Winter of 2024: We have been working his case for over a year. We still cannot find him, because he is always one step ahead of us. Although you should never assume, in this job, it is a must. We almost caught him the winter of 2023, but his mind is smarter than all of ours put together. I have had sleepless nights, addicted to this case, and I fear I will not stop until he is caught.

  His name is Marco Jacobs, a tall, slim, 26 year old white male with a severe case of Schizophrenia. My team and I think that his disorder is what is affecting him but we can be wrong. We, being the FBI have been very busy, but the five of us have been assigned to this case specifically. My co-partner, Agent Mario Mahone gets in the way sometimes but I have to admit.. he is good  -but unfortunately he knows he is too.

“Have you talked with Agent Haas yet, Laura?” Mahone asked with his charming voice that I will never get over.

“No, does he want to see me? I am still working from last night, and no one has been helping me. We need to get this solved and over with.” I said with a strong demanding voice.

“Hey, it is fine, I will take half of your files tonight. You need some rest. Also, are you free again for dinner maybe...tomorrow?” Mahone asked  nervously. Before I could reply, one of the office agents that is not on my team came into my office, and  he seemed very concerned.

“Agent Kelly, I think we have a problem.. You might want to see this...” she stated. I walked out of my office and went into the conference room and she handed me a file. I opened it and…

“Is this Jacobs again?” I said with my heart in my stomach. Another girl had lost her life, and we had no idea.
“We do not know, his work and methods are not the same. He did not write her name on the wall with her blood, she was not strangled, she was not suffocated. He did leave a code on her arm, though. It is on the second page- We think it’s a Morse code. If it is him, I think he is trying to tell us something.” she said.
“Thanks Anne, i’ll get to work.” I walked out and called my team in my office. Mahone, Brooks, Clay, and Richardson make a good team to say the least. They were all astonished to see the file and worried that it might not be Jacobs. It just makes me want to work harder to stop him or.. This person. It was 2 am and we were on our way to the crime scene. It was an 8 hour flight to Charleston South Carolina, my old home town, from LA so we all got some sleep. Once we landed we rushed to the crime scene and we could not believe our eyes. The sun was rising at the time and the sun rays came through the trees in the woods as birds were chirping and all I could think about is how much my daughter would have loved that moment in the woods. She always loved nature and birds and early mornings which was odd for a little girl. She would have been 9 this year. She is what motivates me through cases, though.

Winter of 2021: A major case had broken out within the entire nation. A psychotic murder was on the loose. This was a special case. His name was Karl James and he had been researching my entire team for 2 years before he made his first move. He knew names of family members, friends, even old elementary schools. He killed many young children and had been kidnapping for two months before we caught him. We happened to go to highschool together. He was always that creepy class clown that would joke about serious matters..but everyone liked him. He was most liked in our class...until he was abandoned by his family at just the age of 17.
Janey was at the dinner table, watching me work on his case specifically, as always. She did not understand my work but all she knew was that I “put the mean people away”. I always felt bad I could never give her much of my time because of my job. She was the only thing I had left going for me. My husband passed away last year and I was already depressed enough. Janey and I grew apart during that year, she stayed at my mother’s house because everyone was afraid i was not going to be able to take care of her… but it is all better now. She is at the top of her class, the smartest kid, so sweet.

“Do you have everything ready and packed up for school, love?” I asked.

“Yes, but I am missing a juice box.” she replied wittily.

“Water for the rest of the day, too much sugar.. now hurry along, the bus is waiting for you outside. Have a good day, I love you so much.” I said with such a warm tone. Janey looked back, with her backpack too big for her body and replied with “I love you too, mommy.”

Winter 2024: That was the last time I saw Janey. She was Karl’s next victim that winter. She is what is motivating me to stop criminals before they harm more innocent people and that is why I cannot stop working on a case until I figure it out. At the crime scene there were probably about 50 people working on the field, looking like scattered ants.

“Laura Kelly, FBI’s finest. How are you holding up?” my boss, Agent Haas asking if I were going to break at any moment.

