In Hot Pursuit (Nydanna & MST3K 4ever)

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

[fieldbox= Cynthia, teal]As promised, Cynthia let West take the lead on the interview, only nodding her head politely to the woman when she was introduced but otherwise keeping quiet. He hadn't done a bad job, not that she really had expected him to, but it still didn't feel quite right having someone else doing work she considered her own. Breaking herself of that mindset was going to be tough. After the past six years of working alone, having a partner was like working an entirely new job altogether. Still, West got all the information they needed, along with the key to the woman's apartment, which was all that they really needed to begin with. Whether what they found produced the results they wanted had yet to be seen, but it was certainly better than sitting around doing absolutely nothing but waiting for something to fall into their lap.

She thought to question West a bit more about the reason why he wanted her to run to the lab when they returned, but decided after a while that it wasn't any of her business. She knew most of the techs that worked in the lab, and while she had never had any problems with them, she could understand how someone could end up having a disagreement with any of them. She couldn't for the life of her figure out how he could have a difference of opinion with someone he had only just met. Was he that difficult to get along with? If he was, she hadn't seen it yet, and hoped that side of him remained hidden as long as they were partners. She had a hard enough time dealing with people who weren't difficult.

The search through Miss Hahn's apartment lead to the same results as the search of Mark Tyler's apartment, and in the end they came up with the same items to retrieve DNA from. It was only when they stepped foot in the apartment and Cynthia noticed that the woman's home was similar to Tyler's in the sense that nothing was out of place, Was it simply a coincidence that they were both about to take a trip? Cynthia thought that it was, but made a mental not to keep the thought in the back of her mind for further investigation. After all, hadn't she told West that only the killer could understand why he was choosing the victims? For all she knew, they could have something against people going on vacation.

With the evidence in hand she drove back to the station, still mulling over the possibilities that they may have inadvertently stumbled onto a possible link between the victims. It was still too early tell just yet, and she decided not to mention her idea to West just yet, not until they had a bit more evidence.

Before they parted ways, she listened to her partner reiterate what he had already told her, not clarifying any of the details for her. She shrugged it off, grabbing up the evidence and heading inside without any more questioning, deciding that if it was really important he would have told her about it. As long as their evidence was run and they got the results quickly, Cynthia didn't care if there was an all-out brawl between her new partner and the lab techs.

At the lab, Cynthia noticed the strange looks she was getting from the techs, her brow quirking to show her curiosity. As she approached one of the male techs, she couldn't help but question the way he flinched when they made eye contact, or how he had gotten the bruise on his jaw. Before she could open her mouth he reached up to snatch the evidence bags from her hand, grumbling quietly about how he'd have the results for her as soon as possible. The detective was about to turn away, ready to head back to the MCU to wait for the result. She was stopped by the sound of rustling paper, the tech jerking the report she was waiting for in the air to gain her attention rather than calling her out by name. With a huff of annoyance, Cynthia jerked the page from his hand, rolling her eyes and shaking her head at the odd behavior. 'And people say I don't know how to act.'

Her irritation with the tech was forgotten the instant her eyes scanned over the report, a small, satisfied smile tugging at her lips until she realized exactly what she was smiling about. The report concluded that the hair from the brush she had brought was 100% match to the body that was currently downstairs; they officially had a name to go with one of their victims. On the plus side, they were one step closer to finding the killer. On the downside, they would have to break the bad news to the man's brother, and they still had quite a bit of work to do in order to catch their murderer.

Rushing down to the MCU, Cynthia didn't even bother stopping by her office. Instead she peered into each office until she came across West's, the paper in her hand slapped down on his desk. "We've got a match on Mark Tyler. So it looks like we'll be delivering bad news tonight after all."[/fieldbox]

 

[MST3K 4ever]

West made his way back to his office and figured he would unpack what he could while he had the chance. There was only two boxes of items but Kevin figured if he was gonna be here for a while he would might as well get comfy as he put his jacket on the back of his chair.

He put bot boxes on his on desk and the first one he opened Kevin saw a picture of him and his former partner Larry Montgomery. Larry was the only partner he ever knew at Homicide and he took Kevin under wing and showed him the ropes. Larry had made sure Kevin knew what he was doing and how to conduct an effective investigation. The picture was of the two of them touching beer bottles at a bar on South Beach and smiling like the cats who just ate the canary. They were given the case of "The North Star Slasher" and it was a lot like this case. Little or no real leads to go, the body count was starting to rise, and Captain Webb was getting all kinds of pressure to bring in the Feds. It got to the point that Division Chief Miller ordered Webb to call in the Feds and Webb did so, but he told Larry and Kevin they had 24 hours to make the bust. This was something that he wasn't supposed to do because Miller was already prepared to give the case to the Feds, and wanted no protest or interference from Webb or Homicide. Miller went behind Webb's back and called in the Feds and was determined to make himself look good in the process. Larry and Kevin never worked so hard with so little, but then came the moment when Larry discovered a cigar at one of the scenes. It combined with a lead Kevin had followed up on that had previously been determined to be a dead end cracked the case wide open. It was a sweet moment when Miller was standing in the squad room with the Feds extolling how his connections with the FBI was gonna crack the case, and just then Larry and Kevin busted through the doors with someone in handcuffs.

Kevin remembered that moment like it was yesterday. Miller bellowing, "What the hell is this?" and Kevin coolly replied, "Oh this is Cliff Peterson. Otherwise known as The North Star Slasher." The report and statements by Larry and Kevin were thoroughly vetted by the department and the Feds. It was proven that Larry and Kevin had the right man and Miller was furious. Eventually though, in exchange for an extra paid week off for Larry and Kevin, the final report showed that the Feds were very instrumental in helping apprehend the killer. That experience more than anything else taught Kevin the importance of how to effectively work with a partner, and that having your partner's back was crucial to doing this job. He placed the picture on his desk and for the first time since he got to MCU Kevin actually smiled. Kevin looked at the picture for a moment and said, "Thanks Larry. Miss you bud." Kevin made a note to call Larry first chance he got. It wouldn't surprise him if Larry told him that he was retiring.

Just the Holsted knocked on his door and said, "A word with you West."

West nodded and Holsted entered he stood in front of his desk and said, "Just so you know we have cameras all over this building. That being said I saw the tape of what you did to Holden in the lab. We do not go around delivering forearm shivs to someone. We discuss things rationally and settle them like adults and not like we're on the damn playground. What made you think that was a good idea?"

West replied, "Simple sir. He was running his mouth about my partner and I found it was the quickest way to get him to shut up. I realize that not a lot of people here care for Cynthia's, or should I say Detective Matthers' people skills. Fine, but last time I checked she has more than proven to be a damn good cop and my partner. If I don't have my partner's back here then why should I bother to have it out there when we're trying to do our jobs, or those times where we are facing life or death? One thing I was taught over and over is that your partner is the one person you can count on above all others in this line of work."

Holsted stared at him for a moment and then just nodded. He said, "Give you credit you might be the first person here who tried to make an effort with Detective Matthers. Future reference don't go slugging someone over something like this. Matthers is over 21 and she can handle it, but sticking up for your partner I can respect that. Just don't do this again. Understood? Next time just play it cool. All-right? Let her deal with this. It's part of who she is."

West replied, "Yes sir Cap."

Holsted started to leave but then turned back and said, "Oh by the way off the record." He held up his forearm and said, "Nice form and a solid strike."

Holsted left the office and West knew he had acted irrationally and immature. Especially for someone he had just met that day, but one thing West hated was back-talkers and bullies. Given the choice again Kevin probably wouldn't have given Holden the shiv, but in this case he probably would've decked Holden instead. That thought made Kevin smile a little more, but then he heard Cynthia say that the ID on Tyler was confirmed as she slammed the report down. He turned to Cynthia and she was actually looking pleased that they had an ID. Not that Tyler was dead West knew that, but once again they had something to build upon.

Kevin looked at the report and then put it back down on his desk. He smiled at Cynthia and said, "I'm very lucky to be your partner. You really are good at this. "

Kevin grabbed his jacket and in one motion had it back as he said, "Let's go partner. We got a killer to catch."

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

[fieldbox= Cynthia, teal]They finally had a name to go with a body, a history and a story to go with a victim. Cynthia knew that there were millions of possible reasons that the killer could have chosen Tyler, and now came the difficult task of sorting them out to find the main reason. Did Mark Tyler share something in common with the killer? One victim ID'ed was not nearly enough to crack the case wide open; not even two ID'ed bodies would do that. All it did was give them somewhere to start searching, some reference point that would lead them to finding out why the killer was choosing the victims so that they could hopefully stop him before he claimed another one. There had only been three weeks between the last two murders, and if the killer was following a pattern, he was about to up the stakes on them by moving time forward by a week; even that hadn't been determined yet.

West was eager to go, nearly forgetting the most important thing. "Slow down. We still have to get forensics over to Tyler's house. I know it's not the crime scene, but maybe they'll find something there. I didn't check to see if his phone was there, but there was a laptop. There might be something on there that will give us an idea of where to start looking." Cynthia wasn't exactly eager to go break the news of Mark Tyler's death to his brother, but the man was the only person who could give them any insight to exactly what type of person Mark was; his habits, his routines, anything that the killer would need to know in order to get close to him.

