“It’s Halloween, Ruby; you should go out with us tomorrow.” the voice on the phone
“You know me, Sara, I don’t like parties, but I’ll see if I can go, just for you…”
“Okay, will wait, and please don’t find another reason to not go with us; it’s the last year of high school and we want to go to all dance parties.”
“Yes…”
“Yes, means you are coming?”
“Yes, means I’ll think about it.”
Ruby and Sarah hung up the phone; Ruby heard a voice on the stairs outside her flat; she looked from the peephole, but there was nothing;
“Stop imagining things, Ruby,” she told herself and moved away from the door, again the same voice she heard before; she looked again, kept looking until suddenly it was dark like someone put his hand on the hole; she stepped back and looked again after a second, still dark…
She locked the door, set up the alarm, and went away from the door, in her room she heard the flat’s door opening; she went out and looked, but nothing, the door is locked; She decided to call her brother; he’s in a costume party; they live together since their family died in an accident.
Her brother didn’t pick up the phone, the party was loud and he couldn’t hear his phone.
She tried again, with no answer; another voice, but this time it came from inside, a noise such as a knife or sharp thing moving on the walls; it was very disturbing and weird.
She called 911… Looked behind her, the knife in her stomach, she looked down at the knife and the blood in her hands, and the phone fell down; another hit on her stomach, she looked up and saw the shape of someone, thin, fit, and wearing a mask.
She fell down, and tried to get away from him; the killer hit her again and again until she died…She even couldn’t scream for help…
On the phone, the lady said “Hello, how can I help you? Hello, is there anyone?” and the phone cut…
After a year;
“She’s here, sir;”
“Who?”
“The private detective, Collin,”
“She is She?!”
“Why are you a woman hater or something?” she said behind the man’s shoulder, “Thank you officer.” said to the man, and went inside the office.
“No, of course not,”
She came inside and sat down, “My name is Elsa Collin.”
“I don’t remember I told you to sit;”
“I don’t remember I’m answerable to you, sit Sherif, please.”
“I didn’t think they will send a female detective!”
“Why?”
“It’s a hard case.”
“I love hard cases, let’s move on. Tell me everything in detail, try not to mess anything up, please.”
“Sure; so the murders started a year ago, started with Ruby Maison; she killed in her brother’s flat; she lived with him after their parents died in an accident…”
Elsa looked at Ruby’s file and her photo at the crime scene; “She had been stabbed 20 times!”
“yes, the night after that was the Halloween dance at the high school, her friend Sara Miller, died too in her house; then Micheal, Sara’s boyfriend, then Adam, Ruby’s boyfriend, and lastly their friend Jenna.”
“All died on 31 October except Ruby, right?
“Yes.”
“They were all friends and neighbors?”
“Yes, Ruby left her family’s house to go to her brother, he left his house when he became 20 and after the death of their family she went to live with him, but their house is still there and not sold.”
“Can I have everything about all the neighbors and their information?”
“Sure.” He opened a drawer, took some files from it, and handed them to her. “Here’s everything we have.”
“Thank you so much, Sherif.”
a knock on the door, “Come.” a tall man, in his late 30th, with dark brown hair, brown eyes, and good body shape; “Hi, Dario.”
“Hello sir,” Dario answered.
“This is Detective, Collin; Elsa Collin;” and “Detective, this is your partner, Dario”
“What? What partner?”
“We agreed with the FBI, that you’ll have a partner from my police force.”
She looked at Dario and said; “Hi, let’s go.” She didn’t wait for him to answer or say anything and went out of the police station with all the files.
“You’re fast,” Dario said.
“Let’s go.” They ride in her car and started driving, “where is your home?”
Dario looked at her with wonder; “Don’t even think about it; I’m asking because I want you to change the uniform and wear something good.”
“Why?”
“We will go digging.”
“What?”
She pulled over the car and looked at him; “tell me what’s the famous bar or coffee shop that’s famous in the neighborhood?”
“Oh, there are both, a local coffee shop everyone goes to, and of course, there’s the bar.”
“Okay, let’s go to the bar first.”
On the bar’s door;
“Before going inside, don’t tell anyone who am I and why I’m here.”
“Why?”
“Simply because when no one knows you’re a detective investigating murders, it gets easy talking to people.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Good, from now on, call me Nancy.”
“Yes, sure, Nancy;” he smiled.
They went inside the bar; everyone knew Dario, and said hi to him; they sat on the bar side;
“Hi, man?” the bartender said.
“Hi, Mario.” Dario looked at Elsa, “What do you want to have?”
“Just water,” Elsa said.
“I’ll have water too,” Dario said.
“Sure.” the bartender gave them the water and left them.
Else looked around and studied everyone; then found the one she’s been looking for; Ruby’s brother; She stood up and took her water; went to the man’s table, and suddenly fell down and the water fell on his pants;
“I’m so sorry, sir; I’m so clumsy, really sorry.”
