Chapter 10

Chapter 10

We returned to the station after taking Sarah to the hospital. She hadn’t stopped insisting it was James she’d seen.

Her words gnawed at me. I was there, and I saw two different people. SK and James.

But James had arrived after the attack. How could it have been him Sarah saw?

Unless…

A thought lodged in my mind, he could be SK’s accomplice. Or maybe something worse.

Either way, I was going to find out.

The next morning was a weekend, but sleep had done nothing to quiet my head. Ten missed calls from James lit up my phone.

He kept trying to talk to me at the station, but I kept my distance.

With a sigh, I rubbed my forehead and dragged my feet toward the fridge. A bottle of water was the first thing I grabbed. I drained half of it in one go, the cold burning down my throat.

The same red ribbon I’d found tied to Alyssa’s corpse… was found with Sarah too. She claimed the killer had given it to her as a gift when they were still dating.

According to her, he had been nothing but sweet to her. He never raised his voice, never lifted a hand against her. He looked and acted like the perfect boyfriend.

It didn’t add up. Why in God's name will he kill them after dating? If he was just as Sarah described.

Revenge? Or pleasure. Nothing made sense, the victims weren't even connected in any way and never met SK so it's definitely not revenge.

I groaned under my breath and stretched my arms before heading to the bathroom. A shower cleared my head just enough for me to throw on a pair of jeans and a plain top.

Minutes later, I was back on the couch with an envelope in my lap, steam curling from the cup of coffee beside me.

I spread the photographs across my knees, Alyssa’s body, the girl from the club, the taped-off crime scenes. My eyes kept returning to one thing: the red ribbon.

That was the thread connecting every victim. Every girl he’d dated… and every one he’d left dead.

I dug through his past files, but there was nothing concrete, no physical description, no traceable history. Just some files that say he was an assassin for people in power. His earlier cases had been buried under influence and corruption… until the day he butchered a director in front of witnesses. That had made him a wanted man.

Sarah’s voice crept back into my thoughts, her eyes wide with terror as she swore James was the man who’d tried to kill her. I shook the memory off and leaned back, staring up at the ceiling.

“This is driving me insane,” I muttered.

I picked up another photo from the pile. My gaze caught on something I’d missed before, something small, in the corner of a crime scene shot.

A young man stood in the background, half in shadow, watching.

I leaned forward, studying the photo critically. My focus narrowed, my pulse ticking faster—

A sharp knock on the door jolted me.

My body tensed.

I set the photo down and went to answer it. James stood there, his eyes dark.

He didn’t say anything at first. Just looked at me, and I could read the plea in his eyes.

I exhaled slowly, stepping aside to let him in.

Back on the couch, I watched him cross the room.

“Are you still on the case?” he asked.

I nodded.

“Ariel, listen… it really wasn’t me.”

“I know,” I said, my tone flat.

His brows lifted. “You do?”

“The culprit had a mark on his face,” I replied, though in my mind James’s name still sat stubbornly on the suspect list. Sarah might have mistaken him for SK—but what if she hadn’t?

I picked up the photograph I’d been holding before the knock. “Do you know who that is?” I asked, pointing to the background figure.

James leaned in. “His face is covered. I can’t tell who he is.”

“I meant the person next to him. Look at his hand.”

His eyes narrowed as he studied it. A minute passed before he looked at me sharply. “How did you find this?” He sank into the cushion beside me.

“The first man is definitely SK, that was the jacket he wore the night he killed the girl from the club and the man behind him is a cop. They don’t look connected, but in this shot, something is being passed between them. I’m sure of it.”

James’s jaw tightened. “If SK has an insider… that explains a lot. How do we find him?”

I set the picture down on the table, folding my arms. A slow smile curved my lips. “We use it to our advantage.”

I didn’t tell him the rest.

Because in my mind, this was more than bait for SK. This was bait for James too. If he really was innocent, the trap would prove

it. But if he wasn’t… I’d know before anyone else did.

Either way, I was done guessing.