S6: Chapter 01: Message in a Bottle

“Glad you could make it,” Lieutenant Campbell glowered and moved through the yellow tape escorting the team behind him. “A jogger found her this morning on his usual route through the woods there. She hasn’t been here for more than a few hours but she’s been dead for quite some time.”

“How can you tell that?” Ryan asked stepping beside him on the trail.

“You’ll see.” The team stopped just before a small tent that was pitched above a dig site the local police were working in. Several of the crime scene technicians milled about collecting what evidence they could find and placed it in small sample baggies and labeled them.

Lieutenant Campbell moved towards the body bag and unzipped it for the team to get a look. “She was partially buried in that shallow grave there. Her body is hard as a brick and colder than the arctic. The killer had her frozen for reasons we can’t be sure and she looks as though she was cleaned with some sort of harsh abrasives. There are a lot of nicks and minor cuts decorating her body. Several bruises and what appears to be restraint marks on her wrists and ankles. The most telling mark is the giant ‘X’ that’s been carved into her chest.”

Yvette lowered herself beside the Lieutenant and examined the girl’s appearance. She was a petite brunette and had a butterfly tattooed on her left shoulder and a birthmark on her right cheek. Checking her hands she noticed the absence of defensive marks and glanced towards the medical examiner. “It doesn’t appear she put up a fight.”

“The mark on her chest was made postmortem. I would guess that she was drugged heavily throughout her imprisonment because of the lack of defensive wounds we found on her. The killer I’d say kept her in a complacent state so that he could have his way with her. We’ll know more once we get her back to the lab.”

“So why did your department call in the Feds? I mean you and your men are perfectly capable of handling a murder, why is this one so special?” Yvette asked unsure of why her team was called in on what appeared to be a simple homicide.

“Because she’s victim number four. We didn’t think much of it when we got the call about the body here. But upon further investigation we discovered this,” he lifted a bag that contained a freshly pressed red rose. “We’ve had three other killings in the last month all young women and all had a rose left on their bodies.”

“Were they all found in this area?” Victor asked and walked deeper up the path.

“Actually that’s what we don’t get and the reason we called you guys in. We asked for a profiler to get this thing cleared away for us. The guy changes his M.O for every murder. Victim #1 was found in an alley behind her job, victim #2 at a public pool and victim #3 inside the sauna of a gym. We wouldn’t have connected them had it not been for the flower and that,” he pointed towards a letter on the ground with the rest of the evidence the techs had uncovered.

“What’s this?” Dustin knelt beside the tan tarp and read the letter aloud:

“My Dearest Patricia,
You were great but it’s time to move on. I have another
who soon will know how deeply my love burns.
I would walk a mile just to bake in her arms.”

“A love letter as best as we can tell. Every victim is left with one that indicates he’s not done with the killings yet.”

“Who were the other victims?” Brett questioned as he moved back towards the tent with the others. Lieutenant Campbell handed him a manila folder containing the other information and frowned.

“I hope you catch this sick bastard. This last victim was tame compared to his others but she may very well have been his first. When you look inside that folder, you’ll see what I mean. Now my department is willing to cooperate with whatever you need, just let me know how we can be of assistance.”

“Thank you Lieutenant,” Yvette smiled and shook his hand. “We’ll keep you in the loop. I’m sure your men will be of great service for our investigation.”

Turning to leave, Brett passed the folder to Yvette and she took a glimpse inside as she slid into the passenger seat of their Escalade. “Wow Campbell wasn’t kidding. This guy has a real penchant for stabbing his victims and makes a butcher shop look like a cake walk. The first body they found, Marguerite Coleman age 32, was found beside a dumpster in an alleyway behind her job. She’d been stabbed 87 times in the chest, head and stomach. Coroner notes that over half of the wounds, 53, were all postmortem and an ‘X’ had been carved over her heart.”

“That’s some rage this guy is dealing with,” Dustin gave a low whistle as they pulled into the parking lot of their new headquarters. The team hopped out and hurried up to the unit room to continue looking over the information. Dustin went to work calling up the details of the other two victims on the screen and Brett analyzed the folder Lieutenant Campbell had given them once more.

