When You Were Young

Someone knocked on her door. Samantha again considered the gun, but it was probably just a maid here to clean up. She threw open the door to find not a maid but a FedEx deliveryman. "I've got a letter for Samantha Young. Is that you?" he said.

"That's me," she said. At least she knew that much. She signed for the package, waiting for the deliveryman to leave before opening it on the bed. Inside she found only a map of Iowa with a red circle around the town of Junction. At the bottom someone had written in red ink: 'Catch Me If You Can.'

"Oh my God," Samantha said. The map fell from her fingers. She picked up the telephone and without thinking dialed the number for the Dallas office. "Hello, this is-"

"Young, where the hell are you?" a gruff voice said.

"I'm in Savannah, sir," she said. "Someone murdered Steve Fitzgerald a couple nights ago."

"That's out of your jurisdiction-"

"I know, sir, but I just received a message from his killer. There's going to be another murder. This time in Junction, Iowa."

"Who?"

"I'm not sure. We have to warn the local authorities before it's too late."

"Damn it, Young, are you hitting the sauce again? I'm not about to scare the daylights out of some little town in Iowa because you're seeing pink elephants again."

"But sir-"

"When I come in tomorrow I better see you at your desk. Am I making myself clear?"

"Yes, sir. I understand." The connection broke, but she continued to hold the receiver in her hand. What kind of life have I been leading? she wondered again.

It didn't matter at the moment. She had to get to Junction, Iowa and try to prevent another innocent person from dying. The hell with the FBI and anyone else who got in her way.