The Rabbit Hole

Chapter 21

The past four months have left a blur in Detective Edwards mind. The Rabbit Hole case has come to a complete halt. No bodies of young blonde women have been discovered in a hole somewhere. No abductions leading nor relating to the case have surfaced. Nothing. The killer has gone dark, complete radio silence, leaving the search for Heather Brooks in the wind. Some people have already forgotten about her, the news have focused on other front page issues, it's been months since they've said anything about her. The serial killer who has had the city of Baltimore in a state of panic is slowly being degraded to an urban legend.

Of the time that's passed, Detective Edwards has been on a few cases. Mostly drug related homicides, rarely providing him the thrill he secretly seeks. Which brings about the main reason for going after the Rabbit Hole Killer, never has he had such an illusive criminal who does things in the open but manages to keep out of sight of onlookers. The tougher the criminal to catch offers the detective a thrill he himself doesn't want to admit, because he feels once he does, he'll actually be admitting to the fact that he enjoys crime to run rampant. At his home -a small apartment-he collapses in his couch after he pours himself a red-eyed liquid that numbs the brain. Absent from reality, Detective Edwards resumes his work, determined to find the missing girl and have his man screaming behind bars. He searches his mind for what he's missed. Combining what he has gathered about the killer himself and what Agent Rennik has offered to him. Her quick findings from the killer's mind set, how he's escalating, as she once said. The killer was bold when it came to Heather's abduction, and his boldness led to his mistakes, allowing himself to be injured, missing a key role in his abduction style -leaving the victims shoes aligned. He takes a sip of his whisky and grabs a page from his desk. The third victims shoes, perfectly aligned and facing off to an opposite direction, West of the city. The next photo of the fifth victim, shoes perfectly aligned and facing to an opposite direction as well, East of the city. He takes another sip of his drink and continues to rack his brain, trying to figure out the reason for leaving the shoes in that specific manner. If there's one thing he knows is that even a crazy person has a reason to why he's doing what he's doing, so there must be a reason to the placement of the shoes, but what? Staring at each victims shoe alignment, most if not all are placed in a different direction, almost like they're pointing out to something, pointing at something. And it finally hits him, the clock strikes midnight in his sleeping brain, recently awakened by a burning hunch. The shoes are pointing at something, but what, is the question. Everyway he tries to look at it is just another way of him feeling like he's mocked by the killer. He gulps the remainder of his drink and reaches for his phone. He quickly scrolls down his contact list in search for agent Rennik's details. He dials her up. The phone buzzes the hum note in his ear, after the third buzz, an exhausted agent Rennik answers the phone, "Hello?" dragging each syllable of the word.

"Agent Rennik," he says over the phone, "It's Detective Edwards."

"Edwards?" she says, surprised of the time of which he decided to call her, she glares at her alarm clock on the nightstand "4:12 am" it blinks red at her. It's been two months since the agent was called back to Washington D.C for other cases since there was nothing popping up with the case of Heather Brooks' abduction. "Do you know what time it is, Detective?" she yawns out the question.

"Not really." He says.

"This better be worth it."

"I just need your help on something. It's about the Rabbit Hole case."

"Shoot." She says as she sits up on her bed and flick the night lamp on.

"I've been looking at these pictures and I think I found something, referring to the placing of the shoes." He explains.