Sunday January 21

8:15 am

Nikki’s Townhouse

Nikki had just put her earbuds in and cranked up her running playlist on her IPod and was heading out the front door for a run when she saw a box on her doorstep. She immediately looked around and there wasn’t anyone around. She had not ordered anything so her stomach was already in her shoes. She went back inside and grabbed her phone and some latex gloves out of her purse. She photo’d the package and after donning gloves, took it inside and set it on her table. With hands slightly shaking, she took her box cutter and carefully cut the package open. Inside was a pair of panties and Nikki could see blood. She used the tip of the boxcutter to move the panties around and in the bottom, she found what she prayed she wouldn’t. There was a severed finger laying on top of an old polaroid of Nikki and her cocker spaniel that was taken during her sophomore year of college. The dog had a red x drawn over it and the caption said

“It’s almost time agent Sebastian”.

Saturday January 20

1:15 pm

Q&A: Are you a sports fan? Not so much a fan as an interested observer. Why do you think we used the Louisville Slugger, the rage was watching some baseball and the idea was born? I am a fan of the Virginia Tech Hokies, a friend of mine is a Hokie so I stay abreast of the action. Plus, who doesn’t like football, all that unbridled violence.

You know I always like to segway into our guests so speaking of unbridled violence, let me tell you his story, or nightmare if you are looking at it from Mike’s perspective. And it wasn’t coincidence that I chose to answer the sports question above because after doing my research on the hairy nutsack known as Mike, I found that the only thing Mike seems to care about is golf. Immediately the rage just wanted to punch him in the face because golf is just so boring but I talked him down, promising him some fun later with all of Mike’s ridiculously expensive golf equipment. You wouldn’t believe how much he paid for all this crap. Thankfully, Mike just made a sizeable donation to PETA. Kevin said they needed some cash infusion and Mike was kind enough to volunteer his money so he won’t be tempted to spend any more of it. Who am I kidding, other than an urn, I don’t think Mike will need much more money.

Mike took the day off yesterday so he could get some golfing in. Good thing for us since there is a blind spot on the 7th fairway that butts up next to an access road on the other side of the woods. Perfect place for the transport. Mike hit a great shot and as he was walking by the woods I hit him with the tranq gun and dragged him through the woods to the transport. I wonder how long it will be before they realize Mike never finished his round. Since we had Mike’s precious clubs, the rage wanted to see if they would fit up his ass since Mike was so fond of tailgating. Unfortunately for Mike, he had a full set of clubs and the rage wouldn’t take no for an answer. It’s amazing how much the human ass will hold. After submitting a photo to the good folks at Guinness (I already told the rage there isn’t a category for ass stuffing but he insisted we submit it) the rage had his fun so he used Mike’s prized putter and finished the round. I tried to explain to the rage that the low score wins, but after he 48 putted Mike’s head, he said the rules were changed and now the high score wins. If you want to argue with him go ahead, just make sure he isn’t holding a golf club when you do.

Not too far from the ops center we found a parcel of land that was being cleared and they left a woodchipper there. Thank you. I washed it up after I used it. Mike is now mulch. I like him so much better like this.

I need to call my man Kevin and figure out what to do with Mike’s black lab, the dog is eating me out of house and chateau. Cute little fucker though, the rage wants to keep him so sooner rather than later Kevin!

Friday January 19

4:15 pm

FBI Headquarters

Nikki looked up from the casefile she was working and checked the time on her monitor and couldn’t believe the day was almost over. She had attended the autopsy of the PS victim and as usual, they found nothing useful. She had also tracked down Michael Barnes and found that Mr. Barnes was involved in a single vehicle fatality. A blood alcohol test was conducted on the corpse and found to have a BAC of .23, almost 3 times the legal limit. Barnes had a history of DUI arrests and the case was closed as a single vehicle DUI. There wasn’t much left of man or machine after the fire and they were lucky to have been able to even get the BAC which came from one of Barnes’ arms that they found several feet from the fire, blown off by the impact and explosion. Nikki was 0 for 2 and feeling a little defeated when her SAC stuck his head inside her door and he had a big grin on his face, highly unusual for him. Robert McShay was a little over 6 feet tall and in excellent shape for mid-40’s. He had a little gray over his temples and dark brown hair. He had piercing blue eyes and he had always had a soft spot for Nikki. Nikki looked up at Rob and did a double take when she saw his bright smile. She leaned back in her chair and motioned to the chair in front of her desk. Rob came the rest of the way into Nikki’s office and took a seat across from Nikki. He slid a piece of paper over to Nikki who saw it was a location within the FBI’s server to access a piece of video. She quickly brought up the video and hit play. It took her a minute to figure out what she was looking at. Soon enough she knew exactly what she was looking at, Philip Bernard was shooting a nail gun into a homeless man. Nikki looked over at Rob, who was still smiling,

