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Mindy stood in the shadows stalking her prey. This part was always her favorite. She loved being able to watch them going about their day, unaware that soon they would be drawing their last breath. She ran her hand up and down the smooth and sharp knife in her hand, relishing in the cold sensation. Mindy was a serial killer, but not like the ones you see on dateline ,or that you read about in the newspaper. She didn’t have some traumatizing childhood, wasn’t a sociopath. Never tortured or dissected small animals ,or anything gross like that, outside of biology courses anyway.
You could say she fell into the whole thing on accident. Mindy hunted a particular type of prey, females that had the audacity to insert themselves into Danny Castellano’s life. Her first kill had been Shauna Dicanio . She only meant to talk to the receptionist about her inappropriate behavior toward Danny , behavior which Danny was completely oblivious to. Mindy didn’t want the chance of Danny walking in on her talk with Shauna, so she made plans to meet up outside of the office.
Mindy expressed her concerns in a calm collected manner. Shauna seemed to be listening, but at the end of the conversation, the receptionist had said something that made Mindy snap. “ No offense Dr. L but, how I feel, or don’t feel about Dr. Castellano is none of your damn business. Oh my god are you jealous or something, that is hilarious. Like he would ever have any interest in you. I wont let you ruin my chance to marry a rich doctor .” Shauna said before getting up and leaving.
Mindy fumed, not only did Shauna disrespect her, she admitted her interest in Danny was purely monetary. Danny was her best friend and the thought of anyone hurting him or using him made her blood boil. Quickly paying the check she headed out to find Shauna, their conversation wasn't over yet. Mindy spotted Shauna walking down the street, following her and making sure to stay far back enough that she wouldn’t be spotted, but close enough not to lose her in a crowd.
Mindy watched as Shauna made her way to the Schulman and Associates building. Shauna walked outside to the balcony over looking the outside patio, pulling out her cell phone “ Hey Dr. C, its Shauna, I know you’re in surgery but I wanted to leave a message. I was hoping you’d want to grab coffee…” Shauna began, but before she could finish her sentence, Mindy snatched the phone out of her hand, ending the phone call before the message could save .
“What the hell!” Shauna said shocked.
“ I thought I told you to stay away from him!”
“Give me my phone back!” Shauna said reaching for it. Mindy shoved her away hard and Shauna went over the balcony landing with a thud against the concrete floor.
Mindy looked down at a twitching Shauna on the ground, blood pooling underneath her ,mouth gasping for air. Then her eyes were blank and staring, she was dead. Mindy thought she’d feel guilty, but all she felt was a rush of endorphins. Shauna would no longer be a problem, Danny’s heart would be safe, that was all that mattered . Mindy wiped her prints off the phone and after donning gloves and emptying Shauna’s wallet, she crushed the phone placing it next to the body before heading home.
The next day Betsy found the body and called the police. Mindy skillfully played the grieving boss. After questioning the staff, and learning about the drifters they sometimes got , along with Morgan alibiing her, which he did without question, the cops ruled it a mugging. They investigated for weeks, but eventually the case ran cold. The same endorphins Mindy felt when she’d looked down at Shauna’s lifeless body ,resurfaced when she realized she’d gotten away with murder.
Mindy didn’t feel the urge to kill again until eye-patch aka Jillian came along. This girl didn’t know Danny at all, he was changing himself to appear to like certain things that weren’t him, just because the girl was young. Mindy knew she wasn’t good enough for Danny ,and she could clearly see where things were going. Danny would end up hurt, and she couldn’t allow that. Not to mention the fact that she’d spotted eye-patch in the not so friendly embrace of a man that wasn’t Danny.
According to her research she knew cops always suspected the boyfriend, so she knew this kill would take some planning if she wanted to make sure Danny wouldn’t be a suspect. She got Danny to agree to take one of her scheduled surgeries. After studying up on forensics, and with some lock picking lessons from Morgan, she was ready. She broke into Eye-patch’s apartment and waited.
Jillian entered her home fifteen minutes later, unaware that Mindy was lying in wait. Mindy watched her, her hands tightening on the knife in her hand as she heard Jillian make plans with her lover. Once Jillian got off the phone ,Mindy sneaked up behind her slicing the knife across her neck in one fell swoop. Eye-patch didn’t know what hit her as she grabbed her neck and fell to the floor. Mindy bent down and looked at her.
“ Take that you stupid bitch!” Mindy said as she watched Jillian bleed out. She emptied Jillian’s wallet and grabbed a couple pieces of her jewelery. She knew a smart thief knew better than to take a persons credit card, especially after they’d murdered said person. She also destroyed eye-patch's phone.
Mindy washed off her knife in the sink , then made her way down the fire escape and into an alley. She made sure no one was around before taking off the surgical gear she had on, which included gloves, gown, hair net and booties . She stuffed them into a plastic bag along with the jewelery, then placed that bag into her handbag. As soon as she could, she would burn the items.