She wasn't certain if they should wait until the doctor had completed the autopsy and they had the report, or head out now. She wanted to be at the house while forensics was there, even if she knew they would most likely not find evidence of the killer inside the house. Protocol dictated that they go off to inform the family first, and then search the victim's residence. This was the one part of the job that no one enjoyed, and she hated the fact that it had to be done. No one wanted to tell a family member that their loved one was dead, especially not when it was obvious that the family member was close to the deceased. The fact that Mark Tyler had been decapitated would make breaking the news even harder, and for once Cynthia wasn't certain how to go about it. What if the man asked questions about his brother's death? She certainly couldn't give him a reason for Mark's death, although she could give him the cause.

They couldn't let it be known that they were dealing with a serial killer. That would put the entire city in a panic, and the mayor on the MCU's ass. They had to be careful with what information was released, and that meant being secretive about the facts. Either way, it was going to be a rough task, one that they needed to get done and over with before they could really begin to dive into the investigation.

"We can call the forensics team in after we talk to the brother and have them meet us over at the house. By the time we're finished, we should have the result back for Miss Hahn." What would be the chances of finding two ID's in one day? She doubted that they would get that lucky, but it was certainly a possibility. That would mean double the work since they would have to search over the woman's apartment as well for more evidence, and at the rate they were going, it already looked like they wouldn't be off the clock until well past the time their shift was supposed to end. She had been working since four that morning, and she doubted she'd get home before midnight. She'd certainly be dragging ass the next day, but that wasn't too unusual.

Cynthia couldn't agree with West's sentiment, not when the body count was at three before she even had one ID made. If she was good she could have had the killer apprehended already, at least that was her way of thinking. She didn't say that to West though, instead she simply gestured for him to head out behind her and made her way off the unit and out to her car to head to the Tyler residence. She considered going over what they would say to the brother before they arrived, if only to keep their facts straight, but she was going to trust that West knew to keep things to a minimum. There was too much at stake, and if the significance of their case slipped, they might end up dealing with the Feds after all, and no one wanted that to happen.

"We'll keep it simple. Simply tell him that we're still investigating everything, and leave it at that. I'd like to avoid having to tell him what condition we found the body, but I don't think we're going to be able to get around that." Cynthia proclaimed as she settled into the driver's seat of her car and prepared to head to the victim's older brother's house. "Fortunately we already have an ID, so the brother won't have to come to the station, but it's still not going to be pretty."[/fieldbox]

 

[MST3K 4ever]

Kevin was interesting contrast to Cynthia. She was focused and ready to take things by the numbers, but Kevin was like the Boy Wonder ready to go catch The Joker. However unknown to Cynthia there were more than a few reasons for this. One he was still bathed in the warm memory of what he and Larry pulled off, and was now convinced that he and Cynthia were about to start pulling off a miracle as well. Secondly he saw a bit of emotion from Cynthia, and it was a positive one in that she was seeing the hard work start to pay off. Lastly the one he wasn't about to mention Kevin was getting off scot-free for punching out an employee. The tech could still file charges, but after what Kevin had just done to him and the way the Captain was handling it Kevin wasn't too concerned about it.

Kevin's mind began to shift back to the logistics and reality at hand when Cynthia laid out her ideas on how to approach the next steps of investigation. Kevin nodded as she talked and when she finished he said, "Agreed across the board. I don't want him to know about his brother's missing head either. He's gonna be in enough pain as it is. Just tell him we're conducting our investigating at this time. Which is more or less true " Kevin adjusted his seat belt and said, "We tell him we found the body and we're conducting our investigation, or we can tell him we'd rather not say at this time due to the nature of the case."

Then there was a thought that struck Kevin. If he was in Tyler's position he'd want to know the truth. No matter how painful it was, and Tyler had a right know the truth as well. Kevin stared out and remembered when his Father died. Kevin was only six years old when it happened, but he remember how the Owner of the company kept just saying it was an accident without saying how it happened. That was until finally his mother screamed, "Tell me the truth! Stop sugar coating it! Tell me how he died!" The owner finally looked down at the floor steadied himself and said, "He fell ten stories. He died on impact." Though the accident was ruled to be Nathan's fault the owner insisted on making sure the family received full benefits from the company. Knowing the truth though meant everything to his mother and Andrew deserved to know the truth.

Kevin said looking down, "Everything I just said..." he shook his head and was very serious as he said, "Forget it. If he asks we tell him the truth. He has a right to know the truth no matter how painful it is. Victim's family members want answers and they have a right to anything we give them. If you're not sure about doing this let me know somehow someway and I'll do it. I've been where Andrew is about to be and the truth is sometimes the only balm that begins the healing process."

Looking out the window Kevin watched as the scenery passed them by. He knew that somewhere out there their killer was lurking about. Maybe planning his, or her, next move or maybe they already had their next victim and they would be getting a phone call in the dead of night. Kevin knew they were moving in the right direction on this case with Tyler and maybe even Doris Hahn, but if another victim turned up then it might well be over for them. The Feds would get the call from some nervous politician and worse sooner or later the media was bound to get a whiff of this. Once that happened then this psycho would have a nick name, and there would be an endless number of dead end tips or people just looking to somehow cash in. Kevin was part of an elite unit now, but inspite of that it still came down to the basics of doing the homework and making the case.

As they got closer to Tyler's house he said, "After we get done with forensics we'll review everything back at the office while we wait for the lab report on Doris." Kevin shrugged his shoulders and said, "It's gonna be a long night and like I said I'm willing to stay with this as long as you are tonight, but eventually we're gonna need dinner. We worked right through lunch and eventually blood sugar is gonna be an issue once the adrenaline rush wears off from the pace we're keeping."

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

Cynthia, teal

Cynthia frowned at West's change of heart, wishing that she could convince him that it was a bad idea. She wasn't about to tell anyone, including the victims' family members that they were dealing with a serial killer, one who was happy to make people suffer any way he could think of. Why would West want to put those thoughts in anyone's head? She knew that when her parents were killed, she hadn't wanted to hear how they had died, but the officer that turned up at her door had learned firsthand that she was a child of exceptional intelligence, and thought that by talking to her as an adult she would be more comfortable. Cynthia had been forced to listen to the facts of her parents death, that they had been shot, and that they had not had the luxury of a quick, painless death. Those were the images that she had gone to bed with that night, and she wouldn't wish it on anyone else.

"I don't think telling him the whole truth is wise." The female added with a skeptical pinch of her brow. "Would you really want to hear that your brother was forced to eat glass shards before drinking bleach and having his head cut off so no one could identify him?" It sounded like a bad idea to her, especially given the fact that Mark had suffered agonizing pain before he was killed, and humiliation of being dumped in a needle infested, trash filled building. That wasn't the final image that Andrew Tyler needed of his younger brother, and it certainly wasn't the one that Cynthia wanted to give him. She would give minimal details, and if asked would elaborate a bit more, but she wasn't going to start off the conversation with 'Your brother is dead, and his head was cut off' no matter what her partner thought.

Looking at the time as they reached the Tyler residence, Cynthia felt another frown tug at her lips. She had been working for over twelve hours so far, without much of a break. She didn't want to tell West that she was ready to clock out already, By the time she was done for the day, she'd have met her quota for overtime and then some. She was going to have to accept that dinner was the only break she was going to get for the day though, at least until they finished at Mark's house and got the results back from the Hahn DNA. "We can grab dinner after we meet up with forensics. I doubt they'll want us there while they're trying to gather evidence."

Any further talk between the two ended as Cynthia knocked on the front door of the Tylers' house. This time instead of the woman from earlier the door was answered by a tall, dark haired man with a beer belly and paint splotches all over his face. The detective was quick to flash her badge before the man could ask who she was and what she wanted. "Cynthia Matthers, Miami-Dade police. Can we come inside please? This is about your brother Mark." Andrew Tyler's face fell in an instant, but he moved and gestured for them to come in. "I take it that you haven't found him yet." He began, and Cynthia wished that she had a better answer for him than the one she did. "I'm afraid he was found this morning, sir. I'm sorry to have to bring bad news, but your brother was murdered." She waited for the usual break down of tears or cry of sorrow, but that was not what she received. The man in front of her wasn't sad; he was pissed.

"Who the fuck killed him?" The man barked at her, Cynthia cringing at the volume of his voice but not his words. "That is why we are here. Can you think of anyone who would want to hurt your brother? Any disputes? Anyone he may have gotten into an argument with? Has anyone made any threats, or been paying him an unusual amount of attention?" Watching as rage continued to play over Andrew's face, she saw that he was struggling to come up with an answer, his mind still reeling from the news she had just delivered. Finally he shook his head, his anger deflating a bit, but not completely abating. "No, no one. Everyone loved Mark. He was a great guy. A little ornery at times, but other than that he'd give you the shirt off his back if you asked for it."

Cynthia had expected that answer; it was the same one everyone gave about their loved ones. No one wanted to speak ill of the dead, especially when it was a family member. Unfortunately, that did not help them out at all. "I understand, sir. I know right now you're probably not thinking clearly, but if you do think of something out of the ordinary, anything at all, could you give us a call?" Digging into her back pocket, she pulled out a business card with her extension and cell phone number on it, handing it over to Andrew, who tried hard not to snatch it from her hand but failed miserably. "Yeah….Hey, do I need to come ID the body or anything? When can I pick him up to begin arranging his funeral? How was he killed anyway?"

These were the questions that Cynthia was hoping to avoid, the ones that were the most painful to answer. Sighing softly, she held her breath in for a moment to prepare herself to answer, almost afraid of how the man would respond. "The autopsy report was not in before we left, but we have reason to believe that he was poisoned. As for funeral arrangements, you can get in contact with the medical examiner's office and they will be able to tell you when you can send for the body." Andrew's face was still contorted in a heated scowl, but he nodded his head. She was about to ask him if he had any more questions, but he was already ushering them back to the door, explaining why he was eager to have them leave. "I need to make phone calls. If you don't mind seeing yourself out." Smiling sympathetically, Cynthia nodded her head in agreement. "Of course. Again, I'm sorry for your loss. Feel free to call me if you think of anything, or if you have any questions." The man grumbled that he would call, and after waiting for her and West to step out of the doorway, slammed the door shut behind them.

