"I-I don't know sir," the officer replied.

Rowe didn't say anything to the young man, but huffed and turned away. "I'll be in my office if any of you need me. "

Sometime later, the captain sat at his desk trying figure out what was happening. It had all started with a body that was found in a huge stack of linens. The man's throat had been cut out, and oddly enough, his left ring finger had been removed as well. Another prisoner assigned to work with the deceased, had also been noted to be missing.

He was thought to be the killer. That was, until his body turned up next. The corpse was found mangled in the hallway not to far from the laundry station. The victim had his throat sliced, but not removed, like the other's had been.

One of the guards had been found dead on cell block 'C', his head crushed between the cell doors. And again, just like the other's murdered before him, the man's left ring finger had been severed from his hand.

After that incident the officials turned their attention to the guard who had been patrolling that part of the prison. That guard was Sergeant Cynthia Caruso. Her husband Tom was a long time employee at Valley State, but after learning that his wife and the warden had a short-lived love affair, he left; the humiliation was too much for him to bear.

The captain was concerned that he would find her in the same condition as the other two. But, much to everyone's surprise, the woman was found at her post, unharmed, as well as very much unaware of what was taking place.

Troubled with her safety, Rowe assigned his partner Johnny Campos to accompany Caruso and to keep her in close view.

Rowe sat up from his chair with a disturbing thought. "Oh my god, she's missing!" Getting up from his desk, he quickly left the office and gathered his men. They searched for the woman and the killer for hours, and checked every conceivable hiding place.

As the men walked into the solitary confinement ward, one of the guards noticed a hand gun lying on the ground at the end of the hall. They rushed toward the weapon. Rowe could tell that it was a 'Smith and Wesson,' which was standard issue for the guards. This was the break that the captain was looking for. It meant the killer and Sergeant Caruso had both been here. And, since there was no dead body to accompany the gun, there was a high likelihood that she was still alive.