Justin slowly maneuvered his silver BMW down the winding muddy road leading in the direction of where the body was located. His windshield wipers were moving at a slow methodical rate as it hauled the spattering of water droplets away from his line of sight. As he turned the bend, his eyes were accosted by a cheery blend of colorful lights that ripped through the dark melancholy canvas of night. Eventually, Justin was successful in finding the area where his expertise were needed, and pulled his car beside an unmarked brown police vehicle, turning the ignition off. He continued surveying his surroundings, finishing his on going visual surveillance and inventorying every detail both on the way in and presently. He was looking for other ways in which the criminal may have used to leave the vicinity, as well as, any other clue that may help him correctly profile the suspect. The blond profiler noticed just to the left of the site a small trail leading away from the scene. He noted it mentally and then turned his body reaching behind the passenger seat pulling on the strap of his Nikon camera. Although he knew there would be a specialist there taking photos, it was important for him in making sure photos were available as soon as possible so that he could refer to them after leaving the scene. He also wanted different angles of the body and the surrounding area to cross reference with any visions he experienced or deductions he made. He opened his car door and was greeted with a strong cool tantalizing breeze. The wind playfully tousled his hair into his eyes as he gingerly swung his left leg out, setting his Oxford covered foot cautiously on the ground. He silently hoped he was not parked in a puddle. Justin used his momentum gained from his movements to swing the camera over the seat and into his lap. He sat staring at the large professional camera and haphazardly flicked the lens cap off. The camera was given to him by JC as a present for his birthday last year. His mind drifted for a moment; thinking back to the man he left not more then twenty minutes ago. The Nikon camera was the only birthday present he received that year, because his family had disowned him when he presented JC to them as his lover the Christmas before. Justin remembered the saddened and disappointed look on his boyfriends face when he explained to the brunette why they had to leave his parents house. Tears had filled the younger man’s eyes as JC trembled in his embrace. Justin lifted his hand to his temple and shook his head as the visions swarmed his mind. The vision then faded showing the same saddened look prior to his leaving. The blond investigator already missed the warmth of his lover’s skin and the gentleness of his caresses. He wanted nothing more than to go back to JC and cuddle with him throughout the rest of the night. He sighed. Justin gathered his resolve and settled his other foot next to the first, looking down toward the ground. He noticed that in his hurried attempt in getting dressed; he put two different colored socks on. Justin softly chuckled to himself. The rain had softened to a small drizzle allowing the detectives the opportunity to resume a successful search of the area. “Hey,” Justin heard a familiar voice calling, snapping him out of his detachment of reality. “Let’s go Timberlake. Where the hell have you been? We’ve been waiting for your scrawny ass for ever?” Justin continued removing his tired body from the driver’s seat and stood casually leaning against the opened door. The hazy droplets of rain soothed his heated face as he addressed his friend. “Hey, yourself Fatone. And if you recall, I was a bit busy when you last phoned me.” The blond waited for the older man to approach the vehicle before revealing any more details as to what had detained him. Although his sexuality was well known in his and surrounding departments, he still was uncomfortable talking about it in front of strangers. His personal life is just that, personal. Joey, recognizing the hesitation in Justin’s reply, stayed his course until he was directly in front of Justin. “So the little women kept you busy, eh?” Joey teased. “First of all Joey, JC is by no means little. I can a test to that,” Justin half giggled. Before Joey could respond Justin added, “and he definitely isn’t a woman, if he were, I sure as hell wouldn’t be with him.” Joey chuckled, “No. No I guess you wouldn’t.” The brunette paused. “So how’s he doing anyway? You don’t talk about him much.” “Joey, it’s not appropriate to talk about our relationship in public. You know that,” Justin eyes traveled toward the ground. “Well, at least not to the majority anyway. But he’s doing just fine, and I’ll let him know you asked about him. It’ll bring a smile to his face, that’s for sure.” Joey nodded his head toward the victim, “So, you gonna take a look and tell me what you think.” “Yeah, lead the way.” Justin and Joey approached a small escarpment. At the bottom lay a white cloth covering the apparent victim’s body. Beside the victim was a short man whom was scrutinizing the