I remember studying for a test, knowing it was the night before my finals. My roommate sent me a text that there was a party happening nearby and she wanted me to come. My daughter was in her room asleep and I had no intention of going out that night. But my friend managed to convince me, so I called in my regular sitter and headed out.

When I got there they had already started the whiskey shots and I joined, feeling relieved that my head was out of my books. The music had been loud, a little too loud.

Someone had come to the door and my friend had said it was the pizza man.

While we waited, we did some tequila shots to add a little spice to the party.

That's when we heard the shot.

I had gone out into the hall, calling her name.

He was stroking her head gently, like a father would do to his daughter after he had put her to bed. Then he had seen me. He hit me over the back of the head, then dragged me by the hair to the closet where he tossed me inside and slammed the door. It had bounced back open and I could see everything that was going on.

He shot them.

Then raped them.

Then stabbed them.

My foot had knocked over a tube in the back corner and the killer had lifted his head and looked in my direction. I haddialed9-1-1 and waited, whispering quietly to the dispatcher.

He had shut off the music and took off the second he heard the sirens.

I was the sole survivor.

They told me they didn't have enough evidence. They told me I was insane, that i was imagining things. That the guy who killed my friends wasn't stalking me.

I was the sole survivor that awful night.

And I've had to live with it ever since.

Peyton Forster woke from a deep sleep to the sound of a blood-curling scream. She slowly crawled out of bed, yawing. Walking down the hall she paused outside her mother’s bedroom and sighed. It was the same thing every night. Her mother would wake up screaming and she would go into the bedroom and calm her mother down before returning back to her bed and dozing on and off until her alarm went off at six. Then it was back out of bed to get ready for school.
Peyton pushed open the door and quickly went to her mother’s beside. “Mom. Mom!”
Megan Forster bolted upright in bed. Her sheets were tangled around her waist, pyjama shirt glued to her chest by sweat. Her breathing was ragged, her heart racing.
Her daughter, Peyton, was looking at her with worried eyes.
“Oh god. I’m sorry,” She said, placing her head in her hands.”
“No worries. Ididn'tneed this extra hour of sleep anyway.”
Megan smiled at her daughter. “What time is it?”
“5:30. You have the same dream again?”
Megan’s smile faded. “Yeah.”
“Mom I thought those therapy sessions were supposed to make the dreams go away.” Peyton said, rubbing her shoulder.
“They are. But I guess a part of me justdoesn'tfeel like it’s over.”
“Well you said yourself the killer was never caught,” Peyton pointed out as she settled onto the end of the bed. “Maybe you’re trying to figure out what you could’ve done differently.”
Megan shook her head. “I don’t know,” She worried her lower lip then said, “I’m thinking about transferring up to CSI. I’ve filled out the paper work already, it’ll give me more structured hours, I’ll be home with you more. All I have to do is hand it in.”
"Mom, you do know you'll be faced with the actual crime. Do you think you can handle that?"
Megan nodded. "Yeah I think I'm ready. I don't know, maybe it will give me someclosure. Maybe these dreams will go away instead of keeping both of us up at night."
Peyton sighed. "It's your decision. I just want you to be careful."
Megan smiled and leaned forward. She planted a kiss on her daughter's forehead. "I love you."
"I love you too mom."

