Trial by Fire

Another good one Todd, perhaps you could read mine case-centric, if you have a chance. Good start..

Interesting story. Very captivating!

You really know how to tell a story, ever think of becoming a real writer for a tv show?

I really liked it! It's so visual, I feel like I'm watching an actual episode of Cold Case. I can't wait for your updates, you should be writing for the show. ;D

(Author's note: Again, pardon the long delay. Many real-world concerns. Hopefully this extra-long chapter should make up for it. I also finally pegged down when the story takes place, setting it after "Hoodrats", but before "Jurisprudence".)

I also made a playlist, so you can also hear the songs in the story here.





“Thanks for coming in, Tom.” Stillman said to the burly, middle-aged cook sitting down in his office.

“Yeah, sure. Anything I can do to help.” Tom Armstrong nodded before shaking his head and nodded. “Somebody you see everyday, somethin’ like this happening, you just never think that...”

“So how long was Charlie was a regular at your diner?” Kat asked, sitting down.

“I guess pretty close to a year.” Tom sighed. “You know, lookin’ back, I feel a little bad.”

“Why’s that?” Kat asked.

Tom shrugged. “I gave him kind of a chilly reception. I thought he was a bit of an odd duck, sitting in front of his computer, hardly saying anything to anyone. I actually thought maybe he’d turn out to be some kinda Ted Bundy or Unabomber type. It wasn’t until after what happened with Amelia that I realize how wrong I was. Then a few weeks later he just stopped showing up.”

“Did anyone come around asking about Charlie after Amelia was attacked?” Stillman asked.

Tom nodded. “Couple of reporters doing those human interest stories and such.” He paused and squinted slightly. “Now that I think about it, there was one that kinda stood out. I thought he was a little nosy, even for a reporter...”





(“Time Bomb” - Dave Matthews Band)


Charlie didn’t look up from his laptop until Tom placed the plate of food next to it.

“This is on the house.” Tom said evenly. “Like I said before, from now on, your money’s no good here, understand?”

“Okay.” Charlie said with a slight nod. “How’s Amelia?”

“She said she’s better but I told her to take a few more days.”

“I guess that’s probably a good idea.”

Tom gestured at the plate as a slight smirk appeared on his face. “Try not to let it get cold again.”

Charlie smiled as Tom turned back towards the kitchen, pausing as he saw the door open and a young man walk though it. A twenty something in a brown jacket and jeans, he looked rather unassuming except for the piercing look his gave, without even staring at anything in particular.

As Tom walked over to grab a menu, the young man took the cigarette out of his mouth and held up a hand. “It’s all right,” he said, exhaling smoke. “I just wanted a cup of coffee.”

The young man passed by Charlie’s table, gave a slight notice at Charlie, whose face was in his laptop. The young man stared for a moment, before pointing his finger. “Hey, you’re the guy in the paper, right? The one who saved that waitress, uhhh... Charlie... Keefe, right?”

“Uhhh...“ Charlie shifted nervously in his chair.

“Yeah, it’s you.” The young man said with a smile growing on his face. “The papers were talking about a hero you were.”

“Uh, it wasn’t that big a deal.”

“Hey, hey, don’t sell yourself short.” The young man said, leaning closer. “That was really brave, saving her like that.” The young man took a puff from his cigarette and looked down at the seat across the table from Charlie. “Mind if I have a seat?” He quickly sat down before Charlie could say anything and extended a hand, which Charlie reluctantly shook. “My name’s Elliott Franks. I work for the Philly Sun.”

Charlie lowered his head and rolled his eyes. “You’re another reporter.” He said under his breath.

“Look, I know you’re probably sick to death of people like me by now.” Elliott said with a softer. “I was just hoping for a few minutes of your time. I thought maybe I could find an angle to this story the other guys haven’t covered yet, you know, one journalist to another.”

Charlie glanced at his laptop, then back at Elliott. “It’s not quite the same thing, what we do.”

Elliott shrugged. “Well, maybe it’s different stories, but you still gotta get to the bottom of it before you can print it. You know, like you did with that piece in Aeronautics Quarterly last year.”

Charlie stared intently. “You know about that?”

Elliott nodded. “Yeah, I read it. You had some interesting conclusions, plus you were dead on about who was gonna get that government contract.”

Charlie smiled slightly. “It was just an educated guess. A lot of people would’ve figured the same.”

Elliott gave a facial shrug. “Doesn’t change the fact that you called it.”

Charlie’s smile grew, until he noticed Tom walking over to the table.