“It says here that victim #2, Janet Davidson age 33, was found floating face down in the pool at a local school where she teaches swimming. Her throat had been slit so severely it severed her spinal cord. Several other slices had been made to her body including the removal of her tongue, her nipples and her eye lids. Her chest had one of those ‘X’s carved into it as well.” 

“And victim #3, Cassandra Miller age 33, found in the sauna at Life Choice Wellness Spa. Autopsy reports her death as blunt force trauma. Her head had been repeatedly bashed into the tiled wall inside the sauna until she slipped into an unconscious state. At which point, marks that indicate a fist and a boot were kicked and beat into her head, chest and torso until her upper body crushed beneath the blows. Her skull was fractured in various places, bones in her fingers, arms and hands were shattered and an ‘X’ was carved into her chest. Wow. This guy is a real piece of work.”

Brett looked up and noticed Yvette’s mindless pacing beside the bulletin board and sighed. “What are you thinking?” he asked dropping the folder to the desk beside Dustin’s hand as he moved towards her.

“I’m not sure if I pumped enough milk for the twins. Austin has been eating so voraciously lately going through both milk AND cereal. He is a greedy little monster and he might go through the bottles before shift ends.” Brett smiled and kissed her cheek. Hearing her worry about their babies was a welcomed surprise. The last few months after the twins’ birth it seemed she didn’t want to deal with them much and he was beginning to worry she was having a case of postpartum depression. “I think I should call the Nanny and check on how they are doing.”

“I’m sure they’re fine Yvette, you shouldn’t worry. You left plenty of milk for the both of them. And if you’re concerned about the Nanny again try and relax. We checked her out in every way possible before even allowing her into the house. She’s a great choice and our babies are in good hands. Not to mention my Mom is at their side about as much as Mrs. Bertram. All’s well ok?” She nodded with a stiff smile and he kissed her lovingly again. 

“I think I got something,” Dustin announced as his fingers diligently typed away on the keyboard in front of him. All eyes went to the wide screen as they waited for him to pull up what he had uncovered. The screen flickered and soon they were looking at a 1998 yearbook from West Bloomingdale High. With a click of his mouse, Dustin zoomed in on one of the faces in the senior section until the team was looking at an old image of victim #2, Janet Davidson. “And that’s not all,” he replied and moved further into the book to victim #3, Cassandra Miller.

“Two of the victims attended the same high school?” Ryan asked and concentrated on the screen.

“Nope, three of them.” Moving to the junior section, the team again looked upon the screen and a young image of victim #1 Marguerite Coleman.

“Dustin do a search for the name ‘Patricia’. I have a hunch this is the connection for all four of these women,” Yvette ordered and moved over his shoulder. Within moments, he pulled up a list of five women with the name ‘Patricia’. It didn’t take long before they figured out which one was the face of the frozen corpse discovered out on the jogging trail earlier.

“Patricia Warner, age 31, a sophomore at the time,” Brett read over the information. “This guy is holding a 15 year old grudge over women he’s dated in high school?”

“No,” Yvette corrected. “Given the amount of rage and violence shown towards their bodies, it’s more likely they turned him down and this is some sort of sick revenge plot.”

“Well great! Now all we have to do is figure out which one of the loons they went to school with has flipped his psycho switch,” Ryan growled sarcastically. “That’ll be cake.”

“A graduating class of 212 and these women were all in different years in school so that number becomes even larger considering the amount of students per grade,” Victor added and sighed. “Not to mention the perp might not have even attended the school. He could have been a staff member obsessed with the students or even someone from a rival school that may have come in contact with these women from games or something else school related.”

“And that puts us right at square one,” Ryan laid back onto the sofa and tossed a ball robotically into the air. “Why do we never get the easy cases? You know the ones where we chase down a badguy, stomp a mudhole in ‘em and send him up for a dime?”

“Because any mall security cop can do that, Ry. We get paid more because we are occasionally asked to use our brains. I know that’s a stretch for you but, it’s fairly easy for the rest of us,” Victor joked. 