"That went well." Cynthia muttered, quickly regaining her composure quickly and heading back to her car. Once she was inside she called the forensics office and had them send a team out to Mark Tyler's address, informing them that she and West would meet them there with the key. "All set. They'll be there in a half hour." She told West, leaving the conversation to drop after that. The long day was starting to wear her down, and she was having even more difficulties trying to converse with her partner than usual.

 

[MST3K 4ever]

It wasn't that Kevin wanted Cynthia to tell Andrew everything from the start, but if he asked then tell him. However preface it with "It is very graphic, are you sure you want to know?" Then it puts the burden of knowledge on them, but obviously something got lost in the syntax and trying to explain it could just make things more difficult. It was safe to say that the long day was starting to wear on both of them, so Kevin figured it was time to back off and just let things go for now. He also reminded himself that things between him and Larry weren't always the smoothest either. That there were times when each other thought, "All I need is an empty parking lot, no witnesses, and an alibi." Eventually they found their groove and went on to become friends. Would that apply to Cynthia and Kevin? At this point Kevin would almost be willing to settle for Cynthia to show that she at least appreciated him being in the same room. After all Kevin put his career on the line earlier in the day defending Cynthia. He knew full well that if Cynthia found out she would tell him, "You didn't need to do that" and then proceed to read him the riot act. This would be one of those secrets that Kevin would try to take to the box with him.

Cynthia tool the lead on the interview with Andrew and she didn't tell him how Mark died. She kept it straight forward and asked the textbook questions. They didn't get any new information, but they did manage to anger Andrew greatly which was not a bad thing. One it pretty much showed that he wasn't the killer. Kevin had seen some beautiful acting jobs in his day and this was not one of them. Two Andrew was getting his emotions out which meant he wouldn't internalize them and do something foolish. Like decide to conduct his own investigation or carry out vigilante justice which are two things Kevin had seen before, and both times that never ended good. One time it almost cost him and Larry a case but the D-A was able to salvage it and the killer didn't go free on a technicality. Kevin couldn't blame Andrew for being upset as it was pretty obvious that Mark and Andrew were close.

When the interview was over and as Kevin put on his seat belt he said, "All things considered it went as well as it could." He heard Cynthia make the call for the Forensics Team and we she hung up Kevin said, "I'm hoping for two things right now." He let out a bit of an exhale and said, "One we catch 'em before they strike again and two that there are no media leaks." Kevin shook his head and said, "When I was at Homicide no matter how hard we tried on some cases something always got leaked to the press. The sad part was that sometimes it was up the Chain of Command that did it. They did it to either light a fire under us or they were hoping it would smoke the killer out a little more." Kevin said leaning his head back, "It usually ended up having the opposite effect. It created a feeding frenzy and made our jobs five times more difficult. I don't see the Captain leaking anything out, because then that could put us on the Feds' radar. Then they would be more than willing to come down here to merely 'advise' us." Kevin shook his head and said, "I don't see any of us being happy with that turn of events. The one we need to watch out for is Division Chief Miller. He lives for chances to hold pressers, bring in the Feds to suck up to them, and all the while standing on our backs." He looked over at Cynthia and said, "I speak from experience on that trust me on that if nothing else. Someday I'll tell you about it, and the truth about 'The North Star Slasher' case."

Kevin looked out the window and said, "This killer is a dream come true for the media. Graphic descriptive killings, leaves little to go on, and no real connections between the victims at this time. Leads to lots of pontificating and speculation and the sensationalization that drives the media train."

Kevin leaned his head and closed his eyes as he began to gather his thoughts.

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

[fieldbox= Cynthia, teal]Cynthia knew that her partner was correct about the media. They would be all over the case if they were aware that the three seemingly random bodies found in different parts of the city were connected. The case would become far more chaotic, with people claiming responsibilities, and calling in false leads about the suspicious neighbor down the street, or a coworker they did not like. A difficult case would become practically impossible, and the city's panic would put pressure on the Mayor and commissioner alike to find the killer before they could strike again. No, the media was a nuisance, one that they could not afford to have breathing down their backs. Fortunately, the crimes were random from the outside, and the condition of the bodies' until that morning were relatively tame. The press only loved the gruesome and twisted, and until Mark Tyler's body was discovered the murders had been lacking that element. Once it was learned that Tyler had been decapitated however, she doubted their luck with the press would continue.

"We're not going to catch him before he strikes again." Cynthia concluded with a soft sigh, her eyes still on the road as she spoke. "Normally I wouldn't come to the conclusion of the killer's gender, but the fact that Mark Tyler's head was chopped off only leads me to believe that we're dealing with a man. A woman could possess the strength to decapitate a corpse, however, they tend not to. The poisoning would point to a female since it is their favored method of killing, but it doesn't added up. Men generally enjoy watching their victims suffer. Most female serial killers want it over and done with. They don't want to watch someone for days. They want the person dead." The number of female serial killers was small compared to that of males, but those who were known were far more effective than their male counterparts. They killed mostly for money, revenge, and the same usual reasons a person killed for. Men, more often than not, killed for the pleasure of it, and the rush it gave them.

The detective went quiet, allowing her train of thought to continue silently. They were dealing with a man, of that Cynthia was positive, but she could not come out and say it this early on into things. They still needed to find a connection between the victims to be completely certain who they were dealing with, some key element that made the killer pick the victims that he did. Right now there was nothing in common other than the fact that they both lived in Miami, but Cynthia knew that wasn't going to last forever. A pattern would emerge sooner or later, it was only a matter of finding the right pieces to figure it out. She hoped the some of those pieces would be found after going through Mark Tyler's things.

Pulling up in front of the house, Cynthia saw that the forensics team was already there, the house cornered off with yellow crime tape that really wasn't necessary and only drew the attention of the neighbors. They were all waiting in different areas outside, some of them in the driveway taking pictures of tire tracks while others were dusting the outside of windows for prints. Some of the neighbors were standing around the yellow tape looking on, a few snapping pictures with their phones while others pointed and whispered to each other, most likely trying to guess what happened. Frowning, Cynthia looked over at West to get his take on the circus that had gathered, knowing that sooner or later someone would end up calling the press if only to find out what happened.

"Looks like the fun is about to start." She mumbled, giving West only a second to respond before climbing out of the car to let the techs into the house. They stared at her at her as she made her approach, a few backing away slowly while others seemed to step in closer. Confused about the behavior, Cynthia only shook her head and proceeded to unlock the door, pushing it open to allow the techs inside. "Any electronics you find I want bagged. We'll have to get prints and DNA from his family to rule them out. Anything unusual let me know." She instructed, but did not step foot inside the house. She would remain outside unless otherwise called in, using the opportunity to interview some of the neighbors to see if they had witnessed anything unusual in the weeks prior to the murder.

"Let's split up and work the crowd." She suggested to West, nodding her head toward the group of onlookers who were still watching the scene with interest. "You take the left half and I'll take the right. Let's see if any of our looky loos saw anything." With her task in mind, the detective headed off toward the crowd, hoping that one of them may have witnessed something that could point them toward their killer.[/fieldbox]

 

[MST3K 4ever]

Kevin couldn't argue with Cynthia's reasoning concerning the gender of the killer. He replied, "I agree with you concerning the gender of the killer. The decapitation and poisoning just can't be explained away. The fit in with what he is trying to do. A gradual build up to something bigger and more gruesome."

As much as he wanted to argue that they would prevent another murder, or at the very least have the identity of the killer in hand before another murder; logic and rational thought forced West to accept that they would have to be dealing with another victim. Not to mention they still hadn't made any progress concerning the African-American teen. If they didn't start making progress on that front and soon then West knew that this could be played as racial angle in the media as well. It wasn't too much longer for West to realize just how far he and Cynthia really had to go in order to show substantial progress.

If West was a betting man, and he was actually he played his share of Poker in the day and considered himself pretty good, he was willing to bet that if another victim turned up Miller would be calling the Captain. The Captain would then be hearing the phrase he dreaded which was, "Another victim turns up and I will be calling in the Feds." Oh sure Miller would be very diplomatic in the media and at MCU, but behind closed doors West knew full well he and Matthers would be catching eight kinds of Hell. Captain Holsted was a hard-ass but then again West knew his reputation of standing by his detectives when the chips were down, but everyone has their breaking point. West was just hoping that Holsted hadn't reached his. After all Kevin was the Boy Wonder brought in from Homicide MCU had been wanting him for a while. Through it all though West wasn't worried about his reputation worse came to worse he was back at Homicide Webb would take him back in a heart beat he knew that. Matthers though there were probably those within MCU that would take great delight and glee in seeing her fall flat on her face. Kevin shook his head briefly as though he were clearing out the cobwebs or hitting the reset button

He saw the crowd and Kevin said, "And the hits keep on coming. Here's where the ride gets rough Cynthia." Kevin closed his eyes as if he were getting ready to pray and then opened them as he got out of the car.

Kevin began scanning the gathering crowd for anything that stood out as Matthers went inside. Once she came out she told Kevin what he could do. Kevin nodded and said, "I gotcha on that." It was time to get down to business and Cynthia was already talking to her side now it was time for Kevin to talk to his.

