of the night, partly from sadness, but mostly from guilt over keeping her partner in the dark. At around one in the morning she picked up her phone and finally dialed her partner's number, deciding another late night visit was in order to break the news and discuss what she had conveniently left out.

She waited for him to answer the phone hoping that she hadn't woken him up. "If I come knocking on your door, your dog isn't going to eat me is she? Ive got to talk to you about something, and I think I should do it before I go to the graveyard tomorrow."[/fieldbox]

 

[MST3K 4ever]

[fieldbox= Kevin, blue]

The ride back to Miami should've been full of times to reflect on what they had seen, theory building, and possibly even a little bit of small talk to break up the monotony of the trip and the case. Not a word was said between the two, and in the past Kevin would've tried to break the silence. Something to help build a bit more of a relationship with Cynthia, but in this case Kevin was actually comfortable with the silence. If she wasn't going to let him in on what was going on then Kevin saw no reason to force his way into the situation. Besides Kevin was starting to think once again that after the case was over maybe a trip back to Pittsburgh was in order. When he dropped Cynthia off at her apartment barely a goodbye was said between them, and again Kevin was okay with that.

Kevin got home and was promptly greeted by a very happy Roxanne as he thanked Angela for watching her. Angela told him that her girlfriend enjoyed the hot tub with her, and that Roxy was a good girl as always they even went out for a run. Considering what he had went through with the last dog sitter Kevin was willing to allow them their fun in the hot tub, and it also meant he didn't have to take Roxy out for a run. Kevin was determined to catch up on some much needed rest and self care if only for the rest of the weekend which was more than he was expecting when he left.

Once Angela had left Kevin gave Roxanne a couple of good scratches and then gave her some bones from the butchers. Roxanne was more than content to march off into the corner and begin gnawing away. He said, "Have a good one Roxy. Maybe a run after I get some rest might even let you go for a swim." With that Kevin was on his way back to his room. He got a decent night's sleep the night before, but there's something about being in one's own bed that makes one feel even more relaxed.

Kevin kicked off his Nikes, climbed into bed, crossed his feet, put his hands behind his head and he was ready to just shut his eyes. Suddenly his eyes spring open as soon as his head hit the pillow and Kevin just laid there with his eyes wide open and began to think about Cynthia. Not just in terms of the case but in terms of her as a person. It was only after a couple of glasses of wine that she began to open up to him, and Kevin wasn't looking to get her hammered every time he wanted to know something. One that could lead to a serious drinking problem for her, but two it could get expensive after a while. Kevin couldn't blame her for shutting down in some cases. From what he could gather this case seemed to dredge up memories of her parent's murder, and holding that against her was wrong on every level because he had his issues as well. Going to a construction site sometimes made Kevin a little on edge because of the fact of how his dad died. Though it had been years Kevin still missed his dad and at times he still wept over him. Kevin decided that once again he would take a page out of Lenny's playbook, and let Cynthia open up to him. Cynthia was just getting used to dealing with a partner and Kevin had to allow her plenty of room. Kevin knew that inspite of the cold exterior Cynthia was a good person, and she had a good heart. Not to mention she was one helluva great detective, and yeah she was nothing to be ashamed of in the looks department. Kevin rolled his eyes and shook his head as he said, "So much for transferring back to Pittsburgh."

Kevin rolled over and standing in the doorway he saw Roxanne with her leash in her mouth and he said, "Don't tell me you already finished those bones already." Roxanne gave a low bark and Kevin clearly annoyed said, "Listen Roxy. I am in desperate need of some down time. I am not going out right now! I am tired and I need some rest! Leave it alone!" Kevin rolled over away from the door and heard the leash hit the floor. Kevin then felt Roxanne climb into bed and lay her head on his hip as she let out a whimper. Kevin closed his eyes for just a moment and then reached over and scratched her on the head. Kevin said, "I'm sorry Roxy. I'm sorry I yelled at you. I got a lot on my mind and you got a lot of frustration not meant for you." He felt Roxanne scoot closer and Kevin looked at her and said, "Leash door." Within a breath Roxanne was out of the bed, scooped up the leash without even stopping, and was by the door. Kevin said, "You are so lucky that I love you Roxy."

