Rating: PG, for a couple of cuss words and non-graphic description of murder.

Disclaimer: Xena and Gabrielle are not mine, they belong to Renaissance/MCA Universal and no copyright infringement is intended. None of this is real and I make no profit from it.

Feedback is very much appreciated, e-mail me at: XenaWarriorPrincess4@juno.com

Summary: A general Uber fiction about a reporter and her camera woman who investigate a string of murders.

Dedication: For Magen, who beta reads all this crap for me; for Aunt Faith, for her insight; and for the XF girls :)

Chapter 1

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Lisa pushed a strand of brown hair out of her face as she leaned against the porch railing and watched the setting sun. Her peaceful moment was interrupted by the ringing of the phone, she turned and went inside to answer it.

"Hey Lise, guess who I just talked to?" said Gwen when Lisa answered.

"Who?"

"Mrs. Keith, she said that the shelter has TRIPLED in donations since we did our story."

"Well that's awesome." Lisa replied.

"We're sure to be the top reporting team by the end of the year."

"You think some good coverage of the new homeless shelter is gonna win us top team?" questioned Lisa sarcastically.

"Not just that...." replied Gwen. "We've done a lot of good stories."

"We've done some okay stories, but nothing spectacular. Personally, I attribute it to having a short camera-woman."

"Hey! Enough with the short jokes!" said Gwen, laughing.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay, bye."

"Bye." Lisa said as she hung up the phone.

"We're sending you out. Gwen's already in the van waiting for you."

It was eight am and Lisa had hardly stepped through the front doors of the TV station where she worked before the boss was at her desk.

"What's happened?" she asked.

"Two bodies were found out by the edge of town. Washed up on the banks of a stream."

"Was it murder?"

"They both have their throats cut."

Lisa grimaced as she took fax that he handed her. "I'm on it." She turned and went out the door.

"Grody, huh?" commented Gwen, who was reading the fax over Lisa's shoulder while they were waiting at a stop light.

"I'll say. 'Victims were found with throats slashed through to their spinal cords. Drained of the majority of blood.'," Lisa read. "Nasty."

"Here we are." Gwen said, stopping the van.

"Good. It looks like we're the first news people here. You get the camera set up and I'll go find someone to give me the scoop."

With her notebook in hand Lisa approached the sheriff, who smiled when he recognized her.

"What's happened?" she asked.

"An hour ago two bodies were found over there," he pointed to the bank of the stream, "Their throats were cut and they each suffered a blow to the back of the head."

Lisa took note of this. "Were the victims male or female?"

"A young girl and an adult male."

"Have they been identified, Mr. McElroy?" she questioned the sheriff.

"Not yet. They have just been taken to the coroner's office for examination. We can't release any details until the families are contacted."

"Neither of the victims had any kind of purse or wallet?"

"No."

"This was murder, of course?"

"Looks like it."

"Any suspects?"

"Not yet."

"Will you give us a quick interview on camera?"

"Sure."

"Lisa!"

Lisa spun around to see Gwen running up to her.

"The boss just called me. He wants us to go live as soon as possible. They're going to break in on the regular programming." Gwen stopped to catch her breath as she neared the place where Lisa and Sheriff McElroy were standing.

Lisa looked towards the van. "Is the camera and everything ready?" Gwen nodded. "Okay, lets go live. The sheriff has agreed to a quick interview."

Gwen took a deep breath and made another trek back to the van and returned a few minutes later with camera equipment.

She set up the camera and Lisa listened in her earpiece for the intro from the hosts at the station.

"We're live now with Sheriff McElroy standing near the site where two bodies were found approximately one hour ago. Tell me sheriff, in what condition were the bodies found?" asked Lisa in her loud, clear reporter's voice.

"Um, they were found on the bank of that stream over there. Both had their throats cut and had been hit in the back of the head." he answered, glancing nervously at the camera.

"How long do you think the bodies had been in the water?"

"A while."

"The victims were a young female and an adult male, correct?"

"Uh, yes, that's correct."

"Do you suspect murder?" Lisa held the microphone close to him to assure that he could be heard.

"Yes, murder is a strong possibility."

"Any suspects?"

"Uh, no. After the bodies are identified we will begin searching for suspects."

