Detective Barbara Gordon 4

"Shit." Sterling said as soon as he stepped into the police line and saw the victim's body next to a garbage bin.

"What happened?" Barbara asked the investigator that was already there.

The sound of the cameras echoed in the alley as the investigators took pictures of the scene.

"Female victim. Around twenty-thirty years old. Multiple stab wounds on the neck, chest and stomach. A bruise on the left cheek. Garbage collector reported it." The crime scene invstigator pointed at the marks on the body.

"This looks like it happened last night." Barbara said.

"Most probably."

"Thanks."

"No problem." The investigator said before continuing with his work.

"You didn't bother looking for the murder weapon? You just assumed it was our killer?" Agent Sterling said to Barbara.

"Is that a statement or a question, Special Agent?" Barbara raised her brow at Sterling and smirked.

"I'm sorry. It was a statement. I was assuming the same thing." He replied with a wry smile.

"Damn it!" Barbara cursed and turned her back on the body. "This guy is good. Every scene he left had no cameras or anything." She said as she scanned the area.

"He covers his tracks really well. He would have been caught earlier if he wasn't." Sterling said as he rubbed his upper lip.

"What do we do now?"

"We review everything we have so far on this guy. Let's try finding something that we might have missed."

----

Inside a room in the police station, Barbara and Sterling set up all that they have on the serial killer.

"So, what do we know about this guy? He's quick, clean, efficient, and has never messed up once. He probably uses the same murder weapon for all his victims which were almost all female. The male victims didn't have multiple wounds. There was no hate with the male victims. Nothing personal, just business, unlike with the female victims."

"It feels like you're complimenting the guy."

"I am, actually. His work is very efficient. I wouldn't be surprised if he was a spook."

"CIA?"

"I'm just saying that he has skills."

"Hmmm..."

"What is it?"

"Nothing. I just remembered something."

"Well, what is it? It might help us out."

"It's entirely off topic....I'm sorry."

"Geez... Focus, Gordon."

"Sorry..."

Barbara was reminded of someone that had skills better than any spy in the world. Someone that passed on some of these skills to her...

Sterling and Barbara stared at the board where they pinned the pictures of the victims.

It was a repeated process of going through the files and looking at the pictures.

Over time, Barbara started to feel like she was drowning from all the words and the gruesome pictures she had to look at.

"Gah...." She massaged her temple as she felt her head starting to hurt.

"You okay?" Sterling asked her.

"I'm fine. I'm just tired."

"Maybe we should stop here for today." He pointed at the window where they could see the sun was already setting.

Barbara sighed. "You're right..."

"Go home and rest, Detective. And don't go on your own this time like you did the other night. You might not find Elise again but the actual killer. Okay?" Sterling put on his jacket.

"Then, he's the one that should be careful." Barbara shrugged. "You go ahead. I might stay here for another hour."

"Not only skilled, but also a hardworker. You'd make a really fine agent, Gordon." Agent Sterling teased as he opened the door and left.

"Good night, Agent Sterling." Barbara said with a wry smile.

Leaving just didn't sit right with her when she feels like she still hasn't given her all yet. All they've found out is

"Elise..." She uttered.

Barbara recalled everything that happend this day starting with her second encounter with Elise. Besides what she already knows, she feels like there's more behind this woman.

Then, the body that was found in the alley. There's no significant info left there that can provide them with new information.

She tried to recall her conversations with Agent Sterling and remember every word.

Then, a particular statement of his echoed in Barbara's mind.

'He's quick, clean, efficient, and has never messed up once...'

"But he did mess up recently...!!" Barbara started to review the file from last friday night's victim. "There has to be something different." She snatched the picture that was pin on the wall and compared it to the pictures of other victims.

"He...Hehehe..." Barbara started chuckling.

----

"I discourage you from going any further with this, Elise..."

-Richie Murphy... or rather, Agent Sterling, is it?

Sterling was on the phone with Elise.

"Please don't change the topic. I'm saying, you should stay out of this case if you don't want to help me."