“Is this guy bothering you, Charlie?” Tom asked, his arms folded in disapproval.

Looking at Elliott for a moment, Charlie then turned to Tom with a smile. “No, it’s fine.”

Tom turned at walked away, heaving a sigh.

“So what did you want to know?” Charlie asked. Before Elliott could respond, Charlie coughed slightly, as wisps of smoke from Elliott’s cigarette found their way across the table.

Elliott held up the cigarette. “Oh, I’m sorry. Is this bothering you?” Without a word, Elliott pulled an ashtray out from the corner of the table and pushed the cigarette into it, snuffing it out.

“Is that better?” Elliott asked with a grin.





“That guy always rubbed me the wrong way.” Tom said. “Looked to me like he was just buttering Charlie up, showin’ an interest in his work. I didn’t hear the whole interview, I had other customers, but eventually, he started askin’ real personal stuff.”

“Like what?” Kat asked.

“Stuff like ‘Oh, what about that pretty waitress?’ ‘Do you like her?’ ‘Is she why you always come in here?’ ‘You ever asked her out?’ ‘Why haven’t you asked her out?’”

“He ever end up writing that article?” Stillman asked.

“Not as far as I know.” Tom shook his head. “That guy really rubbed me the wrong way.” He sighed and shrugged. “But I’ve been wrong before.”





Sitting in the office lunchroom, the thin, bald, middle-aged man sighed as he processed what Vera and Jeffries had told him about Victor.

“So word around here, Roy, is you were Victor’s buddy around the office.” Vera said.

Roy shrugged. “Well, kind of. We talked a bit at work, I think mainly cause our cubicles were right next to each other. We didn’t really socialize outside of work though. Victor was a nice guy, he just wasn’t really the outgoing type. Kinda just blended in.” Roy smirked slightly. “Course that changed a bit after he pushed that guy off the subway tracks. Even got a couple of reporters in here asking him for interviews”

“Yeah, about that.” Jeffries said. “You remember any these reporters, anything suspicious about them?”

Roy nodded. “There was one guy. For one thing, this was a couple of months after it happened. Things had kinda died down at that point. Not exactly ‘strike while the iron’s hot’, you know? I remember cause I bought copies of the Sun for a week after that, trying to find the article. Never turned up. At the time I thought maybe it just got cut, but now...”

“Now you’re wondering if this guy was up to something else?” Vera finished.

Roy nodded, suddenly looking very uneasy. “Now that I think about it though, that might not even be the worst part.”

“What is?” Jeffries asked, looking concerned.

Roy sighed, giving the detectives a disturbed look. “I think I might’ve helped give the guy some info...”




(“Black Black Heart” - David Usher)

Standing up from his cubicle, Roy headed over to the water cooler in the hallway, where Victor was still talking to the young man who’d been talking with him for the last few minutes. As he got closer, Roy could see the young man subtly rubbing two fingers against each other on his right hand.

Itching for a smoke, aren’t you buddy? Roy thought to himself, smiling. Makes me glad I quit.

“Hey Vic, you gonna grab some lunch with me?”

Victor nodded. “In a few minutes. I was just answering some questions for this guy from the Sun.”

“Oh, another one?” Roy said, chuckling. He turned to the young man and extended a hand. “Roy Cutler.” He said, giving a smile.

“Frank Ellison.” The young man responded, shaking his hand.

“So, yeah, I’ll definitely check that place out.” Victor said with a smile.

Frank nodded. “Yeah, you should. The guy’s great getting in a lot of hard-to-find stuff, and I’m talking first edition vinyls here.”

Victor turned to Roy. “Frank here was just telling me about this great little store for that kind of thing.”

Roy smirked at Victor. “So you finally found someone who’s as big a record collector as you, huh?”

Frank shrugged innocently. “Well it can’t hurt to have something in common with the guy you wanna talk to.”

“You wanna talk to him about something, ask him why he isn’t going up for the big promotion.” Roy chucked, tapping Victor’s arm with his elbow, to which Victor gave a pained look in response.

Frank immediately turned to Victor, looking intrigued. “What’s that about?”

Victor shook his head. “The head of our department’s retiring in a couple of months and there’s some talk going around about who’s gonna take over for him. That’s all it is though, talk.”

Roy nodded. “And I said Vic here should throw his hat into the ring.” Roy turned to Victor when he shook his head. “Why not? You’ve been here longer than any of us, you’re smart, you always work late anyway. Why not step up?”

Frank folded his arms, looking at Victor intently. “Why don’t you?”