"Thank you sheriff." Lisa smiled and turned toward the camera. "Lisa Cooper for WRHQ."

Gwen shut off the camera and gave her the thumbs up sign.

Chapter 2

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The next day while she and Lisa were reporting on a case of animal abuse Gwen got a call from the boss on her cell phone.

"Gwen, we need you and Lisa to go over near Lincoln. Another body's been found. Call me when you're in the van on the way out of town and I'll give you further directions."

"She was a woman of about 25. Washed up a little further down stream than the other two." said the deputy.

"But she was murdered at the same time and in the same way?"

"Yep, exactly the same." answered the sheriff. "They can't tell yet if she had the cord around her neck like the others, but they couldn't tell on them until they did a very close examination."

Lisa looked from one to the other, then continued writing furiously. "Do you think she's kin to one of the other victims?" she asked without looking up.

The deputy shrugged. "No way to know until she's been identified. The other two victims weren't kin, so it's doubtful."

"Two hikers found the other bodies yesterday, who found this one today?"

"One of the workers from the crew that's clearing the forest about three miles upstream." said Sheriff McElroy.

"Still no suspects?" asked Gwen.

Both the sheriff and the deputy shook their heads.

"Do you think it could be some cult thing," Gwen continued "Since there were three killed, all in exactly the same way?"

"That could be, and it's something we're going to look into."

"I'm telling you Lisa, they're barking up the wrong tree." Gwen said, slamming the van door and tightening her blonde ponytail. "When I said 'cult' I wasn't talking about junior high kids who wear black clothes and lots of eyeliner."

"I know," Lisa sighed. "I mean does the sheriff really think some high schoolers could kidnap and kill two adults and a kid without anyone knowing? Even if it was a group of them, it's still hard to kidnap three people without raising suspicion."

Lisa walked up to the front of the school. "Okay, you gonna get the opening shot now?"

"Sure," said Gwen, hoisting the camera upon her shoulder. "Walk down the front steps and say something."

" 'Kay" Lisa switched on her microphone. "This is the local high school, where police are holding all students for questioning this afternoon. And where 12 year old victim Casey Warner attended school."

"One more time." shouted Gwen.

Lisa repeated the sentence.

"Good." Gwen said, switching off the camera.

"Now lets go inside and see what the kids have to say about all this." said Lisa.

"Mr. McElroy are you *sure* you're headed in the right direction with this?" Lisa asked. "Just because one of the kids didn't do it isn't reason to close the case."

"Look Miss Cooper, I have no suspects, no clues, nothing on the bodies so until something further turns up it's case closed."

Lisa and Gwen were standing in the sheriff's office. Since they had been assigned to cover this case they felt it their duty to follow up.

"Sheriff McElroy, did you even try to find the place where the murders were committed?" Gwen asked him.

"Do you know how many acres of land there are around that stream? We searched near where the bodies were found. Nothing. Besides, even if we found it today, it's been a week since those murders were committed. And with it being summer and animals out roaming...well, any evidence would be destroyed." The older man smoothed his hair.

"How many years has it been since this town has had a murder?" Lisa asked.

"There hasn't been one since I've been sheriff, and I've served for 30 years."

"So that's it then? Everyone just rolls over and plays dead while there are *murderers* on the loose?!" the young camera-woman exclaimed. "What kind of police force does this town have anyway?!"

"Chill Gwenny." Lisa said.

"I DON'T WANT TO CHILL!" she shouted, banging her hand on the sheriff's desk to emphasize each word. "OW!" the last bang had been right across her knuckles. She shook her smarting fingers.

Lisa rolled her eyes and smiled. She turned to Sheriff McElroy "Will you notify us if anything else turns up?"

"Of course." he nodded solemnly.

Lisa and Gwen turned to leave.

"Dude! This is freaking me out! I swear, the same thing happened in 'Scream'!" Gwen perched on Lisa's desk and thumbed through a folder. "Three weeks later, three more bodies. If they don't find who's doing this soon, I'm splitting!"

"It doesn't make sense." Lisa said, thoughtfully chewing on her pen. "I mean, I could see if the victims all had something in common. Like all were school girls, or all were Presbyterians, or all drove blue cars, ya know? But look at those profiles, none of them have *one thing* in common." she motioned with her pen toward the folder Gwen was holding.

