[MD2, Sunny Side Marina, 3:30PM]

Kate hated the idea of not trusting one of her team members, but Newt’s faith in Paul was causing her worry. This was no way to work. A division in the team was bad news for everyone, including the anonymous potential rape victim Docker had warned of. But there was definitely a problem here, and she couldn’t see any way around it. Oh, she could take Newt aside and explain in detail the precise reasons for her suspicions about Paul, but that would do nothing more than solidify his position. There *were* personal reasons for her suspicions. But damn it, that didn’t make them any less valid.

"Well, if there’s nothing else," Kate said after listening to Newt’s and Sharlyn’s synopsis of their victim interviews, "I think we should get back to the office. Maybe there is some kind of a pattern that we’ve missed."

Flynn started to say something, but stopped and nodded. "We know a little more about the victims now. That could help," he said.

*****

[Miami Field Office, 4:20PM]

"I’ve got the sketch artists lined up," Paul told Kate. "Local cops are going to pick up four of the victims for the session. I’m supposed to be there at five."

"That’s nice," Kate replied. He was up to something. He was being too polite and cheerful. That couldn’t be a good sign.

"Wanna come along?"

Kate regarded him for a long moment. Now she *knew* he had something up his sleeve. "No, I would think you could handle it on your own."

Paul shrugged and looked at his watch. "Whatever. We’ll meet back at the hotel at eight or so. You can all bring me up to date on your day then. Running late."

He was out the door before Kate could say anything else. She was left thinking that maybe she should have gone along to keep an eye on him. None of this felt right. She looked at the stack of files in front of her, sighed and went to stand by the window. There had to be a connection among the victims, but it could be anything. Anything at all. With no idea of where to start looking for it, the odds of finding it and preventing another rape, if there was going to be one, in a matter of hours were somewhere in the range of a million to one.

Kate leaned against the window sill, thinking about everything that had happened in the last couple of days. The only thing she couldn’t figure out was why she was still more or less functional. By all rights, she should be a complete basket case by now. Of course, she hadn’t really had much of a chance to absorb all the information that had been thrown at her.

September came in with a couple coffee cups. "It might be a long afternoon," she said, putting one of the cups on Kate’s desk. "He’s not here?"

"Just left for the police station."

"Good. I’ve been thinking. I think the connection has to be somewhere on the medical end. Whoever is running the project wouldn’t want just anyone to bear these children. They would make sure that the mothers are healthy and able to carry the babies to term."

Flynn and Sharlyn came in while September was talking. "That makes sense," Flynn said. "But there are a dozen different doctors."

"Doesn’t matter," September went on. "As I see it, there are three possibilities. Someone from a temp service, an insurance agency or a medical transcriptionist."

Kate nodded. "It’s a place to start. Where’s Newt?"

"He left something in the car," Sharlyn said. "He said he’d be right back."

"Oh," Kate said. "Well, anyway, I think September might be on to something. Sharlyn, lend her a hand on the phones. Flynn, what did you find on Kaleb Lewandowski?"

"Not much, but it could be significant. There was no birth certificate on record in Dade County, but there was a death certificate. Cause of death was listed as heart failure. I found a couple of references to him in the newspaper. According to the articles, he suffered from a rare genetic disorder which caused his learning disability. So rare that no one had ever encountered it before. When he was seven, he was supposed to go to the Mayo clinic for some kind of treatment. There was a benefit to raise the funds. That’s what the articles were about. There was also a blurb in one of the papers after he died. It mentioned his medical problems and the benefit."

Kate frowned. "Back up a minute. Mrs. Lewandowski said that he was born here in Miami."

Flynn shrugged. "There’s no record that I could find. That’s not the most interesting thing, though. The byline on those articles was James Sparks, father of one James Sparks, Jr. also known as Jack Sparks."

*****

[in the car, 4:12PM]

>"No that's fine," Newt nodded, "Probably one of the
>team should be there too .. might as well be me."
>
>Paul nodded, "Sounds fair." He turned on his blinker
>and carefully pulled out into traffic. "So what's on
>your mind."
>
>"I'm concerned about the relationship between you and
>Kate .." Newt blurted out.

Paul glanced at Newt out of the corner of his eye. He liked that kid’s style. No beating around the bush here. "Concerned how?"

"Well," Newt began, but then wasn’t sure exactly how to state it.

Paul smiled reassuringly. "Don’t strain yourself, son. Let me guess. She’s trying to keep me out of the loop?"

Admitting that much seemed innocent enough. Newt nodded. "Yeah," he said.

"I suppose that shouldn’t surprise me," Paul said calmly, although a few little warning bells were starting to go off in his mind. Did she suspect something? "That’s my Katie," he sighed. "You haven’t been working with her for long, have you?"

"World’s End was my first case."

Paul laughed. "What a way to start a career, huh? Well, you’ll figure it out soon enough, so I might as well spell it out for you. Katie isn’t much for sharing the spotlight, if you know what I mean. Not to speak ill of her, mind you, because she has a lot of good qualities. But the fact is, when things aren’t going her way.." He trailed off, letting Newt fill in the blank.

"She.. well, she wasn’t very happy about getting this assignment," Newt said.

"About having to work with me, you mean," Paul corrected. "I’m sure she has her reasons, too. Whatever they may be. Newt, a word of advice from someone who’s been through that particular wringer. When she gets a bee in her bonnet over something, it’s best to just let her stew for a while. She’ll get over it eventually."

Newt smiled, a little relieved. The conversation was going much better than he had suspected it would.

"Look, son," Paul went on, "I’m not going to ask you what all this is about. I just want you to level with me on one thing."

"Okay," Newt said.

"She’s still technically your immediate superior, even though I’m in charge of this investigation, so please, think carefully before you answer. I don’t know what sort of problem she has with me, but I would hate to think that it could jeopardize this investigation. We’re supposed to be functioning as a team, after all, everyone working together."

"That’s what I tried to tell her," Newt said. "We’re all supposed to be working together. We all need to pool our information."

"We’re all after the same thing here, Newt. Putting an end to these rapes." Paul shook his head. "We don’t know when this.. this animal might strike again. Any delay in putting the pieces together is putting someone at risk."


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