Not Until We Are Lost

Piotr was finding it hard to enjoy all the beauty. His gut told him, paired with experience, that a place this lovely had to be highly dangerous. It had to be. The sun shone down on him, warming his skin and washing away the cold of the snow, as well as the nostalgic feeling he'd had while he'd been on the last planet. He felt less calm and less willing to be accepting of what was going on.

Which could also be due to everything being so seemingly perfect.

He wanted to find Rob as soon as possible. He'd been enjoying the direction of their last talk. Not so much the subject matter, but the actions that had taken place while they'd been discussing the difficult things. There was hope that they could progress even further. Piotr was certain that he wasn't just being foolish.

The Russian headed toward a lake he could see, hoping that it would take him out of the thick forest.

After the haunted insane asylum, Mary came to in a city. A little time spent walking around confirmed that it was New York City. And from what she could tell by the fashion, cars and technology, she was sometime around the 2010s. She rifled through her pockets and turned up a little bit of money, but not enough to actually get by. Which sort of pissed her off. If the aliens insisted on dropping them off at random places, they could at least provide room and board.

She also didn't like that it had just been herself and the Doctor in the last place. And here, she seemed to be alone. It would be hard to find the others in a place as big as New York City, assuming they were even here. She had to think of Rob, whom she hadn't seen since the pirate ship. Her dad and Johnny, who she hadn't seen since the resort. And her mom had been missing since before that. None of that set her mind at ease. She didn't know if she'd find any of them in this place, or if the aliens had decided to separate them again. Her heart ached a little at the idea of losing the people she loved over and over again.

But she knew that musing over that wouldn't help her much. So she wandered and eventually found her way into a bar that had a TV set to the news. She ordered a drink and paid attention to the reporters, as well as idly listening in on any nearby conversations.

It didn't take long before the news report gave way to the celebrity gossip segment. But what caught her attention was a very familiar face featured in the gossip. Jack's, to be exact. There was some mention of her being one of the most famous 'hunters' in the US that had Mary sitting up straight and staring at the TV in a mixture of surprise and horror. The idea of hunters being famous went against the very nature of the family business. And when the gossip reporter went on to discuss Jack's latest ghost hunt, it left little question that they were talking about Mary's brand of hunting.

She took a long drink from her beer bottle, trying to ease her nerves a bit. This place apparently had a lot that she needed to wrap her mind around.

Simon was not fond of the recent happenings. It seemed to him that everybody was being split up and thrown about willy nilly. It meant that he never knew who he might end up with. And it meant that he couldn't be sure of finding Niklas at all on their changes. It had been bad enough that he'd had to seek her out every damned time, but to know that he might not see her at all?

Worse, that she might be with Evan somewhere...

The planet seemed nice enough. Very tame, truthfully. Bordering on dull. Simon was welcoming of the dullness for the simple reason that he wanted time to contemplate this change and what the new rules of it might be. He wanted to brood a little bit about the frustration he was feeling, and he wanted a little time to be a petulant brat without having to worry about what might be out there stalking him.

There wasn't a whole lot to do, so Simon discovered himself at a small diner. He was looking at a cup of coffee that smelled like it had been made yesterday. There was no chance he'd be drinking it, but he didn't want to just sit here empty handed. He should have found a library or book store and gotten something to read, but he hadn't been thinking of that.

"Are you sure you haven't any tea?" He asked the waitress as she passed by. It was a futile question.

"I'm sure, fella. We just don't really get folk in here that want tea. I even looked for an old box in back. We just have soda, juice, and coffee. I can make you a milkshake if you want."

"No. No thank you. I'm in the mood for warm."

"I'll tell Earl to think about ordering some." She smiled softly. Simon didn't know if she really would or not. The diner wasn't exactly high class. There was a layer of grease over everything. It wasn't his normal kind of place, he'd just needed to sit.

