Show: Psi Factor
Title: Speechless
Author: NubianGeek
Rating: PG
Summary: The team confront a killer that won't die.

   His hero had been Jack the Ripper and any other serial killer he could read about.
    He didn't know what made him choose the women that he did.  Sometimes he would just be sitting in a restaurant and he would see some woman.  He would follow her until he saw an opportunity to kill her.
    He had lost track of just how many women he had killed,  but he did know that the police were stumped.
    Reporter Bill Stanley had made it his life's work to find the killer.  He had kept going when even the police had given up.  The case had been closed.
    "We haven't seen this guy in six months.  I think he's moved on."
    They had discovered earlier on that the killer had no set pattern to his killings.  But, Stanley was convinced that the killer would strike again.  He was right.
    Stanley was very surprised when the killer contacted him.  His goal was to 'play' with the reporter.  He had hoped to stay one step ahead of the reporter.  Spencer misjudged just how smart Stanley was.  Stanley discovered who Spencer was.  And, on the eve of breaking the biggest story of his career,  Stanley was killed.
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    It had been over a year.  Even though Laura and Matt had spoken  to each other often and had seen each other three or four times, it was not enough.
    Laura had a very exhausting year.  Shortly after her last adventure with the O.S.I.R.,  Laura was walking home from rehearsal when she witnesses a murder.
    She had spent the next few months going to trial and testifying.
    When she had called Matt to tell him what was going on, he was worried.
    "Are you sure that you don't need me to come down there?  That guy  sounds like a psychopath."  She reassured him that she would be fine.
    And now,  Doug Spencer,  the murderer,  was dead.
    "That's right.  I'm coming to Toronto with a Christmas show.  Hopefully,  I can stay for a while?"  The last part was a question that she asked timidly.  She didn't want to scare him away.
    "I'd like that."  Matt said.
    Laura didn't know if it was because he wanted to see her everyday,  or because he was still worried about her.  Whatever the reason,  Laura was coming to Toronto to stay for a while.
    "You're renting a house?"  Lindsay asked in disbelief.
    "Yeah,  well I figured it was about time."  Matt looked to see if she were buying it.
    "Alright,  Laura is coming back - at least for a while."  Lindsay got a knowing twinkle in her eye.
    "For a while, huh?  You'd better buy a ring while you're renting that house."   Matt swallowed hard.  He knew that was highly possible.  What if she expects me to marry her?  Do I want to marry her?  I thought the third time was a charm.  But, he loved her.
    Laura was arriving at 3 p.m. and Matt was right on time to pick her up.
    When he saw her,  for some reason,  there were tears in his eyes.  He knew now that he would do whatever it took to keep her with him.
    A few seconds later,  and Laura was in his arms.  He held her tightly as if to never let her go.  When she finally pulled free,  Laura said, "Hey you, are you alright?"  The tears were still in his eyes as he stroked her cheek.
    "I'm fine.  I'm really fine."
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    When Matt took her home to the rented house,  she was really impressed.
    "And here I thought that I'd have to pitch a tent."
    Matt cooked dinner that night.  For the second time that day,  Laura was impressed.
    "So,  tell me more about this killer."  Matt could see that she didn't wan to really talk about it but Laura knew that Matt deserved to know.
    "I was walking home from rehearsal one night.  In the summer I walk to and from the theatre.  Exercise.  I walked past an alley where two men were arguing.  One of the men pulled out a gun and shot the other.  I was scared and accidently knocked over a trash can.  I ran."  The story was becoming too difficult to tell.
    "I lived in fear for the next month or so  when he was on the run.  When they caught him,  I had to identify him and then testify against him."  The tears were falling as Matt realized just how difficult the whole ordeal was.
    "He sat there as I testified with those eyes.  I'll never forget those eyes."  She broke down now and Matt held her.  He could just kick himself for not being there.  She could tell that he felt guilty about not being there.  She placed a hand on his face.
    "I don't want to you to feel bad about being there.  I know that if I had called you,  you would have been there."
    He looked into her eyes.  Before he met her,  he didn't know if that statement would have been correct.  He thought about his ex-wives and how he had not been there for them.  But at the same time,  he knew that one word from her and he would have dropped everything to be there.
    He kissed her deeply with all the passion he could muster.  He knew now that  he would be buying a ring and asking her to marry him.  How could he not?
    Even though Laura was staying at the house with him,  she was staying in the guest room.  The whole time that they had been seeing each other,  the had not had sex yet.  Laura had said that she wasn't ready  yet for such an intimate act,  and Matt had done his best to comply.  It also helped matters when Laura lived in another state.  But,  now she would just be down the hall.  matt didn't know if his resistance could hold out.
    "I'll see you in the morning."  She said as she kissed him lightly on the cheek and retreated to her bedroom.  Matt headed off to a cold shower.
