Elsa sat immediately and Dario went after her, calling her:

“Elsa, wait…”

She shouted out, “Let’s go now!”

“What’s going on with you?” Dario asked

“We have to go to the kids, now…”

They rode in the car and Elsa drove fast there; when they arrived, they found no policeman and it was dark inside and outside; Elsa took her gun and Dario too.

They went quickly inside and called for the boys and girls;

“Are you okay, kids?” Elsa shouted!

“Yes, we are in the room;” Joshua answered.

“Stay there and don’t open your door or any windows;” Dario said

Elsa walked around looking here and there; “We can talk, let me know why you do this and why you need those kids?”

No answer, no one at all; “Please, let me help you!” Elsa said.

Again no one answered her; “You can stop here before it becomes worse than before!” Elsa said again.

Dario kept looking around trying to keep himself and Elsa safe; suddenly a man’s voice came out;

“You can’t help me, it’s already worse than ever…”

Then the lights turned on, and Elsa and Dario searched the house, but no one was there; they called the sheriff to come; the police came and found the dead bodies in the garage…

Elsa went upstairs to the kids; they opened the door and came downstairs with her!

“Are you okay?” Elsa asked them.

“No, our families died!” Nadine said while crying…

Louis hugged Nadine;

“I know, I’m so sorry,” Elsa stopped and the tears fell from her eyes;

“Sorry!” Melissa shouted, “Sorry, that word won’t get our families back, you said we will be safe here!”

“I know!” Elsa went to Melissa and hugged her; “I know, I can’t tell you how much I’m sorry for this horrifying thing…”

Melissa cried on Elsa’s shoulder and hugged her back.

The Sheriff came inside the house and whispered something to Dario, Elsa looked at them; Dario went to her and took her away from the kids;

“They didn’t kill by the same murder weapon and not as many times as the other murders…” Dario said.

“I know, I saw them…” the killer isn’t working alone, he or she has some help for sure!

“We have to safe those kids, let’s take them to the police station and put them there under very high guarding, and I mean very high!”

“You’ll put them in the custody?” Dario asked

“Yes, to keep them safe, I’ll do anything, and let’s find that bastard killer and his assistant”

“Do you’ve any clue who the killer might be?”

“I might have a clue, take the kids and wait for me there…”

“Why, where are you going?”

“To the motel.”

---

In the motel;

The rain is heavy and its voice is like an old clock ticking to the end; Elsa felt someone was watching her; she went into her room and took all the files; she looked and suddenly saw a shadow behind the windows; she didn’t look to the windows, but went to the mirror and looked through it…

There wasn’t anyone; she waited for a little and then went out, running to her car…

---

Elsa arrived at the police station and went inside; the kids were inside the sheriff’s office; she went into it;

“Are you okay? she asked them.

They nodded to her.

She took Dario; “I want to go to find some files; come with me.”

“Okay;” Dario said.

---

Elsa kept looking through all the files;

“If you tell me what are you looking for I might help you!” Dario asked.

“I’m looking for any info about the abounded house and the fire and the family that lived there!’

“Oh, okay, wait…” Dario went to a corner full of dusty files and took the file she wants from it and gave it to her “Here it is; see if you asked me before, it’ll save time.”

She smiled at him; “Thanks.”

“Why do you want that file? what is its relation with our case?”

She read the file and asked Dario: “Tell me about that story.”

“The family was from the founders and the founders are all the families of those kids and the kids who died; but a fire accident happened and the family died; except their ids; twin; girl and boy; identical or very identical; anyway the kids had been taken and put in the orphanage in New York until some family took them; that’s everything I know.”

“Hmm, those are their kids?” She showed him a photo.

“Yes,”

She took the photo and took the file of the school teachers and began looking at each one of them; she stopped suddenly;

“See this!” Elsa said to Dario

“What?”

“This photo and this teacher…”

“Yes?”

“Don’t you find any similarity?”

He took the two pictures and looked carefully at them… “I don’t know!” he said after a while.

She took the pictures from him and went to the kids.

---

“I want to ask you a few questions, please concentrate; everything now depends on your answers and knowledge of your families!” Elsa said.

They all looked at her;

“Okay, what do you know about this city and your families and the founders?” Elsa asked

“All we know is that our families are the children of the founders, and we are their grandchildren,” Melissa said.

“Does anyone of you know more?”

