COLDER

= SEVEN =

Det. Darren and Det. Megan strutted in the interview room. 

Ellie Truce sat at the far corner, not looking the least bit nervous. Her hair was trimmed short with a green eye. She had numerous piercings on her face and ears. She had multiple Gothic tattoos covering her neck all the way to her cleavage and arms. 

She had very big breasts that clearly said she had gotten a plastic surgery. Her waist was tiny and her buttocks were round and very big. 

She seemed to be into plastic surgery.

 "Ellie Truce?" Det. Megan stretched her hand. "Det. Megan. This is my partner, Det. Darren."

"Nice to meet you," her voice was deep. "Can you guys dig right into the questions. I have to be at the barber shop in an hour…" 

"This will be fast," said Megan, sitting opposite from her. 

"You have to promise me one thing," she leaned over the table. "If I tell you everything, you'll put that sick fucker in jail for life." 

The two detectives exchanged glances and nodded at her. 

"Good," she grinned. 

"How long have you and Truce been divorced?" Darren asked her, his hand on his notepad. 

"Six years now…" 

"Who wanted the divorce?" 

"I did." 

"Why is that?" 

"He molested my son, his step-son." 

"How did you find out that he had molested your son?" 

"Mickey told me… I swear I wanted to kill that bastard!" 

"Before this incident, did you ever suspect something? Anything?" 

"Kinda…" she said. "But I was ignorant at first. Thought I was blowing things out of proportion. I didn't want to divorce Tensen because my first marriage had not worked too. I wanted to work on this one no matter what. So I ignored a lot of bad and wrong things he did. Until he came home one night with a t-shirt spattered with blood and blood-stained hands… "

" Did you ask him about what had happened? "

" I did. He demanded that I leave him alone and I should stop being nosy! " she paused. " Sometimes he came home late carrying knives and ropes and he would hide them under the bed… I brushed this over the shoulder until he touched my son! That was the last straw! I reported him to the police when I should have killed him. But if I killed him, my son wouldn't have a mother… And I didn't want my son to grow up without a mother. "

It was evident that Ellie despiced the very ground his ex-husband walked on. 

The detectives didn't know if she was a reliable informant or she was just a bitter ex-wife driven by hate and rage. It was clear that she was driven by a lot of emotion. 

" You said you had some information about your ex-husband on the phone," said Megan. "What is it?" 

"I read that two little boys were found in the river banks, tied up and killed…" 

They nodded. 

"For a strange reason, he called me and confessed to the two murders."

That startled the two detectives. 

"He said he did it?" Megan asked. 

"Yes!" she admitted. "He was like… I did it again… I killed those two boys, Brian and Brandon. He was hysterical and crying and saying he didn't mean to do it. That it was not him that killed the two boys. It was the demon. The demon living inside of him." 

Megan's recent case was now solved. She would soon close it. Though it was kind of a relief to her, it was really sad for their families… 

The two boys, Brian and Brandon, had disappeared and been found dead beside the river… Now their killer had been found and they had a witness. This would bring some kind of 'closure' to the families of the two boys… This was a nightmare for any parent but atleast justice would be served. 

Megan would make sure of it. 

Now there was just one boy… 

Ray Ripper. 

She had to get answers for his family too. 

Had he been killed by Tensen already? 

She handed Ellie a photo of young Ray. 

"Ever seen this boy?" 

"No…"

"Well, His name is Ray Ripper. He disappeared two days ago… Would you know if Tensen is tied to his disappearance?" 

She shook her head. "No." 

"We have reason to believe he's involved in the disappearance of the little boy because he's the neighbour and he once tried to force him to his house…" 

"Poor boy. The Lord rest his soul in peace." 

"No. He's not dead." 

"He's dead," she stated. "Trust me. He's dead. The only one Tensen left alive is my son. He kills all the others…" 

Megan frowned. "Help us catch him so this doesn't happen to any other little boy out there…" 

She nodded. "I'm ready to do anything…" 

"He seems to open up to you for some reason," said Darren. "We'd like you to give him a call and ask about Ray Ripper." 

"Fine." 

===

"WHO GOES TO WORK ON A f*****g SATURDAY!!!" 

Scarlett grumbled as Nina sat on the kitchen island, having breakfast as fast as possible. 

Time was not on her side. 

She had to be at work. 

Her boss had not been too happy with her the previous day. Getting late wouldn't be too good a picture considering she was still in trouble. 

"They are paying me some good cash," Nina justified. "It's fine…" 

"They are overworking you!" she snapped. "Thank God I'm a writer!" 

"You write daily, shut up!" Nina retorted. "Atleast I gave two days off! Plus, we'll spend the whole of Sunday together. That's tomorrow." 

Scarlett flipped the pancakes and tossed them in a hot dish. 

"Is everything okay with Emilia?" she asked. 

"Why?" 

"I don't know," said Scarlett. "She just seems… Distant and sad since I came… Went to see her in her room and she warned me not to touch her…" 

"Well… she's probably on her period," Nina laughed. 

"I'm serious, fool. You know how much I adore that doll. And to have her look at me like I'm some… Some witch!" she grumbled. 

