Rachel's face pales as she plops down in the chair. "What, what is it mom?" She asks, on the verge of tears.
"Your Aunt Martha and Uncle Leonard were found shot on the lawn."
. "They what?" Rachel gasps
"Someone tried to kill them, Rachel." Bonnie cries.
Recalling happy times she spent on the farm, Rachel gulps and asks, "They're going to be alright though, right?"
"The nurse said that they are stable for now."
"Oh, thank god."
Recalling the horrific events over the past couple of weeks, Joe grabs the phone and asks, "Are you two back in the states?"
"Max and I landed a few minutes ago. We're heading to the hospital and then over to their house."
"I don't think that's a good idea, going out there like that, not without some sort of protection at least." Joe tells him about the accident and then about the life-like dolls hanging in the tree. "I increased security on Jeanie and the girls since the threat seems to be towards them. But now the killer is escalating, I believe it would be best to put everyone in protective custody until he is stopped."
"My girls are still at the safe house, correct?"
"There was a problem with that, sir, plumbing issues. The place was filled with sewer gas. So we moved them back to the apartment until it could be fixed, sometime later today they say."
"You did what?" Max yells through the phone.
"I made sure there are guards standing watch around the clock."
"Your guards didn't do my brother or sister-in-law any good, now did they?"
"No sir, but…"
"I'm going to call my office to see if we can get a safe house somewhere out of state. Something you should've done when this began." The call disconnects.
Seeing how distraught Joe is, Jeanie squeezes his hand and says, "You only did what you thought was best." She pauses then adds, "The only real option you had at the time."
"Their Aunt and Uncle might die because I didn't do all that I could."
"You had no way of knowing the killer would do what he did."
"I should've seen it coming, Jeanie. I should've done more."
"How Joe, hmm? Tell me how you were supposed to predict a crazed serial killer would travel thousands of miles to get revenge on family members you had no idea the killer knew they had?"
He glances at his wife still sporting a sterile bandage on her head and says, "I couldn't even keep my own wife safe for god's sake."
"What happened to Rachel wasn't your fault. It was the administrators, for not informing her staff."
"I should've made sure everything was set before she left."
"Rachel is fine, Joe thanks to you finding her when you did." Jeanie looks over to find Rachel sobbing in her chair. She taps Joe's arm, looks over at Rachel, winks and then says, "You know what I heard, Joe?"
"No, what?"
"I overheard the maintenance guy complaining to one of the nurses that he's going to have to replace the entire floor because of the crater of a dent Rachel's head left behind.
Shaking her head, Rachel sniffles and says, "You're so full of it mom."
"She did leave a big hole in the sidewalk where she fell," Jerry adds.
"What about the dent she left on my office floor or the one in the hall?"
"I didn't do any of those, guys."
Becca chuckles and says, "She really did head butt a guy at school once, and knocked him clean out."
"I did not."
"Does the name Jack Phillips ring a bell, sis?"
"Jack Phillips?" Rachel questions.
"The school bully." Becca chuckles and adds, "Ex school bully once you got done with him."
Rachel thinks back blushes then says. "I forgot about Jack ."
"He didn't forget you." Becca chuckles, turns and says, "He was so scared of her that he didn't pick on anyone else ever again."
Joe laughs and says, "He's probably afraid she'd do it again if he did."
"Probably. And when he'd see her coming he'd run the opposite way."
"Now I think about it, I don't think I was ever bullied in school," Sammy says.
"Because they were too scared of what our big sis would do, right Rach?"
"It only happened once."
"Kids at school started calling her TX."
"Tx?" Joe questions?
"Female Terminator."
Joe chuckles and says, "Now I know where our son gets it from."
Rachel's phone rings. Seeing it's from a blocked number, Joe answers, "Captain Bower then puts the call on speaker.
"Well, Hello captain, how are you on this fine day?"
Recognizing the voice, Joe asks, "What do you want?"
"Is your lovely wife around by chance?"
"She's dead."
"Don't insult my intelligence captain."
"Didn't you see the announcement in the papers?"
"I did and I even attended the lovely ceremony you held for her. I will say your fine acting had a lot of people convinced. A stellar performance if you ask me. I'm thinking you might have missed your calling, Captain, that maybe you should've been an actor instead of a cop. Seeing how there's more criminals on the streets than you have behind bars these days."
Seeing Joe's face turn a lovely shade of red, Rachel grabs his arm, shakes her head and whispers, "He's baiting you." Clearing her throat she sighs and says, "I'm here."
" Did you like the flowers I sent you?"
Rachel writes does he sound familiar on a piece of paper, and then slides to her mother.
"I figured you would, since they are your favorite. They have been since you were a child. I remember how you used to admire the roses in Mrs. Fletcher's yard. The way your face would light up when she'd give you a few to take with you."
"They were always so lovely, won a few prizes I believe."
"Indeed they did. Several if I recall."
"How did you know I was still alive?"
"I'm much smarter than you think."
Listening a second longer, Jeanie shakes her head.
"You said you were at my funeral?" Taking back the paper she writes, security footage and slides it over to Jerry who nods.
Taking his phone from his pocket, the detective steps into the hall.
"I wouldn't have missed it for the world. I care a lot about you pipsqueak. Always have, and that's why I took care of your problem for you. The real reason for this call."
"What problem is that?"
"The kidnapper of course. It's a shame I couldn't stop him before he did what he did to your folks. I'm truly sorry about that, and do hope your Aunt Martha and Uncle will be alright?"
"I thought we had an agreement that you'd leave him for me," She says scooping up her phone.
"We did, sergeant, but then he crossed the line. So I did what had to do. Something you cops should've done decades ago."
"He needed to face what he did, and pay for all his crimes."
"He did, sergeant." Recalling the man's final days, he smiles and says, "Believe me he did. One appendage at a time. I even had him make you a list of names and places where all his victims could be found so you can give the family closer you so strongly believe they need. That's what you wanted, sergeant, correct?"
"Yes, but…"
With a smile in his voice the caller says, "Compromise is a wonderful thing, wouldn't you say?" The call disconnects.
Hanging up, Joe steps into the room, turns towards his wife and says, "We have another victim, only this one is a male."
She points to her cell. "He claims it was the kidnapper. Said he made sure the man paid for all his crimes."
Joe phone pings. He looks at the message, looks up and says, "He wasn't kidding about paying for his crimes." Joe glances at his photo, a second time shakes his head and says, "What he did is worse than Jack the Ripper and Jeffery Dahmer combined."
"Let me see." Rachel holds out her hand.
"It's pretty gruesome."
"I can handle it, Joe." Seeing him hesitate she grabs the cell from her husband's hands. Rachel sees the victim naked tied to a chair with both legs amputated just above the knee. Zooming in closer she finds. he's been emasculated, and each of his fingers removed. That's what he meant by one appendage at a time. Enlarging the face, Rachel gasps and says, "That's Ray Jenkin's kid."