She knew the rocking of the water before she even opened her eyes. The sounds of the ship as it moved slowly, listlessly. She knew that they weren't going anywhere by the way the waves rocked it.

In a flash, Sympathy was up and out of the big comfortable bed. She looked around and realized that she was in the captain's quarters, just where she should be. She dressed quickly and burst through the door onto the deck, a great smile on her face.

This, this was where she should be.

This was what she should be doing.

Her eyes scanned and found no sign of the crew, which meant there wasn't one. She was going to have to motivate her fellow travelers. Well, it was a good thing that she could motivate with the best of them. Her crew was always loyal. Unfortunately, the pirate imagined she was going to have to begin with fear.

With her heavy boots, Sympathy tromped to the middle of the deck, making as much noise as possible. She then slammed her foot three times down as hard as she could.

"Get up! Get up! All hands on deck!" Her voice rang clear and strong in the sea air. She felt more alive than she had since she'd started this ridiculous journey.

It didn't take long for Mary to notice that the staff was entirely missing. There was a note left at the front desk that they refused to return until they no longer had reason to fear for their lives. Coupled with the blood spatter she found in another portion of the hotel, she had to believe that one of them had been killed. Whether through the fault of a member of their group or not was the question. She didn't know everyone they were traveling with. Not anymore. So she didn't know what they were capable of. That worried her.

What she did know, however, was how to survive. If there was no one cooking or cleaning, then she'd do what she could to fill in those gaps. She'd certainly managed with less help. And while she thought that everyone here should be able to fend for themselves, she recognized that cooking to feed a large group was a good way to manage their food supplies. She just didn't want to think about what would happen when the food was completely gone. Fresh ingredients were used first, and she tried to cook for a large group. Anything unused was stored in one of the refrigerators for anyone to help themselves. She tried to spread the word as best as she could, hoping that someone else would be willing to chip in and hoping that people would know where to look for meals.

Today, she'd cooked up 6 lasagnas and frozen two of them. That would stretch out the food supply for at least a little longer. As long as the power stayed on, anyway. She tried not to think about that too much. And if things got really bad, she was mentally preparing herself for venturing outside the wall to hunt.

When everything was cooked and stored in the fridge, she sat down to take a break and eat a piece of lasagna herself. She still had yet to find anyone but Johnny, but she figured that if she hung out where the food was long enough, somebody else would turn up. Assuming that they were still with the group. Hoping that they were still with the group.

The soft padding of footfalls against rich threaded carpet could be heard by anyone that happened to be nearby. Slowly she moved, assessing all that came into her line of vision. Everything she saw she couldn't believe. Bounding on the margins of panic, Diana walked steady down the corridor. Unknown was her destination but her costal blue eyes remained alert nonetheless.

She couldn't recall the last time she had been without her gauntlets, the bracelets bearing red stars that could become weapons should she need them. And what was a Queen without her tiara? It was also vacant from its usual spot atop the crown of her head. No lariat, nothing. It was as if she were stripped of everything she knew she was.

Left only in a red one piece suit, a small ruffle across the chest to make it festive, and golden gladiator styled sandals which crept to her knees, Diana felt bare. Her wrists felt too cold, her forehead the same. Exposed skin crawled with unusual sensations unworthy of her. What was this? Her eyes flickered from one numbered doorway to another. She felt lost amongst the diminishing numbers.

Having awoken in a place unusual to her, Diana was confused. She had no idea where she was, who had brought her here or why. Only when she had met what seemed to be some resemblance of sentient life did she pause in efforts to gain information. "Excuse me," the brunette breathed, earning the attention of the being beyond the desk. "What is this place?" The underlying question that she couldn't bring herself to ask was simple: How did I get here?

She was met with kindness but she knew an avoidance of an answer when one was given. Even without her Lasso she could tell.

Diana nodded at the answer, brow creased in confusion. "Thank you." It was all she could give in response. A push from the desk and Diana turned. She moved down the lobby towards the outside. There had to be better information. She didn't know this place or what it held.

