Chapter Fifteen Maria spent the remainder of the morning meeting Elizabeth Randolph from Little Rock Arkansas. Elizabeth was called Betsey by everyone who knew her and Michael had to work hard to convince Maria the names were just coincidence and to move on. Elizabeth Randolph and Elizabeth Parker had nothing else in common, just like the rest. Betsey Randolph was so dissimilar from the other victims so far Maria was having a hard time getting a handle on her. She was a truant in high school, a repetitive runaway; she'd been forced into rehab when she was seventeen. At age twenty-four she was dead. Found by her mother in the backyard of a home she'd only moved back to recently, propped up against the back privacy fence with only the red scarf around her throat. Maria studied the crime scene photograph and occasionally glanced to the other victims on the table in front of her. "Why is he posing them? I mean, this looks posed and she was found outside. Liz wasn't posed at all, just thrown away…" Her voice caught and she shook her head. The guilt of a lost friendship still poised on her consciousness. She knew it would for a long time and there was no escaping it. It would take a long time for her to come to grips with the fact that Liz was gone; many more to wash away the guilt of not being there as a friend. The guilt was valid to a point, Maria knew that, Liz wasn't giving either as a friend. She had all but shut Maria out of the last couple of years. That was what would let Maria sift through the guilt she harbored. "I don't have an answer for that. She's the only one who was found outside at her house. Well, Lorelei was outside but barely." Michael ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "I don't know why he does anything. I have the early profile on him, but it does us no good, not really. He doesn't follow a pattern. You can't profile someone who has no pattern!" "There is a pattern," Maria said slowly not wanting to reiterate the same thing over and over. "You just haven't found it." Michael picked up a notepad and small tape recorder. "We should go meet Max Evans." Maria sighed and could feel the tension rolling off him. She had hurt him. Not only as an Agent, but also as a man. "Michael…" He turned around slowly to face her and she felt the sharp intake of breath. She saw him as he was. She saw a man in front of her who had devoted the last two years of his life chasing a madman across the country. She knew she had no right to emasculate his efforts. She hadn't meant it to come out that way. Not at all. "Do we drive or walk?" Michael asked and cocked his head to one side, still obviously offended. "Michael," she stood and walked towards him. Standing in front of him and looking up into his saddened eyes, she smiled. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound like such a bitch." She touched his arm when he opened his mouth to speak. "That came out sounding awful, I'm sorry." She gripped his arm and got the inclination to never let go of it. "You were right and that's what pisses me off," he said quietly. "I feel like a failure and when it's brought out into the light…I've got the blood of eleven women on my hands." "You are not a failure!" She exclaimed. "I mean, look at you. You have been committed for two years to find this guy and stop him. You lost the woman you were in love with; Christ, you were going to marry her! Do you even have a home anymore or did you give that up too?" "I gave up everything. I've lived from hotel to hotel and out of my car." He smirked. "I'm actually homeless." "Where do your bills get sent too?" Maria asked furrowing her brow. "I mean, I know you have to have bills…" "The Seattle office." He grinned and then laughed. "Way to end a self-loathing rant?" "Hey, if anyone knows about rants, it's me." She knew she was still holding on to his arm but she didn't care, it felt like a good thing to do. Possibly the right thing to do. "I am the queen of the rants and I've heard every excuse in the world to make me stop. Just a little applied learning, Agent Guerin." "I really liked it better when you called me 'Agent Michael'." Maria blushed and finally let go of his arm. "We should go see Max. And we're driving. Actually, you're driving. I've never been in a Mercedes before." Michael nodded and t |
| PARTS 15-21 |