The Wake

Martha's funeral took place on the second floor of the restaurant three days later as planned.

They didn't go to a church for obvious reasons.

The coffin was closed.

There was also a table with candles and snacks. Larry, Paul and Camila were already there.

Izzy had cried herself to sleep. Her eyes and nose were red. She was sitting next to the coffin.

"I just can't believe it." said Larry. "Who would want to kill your mom?"

Alex shook his head.

"And why?" said Camila. "She was such a wonderf-"

"Would you please stop?" Alex harshly interrupted with a glare.

His friends just stared at him. He sighed.

"Sorry. I'm just....Not in the mood for this."

Paul patted him on the back.

Meanwhile, Mia and Macy came in to pay their respects. Larry sat next to Izzy.

"It's funny, huh?" said Izzy after a long silence. "I have this beautiful talk about forgiveness with my mom and next thing I know she's dead."

"Maybe she wanted to give you a message in case something happened to her." Larry offered.

"Oh, if she thinks I'll forgive her killer she's dead wrong."

Larry stared at her.

"No pun intended."

"See it this way," started Larry. "Maybe she meant that even the worst sin can be forgiven, or that you can forgive, but it doesn't mean they'll get away with it. You can forgive the killer, they still get punished, but your soul will be in peace."

Izzy smiled. "Wow, you're not as dumb as you look, pretty boy."

Larry feigned a look of fury.

"How dare you?"

At the other side of the room, Camila had joined Macy and Mia, who was on her phone. Macy looked at her and groaned.

"Ugh, can't you show some respect? Your boyfriend's mother is dead, for God's sake!"

"What are you writing, anyway?" asked Camila.

"Ok, listen." Mia paused. "I'm trying to figure out who The Slayer."

"You're what?" Macy whispered in surprise.

"I'm just writing the names of the victims, the way they were killed, who could have a motive. But it's just so confusing. I know that David died because he knew, and Mrs Stark was poisoned to confuse the cops."

"Mia, we already know these things." said Camila.

"Yeah, if it were that easy, the police would've caught the killer long ago." added Macy.

Mia sighed. "I know I could be wrong, that's why I'm keeping it to myself until I'm sure. When I am, I'm going straight to the cops."

POLICE STATION

Davenport was looking carefully at the 'murder board' as he called it.

There were the details of the three murders, but still there wasn't a suspect for sure. Yes, all the people he suspected had a reason to kill the first two victims, but the third made no sense.

Martha Stark was poisoned but it was impossible to know when it happened due to the circumstances.

Martha was poisoned with a rare drug known as 2C-I, depending on how accurate the dosage is given, it can slowly kill and also kill in a matter of days, hours, minutes or even seconds.

That meant Martha might've been poisoned right before she went to church or maybe even a few days earlier, the fact that the Slayer knew precisely when she would die proves they'd timed it well and gave her the correct dosage.

But why her? he knew it was an attempt to distract the police, but still, why her?

Giovani came in.

"Hey, Sara called and said she would meet us at the wake, you coming?"

Davenport covered the board and nodded, turning around.

"Hopefully The Slayer will give us a break."

STARK'S

Sara was already walking in when Paul stood up and greeted her. Larry was with Alex in one corner of the room.

Giovani and Davenport entered and walked over to them.

"Alex," said Davenport. "I'm really sorry about your mom."

"She was a wonderful woman" added Giovani.

Alex only gave them a "Thanks." as a response.

Before they could answer, there was a buzz.

It was Giovani's phone.

Giovani shared a wary look with his partner before reading the new message.

Meanwhile, Mia was trying to explain her plan to her friends.

"Ok, let me see if I'm following," said Camila.

"You're planning to put your life in danger to find out who The Slayer is, with a big possibility of getting hacked to the death by a psychopath?"

"I don't see the problem." Mia shrugged nonchalantly.

Macy stared at her in disbelief.

"You don't see a problem? Someone we may know is out there killing people. They found out David knew their identity and killed him. You could be in danger!"

"Oh, come on!" said Mia.

"It's not like The Slayer is here eavesdropping on us, is it?"

