Dangerous Game|| Ransom Drysdale

8. The Lead

You flip through the pages of your mother's diary, scanning everything over once more as you had already read through it earlier. You let out a sigh, closing the diary as Ransom walks in the room. He takes a seat next to you on the couch and wraps an arm around your waist to pull you close.

"So?" he asks softly, looking at the diary in your hands.

"She um, she dated this guy. Colin. He um, he seems like a total creep. I think we need to look into him. He was really possessive even after they broke up and she started dating my dad," you say, just above a whisper. The overwhelming weight of what your mother went through feels like a weight crushing your chest. Ransom just silently pulls you in closer and places a gentle kiss on top of your head. You lean into him, closing your eyes.

You lose track of how long you stay like that with Ransom, but Ransom eventually moves to get up. You sit up, taking your weight off of him and look up at him as he stands up.

"Meeting," he explains, "with whatever expensive ass lawyers my father hired for me."

"I should go talk to my dad," you nod and get up too.

🔍🔪🔎

You walk into your father's hospital room, diary in hand. You hand the diary off before sitting in the seat next to his bed. After explaining what you read, your father just nods, deep in thought.

"I guess I had tried to put him out of my mind. Colin never wanted to let go of your mother, not easily. Of course he was never a fan of me, I couldn't even tell you how many threats your mother and I would get from him. If you're right about this, you could be getting yourself into something much worse than you think you're ready for."

"And do you think I could be right?" you ask.

"I do, Y/n. And I'd like to advise you to let the police handle this from here, but-"

"But you know that's not how I operate," you smile slightly, earning a chuckle from your dad. "I'll talk to Elliott about it, they should know I've got a potential lead."

"Be careful with this, if it is Colin, he won't mess around. To him, you'd just be lasting proof that he failed in trying to keep your mother in his control."

🔍🔪🔎

"Colin Marilow, he was my mom's ex-boyfriend. He was really possessive, even after she broke up with him. My dad said he would stalk her and send threats to them both. And, I mean, there was some resemblance between that girl and me, so maybe-"

"Y/n, this is all circumstantial. I don't know that there's much we can do. He had no connection to those teens and that's the case we need to stay focused on," Elliott states, looking up at you from his seat at his desk. You sigh and sit in a chair in front of his desk, next to Wagner who's just caught up in the story.

"I get that, but it's at least something," you insist, looking at Wagner in the hopes of some support.

He nods along, considering the whole story that's played out so far. "She could have a point," he pipes up.

"We can't just go investigate anyone we want, that would be an abuse of power. There's nothing connecting him to the teens. I'm sorry, we just can't do anything. We have other cases we need to focus on and-" Elliott tries to shut your lead down.

"Ok, well, I don't. I'll investigate this myself. I'll call you when I find something," you snap, walking out of the office before either of them can stop you. You let the door slam shut behind you.

Elliott sighs, leaning back in his chair and running his hands down his face in exasperation. "I can't keep up with those Blancs, as clever as they are, they're a lot sometimes."

"Yeah... something just doesn't feel right about this, I don't think we should let Y/n investigate a potential serial killer on her own. If she's right about this, and I think she might be, she's the target," Wagner thinks aloud. Elliott just shakes his head slightly, but hesitates when he considers the increasingly real possibility that your lead is correct and could bring you to danger.