Tuesday January 30

9:45 am

Undisclosed location

Nikki slowly began to come aware of her surroundings and she knew three things for certain, her mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton and sand, her arms felt like someone was pulling them out of their sockets, and she was naked. Realization slowly came and Nikki knew she was in trouble. She was in some kind of windowless room, secured to a chair, her arms and legs bound. It smelled like a cross between mildew and garbage and she was very cold. Had she had anything in her stomach she may have lost it, instead she fought the bile that threatened to come up. Nikki tried to take in her surroundings without alerting anyone who may be watching her that she was awake, but a moan escaped her lips when she tried to wiggle her hands loose. Something was wrong with her left hand, it felt like it was ten times its normal size. She couldn’t see her hand because it was behind her back but she could feel some sort of bandage around it. Fighting against the incessant pounding in her head she continued to take in her surroundings when she heard a faint scuffle behind her and then she felt hot breath on her neck,

“I see you decided to join me agent Sebastian” came an oily voice that sent chills up Nikki’s spine and made her instantly think of an eel. She didn’t reply right away and then she felt a jolt of white hot pain go shooting from her left hand all the way up her arm as a scream left her lips.

“It’s not polite to ignore a direct question agent Sebastian, I assumed you had been raised better than that.” Nikki caught movement out of her left eye and slowly a man’s form came around from behind her stopping directly in front of her. The man was probably 5’ 10”, maybe 170 lbs. He had jet black hair that was perfectly in place and he wore designer eyeglasses. He was a good looking guy by most standards, but when Nikki looked into his dark, lifeless eyes, she felt like she was looking directly at evil itself. She had sat across from numerous rapists and murderers in her time with the FBI, but this man in front of her was in another class all together. Nikki immediately felt the terror and hopelessness that his victims must have felt looking into those black eyes.

Nikki leaned her shoulders back and never releasing his vicious gaze asked, “Why did you take me, what do you hope to gain by taking an FBI agent? You know they won’t stop until they find one of their own, don’t you?”

He smiled at her and that was even scarier than the menacing looks he had been leveling at her before. “If they are so good agent Sebastian, why are you here with me?” He continued smiling until he turned and headed to the stairs over her right shoulder. Before he ascended the stairs he said, “I will send your friends a little reminder of who is in charge agent Sebastian. I am smarter than everyone at the FBI, that’s why you haven’t caught me yet.” She heard him climb the stairs behind her and she said under her breath, “you might think you are smarter than everyone at the FBI, but it’s Simon you should be worrying about….”

Monday January 29

9:55 am

Nikki’s Townhouse

Rob McShay was standing in Nikki’s living room trying to figure out just what had happened. The agent watching Nikki failed to check in after his shift so they dispatched another agent and they found the first agent in his car, dead. He was sitting behind the wheel, sunglasses on and he looked normal. The ME had found a small puncture wound on his neck and was sure he was injected with something. Until toxicology came back, they were only guessing. There was no sign of struggle at Nikki’s house and her car was missing. On his way to her house, Rob had the GPS tracker in Nikki’s car activated and it was found a couple of blocks away in a parking garage, no sign of Nikki. Another team was working her car now looking for clues and Rob was beside himself. He always had a fondness for Nikki and standing there imagining what she may be going through at the hands of the Panty Snatcher, he realized that his feelings for Nikki were more than fondness, he really cared about her. He was mad at himself that it took her getting abducted and placed in harm’s way for him to be able to see what had been right in front of him these last few years.

Rob had been reading Simon’s blog all along and he knew Simon was talking about Nikki and knew how he felt about her as well. He was desperate and not knowing what else to do he grabbed a piece of paper and a marker and jotted a note down and held it up in front of one of Nikki’s interior cameras. The note read “Simon, Nikki has been abducted, I need your help.”

Rob had been sitting on the couch trying to figure out what to do next and had been there maybe 20 minutes after displaying the note when he heard a faint noise coming from upstairs. He made his way up the stairs, following the noise which was some kind of ringtone which got louder as he approached the master bedroom. He stepped inside and after following the noise he eventually found a cell phone plugged into an outlet behind the headboard of the bed. He pulled the phone out and answered it: “McShay”. A couple of seconds later a male voice came across the line,

“I will warn you once McShay, if this is some attempt to catch me you will regret it. Your sister Jane and her daughters Melony and April would bear the brunt of my rage and you will be left there to watch. Proceed carefully.” The voice calmly explained.