“Alright guys, time to get to work. Dustin keep working on these connections. I want you to check out similar friend pools, hangouts, activities, anything that may have placed all four of our victims in the same places at the same time other than the school connection. Were they all on the swim team? Did they have a shared professor or class? Were they ever associated with the same boyfriend at some point? I want as much information as you can find,” Brett began issuing out assignments.

“Ryan and Victor you two get leg work. Get to the victim’s families and find out their closest associates, what they did for fun, if there were ever any strange incidents at school involving another student or someone who may have worked at the school. I want to know their normal routes to and from classes and anything else that may be pertinent to the perp’s identity.”

“Yve, you and I are going to get to work tracking down what they were doing these days. Their jobs, their friends, their afterhours habits or anything that might have placed them back on our perp’s radar. Alright, everyone has their assignment, let’s find this prick before he kills again.” 

“You’re forgetting something,” Yvette replied pointing towards one of the evidence bags retrieved from the scene. “The love note left on the body indicates that our guy may have already chosen his next target. We need to be looking into missing person’s reports as well. If this guy has a habit of freezing his victims he may keep her on ice until he selects another one.”

“Good point, you and I can take that too. Dustin, the lab is still processing a lot of the stuff found at victim #4’s scene; call us when you get word from them.”

“Will do,” he nodded and delved back into his computer screen. Yvette and Brett started towards the carpool and Ryan and Victor headed off to their truck. 

“You’re buying lunch,” Yvette heard Ryan bark towards Victor as the two walked out to the lot.

“In speaking of lunch, I’m starving,” Yvette sighed and rubbed a hand over her belly as they passed through the break room. Brett smiled at her and opened the door for her to step outside first. “Del Taco’s?”

“If that’s what you want.” Hopping behind the wheel of the large SUV, he pulled out of the lot and started towards the restaurant.

“Dubbed the ‘Romeo Slasher’,” Brett growled and tossed the newspaper to the counter beside Yvette. “It’s already hit the fucking papers can you believe that?”

“Language,” Yvette chided and motioned towards their children feeding themselves at the table. “And we are four victims in now Brett. I’m surprised it took them this long,” she replied solemnly. It had been a long day and one filled with nothing but dead ends and disappointment. After lunch they started tracking down missing persons reports and found six women had gone missing from the local area but none that were connected to the Bloomingdale high school.

Ryan and Victor reinterviewed the families but struck out with their search of any forwarding connection between them. One took the bus to school while another was driven by her mother. The third relied on public transportation and the fourth drove herself as was a perk of being a senior. None of them had ever gotten into fights or public altercations involving other students and no one complained about staff members making any type of suggestive comment or longing stares.

The only thing they had to go on was the 15 year old yearbook and the love notes left on each one. While each note indicated a new victim, they also subtly referred to an activity the victim enjoyed. For victim #1 it was her love of animals and how she’d fed the cat in the alley behind her job. Victim #2 was a swimmer and often found in the pool. Victim #3 was a health nut and if she wasn’t jogging she was taking long rests at the spa to keep her muscles and body toned. And victim #4, the note left on #3 indicated her enjoyment with the garden at the park she was found.

The latest note mentioned to Patricia that his new love interest may be a baker of some sort but none of the missing women had a job or activity that involved baking. The team was chasing their tails and each time it brought them back to the same place; something had to break soon. “So how are you doing? After everything you know?” Brett turned and leaned against the counter beside her as she washed the last few dishes in the sink. She eyed him for a moment and shrugged.

“What are you asking me?”

“Well I mean you never said anything to me after Ethan and I guess I just want to know if you wanted to talk about it.”

“Why? So you can tell me how much he deserved it and remind me again how much of an asshole he was as if I didn’t already know that?”

“Yve no I wouldn’t…”

“Did it ever occur to you that the reason I didn’t mention Ethan to you after he died is because you didn’t want to hear about him while he was alive? What good would come from me trying to vent to you about it knowing how you felt?”

