CHAPTER 56
Golden University, New York.
The hurried footsteps of someone who seemed to be in a hurry sounded faint to Alicia's ears. But her hunch was never wrong. Alicia finally decided to pause as soon as she reached the campus gate to remove the earphones that had been clogging her ears.
She turned around and found Brittany (her best friend) there.
Brittany Scoots, the blonde-haired girl who was wearing a white jumpsuit and black ankle boots that afternoon, looked out of breath when she reached Alicia. Her temples were covered in sweat and her mouth was open, seemingly trying to suck in the oxygen around her.
"Britt?"
Brittany and Alicia had been friends for the past two years and they had both chosen the same college to continue their education. Although both of them were not in the same major concentration. Alicia chose criminology and Brittany returned to her passion for design.
"Oh my, Alicia!" Brittany's breathing was still labored, making it sound strange now. "I called you earlier and I look stupid now for not knowing you were wearing earphones in the first place," she grumbled.
Which actually made Alicia slightly amused and smile. "I didn't know you were calling me. Do I have to apologize to you, Britt?"
"Huh. Forget it!" Brittany pushed her hair back. "There's something more important than that right now," she said excitedly, as if her energy had returned to her body very, very quickly.
"Hm, alright. What is it?"
"Nicholas invited me to the theater center in Town Square tonight. Would you like to join us?" Brittany blinked her eyes a few times. Showing an artificially cute expression;hoping that Alicia would agree to her invitation.
But Alicia only mumbled softly. "I don't think Ace will agree. You know that he's--"
"Very possessive of you," Brittany cut in. She then sighed harshly and crossed her arms over her chest. "That sucks."
But the blue-eyed girl smiled and shrugged her shoulders dismissively. "We all know she's been depressed lately. I don't think I can add to his burden with things like this, Britt." Brittany pursed her lips. "How about you just go with Luke?"
"God, it's so boring," Brittany complained. "But I guess I don't really have a choice."
The honking of the horn coming from the silver car in front of them suddenly interrupted the conversation. It stopped right in front of Alicia and Brittany. They both knew that the car belonged to Ace, Alicia's boyfriend.
"He's late again," Brittany said sarcastically.
And again, Brittany's complaints were just taken for granted by Alicia. She just chuckled amusedly and walked away from Brittany with a wave. "I'll call you later. Bye, Britt. Have a great drama performance!"
Brittany waved back at Alicia. "Bye, Alicia."
And the tall girl wearing a black T-shirt and matching ripped jeans that afternoon got into the car. She greeted the owner with a warm smile.
"How was your day, dear?" Ace immediately buckled his girlfriend into her seat belt. "You look tired."
And Alicia nodded. "A lot of cases are a bit hard to solve and it's making my head spin," she admitted.
The corners of Acepun's lips turned up. "My boyfriend is very cool. But don't push yourself." He rubbed the top of Alicia's head affectionately. "I'll take you home now."
The silver car finally sped away from the university. It was headed for Alicia's luxury flat on 5th Avenue in Manhattan, New York. She had been living there alone since she entered the university, about two-three months ago. And her foster father was paying for her living expenses now.
Ace and Alicia got off as soon as they reached the front of the flat. A habit he never missed was opening his car door for her and walking her all the way to the front entrance.
"What about your quiz, Alicia?" Ace made small talk before Alicia walked into his house.
And the dark-haired girl immediately smiled and hugged him tightly. It gave a calming sensation inside Ace who had been holding back. Alicia didn't know that Ace really needed that hug right now.
Then they finally loosened the hug and now looked at each other. "I don't think you need to ask," Alicia said sarcastically. "I'll get some things ready for tomorrow. What about you?"
Ace gave a quick shrug of his shoulders and his expression turned grim. "I'll cover for Dad while he's in the hospital." Those dark brown eyes clearly showed sadness. "Take care of yourself while I'm gone."
Again, Alicia could only smile faintly in front of Ace. "You'd better go, I think it's going to rain soon." Although she knew, the rain wouldn't be any worse than Ace's current situation.
The tall man immediately kissed Alicia's forehead and said, "Okay. See you soon, dear." before driving away in his silver car.