After swallowing past the sudden lump in his throat at that comment, Rob steadied himself and responded, “Simon, Nikki was abducted some time yesterday. The agent watching her failed to check in and when we dispatched another agent, we found him dead in his car, a small puncture wound to his neck. Nikki’s car was found a few blocks away in a parking garage and we are processing the scene now. I don’t know what else to do which is why I reached out to you. I have seen what the Panty Snatcher does to his victims….” his voice trailed off. After several seconds Simon replied,

“Is there a diamond butterfly pendant anywhere in the house, with the rest of her jewelry or in the bedroom or bathroom?” Rob searched everywhere and did not find it. He returned to the line,

“I can’t find a butterfly pendant anywhere, why does it matter?” he asked breathlessly.

“Keep the phone with you and I will advise you one more time, if you attempt to use it against me it will not help you find me but the promise I made earlier will be kept.” The line went dead and Rob slowly sank down to the edge of Nikki’s bed. What had he just done by involving Simon? He didn’t care at this point, he only wants Nikki back safely.

Sunday January 28

9:55 am

Nikki’s Townhouse

Nikki had been doing some house cleaning and happened to look at her laptop and saw an email from Simon in her inbox, it must have come in when she was vacuuming as she didn’t hear the alert. She sat down and opened the email:

“Dear Butterfly,

I found him Nikki, Philip Bernard. I was able to use the satellite photos from his crime scenes and I saw the motorhome. I was able to pull footage from a security camera nearby and I have the license plate he is currently using. I am heading that way now and once I get a visual on him I will let you know so you can send in your team. I hope you have the same success with the Snatcher, I still can’t shake this feeling I am having.

Unfortunately, I think Bernard has killed again. I received the following late last night, “Simon, I hope by now you see that I am every bit as good at this as you are, probably better. I have sent another sinner back to their maker. You were right, the bow is a great tool. Catch you later Simon. Wrath”

He has already left that scene, I have attached the coordinates for you to find the body. Be safe Nikki.

All my love,

Simon”

Nikki quickly contacted the local office and gave them the location and asked to be updated immediately when they find the scene. She emailed the info to Rob and since she was still full of energy and couldn’t relax, she decided to head to the grocery store to pick up some food for the upcoming week. She grabbed her keys and purse and headed out to her car. She spotted the agent in his car across the street as she opened her door and slid into the driver’s seat. She put the key in the ignition and felt a pinch in her neck and then everything went black……

Saturday January 27

4:15 pm

I don’t watch too much TV, I prefer live entertainment, but every now and again I flip through the channels to see if anything interesting is going on in the world. Well, I found someone the rage hates even more than the new colonel, remember that little “can you hear me now” prick? He jumped from one company to…. Sprint. You remember the rage’s disdain for a breach in loyalty as well as anything to do with Sprint, not only did this guy fuck over his last company, he did it to join Sprint. That is the definition of dick in my dictionary. How pathetic is it that Sprint can’t even come up with their own advertising, they have to steal shitty actors from other companies? The rage would like to get that little bitch on his table and find out using his drill if dick muncher can hear him now. Probably not through his screams though, the rage can dream….

Too bad for November that we saw the commercial right before it was time to “Work Bitch”. And work the rage did. Turns out that November worked, when it suited the lazy bastard, in landscaping which means he had a nice chainsaw. Unfortunately for him, we watched a pirate movie the night before and one of the crew was being punished, they were giving him lashes. That’s getting whipped for those who don’t watch pirate movies or know what lashings are. Since the rage doesn’t have a whip in his bag of tricks, yet, he made due with the chainsaw chain. The rage can be very creative and inventive when the motivation strikes and I have never seen him this motivated. He fashioned a handle to one end of the chain, after making sure to dull it up somewhat first, more painful he reasoned. Then he went to work lashing November until he saw the error of his ways. Actually, I don’t think he saw anything, I found one of his eyeballs on the floor when we were cleaning up. I think he probably made it through 20-25 lashes before November was done but the rage likes even numbers so he rounded up to 50. We packaged what was left and took it to where we had been leaving corn out on the edge of a field not too far out of town to draw in the hogs. We spiced up their diet somewhat. I never could understand why people buried bodies they were trying to hide when there are so many other natural, and certainly more creative, ways available to ensure nothing remains. We like to recycle, I think it’s Kevin’s influence. Hey, speaking of Kevin you will be happy to know he found a good home for Skidmark, that’s what the rage named the black lab. He wasn’t too happy about giving the dog up until he met his new kid and then he knew that’s where Skidmark needed to be. He was almost inconsolable until I promised to buy him a real whip. Not that he didn’t enjoy his homemade one, it just wouldn’t make that Crack sound like the whip did in the movie. It’s the small things in life. I know I spoil him but the rage is family, what can I do.

Friday January 26

2:55 pm

FBI Headquarters

Nikki had spent the better part of the morning tracking Luis Garcia and came across a suicide in Shreveport, LA. just as Simon outlined in the blog. Garcia was found outside his place of employment where he apparently jumped to his death. A suicide note was found on the roof and the case was closed as an apparent suicide. The local field office was going through the physical evidence again, but Nikki knew it would be futile.

