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It was, as was usual in Seattle, pouring rain early on a Monday morning. Sarah Linden would have much rather stayed in bed. When she was still single, she usually didn’t have this desire. Since marrying Stephen Holder three years earlier, she’d given into many of the everyday habits that she hadn’t even thought about before. One of them was discovering that sleeping beside her husband, who kept the bed nicely warm, made it harder to get up for that early morning run, especially on rainy days. Then there was the addition of two-year-old Natalie to their family… it had been a long time since Jack, now a college senior, had been that age and demanded that much energy from both his parents. But duty called and Sarah yawned as she drove across town from the suburban home where she and Holder lived to the gritty streets of downtown. The place still gave her a knot in the stomach when she considered that the infamous Pied Piper case had taken place there nearly ten years earlier. “What have you got?” Sarah called out to the uniformed officers who were clustered around what she assumed was a body. “You won’t believe it, Linden,” the first cop on the scene, a good-looking young man in his twenties, said. “It’s not just a body. It looked like it at first, but this is actually a body cut in half.”“What?” Sarah couldn’t help but gasp when she saw the victims. Just as the cop had said, the body was split at the waist. A grisly line of intestines threatened to spill out of the top half while the hips and legs of the bottom half just lay there like part of a department store mannequin. “I’d better call Holder. He’d hate to miss this one,” she said. “Holder? You up? Of course you are, it’s time for Natalie’s favorite cartoon. Well, you won’t believe what they found downtown.”Holder was there half an hour later, having left Natalie wuth the nice older woman next door who had offered to babysit in emergencies like this. He took one look at the bodies and turned to Sarah. “Saga Norén,” he said. “What? Who?” Sarah was confused. “A Swedish colleague. You know how part of my mom’s family comes from Malmö. I have an aunt who’s a detective and loves to tell stories about some of the weird cases they catch there. About eleven years ago, they had a body like this that was actually two bodies laid out as one. It became a really crazy case. According to my aunt, Saga Norén is one of the finest detectives in Scandinavia. We should give her a call. Her and her Danish guy, Henrik. Saga’s a little different but she gets the job done. Kind of like you sometimes, Linden, when you get really focused on a case.” “We might need all the help we can get,” Sarah said. “Besides,” she lowered her voice. “I’m not a fan of this part of town.” She and Holder exchanged a knowing look. Few people knew that the true killer in the Pied Piper case was, in reality, their former boss and Sarah’s one-time partner and lover, James Skinner. The pair were two of very few people who knew that Sarah had shot and killed Skinner when he had abducted her and claimed to have killed the only witness to the crimes, an eight-year-old boy whose mother he had brutally murdered. It was an unpleasant, ugly memory that they usually left unmentioned and forgotten after Sarah’s five years of travel, their marriage and subsequent birth of Natalie. But something about this crime scene was unsettling Sarah. If Saga Norén could offer help, then Sarah would gladly take it.
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“D’you ever meet her?” Sarah asked, but Stephen only kept his eyes on the road. This was a rather unusual thing for him to do. For herself, yes, but not for Holder. This is also why she didn’t like him driving with their child in the backseat, but now they were alone. She was sure that after all they had been through, he could handle the traffic. He should be able to, at least. Nevertheless, she wanted an answer.“Holder?” They were still using their last names a lot, even though she had also grown familiar with calling him Stephen. She liked it, though. It was their thing.“Hmm?”“Have you ever met her?”“Who?”“Saga Norén. Seriously, what’s up with you? Are you okay?”He gripped the steering wheel tighter. Sarah was really starting to become worried about him. He had been acting strangely ever since they left the crime scene. He was neither talking nor singing along to the songs that played on the radio. Something was wrong.He forced a smile.“Sure. I’m fine. Never met her, but my aunt says she’s good. I wonder why she quit.” He changed the subject, but Sarah went along with it, as she did not want to force Stephen to share. When he wanted, he would talk to her.“I don’t,” she answered and looked out of the window. Rain was dripping onto it. Holder gazed at her shortly.“Really?”She shrugged.“It’s not everybody’s sort of thing. People think they can take a lot, but at some point, you know you can’t. If I were there, I’d think about it, too,” she admitted.“Have you ever been to that point?” He was very direct. Sarah thought about it, then shook her head.“Don’t know. I feel good. I wouldn’t want to quit. I feel safer bringing them down then knowing they are around, you know?”Holder nodded and silence took over once again.They were about to pick up Saga Norén and her colleague Henrik Sabroe from the airport, as they wanted to get to work as soon as possible. So far, they didn’t have much information on the body. Indeed, cut in half but it was quite obvious that the upper and lower part did not belong together. No DNA. The halves appeared to have been frozen, a fact confirmed by their pathologist. He hadn’t been able to tell them how long it had, though. Maybe a year, maybe a few months. The bodies were both male, but the upper one was older than the younger half. All of this sounded so strange when thinking about it. Sarah hated the idea of a serial killer since there was no guarantee when the next victim would be found.She suddenly thought about Rosie Larsen. Realizing that the young girl would never have a future or a normal life made her utterly sad. But it also made her take even more care of her own daughter and appreciate the time she had with her family. Jack would come to visit soon. She would be so glad to see him again. It had been quite a while. He was already so grown up by now. There was a time when she had been afraid of losing him, but now they were good and had a healthy relationship with one another. He loved his little sister more than anything in the world. Her ex-husband had left her alone ever since Jack had moved to Chicago all of those years ago. Yeah, life was getting really good with Holder, Natalie, and Jack.“That’s them!” Holder pointed to a woman about Sarah’s age accompanied by a man. He seemed to be a bit older than the rest of them. Saga Norén must have seen him waving, as she marched towards the couple. And she really did march, literally walking quickly without noticing any pedestrians, just barging in. Sarah smiled. Somehow, she liked Saga, even if she couldn’t tell why.Sarah and Holder waited for Saga and Henrik to come to a halt in front of them. Saga had long hair so blonde that it was nearly white. The man’s hair was dark brown.Holder held out his hand for both, grinning a bit insecurely.“Hello. I’m Stephen Holder, and this is my partner and wife, Sarah Linden. Nice to meet you.”The man, Henrik, shook his hand and nudged Saga in the shoulder. She put on a smile that looked so fake that Sarah almost grinned. She didn’t follow through on her impulse because she knew that the other woman was trying her best to appear friendly. Sarah shook hands as well and introduced herself shortly, but Saga did not really seem to be interested in what Sarah was telling her. She was a doer. A worker who wanted to get this done.“Can I see the body?” she asked after they were all sitting in their car, watching the rain fall outside as Holder drove them back to the station.“Sure. Stephen told me you know a lot about pathology. That’s interesting. It’s never been my sort of thing, though.”Saga nodded, seemingly content with seeing a dead body soon. She also appeared to appreciate Sarah’s words, even if the red-headed woman wasn’t too sure about it.“Are you hungry?” Holder asked, interrupting the brief talk Sarah and Henrik had about his one-time trip to Seattle and how he just was not a city-type person who preferred the countryside much more.“I am not,” Saga immediately answered and put in another snooze while looking outside the window for a moment. 7nloke Henrik, she was very much a city person. “I want to examine the body.”Henrik threw a sarcastic glimpse at her.“I am. Maybe we can stop somewhere on the way back? Burgers?”Sarah grinned. Henrik really was a lot like Holder. It was freaky but actually rather amusing that the men shared an unhealthy passion for fast food. She was reminded that she was hungry as well by her growling stomach. It was then that she remembered that she hadn’t even had breakfast that morning. The body had been found yesterday and she was already feeling stressed by all of the unknowns, not to mention the deja vu provided by the seedy location. That was the price that one paid for being a cop. You knew about these things. Most people weren’t affected and didn’t know, so they didn’t have to bother. Still, Sarah would rather know. She could never feel safe otherwise.
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By the time that Holder and Henrik had eaten their fill of fast food, an hour had passed. It made Sarah feel irritated that the time had been wasted, even though she wasn’t too anxious to return to the scene of the crime. There was just something about it that she couldn’t name that was really bothering her. Both she and Saga had long finished their food when the men were still deciding to drive through again and order more. Sarah’s appetite was bigger than Saga’s because the blonde just sat there, appearing to be lost in thought with a half eaten chicken wrap still in her lap. Sarah remembered when she herself wasn't used to eat much on the job, but that was before raising a rambunctious little girl on top of becoming a detective again required the energy of three full meals a day and more caffeine than she could measure. She stared down at her watch. An hour and ten minutes had passed now. She glanced at Saga, who was staring out of the window with an expression that was half unreadable and half a mirror of Sarah’s own exasperation. It gave Sarah an odd comfort to not be the only one annoyed. “Is he always like this? Making conversation when you should be on your way to a crime scene?” Sarah asked the Swedish detective. “Yes. He likes to stop to eat. It is inefficient and annoying.” Saga’s voice didn’t change as she spoke. “That’s just like Holder,” Sarah said. “Yes. I can see that. Tell me about the body.” Saga continued to look straight ahead, only acknowledging Sarah’s presence by her words. Sarah explained how the body had been found, cut in half in a rundown area of downtown Seattle. She surprised herself by divulging the fact that it was very close to the scene of the Pied Piper case nearly a decade before. Somehow, talking to Saga made Sarah feel able to mention this without the usual terror that accompanied the subject. “Henrik showed me the case file. It’s rather clear that Joe Mills could not be the killer,” Saga revealed. “Do you think that the real killer is responsible for this murder?”“I don’t know,” Sarah answered carefully. “Joe Mills died in jail three years after his conviction. Hung himself in his cell.” A shadow crossed Saga’s face. She looked highly uncomfortable at the mention of Mills dying in his cell.So we both have our secrets, Sarah thought. “The perpetrator of a serial killing in Sweden killed himself in his cell, too. He used a paperclip to slit his wrists.” Saga said. “It was from a file that I brought into the cell. Before my therapist helped me to confront the memory, I had doubted whether I left it there purposefully or if Emil took it. I’ve since come to the conclusion that he took it with the intention of not surviving long enough to go to prison.” Sarah didn’t know what to say, so she just nodded. She hoped that Saga wouldn’t be able to decipher the secret that Mills hadn’t been guilty of the Seattle murders. His death still weighed on her conscience. “You don’t think that Joe Mills committed the crimes,” Saga stated. It wasn’t a question. “No,” Sarah said slowly. “Holder and I… both doubted his guilt.” She swallowed around the fear riding in her throat. “But we can’t always question those at the top. It won’t do any good, especially not Joe Mills.”“Of course not. He’s dead.” Saga pointed out. “Yes. It wouldn’t have done him any good while he was still alive, either.” She thought of the embittered mayor’s refusal to do anything but cover for Skinner. He’d even threatened to expose Sarah’s mental health history if she tried to tell the real story. That was the day she thought she had left Seattle and detective work behind forever. Everything had changed on the road, especially when she discovered that Holder was waiting for her at the end of it, just like he’d always promised. Her fate had been sealed with the kiss they had shared after embracing one another outside of the building where he was then employed as a Narcotics Anonymous meeting leader. He had always been her love, her home, her rock. Sarah belonged with Holder. No amount of running away could change it. So she decided to stop fleeing and accept her true home. “When are we going to headquarters?” Saga asked loudly. Henrik turned around with an apologetic expression. “We’ll go now. Holder and I had to discuss the case first.”“You are lying. You were discussing other topics. I want to work on the case.” Saga was unmoving. “Yes, ma’am,” Holder said, grinning at Henrik. He turned the key in the ignition and began to drive. They arrived back at the police headquarters within a few minutes. Saga went right to work, following Sarah and Holder into the office which they were once again sharing. The uniforms who had gathered the evidence from the discovery of the body had left it in boxes in a haphazard manner, cluttering up the workspace. Just as Sarah was about to apologize for the disorganization in the office, Saga began straightening all of the evidence. Sarah was a little in awe of the Swedish detective’s efficiency. The fact that Henrik stood back and let her work alone gave Sarah the feeling that Saga didn’t like to be interrupted while completing such tasks. So she and Holder stood still, too, just watching the piles of papers and photographs transform before their eyes. Then Saga removed her shoes, sat down on the floor and spread all the rest of the paperwork that had not yet been organized around her. She bent over to study them before stacking them into piles. “Henrik, can you bring a desk in here for me? I need it as soon as possible.” Saga spoke to her partner without even looking up, let alone stopping her stacking. “Sure,” Henrik agreed. “I’ll show you to the storeroom,” Holder offered, leaving the two women alone in the office. It was then that Saga dropped the bomb of her conclusion. “This is not one body but two, although you already knew that,” she began. “The lower half had freezer burns and does not match the skin color of the top half. Just like in Mälmo. It was a very momentous case.”
