Julian Stewart clipped the visitor's badge on one of his belt loops as he waited for the elevator to reach the sixth floor he'd built a mental picture of from the second he received a call from the unit. 

This was good. A great way to start the week. He nearly believed this until he got to the taped area on the sixth floor. Unsure if to be grateful for arriving at the crime scene just in time before the body bag was evacuated straight to the wailing ambulance outside. 

The pictures would do his column in the local newspaper some good. 

The ugly sight splayed out before his wandering eyes sickened him to the pit of his stomach. For once, he thought he had a rough start with the BAU, not until things got more intense. This intense. 

The killer was still out there. 

The thoughts in his head every time. 

"What happened here?"

His recorder and camera whipped out, business as usual. His question hung heavy in the air as everyone else in the condo unit seemed to be dazed by whatever plagued their minds. Dazed in shock and acute disgust. 

Detective Decker started towards him by the door, his gallant strides quick, ashen face pinned to the phone in his hand. Whatever he had to say to Julian faded inside of him the second he spotted the loose button on the floor by the blood-splattered cashmere bean bag by the window. 

The rest of the morning was like a blur to Julian, the photos sitting on his computer begging his attention to start working on the next column, the nagging urge to link these recent murders to the infamous crime twenty years ago in Willow Creek. 

"Mr. Stewart, I think you're doing too much," Hilary West, the chief editor of the Greekside Daily papers leaned into his computer to catch a glimpse of what he was able to publish from the photos he had taken earlier. 

"It's the third murder this month," He sighed but barely took his skeptical honey-brown eyes off the screen of his computer. The picture of the crime scene remained a constant reminder there was yet another murder. 

"The victim lived all by herself?" Hilary cocked her head to the screen. 

"Not sure, from what I gathered, she just got divorced." He shrugged, "This killer is fearless, the detectives should crack this up real quick."

"Occupied dwellings, he takes high risks to strike. He's bound to flop at some point." Hilary's blue eyes regarded him briefly, "I don't imagine you'd think this crime is connected to Willow Creek?"

Finally, someone snagged his thoughts. His attention went off his computer to the tight-lipped Lady before him. She caught the gleam in his eyes and shook her head dismissively. 

"There are no viable connections to the two crimes. Don't dig out the old bones." Hilary breathed a sigh. 

"If I do?" He cocked a brow her way. 

Her negligible shrug, the scorn twinkling at the edges of her washed-out blue eyes could've been the premonition he'd searched for all his life but Julian was never a quitter. He'd had his heart and head on this case for so long, it began to feel like this was a part of him. His only purpose.. 

"Security staff were on duty, surveillance cameras with everything recorded twenty-four over seven, and yet, no one seemed to have entered this residence last night, well, except residents." He pondered. 

Exactly the plight of Willow Creek twenty years ago. Ten children were abducted without a concrete trace. The local detectives published the demographics, socioeconomic status and general makeup of the residents of Willow Creek remained the same that night, yet, ten kids mysteriously disappeared. 

The telephone on his desk pealed jolting him from the circles his mind swirled in, Hilary excused herself with her stilettos stabbing into the floor to announce her being gone from his side. 

"Detective Decker speaking,"

He could place the gruff tone from the other edge to the sable-haired middle-aged man's image zoomed up in his mind's eye quickly, he understood what this was about. 

He listened promptly to what the Detective had to say, released an audible sigh, and murmured into the telephone 

"I'll be there in five."

He replaced the receiver, grabbed his keys and jacket, and headed out to the hallway milling with newly appointed communication liaisons and scout team. He stiffly nodded to a few familiar faces until he got to his parked truck in the lot. 

His mind was heavy on the case at hand, breath hitched with the growing anxiety to get things done and done quickly. He fired the engine and set the car in motion through the busy streets until he parked outside the all-familiar cafe which stood in its pastel glory. 

His squinted gaze searched the warm and cozy cafe the second he stepped in for a glimpse of the brooding man. The wonderful smell of butter melting on the croissant and freshly brewed coffee did nothing to ease his reeling nerves the second he spotted the disapproval etched on Detective Decker's face at the corner of the cafe. He was late. 

Blame that on the traffic. 

He started towards his table and noticed his eyes lit up when he noticed him edge closer to the table. 

They shook hands briskly and Julian pulled out a seat and settled before him. This had to go smoothly. 

"Any news yet?" 

Julian cut right up to the chase, it was why he came down here. 

"This isn't about the blonde Latina murdered this morning in her condo unit." Detective Decker shrugged, and added, "Partly." His gaze left the coffee before him to Julian's confused face. He had a lot to say to the young journalist but he was never a man of many words. "I'm responsible for this case, no stone would be left unturned."

He reached into his pocket and found the card he'd carried for days now, even as he stretched it out to Julian, his mind wasn't completely made up if to let the young freshly out-of-college journalist in on this case. It could drown him. 

He watched Julian take careful study of the business card now in his possession, his brown eyes revealing his chaotic mind. 

"Norman Jones?" The name on Julian's lips tasted like a mouthful of meal gone bad for he knew just who this man was. 

"The case in Willow Creek, swept under the carpet for about twenty years now has a lead." Detective Decker considered him slyly, "You're the only fellow I know with a gross interest in this mysterious case."

The barista arrived to take his order but the coffee no longer appealed to him. This moment was all he'd waited all his life for. He ordered his usual black coffee. 

"One of the abductees has returned to Willow Creek after twenty years." Hope glimmered in the detective's eyes as he spoke when the barista disappeared to bring the order, "But I'd steer clear of this case if I were you, Mr. Stewart." He moistened his lower lip with the tip of his tongue before he meticulously added, "It's the type of case that drowns you."