Buried With You

Chapter Eight

Lucy walked into the briefing room. She was still in a daze, not because of Caleb 2.0. No, because Tim Bradford may have almost kissed her.

"Lucy?" She hadn't even realized she'd made her way to the seat next to Nolan. "How are you doing? I know this is a lot."

"Honestly, I don't know." Lucy couldn't handle the look of pity and concern Nolan was giving her. She had seen it many times, always directed at others though. Now that the infamous look was directed towards her, she understood exactly why everyone else hated it.

Fortunately, Grey walked into the briefing room stopping Nolan from commenting on the situation any further.

"Okay," Grey let out a heavy sigh. "I'm sure you have all heard about our current situation. This morning at 08:39 while Officers Nolan and Chen were responding to a missing persons, it was discovered that we have what seems to be another one of Rosalind Dyer's Acolytes. The suspect has the same MO as the last acolyte, Caleb." Grey sent a worried glance Lucy's way. "Our new victim, Darla Folgar has been tattooed with today's date. This killer is moving fast. They took Darla around 03:00, the time stamp on the picture of the tattoo was 06:27, Chen and Nolan got to the residence at 08:39. With the cuts the suspect is making to the timeline, Darla probably has about 6 hours. Maybe less."

Nolan was the first to speak. "Hold on, this doesn't make sense. Caleb would abduct the girls at 8 or 9 at night. Valdez said she was tattooed 12 hours after being abducted. He wanted it to be a 24 hour process. The abduction, the wait, the tattoo... and the slow death."

Lucy dug her nails deep into her palms. The stinging from the fresh cuts were the only thing keeping her grounded in this moment. She took a few deep breaths before she spoke. "It's a crime of emotion."

Every single eye in the room turned to her, but Lucy kept her focus on Grey. "The decrease in time shows that our killer is frustrated o-or offended. They probably think that by shortening the time frame they're proving what they're capable of, that they're better than Caleb."

"Why would our killer feel like they need to prove what they're capable of? Caleb's dead, it's not like there's competition anymore." Harper questioned. Her analytical tone of voice helping Lucy stay focused.

"My guess, they want to impress someone." Lucy could feel blood pooling in her palms now.

"Who? What kind of psychopath would think they'd impress someone by being a serial killer?" Usually Lucy appreciated Thorsen's blunt line of questioning. Not in this moment.

"Rosalind... our killer is trying to impress Rosalind. The last know Acolyte is Caleb. I assume that his accomplishments are our new killer's guide line, except they feel like they have to do better." Lucy was on the verge of tears. She could not let herself cry in front of everyone.

Tim spoke next. "So assuming our killer's emotional response was to get Rosalind's attention, what triggered it?" Lucy finally allowed herself to look at him. He was standing up next to Grey with his arms crossed over his chest. He had taken off his suit coat and rolled up his sleeves. He looked stressed, not surprisingly considering the circumstances.

"It has to be the trial." Harper's voice drew Lucy's attention back to the conversation. "It's not Caleb, that was too long ago to be triggering this now. The most recent headline regarding Rosalind Dyer is the trial."

"Okay..." There was hesitation in Thorsen's voice. "What if our killer is acting on orders? We know Rosalind has contraband cell phones, so she probably has the means to contact someone on the outside. Maybe she told this acolyte to start killing to draw attention to the trial?"

"Or," Nolan interjected. "If our killer is acting on their own, do they think they'll have a chance to show her what they've accomplish?"

Grey held up a hand, silencing the room. "As of right now assume we know nothing. The most important thing is that we find the missing girl. We have forensics testing the photo to see if there's any prints or substances that might reveal a subject or location. In the mean time, Harper and Lopez, see if you can get the video surveillance from the club our victim was at when she was abducted. The rest of you go back out on patrol, if we learn anything it'll be sent to all the boxes. Alright, that's it. Be safe out there."

Lucy stood from her seat. "Chen." She turned to face Tim. "You're with me, Thorsen, go with Nolan."

"Yes, sir." Nolan and Thorsen chorused before heading to the sally port.

"Let me go change and then we'll head out." Lucy watched him go as he loosened his tie and started unbuttoning his collar.

While Tim changed, Lucy set up the shop. Her head spun with everything that had happened in the last 24 hours. Chris singing the song, them breaking up, Caleb 2.0. This trial was going to drive her insane.

"Chen?" Lucy jumped.

"S-sorry, I was just thinking about everything." She hated how small and frail her voice was lately.

"Lucy, are you good? I can't take you out on the streets where you will get killed, if you're not focused." Tim's voice was a mix of strict TO and gentle concern. It was something Lucy rarely heard and still wasn't used to.

"I'm good." Tim shot her a questioning glance. "Really. I was just debating on if I still want to testify in this mess of a trail." She got in and slammed the door to the shop. Tim turned the keys and pulled out of the station.

"Don't." Lucy glanced at Tim. He hadn't taken his focus off of driving, his body stiff and pointed directly ahead. "You have nothing to prove."

"But-"

"But nothing. Rosalind and Caleb put you though hell. Nobody should ever go through what you did, and the fact that you not only survived it, but that you're still you, proves just how incredible you are." Tim's voice was fierce. He still hasn't looked at Lucy which she had  decided was for the best since she was just sitting there with her mouth agape. Tim continued, his voice softer now. "You don't have to testify to show your strength, you already do that everyday."

Lucy had no response. Tim had faltered and given her some heart to heart conversations over the year and a few months they'd been riding together, even though he was adamant that the shop was a personal life free zone. That being said, she still wasn't used to him speaking so highly of her. His words make her heart skip.

Lucy gently shook her head. "Thanks."

Tim just nodded, still not looking at her.

The rest of their shift was quiet, they had a few noise disturbances, some street dealers and one attempted robbery. Lucy hadn't brought up what happened between them in the interrogation room, no matter how much she wanted to. She had played the moment over and over again in her mind. She had come to the conclusion that she was delusional and overwhelmed from the serial killer. There was no way Tim would be interested in her. She had been his rookie, even now she was still his aide. Most importantly, he was dating Ashley.

Tim pulled the shop back into the garage. Lucy could feel the tension in the air. The time limit they had placed on the killer was running out and no one had anything. Harper and Lopez had retrieved the surveillance footage but hadn't found anything that would ID the killer, or where they had taken Darla.

Lucy now sat alone in the locker room, all of the emotions she had been holding in for the past 7 hours were spilling out. She wasn't sobbing to her surprise, but her vision was blurry and her face was so puffy she probably looked like a marshmallow.

She let out a sigh, all she wanted was to go home and curl up in bed. Maybe sleep for a few days... or weeks.  She got up and splashed some water on her face, she scrubbed at the mascara trails and fixed her hair. Lucy wanted to at least try and deny that she had been crying. When she felt like she no longer looked blotchy and tear streaked she grabbed her bag and started making her way out of the station.

Lucy got to the front desk right as the doors opened. "Hi, I have a delivery for a Lucy Chen." The delivery man pushed his way into the waiting room. Lucy's blood ran cold. There in front of her, apparently addressed to her, was an oil barrel.