“Because!” Victor said, his voice a bit higher than usual, before pausing himself. “There’s probably a bunch of other people who want it more than me. I wouldn’t even end up getting it.”

Roy sighed. “There’s only one other guy in the office who’s interested, and he’s a complete jerk. You just don’t wanna compete with him.”

“What if I don’t?” Victor said with a shrug. “Maybe I’m just not a confrontational guy.”

Roy waved Victor’s last comment off and groaned. “It’s a waste of talent, if you ask me. Anyway, I’m off to lunch. You’re both welcome to join me.”

“Maybe in a few minutes.” Frank said, still staring at Victor. “We just got a few more things to talk about.” A trace of a grin appeared on Frank’s face. “If you don’t mind, of course.”

Victor quickly shook his head. “No, no, that’s fine.” He turned to Roy. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

Roy gave Frank a strange look, then headed off. As he headed down the hallway, he could hear Frank and Victor still talking.

“So about this promotion, you don’t think you deserve it?”

“No, no. It’s not that.”

“Well, what is then, hmmm?”

Roy shook his head and kept walking...





Roy shook his head. “Suddenly, that guy was real interested in Victor and that promotion.”

“And they were talking about records before that?” Jeffries asked.

“Yeah, Vic was big time collector.”

Jeffries nodded and leaned over to Vera. “Find some common interests, get ‘em to open up. Just like he did with Charlie.”

“You follow someone around for a while, you can learn what their interests are.” Vera said quietly. “Which means he’s had these people picked out for days, weeks, maybe months.”

Jeffries turned back to Roy. “You were the last one to see Victor the day he disappeared.”

“Yeah. There was nothing out of the ordinary.” Roy said. “We both worked late, then we went out to our cars. Vic cut through the alley to get to his and that’s the last I saw of him.”

“Missing Persons report says his car was still parked there and locked the next morning.” Jeffries said.

“Meaning if somebody got to him, it was in the alley.” Vera added before looking down in thought. “There’s some alleyways like that around the office where Laurie Carter works too.”

“Audie.” Vera said softly to himself.

“Audie?” Jeffries repeated, confused.

“It’s a long shot, but I wanna check something out.” Vera said to Jeffries, while standing up and handing Roy a card. “Thanks, if you think of anything else...” Vera was already halfway out the door when he turned to a puzzled-looking Jeffries. “You wanna take a ride? We just gotta pick something up first.”





“Audie?” Vera called, tapping on the makeshift shelter in the alley, made of shopping carts and cardboard boxes. “Audie, it’s Detective Vera, open up.”

Vera and Jeffries heard some rustling inside, and a moment later, the shelter’s sole occupant, a short, disheveled man with squinting eyes, finally emerged.

Audie eyed Vera and Jeffries nervously. “I... I can’t talk to you. The Upper Echelons don’t like me talking to you. They have... listening posts monitoring for that. I can’t let them hear me talking to you.”

Vera smiled and bent down to reach the grocery bag next to him, pulling out a box of corn flakes. “Not even if I had these?”

Audie’s eyes lit up at the sight of the box. “Where did you get this? I thought the Upper Echelons confiscated it all.”

Vera shrugged. “I had some stored away for safe keeping.” He pulled the box away from Audie slightly. “You gonna talk now?”

Audie quickly nodded and Vera handed him the box. Audie immediately tore the box open, then the bag inside, and immediately scooped up a handful of the cereal.

“The crunching sound drowns out the listening posts.” Vera said with a smile to Jeffries. “Shorts them out temporarily. That’s why the Upper Echelons banned it.”

“Right.” Jeffries said, rolling his eyes.

“Okay, it’s safe to talk now, Audie.” Vera said, turning back to the homeless man munching on corn flakes. “You heard about the woman who got abducted here two years ago, worked around here?”

“Uhhh...” Audie’s eyes darted around nervously.

“Probably passed by you all the time.” Jeffries added.

“Audie?” Vera said with a warning tone. “You know something, now’s the time to say it.”

Audie looked down at the cereal box, then up at Vera and Jeffries, looking in pain.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered. “I tried to help her.”

“Help? How?” Jeffries asked.

“She was always nice.” Audie whispered. “She gave me a granola bar once.” He shut his eyes tight and shook his head. “The Upper Echelons must not have liked that. That must be why they sent the dark sentinel for her.”

“Dark sentinel?” Vera asked.

Audie nodded and pointed to the alley. “He gained her trust, then he came and took her, right here...”





