Page 14 of Deadline for Love

My jaw hit the floor. Even Nia was speechless after that answer.

“Excuse me, but I think the letters have something to do with it. He was talking about masterpieces and had described womenwho looked like the ones at the crime scene…” My voice broke off briefly from the memory, but I quickly regained my composure. “Shouldn’t I bring the letters here instead? You can look for prints or any clues to identify the person. And besides, I saw the woman alive yesterday. I can give you the license plate number of the car she got into and the cross streets of where I saw her.” I tried to make it clear again, but the man laughed tiredly and oblivious.

“Excuse me, are you seriously telling me that someone is writing you letters to announce his murders, which are for you?”

When he said that, I kept my mouth shut, feeling my cheeks flush with embarrassment. An unpleasant feeling spread through my body. The way the officer spoke was pushing me down.

“If you think about it, some murderers want recognition, and since we work at the newspaper, he can present his work and give it away.” Nia spoke up and got a bit bitchy towards the end. “I also find it alarming that you don’t take stalking seriously. It’s a shame that people only react when something happens!”

Mr. Morgan stared us down with a scowl, then raised his hand and stroked his stubble as if thinking about what to say, but his answer was far too apparent.

“Miss Carter, you said he came to your house for the first time and usually only sends the letters to your workplace. If it happens again, you’ll call us directly, and we’ll be there. There’s nothing we can do at the moment. If you receive another letter, just send it over. We will take this information seriously. But at the moment, it has no merit. Besides, the bodies have priority for now. The tip about the handbag will definitely help us. We’ll look at the restaurant’s cameras and the license plate number.”

My whole body was strained, but as I exhaled, I relaxed again. I stood up, took his business card with his e-mail address andheld Nia’s hand. “All right, thank you for your help. I’ll get back to you when I have something.”

Then I pulled her with me out of the station, which was full of police officers talking back and forth on the phone and walking around. On the way out, Anna Thompson’s parents walked past us, their eyes full of despair.

Nia saw them, too, and bowed her head sadly. “I think they need to identify the bodies.”

The mood was gloomy for all of us.

Once in the car, we just sat quietly for a while. I stared outside, where the sun was slowly setting. We both just let the moments sink into our thoughts. At some point, I started the engine and drove off to our publishing house.

When we arrived, Nia followed me into the office, grabbed a chair, and sat beside me. She had her hands clenched into fists and was squeezing so hard that the domes of her fingers lost color when she asked for the letters.

I took the four letters out of the drawer without any objections and presented them. She snapped a few pictures and then smacked them on the table.

“Not the first, nor the last, I’ll craft beauties, unsurpassed. Each one is unique until you see it. The second one is gone, but hopefully not your love for me.”

She read the first letter I was given aloud and hissed, “This can’t be true. There’s something wrong here.” Then she gnawed on her thumb again. “We have to analyze everything. We need to make a table showing when the disappearances were reported and when the letters arrived. If the connection is right, it can only be the killer!”

“Yeah, I don’t know what to say... Nia, you heard the police…”

“Bella Carter and Nia Davis!”

The loud voice of our boss sounded in the corridor and startled us both. Then, the door to our office was flung open, and James stormed in. Followed by Amara, Aicha, Stacy, and Eric.

“Where have you two been all day? You were supposed to be here at the meeting an hour ago!” He shouted as soon as he spotted us.

Then he ran an angry hand over his blond hair and pointed his finger at us. His round blue eyes flashed furiously.

“Speak up! Now!”

We stood at the same time. Nia was still furious about everything that had happened, and I could see from her twitching jaw that she was ready to scream, too. So, I explained the situation, and our boss’s face lit up with every word.

He clapped his hands chaotically and proclaimed loudly, “That’s great! That’s excellent breaking news! Start writing! You’ll all be working overtime, and I want the paper published tomorrow by seven.”

He turned around as he spoke and was about to leave the room, but I stopped him.

“Wait a minute! We don’t have confirmation from the police yet, and this is just an assumption that the murderer sent us these letters! We can’t write all that.”

“Stop worrying unnecessarily! Write the news now, and I want you to include the letters too! This is going to be a hit!” He didn’t even turn around but shrugged his shoulders.

We were all shocked by our boss’s statement.

“But—”

He vigorously did a half-turn and pointed his finger sternly at me. “You don’t reek of backtalk! I’ve been lenient with you all week, and you still haven’t delivered! If you don’t do as I say, you’ll be fired!”

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