lifeless form and the area surrounding it. “Is the condition of this victim similar to your other cases?” Justin questioned. He tilted his head as he inspected the man next to the victim, he pointed, “Who’s that?” “Actually, it’s almost exact. I’ve a feeling that we are looking at a serial killer of sorts.” The two men skirted down the shape bank and stopped just short of the victim. “And this is Detective Chris Kirkpatrick. He works with the forensics team and has worked on numerous other cases with me. He’s one of the best.” Joey looked toward Chris and winked. “Chris, this is Detective Justin Timberlake. Not only is he one of the best detectives we have, he is also a profiler.” Justin nodded his head toward Chris while snapping some shots of the area and of the covered body. “So what are the basics?” The blond looked over his shoulder when he spoke. “What do we have?” “Well,” Joey began, “the victim was found about two hours ago by, believe it or not, a jogger. Classic isn’t it.” Justin nodded his head as he continued taking photographical evidence. “Anyway, she called 911 and we were dispatched. When we arrived we immediately taped off the area and called in the forensics team. They’ve been here for awhile.” “Make sure I get a copy of their findings, if you wouldn’t mind.” “I told Chris to make sure everything is done in triplets, just in case.” “Good, good,” Justin answered waving Joey off. “What’s the victimology for the case?” The blond wrapped the strap of his camera around his neck and knelt down by the victim’s body. He pulled a pen out of his pocket and gently lifted the white cloth from the prone form. “Whoa…” he turned his face away from the lifeless stare placing a hand over his mouth. “What is it?” Chris asked. The young blond gathered his wits before answering Chris. “It’s a… a male.” He was shocked at this point. He had not been expecting a male victim let a lone one whose lifeless stare would resemble his lover at just a glance. “I was about to tell you the victimology for the case right before you took a look at our John Doe here.” Joey moved beside Justin and knelt as well. “The victims so far have all been males in there mid to late twenties. Two out of the three have had brunette hair and all of them have had a slight build. Each victim has been found with the same markings around their wrists and neck, as well as, numerous amounts of contusions and signs of sexual assault and torture. If you want more you’re gonna have to wait until we get back to the station and I’ll be able to make a copy of my reports so far.” “Hmmm…yeah, the slight build would make them easier targets that’s for sure.” Justin looked across the form and asked Chris, “What evidence have we gathered from the scene, so far?” “Believe it or not… we’ve only found a couple significant pieces of evidence. The first is a partial footprint that we found coming from the direction of that smaller trail,” Chris pointed toward the trail Justin had noted earlier. “The second is a strand of hair that was actually found on victim number three's wrist. Now, although the hair is seemingly the same color, I suspect it may have come from victim number one.” “Chris, lift the rest of this off for me would you?” Justin asked as he pulled his latex gloves over his hands. He gasped and placed a hand over his mouth once more when he took in the sight Chris revealed. “The hands are wrapped already. Did you find anything under the nails?” “Well, if it were the case that the victim still had nails then yeah, but since he doesn’t… we really couldn’t check for tissue samples there, yet” Chris answered. Justin turned his gaze toward the genital area of the form and noticed signs of sexual assault. “Did you find any fluids of any kind?” “No,” Chris shook his head. “This predator is highly organized. Except putting the body in a relatively well-frequented area, the killer has wiped away the evidence. I mean were going to have to use highly sophisticated equipment just to find trace elements on the body. This killer whom ever it is knew what we’d be looking for.” “Gloves?” Chris nodded his head. “Hmmm…” Justin placed one covered hand on the victim’s body and closed his eyes. As expected his mind was flooded with visions. He reeled slightly back on his heels as he attempted to organize the information his touch was feeding him. The flash of information was grabbled, but Justin was able to make out that the victim was killed by affixation, which correlated with the bruises located on the victim’s neck. Justin could not make out the face of the killer but realized it was a male and not a female. The male killer was much larger than the man that lay in front of him. It appeared according to Justin ‘s vision that the young brunette was lured outside from club and into an automobile. Justin fell back from the form and tried desperately to calm down. His heart was racing with the amount of tangible information the vision gave. He now knew the victim was not killed near the woods but was dumped. Justin also could determine that judging by the reaction of the