"I know," Gwen looked through the profiles "12 year old girl, 28 year old man, 25 year old woman, 42 year old man, 56 year old woman, eight year old boy."

"But what I really can't figure out, " the dark reporter mused. "Is why would anybody want to kill them?" her brow knitted in thought. "These were all seemingly good people. If it were one or two I would say it was just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but six."

"All were put in the stream, all were killed the same way." Gwen added.

"And all six were killed by strangling, a blow to the head, *and* slashed throats. Why not just one or the other? Any one of the three would have killed 'em, so why do the other two?"

Gwen shook her head.

"What we need to do is find where these people are being killed." said Lisa.

"What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking me and you strap on our hiking boots this weekend and search those woods." Lisa looked at the younger woman, trying to read her face.

"Now Lise, you know I'm no good with long distances...." Gwen lowered the folder. "And say we find this place, what are you and I going to do with carnage in the middle of nowhere? What if OJ or whoever is doing this decides it's time to butcher a few more this weekend?"

"You think you're getting out of this now?" Lisa smiled.

Chapter 3

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"Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhgggggggggggg! It's after me!"

"Gwen, it's a turtle."

"It was looking at me funny." Gwen answered.

Lisa reached out her hand to help Gwen across the stream.

"Is it deep?" Gwen asked

"Three and a half feet at the deepest, step on that rock then hop over to the bank."

It was seven o'clock Saturday morning. Lisa and Gwen were just setting off on their search.

"All right," said Lisa after they had both made it across safely. "The bodies washed up two miles that way," she motioned downstream. "So we can start searching here and work our way that way." she motioned in the opposite direction. "How's that?"

"Fine." said Gwen. "When do we stop for lunch?"

"Lunch?"

"Yeah, didn't you pack us a lunch?"

"Um, I thought you were going to do that...." the tall reporter answered uncertainly.

"Do you mean that you have brought me out here in the middle of No Man's Land, with a murderer on the loose and no lunch?!" Gwen feigned anger.

Lisa smiled. "I'm sorry, I totally forgot about lunch."

"It's okay, I guess." Gwen smiled too.

"If all else fails you can go back and eat that turtle."

"Do you think the turtle is still there?"

"Are you gonna keep whining?"

"We have been walking for hours!"

"It's only eleven."

"*Only* eleven...." Gwen muttered. "I don't see anything. The sheriff's right, it would take months to search these woods. And what if whoever did it didn't kill the people here? What if they killed 'em in town and just drove out here and dumped them in the stream?"

"Do you have anything better to do today?" Lisa asked.

"Well, no...."

"Then enjoy nature. Look at all these beautiful trees," Lisa spread her arms, indicating the surrounding forest. "Maples, oaks, pines, any kind you can imagine."

"Have you noticed how we just keep going deeper into the forest? What if we get lost?"

Lisa pointed to the left. "Five feet that way is the stream. If we get lost we go left and follow the stream south. It'll take us right back to were we started."

"Oh."

They hiked into the dark woods for another hour, stopping to rest once.

"You're right," Lisa said after a while. "There's nothing."

"What's that sound?" Gwen asked.

The reporter listened. "They're clearing trees for a new shopping center."

"On a Saturday?"

"The mayor wants it up as soon as possible, it means a lots of new business for the town. When they've finished clearing a spot for the shopping center, they are going to be clearing more trees to cut a new road through."

"Oh. It's a shame to destroy such a beautiful forest." commented Gwen.

"Yeah it is." Lisa agreed.

Lisa noticed something. "Gwen, look. What's that?" She pointed at a tree on their right, about 15 feet away. On it was painted a large white spot. Lisa took out a pocket knife and made an X on the tree opposite the one with the painted spot. They began walking towards the painted tree. When the two got up to it they could see another tree with a spot some distance beyond the first. They followed tree after tree until they came to a clearing. Both Gwen and Lisa stopped dead in their tracks. In the center of the clearing was a large circle made of stones. In the center of the circle was a large rock. They looked at each other, the rock, and each other again.

"I am OUTTA here!" Gwen turned to go.

"No, wait." Lisa grabbed her arm. "Lets look around and make sure."

"Make sure what? That this is where some freak butchers innocent people? I'll spend the rest of my life in suspicion, thank you!"

"Do you want to run into the aforementioned freak in the woods *by yourself*?"