“It’s okay, are you okay?” He helped her to get up and sit down.
“Yes, thank you, and sorry again.”
Dario looked at her wondering what she was doing!
“It’s okay, I’m Leo,” the man said to Elsa.
“Hi, Leo; I’m Nancy.”
“Hi, you are new here?”
“Yes.”
“Can I get you anything?”
“Soda is good, thanks.”
Leo got the drinks and came back to her; they sat and talked a lot; when she finished she excused herself and went out, and Dario went out after her.
“What was that?”
“Let’s go 1st and I’ll tell you.”
She drove to her motel; Dario again was wondering;
“Yes, a motel to not be away and not suspicious.”
“Oh…”
She pulled over, and the sky started raining heavily; she looked at Dario; “That was Ruby’s brother, and I went talking to him to get to know him.”
“Why? Is he a suspect?”
“Everyone is a suspect.”
“So!”
“The killer kills on Halloween, such as the classics of every Halloween movie you know, like Halloween or Scream; last year wasn’t the 1st for him or her; there were incidents like that in other cities like here.”
“What? And no one caught that killer till now?”
“That killer you have here is a copycat, the killer I’m telling you was from the late ’70s, the police shot him.”
“I don’t get it…”
“Let’s go inside my room, drink something, and eat, I’m hungry and will tell you everything.”
They went inside, and Elsa offered Dario a glass of water and called the pizza shop to order Pizza and soda; She put all the files on the table, closed the windows, and opened her laptop.
The Pizza man arrived, Dario took the Pizza and paid the bill; She asked him to lock the door…
“Now, the story is, a man in the ’70s around 1975, he began killing everyone in a small city, all in the neighborhood; he was stabbing them 20 times and no fingerprints, nothing, it was like the perfect murder.”
She took a slice from the Pizza; “But he made a mistake and his victim could run, he stabbed her, but not enough to die; she ran and could identify him; he wasn’t wearing a mask, but this time, the killer wears a mask, and I think the killer isn’t a man!”
Dario left his Soda on the table and looked at Elsa, “It can’t be a woman!”
“Why? Because of the body shape and strength?”
“Yes, and it’s not like a woman’s behavior!”
“Hmm, women now can fight, can be fast, and believe me they can kill and be brutal.”
She gave him her Lap and on a site, she opened some news about the killer in the’70’s, Dario read it…
“If the killer kills on Halloween, that means he or she’ll begin tomorrow, but why? what is the motive?” Dario Asked
“Yes, he or she will rise again, and about motives that what we need to find before someone else die…”
29 October;
Dario slept on the couch and Elsa didn’t sleep; she was studying all the files and got out a few photos and wrote down a few names; Dario woke up,
“Did you sleep?”
“No,”
“How much coffee did you drink?”
” 5, I think…”
Inside one of the houses in the neighborhood; a house with red painting attics;
“You don’t get it, I can’t go, after the past year, I hate Halloween and don’t want to go to the party at school.” The girl said on the phone.
“Come on, babe; nothing will happen, I’ll pick up you tomorrow at 6 pm.” the boy said.
“No, Joshua, I won’t go.”
“Lina, please, don’t be like that, we’ll have some fun with our friends and I’ll be with you, protecting you.”
Lina heard a sound, “Wait with me,”
“Is everything okay?”
“There’s a sound, I’ll check it.”
She went out of her room and called for her Mom, but no one answers, she went to check the kitchen,
“Babe, what’s going on?”
“I don’t know, Joshua, I can’t find Mom;”
“Maybe she is in her work!”
“No, She’s supposed to be back by now.”
She heard the sound again, “There’s a sound like a noise of scratching.”
“Do you want me to come to you?”
“Wait,” she looked everywhere, but no one was there, she found the back door opened, closed It and turned; the killer stabbed her, she screamed…
“Babe, answer me, what’s going on?” Joshua asks and worried.
Lina ran to the front door and tried to open it; another stab came from behind, she pushed him, the phone fell down, she put her hands on her bleeding areas and tried to run, she ran back to the kitchen, took a knife and looked around, there was no one.
She walked slowly back to the front door, and tried again to open it, suddenly a movement from back and stabbed her many times, leaving her hanging on the door…
The police were over the place, and people were standing, watching the crime scene; Dario and Elsa arrived, and they went inside the house, Elsa went to the Sherif;
“What did happen?”
“Another teenager, at the same age Ruby was, killed.”
“The same killer!”
“Yeah, it has to be the same because of the same way of killing.”
Elsa looked at the body, “Same age, same body, and structure!”
“What?” Dario asked.
“The killer chooses his victims, how many friends she had? and their names, Sherif.”
“She had 4 friends, Joshua, her boyfriend, Melissa, Nadine, and Louis, Nadine’s boyfriend.”
“Let’s go, Dario.”
“Where?”
“To her friends.”
To Be continued
The daily coffee brew 