Eyes on The Damned

Chapter 6

3 September  - Cascade PD

This did not look good.

Jim's first day back at work after his accident, he was keen to get back to the job, even if he would be tied to a desk for a while. He was recovering well. The arm still hurt: he wore a support bandage under his shirt but refused to wear the sling – he'd stuffed that into his desk drawer, just in case. He couldn't, however, hope to use a gun until the arm was better. Five minutes at the range told him that. So he was busted to desk duty.

Desk duty might have been worth it if he could have avoided this meeting. But Simon called in every detective in Major Crimes, and looking around the table, Jim guessed no one had any more clue than he did as to what was going on. This wasn't the standard weekly briefing, that was for sure.

For starters, Sheila Irwin sat on Simon's right. If IA was here, there was trouble, and Jim was not a fan of Detective Irwin. On Simon's left were several strangers. From their clothing and bearing, Jim guessed they were Feds, but which flavour? FBI? ATF? Marshalls? No, not Marshalls – they didn't work in groups this big.

Jim took a seat opposite Simon. He did not look happy. "What's this all about, Simon?" Jim asked casually.

"You'll find out when everyone's arrived," Simon answered shortly.

That was unusually curt for Simon. Jim shrugged it off. "Okay."

"It's good to have you back, Jim," Simon added with a quick smile. He looked up as Brown walked into the room. "Good, we're all here."

Simon waited for Brown to sit down. He looked around the table, making eye contact with every person there. "A bit more than a week ago, I got a call from an informant. Based on his information, I decided to go outside our department for assistance. You all know Detective Sheila Irwin of Internal Affairs, and this," he nodded to the tall, dark-haired man on his left, "is SSA Hotchner of the FBI's Behavioural Analysis Unit, and his team. Agent Hotchner?"

Hotchner looked around the room, his expression grim. He looked like cracking a smile would break his face. He glanced to his left. "These are agents Rossi, Morgan, Prentiss, Doctor Reid and Agent Jareau. We're here because we believe you have a serial killer at work in Cascade."

Agent Jareau, a gorgeous blonde, had a stack of files on the table in front of her. She began to pass them out to the detectives.

Taggert said dryly, "I think we'd have noticed."

Jim accepted a copy of her papers, but didn't look at it. "You're a little late, Agent Hotchner. We got Lash two years ago."

"This isn't a joke, Jim," Simon said firmly.

Hotchner went on, ignoring the comments. "The papers you're holding list eleven unsolved murders committed in Cascade. The earliest occurred in 2001. The most recent is a current case: Tania Roca. We believe the same perpetrator committed all eleven."

Jim glanced down the list. "Did you come with a list of suspects, too?" he asked, his voice heavy with sarcasm. But the sarcasm covered the sudden racing of his heart. Hotchner's list included Ryan Frazer, Brent Kraemer, Verne Jansen, Mannie Lamarche, and Frank Vallery...all very familiar cases.

"Detective...?" Agent Morgan turned to him, his eyes cool.

"Ellison," Ellison answered.

"Detective Ellison," Morgan repeated. "I was a cop before I joined the FBI. I know how it feels when the Feds muscle in on a case. That's not what's happening here. We're here to advise and help, but Cascade PD will be running things."