by Vr McCoy
“Let's get some sleep, people, and be back here at 1100,” Steve stated and adjourned the meeting. I remained behind with Steve and examined the board further.
“Did you get much to go on?” he inquired.
“Yeah, let's be honest here. If she's still alive, it's been a long time,” I replied. “I wouldn't look for a happy ending.”
“You know we don't think in the negative. I need you, even more than the other team members, to go home and get some sleep,” he stated.
I dipped my chin in acknowledgment and turned to leave just as Dianna walked towards the conference room entrance.
“Need a ride?” she inquired.
“Yes, thank you,” I replied.
“What about you, Steve? You riding with us?” she asked.
“No, I'm fine. I'm using one of their vehicles. See you at 1100.”
We departed, leaving Steven in the conference gathering his sport coat and briefcase.
“You know he knows,” I stated to Dianna, playing with her as we departed down the hallway. In return she bumped me with her hip and smiled.
We drove back to the Hilton Gardens Inn, kissed each other goodnight and retired to our separate suites. There was no time for romance. It was strictly business while in the field. Besides, while Dianna and the others slept, I'll be traveling in the dream realm. I did my usual routine. I took a sleeping pill to assist me in dozing off and staying there. Then I put on my earphones. I was listening to the sound of the ocean waves. I couldn't listen to music because I always found myself counting along with the beat or playing the chords. It was one of the habits of being a musician.
I hadn't experience anything last night. While I received enough external stimuli from Melissa, but I couldn't make a connection. Usually when I couldn't make a connection, 99 percent of the victims are discovered dead. I always woke up depressed after such nights. The sleeping pills exacerbated this condition. They always left me down, even if I didn't have any dream activity. Although we knew the outcome, we still had to catch the killer. I always wondered if I was too late receiving the stimuli.
Dianna was the first to knock on my door in the morning.
“Good morning, Chris. How are you?” She could already tell by my demeanor that I wasn't in the best of moods. “Bad news?” she further inquired.
“I couldn't make a connection with her,” I simply stated without going any further.
I used to attempt to make up excuses for why I couldn't make a connection, but it was no use at this point. The team already knew what that meant. My track record was flawless.
Dianna attempted to deflect my mind from thinking about Melissa and being depressed. “Did you eat breakfast yet,” she asked?
“No.”
“Then let's grab some here at the hotel before we leave. I'm famished,” she stated, then kissed me on the cheek and said, “We'll catch him and find her.”
She didn't mean find her alive. We were tasked with catching the perps (perpetrators) and finding the victims, dead or alive. It made me think of the days of the Old West when the Sheriffs were ordered to bring in the suspect dead or alive.
Dianna always knew the right things to say and do when it came to cheering me up. Her empathy also made her an expert at getting inside someone's head. She was our lead interrogator. She just had a knack for it. I still wasn't sure if she was assigned to be my handler or my partner. It was clear we had crossed the lines when it came to partnership. We were more than just professional partners, but was that also her assignment? I was paranoid when it came to the government and law enforcement, even though I worked for them.
I quickly dismissed this conspiracy notion as a side effect of the sleeping pills. I was depressed and feeling sorry for myself. By the time we completed breakfast, Dianna had lifted my spirits with discussions about us and our Christmas evening spent together. We also discussed future plans outside of work.
Agent Gracie Mullins was the first to meet us at the door of the FBI Office. She was dressed in a blue pantsuit, white blouse and blue high heels. She had dressed up more than at our previous meeting when she had on dark blue BDU's and boots. The dress code was casual at most of the satellite offices. She had dressed up because she saw us with suits on yesterday, but today we wore casual clothes. We always wore suits while traveling, but on the ground we preferred comfort to formality
Gracie was young, ambitious and attractive. She didn't seem to be thrown by our attire, but it was obvious that she was attempting to impress us. Steven invited her and Agent Trace Burkhart to join us for the briefings, since they would be working with us. Steven had dressed down as well. We didn't have to be advised on what to wear. We just adapted to the environment we were currently investigating.
The team was assembled in the conference room area. The rest of the ViCAP team was anxious to see me and get an update on the missing person. As I entered the room, they could see it on my face. They knew me well and were some of the best profilers in the FBI. I didn't have to say it, but I expressed to everyone my unfortunate news on Melissa Sykes. It was like delivering a death sentence. The team took it in stride and moved on, but I still felt upset that I couldn't give them something more to go on. Steve immediately went to the front of the room and began his brief, without another word spoken on the subject of my dreams.
“OK, people, here's what we have thus far. We have four females, all in their twenties. They are of different races and different backgrounds. We don't have any bodies or traces of them. There was no evidence of a struggle. They were allegedly abducted a night. So tell me, what's the signature?” Steven inquired.
Then the rest of the team joined in, adding to the profile.
“The subject is a visionary male, a predator who abducts at night; pretty young females in their twenties. He knows the area very well, therefore he has lived in this area for an extended period of time. He knows how to avoid cameras and densely populated areas. He has to store the victims, so he's a loner who lives in a secluded place with room to house the women, or he has an unknown disposal site. If he is a collector, then he has abandonment issues or issues with being alone,” the team called out in sequence.
