BLOODHOUNDS #4: THE DARK KNIGHT

Chapter 3 - CRIME OF PASSION

Mason Calland

"Sir, there's no fingerprints on all the notes and letters. We only found Ms.Jordan's fingerprints and Albert's." Leroy let me know, and I turned to Everly, who was talking to the sound team about her mic and in-ear situation.

"I want you to check all of the CCTV footage, and I want everyone's data." With that, I ended the call and turned to Elliot, who was watching Everly like a hawk.

Once she got her in-ear in, she turned to Natty, asking for a mirror to check her appearance before going to the stage. She's fifteen minutes away from going out and starting her tour.

"I need a report, Jibs."

"Nothing, sir. We've been doing facial scans on everyone, don't worry." He reported back, and Elliot could listen to everything.

"She's going to be transported to the stage," I nodded, " Natty told me. I gave Elliot a sign to go. He will be the one who escorts her to the main stage. I decided to go there first and scanned everyone there.

I dialed Leroy's number, "I want you to look at her past. There must be something."

"Yes, sir. We'll let you know as soon as we get that information."

"Good. I want her friend's list, too." I added and ended the call without waiting for him to answer. I checked everything before Everly got here with a fake speaker cupboard. I was busy scanning the whole stage blueprint.

"Mr.Calland." A sweet voice called my name, and I turned to see Everly looking at me, confused.

"You're standing in my place." She pointed at the red square on the ground. I took a few steps back so she could stand in her place.

"I want you to give me a word to cue you in an emergency," I said, and she looked up to the ceiling, thinking of a word.

"Donuts."

"No."

"Cake donuts because it's not real donuts." She smiled.

"No."

"Then what... I can't think of a word."

"Something that you hate."

"Cake donuts." I let out a long sigh.

"We're not using cake donuts as our secret word, Ms.Jordan." She bit her bottom lips, thinking of something.

"Orange! I hate the color orange!" She said excitedly.

"Very well."

"Everly! You're going out in two minutes!" The staff shouted, and Everly clapped her hands. She smiled at me, waving her hand before she got into a small chamber that would raise her to the stage in less than two minutes.

"I believe you can find my stalker, Mr.Calland." The music started to blast when she said it, but I caught every word perfectly. I gave her a nod, and she took a deep breath before the stage on top of her opened.

"Good evening, Los Angeles." I can hear the whole Sofi Stadium screaming for her. After she was up on stage, I quickly went backstage to watch all the CCTV with my team.

The stadium was filled with almost eighty-five thousand fans. She's so well loved, and of course, this is not the first time for her to get a stalker, but, according to her, the stalker that we're looking for is very persistent and wants her dead.

"Any update, Jibs?" I asked.

"Still nothing, sir." We also have ten men watching her waiting room and backstage. I decided to walk out towards the floor section right under her stage. I looked around and made eye contact with some of my team, but they shook their heads, letting me know they didn't find anything weird.

I looked up to Everly, who was having fun on stage with her dancers. I find her very intriguing because seeing her so charismatic on stage was something that I never experienced before. As if she knew I was looking, she turned to me and smiled before running to the end of the stage for the song's climax.

I decided to walk to the backstage again and checked on Elliot.

"Mr.Calland, through the thermal cameras. We see movements in her waiting room. It looked like th-" I cut Sage.

"Check her waiting room!" I said so they could open the door to her waiting room.

"A man with approx six foot two, running towards the D hall. He's running upstairs towards the higher bowl!" I ran up to the second-floor bowl myself. Sage gave me the screenshot from the thermal camera, and I could see it through my contacts. I saw my team joining me.

"He joined the crowd, blending in with the fans." Shit.

"Any footage?"

"No. We tried to see it, but it seemed he has someone to cut off the CCTV." What the fuck.

I looked around, following the movement that Sage gave me. I saw so many men in the crowd who were singing her songs.

"Take pictures of all of the men on the second floor," I said as I looked at them individually.

"Sir, you would want to see this." Elliot gave me some pictures of her waiting room.

I stopped in my tracks to see a note that said, "Hiring Mason Calland won't stop me from ripping your throat out, my poison fruit. I'm going to kill you soon." The man broke in using the underground tunnel where people usually move things.

He must have known the blueprint beforehand and planned everything at least a week before the show started.

Fucking sick.

I stayed on the second floor as my team checked everything. He blended into the crowd so fast. The sniper can't risk shooting because there are so many people. After fifteen minutes, I walked down to her waiting room.

He made a hole in the ground to put some chocolates and a note. Leroy and some of the team members went down and found lots of tools. They collected it to see if there were fingerprints.

"I need all the CCTV footage from a week ago." I knew that this was not an ordinary stalking.

It's a fucking crime of passion.