And after making sure that her lover's car had driven away, Alicia entered the house. She stretched all her muscles as if all the activities on campus had taken all her energy. Understandably, Alicia had faced a lot of impromptu quizzes in the past few days and it had certainly exhausted her.
Next, Alicia decided to restore her mood by cleaning up and relaxing in front of the TV. There wasn't much that caught Alicia's attention, other than crime news for her university research.
Until suddenly a headline appeared on Alicia's TV screen that afternoon and caught her attention.
A shooting had taken place and from the information we had received, the number of victims had risen to three. The police suspect a terrorist attack...
Drrt... Drrt...
Her cell phone, which had been sitting on the couch, suddenly vibrated. It broke the concentration of Alicia, who was focused on listening to the information on the TV.
And after checking her cell phone, Nicholas' name appeared on the screen.
Nicholas Gray, a young detective she had become friends with.
"Yes, hello?" said Alicia flatly.
But the voice on the other side was the exact opposite of the atmosphere in Alicia's home. Through her cell phone, Alicia could hear a boisterous sound, full of noise. Cries for help and ambulance sirens overlapped. Shouts of command and screams of fear were mixed together.
Nicholas must be on the scene right now.
"Alicia, I need your help," Nicholas said, audibly shouting. And Alicia took the phone away from her ear for a few moments before putting it back to her ear.
"What's wrong?" Alicia looked back at the TV in front of her, her gut feeling again telling her something. "It's very noisy over there. Can you pull over somewhere a little quieter, Nic?"
And it seemed that the detective immediately agreed. Alicia could no longer hear the noise that was disturbing her hearing now. Nicholas must have pulled over somewhere else.
"A murder that took place in downtown New York," he said breathlessly. "Can you dictate the chronology of the shooting for us?"
His brow furrowed deeply. "What?"
"I need your help, Alicia. Can you come now?"
~
CHAPTER 57Golden University, New York"So today, we're going to get to know the four basic human traits."Alicia sat pensively in her chair in the corner of the classroom. Her eyes were facing straight ahead, but her mind was wandering all over the place. She had been losing her focus lately."A theory says, humans have four basic characters. They are the leader choleric, the peace-loving plegmatic, the sociable saguinis and the always-planned melancholic."Since talking to Nicholas yesterday, her feelings had become uncomfortable. The girl was forced to refuse detective Nicholas' request just because she felt bad for her boyfriend, Ace. Her relationship with Ace was like something tied up. She always felt like she was cheating on him just by talking to the opposite sex.Alicia knew very well that Ace wouldn't like it if he found out that Alicia was helping Nicholas in another murder case even though her feelings continued to be plagued by curiosity and guilt. All those deaths always
CHAPTER 58Golden Hospital, New York."The victim was pronounced dead due to suffocation and heart failure."Nicholas was now staring at the body, which was almost completely covered by the white cloth in front of him, in distress. The forensic doctor had performed the autopsy and explained all the results to Noel before he arrived."Could she have suffocated to death?"And Noel nodded. "The doctor suspects that the perpetrator may have strangled the victim using something elastic with great force," he added. "The ligature marks on her neck also suggest that she was strangled repeatedly until all her organs stopped functioning and she eventually suffered heart failure."Noel's statement made Nicholas shake his head. "The criminal didn't just want to see the victim die, he wanted more." His bright brown eyes looked at Noel straight on. "He wants to see his victims suffer before they die."Suddenly, Noel shuddered in horror. "Those words sound even more horrifying when you say them, det
CHAPTER 59New York City police station.Nicholas took a deep breath and exhaled heavily. He did not get much information from his four witnesses. Now, there was only one witness left in front of him. Nicholas really expected a lot from that girl.But this time, he would not be interrogating her alone. Alicia had arrived and was now sitting with him in the white dominated room."So, how do you know Natalie?" Nicholas began."I don't really know her," said Christina, the last witness Nicholas had. "I asked her out because I thought she was friendly enough with the other participants.""Was there anything suspicious about her while you were talking?"Then Christina shook her head. "But...," she frowned; appearing to be thinking. "Our conversation was interrupted when I told her that I had a serious illness and had been admitted to Golden Hospital for a long time." Christina looked at Nicholas and then Alicia in turn. "She suddenly raised her tone and left me. She really disliked that ho
