The Wave

Stand in the Rain

Sarah grimaced as she looked at the new body that had been discovered.  The savageness of the attack on the young woman was a sharp incline to the previous victims.  On top of it all, the body was fresh... very fresh.  Full rigor mortis had not set in even, which put time of death within the last forty-eight hours.  He had also dumped the body in a public area.  He had wanted it to be found quickly.  The irony that she had just been at the location the night before with her son was not lost on her... nor the fact that the body had most likely been dumped within an hour after she had been there.

"Fuck," she muttered under her breath.

For all she knew, the killer had already been there when they had been and had waited for them to leave before dumping the body. The thought sent a shiver down her spine.  She forced the unease away and looked sadly at the girl.  She had suffered greatly before bleeding out.  They had to stop this motherfucker.  She was so young too.  College student, she'd bet her life on it.  She had already taken all the photographs she needed, bagged her hands.  She brushed a stray white blonde bang out of her eye.  It was the mother in her.  The pain her mother would have would be beyond even the pain she had experienced in life.  No parent should ever outlive their own child.

"Sorry, sweetheart, that we hadn't caught him yet," she whispered softly.

She tensed up as she felt Michael crouch next to her silently.  She had hoped to be out before he showed up, no such luck.  Not that she would be able to avoid him completely today, they did have a date later tonight after all.  

Kakashi did not miss the tensing of her body as he crouched next to her.  He had quietly come up to her, watching as she brushed the hair out of the dead girl's unseeing eyes.  The mutilation of the body was well beyond previous victims.  The only similarity to the previous kills was the way the hand was marked up and the color of the victim's hair.  He frowned as he looked at the body closer now.

"His MO has changed," he spoke into the silence.

Sarah whipped her head towards him, "It does appear that he is escalating..."

"It's more than that.  Her age isn't right.  She's a lot younger than the rest of them and quite a bit thinner.  Her hair is also starting to show signs for natural growth.  All of his other victims had recently dyed hair, showing no roots.  Our guy stalks his victims, watches them for a while before he grabs them. I have made the connection that he grabs them a day after a hair appointment. The cut to her neck is deeper and less careful, as if he slit it in rage rather than the collected way that he has done in the past. If I was to make a guess, he grabbed her last night based solely on the color of her hair.  I am willing to bet she wasn't sexually assaulted like the others either.  Something set him off. He didn't have her for very long, just long enough to unleash his fury and dump her ceremonially."

Sarah felt the blood leave her face at the words.  Her eyes taking in the body with the insight once more.  She felt almost a little dizzy as her breath quickened at the knowledge.  She had the same color hair after all, had been at the dump site shortly before, and was closer in age to the other victims.  Had he seen her first, it might be her body laying here now.

"Are you okay?"

"I need to get out of here," she said as she straightened and quickly moved towards her vehicle.

He caught up to her before she could get far away and grabbed her arm, "What is wrong?  Talk to me Sarah.  You look like you saw a ghost."

Kakashi didn't think she was going to say anything for a moment, especially when she closed her eyes.  He was stunned when she did.  "I was here last night... with Ti.  He could have been here at the same time."  She looked at him finally, "Look at me, Michael.  What do you see?"

"You fit the profile."

"Yeah, I fit the profile, and that motherfucker could have easily followed us home last night.  I might have put my children in danger.  I need to do something-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..." Kakashi said as he took her face between his hands.  "Breathe.  You can't assume that you're now on his list.  Yes, he might have been here, but he would have had to follow you then come back to dump the body.  I doubt he would do that.  Not in the state of mind he was obviously in last night."

Sarah closed her eyes, taking in a shaky breath.  He was right.  The warmth of his hands on her feet was helping to calm the racing of her heart, grounding her.  She opened her eyes, intending to thank him when Mark's voice interrupted anything she would have said.

"Sarah, the coroner has a question about the body."

Kakashi dropped his hands and she quickly moved away from him back to the coroner.  He shifted his eyes to Mark.  The other man smirked at him before walking off.  He narrowed his eyes on his retreating back.  He really needed to back off.

Sarah was still wigged out thirty minutes later as she left the crime scene.  Michael had been tied up talking to the couple that had found the body.  Despite what he said, she was unnerved by how close to the profile she fit and how close she had potentially come to being on the killers list.  It was beyond unsettling in actuality.  She was confident she was a big enough bad ass to fight anyone appropriately if they did attempt to grab her; however, it was the fact that her boys could get caught in the crossfire.  That did disturb her... greatly.

She glanced at her image briefly in the mirror before turning the vehicle off the interstate and onto the access road.  She couldn't change a lot of things, but she could change one thing.  Until they caught the monster, she wasn't going to take any chances.  If he followed the profile, this change would take her immediately off his list if he had followed her last night.  She pulled into the parking lot of ULTA, grabbed her purse, and then hopped out of the vehicle.

Three hours later, she could only stare at the transformation.  It had been forever since she had her natural hair color.  Granted, it was dyed to her natural color, but it was strange seeing herself that way after such a long time.  The auburn color gleamed from the fresh dye job and conditioner that the stylist had done.

"Well... what do you think?" Candy, her stylist, asked.  "It's quite the change from before."

Sarah smiled slightly, "It's perfect.  I barely recognize myself and that is exactly what I wanted."

Candy chuckled, "Yes, it definitely makes you almost unrecognizable.  God, you're lucky I still remember what color your hair used to be.  You've been doing the blonde for what... sixteen years now?"

"Something like that," Sarah laughed.  "I think I kind of like it, actually.  It's like looking back into my youth."  She slid off the chair and followed Candy to the register.  After paying for it with a handsome tip she smiled at her stylist and friend, "Thank you again for squeezing me in.  You're a life saver."