“So let's enlarge our parameters today to include the rest of the women, and attempt to discover some sort of link between them. Max and I will continue with victimology. Paul and Amber will look into the local criminals that may fit the profile, and Dianna and Chris will work on the current abductee in line. The clock is ticking, folks,” Steve stated as we paired off again.
Gracie Mullins bounced our way, eager to get started. “Here are the magazines and correspondence from Melissa Sykes' apartment, Christian. Do you still need them?” she inquired.
“Sure, I'll look over them later. Let's head to Felicia Holmes' residence and then to her place of work, but first stop off at the diner where Melissa worked, so I can get a cup of coffee,” I instructed Gracie.
“It's in the opposite direction and there are better places to get coffee,” she replied.
“I know, but I like theirs,” I responded. Now she understood that I wasn't going for the coffee. Dianna had known immediately, and didn't question it. She knew I was trying to avoid the inevitable, the realization that Melissa was dead.
I sat in the diner and drank my cup of coffee while opening Melissa's People Magazine. Gracie and Dianna joined me in a cup of java this morning. Afterwards we went to Ms. Holmes' residence. She lived with her boyfriend, who was currently at work, but the landlord allowed us access to the residence while he was away.
They lived on the second floor of a three story apartment building. They didn't have any pets. The place appeared to be unkempt. He was probably still emotionally drained and disorganized due to Felicia's disappearance. Dianna left her card near the door to inform him that we had been there, and we allowed the landlord to remain as well. I did my usual of touching everything in the place as I made my rounds. The landlord watched me but seemed unsurprised by my unusual actions. Cle
arly he was not an overly curious man.
We visited the outpatient clinic, where Felicia worked as a LVN. It was a small clinic and all the staff were very close. They were very upset and emotional about her disappearance. Some of the women even cried as they were questioned. Felicia had been missing since November 3, which was 53 days ago. I didn't spend a lot of time at the clinic, because we needed to visit the other missing women's residences and places of employment.
We were finished around 1900 hours and rendezvoused with the other team members at 1935. There were several suspects in the area who had come close to matching the profile. We continued our profiling a composite of the subject until 0100 hours the next morning, and called it quits for the day. We retired earlier than yesterday, and everyone felt good about the progress we were making. I also had a big night in front of me, as I had several women to reach out and attempt to make a connection with.
Another night had passed and I hadn't received anything on my radar. I felt like I was letting the team down. I was usually the main contributor on these killer hunts, but now I wasn't registering anything. Once again, Dianna knocked at my door, expecting something. I opened for her, with only my lounge pants on.
“Another rough night, huh?” she inquired.
“I didn't get anything Di,” I replied, and in my frustration, just blurted out, “These women are dead!”
She remained silent, pausing for about a minute, and then retorted, “We still have a killer to catch out there, remember?”
“Yeah, let me shower real quick and I'll be right with you.”
While I was in the shower, she took off her clothes and joined me. I was frustrated, but always in the mood for her. The warmth of her naked body pressed intimately to mine chased some of the icy grief from my heart.
Several days went by and we still weren't any closer to finding the assailant. We had questioned numerous felons who fit the profile, but with no results. We even questioned citizens with no priors, but to no avail. The entire Albuquerque office was on board now, assisting in the investigation with us. Catching this subject was the number one priority of the Residence Office. Our teams remained the same size, but we covered a lot more ground with the others on board.
At midnight on New Year's Eve there had been no breaks in the case. Dianna and I snuck away for a midnight countdown and a kiss. There was no champagne or celebrating around here. We were on the bubble and the time was counting down until another young woman would be abducted. There were lives we had been in situations like this before, and were tasked to come in when others failed. We solved the unsolvable, or at least we did up to this point.
Around 0200 in the morning, Steve released the team and told everyone to take a break and come back later in the morning. He would be staying of course, but he was looking after his team. Amber and Paul had families to wish a Happy New Year to. Max had his family down in New Orleans, and I'm sure Dianna wanted to wish her relatives the same. I had already wished my mother a Happy New Year's in advance, and just wanted to get some rest and good news for a change.
Steve stated that he would call us if there was anything new in the case. He was somewhat like me; not a part of a large family and didn't speak much on the subject. In fact, I had never even heard him speak of a lady friend in his life. Steven was married to the job, and it didn't help that he was a young genius and way ahead of his own age counterparts. If it wasn't for Dianna, I would've been alone for Christmas and New Year's as well.
Dianna and I ordered a bottle of champagne from the hotel. They were running a special for the night for couples renting rooms for New Year's Eve. We had already been there for over a week, so we got an even better discount than the regular customers. It was also one of the perks of being with law enforcement. We couldn't have slept even if we tried, so we stayed up and enjoyed the rest of the morning with each other. We hoped that all the provisions that were in place would prevent another young woman from getting abducted.
