-Detective Mike Riggs-

We've had ten murdered women cases here in Baltimore in the last year. All of the women have been blonde-haired, blue-eyed women. All were strangled and left naked in different areas of Baltimore.

I'm without a clue. No DNA, no fingerprints, nothing. Who the hell is this guy?

"Detective?" The front desk officer peaks into my office.

"Yes?" I reply.

"Liza Kane's mother is here to see you," he informs me.

"Send her in," I sigh.

The mothers and fathers of the murdered women are constantly in contact with me regarding their daughter's cases' progress.

Mrs. Kane enters my office, "I'm so sorry to bother you."

"You're never a bother, Mrs. Kane," I lie.

She smiles, but it doesn't reach her eyes.

She sits across from me, "I just needed an update on Liza's case. I haven't heard from you in a while."

Shit! I can't tell her that we don't have any new leads.

What the hell do I say? "Believe me when I tell you that your daughter's case is my top priority. I have some things that I'm working on, but nothing definitive yet. I'm sorry, Mrs. Kane. I wish I had more to tell you."

Her head drops. She looks like I just kicked her damn dog.

"I understand." She stands. "Thank you for all of your hard work. I hope that someday we'll have justice for Liza."

I stand and reach my hand out to her, and we shake. "Me too, Mrs. Kane, me too."

After promising her that I'll keep her posted on anything new, she leaves my office. I sit back down at my desk; my mind goes to Liza Kane. She was this asshole's last victim. He has a type. If my daughter had blonde hair and blue eyes, I would lock her away until I found this bastard.

The front desk officer returns. "Detective?"

"Yes, Kent?" I reply with a little more irritation than I meant to.

"This just came across the teletype. I thought you would want to see it." Kent hands me papers."

"Thank you, Kent," I say annoyed.

"You're welcome, Detective." Kent once again leaves my office.

I begin to read over the document Kent just handed to me. My eyes widen with every line that I read. It is from the Philadelphia Police Department regarding a serial killer, my serial killer. The M.O. (Modus Operandi - Latin, which translates to Mode of Operation) in the Philadelphia area is identical to my cases.

Five blonde women with blue eyes and each of them was strangled and left naked throughout Philadelphia. All of them and my victims were wearing nothing but bright red lipstick. Well, damn. It brings this case to a whole new level.

I look through the document and see that their serial killing began about a year ago as well. I see that Detective Hank Lynch is the Detective assigned to the Philadelphia cases. Right away, I pick up my phone and call the phone number below his name.

The phone rings a couple of times before someone picks up.

"Detective Lynch."

"Good afternoon, Detective Lynch. My name is Detective Mike Riggs of the Baltimore Police Department. I think that we might be chasing the same serial killer."

"Well shit! I put that information out there hoping to get a lead, but honestly wasn't expecting anything. This case has been nothing but dead end after dead end," Lynch responded.

"Tell me about it. This asshole leaves nothing behind," I agree.

"A fucking ghost," he adds.

"I would love to get together and share notes. I don't mind coming to you." I more or less invite myself to join with him on this case.

Lynch answered quickly, "That would be great. Is tomorrow too soon?"

"Does the morning work for you?" I ask.

"It does. 10:00 a.m.?" Lynch replied.

"Perfect!" I exclaim.

Lynch responded, "I will see you then. Thank you for the call, Detective."

"Thank you for sharing your cases," I said as we hang up, and for the first time since I started this case a year ago, I feel hopeful. I spend the next couple of hours organizing my notes.

***

It is about 9:50 a.m. when I arrive at Lynch's Philadelphia precinct. I park along the city street and make my way inside to the front desk officer. I let her know that I'm here to meet with Detective Lynch. She picks up the phone and lets him know that I'm here. A few moments later, he appears and offers me his hand.

We shake. "Good morning, Detective Riggs. Thank you for making the drive here to meet with me."

"It's my pleasure. Another set of eyes on this case might give us the lead we both need," I respond.

"I sure as hell hope so. Please follow me. I have a conference room set up."

I follow him through the door that he just came out of moments ago.

We go down the hall to a room with a large oval table set up. His cases are lying out on the table, and I take mine and lay them out as well. I have ten cases; he has five.

As we look through the dates of the crimes, we begin to see a pattern.

A little over a year ago was the first murder. "Well, according to the dates of each murder, it looks like our unsub (Unidentified Subject) has a month cooling off period between murders."

"Yeah, I noticed that too. It's eerie how much these women look alike." Lynch points out.

"He has a type," I agree

"He sure does. Do you think that he applies the red lipstick postmortem?" Lynch places his finger on one of the photos.

I give him my opinion. "I thought that might be the case. I had each of my victim's lipstick analyzed. Each one of them was different brands and shades of red. I guess that the red lipstick is what draws the unsub to his next victim."

"Hmmm... that makes sense," Lynch says thoughtfully.

We spend the rest of the morning and into the afternoon combing through every little piece of evidence. By the end of our meeting, all we still have is the unsub's M.O. and victimology. The only new information that we got out of this meeting was the timeline.

The first two murders were in Philadelphia, the following three in Baltimore. One in Philadelphia, the following three in Baltimore. One in Philadelphia, three more in Baltimore. The last one in Philadelphia, the last one in Baltimore, was just a month ago.

I reluctantly say the obvious, "If he keeps to this pattern, we will have another victim in Baltimore very soon."

The subsequent murder doesn't come. Not here, not in Philadelphia. It is like what Lynch said about the unsub months ago. He's a fucking ghost that just disappeared without a trace. The cases go cold for years. Other solvable cases will come across my desk, taking me further away from the carnage that the ghost left behind. Families have ripped apart, parents never getting closure, days turn into weeks, weeks into months, months into years.

Little did I know then that it would be three years until the ghost reappeared. The monster will be back in full force, but he will make a mistake. A huge mistake that will have me hot on his trail, bringing all of the lives that this ghost took to justice.

*****