Kevin and Roxanne spent the day at the park and a nearby reservoir just having fun with one another. He let Roxanne swim until she was exhausted and Kevin enjoyed swimming with her as well. During their time together Kevin's mind began to wonder back to Cynthia periodically, and Kevin even considered calling her to check in on her, but Kevin figured it was better to leave her be for now and decompress on her terms.

That night Kevin ordered a pizza and decided to enjoy some peace and quiet on his own terms. Wearing his Jerome Bettis jersey and a pair of black shorts Kevin was laying on his couch debating as to whether or not to go to Mass tomorrow. Roxanne was exhausted from the day and Kevin even found time to have a couple of beers. The College Basketball game between Duke and UCLA had gone into double overtime and Kevin was wide awake it was one of the best games he had seen all year. Then the phone rang and Kevin's first thought was something had happened to his family. Checking the caller ID he saw that it was Cynthia's number.

He answered and when he heard what she had to say Kevin replied, "Yeah sure come on over. Don't worry Roxy will be fine. Talk to you when you get here."

Kevin hung up the phone and then using his MCU app on his phone he pulled up a picture of Cynthia. He called Roxanne over and showed her the picture of Cynthia. Kevin said, "Cynthia" tapped her gently on the nose twice. Kevin said, "Cynthia" and then scratched her under her chin twice. One last time he said, "Cynthia" and gave her two pats on the side of her neck. Roxanne gave two low barks which meant that she understood that Cynthia was a friend.

Kevin said, "Good girl." Kevin gave her a couple more scraps of bone, put on a "Beatles" CD in Roxanne's corner. She loved The Beatles and it always proved to be very relaxing to her. Kevin smiled as she walked over to her corner and he waited for Cynthia to arrive.[/fieldbox]

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

[fieldbox= Cynthia, #367b85, dashed, 10, Georgia] Before she could head over to Kevin's apartment, Cynthia rifled through her file cabinet, deciding that this was the best time to lay everything out on the table. Would she have to sort through each and every one of her old case files? She hoped not, but for now there was one that she needed to get to, the case of Rachel Ann Bradley, aged 24, but at the time of Cynthia's investigation, she had been fourteen, only two years older than Cynthia had been when her parents were murdered. Cynthia sighed softly as she flipped through the thick folder, looking at the picture of a sorrowful fourteen year old girl with dull green eyes and flat brown hair that looked like it hadn't seen a brush in days.

She turned the page, the same girl aged two years and changed almost a decade stared back at her. The dull green eyes were the same, but the flat brown hair had been dyed a bright shade of green, now chopped up in a boyish cut that hardly flattered the girl in the image. She was in a hospital bed, battered and bruised with two black eyes and a swollen lip, the other injuries hidden beneath one of those horrible hospital gowns. Cynthia could recall getting the phone call from Racheal pleading for her help, and the ride to the hospital that had been filled with recollections about the case. It had been a tough one for Cynthia, and it proved to get even tougher as the years stretched out.

Closing the folder, the detective sighed and shook her head, tucking the heavy file underneath her arm as she made her way out of her apartment. She wasn't eager to share this story with anyone, and if it ended the way she thought it did, Cynthia really didn't want to go into it. But, West deserved to know, and she was the only one that could tell him. She doubted he would go along and dig through her case of the past, of course she wouldn't have put it past him if he really wanted to know the story. She didn't know what he did in his spare time, and she hadn't bothered asking if he went around digging into her earlier days as a detective.

From what she could remember of Rachael, she had never strayed out of her abusive relationship. Cynthia had kept an eye on her from time to time, and saw all the domestic dispute calls made to her home. The reason Cynthia had assumed she'd never stray was for the simple fact her husband would have killed her if he found out; he beat her up for smaller offenses. Either way, it was something she was going to have to search into, and hope that perhaps her husband had been responsible for her death, and not the killer she was desperately seeking. Either way, she was going to have to deal with the asshole when she finally began to dig around, and that was something she was not looking forward to.

Driving over to West's house, Cynthia thought of all the things she was going to have to talk to her partner about, a few too personal, things she really didn't want to get into involving her parents' murder. She didn't want to tell him about the person she suspected, or the story behind that. Ot felt dirty to even mention, as if she was tarnishing her mother's memory even though the woman had done nothing wrong at all.

When she finally reached West's apartment, she grabbed her folder, locked up her vehicle and headed straight up, not pausing until she reached his door. She still needed to go home and get some rest before she went up to the cemetery, and she had to spend all day dealing with Max and his wife, while well intentioned, she knew it was going to get exhausting. The task of explaining to her partner what was going on was not going to be any easier, but at least she could go home and sleep once she was done at her partner's place.