Kevin talked to a couple people but there was nothing really to build on from what he had heard. They basically said the same thing as Andrew had told them concerning Mark. Great guy, willing to help out a lot of times without even being asked, and yeah again a bit ornery especially on the weekends but nothing obscene. He was just an ordinary nice guy according to his neighbors and they were sorry that he was gone. They hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary over the last six weeks either.

Then Kevin saw the one thing that made his skin crawl and made him want to throw up. It was a slime ball reporter for the Herald by the name of Alex Craven whom Kevin had a history with, and it wasn't pleasant either. Craven gave a smile and polite nod to Kevin rolled his eyes. Craven shoved three people down and was shouting, "Detective West lovely evening. Where's your partner Detective Montgomery? I hear we have murder victim here care to comment?"

Kevin stopped and turned back to Craven. He approached and said, "I don't have time for this Craven, so I'll keep it brief." Kevin shook his head and slowly said, "No comment at this time, and you can quote me on that. Also stay out of my way. Remember the last time you got in my way. Ellie Claster's family won't ever forget that. I'm still amazed you kept your job."

Craven flashed a smile and said, "What can I say? My Publisher and Editor love me."

Kevin shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well that makes two people in this world with questionable judgement. Excuse me."

Kevin walked over towards Cynthia and waited off to the side until she got done.

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

Cynthia, teal

The crowd wasn't going to be as helpful as Cynthia was hoping, but she knew that the moment she suggested they ask around. Most people simply wanted to be a part of the show just to learn the gruesome details of the crime. Some were simply trying to dig up dirt on the deceased, getting some sick thrill out of learning of a dark side they never would have guessed. For the most part, not many people knew Mark personally, all claiming that he was quiet, kept to himself, and never bothered anyone. His direct neighbor to the left, a tiny, elderly woman who barely reached Cynthia's chin claimed that Mark was helpful, and always offered to carry things into the house for her, or mow her lawn whenever he was out taking care of his own. Like his brother, the woman didn't have an unkind word to say about the man; nor did she have any clues as to who would want to hurt him.

No one could recall seeing anything suspicious. No unfamiliar cars parked outside, or strange people walking down the street. In fact, according to all of the neighbors she talked to, everything was perfectly normal. Only one neighbor managed to give her anything close to a lead, another elderly woman with a sour face and the nosey demeanor that convinced Cynthia that she was speaking to the neighborhood gossip. She claimed that she saw Mark leave on Friday evening around six, but that he had not returned since then. The detective made it a point to find out what kind of car the man owned, and figure out where Mark was supposed to go for his camping trip to see if he even made it to his destination.

There was nothing else that she learned from speaking to those gathered. She now had to locate the man's vehicle and hope that its location might be yet another clue that would put her closer to the killer. The killer was far too meticulous to simply leave a car close to the abduction site, or anywhere near the true scene of the crime. She had a gut feeling that when they did find the car it would be wiped clean of any evidence, and found abandoned in some secluded neighborhood where it would either be stripped by thieves or simply go unnoticed.

Feeling as if she was walking away empty handed, Cynthia returned to her partner, eyeing up the man she had spotted him talking to earlier. Said man tried to catch her attention, waving his hand and calling out 'Detective, can I get….' She tuned him out, refusing to give the press anything at all to work with. The media could be a help sometimes, but most of the time they were simply a pain in the ass she wished she could avoid. With this case in particular, she was trying desperately not to have any information leaked, but she knew it was only a matter of time before someone ran their mouth off to a reporter.

"I got nothing. One of the neighbors saw him leave Friday, but that was the last she saw of him. We need to look at the DMV records again and find out what kind of car he drove. I'll call his brother later on to see if he was going to a campsite. It's probably a stretch though. I don't think he made it there, but that means he could have come across the killer between here and anywhere in the city." Another needle in a haystack, one that would lead to more dead ends, and give their killer time to snatch up another victim. She was hoping that they would have a week before the next body was dumped, but given that the murders weren't being given any real media attention yet, she wasn't sure. So far the murderer hadn't made himself obvious, and she hoped like hell that meant he wasn't doing it for the attention.

"We may as well go grab a bite to eat. Forensics will be here for a while, and they have the keys. By the time we're done, they might just be packing it up." The truth was, she wanted to get away from the circus before it became too chaotic. On the way to her car she grabbed up one of the forensics techs and asked him to take pictures of the crowd. Once she was certain he'd comply, she headed back to her car to find a close place to grab something and return to her office.

"The results for Hahn should be back by the time we get our food. We can grab something to go and eat at the office. I still have a few things I want to look up, and we need to see if Mark's car has been impounded, or if it's turned up at all." Another hunch told her that the car wasn't going to be found that easily, and she was simply wasting time on more useless evidence. She wouldn't be doing her job though if she didn't leave every stone unturned, and that meant locating Mark's last location along with his vehicle.[/fieldbox]

Cynthia, teal

 

[MST3K 4ever]

It wasn't exactly a fruitless evening so far, but they hadn't exactly cracked the case wide open either. Cynthia wanted to locate and go over Mark's car which Kevin thought was a good idea. The crowd and the presence of Craven told Kevin that this case wasn't going to stay as the "Department's little secret" for not too much longer. That thought made Kevin feel uncomfortable, but it came with the territory and sooner or later it was bound to happen.

As he put his belt back on Kevin said, "The reporter who was shouting at you. I know him." Kevin put his fingers of his right along the bridge of his nose and slowly began to rub it. As though it would make the pain of knowing Craven was on their trail go away if he rubbed hard enough. Kevin looked back at Cynthia and said, "His name is Alex Craven he works for the Herald. A real pain in the ass and as near I can figure has no redeeming quality what so ever." He shook his head and could feel the anger slowly build up as he said, "The little cockroach began weaseling his way into my life about 4 years ago when we were working a case of a murdered co-ed. Larry and I had an airtight case but Craven was working behind the scene trying to gather information for a big story on it all." Kevin stopped shaking his head and said, "His interference tainted a good chunk of our evidence, but luckily we had other evidence to work. The case wasn't completely wiped out, and we still got a conviction." Kevin took a deep breath and said, "By all counts he should've been fired and his career in ruins, but he manipulated the story and the Department so he looked good." Kevin looked back over to Cynthia and said, "I can't prove it yet, but it doesn't mean I haven't stopped trying on some level, I'm pretty sure Miller is his source in the Department. They both love the spotlight and will stab anyone in the back and stand on their backs to make a name for themselves. Which means sooner or later all Hell will break loose and we're gonna be the ones to deal with it from Miller and the media."

Kevin's cell phone rang and he pulled it out. He said, "It's the lab." Kevin answered, "West."

The voice on the other end said, "Detective West this is Walsh at the lab letting you know we got the results from Doris Hahn. The report is on Detective Matthers desk. It's a match she's your second victim."

Kevin put a thumbs up in the air and nodded as he said, "Okay then thanks we're enroute back to MCU. We got any other questions or anything else we'll call you."

Kevin hung up and said, "Okay we're two for two. Now we need to start figuring out who victim number one was, and then maybe we might eventually get a through line for all of them."

Reality once again hit Kevin as he realized now that they would have to tell her niece about what happened. Kevin wasn't looking forward to that but it had to be done. He said, "I want to see the report and go over it a bit more before we go see Janet. Then we'll send another forensics unit to Doris' apartment. It's not as big as Tyler's place so it shouldn't take too much for them to process it, and once again we got to deal with the neighbors, the on-lookers and I'll bet a year's pay Craven will show up too."

Kevin leaned his head back and then said, "Okay we grab dinner. While we eat we go over what we know about Tyler and see what we got from the Hahn report. After that we tell her niece do the work at her place and then back to MCU and review what we know about Doris. If possible I'd like to try and have something on our first victim so we can show the Cap we got a little something on everyone, but that might be asking too much."

Kevin then leaned his head forward and said, "From there..." he shook his head and said, "work on bringing about World Peace. Just in time to watch the sun rise."

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

[fieldbox= Cynthia, teal]Cynthia knew her luck with reporters wasn't going to hold off for much longer. She'd made it through three bodies so far though, and for that she was insanely lucky, at least that was how she considered herself. It was extremely rare for at least a small time reporter to check out the police scanners in search of bodies, but with the location the victims had been dumped in, it was easy for anyone to dismiss them as regular addicts who died of an overdose. The detective knew that story would only hold out, and once the wings painted at the scene became leaked, or discovered, it would be game over for the media's blindness to the case. Knowing that a reporter had been present at their victim's house though, that wasn't something she had anticipated, and she hoped that it would be the last time they saw him for the rest of the investigation. She knew better than to believe that would happen, but she could certainly hope it would.

The redhead stayed quiet as the phone rang, the lab bearing news that she never would have believed in a million years. They now had two victims ID'ed in the span of less than twenty four hours, which meant they could now begin to form some sort of pattern. She didn't question the lab's findings, knowing that they were very rarely careless in what they did, and since all court cases depended on their findings, they made it a habit of keeping meticulous notes and documentation of every test run. "Okay, so Miss Hahn is our second victim, which leaves only number one to ID, and that's the tough one. He's young, and young people go missing every day. There's a possibility that he's not even from Miami as well. He could be a run away, or kidnapped, not to mention that his age and race do little to help narrow down the search. With all the gangs running around in Miami….." She hated sounding that way, but it was the truth. The first assumption anyone made when they saw a young, African American male killed was that he was involved in a gang. Cynthia didn't know if that was the case with her victim, and it would be impossible to tell with the way his face had been battered.