“Yes, my father had some book or something about the family tree of every founder;” Louis answered.

“Dario go with Louis and get me that book.”

Dario took Louis and went out;

“Anyone else knows something more or have something more about the founders?” Elsa asked again.

“Yes, my mom and nanny were writing their diaries; that might help, I think,” Nadine said.

“Yeah, very good; please sheriff, ask someone from your men to go with Nadine and get the diaries.” Elsa looked at the sheriff and asked him.

---

They all came back after a while, Elsa was in a room alone, having the files everywhere and writing some things on a board; Dario went to her; in his hand was the book and diaries she needed and on the other hand, he bought her a cup of coffee.

“Here, drink this, you didn’t eat or drink anything all day.”

She looked at him, and took the coffee; “Thanks,”

He smiled;

“You have a beautiful smile, Dario.” She commented.

He smiled again; “You notice…” then he stopped!

“Notice what?”

“Another time I’ll tell you, now let’s concentrate on the case.”

“Yeah, so gave me the book and dairies!”

He gave them to her; “Thanks” she said.

She took a look through them all and stopped on a page from a diary;

“Listen to this;

‘I know we shouldn’t do that, but we chose ourselves, our lives, our children, and our money over our friends; the city isn’t good, something had been built wrong and it’s our mistake; Sophia and Nickelson; they were our friends, but our children deserve the life we worked hard to build…’ “

“So?” Dario asked.

“So, the fire wasn’t an accident; and the founders felt some dangerous from their friends so they killed them!”

“What?”

“Yes, let me tell you the story here; and the clue I found earlier; Sophia and her husband and the other founders; were friends, best friends in college and even before, in high school; they had that dream about the perfect city, clean, good, healthy and safe neighborhood; Sophia was an architect; she had the first idea with her husband Nickleson; Nickleson was a doctor; they are the parents of Tim and Tia, twin boy and girl; the parents died in the fire and the kids went to the orphanage.”

She took a sip from her coffee;

“Kasandra and Jack are the next couples; they were engineers, they had one daughter called Elisa who got married and had Ruby the 1st victim, and her brother Leo; then Killy and Maison; they were doctors and had three children; who married and had Lina, Joshua, Melissa, and Nadine. and the family tree keeps going; until the murders!”

“So, you think someone is taking revenge on them?” Dario asked

“I don’t think, I’m sure about it.”

“So who could this?”

“The picture I showed you, for that teacher!”

“Yes, Nina, the math teacher?”

“Yes, look at it again and at the twin picture.”

He looked at them,

“The girl looks the same;” Elsa said

“You mean Nina…” Dario stopped

“Yes, Nina is Tia; Ruby and her friends had done some tricks on their teachers and Nina went to the hospital….” Before Elsa finished, the light went off and the kids freaked out.

Elsa and Dario took their guns, Elsa asked; “Doesn’t this place have some backup generator or something?”

Yes, I’ll go and check it.” Dario Answered.

“Come out, come out from wherever you are!”

The voice came and Elsa looked around her; she closed the doors on the kids and said:

“Who’s there?”

“You’re such a smart detective.”

“Show yourself;” Elsa said

“Why are you in such a hurry? don’t you want to play a little?”

“What do you want?” Elsa asked while looking around,

“I want the kids…”

Elsa heard another voice and went to its side and found one of the police force dead; “Why do you want them?”

“As you thought, for revenge!”

“But they are just some kids?”

“Yes, I once was a kid too, and their families killed my parents!”

“They didn’t do anything; those kids are innocent?!” Elsa tried to hear the voice and walked toward it slowly; Dario came back and walked beside her.

“I was innocent too and those kids are spoiled and not respecting anyone; they are like their families; can hurt anyone without thinking of the consequences!”

“Show yourself and let’s talk and find another solution!” Elsa asked

“Oh, my sweet detective; you don’t deserve that; I like you but if you tried to stop me I’ll kill you too.”

Elsa still searching and found another policeman dead;

suddenly she stopped and said:

“Sweet?!”

“Yes, sweet, beautiful; that’s you, but if you stayed away and stayed alive!”

She was concentrating on the voice and knew it!

