Paint The Town Red

Chapter 5

Freen's POV

"Who's the girl?" Kareena asks, clearing her throat as she sits down on the edge of my desk.

I'm grinning when I put my phone down, but I mask my expression.

"No clue what you're talking about" I lie, controlling my micro-expressions

"You can lie all you want to, but you give yourself away when you look at your phone. There are. two reasons a lesbian smiles at her phone like that. Porn or a girl."

Chuckling, I look away, studying some new evidence on the "Boogeyman" case. I hate it when the media gives the unsubs a name. It only feeds their delusions and gives them the attention they crave. Fortunately the haven't gotten wind of our mutilated, tortured victims' case yet. I'd hate to know the name they'd conjure up for that one.

"We're sending a team to Boston to follow up the new leads of the kills there. We've isolated the comfort zone and have narrowed down the suspect pool. You good with going? I'm staying current on the mutilate and kill case" I say instead of responding to her other comment.

She blows out a long breath "Sure, I'll go to Boston. Stop staring at all those pictures though. They're going to give you nightmares." She says, motioning to the shots scattered across my desk. I always have board copies made for my desk. Seeing things from various angles helps you catch what you might otherwise overlook.

"I need to find the true motive behind these kills" I motion to the latest dead and castrated victim.

"Sometimes there is no motive. We profiled the unsubs to be sexually frustrated, most likely because he's gay and can't accept that. As a result, he's on his way becoming a sexual sadist once he does accept it. More than likely he was mocked, taunted, or rejected by these men. The local PD are being slow with getting back to us. I don't think they're taking this guy as seriously as they should. I talked to several tonier, but they acted like no one there would ever be gay. As though its blasphemy to even consider. I wanted to flash pictures of my brother and his husband to them for shock value at one point"

My lips twitch

"The smaller the town, the more resistant to outsiders they are. They don't like us meddling in their town, and they sure as hell won't want us there uncovering any dirt that might tarnish their reputation. But eventually we'll have to set up there. The unsub will return for his endgame." I say on a heavy breath.

She nods as she stands, and she grabs her keys off my desk before staring down at me as I stay seated.

"Just a friendly reminder....we're all workaholics. It's how we made this team. There's always three or more cases going on at once, despite the lovely way TV depicts us as having just one case at a time and free time in between. Dating...Well, it's not so easy. There's a reason we're all single, divorced, or both. Unless you're sneaking around with someone who works here, you never get to see the person waiting at home for you."

She turns and walks away, casting a look over her shoulder. I shrug it off. We do have some free time. It's not much, but its enough. I hope. I'd hate to know my life was only spent chasing the psychotic until I die alone.

ME: We really need to see each other again. Texting sucks.

REBECCA: I agree. My fingers are getting cramps.

ME: Anything going on in two days? I have no breakfast plans.

REBECCA: Two days from now I'll be in West Virginia. What about tomorrow?

ME: Can't. I have to fly to Boston for a quick briefing. I'll be back tomorrow night, but I have too much work to finish up with. It'll be after midnight before I leave. IF I leave.