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“Yeah, we know that. That’s why you’re here. The upper half is from a way younger man,” Sarah declared and took a seat beside Saga on the floor, where she continued to look through the stuff. Saga nodded, but she did not seem to have understood Sarah’s words. She did it to be polite. “I want to see the bodies now,” she said just when Henrik and Stephen came back with a desk for her. She did not need it now as she stood up to leave the office. “Where is she going?” Stephen wanted to know as Saga put on her shoes again. “To examine the bodies,” Sarah said and followed the other woman so she could show her where to go, which was unnecessary as Saga had memorized all signs she had seen when coming in, so she knew exactly where to find pathology. As nobody wanted to distract Saga and she was not a very talkative person, they moved forward in silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts.Sarah had started to see Skinner again in her dreams yesterday. She knew it was only the beginning and that her sins from the past were about to overtake her. She had killed him and she was a fool if she thought she could ever truly forget it. But this was not about Skinner. This was about an unknown, maybe serial killer. She needed to focus on it right now. Skinner was dead. He would not be a problem anymore. Neither would Richmond, if she kept quiet about what really happened. She did not like him, though. She always thought he could be the reason for her ending up in jail, or worse, psychiatry again. She shook her head to make the worries go away.Holder opened the door of the pathology for Saga and the rest of the group. Holder and Sarah had already seen the body, so they let Saga and Henrik have all the time they needed. She did realize Holder was watching her all the time, though.“Are you alright?” her partner and husband asked, and she forced a smile, even though she knew it would not convince him. He knew about all of it and he had still married her.“I’m good.”“You’re not…”“Not now, Holder. Let’s talk at home,” she shushed him, glancing over at Saga, who was way too involved in examining the body to care about them. Still, Sarah feared Saga could become a problem. She was great, but if she had something in her mind, she would do everything and stop at nothing to carry it out until it was done. If she noticed something was wrong with Sarah, she would not stop investigating until she knew the truth. She was simply that kind of person. Just like Sarah, herself.Holder did not look too pleased but he switched to work-mode again.“It has been frozen,” Saga confirmed, “the younger victim must have been about twenty, the older about sixty.” They knew that already.“They have been strangulated. One of them has a tattoo. I know it from somewhere. Must have seen it somewhere,” she continued talking.Sarah moved closer to look at it. Saga showed her the tattoo on the underarm of the younger victim. It showed a ring with the letter M in it. She had never seen it before.“Can you remember?”“I am thinking.”They waited in silence for Saga to remember but it took her some time.“Are you gonna,” Holder started talking again but Saga held out a hand.“Shut up. I need to concentrate.”He went silent again and exchanged a look with Sarah. She was not sure about it, but she thought he liked her Swedish colleague in some way even if he did not understand her methods very well. Well, nobody really understood Saga’s methods.“Mysa!” she suddenly blurted out and slapped her hand against her forehead, “it’s a Swedish bar about one hour from where I live.”Henrik looked at her, startled.“You wanna say, you know the upper half?”Saga looked back, unsure.“I did not say that. I said I remember the sign. The tattoo is the logo of the bar. Why would I know who he is?”“Just forget it,” Henrik sort of apologized to her but she either did not understand or more likely did not care.“I’ll call some colleagues to ask around. See if someone’s been missing,” Henrik said. This seemed to make Saga much happier than an apology ever could.“If you can tell me who the legs belong to, I would be very impressed,” Holder joked but Saga didn’t smile. She hardly ever did.“I don’t. Maybe going through the files of missing people in the last ten years, should be helpful”, she answered, shrugging and then left the room without another word.Henrik followed her with an apologizing smile. Holder turned to Linden.“I know what to do. I don’t need someone telling me that.” He appeared to be a bit annoyed, but Sarah only shrugged.“Then let’s do it. It’s gonna be a long night.”They joined Saga and Henrik and prepared themselves for a long night, trying to find out who this lower half could belong to.
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Sarah was more than ready to return home and have a quiet night with Holder and Natalie after Saga had finished, at long last, combing through the evidence. She had scooped it up and placed it in a box and walked out of headquarters, gesturing for Henrik to follow. “That’s my cue,” the Danish detective said to Holder and Sarah. “We’d better head back to the hotel. Can I borrow a car from the department? It just occurred to me that I didn’t rent one yet, and the rental agencies are already closed for the night. Saga won’t want to wait to get back to her room.”“Her room?” Holder was taken aback. “But I thought you were together. But, sure, man, you can take a car. Ask at the front desk.”Henrik nodded. “Thanks. And, yes, her room. We are together but Saga requires more personal space than most. Especially when she’s working on a case.” “Ok, sorry if I was prying,” Holder said, looking a little sheepish. Sarah wished that she could have given him a nudge of the elbow when his mouth was getting out of control but she was too far away from him, trying to fix the clutter on her desk from Saga’s reorganization. “I was going to give you our cell numbers,” Henrik said, jotting them down on a sticky note. “Here. In case you need to reach us.”Sarah took the paper. “Thanks. I’ve written down ours, too.” She handed him a similar note. Once they arrived home, Sarah was sorry to realize that it was already past Natalie’s bedtime and the neighbor lady who was babysitting had put her to bed an hour before. She tiptoed into Natalie’s room, where the child that was nearly the mirror image of herself, from her curly red hair to her bright blue eyes, was already sleeping, cuddling her stuffed white bunny named Pearl. “Sweet dreams, my girl,” Sarah whispered. “Just know that Daddy and I love you, even when we run late.” *** About a thousand miles south, Alice Vaughn was working late at Anderson Vaughn Investigations, the private investigations and security company that she owned and ran with her best friend and business partner, Val Anderson. She glanced at the clock and drummed her fingers on the desk. Her after hours clients were late and she had no idea when or if they were 3rd going to show up. AVI worked with governmental agencies from time to time, and all she’d been told about this meeting was that it involved a pair of agents from the CIA who were pursuing a suspicious person who had fled from Europe to America. Thank heavens Ben, her husband, was understanding of the hours of Alice’s work. He ought to, she thought, after all the strange circumstances that had brought them together. She’d first met him when he was part of a British crime syndicate who targeted her and her company, then they’d truly fallen in love despite the complicated situations that nearly kept them apart for good. But then things had turned around with help from their enemies-turned-friends at the FBI, and they had become free to go ahead with their wedding and live their version of a typical life. Alice’s reverie was broken by a knock at the office door. She stood up, smoothed her sleek black dress and went to answer the door. A man and a woman were waiting for her, but she couldn't see their faces. They had to be the team sent by the CIA.“Welcome to AVI,” she said and showed them in. When the woman turned around, her heart stopped for a second. Was this some bad joke? That could not be possible!***The young woman sat on the secondhand couch in her shabby apartment, absentmindedly flipping through the television channels. She stopped on a late night newscast that led with the story of the two bodies that were found in downtown Seattle. Her mouth quirked into a smile. Sarah Linden would undoubtedly be put in charge of the investigation, given the department’s overinflated view of her abilities. And, for exactly that reason, she would pay. The woman was counting on it. Justice had to be served, even if it meant taking things, including innocent lives, into her own hands. Her new accomplice would love it, too, as long as it kept him away from further trouble. She had met him in a random twist of fate on a ferry boat headed to the Wapi Indian casino. Who knew that they’d be the perfect team to commit the perfect crime? It made her smile even more broadly. I won’t let you down, she promised someone in her mind. I guess you could say I finally met someone worthy of me. And we’ll make it worthwhile for your sake. I love you.
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“Do you think this is weird?” Erik asked, trying to face Marissa. The woman was looking outside the car window, ignoring his stare. Still, she shrugged and then spoke in her very calm voice that could sometimes creep him out. She could make taking on a dangerous mission as casual as talking about the weather.“I don’t know. Utrax is in the past. I’ll never forget, but we should focus on doing something to make the world a better place. Don’t you think so?”Erik thought about everything they had been through. Nobody deserved to live a normal life more than them, but somehow it wasn’t what they wanted. They wanted to make up for what they had done wrong in the past. Hunting down this psychopathic serial killer would be a good start, now that the CIA was in good hands again. Trustworthy hands.“Did Hanna call you?” he asked her, in order to change the subject. He pulled over and parked the car in front of their hotel in LA. They wouldn’t stay too long. They were only here to pick up this Alice Vaughn tonight and then they would leave for Seattle to meet the detectives with whom they were working. It was something new and unusual, but it was a good thing as there still were parts of the CIA that nobody could trust or know about, so it was better that the CIA was not the only investigating party. Plus, there was probably another killer, too. They had nothing to do with the second killer, and it wasn’t their task to bring them down. However, by cooperating with the others, they might get both suspects sooner than if each party tried to achieve their own goals separately.“Yeah. She’s good. Sophie and her parents took her on a weekend-trip to a theme park or something. She sounded really excited. That’s good, I think,” Marissa replied.They usually didn’t talk much. After Erik had shown up out of nowhere, killing her father before he had the chance to end her life in that farmhouse, saving not only her but also Hanna, she had been truly shocked. Marissa had believed Erik to be one hundred percent dead, but he had obviously been alive. Hanna and Clara had to leave Erik behind in the Romanian facility, as they had to make a run for it. Marissa had been with him after that, but he had already been dying from his wounds and she had to cover up the girls’ escape. There had been nothing for her to do to help him. Somehow but he must have survived. Erik told her that he was captured by her father’s men but that he was able to flee from them, right in time to play the hero. Marissa was angry at herself for letting all of this happen, but she was also furious at everyone because she didn’t know that Erik was still alive.She got out of the car and wanted to head inside, but she only heard him closing his door, locking the car and then he grabbed her arm. It didn’t hurt but it was a firm grip.“Marissa, please. Do we really want this to continue like that? It’s like we’re strangers.” His voice sounded pleading. She wriggled herself free, not allowing him to touch her.“I don’t know. Give me some space!” It sounded sharper than she had intended it to be. She hated that it sounded like they were together because they weren’t. At least not right now or not anymore. She did not know.“Call your mother. Talk to your family. You cannot isolate yourself. If you don’t want to speak to me, you have to speak with them.” She laughed at his words and made her way back to her room, ignoring the fact that he was following her.Yeah, calling her family was the last thing Marissa needed right now. Why didn’t Erik understand that all she wanted to be was alone right now? Her father had tried to kill Hanna and make herself a powerless pet, so why wouldn’t she deserve some time alone? Only Hanna was keeping her together.Nevertheless, back in her room, she found herself playing with the thought of speaking with her mother. She didn’t need to tell her that Gordon was dead, she could just call to hear her mother’s voice and see if she was okay.Before she knew it, she had dialed the number and waited for her mother to pick it up. Despite her earlier determination to not bring up her dad, the first thing she said when she heard her mother answer was: “Dad’s dead.”There was a really uncomfortable silence that felt as if it threatened to kill her.“Marissa? Are you okay?” Her mother was crying and Marissa felt tears forming in her eyes as well. She blinked them away.“I’m fine. There was no other way. He threatened to kill a lot of people. You knew someone might kill him eventually, didn’t you?”“Yes. I did. Was it you?”“No, not me personally. A friend. He saved a very special girl’s life.”“You have a daughter.”“It’s more complicated than that. Aren’t you mad that dad died?”Silence again. Her mom had stopped sobbing.“No. He was a bad man. I knew that but we stayed together for our children’s sake. I realized too late that there was no way out of this relationship. He controlled me, too, you know?”Marissa nodded but didn’t say anything about it. She didn’t call to talk about Gordon. But surprisingly she was not the one to make a confession in the conversation, but her mother. Her words hit Marissa completely unprepared.“Mary, I need to tell you something now that he is no longer here.” She sounded frightened.“What?” Marissa had no idea what was coming now.“I am not your biological mom. Gena Geddes is. Your father had an affair with her and she had triplets. Your dad didn’t know. When he came back to her, you were the only one he could find at her place, so he just took you. She was too young and afraid to do anything about it. I don’t know what happened to the other two, whether they are alive or not. I am so terribly sorry.”Marissa ended the phone call without hearing the last words spoken by her mother. This couldn’t be true. It couldn’t. But then, what did it really change? Nothing. She was still Gordon’s daughter. But she had two siblings whom she never knew about. Maybe that was better, too. She would have only put them in danger.Still, she couldn’t believe it. Her legs had gone all shaky and she had to sit down on the bed. Silent sobs were escaping her throat and her eyes filled with tears. Disoriented, she looked around to check if she was still alone. She was. No one could see her crying. She was unable to hold back anymore as she sank down on the bed, crying silently into her pillow. ***“Talk to me. What happened last night?” Erik continued throwing questions at her. He hadn’t stopped worrying about Marissa all the way to Alice Vaughn’s office. Even after they were in the elevator, he continued to bother her.Marissa was over the first wave of shock, but still it felt rather strange to know that she had two sisters out there, people she was related to. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to find them or not, but she had decided to place her personal matters aside and solve this case first. She might tell Erik about it, or maybe she would talk to Hanna first, but not now. They had to focus on the case.All of her plans suddenly went up in smoke when they exited the elevator and were met at the door by a middle-aged woman. Marissa turned around to face her and her heart nearly stopped. This was not true. It was all a dream. She was surer of it than ever before. It just couldn’t be real. She refused to believe it!