“You have to be kidding me” she exclaimed, “how did we get this video?” She asked still not believing what she was looking at. Rob leaned forward and said,

“The farmer has been having a problem with feral hogs wrecking his crops so he had installed a motion sensing game camera across from the barn to see when the hogs were coming so he could set traps for them and he saw the footage and contacted us immediately.”

Nikki quickly accessed Philip Bernard’s driver’s license and compared the images, they were the same man.

“I already had the nationwide BOLO updated with Bernard’s info, we just need to find him now.” Rob said as he stood in front of Nikki’s desk.

Nikki smiled up at Rob and said, “I’m working on that right now, I’ve got something in the works.” Rob looked over at Nikki for several seconds and with a raised brow asked,

“Does it have anything to do with Simon?”

Nikki leaned back in her chair and smiled back and Rob and said,

“I can’t go giving all my secrets away Rob, why do you think I am so good at what I do?” Rob gave her a small smile and shook his head as he walked toward the door.

“Just be careful Nikki, you’re playing with fire.” Rob left Nikki’s office and she breathed under her breath, “You have no idea.”

Thursday January 18

3:45 pm

Q&A: How many people have you killed? I don’t keep count believe it or not, but I can tell you I could continue for the next 20 years and it will still be less people than the planet adds each and every day. I am doing my part, but no one else seems to understand the dire situation our planet is in and are not taking any precautions. At least China tried to do something whether or not you agree with it. Something needs to change or the change that will come will be one no one wants to see. I continue to do my part though so you will be happy to know that I met Mike earlier today.

Mike is a tailgater. There are two types, passive and aggressive. Passive is the guy who follows far too closely behind you to be safe because he is just ignorant and a bad driver and it makes you uncomfortable because you know if you have to hit your brakes there isn’t much chance the sphincter behind you will be able to stop before stuffing his car up your tailpipe. Then there’s aggressive and Mike would be a textbook example of this dicktastic behavior. I was on the interstate going 6 over the speed limit when Mike comes roaring up behind us and stays about 5 feet off my back bumper. I was in heavy traffic so it wasn’t like I could go any faster. I am sure you know what Mike did, he goes jetting past me to the right and throws his car into the 1 ½ car length gap I was maintaining behind the car in front of me, the interstate acceptable amount of gap mind you. The rage woke right up from his nap and he doesn’t like getting woken up during a nap, not one bit! Mike is going to find out just how much. We followed long enough see enough that Mike might just get that upgrade to 19th class at the Chateau. I’ve been in those rooms and they are just not comfy! Certainly, no chocolate on your pillow.

Mike pulled into the driveway of a normal looking house in the middle-class section of the city. The house was in decent shape and the landscaping has been maintained. I am sure the next owner will appreciate Mike’s hard work. I saw a dog running around the backyard so I will have to be consulting my man Kevin shortly to come up with a plan. For now, though, I will let the rage think about the lesson he would like to share with dear old Mike. I hope he is a studious type, the rage doesn’t grade on a curve.

Juliet was Michael Barnes.

Wednesday January 17b

6:45 pm

Nikki’s Townhouse

Nikki had been running around like a crackhead after a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts and a gallon of red bull all day and hadn’t had two seconds to stop and breath. She was sitting at her laptop with a glass of wine trying to unwind so she can email Simon. After a few deep breaths she started typing:

“Dear Simon,

I’m sorry it took so long to respond, but as you can imagine I have been pretty busy with the PS killer and now Philip Bernard. Here I thought dealing with you was a challenge and then I find out you are worried about me and offering to help. It’s a good thing no one else sees our emails or I wouldn’t even be able to get a job as a crossing guard. I appreciate your offer, I really do but I am ok here. I have dealt with this case for a long time and I doubt PS knows where I live, I moved twice since he disappeared and of course none of our records are public. I have security on my townhouse, as you also know. I think you would be more help dealing with Bernard, he wants your attention and we can use that.