The beach and tide were beautiful, the sea always had been. But that was my answering her questions. What was all of this? Slowly she walked the coast of the shore and waited to see if anyone would arrive that she could inquire more of. She needed to know.

It wouldn't be the first time that Aurora had woken up in a strange bed. It took walking around the room and staring out the window to realize that this wasn't Storybrooke. In fact, this didn't look like any realm that she remembered visiting or even hearing about. Maybe it resembled some of the moving pictures on that enchanted box back in Storybrooke, but this was something different. Her clothing was also not the dress she'd been wearing when she fell asleep in Mulan's tent, and her crown was missing.

Was this another curse? If so, who was the culprit? And why? She sighed and made sure she was properly dressed before she ventured outside the room. The clothes in her closet resembled some of the things that she might have worn in Storybrooke, though the fabric was lighter and the clothes themselves showed more skin than the long sleeved shirts and pants that fit better to the chillier weather in the town. She layered enough to protect her modesty and then she set out to explore. She wasn't sure if she should hope that Mulan would be here or not. She also wasn't sure if there was even a chance that her husband and child might be here.

She eventually found her way to a large room containing a buffet of food. A man who looked like he worked here gave her a little bow and a gesture. "Help yourself, ma'am."

Aurora looked over the spread of food, which could have put some of the palace feasts to shame, then she looked back to the man.

"How much?"

He shook his head and waved a hand dismissively. "It's all paid for with your stay. Eat as much as you'd like."

Aurora frowned in confusion, but eventually helped herself to a plate. It was only once she'd sat down and started staring at the food that was heaped there that she had to wonder if the food was poisoned. It wouldn't make much sense to go to all the trouble of bringing her here only to poison her, but it did cause some hesitation as she looked over the colorful pastries and ham that she'd picked out. Her stomach rumbled in protest to her hesitation. It had been awhile since she'd eaten.

Her suit was gone. That was the very first thing that Eleni registered upon waking up. She'd been in her suit a lot over the last week or so. The breakout from the prison had been the rallying cry for a rebellion and she'd done what she could to help. She still just hoped that she'd picked the right side. Though seeing the tactics that the government used to try to discourage the rebels made her fairy certain that she had been on the right side of the conflict.

But now? Now she was dressed in a burgundy corset, a frilly skirt and boots that she could barely walk in. Music played somewhere near by and she heard shouts coming mostly from a table of men hunched over what looked like a card game.

It was a mark of how weird things had been since her abduction that she barely batted an eyelash. She merely sighed to herself.

"Another day, another planet," she murmured.

A second look around the room confirmed that it was some sort of Wild West-style saloon. But... there were a few brightly colored hues of skin tones that she was sure weren't human. So at least the aliens on this planet actually looked like aliens. Some of them, anyway. There were still plenty who looked perfectly human. She did her best to move to the side of the room so she could spend a little more time observing and figuring out as much as she could about where she was. Her eyes also swept the faces of the patrons for anyone familiar.

Another new planet, only this one had technology that was advanced even for her. The aliens had left a key in her room that led to an entire workshop of her own. Eleni didn't know what to make of it, but it seemed as though they wanted her to have the means to finish her suit. She really didn't know what that meant, but she'd disappeared into that lab for the first week on the new planet and had gotten to work. Isaac wasn't in her phone list which meant that this was the second planet he was missing from. The prospect of losing her brother hurt enough that it was just easier to bury herself in her work. Even if she knew that she had a guy out there who probably would like to see her. She'd emerge eventually and find him. She would.

She had maybe another two days' work left when she finally tore herself away from the suit. She hated to leave it when she was this close, but she really did need to shower, get something to eat, and find Max. She certainly hadn't meant to let this much time pass, but she had her dad's 'gift' for getting wrapped up in projects and forgetting about everything and everyone else in her focus.