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“You must be the CIA agents. I’m Alice Vaughn,” the other woman introduced herself. “I’m Erik Heller and this is Marissa Wiegler,” Erik said, noting Marissa’s evident shock. He looked closely at Alice. Her long, red hair was cut in the latest style and she wore a black dress and knee-high boots that made her appear as if she’d stepped out of a fashion magazine. But when he looked closely at her stylishly made up face, he could see exactly what had made Marissa freeze. Hair, makeup and clothing differences aside, she could've been Marissa’s identical twin. Except for Alice’s more cheerful inflection, even their voices were the same. “Have we met before?” Marissa asked, after she forced the shock aside. They were here to do business, but the bombshell that her mother had dropped about Marissa being a triplet made her wonder if she was just meeting one of the other two right now. She made a mental note to find out everything she could about Alice Vaughn on the CIA database. “No,” Alice said after thinking it over for a minute. “Well, I don’t think so. But there is something very familiar about you.” She grinned and glanced at the other two. “It’s OK to just go ahead and say it, you might as well be my twin. It’s too obvious to cover up.”“Yes, I don’t know what to say,” Marissa said. “It's very interesting. Have you lived in LA all of your life?” She tried to gently extract some information about Alice’s past while still appearing to be casual.“All of my life that I can remember,” Alice said. “I was adopted when I was only a week old, so this is the only place I’ve ever known. I have an annoying brother named Tommy, a few years younger than me, but he acts like he’s five years old. Other than that, I have more or less an ordinary family.”“Me too,” Marissa fibbed, not wanting to divulge the truth about her twisted backstory. Not to a stranger, even if that stranger happened to be related. DNA did not make a relationship. Only familiarity and trust could do that.“About the case,” Erik said, “we need to go to Seattle as soon as possible and meet with detectives Sarah Linden and Stephen Holder, who are being assisted by Saga Norén and Henrik Sabroe, who have come from Malmo and Copenhagen respectively. It seems that a serial killer based in Sweden is on the loose and we have been called in to check it out.”“Well, let’s get going then,” Alice said. I’ve already arranged for everything to be covered here. My business partner and best friend, Valerie, said that I didn’t need to worry about how long I’d be gone. She has my back.”Marissa found a strange yearning rising up in her heart. How normal Alice appeared, having a best friend and the business of her own. Could that not have been her? If Gordon hadn’t come back and found her alone in Gena’s apartment, this could have been her life. But she forced herself to focus on the case. “It’s better that we stay overnight in the hotel and leave first thing in the morning. We won’t get anything done if we arrive in Seattle tonight. It’ll be too late.”“Sounds good,” Alice said. “I need to go home and pack a couple other things, anyway. Please give me the address of your hotel and I will meet you there in the morning.”Eric already had the address scribbled out on a piece of paper and gave it to Alice. “Does eight am sound all right? Our flight leaves at eleven thirty.”“Perfect,” Alice confirmed. “I will see you then.”In the car, Marissa wasn’t sure what to say. Part of her wanted to trust Eric implicitly because they had once been very close and she knew that he was trustworthy. But on the other hand, such personal information was hard to process, let alone share with someone else.“That was weird,” Erik said. “Do you think she could be one of your missing sisters? I mean, it’s not every day that you run into someone who looks exactly like you.”“I don’t know, maybe,” Marissa said, drawing in a deep breath to try to keep from crying. It was all so confusing. She hated that crying made her feel so weak, but it was about all that her emotions could respond with at the moment. She tried to think about something else, something that would make her smile instead of wanting to tear up. Hanna being safe after the downfall of Utrax, traveling with Sophie as if she didn’t have a care in the world. That would make her feel good any day. It was what they had fought for over so many years. But now, Marissa was too confused to feel too good about anything. Her mother was the only person who had ever been kind to her when she was growing up. To learn that she was not even related to the woman was a bit of a blow. She knew in her logic that relationships come from time spent together and the way people treated each other, not their genetics. But if there was anyone to whom Marissa definitely wanted to belong, it was her mother. She only hoped to be the kind of mother figure to Hannah that her own mother had been to her. She turned to face Erik. “I think right now, I’d rather focus on the case.”Erik nodded, understanding what Marissa was saying without her having to explain it further.His wordless cooperation reminded Marissa of the warm feelings that they had shared years ago. Being around Erik was easy. He didn’t have any pretense and that helped Marissa to lose her inhibitions instilled from a childhood with Gordon, at least for the time that she was around the other agent. He had a way of setting the hidden parts of her free. In the current situation, the memory of such closeness hurt even more because the trust they had shared disintegrated once he infiltrated Utrax and took Hanna nearly twenty years ago. She wanted to fall back into confiding in him again, but now she had learned to constantly watch her back. It was an ingrained habit. They finally arrived at their hotel, said good night to one another and went to their rooms. Marissa fell back on the bed and its many pillows, utterly exhausted. She forced herself to stand, wash up in the bathroom and change into a nightgown before slipping into the bed. She needed all the rest she could get to face a day in a hard case with Alice Vaughn, a woman who may or may not be one of her missing sisters. As Marissa was falling asleep, she wondered what Alice was doing at that moment. She probably lived in a posh house where one could see most of the city from its expansive windows, she decided. She wasn’t learning, often unsuccessfully, to live a more typical day to day life, realizing that her life wasn’t being constantly threatened anymore. But one thing that Alice didn’t have in her life was Hanna. A genuine smile formed on Marissa’s face at the thought of the teen. Watching Hanna blossom in freedom was nothing short of a miracle. Her beautiful miracle.
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“Get up!“ Sarah nearly shouted, but then she thought of Natalie, who was still deeply asleep. She didn’t want to wake her up. Holder had only been awake about twenty minutes before she got up and he had told her he would be ready any second. He must have fallen back to sleep again.“Mhmm,” he mumbled, looking around, a bit disoriented. Sarah grabbed his arm and shook him awake.“Get up. We’re late for work! The babysitter is already waiting downstairs. No breakfast for you. Get ready!”Holder got up, realizing that being late for work was no good on a day like this. He quickly got dressed whilst brushing his teeth in between the bathroom and the bedroom. Sarah was already finished and waiting for him impatiently. They left the house together as Sarah drove them to headquarters. Saga had called in the middle of the night. She knew who the upper half was. At least she was very sure about it.
It didn’t surprise her that the couple from Europe was already there, waiting for them outside the building. Saga seemed to be annoyed. Henrik was tired as well. She must have kept him awake all night.“The secretary told us the CIA people and the PI are here. They’re waiting for us inside.” Saga announced, not caring about saying “good morning” and led them inside, as if this were her own working space. Holder sighed next to Sarah, but she only elbowed him. It wasn’t fair. Saga was a great detective. It was good that he had called her to work with them. Because of her, they knew that the upper half was Swedish.When she entered her office, Sarah believed for one moment that she was still dreaming. Because this was something that her overworked brain could easily fabricate when sleeping. Plus, it was too weird to be true. She didn’t realize she was staring at the two women with wide eyes. They appeared just as startled as she was.“You see them, too, Holder, don’t you?” she whispered, but he only nodded, unable to say anything.“You said you were an only child.”“I thought so. This cannot be a coincidence.”“Look at them, Linden. They are you.”“I can see that!”“You have got sisters.”“I don’t. I mean…”“Oh c’mon. Although, the guy looks a bit like me, don’t you think? Maybe it’s a coincidence.”He grinned. He fucking grinned at this! How could it be funny? Was he making fun of her? He knew about her childhood too well to actually do that. No, he was just surprised, and she could not really be miffed about it, because she was shocked as well.Where had those two women come from? She swallowed and forced herself to regain some composure.“Ehm, hello.”“Hello,” the more serious-looking version of her said, “I am sure we have a lot to discuss, but maybe we can get to the case first?”
She didn’t reach out her hand or anything, but she put on a smile. Sarah could not tell if it was a genuine one or not. The other woman did reach out for Sarah’s hand and they shook hands with her quickly.“I’m Alice Vaughn. This is Marissa Wiegler and her partner Erik Heller.”“Nice to meet you. I’m Sarah Linden Holder,” she said but her words felt like it was too hard to say any more.Holder and Henrik introduced themselves as well. It was so awkward. Saga was the only one not disturbed by the fact that there were three Lindens in this room.“My department called. The name of our younger victim is Anders Edström, and he is Swedish. He was working in that bar I told you about. My people assured me that it is him,” Saga announced. There was silence again. Someone had to get things started because otherwise they would just be standing there, staring at each other. Saga seemed to be even more annoyed because no one moved to do anything.“What are we waiting for? We have a scheduled video call to talk to his mother. Maybe she can tell us why he was killed,” Saga continued talking, not minding the silence. Henrik touched her shoulder gently. Holder put an arm around Sarah as if it would comfort her in any way.“Okay, let’s get going then,” Alice said, following Saga out of the room, seemingly relieved to have a job to do.The others followed and listened to Henrik talking to Saga as they were the only couple in here not hit by the weird events.“When we talk to her, maybe you can hold yourself back a little. Let us talk to her?”Saga seemed to be irritated.“Why?”“You can be too direct sometimes. You know that, don’t you?”“Yes. But I learnt what to say and what not to. I must not tell her the cause of death and I must not show her any pictures of her son’s body if it can be avoided.”She sounded like a student reciting a poem they had memorized. Henrik nodded.“Okay. Just be nice.”“I can be like I always am, just lying to her, if you want that,” Saga suggested, and Henrik shook his head.“Just…ehm… don’t mind it. You’ll do whatever you want anyway.”“That’s true. It is a good thing that I do what I have to do because no one else seems to be capable of solving this case, and…”He shut her up and led her a bit farther away from the others. He had to explain to her how intimidating this was for all of them. Then they would talk to the victim’s mother. Afterward, he would very much like to discover what exactly was going on with those three.
