4 The next morning

William eyes slowly fluttered open. He rubbed the crust from his eyes after pulling his feet off of his desk and sitting up in his chair. He looked down at his wrist, checking the time on his watch. It was seven forty-eight. On one hand, he was furious that Phoebe drugged his coffee. But on the other hand, he was refreshed and energized, feeling the best he could for the week. Although he won't acknowledge it, he was thankful for Phoebe and her ways. William stood up and looked down at the girl sleeping at his desk. He let out a quiet sigh before leaving the room, letting his partner sleep for a few more minutes. He went into the men's restroom and splashed his face with water. As he dried his face with a paper towel, he looked at his weathered features. He should eat or his body will fail on him, creating a problematic situation if he had to take down a criminal. William threw the damp towel into the bin then left. Once in the break room, he grabbed two bagels with a small container of strawberry cream cheese and a plastic knife. He cut one of the bagels in half and spread a layer of cream cheese onto the surface before putting the to halves back together and wrapping a napkin around it. For the other bagel, he didn't bother cutting it and just simply wrapped another napkin around it as well.

"Hey, William. Did you see the file yet?" Kendrick asked after taking a sip from his cup of coffee he bought from a nearby cafe. The sly bastard expected William to be half-way done with the case, only needing to track down and catch the criminal .

William turned around to face his superior. "I skimmed over the documents. We're going to start on it today," William stated. Kendrick nodded "Kuruga's a loose canon, but I don't blame her. You wouldn't of had any better partner than her and the same way vice versa" Kendrick took a sip of his coffee reassuring William.

He grabbed the two bagels and left the room, going back to his office. He set the strawberry cream cheese filled bagel on his desk in front of Phoebe. "Wake up. It's time to work," William said. His voice was slightly rougher and deeper than normal. William cleared his throat, trying to get rid of his morning voice.

Phoebe eyes popped open when she heard a similar voice to Will. She would look around as her vision came into focus wanting to confirm that it was Willy. "Wiaaahllay?" she yawned as she Called out to him. A little drop of drool would be sitting at the corner of her mouth before she soon used her arm to wipe it away.

"You sounded different for a moment, you've must've slept well" she chuckled as she became more aware of her surroundings she remembered how she drugged William some hours ago.

She could smell the aroma coming from the Strawberry cream cheese, her first instinct was to eat it. She picked up the bagel and pulled both sides apart placing one side back on the napkin and biting the other. She waited until she was finished chewing so she could talk without completely making herself look bad

"I'm not sorry for putting you to bed..." She says kinda bluntly so it wouldn't become an issue later. "The case file is on the desk over there, read over it and lets plan out our course of action." Phoebe pointed to the file avoiding eye contact with William. She indeed felt like she betrayed him in a way but she couldn't let him see that.

She got up and walked towards the door.

"I'm gonna freshen up, don't take any shit from that asshole Kendrick while I'm gone."

She would leave pretending to ignore anything he would say after that, however she still listened.

"Don't call him an asshole!" William yelled in reply to Phoebe's comment. Although he could be unorthodox at times and slightly greedy, he was their superior and a level of respect needed to be maintained. He sat back down in his chair and after taking a bite from his bagel, he continued reading the documents. His lips pursed into a thin line. There wasn't enough information to pin down the murders to one specific person. They'll need to ask around and probably review the bodies if they still had them at the morgue. For now, all William had were pictures and descriptions of the area as well as the body. He closed the file before finishing his bagel. As he was eating, his mind was buzzing with possible connections between the victims. The only things connecting the victims were how they died and that was by blood loss from a wound that ran across their abdomen. Other than that, they had nothing similar. Their genders vary as well as their appearance and social status. Some were killed in alleyways, others were killed in their own homes. William ran his fingers through his hair. This wasn't going to be easy. Not one bit. His lips curved up in a faint smirk. He likes a little challenge.

Phoebe went to her office and grabbed her traveling kit that contained a toothbrush, toothpaste, a brush, and hair product.

She went to the restroom and did the same as Willy did. She wiped her face with a paper towel then brushed her teeth. Her job involved communication and Phoebe wouldn't ruin herself that way. After she was done with her hair she returned to her office and did some stretches

While also giving herself some more time before facing William again.

While Phoebe finished up her stretches she recalled how Willy defended Kendrick.

"Why the hell did he defend that guy? Kendrick May have saved us once in a life but that doesn't excuse his actions" She twisted her upper body to the left then to the right then she bent over forward "how blind can that guy be...maybe he likes him." She stopped for a moment and thought about what she had just said "...Hmmm, the signs are there." She started to picture William and Kendrick holding each other.

She smirked and started to laugh at her thoughts, "I'm soo weird!!" She chuckled a little more then looked at the time. "Hmmm 9:33 already? I better get a move on and regroup with William"

Phoebe reach behind her desk and opened up a file cabinet that had her polished gun inside.

Her Beretta was customized with a red body and black trim with the engravings "Succubus" on its barrel. She equipped it to her waist and headed out of her office. She stood before Willy's office door and took a deep breath and barged in to his office. "Have you cracked the case yet or can I play Operation on the victims bodies?" She asked while looking at the documents as he looked at them. " what about a connection between the murders? Inform me Willy" she asked while leaning on his desk still viewing the documents

William glanced up from the files to look at Phoebe. He let out a tired and frustrated sigh as he leaned back in his chair, his small smirk disappearing. It was frowned upon today's society to be smiling about a mass murderer, so he restrained his lips from curving up, doing a decent job of masking his amusement. "I can assume the suspect is a male in his mid 20's to mid 40's, which is a very broad range. From what I've read, he's looking for attention. He doesn't bother to hide the bodies. He kills them and leaves them for someone to stumble upon their corpses later. All of the victims vary in lifestyle and appearance, which also supports my assumption that he's killing just for the sake of killing. His M.O. is killing his victims by making a horizontal slash across their abdomen. Since he's attacking them head on, he has to pin them down first as well. This means he has to be very physically fit, considering half of his victims are healthy males. However, he did kill some in their sleep or while they're intoxicated. Another thing I would like to point out is that it's very likely that out suspect is extremely compulsive. He killed 18 people in the past 2 months, 9 men and 9 females. Week 1: one male and one female are found dead, both living five miles away from each other, no connections between the two found. Week 2: no activity. Week 3: two males and two females found dead. No connections found between the victims. Week 4: no activity. Week 5: one male, one female. Same as previous. Week 6: nothing. Week 7: three males, three females. Week 8: nothing. Week 9: two males, two females. It's been confirmed that all of the victims expired around 12 to 3 a.m. on Monday," William stated, not once looking down at the files for reference.

Phoebe listened to Willy keeping mental note of everything he was saying. One of Phoebe's skills was Sounds and Faces. She almost never forget a face, and can never forget a sound which included someone's voice. She closed her eyes and nodded as Willy continued his briefing. Until something caught her attention.

"Horizontal Slash across the abdomen? That's a weird way to kill someone if you pin them down even if your physically fit. For a deep cut to injured vital organs while subduing someone it'll be super difficult. Let's also keep in mind an accomplice but I should see the bodies first before I make a further analysis. Also we should assume he may not kill again if this is week 10 which means we have until Monday to find this guy before he kills again."

Phoebe looks at her phone to verify the current day

"....It's Saturday....fucking great" Phoebe grunts