PETRICHOR

.20.

"Another culprit is committing the crimes Skylar, and the witness lied about everything. "

"What do you mean Silas? How? I don't understand." The smile slowly disappeared from my face as I realized he wasn't joking. I didn't want to believe what he was telling me. I thought it was over and that I'd go back home; live life normally without being afraid.

"Something from the start felt very off with your case and I finally figured it out today." He kept playing with his dinner pushing pieces of chicken on the plate.

"But they told me the case will be closed today? Does that mean you only know about this ?" I frowned trying to get a grasp of the situation. This was a neverending nightmare.

He nodded, "Yes not even our chief mark, no one knows until now." He placed his utensils on the table, he probably didn't have an appetite for dinner.

"Well, are you sure it wasn't scorpi0n but someone else? I mean how did you figure it ?"

He laid back a little and his eyes met mine. " Well, I had a lot of doubts about scorpi0n and sensed that something was off from the very beginning. First, was how he only stalked you and not the rest of the victims. I didn't understand why only you would be stalked out of all of them. What made you so unique to him that he would stalk you ? None of the other victims have reported being stalked before. So that the first thing that felt off about the case." I stayed quiet and listened to him carefully.

He continued, "Scorpi0n liked you and was only trying to scare you to get you to like him, but that backfired. He would never harm you and I confirmed this when he didn't leak my "secrets" out even tho he knew them. It was ideal for him to ruin my mission but he didn't. From the get-go, he seemed like the all bark no bite type."

"Wait he tried to blackmail you ?" I jumped in, I had absolutely no idea.

He let out a laugh "Yeah, he knew I was an undercover cop. Obviously, at that time I couldn't tell you anything."

" I see ... that's just crazy. It's even more complicated than I thought." I trailed in awe. " please continue." I pleaded, I wanted to know everything about the case and all his theories and hunches.

"I know! Everything is a mess Skylar it truly is. And well, The serial killer on the other hand was all harm only. He just killed instantly, probably for his pleasure and thrill." His face was masked with menace and disgust. I was lucky to have escaped from him, god knows what would have happened to me if I didn't run away.

I thought that was it but he seemed to have more to say about this, "What made it the most obvious was how you were attacked on your left side, meaning the attacker was left-handed. Martin was right-handed, so it's not him. That's the biggest clue so far." He finished what he had to say and crossed his arms.

"Could it be just a coincidence?" I asked curiously.

He shook his head, " All victims were attacked from the left first other wounds were also by a left-handed person due to the angle the knife penetrated the body in. I checked the autopsy report today just to make sure."

I nodded silently and stayed quiet for a moment before asking again. "Did you do any profiling on the culprit ?"

"I did." He left the counter and went to grab a small leather notebook from his jacket's pocket. He came back going through the pages of the small note in his hands.

He took a seat and stopped at the page he wanted then handed it to me." So far the profiling I did on the serial killer was the following" he pointed at the list he had written on the page.

He's a man.
He is left-handed.
Taller than 170cm
Probably in his 20s - 30s
He only kills on Sundays.
He kills once every month.
He picks only young women as his victims.
His victims are all orphans or runaways.

I pointed at the last point and showed it to him. "Why do you think he chooses this to be his criteria for victims."

"Easy, so it's easier to forget about them since no one would ask about them if they disappear or get killed." I was horrified, the killer hasn't been caught and I'm the only victim of his that managed to survive.

Silence fell upon us and I thought of the worst possibilities that could happen to me and other victims.

"Wait ... since he's not caught what do you think will happen now ?"

He ran his hands through his hair," If we don't hurry up and catch him I'm sure we'll have another victim. Since the pattern was 1 victim per month we would have about another 20 days before the next one. Not that I was waiting for it to happen." He had a very sorry look on his face.

I gulped, this was just crazy. Silas had to catch him as soon as possible. What about me? I thought to myself. He did not come back after me because I hardly left the house.

I managed to say calmly but I was frightened deep inside. "Well, what happens now?"

He let out a long deep sigh. His hands massaged his nose bridge. "Catching that bastard and keeping you safe are my priorities right now." I smiled a little because of what he said. I just felt so grateful to him.

"I couldn't tell anyone about what I was thinking because I didn't get the chance to do so yet. Not to mention the whole department will get into deep trouble. We just charged a not so innocent man murder charges he didn't do. This case will cause havoc everywhere. I just have to let chef mark know first, and submit the evidence I have." I nodded in understanding.

I wanted to ask more stuff but I didn't want to be annoying and overwhelm him with questions. I started cleaning and brushed all those curious thoughts away.

"You want to ask something don't you?" Silas interrupted my train of thoughts. He had a small smirk on his face. I bit my lips and nodded smiling sheepishly.

" There's something I'm just curious about. How come with all this evidence that you mentioned, no one figured scorpion wasn't guilty of murder? Aren't they really obvious? You also mentioned that the witness lied ... I mean why? why would he even do such a thing? "

" they are related." He answered shortly and pausing.

"Everyone didn't see it from different angles as I did or question the witness's testimony. Everyone was thinking the same thing: that scorpi0n was the culprit for all crimes. I figured the witness lied when he said it wasn't raining that day, it wasn't something that can be confused easily.

"He also decided to come forward after the accident took place by weeks! Lastly, he mentioned he saw that the culprit was wearing black clothes, then later mentioned he couldn't see what you were wearing because it was dark. His testimony is very inconsistent."

"Well, why would he lie?"

" Someone must have made him do it. There's no other explanation and I don't know who and why."

" Can it be the real culprit ?" I asked curiously.

His eyes flicked to mine, "It most definitely can. It's probably the culprit. It's very logical to think so."

I agreed quietly and looked back at my plate that I didn't finish.

"By the way ..." Silas suddenly spoke out catching my attention.

" yes? "

" I figured it's time for you to know my real name."

Real name? Holly cannoli I screamed internally, I didn't once think that his real name wasn't Silas. This was just another curveball thrown in my face. This was becoming a normal occurrence in my life.

My eyes widened a little anticipation building up inside of me. "Seriously?!" I shrieked.

He laughed, "My real name is Elias Ray Hudson."

Authors note :

Thank you SO much for 1k ♡ I appreciate it so much:(