X.W.P. 3257: WORST CASE SCENARIO

pt.5

It was nearly 5 in the morning when Xena and Gabrielle finally decided to call it a night after spending hours going over the various files from missing persons cases that coincided with Xena's murder investigation. Tired, they packed up the files and went to bed for some much needed sleep. Knowing that the they had alot to do when they got up. Gabrielle sat in the passengers seat scrolling through the news of the morning on the image that came up from her phone as Xena drove through the downtown area of the city.

GABRIELLE
Unbelievable.

XENA
What?

Gabrielle read the tag line of the news article that had caught her eye out loud.

GABRIELLE
"As more people seem to up and vanish from the city, one can't help but wonder what will happen to the housing market"

XENA
What?!

GABRIELLE
My thoughts exactly. People are going missing and turning up dead. And the damn news outlets wanna focus on the state of this city's crappy housing market and the wealthy people who are losing a very small profit of their already ridiculously enormous business empires.

Xena shook her head.

XENA
I don't know why you read that stuff. You know most of it's complete garbage anyway.

Gabrielle shut off her phone and leaned her head back on the seat.

GABRIELLE
I don't know Xena. Maybe I just don't wanna believe that things have gotten so bad. Plus it's my job. I have to know what's being put out there so I can find the best way to break through it all with what actually matters.

Xena smiled at her for a moment.

XENA
And you do an amazing job at that. I know you don't always realize it, but what you do has a real impact on the people of this city. Sure I might take scumbags off the streets. But you warn the people about those guys until I can get my hands on them and that's just as important when it comes to keeping the city safe. Even if the vast majority of the rest of the media outlets can't seem to see that.

Gabrielle smiled.

GABRIELLE
You sure know how to lift a girl's spirits.

XENA
(Joking) Eh I have my moments.

Xena and Gabrielle drove a bit longer until they got to the missing persons house. Their spouse was the one who had reported them missing. So that was the first stop on Xena's list for the days investigation. After getting out of the car the two went and knocked on the door. A man answered and Xena introduced herself and Gabrielle, explaining why they were there. The man invited Xena and Gabrielle inside. After speaking with him for a bit they learned the new missing person worked only two blocks from the factory district. And when they didn't come home after work like always, giving the disappearances the man became worried. And that was three days ago. He had tried to report it sooner but the original officer's he had spoken to didn't take the disappearance seriously. After assuring the man that she'd do everything she could to find them and getting what information they could, Xena and Gabrielle left. The next stop for the two was the last place that their new victim was seen. According to the report they were last seen leaving work by a few fellow employees. So Xena and Gabrielle went to question their co-workers. This however wasn't much help. According to everyone they talked to there wasn't anything that seemed odd or different about them that set off any alarms. All in all with everything Xena and Gabrielle leaned, their latest victim was simply your average, everyday employee, spouse and citizen. The same had been true for everyone else who had gone missing or been killed. There was nothing particularly special about any of them. Each victim varied from race, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, social status, etcetera. Seemingly the only solid connection between them that Xena and Gabrielle could find was the fact that they all lived and worked at or near the city's factory district. It wasn't much but all the clues they had, all seemed to point to that area.  So with that in mind the only logical place for Xena and Gabrielle to investigate next was the factory district.