    "So,  how was your first night together since she's been back?"  Pete asked casually.  Everyone knew about Laura coming into town.
    "It was nice.  We had a nice, quiet dinner.  She's still not over her ordeal.  This time away will be good for her.  
    Peter nodded before going on.
    "She's in a show though, isn't she?"  Matt nodded.
    "Yeah, she said that working keeps her mind off things.  She's in The Nutcracker.  She said that most dancers hate it.  That's how she was able to get in at the last minute."
   Laura was at Matt's lounging around.  She didn't have to be at the theatre until 1:00.  She was still wearing her P.J's and having her first cup of coffee at 9:30.  she was watching the news,  which was now her habit since the incident.
    "Young woman, in late '20's was found strangled in her home. . . "  This caught Laura's attention.  Doug Spencer had killed several women before killing the man that Laura had seen.  It had just been a fluke that Laura saw him kill the man.  It turned out to be a huge mistake for Spencer.  If Laura had not seen him kill that man,  they would never have connected him to the other murders.
    It seemed that the other man, too, knew that Spencer killed the other women.  He paid the price.
    Laura jumped when the phone rang.
    "Hi Hon, are you okay?"  It was Matt.  She didn't know what she had been thinking.
    "Hi Matt.  I'm fine."
    She didn't sound fine, he thought.
    "Well,  I have rehearsal at one.  I've got to get ready."  she knew that she was hurrying to get him off the phone because she knew that he could tell when she was hiding something.
    "Okay.  Well, I'll see you tonight."  She hung up feeling really guilty.  Matt really cared about her and here she was dodging him.
    She went in to shower and get ready for rehearsal not knowing that someone was watching her.
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    As Matt hung up,  he had an odd look on his face.
    "What's wrong?"  Lindsay asked.
    "I don't know.  Something's wrong,  though."
    Matt felt a little hurt.  Whatever was wrong,  he wanted Laura to tell him.
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    "Are you sure?"
    The man listened to the person on the other end.
    "And you're saying that this person was actually there and witnessed everything."
    He listened to the answer to his question.
    "And you are sure that he's now here?"  The man smiled.
    "Excellent.  I'll take it from here."
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    When Laura arrived at the theatre,  she said hello to other dancers that she knew.
    "Hey Laura,  there are some flowers for you at your mirror."
    That was unusual.  They were still a week away from the actual performance.  They didn't usually get flowers until opening night.
    "Oh, Matt."  She thought as she rushed to the dressing room.  There at her spot was a huge bouquet of pink roses.  They were beautiful.  Laura read the note.  It simply said: I'm back!
    Laura immediately dropped the note and backed away from the flowers.
    "It's him."  She immediately thought.
    "But,  he's dead."
    She didn't sound very convinced.
    Laura ran from the dressing room.  She ran into Tom,  the director.
    "I need to go home, Tom.  I'm not feeling well."  She didn't wait for his answer.  She rushed out.
    Tom,  knowing what Laura had gone through and knowing that she was coming back to Toronto to be with her boyfriend,  decided that he would give Mr. Praeger at the O.S.I.R. a call.
    "Yeah,  she lit out of here saying she wasn't feeling well.  And she had just received flowers,  too."  Matt was really worried.
    "Guys, I need to go home."  Peter, Lindsay and Anton were worried as well.
    When Matt arrived home, he was struck by the quietness.
    "Laura, are you here?"
    From her bedroom,  she heard him.  How did he know,  she thought.
    Oh,  Tom.  She thought about her protective boss and friend.
    She tried her best to wipe away the tears before Matt saw her.  She was not successful.
    When Matt burst through the door and saw her,  he immediately took her into his arms.
    She couldn't hold back any longer.  She simply let the tears flow.
    "He's back Matt,  and he's found me.  I don't know how,  but it's true."  She was almost hysterical now as Matt tried to figure out what she was talking about.
    "Wait.  Who's back?"
    He tried to get her to explain what she meant.
   "Him.  Doug Spencer.  He's back."
     This time, he heard her,  but he couldn't believe it.
    "Honey,  Doug Spencer is dead.  He was executed."  She was shaking her head.  She understood what he was saying.  She had been telling herself this very thing in the last hour.
    "You don't understand.  I received flowers  from him today."  Matt tried to take all of this in.
    "H- How do you know it was from him?"  Laura tried to control her tears.
   "The card on  the flowers said, 'I'm back.'  Who else could it be from?"  Again Matt's mind tried to comprehend.
    "What if someone was playing a prank."
     She was again frantically shaking her head.
    "Who would do something like that?  Besides, the only one that really knows about all of that is Tom, the director.
    Laura could tell that Matt was having a hard time dealing with this.
    "Laura,  how could this happen?"  Laura began to get angry.  She was upset that Matt didn't believe her.
