Pink and red were the prevalent colours of the high street and Alexander stalked down the street without sparing any of it a glance. He checked his watch, still maintaining his quick pace, and saw that he had 15 minutes before he had to clock in. A pit stop at the coffee shop was definitely on the table and at 8:30am on the dot he walked into the police precinct. “Morning, Detective,” the desk sergeant called when he walked through the doors. She gave him a bright smile over her mountain of paperwork. “Morning, Mad- Sergeant Pierce,” he corrected in response to her raised eyebrow. He mirrored her grin and added, “don’t forget to call mum tonight, she’s worried about you.” He made his way to the bottom of the stairs before calling over his shoulder. “I think she wants to set you up with someone.” He laughed upon hearing his little sister stutter at her post. He was sure she’d curse at him if she wasn’t stationed on the front desk. He waved goodbye and made his way up to his desk. He’d only just seated himself when Terry bustled over carrying a stack on files. “Good morning, sir,” he said. “The Sergeant wants you to go through these reports at your earliest convenience.” Alexander tapped the edge of his desk. “If you wouldn’t mind popping them down here, Terry, and I’ll get onto it right away.” Terry placed the reports down and gestured to the coffee cup sitting on Alex’s desk. “I guess there’s no need to ask if you want a cup of coffee, sir.” Alexander smiled up at him. “I have nothing against your coffee, Ter, I just needed a stronger shot to start the day.” “Right you are, sir,” Terry said. “I’ll leave you to it then.” Alex stared at the blank computer screen and took a long sip of the coffee. He got everything set up and started going through the reports. He’d finished going through the pile by 10am and went to get another cup of coffee before diving into any more tasks. When he came back there was a lone lollipop sitting on his desk. He looked at it with mild disgust and considered pushing it right into the bin. He reconsidered upon seeing a small tag attached and thinking it wouldn’t be fair to the person who put it there if he just got rid of it. Upon picking the lollipop up he realised that the tag was actually a small envelope. It had his name written in cursive, so it definitely was meant for him. He opened the envelope and gasped as the contents fell out onto his desk. There were a handful of pictures, all of different women bound and gagged. Each picture was numbered 1 through 6. He grabbed a pair of gloves from his desk draw and sifted through the pictures till he came to a plain piece of card. He turned it over and found a simple message on the back: ‘Only one can be your Valentine, but which? Choose wisely, because all but that one will die.’