"That doesn't matter, the point is what you're trying to do is way too dangerous."

said Camila.

Mia glanced at her.

"I'm doing this for Alex and Izzy, who lost their mother, for Paul who has to watch his mom decline because she still hasn't recovered from what she saw that day and for David, who was trying to protect all of us."

Camila gave up arguing.

Sara was talking to Izzy, trying to distract her from the somber atmosphere.

Giovani opened the text and his eyes widened.

Davenport swore under his breath as he read it.

I hope nobody's had the potato chips.

Giovani and Davenport looked at the snack table and gasped.

Paul and Macy were munching on the chips in a bowl.

"Stop!" They yelled in unison.

Paul and Macy stopped mid-munch and stared at them in confusion.

Suddenly, there was a loud groan followed by Paul hitting the ground.

The room was filled with gasps as Macy fell right after Paul.

HOSPITAL

Since Kai had practices, he couldn't leave until his shift was over.

Sara trusted him, so he could be in charge of her office anytime she was absent.

He heard sirens, the sign that told him he was needed in the ER.

He found that it was a guy who looked about his age.

The paramedics explained the situation.

"Hit by a car, bruises, probably a concussion. He's still conscious."

Kai checked and attended to him and thankfully there was no concussion, the guy only needed a little bandage for his head.

After an hour, Kai decided he was good to go.

"Alright." said Kai. "You're free to go. Take a three-day rest and try not to do too much physical effort for at least a week."

The guy nodded and turned to leave.

"Thanks, doc."

As he was putting on his jacket, Kai stared at him carefully.

The leather jacket, the jet black hair and chiseled jawline looked awfully familiar.

"Have we met before?"

The guy cocked his head.

"I don't think so."

"What's your name?"

"Julian Norman." He said, and left.

Kai stared at his retreating form with wide eyes.

"Holy shit....Holy fucking shit."

STARK'S

"What the hell is going on?!" Camila screamed in tears.

Paul had been taken to Alex' room and Macy to Izzy's.

Sara and Giovani were checking on him.

Davenport was brooding in a nearby chair, one hand resting on his face.

"How on earth did the killer sneak in and poison the chips?" He spoke out in dismay.

"Calm down, Detective," said Alex.

"We're not sure if that's what really happened."

That only pissed Davenport more.

"Are you kidding me? You saw the message! You saw them collapse to the ground after eating it!"

Just as he said that, Giovani got out of the room. Everyone looked at him expectantly.

"Well... They're going to make it. Sara gave them something to make to make them barf and now they're both resting."

Everyone sighed in relief.

Camila went to be with Paul and Larry with Macy, Giovani approached Davenport.

"You know, it's obvious that he was poisoned."

"I knew it." said Davenport "Like Martha?"

Giovani shook his head. "No, I don't think so."

He was interrupted by Larry.

"Hey, guys. Just wanted to say that I'm leaving. Tell Macy I gave her a kiss goodbye."

"So soon?" asked Davenport

"Yeah, I don't feel well. Don't worry, I haven't eaten anything, it's just my chest....I'll go rest."

His eyes met Sara's.

If this gets worse, you have to go to the hospital.

The doctor knew he was going to the hospital but said nothing, since it was obvious Larry didn't want his friends to worry about him.

"Ok." said Giovani. "Take care, kid."

He patted him on the back and Larry left.

"We believe they were poisoned with something else."

This time it was Alex who interrupted him, glaring at someone standing at the door.

"What the hell are you doing here?!"

Daniel Clarke rolled his eyes.

"Oh, come on, kid. You don't have to be a drama queen. I'm just here to pay my respects to your beloved mother."

"Get the hell out, Daniel. Nobody wants you here."

"Not until I say a prayer for the deceased." he replied.

"It was you, wasn't it? You poisoned my mother and then you did the same to Paul and Macy."

"Wow, you really are a drama queen." Then he paused.

"Wait, you said Diaz was poisoned too, is he alright?"

"What do you care?" said Davenport.

"He happens to be my employee."

Davenport stood face-to-face with him.

