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  Cancer

Chapter 1

“The women’s lumberjacks have done it again, they are leading the race and it looks like they’ll win. Here comes our top runner up and if she can make this throw then that will cinch the lead making the women’s team the champions for the year. Shannon Downs is stepping up to the mark. Eyeing the distance and making sure that her arm is ready for this tough swing.” The announced followed her movements for the crowd on the radio.

“She’s picked up the axe giving it a little twirl in her hand to make sure the balance is correct. The windup as she pulls it back continuing to twirl it in her hand and there it is her arm is up and over her head with the axe swinging through the air and into the target.”

“And she’s done it again folks, another bullseye. I wouldn’t want to meet her in a dark alley with that axe.”

“Here is the men’s team competitor, Brian O’Leary. He’s got the muscles of a lumberjack and those women in the crowd who love a good beard are certainly getting an eyeful with this one. This isn’t like most of the other competitions that we’ve seen this weekend, it’s the last chance for the men to pull ahead in this year’s event.”

“There he goes flexing to loosen up the muscles and get his arm ready for this important throw. His wind up is a little different than Shannon’s, he throws in a forward twirling motion. He let the axe go.”

“Isn’t that simply a beautiful throw? It’s turning end over end as he nails it. This is going to be a close one, Dave. I believe the judges are going to have to get the measuring tape out to determine who is the winner. That’s how close this competition is right now.”

“The crowd is holding their breath as we wait for the judges to give us their verdict.”

“Oh, wait. What’s this folks? Brian O’Leary is our winner. The judges are saying he hit the mark by 3 millimeters closer than Shannon did.”

“She is not happy. She’s refusing to shake his hand and walking away spitting in the dirt.”

“Oh, this is not good. We haven’t seen this kind of anger over a loss in several years.”

“Shannon is there anything you want to say to everyone who supported you in this competition?”

“They can go screw themselves.” She commented and shoved the microphone away striding to join the others of the women’s team.

“You heard her Dave, she is not commenting. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of this feud.”

-------

Everyone from the lumberjack competition had been staying in trailers or motel rooms all over the city.

Brian O’Leary had gone out to celebrate with his friends and was walking back to his room before they had to carry him back.

He hadn’t had that many drinks considering he could drink his buddies under the table on most occasions, but tonight it had gone to his head. The few short blocks from the bar hadn’t seemed that far earlier, but he concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other.

A figure stepped out from the alley, “Here let me help you.”

“No, I don’t want your help.” He protested as the sidewalk moved under his feet.

“Okay,” he mumbled giving in as the other person guided him toward the back of a truck.

  The truck bed groaned with his weight as his legs hung off the tailgate.

“This is so nice.” The person helping him put a blanket over covering his body from the cold night air.

The bouncing of the truck over the roads into the woods didn’t stir Brian even when it stopped abruptly in the middle of nowhere.

His body was pulled out of the truck and onto a tarp at the foot of the truck. Lights came on providing an eerie feel as the sound of a chainsaw tore through the still night.

When the first cut was made, he didn’t move. With the amount of sedatives that had been put into his drink, he wouldn’t even feel his last moments on earth as the chainsaw tore through his flesh.

Ignoring the blood gushing everywhere, she lifted the chainsaw with a practiced motion as she removed all of his limbs from his body.

Unsure of the exact moment a coroner would have pronounced him dead, she rolled each body part into its own parcel placing them in the bed of the truck away from the gory mess left on the tarp.

Having prepped the area, she tossed the entire tarp into the fire she’d lit. As the flames gained momentum, she bleached her equipment before returning it to her back seat. Then as a last precaution, she stripped out of all her clothes standing naked in the cool night air as the fire burned away the evidence.

Her phone rang in the stillness of the night interrupting her commune with nature.

“Yes,” she answered her pale skin glowing in the fire’s light.

“Is it done?”

“Yes, I’m just enjoying a little night air in the woods.”

“Perfect. When will you return for your next victim?”

“Tomorrow at the latest. I’ll have to be careful because they are going to be looking for him when he doesn’t show with his team in the morning.”

“Don’t cause any suspicion by leaving early. We need to have his body placed in the next town where you’ll pick up your next friend.”

“I have it covered. They won’t be onto us for weeks or even the entire month.”

“Don’t get cocky. Better serial killers than you have gone down because of these two detectives. I want you to succeed.”

“I understand perfectly. I’ll let you know when it’s done.”

She stood in the night air for just a few more moment savoring her first kill. This was what had been missing from her life and now she knew exactly what needed to be done to exact her justice.

               -----

Leslie

When I’d gotten back from dealing with the ghosts of my past, I started feeling restless. Running again felt wonderful, but after I’d had a few up close and personal encounters with our killers, I was a little shy about working out without other people surrounding me.

If things continued through the end of the year with these serial killers, then I was going to have to see a therapist to work through some issues.

  I was still reeling from having been shot by the Aries killer two months ago. Then only a month later, I’d broken up with my boyfriend Jerome because he didn’t understand my passion for justice. Now after two months of crazy personal battles, I’d gained psychic powers that had helped us uncover the Gemini killers. I was just getting my mojo back and I wasn’t about to let another killer kick my butt.

Some of the zodiac killers had started off with a bang and we were hot on the trail while others had been able to stay hidden until later in the month. The Zodiac Master continued to recruit new killers each month willing to do his dirty work for him. Although, they seemed to enjoy it, I didn’t find any pleasure in it because I had to find them before they completed whatever evil mission he planned for them.

Scanning my pass to the gym, I headed straight for the punching bags. With all of the pent up emotional energy from the last few months needing an outlet, it would have been better if I had a picture of the Zodiac Master to put on the bag.

My fist connected with a solid thud as I funneled my anger into the punch. A left, a right and quick jab were just what the doctor ordered to help cleanse my aura and get me back on the right track.

“Do you need someone to hold the bag for you?” One of the trainers asked as he passed by.

“Nah, thanks though. It’ll throw off my rhythm.”

“Let us know if we can help with anything.” He walked away to check on someone else.

This gym had seemed like the perfect fit for me due to its proximity to my home and it provided a safe place for me to workout. These days I needed a place that I could go without having to look over my shoulder the entire time.

Flora had been using the past few days to help me work through how to use exercise and practice control for the gift I’d been given. I’d used my time on the bag to help release all of my bad thoughts and energies, now it was time to clear my mind as I used the treadmill to regain my stamina. I was certain that running daily had saved my life when stuck in the woods with an archer determined that I was his prey.

The treadmill felt different than running on the concrete, but it felt good to be focused on the miles moving under my feet than on all of the problems running through my head.

It would have been easy to give into my normal thoughts and work through the case, but this time I was determined that whenever something connected to the case flitted across my brain I would simple redirect it to the side for later.

After a good five miles, I felt so refreshed as I headed for the showers in the back that I didn’t noticed the man on the bikes watching my every move.

------

Ryan

My head had been messed up for months. I’d become a cop to help people and to use my passion to put criminals behind bars. Somedays that didn’t seem possible whereas others, it was a slam dunk and I could sleep well at night.

Then Detective Boxe had walked into my life six months ago and things hadn’t managed to calm down yet. She’d brought the whole dog and pony show of the supernatural world with her. While leery of how real the visions and sightings of ghosts really were, I couldn’t say anything against the way it had helped us with the case.

We’d both been tasked with finding the first serial killer targeting women in both of our cities. It had led us to team up with the FBI and their Agents Gavin Watson, Kevin Johnson and Adam Dalca. Even with their ample resources, we were still trying to find the Zodiac Masters starting the sixth month of the regular calendar year.

Cancer this month’s zodiac sign that sounded horrible to begin with and if the past six months had taught me anything it would hold something we’d never seen before. A new twist on how to murder people while staying one step ahead of us.

If all of that wasn’t enough to keep someone up at night, I had the added pressure of being a fiancé to Shea who was now expecting our first child. I couldn’t let her down, but this case wasn’t something I could ignore either. The Zodiac Master had made it clear that both Leslie and I had to work together or we wouldn’t make it out alive.

When she’d been shot, the Zodiac Master had apologized for his minion and promised that we would be safe until the end of his little game. Not that the promise of a serial killer was going to be what I based all of my hopes and dreams on, but I did hope that it would keep her from dying until we had a chance to beat him at his own game.

I’d been trying to stay busy when we weren’t chasing after the killer of the month by digging into the Urban Energy Company that seem to helping the environment. Only I wasn’t so sure that was really the case and suspected they had a darker secret mission that was being carried out by someone in the company. We’d found too many intersecting pieces to the serial killers for them not to be connected in some way and it was my goal to find out why.

Agent Kevin had gone undercover as a tech guy, but he hadn’t been there long enough to provide much in the way of useable information.

For tonight though, I was going to put all thoughts of serial killers out of my mind and concentrate on my dinner date with my fiancé.

Shea was ready when I arrived home and I couldn’t wait for an evening out on the town. We only had a few short months left to enjoy each other’s company before the third member of our family arrived making date night an impossible proposition.

The steakhouse was one of the best in Ft. Worth that was still affordable for a cop’s salary.

“We have the doctor’s appointment in the morning. Will you be able to get away from work long enough to make it?” Shea reminded as we were seated.

“I’ve already informed Agent Watson that I wouldn’t be in until after lunch. Now, tell me what’s been going on with you besides being our baby’s incubator.”

“Oh, you’re so silly. Incubator indeed. Well, we’ve been having the spring and summer rush to place homes on the market. I’m hoping to have the new girl trained enough as my secretary [AM1] that she can take over when the baby gets here. I can still do some of the paperwork and listings from home or the office, but won’t do the actual field work for the last few weeks before the baby comes.”

“You know we’ve never really talked about whether you would be taking a maternity leave or returning back to work immediately. What are your thoughts on it?”

“With you gone more than normal lately, I’m going to take the extra time off so we don’t have any problems with conflicting schedules. I want to bond with the baby and take some time to find the right nanny before I go back to work.”

“Hasn’t your mother volunteered to do that job?” I snickered knowing that Shea wasn’t really keen on the idea.

“I’m perfectly okay with my mother watching the baby, but I’m going to want to find a permanent solution. While she’ll enjoy being a grandmother, I don’t think that she wants to take on the role of raising the baby even on a temporary basis.”

“I wish that I could promise to be here all the time or even that I’d be around more, but right now that doesn’t seem to be something I can do.”

She laid a hand over mine, “We have months before the baby will be here and the first year not much happens. The use a lot of diapers, eat, sleep and try to crawl. As long as you spend as much time as possible with the baby, then I think you’ll be fine. There are tons of dads that travel for work, we’ll be okay.”

“Just because others can do that doesn’t mean I want to be away from our baby.” I was appalled at the suggestion.

“Saving the world comes first. Imagine if it was our child that was going to be killed because of when they were born? Some other mother or father out there doesn’t need to have their baby killed because some person has a vendetta against them for when their birthday happens to fall.”

“I can’t help it, I have all this guilt that I’m leaving you alone when we should be doing all the things to prepare for a baby.”

“Honey, you are. We’re going to the doctor’s visit together. Baby steps until you have this killer taken care of and you can work normal cases again.”

I distractedly rubbed a hand through my hair, “What if I don’t want to go back to normal cases? What if I’m bored with solving robberies and single murders?”

“Oh, no I believe that this is giving you training that you’re going to need for some of the harder cases when you return to active duty. I think this case is driving you crazy because you’re loving it. You don’t want to go back to something that doesn’t fulfill you again, but I’m pretty sure that the FBI is aware of the special skill set that you and Leslie bring to the table.”

“None of this bothers you? I haven’t even seen you enough lately to tell you what’s been going on for you to know all of this. Joining the FBI would take more training and require that I leave you and the baby for an even longer period of time.”

“It bothers me, but not in the way you think. When you’ve been home and weren’t able to chase the killer, you’re not yourself. You aren’t sleeping or when you do fall asleep you’re having nightmares which disturb your rest. I want you to catch this guy and find some peace. He’s consumed you.”

“I’m so sorry. I’ll try to do better. I shouldn’t be putting this onto you.” I waved to the nice dining room, “This was supposed to be a night out for us to reconnect and celebrate. Now I’ve ruined it with work again. I just can’t seem to separate the two.”

“What you do isn’t just a job to you, its part of who you are. A strong man that wants justice for others isn’t a bad quality in a husband or father. Something about this has seeped into you and become almost an obsession. When it goes over to the dark side and I feel that you aren’t able to come up for air then I’ll you know. At the moment, you need to be focused on catching this bastard and locking him up for good.”

“Tell me, what did I ever do to deserve you?” I felt such a release of emotions that I wanted to cry and I wasn’t the pregnant one.

“I’m not sure you deserve me,” A saucy wink accompanied her words, “but I’ll tell you what you can do to make it up to me.”

“Anything.” I promised.

“Rub my feet.” She grinned at my expression of astonishment, “These heels are terrible on my feet and I’m going to have to give them up soon, but until then I’ll take as many foot rubs as I can get.”

“You got it. I was afraid that I was going to have to watch you eat your steak with pickles and ice cream or something.” I brushed my hand across my forehead in mock relief.

“Although, if you’re gone for the rest of the month I may have to replace you with a professional foot rubber. I can’t guarantee that my feet won’t belong to another by the time you come home.” She teased.

“Random thought, but did you know they have professional people who come to your house and cuddle with you?” I shifted topics to something much lighter and out of the ordinary.

“No, really?” She leaned forward showing just enough cleavage that I started to wish dinner was already over. “How on earth does that even work?”

“From what I understand, you call up the service and let them know when you would like your cuddler to arrive. Then you explain what kind of service you would like: someone to sit on the couch and watch t.v., someone to sleep with—platonically of course, or some light cuddle-petting. It’s completely up to the individual and you can request a regular person so that you don’t have to get used to a new one each time.”

“So getting a professional foot rubber might not be too far out there then? I wonder if I can add back rubs to the package.”

“For tonight only, I’ll give you my baby momma rate.” I winked at her suggestively.

A smile lit up her features, “You know that’s how we got in this mess right?”    

“I’m a little fuzzy on the details so you might have to show me so I’ll know for the future.”

Neither one saw the man on the other side of the table listening to everything they were saying before he faded quietly out of sight. 

-------

For some reason this first doctor visit was making me extremely nervous and I wasn’t having anything done to me.

Shea acted like she’d done this several times already or maybe it was just normal for expectant mothers to start learning the art of being calm all the time.

When the nurse called her name, I jumped up partly startled.

“Honey, you need to calm down just a smidge.” She smiled at my enthusiasm. “This is just a normal doctor visit and there’s nothing to be nervous about.”

“No, normally the doctor isn’t going to be poking around on my future child.”

The kind nurse who had probably dealt with tons of prospective fathers spoke up, “Don’t worry, the baby won’t feel a thing. At this point they are just learning the sound of your voice and are perfectly safe in your wife’s stomach. Think of her as the protection shield that keeps out all of the pain and hurt.”

“Thank you, he’s just nervous and we’re engage, but not married yet.” Shea sent a wink in my direction.

“Laugh all you want, but I’ve heard the horror stories about child birth and the things that can happen.” I frowned knowing I shouldn’t be taking this quite so seriously.

“It’s perfectly normal for first time fathers to be nervous. The internet can be a great resource, but just remember that not everything you read on the internet is real.” The nurse took Shea’s vitals before handing her a gown, “Just put that on and the doctor will be in shortly to do the ultrasound.”

“You’re going to have to take a seat and stop pacing.” Shea giggled as I tried to walk back and forth.

“I’m sorry,” I came to stand next to her place in a kiss on her forehead, “I didn’t even realize that I was doing it. I’ll behave.”

“It’s okay. I think you’ve taken all of my nervous energy and it’s making me feel better knowing that you’re worried. I’ve seen you be the tough cop for so long, that seeing you as a dad is going to be so much fun.”

“Well, I’ve been a cop for years. Being a dad comes with all sorts of new pitfalls. What if I walk in the other room and kid rolls off the couch? Or chokes on a cheerio?” I started to pace again, but stopped when I realized what I was doing.

“Honey, all new parents worry about these types of things. You just have to take things one day at a time. Something will happen and you’ll respond just like you would if you were on the job. It will be a little more personal, but you’ll do the right thing for that situation. I have full confidence in you.”  

“I’m glad you do because I think I left my confidence at home.”

A knock announced the doctor’s presence.

“Hello perspective parents, how are we doing today?”

“I’m doing wonderful, but my poor fiancé is having a lot of doubts about his parenting skills.” Shea grinned throwing me under the bus.

“Ah, not to worry. It’s normal. Let’s see how this baby is looking shall we?” He took the gel from the nurse and proceeded to do the exam.

“Everything looks great. I see here that you think you’re about two months along?”

“Yes, I started to suspect I might be at the end of April.”

“Well, the good news is that you won’t have to wait nearly as long to become a father. I’m going to say that this baby is going to be a Halloween baby.”

“Wait that means I’m five months pregnant?”

“Closer to four months, about 22 weeks.”

“Wow! Does that mean we can find out the gender?” I was so excited.

“Yes, if you both want to.” He smiled when Shea nodded and gripped my hand tighter.

“First do you hear that sound? It’s the baby’s heartbeat which is strong and steady. Here’s the face and right there between the legs, can you see it?” The doctor pointed at something on the screen and we both leaned forward to get a look.

“I don’t see anything.”

The doctor chuckled, “Exactly, you’re having a girl. Congratulations.”

“We’re having a girl.” I sank into the chair that was next to the examination table. “A baby girl.”

“I have to apologize for him, he’s a little overwhelmed.” Shea looked at me with a concerned expression.

“Are there any special instructions? Do we need to take a Lamaze class?”

“Nope, just the normal things you would expect. Don’t use alcohol or drugs, cut back on caffeine or any other non-prescription medications. Your birthing plan is completely up to you. If you want to take a class, it certainly wouldn’t hurt and I always recommend it for first time parents.” He picked up the card the nurse had placed in the chart. “This has our number and an emergency service if there are any complications. I suggest going to the ER if it’s after hours and then they’ll let me know so I can meet you there. Otherwise, you should be just fine until our next monthly visit.”

“Thank you sir. I think I’ve got it covered unless nervous dad over here thinks of something.” Shea sat up prepared to leave.

“Just remember there’s never a stupid question. Congrats.” The doctor left closing the door so that Shea could get dressed.

“Can you believe it honey? We’re going to have a baby girl.” I whispered.

“Correction, I’m going to have this baby. Then once she’s born you can help all you want. For now, can you help me off this thing?”

Shea’s feet were about a foot and half from the floor. I’d never really thought about her height might be a problem, but that was probably because she wore heels so often.

“Are we going to tell people the gender?” I took her arm helping to steady her as she landed on the ground.

“I don’t see why not. Then we can get the baby’s room ready.”

“Do you want to go by the baby store and pick some stuff out while I’m available?”

She hooked her arm through mine, “I’d like that.”

------

  I’d been so happy today with Shea as we’d gone from the doctor’s to the baby store and spent so much money. They had brought the delivery to the house after lunch and I’d called Agent Watson and told him I was going to be home for the rest of the day.

Millions of screws and bolts later, the baby bed, basinet and high chair were all assembled, so when Shea suggested that we hit the bed early, and I couldn’t have agreed more.

“Honey, I think I worked harder putting all of that stuff together than I do trying to find killers.”

“Just imagine how exhausted we’ll be when the baby finally arrives and wants to eat every two hours.”

“No, way. They eat that often?”

She placed my hand on her stomach, “I’m afraid it’s worse. Not only do they eat that often, but they poop even more often.”

“Seriously? How is that even possible?”

“Oh, you have so much to learn about babies. It’ll become second nature and you’ll miss it when you’re gone. The feeding, the poop, and even the crying.”

“Who made you an expert?” I rubbed my hand in circles over her stomach.