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“Mrs. Edström, when did you last hear from Anders?” Saga stared at the video conference screen. “It is crucial that you tell us everything.”The woman on the other side of the screen obviously hadn’t slept in weeks, given the darkness beneath her eyes and slumped posture.“Two Thursdays ago,” the woman said. “He called me after a shift at work at the bar, saying he thought he might be in danger. It was strange, he doesn’t usually seem scared of anything. He didn’t want to go back to his apartment, so he asked if he could stay a night or two here. I told him that would be fine, he was always welcome, but he never showed up.”“He was working at Mysa on Thursday night,” Saga stated, instead of asking. “Yes,” Mrs. Edström affirmed. “He unloaded freight several days a week and worked at Mysa nearly every night.” “Thank you, Mrs. Edström,” Henrik said with a polite smile. “Why are you calling from Seattle?” Mrs. Edström asked. “What are detectives from Malmo and Copenhagen doing there? What’s happened to my boy?” Henrik was quick to answer because Saga wore a very determined expression in her eyes that he knew all too well. She was about to be truthful to a fault and end up devastating the woman. Henrik knew what it was like to be in Mrs. Edström’s position in addition to knowing the detective side of an investigation. His wife, Alice and one of their little girls, Anna, had been kidnapped and killed, missing for eight years before Saga cracked the case and found Astrid, his then fourteen-year-old surviving daughter. It had been harder than he could describe. When his supervisor, Lillian, had told him that Alice was dead, he ended up overdosing on the drugs to which he had become addicted after Alice, Anna and Astrid had disappeared. Saga discovered his unconscious body and saved his life. “We’re still investigating, Mrs, Edström,” Henrik said. “When we have more definitive information, you will know. I promise.” “A dead body with a positive identification is definitive,” Saga said once the call was over. “Why didn’t you tell her?”“Because I think we need to know why he was cut in half and dumped in a city halfway around the world before we reveal all of that to his mother,” Henrik said. “Ah,” Saga nodded and turned away, marching toward the desk that Holder and Henrik had brought in for her to use. She turned her back on everyone else, shuffling through more files and arranging them in folders. This left Henrik with Holder and the three lookalikes. The trio were still staring at each other without saying much, so Henrik was glad that he and Saga had successfully made in stride forward in the case. “Anders was threatened, or had some reason to believe he was in danger, two weeks ago on Thursday night,” Henrik told the others, “according to his mother. He wanted to stay at her place for a couple of nights because he didn’t want to go back to his apartment.” “Can you get a list of Mysa employees?” Sarah asked. “We can talk with them next. The killer erased any identifying marks on the bottom half, but the medical examiner thinks he was between fifty and sixty years old.” The right age to have been involved somehow in the Skinner case, she thought. “Have you checked with missing persons, Holder?”“Yup. And they have nothing.” Holder sighed. “Back to square one.”Sarah looked at Alice, Marissa and Erik. “How about you?”Marissa cleared her throat. “We’re tracking a drug trafficker who was seen in the Mälmo area, using freight companies to conduct illegal trade. I heard the victim’s mother say that he worked at a freight company a few days a week. There’s a definite possibility there.” Sarah smiled at the agent. Her presence may have freaked out the detective, but she was clearly very competent at her job. Sarah appreciated this. “Thanks, Marissa.” “Coffee break,” Holder declared. “Hey, Linden, do you want me to get you a maple bacon donut?”Sarah made a face. “No thanks. Just a giant mocha instead.” She didn’t feel like eating, anyway. “More for me,” Holder said with a grin. “After all, somebody wouldn’t give me time to eat breakfast this morning.” “It’s not my fault that you didn’t get up on time,” Sarah replied. “I’m hungry, too. My husband usually makes me breakfast and he is an excellent cook,” Alice said. “Anywhere good to grab a bite around here?”“Let me lead the way,” Holder said. “You coming, Linden?““In a minute,” Sarah said, glancing over at Saga, still seated at the desk. She walked toward the Swedish detective. “Saga, do you want to join us for breakfast?” She smiled, feeling a little sorry for the strange woman who appeared to be very accustomed to being alone. Sarah knew how it felt to be hyper focused on the details of a case. It was a lonely life. “I had a coffee at the hotel. Henrik complained of being tired after I discussed the case with him most of the night.” Saga kept looking at her laptop screen. “It’s still nice to get a little something to eat,” Sarah said gently. “I’ve been there, so buried in a case that it was a bother to stop for food. Holder helped me see that a little break here and there can be a good thing.”Sarah didn’t know if Saga could sense a bit of a kindred spirit on the red haired detective, but she looked away from the computer at last. “Alright, but not for very long,” she said. “That sounds good to me,” Sarah said. “I won’t let you miss too much time on the case.”Saga nodded in understanding and fell into stride with Sarah. Henrik walked behind them, smiling in wonder because it seemed like Saga was about to make a friend. It was almost as unexpected at the unlikely triplets.
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“Guess who just found our lower half,” Holder blurted out when sitting down next to Henrik, again stuffing some fries into his mouth, cheering triumphantly. Henrik only rolled his eyes.“In the bathroom?” Saga asked, frowning, a bit disoriented. Holder looked at her, startled.“Nooo,” he started slowly, but then only shook his head.“Then you did not find it,” Sarah clarified, throwing a sharp look at him, somehow backing Saga up. Erik and Marissa watched them intensely but kept silent. Holder rolled his eyes at her words. Sarah was still a little mad at him for not understanding how weird this triplet thing was for her.“Got a call. His name is Adam Redford, a former police officer who retired a few years ago. His wife reported him missing a few minutes ago. Did you know him, Sarah?” He directly looked at her, but she shook her head. She wasn’t lying. He had been Redick’s partner when they were working on Skinner’s case. He had believed Skinner to be guilty… he had known the man. She had barely ever talked to Redford.“Just superficially. I mean, I knew he was working at the station. Can I talk to you for a second, Holder?” She needed to get him alone.“Why?” Saga immediately asked. Sarah turned around, feeling a bit uncomfortable.“It’s about our daughter, Natalie. I’ve got to tell him something.” She didn’t sound convincing.“What’s up with you? Did you know this man?” Marissa dug deeper and somehow she felt like she was being interrogated by herself. She turned to Alice, hoping that the private investigator would back her up. The other woman realized that Marissa was seeking support, so she only shrugged. “It has been a long day. I’d like to call my husband, too, by the way. Just a minute. Maybe a break?”“Another one?” Saga sounded displeased. She wanted to go back and keep working. However, they all needed to go to sleep soon. It was already past eleven. The next day, they needed to talk to Redford’s wife. Marissa stared at Sarah for a short while, knowing she wasn’t telling the truth. But she let it go and gave a slight nod.“Fine. Let’s meet again in five minutes. We’ll talk about what to do tomorrow and then we’ll see.”“Can’t we go back? Or at least, can I?” Saga insisted, but all of them shook their heads.“This is teamwork, Saga, and we will not achieve anything, if we don’t take sleeping and eating breaks. So, you will go home and sleep as well and we’ll meet again tomorrow,” Alice gently talked her out of it, if she was speaking to a child. However, it worked. Saga slowly nodded. Even though she felt uncomfortable with the idea, she agreed to it.The group separated to have their own private conversations. Whilst Alice went to the bathroom to call her husband and Saga and Henrik went to get another cup of coffee, Erik and Marissa stayed at the table.“Did you know about this?” Erik asked Marissa. She knew that he was talking about her two identical sisters. She decided that she didn’t want to talk about it with him.“I’m calling Hanna. She’ll want to speak with you,” she announced and dialed Hanna’s cell phone number. It did not take the teen long to answer the phone.“Hi, Marissa. You okay?”“Yeah. Just calling to check on you.”She could nearly see Hanna roll her eyes at those words over the phone, but she didn’t care. She wanted Hanna to be safe more than anything else in the world.“I’m fine. Sophie and I went to see a movie tonight. It was fun. When are you coming back?”She threw a glimpse at Erik, who was listening as well, but hadn’t said anything yet. Hanna had been worried when they had talked about the business trip to America, but Marissa and Erik had promised not to leave so often in the future anymore. Then they could spend more time together.“We’ll be back as soon as we can. I promise,” Erik said. Marissa nodded. She handed the phone over to him so she could go outside and have a cigarette. He knew about the smoking, but she didn’t like doing it in front of him. But when he looked at her, he nearly told her to stop it.She went outside, hoping that Erik wouldn’t tell Hanna about her two newfound sisters. This was a discussion that Marissa would rather have with Hanna face to face.***"I can’t send you a picture,” Alice shook her head, even if Ben couldn’t see it.“Why not?” What a stupid question.“Because I will not ask my sisters to pose for a picture only to prove to you how weird this whole thing is. It is weird, Ben. But I want them to like me, and I will not mess it up this way.”“Okay,” he backed off, “fine. But call me tomorrow. I want to know more about them. You cannot just drop off a bomb like that and then tell me you want to get some sleep.”Alice rolled her eyes. She was the one affected by this, not him. He needn’t worry about anything.“Okay, whatever. Good night.”“Night, honey. Hope you get that murderer soon.”She ended the call but couldn’t help smiling a little bit. It was better than seeing all of this in a negative light. She had gained two sisters, so she could be happy about it as well as puzzled.When she saw Marissa Wiegler stepping out of the diner, lighting a cigarette, Alice decided to join her and talk a little. Get to know her better. Get to know the life she could also have had if they had been switched. She was just so curious.***“I would like to have sex when we get back. I don’t feel tired. Is that okay? I could masturbate,” Saga blurted out whilst a woman handed Henrik their coffees and an extra donut for him. Both looked at her, rather disturbed.“What?” she asked bluntly, trying to figure out what she did wrong this time. She had asked him for his opinion, something she usually forgot was appropriate. Henrik moved back to the table with her, throwing an apologetic look over at the woman who appeared to be annoyed by Saga.“Can we have sex?”Henrik appeared as if he wanted to give her a lecture but then he decided that he was too exhausted to argue with her. But he was not to exhausted to have sex. So, he only nodded before they sat back down.“Sure.”Alice and Marissa joined them on the table. They were waiting for Linden and Holder, who still were nowhere to be seen. Something was going on. They all knew it, but they couldn’t figure out what it was… it was Linden and Holder’s town, and their secrets.***“What do you mean, Reddick’s partner?” Holder asked, running his hands through his hair, “that guy had a partner, and he is dead! You know what this could mean?”Sarah tried to calm him down as she did not want the others to hear them. They were standing near the toilets, where luckily eavesdropping was hardly possible, but it still was risky.“Of course I know. They both believed Skinner to be guilty and they wanted him arrested. Someone’s seeking vengeance. Someone who maybe liked Skinner. And if this someone finds out what we did, we are the next ones on the target list.”