CHAPTER 60For two days Alicia couldn't stop thinking about the cases Nicholas was handling. The way the perpetrators killed their victims reminded her of memories from her past. Couldn't what was happening now be related to those bad times?Alicia is currently sitting on a bench in the campus park alone, contemplating everything. The absence of the lecturer in her last class gives her more time to think about it all in peace.But the series of murders in the past, Alicia can no longer avoid.The first victim, Natalie Heele, manages to remind her of a male student named James Portman who was killed on the first day of her move. The second victim, Rich Greek, was treated the same way as Elena Sanders who died from cyanide poisoning. The names of the victims in her past and how they died before Alicia's eyes, made her almost lose her mind now.Was it Amanda again?"No way," she thought. The girl named Amanda who was determined to be the mastermind of all the murders in her past was now
CHAPTER 61New York City police station.Now Nicholas sat in his room with Noel. The two young detectives are like the envelope and the glue that cannot be separated these days. Plus, their age difference of only two years makes them quite balanced in communication. Nicholas is a leader who is able to help everyone, while Noel is an obedient and loyal partner. He is a loyal dog to a generous and warm-hearted owner. They were like a complete pair when it came to work.But the two of them in Nicholas's office that afternoon were not there to chat between men. Rather, it was to investigate the murders that had occurred over the past week."So what did you find out?" Nicholas leaned his back against the chair. While Noel began to take out his journal from his pants pocket. Noel was busy going through the personal notes he had written on the sheets of paper. "I heard you guys have already checked the theater."Noel nodded quickly. "But we didn't find anything suspicious there, Detective. W
CHAPTER 62Town Square Theater Center, New York."I gave him the surveillance data."After pushing Mike Mollison - aka Mike Houston - in the hallway of the theater, by exposing the funds embezzlement that Alicia didn't really know about, that big man finally confessed everything.Mike Mollison, who changed his name to Mike Houston after Natalie's murder a few days ago, finally told her that someone had met him to ask for all the surveillance camera data on the theater building before Alicia and Nicholas arrived."Can you describe his features?" asked Nicholas."I think he was about the same height and build as you, detective," Mike said. "But I couldn't see his face because he was wearing a mask." He then looked at Alicia and made an expectant face. "Don't tell anyone about the money embezzlement, miss. Please."Nicholas and Alicia exchanged glances before Alicia finally asked another question. "If you can't see his face, is there something so unique about him? Maybe he has a tattoo?
CHAPTER 63Alicia's flat, New York."I've been waiting for you here for over an hour, Alicia."The blue-eyed girl immediately lowered her head. Feeling guilty for making her boyfriend wait longer than usual in front of the flat.But quickly, Ace, Alicia's boyfriend, lifted her chin and smiled warmly at her. "I was so worried, you know?" He then gently rubbed the top of Alicia's head. "But now that you're here. I feel better when I see you.""Really?" The blue irises looked remorsefully into Ace's eyes. "I'm sorry for not telling you, Ace." And the tall man immediately nodded in understanding. "I had to do some work and didn't realize that my phone was off," she continued to explain.Actually, Alicia wasn't entirely lying. The blue-eyed girl had done her college work before meeting Nicholas at the theater center.But still, Alicia couldn't avoid the guilt."It's not your fault. So, stop feeling guilty like that," Ace comforted her. "Ah, by the way, I brought you your favorite food."Ac
CHAPTER 64New York City police station."Check all guest lists that may be related to the victims in this book," Nicholas ordered.As soon as Nicholas returned from the murder scene of the first victim (the Town Square theater), the serious expression of the young detective did not fade from his face. He didn't even give himself a break to rest or have a snack.Nicholas immediately called Noel and handed him a black book that listed the VIP guests on the night Natalie performed-and was murdered. And based on the time of Natalie's death, which was suspected to have taken place during recess, Nicholas' suspicions about the stalking action carried out by the perpetrator before killing were even clearer.The perpetrator must have stalked his victim since he was inside the theater.In addition, the testimony of the building manager who doubles as a special guest receptionist and financial manager of the theater center said that the victim might have been approached by the perpetrator who