"Fuck."

I dropped the butt to the ground, twisting it beneath the black leather of my shoe. It was another one of those nights; one where nothing goes right. Everyone has 'em, but it frustrates me to no end when I seem to get a run. Kinda like the run of bad poker hands I've been getting recently.

"I swear to God, Jimmy, if we don't get this guy I'm gonna flip out."

I nodded my assent and turned back to the crime scene. Alex stood there notepad in one hand, other on her hip. She was shapely, but married. Too bad for me, I thought. She tossed me a half-smile and tucked her pen behind her ear.

"You know, your lungs will end up looking like this guy, you keep it up with those smokes." She jerked her thumb toward the poor bastard under the bodybag.

"Yeah, yeah. You keep saying that, but has it done any good?" I smirked, crossing my arms. "There anything different this time?"

Alex flipped through her notebook. "Not really, same scenario. The body's headed to the Coroner's, so I don't know if there's anything different there."

I nodded and checked my watch. I could still catch Leno if we wrapped this up. Tapping another smoke from the pack, I looked over the scene. Nothing stood out, really; the standard flock of city personnell, the hiss of traffic down on First, the occasional airplane overhead. Figures this would be the night our killer would strike again.

We'd been finding the bodies over the past two weeks. First one was in a stairwell over on 24th. We found one on the roof of a warehouse on 12th. This one behind a dumpster on 5th. Always the same thing. Grisly, but professional. The killer didn't leave many clues, either; smart and deadly.

Alex shrugged at me and turned back to the scene. I lit the cigarette, inhaling deeply. Just another run of bad luck.