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“Does anyone else, except for Reddick and Mayor Richmond, know the truth?” Holder wanted to know. “I don’t think so,” Sarah answered. “Jen was always suspicious of me after seeing me throw Skinner’s cell phone in the lake, but she doesn’t know exactly. She can’t. There wasn’t any proof. So I don't see why Reddick would be against us, and I’m sure that if Richmond wanted to kill me, I’d be dead already. The man is mayor of Seattle. I doubt he’d hire anyone to kill Detective Redford. Not after he was as repulsed as he was at the reality of Skinner being the Pied Piper. He saw it as a blight on the city. He’d hardly commit a similar crime himself.” “Yeah, I can see that, Linden.” Holder shuffled his feet. “Who else?”Sarah rubbed her eyes, wearily wishing to go home, check on Natalie and go to bed. It had been a long day, to say the least. Then a horrible thought hit her mind. Natalie!“Holder!” She hissed. “What about Natalie? What if the person trying to get to us hurts her? I can’t stand the thought of it! She’s just an innocent child!” In an uncharacteristic and emotional fashion, she burst into tears. If Sarah was vulnerable in any way, it was about anything related to harm coming to her family. She worried about Holder and Jack, but they were grown men who could defend themselves better than a two-year-old baby girl. Her baby girl. Sarah’s throat tightened as the tears flowed. “Listen to me, Sarah,” Holder began. “I will not let anyone get near Natalie. You have my word on that. She’s my daughter, too. Would you feel better if she could spend some time out of the city with Kalia? You know how Natalie adores her big sister.”“Caroline wouldn’t mind? I could also check with Regi and Ellen. They love her, too.” Sarah sighed and wiped her eyes. “We’ll make sure she’s with someone safe,” Holder said. “Don’t you worry about that. We’d better rejoin the others or they’ll know something’s up.”“If they don’t already,” Linden said. “Saga is scarily smart. I’m afraid that she’ll figure it all out.” “I love you, Sarah Linden, and everything will be okay.” Holder bent down to give his wife a kiss before they walked back to the table. “Everything okay?” Alice asked them. “You were gone a long time.”Linden didn’t know what to say, but Holder came to her rescue. “Reddick was my partner, too, back in the day when Linden here took a break from police work. The guy was annoying but I’m sure he feels pretty bad about his former partner getting iced. They worked together a lot longer than he and I did because a certain redhead came back into my professional life. I wanted to try to call him but it went straight to voicemail. Sorry, yo.” “That’s alright, you didn’t miss much.” Alice smiled brightly at them. She was obviously the most socially adept of the triplets, Sarah decided. “Thanks for understanding,” Sarah told her Californian sister. “No problem. It gave me time to call my husband, Ben. He’s helping my business partner, Val, in LA and I wanted to make sure no one’s driving anyone else too crazy. So far, so good. It took Val a while to warm up to Ben, but that’s a story for another time.” After a final cup of coffee, everyone went their separate ways. Alice accompanied Marissa and Erik back to their hotel, and Saga and Henrik returned to their own hotel. Linden was silent as Holder drove through the suburbs until they reached their own house. She practically sprinted inside to see Natalie. The babysitter was waiting for them in the living room, channel surfing through the television and perusing Holder’s collection of nature documentaries saved on the DVR. “Sorry we’re late,” Sarah apologized to the babysitter. “This is a crazy case and we suddenly have five more investigators working on it with us.”“Not a problem, Sarah,” Mrs. Lewis, the next door neighbor who often watched Natalie, replied. “I’ve seen news reports about those bodies cut in half. Gruesome business. I hope you catch the guy soon. I’m happy to watch Natalie anytime. It’s too quiet at home, anyway, since my boys left for college.” Linden smiled. It had felt that way, too, since Jack had left. Then, a couple of years later, Natalie had come along and ended the silence. “Thanks again,” Sarah said. Holder came in and paid Mrs. Lewis while Sarah dashed down the hallway to check on their daughter. Natalie was fast asleep in her bed, her beautiful ginger curls splayed out on her pillow as she cuddled with her toy rabbit under the pink and white blankets. She was the picture of peace and Sarah took a moment to breathe it in before the panic about her daughter's safety seized her heart again. “Your daddy and I are going to keep you safe, sweet angel. That’s a promise, Natalie.” Sarah leaned down to kiss the girl’s forehead before tiptoeing out of the room. “How is she?” Holder asked, grinning at the very thought of their daughter. “Great. I’ve decided to call Regi to see if she can take Natalie on a little boat trip for a while,” Linden said. Holder nodded. “Regi would be great.”Sarah checked the time on her phone and noticed that it was much too late to call Regi that night but decided to do it first thing the next morning. Regi loved Jack and Natalie as if they were her own. Sarah could rest easy once the matter was settled. ***In a small apartment in downtown, the young woman scowled as she remembered the news story that had broken that night about the murder case’s progress. At least one of the bodies had been identified, the cheery newscaster had chirped as if she was relaying a happy story about the groundbreaking of a new building or charity project, not a homicide investigation. They were going to solve it too quickly for the young woman and her new partner to punish the real criminals, Sarah Linden and Stephen Holder. She was attracted to her partner but not emotionally attached, nor did she expect him to be attached to her. His end of the business was done… the revenge he sought on the man from his home country had been satisfied. Who knew if he’d even stick around long enough to help her with what she needed out of the deal? One target was down, but two more were still walking free. He entered the apartment and plopped two brown bags that smelled of food on the coffee table. “I brought dinner,” he said in heavily accented English. “Thanks,” she said flatly. “On my way home, I drove by their house. You ought to thank me because it is very far from here. A long drive. But worth it.”The woman looked at him wide-eyed. “You are helping me?” “We are partners, no? Did you not help me rid the world of Anders Edström? I owe you.”“Redford is one of three targets,” she reminded him. “Maybe two targets. I have a new plan,” the man announced, “to not go after the child… it is too predictable. Take away the love of her life, let her live and watch her suffer. Let the child grow up without a father. It is justice, is it not?”“Yes,” the woman answered, twisting the ring on her finger, as was her habit when nervous, “it certainly is.” The man’s eyes narrowed. “You play with that ring a lot. Is it special to you or something?”“It was a gift.” She held her hand out where he could see the antique blue ring more easily. “It might have been more trouble than it was worth, but it does remind me of someone I lost. The one I have to avenge. So tell me your plans to get rid of that greasy detective.” He chuckled as he sat down on the sofa beside her. “I thought you’d never ask,” he said. “Take your pick, but I’d say blow him to pieces in front of her. She’ll go insane for sure after that, and our job here is finished.” She felt a tightening in her chest. Then they’d be done and maybe never see each other again. Why did this create tension in her? They were, most of all, partners in crime, and a brief fling at best. She was too sentimental. Her father had always said so. It was very long ago and she’d nearly forgotten it, but he had been right. It was why she’d kept the ring that started it all and explained the reason that she was hesitant to let go of this guy whom she’d only known for a couple of weeks. It was something of which she was aware, yet had no idea how to stop it from wrecking all for which they were working. ***Sarah barely slept as she worried about Natalie’s safety. She finally gave up on sleep around 5:00am, an hour by which she knew that Regi would be up. “Regi? It’s me, Sarah. Am I calling you too early?”“No, Sarah, I’ve been up since four thirty. Couldn’t sleep. It sounds like you didn’t, either. What’s up?”Regi was the sort of person who always got to the point. “It’s Natalie. This case. It looks like it might be connected to that whole Pied Piper mess from a decade ago. One of the victims is a retired detective who worked the case. If the killer is coming after people associated with the case, we don’t want Natalie to be in danger. Would it be okay for her to stay with you and Ellen for a while? You know how she loved boat trips and you’d be doing us such a favor. Holder and I are honestly quite worried.”“No problem, Sarah,” Regi said. “She can stay as long as you need her to. I just hope you’re taking care of watching out for yourself, too. This doesn’t sound good.”“I’m quite sure it isn’t,” Sarah sighed. “Do you know anything about my birth mother having other children?”There was an uncomfortable silence on the other end of the phone. “Yeah, it was all in the records. Seeing as you’re an adult and I’m retired, it won’t hurt to bend the confidentiality rule a little. How did you know you’re a multiple?”“Since they’re both working this case with us. One of them is CIA and the other is a private detective whose firm is sometimes hired by the CIA. Their names are Marissa and Alice.” “I always wondered what happened to them, but they weren’t my cases, so I couldn’t do anything. I’d have loved to have introduced you to some family, but you know how strict those laws are. I really am sorry, Sarah.” “It’s not your fault,” Sarah said. “You didn’t make the law. Now, what time should I bring Natalie over? She’s going to be thrilled to spend time with her favorite aunts.” “When are you free? Our schedule’s open today.” “Would about ten this morning work? I’ll pack her things before she gets up so we’ll be ready to leave after breakfast.”“See you then,” Regi said. As Sarah and Holder left with Natalie a few hours later, neither one of them noticed a nondescript white truck sitting half a block away.
