The Killer Among Us

Chapter 10

4 hours after the abduction

Jacob

Some people say silence is golden. For me, silence was poison.

I drove around aimlessly hoping to find something, anything, to bring me closer to Aria. Nothing in the neighborhood gave away a clue of what had happened. It left me wondering: Could something so terrible really happen and not affect the world around it?

Aria was taken from this very town but nothing showed evidence of that. Everyone was going about their business as if an innocent girl wasn't just snatched from the safety of her own home.

An overwhelming multitude of information flooded my brain. All the facts, clues and hints to who took her where drowned in the wave of anxiety that flushed through me. I had nowhere to start, nothing to work off of.

The sun was steadily rising on the horizon, marking the beginning of a new day. In a way, it mocked me. The sun was on its course, indicating how much time was left for me to find her - fourteen days until she would die.

"A lot can happen in fourteen days," I whispered to myself.

I would start with the photo, I decided. Partly because I had nothing else to start with. So, I parked at a remote place at the outskirts of town, got out of the car and layed the remaining pieces out on the black hood of my car. Luckily, it wasn't windy outside. The pavement was still damp from the storm earlier and so the smell of wet dust invaded my senses.

The reconstruction of the numerous torn pieces into the original photo took me a while and I let out a curse when I realised I didn't have any tape to hold it together. However, once I was done, I took several pictures of the front before turning the pieces around and also taking pictures of the back for easier examination.

The dark ink of the letters that spelled out his threat was ingrained in my mind.

I held up my phone, examining the picture of Aria sleeping. She looked so peaceful, so serene that it brought tears to my eyes. "Wake up," I commanded her, if only that could have changed something, anything.

Saying that I was hopeless would be a complete understatement - I was desperate.

Zooming in on all the edges of this dark picture, forcing my eyes to focus on every single detail, did not seem to help either.

Until, as I was zooming in on Aria's nightstand, I saw that her radio clock was visible.

I enhanced it even further, trying to read the time displayed on the clock but it was incredibly blurry. Only a faint, glowing blue indicating that there was something to be seen. Regardless, I took a screenshot, hoping there was a way to unblur it.

Now I was filled with determination, now I had something to work with.

Then something happened that I never anticipated: I received a phone call from an unknown number. Although it wasn't the same ringing as I witnessed before Aria showed me the picture, it carried the same weight, the same severity, with it. Still I hoped that this was an innocent call, my mother or Detective Burke maybe. So, I cleared my throat and took a deep breath to compose myself.

I sat on the driver's side of my car, the door still open, when I reluctantly answered the call, steading my posture as if the caller could see me.

"Hello?" My voice was hoarse from the constant soreness in my throat.

No answer.

"Hello?" I asked again. This time a little louder and with slight confusion.

On the other end only a faint breathing was audible.