Getting out of the black sedan that Ben had rented when he arrived in town, Jenn saw Agent Turner and his partner coming out of the deserted storehouse to meet them. Ben got out of the car a few moments later, taking a good look at the building before them.

"Jumping Spider." Agent Turner and Agent Potts said in unison. Then Agent Turner caught sight of Ben behind Jenn and said, "I'm sorry, sir. This is a crime scene—"

"And I'm here to help with the investigation," Ben interrupted. He looked the agent over, sizing him up. "NSSS. Special Agent Bennett Warner." He flashed his badge.

There was a surprised look on the agent's face. "Oh, I see. Special Agent Bennett Warner, huh?" Agent Turner muttered the name to himself. "Major General Warner's son, I assume. My partner, Agent Potts." He gestured towards his partner behind him. "Agent Turner," he said by way of introduction, extending his hand for a handshake.

Jenn saw a glint in Ben's eyes. Ben didn't like people referring to him as the major general's son. This was going to be bad.

"Ah, the snitch." Ben said dryly, shaking the agent's hand briefly. Behind Agent Turner, his partner's eyes grew wide.

Agent Turner frowned. "What did you just say?"

"Snitch." Ben pronounced the word in an exaggerated manner. "Look it up in the dictionary if you don't know what it means."

Seeing the puzzled and offended look on Agent Turner's face, Jenn couldn't help but feel sorry for him, but he had brought it upon himself. However, she had to give him credit for figuring out Ben's identity that fast. Jenn gave Ben a sharp nudge in the ribs. "Okay, we can bond later. For now, we have a crime scene to investigate." She started walking towards the storehouse. "Agent Turner, what do we have here?"

The agent fell into step beside and started to brief her on the situation. "The victim was Gina Lee, age twenty-three, worked as a manager in a bank not far from here. She was reported missing after attending a party at her colleague's place last night. She lived with her parents and a sister. She didn't return home or answer any phone calls, so her parents put in a missing person report this morning. Then a couple of teenagers found her dead in the building shortly after the report was made."

Jenn frowned. "What were the teens doing in a deserted area like this?"

Agent Potts spoke for the first time before dissolving into the background again. "They said they were taking photos of the building for a school assignment."

"So you've brought them in for interrogation?" Jenn asked.

"Yes, Agent Potts handled it," Agent Turner stated stiffly, his tone tinged with annoyance due to his partner's interruption. "I was here, searching the area for the killer."

Ben snorted. "You were expecting to catch the killer here, at a crime scene filled with cops? No wonder you couldn't solve the case even after three years."

Jenn had to bite back a laugh stuck in her throat. She had thought the exact same thing Ben had just said. Agent Turner truly needed to go over his homicide investigation guidelines again. She gave Ben a stern look, hoping that he would just let it go. He was being childish. Agent Turner hadn't intentionally offended him in any way. Then she turned to Agent Turner. "Did you find any evidence at the crime scene?" she asked.

"Useful evidence." Ben emphasised the first word, earning himself a glare from the agent.

"Actually, I did," Agent Turner said with apparent irritation. "This time, there was a significant difference in the murder. The serial killer left a short note behind. The paper he used gave off a distinctive fragrance. My people are ID'ing the smell now."

They stepped into the building. Immediately, the smell hit them. Jenn came to a stop, confused. She knew this smell. She was sure of it. But what she couldn't be sure was where she had smelled this fragrance before.

"What's wrong?" Ben asked, eyeing her with concern.

"I know this scent," Jenn replied. She continued walking. "I need to take a look at the note you mentioned just now," she said to Agent Turner.

"Got it." He nodded once at her before taking the lead. "This way."

He led them into a small room in the building. In the middle of the room was their victim, tied to a chair. One look at the victim and Jenn noticed something odd. The victim wasn't a redhead. Instead, her hair was raven black.

"Here's the note." Agent Turner pointed at a small piece of paper on a table at the corner of the room.

Jenn put on her gloves and went to take a look at the paper. The smell was getting stronger now. "Why haven't you bagged it?" Jenn asked as she picked up the paper to examine it.

"I thought that you might want to take a look at everything as it was, so I asked forensics to leave the crime scene untouched, including the victim," Agent Turner answered uncertainly.

"That's wise of you," she said. She started reading the note. "What goes around comes around." At the corner of the note, it was signed K.

"Karma?" Ben guessed.

"Most likely." Jenn took a whiff of the smell covering the paper. "It seems our killer finally decided on a name." The smell was really strong. It was almost as if ... In sudden realisation, she said, "The killer left this fragrance on purpose. Judging by the intensity of the smell, the killer must have soaked it in some kind of fragranced liquid."

"You mean it's another dead end?" Agent Turner asked, disgruntled. "Great."

"Yeah, great job, snitch," Ben muttered.

Agent Turner turned to Ben in a huff. "Look, I know that you're mad at me for causing such big trouble for your girlfriend, and I accept that it was entirely my fault. I even got a lecture from the general himself," he said, confirming Jenn's earlier suspicion. "But I have apologised to her personally, and she has accepted my apology rather graciously, so can you just get over it already?" He was fuming, but it was obvious that he was still trying to hold back most of his anger. Probably due to her watchful eye on them, Jenn supposed.

Ben stared at the red-faced agent for a moment. Then he smirked, turning to Jenn. "Girlfriend, huh?"