"If you want my opinion, I think the best thing to do is focus on the two victims we know, and that's how we'll figure out who victim number one was. There's got to be some sort of connection between the three of them, we just need to use Hahn and Tyler to find it." The idea that they were both going on a trip popped into her mind again, forcing the detective to frown faintly. "They were both supposed to go away before they were killed. I don't think that's what set the killer off, but I think that's the reason he killed them when he did. Sure, their absence might have noticed, but the police wouldn't have jumped to search for them right away, assuming that they both decided to simply remain where they were for a few days longer without telling anyone." They were both adults, and the protocol for searching for them was different. If there was no reason to believe they weren't in danger, and they weren't taken against their will, there was no reason for the police to assume they needed to be searched for. The trip would have given the killer time to work before his victims were even noticed to be missing.

Shaking her head, Cynthia pulled up to a small Chinese restaurant inside a tiny shopping center with only three other stores opened. The grocery story beside the restaurant was busy, but the small florist shop on the opposite side was empty and lifeless. Twisting in her seat to face West before they could go get their food, the detective couldn't keep the scowl from her face. "We're not going to get to Hahn's house tonight. I'm already past the twelve hour mark in the day. I was called in at four this morning to go over the Tyler dump site. I can have the forensics night crew head over to the apartment though to gather up evidence, and hopefully they'll have something in the morning for us."
Finally stepping out of her car, Cynthia made her way into the small, storefront, her hand lifting to wave at the short Asian man behind the counter who immediately waved back to her in greeting. "Detective Matthers! The usual?" He asked, his fingers already working over the cash register without Cynthia verifying her answer. "The usual, although could you take it easy on the broccoli this time? Last time it was more broccoli than grains of rice." She shot the man a reproachful look that only made him beam a grin at her. "Of course, detective. Anything for one of Miami's finest!" The man observed Kevin once he walked in, his dark gaze bouncing from one detective to the other. His grin became sly as he looked back at Cynthia. "You on a date, detective?" The redhead scoffed, waving her hand dismissively at the male. "Just take his order, Joe and get cooking. We're busy."

Cynthia waited while West gave his order, and once Joe went around to the kitchen to help prepare it, she dropped down into one of the chairs. "Before I clock out tonight I really want to see what we can find on Tyler's vehicle. We need to see if Hahn had one as well. I don't think we'll find them near any place of importance, but there's still a small chance their might be some clues in them."[/fieldbox]

 

[MST3K 4ever]

The killer knew what he was doing this guy was smart, but Kevin believed that he and Cynthia were smarter and sooner or later this guy would make his one wrong step. Kevin listened to Cynthia give her points of view on the case so far. Kevin couldn't see anything glaring in terms of omissions or flaws. For Kevin getting that first victim ID'd was crucial to this case, but Cynthia made some valid points about how difficult it would be to work up a solid ID on him. Not to mention the whole battered face thing was not helping in that department. Kevin was concerned though that at some point knowing the resources of one Alex Craven the first victim would become public knowledge. He knew it was just a matter of time, and now that he knew about Cynthia she would eventually end up on his radar. Kevin felt sorry for Alex, because even though he had limited interaction with Cynthia something told him that watching Cynthia's people skills take on Craven's sleaziness it wasn't even close who he had his money on.

He replied, "The vacation angle makes sense to me. I agree that has to be a factor we can't just chalk that up a coincidence. That being said there has to be something more. I mean how did our killer know about them leaving town when they did? All that being said that's at least a start and a thread we can use." He gave a half smile and said, "Good catch on that."

Every part of Kevin wanted to go tell Janet about her Aunt, but the chances of catching her at home again weren't that great. Not to mention if they called her and got her voice mail, and they told her to call them back it wasn't going to take Sherlock Holmes to figure out why they were calling. Kevin more than once had to leave the dreaded voice mail drop, and he hated it every time. This was one time he wasn't gonna do it and decided to leave it until the morning. The whole truth of how she died would also remain a secret for as long as possible as well. Not to mention he too had shot past the 12 hour limit as well, and was starting to show signs of being irritable with his sarcasm starting to show more and more. Kevin replied, "All right let's give it a rest for the night. We both could use it, because if we keep on pushing it right now things will eventually something will get missed. Let's turn Miss Hahn's apartment over to the night crew. We'll go see Janet first thing in the morning, because that's going to be our best chance of catching her."

The Prius stopped at a Chinese restaurant and that was fine with Kevin. For Cops Chinese food or Pizza were usually staples of the diet, and with Chinese food there were more vegetables involved than Pizza which gave the illusion at least of being healthier. As they entered Kevin was actually somewhat surprised to see that Cynthia actually converse and seem semi-pleasant to the gentleman behind the counter. The gentleman, whom Cynthia called Joe, asked Kevin for his name and his order. Kevin replied, "Hi Joe my name is Kevin West I'm Cynthia's partner now, and I'd like an order of…" Kevin scanned the menu quickly and said, "Let's go with your Beef Lo-Mein and two beef egg rolls." Kevin walked over to a glass fridge and grabbed an Aqua-Fina. He put two twenties on the counter and said, "This is for mine and Cynthia's. Keep the change."

Kevin sat down and popped open his Aqua-Fina and took a swig. Kevin nodded when Cynthia mentioned the car and said, "Yeah our guy is smart he's probably cleaned out Tyler's car, and assuming she has one, Hahn's car as well. Although you never know we just might get lucky." He took another swig of his drink and said, "I didn't think we'd get lucky with our second vic, but hey let's not look a gift horse in the mouth on this one."

Kevin leaned back and put his right foot up on an open chair and said, "Now that we know who two of our victims are we can also scout Social Media as well. We might get lucky there too. Tyler might be a presence on there, because he's a business man and Social Media is free advertising and another semi effective way of doing word of mouth. Now Hahn remember she has no other family in the area other than her niece, but if she has other living family members what better way to keep in touch with them than through Facebook or Twitter or whatever else there is. Besides, if they posted that they were getting ready to leave town it's possible that our killer picked up on that."

Kevin took out one of his cards and wrote on the back of it. He slid the card to Cynthia and said, "That's my address and my number in case you get any ideas or theories that you can't wait to tell me about, or if something else happens. It's the old paper mill factory that they turned into Apartment lofts about two years ago. I'm on the second floor #3." Kevin took another swig and wanted to say, "This is where you give me your information too," but he decided to let things play out for the moment.

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

[fieldbox= Cynthia, teal]Cynthia wasn't sure exactly why Kevin was paying for her food, but he had already threw money up on the counter before she could say a word about it. She let it go for the time being, opting to return the favor the next time they had to eat at the office; no sense getting worked up over it now when it was already done. Choosing not to get a drink at the restaurant, she took a seat to wait for their food, trying to think of what she could be missing. If there was a pattern of the victims going on vacation before they were taken, that meant there was a possibility, an extremely slim one, of possibly finding their first victim's I.D. "I wonder….victim number one is relatively young. It's possible that the schools might know if there's someone missing that was due to go on vacation and hasn't returned. It's a stretch, and a lot of ground to cover, but we can probably start calling them tomorrow after we get forensics into the Hahn's apartment."

Forensics already had Tyler's computer, now it was only a matter of time before they could see who he interacted with online, and what was posted on his social media. Hahn was a stretch, mostly because she was older and most likely wouldn't be posting her comings and goings for the world to see the way a younger person would. It couldn't hurt them to look, but she wasn't going to put too much faith in finding anything. They'd been lucky enough to ID Hahn asy victim number two, and at least her niece could bury her aunt properly now without a closed casket, at least she thought. The woman would be able to get some answers to her aunt's disappearance.

Watching a West writing on one of his cards, Cynthia's brow quirked up curiously at him. Was she supposed to give him her address as well? Having never had a partner, she had no idea if she was supposed to do. Eventually she decided to return the favor, leaving out her personal cellphone number since he had her work phone on the card. Giving someone she barely knew her address was certainly strange, but eventually he would need it in case her car broke down. With a slight frown she handed him the car, lips sealed. There was no explanation needed, not when it was pretty much self-explanatory. She sat in silence while waiting for their food, still considering other methods that would lead them to searching who their first victim was.

By the time they called for our food, the detective had a list of high schools to call the next day. Quick to jump to her feet, Cynthia grabbed the bag and headed out of the store and out to her car. She waited for West to get in before taking off to return to MCU. She could not hide her eagerness to return to the station, wanting to get as much in before she was forced to go home for the night. She also wanted to take another look at the missing person's reports to see if there was any mention of vacations or trips.

Cynthia didn't talk until the car was parked, her eyes venturing over to her partner. "I'll wait until we get the reports back from forensics to clock out. I doubt we'll be able to get anything major tonight, but we might get at least a break down on any fingerprints and DNA evidence." They would automatically exclude anything that belonged to Tyler himself. They would have to get a sample from his brother and sister-in-law to exclude them as well. "Everything else will have to wait until tomorrow. We can start off with Hahn's niece, then head to her apartment, and we can start calling schools when we finish all that."

Grabbing up the bag with their food, Cynthia exited her car, waiting on West to lock it up and head inside the station. Once she was on the elevator, she decided that now would be a good time to fill on the one thing she had left out. When the doors closed and she and West were alone inside the elevator, Cynthia lowered her voice and began to speak. "There's one thing that I've held back that cannot be released to anyone. It's the one thing that we've quiet about all of the crime scenes." She glanced over West's shoulders as if she was expecting someone to pop up behind him. "There's wings….at least that's what I think they look like. They're painted in white at every scene. We need to keep it quiet, even from the other detectives. The only person who knows about it is the captain." Cynthia didn't want to take a chance that there was a leak in the department, not when it meant that the FBI would be all over the case.

