“What are you thinking about?” Frederick McCullough asked his daughter. Karen was seated quietly at his desk while he paced around the room. It hadn’t been long since they had returned from the meeting with Carlos Borges. A lot had been revealed there, and it left both of them baffled. Especially Karen who was quiet throughout their journey home. Frederick was worried when she barely spoke. It meant she was thinking about something. Either something was out of place, or she was thinking of another strategy. Frederick felt it was the former. “It doesn’t make any sense,” Karen said. Frederick paused and looked at her. “What?”Karen looked up at her father. He was dressed in a white undershirt with his sleeves rolled up. They were still dressed from the meeting. At first, it had been a celebration to mark their victory over Rylan. It had been their first win in over five years and therefore had to celebrate it. There was something Carlos had told Karen at the meeting at was still st
Rylan stepped out of his black Lamborghini. He was standing before a video game store. This was where he was going to meet the man he had been on the phone with earlier this morning. This man had the answers to his questions. It was time he knew everything. The sunset was beautiful and was slowly fading away. Rylan could feel twilight creeping up on the town. He had to hurry before it was too late. Maybe if he got the information on time to Jain, it would make things easier. They could regroup and map out a new plan. Rylan clenched his jaws before stepping into the store. The bell above the door rang and he closed the door behind him. Rylan walked into the store and realized that it was empty. There was no one at the counter either. Was this a trick?Rylan looked at his phone and tried to phone the man, but immediately, a door behind the counter opened and the man stepped out. It was a man in his late forties–a technical engineer. Rylan knew him very well. The man walked slowly t
It couldn’t be true. How was this possible?Jain didn’t want to believe what she was seeing in the image. The face of Stanley dressed in black was on the screen. And on the rim of Lana’s glass was the bottle of option being held by his right hand. Jain felt she was refusing to believe the truth. But there were a lot of things that didn’t add up. Like how Stanley was left-handed and not right-handed. Her mind raced as she tried to put the puzzle pieces together. Her mind led her back to the first crime scene she had stepped into in Los Angeles. It was with Stanley, and he had been there on time. Stanley was always there on time. He always showed up earlier than her. Could that be why? He would perform the killing and would call everybody to arrive. Jain remembered Tristan’s crime scene. She had been at the precinct when Stanley had called her. When she got to the crime scene, Stanley had already been there. It was starting to make sense now. Her mind also took her back to the first
FOUR HOURS AGO. Miss Lopez watched the video once more to confirm her suspicion, and she could recognize those walking steps anywhere. She had worked in the Los Angeles police department for too long not to be able to recognize those footsteps. They could only belong to one person alone—Detective Stanley Rogers. Her heart was thumping fast as the realization hit her. Why would Stanley do such a thing? Miss Lopez hated the fact that she was right this time. She had some doubts when the first results from the analysis came out saying that the bullet was from a registered gun in this department. Why would Stanley make such an obvious error? Surely he must have known that he would be caught when the bullets were finally analyzed? Miss Lopez didn’t know what to think anymore. She was glad that Jain hadn’t told him about their discovery. He would have killed her too. It was only now that Miss Lopez understood why there were so many closed cases of the Valdez cartel. It had been so su
“What is it, son?” Mr. Lucius asked Rylan who was staring at the screen completely dumbfounded. Rylan opened his mouth to speak but now words could be fathomed. He was still in shock. Rylan had always been suspicious about Stanley. He never liked him from the start and he knew the feeling was mutual with Stanley. But there were so many questions running through his mind. Why would Stanley do this? And did Jain know about this? Even the video had some questionable scenarios like why Lana was looking at Stanley as he headed towards her. Back at the party, he had thought she was staring at the jazz band. But he was wrong. It seemed Lana knew Stanley was coming for her, and that shock must have glued her to the spot. Rylan took a step backward and began rubbing his chin. He was contemplating his next move. Should he tell Jain? He didn’t know. He pulled out his phone and went to the speed dial. He dialed Jain’s number and placed the phone on his ear. The line rang but no one picked it
Melissa was rounding up for the day when a figure stepped into the room. She was surprised to see Stanley in here. He rarely came in here. The last time he had stepped into the records room was to get information on Jain. That was the first few weeks of her arrival. He had told her he was curious about his partner and wanted to know more about it. Stanley smiled as he stared at Melissa who seemed shocked. He hoped she didn’t know anything about this yet. “Detective Rogers,” Melissa called in shock. “What are you doing here?”Stanley chuckled to himself as he walked forward. It was a strange occurrence today. First, Jain had stepped into the office trying to place back the cases, then she had found out about the other unsolved cases. Melissa had watched Jain leave the office in a hurry after looking at the files. When Melissa had looked at the files, she had noticed something as well. The cases were all closed by Stanley himself. It was suspicious, but there were a lot of suspicious
When Rylan stepped out of the video game store, it was already dark. He wondered how much time he had spent there. He had spent over eleven minutes trying to calm himself down after realizing that Stanley was the murderer. Rylan was still contemplating his next move. Should he find Stanley first, or should he phone Jain and tell her of his discovery? The latter seemed like the best option. They were working together now, and he had promised to help her get revenge on the man who had murdered her. That was after he had gotten him in Tristan’s killer. And luckily for him, it was someone he hated—Stanley Rogers. He pulled out his phone from his inner suit pocket and dialed Jain’s number. He was getting her voicemail. Frustrated, he rubbed his forehead thinking where she could be. He tried calling her again and he still referred to her voicemail. Rylan knew something was up. There was a possibility of Jain being captured by Stanley. He had to find her as soon as possible. As he thought
Detective Jain Reynolds gulped hard as she stared at the barrel that was pointed at her forehead. Her heart was thumping hard against her chest as she stared at Stanley. His face was lit in the bright living room and it displayed a malicious smile on his face. Jain already knew what he was thinking. Her eyes fell to his finger that was gripping the trigger and it was trembling. It looked like he was fighting himself from pulling the trigger too soon. If there was one thing Jain had realized, it was that Stanley was going to kill her. She wasn’t going to make it out of here alive. Stanley had known that Jain would be here. She couldn't just resist being nosy. She had come here a couple of times, the other time he had been here searching for any clue that Tristan had fixed the video, but he had only stumbled across Jain who had also been in there. He had wanted to keep this away from her, but she had always been Tom persistent. She had a knack for nosing around, and that was going to l