CHAPTER FOUR

Targeted

by Chocolate Reverie

"We've got another one," was what greet Nick the moment he settled into his office. His colleague, Michael Scott, immediately situated himself in a seat in front of Nick and handed him a manila folder.

Nick had saved Michael's life on a mission and the two had been best friends ever since. Like Nick, Michael stood at the height of 6'4". With ice blue eyes, fine chiseled features, pouty lips, and shaggy black hair, he was the epitome of beauty.

Nick, jaw set, scrutinized the crime scene photos in the manila folder.

“Mary Sutton. Age 22. Single. College degree in business,” Nick read aloud as he glanced through her profile.

“This has been the second murder in one month. Our guy’s getting desperate,” Michael commented. He picked up the photos Nick threw down on the desk and glanced through them. The crime scene photos were similar to the those of the other five victims. The body was arranged in a grotesque angle. The neck of the victim had deep cuts with blood gushing out of it. The sockets that once contained the victims’ eyes were now hollow.

“Did you find anything?” Nick asked.

Michael shook his head, disgusted. “The bastard bleached her again. Did you see the stomach?”

“Same as the other ones?” Nick guessed even though he knew the answer.

“Yeah. But it wasn’t as neat as the other ones. He seemed more,” he paused, searching for the right word, “excited.” Michael passed a photo to Nick. “Look at the stomach. He operated the womb of the victim and took out her uterus, but look at how he left it. Usually, his threads are straight and neat. But here, you can see how haphazard it is. The threads are crooked and spaced apart. It’s like he didn’t care.”

“No. I’m sure he cared. Look at the spaces in between each thread. They’re about the same length. If he didn’t care, the lengths would’ve been random and uneven. I think he did this on purpose.”

“But why?” Michael asked, more to himself.

“What did the profilers say?”

“Same old. They think he was abused as a child. That can be his motivation toward rape. To control, to conquer his feelings of inadequacy. They think he had affairs with these women and that they strayed from him. That could explain the missing eyes. He doesn’t want them looking at anyone but him. What do you think?”

“I’m not sure what to think. But the affair part doesn’t sit well with me. If the victims were really seeing him, someone would have noticed. What about the operation on the stomach? Did they have anything on that?”

“So far, nothing.” Michael sighed, slumping back in his chair. “The guy is a sadistic maniac.”

Nick didn’t reply to the comment, still looking through the photos.

“So what are doing here today, anyways?” Michael asked, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

“What are talking about? Why shouldn’t I be here?” Nick gave his friend a confused look.

“Well, seeing that you just got married yesterday to a beautiful redhead, I figured the two of you would be off somewhere on a honeymoon.”

Nick shrugged. “There’s really no point. It’s not like we’re really husband and wife. It’s only in name.”

“You’re a bastard, you know that?” Michael’s amused grin took out the heat in the words.

“Sure,” was the nonchalant reply.

Sara didn't know what to do in a house so big, all alone. All day, she had cleaned and cooked, then cooked and cleaned. And still, hours later, she found herself bored with nothing to do.

"I should just take a nap. Maybe that will pass the time faster," she muttered to herself. Rubbing the back of her neck from bending over the stove all day, she dragged her two restless feet to her room.

She sighed before flopping herself face-first on the bed. She kept that position for about a minute or two before turning herself over and sighing up at the ceiling. Bored with the whiteness of it, she turned left, then right, then did a double-take to her right again. There, on her night table, laid a credit card.

Sara tentatively picked up the rectangular card. "That's right. Nick said something about a credit card and shopping this morning." A smile slowly graced her lips. Confirming her thoughts with a nod, she jumped up from her bed and zoomed to her closet. Donning on the first items she managed to find, she made a grab for her purse and keys before racing out of the door to her car.

"Alright. Let's see. First item: cereal," she read aloud to herself as she looked at her grocery list with a pencil in hand. She was currently at the grocery store, having done a shopping list in the car on her way over.

She grabbed five boxes of Trix, stacking them neatly into her cart. She paused a minute, contemplating. "Hmm, I really doubt Nick would eat the Trix. He doesn't look like the type. Let's be safe and get him some Cheerios." With that, she grabbed another five boxes of Cheerios.

"Okay. Next item: fruits." By the time she was done and ready to ring up her purchases, she had two full carts.

"That will be 236.57 please," the cashier said politely. "But since you're such a pretty lady, I'll charge you half," he added flirtatiously after looking left and right to see no one else was standing within their vicinity.

"Why would you want to that?" Sara asked, confused.

"Because you're gorgeous, honey," he drawled, giving Sara a wink.

Sara couldn't help the blush creeping onto her face. She never had the experience of being hit on. The guys from her hometown had always viewed her as Chubby Sara from childhood. She wasn't sure if she liked the attention very much at the moment.

Flustered, she pulled out 300 from her purse. "No thanks to the offer. I'd like to pay full, please."

"Sure, but you have to let me help you carry the bags out to your car," he insisted. Sara, unwilling to injure his feelings, reluctantly accepted the offer. The cashier, with a sly smile, gave back her change before the two made their way out of the store.

"Thank you. I'll take it from here," Sara quietly thanked him the moment they reached her car. Both had their hands full of grocery bags.

"It was nothing, beautiful," he winked at her, again. Unexpectedly, he patted her bottom before handing her a slip of paper. He blew her a kiss before strutting away.

Sara, shocked, dazedly opened the trunk of her car before stuffing her bags into it. By the time she was back behind her steering wheel, she was fuming mad.

"How dare he! That prick! Pervert! The lowest scum of the earth! Never have I been so, so... violated!!" She took deep, calming breaths before starting her engine and easing down the street. "I'm never coming back to that store ever again," she swore.

"Bitch," he spat menacingly. His fists balled and his jaw tightened as he watched the scene unfold before him.

He tried to suppress his rage. He hated it when his thoughts consumed him, overriding his senses.

"Damned women. They're all the same. They can't be faithful, can they?"

Seeing her allowing a strange man to publicly feel on her triggered bad memories in him.

Images of a beautiful redhead suddenly invaded his mind. He clutched at his hair, clawing and screaming.

"Get out! Get out! Get out!" He pounded his fists against his head. And when she continued to plague his thoughts, he slammed the palm of both of his hands against the wall and smashed his against its surface.

Once. Twice. Repeatedly until blood began flowing.

Suddenly, the corners of his mouth lifted until a full blown maniacal grin spread from ear to ear on his face.

He rubbed his hands together, suddenly giddy and excited.

"Your wife's not so very innocent either, huh, Mr. FBI?"

Hi everyone! Sorry for the slow chapter. Not much happening in here, but I'm trying to ease slowly into the case. Well, I finally introduced a new character. I know there's not much on Michael right now, but I'll try to elaborate more on his character later.

Review Reply:

Katie-Maude - Thank you for reviewing my story!! You don't know how much I appreciate it. I hadn't realized I had delved too much on Nick's life and too little on the case. Thank you for reminding me. This chapter is dedicated to you!!

Anyways, please read and review! Thank you.