a cold summer

Chapter Eleven ~ New Information

I tried to gather some meaning from the wall but there was so much information and I couldn't process all of it. A desk sat in the corner with lots of books and loose pieces of paper strewn across it. I picked up a piece of paper which had HOW DO THESE MURDERS CONNECT? written in large red pen. I frowned and went back over to the wall.

I realised that the wall was depicting various other murders. Photographs of the victims and their bodies were lined up next to each other with names alongside them. I'd never heard of any of these people. Red pieces of string connected the photographs to a map of a small unnamed village. According to this map, six murders occurred in this location. Next to the map was a newspaper clipping with the headline: SERIAL KILLER FINALLY ARRESTED FOR SIX MURDERS. A blurry picture of a person being led away was below it. I couldn't quite make out what they looked like. I had to assume it was a man.

I briefly remembered Jesse and Isa say something about collaborating on a research project. I guess they had to research one famous serial killer, so that must have been what this was. My eyes were drawn to another newspaper clipping below the previous one titled SERIAL KILLER ESCAPES FROM PRISON. That scared me. This person they were researching was obviously dangerous.

I scanned the wall, looking for the killer's name, but I couldn't find one. Instead, I noticed that the board seemed to be split into three sections. The part I was looking at seemed to be the first chronologically. I looked over at the second one. This part just had newspaper clippings and a map. No photographs. The first one said INFAMOUS SERIAL KILLER STRIKES AGAIN. I found it strange how they never mentioned their name. More newspapers revealed details of dozens of other murders that had occurred in this town which was shown in the map. I could only assume they had been carried out by this same person.

The last newspaper had the headline INFAMOUS SERIAL KILLER ESCAPES ARREST FOR THE SECOND TIME. This newspaper was dated as the most recent. I looked around for something else more recent but couldn't find anything. The last piece of the wall was a piece of paper with the writing WHERE IS SHE NOW?. I recognised Isa's loopy handwriting and a sickening thought went through my brain.

This serial killer was still at large. And it was a woman. Isa said she. That's what they were doing. They were trying to find her.

Part of me wanted to just run away, to pretend that I hadn't seen any of this. But this could be the key to solving Jesse and Isa's murder.

I went over the facts in my head. There was a woman who was a serial killer that had murdered six people in one village, before getting arrested and escaping from prison to another town where she murdered even more people. The press must have figured out she was the same person as the headline was written as Infamous Serial Killer strikes again. But then when they tried to arrest her, she escaped and is currently on the run. And no one knows where she is.

I headed back over to the table to see if I could find any more useful documents. Then, I saw two pictures numbered 1 and 2. One was of a young woman with long, brown hair and green eyes. The other was of another young woman but with brown eyes and shorter blonde hair. Analysing the pictures closely, I realised that they were actually the same woman but with slightly different features. She looked pretty, but there was something about her that just seemed off. Dark shadows clung to the underside of her eyes and her skin was so pale. As if it had never seen the sun. This must be the serial killer.

The pictures had names attached to them, which I figured were her real name and the fake name she took after she escaped prison the first time. I couldn't tell which was which. But this would be much use as she probably would have changed her name and appearance again.

I had so much information, but I wasn't sure how it was going to help me solve Jesse and Isa's murder. All this proved was that they were researching a dangerous serial killer.

I was about to give up when I noticed another box stuffed with paper. I figured it might be worth a look. I opened up the box and immediately wished I hadn't.

There was a gun. And spare bullets.

Why would they have a gun? To protect themselves? But then from whom? All these questions swirled around inside my brain, but I couldn't think of any rational explanations as to why. But then I finally understood.

She knows.

Whoever this serial killer is knows that Jesse and Isa were planning to uncover the truth and expose her. They knew what they were doing was dangerous. But they did it anyway, because it was the right thing to do. I felt my respect for them grow.

But the serial killer didn't get her chance because those ghost kids got them first.

I continued rummaging through the box and found something every more surprising. Blueprints. For a dry ice machine. I read the blueprint.

This machine converts solid Carbon Dioxide into gas through sublimation. Doing so causes a dramatic drop in temperature, leaving the room several degrees colder.

I was stunned. This was a machine that made temperatures drop. And underneath were instructions on how to make fake snow. There was also a weather report, stating that this area would see a cloudy spell on the day of Jesse and Isa's murder. And a map. A map outlining a detailed plot to create a creepy winter wonderland in someone's garden in the middle of summer.

Did that mean what I thought it meant?

There was even more. The map also showed that various projectors had been set up around the garden and house which would project moving images.

I had to see if this was true.