She went quiet once the elevator doors opened up to their floor, and quickly stepped outside onto the unit. "I'm going to go in my office. I want to go over the missing person's reports again to see if maybe we can get a lead on the first victim." Whether West wanted to go to his own office or stay in hers was up to him, but she had a task in mind that she wanted to get started on while she waited for reports from the techs.[/fieldbox]

 

[MST3K 4ever]

With his feast in hand Kevin followed Cynthia to her office and stood in the doorway. He looked around for a moment and said, "The Angel wings thing..." he shook his head and said, "That's a big piece of the puzzle all right, and the number of people who are obviously aware of it is a small circle." Kevin pointed to himself, Cynthia, and then down the hall and said, "And the Captain. We've got to try and keep that quiet for a long as possible. Something like that the media gets a hold of it.." Kevin rolled his eyes for a moment and said, "People will start seeing this on every street corner from here to South Beach and all outlying areas." Kevin thought about it for a moment and said, "Maybe he's turning them into Angels, he's seeing Angels around them, or he's seeing himself as the Angel of Death. In either case that's something else to work with."

Kevin stopped leaning on the doorway and said, "The school lead is a long shot all right, but right now we seem to be on a pretty good roll with them. We get back we'll divide up one of us takes the Private Schools or Special Ed Programs and the other goes for the Public Schools." Kevin nodded and said, "I agree it's gonna be long and tedious and a lot of dead ends before we hit something, but as far as I can tell it's the best shot we got right now. We just have to hope the kid wasn't home schooled or visiting from out of town."

He took a step away from the doorway and said, "Let me know when you get the reports in. I'm heading down to my office and I'm gonna try to get settled in a bit more."

Kevin made his way down to his office which was about 3 doors down from Cynthia's, and along the way he was struck by how quiet everything seemed at the moment. Some of the offices were pitch black while a couple of them had cleaning crews in them. To all outside appearances it was just another high tech office building in downtown Miami.

He sat down at his desk and leaned back in the chair. Kevin said a short table grace and crossed himself. After that he began to eat an egg roll as his phone rang.

Kevin saw it was outside line calling in so he couldn't say "MCU." Kevin answered, "Gold Coast Shipping Company West."

A familiar voice on the other end asked, "So how's it feel to be a part of the big bad MCU machine?"

Kevin chuckled and said, "It definitely ain't Homicide division that's for sure. How the hell are you surviving without me Larry?"

Larry replied, "I ain't. They got me on a desk until they get me a new partner and that is pure agony. Figured I would see how you were doing."

Kevin said, "In the middle of an investigation and you know the rules, trust me around here they not only follow them to the letter, they follow them to the punctuation marks. Getting used to Holsted and someone who has never had a partner. She's an excellent cop gotta give her that."

Larry replied, "Holsted stay under the radar and do your job and he'll stand by you no matter what. Screw him or the Department over he will lead the charge to crucify you. Don't expect compliments from either. In terms of your partner let her be herself you'll find your groove."

Kevin and Larry continued to make small talk as Kevin enjoyed his dinner

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

[fieldbox, Cynthia, teal]Cynthia knew that she was going to have a task searching the high schools when there were so many in the city, and very little about the victim to go on. How many six foot, 185 pound African American teenagers were running around the state? What if he wasn't even from Florida, or enrolled in school? Plenty of kids dropped out no, especially if they were involved with a gang. Chances are she was looking at a dead end and the end to her luck on identifying victims, but she would still give it a shot. Anything that got her closer to figuring out who her first victim was would certainly help out. Perhaps if she found out what happened with Hahn and Tyler's car that might lead her to yet another possible way to identify him, but she wasn't going to hold out much hope on that.

The detective wasn't surprised when West decided to take his meal into his own office, knowing that she wasn't much of a conversationalist, and she certainly hadn't given him any reason to attempt to talk to her. She knew that she was going to have to improve that soon if she and West were going to be working together in the foreseeable future. He had proven that he wasn't going to be too demanding when it came to investigating together. He had some good ideas, and had handled the interview with Hahn's niece well enough that she was comfortable with future interactions between her partner and witnesses. West would work out well, and Cynthia didn't want to take the chance of that being ruined. She had already made more progress on the case in one day than she had in two months since he'd been around, and the extra pair of eyes was definitely useful.

Still, she didn't let West's disappearance into his own office hinder her plans to look into Tyler and Hahn's cars. Once she settled down behind her desk and began nibbling at her food she began her search. She learned quickly that both victims had vehicles, Tyler a black 2014 Ford F-150, and Hahn a dark green 2010 Chevy Malibu. Neither car was in the impound, which meant they had yet to be found and they would need to begin searching for them. She put out an APB for all officers to be on the lookout for the vehicles and to call her or West immediately if they were found. She also sent a note to the State police to keep a look out for anyone driving the vehicles as well, although she doubted that she would hear anything, which meant she was going to have to start searching for through known dump sites to see if they were there.

Cynthia managed to eat half of her food before she got full and decided that she would go inform West of her findings. The unit was nearly empty, most of the other detectives either home for the night or out on investigations. Without the others around and their condescending stares and snarky remarks she didn't feel the need to rush down the hallway to her partner's office. He was on the phone when she peeked her head in, and instead of going into the office she stood outside the door to wait for his conversation to be finished before drawing attention to herself with a gentle knock to the door.

"Tyler and Hahn's car hasn't been impounded, so I put out an APB for them. Tomorrow we can drive around to a few of the abandoned lots to see if maybe the killer ditched them there." The next day was going to be another busy day for the both of them, and while she knew that, it didn't motivate her to clock out and go home for the night. She'd have a chance to catch up on her rest during the weekend; at least she certainly hoped she would. The case was beginning to warm up and quickly, but she still needed a few days off.

"I haven't heard anything back from forensics yet. Night shift will be coming on soon though. I'm going to head back to my office to see if I can find anything on our first victim." Cynthia was tired, her movements becoming sluggish and her thoughts easily scrambling all over the place. She knew that she only had an hour or so left in her before she wouldn't be able to do anything at all, but she wanted to wait just a little longer to give the techs time to send up their reports. She would rest easier if she knew she had something more to work with the next day, although she couldn't quite believe that it would happen. She had two victims IDed and quite a few leads to follow. For one day, she thought that was a pretty good haul.[/fieldbox]

 

[MST3K 4ever]

Kevin was enjoying his conversation with his mentor and friend. He could feel the effects of the long day wearing on him as he was talking to Larry. There wasn't much else to go on and as the longer he sat there the longer his mind was starting to wind down. Kevin told Larry he would keep in touch, but during the conversation Larry seemed a bit more nostalgic than anything else.

This was a sign to Kevin that Larry was getting ready to put in for his Gold Shield. It wouldn't surprise Kevin if the next time talked to Larry that he would be telling West he was retiring. Although Kevin could never see Larry completely walking away. He could see Larry helping out with the DA's office in doing some investigating for them, but Larry's wife Maria would probably be the focus of his attention. For the first time in a long time Kevin felt like he was starting all over again. Larry and him would keep in touch but it wouldn't be like it was, and Kevin knew full well there would be no discussing his work at MCU. Working with Cynthia would take some getting used to, but Kevin was pretty impressed with her as a cop. In terms of a person he had a feeling that underneath the layers of anti-social behavior and awkwardness there was a person worth getting to know. The question was did Kevin want to put in the effort

As he sat back in his chair looking out the window he was finishing up his meal in which Kevin made a note to himself. That note was Joe and his people made some killer Beef Lo-Mein, and that Kevin would be going back to see them again. He heard a gentle knock on the door, and Kevin looked up to see Cynthia standing there. Part of him was wondering how long she was standing there and what she might've overheard. Cynthia didn't seem like the type who would eavesdrop though. She gave Kevin the rundown and it was an impressive rundown. They had the makes of the cars to work with and Cynthia even came up with some working ideas on what to do concerning them.

When Cynthia finished speaking Kevin nodded and said, "All right sounds like we got our work cut out for us tomorrow."

As Cynthia walked away Kevin noticed that her movements were not exactly sharp and crisp. Cynthia was winding down as well and Kevin wondered if she would even be okay to make it home. However this was one of those times where one would have to trust their partner. Kevin would have to trust that Cynthia knew her limits. All of that being said Kevin cut everything off in his office and threw out the remains of his feast.

Kevin walked down to Cynthia's office carrying what he had on the case in a file and gave a gentle knock. He said, "I told you that I was here as long as you were here." He walked in and sat down in a chair in front of her desk and said, "Besides we're both doing a slow fade out. I figure if we get something in the next hour if one of us misses something the other might catch it. Not to mention tomorrow when I come in you and I are on the same page for the most part. I'm not playing catch up anymore, so there's no excuse for me to be lagging behind you."

Kevin noted how empty Cynthia's office was. No pictures of family, any awards, nothing that communicated a sense of who she was and that she had any life outside of MCU. Kevin almost felt sorry for her, but as was noted earlier in the day she was over 21 and it was her choice. Kevin didn't think now was the right time to try and be sociable and what remaining energy they had should be on the case.

Kevin leaned his head back and said, "We got a lot to cover tomorrow, so here's my question; do we divide and conquer after we visit Janet, and one of us take care of tracking down the cars and the other calls schools? Or do we both tackle everything together?"

He looked at Cynthia and said, "Your call it doesn't matter to me either way has its own pluses and minuses."