Lieutenant Horatio Caine stepped out of the elevator's where he met Detective Frank Tripp. Frank was a big guy with a balding head, gruff face and beefy shoulders. He nodded at him. "Horatio."
"Frank," Horatio acknowledged. "What can i do for you?"
"We got a transfer request," Frank motioned to the woman sitting on a bench in a patrol uniform, hands in her lap, staring down at the floor. "She's filled out the paper work, I've already checked it over. She wants to get into CSI. Says patrol isn't working out for her."
"Okay. Thank you Frank. I'll take it from here," He approached her. "Ma'am?"
Megan looked up. Her breath evaporated in her lungs. His eyes were as blue as the ocean on a cloudless day, intense, electric blue, perfectly blue. Naturally. She glanced away to compose herself, righting her sense of calm control with an effort that wasn't altogethersuccessful. After months of pretending that nothing was wrong, she was extremely good at covering for herself. "Uh, Megan Forster." She said, holding out her hand.
"Lieutenant Caine," He shook it briefly then asked, "I understand you want to move up into CSI?"
"Yeah, uh, patrol doesn't have any follow through. I want to actually do the work."For reasons that you won't find out,Herconsciousfilled in.
She could see Lieutenant Caine processing the information then he said, "Okay. Let me think about it and i'll let you know, alright?"
She nodded. "Thanks Lieutenant." She walked away, head down, hands down at her sides. She escaped to the silence of the locker room where she sat on the bench and took a deep breath. She though that after a year of working on patrol, she'd be used to the presence of male officers. But the truth was, every inch of her screamed for her to run. By the end of a normal conversation, she was exhausted from fighting the urges. She kept picturing the man who'd murdered her best friends repeatedly. Why couldn't she just forget about him and move on? As her therapist had said, 'It was her brain's way of dealing with the guilt'. Survivor guilt to be exact. That monster had murdered the only people who knew her better than she knew herself. She wondered if she could do the job of a CSI. Deal with the victims and knowledge of what the killer had done.
She sighed and ran her hands over her face. She could do it. She had to do it. This was her last option otherwise she'd probably go insane. She sighed again and looked up at the roof before she stood up and walked out.



Demons.
Here was the thing about them. They hid in the dark corners of your dreams, hid in the dark spots of your house and lay in wait. They came out when you least expected it and taunted you. Laughed at you. And no matter what you did to shut it off they still found a way to squeeze past the barriers. Megan would never lift a bottle of scotch or whiskey to her lips again. Especially after that fateful night. But on the occasion, she found herself indulging in a glass of sweet red wine with dinner.
"Ms. Forster?"
Megan looked up from her desk to see Lieutenant Caine. "Yes?"
"I've though about your transfer request and I was wondering if you could start today."
Megan blinked. She'd gotten the job. Wow, she'd actually gotten the job. Should she get excited? Should she be happy? To tell the truth, she actually felt a sense of dread. She now had to face the demons head on.
She agreed to start right away and headed back to the locker room where she changed into her street clothes. When she returned, Lieutenant Caine was standing by the elevators.
"You ready for your first scene?" He asked.
She sucked in a big breath.As I'll ever be,she thought. "Yep."
"Okay. Come with me."


