In the center of the shop, surrounded by burnt out candles, lay the body of another victim.

I just give the murderer a glare.

“Why won’t you kill me yet?” I ask him, attempting a polite smile as my hands jerk behind my back. _Stupid rope._

He steps closer, bending over until his face is level to me. “I like knowing all about a victim and their life before I take it,” he murmurs.

_I hate this chair_, I think as his face nears even more. The murderer lifts his head, finally, and moves behind the chair.

_I need to get out of here…_

“Is that so? Who is that?” My head nods off to the corpse laying in the pool of blood as the man behind me tightens my ropes.

Then he walks right back in front of me, watching a wince cross my face.

He gives me a grin, and my insides melt.

_A murderer? Really, Vic? _

_Why does he have to be so attractive?_

“Connor Blemman. Just finished junior year in high school, born 2007. He sold a child a gun, knowing that she had terrible intentions.”

_How did he…?_

A grimace crosses my face, as I think about a little girl surrounded by corpses. I can almost hear the gunshots.

It takes me a second to realize that the shots are real.

**The police are here.**

The murderer captures my eyes like a siren to a sailor as he winks.

“Don’t worry, Darling. The fun isn’t over yet.”

And then the world goes black.

——————————————

“Ms. Bangen, what did the animal of a human look like?” The chief asks me.

I glance around the room, full of armed police officers in the

_Who told him I knew what the murderer looked like?_

“Sir, I just saw black hair,” I plead, a fake-tear rolling down my cheek, “why won’t you believe me?”

A chuckle arises from the man.

“My team started researching you. A year ago, you were an assassin with two mass murderers as your bosses. One of them happens to have black hair, is this a coincidence, Miss Victoria?”

The tears fade, as I look up to the eyes of the chief.

_Dang. This police force is thorough._

“Are you thinking of Victoria Bangin? I’m Bang-gen, a completely different woman,” I retort, shining a bright smile towards the officer.

“Couldn’t be,” Chief explains, to my dismay, as he leans onto his elbows on the desk, “she got murdered, also, a year ago.”

“And how would you know that, Chief?” I ask, sitting straighter in the chair.

This ‘chief’ has a secret. I know it, because I’ve seen him before, and… I’ve never been in contact with any police officer ever.

His eyes widen, but only slightly. The man knows how to ‘poker face.’

Too bad he hasn’t got me fooled.

“Files,” he explains, a little too quickly. “We read all of the Victoria B’s files.”

“I think you have a secret.”

“What…?”

I’ve baffled him.

Me, the 27 year old, has baffled this… chief of ‘only a couple or so years.’

“You’re a murderer,” I respond, in front of all of the officers. “You killed Bangin. And you know who killed Blemman.”

It’s true, that’s something I know. Because I saw the chief at the crime scene as well. Guess I was just too invested in…

_what was his name again?_