Audie poked his head out of the shelter at the sound of the hard-soled shoes going over the sidewalk at the other end of the alley. Recognizing the woman, Audie watched as she continued walking, stopping at the sight of the young man leaning up against the corner of the wall, taking a puff from his cigarette.

“Mr. Franklin.” Laurie said with a smile. “What are you doing here?”

A smirk came over the young man’s face. “Please. Mister Franklin is my father. I’m just plain old Ellis. And I’m just following up on another story.” Ellis stood up and walked closer to her. “But anyway how’s the book coming? You get through any more chapters yet?”

Laurie nodded her head. “Just a few. It’s really good though. Actually I read something about it online. They say his next book’s going to be about some secret society.”

“Yeah, he hasn’t done that before.” Ellis said, chuckling.

Laurie chuckled and shrugged. “Well, I guess he’s sticking to what he knows. You can’t really blame him for that.”

Ellis’ smile faded. “No, you definitely shouldn’t pretend to be something you’re not. That’s for sure.”

Laurie chuckled uneasily.

The young man’s smile returned abruptly. “Anyway, what are you doing here this late?”

Laurie shrugged. “Uhhh... well, I ended up working a bit later than I meant to. I gotta get home. Ben’s probably waiting up for me.”

Ellis cocked his head. “You don’t seriously believe that, do you?”

“I’m sorry?” Laurie asked, suddenly feeling nervous.

“You don’t actually think he’s home right now, being the faithful husband and all that, do you?” He asked, with a condescending tone, giving her a hateful stare. “Even you’re not that stupid.”

Laurie pulled her arms around herself. “Okay, I don’t think I wanna talk to you anymore.”

She turned away from him, but suddenly a strange smelling cloth was pressed against her mouth and nose.

Ignoring her muffled screams and increasingly weak struggles, Ellis pulled her to him. “You know perfectly well that he’s a liar and a hypocrite.” He hissed into her ear, blowing smoke from the cigarette still in his mouth as he did. “Just like you!”

Finally she went limp.

“Hey!” Audie yelled, finally finding his voice after being shocked into silence at the sight. “What are you doing?” He yelled, running towards the young man, now picking up the unconscious Laurie. “Stop! Let her go!” Audie yelled.

With his free hand, the young man grabbed Audie by the chest and shoved him back into a pile of garbage bags overflowing from a dumpster.

The young man started walking through the alley towards a white van at the other end, it’s loading doors open. As he did, Audie struggled to get up. Seeing this, the young man stopped and bent over him, giving Audie a frightening glare.

“You can’t save her!” He hissed, pulling the cigarette from his mouth. “No one can!” Without another word, he pressed the lit end of the cigarette into the open palm of Audie‘s hand. Audie cried out in pain, and stumbled back into the garbage pile, while the young man continued carrying Laurie towards the van.





“He burned me with his heat laser.” Audie pulled the fingerless glove off his right hand and showed his palm, the scar from the burn still visible. “I tried to save her.” He said softly, blinking back tears. “I tried.”

“Okay, Audie.” Vera said gently. “It’s not your fault.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t say anything before.” Audie continued, lowering his head. “I wish he’d come for me instead.”

“White van.” Jeffries said quietly to Vera. “That’s something.”

Audie finally looked up at them again. “I don’t care if the Upper Echelons punish me for this.” He said, weakly. “Somebody’s gotta stop him before he comes for someone else.”

“We will, Audie.” said Vera.

“And what you told us is gonna help us do that.” Added Jeffries.

Audie looked at them a moment, then nodded solemnly.





“So how many white vans are there in Philly?” Kat said, her vision starting to blur at the piles of vehicle registrations on her desk.

Scotty shook his head, staring at the equally large pile on his own desk. “Too many.” He looked around at the dim lights barely lighting the nearly bare Homicide squad. “Would’ve been nice if this guy of Vera’s could’ve given us a plate or at least a make.”

Kat smiled slightly. “Doesn’t sound like he was a big car guy.”

Scotty chuckled.

Lilly looked up from the pile on her desk as Stillman exited his office and walked over.

“Not exactly a surprise, but there’s no record of an Elliott Franks, Frank Ellison, or Ellis Franklin ever working at the Sun”

“Pretty strange choice of aliases.” Kat said thoughtfully. “That similar, it doesn’t make any sense.”

“It does in his mind.” Stillman said. “Just not to us.”

“That’s true.” Scotty said with a sigh. “Only one a serial killer makes sense to is a serial killer.”

“One thing, though.” Lilly said. “What do you think he meant about Laurie and being a liar and a hypocrite?”

