Isabelle rushed through traffic to get to Vivian Keller’s address. She ran two red lights and nearly hit a minivan, and she couldn’t tell if it was because she was seeing red from her past or due to the stressful urgency of the present. Regardless, she needed to get to her before the mysterious killer did.

A few minutes later, Isabelle reached 136 Piper Boulevard and parked across from Vivian Keller’s home. She grabbed the pistol in her glove compartment as she slowly approached the door. She knocked three times. No response. She knocked once more.

“Ms. Keller, this is the police. You are in immediate danger and need to come with me for safety. Please open the door, ma’am,” Isabelle instructed.

Suddenly, the door opened with a creak. Isabelle steadied the pistol in her hands and aimed it right at the door.

Officer Nathan jumped when he saw the gun pointed to his face.

“Christ, Greenblatt! It’s just me!”

Isabelle lowered her weapon. “Sorry, Caulfield. Is she in there?”

Nathan’s eyes lowered to his feet as he struggled to find the words to tell her what happened. Isabelle instantly gathered what happened and sighed.

“Where’s her body?” she asked.

“In the bathroom. The killer hung her body on the curtain rod,” Nathan stated.

An emotional storm surged through Isabelle and all she did was mumble the word, “Damn.”

“Was she close to you?” Nathan asked.

“It’s… complicated,” Isabelle replied.

“I see, I remember seeing something about your dad and her a while ago and…”

Isabelle gave him a cold glare, indicating for him to stop talking.

“Yeah, sorry,” he mumbled.

“It’s fine. I’ll call this in and I’ll have forensics on this immediately.”

As Isabelle reached for the walkie in her pocket, Nathan grabbed her arm to stop her. Isabelle’s eyebrows arched.

“What are you doing, Caulfield?”

“Don’t call it in yet. I want to talk to you.”

“About what?”

“Your father, you, and this whole murder spree going on,” Nathan explained.

“It’s none of your business. Besides, why do you want to know about all of this anyway?”

“Just curious and because it just seems you’ve been too hard on your dad and yourself for what he’s put you through.”

“If you had to endure the life I had around that man, especially involving the woman hanging in that bathroom then you would understand. Now, if you excuse me, I’m done talking and I need to see my father at the hospital.” Isabelle stormed off.

Back at the hospital, Rick felt nothing but fear. Fear for his husband, fear for his daughter, fear for Vivian and fear for himself. He dreaded hearing his phone ring from an unknown number. It’s been hours and Cameron still hasn’t woken up. He kept blaming himself for everything that happened. He was sweating profusely and started running his thin hair with his fingers. The weight of this domino effect was crushing him and he couldn’t hold on anymore. How much more of this could he take? What more could this killer do to torture him to no end?

Shortly, a doctor coming back from the emergency wing approached Rick.

“Mr. Greenblatt, right?” the doctor asked.

“Y-yes, that’s me,” Rick said. His heart started to sink, bracing for the news.

“Your husband is in stable condition and is awake. He’s on a lot of antibiotics, so I’ll only allow short visiting hours for him to get used to their effects.”

“I need to see him now,” Rick stated, standing straight up from his chair.

“Fine, but be quick.”

Rick quickly walked through the emergency wing to find Cameron’s room. He was in a white hospital gown and had two tubes sticking through him.

“Cameron, you are awake, right?”

“Barely, but yes,” he answered softly.

Rick wanted to give him a hug but stepped back seeing the weak condition.

“I need to tell you something, Rick.”

“What is it?”

“I saw the killer’s face.”

To be continued…