“My sister has kids remember? I was there for the early years, but it’s different when they’re your own or so I’ve been told.”

“You don’t believe that, babe?” I propped my head up on my elbow.

“Oh, I believe it, but I loved her kids just as much as she did. Being an aunt didn’t change the way I felt and sure I’ll love our baby, but the verdict is still out on that.”

I laid back on the pillow keeping my hand on her stomach.

What if that’s what we’re looking for the missing piece? The Zodiac Master had to have a family somewhere out there. Did they love him and he just went down the wrong path or were they abusive cause for his actions?

He had to be responsible for some of it, not all serial killers came from messed up childhoods. What if I did that to my kid? Somehow I didn’t love her enough or sent her down the wrong path?

“Are you stuck in that worry loop again?” Shea tapped my head with her finger.

“Uh, yeah, sorry.”

“Don’t worry, the future will take care of itself. We’re all just along for the ride.”

“Look at you all relaxed.”

“I know it doesn’t seem like it most of the time because I’m working so hard, but when you can’t do anything else then you have to take those moments and relax just as hard as you played before hand.”

“You’ve been hanging out with Flora too much while I’m gone. I can smell the mumbo jumbo on you.”

“Hey, now. Would you rather have a crazy pregnant lady on your hands?”

“Nah, I like you when you’re relaxing. It’s better for the baby.”

We lay there almost asleep when the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it, don’t get up.”

“Mmmkay.” Shea mumbled sleepily.

I grabbed the shirt on the back of the chair and went to see who was disturbing my rest.

A package was sitting on the doorstep.

Leaving it there, I went back inside and picked up the cordless phone. “Can I get a small unit out here to investigate a possible explosive package?”

Chapter 2

Leslie

I’d been fooling around with the idea of using another dating site, but I didn’t want to run into Jerome again so I picked a user name that blended in better.

WorkingGirl1986 wasn’t taken yet, so I grabbed the name and filled out the profile. I didn’t want someone to pick me because of the photo attached to my name, so I used a filter to sparkle things up and make it harder to see my face.

Within minutes, the app was dinging and I had matches all over the metroplex. Plopping onto the couch I reviewed my options, Loverboy59 looked like he had prison tats. While I loved a good placed tattoo, I wasn’t sure that dating a felon was in the detective’s code of ethics.

BigDaddy69 seemed problematic as well since he would be looking for a hook up, but LawyerGuy05 had some distinct possibilities.

While the Zodiac Master was intent on running our lives, I was going to enjoy the time I could that was available before he took over again for another month.

I hit the like button and it asked if I would like to send a message. Sure no sense waiting around for love to happen.

“Would love to meet for coffee or lunch if you’re interested?”

It dinged back with a reply, “Certainly. Where would be good? I was about to head over to Tony’s Italian Restaurant for dinner if you want to join me.”

“Wow! That was fast, you’re not giving me much time for primping, but sure say thirty minutes?”

Although there were always horror stories about dating, I had two things going for me: I was a cop and I knew the servers at Tony’s so if things got a little crazy, they would be wonderful back up.

“Ask for Chris Guy, I’ll be wearing a light blue tie.”

“Awesome, tell them to sit you in Leslie’s booth.”

I raced to bathroom for one of the fastest showers and makeovers in history.

The end of my hair were still slightly damp when I walked into Tony’s looking toward my normal booth. A man was sitting with his back to me, but that left my seat open so I could see everyone in room from my vantage point.

When the server saw me, he waved and went toward the bar to get my normal drink.

I slid into the booth putting my purse with my gun on the seat next to me. A girl could never be too careful.

He started to stand up, but I was already seated before he could so instead he held out a hand. “Hi, I’m Chris Guy and you must be Leslie.”

“Leslie Boxe and it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Which was most certainly true as I looked over his handsome figure.

I had never been sure what it was about a clean cut guy wearing a tie, but it always made my heart pitter-patter just a little faster.

“So I’m guessing by your username that you’re a lawyer?” I started off the introductions with a question.

“Yes, criminal law to be exact. I like putting away the bad guys, but there are a few occasions when I wish that I didn’t have to use such a hard line. What about you? Besides looking fabulous, what’s your occupation?”

Even though it had burned me with Jerome, I wasn’t going to start lying now. “I’m a detective with the Dallas police. At the moment, I’m doing a consulting job for the FBI until their case is completed.”

“Oh, so we’re in similar professions. Guess, that’s what drew us to message each other. I’m newly single, my last girlfriend couldn’t handle my long hours or being called away during the weekends. I guess that’s a hazard of your job as well?”

“Sounds like we’re very similar, I’ve been gone almost as much as I’ve been home the past few months. The FBI gig has be going all over the country at a moment’s notice. What made you want to start dating again?” I took a sip of the drink the server brought me as they handed Chris his order.

“Well, it’s been three months and to be honest, I just wrapped up a case that was taking up all of my waking moments. When she walked out the door several months ago, I barely had time to say ‘have a nice life’ before I was stuck up to my ears in legal briefs.”

“I’ll raise you that one. Mine last boyfriend showed up at a crime scene wanting to take me out to dinner. He couldn’t understand that I had a job to do.”

“Aw man, that’s a tough one. He was completely clueless wasn’t he?” Chris shook his head at the horrible move.

“I knew that no matter how I tried to explain what I did, he wasn’t going to understand. This is going to sound a little crazy, but I just want someone who is independent. I want them to miss me, but not have them unable to live their lives without me. You know?”

Chris smiled at me, “I couldn’t have said it better myself. Someone who’s there for you, but not tied to you. It’s almost like being weighed down when you’re trying to swim the length of the pool and they won’t learn how to swim for themselves. They just want you to do all the work.”

“Exactly. I thought maybe I would find someone who was willing to the homemaker, but that’s unrealistic because most men want to be the breadwinner.” I tried to gage his reaction to what I’d said.

“Of course, what you’re doing is very important. You have to be good at your job if you’ve already made detective and are consulting with the FBI. It would be a shame for you to be stuck at home just because it stepped on his ego.”

I laughed out loud, “You’ve pegged it. Where have you been hiding again?”

“Oh, you know this little place called the D.A.’s office. Closer to the basement, but at least I get to prosecute a few interesting cases.”

“Humorous and smart, what do you do when you aren’t swamped in the files?”

He blushed just a little, “I like to watch the Bachelor and Bachelorette.”

“Ha, there it is, the weak link in your armor. I’ll admit I like to watch shows with motorcycles and inked guys. The likelihood I’ll find one that hasn’t been to prison would be a miracle, but a girl can dream right?”

“Now, that you mention it, I was going to save it for a second or third date revelation, but I do have a few tattoos. I have to keep them hidden, but it’s my way of bucking the system knowing that I have one.”

“Oooh, look at you, you rebel. What are they?”

“One says Mom in big letters on my shoulder and the other is lame too, it says Rebel with a Cause.”

I put my hand up just in time to keep from spiting my drink out onto Chris.

“That’s so sweet.”

“Very funny. They sounded to cool when I was sixteen, but now well…”

“They’re tough and manly.” I tried not to laugh as I said the words.

“Now, I know you’re full of it. When you have a free night would you like to do this again?” Chris laughed as he asked me out.

“I’d like that, but can you give me more than a thirty minute notice next time?”

“That I can promise. Can I walk you out to your car?” He stood and let me out putting a few extra dollars on the table.

“I’d like that.”

When my regular server Steve started toward us, I waved him off. I was comfortable with Chris. I’d do my due diligence when I got home, but he appeared to be the real deal.

Not one to let the guy always be put on the spot, I went ahead to make a plan for another date.

“Tomorrow evening I’m free to see that new monster movie?”

“Are you sure? We’re both just out of bad relationships.”

“Do you know of any other way to forget the past and move on?”

“Nope. I see enough death in my job and I tend to try and live in the moment. I can’t wait for something great to happen, or for the perfect situation to start a new relationship.”

“Just wanted to give you a chance to back out in case I wasn’t what you were expecting.”

“Are you kidding? I need another couple of dates so that I can your manly tattoos.” I leaned in to give him a quick kiss on the cheek.

“I’ll take that as a challenge. Night, Leslie. I’ll meet you there at seven.”     

-----

I’d developed a six sense warning system, but that wasn’t helpful when I couldn’t see anything because the light on my porch bulb was out again. I would have thought it was the killer, but I’d been having problems for months and as soon as I put a new bulb in it would work again. It was just more frustrating when it was night and I could have used the light to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Like the box that had been delivered to my doorstep when I hadn’t ordered anything.

While I didn’t think there was a bomb in it, I did give it a slight toss into the yard before picking it up. If it was going to explode from movement then that should have caused it to go off.

I know that cops are the worst when calling for backup or letting other divisions do their job, it’s just that we’re trained to run into a situation and it’s hard to back down long enough for someone else to take over.

There wasn’t a label on the box from a delivery service which meant that it had been hand delivered to my porch. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any cameras around my house or on my street.

Not wanting to harm any evidence in case it was connected to one of the killers, I got the tongs and knife to slice through the tape.

When nothing jumped out at me, I used the tongs to lift the lid revealing a sealed bag with a puzzle in it.

Deciding that the contents weren’t going to harm me, I picked them up and shook the box to make sure that was everything. A note fluttered to the floor,

Dear Leslie,

We haven’t really gotten the opportunity to meet each other yet, but I’m looking forward to you putting the pieces back together again for a happy outcome. 

Each month brings us a little closer and I know that you are wondering why I brought you into this adventure. You are the kind of woman that I would love to spend my life with because you challenge my mind and make me want to be better. While I know that can realistically never happen, I do hope that you think of me while you are putting this puzzle together.

Ciao, your admirer.     

 “Holy Crap!” I shouted to the empty house.

This was a new twist, the Zodiac Master wanted to spend his life with me. Was that what all these deaths and recruits were about? A chance to woo me in the vain hope that I’d come to the evil side and live happily ever after with him? Surely, he wasn’t that stupid.

I had the phone in my hand when it dawned on me that I could wait until the next morning to call Ryan. He needed to have one night where his sleep wasn’t interrupted with murders and puzzles from the Zodiac Master.

--------

Gresham, Oregon

  The body of Brian O’Leary showed up on the front steps of the police department in a large package the morning after he’d been reported missing.

A patrol officer happen to notice the package propped up against the flag pole. Upon investigation, he saw the blood seeping from the ends of the package and called the crime scene units.

The package was addressed to the police department of Gresham Oregon.

“Heard something went missing yesterday and thought you might like to know where it is. Hope this helps you find what you’re looking for.—Signed A concerned friend.”

“Have someone get a DNA sample from the missing man’s room to compare it with this package.” The officer in charge commanded, “It sounds like we have a problem and we need to keep this under control. Someone needs to pick up the second place winner of that stupid competition and get her alibi.”

Shannon Downs took a seat in the interrogation room waiting for her lawyer to arrive.

“We need to know where you were from the time the competition ended until today.” Detective Logan pushed the legal pad across the table to her.

“You do this and we’ll check verify it. If you have an alibi, then you’ll be free to go.”

“I’m not saying anything without my lawyer.”

“That’s perfectly fine, Ms. Downs. We’ll be back in when he arrives.”

It didn’t take long for a lawyer to arrive, but he took longer than necessary to speak with his client.

As they returned to the interrogation room, a lab tech caught them.

“While it’s early yet, they blood types are a match for our missing guy.”

“Thanks we can use that against her.”

Detective Logan took his time sitting down in front of Ms. Downs and her lawyer.

“We aren’t accusing your client of murder yet, but it would be much easier if we could have a list of your whereabouts for the past thirty-six hours.”

“I’ve advised her to cooperate with you and five you the alibi you need. She’s innocent and the sooner you clear her, the sooner you can get back to catching whoever did this horrible thing.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” The detective nodded to the legal pad still sitting on the table. Shannon glanced between him and her lawyer.

As she wrote the last time down, he snatched it from her and went out to hand it to the waiting officers.

“Let’s get this verified and narrow down a time window for when this atrocity took place.”

An hour later, her alibi placed her with a group of friends celebrating half the night.

Detective Logan walked back inside, “You’re free to go, but we’ll be keeping an eye on you. In the meantime, don’t leave the city until we have this matter cleared up.”

“Whatever. I can’t believe I have to defend myself simply because I almost won a competition. This is such blatant discrimination based because I’m a female.” Shannon yelled over her shoulder as she pushed past the reporters standing outside the crime scene tape. 

It was based off of who had the best motive, but there wasn’t anything else to work on considering she had been the only suspect.

Detective Logan wrote up the report, but knew Brian O’Leary’s killer was going to get away with murder because they had no way to find them.

------

Chapter 3

Ryan

The bomb squad had cleared my package, but the note inside disturbed me. I’d spend most of the night pacing the kitchen hoping that I didn’t wake Shea from her much needed sleep.

When dawn finally rolled around, I drove straight to FBI headquarters knowing that having them analysis the package wouldn’t produce prints.

His note had left me wondering what he could possibly want with me next.

“Don’t forget that I’m watching you and Shea. How is the baby doing? What are you going to name it? Something after your friend Jesse’s memory? Here is a little puzzle to keep you busy during all of your spare time. It might even help you in the future. Just remember that I’m always watching and you’ll make an amazing dad if you live long enough. -- The Zodiac Master”

 He was keeping watch on us and knew more about what we were doing on a regular basis then he should have. I’d had one of the officers bring me a sweeper to check for bugs, but I’d found nothing. That didn’t mean there wasn’t one, but I just hadn’t uncovered.

“Detective, you’re here early. Making up for taking the day off yesterday?” Agent Watson joked.

The smile slid from his face when Leslie opened the door right behind me.

“What happened?” He looked anxiously from face to face.

“A package was delivered to my home last night while I was out at dinner. It held a puzzle and a note.” Leslie threw down the box containing both on the table in front of us.

“That’s why I’m here early as well. I also got a package, but I had the bomb squad clear it before I opened it.” I placed mine next to hers.

“Crap, it sounds like he doesn’t want you to get to comfortable waiting on the next case. What kind of puzzles are they?”

“I spent most of the night working mine hoping for some hint or clue. It’s a landscape of a farm, but there aren’t any identifying marks on either the front or back. I think it was a picture that was made into a puzzle. There wasn’t a box or anything to go with it.”

“Did you leave it together?” Agent Watson inquired knowing Leslie would have used the proper procedures.

“Yeah, but I already sent an email to the tech team to have them run it through the recognition software. There’s a huge possibility that he is giving us a clue.”

“Actually working the puzzle never dawned on me.” I admitted, “From the notes he’s sent us, I believe that he has someone close to us feeding him information or he’s bugged our homes. I did a sweep last night because there was no way I could sleep and I didn’t find anything.”

“You know that unless they are transmitting right then, you won’t find anything, right?” Leslie helped herself to my package to read the note.

“I did, but desperately wanted something to blame all of this on. I don’t want to start suspecting my co-workers.”

“At this point it’s safe to assume that the zodiac master has people spread out in a network working for him. Kevin is supposed to meet us this evening when he gets off, but I’m not sure that he’s going to have much more information than we do at the moment.” Agent Watson shrugged, “There’s no way to find out who he might have near us so be extremely careful.”

“With all of this, I only trust two or three people in the building to back me up. Do we have any word on what might be this month’s killer’s motive?” I looked around the room checking for anyone who seemed to be listening closer to our conversation then they should have.

“I’ll have these notes analyzed, I would go ahead and get that puzzle worked to see if anything pops out. I know it seems stupid, but it might be the only thing to yield some answers out of all the stuff we’ve tried so far. He sent it for a reason so let’s use it.”

Leslie had already taken charge by dumping the pieces out onto the table busy putting the edges together.

“It doesn’t bother you that we’re stuck here working a puzzle when others could be dying?”

She looked up, her eyes were ringed with dark circles from lack of sleep. “Of course it does. He knows what he’s doing. It’s a multi-level game to him, this is just the psychological portion meant to prove that he has the upper hand.”

“When did you become an expert in psychological theory?” I started sifting through the pieces trying to find a theme hidden somewhere.

“It’s the logical next step. He’s had us on the run for months and he has to let us rest or we won’t be ready for the next portion of his plan. It’s meant to lull us into a restful state so that he can work without us knowing what he’s doing. I don’t intend to let him get the upper hand.”

“Ugh, I hate working puzzles anyway and this one is impossible because there’s nothing to base it against.” I groaned tossing the piece I’d been trying to match back into the pile.

“There just part of the larger image, I look at it as more of a challenge without the cheat sheet. Give me two hours and then if I we haven’t made progress, we can work on something else.”

The t.v. in the background was always left on the news channels in case there was something that was breaking news, the agents would be able to quickly catch up.

I felt like a little kid sitting there with my arms crossed not working on the puzzle watching the news flash across the screen without really paying attention until something about Oregon caught my attention.

Quickly scrambling for the remote to turn it up, I listened in horror to the report.

“Two days ago, the runner up in the logger’s annual competition, Brian O’Leary went missing. This morning in a strange turn of events, his body was delivered to the front of the steps Gresham’s police department. At this point it is unconfirmed that it is his body, but since there have been no other events of a violent or mysterious nature, we are placing conjecture toward that being the result.”

“The police have taken Shannon Downs in for questioning in regards to his disappearance since he was the winner and if he is dead, the title will be hers by default.”

Disappointed, I turned the volume back down. “I thought for a minute our killer had struck, but it was just someone out for revenge.”

“It does make you wonder though, where does he come up with the weapons for the each month. It’s not like there’s a list of weapons used by killers with zodiac signs. I know I looked.” Leslie didn’t even lose her concentration as put another piece in the correct place.

“Did he just sit down one day and decide, hey I’m going to gather a bunch of killers with a random weapon that fits their zodiac profiles?” I started pacing up and down the length of the conference room.

“What did the doctor say?”

Pausing in my steps, I tried to decide how I was going to tell Leslie. There was a legal pad sitting on the table so I ripped the top page off and wrote, “It’s a girl.” Making sure to keep it covered so only she could see it.

“Awe, yeah. Was Shea excited?” She continued to sort and piece the puzzle together.

“We went to the baby store and bought all of the important things, like a crib, and car seat etc. It took me all afternoon to put that stupid crib together. It’s like they want to test your skills as a parent to see if your worthy by seeing how much patience you have.”

 “Oh, I believe it. I always heard never to pray for patience because your life will go to crap while the higher being doles out problems to help you level up to the patience of a saint.”

I stopped pacing and leaned in closer to the puzzle and Leslie, “Right now I think you’re gaining lots of experience points for being able to put those pieces in the right places.”

She blushed, “Nah, it’s just how my brain works. I always loved playing Tetris as a kid. A good challenge is what motivates me most days. Maybe that’s what he’s trying to do,” She looked over at me, “He’s trying to bring out the best of our skills to help catch him.”

Nodding, I went back to pacing which wasn’t help to her or me, but I did find it soothing.

“I had a date last night.” Leslie announced now that I was out of her space.

“Really with someone new?” I took a seat on the couch thing at the back of the room.

“Yes, I met him on another dating site and before you say that it was a bad idea. I plan to go much slower with Chris who is a lawyer with the D.A. We have more of the same passions, but only time will tell if it’s a good match. There were two others that stood out to me, but I want to see where it goes with Chris first.”

“That’s interesting.” I mumbled closing my eyes for just a second to get rid of the picture of Leslie on a date with some guy in a suit.

Laughter woke me up to find a group of people standing around me.

“What’s going on?” I jumped up and caught my reflection in the mirror where someone had drawn a mustache on with permanent marker. “Are we still in junior high?” I grumbled knowing there was almost nothing that would take it off.

The crowd dispersed when I growled at them making them scatter back to whatever assignment they’d been working on before my little mishaps with the marker.

“You wouldn’t happen to know anything about this would you?” I gave Leslie a pointed glance.