She hadn't had much time out on the streets to get a feel for this place, but it was spotless. There wasn't a hint of graffiti or even the noise that was usually found in cities. Even the locals seemed... cowed, somehow. They didn't make eye contact and there was no one catcalling women or muscling others out of the way for cabs. It set her on edge a bit, and she was still that way when she made it back to the hotel that seemed to be housing everyone. She pulled out her phone and sent a text message to Max: Are you around?

Simple, but she didn't want to come across as overly clingy or demanding. Whatever was going on with them was still very new and would probably continue to be strange considering that everything about this alien abduction and the planets they kept landing on was strange.

The doors of the palace were thrown open. The grand ballroom was decked out with silver and blue decorations, crystal snowflakes hung from the ceiling and the palace entertainers played merry tunes to greet the guests. The aromas of the feast wafted out the door and down the street. The Queen herself sat at the head table with the princess at her side. The princess didn't look entirely happy at the moment, though there was speculation that she wasn't the sort to settle down and the Queen had been the one to decide that now was the time for the princess to narrow her sights to one single suitor.

Most of the kingdom turned up in their finery. From lords and ladies to peasants, all could be seen dining and drinking and after dinner, dancing.

Those that were the abductees had been invited as well. The Queen had even arranged with the aliens to keep one, should the princess decide that she fancied one of the group that had come to temporary fill the open job positions. Oh, it had taken some diplomatic posturing, but it was her hope that those from other worlds might hold her princess' attention more than those native to this one.

After dinner, the princess stood at the edge of the dance floor as a line of gentlemen were introduced to her. Those who attended had more than the princess to focus on, however. The minstrel strolled through the crowd as he played, and various other entertainers were stationed throughout the ballroom. Wine flowed generously, which resulted in some of the guests sliding towards entertainment themselves.

This newest change of scenery appeared to be an actual spaceship. Eleni ran her hands along the metal as she explored the ship, fascinated by the fact that it was the exact temperature no matter where she touched and no matter what might be hidden behind those walls. She eventually made her way down to the common area and found the window. She stood in front of the transparent metal and simply stared.

Space. Actual space. Stars and planets that she'd never heard of.

There were people that she needed to look for. People that she'd missed dearly. They were important too, but she did have her dad's sense of curiosity when it came to things and she couldn't just ignore the sight in front of her eyes. Astronomy had always been an interest. What kid didn't look to the stars growing up and wonder?

Or maybe that was just her. Possibly.

She tried to remember some of the star charts and photos taken from telescopes as she stared out, tried to see if any of it matched any galaxy she'd learned about. It didn't. That was both awe-inspiring to think that she was seeing a corner of the universe that possibly no human had ever seen and it was a little sad at the same time. If she was this far from home, how could she possibly hope to find her way back?

Isaac didn't like this place much, but he had to admit he was relieved that there was color here. The clothing could have been better, too, but his technology wasn't acting up and his heart rate was mostly regular, so he was productive.

Eleni wasn't around either, the group seemed to be halved, even though it was always growing. He could see the other island, though, and though he hadn't heard of anybody making it there he did plan on setting up some smoke signals to see if there was life there. If his sister was alright and saw the signals she'd be able to send some up as well, and they could work from there.

He set up the signal near the beach facing the other island, stacking wood and leaves and building a sizeable pile. In his work he removed all of his clothing except for his pants, putting it off to the side. Taking some sticks he set about making fire. He'd avoided the other people on the island so far, none of them seemed to have anything more than he had, so there was no benefit to playing nice. He would make the fire, and if there was another on the other island he could work out a net of leaves to block the fire's light at will. Morris code was something both Stark children knew, and would facilitate an update on how Eleni was doing. And then... well, he supposed they would wait to be sent somewhere new, or for something to happen.

It took some time for him to get the wood to create flame, and he took breaks to find water and gather a few of the wild carrots, but eventually he got a good fire going, creating a satisfactory bonfire that he loaded with leaves to make as smokey as possible. The column of smoke heading up was thick and very visible, and work done the inventor retreated to the shade.