“Good question.” Stillman nodded. “He said her husband was one too. Maybe we wanna bring him in tomorrow and ask.”

Lilly looked over the van registrations. “Think there might be some tracks we missed at the warehouse?”

“It’s possible.” Scotty said. “Knowing what kind of tread would definitely narrow things down. Might be worth checking out.”

“Well, we can take a look in the morning.” Stillman said.

Lilly glanced at her watch. “I got time.”

Stillman shook his head. “No, you don’t. None of us do. Doherty’s still on me about overtime, so we’re calling it a night.”

Lilly opened her mouth to say something, but Stillman cut her off. “Tomorrow.” He said, giving Scotty and Kat a look.. The other two detectives, getting the hint, straighten their desks slightly, and went to get their coats.





The moonlight crept through the broken windows of the dilapidated warehouse. Stepping over the crime scene tape, Lilly scanned her flashlight around for tire tracks outside, but saw none.

Turning around to see if she missed anything, she suddenly heard a noise coming from inside the warehouse. Drawing her gun, she headed towards the entrance and stepped inside.

The interior looked just as it had before, refuse strewn about. Lilly’s eyes panned over the warehouse until they settled on the hidden basement.

She reached the top of the stairs and shone the light down, but saw nothing in front of her. Giving the space besides the stairs a quick look, she stepped down slowly.

The room seemed completely bare. Even the Crime Scene Unit had cleared out everything. It appeared empty, until her eyes fell upon the one remaining thing in the center of the room.

The body.

Did they find another one? Lilly thought, before shaking her head. We would’ve heard if they had.

It was still, covered with a sheet, far too bulky to be another burned body. Lilly shone her flashlight over it and stepped closer.

It was only then that she noticed the faint whispering she was hearing. It sounded like multiple voices, each one echoing, not seeming to come from anywhere in particular. She strained to listen, unable to make them out at fist. After a few moments, however, words started registering with her. Lilly turned around the room as the whispers continued.

“Once hope is gone, dying is just a formality.” One voice said.

“Nothing lasts forever,” said another voice over the faint sound of a music box playing.

“You can only keep the flood back for so long.” A third voice said.

“You’re not gonna take her from me,” said a fourth voice. “Not again!” A shot rang out in the distance, spinning Lilly back around to the body.

Breathing heavily, she stepped closer, crouching over it. Setting down her flashlight, but holding onto her gun, she took a hold of the sheet and pulled it back.

What she saw made her draw a quick breath and quickly stand up.

He was just as she’d remembered him, just as she’d seen him last; the clothes, the glasses, even the three bullet holes in his chest.

Then he opened his eyes.

No, it’s not possible. She thought.

The same smug grin she’d remembered returned to his face as he sat up, and finally stood.

“Hello, Lilly.” George said. “Long time, no kill.”

Thanks for updating the story and creating the playlist.

Since you're precising that the setting of this case is between Hoodrats and Jurisprudence, I expected continuity details which, of course, popped up (Kat's still here but there's Doherty's pressure with the Stillman's line about overtime). Your attention to details is always much appreciated!

So far, I found this case up to the show's serial killer standards and it's very well constructed. So now we know more about his MO: he likes his victims modest and with low self confidence (Charlie about Amelia, Victor about the promotion), finds their interest (Aeronautics, Vinyls, Books..) in order to gain their trust, and finally abducts them in a dark empty alley.

But there were a new round of questions: What's with the name variations of "Frank" and "Elli"? Is Laurie's husband really unfaithful or is it the product of the guy's distorted mind? How are they going to narrow the list of white vans in Philly?

2 randoms things: it's funny that the serial burner is a heavy smoker! I didn't know the song by the Dave Matthews Band and liked it a lot.

On the down side, the 2nd flashback didn't do anything for me but I guess you needed to clearly show the pattern (1/ approach, 2/ getting personal info and 3/the abduction). I think this is mostly because Victor hadn't any development yet and Roy's character was a bit random. On the contrary, the Audie interview was original and funny and reminded me of the schizophrenic guy in Mind Games. It was a good choice to pick the woman for the abduction part (felt more scary to me!).

So Lilly is going against Stillman's instructions AGAIN (big Joseph's vibe there). The quotes feel like a quizz to me so here are my guesses:
“Once hope is gone, dying is just a formality.” => John Smith from the Road
“Nothing lasts forever,” => Music box bomber from Sabotage
“You can only keep the flood back for so long.” => Moe in Into The Blue
“You’re not gonna take her from me, not again!” => The guy from Stalker

Now the cliffhanger... when you told me you were bringing back a familiar face, I never thought it would be a DEAD one. That's kind of cheating
I strongly suspected it would be a previous serial killer after Scotty's line "Only one a serial killer makes sense to is a serial killer."
So is it a dream or a psychological breakdown? Actually there's no need for an explanation, people see dead people all the time on the show, after all
Anyhow, I'm dying to read the upcoming conversation between those two...