Her eyes widened innocently, “Why would I know anything? I’ve been working on this puzzle and almost have it finished then we can go get some lunch because I’m starved.”

I glared at her before heading to the men’s restroom to see I could wash some of it off.

Agent Watson appeared in the mirror beside me.

“Did you have a good nap?” He chuckled at my appearance.

“It was lovely since I didn’t sleep last night.” I glanced at my watch, it was almost noon. I’d been asleep for over five hours.

“Here you might need this to help take that off.” From his pocket he produced a small bottle of makeup remover, “It works wonders.”

“Thank you sir.”

“We have to stick together in these times of great need.” Agent Watson winked and walked out leaving me holding the bottle.

“Couldn’t hurt? Right?” I asked myself not feeling confident as I stared at the black streaks under my nose.

A few drops of remover with wet paper towels helped to make it fade to a lighter black, but it was still recognizable. I rinsed and repeated until my red skin almost covered up the fact that I had black marker on my face. There wasn’t any other way to do it, but to go back out there and face the music.

To my surprise, no one was outside the bathroom and I crept back down the hall to the conference room.

“There take that.” Leslie stood up doing a dance as I opened the door.

“You finished it?”
“I did. It took about three hours longer than I’d planned. Does anything look familiar to you?”

It was another rural setting with a field and cows. There was a barn in the far distance that might have been the one from Leslie’s puzzle.

“Nothing is jogging my memory. You?”

“Nope. Martha is doing the analysis on the other one, but I doubt anything will pop with this one either. It has less identifiers than the other one did.”

“Is he just getting lonely and wanting company?”

“I think he just wants to keep us connected to the case. It’s his way of pulling us in and making sure that we have a vested interest.” Leslie frowned as she took a few pictures to send to Martha.

“Look at this tag on the cow. Could that be an identifier?” She pointed to the white thing in the cow’s ear.

“He might have left us a clue or simply didn’t think that we’d be able to pull it up.”

“I’ve got a close up. I’m going to grab a bite and then hit Martha’s cubicle on the way back. You coming?” Leslie hopped up to head for the door.

“Any chance you could bring me something back?” I pointed to my still present mustache self-consciously.

She snickered before answering, “I’ll bring something back for you. On the bright side, you already knocked Shea up so she can’t send you packing because of your looks. FYI, I already sent her a picture so you can’t deny it happened.”

Feeling incredibly patient, I didn’t say anything letting her leave without a retort.

-------

(another scene?)

Chapter 4

 Leslie

Martha hadn’t found anything yet, but she was going to continue to run things through the system and let me know if she found anything. I’d taken pity on Ryan and brought him a sandwich from the cafeteria.

While I could be semi-patient for somethings, waiting for someone to die wasn’t really my style. Ryan had volunteered to stay and work with Kevin when he came in, but looking at data hoping for something to jump out at me wasn’t really my thing.

  I’d made it out of the downtown area before the rush hour traffic started. Flora had promised to help me work on somethings, but I hadn’t had much luck lately.

Feeling much lighter than I had in months, I walked up to her door ready to get started only to find no one home.

Pulling out my phone to check my messages, I was certain that we’d had plans to meet today.

Yep, there was her message from last night. I wondered what had happened. I’d give her a few minutes in case she was running late.

After about thirty minutes, I’d started to worry and dialed her number. It went straight to voicemail.

Unable to sit in the car and wait, I walked around her small house testing all of the doors. Locked.

The gnome in the front yard caught my attention and I found her spare key.

I hoped that she wouldn’t be mad, but I couldn’t not check her house to see if she was okay. Her car was in the driveway, which was normal since it was walking distance to all of the buildings on the college campus.

Her house had that feeling of being deserted. I still looked in all of the rooms and then as an afterthought checked the closet. Her clothes and shoes were all there from what I could tell. There weren’t any notes on the fridge or table. Her roommate was gone for the summer to some overseas trip.

Dialing her number again, I was relieved that it didn’t ring from inside the house. A nagging feeling was bothering me that I couldn’t put my finger on. I hadn’t been able to sense more than my normal cop enhanced senses since I’d escorted those bodies out of the forest. Either my gift had only been temporary and tied to the trauma from when I young or I had managed to block it all off again for self-preservation. Either way, that didn’t help locate Flora.

What if she’d been kidnapped and they were luring me here with her text message? Even as the thought raced through my mind, I pushed it away as not probable. There wasn’t anything that Flora had for someone to ransom her.

I had a crazy idea and while not completely legal, I wasn’t going to put that as a reason not to ask.

“Mac, its Leslie. I can’t find Flora. Can you trace her cell number?”

It was a long shot, but even undercover, Mac could work marvelous things. I was just hoping it didn’t lead to Flora’s body lying somewhere abandoned.  

He shot back a text, “Trying now….”

While I waited I made an extra pass through her house even checking her fridge in case she had cleaned it out.

Full of food there wasn’t any logical explanation as to what had happened to her.

“She’s at the address of another contact a few miles away. Her phone has been at that location for two days.”

“Thanks, Mac. I’ll owe you.”

“Speaking of that, we need to meet.”

“Our regular place?” I messaged back.

“Yep, at the witching hour.”

I chuckled at his attempt to be all clandestine.

“See you then.”

“Good luck.”

Now, I just had to find Flora and rescue her from whatever crazy situation she’d gotten herself into.

The neighborhood that Mac had texted didn’t seem much different than Flora’s. I drove slowly past the address looking for any signs that I was walking to danger.

On my second pass, I pulled up in front and parked. If I felt that something was hinky, I’d be able to make it out to my car to call for backup.

A knock at the door didn’t seem to work so I rang the bell which echoed loudly in the house.

The curtains ruffled as someone stuck their head out and back down quickly.

At least there was a sign of life in the house. I pushed the bell again and kept my finger on it until the sound of the locks being disengaged announced that someone was there.

“Hello, may I help you?” A frazzled looking woman stood in the crack of the doorway.

“My friend was supposed to meet with me and her phone gps said that she was here. Flora Martin.” I tried to peer past her into the house, but could only see a small human doing the same thing from between her legs.

“Yeah, she’s here. Come on in.” She moved back just far enough that I could move inside the doorway.

“Flora, someone’s here for you.” She called half-heartedly. Her voice not carrying beyond the room.

“Wait here, I’ll go get her.” She spoke the words in such a putout manner.

“Certainly.” I stood with my back to the door because you never knew when someone was going to knock you over the head. The furniture didn’t look clean and I was afraid that the three small children now watching me would converge like wolves on a carcass.

Flora appeared from down the hallway.

“Leslie, I’m so sorry. Their grandmother is on hospice and requested someone to do a blessing over her before she moves between the worlds. Time moves differently and I’d turned my phone off so we wouldn’t be disturbed and her spirit could be at peace. I completely forgot to turn it back on again.”

She passed a weary hand over her face, “Let me go tell the family, I’m going. I’ll need to collect my things.”

“I’ll wait for you out in the car and give you a ride home.”

“Thank you. It will only be about ten minutes.”

As she disappeared again, I opened the door keeping an eye on the small humans so they didn’t escape.

It wasn’t a full ten minutes before she appeared on the porch and said her goodbyes.

The car door shut and she lean back wearily against the head rest.

“Dying certainly takes it out of you doesn’t it?”

“I wouldn’t know, since I’m fully alive.” I grinned with relief that she was safe.

“Hardy har har…very funny.”

“Honestly, I’m just glad that you’re alive. You had me worried there for a minute. I did some illegal things and had your phone tracked to find you.”

“Oh, how did that feel going outside of the lines for a change?”

“Hey, you’re my psychic mentor, not my psychologist. I knew that if it came down to it, I’d rather have you alive then have you lying in a ditch somewhere.”

“So you’re extra senses haven’t come back. You haven’t seen any ghosts or had any visions?” She kept her eyes closed while I drove the few miles to her house.

“Not yet. Should I be worried that it just went away? It’s like a big black void and every time I think it’s just there out of reach I fall down the hole of nothingness.”

“It happens. Let’s just hope you didn’t burn yourself out. Don’t try so hard, if you’re meant to have the gift it will come to you when you’re ready. If you force it that could cause other problems that we don’t have time to deal with.”

“There’s like a whole other part of me that I knew realized that I relied on that’s missing. Evidently, it was more intertwined with my regular instincts that any of us knew.” I tried to keep the whine out of my voice.

“Completely normal after a huge growth for you to take a step back. It will help you to sharpen your other senses and when it comes back then you’ll be that much stronger because you can pick out the difference in training verses spiritual vibes.”

We pulled up at her house to go inside.

“Hey, I’m going to let you go get some rest. You look completely exhausted.”

“Are you sure? I’ve been staying over there for the past few days and once I get a shower, I should be as good as new.” She paused when I didn’t follow her.

“Yes, I’m sure. You can’t teach me anything if you’re falling over from exhaustion. I’ll come over tomorrow after you’ve had some time to catch up.”

“Thanks. Drive safe and have fun on your date.”

“Wait…do you know his name too?” I paused her knowing stuff still brought me up short.

“Chris. He’s a nice guy. Good aura. No darkness that I can see, but you’ll need to check that out for yourself. Have fun.”

She waved and closed the door.

“Dang it,” I muttered as I put the car into drive. Having a psychic for a friend was still an adjustment. I could imagine that it was more difficult for Ryan when your partner changed into that overnight. Maybe taking a slight break was a good idea.

I just thought I was ready for the big time because I’d communicated with a few ghosts. There were still so many things for me to learn about having a gift like this and I wanted to prove that I was worry of having it.

The drive back I spent using my cop skills to pick out different cars that were involved in criminal behavior or needed a ticket. I’d missed being in a patrol car, but being a detective had its own benefits.

      -------

The dreaded grocery store beckoned as I drove past on my way home with hours to spare before my date. I might as well get it taken care of now so that I wasn’t hungry during the movie.

With a sigh, I pulled in and trudged up to grab a cart. I hadn’t refiled my freezer or pantry in a while and since I was already in the store I might as well get it all done now.

Restocking my shampoo and toiletries, I turned the corner almost running full tilt into Jerome.

“Um, hi.” He stuttered moving out of the way.

“Hey.” I returned. Of all the grocery stores in the world, he had to live close enough to use mine.

“How’s it going? You home for a few days?” He asked hopefully.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m home. What’s it to you?” I could feel the hackles on my back raise up even though I knew I was being rude.

“Sorry.” He raised his hands backing up slightly, “I didn’t mean anything by it. Just making conversation.”

“You caught me off guard. It’s been a long day. Is everything going okay in the consultant business?”

“Yeah, yeah. Well, it was nice running into you.” Jerome nodded and slipped around the corner with his basket hooked over his arm.

“Hmm, that was unexpected.” After the day I’d just had, this was not making it better. If I didn’t seriously need groceries, I’d have left right then and gone home.

Now I was angry with myself for letting him get under my skin like that and walked through the frozen section slamming doors muttering. “How dare he come to my store? Who does he think he is asking if I’m home and how’s it going?”

When I made it to the checkout counter, I honestly couldn’t tell you what I’d put in the cart. It should make for an interesting month of food choices.

I couldn’t really be mad at him, now that I was out of there away from the situation I could take a deep breath. I knew that he’d made me sad when I’d told him to hit the road. I hadn’t realized that I’d fallen so hard and fast for his charms.

Nothing left to do now, but go out and let my heart heal, if that was even possible.

------

Chris met me at the theater and I was relieved that I could laugh and enjoy life still. Jerome hadn’t take that away from me at least.

The movie was great and just what I needed to take my mind off of things. It was nice to have someone beside me that didn’t require any pressure.

“Want to grab something to eat?” I suggested as we walked slowly out with the other movie goers.

“Yeah, that’d be great. I kind don’t want the night to end. There’s a pancake house up the street if you’re interested.”

 “Sounds good.”

We met up a few minutes later and I felt all of my stress disappear.

“So tell me more about yourself?” I asked as we placed our orders.

“Oh, geeze where should I start. I’m from a small town where there are more cows than people most days. I knew that I wanted to get out and do something that made some money. Law school seemed like a good choice. I was used to worrying about how the weather affected the money we had so I choose to do something that wouldn’t be determined by outside stuff.”

“I get that. Our town wasn’t that small, but I’m used to parties out at the hay bales with a fire pit for the Friday night after party. My sister, Karen became and I thought it would be a great idea. I love living in the city whereas, she’s worked for the state patrol and then the local city police. It’s nice to visit, but I enjoy having my choice of food places only minutes away.” I spoke with fondness of my younger days.

“See I knew that you’d understand. There’s only so much room for someone with ambition out there. It’s not like you can get a promotion from the cattle or the corn crop. I needed something that could motivate me and criminal law seems to work really well for me.”

“I was telling someone today that working a puzzle was a fun challenge. Finding the criminals so they don’t commit more crimes is just one giant puzzle for me. I have to sift through the pieces for the information that I need to catch the right culprit.”

“My challenge is making the charges stick long enough to fit the crime. I’ll work my way up by taking the cases I’m given and winning them.”

“Yep. It’s nice to have someone who doesn’t have to explain it all to them. Does your family mind that you didn’t come back to the farm?”

“No, ma’am.” He drawled with a grin adding a few extras to his voice, “Although, you can take the boy out of the country,”

“You can’t take the country out of the boy,” I finished with him.

“Haha, you know it. I’ve adjusted though, but I do enjoy going home for the holidays for all the home cooked meals.”

“That is my one regret. I can cook, but I’m never home long enough to really enjoy it. Now, baking is a completely different story. To her my mother tell it though, you’d think I’d given away the secret family recipes to spies or something because I don’t actually use them.”  

“Oh, you’re a horrible daughter alright. I’m on my mom’s list because I haven’t settled down yet. According to her, if I’m going to get promoted then I need to find a piece of arm candy that will get the higher ups to notice me. I’ve tried to explain that I want someone with some substance, but try telling that to a mom who wants grandbabies.”

“It’s like they can’t wait for us to leave the nest, but then they want us to fill it up again so we have all the crazy going on in our lives that they were so ready to get rid of.” I shook my head at the logic.

Chris glanced at his watch, “Gee, I hate to eat and run, but I’ve got to be in court first thing in the morning. If you’re free, I’d love to get together sometime this weekend.”

“Works kind of up in the air at the moment, but if I’m still in town I’d love to hang out.” I offered up a smile as we stood next to our cars.

“Since I can’t exactly walk you to your door to say good night, guess this will have to do.” He leaned in and waited hoping I’d meet him halfway for a kiss.

I took him up on his offer, but got more than I’d bargained for.

Whereas Jerome had been his own type of slow melt, Chris was a consuming fire that made my bones want to melt. I couldn’t have pulled away if I’d wanted to, instead he placed an arm around me to steady me.

“What was that?” I managed to stutter after I caught my breath.

“Our first kiss I think.” He chuckled at my reaction.

“Wow! I thought I’d been kissed before, but that one ranks up there as hitting the top ten.”

“Only the top ten,” He placed a hand over his heart in mock hurt. 

 “I’m going to have to have another demonstration before I determine if it’s top ten worthy.”

“Maybe this weekend.” He winked and walked to the door of his car, “We’ll have to see if I can make it up into the single digits.”

With a grin plastered on my face, I got into my own car thankful that it had only been a kiss. I was going to have to slow things down or he was going to sweep me into an undertow I wasn’t sure I could come back from.

I’d been up for two days straight and while my body might have been enjoying the warmth left over from that kiss, it was time to get some rest before we were called out to face whatever the Zodiac killer had in store for us. I still had to meet Mac at our secret spot.

-------

Chapter 5

Ryan

All day I’d been spinning my wheels exhausted trying to find out the message that the Zodiac Master was trying to send us.

Each piece was supposed to lead us closer to the goal, but all I could see were a lot of things that held not meaning when put together.

Most of the team had gone home already since there wasn’t an active killer yet, Agent Watson didn’t like adding overtime pay to if he didn’t have to.

Kevin was supposed to drop by when he’d lost anyone following him from the Urban Energy Company. Until then I was going to start putting the pieces together in my own way.

There was an empty office I’d spied earlier on and I wanted to stay out of sight until my marker mustache had been erased.

I used the empty walls to put up a section on each of the killers. Then I taped the new pictures to a separate wall along with all of the information about Urban Energy’s connections.

The desk chair in the office allowed me to twirl as I considered each different wall with information.

The Zodiac Master choose each of his targets carefully, but I was willing to bet that he met with them personally. In a very short time period he managed to not only get them on board with his plans and instill in them a very strong sense of loyalty.

The Gemini twins would rather die than take a chance to turn him in. Money wasn’t a motive for any of our killers. They hadn’t been driven by it only a sense of righting what they saw as a wrong committed against them. With the exception of the Aries killer, most of them hadn’t been professionals.

How did he turn them into violent killers? It was one thing to take a single life as an act of revenge, but to continue to kill took a special kind of person. One who had nothing left to lose.

Leslie had been looking at major newspapers to see if she could find a correlation between the months and ads for his recruits. The computers were still working on her search questions.

She’d even asked vice for help knowing that sex traffickers used ads for things like this all the time. We were just waiting for a meeting with one of their experts. They certainly weren’t considering her request a priority though.

He’d been a step ahead of us for a while now, and I was certain that we had someone inside the FBI that was feeding him information. Even if we managed to find the ads and follow it, he would have abandoned the idea and moved onto another method.

If he kept doing this, I was going to have to get something to help with severe depression because all I could see on the horizon was a really dark cloud that was getting bigger by the month.

No closer to a solution then when I’d walked into the office hours ago, I flicked the lock behind me as I went to go see what Kevin had brought us to help with the grand scheme of things.

------

Do to the sensitive nature of Kevin’s undercover work and the fact that Agent Watson was aware we had been compromised, he choose a different conference room that our group hadn’t used before.

There were only three of us, Agent Watson, Agent Dalca and myself with the addition of Kevin in the room. I could only hope that this would keep whatever he brought us one step closer to finding a way to take this growing cancer down.

“Kevin, how are you holding up?” Agent Watson started the conversation cheerfully.

“It’s been interesting to say the least. I think I may have a little of information that’s helpful for what you’re looking for.”

“Well, that’s good news, isn’t it?” Agent Watson declared with enthusiasm.

“I hope so, sir. Most of what I have access to during the day isn’t worth mentioning, it’s what I’ve come across during the evenings that are really worth it.”

“John Reed actively is involved in several special projects preserving the planet. His bank account from the company all show large donations to groups that are politically tied to a greener atmosphere. His photo ops and other activities all coincide with the company’s agenda.”

Kevin smiled as he doled out the next piece of information. “It’s his other bank accounts that are more interesting. They are all run through another name, John Armstrong.”

“Isn’t that the name of one of the major drug cartel/mafia lords?” I knew that was a familiar name in the media.

“He is climbing the charts on all of the agency walls toward #1 most wanted. The thing is that nobody and I mean nobody who is alive still has seen John Armstrong’s face. He’s a myth that everyone says they work for, but never explain how they know him.” Agent Watson filled me in from the FBI’s point of view.

“There’s no way we can tie these two names together. John Armstrong is protected by so many in the Golden Company that he simple sends word and people run to do his bidding. I back tracked from the Golden Company to see if anything intersected and that’s when I found a few thin threads that let to this conclusion. Nothing hard we can use as evidence yet, but it does give us a starting place.”

“This still doesn’t explain why the Zodiac Master is so focused on the Urban Energy Company. How could he possibly know that John Reed and Armstrong are the same person?” Adam Dalca asked looking for the tie-in to our case.

“He is or was closely associated with John. Now, this is his way to get back at him.” Agent Watson assumed.

“No, that doesn’t pan out because, he could have taken any of this to an agency and had John arrested. He didn’t because he’s not trying to take them down himself. He wants us to do it while he has fun with his recruits.” I shook my head, “We’re still missing part of the bigger picture.”

