The next day, they were greeted with unpleasant news. "What do you mean?!" said Meera.


    "Yes, Mary and Cheng are dead." Misty looked down with regret. "We were here till 2 am and went to bed after that. It probably must have happened after that."


    "Stop lying! They aren''t dead... I get it! You are trying to lure the culprit right? If so, tell me, it should be obvious that I''m not the killer!" said Meera.


    "If it was a lie, why would the police be here," said Trevor.


    "Where''s everyone else?"


    "Outside, the police want us to go outside to have a detailed look into everything."


    "Okay, I will go outside too." Meera walked outside and saw everyone gathered together, some crying, some holding back tears, some being strong. She looked around and saw Alex sitting on the ground and walked to him, "Alex?"


    Alex didn''t respond to her, but rather stared blankly, his eyes looked like void, no light, no emotion, just pure emptiness. "Alex!" Meera cried out, "please cry it out, or else you won''t be able to let go of the pain. Mary tried to help me out with Vishnu''s death, that''s why I can''t bear to see her lover being in despair! I want to help you!"


    Alex stood up. "Now you should be sure that it''s Mary right? The one who killed Vishnu?" He walked towards the gate.


    "Where are you going?"


    "Not of your concern."


    She looked around and walked to Catherine, Meera''s eyes were filled with tears. "What happened yesterday?"


    "I''m not sure but Mary and Cheng were killed last night. The police are still investigating their rooms." As they were talking, the attendants came out with two bodies in stretchers and put them in the ambulance. They both looked at them with a helpless expression. "Wait!" said Catherine, she ran to the attendants, "can I see them one last time?"


    "I''m sorry but it''s an order to not let anyone touch them."


    After a while


    Everyone except Alex was gathered in the living room just like every time. "We lost another member..." said Misty.


    "Who saw the body first?" said Catherine.


    "I did," Tony raised his hands.


    "You did?" Catherine stiffened her lips.


    "What did the police say?" said Meera.


    "From what we know so far, Mary died by getting stabbed, and Cheng died by getting shot in the head."


    "Just like Satoshi and Vishnu..." said Meera.


    "This is how... serial killers kill... It''s clear what we should do next..." said Catherine.


    "And what will it be?" said Trevor.


    "We should get the hell out of here, if we stay here any second longer, the next victim will be us."


    "True, we should go back to our houses, and it''s not nice to live in Satoshi''s house even after his murder, even though his mother is fine with it..." said Misty.


    "Alright then, pack your bags and leave," Trevor took his phone out, "I will call Alex and inform him." Trevor walked to the front door, however he stopped midway and looked back. "By the way, don''t think that you have escaped, we are still continuing the investigations," he walked out to call Alex


    Everyone went to their rooms to pack their bags but Misty stayed in the living room, with her arms crossed thinking about something, Catherine looked back. "You still gonna stay here?"


    "No, I was thinking about visiting Satoshi''s mother and saying thank you," she looked at Catherine. "You should come with me too, you already know her."


    "No, I haven''t talked to her for years, it would be awkward to finally talk with her after all these years."


    "Eh? Why should you feel awkward? You are definitely required to pay her a visit at a difficult time like this. Since you are required to do it, why not make it today?"


    "Alright then.."


    "It''s decided! Come outside once you are done packing, I will drop you to your home too."


    "Okay, thanks I guess."


    Everyone packed their bags and got out together. Misty locked the house, and looked at everyone. "We will... most likely never come back here again, take one last look at this place."


    "Even though this place has given us these bad memories, I still got a lot of good memories from this place. The fact that we won''t ever get to come back here is... sad," said Tony.


    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    "We would have got to come back here as much as possible if Satoshi was still alive. One of you killed him," Alex clenched his fist, "and is getting sad over leaving the place. We would all have met up here once in a while if Satoshi was still alive," he turned around. "Also, I don''t want to remember that I ever came to this place."


    "Alex..." said Trevor. "Let''s go then," Trevor looked at everyone.


    Everyone took their luggages and got out. Everyone got to their cars.


    "Alright, good bye guys. It was nice meeting you all," said Tony.


    "Don''t say goodbye yet, we will definitely meet each other again," said Misty.


    "Yeah, especially since we still haven''t found the killer yet," said Trevor.


    "Well, Meera, you said you will drop me, so what are you waiting for? Unlock the car," said Tony. Meera unlocked the car and got on the driver''s seat. Tony also got inside the car on the passenger seat next to the driver''s. Meera drove off without saying anything.


    "Alright, bye guys," Alex got in his car and drove off.


    Trevor looked at Annie and Vincent, "I will drop you both off."


    "Alright, thanks," Vincent took his luggages and got in Trevor''s car.


    "You don''t really have to... I can walk," said Annie.


    Trevor walked to Annie and took her luggages from her hands, then threw it in his car. He gave her a stiff look, "come on Annie, stop the act of good girl, you are already caught now."


    "Alright," Annie rolled her eyes.


    Trevor put the luggages in his car and got inside the car, he lowered the car window. "See ya," he smiled, "Misty." He closed the window and the car took off.