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”What’s taking you so long?” Erik asked whilst Marissa looked around as she waited for the crowd at the coffee shop to move on. But they didn’t and it was taking them ages to get their orders. She just wanted to get her coffee. It annoyed her. Sometimes it appeared as if they were wasting too much time on food. Or maybe she was just a little different from the other investigators.She sighed.“Not my fault. It’s crowded as hell. Want me to drop it and come to the station. You got something?” Marissa asked. “Yes. A breakthrough. The guy, the younger half from Sweden, had a brother. A really jealous one. He married his girlfriend a few months ago. His name’s Aron Bergström. He worked at that bar, too. We don’t know where he is, but we’re on it. We could need you. You know some people.”“I’m on my way.”She smiled slightly and turned around immediately to leave the coffee shop. She’d taken the train as Erik had the car. She had left it to him so if he needed it, he could just come pick her up. Most of the time, public transport was quicker here in Seattle.When she got off the train, Marissa shivered a little and folded her arms in front of her chest to keep herself warm. It would be better to get a taxi. Just when she took her phone out once again to dial a cab, someone tapped her lightly on the shoulder. She turned around, surprised. A young man was standing there, grinning a bit shyly.“Can I help you?” Marissa asked. He nodded but something about him seemed to be odd. Strange, somehow.“Ehm, I got a bit of a problem, you see? I’m here with my daughter, Jenny. I’d like to get us something to eat in there,” he pointed towards the coffee shop, “but I can’t leave her alone. Would you mind watching her for a moment? I won’t be long.”Marissa had absolutely no time for that. So she shook her head.“I’m sorry. I really need to go. I’m busy.”Marissa turned away from him, trying to walk away in order to reach a taxi, when he suddenly grabbed her arm. She instinctively turned around and twisted his arm. He pressed his teeth together and screwed his face up in pain.What did she just do? Wasn’t that a bit too much? What was wrong with her? She couldn’t just run around attacking people. What was next? Pointing her gun at him? Ridiculous. She let go of him as soon as she realized that she was still holding his arm in a tight grip.“Sorry. I really got to go,” Marissa apologized and stepped away from him. He tilted his head to one side, appearing a little irritated. Did he think that he recognized her from somewhere? Marissa certainly didn’t know him.“No, I tell you what. I really got this kid in my van and if you don’t get in it with me, I might as well take her with me to the place where I will take you. And don’t think of trying something. A friend of mine is in there with her and will leave if I don’t come back with you. You’ll get in there and then you’ll hand over your weapon.”What was going on? Was this a bad joke? No, this guy did not joke. He appeared to be very serious.She thought about her options. Then she realized there weren’t any. It would’ve been easy for him to grab a kid in this area at this time of the morning when all the children were heading off to school. What could she do? Certainly not endanger a child’s life, even if she didn’t know the truth. If he was lying, she could still attack him and his partner. The man watched her, thinking.He surely had a connection to their homicide case. It was all too ironic to be random. Marissa didn’t know with certainty what the connection might be, but everything else would be a bizarre coincidence. She didn’t believe that for a second. But what if he had something to do with her past? “Do we know each other?” she asked him directly. He smiled but shook his head, as if they were having a totally normal discussion.“No, Sarah. I don’t know you. But you know someone very dear to me and we are going to pay this someone a visit right now. So, get in. You have two children yourself. You wouldn’t want a child to get involved or worse, get hurt because you won’t comply.” He thought she was Sarah. No wonder. Maybe it would be better not to tell him she wasn’t. Maybe it was for the best if he didn’t know about Sarah’s two sisters. But why would someone want to harm Sarah? Had she done something to make an enemy? All Marissa knew was that this had nothing to do with her, for a change. Anyway, it didn’t matter. She was about to find out very soon as she had no other option but to follow him, climb into the van, hand over her weapon and watch the girl leave freely without even knowing what could’ve happened to her.And then they were driving. She couldn’t see where they were going but it was a long drive, maybe one hour or more. There was only one thing on Marissa’s mind. Nothing else did not matter right now. It was important that she made her captors believe that she was Sarah. Only then could the real Sarah be safe and figure out, along with all the others, where Marissa was. Even though she couldn’t explain how, Marissa knew that the team would know how to free her and then make the connection to their case.The surge of protectiveness she felt for Sarah was a little surprising to Marissa. She’d barely even spoken to the detective, but somehow the knowledge that she, Sarah and Alice were sisters, made her instinctively want to do whatever was needed to keep them safe. It was a feeling that was normally reserved for only Hanna and occasionally for Erik. But now her family had widened, and so had her duty to protect them. “Where are we going?” Marissa demanded. “You’ll see soon enough,” the young man said. “I think it’s an area that you’ll be familiar enough with. Remember good old Downtown Seattle? Pied Piper? That ring any bells, Sarah? It should because you and your husband probably know the most about it of anyone.” Marissa thought she’d heard the term Pied Piper before… yes, it had flown across the computer screen when she was searching for information on her newfound sisters the day before. Sarah Linden and Stephen Holder had arrested the infamous killer, a small time pornographer named Joe Mills, nearly ten years before for the murder of at least thirty young girls. Then had come the mysterious suicide of their lieutenant, a James Skinner. The information that Marissa had read hadn’t make a connection between the arrest of Mills and Skinner’s suicide, but she didn’t feel that it could be a coincidence any more than Marissa’s current circumstances. The van stopped suddenly and jolted Marissa back to the present. “Get out,” the man hissed as he pushed her out of the vehicle. Marissa took a glance at her surroundings. As the man had said, it was indeed a downtown district, very rundown and filled with crumbling apartments. Soon he was marching her up the exterior stairs of one of the dilapidated units, stopping at a door without an apartment number, knocking three times on the door. A young woman about the same age as the man answered. She sneered when she saw Marissa. “You’ve got her. Good. Now our fun can begin, can’t it, Sarah?”Marissa said nothing but took a good look at the woman as she entered the apartment. She didn’t remember seeing her in any of the pages she’d searched, but there had been so little time, it was possible to have overlooked something. “Nice haircut by the way”, Bethany said but Marissa ignored her words. She did not want to give too much away. “Don’t pretend that you don’t know Bethany,” the man said. “You only stole her father away from her and her mother, after all, you tramp.”So this was what Sarah had done? She’d been involved with Skinner? Marissa couldn’t imagine why. “It’s been a long time,” she told Bethany, hoping to sound convincing. “What do you expect me to do about it now? He’s dead.”“Yeah, and you should know. My mom saw you throw the cell phone into the lake. I’m not stupid.” Marissa’s eyes widened with the revelation of what must have happened between Sarah and Skinner. Surely her sister wouldn’t have… well, how could one be sure? How many people had Marissa killed? Sarah had to have done this for a good reason, Marissa decided.
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“You sure? Maybe she just got stuck in traffic.” Henrik tried to calm him down, but Erik was truly worried. She would have called if anything like that had happened. Something was wrong. He had called Marissa four times now, and she wasn’t picking up.“She is not okay! That’s not right. I can’t reach her. She wouldn’t just turn off her phone during an investigation, or, like, ever.”Saga seemed to understand him very well as she stood up and started packing her things. “I think so, too. Maybe someone kidnapped her. We should find her first and then go on with the investigation. The dead can wait. Marissa can’t.”Erik only nodded in approval and all of them gathered in the small office to discuss what was next. “Where have you last seen her?” Sarah asked Erik. He thought about it for a while.“Yesterday. We were having dinner at a restaurant but she went back to the hotel later than me. I think she was buying cigarettes and some other stuff. But she was there in the morning. She took the car and I took the bus so she could get us coffee and I could be here so we could get started. “Weren’t you together? I thought you were a couple. Didn’t you say you have a daughter?” Alice asked, seeming a little irritated. Erik became nervous because this was not what he wanted to discuss right now. “It’s more complicated with us than just that. What’s important is that she is not answering my calls. No matter how mad she is at me, Marissa would never do such a thing. We’re partners, after all.”“Let’s go to the coffee shop then and ask for her, maybe someone has seen her,” Holder suggested, putting an arm around Sarah. He was relieved that his wife was safe. They agreed and went outside to their cars. “Does Marissa have any enemies?” Sarah wanted to know as she joined Erik alongside Holder in his car. He smirked, even though nothing about this was funny. “I couldn’t even count. But it’s not so easy to just kidnap her. She’s very strong.” He still couldn’t believe it. “Hey, man. I am sure she is. Don’t worry. We’ll find her. It’s gonna be good,” Holder tried to calm him down, but Erik was furious and would only stop feeling worried when he could see Marissa unharmed and have her back in this car. It was the only way that this was going to go. Neither Hanna nor he could afford losing Marissa after all they had been through. *** “Whose phone is that?” The guy wanted to know and showed her the screen, as if she needed to be convinced that it was not Sarah’s. It was her own phone, of course. It would be stupid to deny it. Sarah surely would have pictures of her daughter on her phone. But this was her work phone, so there was nothing personal on it. “Work phone,” she answered as she tried to avoid any trouble, even though she wasn’t willing to give anything away yet. They had pinned her down on a chair so that she could not move, securing her hands behind her back with cable ties. The ties were very firm, but this was not her biggest problem. They had guns and she didn’t. He would just shoot her in the leg if she tried something. And Marissa doubted they would mind if she was wounded. The woman called Bethany got up and walked around her until she stood behind her, her hands on her shoulders. Her fingers were ice cold. “You know what I think?” Bethany asked, but didn’t wait for Marissa to answer, “I may not know why, but I don't think you’re Sarah. You’re not wearing your wedding ring, the sudden haircut… and it might sound crazy, but you don’t have any chewing gum with you. But who cares, after all. Everyone thinks I am crazy…But then there’s the question of who you are, if you’re not Sarah? Want to tell me?”Marissa pursed her lips but didn’t say a word. She had known that it wouldn’t take them long to find out. The question was what they would do with her now that they had discovered that she wasn’t Sarah Linden. The man slapped her across the face.“She asked you something!”“Maybe I choose not to answer,” she tried to speak in a calm voice, which worked very well due to long years of practice. Marissa was quite sure that someone would come for her, but it would take them some time to find her. Someone must have seen her in front of the coffee shop or getting into the van. But until someone came to get her, it might be better to somehow stay alive. But how would she do that if those two knew that they didn’t want anything from her because they had kidnapped the wrong woman? “You chose wrong,” the man said. “Tell us who you are.”“My name is Sarah Linden. You already know that. I’m not wearing my wedding ring because Holder and I have divorced. I needed to change my hair to help me to forget about him. And I’m not chewing gum because I’ve started smoking again from the stress. Happy now?”“No,” Bethany sneered. “I know that slut Sarah well enough to see that you’re different. You look like you belong in a city, somewhere posh. Sarah could never cut it in the upper crust. But you fit right in, don’t you, liar?” Marissa remained silent as the man and woman continued to pace and exchange glances that she couldn’t decipher. She tried her best to not think about Hanna. She could be strong in the face of whatever these people were going to do to her if she just didn’t think about her daughter. Marissa and Hanna had been through so much, from Hanna saving her life in the farmhouse outside Vienna after Gordon had shot her to discovering that they were biological mother and daughter. They hadn’t come this far just to lose each other to a case of mistaken identity. Suddenly Marissa wished that she had chosen to include pictures of Hanna on her work phone because so often she needed the reminder of how much they loved one another to get through the tougher moments on the job. But it would have been a huge security risk, so she had left the phone as clear of personal information as possible. Her breath hitched as she tried to push thoughts of Hanna temporarily out of her mind. She simply could not show weakness to these people. Marissa imagined Hanna standing in front of her, smiling at her and silently urging her to stay strong.
You’ll make it home to me, you’ll see.
The man and woman turned to face Marissa. “We’re going to check up on that little story of yours.” Bethany gestured toward Marissa, allowing her a glimpse of her blue antique set ring that she wore on her first finger. Marissa took a good look at it and committed the details to memory. Somehow she knew it must be important and that she might need to describe its details to the team later if she was rescued. No, when she was rescued. “How?” Marissa stared at her. “You don’t have Holder’s phone number.” Neither did she, as long as the man kept her phone. She had programmed it in the speed dial but didn’t have it memorized as Sarah would have. “I have connections,” Bethany said. “I’ll get it from the police headquarters,” she continued. “They’ll do anything for me. They certainly did nine years ago.”Marissa stopped to consider what Sarah had to do with this strange young woman when she disappeared to make her important call. She had to be involved with Skinner’s death somehow — maybe Bethany was embittered because her father had shot himself when Sarah left him to go back to Holder? She didn’t really want to reconsider the other option, that Skinner hadn’t shot himself at all but had been killed by Sarah or Holder, perhaps both. Marissa’s newfound sister and brother-in-law didn’t seem like killers, but who knew? ***"Tell them to track her work phone. Now. We cannot wait much longer," Erik advised Sarah, who was speaking to one of the other officers at the station on his behalf as he was busy driving around without knowing where to go.Sarah only nodded, as she couldn’t agree more. Then she gave the order. "Maybe you need to pull over and take some time to calm down. They will tell us as soon as they know anything. Driving around like this will not help anyone." She only wanted to help. Erik appreciated it, but he had no intention of thinking about anything else but Marissa, nor did he want to calm down. He didn't want to call and tell Hanna either. He was still hoping that they would be reunited very soon.So, instead of answering, he dug his nails into the steering wheel and kept driving.It went silent in the car for a while. Then Holder swallowed and started talking again. He had received a text message from Alice, who was with Henrik and Saga at the coffee shop. "Hey, listen up. Alice says someone saw Marissa that morning. Says she was talking with someone after having received a phone call. The guy appeared to be a little pushy but then she went into a car with him. A little girl got out as she got in. Doesn't sound too good, if you ask me."Erik pulled himself together to regain a cool head. He needed to stay focused. "Okay. So, she was kidnapped. Anything on the guy?"Holder checked his phone again."Yeah. No. Maybe, wait. The woman, our witness, said she didn't really pay attention to his face, but she is quite sure that he was rather young and he spoke very little English. With some accent that she couldn't decipher."Sarah raised her eyebrows."Am I paranoid or doesn’t that sound a bit familiar? He could be the guy we have been searching for. The Swedish killer. I mean, who else here could possibly want to kidnap Marissa? It just scares me that he knows you guys are involved in this."Holder seemed to feel a little uncomfortable as a terrible thought hit his mind."What if he didn't? If this case is about Reddick…I mean what if this someone, we don't know who it is yet, let's not jump to conclusions, was after you, but got Marissa. You're right, not many people know about the triplet thing, so… This was too much for Erik."You mean she got kidnapped because someone is mad at you!? So this is all your fault!?"He knew that this was unfair, but he had to yell at someone and Sarah and Holder were the only other people in the car.It went awfully silent around them again. One more time it was Holder breaking it with some important information. "They got her phone. Whoever it was is not that intelligent, only angry. That's how we get them. Erik, get ready, I'll tell you where to go. Sarah, can you call the others? We'll meet there. This ends now."Sarah nodded, unsteady from Erik’s outburst but still determined to do what was needed to bring her sister back. She tried to push the guilt over being the real reason that Marissa had been kidnapped to the back of her mind. She could process it later. Saving Marissa could not wait. Erik parked the car in a nearby store parking lot. Sarah got out of the car and leaned down to the driver’s side window. “You go ahead, I’ll stay here and wait for the others. Alice drove this morning, she’ll pick me up with Saga and Henrik.”“No, Sarah,” Holder protested. “The kidnappers might have figured out that Marissa isn’t you and still be after you.”“It’ll be ok. I’ll go into the store and wait for the others. It will take Alice only a few minutes to get here,” Sarah said, tossing a glimpse at the store in question behind her. Holder shook his head. “I don’t like this.”“Hurry up and go! The sooner you bring Marissa back, the better. Who knows, you might get the kidnappers, too.”Stephen knew it was of no use to argue with his wife. She wouldn’t back down all day. “OK, but call me the minute that you’re in Alice’s car.”“I promise I will. I’m not stupid, Holder.” Sarah turned around and walked quickly toward the store. The car sped off and Sarah went inside the building. It turned out to be an imported goods store that was at least interesting to look through while waiting for Alice. She dug her phone out of her pocket and dialed her other triplet’s number. “Hi, Alice? It’s Sarah. Can you please pick me up at The Import Emporium on Ninth Street? It’s about five minutes from the coffee shop. Bring Saga and Henrik because headquarters was able to trace Marissa’s phone. We need to join Holder and Erik.”“I’ll be right there!” Alice said as she took in the news.“Why is it your fault that Marissa was kidnapped?” Saga fixed Sarah with a stare. “Erik called us, too.” Sarah had the burning feeling that her secrets wouldn’t be able to hide from Saga Norén very long. “I’m not sure, we think it might be connected to an old case,” Sarah said slowly. “The Pied Piper. James Skinner.” Saga nodded. “Yes,” Sarah said, knowing that trying to lie to the Swedish detective would be useless. “What did you do?” Saga interrogated. Henrik leaned over to her. “Not now, Saga. Sarah is concerned for her sister’s safety. We can think about the case when we get Marissa back,” he said gently. Alice sped up and turned down the streets that her GPS was reading until they saw Holder’s car parked in front of a shabby apartment building, lights flashing. They filed up the stairs one at a time, Sarah leading and Alice at the end. As soon as they saw a door gaping open on the eighth floor, they turned. “Marissa!” Erik exclaimed as he turned on a light. The kidnappers were nowhere to be found but Marissa was lying on the ground, her hands still bound in zip ties, motionless.