Oh dear God. He's back.
The living room of the dorm was bathed in red. It was running down the walls, dripping off the roof and pooling around the lifeless bodies of the 6 girls. Kit in hand, Megan had to swallow the nausea crawling it's way up her throat. It was like she was back in her friends house all over again. Panic started to squirm inside her belly, and her hands started to shake.Relax,she chided.This isn't the same guy. You're fine.
But a part of her was telling her otherwise. She glanced down the hall and saw a closet with the door half open.
Curled up in a ball. Staring through the crack, watching while he drove his blade over and over again into her friends chest.
Megan blinked and forced herself to block the memory.
He stopped and looked up, his baseball capshieldinghis face from her view.
Megan tried to do what her therapist told her, but it only made matter worse. No one seemed to notice her having a panic attack, and if they did, they didn't seem to care. If Peyton were here, she would've walked her outside and made her sit down somewhere, all the while talking to her about other things to distract her. Megan tried to focus on the voices around her but it only made matters worse.
She turned and raced outside. She moved as far away from the scene as she could, sucking in giant breaths. She started to pace like a caged animal, hands closed into fists like as if she were going to punch someone.
Horatio had seen her leave and followed. When he stepped outside he saw her pacing back and forth near a tree. Her face was chalky white, and a look of fear had crossed her face. He adjusted his gun on his hip and walked up to her. "Are you okay?"
"What? Yeah I'm fine....I'm fine. There's just a lot of red........a lot of red."
Horatio stared at her levelly and waited. "Do you want to wait until the bodies have been removed?"
She stopped pacing and shook her head. "No. No. I can do this."
He looked at her gently.
Megan's feet were rooted to the ground. Shecouldn'tdo this. In fact, she wasn't even ready for this, yet she had gone ahead and signed up for it anyway.Stupid. Why the hell had i agreed to this? Why the hell did I think I could even step one foot inside a crime scene?Things had been better when all she'd had to do was stand outside a crime scene then move onto another, then maybe right a traffic ticket along the way. She had no problem handling that. But then yet again, if she hadn't taken this step, she might've never known if she was mentally ready for it.
'It takes some getting used to, I know," Horatio said. "Want me to wait with you until the ME removes the bodies?"
Megan watched a rookie cop rush outside to a garbage can and throw up his breakfast. His buddy, clearly not affected by the gruesome sight, came over and asked if he were okay.Even some of the seasoned Detective's were looking a little pale.See? You're not the only one who has problems with this,her conscious pointed out. She took a deep breath and nodded. "If you don't mind."
Horatio moved closer to her and watched as several ME assistants walked inside with body bags and pushing gurney's. He knew Dr. Alexx Woods, his Medical Examiner would have her hands full today. A few minutes passed and one by one, bodies were rolled out.
"He's back," Megan suddenly whispered.
Horatio glanced at his new CSI and narrowed his eyes. "Who's back?"
Megan hadn't realized she'd spoken it out loud. She clamped her mouth shut and shook her head. "Nothing. Nothing. No one. Sorry I was just........sorry." She picked up her case and started back towards the crime scene.
Horatio watched her go then said, "Frank please."
Tripp walked up. "Yeah?"
"This is off the books okay? I want you to dig up everything you can on the new CSI alright?"
"You want me to look into one of our own?" Frank questioned. "Any particular reason?"
"This is off the books okay Frank?"
Frank put his hands up in the air. "My lips are sealed."



Megan pulled open the closet door. According to the ME a body had been found inside, bound and gagged. The back of her skull caved in. Exactly what he had done to her. Minus the blunt forcetrauma, gagging and tied hands and feet. She stared down at the blood pool, camera in hand.
"There's lots of blood in here. My guess is we're not going to find any blood from the attacker," Calleigh Duquesne said. She poked her head around the corner when the new CSI didn't respond. "Hello?"
"No! No! Please don't hurt me! Please!"
Stars burst behind her eyes when his gun connected solidly with the back of her head. He grabbed her by the hair and dragged her across the floor away from her friends who were staring at her with terrified faces. She screamed and kicked, thrashing around wildly. He tossed her into the closet and shut the door too hard. It bounced back open. Megan curled into a ball and squeezed her eyes shut for a second as the pain in her head intensified. Her pulse was roaring in her ears and her hands were shaking. She heard one of her friends scream and opened her eyes. He was making them lie face down on the ground. Then she heard the shots.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
"Excuse me?" A hand touched her shoulder.
Megan jumped and backed away. "I-I-I'm s-s-sorry." She stammered.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," She lied. "Uh, Megan Forster."
"Calleigh Duquesne. Are you sure because you look like you've seen a ghost."
"Ladies."
They turned to see Horatio standing in the hall. "What do we have here?"
"Uh, body number eight was bound and gagged in here. COD was blunt force trauma to the head. The closet door wasn't shut all the way so my guess is he shut it too hard and it bounced back open or he wanted her to watch while he killed his friends." Megan said.Just like he did with me.
"Okay. What else?"
"Hecertainly didn't care if he were neat or tidy. There's too much blood so the possibility of finding a trace amount of his blood is very slim. I swabbed every section of the room." Calleigh answered.
"Good. There's no sign of forced entry nor are their signs of a struggle."
"He probably disguised himself as a pizza guy and caught them by surprise." Megan suggested. She didn't miss the look Calleigh gave her.
"But why go into all that trouble of dressing up? Why not just force your way in the second they open the door?" Calleigh asked.
"Because a bunch of 18 year old girls aren't going to open a door for someone they don't recognize." Horatio replied.
"Did anyone hear the shooting?" Megan asked.
"I've got Eric, Ryan and Walter canvassing the campus right now." Horatio answered.
Megan nodded. No one had heard her friends being slaughtered, except for the 9-1-1 caller who had dispatched local authorities to the dorm.


