The Rabbit Hole

Chapter 15

The next day brings about the wait. The wait for the call that announces the sighting of another body of the Rabbit Hole Killer. Hours of waiting passes, hours of going through case files passes. Among the wait, Agent Rennik left the precinct to go to the site of where the abductions took place. Deciphering, in a way of only she knows how to do, how the killer chooses his victims and why. The Campus School grounds of where twenty year old, Kimberly Myers, became the first victim in this series of murders and abductions is the first of her many stops for the day. She spends an entire hour of retracing and learning the victims habits, walking through the paths she usually took, attempting by any means to know about the victim. "Kimberly Myers was a well-spoken and well-known individual. An A student, high achiever, loved by many and had no known rivals or enemies who wished her ill-will," she thinks and jumps to the next abduction site.

A public diner, the rear entrance is the place to which the abduction took place. From what knowledge she's gathered, the cameras in this shop are all for show, none of them work, the killer's identity remains a shroud. "Madison Bateman, twenty-five, the oldest among the victims, was a waitress in this diner. Skipping from table to table, back and forth for hours and not for a second realising that she may have been serving her killer," she ponders, while switching from table to table. The workers in the diner glaring peculiarly at her, wondering what it is she's doing changing tables at a regular. Customers are more addled at her work, as she also -without word to them-takes a seat by their table and does her thing. One elderly customer even asked, "Excuse me dear. What are you doing?" staring at the agent. "Trying to find a killer, ma'am." She replies to the elderly woman, leaving her baffled without words and her mouth hanging, and then moves from her table. Moira does this to figure out the precise and perfect seat of which the killer must have been occupying while he was watching Madison, and after switching seats at often, she finally finds it. Close to the entrance door of the diner is a table for two, facing the counter and a clear view into the kitchen where you can see every employee, with a kitchen mirror back splashing the entirety of the room. "This was where he set when he watched her. He probably ordered a lot to get her to come closer to him for a better point of view. Someone else must have noticed him," she surmises, waving over a waiter. He comes to her table trudging along with a tray of emptied glasses. "Need me to get you something, ma'am?" He asks with a smile.
"No, thank you. I'm curious about something and I wonder if you can help with that." She says.
"Uhm, I don't know but...I'll try."
"Fine by me. Were you working here when Madison Bateman was a waitress here?"
"Yes, I was. In fact, she and I practically started at the same time."
"So do you remember any of her customers, primarily the frequent ones."
"Not really, no."
"You don't remember any of her customers? Think..." She scans his nametag, "Philip." She adds.
"Madison was a very friendly and good person. Everyone loved her, if anything, every customer here wanted her to serve them."
"Any male customers come to mind?" She asks.
He purses his lips and tries to reel out a memory, his eyes looking elsewhere like whatever he's searching for lies in that direction. "nnno." He stretches out the word and then, "wait," he says with his eyes brimming with a recently required memory, "There was this guy, who seemed to be always here when Madison was on duty." He says.
"Did he always sit here?" she asks, while tapping the side of her seat.
"Yeah, yes! I didn't quite notice it before but yeah, he was always on that seat. He always ordered the same thing, "the special"."
"What's the special?"
"Our chef whips up a special slice of carrot cake. I particularly don't like it but that guy was going to town on it. Kept calling Madison to bring him seconds."
"If I were to ask you to come in for a detailed sketch of the man, will you be able to do it?" She asks hopefully.
"I don't know if I can capture his features to the letter but I can try to."
"That's all I'd ask of you, Philip." She says and gets up.
"Uhm," He says.
"What is it?" She asks curiously.
"Do you think that the guy who sat here killed Madison?"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out." She says and heads out to the back of the diner. She turns the corner and notices two teenagers smoking a pack of Marlboro cigarettes. The teens turn to find her standing behind them, with her FBI batch purposely placed on her waist. "Oh shit," one of the teens say.
"Yeah, oh shit." She mimics him, "Don't you know that those things are bad for you?"
"Are you going to arrest us?" A nervous teen asks, while the other one elbows him to shut him up.
"No. Not if you give me one." She says with a grin. The other teen gives her a cigarette and lights it for her, "Thanks," she says, breathing out smoke, "Now go on. I've got a job to do." She says to them and they take off running.

Scoping around the back alley of the diner, she notices the absence of cameras, but even if there was one it would most probably be all for show as well. "This is where he took her. It's isolated, no problems of being caught on sight. He came to the diner only on her shifts to study her pattern, then when she left to empty out the trash, he grabbed her," she blows out a puff of smoke and leaves.

After hours of tracing the steps of the victims and studying them like the killer did, Moira found a another piece of commonality from the victims. Aside from each of them having blonde hair, they were all defined by their close friends, family and even co-workers as "friendly people". "Kimberly Myers, first victim, high achiever and also part time tutor. Madison Bateman, second victim, part time waitress at the diner and donated old clothes to women shelters. Gabrielle Roberts, third victim, home school teacher for underprivileged kids. Katherine Barnsley, fourth victim, head cheerleader and occasionally collected and delivered old toys to a children's hospital. Chloë Stevenson, fifth victim, did volunteer work for a homeless shelter. Ashley Morgan, sixth victim, her father was a Marine, she sent care packages to deployed soldiers. She was only seventeen at the time of her death. Heather Brooks, latest victim, I don't know much about her, but if she's his next victim, then she must be a good Samaritan somehow." She ponders deeply as she drives her car into the precinct.