“Yvette! Regardless of what I said when he was alive or how I felt about him you’re my wife and he was your father! I care about how his death affects you Baby and I shouldn’t have to tell you that!”

“Yeah, whatever I actually don’t want to talk about it but thank you for asking.” She placed two bottles in his hands and nodded towards the twins. “Could you please? I’m going to grab a bath.”

“Yeah of course. Yve? You know you can tell me anything right? I don’t ever want you to think otherwise ok?”

“I know Brett. Could you go to the kids now? If they see me leave they’ll cry and I’d really like a bath right now.” He nodded and she waited until their attention was on Daddy before ascending the stairs to their bedroom. Starting the water in the tub, she filled it halfway with her honey milk supplement and slipped beneath the suds.

She could hear Brett come up sometime shortly with the children in his arms. Austin was talking, or trying to, about what they did today and Brett was encouraging his excitement. He was mostly just making noises but she could tell whatever it was really made him happy.

She smiled to herself briefly and sponged a fresh amount of water over her arms. Dropping her head, Yvette began thinking about her family and everything that had happened since she’d met Brett. And very soon her smiles turned to mournful sighs turned to tears. As much as she tried to resist them, they fell anyway.

Brett finished reading Dr. Seuss’ ‘Sleep Book’ to the twins and watched them nod off before turning out the light and starting for the bedroom. Leaning against the door, he could hear Yvette’s muffled sobs and frowned. He’d thought she was feeling a little out of it but had hoped her behavior at work was an indication that the worst was behind her. Instantly he kicked himself for mentioning Ethan.

He shrugged off his clothes and sat at the edge of the bed. And as the door opened, he smiled at his wife and watched her change into her night clothes. “Are you ok?” he asked to her back and watched her shake her head yes. “Baby are you sure?”

“I said I was fine Brett why do you keep asking?”

“Because I heard you Yve. Was the bath to cover up the fact that you were crying?”

“What?” she asked brushing her hair back and starting towards the babies’ room. “Are the twins asleep? I want to kiss them goodnight.”

“Yeah they’re resting,” he replied grabbing her wrists and turning her to face him. Looking closely into her eyes he noticed the redness of them and sighed. “Yve why were you crying? Is it because of what I asked you earlier?” She shook her head no and he slowly caressed her cheek as he leaned closer towards her. “Then what is it? Please tell me Yvette. I’ve noticed how off you’ve been lately and it’s driving me fucking crazy that we can’t talk to each other about it!”

“Well I’m sorry but I can’t talk about it!”

“And why not? I thought you understood you can talk to me!”

“I know.”

“Then tell me Yve. Let me help you make it better!”

“I CAN’T!” she yelled and moved back into the bedroom so as not to disturb the children. “I can’t Brett. I have no idea what’s wrong ok? I just feel tired and listless and I cry for no reason and worry about every little thing. I don’t know why and I can’t talk to you about something I have no idea about!” He gently rubbed her back as she leaned into his chest and thought about everything. “Maybe it’s just nerves. I just get so scared of something happening to the babies that I just can’t function. All I know is seeing them smile makes everything better.”

“Then maybe you should reconsider what we talked about. About one of us taking time off from work to be with them. Yvette if you need to be with our children I understand that and I’m sure the guys will too. You shouldn’t stress yourself out at work about them like you do.”

“I don’t want to take time off Brett. I want to work. I go crazy sitting around the house all day. I just…I just need time to figure everything out, that’s all. But I’m fine, I promise.” She shrugged him off and started again towards the babies. “I’m just getting into my groove. I’m sure it’ll be ok.”

Brett watched her enter the kid’s room and sighed as the door closed. Yvette may be convincing herself that she was managing but he saw things much differently. If she didn’t agree to time off soon, he was afraid that the stress of both work and motherhood would cause her to crack, and it wouldn’t be pretty.

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**Author's note: A special thanks to - Irida Sims, Lemonleaf & Lorandia. Their Sims/creations were used in the making of the yearbook (Google search for Sims in CAS). And to my readers, we're off and running again for a whole new season! Thank you for joining me once more :)**

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