    "It''s time for us to leave too," Misty looked at Catherine, "Catherine." They both got in the car and it drove off.


    Misty stopped the car in front of Camila''s house. "We are there, get off," Misty opened the door and got out. Catherine took a deep breath in and got out of the car. Misty rang the calling bell, they waited for the door to be opened.


    Camila opened the door after a good 30 seconds. "Oh, Misty, Catherine, welcome, come in," they both entered the house. "Take a seat, girls," they sat on the couch. "So what brings you both here?"


    "Well, Misty told me to come and visit you but I don''t know why she wants to meet you," said Catherine.


    "I''m here to give you this," she took out the house keys, "and I wanted to talk to you."


    "Oh," she took the keys from her hands, "you guys are already leaving?"


    "Yes, it''s dangerous..."


    Camila was confused, "dangerous?"


    "Nothing ma''am," said Misty.


    "What do you want to talk about with me?"


    "Satoshi entrusted something to me."


    Evening of the day Satoshi died


    Misty was eating snacks and Satoshi came to the living room and sat beside her on the couch and started crocheting. Misty noticed it and looked closely. "You know crocheting?"


    "Yes, my mother taught me this, and it became my hobby."


    "Wow, that''s amazing!" she got excited, "what are you making?!


    "A scarf.. for my mother."


    "For your mother?"


    "Yes, it''s her birthday in three days. I have always wanted to give her the fabric I crocheted but I was always so busy that I never got any time to do that." Satoshi smiled. "I''m actually thankful to Ralph, thanks to his sick idea, I got a reason to take a break from my work." He did the finishing touch. "Alright! It''s done," he put it a little farther and took a look at it, "how does it look?"


    "It''s beautiful, I''m sure your mother will love it."


    His eyes sparkled. "You think so? I''m glad then. I hope she will smile after seeing this," he frowned, "I have never seen her smile ever since my father died. She was probably disappointed at her children for fighting over their father''s wealth, I wasn''t able to look into her eyes ever since then."


    "She will be proud of you for attaining mastery in something she has taught you."


    "I hope so."


    Present


    "I found this in his room yesterday. He really wanted to give you this present," she looked down with regret, "so I thought that I should give you this."


    Camila''s eyes were filled with tears. She took it from her hands, and looked at it with love. "Thank you dear, this means," she sobbed, "this means a lot to me."


    "Catherine, you don''t have anything to talk to her about?" said Misty. Catherine was reflecting about something. "Catherine?"


    "Yes?" she snapped back


    "You don''t have anything to talk about with your childhood friend''s mother even after seeing her after so long?"


    "Uhm aunty... what am I supposed to tell you? I''m sorry about what happened."


    "You have nothing to talk to me about but I have a lot of things to tell you," Camila took Catherine''s hands. "I have always wanted to tell you this," Camila looked down with regret, "but I didn''t want it to be like this." Camila stood up. "I want to show you something," Camila went inside and came back after a minute, she had a box in her hands. She put it on top of the table. "These are the things Satoshi treasured a lot." She put all of those things on top of the table one by one. "This was his favourite childhood magazine... this is his first medal... this is.."


    "Wow, Satoshi really is good at looking after things," said Misty.


    "Yes, my son was always like this, but wait this isn''t exactly what I want to show you."


    She rummaged through all of the stuff. "Here it is!" she took out a painting of greenery. "He really treasured this."


    "This is ..."


    "That''s right, it''s the very first present you gave him. One time, I almost threw it away and the commotion he made..." She smiled. "When he finally found it, he told me this..."


    She remembered her son''s words. "Mama, you can throw away anything from that box but not this, this is my treasure."


    Tears fell down from Catherine''s eyes. "I''m sorry... I''m so pathetic."


    "Nothing is your fault dear, it''s not your fault you weren''t able to make up and get in touch again."


    "I really am the worst possible person in this whole world."


    "Say that again and I will smack some sense into you," Camila went inside again and came back with cookies in a tray. She offered it to Catherine, "take it, it''s freshly baked." Suddenly she saw a younger version of Camila offering her a pastry.


    It went back to normal and she took the cookies. "Thank you."


    Both Misty and Catherine talked a lot with Camila. Misty looked at her watch. "Oh, it''s almost time," she looked at Camila, "I''m sorry ma''am but we have to leave now. I have an appointment." She looked at Catherine. "Let''s go, Catherine!"


    They both got in the car and it drove off. "Who are you going to meet?"


    "Doesn''t concern you."


    "I''m sure it''s related to Satoshi and Vishnu''s case, as their friend it does concern me."


    "Oof Catherine, it''s just Trevor, Earlier we decided to meet each other to look over everything." She dropped her off in front of her house. Then she drove to her cafe, Trevor was waiting in front of the cafe, she got out of the car. "Oh, how long have you been waiting?"


    "Not too long, I just came."


    "Alright," Misty quickly took out her cafe keys and unlocked it. They both discussed for hours. "We are catching them tomorrow itself," said Misty.


    "If we both do our assigned task right, we have a hundred percent chance of finding them tomorrow itself," said Trevor.