The Cravers

23. Investigation

"Are we even sure his name is Chase Kindle?" Matt questioned. "I mean, he's been a sneaky ass for so long. It's kind of surreal he's given us a name."

Kingsley stretched his legs and gave him a know-it-all look. "Well, we can ask him if we catch him."

"What if 'he' is a girl?" Bat probed.

I was deadpanned annoyed. My stomach was eating itself up--literally. It was like someone was twisting my gut into a tight rope and stretching far and apart. 

Hello, bloody time of the month. With the guys bickering about the case,  pain induced me more. I just wanted froyo.

"We should go do another investigation around the neighborhood." I adviced. "I don't know about you guys but I don't always trust the Detector reports from the first investigation. We should do our own search."

"Agreed." Kingsley got up and straightened his jacket. "Let's go."

"Now?" I clutched my stomach with a horrified expression. My brows crinkled deeply. "Maybe tomorrow?"

"Things can change tomorrow." He motioned me up. "Come on."

I held back a grunt and obeyed him. "Fine."

Matt and Bat filed out of the room. I was about to follow them, too but Kingsley grabbed my arm, stopping me. "What?" I said tiredly.

"Pull up a smile." He winked. "Are you okay?" His hand moved to my shoulder caringly. 

"I don't feel like it." I huffed. "Not my day." I put down my hand from my stomach so he didn't suspect why I had a constipated look on my face.

"Don't worry," he tapped my shoulder. I smelled a crisp mist of his cologne wash over me. "We can stop to get froyo."

My eyes widened. I was suddenly very alert. "H-how did you know?"

"Instincts." He waves his hand and walked out of the door with a cocky gait.

====

It was a rainy day so we were wrapped in our waterproof jackets.

I licked the last bit of my froyo and threw the cup in the trash. "Thank you for the froyo." I savored my spoon and threw a guarded smile at Kingsley. 

"Anytime." He whispered in a low voice. "Come on. Get to work now."

The club was so barren and abandoned, I felt like I was in the middle of a ghost town. I stood there just observing the environment. The air was still and...very sad.

An hour ago, before we came to the club, we made visits to the nearby houses to see if they heard or saw anything suspicious about the day Jenifer was killed, of course, as predicted, many people were oblivious to the dead girl so they could not recall anything. But we went into their brains. Everyone came out clean.

Except one person.

There was an old lady living alone in one of the complexes. At first, she did not know what we were speaking of, so without bothering her, we just took our leave. She was feeding her twenty dozen cats so we didn't want to disturb the old lady. However, before we descended down, she opened the door and called us in.

"I do remember that night, it is a little fuzzy...but I remember a boy."

Kingsley raised his brows suspiciously. "You just said that you were not even home that night."

Lady jutted her chin. "What? Are you going to hold my words against me? I'm just trying to help here, I am an old woman after all."

Kingsley sighed. "Alright, I take my words back."

She told us that she was watching tv before going to her balcony to water her plants--at night time. When she was about to go inside until she saw a young boy, running away with a knife in his hands. 

"No one noticed him. He wasn't blending in the crowd. People were oblivious! But he wasn't, he was holding a bloody knife."

Then we asked for a description from her. Matt, being the expert artist, waited for her description so he can reenact it on paper. 

Then we raided her mind to see the whole scene replay.

The Inferno changed from being a black hole to a busy New York street with people still bustling the city past midnight. The tall skyscrapers could be seen between apartment complexes. The night was cool and warm. We were standing right behind her in the balcony as we watched her through her vision.

The lady, Emerald was her name, swiftly stood up with a grunt to water her dying plants in the balcony, she ran the water over them but not fully quenching the thirst of her dead flowers. As she was about to leave, Emerald noticed a strange boy who was walking hurriedly, too suspiciously--yet no one around him noticed his behavior. 

The crowd was slow moving and humble but his attitude constituted of fear and anxiety. It did not settle her ease when she realized a knife in his hand. That was the same exact dagger in the Evidence Room. Seeing it play in action was a little disturbing especially with that line of red blood on its edge.

He had bright, I mean, bright green eyes....they were like the emerald stones themselves, they were sharp in wit and in determination. He gazed up and that's when i had a full view of his eyes. His eyes had a motive. 

He had a very handsome face with a defined jaw and sharp high cheekbones. His lips were red...with blood maybe? He was wearing a black leather jacket.  There was some evident dust and rips from his pants...so Jenifer did fight...

Something about his expression spelled danger and disaster...he looked lethal with his brooding eyes. He fast walked, his fingers wrapping securely on his dagger. 

Why didn't anyone be suspicious of his state? For example, if I was walking around with a knife in my hand with blood on, someone would call 911 in a heartbeat. Last time I checked, there was no police calls that involved the vicinity of the attack.

"Why didn't you call the police?" Kingsley demanded, his eyes were maddened.

Emerald flipped her hair. "I forgot. I am an old lady...I think I had to feed a grumpy cat."

-----

So we had an image of the killer--a real image.

Finally after observing every crack of the back of the club, we found what we were looking for...the pieces of his pants, only in a small quantity. We also figured out that he was wearing a size 11 shoes. They were going to the lab today.

Bat decided to do another search on the cameras. Surely if Emerald saw the murderer, the cameras should've had a better view. But again, he came out with no other images, so  it was clear that the cameras were tempered. 

He was a crafty one, this guy, he knew his way around things.

Kingsley rubbed his forehead. He looked so tired and wasted. I wanted to console him.

"Hey Scott. Are you okay?"

He nodded, "Yeah."

"What's going on?"

"I just don't understand why he is doing this. He blocked the cameras, hid the scene by a glamour spell. But then he let an old woman as a witness. Either it was a careless mistake or it was on purpose, then again, if on purpose,  why alter the  cameras if he left a witness?  His reasons don't make sense."

I grimaced, shaking my head to disagree. "I don't know either. I mean, he framed both of us--for what? Somehow, he has a bigger motive than killing her."

Bat emerged behind me. "Diana is right. I don't know  about you guys but from what Matt and I've been trying to do...nothing connects up with why she is chosen as a victim." She was just a random prey. Purely coincidental."

Kingsley retorted. "Well, we have all the more reasons to kill him, then."

---

Hello, how you doing????

How's the story coming along? Not too slow, I hope!

BTW, how is Kingsley? He's the love of ma life!