Foretold

#19

"Mark, I don't understand... What are you saying?" Caroline stared at me.
"Follow me." I told Caroline and Madison and they obliged. I took them to Brian's cell and asked Madison to open the door to the cell. She took the master key out of her pocket as they rattled and pushed one of the keys in the keyhole. The bars opened and I entered with Caroline. Brian was asleep, probably on sedatives. His blond hair was messy and all over his face. His face didn't have the usual calm expression. If I didn't know better, I'd have said that he looked worried.

I bent down and looked under his bed. There, he had his drawing book and colour pencils. And the key, like I expected. I remembered Caroline telling me how she'd seen a key under his bed. I pulled it out and tried it in the lock to Brian's cell. And it worked. I stared at Caroline and Madison.
"Oh Jesus, I don't know how I let this happen..." Madison said. I handed her the key and I looked at Caroline.
"Would you still say that something is off? That Brian can't be the killer?" I asked her.

She looked shocked. She looked at Madison and said, "Is this possible?"
"I don't know what is possible anymore, Caroline. He's on a high dose of psychiatric medicines. I don't understand." Madison said, confused.
"Give us a moment alone, Madison?" Caroline said. Madison nodded and walked away.

"What do you have to say, Caroline?" I asked.
"Something is off, it can't be him." She said, angering me.
"Wake up, Caroline. Your love is making you blind." I said.
"Isn't yours, Mark? You've never been so angry before. Isn't it just that you're worried about me and want to find someone to blame? Blaming Brian won't help if the killer is still out on the lose. We saw the killer. It can't be Brian."
"What's the key doing with him? And what about the conversation that Kaitlyn heard?"

"I don't know, Mark. I think someone is trying to frame him. With Erica disappearing, these murders, it doesn't make sense. Something is off track." Caroline said.
"Do you have a better option?"
"We've taken away his key. If it's him, he can't do anything. Now there are two things to do. One, check his drawing book. Two, check the CCTV footage from that night."

"Okay." I said as I entered his cell and checked the drawing book. The last drawing was of a girl with chocolaty skin, lying on the sand. It looked like the river bank again. The colour of the drawing suggested a time around midnight. The victim had a wound on her body. She was shot. And I hated to admit it, but the girl did look a lot like Caroline. The same skin, the same body structure, the same beautiful lips and eyes. And I got scared more than ever. Caroline was behind me and she saw the drawing. She kept a hand on my shoulder and I sighed, keeping the book back.

We went to Madison's chamber and asked to see the CCTV footage.
"Marcus... I knew you'd want to see the footage and I already checked. The footage is deleted." Madison said.
"What? How's that possible? Who has access to the security room?" I thundered on her.
"Only the staff. That too, a selected few. Me, Cole.... and Kaitlyn." She said, hesitating.
"Kaitlyn? She doesn't even work here!" I said.

"She is the officer in charge for the asylum. She has as much access and any of us does." Madison said. And maybe Caroline was right, I just needed someone to blame. Isn't it fishy that Kaitlyn was the one who overheard Cole's conversation with Brian? Wasn't she one of the only people Cole trusted? She could've easily poisoned him. It's funny how Kaitlyn was the one in coma from the carbon monoxide poisoning at Lee's house, how she found the diary Erica had written. How did we assume that Erica set the house on fire? Couldn't it have been Kaitlyn? We never thought of her, because she's an officer.

Erica

I rushed to meet her straight from Mikayla's house. The same place we always used to meet at. She was there, her long hair flowing on her back. I had run a long way. I was panting and tired, but I didn't care. She turned around to face me and smiled.
"I did everything that you asked me to do. Now please, set her free!" I screamed.
"You set the house on fire with Kaitlyn in. It was supposed to be Caroline. You got the wrong one."
"I didn't know that! Please set her free!" I pleaded. Her grin got broader.

"Oh, Erica, aren't you so naive? Do you really think the police would lie to you about Mikayla's death?" She said, without any kind of sympathy in her tone. Rather, she sounded like she was having fun. I was scared of her.
"You promised me... you said she's alive." I said as I turned around to run. That's when I felt the mighty blow on my head. And then, everything went black.

Kaitlyn

It wasn't too difficult to locate her body in the woods. It was Melissa Johnson. Ex-police officer. Another who was in love with Brian. Lately, I feel like, except me, everybody loved him. Yes, he was charming. He was intelligent. He was polite, loyal, strong. He was everything a girl could ask for. And now, we almost can't recognize him. I put on my gloves and knelt down to check her body. It had gone blue, she'd probably been poisoned. I checked her neck. There was a fresh signature there, the same one. :). The killer was definitely a psychopath. I checked her pockets for belongings, she didn't have much. And as far as I know, she didn't have any family either. That was good, nobody to miss her and cry in pain.

Melissa was strong, I couldn't help but feel sad about her death. My emotions were somewhat numbed by what happened to Cole, but I was still human. I got up and let the team do their work, pack up the body, send it for post mortem, try to collect evidence. There wasn't any witness to question. It was monsoon, the soil was wet. There weren't any footsteps from last night, they'd been washed away by the rain.

Looking at the crime scene, I couldn't help but wonder, why would someone kill these beautiful women and attempt to murder Cole? There must be something they had in common. Mikayla Lee, Liliana Shaw, Melissa Johnson and now Caroline Joshua. If I kept Cole aside, still they had nothing in common. Except that they were women, all around the same age. And that Caroline and Melissa worked for the police department. And that's when it clicked. Maybe they did have something else in common.