"Okay. Last question Mr. Patterson--"
"It's Harold. No one calls meMisteranymore."
CSI Walter Simmons, gave the principal a hard look. "Mr. Patterson. Did anyone recently join your faculty lately? Have you seen anyone on campus you don't recognize or that doesn't go to this school?"
It was Harold's turn to glower at him. "Are you kidding? This is University. Girls bring their boyfriends here all the time for make-out sessions during lunch hour. In fact some of them are practically doing it on the tables."
"What about faculty? Anyone join that you didn't like?"
"I don't like anyone I work with Mr. Simmons, they're all smart-asses from BalHarbor."
"I see."
"Is that it? Can i go now?"
Walter nodded. "Yeah you can. You remember anything, call me." Walter handed him his business card.
Harold took it, glanced at it once then grunted. "Sure. Whatever." He stalked off.
CSI Ryan Wolfe joined Walter. "Well wasn't he a ray of sunshine."
"No kidding. apparently all the teachers here are smart-asses from Bal Harbor. You get anything?"
"Beside one of the teacher's flirting me? No. No one says they saw or heard anything."
"Howconvenient," Walter grumbled. "I wonder if Delko had better luck than we did," He looked around. "Where is Delko anyway?"
"Here he comes." Ryan said pointing.
CSI Eric Delko as he would freely admit, loved beautiful women--emphasis on the plural. Sometimes, he couldn't decide whether Miami was the best place on Earth for him to be or the worst; it was like being a foodaholic confronted with an endless buffet table. It wasn't that he was incapable of commitment, he told his friends. He just wasn't sure which flavor he wanted to stick with for the rest of his life. And there were so many to choose from. He smiled at two girls as they passed. They grinned and waved back, one winking at him.
"Well?" Ryan asked. "Did you actually interrogate people or did you spend most of your time flirting with the girls on thecheer leadingteam?"
"Ha ha cute. No. In fact, everyone says they didn't see or hear a thing. You guys?"
"If you count Ryan flirting with one of the teachers as something....." Walter trailed off.
Ryan made a face. "I wasn't flirting with the teacher!Hewas flirting withme!"
Eric laughed. "A guy teacher was hitting on you!"
"Yes he was and it made me very uncomfortable just so you know."
"So we've hit a dead end. How are we supposed to identify this guy now?" Walter asked.
"The old fashioned way. DNA, fingerprints." Eric replied.
"If we get any. Did you see how much blood was in that room?" Ryan questioned.
"Well let's hope he messed up somewhere."



Megan pushed open the door to the morgue. She had graciously accepted the offer to come down and view the autopsy. Whereas she would much rather be staying as far away from the bodies as she possibly could, she decided to not become the laughing stock of the police department and face the demons once more. She'd lost the battle the first time around, she wasn't about to lose again. Hands in the back pockets of her slacks, she forced out a smile. "Hi. Megan Forster."
"So you're the new CSI. You're right on time. Just finished the last post. I'm Alexx Woods by the way."
Megan forced out another smile, her eyes dropping down to the body. A single thought flashed through her mind.This could've been me.Megan sucked in a sharp breath that caught Alexx's attention.
"You okay?"
Megan nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just a lot to take in this being my first day and all."
"Honey death ain't easy," Alexx replied. "Robin Benchley age 19. GSW to the left temple, bullet passed through the Temporal lobe, bounced off the Parietal bone and lodged in the frontal lobe."
"Stabbed 17 times?" Megan asked.
Alexx looked at her. "Yeah. How'd you know?"
"What about the sexual assault kit?"
Alexx studied her for a second before she picked up her chart. "Some vaginal tearing, no physical findings so either he didn't finish or he wore a condom."
Megan swallowed around the lump in her throat. She felt like someone had put a rope around her lungs and was slowly tightening the noose. "Excuse me." She turned and raced out the double doors. She made sure no one was watching before she sank down onto the cool tile floor and tucked her knees up to her chest. She allowed a few tears to squeeze past her barrier. The autopsy confirmed it. The MO, the position of the bodies, the amount of blood in the room, the body in the closet. It all matched the one she had witnessed a year ago. Now the only thing she needed to be completely sure was the note in her mailbox with the typed wordsDid you miss me?


