** USER: BODYLINGUISTICS** ** POSTED JANUARY 10**
 _Hello fellow daily detectives. 

I wanted to address a common question I received on my videos about the top ten murders of 2022. 
_ _How do you avoid getting murdered? _ 
_This is a complicated question, and I’d say there is a sharp divide down gender lines. As a man, I struggled with this when I was starting my work as a forensic psychologist. It took me a while to understand how so many women are blind to the flashing neon signs that tell you that a man will turn violent. _

_Learning how to spot these criminal traits could save your life, so over the next few weeks, I’ll be making videos on what to look out for, but for now I wanted to give you the two most important pointers. 

One. Trust your gut. Your brain doesn’t know better than your instincts. 

And Two. Better safe than sorry. Don’t worry about looking paranoid. Better paranoid than dead. 

_Together, we’re going to make sure you all can spot the signs of an evil boyfriend. _ _
Don’t forget to click the link in the description to get 20% off the first month of your Hearable subscription using the code REDFLAG.
 —-
 ** 5TH PRECINCT** ** SEPTEMBER 13TH** 
Jack was watching their perp through the one-way glass when Barb marched her way into the interrogation room, snatching the file off the desk before joining him at the window.

“Cap says you got a wacko for me?” She asked. “Looks well-dressed for a wacko. We pressing murder charges?”

“Not yet. The main vic is still in the ICU. But Cap wants us to get to work building our case for all the other shit.” 

Barb flipped through the file. “B&E, intimidation, battery, false imprisonment…” she read.

“All done for the other victim’s ‘own good’.” Jack said. “Check the priors.”

“…wow.” Barb said. “That’s… wow.” 

“I know,” Jack said. “You gonna be bad cop?” 

“For a piece of shit like this? Of course I am,” Barb said, shutting the file. “Let’s demonstrate what intimidation really means.”
 —-   ** MIDTOWN** ** AUGUST 2ND** 
Tess clipped her phone into place, switching on her ring light as she checked her hair. 

She picked up her make up sponge and looked at it, for a moment, lost. 

Then, she took a deep breath and hit record.   She was immediately squeezing primer onto the sponge – it was important to look as though the viewer had caught you mid-moment. It was a silly, shallow thing, but it was helping ground her, and soothe her overactive imagination. 

“Today_ I’m_ asking _you_ guys for advice,” Tess said, spreading the primer across her skin, “Because I think I might actually be going crazy. You guys need to tell me if I’m going crazy, okay?” 

Tess returned her sponge to her neatly arranged line up, exchanging it for the second in her sequence. She pumped out a dollop of foundation.   She was fighting to stay peppy. She knew it was stupid to be this shaken, hence her attempt to crowdsource some advice.   She began to apply her foundation. 
“But like. I’ve told you guys about Alice before. Smart, funny, hot as shit, dates total losers? She has this new guy who seems awesome. He’s nice to her. He’s fashionable— and I’m talking Indochino, not Zara. He has good taste, calls himself a feminist, and offers to pay for dinner. So, I’m psyched for her.” 

Second sponge returned to its place. The third, her blender, was retrieved. She leaned forward and used the camera to start evening out the make up. 
“But it’s half-an-hour into dinner, and Elise is talking about Tigger, and asks if he’s ever had pets. This guy says, ‘I’ve had dogs, but I don’t really like cats’.” 

She stopped to stare straight into the camera, hoping to project more confidence than she felt. 

“If you guys don’t know why this is a red flag, I’ll link the video from BodyLinguistics – you have to watch it. But after boyfriend says that, he doesn’t seem perfect anymore, he seems TOO perfect. Like he’s saying what we want to hear, not the truth. He’s laughing at our jokes, but his eyes are cold. Nothing behind them.”

The blender was returned. She plucked the first of her brushes from their holder. She clicked open her blush palette and rubbed her brush a little harder than was necessary.    “Apparently, his childhood best friend had a cat, and that cat hated him. Do you know who cats hate?”

She stopped to point her brush at the camera. 

“Ghosts!” 

Then she shook her head with a rueful smile. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. But it seems weird, right? Or is it just me? Please say I’m overreacting and he’s not some secret serial killer.”

She leaned back to look at her half-completed face. 

“Or, if he’s a serial killer, tell me how to prove it,” she said with cheeky smile. 

She turned off the recording. 

—-
** USER: SEQUINSANDPSYCHOLOGY** ** POSTED AUGUST 3RD**

_Hi BestTess, I felt like I needed to respond to your video and let you know that the cat thing is absolutely a red flag.

When I was a kid my mom told me not to trust men who hate cats, and it’s saved me from so many toxic relationships. _ __ __ _ My mom gave me the advice because of her high school boyfriend. He hated her cat, her cat hated him, and she didn’t think anything of it. Until she left them alone one day and came back to find him POISONING THE CAT’S FOOD. Just a little. Enough to make the cat sick without killing him. They broke up, obviously, but he stalked her for YEARS. He showed up at her wedding to my dad. It was nuts. 

Get your friend out of there, girl. It’s not worth it. _

—— 
** MIDTOWN**
** AUGUST 15TH**  
“I wanted to thank everyone who responded to my last video to let me know that I wasn’t overreacting. It helped me do some thinking.” Tess said, eyes closed as she delicately applied eyeshadow. “So maybe you can weigh in on some other stuff that might be shady.” 