One thing Amazing!

You really know how to tell a story. This could very well be a episode of Cold Case minus the unexpected showing of George! That was a great twist in the storyline. You seem to be able to keep things interesting yet still realistic at the same time. You seem to have a good understanding of the format they use to write the cases and you add a lot of emotion and imagery into your story as well. I'm looking forward to reading the next installment of the story. You have some real talent. Can't wait to read your future projects.

Lilly kept her gun trained on George, breathing heavily. “You’re not real.” She whispered, shaking her head. “You’re dead.”

George looked down at the three bullet holes in his chest, then back up at her with a smirk. “Well, you would know, wouldn’t you?” He said, looking amused at the look of shock on her face. “I told you before, you sleep with the dead, and you act surprised when you start dreaming about them?” He looked at her gun. “What exactly do you think you’re going to do with that, anyway?”

“Why are you here?” Lilly asked, holstering the gun.

George shrugged. “You tell me. It’s your mind. I’ve never put much stock in psycho-babble, but perhaps there’s a reason I’m here. Perhaps there’s something in you that reminded you of me.”

“I’m not like you!” Lilly said insistently.

George nodded. “Yes, you’ve said that before, but then why else would I be here? Maybe I’m a part you’d prefer to pretend didn’t exist. The part that was relieved when your waste of a mother finally died. The part that was following that fellow from the military academy, just thinking about what it would be like to give his car a little tap as he goes over a bridge. The part that pointed a gun at a twelve year-old boy and said you wanted to kill him.”

“He shot Will. He was trying to shoot at us.”

“Well, you’d be surprised what a twelve year-old boy is capable of, with a gun in his hands.” George said with a knowing smile. “But as I said, perhaps there’s reason I’m here, now.”

“A serial killer, like you.” Lilly said, thoughtfully.

“One who’s very particular in choosing his prey, and in his weapon. Fire, that’s a new one.”

“And you think you can help?” Lilly asked, with disgust.

“Perhaps what you need...” George said, pulling two glass deer eyes from his pocket and holding them up, “...is a pair of fresh eyes. So go ahead. Ask your questions. Like your boss said, all those years ago, after he caught the bad man who hurt you, as long as you ask the right questions, it’s never too late.” He gestured to the three charred bodies that had suddenly appeared on the slab in front of him. “Though I think they might disagree.”

Lilly kept her eyes on George, staring at him a few moments before finally speaking. “We know the ones he picks, how he gains their trust.”

“The lonely ones, the pathetic losers. So quick to believe someone would actually take an interest in their pitiful little lives.” George said, pulling out more deer eyes and slowly placing them into the corpses’ eye sockets. “We see what we want to.”

“But we don’t know why.” Lilly continued. “Why them?”

George shrugged. “Maybe he’s got a beef with people who go around saving lives.”

“But then why not a fireman or a paramedic?”

“Or a cop?” George added with a smile. “No, our friend isn’t interested in professionals. He’s going after people who went above and beyond the call of duty.”

“But why them? What’s his endgame?”

George shook his head. “Oh, this is no game to him. He's got a point to make and he’s very insistent on making it.”

“Answer me this.” George continued. “When some random nobody steps out of the crowd, pushes some old lady our of the way of a speeding bus, what typically happens to that fellow afterward, hmm?”

Lilly said nothing.

George chuckled. “Ticker-tape parade? Human interest story on the six o’clock news? And most of all, what’s the dirty little four-letter word people love to use for people like that?”

Lilly sighed. “Hero.” She said, finally.

George nodded.“Now tell me, what’s the likelihood someone would be using chloroform and accelerants to get their point across if that’s what they believed?”

“They’re not heroes.” Lilly said. “Not to him.”

“No, they’re something far worse in his eyes. They’re hypocrites, wearing a mantle they don’t deserve.” He looked over the three corpses with a smile. “I imagine it’s hard to look brave as you watch your own skin melting away.”

“But why?” Lilly asked most insistently. “Why does it matter to him?” She looked down in thought. “Does he think he should get credit for saving someone?” She looked up as something occurred to her. “Or was he someone who needed to be saved, but wasn’t?”

George grinned in approval. “Didn’t it bother you? When the bad man attacked you and no one came to help?”