“I’m still working on the family and founders names, but with this new information, John could have fathered children under a hundred different names and there would be no records.”

“There have only been small gaps in his history where he would disappear on hunting trips. I’m working on putting John in the same places as his Armstrong name during those gaps. It’s going slow because there are only a few here and there of actual sightings. I think I’m on the right trail though.”

“All right. Keep hunting and let us know what you find. I think we are on the right track and if we can take down the worst serial killer in history as well as the most wanted man in the world, I’m good with it.” Agent Watson slapped Kevin on the back.

“Kevin be careful out there. We have reason to believe that there may be someone inside our agency that is working for the Zodiac Master. If you’re right about this other, then we know there are a lot of people here in our building watching out for him.”

“Got it.” Kevin acknowledged without letting on that he’d said as much at our private meeting.

“Don’t call me. I’ll call you when I’ve got something to tell you. Keeping updates in person would be the best way to make sure that nothing is intercepted.”

Kevin walked out and the three of sat there in silence for a moment.

“This case just got a whole lot bigger than we needed to deal with. We can’t put people on this because it will alert them that we’re doing the investigation.” Agent Watson slammed his fist on the table startling us.

“Kevin was right. He’s using this to misdirect us and split our resources.” Adam turned to me, “We have to win both cases. They are so interconnected at this point, it will be hard to have enough evidence to build a strong case.”

“Then we should get to work, but I’m going to have to advise we start again in the morning because I’m barely going to make it home as it is. Live to die another day or something like that.” I’d forgotten about my mustache until Adam chuckled slapping me on the back as he walked to the door.

“You got plenty of sleep today or least it was long enough to get marked.”

“Aw, I’m never going to live this down am I?”

“Nope, look on the bright side at least you’ve passed the initiation phase.”

“Oh, that’s real comforting.” I followed them out of the conference room and turned out the lights.

-------

Somewhere in upper Oregon

The list of men that had gotten on my bad side had grown over the years. I was going to make them all pay, but I was starting with the last on the list and working my way to the first boy that had ever hurt me.

Tommy Chance hadn’t known how to treat a woman. They were just an objects that he kept around for his own pleasure. He was the tough guy that nobody messed with and certainly not a woman.

When he’d received the message that his birthday present was waiting for him in the town’s main hotel room with a key. He knew immediately what would be behind the door. He entered confident that all of his dreams were about to become reality.

A bottle of the best wine the town had to offer was sitting on the dresser with a note. Drink me.

Tommy figured why not it was his birthday after all, but instead of using the glass, he took a swig out of the bottle.

“Hey, are you ever going to come out of there?” He yelled at the closed bathroom door. “I’m not going to get any younger out here.”

“Oh, don’t worry it will be worth it.” A familiar sounding voice answered from the bathroom.

Tommy looked toward the sound through blurry eyes. “Honey is that you? I thought you left me for good.”

“You know me, I could never turn down the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“See I knew you’d come around.” He mumbled feeling light headed.

“Let’s celebrate you’re birthday, baby. Drink up.” She smiled seductively.

“Sure baby. Why do you still have all of your clothes on?” He looked a little closer, “What kind of clothes is that?”

His head landed on the pillow behind him as he drifted into unconsciousness.

“The best kind of clothes, baby.” Her voice mocked him loaded with sarcasm. “The kind to kill you with.” She added pulling her safety glasses down to keep the blood out of her face.

“Maybe the next guy will learn to respect me a little better.” The sound of the t.v. playing loudly helped to cover the noise of the chainsaw.

When she finished wrapping all of the pieces into a seal package, she took the tarp with the bedding underneath being careful not to drip on the carpet.

A shower in the motel’s bathroom washed away anything extra as she put on new clothes, she left a note for the cleaning lady.

“Here’s enough money to cover the missing bedspread so you don’t get blamed for it.”

With a quick stop to leave her package sitting on the park bench, she was on her way out of town to track down the next man on her list that needed to be taught a little lesson.

The tarp with all of the evidence was the last thing on her to do list as she stopped for gas leaving everything for the trash man to pick up when he collected the dumpster next.

-------

 Chapter 6

Leslie

Mac was waiting for me on the park bench a little ways from the school we’d both gone to in college.

“Hey, Square. How’s it going?” He used my nickname.

“Good, Peg.” I hugged him. “How’s the undercover operation panning out?”

“Have a seat. It’s a little more complicated than any of us were counting on.” Mac handed me one of the coffees he’d brought for us.

“So you know I was supposed to be the backup in case something happened to Kevin.”

“Well, that and to dig around on your own. I’m guessing that you’ve found something.” I inhaled the wonderful scent of coffee before taking a sip.

“I planted our program inside the computers to run independently gathering information.”

“Mac this was supposed to be above board so we can prosecute the guy when we’re done.” I protested.

“Come on, Leslie. You know that he’s never going to make it to trial much less to prison.”
“That doesn’t mean we can take the law into our own hands. We can’t become vigilantes deciding the fate of others. That’s not how justice works.”

“Just look at what I’ve got and tell me that you’re still mad at me.” He handed me a file.

The streetlight was close enough that I could read most of what was in the file.

“John Reed is John Armstrong? That’s huge and Noah Preston is his son? Well, that explains his promotions into the main part of the company. This is still something that I need to tell my superiors about and let them take action.”

“Finish the file.” Mac commanded.

I read the last page as the color drained from my face.

“Now, do you understand? He’s killed so many agents and has other working for him all throughout every agency and many police forces. This isn’t a battle you can fight with the law and evidence. He’ll kill you before you can even think about getting close to him.”

“No,” I shook my head, “Mac you can’t spy on him. You have to disable the program and get out. This isn’t worth your life.”

“It’s not, but someone has to do it.” He grinned, “You know I’ve always wanted to be out in the field doing something dangerous. Now, I can be.”

“I’m not the agent in charge of you so I don’t have any real authority. With what you’ve just give me I’m going to have to let Ryan know so he can help watch your back as well. We knew there might be a possible connection to the Golden Company, but not that it would run this deep.”

“Kevin’s not all that he seems to be so you watch your back as well. I don’t know what he’s hiding yet, but I’ll figure it out.”

I hugged him. “This is so not what we were expecting when we left college for the real world.”

“Right? Who knew that you were going to become some fancy detective consulting for the FBI on serial killer cases?”

“Whatever, it’s not like you aren’t the best hacker I know and if I’m saying that it’s something because I’m pretty good myself.”

“If we’re done with this mutual admiration session, I’ve got to get back so I can sleep. I’m due at my ‘job’ early.”

I threw my arms around him again and whispered, “Be safe.”

He patted me awkwardly, “You know it.”

Just as quickly he walked away disappearing into the darkness.

The file he handed me was still clutched in my hand. I was going to read through it once more before I destroyed it. I couldn’t take the chance of the wrong person reading it. We’d been compromised and I wasn’t taking a chance with Mac’s life.

-------

Nothing happened during the night, but I was hesitant to speak about more than the basics on the serial killers. There were ears everywhere and it was the only option I had right now to make sure that my friend stayed alive.

Agent Watson had called a meeting with a few possible ideas of who we were looking for this month.

I tried to hide my yawn as we all filed into the conference room for the briefing.

“I see that you’re still sporting a nice mustache.”

“Can it.” Ryan grumbled.

“Feeling a bit sensitive this morning, are we?” I joked.

“It was a long day and an even shorter night.” He groan sliding into the chair next to me.

“Do we know anything new?” I raised my hand wanting to get out of there.

“We do. There have been a few mysterious packages left at different locations in the Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming areas. They appear to contain the remains of male victims that have gone missing. Each one has a note with the victim’s identity and the reason they are dead.”

“The individual police stations have now placed these as a potential serial killer in the system and asked for our help. I’m send local teams to investigate and get back to me with copies of the notes and other information.”

“Any word on how they were killed?” Ryan asked from beside me.

“Their bodies have been cut into pieces. Most of the autopsies are still being put together, but for now they are speculating on someone sort of saw. The men were alive when the killer started to dismember them so we are looking for someone who isn’t squeamish.”

“Pretty cold blooded. Aren’t we looking for a woman?”

Agent Watson paused to consult the files, “Based on what we know, I would say yes. There isn’t any indication that a woman was involved from the different police stations. They are scratching their heads on this one.”

“Do you want us to go up there?”

“Not yet. I think we’re going to let the teams do a little ground work first. At the moment there are only four bodies that we know of so it could just be a fluke.”

“Or there could be more and we just haven’t found out about it yet.” Ryan suggested.

“True, which is why we are sending out a memo to all the stations in the area if they have a similar case then to please let us know.” Agent Watson continued, “At this point we should have ten or more bodies if this is our killer.”

“Wonderful and we’re just now finding out what we’re dealing with for the month. This crap gets crazier and crazier.” I knew it wasn’t the FBI’s problem, but it wasn’t great that the killer was just running around on the loose either.       

 “While we’re waiting on confirmation from the teams I want you two to check out a farm where the tags from the cows pinged. Go see if there is anything that rings a bell. It may be a dead end, but it never hurts to check it out.”

“Yes, sir. We’ll get all the information that we can.”

“I’ve had Martha send it to your phones. It will be just what you both need a drive in the country.”

“Very funny sir,” Ryan hopped up and headed for the door. “Coming?”

“Absolutely.” I followed him out of the room.

“What’s your hurry?” I asked eyeing him with worry.

“No reason. I’m going to sweep the car for bugs first so we can talk freely.” Ryan pulled out a device that would help to make sure his car was clean.

“Sounds like a plan. We should get the address and turn our phones off so we can have a private conversation.”

“Don’t tell Shea that or she’ll be worried about us.”

“Nah, she likes you too much to think you’d do something like that to her.”

“Awe, that makes me feel good and that I’d better mind my p’s and q’s.”

“Here put your phone in this bag.” Ryan held out a metallic bag toward me.

“What is it?”

“A Faraday bag. It’s closes off all signals and tracking devices that might have been implanted.”

I nodded my approval, “We’re going to have to start taking more precautions. I had a meeting I’d like to tell you about on the drive.”

“I’m all ears.” He zipped the bag and put on the back seat floor boards.

“There is a man that runs the cartels named John Armstrong. It just so happens that he is John Reed. My guy found out that they are one and the same guy.”

Ryan turned to head out of town, “That is exactly what Kevin said last night.”

“You saw Kevin? He’s okay?”

“So far. He is carefully going through files and trying to match dates when John Reed was away from the company to when John Armstrong was sighted with the cartels.”

“Did he mention that Noah Preston is his son?”

Ryan let out a whistle. “That would explain a lot. His sense of entitlement for one thing.”

“Yeah, my source also mentioned that there are lots of DEA, FBI and CIA agents on his payrolls so we need to be smart. Those who have tried to uncover stuff about him have died trying.”

“Kevin’s being careful, but none of this actually helps us with our current case.”

“He’s still working to find out the connection, but at least we know to tread lightly and watch our backs.” Ryan added,

“True, but we’re going to have to bring in more people if we want to follow this lead.”  

“I don’t know if we should even pursue this information. It’s something that you and I aren’t even equipped for or supposed to be chasing. Not that I don’t want to take down the big bad or get justice for his victims, but I want to be alive when my kid’s born.” Ryan grimaced as the words left his mouth.

“That came out wrong.”

“No, you just spoke what was in your heart. Don’t be ashamed of wanting to be around for your kid. Hell, there are tons of dads that don’t even want to anything to do with their kids.”

“Yeah, but I can’t sacrifice my morals or the job I do just to stay in the safe zone. Then I should just quit now because there’s no reason for me to stick around if I’m not going to do the job properly.”

“Before you go all crazy spouting nonsense, let me explain something to you. It’s okay to want to live or to even change jobs for your family, that doesn’t make you a coward. We can still do our job without jumping off the ledge. Let’s take care of the Zodiac Master first and then if we feel like it we can we’ll go after John Armstrong.”

“It’s all well and good for you to say that, but we can’t let either one of them get away with murder.”

“I didn’t say we were going to let them get away, just that it doesn’t have to be you that takes them down. You can’t eat an elephant all at once or you’ll be overwhelmed. You have to eat it one bite at a time.” I popped the seat back in an attempt to relax.

 “How do you propose that we eat this elephant?” He asked as the scenery changed from city to rural.

“First we have to catch this month’s killer. Second, find the Zodiac Master and take down his sorry ass. Third, we take a vacation before we come back and let someone we trust decide the best method to take out the big dude. There has to be a reason that the Zodiac Master sent us toward the Urban Energy Company. It could be to take out his competition-family that made him made or he just wants someone to uncover all of the evil that’s being hidden behind the company’s clean image.”

“You make it sound so easy. Shea was just telling me that I was enjoying the extra thrill of the chase, but I’m going to have to disagree with her on that for now.”

“Relax, Ryan. You’ve got what four and a half months before the baby gets here to get all of your super death defying acts. Make sure that you add bungie jumping to the list, I’ve heard it really makes you feel alive.”

“Why do I put up with you?” Ryan grinned, “To think I was excited to have an afternoon with my partner who was going to help me celebrate having a kid.”

I reached over and patted his shoulder, “That is exactly what I’m doing dude.”

He shook his head, “Always have to be difficult don’t you?”

“Why do you think I’m still single? I’m too ‘difficult’ to handle.”

“That’s not what I heard.  You had a date with someone.”

“How on earth did you know that?” I asked completely shocked.

“Flora told Shea who told me.” He laughed, “You should be very careful who you tell personal stuff to because they could tell just anybody.”

“I’ll remember that for future reference.”

------

The countryside was beginning to match the landscape from both of our puzzles and Ryan took the exit printed on the directions from Agent Watson.

The directions lead to a dirt road with a fence keeping the livestock from roaming all over the country. Back through the trees a red barn could be seen with a picturesque farmhouse next to it.

“This looks like the place.” I remarked as we crept down the road leaving a dust trail behind for anyone within five miles to see.

“Stealth isn’t going to work out here. Should we use the direct approach?”

“I don’t see that we have much choice. Let’s keep our guns handy, but try charm for a change.”

“Got it. I’m putting on my old lady smile right now. They always fall for it.”

“Whatever.” I rolled my eyes as we approached the house with chickens running all over the place.

The screen door squeaked as an older woman came out of the house followed by three dogs.

“What can I do for you?” She drawled leaning against the porch post. “You just lost or did you have something you needed?”

“We’re not sure how to answer that question. We got a photo the other day that matched this farm, but we have no idea why.” Ryan answered honestly.

“You cops?” The woman asked suspiciously.

“Yes, ma’am. Detectives actually.”

“Hmmph,” She looked us over thoroughly, “You might as well come on in. I’ll put on a pot of tea.”

Ryan and I exchanged glances curious about the shift in her attitude.

“Thank you.” I commented as I followed her inside.

“We’re unsure what we’re looking for, but I think you might already know.”

“I knew this day would come. It’s just about 20 years later than I thought though.” She put a kettle on the stove and started getting out three tea cups.

“Oh, I’m Belle Stevens.”

“This is Ryan Fox and I’m Leslie Boxe.”

“That’s cute. Your boss must have a sense of humor.” She took a seat across from both of us. “I’m guessing that my name didn’t ring any bells.”

“No, ma’am. Should it?”

“Maybe I’m wrong, but I was always certain that my son was going to do something stupid when he left home. There was something just not right about him.”

“What was his name?”

“Henry J. Stevens. Although, he’s more than likely changed it by now. He hated it out here on the farm and couldn’t wait to get to the city.”

“No, that isn’t a name we’ve come across either.”

“His father is John Reed or that was the name he gave me at the time. I was so young and naïve at the time. He wooed me into thinking that I was the only girl in the world. I was fresh off the farm and he seemed like the real deal. It wasn’t until I realized that I was pregnant that I found out I was only one of his side pieces. He didn’t want anything to do with me or a kid.”

“I never told him I was pregnant so he didn’t know that Henry was his. I snuck out and returned to the farm her and he never came looking for me. He had a violent streak and I didn’t want him getting mad at me. I hadn’t told him my real name when I met him so that might have saved me, but Henry always resented his dad for not taking better care of us.”

“Do you know if he ever made contact with his father?”

“I’m sure he tried. Remember this has been almost forty-five years ago and Henry left home when he was about fifteen. I haven’t seen him since then. Until you showed up I wasn’t even sure that he was alive to be honest.”

“What made you think we were here because of your son, Ms. Stevens?”

“If you’ve ever met him then you’d know. He had the coldest eyes that would look at you like you were simply an object in the room. No emotion. Something you hear about on those documentaries of serial killers.”

The tea kettle whistled and she hopped up to pull it off the burner.

“He wasn’t ever affectionate and seemed to interact with people as if he was watching their reactions. I have to say that he’d learned a lot and by the time he left, I was beginning to imagine that he didn’t feel emotions.”

She passed out the cups as she continued to remember the past.

“I was always afraid that he was going to kill me in my sleep, but then he left. I stayed up for weeks expecting him to return, but when he didn’t I realized that I didn’t mean very much to him.”

“You must have meant more than you thought. He left us a puzzle with pictures of the farm. We traced it from the cows’ tags in the photos. Were there any missing women in the area while he was still living here?” I asked her on a hunch.    

“No and that was the weirdest thing. I guess I’d always assumed that was the direction that he was headed, but none were ever reported missing.”

“Did he like girls?”

“From what I could tell he didn’t really care one way or another. I just thought he’d take it out on girls first.” She shrugged.

“Thank you for your time.” I started to get up, “If we have any other questions, we’ll call you. In case you think of something else, here’s my card.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be more helpful.”

“Oh, we learned more today than in several months of digging. Now, we’ll have a better understanding of who we’re dealing with.”

We made our way back to the car.

“Well, what do you think? Have we found our Zodiac Master or the bastard son of John Reed?” I threw the questions out as Ryan started back down the long driveway.

“What if he’s both?”

“It would explain all of the clues and cross connections to the Urban Energy Company.”

“Also it could be the reason that he’s bent on taking down daddy and his company.”

“We’re going to need to let someone besides just the two of us know about this. I’d suggest only telling Adam and Agent Watson the specific details.”

“Agreed. It will give us a few more people looking out for us.” I laid back and closed my eyes trying to process all of the information Ms. Stevens had given us.

Chapter 7

Ryan

Meeting with Adam and Agent Watson to let them know what we’d found out wasn’t going to happen at the complex.

Leslie and I had taken our phones out of the Faraday bag when we’d reached the city limits.

“Adam, I’m going to need to meet you for a training session this evening. I just can’t get calm after my drive out into the country.” Leslie wanted to have him meet us, but didn’t want to say why.

“Yeah, the training area is free and I can help you run through some yoga to clear out your brain.”

“Sounds great. I’ll meet you there in about thirty minutes.” She hung up, “All good. Now you just have to make sure that Agent Watson sticks with Adam and they both meet us there.”

“Here.” I handed her my phone so she could send the text since I was still driving.

“Don’t leave Adam’s side. Important information.”

“Done.” She announced with glee. “We may not be the world’s best spies, but at least we’re giving it a shot.”

“I feel much better about this. It will leave the major decisions in the hands of someone much more qualified to handle this kind of thing.”

“Between Adam and Agent Watson, they should have an idea of what the next step is. I just wish we knew who the clues were in reference to so that we could mark one bad guy off the list.” Leslie agreed.

“Where are we supposed to meet Adam at?”

“The gym on Fifth Street. They have a few rooms that are kept for high profile people to use for their excising needs. The rooms are soundproof and shouldn’t have any listening devices in them. We’ll do a sweep beforehand just in case.”

 “Here goes nothing.”

  Adam arrived with a curious Agent Watson in tow.

“I certainly didn’t expect to see the two of you here. What’s going on?” Adam eyed Leslie with a worried tone.

“We thought considering a few things that have come to light we needed to take extra precautions.” Leslie dropped to the mat on the floor looking very comfortable.