Nikki had turned her attention to her Panty Snatcher casefile and was going through some recent evidence reports looking for something they can use to track PS when the Jaws theme sounded. Nikki was glad for the distraction as she was getting frustrated with the lack of progress. She took a deep breath and opened Simon’s email:

“Dear Butterfly,

Thank you for the coordinates for the Snatcher case, I have cross referenced the list of coordinates and times that we know he was at and I have enclosed satellite photos of those exact times and locations. Please don’t ask how I obtained the images. I don’t have the time to process the photos any further or obtain any video footage from the surrounding area businesses and traffic cameras. I know you have a whole team of people looking for this guy and hopefully this will at least turn up a vehicle or an ID for the Snatcher. I am working the same angle on Bernard now and hoping to narrow a location for him soon as well.

I have a bad feeling about this Snatcher guy Nikki, you need to keep your eyes open and your head on a swivel. I know you are a trained FBI agent, I just can’t shake this feeling that something is wrong. Please take care of yourself Butterfly, I am trying to finish up here as quickly as I can so I can come and find Snatcher if your team isn’t able to find him with the enclosed data.

All my love,

Simon”

Nikki printed out the attached data and took it to SAC McShay to update him. To say he was impressed would be an understatement. He gave Nikki a knowing glance, understanding where the data came from, but he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth either. He quickly called in the tech team and they went scurrying out of his office several minutes later like their feet were on fire, happy to have any actionable intel on this guy.

Nikki walked back to her office with a little more spring in her step as well, hoping the tech team would be able to get something useful out of the data so they can put an end to this monster. As soon as she entered her office she stopped dead. There was a flower arrangement sitting on her desk and because she has more than a passing interest in botany, Nikki recognized the flowers as Ladyfingers and knew immediately who sent them. She quickly grabbed Rob and they summoned an evidence tech before removing the attached envelope. Inside was a photo of Nikki leaving her house…. this morning. 2 words were printed on the photo, “It’s time” ….

Thursday January 25

2:55 pm

Q&A: When did you kill your first person? Now you are asking some provocative questions. I can only say that my first kill was done in service to this great country of ours when I was in my early 20’s. I was trained by the best killers on the planet and am making good use of that education. At least that’s my opinion and I know the rage fully agrees.

In the end, November’s, we decided it just wasn’t worth the effort to have some fun and move his crappy mobile home so we followed November yesterday and he ended up at a bar. He was in there for a good 3 hours and when he came out of the bar stumbling ass drunk and got into his vehicle that pretty much did it for us. I pulled the transport around behind November and when he started to back out of his space, I tapped the rear of his car. He comes right out cursing and spitting all over the place so I walked up to him and said “I am really sorry, but you should pull your head out of your ass when you drive, you almost hit a crossing guard the other day”, the rage made the tsking sound and waved his index finger at November just like your mother used to do when she stuck her head in your messy room. Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe November is a couple slices short of a loaf but he just looked at me like I had a giant booger hanging out of my nose so I hit him with the cell phone stun gun since we were already up close and soon to get very personal. I really enjoy gadgets and that is one of the coolest ever.

Good news for November, he did get that upgrade to 19th class at the Chateau. He is currently not enjoying the amenities while we figure out the consequences to his actions. We can’t get the look of terror on the crossing guard’s face out of our mind when she thought November might hit one of her kids, she actually pulled 2 kids out of the way without regard for her own safety. If November had any resources we would have made sure he took care of her but we know he doesn’t so that’s why we keep our victim fund. Each of our volunteers has contributed in some way in case someone unfortunate enough crosses paths with one of these genital warts. She will be taken care of financially, and the rage sent her a dozen gourmet cupcakes as well. He’s a bit sentimental.

Kilo was Luis Garcia.

Wednesday January 24

3:45pm

FBI Headquarters

Nikki had been in Frederick, MD all day at the scene of the latest PS victim, a 15-year-old singing phenom that was due to start an advanced program at Julliard in the fall semester. They found her body, minus one index finger that was already accounted for, and no undergarments on her body or at her home. This is one ballsy unsub to go the extra step of breaking into the victim’s homes to prove a point, or serve his obsession Nikki thought. Regardless, it was incredibly reckless and hopefully he would slip up and give them the break they needed because from the condition of this latest victim, he is upping the torture and destruction he reigns down on his victims. The body was barely recognizable as human.

Nikki was making some notes on the computer when Simon’s email notification went off (she had updated it to the theme from Jaws). She opened the email and read:

“Dear Butterfly,

I am glad you are well, but this Snatcher guy is getting on my last nerve. 8 billion people to mess with and he picks you? I guess everyone has to die sometime, he is just making sure that comes sooner rather than later. I am of the opinion that PS is a greater threat, since he has chosen to target you, than Bernard is but if you feel like you have things in hand I will stay to my mission. I have been working on something and it is taking a lot of time to flesh out but I think once I tweak some things it will work out and we will be able to track Bernard.