"He's fine, but you know what? I'm writing a resignation letter for him. Actually, make that two. Camila's out, too."

"Whatever." said Daniel. He turned to leave, but a little Ziploc bag fell out of his coat pocket.

The detectives looked down and immediately recognized the content.

It was rat poison.

Clarke knelt down to pick up the bag, but Davenport was faster. He put a foot on it so Clarke wouldn't take it.

"Don't even think about it, you bastard."

Davenport picked up the bag.

He gave it to Sara.

She examined it and put it in her purse to take it to the hospital.

"We'll test this and see if it's the same poison Paul and Macy ate in the snacks."

"This is ridiculous." said Clarke. "I'm not the killer! I bought the poison for my pub, an employee discovered a rat! That's why I bought this!"

Davenport smirked at Giovani.

"Will you do the honours?"

Giovani smirked back.

"Always wanted to do this."

He took out his handcuffs.

"Daniel Clarke, you're under arrest."

He read him his rights and the detectives took him to the station.

Meanwhile, Paul had managed to get up and walk to the living room with Camila in tow.

"We heard yelling. What happened?"

Sara approached them. "Your ex-boss was arrested."

"Ex-boss?" asked Camila, confused.

Sara told them the whole story.

Camila shrugged, she needed the money but working for Daniel Clarke was just not worth it anymore, especially if he was actually working with the Slayer.

Sara grinned. "Well, they only have the rat poison as proof. I'm taking it with me to compare it with the poison in the chips."

Isabela approached Alex who had now cooled down.

"The cars are here."

Alex went downstairs to check. He came back with six men in black who lifted the coffin and carried it away.

HOSPITAL

Larry got to the hospital feeling awful. He was starting to have breathing problems, not too big, but enough to make him feel very agitated.

Soon, he found the person he wanted to see.

"Kai, hey."

Kai turned around. "Hey, Larry. Is the service over?"

"No, not yet."

"Sorry I had to miss it. I'll call later to give my condolences."

"Ok. Listen, I have a problem and Dr. Sanchez told me to come here if it gets worse."

After Larry explained the chest pain and the coughing bouts that seemed to be getting worse, Kai nodded as he wrote everything down, he finally looked up when Larry was done.

"Tell me, Larry, do you smoke?"

"No." he replied.

"Does your family have any history of conditions with their lungs? Cancer? Asthma?"

He thought for a minute. "No, as far as I know. I think my grandma died of lung cancer or something like that. Why?"

Kai nodded in understanding.

"Larry, I could be wrong......but you might have cancer."

"Cancer?" Larry was stunned.

"Don't freak out." said Kai. "That would be the worst-case scenario, you could have asthma or a little infection. But the problem is that the pain is getting worse, isn't it?"

Larry nodded.

Kai gave him a piece of paper with an order.

"Ok, go to the lab with this and have a scan. I think in a few hours I'll have the results. Do you want to wait?"

"No, I'll come back." replied Larry.

"That's ok." said Kai.

Then he remembered something.

"Oh, by the way, if you bump into Camila, can you tell her I wanna talk? It's really important, and tell Paul and Macy I hope they get well soon, too."

"I will."

Larry left the hospital wondering if he should hide this from his friends.

POLICE STATION

Davenport dragged a furious Clarke into a cell, and Giovani closed it.

"Dammit! I'm not a killer! Neither am I the so-called 'mastermind' behind the murders!" yelled Clarke.

"Drop it, Clarke, no one will believe you unless you prove your innocence. I can assure you that yelling is certainly not the way." said Giovani.

Davenport locked the cell, and Clarke glared at them.

"You're making a horrible mistake, detectives!"

They ignored him and walked away.

"You want me to prove my innocence? The Slayer will kill someone else soon, and then you'll have no other choice than to let me go!"

********************

Paul left Camila at her house. The sun had almost set.

"You sure you don't want to come in?" said Camila.

Paul shook his head. "I'm fine. I'll go check on my mom, she doesn't need more worries."

They kissed goodbye and Camila watched him leave.

But something wasn't right.

She looked around.

On their way home, and even right now, she couldn't help but feel they were being watched.