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MidReal Story
You (Burgerpants), was chilling on the last hours of a Sunday.
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You (Burgerpants), was chilling on the last hours of a Sunday.
Chapter One
Sarah Black
The email had come in at three a.m., and even though I’d been dead to the world, as soon as the ping came through my phone, I was up.
I stared at the words on the screen, completely unable to tear my eyes away from them. It was like looking at a mirror image of a car crash. The kind that was so horrific you couldn’t look away, even though you knew it would haunt your dreams for years to come.
“Are you okay?”
I jumped at the sound of my partner’s voice. I hadn’t even heard him come up behind me. I quickly hit the power button on my screen, but it was too late. He’d seen what I’d been staring at.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I lied.
Luke Harper narrowed his eyes, studying me for a moment. “You don’t look fine.”
I tried to force a smile. “It’s just been a long week,” I told him. It was true. I was exhausted after being called into work on my day off and spending the last forty-eight hours deadlocked in my office trying to make sense of the case that had been dumped into my lap. I had dark circles under my eyes and my hair was piled up on top of my head in a messy bun, and I looked like I’d been sleeping in the office. In all honesty, that probably wasn’t far off from the truth.
“You should go home and get some rest,” Luke suggested.
I shook my head. “I can’t,” I told him.
“Why not?”
“I have to figure this out.”
Luke frowned. “You can’t do that if you’re not thinking clearly,” he responded. “You’re no good to us like this.”
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “I know,” I told him. “But I don’t have any other choice. I have to solve this case.” It was the first time Luke had seen me like this. The first time he’d seen me broken and vulnerable, and I hated that he was seeing me like this.
He placed a hand on my shoulder. “Sarah…”
“I’ll be okay,” I promised him.
He didn’t look convinced.
“It’s just that…” I hesitated for a moment, not sure if I should tell him what I was thinking or not.
“What is it?” He asked when I didn’t continue.
“I’ve seen this before,” I told him. “It’s too similar to…”
“The Dark Angel killer,” he finished for me.
I nodded. “Exactly,” I told him.
He frowned. “But we caught that guy, remember?”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, willing myself not to fall apart right then and there. “We did,” I told him. “But he wasn’t working alone.”
Luke shook his head. “That’s not possible.”
I didn’t respond.
“You think…” he started, but then seemed to think better of it and stopped himself midsentence.
“I think we made a mistake,” I told him.
Chapter Two
Sarah
The office was nearly empty when I made my way in the following morning. It was barely six a.m., but it was all the time I had spare before I had to head back out to the crime scene.
“Morning, Sarah,” the night guard called as he passed me in the hallway.
“Morning,” I responded automatically, not bothering to look up from the papers in my hand.
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