He watched the other island for some time, still chewing on carrots, until his usual lack of boredom tolerance set in. He figured it would be a while till somebody made a bonfire over there anyway, it had taken him the better part of the morning.

He turned and walked into the woods, looking around, picking a few of the fruits and examining the plants. It was hard to tell what could be poisoness here, but he didn't think the aliens would poison them all immediately. There had to be more informative ways of killing them all for their experiment.

All in all this place seemed to be a paradise. Similar to several of Isaac's favorite holiday vacation spots.

"Only one thing missing, really," the kid said, squinting at a fruit he didn't recognize, picking it and taking a bite. He made a face and spat it out, tossing the rejected fruit over his shoulder. "C'mon. Something here has to be boozeable."

He still had priorities, after all.

Mikey didn't know how he'd gotten from the apartment he shared with the birds, but he didn't care. When he woke up and saw that he wasn't in a black and white world that's all that mattered to him. He was excited to see color again.

Two seconds later, he realized he was wearing shoes and a hat and stupid clothes. Immediately, Mikey pulled them all off and threw them into a pile. He didn't care about them. Especially not since he could feel the sun on him, and smell the water, and the rich plants. He wanted his whole body to experience everything.

Grinning, he sprinted up the beach, naked as the day he was born. His tail was puffed out behind him in a declaration of absolute frenzied happiness. His feet splashed into the waves that rolled in, and he didn't care. Baths weren't so bad anyway, but he was way too delighted to care about the wet.

Mikey ran and ran until he realized that he'd come upon his clothes again. Which meant this was more than just a beach. It was a thing surrounded by water. There was a name for it. What was it? Who cared.

He plopped himself down in the sand and began to cover his legs in it.

Arlene didn’t think of the women she took as people. She didn’t care to know their name or what they did for a living. Didn’t care for much beyond what she’d learned while staking out her prize, while following them and watching and waiting for the best opportunity to take them. She didn’t look at them as victims either. They were all a part of her grand plan. She’d left the bodies all over the city, adorned with her artwork and faces covered in mud. They could be anyone. They were anyone.

The blonde one that she’d taken wasn’t much of a screamer. That was... disappointing. Usually the good girls broke first. The other women, the broken, tarnished ones. They’d seen more, so it took longer. But this one? This one was surprising. The whore had broken before the good girl in this case. Instead of screaming, the blonde had doled out several threats that first day. There were less threats by the second day. Soon, she would scream just as much as the woman in the room down the hall.

Arlene wasn’t too worried about the friends and family that would supposedly find her and make her pay. No one was looking for a woman. And certainly, no one was looking for her. She lived a quiet life outside of this place. She visited the tea room regularly-there were so many lovely girls there. She walked her dog, ate in diners, made small talk with the neighbors. She was careful not to linger for too long with any of the ladies that she took. The neighbors might start to question things if she wasn’t home by sunset every night like clockwork. She certainly did make it home at that time, only to sneak out yet again so she could keep a watchful eye on her prizes through the night. And then she slipped home just before dawn so everyone could see her leaving in the mornings.

She would break this one too. In the end, they all welcomed oblivion. When she sensed that they were ready to welcome that final departure, she was happy to grant it like the merciful artist that she was.

----

Mary wasn’t sure if she’d been in the dingy room for hours or days. She thought it might have been at least a day or two because her kidnapper had had time to carve up both her arms and had fed her at least a few meals. The Slayer didn’t talk much but seemed to want to take her time with the torture. There was just as much time spent cleaning Mary’s wounds, feeding her, caring for her. And yes, her. It had been a surprise when Mary had gotten the first glimpse of her captor, who was a woman not much older than her. A woman who probably wouldn’t have looked out of place in one of those high society clubs. She was a classic beauty, and her expression was permanently fixed with a cold and remote stare. She never made eye contact with Mary, never made conversation. She only came in the room to carve more intricate designs in Mary’s flesh or to offer meals or medical aid.

