Being Watched

The next day, Bryan, Jason and Chief Bruce arrived at ma'am Janet's house. They were given a warm welcome by the lady as she led them to the couch.

"Would you like a drink?" She asked warmly. Something seemed to have changed about her. A very drastic change.

"Just coffee." Bruce feigned a smile, Bryan asked for a cup of coffee too. Jason only accepted water.

The woman left them sitting in the sitting room and went to the coffee machine to brew some coffee. She was actually an expert at making coffee, Bryan inferred as he observed how she handled the machine. Or she probably had a lot of years of experience, he countered himself. He was fond of debating with himself inwardly.

Soon, the cups of steaming coffee arrived and ma'am Janet took her seat across the men, with the table separating them.

"Pardon Toby, he had some stuff to handle and will arrive later." Ma'am Janet announced.

"No problem, we can wait."

....

After a while, Toby arrived and apologized once again for his lateness.

"So, what do you want to know?" Ma'am Janet asked and assumed a serious expression. She could vaguely guess what they would ask her.

"Can you tell us what your daughter was involved in just before her murder?" Bryan put forward the question. He didn't want to jump straight at the most important question yet.

Ma'am Janet understood what the question implied and she phrased her answer appropriately. She told them that her daughter was fashion enthusiast and apart from spending her time at the studio, she would hang out with Toby or do some other freelance jobs. She was never involved in anything that could put her at risk, at least none that she knew of.

"Did you notice any change in her towards the last days when you were with her?" Jason directed the question at Toby.

"No. Except that three days before her murder, she started acting jumpy and weird.

I asked but she said she was just anxious about her next exhibition so I didn't bother her further."

Toby explained dutifully. He felt guilty now because he didn't probe further into the matter; maybe if he had she would still be alive...

"Can you describe this jumpiness?"

Bruce was curious. None of the other victims showed such signs. Perhaps she was the only special one; she was the only one with a case of venodilation.

"Well, she would jerk with slight contact as if wary of something and she became increasingly afraid of the dark too."

"Then, why do you live apart?" She had moved out to her own house at Crosswalk Street about two weeks before she was murdered.

"She wanted her freedom, and I respected that." Ma'am Janet answered Jason's question as she couldn't help but digest Toby's words. She never knew that her daughter had such a problem but now that she thought of it, it matched with what she told her that night.

"Why did you rush over to her apartment so early that day?" Bryan finally put forward the question that was bothering him the most.

"Well..." She stalled a bit before answering, "That night, very late, she called me. I could tell from her voice that she was so afraid and worried. She told me that she felt that someone was watching and following her. She said that this unseen entity had an oppressive Aura and that she didn't feel safe.

"I told her not to worry too much. As it was late at night, I only got to arrive there...and my poor child...she was lying in a pool of her own blood!" She sobbed a little. She felt a knife slice into her heart and a hand squeezing it hard. She should have been there, she heard her daughter's last cry and anguish yet couldn't do anything. Toby tried to comfort her and soothe her but it was no use.

Meanwhile, when Bryan heard her, he froze. Being watched by an unseen entity with an oppressive aura...

He turned to look at his two companions and realised that they had the same look of bewilderment and shock.

This means that Miss Angelina was being followed by the killer for days before she was murdered.

Why did her case show some abnormalities? Venodilation, being followed...

"What kind of a mother am I? A mother who hears her child cry for help yet can't reach out all because it's night? What a shameful mother I am!" Ma'am Janet cried harder. The trio joined in placating the lady. They knew they had opened old wounds.

....

After leaving; the chief, Bruce, still had a stoic face which was overlaid with concern. He realised that this case could be the key to solving this puzzle and bringing the killer to book.

Bryan had similar thoughts as the chief. He mulled over the new discoveries and combining it with the other clues and cases, he came to a general realisation.

No wonder this killer was able to kill so fast, make videos appear gloomy, smile at the worst possible times, and skilled at surgery and forensic science; this person had the ability to induce fear into others...

As Bryan thought over it, he felt he had a vague understanding of the blood text:

The weak has been exorcised you're next...

Does he watch people for a period and if his aura instils fear in you then he'd kill you and prey on you as the weak?

Bryan found that this never happened in the other cases. How could it be?

His eyes lit up as he had an idea.

"I want to re-visit the other cases and talk to the people who were close to the victims."

Bruce and Jason nodded and understood what he meant. They only hoped they could find more clues which when pieced together would give the bigger picture.