Knocking on the door she waited for him to answer, trying to find the right way to explain to him who the fourth victim was, and how it all might tie in with her parents' murder without him speculating more on what the killer's plan was with her.[/fieldbox]

 

[MST3K 4ever]

[fieldbox= Kevin, blue]

Ever since he got back from the campground Kevin hadn't thought about the case from an objective point of view. He had thought about Cynthia's connection to the case but not the details outside of her involvement. The more that this case progressed the more the Kevin was realizing that this case was connected to Cynthia even if she didn't want to admit it. Kevin though didn't want to push Cynthia too hard on that angle. He had already made his point and until proven otherwise Kevin was going to operate from that point of view. His mind had for the most part had put the case down for the time being. If Kevin thought too long and too hard about the case he would start seeing phantoms and shadows that weren't there, and that would probably make Cynthia think he was really out there. Kevin was certain that his subconscious wasn't letting the case go that easily, and Kevin was starting to see the real differences between Homicide and MCU.

Kevin took out a bottle of water and began sipping on it as he slowly paced within his spacious loft. Then he stopped and walked over to his closet and pulled out his baseball bat. The bat was not only something that he swung around, and to the average person it looked like just another baseball bat, but to Kevin this bat was a connection to the past. The bat belonged to Hall Of famer Willie Stargell of the Pittsburgh Pirates and was given to his Kevin's Grandfather because he helped Willie do some home improvement. Kevin's grandfather gave it to Kevin when he graduated High School and it helped Kevin feel like his grandfather and father were with him when he wielded it. When he felt like they were with him Kevin felt a sense of peace and focus which made him feel like everything was going to be all right in the end. Kevin put the bat behind his shoulders as he slowly resumed pacing.

Roxanne was in the corner enjoying the sounds of the Fab Four as Kevin stopped pacing and just looked out the window. He knew that he was about to hear many personal details from and about Cynthia, and Kevin had a feeling that at some point this would happen in the case, and he had to tell himself not to react. It showed how Cynthia was progressing in terms of getting used to being a partner. Not to mention Kevin was not used to having to make so many first steps in getting to know a partner not even in patrol car days did he have to do this, but Cynthia wasn't just an ordinary partner. She had a unique history and that history shaped how she conducted herself as a detective. As much as he would roll his eyes about Cynthia's lack of social skills Kevin had to admit Cynthia was really a good person and she was a very caring person, but it was on her terms and Kevin could live with that.

Kevin saw his reflection in the window with his bat and his jersey on and asked, "What in the hell is a Pittsburgh kid doing here in sunny Miami?" Kevin shook his head and then said, "It doesn't matter it's time to get back to work." With that Kevin walked over to an oversized storage closet and opened it up. He pulled out the dry erase board that he had been working on just before he went to Cynthia's apartment. Kevin hadn't added in the information that they had found out at the campground and was waiting for a couple of more pieces to fall in line before he added them in as fact. Not to mention Cynthia was the only one who could add in those pieces and Kevin didn't want to guess and be wrong.

He heard the knock on the door and Roxanne stirred. Kevin said, "Remember Roxy psychos and nut jobs won't knock first." Roxanne settled back down as Kevin approached the door. Just to be safe though Kevin looked to a special panel near the light switch and saw that his emergency gun was still within reach as he put his bat off to the side. Not to mention one word and Roxanne would go from docile laid back pleasant Roxanne to mad dog killer in the blink of an eye. Kevin opened the door and saw Cynthia standing there with a folder. Kevin said, "Come on in."

He waited for Cynthia to enter as he said, "I got several drink options if you're interested." Just then Roxanne got up and grabbed her leash. She walked over to Cynthia and dropped it in front of her. Roxanne sat in front of her for a moment and then let out a low "woof" and walked away back to her corner where she laid back down.

Kevin closed the door as he picked up the leash. Putting it back in its usual place Kevin said, "That means Roxy wants you to take her out for a walk sometime. It means she trusts you and likes you. It usually takes Roxy weeks to warm up to someone like this."

Kevin took another drink as he headed over to the dry erase board. He looked at the board and then turned to Cynthia and asked, "What's on you mind?"[/fieldbox]