We found his first body this morning not far from the internet cafe he used. You were right, he wanted us to find it. The victim was a 48 yr. old homeless man that as far as anyone can tell, never hurt a fly. He has some mental issues but was never dangerous to anyone else. He was found hanging from the side of a barn, nailed to the side of the barn with a nail gun. Not too subtle is he. He even went so far as to write Simon on the barn wall next to the body with a circle around it and a line through it. Original isn’t he. The autopsy is tomorrow and they didn’t find any obvious trace or prints but they are still processing several items.

I am sure it won’t be long until he contacts you again to keep the game going. Until then, hopefully we will find something to tie Bernard to the body so we can prosecute…. if you don’t find him first I am sure. Would you leave him to be prosecuted if you found him or would you… deal… with him yourself? I could sure use a good arrest since you are in no hurry to volunteer, I’m just saying.

Be safe Simon,

Yours,

Nikki”

Wednesday January 17

10:35 am

Q&A: Can you believe someone actually asked what my favorite color is. Really? Obviously not a fan of the rage or suffering from a traumatic brain injury. In the case of the latter, red you knucklehead. Now for a provocative question: What is your favorite “punishment” tool? Now we’re cooking…. wait, cooking…. idea formed (for later). The rage likes to keep an open mind and not get pigeonholed into one form of entertainment. You know he has an affinity for the bow and still gets plenty of practice, but he also was quite fond of nail gun acupuncture, and is a prodigy at the blow torch. We can’t answer this unequivocally until we are done with our project because there are still so many more choices we haven’t even tried yet. Change is the spice of life as they say.

What the rage likes to say is pain is the spice of life and he is quite a spicy fella, just ask Lima…. oh, yeah…… too late. You know how much I like it when our guest parks their car all the way in the back of the lot, taking up two spaces so no one can park next to their pretty little penis extension? Well, thank you Lima. His precious was in the back of the lot and when he came out I had left the chase vehicle parked right next to his car so he couldn’t get in the driver’s side. I waited until he was standing there with steam coming out of his ears and I walked up to him after making sure there was no audience and the closer I get he starts cursing at me. I took offense, such language. So, I shot him in the neck with the tranq gun and that silenced his protest quite nicely. Since Lima has such a love for his shiny new car, the rage wanted to see what that sucker was all about. We threw Lima into his own trunk and disabled the trunk release, no bathroom breaks will be needed on this ride.

We were killing time the other day after following Lima around. By the way, it was pretty tame what he did to me, I witnessed far more dickness than one person should be allowed to exhibit. Thankfully, the general area will be dick free shortly, at least Lima’s. Anyway, we found an old motocross track. The rage was actually jumping up and down with excitement so I strapped into the Limamobile and let the rage show me what he was made of. Had I not been wearing a neck brace and helmet, I might have had an uncomfortable time. I say this because after we ran a short 25 lap race, there wasn’t much left of Lima in that trunk. I guess we should have offered him a complimentary pillow. I told you we weren’t 5 stars certified, what did you expect.

Thankfully there was some very hungry local wildlife so we let Lima stay behind to feed them, the boy sure loves wildlife. If I thought sharks were excellent at body disposal, I might have been premature in that assessment. Gators don’t play! Poor Lima lost control of his shinny car and it ended up in a canal that was chock full of them…

Tuesday January 16

2:15 pm

FBI Headquarters

Nikki had spent the morning tracking down Chester Lewis, India, and found a missing person in Lexington, KY that they were sure was India. No sign of foul play, he just disappeared on New Year’s Day and no one has seen or heard from him since. No activity on his financials. Pretty much what Nikki knew they would find.

Unfortunately, she was also informed of a homicide that the Panty Snatcher task force all but assured her was the result of their unsub, back after 4 years. A 16-year-old girl was abducted walking home from school in southern Pennsylvania. She had been missing for 6 days when her body was found displayed at a rest stop off of I-79 north of Morgantown, WV. The MO was identical to the PS killer and she had no undergarments. They also confirmed that her undergarments were missing from her home. As usual, no fingerprints or trace found at either the victim’s home or crime scene. The body was at the FBI’s lab and the autopsy was taking place later in the afternoon but no one was anticipating they would find anything useful, PS didn’t make mistakes. Almost like someone else Nikki knows, but while one kills to try and improve the world, his words, the other was a destroyer, plain and simple. He destroyed young innocent lives that had nothing but promise. Each of the victims was a high achiever in some way either academically, through sports, or artistic. Each victim would have most likely made a positive impact on the world and never got that chance.

