Chapter 109: Serial Killer (8)

Edited by: Kuro and Lille

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Dear Myles,

Don't read these letters out loud. Not when I am watching. I want this to be a private moment, just the two of us.

It seems you found the first clue. Congrats. Wasn't it really easy? I wanted you to find it quickly.

This is Brittany's foot. Isn't it ugly? Well, let me tell you something about her. When she met Mr. Miller's wife, she felt so guilty that she wanted to run away from Mr. Miller. Isn't that hilarious? What a bitch! Well, Mr. Miller is also a dumbass. He had a kind and beautiful wife waiting for him at home, but he couldn't even stay faithful to her. Isn't that depressing?

Ah, that necklace belongs to Brittany. She was wearing it when I kidnapped her. Apparently, it was something Mr. Miller had given her for her birthday.

Anyways, enough with the rant. Let me give you the next clue:

I want to take you to my favorite spot by the lake. There's a small cabin near a dock. I really like how the sun touches the water when the sun starts to set. Don't worry, the limb hasn't drowned. It's just relaxing on the sand.

Goodbye for now, Myles. I can't wait for the day when we will meet again.

From,

Your Secret Admirer

Grey read the letter to himself and felt a bit complicated. He couldn't help but imagine a stuck-up prick writing the letter. Did he know someone who was this arrogant and annoying?

"Myles, what does it say?" Agent Freddy asked. He thought it was a bit strange that he didn't read it aloud like he did at the police station.

Grey handed the letter to Agent Freddy. "Take a look for yourself."

After that, he walked over to the side to do some thinking.

'System, is there a way to disable the camera? I feel uncomfortable knowing that my every move is being monitored.'

[Let me check... Grey, it is possible, but I would have to turn the whole thing off. If you turn it back on, it will immediately explode...]

'Is there a way to analyze it without it on?'

[Answering Grey, kind of. You are able to check out the components, take out the small bomb planted inside, and then put it back together. It's possible to get information from the camera that way.]

'Alright. Let's do that a bit later... Like when we find the second to the last of the limbs or something. If we do it too soon, the person may get defensive and act out.'

Well, Grey wasn't really sure of what actions to take. He didn't know if he should finish this all in one swoop or wait it out a bit until there were more clues. He wanted to be cautious because he had died in the previous world and the world before that one. If he underestimates the enemy, it could lead to his own death. It was better to be prepared than under-prepared.

He found out earlier that they couldn't find the blonde-haired, blue-eyed man as there were a lot that were rich with those characteristics. Oddly enough, none of them were adopted, so they knew the man was hiding somewhere. They weren't surprised as he seemed to be quite godly when it came to hacking. They couldn't even find the records of adoption from that year in that orphanage.

It was like the killer had wiped their history clean. Probably replaced it with other things to make it seem normal.

"Myles, let's get back to the station." Caleb tapped on Grey's shoulder. "They have already sent the foot back to Dr. Hendrick. We are going back to figure out our next plan of action."

Grey nodded in affirmation. If only the original had an idea of who the killer was. If he had known from the start, System 225 could've tracked him...

After going back to the police station, it was around dinner time so most of the people were told to go home and rest before moving out again. Dr. Reynolds wanted to invite Grey out to dinner, but he was dragged into a meeting with Agent Freddy. Tears could almost be seen in Grey's eyes as he was pitifully dragged away from Dr. Reynolds. Caleb had never seen Grey so depressed, but he still helped Agent Freddy to get Grey into the conference room.

At the meeting, the letter was already pulled up, and right next to it was a map of the country. They had already noted down the location of their first clue.

Agent Ark, who could be seen on a small screen on the monitor, was waiting for everyone to come. He had already been waiting for 30 minutes.

Agent Freddy started the meeting. "We have all looked at the letter and I want to hear what you all have to say."

"To me, it's pretty obvious. The location of our next clue is at a lake, but it's going to be hard to go through all the lakes as there are quite a few in our country." Agent Travis stated. Though he didn't talk a lot, what he said made sense.

"Luckily, we have satellites. Ark will check the most recent maps of the country to make sure we get the right lake. We don't know if the cabin is still there or not, nor do we know if there is just one cabin or multiple cabins by the lake. What we can say for sure is that the dock will be close to a cabin. And the cabin will probably be in the direction of the setting sun." Dr. Mia chimed in.

Agent Yui looked over at Grey. "Before we start making assumptions, Myles, have you been to a lakeside cabin?"

Grey searched through his memories for a bit before shaking his head. "I haven't been to one, but I do recall that as a kid I have always wanted to go. Well, to a lake, I mean."

Agent Freddy frowned. "How about the mountain we just went to?"

"Hmm... I remember reading about Mt. Hylie in a book when I was younger. I always thought that Ms. Hylie was a pretty cool person."

Agent Freddy rubbed his temples. "The killer is definitely someone from your childhood."

Caleb stayed silent. He had no idea what to say to his mentor whom he looked up to. It was scary to think that someone was after Myles, but the reality was too cruel. He couldn't shake this horrible feeling that something would happen to Myles. It made him want to stick to Myles' side even more.

"Freddy, I compiled a list of the lakes and lakeside cabins that are close to a deck. I arranged them by the closeness to the deck. Also, I separated them once more based on if there is only one cabin or multiple cabins."

Several lists were shown on the screen on top of the map. The names in the list were the names of the lakes.

Agent Freddy rubbed his chin while thinking before sighing. "Let's go to the ones with only one cabin by the lake. This killer seems to want to be the only one in Myles' world. He wouldn't want others near. Since there are only three lakes with single cabins, we will split into three groups. The lakes aren't that far apart so whoever finds the body part or letter must report to the rest of us so we can go there."