    "I don't know.  You're the paranormal freak!  You tell me!"  Laura yelled and went into the bathroom and slammed the door.
     Matt heard more crying coming from the bathroom.  He ran a hand through his hair.  He knew that Laura would not normally say those things.  He was convinced that she thought that Spencer was back.
     Suddenly the phone rang.  Matt grabbed it after the first ring.
    "Praeger."  He said impatiently.
    "Matt, something has come up.  Can you come into the office?"
    Lindsay sounded a little nervous.  Now that Laura was back,  she didn't want to interrupt the happy couple.
     "Yeah,  I can come in."  He didn't know why,  but he was getting angrier.
    "I'm going into the office."  He yelled through the door.  He knew that he shouldn't leave with Laura so upset,  but he was mad.
     When Matt arrived at OSIR headquarters,  he found the rest of the team already assembled in the conference room.
    "It was from a rape case.  The cops took DNA from the victim.  It matches that of a convicted killer."  Ray was saying.
    "Well,  that's not unusual.  The police have been comparing DNA to convicted criminals to see if they can close some of their cases. They should be able to find him fairly easily,  shouldn't they?"  Peter asked.  Lindsay shook her head.
    "He was executed a few months ago."  
    Matt,  who had been barely listening, perked up.
    "What?  What's his name?"  Matt looked desperate.
    "His name?"  Matt yelled.
     "Doug Spencer."
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    Why had she yelled at Matt?  What she had told him was something unbelievable and he hadn't believed it.  She didn't blame him.  Could Doug Spencer really still be alive?
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    He had followed her here.  In fact, she was still inside.  She knew that he was there; he could sense her fear.  He smiled.
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    Matt's cell phone rang.  
    "Matt, I don't care if you don't believe me.  He's here and I'm scared." Matt  tried to calm her.  He finally said, "It's okay.  I believe you.  I'll be right there."
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    When Matt and the rest of the OSIR crew arrived at his house,  they were afraid of what they might find.  But,  Laura was fine.  If anything,  she was a little scared.
    "I don't know how to explain it.  I felt him watching me."  The others listened carefully.
    "Laura,  are you sure it was him?"  Peter felt strange questioning Laura with Matt right there.
    "Yes,  it was him,  but at the same time,  it wasn't him.  I don't know how to explain it."
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    Lindsay and Peter traveled to the New York prison where Doug Spencer was executed.
    "Peter,  do you think that Laura really saw Doug Spencer?"  Lindsay felt comfortable raising her suspicions about Laura without matt being there.
    "Well,  the DNA confirmed it.  That's gotta mean something."
    They were introduced to the warden whom they questioned carefully.
    "Did anything unusual occur when Spencer was electrocuted?"  they wanted to know.
    "Well we had to flip the switch twice."  Peter and Lindsay looked at each other.
    "So,  after the first time,  did someone go and check on Spencer to see if he were dead?"
    Someone had.  His name was Calvin Reed.
    "Where is MR. Reed now?  We'd like to talk to him."
    The warden seemed amused.
    "He quit the next day.  He moved to Toronto."
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    Frank Elsinger watched as a man was being examined.  He had gone to a lot of trouble to bring him here.  Imagine being able to transfer the personality of one human being to another.
It was a pity that someone had to die in order to do it.
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    The team sat around the table in the conference room.  Lindsay and Peter had returned from their trip to upstate New York and were ready to report to the rest of the team.
    "I think we should be looking for this guy Reed.  He was the guard that had contact with Spencer when he died.  As strange as it seems,  this Reed fellow seems to have absorbed Spencer's personality - his essence."  As usual,  Matt was a little hesitant to believe what Peter had to say.
    "We need to let the police know that they should be looking for Reed in connection with the rape case they were working on."  This still sounded like a wild, far-fetched idea to Matt.
    "We can't tell them that.  We don't have any actual proof."
    "Matt, how else do you explain the DNA?"
    He couldn't.
    "But, the DNA doesn't link to Calvin Reed."  Lindsay said.
     "I guess it couldn't hurt for them to bring Reed in for questioning."
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    They brought Calvin Reed in for questioning.  He was not very enlightening.
    In the meantime, Laura finished rehearsal and decided to stop by OSIR headquarters.  As she was waiting to go in a gentleman came out.  She barely glanced at him,  but the hair on her neck stood on end.
    She turned to watch him as he descended the stairs.  He turned ever so slightly to look at her.
   Laura pressed the buzzer impatiently and wanted to go inside very quickly.
    When Matt was told that Laura was there, he came down to the lobby to meet her.  He wasn't prepared for what he saw.  Laura was hysterical.
    "Laura, what's wrong, honey?"
    "The man who just left.  Who was he?"
    Matt was surprised.  How did she know Reed?  He decided to bring her into the conference room and tell her everything.