-You don't get to boss me around. I answer directly to Mr. Callaghan just like you.

"Please just... just do your job and I'll do mine, okay? Don't make everything personal. If you kill the psycho that's going around killing women, all those cases won't be closed. It would give me a bad look. I could turn my head away if I wasn't assigned to this goddamn case, but it is what it is. Can you do me a solid, Lis? Please?"

-That man fucked with me, Richie... I can't let that slide....

"Tsk! You always have to be so difficult..." Agent Sterling sighed. "Fine. Let's just see who can get to him first. No hard feelings, alright?"

Beep.

He hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket.

Richie Murphy, currently given the code name Sterling by the FBI, sighed and drooped his head. "One was already enough, but now I gotta deal with another woman with basically the same hardass personality." He looked up and made a dry laugh. "Fuck my life..."

----

"Good morning." Agent Sterling walked into the office and greeted Barbara that was drinking coffee while looking at the files.

"Agent Sterling, Good morning!" Barbara put down her coffee cup and looked at Sterling with an excited impression.

"Did you stay here all night?" Sterling put his bag down and furrowed his brow.

"No. I came here early. Listen..." Barbara picked up a picture and walked up to Sterling to hand it to him.

"Huh...This is last friday night's victim. Am I supposed to see something here?"

"Yes! Look at her hair."

"Brown hair. Ponytail. What about it?"

"Compare it to the other victims and the most recent one."

"They all have a different hair color." Sterling looked at the pictures with a puzzled look. "Can you please just tell me what it is that I'm supposed to see? It's still early." Sterling said to Barbara.

"It's-"

"It's their hairstyle. That one has a ponytail and the others don't." Another man replied for her.

"Tanner! You're back!" Barbara greeted the man that just entered the room.

"I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself properly. Detective Tanner Manning." Tanner reached out his hand towards Sterling.

"Special Agent Sterling. I understand that you'll also be helping us with this case?"

"Yes."

Sterling faced Barbara again, "Tell me why the hair is important again?"

"Well..." Barbara took the picture and pinned it back on the board. "I remembered what you said yesterday. About our killer not messing up once. But he did mess up! Last friday night!"

Sterling still had a puzzled look but soon widened his eyes when he finally got what Barbara was saying. "Because of Elise!"

"Exactly! So... I assumed that he must have messed up at that time and compared this picture with the others to see the difference. This one still has a ponytail and the others got removed."

"Removed? You mean the other victims also had ponytails before their bodies were found?"

"Exactly! Look at the hair of the other victims. All of them have a bend in the same area."

"He's taking their hair tie as trophies..."

"Yup!"

"This is good progress, Barbara." Sterling looked at her impressed.

"Umm..." Tanner called their attention while looking down in a thinking pose.

"What is it?" Barbara replied.

"Sorry, but, who's Elise again?"

"Oh! I'm sorry. Elise Kate Davis. She was supposed to be the victim last friday night. We're guessing she managed to escape or whatever."

"How did you find her?"

"Long story short, I encountered her. We ended up investigating her. She wouldn't answer some of our questions truthfully but we got something out of her. That's how we found out that the killer was male."

"Who is she?"

"She works for an outfit here in new york."

"A gangster?"

"Yeah. She's crazy. She wants to catch the killer and kill him herself." Barbara started organizing the files on the table."

"Huh..."

"So, the ponytail and the hair tie is the killer's 'kink' as one would say." Sterling said with his hand on his chin as he continued to stare at the picture.

"Caused by some kind of trauma? Induced by someone he hated that wore ponytails, maybe?" Barbara replied.

"Most likely."

"What's our next move, Agent Sterling?"

Sterling put the picture down on the table then, looked at Barbara and Tanner. "Our best bet right now would be to go through every record of this kind of fixation."

"Then..." Barbara picked up her phone and typed in something. "This place would probably be it because this is the only therapist in that area. Assuming that the killer was aware that he needed help with his mental health." She turned her phone to make it face the other two and showed the map with a marker in the middle indicating the therapist's office.