A smile crossed her face as she replayed the look of shock and surprise on Jillian’s face. No doubt the women had thought Mindy was joking when she had stated 'she’d kill her and all her friends'. A deserving threat after a back handed comment about Mindy’s outfit, the last time she’d come in to see Danny. Mindy then headed toward the subway, whistling MIA’s ‘Bad girls’.
Mindy’s need to kill was sated as she dated a bunch of rando’s and Danny did too. None of them were worthy to be her prey, that is till Alex came around. Yes, Mindy and Alex were friends, but Alex should have known better than to break the girl code. It didn't help Alex was trying to change Danny. Mindy warned her that she shouldn’t force Danny to change so quickly. Mindy also didn’t like the fact that Danny was spending all his time with Alex. When Alex managed to break Danny’s heart and almost destroy her friendship with Danny, Mindy felt the familiar need to kill.
Again she would make sure Danny had an alibi, with the help of Morgan.
Mindy knew Alex liked to go out to the local clubs before she was set to travel for work. She also knew that Alex had picked up a dirty little habit from Danny, smoking cigarettes. So she stalked her prey watching her dance, drink and flirt with anyone with balls, before followed her outside into an alley. Mindy had invested in one of those clean suits, hiding it under a large trench coat that she’d taken off once she entered the alley. It was raining so there wasn’t anyone else currently in the alley and she’d made sure no one would be joining them by barring the door behind her.
“Hello Alex.” Mindy said .
“Whoa , Mindy you scared me half to death. What are you doing here?” Alex said.
“Death...yes you’ve got that part right.” Mindy said advancing on Alex.
“What, you’re not making any sense, are you drunk?”
“You shouldn’t have broken his heart Alex. Don't you know bad things happen to people who hurt my Danny.” Mindy said getting even closer to Alex forcing the brunette to back up against the wall, at the same time she pulled out her knife.
“ Mind…” Alex started to say when but stopped when Mindy promptly stabbed her in the gut, causing her to fall to the ground.
“ He deserved better than you, you break his heart, Its only fair I stab yours.” Mindy said and before Alex could scream for help Mindy pulled out the knife and stabbed her in the heart. She put her hand over Alex’s mouth watching as the blood poured out of her wounds . Mindy waited for Alex’s eyes to glass over and to see the vacant stare of death, accompanied by her feeling of satisfaction. Mindy emptied Alex’s wallet of cash and smashed her phone.
Alex’s body was discovered the next morning. Gwen and Maggie called her crying. Her co-workers had mocked Mindy’s acting, little did they know she was a greater actress then they could ever imagine. She cried her eyes out over the phone and at the funeral. Again the case was deemed a mugging gone wrong, and again Mindy got away with it. An added plus was that she got to console Danny and he got to be there for her too, Alex’s murder had brought them closer in their friendship.
Though Mindy hadn’t left any traces at any of the scenes a detective started to connect the cases together, one by the name of Charlie Lang. Some how the suspicion that there was a serial killer mugger in Manhattan got into the newspaper. The media and the detective blamed a man for the killings. The profile made Mindy angry, how dare they assume that a women couldn’t have managed to get away with not one but three murders, though they only suspected that Jillian and Alex were the 'Manhattan Slayers" victims. She also wasn’t a big fan of the name. Unfortunately it wasn’t like she could ring up the police and media, tell them to come up with something better. A suggestions of something more glitzy and less America’s most wanted.
That’s when she decided she should have a signature, all the great serial killers had a signature. She needed something that would scream femininity,but couldn’t be traced back to her. Thinking back to a compliment she once received. from her old boss and mentor, she knew the perfect signature, that’s when she started leaving fishing lures on her victims, bright shiny colorful lures.
There were a few other women after Alex, some she killed because she was bored, others for just glancing at Danny. They were too insignificant to remember their names, all she remembered was the look in their eyes as the life left their bodies.
If someone wrote a book about Mindy and her killings they’d probably find it ironic that someone who brought new life into the world, could also so easily take it away. Unlike the women she killed the babies she brought into the world were innocent, at least that’s the way Mindy saw it.
Her latest prey, the one she currently stalked, not only had an interest in Danny but was a very dangerous one. Betsey Putch had been their medical secretary for three years now. Until recently Betsy had a secret that no one knew about, she was obsessed and madly in love with one Danny Castellano. Not obsessed in the protective way that Mindy was, but crazy obsessed.
Mindy had started to notice how vocal Betsy had been about her feelings for Danny. This was problematic because Mindy and Danny were slowly moving from the friend stage to something more. Although neither were ready yet to take that next step. Mindy had broken into Betsey's apartment and that’s when she discovered the medical secretary's shrine. There were photographs , personal items such a used tooth brushes, towels and Danny’s missing talc from his gym bag.
