The Reaper Saga [Book 1-3]

CHAPTER 2 [EDITED]

VERMON

A burned asylum.

A mass murder.

One patient to connect it all.

Yeah. I was already starting to hate my night.

"Want to tell me why did it go unnoticed by the cops?" Aaron asked me with a scowl. He wasn't just my partner, he was one of my best friends for the last six years. In fact, when I first moved here, he was just trying to get better. Stop being a hoodlum. Everyone wanted to put him in Juvie, I wanted him to use that smart head of his to help me solve cases. In a way, we were two peas in a pot. We both had secrets and we both hid it well.

"Personal reasons," I replied, staring closely at Aaron. There was it again. The look of fleeting anger in Aaron's eyes. So, it was safe to assume that he looked far away from agreeing with me.

"You don't agree."

"No shit!" Standing up from the couch, he was quick to be on my side to snatch the diary from my hands. "Since when do you hide evidences?"

Sighing, I dropped the old case file on the table. "Since this diary belongs to one of the patients I knew. It was my first unsolved case and I was told to look the other way. Looks like we are back to square one."

"W-What?" He looked shocked only for a minute before it clicked. "Is this the same one from four years ago? Someone was arrested though, wasn't it? The mysterious fire that no one can explain...just like this."

"They were referred to a sanatorium in the end, Aaron."

"Shit. You got all of that in a day and didn't tell me? What about the nurse? Did you talked to her?" He angrily handed me the torn diary.

I forced out a half-assed mumble. "The cops already took her statement. There was nothing I could've done."

"But we're going to, right?" He looked hopeful but he had to have known that I was counting on him to do it so he sighed, changing the subject. "Fine. I'll deal with it and you deal with that patient of yours. Maybe we can find something out from them. Shit!"

"What?" I asked curiously, glancing up to see him messing with his phone.

"Uncle Jimmy got busted again. I'll have to go bail him out." Shit, indeed. One of these days that man was going to drag both of us down. Fuck. "Can I at least come over later? Maybe discuss the case together?"

"Yeah, just make sure uncle Jimmy stops gambling and ruining your life." I opened the laptop, intending to make a report but shit, maybe I needed a break first. Collect my thoughts and go from there. "On second thought, let me clear my head first. Valentine being involved is messing with me."

"Let's go to your place then. We'll both get shitfaced if you want. After dealing with Jimmy I might need it too."

I paused, hearing him toggle with the lock. Shit. "Hey, I won't be going home for the next few days. Ivy is staying there and let's just say, we hardly talk nowadays unless one of us is bringing up our past mistakes."

"Your sister is here..." He trailed off, laughing. "And Valentine's sanatorium just got burned. You sure it's just not her getting revenge on him?"

"She won't just destroy his property, Aaron. She'd kill that motherfucker in cold blood. But since he's still alive and being a pain in the ass...no, it wasn't her." I replied dryly, hearing a booming laughter behind me along with the sound of a closed door. The moment he was out, I picked up the diary, brushing my fingers over the long forgotten tear marks on the pages.

"Dear Samara,

We are graduating this year, bitch. Yes, finally senior year is almost over. Don't even dare to think that it means I miss you any less. I think I have started to miss you even more. Kyle doesn't show it but he misses you too. Did you know he was going to propose to you at our senior prom? Yeah, me neither until today at lunch he blurted out. Times like this makes it harder to forget what happened. So, I'll keep writing here until I can finally forgive myself..."