“So, Mr. Sands; I don't have the bow that I promised for our return performance, but I do have handcuffs,” Dianna stated while giving me a very naughty look and laughing.
“I don't mind, just as long as I get to do the handcuffing, but I have a better game,” I replied.
“And what would that entail?” she inquired, her pretty face a study in curiosity
“Do you trust me,” I asked?
“You know I do,” she replied.
“OK, let's drink a couple of shots of tequila first, and then I'll show you.”
We drank several shots of tequila, then I blind folded her and began taking off her clothes. I fed her different fruits and champagne. I fed her from my mouth to hers. Then I used some honey that I had appropriated earlier and poured it over sensitive spots on her body, licking it off. Then I poured honey over parts of my body and had her lick it off. Then we made passionate love, kissing and caressing each other's body.
After making love for most of the morning, we napped until just before the sunrise. I shared dreamscape with her after she went to sleep, planting sexy scenarios in her subconscious mind and loving her receptiveness to it. This wasn't cheating, since she knew I could do it. It was a sharing of my abilities with someone who didn't fear them. The trust between us made my feelings for her intensify exponentially. As I made love to her mind, she panted and sighed, her body growing wetter while she slept, dreaming about the thoughts I placed in her subconscious. She woke up three hours later, still hot and wet, and jumped on top of me. We continued physically from where we left off mentally in our dreams.
Once her breathing had slowed to normal and my heart stopped pounding, she rested her cheek on my shoulder and said, “Now I see what you mean about the dreams being active. I've never experienced anything like that. It was so real; every bit of it. So you had the same dream as I did?” she inquired.
“Yes, I did. Would you like to compare notes?” Then I started describing the dream to her.
“Wow, that's amazing! You can do that to me every night, if you please,” she said with a sigh exhaling, as if she'd just discovered her G spot.
“It would be my pleasure.” I replied, and began kissing her again. We settled back to sleep in the morning and decided to stay there until Steve called us. We were hoping that he wouldn't.
Out with the Old and In with the New
We hadn't gotten much sleep over the last few days leading to the New Year, so Steve didn't call us in until 1100 hours. We had practically lived at the Residence Office for three days straight, while attempting to cross reference our ViCAP databases with NCIC and other databases. We were looking for any type lead to the serial killer, but to no avail. The little reprieve he granted us was much needed, because the team was running on fumes and needed a break.
All of us including all the agents from the Albuquerque Field Office assembled in the Conference Room at the Residence Office on New Year's Day at 1200 hours, , for an all hands on deck meeting. Steven was acting as the SAC of the Residence Office until the subject was captured. Ortega wasn't too pleased about it, but he dealt with it.
“OK people, here's what we have in place for tonight. There is a local curfew for the city beginning at 2000 hours. Agent Ortega and I have coordinated with all local law enforcement to assist,” Steven stated. Steven included Agent Ortega in all of his command discussions. He didn't want to take away from his authority. Ortega's reputation was kept intact, so when we finally departed he could continue as the lead without his authority being questioned by subordinates.
“There will be checkpoints throughout the city, especially routes entering and exiting. There will be an all hands on deck for all law enforcement; the local police department, Sheriff's Department, State Police Department and the National Parks Service law enforcement department for Albuquerque. This will all begin at 2000 hours today until 0700 hours on January 2. Hopefully, by then, we will have the subject apprehended.”
We continued brainstorming and questioning subjects for m
ost of the day. We knew if there was going to be an abduction, we wouldn't be informed of it until the morning after or a few days later. Most of us remained at the RO (Residence Office) that night, without sleep. We wanted to be there if there was an incident one way or the other, but we were hoping for a capture. I was pessimistic about this outcome. He was very intelligent, and had eluded us completely up to this point.
Instead of waiting at the office for something to happen, most of the teams went on patrol, assisting the locals. Dianna and I drove around with Gracie, as usual. It was better to be active. Gracie was comfortable being around us now, and returned to wearing her BDU's. We decided to stop at the mall to eat and look around. You never knew what you might find at the mall.
We'd caught so many predators at the mall, it was ridiculous. It was the one place where people generally let their guard down. There were so many people present we tended to shun the possibility of something going wrong, but this presented opportunity for predators, who used malls for entertainment, dining and business purposes.
We sat down for a quick meal at Friday's. I hadn't sat down and actually eaten a real hot plate of food since Christmas Eve at Dianna's. We discussed the case while dining. When Gracie went to the restroom, the subject changed.
“Gracie and Steve were together on New Year's Eve, you know,” Dianna informed me.
I felt good hearing the news that he wasn't alone, but I wondered why she was telling me. What really surprised me was that I didn't notice it the way Dianna had. I guess my mind was just preoccupied. I did recall her mentioning him as being the brain. Apparently, she likes the brainy type.
“She also inquired about you and wanted to know if you were single or not. I informed her that you were currently seeing someone. I hope I didn't overstep my boundaries,” Dianna inquired. Now I understood why she was confessing this to me.