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    They were getting to close.  He would have to do something soon.  He would need to choose someone close to the girl.  He headed for the theatre.
    He had asked to see Tom Dixon, the director.
    "I need to talk to you about Laura."  He followed Tom Dixon into the Producer's office.
    "Now what's this about?"  By the time he saw the gun,  it was too late. The man shot himself in the head.  That was the last thing Tom remembered.
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    The next night was opening night.  With everything that was going on,  it was a wonder that Laura could still dance.
    Matt had decided to give Laura the ring after the performance.  Matt was showing the ring to Lindsay.
    "Oh Matt,  it's beautiful.  Laura's going to love it."  Lindsay watched Matt's face.  He looked happy.  She was happy for him.
    During the performance,  Matt received a phone call.  It was Ray.
    "The police found Reed's body.  Don't celebrate too soon.  Another woman was raped.  Spencer's DNA."
    Matt almost missed Laura's performance because he was thinking about what Ray had told him.
    As soon as the performance was over,  Matt told the rest of the team about Ray's report.
    There was a knock on the dressing room door.
    "Laura,  Tom wants you." When she approached,  he pulled her out and pointed a gun at her and told her not to scream.
    By the time that Matt got to the dressing room, most of the other dancers had left.
    "She's not in here.  She left a few minutes ago with Tom."
    Matt didn't think anything of it at first - until he talked to Peter.
    "One of the dancers recognized Reed.  She said that he was here yesterday."
    Matt began to put two and two together.
    "Oh, no!"  Matt frantically began searching the rooms in the theatre.
    Lindsay checked with the House Manager who knew both Tom and Laura.  They had not come out that way.
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    In the prop storage room, Tom Dixon was about to exercise judgment on the one person that he had felt threatened by.  During the trial,  she had remained stoic and did not back down no matter how he tried to intimidate her.  He had her right where he wanted her.  She did look scared now.  Exactly what he wanted.
   He took the knife and laid the blade against her throat.  He had no intentions of killing her,  at least not yet.  But,  she didn't know that.  She was terrified.  He slugged her and she fell into darkness.
    "Are there any other rooms?"  Matt asked the House Manager desperately.
     "Well,  there's an old storage room - for old props.  It's in the basement."   Matt was already on the run with the rest of the team following close behind.
     The door to the old prop room was a huge metal fire door.  Tom had it locked from the inside.
      "Does anyone else have the key to this door?"  The House Manager went back upstairs to look for another key. Matt was banging on the door and calling her name.  Lindsay tried to calm him.  There was nothing to be done until the House Manager returned with the key.
     He felt the weight of the ring in his pocket.  He couldn't lose her now  not after he was so sure that he wanted to marry her.
    The House Manager returned with the key and fumbled to get the door opened.  They rushed inside.  Everyone noticed the opened window before they saw Laura lying on a crate.  Tom was no where inside.  Matt rushed to her side.
     He had beaten her up and used her for a carving board.  There was blood everywhere.
     "Oh, God, Laura."  She was unconscious,  but alive.  An ambulance had already been called.  Matt was holding her.  All his friends could do was stand and watch.
    When the ambulance arrived, Matt wouldn't leave her side.  the police had also been called and were on the look out for Tom Dixon.  Although, Peter and Lindsay doubted that he would be Tom Dixon for very much longer.
    "I guess we'd better go to the hospital.  Matt's going to need us."  

    "I'm Detective Johnson.  We've put an APB out on this Tom Dixon.  Why am I getting the impression that you don't think that will do any good?"  Lindsay and Peter looked at one another.  They didn't like having to explain what they did for a living.
    "We're with the OSIR.  We investigate strange phenomenon.  We think that Tom Dixon will soon change bodies with someone else."  They watched Detective Johnson's face for a reaction.  He didn't disappoint them.
    Laura was still unconscious.  Matt rested his head on the bedside.  He was just dozing,  when he felt a hand on his head.  Laura was awake and looking at him.  There was such love in her eyes.  The look was returned by Matt.
     "You know, there was something I was going to give you tonight."  Matt took the ring out and opened the case.  Her hands flew to her face in surprise.
    "Oh, Matt,  it's beautiful."  She hugged him.
     "Well, are you going to answer or what?"  He didn't realize it,  but there were tears flowing from his eyes.
     "Yes,  I'll marry you."  He was impressed that she didn't seem to think about it.  It probably would have been a good idea to think about it.    
       When Laura was resting,  Matt went back out to join his friends.
       "They caught Dixon.  He was trying to kill a Gas company employee when they found him."  Matt gave a sigh of relief.  He didn't want anything to mar his happiness.
    "She said 'yes'."  They congratulated him.
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    "Case number 79352, personal log, Frank Elsinger reporting.  We have taken Tom Dixon into custody.  Further study will be done to determine the method of the personality transfer. Elsinger out.