Ellie and Carson spent their honeymoon in their apartment. Stacey-Ann stayed with Audrey and Kris- who had moved into Audrey’s apartment temporarily as Seth re-painted her apartment. They spent a week and a half doing nothing but making love and being in each others arms. If they hadn’t missed their daughter so much, they would have paid Kris to keep her a little longer.
Carson held Stacey-Ann out and watched as she kicked her legs around vigorously. “Is this a sign that she is going to start walking soon?”
“Or you could have fed her too much sugar. Why?” turning away from her painting.
He held Stacey-Ann close. “I don’t think I’m ready for her to start walking just yet.”
She laughed, “Why not?”
“Because soon she’ll be dating and I’ll have to arrest and grill every single one of her dates hours before they ring my door bell. Give them a number of things to ponder on before they think about asking my daughter out on a date again.”
“She’s growing up hubby, you can’t stop the aging process.”
Carson smiled, “Say that again.”
Ellie stood up and went to him, “Hubby.” She cooed.
He kissed her lightly on her lips, “That sounds so good, it turning me on.”
She kissed him again, “take your daughter to her room so that I can address that, as a wife should.”
He stole a last kiss before he rushed off, “You don’t have to tell me twice.” He placed Stacey-Ann in her crib and turned on the baby monitor, “you will have all my attention right after mommy and I play for a few hours.”
Ellie leaned against the door frame holding Dale’s phone and his packed bag. “Unfortunately, that is going to have to wait because daddy has to go away and catch bad guys.”
As upbeat as she tried to sound, he could still hear the sadness in her voice. “I’m sorry.”
She smiled, dropping the bag and handing him the phone. “It’s okay, we understand. Just stay safe.” She cuddled against his chest, her heart beating a mile a minute. She always got very scared when he had to take a trip. And by the sound of Audrey’s voice, it was going to be one of those cases that would take weeks to resolve.
****
Carson drove the car with much aggression. He’d hoped the long drive would calm him down but so far, he was still as livid as he was when he left home. “I hate this!”
Richard turned to him, “I understand. My wife barely speaks to me anymore.”
“My kids don’t think I love them,” Paloma spoke from the back seat, “Sometimes I just want to quit.”
“And why don’t you?” Audrey asked. “I mean, all three of you have families to think about, why keep doing this job?”
“Because the people we help also have families,” Richard answered.
“Because I feel like I’m making a safer world for Stacey-Ann. It keeps me sane when I’m away from them, knowing there will be one less person to threaten my daughter.”
“Well then, let’s catch this bastard and get you all back to your families,” Audrey announced. After a long pause she spoke again with urgency, “Carson, turn the car around!”
“Why?”
She scrolled through the police alert, “Because he or she just struck again… and very close to home.”
Carson didn’t need more prompting. He swerved, pushing the car harder as he sped back home, the sirens screeching loudly.
“What the hell?” Gwen exclaimed, as she watched Carson speed past her.
“Well what are you waiting for, follow him!” Doran prompted.
Gwen tried to keep up, but she couldn’t. She wasn’t used to driving that fast and if she tried now, she’d end up roadside carnage. It took her twenty minutes longer than Carson to drive back.
“Did you guys fly here?” Gwen asked, when she stepped into the office, “What was with the driving?”
“Carson had some aggression to get out,” Paloma answered.
“Did it work?”
“No. He’s still as angry as ever.”
Carson walked to the case board that Audrey had quickly set up, “let’s get started.”
Gwen moved to stand next to him, “What’s the hurry?”
“The sooner we catch this guy, the sooner the killings end and the sooner I can start to breathe.”
“Ellie?”
He turned to face her, “Yes Ellie, my wife!” He barked harshly.
Gwen stepped back, picking up a case file as she retreated.
“How about I take Carson and Kevin to the new crime scene and you guys can try to piece the other cases together.” Doran offered, sensing Carson’s need to get out. He was like a caged animal ready to explode.
“Okay,” Richard said.
Carson rushed to the elevators and the others had to run to catch up.
“I knew this family thing would change him,” Gwen grieved. “He doesn’t have a clear head anymore.”
Paloma stared at her feeling irked. “Until you have a family of your own Gwen, you’ll never understand.”
Carson, Dale and Kevin walked into the room cautiously. There was blood all over the place. They had seen a lot of gruesome crime scenes, but this took the cake.
“The suspect stabbed him numerous times through the heart, after he or she tortured him continuously, with smaller less fatal cuts all over his body.” Kevin offered, taking more pictures of the bloodied bedroom.
“This looks like a woman’s scorned situation,” Carson taking a closer look at the body.
Doran stepped closer to Carson, “Why do you say that?”
“Look at this. What guy would spend such a long time torturing him? And stabbing him several times through the heart, he broke her heart so she broke his, literary. If it was a man, he would have gone straight to the point and we should see some signs of a struggle.”
“No offense to women, but I don’t think a woman can physically subdue a man to do this,” Kevin added.
Carson smiled, “A woman doesn’t need physical strength to render a man useless. Trust me.”
“It doesn’t look like he was tied up. He would have defended himself the second he saw the blade coming at him.”
“She could have drugged him?” Doran offered.
“It’s possible…” Carson stopped to answer his ringing phone. “Audrey what’s up?”
“We found the link between the victims.”
“What is it?”
Audrey paused, biting her lower lip anxiously. “You are not going to like this Carson.”
Carson froze, feeling the dread stir in the pit of his stomach again, “What is it Audrey?”
“It’s Ellie. They all at one point have dated Ellie.”
Ellsa’s phone rang, interrupting her thoughts, “Hello?”
“Hi, this is Emma, George’s sister.” The sad voice came through.