"Horatio."
Horatio looked up as Frank approached him. "What is it Frank?"
"I ran a background check on Megan liked you asked, and you might wanna take a look at this." Frank handed him the folder.
Horatio opened it up.
"About two years ago Megan was the sole survivor in a brutal slaying. She watched the killer murder her friends. Then a day later she filed a report saying the same man that killed her friends was stalking her. LMPD had no ID on the suspect and never followed through on the report. The killer walked. He terrorized her for a few months before she moved. Then the killings stopped and LMPD never had a case like that again. Megan moved to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and filed a new report. Pittsburgh PD had their suspicions but didn't have a reason to investigate until the killings started up. She moved down to Columbia, South Carolina and filed another report. Killings started up again and stopped the second she packed up and moved down here to Miami. She also had her daughter Peyton Forster when she was sixteen."
Horatio flipped through the sheets of paper. There were medical reports from the night of the killing, therapist notes and newspaper clippings. The press hadn't been kind to her at all. They had plastered her face all over the evening news and the front of newspapers. No wonder why the killer had figured out she'd survived.
"How do you want to handle this?"
"Let me talk to her alone. Okay?"
Frank nodded. "In the meantime let's catch this son of a *****."
"I agree."


Megan was in trouble. Why else would her boss call her into the interrogation room? She wiped the tears off her face and slowly pushed open the door.
Horatio turned and faced her. His heart broke at the sight of her. A killer was tormenting her and yet she had gone ahead and gotten her badge anyway. He imagined every day was a struggle for her. "Have a seat." He said. He grabbed the back of a chair and pushed it over beside hers. He set the folder down in front of her.
She let out a shaky breath. "You um.......you know about...."
He nodded. "I do."
She smiled weakly. "I knew it.......I knew it wasn't going to be long before.....before someone got curious."
"Why didn't you tell me before?"
She shrugged. "I guess I thought you didn't want an emotional, unstable CSI working for you."
"Megan what happened that night wasn't your fault." He said softly.
"You know how many times I've heard my therapist's say that? If I hadn't cowered in the closet my friends would still be alive." She ran a hand under her eyes.
"Megan you had the courage to call 9-1-1 while the killer was still in the room. Then still continue on to get your badge. That.......that is what I call courage."
She sniffed and met his eyes. "Every night i wake up screaming. Every night i have the same dream over and over again and i can't get rid of it. My therapist said it was just the survivor guilt talking. But the killer was never caught Horatio. He walked and the LMPD never batted an eye. I tried to move, I tried to pack up my things and move to a place where no one knew me, but he somehow found me again."
Horatio nodded. "Megan. I promise you i am going to go after this man with every thing i have, i am going to get him. But i can't do that without your help."
"I......I don't know."
"Megan you know him better than anyone. We can catch him with your help. You can get the justice for your friends and their families, you can finally give them that call they have been waiting for. Megan look at me,"
She met his eyes again. "I don't know how much help I'll be. I can't remember the bastards face for the life of me."

"That's okay, we'll get him another way. You can put him behind bars."
She looked away and stared at the folder in front of her. Finally she said, "You'll help me?"
He nodded. "I'll be with you every step of the way."
She sucked in one big breath. "Okay."