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

[fieldbox= Cynthia, teal]Cynthia hadn't expected West to turn up in her office, but there he was sitting in her office across from her. She was never going to get used to looking up and having someone sitting in the usually empty seat at the front of her desk, and even now she had problems trying not to ask her partner if he needed something from her. She was certainly going to be slow to adjust, while West seemed to have a knack for dealing with working beside someone else. She considered the fact that as a partner he wasn't too much of a nuisance, at least not yet. The future had yet to be seen, and they still hadn't reached the rough patches in the case when leads began to wind down and bodies were piling up. She hoped that they could find the killer before any of that happened, but she doubted it. Their killer was far from done, and they still had a long way to go before they came anywhere close to identifying him.

Going over their options, Cynthia decided that for the time being the school thing was most likely going to be a shot in the dark. There had been no Amber alerts, and most of the missing person's reports were for African American males over the age of eighteen, which meant they were most likely out of school already. "Actually, I think we should put our focus on the cars. I'm going to do a search tomorrow through the missing person's reports again to see if any of them are also missing their car. Our killer isn't picking his victims up in his own vehicle…that's too much of a risk. He's meeting them somewhere, or perhaps he does something to their cars and forces them off the road….either way, I get the feeling that the car is the best option we have to ID the first victim."

Her eyes darted to the screen of her computer, the words and images already turning fuzzy as she blinked away her sleepiness. She didn't know if she'd be able to hold out much longer, and considering she was pushing on sixteen hours she was going to have to call it a night soon "It's almost eight. Let's just call it a night for now. We've got a lot to do tomorrow, and we're both going to have to be awake and alert. We'll stop at Hahn's nieces home first thing, then meet forensics over at her apartment, then we can start focusing on the cars. I honestly think that the house and apartment aren't going to give us anything. The computers might, and if we can find their cars we might get a general idea of where they're meeting up with the killer." She didn't know if the killings were personal or not, that much hadn't been figured out yet, but once they had enough evidence they could figure it out.

Cynthia was running on fumes, her body demanding that she lay down and get some rest, but she still had the drive home to deal with before that. She didn't know how far West had to go to get to his own place, but she had a good twenty minute drive ahead of her. "We managed to get a bit accomplished today though, which is good. Hopefully tomorrow we make some more progress." She didn't think they'd get nearly as lucky tomorrow as they had today, but there was no telling what they might find. Searching for the vehicles is going to be time consuming…..so I think we should split up after we get the forensics team into Hahn's apartment. You start looking for the cars, and I'm going to talk to Tyler's brother again and find out where his brother was planning on going camping. Hopefully he was going to a campsite and I can find out if he actually made it there or not." She wasn't sure if he would get upset with the task that she gave him, but for now divide and conquer was going to get them much further than sticking together the entire day.

Shutting down her computer, Cynthia cleaned off her desk and slowly got to her feet. She would have liked to stay a bit longer, but there were regulations about working more than sixteen hours a day. "The captain is going to jump in my shit if I'm not out of here by eight. I've already got my overtime for the week." Gathering up her things, Cynthia tried to think of some sort of small talk to make with West, but for the life of her she had no idea what to say outside of work related topics. Finally she gave up on the idea, and simply kept her mouth shut as she made her way toward the door, waiting for West to follow her out.

The captain had already left for the night, and there were only a handful of people left, but the few around were all part of the night shift, and she had very little interaction with them. As she and West walked to the elevator, Cynthia finally turned to her partner and spoke. "If you have any ideas that you want to follow up, you don't have to run them by me. Just let me know if you find anything. Do you want to meet up at Hahn's niece's apartment tomorrow, or here at the station?"[/fieldbox]

 

[MST3K 4ever]

Kevin moved out of Cynthia's office once he saw that she was calling it a day too. He followed her out and she made her suggestion of how to handle the next day's duties. Kevin said, "I can live with that. I'll call some of my friends in Auto tomorrow, and see if they've heard or seen anything. My one concern is that if they've ended up in the wrong place. Specifically a chop shop, if they ended up there it's not gonna be good." He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Just gonna have to wait and see."

As he got on the elevator he waited for Cynthia to get on and said, "We'll meet back here tomorrow morning. Take care of anything that we can hear before we go see Janet. Once we talk to Janet I think we come back here see if there's anything else before we go to divide and conquer. Check in periodically or as events warrant." Once the elevator doors opened revealing the interior of the parking garage. Kevin let out a deep exhale as he saw the familiar Prius and in a corner all by itself is blue & silver Harley Davidson Rocker. He gave off a half smile and said, "And my chariot awaits. Luckily I only live 10-15 minutes from here, and the noise should keep me awake long enough to get home."

He turned back to Cynthia as he stepped off the elevator and said, "We made some good progress today. I know we got more work to do. A lot more and that there will be tough times ahead, but…" Kevin nodded and said, "You're a good detective and I'm glad to be working with you." He gave a half smile and said, "Good night Cynthia."

Kevin walked over to his Harley and put his helmet on. He said, "Get me home baby. Get me home in one piece and we'll call it a day." With that Kevin turned the key and gave the cycle a kick. Without any hesitation the machine roared to life and Kevin smiled under his helmet as he said, "Ah sweet music."

Kevin backed the cycle out of its parking spot and was gone like a shot. The ride home was uneventful and Kevin was relieved to be home after the long day, but the relief was short lived as he saw the car belonging to his dog sitter Joey still in the parking lot. He then looked towards his apartment windows and saw what appeared to be soft light coming from it like that of a few candles. Kevin bowed his head and shook it slowly as he said, "Oh this is going to be painful I just know it."

Kevin quietly made his way up the stairs and to his front door and very quietly unlocked it. He heard the sound of a sax solo being played from his apartment and Kevin shook his head as he said, "When this is over I am getting a new dog sitter." As Kevin slid the door open quietly he heard Roxanne growl and moving towards him from across the room quickly. Kevin quickly said, "Peppermint Ripken Latte!" It was phrase that made no sense but it told Roxanne that Kevin was entering the apartment and not to kill him. Immediately Roxanne went from killer to happy. Kevin entered the apartment to find Joey in his boxers sitting on the couch, and a young blonde girl in a black lace nighty who shrieked and took off down the hall. Joey stood up and was stuttering and stammering as he said, "You…you you're not supposed to be home Kevin."

Kevin replied as he did a quick scan of the apartment, "My trip got cancelled because I got called into work." He shook his head and said, "Let me guess a Bible Study, and the young lady who just sprinted down the hall was Mary Magdalene? Is that right?" Kevin crossed over to a light switch panel and cut on the dining room area light.

Joey sheepishly shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well I know this looks awkward, but hey Kevin I bet you were in situation like this once and there was kind and caring adult involved."

Kevin turned back to Joey and nodded slowly and Joey asked, "And what they say?"

Kevin replied, "Get my gun sweet heart. He gave me two minutes to get out of firing range" Kevin rubbed his head slowly as though he were getting a migraine, which wasn't too far from the truth considering the scented candles were so overwhelming, and said, "Okay you go get dressed, get your stuff, blow out any candles in my bedroom or anywhere else, and you and the young lady get out of here. Your dog sitting days for me are over."

Joey was practically sprinting down the hall as Kevin turned towards the window and looked out at the city. As difficult as the day was the one thing that no one could take away from him was his view. Kevin loved this view, and it was all his. Roxanne walked up to him and leaned into Kevin as he gently stroked her ears and said, "I love you too sweet girl." Just then he could hear Joey and the young lady discussing the recent turn of events.

Kevin chuckled as he heard the young lady say, "I thought you said this was your Uncle's place and he was gonna be one for a week."

Kevin heard Joey's reply, "Yeah well his trip got cancelled and he's not really my Uncle he's a guy my parents know who's a cop."

The young lady said in great horror, "I brought my older brother's stash to a cop's loft!"

Kevin bowed his head and shook it slowly as he said, "Who is still in the room, and heard you!"

Kevin walked over and looked at the two of them. He shook his head at both of them and said, "Down the hall first door on your right let's go."

Kevin cut on the light in the bathroom and ushered the other two in. He said, "Okay I'm gonna give you two a choice. One every ounce goes into that toilet, it gets flushed, you two leave, and this never gets mentioned. Or two you end up calling your parents via the one phone call you're entitled to from downtown."

The young lady asked, "Would you really arrest us?"

Kevin pulled out his cuffs and cracked them open and said, "You got to the count of ten, and I'm on three."

The young lady pulled out a sizable amount of marijuana from her purse and quickly flushed it. Kevin nodded and said, "Good job." They all looked at each other for a moment and Kevin said, "Now get out."

Kevin heard the door slide and close. He walked over to his stereo and stopped the music. Kevin cut on his TV and flipped the channels around for a moment until he saw the Panthers taking on the Caps. Kevin then grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and sat down on his couch to watch the game. Roxanne walked over and he stroked behind her ears and asked, "So how was your day?"

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

[fieldbox= Cynthia, teal]Cynthia didn't have much else to add that hadn't already been said. They had a pile of work for the next few days, quite a few leads to chase down, and endless phone calls to make. Compared to her, West was a regular chatterbox, and while she was listening to every word that he said, she did not bother responding to most of it except to bid him a goodnight before wandering off to her car. There was nothing for her to rush home to besides a glass of red wine and her bed which was still unmade from her early morning wakeup call nearly sixteen hours ago, but even that was better than having to deal with her case any longer. Her mind never strayed far from work though, and even as she drove the twenty minute commute to her apartment complex, she could not stop trying to figure out exactly what the killer might be doing at that very moment. Was he stalking his next victim already? Was he cleaning up the mess left behind by the Tyler killing? Cynthia wished that she was closer to catching him than she really was, but she knew that it was going to take time and lots of energy to get to that point.