She returned her brush to the palette to get more colour. “Okay, first, Drew —that’s Alice’s boyfriend— doesn’t like when Alice goes clubbing. He says she gets too drunk. He _also_ didn’t want her going to a work conference because guys from her office would be there.”   Tess brushed the make up dust off her face. “And I think he’s lying about a bunch of stuff. He said he was from Southern California, but talked about how he used to have snow every Christmas… Not in LA, buddy.”   She grabbed the setting spray and misted it over her skin.   “I think this is creepy behaviour, but Alice doesn’t, and Elise is unsure. So, you have to let me know— how red are these flags? Leave your thoughts in the comments.” 
 —-
** 5TH PRECINCT** ** SEPTEMBER 13TH**  
Jack sat across the table from the sobbing victim, lips in a grim line. 

“I’m sorry, Miss Black, but I need to take your statement.” 

“I feel so stupid,” she said, looking up, eyes red and framed by smudged eyeliner. “I should’ve seen it coming.” 

“We never want to believe that the people we love can do evil things,” Jack said, gently. “But if you talk to me we can figure out what happened together.” 
She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath, nodding. 

“We were going up to Drew’s grandparents’ cabin in Minnesota, because Drew really wanted to get out of the city. And we were packing when the buzzer went off. It was Tess.”  

She took a shuddering breath. “Drew was pissed at her, because of everything, and I begged him not to confront her, to just leave her alone. But he wouldn’t listen to me. He wouldn’t—“ 

She started to cry again, covering her face with her hands and shaking her head. 

“It’s okay,” Jack said, “it’s going to be okay.”
  —- 
** USER: SEQUINSANDPSYCHOLOGY**
** POSTED AUGUST 17TH**   _You guys really seem to think this cats thing is bullshit. It’s not. You can go watch the videos from BodyLinguistics, CatsandCrimes, or DetectiveHollyG.  But, if you’re really lazy, then I can sum it up here.  _ __ _ First Off. Cats are associated with women— cat fights, being catty, pussies!! It’s all feminine language. So, some men have a subconscious dislike for them already.

But that’s not all. _

_These men often like dogs. Dogs are obedient, people-pleasing animals. 

Cats are independent. Require patience. Need to be given space.

Men who don’t like cats don’t like animals who understand consent. __ __ _ _ __ _They don’t like living with things that won’t follow their every demand. 

Men who don’t like cats are not to be trusted.
__ _—-_   ** MIDTOWN**
** AUGUST 26TH**   Tess’s hands shook as she edited the video. She had gotten used to the sound of her own voice played back, but today it sounded frail and terrified.   She watched the screen as if from outside of her body.    
“I can’t even do my make up for this one. It’s too serious. I’m freaking out.”  On-screen Tess said.   “I was binging BodyLinguistic’s Horrible Husbands series, and he talked about this man. Dave Macafee. When he put up the picture, my heart stopped. Look.”   Paused. Tess dragged the dark-haired man’s photo into the video. She pressed play.   “Now compare him to this picture of Drew.”   Paused. Holding her breath, Tess placed the second picture.   “Look at the cheek scars – they’re identical.”   Paused. Tess circled the scars on each picture.   “I don’t want to give away Drew’s full name, but… the initials are the same.” Tess said. “This guy lived in Minnesota. He killed his pregnant wife and their toddler.”

“And, guess what? He also killed their cat.”
 Paused. This time, just to take a breath. Looking at the pictures made her want to vomit. But she needed people to see this. 
“I think I have to tell Alice. Maybe it’s not him. But look at the pictures. Look at the scar on his right cheek. It matches exactly. Let me know what you think.” —- 
** USER: BESTTESS** ** POSTED SEPTEMBER 13TH**   _I’m making this video in case I disappear._ _ _ _Drew won’t let Alice speak to me, but I heard from Elise that they’re going out of town together. _ _ _ _To a remote cabin in Minnesota. _ _ _ _I can’t let him kill her. I have to stop it. If I don’t post again, you’ll know where I am. _
 —-   ** 5TH PRECINCT** ** SEPTEMBER 13TH**     “Listen, you might as well cut the shit. We have a witness, and plenty of evidence from social media,” Barb said, “You’re going away for a long time.”   “If you’re honest with us, we can help you,” Jack said. “We can ask the judge to reduce your sentencing, maybe get you a lesser charge.”   “If you don’t talk, we’ll have to assume you killed him in cold blood. Is that what you want?” Barb asked.   Tess was still trying to process everything she had learned. This couldn’t be happening again. She had done her research this time.     They must be in on it – Drew isn’t dead. He just got to them. Or Norman did, that manipulative bastard. The cops are lying about the Minnesota murders.  They’re lying about everything.   They had to be. She had seen all of the signs.   And the guy hated cats. 
 —-   **SOURCE: BODYLINGUISTICS
 POSTED DECEMBER 10TH**  
_Hello fellow daily detectives! _ 
_It’s time for number 6 on my top 10 murders of 2023. 

And the winner is – drum roll please -- Tess Miller, the serial stalker!_ _We’re going to talk Tess, and about how you can avoid getting stalked and murdered like her final victim, Drew MacIntosh._ _But first, you know the drill! Click the link below for 20% off your Hearable subscription with code STALKER._