male, that the victim either knew the killer or the victim was not in sound mind. “Chris, make sure a toxicology report is done as well. I want to be for certain that the kid wasn’t on anything or for that matter given anything.” Justin slowly stood up and looked around. “It’s quite obvious that our John wasn’t killed anywhere around here and that our killer is definitely male.” He stared hard at the other two. “It would appear that the killer may have carried the body out here; not many females could lift a 165lb male. But what I’m not sure about is why we haven’t found solid footprints leading into and away from the scene.” “Well, it’s been raining for a while,” Joey defended. “True, but… I doubt the rain could wash out footprints so quickly. Besides with all this mud you would definitely sink.” Justin scratched his head and turned toward the trail again. “How thoroughly did you check that trail?” “My team hasn’t had the chance to check it, why?” Chris answered. “Well, isn’t that the direction you found the print?” “I didn’t find the print, one of Joey’s guys did. I didn’t even cast it.” Chris looked in the direction of Joey, “It was all ready done before I even arrived on the scene.” “No offence Joey, but I think I’d much rather have a print cast by Chris here than by one of your under trained footmen.” Joey shrugged his shoulders, “Hey, not a problem. We only did it just in case the rain became heavier, and I figured that a partial cast would be better than none at all.” “That’s smart on your part, Joey,” Chris said. “Thanks.” Joey’s cheeks tinged pink. “Anyway, that’s why I asked the two of you to help with this case. I knew you would work well together.” Joey smiled at Chris and the older man blushed slightly as well. Justin noticed the interaction between the two men and also smiled. “Well then, Chris, get your stuff and lets go cast that print.” **** Justin and Chris carefully made their way toward the marked footprint. As they approached it, Justin again made mental notes of the surrounding area. He noticed a number of short wide pieces of wood thrown into the grassy area just along side the trail. Hmmm, Justin thought, that’s odd. Why are these pieces of wood laying out here, so far way from any construction site? Chris stopped suddenly in front of him. “Hey, look what I just found,” Chris’s voice was anxious. Justin was jarred from his thoughts, “What? What is it?” Chris smiled triumphantly, “Another print.” Justin’s eyes widened. “Do we have enough plaster to do both of them?” The blond approached the older man, careful not to disturb anything. He scrutinized over the print and gently traced the pattern. Instantly another picture formed in his head, the man had carried the smaller frame down this trail from where ever he parked his car but without leaving footprints. The vision focused on the footsteps of the killer and Justin finally noticed what the dream was telling him. The blonde’s mind flashed seemingly further back in time and watched as the killer placed the wrapped victim into the grass. The large man then went into the woods, using a different way and picked up the planks with gloved covered hands setting the boards down and then walking onto them. Justin shook his head and looked back at the planks. “I think we should take those planks there with us when we leave the scene.” “Why?” Chris inquired. “Because as I see it, the killer used those planks to walk out into the middle of the opening to dump his victim.” “How could he do that while carrying the body?” “He didn’t. The victim must have still been in the car, while the killer set up his makeshift trail. Any prints that were left on the boards would easily wash away in the rain. This guy is smart.” “You don’t say,” Chris mumbled. He then looked up and toward Joey. “Do you want me to inform Joey of our decision about the boards?” Justin smirked, “Yeah, you go ahead, and while you’re there, grab some of your team and search this entire area for evidence. I believe our killer wants you to concentrate on the small area around the victim and not the outer perimeter.” “Sounds like a plan.” Chris sighed. The smaller man walked gingerly away from Justin and sought out Joey. He approached Joey with a worrisome look on his face. “Hey, Fatone. Your boy wonder out there thinks we should take a look at some planks he found in the woods.” “Why’s that?” Joey asked. “He thinks that the killer took the time to set up a makeshift trail to carry his victim down. He wants the wooden planks for evidence. I for one believe that it’s a little far fetched, but hey who am I to say anything. I mean obviously I wasn’t enough for you to help with the case. “Chris, stop it. I told you why I asked Justin to help. He’s the best. He’ll have a profile for us in no time. Besides, you know as well as I do that no court will accept the expertise of one profiler or behavioral science major. They want one to vouch for the other.” “Yeah, whatever.” “This case has to be by the book, cuz, if we catch this son of a bitch and he gets off on a technicality, I’m gonna be