“So I’m going to say that your visit to the country was rewarding?” Agent Watson grinned, “Don’t keep us in suspense.”

“The verdict’s still out as to whether this was part of our Zodiac Master’s history or if it was more about the history of John Reed. We found the mom of John Reed’s son, Henry Stevens. He hasn’t lived there in years, but his mother is certain that he fits a serial killer profile.” I explained to their astonished faces.

“This is huge. Our serial killer is the son of John Reed which is how the two cases combine.” Agent Watson exclaimed with excitement.

“That’s where we run into a problem. John Reed may not know he has a son. Belle Stevens left without telling him and that was one of the reasons he left her alone on the farm. With the information from Kevin and other sources, we need to determine how we want to proceed.”

“What are you trying to say Leslie?” Adam’s brow furrowed as he frowned at her implications.

“Someone on our team may be working for Henry Stevens or even John Reed. With the ties to the cartels, we don’t want to be sending information to him through his or their spies. I’m going to suggest that we keep any reports off the radar until we know more so someone doesn’t get killed.”

“Leslie that’s a good point. Let’s keep any and all mention of things pertaining to John Reed and John Armstrong off the record for now. We can have a meeting over here if we need to, away from the prying eyes and ears of the FBI. Let’s take what we do know and search for anything we can find on Henry Stevens.” Agent Watson agreed quickly.

“Why don’t you both go home for the day and report first thing in the morning for a briefing. We’ll get everyone up to date on your ‘findings’ and then start the search. It’s looking like our serial killer is using a chainsaw, but we have no idea what the pattern is yet.” Adam suggested.

“Thank you. I’d like one more night at home before heading off on the next leg of this chase.”

I wasn’t about to offer a protest to calling it a day. I was still tired from the past few days and more sleep would help me recharge as we started traveling again.”

------

 Shea was already home when I arrived and I walked up putting my arms around her expanding waist.

“Hey, babe. Did you miss me?”

“Was I supposed to?” She turned in my arms to look up at me with a mischievous grin.

“Guess not.” I grumbled playfully, “At least I got home before your boyfriend could hide.”

“Trust me, I can barely keep up with you and this baby, much less another guy on top of everything else.”

She pulled out of my arms and walked over to the desk, “Although, I didn’t want to alarm you, but I think you should see this.”

In her hands was a note.

I knew immediately who it was from as I took it trying to keep my hand from shaking.

“Shea, you’re positively glowing with impending motherhood. I’m so happy for you and Detective Ryan. It’s too bad that he’s out protecting everyone else while you’re left to fend for yourself. You’d think he’d want you to be safe. Well, we don’t always get what we wish for. Although, you are safe with me. Others think I’m a monster, but I would never hurt a child. Tell your fiancé that I’ll be checking in on him from time to time.”

“Or is he too worried about how Leslie’s doing now that her boyfriend is gone? Maybe you’re hoping to save her again and that’s why you are making sure to stay close as her partner. Haven’t you worried about their connection?”

“He’s going to have to make a choice. Will it be you?”

“It’s from him isn’t it?” Shea’s voice trembled with fear. “What does he want with me?”

“He wants me here terrorized that something’s going to happen to you or the baby instead of trying to stop him from killing more people.”

“I’m not a cop though. Why would I be that important to him?”

“Shea, honey. It’s because of how much you mean to me. He’s guessing to find out how scared I am. What he doesn’t realize is that when I’m threatened, I don’t run. I fight. When it comes to my family there is nothing that I won’t do.”

“Is there anything I need to worry about between you and Leslie? I feel like he’s trying to make it an issue between us, right?” Shea watched my reaction closely.

“He’s right that she’s my partner, but you’re my girl. I’ve never even thought about her in that way. I’m a guy so I compartmentalize things and don’t stress over stuff like that.”

Shea raised an eyebrow at me, “Really you don’t stress over stuff? What about this whole being a dad thing? You’re not feeling any stress, huh?”

“Well, I meant it more in the way that Leslie is my partner so she fits into that dynamic in my life. I don’t think of her any differently as a woman partner than I would as a man partner. She’s a huge part of my life just like Jesse was and if she is in trouble I’m going to be there for her. She would be the first person to tell me to get home to you and my future baby.”

“I wasn’t really worried about the two of you, but that note put a few doubts in my head. Just promise me that you won’t abandon Leslie in a life or death situation to check on me? We’re both counting on you in different ways and you can’t lose another partner.”

“I promise to make sure that help is on the way for both of you. I don’t want to have to think about a scenario where I’d have to choose who to pull out of a fire first. Let’s pray that doesn’t happen.” I pulled her close to kiss her reassuring us both.

“While we’re on the subject of making promises to each other, will you promise me that you won’t show any houses alone? I haven’t ever put any stipulations on you because I knew that you can take care of yourself. This is different, someone is watching us with the intent to hurt us.”

“If you were any other guy that had made that suggestion, I would have laughed in your face. This isn’t you trying to be all macho male so I’ll do my best to watch my back so you don’t have to worry. You need to be focused on the case and not on me.” She laid her head on my shoulder. 

“I’m not even going to suggest that you just stay home until the baby is born. Just don’t get into a taxi or ride share unless it’s life or death because that’s when you’re going to be the most vulnerable. He’s waiting for the perfect opportunity to fall into his hands.”

I laughed, “This is going to sound really paranoid, but don’t discuss your plans out loud when you’re in the house. I think he has eyes and ears on us. You know extra stuff that you tell people to make them feel comfortable about you? That’s all information that he can use against us.”

“Is it really that serious of a situation?”

My finger tilted her gaze up to meet mine, “You know I wouldn’t mention it if it wasn’t.”

“This isn’t the first threat he’s made against me is it?”

“No. I didn’t want to worry you. I also didn’t want to be the super paranoid jerk fiancé that asked you to give up your life because someone made a threat. This guy isn’t playing around. We know he targeted Jesse and I don’t want to lose you as well.”

“I promise.” She buried her face in my chest, “Just do the same and be extra careful.”

“You have my promise.” I muttered against her hair.

     ------

The entire rest of the night, I tossed and turned thinking about the note the Zodiac Master had given to Shea.

I’d never considered Leslie as girlfriend or sidepiece. I wasn’t even sure what to call it really. She’d just seamlessly fallen into place as my partner. She pushed me to expand my horizons and it hadn’t taken long for us to start working as a team.

With a variety of partners over the years, some for a few weeks and others for a few years, I had always just seen them as co-workers. Sure they had been friends and some were I still considered family, but I wasn’t the type of guy that thought about other women romantically because I was already in a committed relationship.

If that was really the case though, why did I feel so guilty when I read that note? Was there something I was missing? Shea was the one I’d chosen to share my life with. Hell, we were having a baby together so why was this bothering me so much?

Not really finding an answer to my musings, I continued to stare at the ceiling hoping that I would see something hidden there to explain all the things running through my head.

Only shadows met my gaze giving me a sense of foreboding which was unusual because I didn’t believe in all that mumbo jumbo.              

   ------               

Chapter 8

Galen—

When I heard the news Brian O’Leary was missing, I knew that she’d done it. She was my ex-girlfriend and the ex was for a very good reason. She was completely crazy. I was certain that she had something to do with it, but getting proof was going to be much more difficult.

While I was in no position to actually get proof, I needed to be ready for when she came for me. I could feel it in my bones that I was going to be on her target list and as each new report of a body was discovered, I knew my time was running short.

I didn’t like people in the general way which meant that I had to interact and deal with their drama. The forest where I’d built my home made it possible to interact with people on my terms.

Occasionally when the need for human connection made me wander down the mountain, I could easily find a logging crew that would be willing to have an extra pair of hands for a couple of months. I never lasted long, but that was when I’d met her.

At first she had seemed to make the world around me brighter with her smile, then after about six months of dating I started to see a few red flags. It had been ten years and I still kept track of her because I knew that one day she’d come back for me. I put together a plan hoping that I could survive long enough to evade her, but now I was going to set a trap so she didn’t continue to kill men who had dated her.

Mary Ann had her own thoughts about how a relationship should go and speaking to anyone that wasn’t her hadn’t been on the list. Once she was certain she’d made a claim on you, then she didn’t like if you did anything without her. She wanted to be with you twenty-four seven.

I’d gotten off easy because I had been sleeping in the loggers quarters at that time so she assumed that I didn’t have a home to take her to. When I left in the middle of the night, she had done a little digging to discover my cabin.

An unpleasant visit and a restraining order later, Mary Ann was a memory. She’d moved on to other communities and left a trail of men behind her. What she hadn’t counted on was that most of the men who left the civilized world to become loggers out in the isolation of the wilderness were easy pushovers. She’d wanted puppets that she could control, but loggers had to be tough and didn’t do things the way which she expected.

When I’d left civilization early on to hide from my own demons, I’d kept a few of the modern conveniences of satellite, internet and the news. I might not want to interact with humans on a personal level, but I did want to know what was going on in the world. Maybe one day I’d heal enough that I could handle being a normal part of society, but I wasn’t going to let Mary Ann be the one to dictate when that would be.

Twenty men had lost their lives so far because I hadn’t spoken up. I looked at the map and put another pin in a city only fifty miles away. If you didn’t know where to look, you wouldn’t be able to tell what she was doing.

My instincts as a profiler couldn’t be helped no matter how long I’d been away from the game. They may have been dormant because I’d suppressed them and ignored the warning signs, but this had gone on long enough.

I prepared my home for a long absence. It was time to return to the very thing I’d been running from for over fifteen years. The memories of my mistake were still fresh as if they had occurred only yesterday.

Rolling up the map with all of the information I’d collected, I put it in my bag just as the electricity in my home died. I had hoped that I had another twelve hours before she showed up.

The stone fireplace had a special brick that when pressed would allow me to hide in a small space. While it had seemed like large fireplace that would heat up the entire cabin, I had created a walking space that was hollow behind it. I hadn’t ever expected to use it, but I knew it was always possible considering the type of work I’d done in the past.

Mary Ann wasn’t worried about hiding or trying to cover her tracks at the moment. She entered like she owned the world.

“Galen,” She called, “Guess who’s home?”

Silence met her as I struggled to stay quiet.

I could imagine her progress through my home as I sat in the corner holding my revolver hoping to use it only as a last resort.

The large living room was open with a small loft area for the bedroom. Living alone, I hadn’t seen the need for lots of walls and in the winter it helped to keep cabin fever from setting in with the large cavernous feel.

When she reached the ladder up to the loft, I could feel her anger that she hadn’t discovered me hiding under the bed. Not that I was doing much better by hiding in the fireplace, but while I felt guilty for my mistakes, I wasn’t ready to die yet.

“Hello, Galen, I know you’re here. I’m willing to wait for you to come out of hiding.” She took up a seat on the couch to settle in until I decided to pop out.

My cameras weren’t connected to the electricity of the cabin and I was able to watch her movements as I planned to out wait her.

Every so often she would get up and move about the house, poking in new corners in hopes that I would be hiding there. She kept up a running conversation that made me realize that I’d dodged a real bullet. Although, I had only pushed it further into my future because now I was a hostage in my own home.

The sound of my refrigerator opening made me smile, she was making herself at home. Now, if she would only lay down or fall asleep, I could sneak out the back and make it through the woods to where I’d parked the car.

I waited to be certain when she did fall asleep that she was really out before I made my more. The back wall slid open and I kept my revolver out in front of me just in case Mary Ann had managed to fool me.

The woods surrounding my home were quiet as I walked along the path to where I had my vehicle parked on the other side of the mountain. Since the first body had been discovered, I made sure that I’d had a second way to get out of the woods. My closest neighbor was about five miles on the opposite side of the mountain and they’d let me park a car over there for the past few weeks.

Nothing moved as I made my way in the dark, glad that I’d escaped her clutches this time, but knowing that it meant going back to something I didn’t want to deal with again.

          -------

Hours later, I’d made my way across the country to the Dallas airport. While I’d wanted to forget all about civilization as I called it, returning to the peopled world was like getting on a bike.

Rows of taxis were waiting to whisk me away to my destination and I was thankful that I hadn’t become a complete hermit or I wouldn’t have had the new tools for getting around. Then again, if I’d become a hermit, I never would have dated Mary Ann and incurred her wrath.

Guess, I was still making horrible decisions that were always going to affect my life.

He was still living here in the suburbs of Dallas and I hoped that he would be home because I had no way to contact him. I hadn’t done more than let him know I was alive from time to time, but I hadn’t called because I didn’t want to hear the judgement in his voice.

I raised my hand to knock, but the door was thrown open.

“About time you came back into the world.” He grabbed me engulfing me in a hug.

“How did you…?” I trailed off. I should have known.

“The closer you got to home, the more I could feel your presence.” Adam hadn’t let go of me as he pulled me inside and over to the couch.

“I wouldn’t have come home, but I had a huge problem that’s connected to what you’re working on.”

“Wait you’re not back for good?”

“That all depends. I think your killer is stalking me. In fact when I left she was sound asleep, which is why I made it to your house in the wee hours of the morning.”

“Speaking of morning, Happy Birthday.”

“You know that’s one of the reasons she was on my doorstep ready to kill me right?”

“Yeah, but you got out and now we can go get her.” Adam reassured me.

“It’s not that easy. Not only will she be gone, but she’s going to be pissed off that I was able to evade her. If I thought just turning her into the authorities would work, I’d have done it. If for no other reason then so I didn’t have to come home.” I forgotten how easily he could read or sense my thoughts.

“Breakfast should be ready in just a few minutes. We can discuss it while we eat.”

“Ugh, if I wasn’t starving, then I would tell you to go to hell, but I can’t. Please tell me you didn’t call mom? I’m not here on a social visit.”

I haven’t yet, but you’re going to have to come up with a pretty good explanation as to why you are here and didn’t see her. You know she’s probably already sensed you as well.”

“Oh, well, I hadn’t thought of that. It’s been a while since I had to worry about others with my gift around. To be honest, I don’t even use it because there’s not much use in reading a squirrel’s thoughts.”

“Don’t let mom hear you say that, she’s always thought our gift was important and not using it was one of the worst things we could do.”

“I remember. There’s a lot I remember, not all of it good.”

Adam stopped what he was doing at the stove to look at me. “You know what happened wasn’t really your fault. There was no way we could have saved that family.”

“That’s what everyone told me, but it didn’t feel that way to me. I’ve done a lot of thinking all these years alone. I can’t change what happened, but if I don’t use my gift then nothing can happen. No one dies because of me.”

“But you aren’t taking into account all those who are alive because of you. We saved more lives than we took. Isn’t saving one life more important than wallowing in self-doubt about all the ones we couldn’t?” Adam argued.

“Who are we to play God though? What if it’s part of the grand design that those people died? Or that other things would have happened if we hadn’t messed with things?”

Adam continued to crack eggs into the pan, “How are we to know that we aren’t following the plan by using our gift? Maybe the universe gave it to us to balance the bad things out.”

“You know, if that was the case then I’d think that they’d give us a map or plan to work with, sort of like the one I’ve been putting together the past few weeks.” I withdrew the map I’d been working on before I’d had to leave my home.

“Ha, I knew that you weren’t just wasting away up there in the mountains. You’ve been working all this time. It’s a good thing you decided to join us because this last case has been driving us insane. We were able to use one of the locals who tapped into the spirit realm for just a second. I thought she had potential, but I’m afraid that she may have burned out.”

I grinned, “You found someone new to guide. Is she single? Cute?” My brother had always had a soft spot for those with the gift, but then he had this entire moral code that kept him from sleeping with them because he was their mentor.

“Nope, when we met she was dating someone. I think there is someone else in her future, but it just hasn’t worked out yet. You know I’m waiting for the perfect one and so far we haven’t crossed paths.”

“Always the knight in shining armor.” I chided with humor, but it was the truth.

  “Of course, how else am going to prevail against evil.” He slid a perfect looking omelet onto my plate.

“You should have been a chief. Saving the world one meal at a time.” I mumbled as I took a bite. “Now this is something I’ve missed.”

“Well, you could have learned if you’d even tried.”

“Gourmet cooking just wasn’t my thing.”

“Profiling certainly is,” Adam appeared impressed as he looked at my map. “She’s been all over the country now. Mostly loggers, from the looks of it.”

“Not just loggers, but those that she’s dated who left her. For some reason she has a type which includes those born under the sign of Cancer. If I remember correctly because we dated years ago, her birthday is also this month.” I explained feeling dumb for not learning more about my ex-girlfriend.

“She’s part of something much larger than just a few grudge kills. We’ve been tracking this Zodiac Master for six months now. He finds a new killer each month before doing away with the old one. It’s driving us crazy because he’s always one step ahead of us.”

“Ah, man. That sucks. I guess you need the information that I’ve gathered on this one because it’s personal for me.”              

“You’re always welcome, but only if you promise to see mom.”

With a sigh, I agreed. “Help me catch this crazy lady and I’ll go see mom before I leave town.”

“Done. Now, let’s get you to headquarters so you can meet the team and get an update.”

--------   

We arrived in the conference room where the rest of Adam’s team was arriving.

“You’re new girl’s the one in the green shirt isn’t she?”

“Yes, can you feel that amount of energy coming from her?”

“She has no idea does she?” I quickly took a quick look around at those who were wandering in the door.

“No, she doesn’t. You don’t see something like that every day.”

“Quite a team you’ve got here.”

“It should be because they were all handpicked by Agent Watson. He got the position when the last agent got a little out of hand. He seems to work well with the two detectives that were put on this case.” Adam stood in the back with me pointing out the players.

“The auras on a few of these guys are questionable. I’d do a financial look into the one setting up the laptop.”

“Martha? She wouldn’t hurt a mouse, but I’ll have one of our guys check on it. Who else?” Adam knew that I was able to sense things that other sensitives didn’t pick up on.

“That guy in the purple shirt and the one on his left.” I couldn’t tell you why they had auras that spoke of evil connections. Occasionally it just meant that something dark was going on in their lives like the death of a loved one, but to be on the safe side.

“It’s like putting on a comfortable pair of shoes isn’t it?” Adam grinned as I moved into my normal role of profiler.

“True, but it doesn’t erase the past.” I brushed past him to take a seat as the Agent in charge walked through the door.

“Well, look what the cat dragged in. Agent Galen Dalca back from the ends of the earth.”

I accepted his hand shake, “Good to see you again, Gavin.”

“Ah, it’s not a social visit is it?” He looked at me and then at Adam.

“Did you read him on everything or just this briefing?” Agent Watson directed his question to my brother.

“Just this meeting he know more about our current case. In fact he has all of the details that we need to catch her.” Adam grinned as he threw me into the deep end.

“Looks like we could use your help for a short while if you can stick around.”

“You’re going to need me for my own protection.”

“Would you like to start the briefing?” Agent Watson offered, “I’m curious to know what you’ve got that would bring you out of hiding.”

I shrugged in response not really seeing much of a choice.

“Attention everyone, we have a returning Agent with us today that has some information to share about the case.” He waited until everyone had settled down before turning to me, “Go ahead, Galen.”

“For those of you who don’t listen to the rumor mill, I’m Galen Dalca former profiler for the FBI. I retired about fifteen years ago and went to live far away from people up in Wyoming. When I’d get bored or need to be with people, I’d get a day job as a logger on a crew. That’s where I met, Mary Ann.”

Everyone was listening, but the two detectives were my main focus as I talked.

“She was nice and we started to date. Things went okay for the first few months, but I started wanting to get away from people again and she became very clingy. When I disappeared in the middle of the night,” I heard a few snickers from around the room, “yes, I ghosted her. In my defense I did leave a note breaking up with her, but sometimes that’s what you have to do for your own sanity.”

“Anyway, a few of the other loggers were friends and let me know that she questioned everyone trying to find where I lived. Thankfully, they had seen what she was capable and no one really knew where I lived. I’ve kept an eye on her whereabouts so I’d know where not to be in case we might run into each other.”

