Chapter 4: How I Left

After studying the last presumed location of the ritual, we have the following picture. The rituals were definitely performed at Point A and Point B, but we didn't find any place where the ritual was performed at Point C, except for the graffiti of a protective amulet in the form of a pentagram. Studying Point B, we concluded that a ritual had been performed there, after which a series of murders began. But we still had a question in our minds: were these the only two points? Perhaps there was a place we didn't know about, where several fatal encounters took place.

Since I didn't have any such places in mind, it was decided to go to the police station where Samuel wanted to gain access to the cameras, along with several police officers. As we were driving to the station, I was thinking about what to do next. Maybe I'll quit right away and leave Samuel at the station, because they'll have to help him. And I'll go to Kate. It's long overdue for me to leave work.

We arrived at the station. Samuel quickly got out of the car, leaving his things in it. I was about to remind him, but decided to hurry after him. At the entrance to the police station, we were met by Nathan, who was on duty at the time.

"Hi, James. Harris is tearing up the place. They say you angered him. And who's this?" Nathan asked.

"Hi, Nathan. I'm going to him now. And this is..." I didn't have time to finish speaking before Samuel introduced himself.

"Hello! I'm Samuel Nats from the FBI. I'm here with your colleague to see the head of your station. Sorry, but we're in a hurry," he said, then turned to me. "Can you show the way, James?"

"Yes, of course. Follow me," I replied.

We quickly walked down the corridor and went up to the second floor, going straight into Harris's office.

"James, Harris is looking for you right now. Go in quickly," Sarah said. "If you're going to see the captain, you should wait," she said to Samuel, who, in his usual calm manner, told her who he was and went ahead of me into Harris's office.

"Who are you?" Harris said loudly. "I'm FBI agent Samuel Nats. You can call me just Samuel. I came to you because of the cases you were hiding for some reason, but that's not important. Right now, I need a few police officers and surveillance footage from several areas," Samuel replied.

"I don't care who you are, FBI agent. I didn't hide any cases. And I don't need your arrogant face here. This is a small peaceful town, and we have 2-3 murders per year, but they are always due to drunkenness. So everything is clear here, these crazy drunks kill each other. We'll catch them without you," Harris said to Samuel, then looked at me.

"And you, James, are going to be fired. Leave voluntarily while you still have your seniority and retirement savings," he added, pointing to the door.

"You know, Harris, you're in deep trouble. This will come out eventually, but the question is, can you get out of it unscathed? I don't care, I wanted to leave anyway," I said and left the office.

In the heat of the moment, I completely forgot about Samuel. I went to my office, opened the door, and started writing my resignation letter. I vividly described the reasons for my resignation, such as the incompatibility of working with a stupid boss.

As I gathered my personal belongings, the thought of Samuel's things in the car crossed my mind. And just as I decided to leave my office to search for Samuel, I heard Sarah's voice.

"Here's his office," she said.

"Thank you for showing me," Samuel replied.

"Feel free to ask if you need anything," she said kindly.

"I was just looking for you. Your things are still in my car. Will you wait for me? I'll finish gathering my things now," I said, not taking my eyes off my task.

"Why are you packing your things?" Samuel asked in a questioning voice.

"You heard me, I'm quitting. Why prolong something I've wanted to do for a long time? I'll finish up now and give you back your things," I replied.

"It's too early to talk about your resignation, especially since there's an investigation going on with your direct superior Harris. It's likely he won't pass it. In the meantime, all his orders are considered invalid until the investigation is over," Samuel said.

"I understand, but I'm still leaving. Like I said, I've wanted to be done with this for a long time," I answered.

"I see," Samuel said, after which he stood silently waiting for me to pack my things.

As we approached the car, Samuel turned to me and said, "Can you help me finish this job? Since you're the only one who approached us, I want to finish this with you."

"Ugh," I sighed as if something heavy had been placed on me. Then I continued, "Alright, I'll help you with this. Were you able to retrieve the camera data?" I asked.

"Yes. The data is being processed by the team assigned to me. As soon as they find something, they'll send it to me by email. For now, I think it's time for us to grab some food, and then we can head to that club. I think that sandwich shop will do," Samuel said.

We got into the car and headed to Oliver's cafe. Along the way, I heard him writing something in his notebook. I can't understand what he's writing all the time. It feels like he's just jotting down what's happening to him. While I was thinking about that and he was writing, we arrived at the cafe.

"Oh, you've arrived," Emma said to us.

"Why aren't you at college?" I asked.

"I only have two classes today, so I came here," she said.

"I see. Can we have the evening menu, please?" I said.

"Of course, I'll bring it right away," she replied.

As she went to get our order, Samuel and I headed to the same booth we were in that morning. We took our seats and Samuel started talking.

"While we were on the way here, I was thinking about a new portrait of the killer. So far, what comes to mind is that the killer either still can't get used to killing, or they're not doing it willingly. But this also confirms that the killer is likely either a young man or a woman over 25. I lean towards the idea that they're doing this for some kind of belief, killing in the name of their faith, but they can't fully justify themselves, which is why they're killing in such an unskilled manner. What do you think?" Samuel said, looking at me.

"I have little experience in this matter, but I can say one thing for sure, that this is a very inexperienced killer. It's surprising that they haven't been caught yet," I said.

"We haven't caught them because they didn't inform us about the previous location where the criminal committed murders. And when they realized it was a serial killer, it was already too late. This is the third place where the murders are taking place. 9 people were killed in the first location, 8 in the second, which means that either the criminal will commit 7 murders here or there could be more," Samuel said.

"What do you think about the possibility that there could be two of them?" I said.

"Two? But the murder was clearly committed by one person," Samuel said.

"Yes, but as you said, it's possible that the killer is being threatened, or perhaps they're being forced to do it, which would explain why the killing is so clumsy," I said.