Her and Horatio re-entered the morgue. "Alexx." He said.
Alexx looked at her. "We all better now?"
Megan nodded. "I think so."
"Good. I ran tox screens on all the victims and their blood alcohol level was 0.05."
"Under the legal limit." Horatio commented.
"They were probably drinking whiskey shots or something along those lines. That's what me and my friends were doing the night of the murders." Megan replied.
"Okay. Did you guys have any music playing?"
Megan nodded. "Yeah. It was loud too."
Horatio looked away. "So that probably explains why no one heard the shots."
"But there was no music playing when we got there." Alexx said.
"He probably turned it off," Horatio replied. "Did you get any DNA off the bodies Alexx?"
"Nope and no fingerprints either. My guess is he wore gloves."
Megan nodded. "He did. At least that's what i remember from that night,"
Alexx glanced at both of them then asked, "Okay there's something you're not telling me."
"I um....This guy killed my friends two years ago and almost killed me. He.....he walked. The local authorities had nothing on him."
Stunned, Alexx stood there a moment. Finally she said, "Oh baby i'm sorry."
"Alexx it'scrucialwe get this guy off the streets before he kills again." Horatio said.
Alexx nodded. "I'll make sure I put a rush on everything and I'll go over each body one more time to make sure i didn't miss anything."
"Good," His cell rang. "Horatio Caine?.....Okay. Thank you," He hung up. "We have ourselves another crime scene."


Megan finally felt like she could keep it together this time, even with the eight bodies in the room. She stared at the blood on the walls and swallowed heavily. She couldn't lie. It still bothered her that this sick bastard was allowed to run free and murder innocent girls. She shook her head.
"You okay?"
She turned and looked up at Horatio. "Yeah. This is just hard to look at."
"I'd be concerned if it wasn't." He replied.
She smiled slightly and looked back over her shoulder at the scene.
"Do you and your daughter have plans tonight?"
She looked back at him. "No. Why?"
"I was thinking that maybe i could come and stay outside your house tonight. Just in case."
"You don't have to do that."
"Yes i do." He stared at her with eyes that were far from calm.
She gave him a single, slow nod. "Okay, um, then why don't you come for dinner?"
He smiled gently. "That sounds great."
She saw Alexx walk in out of the corner of her eye and broke off eye contact.
"He's one cold-hearted bastard for preying on young girls like this. They should be out graduating instead of lying on my table in the morgue."
Her and Horatio watched as Alexx started to check out the bodies. "Same MO Alexx?" Horatio questioned.
She nodded. "Single GSW to the left temple," Alexx looked up at them. "He made them watch the other one get shot."
Horatio nodded and glanced over his shoulder when the team filed into the room. "Okay folks. Our killer's still in the wind."
'Where do you want us to start H?" Eric questioned.
"Eric, Calleigh, I want you in here. Process this scene with a fine tooth comb. Ms Boa Vista i want you back in DNA. You've got a lot of work to do. Walter the layout room. Nothing, and i mean nothing, should be overlooked in this case. Mr Wolfe take Frank and canvass the witness again. Ask if they heard any loud music coming from this dorm."
Everyone nodded, but before Horatio sent them on their way he said, "And i don't want any of these details getting out into the press. Do i make myself clear?"
"Got it H." Eric replied.


His camera clicked repeatedly. He photographed the bodies being hauled out in body bags, the team entering the crime scene, some leaving. He considered himself a CSI as well. He documented what he did, wrote reports and did sketches. Made sure he never left a piece of himself behind. Suddenly his finger stilled on the button. He zoomed in on the woman coming out of the dorm, following a red haired Lieutenant.
"I don't believe it." He mumbled. He snapped a few pictures, then went back and viewed the image. He licked his lips and smiled. She was back. He went into his bag and pulled out a plastic bag.
Inside, were small white cards with the wordsDid you miss me?