“Fast forward to ten years later. Brian O’Leary is murdered after his big win at the annual logging competition. I’ve watched as she made her way back to Wyoming over the past two weeks. Somehow I knew she was going to show up on my door this time and I was prepared.”

“She came walking into my home like she owned it. I had a safe place and when I could escape did so. We had never talked about my connection to the FBI when we dated so I knew the safest place was back here at my brother, Adam’s house.”

“What he’s not telling you is that, he’s an amazing profiler and has already done some of our work for us this time.” Adam interrupted, pulling up the map I’d made of Mary Ann’s journey.

“Adam told me that you had figured out four or five deaths you think might be connected. I’ve got fifteen listed. I would have made number sixteen.”

“That’s amazing, but are you sure that she didn’t follow you here?” Someone asked with a snicker.

“I’m certain. Anyway, I’ll be around if you have any questions.” I sat down ignoring the looks from a few of the other agents who’d heard of me from back in the day.

Agent Watson sent a quieting glare in the direction of those who were still whispering, “Thank you, Galen. Now, I’m going to have Ryan come up here and tell you what he and Detective Boxe found yesterday.”

Ryan stood and made his way to the front of the room.

His aura was surrounded by a white light that normally meant a heroic deed was in his near future. There were hints of worry around his eyes as he faced the room.

“The Zodiac Master sent both Detective Boxe and myself two puzzles a few nights ago. There weren’t any clues until we ran the picture through the data base and traced the cow tags to a farm just outside of the Dallas area.”

“It led us to a woman that we believe may have known the Zodiac Master. From her description of his actions as a teen, he fit the profiles of a budding serial killer. His name is Henry J. Stevens.”

“He left the farm almost fifteen years ago and hasn’t had any sort of contact with his mother since that time. She was actually relieved because she thought he might come back to kill her.”

“Martha, I’m going to need you to start doing a search for all of the Henrys listed in the area. We think he may have changed his name over time and wouldn’t be as easy to find if that is the case.”

Ryan started to sit down, but Detective Boxe jumped up to join him which made him uncomfortable for some reason. This was interesting and might lead to a talk with Adam about them.        
“His mother was certain that he’s learned how to blend into society. She thinks he’s taken on the mannerisms of someone who has emotions. The things we would normally be looking for in a serial killer may not be present in this man simply because he’s changed his stripes to blend into society.” Leslie added to what Ryan had been saying.

An agent burst into the room, “Agent Watson, you’re going to want to watch the news, sir.”

He pulled up the daily news report, “We are coming to you live from the scene of a grisly murder in Wyoming. Early this morning a man was murdered at his cabin in Sheridan, Wyoming. At this point there doesn’t seem to be a motive to connect this specific person, but this symbol was left in the man’s blood.”

The Zodiac Cancer symbol flashed on the screen along with the words, I’ll get you.

“From the message, we can assume there will be another incident and officials are working on it right now. Members of his family arrived on the scene to find his body chopped into parts.”

“She’s escalated when she didn’t get me last night. All of her other kills were well planned and tied up as packages for the police to find. This time, she’s mad and doesn’t care who knows it. Can you rewind and pause the footage of that scene?”

“There. Look at the blood splatter, it’s not nearly as much as it would be if she had used a chain saw. She wouldn’t have left a wall or any space that didn’t have blood spatter.” I walked over and pointed to the very obvious strip on the ceiling, “See this is much smaller than what it would have been if she’d fired up the chainsaw. She used an axe instead. For whatever reason, she’s switch weapons. Granted they are both used to cut wood and Cancer signs have a greater infinity for mother earth.”

“So what we’re dealing with is a pissed off ex who has decided that she’ll do the Zodiac Master’s work for him, but she’s gone off the script. He’s not going to like that.” Ryan summed it up for everyone.

“Actually, he might. He wants to keep us off balance and by doing this kind of thing that is exactly what would happen. He wasn’t counting on the fact that one of her ex’s was a former FBI agent. This should work in our favor.” Leslie chimed in with a grin.

“I don’t know all of her ex’s or people that have pissed her off. I can help you find out where she might be headed next though.”

“Don’t let us stop you. We’re all ears.”

“It’s a good thing you’ve only got one mouth.” I muttered under my breath.

“Here’s the map of where she’s been, which I’m sure you have something similar, but I’ve marked all of the main logging camps in these areas. I think she’s going to stay with where she’s more familiar.”

“I would agree.” Leslie pointed to the three camps that hadn’t had someone go missing yet. “She would have had these on her list, but now there isn’t really a specific place we can count on her being.”

“She’s a loose cannon. I hate to say it, but we’re going to have to see where she lands next.” Adam sighed in frustration.

“From what I’ve gathered, she is driving from point A to point B for most of these. Granted they’re within hours of each other in several of these states, but I don’t think she likes flying. It’s too close to being in a confined space. She likes open spaces and being close to nature.”

“Okay, we can put her picture out there to law enforcement discreetly, but until we have a better understanding of where she’s headed, we’re going to keep it quiet. The Zodiac Master has more information about what we’re planning then we’d like for him to these days.” Agent Watson dismissed everyone else to get started on the man or rather woman hunt.

“Are you going to be staying with us, Agent Dalca?”

“For the time being. I can’t really return home until she’s locked up or dead. We’ll see how this goes before we discuss my returning to the FBI.” I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. I just wasn’t sure that I had anything to offer anymore.

“Well, whatever you decide, just know that we are always willing to have you back in a full-time capacity if that’s what you want.”

“Thank you, sir. I’ll keep that in mind.”

-------

Chapter 9

Leslie

The hairs on my neck had stood up when Galen Dalca turned up and told us about his ex, Mary Ann. We’d known that there was a killer out there, but we finally had a face to go with the name.

Even though we didn’t know exactly where she was going to be next, it was a good bet that we’d be heading out to go over the crime scene in Wyoming.

I kept feeling that someone was watching me, but every time I turned around the only person I spotted with any kind of interest in me was Galen.

Was I sending out unconscious signals to him? What was his deal? I had a hard time reading him, but trusted Adam completely. If he vouched for his brother, then I was going to have to believe that it was the truth.

“Leslie, you and Ryan are going to be heading out shortly. We’ve got you on a flight and I have the nearest agents standing by to pick you up when you arrive. Check in when you get there and let me know what you find.” Agent Watson stopped to make sure I knew he’d taken care of everything.

“Thank you. We’ve got our bags in the car and are about to head to the airport. Let us know if Martha gets any clues about the information that we provided. I have a feeling that he’s used many names over the years and we just have to dig deep enough to find the correct one.”

“I think we’re on the right track, but this takes precedence for now. The time it’s taking us to find the killer and then track them down is getting shorter. We need to have a plan to give us a bigger jump on the Zodiac Master in between months.”

Adam joined us putting his own two cents in the mix, “I know you’ve been having problems with the control of your gift. I’d warn you to be careful when walking into that crime scene. She had a lot of anger and that will be residing in the walls of the house.”

“I wouldn’t have thought about it because I’ve been in so many crime scenes over the years with no issues. I haven’t been having any readings at all the past few weeks though so we may be worrying about something for nothing.”

“With the amount of energy you’ve had and the emotional roller coaster over the past few months, I’d say to be very cautious.” Adam advised.

“Adam maybe you should go with them. If what you told me about her encounters last month are true, she’s going to need you around for support.” Galen suggested.

“You just got here. Plus, I haven’t seen you in years.” He protested.

“That’s never stopped you from working a case. Adam, you need to go. I’ll be around for a few weeks. You won’t have to worry about losing time with me.”

“Hi, guys. I’m still in the room.” I waved my hand to get their attention, “Is there something I don’t know about?”

“No,” and “Yes,” they both said at the same time.

I crossed my arms wanting to tap my foot at them for acting like children. “Anything you want to tell me?”

Adam shot Galen a dirty look, “Galen is under the impression that when you used your gifts last month, it unconsciously freaked you out. He says that your shield is up and your holding onto it so hard that the least amount of pressure from an outside source such as Mary Ann’s anger could cause a huge problem.”

“Stop projecting what you’re thinking onto my thoughts,” Galen rubbed his temples in frustration. “It’s been so long since I did this, I’d forgotten how tiring it could be to have you around.”

“Sorry. I fell into old habits so quickly. You’re right. I’ll go with Leslie and let you poke around here while we’re gone. We’ll need to talk about boundaries if you’re sticking around for more than a few days though.” Adam apologized.

Ryan hadn’t said anything, but I could tell he was uncomfortable with the undercurrents running through the room.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re coming or not because we have to head to the airport now. Make up your mind and either come or don’t, but we have to go.”

We were the only ones left in the room after the briefing.

I hadn’t even thought about the fact that they were discussing psychic stuff in a public space.

“Are both Adam and his brother, ‘gifted’?” Ryan whispered behind his hand to me as we made our way to the parking garage.

“Without being able to use my extra senses, I’m going to say from the tension between them that Galen is also gifted with extra abilities. Because they’re brothers, it’s possible they have similar abilities or simply that they tap into each other. I think there is more going on with them then they think under the surface.”

Ryan frowned as I headed toward my car for my bags.

“What? You didn’t think people with abilities don’t have the same problems with their families that ‘normal’ people do?” I grinned at his assumptions, “These guys were brothers first with all that baggage and then FBI agents together. It’s a competitive field but when you add in two brothers in the same unit it equals problems. I think a case went bad and that’s the reason Galen left the agency.”

I closed the trunk after placing my luggage inside and got in the passenger seat.

“You may say that your gift isn’t working, but honestly you still have more insight that cops that have been on the job for years longer.”

“Eh, it’s not part of my gift really. Flora suggested that I try to expand my cop skills while the other part isn’t functioning. Listening and watching for those small nuances are second nature for us as cops. You do the same thing, but don’t realize it.” I tried to make him feel included.

Adam waved us down as we were leaving the parking garage.

“Think I could get a ride with the two of you?”

“Sure.” Ryan popped the trunk so Adam could toss his luggage inside.

“I see that Galen persuaded you to join us.” I grinned.

“We need a little space. It’s been years since I was around him this much and I forgot how annoying my little brother could be.”

“Aw, but you’re glad to see him though.”

“Yes, it’s just we’re kind of the yin and yang of our gift, but we both can read each other’s thoughts. Not other people which would be helpful, just his.” Adam groaned, “You have no idea how hard it is to have to listen to everything that your little brother is thinking.”

“Yuck, I could barely handle my own thoughts growing up much less my younger sibling.” Ryan’s face scrunched in sympathy.

“Imagine being able to hear a grown adult’s thoughts? Not as fun as it sounds.”

“Do you really think I’m in danger going into crime scenes?”

Adam moved to where I could see him from the front seat, “Until you know for sure, I’m just suggesting that you use caution.”

“Got it. Caution is becoming my middle name.”

------

I used the drive to the airport to text Chris and let him know what was going on.

Me: Hey, I don’t know how this works when we’ve only had two dates. I’ve been called away, but I’ll let you know when I get back.

Chris: No, worries. Thanks for letting me know. Work calls come first when it’s life and death.

Me: When I get back, I’d love to go out again if you’re up for it.

Chris: Certainly. I think we have a lot of things to explore. Winky face.

Me: Agreed. Things were just starting to get interesting.

Chris: We can always text date for a while and get to know each other better while we’re apart.

Me: I like that idea. Most of my days will be full so don’t be mad if it takes a while for me to respond.

Chris: When I’m in court, I can’t answer my phone either. Perks of our jobs, I guess.

Me: I’ve got to catch a plane. Chat at you later then.

Chris: Stay safe.

A smile settled on my face as I thought about the possibilities of what a normal relationship without issues might look like.

-------

I normally slept while on the plane, but I kept thinking about all the different pieces of our puzzle.

What if Henry Stevens was the Zodiac Master? From what his mother had said he had tendencies toward psychopathic behavior and not much emotional response to her. It would explain why he doesn’t have any problems killing twenty or thirty people each month. They’re all just pieces in a giant game to him that he can move around to suit his fancy.

That was what had been bothering me the most, his absolute unemotional attitude. He deliberately did things that would cause us to react as humans while he watched us curiously. Like a scientist who did experiments on animals, he was trying to find out what made us tick.

He wasn’t inherently evil, most psychopaths knew of the concept, but didn’t quite understand it. They just had a strong sense of self-preservation. Then again wasn’t that the idea of a psychopath, knowing right from wrong, but not have the sensors to keep them from doing it or caring that they did it?

There was something he wanted, and he was willing to manipulate people all over the country to get it. The fact that his father was a powerful man and could be termed a psychopath as well, might be a good indication of what he was looking for, affirmation in all the wrong places.

Genetics suggested that a psychopath was born not made and I was willing to bet that Noah was classified one as well. This was all an attempt to gain the notice of John Reed and prove that he wasn’t just the bastard son but belonged at his side.

I wasn’t a profiler, but the idea resonated with me. Each month as he recruited another person to join his ranks, was he actually looking for someone to connect to? Only one of the killers so far had fallen under the heading of a true psychopath and I still had the scars to prove it.

This game wasn’t over yet, but I felt like I had a better understanding of my opponent. He was someone that didn’t care about the collateral damage he inflicted on the lives of others. That was what gave me the upper hand in this game, my connection to other humans. It was the emotional attachment that made me need to win so that other lives weren’t snuffed out in the process.

He didn’t consider me as a person, but more as a toy that must be preserved for his amusement which is why he punished the recruit who had harmed me.

My brain kept putting pieces together as I drifted off to sleep.

“Why do you want his approval?” I asked the hooded figure at the top of the stairs.

“I don’t need his approval, I’m going to take him and his business apart.”

“Isn’t that an emotional response? How can you feel anything toward him if you’re a psychopath?” I questioned confused by the terms I’d labeled him with.

“Just because something fits most of the check boxes doesn’t mean there aren’t differences in every case. I’m motivated by seeing your fear but wondering if you can overcome that given the proper motivation. What will it take to break through that tough exterior shell? Do I need to push you more for you to show me what you’re made of?”

“No, but I’m not trying to stay strong to prove anything. I just can’t let you win. The cost will be too high. You must be held accountable for your actions. It doesn’t matter that your father never loved you or that he didn’t even know you existed, what you’ve done is wrong and it has to stop.”

“Don’t talk about my father. He’s the one that should be punished for being a hypocrite. The way he takes one son into his business and leaves another by the wayside isn’t right. I’m the oldest of all his children and I deserved my birthright. I don’t need it. I don’t want it, but he should be proud enough of me to give it to me.”

“So deep down inside you’re just a scared little boy trying to get his father’s attention. While you hurt many other families in the process and create a legacy of horror behind you, all so you can throw it in the face of one man that didn’t want you to begin with. He knew how broken you would be and that’s why he left you to fend for yourself.”

“Legacy? I’ll go down in the history books as one of the greatest masterminds of the century. Others will be trying to recreate my method for years to come. I’ll walk into the sunset and disappear without a trace. That will be your greatest fear in the upcoming years is that I’ll do it again and you won’t be able to stop me then either.”

I placed one foot on the stair and willed myself to move up to the next one.

“I’m going to be the one haunting your dreams.” I threatened. “You’re going to be looking over your shoulder for the rest of your life.”

I woke up with a start as the wheels on the plane touched down.

“Ryan, his mother has to have pictures of him. We can use those to recreate what he looks like now. Maybe she has something with his DNA on it.” I poked his arm in excitement. My subconscious had been working while I was still asleep.

“You might just be onto something. With information like that we’ll have to keep it under the radar and make sure that no one knows what we’re doing.”

“Right, we have to catch this crazy lady first.”

--------

We were driven straight to the crime scene from the airport by other local FBI agents.

Even though Adam had told me to be prepared, the crime scene almost overwhelmed me, but not for the reasons that he’d expressed concern about.

After six months of the Zodiac Master’s recruits and their different ways to commit a murder, this was the first time that I’d wanted to throw up from the sight inside the crime scene tape.

Blood covered the walls and had soaked through the carpets leaving a metallic smell in the air.

I whistled at the scene in front of us, “She was pissed off.”                  

“My brother must have really made her mad.” Adam agreed, “None of the other bodies were left like this but were delivered in a package with very little blood left in the individual pieces.” H held his hand over his nose to help block out the smell.

“She’s made a mistake and those are always costly for the killers like her. We’ll find her, but it won’t be anything left behind in this room.” Ryan turned back toward the fresh air and we both gladly followed his lead.

Out in the afternoon sunshine, the harsh reality of the crime scene faded slightly as we all breathed in the clean air.

“You didn’t pick up anything while you were in there did you?” Adam watched me closely for some sort of reaction to the crime scene.

“No, I told you it’s like my sensors are done. Nothing came through but the normal type of things you’d discover at a crime scene. Not only was Mary Ann mad, but she didn’t care if you found her. Galen is her main target. She may have killed others and enjoyed it, but he is going to be the entire enchilada that will draw her out of the shadows.”

“I don’t want to use my brother as bait unless it’s our last resort. He just came back into my life and I’d like to keep him around if at all possible.”

   “Let’s go see if we can find out what our agents have for us regarding the other packages and if we have a trail on Mary Ann.” Ryan suggested with great patience.

I looked at the house unable to see the dark cloud hovering over it as I followed them back to the van.

-------

“Each police station that has received one of these packages has searched extensively for the place where each incident might have occurred with no trace.” Agent Chip updated us at the hotel.

“You’ve identified the killer as Mary Ann Walsh. We’ve put on ABP out to the entire state and hopefully we’ll get a hit. While you’re able to do a lot identification and tracking in the bigger cities with cameras at traffic signals, we don’t have that luxury here in this large wilderness state. The bigger cities do have some available, but in a town this size, we’re lucky that there was even a hotel for us to stay in tonight.”

Adam was the agent in charge out of the three of us, so he took point asking the questions. “You’ve been sent her id and the vehicle registered in her name is a large gray truck. If she’s using the same vehicle, then we might have a chance to pick her up without a problem. Odd are she has most likely changed the plates.  We should update the apb suggesting that, and along with her description should be the warning that she is very dangerous.”

“Do you think she’s going to strike again in such a small town?” I couldn’t help wondering what her agenda would be if she did that.

“She’s going to have a hard time getting around if she’s still here. Unfortunately, I would suggest we wait until in the morning although that may mean another dead body. Right now, we don’t have a lot to go on and we are hours closer to her location if she shows up again.”

Ryan and I both nodded in agreement.

“We know who, what and how, we’re missing the why and where to this equation.” Agent Chip quipped.

“Ah, a jokester. It makes sense why you’re up here in Wyoming. They had to put you and your humor somewhere they didn’t have to hear it all the time.” I snickered behind my hand.

“I heard that and no they didn’t put me here. I requested it to be closer to my parents who were having some medical issues.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I could feel the heat rush to my face, “I don’t where that came from.”

He waved away my concern. “You’re not the first to make jokes about my humor. I had to find some way to deal with all the jokes about my name, so I took the offensive and made the jokes about my name first.”

“Jokes about your name, no one would ever do that, right?”

“Sure, and kids aren’t evil or mean, right? Hey, are you still Chipping away at that? Or well when the Chips are down make sure you have him by your side.”

I couldn’t help it and burst out laughing.

“Nope, it’s all good. Get it out of your system.”

I was laughing so hard that tears had started streaming down my face.

When I could get my breath, I started to apologize again as everyone else stared.

“Hey, I’ve learned laughter is sometimes the only way to let off stress, but in a healthier way.”

Adam chimed in, “This job is tough enough to see the kinds of things we see on a regular basis and this is a good outlet.”

“If you’re not offended then I’m going to get out of here before something else comes out of my mouth that I have to apologize for. I think seeing that horrible mess today has thrown me off kilter.”

“I completely understand. There’s a good diner just down the street which is the best of our local cuisine.” Chip offered.