Gwen turned back around. "You know, maybe we should make sure."

"I thought so."

They both stepped over the stones and spun in a circle, looking all around.

"Whoever it is has had a fire." Lisa noted, glancing at the pile of wood and ashes next to the center stone.

"Uh, look." The young camera woman pointed to the surface of the large center stone. Lisa walked over to see what she was talking about. Near the head of the stone were several spots. A cold feeling washed over her as she realized that it was dried blood.

"Ew," she breathed.

"Ew is right. Those poor people." Gwen said, shaking her head. "All this still doesn't explain anything."

"Are you still hungry?" Lisa joked her.

"Not at all."

"Look up there."

"Where?"

"In the top of that oak tree."

"What is it?"

"Mistletoe."

"Lisa, I'm not kissing you." Gwen grinned.

Lisa playfully punched her arm. "I didn't mean that! Come on, lets head back to the car, we need to pay Sheriff McElroy a visit."

Chapter 4

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The two finally made it back to the car and drove to the police station in town. Sheriff McElroy was at his usual place, behind his desk. He looked tired. Gwen walked up to the desk with Lisa following close behind her.

"Sheriff, we need to talk with you." she began.

"Yes?" he leaned back in his chair.

"Lisa and I searched the woods today and we found where we believe the murders took place." she said quickly. "There is a clearing several miles from where the bodies were found. In this clearing is a stone circle and a huge rock, can you come with us and see it? Or send some officers or something?"

"There was a robbery up by Northgill, most of the officers are there, four are out with the flu that's been going around, three more are out on patrol, that leaves me and two others here and I have a heap of work to do."

"Are you saying that you won't come?" Gwen asked.

"I don't have time for two nosy news people to drag me into the woods to see where some kids have made a smiley face with rocks is what I'm saying." replied the sheriff evenly.

"Mr. McElroy," Lisa spoke up. "Six people have been killed, the least you can do is come and look at this with us."

"And the least you can do Miss Cooper is kindly leave me alone!"

"Right, c'mon Gwen."

Lisa walked toward the door and a fuming Gwen followed her.

"It's just too much for him. 30 years as sheriff and the most he's ever had to deal with is a purse theft."

"That still doesn't make it right, Lisa." Gwen sighed. "Where are we going now?" she asked, looking out the car window and not recognizing her surroundings.

"To get two black capes."

"What?! Oh no. You don't have a plan do you?"

Lisa smiled.

Lisa pulled the hood over Gwen's head. "Oh yeah, love this look."

"It's all the rage in GrimReaperville." Gwen muttered.

"Walk over there. I want to make sure I can't see any of your skin or clothes."

"What are we going to do? Go stand outside Sheriff McElroy's window tonight?"

"No, but that's an idea." Lisa giggled. "All the murders took place on a Sunday night, right? So obviously this group or whatever meets on Sunday nights. And tomorrow night you and I are going to be in the woods to see what they're up to." Lisa explained it like it was as simple as clipping toenails. Gwen pushed back the large black hood and stared at Lisa.

"Have you gone *insane*? What are we going to do if they decide to kill three more people tomorrow night? Storm the place? What if they decide to kill *us*?"

"That's what *these* are for," Lisa said, holding up her black cape. "They're not going to see us."

"They may not even be there tomorrow night."

"Then you don't have anything to worry about."

"Oh! Right! I don't have *anything* to worry about! *Except* that I'll be frolicking in the woods, at night, in a black cape, with some deranged, homicidal cult on the loose, with no police back-up, during deer season!"

"Will you please keep you voice down?" Lisa asked, putting her hand over Gwen's mouth. "People are staring!" she glanced nervously around the store. "And it's not deer season." They began to make their way toward the check out.

The reporter and her camera woman were making their way into the woods at sundown Sunday evening.

"We're going to go this way and come up on the other side of the clearing." Lisa stopped to spray a tree with the orange reflective paint she was carrying. "If you get lost or we get separated look for the trees with this paint on them, they'll reflect when your flashlight hits 'em."

Just before they reached the clearing Lisa sprayed one last tree and tossed the can of spray paint into the bushes.

"You're just going to litter like that?" Gwen asked.

"Do you want them, he, she, or it, to find it and come looking for us?"