Nikki leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes and felt the anger percolating inside her and she had a small idea of what it was like to be Simon. She is not a violent person but if she had PS strapped to Simon’s table, knowing the families and seeing the devastation that PS inflicted on these victims, Nikki was pretty sure PS wouldn’t be walking away. As if on queue, Simon’s email alert went off and Nikki leaned forward and opened the new message:

“Dear Butterfly,

It’s the Panty Snatcher isn’t it? I read through all of your files and he is the one that got away, or went away and is now back in business as I saw from the news this morning. The girl in PA is tied to him, isn’t she? I think you are right about his layoff, there is no way he wouldn’t keep killing.

I don’t know what to do, I am worried about you and would come back to you but I had sent Philip Bernard a secure email to try and engage him and I received a response back from him:

“Simon, I am glad you finally contacted me. Unfortunately, I don’t need your help any longer, I have taken matters into my own hands. I have my own selection process so I don’t need you and your high and mighty ideals. I will take care of those I feel need to be brought to justice, it is my calling. The first of my sinners found his way to redemption a couple of days ago. I had only imagined the power you must feel but once I saw and felt the life leave that body, it was so much more than I had hoped, no wonder you do what you do. Two can play your little cat and mouse game.”

He wrote that email 2 days ago, but had a delay built into the email so I only just received it. The email generated out of an internet cafe in Tallahassee. I have to assume he knows I can trace his IP address back through the email so I think he is telling us his victim is in or around where he sent the email. I would focus on any homicides that share any of the “methods” I have outlined in the blog. He is making this a competition so I am sure he is going to try and one up me and will make sure we find a body.

I am making my way back over that direction so I can be close WHEN we find him but I will come back to you if you feel you are in any danger from this other idiot. How can I help you the most my love?

Love,

Simon”

Monday January 15

11:35 am

No Q&A today, I have something for you that is way more valuable, free advice. As always, choose to ignore at your own painful peril. There are two things you should never ever do. Quite simply, don’t fuck with Simon and don’t fuck with anyone Simon cares about. Both of these actions will bring a level of consequences that you couldn’t possibly imagine. I bring this up because both of these things are happening now so fair warning. When your limbs start not being attached to your body any longer, don’t go crying to the rage, he likes the sound of begging while he is working almost as much as he likes hearing Britney.

To prove this salient point, let’s meet Lima. This poor unfortunate soul had the misfortune to fuck up while Simon was angry. Call it fate, karma, or just plain old bad luck, Lima’s, to pick this time to demonstrate the consequences of one’s actions. Lima actually deserves all of the attention the rage will be paying him shortly because this brain donor actually did volunteer to be a guest. I told you that I drive aggressively, not like a dick, big difference. If I am on a 3-lane surface road approaching a red light and there is a lane with no cars in it, I take that lane. I am not looking at my cell phone or texting, when the light turns green I let the rage go and he takes off like a top fuel drag racer. I already told you our chase vehicle is a generic vehicle, no high-performance machine, bone stock. Properly driven though, it will keep up with most vehicles on the road because most drivers simply don’t drive like the rage does. Well, Lima was driving a muscle car and he must have taken offense to the rage’s style because he made a point to come racing up next to us, gunning his car when he was next to us like a toddler with an ice cream jumping up and down, “look at me, look at me”. Ok, I’ll give him that, fast car, someone to play with, right? Nope, Lima wanted to try to aggravate us I guess so when we were coming up to the next red light aiming at the open lane, this headliner for tomorrow’s obituary pulled over in front of us at the last minute. Ok, have your fun, show me the big bad replacement for your penis, but Lima had another objective. He was busy making reservations and you know the Chateau always has a vacancy. The light turned green and he just sat there. I was watching him and his eyes never left his rear-view mirror while he was smiling at us. The light turned yellow and right before changing to red, Lima goes squealing through the intersection. No vetting will be required, Lima has an open reservation. We have all the video we need and will be making contact shortly.

By the way, double karma for Lima. There was a cop sitting adjacent to Lima at the red light to his right and witnessed the whole event and then he went and introduced himself to Lima. I smiled, honked, and threw my arm out the window for a nice wave as we went by. The rage hasn’t been this happy since the blow torch.

