Agent With a Shotgun

Eleven

By the time Amelia had finished eating, it was dark. Most of the shops and businesses in the area where the signal pinged off of were closed and there would be no one around so the pair decided to make up a game plan for the next day when they would go.

They were currently sat around the coffee table in the same positions they were in before getting called to the new crime scene, Amelia on the floor at the head of the table while Colton was on the couch.

"Okay," Colton said as they looked at the map for the area they would going to, "I can talk to the business owners around the area and see what they might know. Someone has to have seen something before."

Amelia nodded her head, "And what should I do?"

"You should survey the area outside the buildings and see if you can find any surveillance cameras that could've possibly caught him on them and take note of which ones might be most useful."

"You don't want me to talk to any owners?" She asked, confusion overtaking her features. Why wouldn't he want her talking to anyone?

His response was fast, "You're more observative than I am when it comes to things like that so you would be able to see the cameras better than I would. I think you'd be better suited out there than with me talking to owners and neighbors in the area."

Amelia didn't believe that that was the only reason why he didn't want her talking to anyone but, against her better judgment, she kept quiet.

"Alright then," She said, trying to make her voice not sound as annoyed as she felt, "what do you want me to do when I think I found cameras that might help us the most?"

"Make sure you write down the business or building so we remember which ones we need to ask about seeing the videos." Amelia nodded her head silently.

"For now," Colton said next, "we could try and figure out what this newspaper article means. It has to mean something."

Amelia bit the inside of her cheek. She really didn't want to work on this clipping but it would raise suspicion if she backed down. He would start asking questions on why she doesn't want to work on this article and that was something she wasn't ready to talk about. Nor would she ever be ready to talk about it or tell anyone. The only people who knew was her mom and her dad, she could never bring herself to tell anyone else. Call it insecurity or fear, but she couldn't do it.

"Okay." She nodded slightly and moved closer so they both could look at the clipping together.

Colton pulled out a notepad and began to write down the letters from the article that were seen. He wrote them all down in the order they were shown and sat back once finished.

"Okay all of these letters," he said, "have to make either some word or phrase that means something to him. But what?" Amelia leaned forward and picked up the pen he just used, trying to make to seem like she was thinking. She tapped the top of the pen against the notepad repeatedly while scanning her eyes over the letters. It's obvious he was repeating the same word over and over again, just jumbling the letters around as a countermeasure.

However she couldn't tell him she knew exactly what this meant.

"It could be a anagram but I don't know for what," She said after a few moments, "the letters don't make any sense to me. Trying to figure out what words this is trying to spell won't be easy, this looks like nonsense. Are you sure this couldn't just be a very sophisticated countermeasure? Nothing like this was found at the first crime scenes so maybe he just did this to throw us off forensically."

"I guess you could be right," Colton sighed as he looked over the letters as well, "it's smart on his part to throw something like this into the investigation. Maybe in the five years he stayed under he spent time planning how he would do all of this. That's a lot of time to perfect his craft even more than before."

"Yea." She sighed, setting the pen down.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Colton spoke up, "I don't think there's anything else for us to do tonight. What do you say about heading to bed for the night?"

"I'm okay with that," Amelia nodded, "where do you want me to sleep? Is there a guest room or something I can put my stuff in or do you want me on the couch ou-"

"You can stay in the master room where you slept earlier." Amelia was taken aback. Wouldn't he be staying in the master room? It was his family's cabin after all.

"What?" She asked, her brows furrowed, "Why me in the master? Won't you be sleeping in there?"

Colton shook his head almost immediately,"No, I'll sleep in another room it's fine. You should head to bed now, I'll see you in the morning." He spoke quickly and in a voice that told her there was no room to argue. Amelia quickly closed her mouth and nodded her head. There was some agitation in his voice showing that there was definitely something bothering him about this, or at least in general.

She itched to ask him what has him so on edge or aggravated but she wouldn't. Because if she did she'd be falling right back into him, back into this. She wanted this to be over quickly so she could get back to her life and finally move on. Maybe be able to be happy for the first time in a long time.

"Alright well," Amelia said, pushing herself off the floor and stood up, "I'm gonna go ahead and head to bed then. I'll see you tomorrow." She didn't wait for his reaction as she turned around and grabbed her bag, quickly making her way down the hall and into the master bedroom. She shut the door behind her and let out a shaky breath.

So many things were running through her head. Colton, Wilkins, the families, all of it. It had been so long since she's had to face any of this and she didn't know how to cope with it.

Five years ago, she would've been able to compartmentalize and shut off her emotions to get the job done but now. Now she was feeling too many emotions all at once. She was feeling pain for these families. She was feeling guilt for the families of the agents from six years. She was feeling hurt by being around Colton again. Sadness, tiredness, annoyance, everything all at once.

She regretted leaving five years ago, she regretted not fighting harder against the director for this case, she regretted not pushing harder for them to believe her. Maybe if she did, these families would still be alive. These children would have a future and these parent would be able to see them grow up and go through all of life's big moments. But they won't. And they never will.

All because of her.

Wilkins came out of hiding for her, he's hurting these people because of her. Taunting her, just as he did all those years ago.

Amelia dropped her bag off her shoulder and slid her back against the door until she was on the floor. She leaned her head back on the door and shut her eyes, letting her tears fall. The tears she had been holding in all these years that she never allowed to leave her eyes. The tears she promised she wouldn't cry.

Tears for the agents she killed.

Tears for the families that were dead.

Tears for the baby that now had no family.

Tears for herself.

Even tears for Colton.

She sat on the floor and just cried for hours. Letting all of her pain out where no one could see her.