Currently, Mary hadn’t seen the woman in awhile. She’d heard screams from somewhere else in the building and she couldn’t help but feel like she should be helping, not tied to a godforsaken chair. She was half-conscious and trying to call up the determination she’d had when she’d first come in, that knowledge that no matter what else happened, the people that mattered the most would hunt this woman down and make sure she didn’t hurt anyone else again. There had been a good amount of hope that they’d find her in time, but Mary was starting to lose hope. She was starting to let her mind wander down the darker path of what might happen to the people she loved if this didn’t have a happy ending. This was going to kill her parents, she knew that. And Johnny. What were the odds of something like this happening a second time to someone he cared for? And Rob. And Cas. There were a lot of people who were very good at blaming themselves and Mary couldn’t help but think that she was letting them all down.

Her head lolled to the side just a bit as she drifted in that half-conscious state, trying to get at least a little sleep before the torture started anew.

Rob hadn't called Mary; he was taking it slow. He also hadn't heard from Piotr in a while; was that taking it slow too? Then again, he knew that the Russian big guy had another mouth to feed - if he only knew, he might have felt a little differently about that whole relationship. As it was, he was only mildly curious with a small hint of disappointed that Piotr hadn't been around. Then again, Piotr owed him nothing.

The youngest Winchester had decided to get a bite near the docks. If he saw a certain dock worker, well, then he saw a certain dock worker. Plus, there weren't many places that served the fish stew Rob liked on rare occasions. He'd also been smart enough to avoid the suit; he went for the hardworking man's attire. He wanted to fit in while he wasn't stalking.

The Man of Letters had only intended to eat out in a very "exotic" spot. He was not at all prepared for what was coming his way as he stepped out of the bar, pub, hole in the wall to make his way home. He had a few books waiting on him there; he wanted to keep his translation skills up, especially for some of the older languages.

It took him no time at all to unearth the newspaper that had the name of the PI who had been killed, and less time to get the information from the operator. Johnny left The Duchess holding a napkin with the address scrawled on it. He went on his bike, not giving a shit about who asked what, or what people might think. Fitting in was not on his agenda at the moment.

He needed to find Mary.

Hopefully, they would track her down before anything bad happened to her. Before she was touched at all beyond what it had taken to get her off the street. Johnny was realistic and had stopped hoping that she was off somewhere on her own. She would have returned long before her shift if that was the case. And if she'd gotten caught up in something, she would have found a way to call. He couldn't be certain that the serial killer - the New Dietrich Slayer - was the one who had her, but somebody did. Somebody was holding her against her will.

Johnny rolled up to the building that matched the address, and hoped that there was somebody he could talk to. A secretary, anybody. He wanted to look through the files. He wanted to see what was known. He'd done a lot like this in his time in Electric City, using what the police had in order to find the people they couldn't. All he had to do was convince whoever was in charge now to let him have a peek.

He opened the door and looked around, not seeing anybody immediately.

"Hello?" He felt antsy.

Jack stood quietly to the side, feeling out of her element. She hadn't felt that way in a very long time, and yet it wasn't going to stop her from doing what she thought she had to do. It had taken some doing to get Kai to agree to letting her go on her own. The other woman knew Jack had been doing hunting on her own of and on her whole life. It simply was the way of things. Of course, this was a totally different time, completely crazy.

"Is that really real? All that blood?" Her voice took on the tone of a very curious and ridiculously clueless person all with the hint of fear, or what some thought of women in general. "I would have thought things like that only happened in horrible tales in those awful comic books." She had put on a simple dress, simplest she could find, and sensible shoes to look a part.

She had looked over the scene as much as she could before she got caught, saying she'd come out here to see the living animals that were now unfortunately dead. She'd even brought a small bag to show she had made a trip of it, so she hadn't heard the bad news. Not even a little. Whatever the reason, she got lucky in that they believed her enough not to send her on her pretty little way or keep her locked up out of the way.

