Alison got straight on the phone to Derek.
"Hey, have you heard from Sarah or Dr.Connor?"
"We still haven’t been able to get through to either of them, and no sign of Connor at his home.I’ll let you know if we hear from either of them."
"We’re going into Sarah’s home now, by the looks of it," Alison said.
"Okay," Derek said before the call ended.
Alison shook her head at Moore to indicate that they hadn’t been in contact with either, and she immediately instructed the officers to gain entry to their home, which they did quickly and efficiently.
The larger of the two went straight to the door and slammed his boot into the area just below the lock.Once, twice, and three times before the door gave and swung open inward.
Alison held back while Moore and the two officers entered.She walked closer to the door and looked back toward the quiet street, hoping that Sarah would arrive home.
She didn’t.
"Hey, come and take a look at this," Moore called from inside.
Alison rushed into the home, knowing that they had their killer.Moore wouldn’t have shouted with such urgency unless she had found something.
Alison almost stumbled as a thought popped into her head.What if they’d found Sarah, and he was the next victim?
That thought was quickly proven wrong when she entered the room where the two officers and Moore were.All of the furniture had been moved into a large pile in the middle of the living room, and the walls were plastered with pictures, four of which had large ‘X’s through them.
"I need to call this in," Moore said."She’s our killer, and we don't know where she is.We need to get an APB out now."
Another hunt for a killer.Mills is still out there somewhere, and so is Sarah Hartman.
Alison walked slowly around the room, being careful not to touch anything on the walls.She looked at the four photos of the deceased, noticing that the picture of Martin Greene had been torn in half and then stuck to the wall.A red pen was scribbled over the tear.
Is that why you did that to him?Did the torn photo inspire you, or was it the other way around?
It wasn’t only photographs of victims and potential victims, but schedules, court documents, work information, evaluations, histories, and far too much more to take in all at once.
Alison did one lap around the room, getting everything she needed from the walls.There was no doubt about it now: Sarah Hartman was their killer.
After the lap, she went through the other doorway to find a small bathroom.She stopped in shock.That shock passed quickly.She had seen lots of blood before, but wasn’t expecting it.There was no dead body in the room.Just blood dripped on the floor and stained the sink, along with handprints on the edge of the bath and bloodied fingerprints on the mirror.
Alison looked into the mirror, imagining Sarah standing there looking into her own eyes after she’d been out through the night to kill two people.They would need to test the blood, but she was sure at least some of it, if not all of it, belonged to the victims.
Did you stop back here in between, or did you go from one murder to the next?Did you walk to the tortures covered in blood, disguised by the darkness? What did you see when you looked into your own eyes?Did you recognize what you did, or did you wake from a fugue to find yourself covered in blood?
Something tugged at Alison.She looked around the room as if she’d seen something and discounted it.She scanned the room again, but nothing jumped out.Then, she went back to the room where the two officers were looking for any indication of where she might go.
There were at least a dozen photos on the wall, some of whom Alison recognized, but all of whom Sarah must’ve blamed.There were three questions that needed to be answered.
Did she know they were now onto her?Was she out to kill someone else as they stood in her home?And who was the next target?
"Dr.Connor," Alison muttered.
She walked the room again, looking for his photo on the wall, but couldn’t find it.She left the room at a sprint.That’s why they couldn’t get in contact with him.She already had him.She’d deviated from her usual routine and had gone after him during the day.
"She has him already," Alison said when she got outside and found Moore."Maybe she knew we were coming and went after him.We need to find where she’s taken him and if she plans to kill two people at the same time.We have to—"
"Relax," Moore said."Derek just spoke to him on the phone.He was at a conference in the city, and he just got home.They’re sending the patrol car back over there now to pick him up.She won't get to him."
***