The last straw was Betsy’s journal, it held pages and pages of Danny’s full name followed by 'Betsy Castellano’ . Even more disturbing, on one page she found a photograph of Danny and Mindy at the previous years Christmas party, Mindy’s face completely scratched out. That was a first for Mindy, someone seeing her as a threat. Although at that time the picture was taken she’d started dating Cliff and had continued to date him till about a two weeks ago. Cliff had broken up with her, then gotten himself killed, beaten to death, presumably by his ex-girlfriend Heather. Bitch was crazy.
Mindy would have to take care of Betsy. It would be too easy to connect Betsy to the practice, especially since Shauna had already been killed. She couldn't risk giving Charlie Lang a reason to look back into that case. So for this particular murder she’d have to deviate from her regular methods.
Using a prison connection of Morgan’s, his cousin Lou, she obtained what she needed. A week later Betsy was found dead in her apartment. Apparently the poor delusional girl had killed herself, evidenced by the poison in her coffee, and the suicide note located on her 'Danny’ shrine. Police accepted the evidence and once again Mindy was in the clear.
Mindy and Danny were finally ready to face their feelings, crossing the line when Danny kissed her on top of the empire state building on valentines day. Mindy was happy and the urge to kill faded until one last obstacle to their love and Danny’s life appeared, in the form of his ex wife Christina.
Mindy could feel her blood boil ,when the vixen who’d broken Danny’s heart twice, reappeared wanting to get him back. Mindy and Danny were keeping their relationship a secret and though Danny told her , he’d moved on and wasn’t interested, she kept on trying.
Christina's big mistake though was reaching out to Mindy, creating the perfect opportunity.for the ‘Manhattan Slayer’ to strike one last time.
“You should stay away from Danny, he doesn’t want you. I don’t know why you would think he’d take you back after all the hurt you put him through.” Mindy said as they sat in the same cafe she’d sat in with Shauna.
“ I get it , it’s you. You’re the reason Danny wont take me back.” Christina said.
“ No, you’re the reason, because you’re a cheating bitch! Danny deserves better!”
“ I was right the first time, you do have a thing for Danny. I don’t care what you think I will get him back. Danny never could resist me for long.” With that Christina walked away heading into a local park. Mindy followed her.
“ I warned you.” Mindy said then shoved Christina to the ground. It was dark and there was no one else around.
“Mindy , what are you doing?” Christina said trembling on the ground.
“Making sure you never get a chance to hurt him again.” Mindy said before kneeling down pulling out her pocket knife and gutting Christina like a fish.
Out of all her kills this one was the most rewarding for Mindy. To kill the woman that had hurt Danny the most, the one who had not only broken his heart but hardened it . She took the money out of Christina’s wallet smashed her phone and dropped the fishing lure in the stab wound.
*Sensing someone behind her, she turned knife still in hand, her clean suit covered in blood and was shocked to see Danny standing behind her.
“Danny, this…this isn’t what it looks like!” Mindy said though she knew it was exactly what it looked like.
She moved towards Danny, but he didn’t flinch. He didn’t yell at her, or scramble to call the police. He didn’t do anything that she expected him to do if he ever found out her secret. That she murdered people, that she loved every minute of it.
“You’re the Manhattan Slayer…” Danny said, it wasn’t a question, it was a statement.
“How did you know?” Mindy asked.
“I found your box of fishing lures behind your box of sour straws this morning, I followed you.” Danny said.
“Why didn’t you turn me in? I just killed your ex wife Danny, why are you just standing there?”
“Because I’m relieved. I can finally tell you my secret, and know that you’d understand.”
“Your secret?”
“Heather didn’t kill Cliff, I did, he hurt you and I had to make him pay, just like the others.” Danny said and Mindy saw the same blood lust in his eyes that she saw in her own after each kill. Danny was like her, he was a serial killer.
“Others?” Mindy asked moving closer to him.
“Yeah, Tom was my first, the police think it was the Ukrainian mob, it was me. We were having a beer, and he got to talking, the things he said about you, something just snapped he made…”
“Your blood boil.” Mindy said finishing the sentence for him.
“Yes, so I punched him, then I punched him again, till he stopped moving.” Danny said a smirk on his face.
“As much as I want to jump your bones right now, we should probably get out of here before someone stumbles upon us and the body.” Mindy said quickly removing her gear and going through her normal routine.
They casually walked out of the park and took a cab back to her place. Mindy’s lips were on Danny’s the minute they walked into her apartment, she discarded the bag containing the bloody garments, she’d burned them later, and worked on removing Danny’s clothing.
Later they lay in bed, Danny telling her all about the men he’d killed for hurting her. The talked about thrill of the stalk, the rush of the kill. They talked about how Morgan helped him move Tom’s body . They laughed realizing that Morgan was the only one who had known both of their secrets. They were accidental serial killers, the both of them, but they were also in love and had killed , literally, the obstacles that got in their way.