Failure (A Death Note/L Love Story)

Chapter 42

Almost three years before....

"Another woman has been killed in Cambridge, adding to the recent string of murders by an unknown serial killer. Alyssa Grand was a twenty-three year-old college student out with friends late last night when they split up. The friends didn't hear from her the rest of the night, but they thought she went home early after drinking a bit too much. Her body was found early this morning," the lady reported on the news.

"Oh, that's terrible," Macy, my coworker and friend, frowned, eying the television in the top corner of the store not too far away. There wasn't really any customers that day, and there were no new clothing shipments to be taken care of. It was turning out to be a lazy day.

I sighed, "Yeah."

She put her hands on her hips and scolded me, "You don't even seem fazed, Hayley!" I opened my mouth to reply, but she cut me off. "Oh, yeah, you're into this freaky stuff. I forget. So, who is it this time? You always seem to know."

I smirked, "I'm not too sure, yet. They refuse to show their suspect list."

"What a pity," she said sarcastically.

I laughed, "Be quiet! I can't hear what they're saying!" The phone began to ring. "Not it." She groaned and mumbled a string of curses under her breath before going to answer it.

My attention was about to turn back to the screen when I had the strangest feeling of someone watching me. I glanced out the store window and saw a flash of something, like a person was rushing to hide. What was that? There was nobody walking by the store, and it was raining, so no one wanted to be loitering outside. My old habits were trying to make sense of it.

I slowly walked over to the window and pressed my hands on the glass. I strained to see if anyone was there, but I couldn't make out anything with the rain obscuring my view. I was going to check outside when Macy called me over, "Hey, Hal, there's a man on the phone. He wants to talk to you."

"Who is he?" I asked, forgetting my previous task and going over to her.

"I don't know. He wouldn't tell me."

"Then, what does he want?"

She shrugged, "Still wouldn't tell. Said it was personal. He sounded kind of old, too."

I brushed off, "Just tell him I'm on break. I'll deal with it if he calls again." Macy nodded and returned to the phone.

I still felt like someone was watching me. Something wasn't right. Why did I have to get a bout of paranoia? It wasn't like the news report was scaring me. I'm just.... I trailed off in my mind. "Worried," I breathed.

"About what?" Macy asked as she walked back to the counter. I hadn't realized I was staring at the TV, but she followed my gaze. "Oh, the murders? Yeah, I am, too. What a creep! We're in his victims' age group, too, you know. But he only attacks at night. Serial killers aren't supposed to change tactics, right? You don't go out, and when you do, you have a strong, handsome man with you, so you shouldn't be frightened." She made the cliché damsel in distress pose.

"I could kick this guy's ass if I needed to," I defended myself.

She joked, "You and those thin arms? Total weapons of mass destruction." My alarm on my watch went off before I got the chance to glare at her. "Is it six already? Oh, you better go clock out. It's going to rain a lot harder soon."

"I guess you're right," I agreed and grabbed my purse out from under the counter. "I'll see you tomorrow, Macy."

"Bye, Hal!" my friend waved me off as I went to leave. I exited the clothing store to find my car in the back parking lot. The feeling of eyes on me suddenly got stronger, but I shook it off and pulled out of the strip mall.