pissed.” “Fine, fine. I understand.” Chris looked over his shoulder at Justin who was still near the trail. “He’s that good is he. I mean for you to need him.” “Chris,” Joey whispered. “You don’t have to be jealous all right. Justin doesn’t even know that I’m bisexual and besides, you haven’t seen JC yet. Once you do, you’ll know for sure that Justin Timberlake is no threat to you.” Joey smiled. “Okay,” Chris smiled back, “I can’t wait to meet this JC.” “Oh, let me tell ya, when you do; you’ll never forget him.” Joey noticed over Chris’s shoulder that Justin was headed for them. “Know be quiet here he comes.” “Joey, did Chris tell you what we had planned.” Joey nodded his head. “I think it’ll take a couple more hours before we’re out of here. I want this scene thoroughly investigated.” Chris moaned, “And I was hoping we would be done with this in three hours max, I guess I was wrong.” “I guess you were.” Justin looked down at his watch to reaffirm how much time had gone by since his arrival, the watch read 6:00 a.m. It was going to be a long day for Justin. He wondered what JC was doing right now. *** The alarm went off at exactly 6:00 a.m. and JC was not ready to get up. He laid awake on the king size bed ever since his lover had left him earlier that morning. The brunette rolled over and slapped the palm of his hand down on the snooze button, thanking God for the invention. His head slowly lulled toward the bathroom and thought briefly about getting out of bed and into the shower. Showers always made JC feel better, no matter what the situation was. He always felt like when he left the shower he had washed all his problems and stress down the drain. JC’s eyes slowly closed again. Ten minutes later, he was jolted once more out of his brief sanctuary of sleep. “God damn it I hate this fucking thing.” JC smashed his hand down on top of the clock once for a second time. He lay there for another five minutes before finally moving his exhausted body off the bed. The brunette walked slowly toward the beckoning shower, stripping off the nightclothes he put on after Justin had left. JC sighed when he thought about Justin leaving him once again. Just as he was about to shut the bathroom door, the phone rang. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he mumbled. He turned from the bathroom and walked back in the direction of the bed, picking up the phone. “Hello?” he answered cautiously. “Hey, baby. I’m glad your up. I know how hard it is for you to get up in the morning. So I thought I’d call and make sure you were getting ready for work.” “Justin… you’re okay. Where are you? Are you on your way home? Do you want me to call in sick or something?” “I’m still at the crime scene, so I don’t think you should call in sick,” Justin nearly whispered. “And I told you everything would be all right, didn’t I?” Justin paused for a moment so he could hear his lover’s breathing. “So, did I get you up?” “You would’ve, had I actually slept. I didn’t get much sleep last night at all. I honestly don’t know how I’m gonna make it through the day without some sort of nap or something.” “Oh, angel, I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean for you to stay up all night waiting for me.” “Yeah, well. You know me. The one who worries over everything and anything,” JC admitted. “Um… what…what are you doing for lunch? I was hoping I could come down to the precinct and we could have lunch together. We haven’t done that in a long time and I was just thinking that maybe you… you know would want to and so I just thought I’d ask, but if you don’t want to I’ll…I’ll understand, I mean I’d be weary of showing me around to and …” “Whoa there. Are you gonna let me get a word in edge wise?” “Umm… yeah, sorry.” “That’s okay, baby.” Justin paused thinking hard about letting JC come into the station. After a few quiet moments Justin made up his mind, “Yeah, sweetie. I would love for you to come and bring lunch.” “Oh, thank you. Thank you Justin. I thought for sure you were gonna say no again. I can’t wait to meet your other friends. I mean, that is if you want me to come in and all, cuz, I know how busy it can be and I might just get in the way again…” “JC,” Justin used a stern voice. “Stop it.” The blond knew he had to approach this topic delicately. “I want you to come into the station with lunch, from where ever you decide. I want you to meet my other friends and you have never ever been in my way. So stop saying that okay, sweetie. You’ve never been in my way.” JC sniffed, “Sorry.” “Hey, what’s wrong? You’re normal not so wide awake in the morning or this emotional. What’s going on?” Justin waited for his lover’s answer. “I don’t know, maybe its because I didn’t get much sleep last night and I’m dreading my schedule today.” “What’s on your schedule today?” Justin heard a rapping at his window. When he looked up he nearly cringed at the sight. The blond waved the individual off by holding up his index finger indicating to the intruder to give him a minute. “I thought you only had to work at Zinfield’s today.” “Well, actually Justin