The night fell quickly on Miami. A little too quickly for her liking.
Horatio was sitting in an unmarked car outside her house, Peyton had long since gone to bed, and Megan was still cleaning up the kitchen. She stared out at his car and smiled a real smile for the first time since that awful night. Horatio was putting himself at risk just to protect her from the monster that followed her. She had to admit, he was handsome. She dunked her hands back into the hot, soapy water. She wondered if that chemistry she had felt over dinner was just her nerves. The entire time he had kept one watchful eye on her and Peyton, but at the same timeengaged in friendly conversation. For the first time in her life, she felt like a normal person.
Lost in her thoughts, she never heard the sound of a dog barking next door.
Her own dog, an extremely large German Shepherd named Powder, lifted her great big head and growled. Megan's antenna rose and her sirens started to go off. She listened and when she didn't hear anything, resumed to washing the dishes.
Suddenly, Powder was on her feet and watching the darkened hall of the one storybungalow, snarling. Megan's SIG Sauer P229 nine millimeter was sitting on the kitchen table. She dried her hands and grabbed it. Her heart was pounding like a freight train inside her chest. "Peyton?" She called out.
Megan glanced out the window at Horatio's vehicle and prayed he would sense that something was wrong.
Then Powder started to bark.
Megan thought she heard footsteps walking quickly through the house and she raised her gun and pulled back on the hammer. The gun was shaking in her hands and she wondered if she would even be able to pull the trigger. Powder's relentless barking continued. The Shepherd's hackles were raised and her upper lip was curled back in an angry snarl.
A shadow moved into her field of view and she closed her eyes and squeezed the trigger.
Someone was shaking her shoulder.
Megan's animal instincts kicked in and she fought.
Horatio caught her wrists and shouted, "MEGAN!"
She stopped fighting and looked at him. Peyton was standing in the doorway, arms wrapped around herself. At her feet, was Powder. The Shepherd looked just as worried as Horatio and Peyton did. Her big head was cocked to one side and she slowly sat down.
Megan slowly sat up, kicked the sheets off of her and whispered, "I'm sorry."
"There's no need to apologize." Horatio replied.
"What happened?"
"You were screaming in your sleep again," Horatio explained. "Peyton was getting worried when she couldn't seem to wake you up so she came and got me. Was it that nightmare again?"
"No," Megan replied, shaking her head. "No it was different this time. I was here in the house and i thought i heard something."
"Mom are you sure you're okay?"
Megan nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine. I just need to shower and change." She slipped out of bed.
Horatio watched her disappear into the bathroom, then he made sure Peyton was safely back inside her own room before he headed back to the living room.
Megan allowed the hot water to melt away the memory of the dream and calm her racing heart. Her dream had been different. Why? Was it because she had told someone what happened? Was it because instead of fighting the emotions, she was finally accepting them? Or was it because Horatio was here? She shook her head. No that couldn't be it. Horatio was just being helpful. He would've done the same thing if it were someone else on his team. She shut the water off and stepped out. She froze, her blood turning to ice in her veins. The steam from the shower allowed four words to appear on the mirror.
Did you miss me?


"He's never done this before," She said to Eric who was photographing the mirror. "He's always left me a card in the mailbox."
"What do you think has changed?" Calleigh questioned.
Megan shrugged. "No idea."
"Well he's definitely getting bolder. If we're lucky, hopefully he left DNA or fingerprints behind on the mirror."
Horatio came up behind her. "How we doing?"
"I found no usable prints on the walls except for the palm print on the glass sliding door at the back of the house." Calleigh said.
Megan raised a hand. "That's most likely from me. I had my hand against the door while I was calling the dog."
"Okay. Then that leaves the prints I got off the doorknob to the bathroom," Calleigh replied.
"They're not mine," Megan said. "I leave the bathroom door open when its not in use."
"I'll put a rush on this."
Horatio nodded. "Okay keep me posted," He waited until Eric and Calleigh were out of earshot before saying, "I think I'll stay in here for the rest of the night if that's okay with you."
Megan wrapped her arms around herself and nodded. "Okay."