“Thank you. We’ll check it out, but make sure to call us if anything comes across the scanners.” Adam ushered us out of the room.

“Leslie, you’re holding it all inside. You have those shields that you’ve put up tightly holding it all inside and while really strong they won’t stand up when something hits that you’re not expecting.”    

 We walked down the street just as the sun started to set.

“Are you worried that I’m cracking up?” I hurried to reassure him, “I started dating again so there’s no worries there. I’m perfectly well adjusted.”

Ryan gave me a look, “Perfectly adjusted people don’t generally start laughing a short while after trying not to puke at a gruesome crime scene.”

“Have you thought about using one of our shrinks to talk some stuff out? They have clearance so you can talk to them about cases or anything you need to work through.” Adam suggested thoughtfully as he held open the door to the restaurant.

“No, I’m good. A shrink just talks you to death and doesn’t really help.” I shrugged off the thought because that would mean I had a problem which required me to fix it.

“Just keep the idea in mind. It’s always there in case you need help or simply want to talk something through with someone that isn’t us.”

“I’ve got Flora for that, but thanks.”

“It might be a good idea for both of us to talk to someone while we’re dealing with this case.” Ryan agreed.

“That’s just another way for the Zodiac Master to know what we’re thinking by spilling our guts to some person we don’t know. Right now, I want to keep things close to the vest, so things aren’t out there in the universe to bite our butts.” I took a booth near the window so we could watch the local town residents in their natural habitat.

“She’s right.” Ryan backed me up, “We’re all on edge and tired. She’ll feel okay in the morning.”

It was curious that Ryan had agreed with me so quickly. It might mean that we actually needed to talk to someone.

     --------

Chapter 10

Mary Ann

I’d seen the FBI arrive because I was next door to my latest victim. When I had finished chopping him up, I realized that I was in serious trouble. My emotions had gotten the best of me and I’d taken it out on a fairly innocent man. Granted, he’d been the first one that I could find with the right birthday in such a small town, but he’d had no idea I was coming for him.

Covered in blood, I’d washed most of it off in the back yard with the hose, but there was nowhere to change that wasn’t going get me caught. I’d heard the story of how the Aries killer had messed up and he’d been taken out personally. The Zodiac Master had warned me that if I didn’t stick to the plan or managed to get caught, I wouldn’t live to tell about it.

Somehow, I really wanted to live long enough to take out the one person who had started me down this journey. I could accept anything that happened if Galen was made to pay for his actions. In fact, I would welcome death if it would help me find some peace, but first I had to stay ahead of the police.

It had been kind of fun to wake up and see the house next door filled with police. I’d been in a fogged state when I’d killed the poor man next door. He had listened to my story about needing to use the phone and let me inside. Big mistake on his part.

I’d rewarded his good deed by taking all of my anger out on him. With that much blood on me the only thing I could do was use the water hose to wash off as much as I could. Some how I’d ended up next door asleep in the neighbor’s house with my truck in their empty garage.

No one had reported an intruder in their home, but it was only a matter of time before some mentioned seeing lights on in a house where no one was supposed to be home.

Darkness would cover my trail out of town, but I was afraid that my time was running out. I needed to find a plan to get Galen back to his home.

Another murder should do the trick and I had one on my list in the next city which was only a few hours away. I’d have to have a better getaway plan because with the FBI this close, they’d be there almost before I finished killing the man.

My truck would get me out of town, but I’d have to find a new ride before completing my next murder. I couldn’t get too far behind because I wasn’t ready to face the consequences yet.

------

Leslie[AM2]

We had barely gotten started on the day when Adam received a call that there was another murder about two hours away from us.

Chip met us outside and we were off again. I didn’t make any jokes about his name, but the temptation was still there. He was a nice guy and we were taking him to some of the worst crime scenes in the world.

The house was pretty non-descript in a middleclass neighborhood. The local police made room for us to go inside probably because they were avoiding being in the house as much as possible.

“I think she’s switched to the axe for keeps now.” Ryan stepped carefully to avoid getting blood on his shoes.

“She’s not mad now, she’s enjoying it.” Adam agreed.

“You Feds know who did this?” One of the crime scene techs asked after overhearing the comments.

“We think we have an id on her, but I’ve never personally met her.”

“Well, that’s a relief. I wouldn’t want this one coming over to visit me because you might find yourself in pieces after she left.” He joked with the other tech.

“I’d say we have to agree with you on that. We want to get her off the street and into jail as soon as possible.” I added.

“Good luck with that. At least she doesn’t have a pistol to shoot you with.”

“No, she just throws axes for a living. Not dangerous at all when faced with serious jail time.” Ryan hid a grin behind the hand holding his nose.

Again the amount of blood and body parts suggested that she hadn’t take the body out of the house.

“Did we find her truck anywhere?” Adam asked of the head officer, “Can I have a list of stolen cars in the last twelve hours and where they were stolen from?”

“There have only been three on this part of town. We checked based on what you’d sent out in your memo.”

“By any chance was her truck sitting nearby?” I had a hunch from my cop instincts.

“I’ll have a patrol drive the area and check for us.”

“Don’t bother, we’ll head over there now.” Adam turned to leave, and I didn’t waste time by staying in the house.

Since he’d told me that my psychic gifts might be a problem, I’d been very careful not to touch even the doorknobs, so I didn’t pick up any unwanted energy traces.

 “I hate that we’re always a day late and a dollar short when it comes to these murders. Why can’t we use all of these talents and skills to prevent murders instead of following the murderer around?” I whined.

“I’m using all of mine. If you know of a better way to catch a killer, then just let me know.” Adam replied testily.

“Sorry. I can’t stop my mouth from speaking these horrible things lately. The words just keep spewing out with no filter.”

Adam grinned, “Maybe you’re picking up the vibes from one of us and it’s coming out of your mouth from our brains.”

“That’s all I need is another crazy thing happening to my brain.”

“Here’s the spot where the truck was reported stolen early this morning.” Chip stopped the vehicle and we all piled out.

It only took all of us looking through the large parking lot to find it.

“I’ve got it.” Ryan waved and yelled at us.

Chip brought the car over to us, “I’ll notify the local pd and have them send out a tech to process it for prints.”

“Don’t we have our own people that do that?”

“It’s a small office up here and it’s easier if we use the local resources and just pay the bill for it.” Chip held up his hands in a what can we do gesture.

“Well, we know it’s her truck and we’ve put out a report that if the truck turns up to approach with caution.”

Adam’s phone rang and we all grew quiet.

“Hey, what’s going on?”

“Don’t do that without back up.”

“Crap!” He hung up the phone quickly checking his text messages.

“Chip put these coordinates in and makes sure that we use all the sirens and lights to get there.” Adam motioned up back into the vehicle.

“Call for back up to meet us there if possible.”

Chip frowned, “I’m the only agent available right now. I’ll let the chief know what’s going on and if he can reroute someone to help us he will.”

“Adam, what’s happening?”

“Galen is going to use his self as bait. He’s trying to call Mary Ann right now to invite her to the cabin. Flora also called him and said not to approach it from the front or she’ll kill him. We have to get there before she harms him.”

“Yes, sir. I’m doing my best.” Chip focused on weaving the vehicle between cars on the highway. “It’s a little bit of a drive though.”

------

FBI –Dallas Office-- Galen

Agent Watson had gotten me a pass that gave me low level access to most of the databases at the FBI. When I’d walked out with Adam, he made it known that he was certain there was a mole in team who needed to be ferreted out.

I figured it would be a good idea to get caught up on what each case had been about. Plus, it would let me poke around on my own without alerting anyone that we were checking up on them.

Agent Scott was supposed to help in whatever way to find all of the stuff that I needed or get it for me. That was a perk of having been a well-loved agent before jumping into retirement.

It took an hour or so to get me connected to the system and tapped into all of the files. Once I could get started, the files were so fascinating. I hadn’t realized how much I missed working with active cases and working up a profile from facts that other agents completely dismissed.

My brain worked in an unusual way when I read documents. It would highlight certain words or phrases pointing out things that made absolutely no sense. Then once I’d put down all the words, I’d study them letting them float in my brain until it de-coded itself.

Aquarius held the beginning pieces and while Noah Preston stood out, he was just a small part of the overall puzzle.

Pisces brought to the front the deep desire to uncover the Urban Energy group.

Aries had been up close and personal for both of them and engaged the Zodiac Master.

Taurus had turned things around and brought out a group killer. Those weren’t the norm and suggested another piece in the puzzle.

Gemini had personally challenged Leslie, but Ryan had been left out of the equation.

My conclusions were that Ryan had more contact with the Zodiac Master than he’d let on and didn’t want to burden his team mates. There’d been mention of a Kevin, but he’d disappeared out of the files after Taurus was over. If I’d had my own office, I’d have put individual words on the wall.

Their Zodiac Master was willing to go against the norms to keep these detectives engaged by any means necessary. His name went in the middle of my page and finally brought me to the current month, Cancer.

Withdrawing myself from the mix was more difficult because I knew the information backward and forward.

Mary Ann passed herself off as a fairly normal person who wanted romance and someone to spend her life with, but once she’d found you, she didn’t want to let you go.

Her clinginess could be contributed to her childhood with abandonment issues or some other trauma that made her want to keep people she loved close. While she had wanted to be entwined in my life, she’d never really opened up to tell me much about her past. In the last weeks as I realized that I’d become the hunted, I’d done a little digging myself to become more acquainted with her.

As a small child, her mother had died in a car accident leaving her to live with her father. He’d brought numerous women into her life trying to replace her mother. Then at about the age of twelve, just when she’d needed her dad the most, he’d left her at her grandparents for the weekend and never come back.

I had tried to track down her father, but he had simply vanished from the earth. I had to wonder if she’d managed to find him when he got older and taken him out. She had mentioned that she had bouts with anger which could lead to throwing things. Thankfully, she had warned me about those, and I’d stayed away when she got upset.

From what I’d gathered, she’d never been in therapy or had counseling which could have made a difference in how her life would have turned out.

Her anger was fueling her movements and I had a good idea where she would go next. Wyoming held a few entanglements, but Washington was where more of the lumber communities gathered to work or engage in fun.

There were three places that she might head to, but Adam was going to see what the local police had before they jumped onto another plane.

It was time to take a walk through the building and see what I could gather from the team and their auras before calling it a day.

------

The next morning I’d barely arrived when one of the receptionists tracked me down. “Agent Dalca there’s a phone call for you.”

“Did they say who it was?” Galen asked.

“A Flora Martin was wanting to speak to either, Detective Boxe or Fox. When I told her they weren’t available, she asked to speak to you.”

“That’s curious,” He frowned, “I’ll take it over here.”

“Yes, sir.” The messenger walked away.

“This is Agent Dalca, how may I help you?”

“Adam, I’ve been told that you’re a member of a special club. I tried to get the information to Leslie and Ryan, but it seems their phones are out of service or they’ve already been compromised.”

“Flora, we haven’t had the pleasure yet, I’m Adam’s brother Galen. They should be safe at the moment because they’re in the driving somewhere in Wyoming to where the killer struck again.”

“I have a special message for them. She’s going to be in an isolated cabin, but if they approach from the front, she’ll hear them and kill her hostage. They need to park further back and walk up from the back of the building. Several of their killers have been unhinged, but this lady is a whole new kind of crazy.”

“Thank you. I’ll make sure they get this as soon as they can.”

“Leslie’s spirit is completely closed off now and I can’t send her this thought. I guess I was starting to rely on her skills and with them out of commission it seems like we’ve gone back to the dark ages.” Flora gave a light laugh that sounded like a ray of sunshine to me.

“Adam said, she had such a promising start. I’m not sure what happened. It’s like she burned out, but her aura doesn’t say that all in fact it’s quite the opposite.”

“Do you think that she’ll be able to use it again?” Flora sounded doubtful.

“With her shields closed it will take some time before she can work on getting them down again. After dealing with her past it was the only way for her brain to deal with the trauma. She used a lot of strength to take down that last killer and it will just take a little time for her to work through it.” I reassured her.

“Yes, she’s the only thing standing in her way. Until she decides its time, those shields will be up and then in an emergency she’s going to drop them suddenly which will cause a major sensory overload.”

“Crap, I was afraid that might happen. Now, that we’re friends it’s harder to see her future. I get visions about this case, but not about her personally right now.”

“Thank you for helping her. I’ll keep an eye on her so maybe it won’t come to that. Adam needs her to on our team. If she can work past the block, then she’ll be a huge asset.”

“My main concern is that she’s safe.”

“I agree completely. She seemed like a very unique individual when I met her as do you. I hope that we can meet in person at some point. Maybe Adam can talk you into working for the FBI’s special division.”  

“Sorry, Agent Dalca, I have other obligations. We’ll meet when the time is right. Just take care of her for me.”

A dial tone signaled the end of the conversation, but I smiled to myself. “One day, we’ll meet, Flora Martin and it should be interesting to see how our connections interact in person.”

-------

After hearing the warning from Flora, I knew the only way we were going to have a chance to catch Mary Ann was if I used myself as bait.

I’d analyzed the data the team had been working on and come to a few conclusions about where they could change perspective to get a little closer to their long-term goal.

The information that Adam had sent out to the main Unusual Crime team was trickling in and so far, the two guys were completely clean. They were still doing checks on a few other things before we marked them off the list.  

  Now, it was time for me to go back to where it had all started and let Mary Ann come to me. I’d let Adam know when I got to the airport because while I really wanted to take her down, I wasn’t actually going to put my life in jeopardy.

Chapter 12

The cabin in the woods that Flora had seen was mine. I arrived from the airport and immediately drove straight there only taking the time to call Adam as I headed up the mountain.

“Flora had a vision. Don’t approach the house from the front because she’ll kill the hostage. What she didn’t know was that I’m the hostage in the cabin. I’m headed there now. I have no idea when Mary Ann will show up, but she will be there. It’s the only way we can catch her.”

“I wondered why I could sense you again. I’ll let them know and don’t take stupid chances.”

“It’s not stupid if it saves lives. We both know that she’s only going to come if I’m physically there. I’m the one she’s after and if it will save more men from her terrible crusade then I’m willing to do it.” I held the phone to my ear as my truck rattled over the dirt roads up to my cabin.

“We’ll be there.” He promised.

“I sent you a text with the coordinates so you can find it.” I hung up and muttered, “I sure hope so.”  

Everything looked just as I left it. Mary Ann had even closed the door and turned off the lights which considering her rage at the next scene was something.

With a sigh, I dialed her number. All of the information on file said this was her current phone number and I could only hope that she answered.

“Hello, Galen. I see you’ve made it back home. Are you ready to stay there and face the music?” She cackled in my ear.

“Not really, but I have to stop the deaths from occurring. I’m willing to take what you’re dishing out with no tricks.” I promised.

“That’s good because I’m right behind you.”

The door opened and the prongs of a taser shot out from her hands.

“Well, that will hold you for a while. I need to get things ready.” She stopped and grabbed my arm dragging me across the floor.

“Wait, I don’t have to hide anymore. Everyone knows it was me, but I’d hate to get blood on this gorgeous floor.” She took a pair of handcuffs out of her back pocket and put them around my hands.

My body was still spasming from the taser, but I didn’t try to resist when they clicked shut.    

“Are these the cuffs I used to use when we dated?”

Ignoring me, she left me laying there on the floor and walked around spreading out a tarp.

“Mary Ann, how on earth did you know I was back before I called you?”

“I put a tracker on your truck. It dawned on me that you must have run to your family for protection and it was the closest airport. Your truck was sitting in the long-term parking. It wasn’t a hard guess.” She rolled my body onto the middle of the tarp.

“Hmmpf, I’m a profiler and I wouldn’t have thought of that.” I tried to get a little more comfortable, but it was hard when I was handcuffed and exhausted. 

“Ha, you never gave me much credit in the brains department, but he did.”

“Who’s he?” I tried to play dumb.

“The Zodiac Master that’s who.” She continued to get things ready.

“He’s using you, you know. It’s all part of his plan to make you do his dirty work and get away with no actual blood on his hands.”

She turned toward me and traced a finger down my cheek. “Oh, you, silly boy. Of course, I know that he’s using me, but if I get to exact my revenge on you then I don’t really care.”

“Okay,” I protested, “I get that you’re mad at me, but why would me leaving make you want to kill me? It wasn’t the best option, but you were starting to stalk me in the not good kind of way.”

“You think this is because you left me?” Her laugher filled the air. “I guess in a way it was about your leaving, but that wasn’t all of it.”

The chainsaw landed with a thud on the floor next to my head.

“I saw the way you were looking at me those last few days and knew that you were going to leave me. When I asked you what was going on, you acted like it was no big deal. There was a reason I went a little crazy on you back then,” She paused taking a deep breath.

“It was the hormones. I was pregnant with your baby. I didn’t know it then, but after you ghosted me, I tried to find you.”

“Pregnant? You weren’t just crazy?” The words were out of my mouth before I could help it. The rule book said not to antagonize your captor and I’d just called her crazy.

“We had a baby together. I guess that some might call me crazy, but wouldn’t you be if your boyfriend knocked you up and then left you to fend for yourself?”

“You know I wouldn’t have left if you’d have told me there was a baby. Besides your behavior was much more than just a few hormones out of whack.”

“I do know that I’ve become crazy over the years as I’ve thought about all that you took from me.”

“Now, you’ve confused me. I took something from you.” I yelled at her, “How on earth is not telling me I had a kid, keeping something from you?”

“You really don’t know, do you?” She stared at me in amazement.

“When you left, I couldn’t deal with things for months. I started drinking and doing drugs which prevented me from working. A kind neighbor found out I was homeless and pregnant, so she invited me to stay with her. The baby arrived, but I honestly don’t remember much of it.”

“They put me in rehab immediately and took the baby because it was in withdrawal from the drugs and alcohol. When I got out, they told me the baby was gone. I’ve blamed you. If you hadn’t left, then I wouldn’t have started drinking and the baby would have lived. You’re the reason my life is all twisted.” She spat at me.

“Now, the only thing I can do is stay alive long enough to kill you. It won’t make up for what you did to us, but it will even things out so neither one of us gets a happy ending.”

“How does killing other men help bring justice to you and the baby? They’re innocent and you’re killing them. Taking them from their families for nothing.”

“It’s not for nothing. The Zodiac Master has a plan and he has to have people to help him. I’ll be rewarded even if it’s in the afterlife. It’s worth it to know that you’re suffering. I can’t draw it out long enough like you did for those years, but I can have a little fun beforehand.” She looked at her watch, “We’ve got about twelve hours before I have to make sure your dead. I’ll make sure you don’t bleed out until it’s time.”

“That’s a comfort.”

What I didn’t say out loud was that I’d told Adam how to get into the house from the back. I could only hope that they’d arrive before Mary Ann could carve me up.

-----

I wasn’t sure where she got the syringe from, but as she approached, I could hear her muttering.

“He needs to hold still until I get started or he’s going to bleed out too quickly. I still need him awake to know what’s happening to him.”

As the effects of whatever was injected took hold of me, I couldn’t even move anymore, and it wasn’t for lack of trying.

“I have to show him I messed up and that I can get back on track. He’ll be proud of me this time.”

Laying there on the ground unable to move made each of the minutes seem to stretch into infinity. The clock on the wall showed it was only about thirty minutes had actually passed since I’d walked through the door of my cabin.

Without a way to know how far away the FBI was, I had no idea if they were going to make it in time to save us.

A sound from outside sent Mary Ann scurrying to the window.

“Did you call someone?” She screeched.

“When did I have time to call someone? You’ve been right here with me the entire time. How would that be possible?”

“Where’s your phone?” She demanded as she walked over kicking me in the side with her foot.

“It’s in my back pocket and the signal doesn’t work very well up here.”

“We’ll see about that,” she huffed shoving me onto my stomach and taking the phone out my pocket. “You made a call to your brother. What did you tell him?”

