Dressed For Death

CHAPTER 23

HAYDEN

She didn't call me back. It felt like there was a hole in my chest and it was only Juliette that could fill it.

I'm trying my best to give her space as she asked, but it's hard when all I'm feeling is emptiness because she's gone.

I was dragging my feet to the way of my apartment door and fumbled with my keys. As I reached my door, a little brown package was waiting in front of it.

I frowned as I picked it up and inspected it. I unlocked my door and closed it as I tore up the brown paper to reveal the content of the package.

A VHS was inside of it. Weird... those aren't common anymore. Unless someone didn't want to be retraced or something. I turned it over and my heart stopped for a second as I read what was written on it.

"A little memory of your sunshine"

I ran back to the elevators to go back to my car and drove back to the station. I must have looked like a crazy person going through our technical stuff to search for a VHS player.

When I found what I looking for, I plugged it and inserted the VHS inside it. I sat back on the chair and watched. Nothing was showing on the screen except black, but nothing could've prepared me for what I was about to hear.

"When will you realize you're a dumb motherfucker. You don't scare me, I'll slit your throat the second I have the chance to"

I smacked my forehead when I heard her say that. I didn't know if she knew what she was doing, but hell. She was provoking him and she should know that it's never a good idea to piss off a serial killer.

I continued listening and my jaw tightened as the exchange between them continued. I wanted nothing more than to break that VHS in two right now. Some bits of the audio seemed to have been cut off, I couldn't make sense of it.

My heart seized when she screamed as he did something to her. I sat up from the chair and paced around the room, gripping my chest like someone had a tight fist around my heart and kept squeezing it.

I stopped the recording and kicked the chair. It flew to the other side of the room and knocked over other things on the ground.

Nothing made me angrier than the knowledge of her being trapped with a fucking murderer right now and I could do nothing to protect her. We weren't even close to finding who he was.

I was boiling in fumes when I exited the room and went directly to my office where all my shit about this case was. I scattered through all the piles of paper, trying to find why he kidnapped her.

It just didn't make sense. Why her? She didn't do anything to him. Except, she was his sole witness who saw him kill another woman. But, the killer never sent something directly to me until he kidnapped Juliette.

I looked over at the board where all the pins and cords were intertwined with all the clues we've gathered over the months. All the victims didn't have an ounce of resemblance with Juliette.

Then it clicked. She was the mistake we waited for him to make for so long. The loophole that would explain so many things at once.

Juliette wasn't dumb. She must have known the killer and he profited from this to kidnap her and kill his mistake. If it was someone she knew, I had to keep this for myself for now.

I spent the whole night trying to put the pieces of this fucking complicated puzzle together. I didn't even realize that I fell asleep until someone shoved my arm, which caused me to wake up.

"Jesus!" I let out as I frantically looked around to see who just woke me up from my slumber.

"You okay, man? You look like absolute shit" My partner laughed. The sound of his voice made me want to knock his teeth out.

No violence Hayden. You're already on thin ice with the director.

"Totally fine, except that my girlfriend fucking dumped me" I grumbled. I may not like him, but there were days when I found his company somewhat tolerable.

"That's though." He winced as he sat down at his desk and opened up his computer.

"I haven't told you the best part of my misery" I closed my eyes and leaned my head back on the headrest. "She got kidnapped by our lovely serial killer"

There was a long silence in the office after I told him that. I slowly opened my eyes and he was baffled. His mug was in his hand midair and his jaw stayed open. It was like time has stopped.

"Say what again" He slowly said to me as he placed his mug back on his desk.

"You heard me right, Kennet. She got kidnapped and I don't know what to do" I exhaled.

"Jesus, Hayden! You should've called me the second you learned that." He got up from his chair, but I was quicker than him. I grabbed his arm before he could get out of our office.

"John, no one must know about this," I told him. I know I said I wouldn't talk to anyone about the new lead I probably found, but I have a feeling that he's not involved with the killer and my gut instincts never lied to me before.

"The fewer people that know about this, the better. It'll attract less attention and she's going to have more chances to survive" I explained to him as he tried to process what I was saying to him.

"What did you find Hayden," He asked me. I sighed and sat back down at my desk. I took out a folder underneath a huge pile and handed it to him.

"Here's a list of suspects which indicates every person that Juliette had interactions with. She's gone with someone she knew, there's no doubt about that" I told him as he flipped the pages.

"You put her dad?!" John frowned at me.

"As I said, I didn't take any chances. You'll even find my name on it, but does it mean I've been the one committing those murders" I questioned him and he shook his head.

"So you want to question every one of those persons?" He asked me.

"No, I know which ones to cross out already. We're going to investigate without drawing any attention to us" I told him and he nodded.

"Let's split up. It'll go faster that way" He suggested and I agreed to the idea. And that's why his presence was tolerable when he found ideas like that on rare occasions.

I took back the folder and crossed out her dad's, her brother's, and my name on the list already. I wrote down the rest of the names on a piece of paper and handed it to him.

"Record every conversation and I don't give a fuck if it breaks some law about privacy and shit. Keep this a secret, Kennet" I handed him the paper and he nodded before walking out of the office.

I sighed and rubbed my face. I just hoped she was still alive at this point because I didn't know how I could live in a world where she doesn't exist, where I wouldn't get the chance to see her smile one more time.

I just needed her to be safe, but now that wish isn't possible and it scares the shit out of me.