Her apartment complex was nearly deserted by the time she pulled her car into her spot and cut it off. Everyone was either inside getting ready for bed for the evening, or already off to work. Like most areas in Miami, her small complex was home to many retired couples who had chosen to spend their later years in the warmth and sun of Florida, with only the occasional twenty-something to break up the peace and quiet. Cynthia greatly preferred her elderly neighbors than the younger ones; they minded their own business and kept quiet, which suited her perfectly fine. The less she had to make idle chitchat, the happier she was, and what else did she have to talk about besides work?

Silently she crept up the stairs to her apartment, careful not to allow her keys to jingle and disturb her neighbors as she unlocked her door and stepped inside. Flicking the light on, she checked to make sure that everything in her apartment was as she left it that morning, and by all appearances it seemed that it was. No one had ever stepped inside her apartment before, and if they had they would have been surprised by how it was decorated. Unlike her office, the walls of Cynthia's apartment were covered with family pictures from when she was a child, along with her diplomas, academic awards, and other awards she had received over the years. Her furniture was warm and cheerful, a light blue couch and loveseat both decorated with matching pillows on each corner and a bright blue throw over the back. She didn't own a television set, but instead there was a large stereo system complete with surround sound speakers on practically every wall in the living room and leading down to the hall toward her bedroom. Naturally everything was neat and orderly, partly because she was never home , but mostly because she had a cleaning lady that came in twice a week to keep up with the household chores that she never had time for.

Kicking off her shoes near the door, Cynthia padded straight to her kitchen to grab herself a glass of wine before heading into her bedroom to unwind for the night. Much like her living room, her bedroom was also decorated with a scattering of family pictures, along with a rather large painting of a sunrise over a beach. The queen sized bed was covered with a dark green quilt, and the oak dressers and nightstand were all dust free. The detective took a moment to check her room, and then hastily removed her badge and gun to tuck away in a metal lockbox that rested on the nightstand at the left side of her bed.

Her apartment was as silent as always, not even the sound of a muffled TV from next door could penetrate the walls. This was how she had lived since she was old enough to live alone, and even though there were times the lack of noise drove her insane, she liked living alone. Cynthia had long ago given up on the idea that she'd ever have the normal kind of life that most women her age longed for, she was far too intelligent and stubborn to ever really commit to a relationship. She had tried dating in the past, and had even had a boyfriend for a few months, but in the end her inability to communicate had resulted in its failure. The last she'd heard from her ex, he was marrying a bartender five years younger than him, who talked more in five minutes than Cynthia did in an entire day.

Shaking off her thoughts, Cynthia drank her wine down quickly, moving back out into the hall to head into the spare bedroom that served as her home office. In reality, she should refer to it as a library. The room itself was filled with bookshelves that had been built along each wall, each shelf filled from floor to ceiling with books. There was only one small spot that did not contain books, and that was the desk where her laptop sat. This was her destination for the moment, her thoughts bouncing back to earlier when West had informed her of the reporter at Tyler's home. After booting up her computer she scanned the local news sites for any hints of a story, finding only a mention of Tyler's 'mysterious' death, with no details. For now the case was still out of the media, and Cynthia could only cross her fingers and hope it stayed that way.

Once she was certain the news hadn't connected the three murders, she headed into her bathroom to run a bath and relax before finally dressing into a pair of sweatpants and tee-shirt, and climbing into bed. She was sound asleep by ten, and waking up by the sound of her alarm clock at five in the morning. She didn't have to be at the station till seven, but she still had a routine to follow, one that she hadn't strayed from since her days at the academy. Without much of a fuss, Cynthia threw her hair up in a ponytail, slid on some socks and shoes, grabbed her iPod and headed out the door for her morning jog. Each morning she took a two mile jog to corner store down the street to grab the newspaper before showering and getting ready for work, and today was no different.

The run was uneventful, and as she walked inside the store, she greeted the teenager behind the counter with a faint smile. "Morning Sam. How's your dad?" She asked politely, tossing her paper onto the counter as she scanned the front page for anything on her case. Relieved to find nothing there, she gave her attention back to the teenager, who after two years of seeing her every morning, had grown used to her weird behavior. "Hey detective. He's good. Should be back in business next week when his cast comes off. I'll tell him you said hi." Cynthia only smiled in response, sliding her payment across the counter and scooping her paper up and tucking it under her arm. "Have a good day, Sam. Stay safe." She exclaimed prior to her departure, and the return jog back to her apartment to shower and get dressed for work.

It didn't take long for her to get dressed in a blue silk blouse and black slacks, her badge and gun tucked at her waist and her hair once more pulled up into a bun. By the time seven o'clock rolled around, Cynthia was sitting at her desk with a cup of coffee, already typing furiously away at her keyboard as she scanned over the missing person's reports once again, this time also searching for a report on a stolen car to go along with it. The list still produced more than a dozen results, but at least she had narrowed it down from the hundreds of reports she had before. Taking a sip on her coffee, Cynthia settled back in her chair with a thoughtful scowl, trying to figure out what else she could possibly do to narrow the list down even more.[/fieldbox]

 

[MST3K 4ever]

Kevin rarely if ever needed an alarm to wake up since he joined the Police Force. Usually his body was so used to waking up between 6 and 6:15 that if he slept longer than 6:30 he felt sluggish for most of the day. All of that though didn't really matter over the last 4 years, because by 5:30 Roxanne was usually up and letting him know in no uncertain terms that it was time to start the day with a morning run. Although Kevin usually grumbled out of jealousy that Roxanne got to sleep all day, and that she had no clue what it was like to put in 9-16 hour days.

Kevin was in that zone of not quite asleep, but not fully awake. He laid in bed with his eyes close trying to convince his bed to get just a few more minutes of sleep. He needed sleep and Kevin's mind was still occasionally shifting into "vacation mode", so he needed to get as much sleep as he could. As he slowly began to drift off to sleep again Kevin could hear the sound of Roxanne's claws scrapping across that hard wood floors. Kevin thought if he just laid there and didn't move maybe Roxanne would just let him sleep. Kevin could feel her presence in the room and he did everything in his power not to move. It was no good though as Roxanne did a low bark almost in Kevin's right ear.

Without opening his eyes Kevin said, "Roxanne if you let me sleep a little longer I will not only take you running this weekend, but I will take you to The Butcher's Market and buy you twenty pounds of bones. Deal?"

Roxanne barked low again and Kevin asked, "Forty?"

He heard Roxanne leave the room and Kevin smile as he said, "Sold American." Just then he heard Roxanne coming back and Kevin figured Roxanne was going to climb into bed. Roxanne let out two loud barks, and it sounded like she had something in her mouth. Kevin raised up out of bed and saw Roxanne sitting there with a leash in her mouth. Kevin looked at her and said, "Like I said I think we'll go for a morning run today." He gave her a couple of good scratches behind the ears and said, "Door let me get dressed."

Roxanne was almost sprinting down the hallway as Kevin swung his legs out of bed. He looked at the black sweat pants he wore to bed and shrugged his shoulders as he said, "Yeah why not." Kevin walked over to the dresser and got out his favorite "Batman" t-shirt, slipped on a pair of sweat socks, and finally his black and red Nikes. He grabbed his ear buds along with his MP3 player and set the music mix for his running songs.

Kevin walked to the door and put the leash on Roxanne who was struggling to contain her joy at going out for a run. Although Kevin belly ached and grumbled at times over this he actually loved this part of the day. The day was just getting under way with all kinds of new possibilities, and it was just time for him and Roxanne to enjoy each other's company.

He slid open the door, hit play on his MP3 and said, "Okay Roxy let's go." The two headed out of the building and as they ran Kevin's mind began to drift back towards the case. How to address Janet about her aunt? Reviewing what Forensics had found since last night. Tracking down the cars. More importantly now that they were making progress would the Captain be expecting more meteoric progress today? Or would this be the day that the media got to them?

Kevin shook his head to clear his mind. He remembered what Larry always taught him. To let the evidence present itself, let it tell you it's story, let the facts talk to you, trust your instincts, and above all else trust your partner. Don't think just do it one step at a time.

When they returned after their 45 minute run. Kevin gave Roxanne a bowl full of food and clean water. Kevin went back to the bedroom and got a shower and a shave. Once he was done with that he put on his black suit with a light gray shirt and a black tie. He unlocked a lock box under his nightstand that was out of sight. Kevin pulled out his Sig 9MM and put it in his holster, grabbed his badge, his wallet, and his cell phone. He ate two granola bars, two bananas, one cup of yogurt, and a cup of coffee for breakfast.

Before he left Kevin gave Roxanne a sizable bone and said, "You still got the other one, but I don't know when I'll be back so that'll keep you happy for a while." Kevin kissed her on the head and said, "Love you sweet girl." On his way out of the building he stopped off and saw that Angela Wilson was home. She was an sculptor who worked out of her loft and lived two doors down from Kevin. She was on tour every so often so Kevin couldn't always count on her to watch Roxanne all the time, or she was visiting her girlfriend in Fort Myers. He asked her if she would let Roxanne out a couple of times later in the day, and she said it would be no problem. Roxanne liked her and Angela liked Roxanne so Kevin felt good trusting her with his beloved Roxanne.

Kevin looked at his Durango and his Harley. He asked, "Which one?" Kevin opted once again for the Harley and was on his way into work.

When Kevin arrived at work he made his way to Cynthia's office and saw her sitting there. She was already at it, and Kevin had to admit though that while he admired her work ethic she was a beautiful woman too.

He knocked gently on the door frame and said, "Hey."