“Um, hard to breathe.”

“Ooh, right.” She rolled me back onto my back and I took a deep breath.

“What did you tell him?”

“That I’d flown back and was running up to my cabin before I went to me them.”

“Great, now you’ll have to die sooner because they’ll be here.”

“My brother didn’t have a clue where my cabin’s located. He’s never been here and I’m supposed to meet him not the other way around.”

“They’re still trying to figure out where you’re going to strike next after leaving them that bloody scene again this morning.”

“Ah, yes. That was fun. After the other one, I decided that using my axe was more fun and personal. There were too many neighbors this time and they would have wondered about a chainsaw going off in someone’s house.”

“That would be a problem, but I think they’re tied up working the mess you left this morning.”

“Good, then I’ll get to enjoy more time with you.”

She walked around checking all of the windows to make sure I was telling the truth.

“I don’t see anyone lurking, but the sooner I get started the better.”

I had to find a way to delay her from chopping me into little parts.

“Aren’t you going to miss me once you do this? I’ve been you’re driving focus for so long that you won’t have a reason for being anymore.”

“Won’t need one because I’ll be dead once this mission is over. I took this gig as a way out. He promised to end it for me if that’s what I wanted. I’ll either be completely free and able to get back to living or he’s offered a way to end it all with the happy knowledge that I’ve righted a wrong.”

I could hear the doors slide in my back entrance and I needed to distract Mary Ann until they got inside.

“Did you ever really love me or was it all lust?”

“Love? I’ve never know what love is. I thought I was in love with you, but when you left I realized that it wasn’t the real thing. If you had loved me then you wouldn’t have left me alone and pregnant.”

“You didn’t tell me you were pregnant.” I yelled at her as Adam walked in behind her with Ryan and Leslie.

She was facing away from them, but must have sensed something because she turned with the axe held tightly in her hands.

“Put the axe down.” Adam warned, “I don’t want to shoot you.”

“Well, that’s my only alternative now. He won’t let me live and if I’m going to die then it doesn’t matter anymore.” She took the axe and aimed for my heart as bullets roared from three different guns.

The axe hit the floor inches from my head as her body toppled over mine.

She was gasping as she turned to me, “I named the baby, Lex. I hope you’re happy because I’ll be out of your life forever.”

Her eyes stared at me and I had never wished to be able to move my body.

“Hey, guys. Little help here, paralyzed and can’t move.”

“I’ll bet you say that to all the girls when they’re on top.” Ryan joked now that the threat had been neutralized.

“Sure. I love to let the dead sleep on top of me.”

They went to move her over, but the second Leslie touched Mary Ann’s body a tremor ran through her.

She sank to the floor next to me as her eyes rolled into the back of her head.

“Oh, that isn’t good. Is she okay?” I moaned as they picked me up to helped to carry me to the couch propped against the cushions.

“I think she got a psychic shock.” Adam was kneeling next to Leslie, but I couldn’t see what he was doing.

“Don’t touch her,” I yelled as a precaution.

“Ryan, I can’t touch her. Whatever connection she has with Mary Ann’s spirt can still jump to me.” He motioned to Leslie lying next to the body.

“Leslie, can you hear me?” Ryan scooped her up and put her in the recliner. “What do we do now?”      

“You’re going to need to call the team up here and I’m going to need an ambulance. This could last a few hours or longer and they need to check me out to make sure that Mary Ann didn’t put anything else into that syringe.”

“I get that, but what do we do with Leslie?” Ryan pointed to her prone body.

“She’s still breathing. We’ll need to watch her until she wakes up. There’s no way to know how much damage she took before then.”

“You can’t just wake her up?” Ryan gestured frustrated.

“No, that would do more harm than good. Her body got overpowered and to wake her up before she’s recovered might make it where she can come back.” I said weakly as the effects of trying to keep talking wore me down.

I passed out missing all of the excitement.

------

Leslie

When Galen had called to tell us that he was in Wyoming and headed to his cabin, I knew that we didn’t have much time.

Adam passed along his message or rather Flora’s that we needed to go in from the back of the cabin to save him.

I’d been on stakeout and chased lots of bad guys, but the Zodiac Master was bringing out the cream of the evil crop.

As we walked in Galen distracted her, but she turned at the last minute raising her axe to finish killing her target.

Without a thought, I squeezed the trigger and her body jerked with the impact of the bullets from our guns. Racing to her side, I went to move her off of Galen and the amount of energy that moved up and down my body.

I slid to the floor, unable to move as all the emotions and anger from Mary Ann flowed out of her body and into mine.

It was too much and I blacked out.

When I came to I was looking at another ceiling in a hotel room.

Ryan and Adam were both sitting my bed waiting for something to happen.

“Can you to stop trying to make this scene happen again and again? I don’t want to be horrible, but why am I lying in a bed again?”

Thankfully, they exchanged a smile instead of looking worried.

“If you’d quit touching spirits then passing out, we could make progress on finding this Zodiac Master.” Ryan accused playfully.

 “Did I absorb her spirit as she died?” I sat up gently not sure how I was going to feel.

“Mostly a lingering spirit which should dissipate with time. What are you feeling?” Adam leaned forward with curiosity.

“She was angry, but at the end I think she was resigned that Galen would suffer knowing he’d had a child and now he doesn’t.”

“Galen has a child?” Adam looked shocked.

“He did. It died which is part of the reason that she hated him so much. Once he left her, she thought she couldn’t live without him and went down a dark road. Rehab helped until, she found out her baby was dead. She blamed him and when the Zodiac Master gave her a chance to gain her revenge, she took it.” I shrugged.

I looked around, “Where is he? She didn’t kill him did she?”

“No, but he did need some medical attention and an overnight stay at the hospital.” Adam grimaced, “I’m going to have to tell him about this.”

“He already knows. She told him before we got there.” I didn’t like this feeling of having another person’s thoughts in my body.

“Adam didn’t want you in a hospital because it can mess with your other senses.”

“Yeah, I agree. I feel fine. So, did we get another killer before the month was over again?”

“She’s gone and we saved a lot of lives.”

“Why does it feel like there’s still another problem that we’re missing? It seems like it was too easy. We didn’t even chase her that long.”

“It does feel like we’re outsmarting him, but at the same time I’m feeling let down from it being over.” Ryan sympathized.

“The local pd has cleaned everything up and I’ll have to do the reports, but we can head back to Dallas when Galen is ready.”

“Is he coming back with us? Wouldn’t he want to stay here?”

“I don’t know what his plans are, but he promised to visit our mom and I’m holding him to it. Thankfully there isn’t much clean up to be done in his cabin because Mary Ann had put that tarp out.” Adam answered thoughtfully.

“The memories will be difficult to get over, but if he can make it past that I think he’ll be able to come back.”

“Only time will tell.” Adam agreed.

-------

Back in Dallas, I felt like I had a luxurious amount of time before we were on the clock again.

I called Chris when we landed to see if he wanted to get together.

“Hey, I’m back.”

“That was a much quicker trip then I thought you were going to be on, I’m still covered up until this weekend though.” Chris’s voice held regret.

“The weekend will give me time to do laundry and catch up on some lose ends. Friday night too soon?”

“What would you say to going on a small trip with me to San Antonio for the weekend?”

“Perfect. I haven’t ever been, and I would love to explore more in my home state.”

“Lovely, I’ll book us rooms and get back with you on the final details Thursday night.” 

I hung up feeling excitement for the first time in quite a while.

“You know that this could be just his way of taking you out to kill you where no knows to look for you?” Mary Ann’s voice echoed in my head.

“When are you going to move on and go bug someone else?” I spoke out loud startled at the sound of my voice in the empty house.

“I’ll be around until I feel it’s safe to move on to the afterlife.”

“Are you telling me that you have unfinished business here on earth or that you’re just scared to move on because you killed so many innocent people?” I questioned.

“Both. Galen has a few things to take care of and it didn’t seem so bad until I was dead as well.”

“Um, well can you at least be quiet unless I need you?”

“That depends on if I think you’re making a wrong move.” She sighed.

“Give it a try for my sanity’s sake please.”

I was going to have to check with Adam to see what he suggested for the removal of a wandering spirit. First though we were going to pay another visit to Belle Stevens and see if she had some pictures for us to use.

Ryan had promised to pick me up and he was right on time.

“Are you ready for this?”

“I am. I just hope she’s still willing to help us.”

He glanced at me, “Any side effects from your little incident?”

It was so cute that he was being cautious of my feelings. “I can hear her, but after she gets few things sorted out, I believe that she’ll move on eventually.”

“Is she listening to everything? A sentient spirit?”

“Yes, but we’re coming to a workable solution.”

Ryan’s jaw dropped, “Hearing voices isn’t good, Leslie.”

“Neither was hearing ghosts, but you accepted that.”

“True. Doesn’t mean I like it.”

“Hold on,” He frowned as we got closer to the turn off, “See that smoke, there’s a fire nearby.”

The further up the road we went the more my stomach sank as I realized that we weren’t going to find what we needed.

Ryan pulled into the yard by the firetrucks.

One of the firefighters walked over to meet us.

“Um, this is an active crime scene. You’ll have to go back out to the main road.”

Ryan flashed his badge, “Was Ms. Stevens okay?”

“No, we went in to get her out and found her already dead in her bed. She must have passed in her sleep last night and then the storm must have started the fire. We’re just keeping it from spreading to the trees at this point. There’s nothing left inside.”

I could see why he’d say that because the entire interior of the house had collapsed with the standing walls the only indication of where the house had once been.

He rolled up the window with a dejected sigh. “We should have asked her before we left.”

“I think we were too surprised with the information we’d received.”

“He outsmarted us again. Choosing just what he wants us to know and then cleaning house before we can dig too deep.”

“It’s time to take a break and come back next week.”

Ryan had driven out to the freeway again but stopped before getting onto the highway at a gas station.

“We need to consider going to see a counselor.”

“Why on earth would you suggest that?” I protested. “We’re doing okay.”

“Come on Leslie. We’re barely coping with all of these different things that keep coming up. You’re hearing voices. I know there are reasons but let’s be real what we do isn’t normal. We need someone to walk us through the pitfalls.”

I shook my head in disagreement, “I don’t know Ryan, what if that’s just another way for the Zodiac Master to spy on us.”

“Leslie, we can’t put our lives on hold or see shadows behind every tree. That’s what he wants us to do. We have to make sure that we come out of this as whole as we possibly can.”

“When I get back on Monday, I’ll see how Adam recommends because if this lady in my head doesn’t shut up I’m going to jump off a cliff to make her be quiet.”

“She’s been talking this entire drive?”

“Yep and I’ve been ignoring her. She’s giving me a head ache.”

“Hey, where are you going this weekend?”

A smile lit my face, “I’m going on a date for the weekend.”

“Isn’t that a little fast?” Ryan started back toward Dallas.

“We’ll have separate rooms that way there’s no pressure unless we want there to be.”

“I got ya.”

Epilogue

Later that week in Wyoming,

Galen

I knew when Mary Ann first mentioned it that I would be finding out more about my child that had been born. To gain closure, I needed to have a grave or some sort of confirmation about what had happened.

The town hospital held records of births and I’d been able to track down some information, but I needed to be there in person to get copies of all the certificates.

“May I help you?” The nice lady behind the glass of the records department asked.

“I need to get the birth certificate and death certificate for Mary Ann Walsh’s baby. I’m not sure if there was a name or even if it was a boy or girl.”

“We can check by the mother’s name or the father’s if it’s listed.”

“Great, thanks.” I stood there hoping that she could find something for me to go on.

“I’ve made you a copy of the birth certificate that we issue from the hospital. It’s not an official record. You’ll have to go to the courthouse for one of those, but they’ll be able to find what you need with this.”

I glanced at it. Baby Boy Walsh born to Mary Ann Walsh and Gale Dalca.

“Did you find the death certificate?”

“I’m sorry honey. We don’t have a record of that. You might check at the courthouse, but if he passed away it wasn’t here at this hospital.”

My brow furrowed as a thought hit me, “Was there a case worker assigned to that file?”

“Let me look.” She hit the keyboard with a few strokes of her fingers, “Yes, it was a Molly Brown. She still works over at the CPS office. We don’t have any thing else listed here.”

“You’ve been very helpful.” I turned away stunned at what I was thinking.

A quick search led me to the office of Molly Brown, but it wasn’t as easy to get answers at the CPS office as it had been at the hospital.

“I’m looking for Molly Brown in regards to a case from about ten years ago.” I held out the badge Agent Watson had gotten for me.

“She’s not here right now, but I can leave her a message.” The harried looking receptionist barely glanced at my badge before answering.

“When do you expect her back?”

“She’s out in the field right now and we have no way of knowing where she’s going to be even if we could give out that information.”

“This is a time sensitive case. Call her now please.”

“Uh, we don’t do well with threats or demands.” The receptionist warned.

“I’m not threatening you. I need you to call her and find out when I will be able to meet her in person. This is something that can’t wait.”

 “I’ll check with my supervisor and see what I can do.” She gave me a dirty look before disappearing into the back.

She returned with another woman and the security guard.

“Hi, may I help you?”

“Yes, I need to speak with Molly Brown on an urgent FBI case about a missing child.” I held out my badge again with a glance at the security guard.

“I’m not trying to cause trouble. I don’t have time to wait for an appointment. I need her to call me back today in regards to an old case. One of the parents she worked with just went on a murder spree and has been killing people.”

I’d finally gotten her interest, “Why don’t you come back to my office and I’ll see if I can locate her for you?”

“Thank you.” I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out at the receptionist, but it was difficult.

A few minutes later, she joined me in the small room. “I was able to get a hold of her and she is on her way back to the office now. I’m sorry for all of the confusion. Many parents try to impersonate law enforcement officials and we don’t generally listen to them.”

“No, worries. I just knew that I needed to speak with her, but I wasn’t trying to cause trouble.”

“When she gets here, I’ll send her in.” The head lady left me in the small room which I was certain was a parental visitation room.

It was so sad that children had to visit with their parents in small cramped rooms after being taken away from them. Not that most of these parents weren’t pieces of crap, but it still wasn’t fair to the kids who didn’t know what was going on most of the time.

The door opened and an older lady on the verge of retirement walked in. If I’d have been a parent on the receiving end of a look from her, I would have been quaking in my boots.

“I’ve heard that you’ve been causing a ruckus up here. What is so urgent that you needed to see me right now?”

“Do you remember a Mary Ann Walsh from about ten years ago who had a baby? She was a drug addict and alcoholic, who went into mandatory rehab. When she came out they told her the baby died.”

“Sir, you have to know that tens years means I’ve dealt with over 2000 cases some with more than one child in each case.”

“Right.” I could understand that so I pulled out my phone and brought up the picture we had of Mary Ann from the case files.

“Oh, her. Yes, she was memorable.” She pulled out a laptop and turned it on to pull up the case with her notes.

“Mary Ann Walsh. Father absent at birth. There were no other relatives and when the child recovered from the withdrawal symptoms, he was placed with a family here in Wyoming.”

“He’s alive. She was certain that the child had died. She came back after rehab and that is what sent her down this destructive path. I was curious when I went to pull the birth and death certificates to put them in the case files that the hospital didn’t have a death certificate.”

“Your son is alive.” Molly affirmed, “But when she went into rehab the courts terminated her rights due to the fact that had been completely high when she gave birth.”

“Why would you assume he was my son?”

“Mr. Dalca, I’ve never had an FBI agent determined to find a child from a ten year old case that was considered urgent unless the parent was trying to find the child.”

I gave her a wry smile.

“I’m not going to explain everything to my boss because I’ve been here years before she was even born.” She sighed, “What’s the point of protesting that I didn’t say anything to Mary Ann when I did? I retire at the end of the month so there’s not really anything they can do to me and I have a feeling that you don’t really care that I stretched the line to keep her away from that poor child.”

“No, ma’am.” I grinned, “I really don’t care about any of that. Mary Ann would have ruined that child’s life. She did put me on the birth certificate. Is there any way that I can try to meet him and if he wants to at a later date become his official guardian?”

“Normally in cases like this where the mother’s rights are terminated and the father isn’t in the picture, we try to get the child placed in a permanent home.”

“Your child had a few problems. He was small because of the mother’s drug issues and we put him in a foster home that caters to babies with fetal alcohol issues. When he aged out at about two years, he was sent to a prospective adoptive family for a few years until there were some unusual incidents.” She frowned.

“These weren’t behavior incidents, but the child claimed he knew what was going to happen before it did. The parents were freaked out and he’s bounced around from home to home for the past three or four years.” 

“Does he have a name?” I knew what had happened and I couldn’t imagine not having my mother to guide me when I’d discovered that I could see and do unusual things.

“Lex Walsh. If you’ll give me a copy of your id and someone to verify the information about his mother’s death, I’ll see if I can get this fast tracked through the courts. He’s been a problem child and I honestly didn’t want to send him to the group home, but it’s the only place that will take him still.”

“Oh, my. I never dreamed when she told me with her dying breath that my child would still be alive and I could meet him. I can stay for a few days. If something comes up due to finishing the last of this case, I can come back quickly.” I handed her all of my information and the numbers to contact Agent Watson at the FBI to verify my story.

“Let me make copies of this and then if you can meet with me at about ten am, I’ll see what the judge thinks and if we can schedule a hearing at that point.”

“Wow! I’m amazed. Thank you.”

“Most people think CPS workers are mean people who don’t care about the families involved when in fact the opposite is true.”

“Words can’t express what I’m feeling right now.”

She frowned, “Then don’t.” She left the door open this time and I couldn’t help wondering what part of the universe was being nice to me.

The receptionist came in to give me back my stuff. “She’ll meet you in the morning.”

“Thank you.”

-------

I barely had time to wrap my head around the fact that the court was giving me my son before he walked into the courtroom.

His little face was freckled over ivory skin and his hair matched mine. He had his mother’s hazel eyes and a sadness that I’d never seen on a child’s features before.

“Hey, they said I’m your kid. Where are you taking me?” He asked warily.

“With the permission of the judge, we’re booked on a flight to Texas to meet your grandmother and uncle Adam. Then when things get settled down, we’re going to come back and live in my cabin up in the woods around Cheyenne. Would you like that?”

He hid his excitement well, but I could hear an echo of his thoughts.

“I guess. I wasn’t doing anything else this week.” He shrugged nonchalantly. 

“Your grandmother is so excited to meet you. You’re her first grandchild.”

He followed me out holding a black trash bag over his shoulder, “How come you never tried to get me before?”

“I didn’t know you existed. It’s a long story, but unless you don’t want to be my kid after trying it out, we’ll have plenty of time to discuss it.”

“It’s better than the state home. Guess, I can give it a try.”

“Great. Then let’s get you a bag for all of your stuff that easier to work with and head out.”

I turned back to Molly Brown, “I can’t thank you enough.”

“Just remember to check in when you get back and let your case worker know that your home.”

  “Will do.”

------

The Zodiac Master

I’d heard about Mary Ann’s child, but just like Agent Dalca I hadn’t even thought of the possibility that the child would be alive. This was an interesting turn of events. I wasn’t sure how I was going to make use of this, but there were a lot of probabilities available.

This month’s killer, Leo had already been chosen, but I was going to have to give him a few extra things to bring to crime scenes to throw our detectives off the track. They were solving these murders way too early and I was starting to lose interest in the game. They needed to have something more personal than just a note to bring them back in the game.

Maybe I’d take the gloves off and allow personal attacks if they didn’t actually harm their bodies.

Back to Texas and my home because even a psychopathic killer enjoyed sleeping in his own bed from time to time.

Make sure to check out the next exciting installment of the Leo: Murders of the Zodiac

[AM1]Is Shea in real estate or a lawyer?

[AM2]I’m going to put this scene after the convo with Galen, but can’t until I get home to my computer. FYI