Can you send me the exact locations of where each Snatcher victim was found? I am going to use the same tool that I created for Bernard, if it works. The more location information I have the stronger the chance that I will be able to find something.

Please take care of yourself Butterfly, I couldn’t stand if something happened to you.

Love,

Simon”

Nikki went and asked SAC McShay if she could release the vic’s locations for the PS killer and while he initially argued against it, Nikki was able to convince him that regardless of the source that the help comes from, young women were being slaughtered by a monster that has come back after all of this time with an even more voracious appetite. He begrudgingly agreed in the end and Nikki compiled the information and sent it on to Simon.

Tuesday January 23

2:35 pm

Happy birthday Mom, I love you. Yes, Simon has love too, not just the rage. Although, the rage does rent space….

Here I was, feeling the love as it’s my mom’s birthday, the rage is happy because as we have previously established, the rage loves his momma….

Then November came along and fucked it up! I was on my way to the bakery to buy the rage a cupcake to celebrate the day and November had to pull right out in front of us, not the best decision he ever made. Then, to compound the error, he proceeds at 5 UNDER the speed limit. The rage had already forgotten about love and cupcakes and was now plotting the painful end of November when the soon to be worm food stepped up his game. The dick licker can’t maintain the speed limit in a 35 mph zone, but he had no problem speeding through a school zone, almost clipped the poor crossing guard. The rage’s mom was a crossing guard when we were younger….

It was soon apparent why he almost hit the crossing guard, Yep, on the cell phone. The rage is now doing his happy dance as we follow November to see where he will spend the last day of his life. His car was a complete pile so I should have guessed where we were heading. We went through the crappy part of town and then on to the less desirable section that November lives in. He lives in a rundown mobile home, not even a double wide. I took some photos and after studying the mobile home I think I can actually make it mobile. This could be fun.

Monday January 22

10:55 am

FBI Headquarters

It had been a busy morning. Nikki finally got to her office and after bringing her caffeine level back to a reasonable level, she settled over her keyboard and brought up Simon’s email and hit reply:

“Dear Simon,

Not much gets by you does it. I was indeed paid a visit by PS who left evidence of his next kill and of course a threat to me. Before you say it, I already added cameras as I’m sure you already see and the bureau has stationed an agent outside my house so I am fine. Thank you for caring, I appreciate it.

As for Bernard, we didn’t have to look far, we found a prostitute that was beaten to death with a baseball bat. She was 20 years old and a had run away when she was 15. She had several priors for prostitution and possession, but nothing else, by all accounts she was just another victim of the streets. At least until Bernard came along. On the brighter side, we have video of Bernard killing the homeless man so when we find him we will be able to prosecute him. The owner of the farm had installed a game camera and Bernard didn’t know it was there. We just need to find him and as you well know, if he is moving around and choosing victims randomly, it is going to be difficult to find him. I am open to any suggestions you may have.

Take care of yourself Simon.

Yours,

Nikki”

Sunday January 21b

7:30 pm

Nikki had spent the better part of the day with the evidence techs and giving her statement to the PS task force agent. They had yet to find a body belonging to the finger but they didn’t think it would be long. As usual, there were no prints or trace in the package other than the victim’s. Nikki and the tech agents went through her webcam footage and at 4:30 am they saw an arm come from the side of the frame and place the package on Nikki’s steps. The unsub knew there was a camera there and approached from the side out of frame. Nikki had already purchased and added 4 more webcams facing the house in various locations to make sure there were no more blind spots in her security.

As she was cooking her dinner on the stove, she heard Simon’s email come in. She quickly dried her hands and scooped up her phone to see what he said:

“Dear Butterfly,

I saw you had company today, what’s going on it didn’t look like a social call? Are you ok? I’m guessing the Snatcher found you from the technicians I saw around your house. Do you need me to come?

I received the following from our friend,

“Did you find my work Simon, I told you that you are not the only one with a mission? I left you another present and to show you that I am not afraid of getting caught, this email is being sent real-time. Catch you later Simon.” He signed the letter “Wrath”

The email came from Columbus, GA, the address is attached. I am sure you won’t have trouble finding the body. I’m combing through any video I could access in the area to see if I can see him or his vehicle and am still working the data.

I am not sure what I will do when we catch up to Mr. Bernard. I would love to watch you take him down, he is an arrogant little…. you can fill in that blank. I am just not sure what the rage will do when that time comes. I guess we have to see what happens between here and there but I will tell you that if he touches one hair on your beautiful head he will wish he was the serial child killer we took down because that will look like mercy compared to what I would do to him!

I’m here for you Nikki, just say the word.

All my love,

Simon”