I just want to let everyone know that I have NEVER done anything like this before. This is totally new to me. So I know it is really rough so I need everyone's honest opinions. Also, I love CSI and murder mystery novels and I have always wanted to do one.
And, I have never really written in third person before. It is always first, so if you catch me out of tense, let me know!
Well, I hope you all enjoy this!
Happy Reading! 
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PROLOGUE
Wednesday, December 23, 2008
Time was of the essence. Every second that ticked by was another second lost. Her team was working around the clock, surveillance cameras crowding the small, cramped space of the conference room. Monitors showed different angles of a very modern-looking home, with blue shutters and white trim. But to Billie Owens, it sent shivers down her spine. That was a home of a very psychotic man, a murder. She kept going over and over in her mind the phone call that had happened only moments before. The man that lived in that house had called her. His voice had an eerie sense of security to it, a calming effect that chilled her to the bone. He was suave, and she guessed that was how he got his victims. They came willingly; he never did any dirty work. At the end of the phone call, she knew in her heart the horrible truth: David Shuman was going to kill his victim.
Kill her!
And it would be her fault if she didn’t save this girl on time. Billie was chewing her nails down to the cuticle, her eyes flickering from one monitor to the other, never staying still for longer than a few seconds. Workers ran around her, frantically trying to save this girl that they all knew David was holding hostage in his house. In one monitor, she could see the hood of a Police Cruiser and a group of men with guns raised, pointed towards the home. All the shudders were pulled, all the lights out. No activity or movement was recorded.
All was taken in silence.
“Will get this guy, Billie. Don’t you worry,” her partner, Charlie Wayne, whispered harshly beside her, his voice thick with disgust.
“I hope you’re right,” Billie managed to choke out, still observing the monitors over her team’s heads. Charlie handed her a hot coffee, but she refused. She couldn’t imagine drinking that while David’s victim suffered inside his home, screaming for help. Why didn’t her men charge the home? Do something! she wondered in frustration, ripping part of her pinkie nail in half. She sucked in her breath sharply at the pain and quickly dropped her hand, clasping both behind her back; she took to tapping her foot instead.
“Any news?” her lieutenant asked from the doorway, partly crossing the threshold. Billie just shook her head, not bothering to turn around. Charlie shrugged apologetically at the lieutenant before turning back to the action unfolding before them. Men scrambled as a voice radioed in that movement was spotted along the top story of the home. Billie leaned unintentionally forward, her adrenaline rising with each syllable uttered from the man radioing in.
But it turned out to be a false alarm. A cat leaped from a partially opened window of the second story and landed agilely into a tree. Billie heard the whole team sigh audibly at the bad break. “Don’t worry guys, we’ll get him,” Billie reassured her team, but as she glanced at the clock, she knew they were running out of time.
Billie almost jumped out of her skin when she heard the phone ring. With apprehension, she answered. “Billie Owens.”
“You are one tough cookie, I will give you that.” His voice froze her in her place. “Surrounding my house with Police cars and men with guns. Billie, Billie, Billie.” She could just imagine him shaking his head at her. “Do you really think you are going to save her? Did you really think you had a chance against me?” She didn’t know what to think. His laughter was throaty, filled with some unknown happiness. “Didn’t think so,” And with that, the line went dead.
A few seconds later, she heard officers radioing in that shots were fired inside the home.
