**picture: Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston

Fall seemed determined to keep the sun away. It was mid-November, it'd been raining almost nonstop for two weeks and the clouds weren't nearly done with Boston. Forecasts already announced plenty of snow going into 2015.

It was a cold, windy morning, and Gillian was truly grateful when Fred welcomed her with a steamy coffee mug.

"Oh, thank you so very much," she muttered, grabbing the mug with both hands to enjoy the warmth.

"Cook was asking about you," said Ron from one of the spare desks, not looking up from whatever he was welding.

So early? "Did he say what about?"

"Kicking you off the force?" ventured Kurt.

"Maybe have me fire one of my techs," replied Gillian.

Kurt stuck out his tongue like a little boy.

Gillian looked around and frowned. "Where's Al?"

"A friend from Sex Crimes called her," said Tanya. "A Jane Doe was admitted to the General's ER a few hours ago, hardly alive. She had traces of sexual abuse, ligature marks and drugs in her system."

"Poor girl. Are we good here?"

Hank nodded. "Good and bored. Which is twice as good."

"Okay, then I'm going to the fourth floor." She sighed, giving the coffee mug back to Fred. "Tell it I'll be right back."

Like everybody else after two weeks of rain, Cook too looked absentminded and a little tired. Gillian found him outside his office, and the captain motioned for her to come in with him.

"Is your team still on that drug case, Gillian?"

"No, sir, we closed it three days ago. If you have anything to give us, we'll be grateful." Anything but paperwork, of course.

"Good." Cook grabbed a folder from his desk and gave it to her. "We have three missing women over the last six weeks, can you guys lend a hand with that?"

"Of course, sir."

Gillian took the folder and waited for Cook to speak, but he glanced out his window, grimacing. Everybody did that a lot lately, hoping in vain to have a glimpse of a tiny patch of blue sky, or at least see that rain had stopped.

Cook snapped out of his contemplation only enough to dismiss her. "Keep me up."

"Yessir."

Gillian went back to her office, flicking through the folder. She found Tanya and Kurt working and shot a questioning look at Fred.

"Al sent a picture of the Jane Doe, to see if we can identify her," he said, and took his turn for a questioning look at the folder in her hands.

"Missing women. Would you get us the files, please?"

"Sure."

Fred left with the folder as Kurt said, "She's not from Boston."

"Let's see if she shows up somewhere else," replied Tanya.

Gillian smiled. They didn't have clearance to do it, but that would never stop the girl. The state databases were one of Tanya's easier and smaller playgrounds. Gillian went on to her desk, intending to have her coffee without further interruptions.

"I got her. Joan Shaffer, from Springfield," said Tanya. "She was reported missing four weeks ago."

Gillian spun around her chair to turn her back to the office and the universe, and got lost in thought, watching the rain and sipping her coffee. After the BEB cases, things had gone smooth for them. A few hard cases, the rest only routine. Russell and Brock had managed to nail that Smith scumbag in Vermont, after a month of hard work all over New England. Cooper herself had called Gillian to let her know, thanking her again for bringing the Bureau's attention to such a dangerous psychopath.

It had been the best return to the field that Brock could've had, Russell had told her—like she gave a flying damn about the stupid bitter loner. Cooper had kept them working together ever since, which suited them just fine, 'cause they knew and liked each other, and they made a good team. Brock had rented the small apartment Russell's mother had in South Boston, so now and then Gillian would ask her friend when he was moving in to Southie with his new boyfriend. They were out of town and even out of Massachusetts most of the time, lending a hand at the resident agencies, but Russell would always make time to see her, and now Gillian almost missed him when he was away longer than a week.

As if summoned by her thoughts, her phone buzzing startled her back to reality and she saw it was him. "Hey, Scully," she greeted, as Fred came back with three thin folders on the missing women.

"Hey, Grumpy," was Russell's automatic reply.

Fred gave her the folders and went to place one of their boards against a side wall, to start working the case.

"Where's your pretty ass?"

"We were leaving Worcester when we got a call from Auburn, about a dead woman found right outside town."

"No rest for the feds, huh."

"Tell me about it. I'm calling you 'cause we've just identified her and she's from Boston. Jennifer Graham, reported missing about a month ago."

"Wait," muttered Gillian, opening the folders. "Yeah, I got her. Cook just gave me her case, and two more missing women. Where did you say she was found?"

"Auburn, that's southwest from Worcester."

"On the Pike, yeah. Any idea what happened to her?"

"Nothing good. Looks like she was held captive: she has ligature marks and lesions from repeated sexual abuse. The autopsy reports the COD was a benzo OD and—"

"Hold that thought." Gillian looked up at the team. "Hank, call Al and ask her if her Jane Doe had benzo in her system when they found her."

"On it."

"What is it, Reg?" asked Russell.

"Earlier today, a girl from Springfield was found here, nearly dead, just like you described your girl, and she'd been reported missing a month ago too."

"And you think both cases are connected?"

"Reg, yes to benzo," said Hank, still on the phone.

"Russ, Springfield had benzo. You coming home now?"

"Thought so, but if you say this is not an isolated case..."

"Look, I just got it, and Al's still at the hospital with this Springfield girl. Go cuddle with Mulder for a while and I—"

"Enough already, Reg."

"Call you back in a couple of hours, okay? Oh, and could you send me a picture of the body? Love ya!"

She disconnected, the twitch in her belly saying she was onto something. The others saw her stand up and paused what they were doing.

"Lads, we're on."