Ford
SOMEONE IS ENJOYING OUR OBLIVIOUSNESS.
"This marks the start of a harrowing tragedy that has struck Westville with four young females dead in the space of a few weeks," the thirty-something, heavily made-up news presenter announces in a grave voice. "Iesha Metcalf was the first, followed by Julia Joseph, Riley Montis, and now Demi Jervais' body has just been discovered..." She clears her throat, grave and pale, momentarily stopping herself as she glances down at her papers before connecting her gaze with the camera again. "In several places."
I gape at Jax, Jeremiah and Clark. "The fuck is this? Don't fucking tell me she's been dismembered."
The fact that William and Harris are missing is a note of concern because this is crucial information for our investigations, but I can't seem to focus on that. Whoever has been killing these girls—minus Julia as we categorically know her death is the result of revenge exacted by the four assholes from college—it isn't right anymore. Something has shifted inside of them.
The MO should have been the fucking same.
Demi Jarvais—whoever she is—should have been murdered by some sort of injection. Maybe not potassium chloride like with Iesha, but some deadly substance. And yet she wasn't.
Their killer has escalated.
"Who gave the cops permission to alert the town of the girls' deaths?" I ask incredulously.
The worst part is that they're finally announcing these deaths to the town. It will either alert the occupants or hinder the killer. Or both. Or spur the killer on. That means more victims.
"Red Alert," Jax simply responds, his gaze fixated on the TV as the news presenter continues to talk through her evident discomfort at dismemberment. "They know that no one from Red Alert is behind this, which means that there's a killer out there and for some reason, they initially targeted a girl affiliated to Red Alert," he adds in reference to Iesha once being his girl until she was eventually murdered.
"Where was Julia found?"
Jeremiah glances out of his eye at me quickly as if realizing I might have navigated to a new avenue with a new lead, though we all know Julia's death is segregated from the other three. "Some embankment in a slight clearing in the park. Dog walker found her."
"Riley was found on our doorstep," I continue. "And Demi? She wasn't dumped on our doorstep. Either this is a new killer or they're changing up their MO to complicate the case."
"Demi's body was discovered in a small concentrated area in the abandoned construction site where they planned to build a smaller shopping district or mall or however they pitched it. They never finished the building structure so there's barely any walls and when someone was passing, they noticed the limbs and went to investigate before vomiting nearby and phoning the cops."
I shake my head, frustrated that the killer chooses now to escalate. "Jax, what happened with the lead that you told me more girls had died from potassium chloride injections after Iesha? Didn't you look into the past twenty years?"
Jax isn't even staggered that I recall the memory so easily. "Nothing conclusive. It's literally just that: they all died from potassium chloride, but there's nothing mentioning any killer or even a profile of some sort."
"Quickfire," I instruct. "Name me everyone that knows our security code to access our property."
"Us six. Iesha did. Gabriella, probably," Jeremiah answers rapidly, rolling the answers off his tongue fluently without much speculation. "My girl does, but she's not really in any fit state to be entering and leaving at will. Genevieve, I'm sure. Normally we have to authorise entry to even Red Alert members if they meet us here. I think that's about it."
