Dawn of Danger (ONC Entry)

Six

Colin woke up when the phone rang. He groaned and stumbled out of bed. "Hello?" He mumbled.

"Everton?" It was Hudson again.

"This had better be good," Colin said crossly.

"Oh, it's good. Well, not really. Another one."

"What!" Colin glanced back at the bed where Bonnie was sitting up and stretching. "Please tell me you're kidding."

"Not kidding. You'd better get down here. I'll ring Miss Taylor."

Colin felt his face redden. "Uh...actually...there's no need to."

"Oh?" Hudson drew the word out curiously. "Why's that? Don't tell me she quit."

"No. She's...here."

Hudson burst out laughing. "You wolf! Of course she's with you."

"Chief..." Colin clenched his jaw. "Just...let it go, all right?"

Hudson's laughter subsided gradually. "All right, all right." He exhaled loudly. "Is she pretty underneath that trenchcoat?"

Colin glanced back at Bonnie again. She was slipping into her dress. "Yeah. Yeah, she is."

Hudson chuckled again. "All right. You two don't take too long getting down here."

"Sure, Chief." Colin hung up without another word and returned to the bedroom. "Another one."

Bonnie looked up from her perch on the bed. "Another murder?"

"Yeah. Bonnie...I had to tell Hudson about...you being here."

She pursed her lips. "Well, he had to know sometime, I suppose." She bent down to buckle on shoe and glanced up at him. "I'll tell Jesse the next time I see him."

Colin went to his closet and pulled out a fresh shirt. "How will he react?"

"He'll be upset. But wouldn't you?"

"Yeah, I guess I would." He slipped on his shoes and straightened. "Hungry?"

"What have you got?" She followed him through the bedroom door and into the kitchen.

"Cereal and oatmeal." He opened the cabinet with a flourish.

Bonnie laughed and took out a box of cereal. "You're the perfect picture of a bachelor."

Colin reached into the fridge for some milk. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe neither." She took the milk from him and poured it over her cereal.

"Neither? That's not a good answer when you're a P.I." Colin took the milk back and sloshed some into his own cereal.

"Well, I kind of like you as a bachelor." She reached across the table and rubbed her hand over his arm. "A bachelor P.I."

"Good. But a P.I. has to make a living, so let's hurry and eat."

***

Colin and Bonnie sat in a diner, a notebook spread between them. Bonnie absent-mindedly picked up a shake and sipped at it.

Colin glanced up. "So have I missed anything?"

Bonnie set her glass aside primly and flipped the notebook around so she could see it. "Hm...three women, three knife wounds. Three murders with zero leads. You think they're connected?"

Colin nodded. "They've gotta be. Same method. They even all happened around the same time!"

Bonnie glanced at the addresses scribbled on the page. "Hm." She flipped to a different page and started drawing.

"What are you doing?" Colin craned his head to one side to see better.

"Thinking." Bonnie bit one side of her lip as the pencil moved along the paper. "Uh-huh...and there..."

Colin squinted at the lines on the paper, which formed a sort of grid. "The streets?" He guessed haphazardly.

"That's right." Bonnie flashed him a smile and scribbled a dot on one end of the grid, then flipped back to the addresses.

Colin leaned forward, his breath quickening. "Do you think there's a pattern?"

"That's what I want to figure out." She added two more dots and held the notebook out. "Well...that's what we have so far." Colin stared at the notebook. The dots went in a fairly clockwise manner, leaving the northwest portion of the city unmarked.

"Do you think he'll try somewhere around there next?" Bonnie circled the area lightly with a pencil.

"What makes you think it's a he?"

"I don't think a woman would kill other women." Colin raised an eyebrow and she continued hastily. "At least two of these women were probably mothers. I don't think a woman would have it in her to kill a mother."

"What if she didn't know her victim was a mother? You think this killer is going to go through the house checking for children?"

Bonnie shuddered and Colin wished he hadn't said that. The image of the unknown killer opening the door to a child's room was unsettling. "Sorry. But seriously, I don't think we should rule out women. They can be crazy."

"Like me?" Bonnie asked, arching one eyebrow.

"Worse than you," Colin said fervently. "Much worse than you."

Bonnie doodled some curlicues on the page. "So...what can we do?"

"Well, we can have Hudson put more men on the night watch in that area of town, for starters." Colin steepled his fingers, thinking. "Maybe even spend a night on the town ourselves, if you're up for it."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean do the same thing as the guys on the force, except we'll be in plainclothes. Walk around the area, loiter, and keep our eyes open for something." He looked up. "Have you told Jesse yet?"

She sighed, her shoulders sagging a little. "I called him this afternoon. He was upset like I thought he'd be."

"Will he leave you alone?"

She smiled. "I think he will."

"Good. If he bothers you, just tell me." Colin flexed his fingers.

"Come on, Colin, he's not a bad guy. You're just better." Bonnie reached across the table and tickled his palm with her fingers.

"Better how?" Colin pretended to be uninterested, but deep down inside he fervently wanted to know the answer.

"Well...you've got a better brain, for one." Bonnie laughed quickly. "Jesse never would have been able to be a P.I. And...well, you're better all around." She gave him a sly smile.

"Glad to hear it." Colin exhaled, relieved. He plucked the pencil from Bonnie's fingers and glanced at the notebook to fix the area in his mind, then stood. "Let me make the call to Hudson, and we'll head over there."