Sunday January 14b

4:55 pm

Nikki’s Townhouse

Nikki had fallen asleep in her chair while reading her book, still exhausted from not sleeping much the night before when she awoke to a familiar sound, one that brought a smile to her face before she even opened her eyes. She grabbed her cell phone and opened Simon’s email, surprised to see one so soon:

“Dear Butterfly,

What happened Nikki, I can tell from the tone in your email that something is wrong? What stark reminder did you receive, hopefully nothing from Bernard because I don’t know how he would have been able to figure out who you are, I checked and no one else has been poking around the FBI servers. I am worried about you, you look like you haven’t slept in a couple of days, can I do something to help?

Love,

Simon”

Nikki smiled at Simon’s thoughtfulness, and tried to figure out how to respond to him. She hit reply and sent:

“Dear Simon,

Thank you for worrying about me but I am fine, mostly. I received a note from an unsub on a case I worked several years ago and then it went cold and we never heard another word from him. It has been several years and we were hoping he was dead, but now we are thinking he was either in jail or out of the country because he wouldn’t have stopped killing if he was able. It was just surprising I guess, he had broken into my home several years ago and it was hard to overcome the vulnerability I felt at the time. I guess I am just having some residual anxiety from back then.

I am going to look into a few things tomorrow and I will keep you updated as we go but for now I am just glad to be thinking about you instead of him. Have you heard anymore from your own stalker yet?

Thank you for thinking about me, it makes me feel better.

Yours,

Nikki”

Sunday January 14

10:25 am

Nikki’s Townhouse

Nikki tossed and turned most of the night and woke with dark circles under her puffy eyes. How could it be, she thought, she hadn’t heard from the Panty Snatcher, a vulgar name the media had dubbed the highly prolific sexual sadist that was responsible for the death of 14 young women, in years. 14 that the FBI knew about, Nikki suspected there were many more. They dubbed him the Panty Snatcher because he not only took the victims undergarments that they were wearing as a trophy, he went back to their homes and took ALL their undergarments. Each murder had been more horrific and graphic than the next and then, 4 years ago, all communication stopped and no more bodies were found. Prior to his disappearance, PS as Nikki called him because she hated that name, broke into her home and not only stole her undergarments but her photo album as well. Over the years, PS had sent Nikki several of the photos that he had altered, all with threats of what he was going to do to Nikki. Nikki had already checked in with the head of the old PS task force and confirmed they haven’t heard a peep from him either. She updated the SAC on the letter, which contained no prints or trace, but they were both in agreement that it was PS since the photo was genuine and one Nikki confirmed was in the stolen album. They also agreed that more than likely, PS was either incarcerated over the last 4 years or had been out of the country, there is no way someone as prolific as he would just stop unless they couldn’t kill or were dead. Unfortunately, it looked like the former and not the latter.

Nikki had tried to distract herself all morning but it was no use. She really wished Simon was here because as twisted as it sounds, he somehow makes her feel safe. What a world she lives in she thought. She pulled out her laptop and resolved not to let PS have any more of her focus, she hit reply to Simon’s email.

“Dear Simon,

I miss you too and I know that sounds weird since we have never actually met, but I know you are traveling and it’s like I can feel the distance between us. I know that isn’t possible, but it’s what I feel like.

I love children and for a good part of my life I always thought they would be part of my life but I have seen too many things since joining the bureau that I don’t want to bring an innocent child into this world. That’s probably unfair because I see way more of the darkness than everyone else but I have seen it and it has seen me. I just got a very stark reminder of that fact. I would be putting a child in jeopardy just by being mine. I’m pretty sure you agree with the sentiment, but I also know how much you wanted a child and the devastation losing your chance to have one has done to you and your life.

As for Bernard, I agree that I think he has killed someone. I also suspect that we will be hearing from him about it soon, there is no way he won’t want to show you, or show you up, by his exploits. We found out what vehicle he is more than likely driving now and I have attached it to the email. There is a nationwide BOLO but we are fairly certain he would have changed out the plates by now. Until he makes contact in some way, that’s all we have to go on.

Take care of yourself Simon.

Yours,

Nikki”

Nikki paused with her finger over the enter button, imagining for a moment a little Simon and a little Nikki running around her townhouse. She smiled a wistful smile and hit enter. Now she had to figure out how to occupy the rest of her day. It might be time for another trip to the firing range.