Lilly hesitated at this, then fixed him a steel glare. “Just like it bothered you, when he attacked you and even your own mother wouldn’t help.”

His grin twisted into an icy stare. “You have one more ‘why’ to ask. Now ask it.”

Lilly paused for a moment, unsure what to say, until she looked back over at the charred bodies, then back at George. “Why fire? Why does he want to burn them?”

“Why indeed?” George said evenly.

“Is that what no one saved him from? A fire?”

“Burn victims tend to stick out.” George said, skeptically. “Surely the fat cook or the office drone would’ve noticed that.”

“The burns might not have been visible under his clothes.” Lilly said, shaking her head, before another possibility entered her mind. “Or...”

“Or...?” George said in anticipation.

“He wasn’t the one burned.” She said, surprising herself. “There was someone else. Someone close to him. Someone no one saved.”

George put his hands together in a slow, condescending applause. “You know, in all my years of hunting, it never occurred to me how much more enjoyable it might be to have a partner.”

“We’re not partners.” Lilly said, her tone filled with contempt . “I’m done with you.”

“It doesn’t work like that.” George said. “You can’t make me run away like your father and every other man in your life ever did. And this time a few lucky shots won’t get rid of me so easily either! I’m a part of you.”

“You’re not a part me!” Lilly said, starting to breathe heavily.

“Do me a favor.” George said, pulling out the handgun and pointing at her. “When you kill him, like you killed me, tell him I look forward to meeting him. We have a lot to catch up on.”

“I’m not killing anyone.”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

“I’m not like you!”

“You’re the hunter in the woods now.”

“No!” Lilly said, rasing her voice, suddenly noticing her own weapon was raised again. “I’m not you!”

George flashed her one last cruel smile as he raised his gun. “Wanna bet?”

Without hesitating, Lilly fired. The sound that emerged wasn’t anything like a gunshot, however. Instead, it sounded far more like the high-pitched buzz of an alarm clock.

Instinctively pressing the button on the clock, Lilly turned over to see Olivia sitting patiently at the foot of her bed.

Lilly closed her eyes and took a breath.





The other detectives quickly noticed the worn look in Lilly’s eyes as she walked in.

“You get any sleep last night?” Kat asked.

“Too much.” Lilly said.

Kat considered responding to this, but decided not to. “We’re sifting through white van owners who fit the description.”

“Which seems to be pretty much all of them.” Grumbled Vera.

“Try cross-referencing any who have a connection to any fire-related death in the last twenty years.” Lilly said, causing the other detectives to look up at her.

“Fire deaths?” Jeffries asked.

“Could make sense.” Scotty said thoughtfully. “Some guy upset someone he loved wasn’t saved.”

Lilly shook his head. “I think this is about more than that.”

Scotty shrugged. “Anyways we got Ben Carter in Interview 2. I was waitin’ for you to talk to Romeo here.”





“Have you found anything more information on Laurie?” Ben asked, looking at the detectives inquisitively.

“Eh, it’s more of a new angle.” Scotty said. “It’s gotta be hard on a marriage, workin’ long hours like that. Not that I’d know.” Scotty smirked.

Ben shrugged. “It wasn’t always easy, but we made it work.”

Lilly nodded. “Still, it must seem like you see your co-workers more than your wife. Can start to flip things around. You start telling a co-worker a joke or a story you don’t bother to tell you wife.”

“Maybe you start findin’ excuses to work late, maybe get some dinner.” Scotty continued.

“Go back to her place, or maybe just to a motel.” Lilly said.

Ben eyed the two detective. “W- what exactly are you accusing me of?”

“Did you wife know you were steppin’ out?” Scotty asked.

Looking at the detective with a forced amount of disbelief, Ben opened his mouth and looked about to say something then sighed.

“I loved Laurie.” Ben said quietly, sounding almost relieved. “I never wanted to hurt her.”

“Did she know?” Scotty asked pointedly.

Ben nodded. “She found a receipt in my pocket for a motel room. I tried to downplay it, tell her it was for a client from out of town. At the time, it seemed like she believed me, but looking back...”

“You think she must’ve known.” Lilly said.

“I don’t understand why she wouldn’t say anything.” Ben said solemnly.

“Maybe she just didn’t wanna face the truth.” Scotty said.

“I was relieved when she didn’t say anything.” Ben lowered his head. “Now part of me wishes she had.”





Hours later, Kat ran her thumb over the piece of tape, sticking the picture to the board. The young man in the picture looked rather unassuming, except for his piercing stare.