"Wise, ah you are indeed." Gwen replied.

"Please don't start talking like Yoda." Lisa moaned.

"I still don't think we should be doing this."

They settled behind a row of bushes four feet from the clearing. Between the middle two they had a perfect view of the stone circle. They waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, at 12:12 am, just as Lisa was checking her Indiglo watch, she felt Gwen poke her arm. "Look." she whispered so quietly that Lisa almost didn't hear her. She raised her head and gasped as she saw a white robed figure emerge from the woods. He was followed by one, two, three, four, five, six others, according to Lisa's count. They each took their places in the circle, evenly spaced, until one, the head knocker Lisa assumed, moved behind the large center stone. He removed a match which he struck on the stone and lit the branches and grass that were piled next to it. The group began chanting in some foreign language. Lisa pried her eyes away from the spectacle to venture a glance at Gwen. What she could see of Gwen's face was solid white in the fire light and her eyes where as big around as flying saucers.

"What language is that?" Lisa whispered, leaning as close to Gwen as she could. She could barely see Gwen's shoulders shrug in the low amber light. After a few minutes Gwen whispered to Lisa, without moving her eyes from the group of people, "That's Gaelic."

Suddenly the chanting stopped. The man behind the large stone spoke.

"Let us give thanks to Mother Earth, for her bounty, her beauty, and her wisdom." All of the white robed people fell prostrate on the ground, then rose again. "And to the mighty oak, the wise stream, and the great sun." They all fell again, then rose.

"Bronwyn, priestess of the Dark Sun, step forward and tell us what you have learned of the issue at hand." the leader said.

The third person on the left stepped to the center of the circle and pushed back her white hood to reveal a small, delicately featured face. "The enemy continues to destroy and devastate our sacred ground. There have been several appeals by myself and others for them to stop, but to no avail."

"Sir, if I may speak?" asked a man two places over from where the woman had been.

"You may." said the leader. The woman replaced her hood and returned to her spot while the man stepped forward.

"The enemy has no intentions of stopping. We must take more aggressive action. I propose that we make our presence known and demand that they stop this madness!"

"We could never do such a thing!" stormed the leader. "Our presence has always been a secret!"

"Is keeping our presence secret worth having our sacred forest realm destroyed? We have sacrificed to the forest many times and it will not preserve itself." said the man.

The leader looked troubled. "We meet again in a week's time when the sister of our Dark Sun is in the night sky. We will offer more life to our forest in hopes that it may preserve itself."

One by one the white robed figures filed out of the clearing.

Chapter 5

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Lisa and Gwen waited for half an hour to give the group plenty of time to get out of the forest. Then they both switched on their flashlights and ran like mad back to the car, slamming the doors and locking them. Both pushed back their hoods.

"What in the HELL was that about?!" Gwen exclaimed.

"It all makes sense now." Lisa said quietly.

"Well could ya explain it to me while we hightail it outta here?" the camera woman asked.

"That's why they are killing people, because the city is clearing the forest." Lisa explained as she pulled onto the road.

"Why do they care about the forest?"

"Because it's sacred to them. Remember yesterday when I showed you the mistletoe growing in that oak?"

"Yeah, so?"

"If they're Druids like I think they are then to them it's sacred." said Lisa.

"What?! This is New England, we don't have Druids!"

"Maybe they're Neo-Druids. They worship the sun, the oak, Mother Earth, speak Gaelic, and sacrifice humans, what else could they be?"

"Freaks?"

"Tomorrow after work we'll stop by the library and then the police station."

"Okay." sighed Gwen.

"Look." Lisa held a book in front of Gwen.

"What is it?"

"Modern Druids at Stonehenge. Don't they look like the people from last night?"

"Yeah, they do."

"But it still doesn't make since, why are there Druids *here*?"

"I dunno Lise, maybe they're like the Masons or something." Gwen shook her head.

"Masons don't meet in the woods and sacrifice people. Of course, Druids didn't unless something was really important to them."

"They must care an awful lot about that forest."

"Listen to this!" Lisa exclaimed. "When Druids sacrificed they killed three people at a time. They placed a garrote around the neck, clubbed them in the head, and finally slit the people's throats, drained their blood then drank it."

The two women looked at each other.

"I guess there are Druids in New England." an astonished Gwen said.