"Are we going now?" Caleb questioned as he held his stomach. His stomach had been growling the whole meeting and he really wanted some food.

Agent Freddy wanted to facepalm but the only thing he did was sigh. "No, we leave early tomorrow. Go eat and rest up."

Myles and Caleb went to eat dinner, while the rest went back to their hotels to eat and then rest.

Meanwhile, a man was sitting in a dark room looking at the computer screen. He was glaring through the pictures. There were only 30 pictures, but he kept going through them, trying to rationalize what he was seeing.

There were pictures of Myles, but in some of them, he was looking at another man with gentle eyes, even flirting with that man! Their love-dovey feelings were oozing out even from the computer screen. It made him want to break his computer and throw his keyboard.

He took slow, deep breaths to try to calm his fast-racing heart. After he calmed down, he went back to the computer and did some digging around.

Who the fuck did that man think he was just because his Myles was looking at him like so? He had to find out everything about this man. He needed to know where he lived, where he worked, and why he was so close to Myles! Ridiculous.

Myles was his! Only his! No one could take away his man, only he could.

The man furiously typed for a few minutes and soon, a comprehensive document was created. It had all the information he could find on Jordan Reynolds. Jordan started off as a surgeon, but he didn't like that, so he became a Medical Examiner instead. The man was young, 27, but he was still considered a genius in the medical field.

"Tch, his family is whatever. Small ants compared to my IT company. He's never been in a relationship? I guess that's okay... Ah, the only thing he really has for him is his career and his face. I don't see the appeal of this man. I'm better looking, richer, and smarter." And he was a psycho.

"Maybe I should teach Myles who his real lover is." The man smiled evilly.

As he was thinking, he kept hearing a muffled scream coming from his basement. It annoyed him so much; he went down into the basement and kicked at the door.

"Shut up! If you don't want to get punished, then shut up!" The man yelled.

There were soft whimpers coming from inside, but they were still terrified. They had just been kidnapped, so they wanted to scream and cry for help.

"I suggest you shut up. My house is soundproof. I will be the only one who can hear your screams for help."

This thought ruined the older woman's dreams of getting out of the basement. She had kids and a husband waiting for her at home! What did she do to deserve this?

The woman was in her 40s. Even though her kids were teenagers, they were probably very confused as to why she hadn't come home from the grocery store. She said she would be back as soon as she could, but why did this happen to her? She shouldn't have gone alone!

"Don't worry, I won't kill you right now. Make another sound and you won't be eating for the rest of the day." Not like anyone could really eat in that situation.

And with that, the man walked away. He wanted to go back to his room to look at more pictures of Myles, cropping Dr. Reynolds out of them and photoshopping himself there.

*****

A few hours later, everyone was called back to the police station. They were all staring at the TV that Agent Ark had pulled up.

The news channels were talking about a mother who had gone missing after leaving the grocery store. Her car was still in the parking lot and her bags were on the ground next to the car. People leaving the store thought it was weird and had called the police.

When they traced the license plate, they called her husband. He had been on the road with his kids, almost at the grocery to find his wife. He almost had a breakdown in the car as he arrived on the scene.

He saw that her purse was in the front seat, indicating that she had put it there so she could put the rest of the stuff into the car. Her phone, wallet, and keys were still in there, indicating that it wasn't a robbery of any kind.

"How long has she been missing?" The police officer asked the man and the 2 kids.

The oldest daughter spoke up. She was 15 and looked a lot like her mom. "My mom had been gone for 2 hours. She told me she was going to be really quick because there were some things that she needed to make dinner. When an hour passed by, I thought something was strange so I called my dad to see if he was with her or if he could call her since she wasn't picking up."

"We don't know how to drive, so dad told us to wait at home and then he would pick us up to go look for mom... And then you called." The youngest son cried. He was only 13.

"Please, if anyone has seen my wife, please... Please call the number. We are so worried about her." The father tried his best not to cry but tears had already escaped his eyes.

This was what everyone could see on the TV. A news reporter stood some distance away and she sighed. "If there is anyone who had seen Mrs. Liams in the parking lot, or had seen if there was anyone following her. If anyone knows anything, please call this hotline number."

The hotline was connected to a few lines in the police station.

Agent Freddy turned off the TV and gave an exhausted sigh. "Not only do we have this crazy 'treasure' hunt, but we also have this recent kidnapping. I have a hunch that the person who kidnapped that woman is our serial killer. We need to put an end to this as soon as possible. So many people have already died, how much more does this person want to kill?"

Grey was in deep thought. He knew that the killing would stop if the killer got their hands on him, but then he would fail the mission.

He had System 225 do a bit of investigating on the place the camera gave them signals from. Grey recognized the place as the trap the killer had laid out for Myles, so going there wasn't an option just yet. How could he lure the killer out without any more people dying?

They needed more information before they could find the person, but it was frustrating! What other clues does he need?

"Myles, is everything alright?" Caleb asked, worried because he could see Myles biting on his lip.

Myles looked up and gave Caleb a tired smile. "I was just thinking that the end of this case would mean my death if I am not careful. We can already see that the killer is after me, but why would they go the long way around? I'm not sure, but I just know that they won't stop until they have me or we have them."

It was a cruel reality, but Caleb didn't want to hear those sad things coming out of Myles' mouth. "Myles, no matter what, we will stop this person and we will protect you too! You are the best detective in the country and that's why you will put an end to this."

It was the first time Grey had seen Caleb so serious.

Grey felt really grateful to have Caleb by his side. He wanted to hug the man, but it wasn't the right place to do so.

Agent Freddy interrupted Grey's thoughts. "Half the team will focus on finding the body parts while the other half will go to the grocery store and talk with the victim's family. We aren't sleeping tonight."

Little did they know that this case was coming to an end soon.