Chapter 2 

The files piled up on my desk. Another day, and the 

killer was still nowhere to be found. I gathered the 

evidence once again, spreading the gory photos and 

reports under the lamp, hoping for a glimpse of 

something that would finally complete the puzzle. 

But there was nothing. Not until my pocket 

vibrated. 

Bzz bzzz. 

“Come down to the office, we've got something,” 

Richard almost yelled through the phone line. 

Almost running, I hurried down the stairs of my 

home, moving so fast that I bumped right into my 

daughter. 

“Ouch, Momma, where are you going?” Layla asked, 

rubbing her shoulder. 

“I'm so sorry, honey, I can't explain. I have to go, 

love you!” 

I burst out the door without looking back at my 

confused, sweet daughter. I threw myself into the 

car and started to drive away, the tires screeching 

against the pavement. 

“I came as fast as I could. What's wrong? What did 

you find?” I panted, almost completely out of 

breath from running into the police building. 

Richard looked up, his expression grim. “We found 

hair DNA on one of the woman's mouths. We don't 

know how that got there. Maybe the killer is trying 

to mislead us, or the victim somehow got some hair 

for evidence of her death. It is not something you 

find often. Plus, it was a ball of hair.” 

“Okay, did you run it on the system to see whose it 

is?” I asked, almost screaming at them to take 

action. 

“Y-yes, but you might not like what we found,” 

Richard stammered, stepping back. 

“Well... what did you find?” I said nervously. 

My heart beat violently against my ribs. I started to 

sweat, even though the air conditioning in the 

station made the room freezing cold. 

“It's... a dead man,” Richard said. 

“A dead man?” I repeated, unable to believe what I 

was hearing. 

“Your husband, who died 6 years ago,” Richard said.