"Relax," chuckled Nina. "She's just a kid. And she adoooooooores you, you know that…" 

She stood up, grabbed her leather handbag and kissed her goodbye. 

"You're the mom and wife today!" she joked. "Have fun being me!" 

===

Megan had just solved two cases! 

Thanks to Tensen's ex wife. 

Over two months, she had poured out everything she had into solving the disappearance and deaths of the two little boys. She had always known it's Tensen but she had no physical evidence, just circumstantial evidence that wasn't enough to convict him. 

The ex-wife was an angel from above and helped with the breakthrough of this case. 

She had called Tensen numerous times but he didn't pick up. 

They finally released her after keeping her for almost an hour in the interview room. 

This gave the hope of solving The Ray Ripper case much faster… 

They had the perpetrator. 

All they had to do was search his entire house, get evidence of ropes and clothes of the victims and get him to confess. 

She felt that they were just a step away to getting the answers to what really happened to Ray… 

And the family would finally get closure… 

"What if it isn't Tensen?" Darren asked abruptly as they sat in her office. 

"I can bet on my life that it's Tensen Truce. He's a predator that's obsessed with assaulting little innocent boys. We got a confession from his ex-wife!" 

"What if she was lying! What If she's driven by a lot of spite because he molested her son?" 

"What If she's telling the truth and Tensen did indeed do all of those sick disgusting things to those little boys. I have been working on the case of those little boys for two months now. Everything she said aligns with the circumstantial evidence I gathered. I know it, Darren. This is our guy."

Darren and Megan were so different. 

Megan tended to be impulsive and Darren was cautious and thoughtful, careful not to swear that someone was a criminal. He had learnt this the hard way… 

It was a surprise that Megan had not learnt this lesson. 

" Remember how sure you were that your brother had killed your father and he wasted seven years of his life in prison for something he didn't do?" Darren said coolly. 

She gritted her teeth. "I was a Sixteen year old girl then. I'm a Thirty Six year old certified Detective now. And just so you know, my brother is innocent. He didn't tie up and molest kids and left them for dead beside a river." 

Pain crackled in her eyes. 

"And never ever bring up my brother again!" she hissed. 

"I'm sorry…" he said remoursefully.

Silence stretched between them for a moment. 

"Look at it this way," he clasped his chin. "His ex-wife came to confess about the murders of Brandon and Brian that he confessed to her. But there's no where that I heard her mention Ray or say anything about his disappearance." 

Megan hated that Darren had a point. 

He continued. "What if he did kill Brian and Brandon. But he's not in any way involved in the disappearance of Ray Ripper… The biggest mistake we ever did on The Tyler case was dwell on the wrong people… That gives the killer plenty of time to hunt the next victim…" 

But Megan was strongly convinced that Tensen was the perpetrator… 

The door busted open. 

Levi. 

Darren groaned inwardly as the Detective entered carrying two cappuccinos. 

"Tell me I'm not your favorite human and I'll turn you into a murder victim!" he joked as he handed Megan the cup of cappuccino. 

Levi groaned. "I didn't know you were here, Darry. I would have brought an extra cup." 

Darren faked a smile as he stood from his seat. "I'll leave you two alone. Let me get my coffee." 

Darren didn't like the new Detective, Levi. He didn't even try to hide it. He shut the door on his way out. 

"Darry doesn't like me much huh!" he retorted. 

Megan took a sip. "Maybe you should stop calling him Darry…" 

"It's because of you…" 

"What!" 

"You're the reason Darry doesn't like me…" 

"What! That's ridiculous!" 

"I know right? Darry is really stupid… But that's what love does to someone, right?" 

She rolled her eyes. "God! Stop it Levi!" 

"I know you know it too…" he paused. "You know he loves you…"

The office phone rang. 

Lieutenant Barnes. 

She didn't hesitate to pick the call. 

"Yes sir." 

===

The detectives had been given permit to use the search warrant by the department. 

For both of them, it was great news. 

They had not expected the process to be that fast… And the faster, the better. 

Now they had the chance to get incriminating evidence against Tensen. 

They knocked on the door. 

There was no response. 

The compound was very quiet. 

They knocked the second time. And the third time. And the fourth time. 

But still, there was no response. 

Darren decided to kick the door open, guns in their hands as they tiptoed in the house. 

He was not there. 

The livingroom was a mess with pillows and cushions on the floor and the table turned upside down. The house looked like it had been ransacked. 

But, where was Tensen? 

"Tensen! Tensen!" 

No response. 

"Anybody home! Kingsville Police Department!" 

Still, no response. 

They went upstairs, searched the rooms but there was no sign of anyone. The master bedroom was a mess with clothes and bedsheets cluttered all around the floor. 

No sign of Tensen. 

Megan rushed down the basement. 

The door was open and she took the stairs leading to the basement. Darren followed behind, his gun gripped on his hand. 

As they went lower, it got darker… 

They finally got to the basement. 

Her heart dropped. 

He stood frozen to the floor. 

A dead body hang on the ceiling. 

===