Behave

1: Girls, Girls, Girls

"You determine your future by the thoughts and pictures you hold in your mind today." -Brian Tracy

*Katheryn Rossi*

The morning started out normally. I got out of bed, got ready, and drove to work. But when there was news that five women have been kidnapped in the past twelve hours, I freaked.

"Ma'am." My latest rookie officer, Mason, said with a stiff back, like if he were to move, I'd hurt him. "Five missing girl reports in the last six hours, all of which have been found dead."

I cursed under my breath and jogged to my office, muttering gibberish to myself. Why didn't they call me before?

I found files of the girls on my desk. They were all pretty blondes with small lips and blue eyes, making the perfect homicide victims. They all had names that started with 'M', like Melissa Carrie and Margaret Harper, but it could have been sheer coincidence, but I thought otherwise. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. Virtually no cool down time, which meant trouble.

"Mason!" I called, and the man ran in with a scared expression.

"Yes, sheriff?" He asked nervously, making me laugh softly.

"There is no need to call me sheriff, Mason. Call me Kate." When I said this, it was as if I told him he was able to retire.

"Oh, thank you Kate."

I raised my eyebrows in amusement. "Who all is working on this case?"

"Just us, the people working today. I didn't call anyone else in yet, I was waiting for your consent." He straightened his back once again, like authority was handed over to him. Rookies. So naive.

"This killer has killed an average of a girl every .83 hours, and you didn't even call in the emergency squad?" His eyes saddened at the sharpness of my voice, and I sighed. "It's ok, Mason, rookie mistake. I'm calling in my dad." I shooed Mason away and pulled out my phone. I dialed his number and waited.

"Hello?"

"Dad? It's Kate."

"Hey, sweetheart, need something?"

I smiled, remembering the years of loathing that nickname, but now it was comforting. Like a reminder of the summers I spent with my father. "Uh, yeah, actually. I have a major case that you might want to look at."

There was shuffling, and then a voice that asked "Who's that? Wife number sixty seven?" It even made me laugh, but dad grunted, like he was annoyed.

"Anyways," I cleared my throat. "In the past six hours, there have been five deaths of blondes from twenty to thirty with 'M' names. The girls were killed by injection, where they were dressed and posed at random dumpsites. It's most likely an obsessional killing spree."

"Send me the information, I'll get back to you, sweetheart." Dad said like it was no big deal, but I wasn't surprised by that. He had seen worse.

I nodded and logged onto my desktop computer. "Alright. Love you, daddy."

"Love you too, sweetheart, talk to you later."

"Kay, bye." I hung up the phone and looked through my email. I searched through the mail until I found the girls' files, and I forwarded them to my dad. When I was done, I sat back in my chair and sighed. This was going to be a long day.

*David Rossi*

I sighed and smiled when Kate hung up the phone. It was nice to hear my daughter's voice again, and it made a surge of confidence run through my veins.