“Seth Morrison, thirty-three.” Kat announced “Proud owner of a ‘96 Dodge van, purchased in January ‘99.”

“A few months before the first abduction.” Stillman said.

“There’s more.” Vera said. “Had a sister named Ellie Morrison and father named Frank Morrison.”

“Elliot Franks.” Scotty said.

“Frank Morrison, I remember him.” Stillman said. “Big time firefighter. Twenty-five year veteran of the department.”

“Yeah.” Jeffries said. “Won all those awards for valor.”

“Except in April of 1990, when he took a few months bereavement leave,” Kat said. “After his daughter Ellie was killed in a house fire.”

“And nine years later Seth starts abductin’ people to watch ‘em burn, just like his sister did.” Scotty said.

“We got an address on Seth?” Stillman asked.

“His name’s on the lease of an apartment in Fishtown.” Vera said. “Already got Bell waking up a judge.”





Lilly shone her flashlight around the grungy apartment, flanked by Stillman and Scotty. SWAT officers had already confirmed the apartment clear of any surprises. In the kitchen, Louie shone his light on a half-eaten sandwich next to the filled ashtray on the table.

“Somebody was here, maybe a day ago.” He said.

Scotty scanned his light over the sandwich, then to some papers next to it. Each had a black and white picture taped to it, one cut from a newspaper clipping. Scotty immediately recognized the smiling faced in the pictures as Charlie, Victor, and Laurie. Next to each of the pictures on the paper was writing, by hand.

“What is this, some sort of home-made newspaper article?” He asked.

Lilly looked over one of them. “Laurie Carter was celebrated in the papers as a hero for saving a young boy from drowning.” She read. “In truth she was a coward and hypocrite. She was too afraid to confront her husband about his obvious infidelities, preferring instead to live in denial, ignoring his actions and allowing them to continue.”

Scotty looked over at another article. “Victor Rodriguez was willing to accept credit for saving the life of a man at the train tracks, yet told no one of the cowardice he demonstrated in the workplace, allowing a less qualified co-worker to gain a promotion he’d been entitled to.”

Stillman looked down at a third. “Charles Keefe permitted the city to perpetuate the falsehood that he was heroic after foiling the attempted rape of a waitress. In truth, he was paralyzed by the simplest of requests...”





“Look.” Seth said, holding up the newspaper and the cigarette, and giving the still groggy Charlie a slap. “Look!”

On the slab, Charlie squinted his eyes to look at the paper until he could make out the headline. It was one of the articles that had been printed after the attack in the diner. Amelia was beaming proudly, her arm around Charlie, who was giving a shy smile.

“You think you’re brave?” Seth hissed. “You think it’s okay to let them print this when you know better?”

“Wh- what are you talking about?” Charlie asked weakly.

“I saw you.” Seth said coldly. “I watched you when you thought I wasn’t there. You can take down a rapist without breaking a sweat, but you’d rather do anything than say a few words to a pretty girl.”

“What?” Charlie asked.

“You saved the girl’s life.” Seth continued, putting the cigarette back in his mouth.“If she was ever gonna say yes, this is the time. But just asking her out, something men have been doing forever, it terrifies you. You’re nothing but a hypocrite.” With that, he pulled the cigarette from his mouth, threw it to the floor and stomped on it, crushing it slowly under his boot. “I hate hypocrites.” He said between his teeth. “There’s only one thing they deserve.”





“So he’s calling them out on what he thinks is their hypocrisies.” Stillman said. “Trying to prove they’re not heroes.”

“So these were some sort of personal expose on them.” Lilly added.

Behind them, Vera looked around, until he spotted what looked like yet another page, which had fallen under the table. Vera shone his light on the smiling young woman on the page, then leaned back. “Whoa.” He said. “Check this out.”

The other three officers moved their flashlights to the page on the floor. None of them recognized the young woman, an African-American teen, smiling in the photo.

“This girl’s new.” Scotty said, uneasily, looking over the page, which had only a paragraph of writing. “Some sort of first draft?”

“Gabrielle Tyler permitted the public to view her as a hero after saving a classmate’s life.” Lilly read. “She did nothing to dispel this myth as it perpetuated to readers everywhere.”

“I don’t get it.” Vera said. “Usually he picks his victims just before April.”

Stillman looked around the abandoned apartment. “He knows he doesn’t have until April.”

Lilly stared at Angela’s photo. “If he's found her already, then she doesn’t either.”

This is fantastic. It feels like a good episode of Cold Case . I can't wait to read the next parts.