Lisa thumbed through the book. "Listen...water was also sacred to Druids, they often placed their sacrifice's bodies in bogs and rivers." The reporter looked grim. "I think I've read enough."

Lisa and Gwen met with Sheriff McElroy later that day and told him the events of the previous night.

"You swear that you're not exaggerating one little bit?" he asked.

"Not at all." Gwen promised.

"We'll go with you next Sunday, if you will show us where their meeting place is. If it looks like they are going to kill three more people, we will arrest them."

"In the meantime what should we do?" Lisa asked.

"We wait." he said.

"What time did you say they normally get here?" asked the sheriff through a yawn.

It was Sunday evening at 11: 45 pm.

"A little after 12 am." whispered Lisa.

"Don't worry, we'll wake you." muttered Gwen, who wasn't sure how much more apathy she could take off Sheriff McElroy.

"I sure hope we haven't drug all the boys out here for nothing." said the deputy from his spot leaning against a tree.

"Don't worry, you haven't." Lisa answered firmly.

At 12:30 am the deputy was ready to give up and go home. Until Lisa spotted a white figure moving in the distance. All at once everyone was silent. Seven robed figures just as before filed into the stone circle. Only this time the leader and two others led three people who had their hands bound and mouths gagged. The High Priest made his person lay on the large stone altar. The prisoner resisted and kicked until one of the other priest came over and tied his feet together. He gave up and lay there. The other prisoners where made to kneel facing the center stone.

The High Priest spoke. "Priestess Bronwyn, come forward." The woman whom they had seen last time moved toward the head of the altar and jerked the bound man's chin upwards, exposing his neck. She pulled a garrote from her robe and placed it over his head.

"Priest Frank, you too."

Another man stood at the foot of the large stone and held the prisoner's feet down. The High Priest handed him a big club that he lay beside the man.

The fire beside the altar was lit by the High Priest.

"Priests of the Dark Sun," he said. "We gather tonight to once again give new blood to the sacred forest, in hope that the forces that seek to destroy it shall cease."

"What, no chanting or anything?" whispered Gwen to Lisa.

The High Priest moved back behind the large stone and pulled a knife from his robe.

"NOW!" shouted Lisa.

Chapter 6

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The sheriff, deputy, and all of their men rushed into the clearing with their guns aimed at the altar.

"Freeze!" Sheriff McElroy shouted.

Everyone froze. The sheriff jerked his head in the direction of the large stone and a group of officers put handcuffs on the High Priest, Bronwyn, and Frank while another group cuffed the rest of them. Lisa and Gwen untied the would-be sacrifices as the white robed cult was led away. The three people were the middle aged man on the altar, a little girl, and a young woman.

"Close call, huh?" Lisa asked the little girl. She nodded and Lisa saw that she was close to crying so she scooped her up and hugged her tight. "What's your name?" she asked her.

"Elaina." the little girl answered.

"Let's get you home."

It was two days later when everything came into sharp focus and began to make sense.

"What did they tell you during the interrogation?" Lisa asked the sheriff.

"They're supposedly direct descendants of the ancient Druids."

"But how did they get *here*?" asked Gwen.

"They said that their families came to America during the potato famine in Ireland and that those families can trace their heritage right back to the Druid priesthood. I don't know if it's true or not. They say their families have always held the ceremonies in those woods."

"Have they always sacrificed people?" asked Lisa.

"Not often. But when they did, they sacrificed homeless people. People that no one would notice if a few were missing."

"So when the new homeless shelter opened the homeless had a place to go, a place where someone would miss them if they didn't show up." It was all making sense to Lisa now.

"And they had to find other people to sacrifice." added Gwen.

"Their first court date is in three weeks, will the two of you be attending the trial?" Sheriff McElroy asked.

"I imagine we'll be covering it." Lisa smiled.

Gwen's cell phone rang.

"Hello?...Really?...That's great!...We'll be right there." She turned to Lisa. "That was the boss. We've just won reporting team of the year and weren't there to accept the award." she grinned.

"Let's split! 'Bye sheriff!" Lisa headed out the door with Gwen on her heels.

"Hey Lise..."

"Yeah?"

"Does the boss have a name besides 'The boss'?"

"Nahhh...it's like on "Charlie's Angels", you never get to see him."

The End