“Yeah, I am doing fine. I am trying to figure out where his last victims were placed it they are within the same radius. I think they are but we will figure it out soon hopefully.” I replied with a determined but tired voice. I sure was tired.

“Sounds good, kid.” he replied with a smile. He got a phone call and walked away. I called Mahone, Brooks, Clay, and Richardson to meet me and the police department so we can figure this out. Back in 2023, when we almost caught Jacobs, it took place in the woods. I do have hope that it is Jacobs we are dealing with...but the work is not the same. Jacobs did the same every time, neatly, everything was clean. He obviously had Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. That was one of the disorders he was diagnosed with, along with Schizophrenia. I got to the police department and so did everyone else. Brooks was walking up to me as if he needed to tell me something urgent.

“We, we figured out the code on the victim’s arm..” He said nervously.

“Okay...and?”

“It said ‘Help me, I did not do this, he did.’ we think it may be---”

I did more research on Jacobs and it still was not making sense. There was a possibility that this man, so unstable and mentally ill, was reaching out to us from his own mind onto someone’s skin. The sun is going down and we are stuck. We have PD’s  in every city within a 30 mile radius searching in the woods, warehouses, apartment complexes..everywhere.

“There is a call for you, Agent Kelly.” a police officer working with us said to me. I was confused.. I wondered who it could be.

“Hello?” I said confidently.

“Did you miss me? I’m out of the nuthouse Laura. I’ve been out, and you couldn’t even pay me one visit. I cannot believe I thought for a second you liked me, you stupid---” He talked with such a firm aggressive tone but before he continued I cut him off.

“Who is this?” I said with an irritated tone.

“You know exactly who this is.. I am pretty sure Janey would have loved to stand next to you in those beautiful woods this morning. She was always such an odd one.” And at that moment I knew exactly who it was.
“Don’t you ever say her name again.” I stated firmly. I looked at Mahone and signaled him to trace the call, and so he did. It led to my old apartments which i thought was odd. I hung up and we all rushed over. We were unaware of what he was going to do.

We were all geared up with the S.W.A.T. team behind us. It was a chilly night and the apartment complex was dark as usual. We invaded the complex but I knew exactly where he would be, which was my old apartment back in high school.

“S.W.A.T. goes in first, i'll go in right after, copy?” I commanded.

“Got it.” Mahone replied. He gave a few more commands to the rest of the team as well. The first S.W.A.T. member broke the door down and everything in the apartment was clear except for one room. I walked in with my gun straight ahead of me and there he was with a young girl, probably around the age of 16 in his arms...sobbing because she was probably living her last few  minutes.

“You don’t want to do this Karl” I said very softly. We heard a rattle in the bathroom located in the back of the bedroom. I signaled someone to go check the bathroom as I am still trying to figure out how to save this girl in his arms. Brooks was the one to check the bathroom and when he opened the door, the look on his face was as if he was seeing his worst nightmare.

“Please, do not hurt me. I did not do it. I told him I did not want to do it. He made me. They both did.” the man from the bathroom cried.

Brooks responded, “It is okay, you are safe now. Put the knife down and away from your chest. That’s it. Okay, now I am going to walk up and grab your arm, okay?” Brooks walked out with Marco Jacobs in his hands. I took one step closer to Karl.

“Remember high school? Those were the good times. Everyone loved you” I said with a loving warm tone.
“Stop it, Laura” He stated very aggressively.

“And your parents must be worried sick about you, right? When was the last time you’ve heard from them?” I responded immediately.

“I will strangle her right here.” The young girl cried and squirmed , struggling to get out of his arms. He started to cry.

“You are a coward. You had to even manipulate Marco to do your dirty work.” I finally said. He was shaking with anger, he was already emotionally stable enough. I was afraid of what he was going to do next. The room was dark I could barely see a thing. But I was able to make out the figures. I signaled another team member behind my back and he came from the side and tackled Karl and I grabbed the young girl. She held onto me and cried in my arms. Clay arrested Karl, and from then on, two more mean people were put away.