In her bag, the hunter had a few tricks of the trade. It didn't matter how quiet things were, she would always have a few things prepared: holy water, rock salt, and quick made charms.

Evan woke covered in grime so thick that he wasn't really sure how to identify it. He knew that he smelled rank, though. It smelled like death and blood and animals. And the forest. Trees and other plants. He was also completely naked when he woke up, and his eyes weren't working right. He could see no colors in the world. So he figured he must have hit his head pretty good. Wandered away from the meeting and hit his head. That was the last thing he remembered, the meeting.

If he could smell himself, he must smell worse to anyone else. The first thing he did was find a stream to wash himself in. It was extremely cold, but woke him right up and made him feel really good.

That was a weird thing, too, how good he felt. He felt alive and free. He felt... whole and vital. Evan figured if he'd had enough to drink that he'd wandered away from people and if he'd hit his head, passed out and spent a few nights in the forest, he should feel like complete shit. More than shit. Especially given that he'd hit his head hard enough to alter his vision.

The next thing he did was steal clothes. That was easy. Evan found his way to a farm and a clothesline. The pants were a little small and he was fairly sure that the shirt he'd pulled down didn't belong to a man, and there were no shoes outside, but at least he wasn't running around naked anymore

Lest the people of the farm recognize what he'd stolen as theirs, Evan decided to not ask to use their phone, and studied the sky to see which way the sun was going. He picked a direction and walked, hoping that there would be something for him. Eventually he did find a road, and that was awesome. Roads eventually led somewhere.

Barefooted, Evan walked slowly, though it didn't hurt his feet. The dirt between his toes actually felt right, and that was a very strange thought to have. Thinking back, even as dirty as he'd been, he hadn't felt gross. He'd smelled gross. But he'd felt fine.

And speaking of smells, wherever he was now smelled completely amazing.

Max had been looking. Not too deeply, but he was looking all the same. Frank had warned him away from it, which only seemed to increase his interest in it all. He hadn't focused all of his attention on the murders and missing women. No, he actually had time to look into a few other cases. They were quick and easy things, just a little information was all he needed.

Max sat quietly pondering the article that Frank had been looking at the day he'd come in. There were girls missing. There were dead girls found. There were people who were scared, and he supposed he didn't blame thing. Life was crazy after all.

They'd left the "Help Wanted" in the window. He hadn't had a cute little broad tucked away in his trench coat, which was unfortunate. Then again, maybe having a young woman come in might not be a good thing. She could be in trouble. He sighed softly, picking up the mug to have a sip of coffee. Alcohol was in a drawer somewhere, but he wasn't jumping for it. Not yet anyway.

Frank Rake had just sat down with his morning paper and coffee. It was a daily ritual that helped clear his mind before he dove into the ever-growing stack of case files. He didn't know what it was in this town lately, but he suddenly had a deluge of business. Including a contract with the police that had just come in the other day.

Speaking of which... the paper in question was slammed down as a certain article was skimmed.

"Damn it," he muttered.

The information getting out was going to make it a hell of a lot more difficult to put his finger on the pulse of this one. He was already pretty sure that those crimes were connected, but that didn't mean that he wanted the killer realizing that. He also didn't want the killer knowing that he was working on this. This could get awfully dangerous.

Frank stood and walked over to the window. He'd put a 'Help Wanted' sign out a few days back, after he'd gotten one too many calls from nervous men looking for their intended, and moms looking for their daughters. He stared at the sign, considering it very carefully. Anyone who might respond to it now could be in danger. Should he take it down? On the other hand, those women who were currently missing were running out of time and there was still a killed on the loose who fashioned himself some sort of twisted Don Juan. He finally left the sign where it was and went looking for the bottle of gin that he kept behind the desk for days like this. He had a feeling that this case was going to have a lot more days like this before it was done.