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Erik knelt next to Marissa and slowly turned her over. The movement was awkward because she was still tied to the chair, but it was enough for her to open her eyes. She moaned as the light from the open door streamed into the room. “Erik?” Marissa blinked unsteadily. “What happened? Where are they? It was a man… and a woman.”“You’re alright! They must have pushed you over and you hit your head.” Erik busied himself with cutting the zip ties and helping Marissa to her feet. Then he led her over to the sofa, where they sat down together. “It was the strangest thing,” Marissa said, rubbing the side of her head where a knot was forming from the impact with the ground. “They thought I was Sarah. The woman was named Bethany and she said I, or Sarah, should know her.” She looked up at Sarah, who was standing in the room with Alice, joined by Henrik and Saga. “Do you know her, Sarah?”Sarah looked absolutely terrified. “Yes, I do. She was - is - James Skinner’s daughter.”Saga studied Sarah’s face carefully, and Sarah wished that she could suddenly become invisible. “It seems that they have gotten away,” Saga stated. “What did they say to you, Marissa?” “Just a bunch of stuff about me being Sarah. I went along with it to keep Sarah safe. But then they started to doubt my story and became paranoid. Bethany said she still had connections at the police headquarters and said she was going to check up on what I told them. When she came back into the room, she was very upset but didn’t say anything. She and the young man pushed me over, I hit my head on the floor and then I woke up when you got here.” “What do you have to do with Bethany?” Saga fixed Sarah with an intense stare. “Why does she care about you? Why would she try to kidnap you?”“Many years ago, I was involved with her father. We were partners. Working mind-blowing cases that we couldn’t share with anyone else brought us close. That was before I even knew Holder. Skinner’s wife asked him for a divorce, but we weren’t together by that time. Well, there was one night that was a total mistake, but that’s it. I guess Bethany blames me.” “For his suicide as well?” The blonde detective wasn’t giving up. “I don’t know,” Sarah said slowly. “I suppose the end of his marriage brought him distress. But we were over,” she insisted.
Saga nodded and looked away, satisfied for the moment. What if the moment didn’t last long? “Why don’t we get out of here? I’m sick of this place,” Marissa said, more to Sarah than anyone else. Sarah gave Marissa a grateful look. “Yes, we need to get out of here and let the uniforms process the scene. The station doc will need to have a look at you.” “I’m fine,” Marissa insisted. “I just want to get this case solved. They got away on my watch.” “Not true,” Erik said. “You were kidnapped. You didn’t fail.” Marissa sighed, allowing herself to lean on his shoulder. Half an hour later, they were back at headquarters, seated at the table that had been hastily put together to collect the evidence that they’d gathered so far. Marissa had been given a clean bill of health, no concussion despite the kidnappers shoving her into the floor. She had a mild headache but no other signs of her plight.“It is bothering me that I cannot place the Swedish man. I will call Linn again and find out if anything has been reported in Malmo.” Saga headed for the break room to use the phone.“Yo, it’s night over there,” Holder said. Henrik nodded and grinned. “Saga doesn’t work with the clock. I don’t know how many times she has called me in the middle of the night. But I call her, too.”Holder was surprised but grinned. “Okay, whatever floats your boat.” Sarah was pacing through the hallways, barely able to keep her anxiety to herself once Marissa had revealed that Bethany Skinner wanted to take personal revenge upon her. It was only a matter of time until her team learned exactly what Bethany had against her. Then what? Although it was under threat of exposing her past mental health issues, she’d promised the mayor and his associates her total silence on what had really happened to Skinner, and, moreover, what had happened to those girls killed by the Pied Piper. “Sarah?”The detective nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a voice similar to hers calling her name. She spun around to see Marissa. Great. Sarah was certain that the CIA agent was about to ask some quite uncomfortable questions. “Are you okay?” Marissa inquired. “You looked really uncomfortable back at the apartment.”Sarah nodded. “I should be the one asking you that, after what you’ve been through today. How’s your head?” “Much better, thanks. I’m a quick healer. More than most.” She cleared her throat. “Between you and me, Bethany said some things that were very strange and rather leading about you, your husband and her late father. She didn’t explain it in full, but I understand that it’s complicated and undoubtedly private. So I just want to tell you that I’m not going to say anything to the others. Not even Erik. You don’t have to say anything to me if you don’t want to.” Sarah looked at her triplet with disbelief. “Why would you protect my privacy like that? Not to sound rude, but we just met.”
Marissa smiled. “You’re right, but there’s a lot you don’t know about me. I have a daughter with whom I was reunited in a very strange way, but the bottom line is that we’re not extremely close and I would literally do anything for her and get safety. I actually have. So whatever’s going on, it’s something I know I would understand.”Something in Sarah’s intuition felt sure that Marissa was telling the truth. “Would you kill for her?” Her voice was barely audible. “To keep her safe?”“I have on several occasions, and I nearly died for her, as well,” Marissa confirmed. “She’s not… an ordinary child. There’s a lot of danger surrounding her. Or, at least there has been until recently.”“I had to keep some people safe,” Sarah confided, “not just myself and Holder but countless strangers. No one knows but Holder and I and a few higher-ups who perpetuated the coverup. But no one can know. I’m so afraid that Saga will discover the truth. Nothing appears to escape her.”“That’s true,” Marissa agreed. “I’ll do my best to prevent that from happening.“Why are you doing this for me?” Sarah still thought the whole thing was too good to be true. “You and I have an advantage that no one else here, except for Alice, has. We’re family.” “We are,” Sarah agreed. For some reason, she felt safe with Marissa.***Saga was sitting on the floor, sorting through files in her typical fashion, when Sarah and Marissa came back into the room. “There has to be something Anders was doing to create enough hostility to cause his murder,” she said without looking up. “You don’t mean that it was his fault,” Henrik suggested. “Just that he was involved in more than we have been told.”“Yes!” Saga stood up and looked at him. “I am waiting for Linn to call me back.” “It might take a while,” Henrik said. “She’ll check it out when she gets to work and then call you.” “Waiting is inefficient.” Saga was clearly frustrated. “How about trying to see how Marissa’s kidnapping could be connected to our case,” Henrik thought aloud. He turned to Marissa. “Have you told us all that they said?”“Everything I can remember.” Marissa looked at him with an air of innocence. “It didn’t make sense to me, but I am not very familiar with either the current case or the Pied Piper yet. What makes you think that the Pied Piper has anything to do with it?” Erik shrugged. “Just that Bethany was involved. She identified herself to you when she thought you were Sarah.” Marissa eyed Sarah as she fidgeted next to her. “That doesn’t necessarily mean anything. From what I understand, Bethany blamed Sarah for her parents’ divorce. It might have nothing to do with the bodies downtown.”Erik frowned. “You told us that the man with Bethany had an accent. Did he sound Swedish?”“Maybe. I don’t know.” She swallowed hard, not daring to look at Sarah. “Probably was, but he didn’t say anything about himself. He was totally focused on Bethany, who was, in turn, focused on me. I don’t know what it meant.”Holder stood up. “I think I know where they might have gone. Skinner had a lake house nine years ago. Maybe they still have it and she’s hiding out there. It’s off grid, the perfect place to disappear. Why don’t I head out there now?”They all murmured their assent and Holder turned to leave. He was halfway down the hallway that led to the police parking lot when he saw Saga flying down the corridors after him.“Wait,” she said breathlessly as she finally caught up to him. “You are being hasty. That’s exactly what they want. Linn called back and we may be chasing one of Sweden’s top organized crime assassins. His name is Lars Rasmussen, but that does not matter now. Holder. Wait. Which vehicle belongs to you?“Holder pointed to his silver car. “That one.”Saga paled as she looked at it. “Stop. Do not go near the car. It is wired to explode.” “What?” Holder looked at Saga as if she was speaking an unintelligible language. “Wired?”“Yes. The wire leading to the explosive is under the driver’s seat. I will call the bomb squad.” For the next hour, the whole team watched in disbelief as the bomb squad proved Saga’s suspicion right. There was indeed a bomb under the car that would have exploded upon turning the key in the ignition. “Someone is clearly after you and Sarah,” Saga said to Holder. “Keeping secrets will kill you both and maybe even your child. Tell us the truth.”Henrik nodded. “I have to agree with Saga. I don’t want to lose any more colleagues. She and I are out of our jurisdiction by about half a globe. The rest of you are all related. What’s the harm?”