“It’s Leo” Elsa whispered to Dario

He looked at her; “Yes, he is Leo.” she said again surly of what she was saying…

Leo came out;

“Good, I knew you’ll figure it out sooner…”

Elsa looked at him and Dario put the gun on Leo’s head, but from the other side, a woman came out and put the knife to Dario’s neck…

“You’ve been asking about me?” the woman said

Elsa looked at her; it was Nina or Tia; “Let me see your face clearly.” Elsa said.

“Put your gun down!” Tia said

Elsa put her gun down slowly and Tia took Dario forward and showed her face in the dim light that comes from outside; Elsa was shocked; the woman was burned; half her face and neck were burned!

“You might ask what happened; let me fill the gaps in your story; yes my parents were from the founders; they had the idea first and because they were naive, trusting their friends they shared the idea with them; they all agreed and started working on it till they gave the final project drift to get approved and after the approval, the government gave them this lands; they started building and working; my family took the house in the first when you get to the city; then my mom found something wrong in the geography of the lands here; they had some meetings and tried to find a solution to not stop building especially after the announcements and advertisement that gave them money; they couldn’t find a solution; the problem was that the land will get dessert after a while and no inch will be good to live on it; the others didn’t agree to stop the project except my father who stood by his beloved wife; so the others felt dangerous from my family that they will destroy them and the project so they sat a fire on our house and my parents died…”

Tia took her breath and completed;

“I went out with my brother but our parents died; they took us to the orphanage and there came a family and took my brother away from me; then another family came and took me; I tried to find my brother and I succeeded, we were almost 25; I found him here; getting married to one of the other founders’ daughters Elisa; I talked to him, told him and he asked me to forget the past and we don’t have any proof; so I witnessed his marriage and went away; till one day my husband died in an accident; I knew that the other car was my brother’s and his wife; so I decided to get revenge and kill them; only them in an accident, as they did to my poor husband and made their daughter an orphan like my son…”

Elsa looked at Leo;

“Yes, my son Leo.”

“You made him go to them as an orphan child and they took him; even so they didn’t know anything and didn’t check him, they loved your son and raised him as Ruby’s elder brother; even Ruby loved him.” Elsa felt angry and shouted

“They didn’t love me, they felt sorry for me, but not love; they killed my father!” Leo shouted

“But that was your twin brother?” Elsa wondered;

“No, he abandoned me and didn’t believe me and finally killed my husband; after that, I worked as a teacher; math teacher, but those spoiled kids made a prank, and I smoke; so, when I went inside my class; I was smoking, and there was a spray that went out of nowhere and came to my face with the cigarette it burned my face…”

Elsa looked at Tia’s face, the half that had been burned;

“They didn’t mean to hurt you like this? just some kids playing trick or treat and you were smoking in the school and that’s not, right? I’m not defending them but to kill them that’s very harsh!” Elsa said

“Oh, you’ll make me wrong to defend them; you’re not different than those fool kids; I decided to take revenge for everything that happened to me and my parents and my husband and my son; so I did kill Ruby and the others…”

“And Leo killed the others?” Elsa asked,

Tia looked at Leo proudly and answered; “Yes,”

Elsa quickly took another gun was on the table on her right and shot Tia’s hand’ the knife fell down; Dario got his gun and held Leo; Elsa kept her gun on Tia;

“Shot” Tia shouted, “Because I’ll do whatever it takes and finish what I began and kill them.”

Elsa shot Tia’s shoulder and the Sheriff came from behind her and held her; the police took Leo and Tea; Tia said:

“Remember, I’ll be back and finish what I started!”

Elsa didn’t say anything neither Dario and the opened the door to the kids; “I know you witnessed a lot this night and I know you will not forget easily, but what I’ll say is important; you are all not 18 yet, so if you don’t want to go to the orphanage, I’ll put you in boarding schools and you’ll never meet each other again…”

“But,” before Nadine complete, Elsa said:

“No but’s, you’re the only witnesses and the remaining from the founders’ families; I need to make sure you’re safe and forget what happened tonight; meeting each other is dangerous and will not make you forget!”

They looked at each other and nodded; they agree with what she said and when she went out with Dario; he asked;

“You knew from the beginning; how?”

“I knew when Leo told me the story of the prank and the house; I felt something about that house and you can call it my gut;” she smiled

“Oh; smart;” he smiled “we can be a good team, you know?”

“Hmm, so what do you suggest?”

The sun came and the morning was finally here after a long night;

“I suggest eating breakfast and some coffee!”

“Is it a date?” they both laughed

---

The End