"And i think it would be better if you didn't have anything to do with the evidence. Internal Affairs might find this a problem if your name shows up in the chain of custody."

Megan nodded. "You'll keep me in the loop though right?"

"Always."

She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.

"What was that for?"

"Thank you." She turned and headed back upstairs to her bedroom.

"Horatio?"
He finished his conversation with Walter and hung up. Turning, he saw Peyton standing behind him with a worried look in her eyes. "Hey. What's up? Everything alright?"
"Do you think the killer is after mom because she got away?"
He shifted his position and looked at her gently. "Peyton I don't want you to worry about that. Okay?"
Peyton didn't look convinced. "He was in our house while we were sleeping even though you were sitting outside. What makes you think he's not going to try to hurt one of us."
"Peyton. Peyton listen to me. I am not going to let that happen. I promise. Now here's what I want you to do. I want you to trust me on this," He held her eyes for second. "I want you to look after your mom. She's going to need all of our support in this. Okay?"
Peyton nodded. "Yeah. Thank you Horatio you're the first person who's spent more than two minutes on my mom's case. Everyone one else thought she was paranoid when she claimed the guy was stalking her."
Horatio smiled slightly. "Your welcome."



Walter spread the photos out on the layout table.
"Are these the crime scene photos and reports from the other police departments?" Ryan questioned as he walked in.
"Yeah. Finally. Had to pull an all nighter just to make sure they got here. I heard about Megan. She alright?"
"Calleigh said she was shaken up. She's running the prints from Megan's house now. Hopefully we'll get a hit in DNA. So what'd you get?"
"Well so far everything's adding up. The position of the bodies, MO," Walter shook his head. "I really hope we can catch this guy."
"What about the notes? Were they every admitted into evidence?"
"Uh...." Walter skimmed through the other files. "No."
"Why not?"
"Says here that there wasn't enough proof that the killer was actually stalking her, and there were no prints or DNA left on the card."
Ryan crossed his arms. "This guy was clearly terrorizing her and none of the other police departments bothered to take this into consideration."
Walter and Ryan stood in silence for a second, then looked up when Calleigh walked in with Natalia in tow.
"Okay good news or bad news first?" Calleigh asked.
"Good news." Ryan said.
"Good news is the bullets Alexx pulled from the bodies belongs to a 9millimeter. I ran it against the cases from the other police departments and it was a match. The killer used the same gun to kill Megan's friends and the other girls." Calleigh explained.
"Okay then what's the bad news?" Walter questioned.
"Bad news is that there's no DNA anywhere in the house," Natalia said. "And Megan was telling the truth about the palm print on the door. It belongs to her."
"So aside from the bullets matching, we're back to square one." Walter grumbled.
"Not necessarily," Eric said as he walked in. He had a huge grin on his face. "Even the best criminals have to screw up sometimes."
"Meaning?" Natalia asked.
"Meaning the next door neighbor heard her dog barking in the backyard. She came out to see what it was barking at and saw a man walking along the side of Megan's house. Now she couldn't see his face, but she got a decent description," Eric opened up his notepad. "A white male, around 5'9", 6'0" in height. He was wearing a black baseball cap, black sweat shirt and black pants with boots.She says the killer never looked her way but she says she got a funny feeling when she saw Horatio's unmarked car sitting outside herneighbor'shouse."
"Well that narrows it down to about half the male population in Miami." Ryan replied.
Walter looked at Calleigh. "Did you run it against the faculty at Dade-U?"
"You thinking it's someone on the inside?"
"It's worth a shot."
Eric scanned the fingerprint into the computer and ran it against the teachers at Dade University. About two seconds later, Match Confirmed blinked across the screen. Walter peered over Eric's shoulder.
"I don't believe it." he grumbled.
"What is Principal Patterson's fingerprints doing inside Megan's house?"
"I don't know, but I think we outta have a little chat with him." Walter replied.



"So. Mister Patterson."
"It's Harold. And like I told your detective the second time. I don't know anything."