In return, she grimaced at him. "We're investigating a murder here. You're a special agent so start acting like one." Then she swung her steely gaze to Agent Turner. "I understand that you're upset. But that doesn't mean that you can throw insults around here. Agent Warner and I are just partners."

"Sorry," Agent Turner mumbled sheepishly, shooting Ben a dirty look.

Jenn heaved a sigh, calming herself. "Now back to the case. The fragrance on this paper might not be a direct lead to finding out who the killer is, but I believe that it has something to do with his motive ... or the next target."

"Next target?" Agent Turner repeated her words, looking puzzled. He seemed to have recovered from his outburst.

She handed the paper over to Agent Potts and asked him to bag it. Then she started to explain her theory. "If you take a close look at the victim, you will notice something different. Instead of choosing a redhead, he aimed for a brunette. And according to his time pattern, this is not carried out according to his schedule."

"Okay, the killer broke the pattern. Perhaps he made a mistake about the date," Agent Turner said slowly, plainly still not getting her point. "So what?"

"Mistake? It's highly impossible, don't you think?" she asked dryly. "Given that he's quite the experienced and careful killer after all these murders he's committed, it's unlikely for him to make such a silly mistake. Something must have changed his course of action. 'What goes around comes around.' It means payback. So the killer must be seeking some sort of revenge. All the girls that he killed before this were merely like drugs as to relieve his pain, substitutes for the real target." She frowned, her eyes inadvertently moving to the victim in the chair. "And this is a warning. He will kill again soon."

"When?" the agent asked in an alarmed tone.

"We can't be sure." She shook her head. "Right now, the killer is almost unpredictable." She was still staring at the victim, and suddenly something stood out. There was a bruise on the victim's cheek. The killer was sloppy this time. Something must have agitated the killer to act so rashly. "But one thing we know for sure is that the fragrance on the paper is not a dead end, rather a clue the killer left for us. It could be some sort of perfume. Perfume usually relates to romance. Perhaps it's a relationship-gone-wrong murder."

"Why can't it be that this girl's the killer's real target? After all, she stood out the most among all the victims," Agent Turner mused.

"There's a possibility that you might be correct." Jenn said thoughtfully. "But we have to take precautions. Check to see if you can find any connections between this victim and the previous ones – similarities or differences that stand out the most."

"Got it," Agent Turner said, nodding. Then his tone turned hesitant. "About the hair colour thing ... Do you think that it could be just a coincidence that the previous victims were redheads?"

"That is a possibility, but we have to make the most out of what we have right now." She moved closer towards the victim, not taking her eyes off the body as she spoke. The victim was still in her working clothes, so she clearly hadn't had time to change for the party when she was abducted. "So we have to consider the change in hair colour preference as one of our leads in finding the next target."

"You could be next," Ben said suddenly, expressionless.

"Shut up." She glared at him. "If you're not serious about this, then get into the car." She could see that he was still upset at her words earlier. Well, he should take some time to cool off then, she figured. Behind her, she heard a muffled laugh from Agent Turner.

"Fine. I can see that I'm not wanted around here," Ben muttered as he strode out of the room.

A pang of guilt pulled at her chest as she watched his retreating figure. But then she pulled herself out of it. Now was not the time to dwell on all this drama. Turning her attention back to the task at hand, she looked at Agent Turner and said, "You mentioned earlier that the victim went missing after attending a party at her colleague's house. Who's the colleague?"

"If I'm not mistaken, his name is Nick Jefferson," Agent Turner replied.

"Nick Jefferson," Jenn repeated, feeling surprised that his name turned up.

"Yes," he confirmed. "Do you want to talk to him?"

"No, it's okay." She couldn't risk letting another person from her past know her identity as a special agent, plus she was quite sure that he wasn't the killer. Nick was a softie, and even if he was the killer, he wouldn't be dumb enough to draw attention to himself by abducting someone from his own house. So it would be a waste of time for her to talk to him anyway.

"I think you can handle this one." She gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Bring him in and ask him if he remembers anything odd at the party."

"Yes, boss," he joked. He started to leave, but Jenn stopped him.

"Have you determined the cause of death?" Jenn asked, testing him. "For the previous victims, I mean. What caused their heart failure?"

"Uh ..." His face showed his answer.

She sighed. "Don't worry. I have a lead. Hypnosis."

Puzzlement coloured the agent's face. "What? How?"

"That I'll leave to you to find out for yourself."

He cocked an eyebrow at her. "My punishment?"

She gave him a look. "I'm not that childish, okay? I'm so over the whole misunderstanding yesterday. It's time you move on too."

"Glad to hear that." He laughed, looking embarrassed. "Speaking of which, I heard from the general that two new agents will be in town. Where's the other one?"

"Agent Leon stayed behind to babysit Ray Darce," she explained. "We can't risk having the killer contact Ray anymore."

"Oh, okay." The agent nodded. "I certainly hope that the next time we meet, Agent Leon will be around."

"You're not really looking forward to meeting her. You're just not looking forward to seeing Ben ..." She quickly corrected herself: "Agent Warner again." Her heart thudded with relief when she realised that Agent Turner didn't notice her mistake. That would have been awkward. She then gave him a brief smile and turned around. "Update me if anything new comes up," she said over her shoulder before stepping out of the room.