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So, eventually, Sarah and Holder sat down with the others to tell them everything that had brought them to this dangerous situation. When they finished, silence conquered the room. It was awfully calm in the office."So, that explains a whole lot," Henrik broke the silence. "You should have told us earlier. You know that, don't you?" Both nodded, seemingly uncomfortable. "He's right," Alice agreed with Henrik, but her expression was rather soft, "but I get that something like this is never easily shared." She gave them a reassuring smile and Sarah gratefully replied with a short nod. Marissa didn't say anything as she already knew about all of it. Somehow Erik seemed to realize this as well."Wait a second," he began, only watching Marissa, who surprisingly didn't seem to feel at all guilty about not telling him anything, "you knew, didn't you? Why didn't you tell me?"His voice was barely audible and he clearly was only addressing the short haired triplet. Marissa shrugged, even though she knew that her behavior toward him was very unfair."Now you know. It doesn't matter how you got the information."Saga was too irritated by all these conversations to just stay silent."We should go and search for them. The sooner we leave, the more likely we'll find them," she said as she began to stand up, but Marissa held her back, shaking her head slightly. "Wait. We don't need to find them," she addressed everyone present, "why would we bother? They have proven several times that they are the ones coming to us. We just need to wait for their next attempt to hit Sarah or Holder and then we’ve got them right where we want them."They all thought it over."Does this plan end well for Sarah and me?" Holder asked, seriously concerned, but Marissa only frowned."Do I look like an amateur?" She asked. He quickly shook his head. "Trust me, I've got a plan."Two hours later, Saga and Henrik were waiting in their rental car outside of the rundown apartment building where Bethany and Lars were staying. Saga tapped her foot impatiently. “How do you know they will return here?”“I don’t,” Henrik admitted. “But remember Marissa’s plan. We have to cover all the bases.”“Inaction is inefficient and ineffective,” Saga retorted. “Not always. I think we should trust Marissa to know what she’s doing.” Henrik stared at the entrance of the bullring. “The bugs we had the undercover officers install near Lars’ apartment will help us know if there is any activity on that floor.” Marissa and Erik were pacing along the streets of Downtown Seattle, only a block or two from where the two bodies had been discovered. Erik glanced at his partner. He didn’t quite understand her entire plan but knew her well enough to not question it for two reasons. First, whatever Marissa planned usually worked because she was highly strategic. Second, it would only annoy her. “I doubt they’ll be here for long,” Marissa said quietly, more to herself than to Erik. “Come on, we should head out to the lake house.” “I thought that’s where Sarah and Holder were going, with Alice for backup.” Erik was perplexed. “It is,” Marissa said. “But we’ve waited here for three hours. If they were going to revisit the scene of the crime, they would have been here by now. This place isn’t personal. They’ll meet at the lake house because it is.” Now Marissa, Erik, Alice, Saga and Henrik knew the truth, they understood more of Bethany’s motives and why she may be doing the things that had taken place. “That’s true,” Erik agreed. “Let’s go.” Marissa held her hand up for the keys, which Erik tossed to her without asking. When Marissa had a plan, she liked to be in charge and in the literal driver’s seat. It felt to Erik as if it took a long time to arrive at the lake house, but given the accelerated speed of Marissa’s driving, he decided that it must be his preoccupation with the case that made the miles seem long. Everything was farther away than he expected in America. He was used to the distances between countries and cities in Europe. “Do you think we should call them? I don’t want to draw too much attention to either the others or us,” Marissa said. “This is a disadvantage of keeping such a big secret while on a case. No regular radio use. I’m sure everyone at headquarters would love to know why Holder and Linden are back at the lake house after all this time.”Erik nodded as they both drew their weapons and exited the car in silence. They walked behind the lake house, which was even more decrepit than it had looked in the photographs they’d seen from nine years before. It was little more than a shack, with no running water and few modern amenities. As they rounded the front of the cabin, they saw Sarah Linden standing in the front yard, holding her hands in the air. Marissa grimaced. She didn’t see Holder or Alice. Were she and Erik too late to save the rest of the team?
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AN: Thank you for reading our story! We appreciate the views, kudos and comments and hope you enjoy the concluding chapter.
She could see Marissa and Erik, but Sarah doubted that they could help her now. It was all her fault. She should have known. Now she was all by herself.Sarah exchanged a look with Holder, who was clearly telling her not to do anything stupid that would not end well for her. But what else could she do but try to save the father of her child, whom she loved more than anything in the world? “You don’t want to kill Holder, Bethany,” Sarah said with a surprisingly steady voice as she slowly moved toward the younger woman. “You want to kill me for what I did to your father. Holder didn’t touch him. He tried to stop me, but I did it anyway. It’s not his fault. Just let him go. This is between us. I already gave you my weapon. Let him go, not for my sake, but for yours. You don’t want to kill another innocent person.”She hoped this sounded somewhat reasonable, but deep inside, she doubted that Bethany was even listening. The young woman’s cold eyes were fixed on Sarah as Bethany became an animal ready to tear her prey apart. Surprisingly, Bethany suddenly let Holder go. He stumbled away, as surprised as Sarah felt. She saw Bethany nodding to herself. Like she was reassuring herself of something that no one else could hear. “After it’s done, we’ll let the others go. I’m ready to go to prison when I get my revenge. It’s only fair,” she said. Sarah nodded mechanically despite being unable to believe how reasonable Bethany was at the moment. Was this really just about Sarah? Did Bethany really think that if she killed Sarah, everything would feel okay again? Nothing had haunted her more than killing Skinner. It would be no different for his daughter, even if she did not realize it yet. But Sarah knew that she would never know once Bethany pointed the gun at her. Sarah knew that this was the end of her life. It had not been too bad, so this made it even harder. There had been a time in her life when she had wanted nothing more than to die. But things had changed since that time. Now she had her son, met Holder and had a daughter with him. Sarah finally had a family. Leaving them behind was the hardest thing in the world. She felt a single tear running down her cheek that no one could see in the dark of the night. When Sarah heard the gunshot, she instantly closed her eyes. She had been hit by a bullet before, but this would be the one to kill her, she had no doubt. Sarah knew that being shot didn’t hurt for the first few seconds, as the body was too shocked to make her feel the pain. It was not a surprise that she didn’t feel any pain at first. The only thing she could hear was the blood rushing through her ears, like a river during a heavy storm. Holder screamed her name, and she could feel him touching her with his freezing hands. She was so sorry to leave him behind. Her only comfort was that dying itself would not hurt. But then after about a minute without any pain, Sarah opened her eyes to check the wound, but there was nothing. No blood. Nothing at all, at least not on her body.Bethany lay on the ground with the gun still in her hand, but she wasn’t moving. Blood was dripping out of a wound in her chest. Someone had shot her before she could kill Sarah. But who? It didn’t really matter. Saga, Henrik, and Alice were still in there. As soon as Bethany’s partner realized that she was dead, he would want to kill them. They needed help quickly. Footsteps echoed as they neared Sarah and Holder. Sarah whipped her head around, frantic to see who was coming. “Relax, it’s just me,” Marissa said, the gun that had shot Bethany still in her hand. “I couldn’t let her kill you.”Sarah sagged against Holder in relief. “I don’t know what to say.” Her voice trembled. “She was going to kill me… thank you, Marissa.” Marissa didn’t have time to reply before another set of footsteps neared them. This time, all three had their guns drawn. Lars Rasmussen stepped out of the shadows and took a quick look at Bethany’s inert form on the grass. Instead of asking what had happened to her, he sneered. “I always knew she’d be too weak to survive,” he snarled. “But I’m here for bigger purposes. You probably know that I was sent here to kill Anders.” A shot in the distance rang out. Saga emerged from the shack, followed by Henrik. “We have heard enough to arrest him.” Saga stared at Rasmussen. He glanced at her but then turned to Henrik, recognition in his eyes. “You! You’ve been chasing me since Copenhagen. It ends here…” He raised his gun and pointed it at the Danish detective.His words were cut short as Saga fired a handgun that had been previously imperceptible in the darkening light of the evening. Rasmussen went down next to Bethany, twitched for a moment and then lay still. Holder shook his head. “I’d say this has been a very exciting night. We’ll all vouch for each other, right? I mean, these were both good kills.” Sarah put a hand on his arm. “You’re shaking, Stephen. Just slow down. Of course they were good kills. Bethany was going to shoot me and Lars was determined to kill Henrik. This is over. We’re safe. Seattle is safe from a ruthless killer, so is Malmo. We’re okay.” After the uniforms had arrived and it was legal for everyone involved to leave the scene, everyone gathered back at Sarah and Holder’s house in the suburbs. “Nice neighborhood,” Erik told Holder. “You’ve done well for yourself, brother.” “Thanks,” Holder said, sipping the one beer he allowed himself upon the closing of a case. “Where’s Marissa?” Erik nodded toward the guest room. “She couldn’t wait to Skype Hanna. I could say that Marissa is overprotective of her, but I’m just as much. I may have let her go first, but I’m next!”“That’s cool, man. I feel the same way about Natalie. And Jack. Just because Jack is in college doesn’t mean he’s too old to be watched over.” “Especially in our line of work,” Erik agreed. In the bedroom, Marissa was having an uncharacteristically hard time keeping her emotions at bay as she spoke with Hanna on the iPad screen. “You okay, Marissa?” Hanna’s face was filled with concern. “I am now that you’re here,” she answered. “It was just a long day. You know, the job. So how are things at Sophie’s?” “Fine, we are having fun. We went to a movie and to the mall,” Hanna grinned. Picturing her daughter enjoying these normal teenage past times made Marissa smile back at her. “Good, I’m glad to hear it. Listen, your dad and I will be home in a couple of days. Thank Sophie’s mother for me, okay?”“Okay. I love you, Marissa.” Hanna said. “I love you, too. Your dad will want to talk to you, too, so can you hold on while I go get him?”Hanna nodded. “I will do that.”“Erik, she wants to talk to you,” Marissa said upon spotting Erik and Holder talking in the living room.“Thank you,” Erik said. He ducked into the bedroom. Holder looked at Marissa and smiled. “I can’t thank you enough for what you did for Sarah. Today and during the whole case. I don’t know what I’d do without her.” Marissa squeezed his hand. She wasn’t usually one for affection, but her sisters and their husbands made her feel more open. “You don’t ever have to find out, I’m just glad this is over. Both cases are solved and that’s what we came to do.” She cleared her throat. “But it’s been really nice getting to know you and Sarah and Alice.”“Thanks, same here,” Holder said. “You’re welcome at my house in Marseille anytime,” Marissa said. “I have kind of a chaotic life with co-parenting a teen with her dad and getting back into the CIA. And now our daughter is begging us to let her join, too… I don’t know how to feel about that, to be honest.” “Feel about what?” Sarah asked as she appeared at Holder’s side. “Our eighteen-year-old wants to join the CIA,” Marissa said. “Her father and I are still trying to figure out if that’s good or bad.”Sarah nodded. “I can imagine. I don’t know how I’d react if Natalie wanted to be a detective.” “Thankfully you’ll have a while to wait before it comes up,” Marissa replied. “I’ll drink to that,” Alice said as she joined the group. “I’m serious, we three really need to spend more time together. Let’s meet in LA sometime.” “Sounds good,” Sarah said. Henrik noticed Saga fidgeting as she watched the others talk. “Are you glad we’re going home tomorrow?““I think so. Yes.” Saga decided. “It was interesting but I miss our house in Copenhagen. It’s familiar.” “That it is. But it was fun to make some new friends, right?” Saga considered it. She didn’t usually view colleagues as friends, but she did like Sarah quite a lot, more than she usually approved of anyone with whom she worked. “I think Sarah might be a friend,” she confessed. “Yes, I noticed you and Sarah getting along really well.” “I have a question. Why does everyone have to celebrate the end of a case with alcohol? I do not want to blunt my mind. They have the same tradition in America.” “I think if they all had as fine a mind as you, they’d give up their tradition,” Henrik said. “Thank you,” Saga replied. “It’s a stupid tradition.” “Perhaps it is,” Henrik agreed, taking another sip of his beer.
The End