I’m working at Zinfield’s this morning but I have a double shift at Lou’s.” JC braced himself for Justin’s reaction. “What?” he screamed. “I thought I asked you to give that up. If you shouldn’t be dancing there anymore, how is it that you have a double shift?” “Justin, don’t be mad. I…I just haven’t had the time to tell Lou.” “You haven’t had the time to tell Lou,” Justin mocked. “I tell you what, when I get off tonight, I’ll come to Lou’s and tell him for you.” “No,” JC gasped, “You wouldn’t.” “I would and I will. If you don’t tell him tonight then I’m gonna.” “That’s not fair, Justin. You know how much I love dancing. I haven’t asked you to give up the one thing you love. How could you ask me too?” “For the record JC, my job is the one thing I love outside of you.” Justin paused, trying desperately to hide his anger. “I don’t want you dancing there, JC. I don’t care if you dance, but just not there.” “Why Justin? Why not Lou’s? Because it’s a strip club and you don’t want people to know I’m a stripper. Hmm…?” “I don’t think we should be having this conversation over the phone. It can wait until I get home. Okay, can we wait until I get home? I’m a little overwhelmed here, I don’t need an argument with my boyfriend adding to my chaos.” “Oh, I see how it is. You don’t want to talk about it so we don’t.” JC yelled. “Am I just supposed to sit here when I’m done at Zinfield’s and wait for you? So that we can talk about something you don’t want to talk about, just delegate.” “I said I don’t want to talk about it until later tonight.” “Fine, whatever.” JC sighed. “Look, I need to get ready for work. I’ll see you at lunch, okay.” Before Justin could answer JC, his door was ripped open. The man who was knocking feverishly on his window yelled, “Get off the fucking phone with your faggot whore of a boyfriend and do your fucking job, faggot.” “Huh… who’s that Justin? Why is he calling us those things?” “Hang on baby,” the blond man whispered into the phone. “I said,” the intruder placed his hand under Justin’s arm and hauled him out of the car, “get the fuck out here and do your job. Tell your slut goodbye and that you’ll bang him when you get back.” “Nick, you better shut your fucking hole before I shut it for you.” Justin began saying goodbye to JC when the phone was ripped from his hands. “Look here you sorry excuse for a man, Justin needs to do his job, not beat off. So go suck someone else’s cock, whore.” Nick turned the phone off and threw it across the opening. “Now are you going to do your job?” Some of the other detectives and officers heard Nick’s tantrum and laughed. Justin looked at the ground embarrassed that his coworkers were laughing at him and turned to walk away. “Where you going fag boy? Are you gonna go home and fuck your ho?” Justin turned back around and stormed Nick, knocking the laughing man into the mud. He swung his arm back ready to strike the larger form underneath him when he felt a hand engulf his wrist. Justin was immediately thrown into another dream, this one involving Joey and Chris. They were both dancing at a club and were approached by a large man. The man placed his hand on Chris ass and rubbed it. Chris’s expression was one of shock and dismay. Joey’s was one of anger. The man said something to them nodding his head toward a slender male standing at the bar. His two friends shook their heads. The stranger determined to get the answers he wanted grabbed Chris and placed a knife at his throat; Joey lunged forward, knocking the man down. However, not before the knife plunged deep into Chris’s neck. The vision disappeared replaced by a rapidly growing migraine. “Joey,” he whimpered looking over his shoulder. “Come on man, he isn’t worth it.” Justin’s eyes were watery. He didn’t know if he should tell Joey what he just saw or ignore it. The blond did, however, get up off of Nick, walking away with Joey. “Thanks Joey.” “Anytime, that kid is a loud mouth son of a bitch anyway.” Joey placed his arm around Justin’s shoulder, “And he doesn’t speak for all of us, that’s for sure.” Justin gave a small smile and then thought about retrieving his cell phone. “Umm…he threw my phone. I need to find it and call JC back.” “The bastard hung up on JC. If I’d have known that I would’ve let you hit him.” “I think I made a mistake, Joey.” “What do you mean?” Joey asked with concern in his voice. “I told JC he could stop by the station today for lunch.” “That’s awesome. I haven’t seen the little critter in a while. Weren’t we just talking about that?” “Yeah, but I don’t want Nick around him. I think he’d hurt him. You know JC isn’t a big guy.” “But I’m sure he can take care of himself when it comes to Nick, and besides you, me and Chris will all be there. I doubt if he’ll try anything and if he does, we'll have your six.” “We’ll see won’t we? I swear, if he says one more cruel thing about JC, he’s gonna regret it.” Justin bent down and picked up his phone. He turned it on but to his dismay it did not work properly. Justin sighed and hoped that Nick would leave JC alone when he showed up for lunch.